(Archive) Jackknife Shadowstalker

*"BOO!"*

*"AHHHHH"*

*- Jackknife greeting Kane*

## History

   Gaz was small at birth, even for a goblin. His mother, sensing weakness in him, threw him out in the forest for the wolves. A lone ranger and his rhino companion found him in a brush, wailing his heart out as he breathed air for the first time.

The lone ranger took pity on the baby goblin and picked him up. In his infantile innocence and hunger, he looked at the ranger and screamed. The ranger tried to calm the infant goblin and took him home.

After several hours of wailing, Gaz finally calmed down as he was fed a small bowl of slop. He looked at the ranger, who slowly came into view as an elder, white-haired elven man, and crawled onto his lap. The elder man smiled and picked him up, leaning Gaz's head on his shoulder, whereupon Gaz latched his newly developed fangs into the mans neck, tearing out a large chunk of flesh.

The elder man stared in shock at Gaz who was absentmindedly chewing on the man's neck flesh, watching him bleed out without emotion. After a moment, he died quietly, still in shock at the events that lead to his death.

After a few moments, Gaz fiddled with the door and wandered outside back to his tribe. His mother looked at the small infant who wandered back, slowly chewing on a chunk of elf flesh and deemed him worthy of not being turned into breakfast.

He was deemed useful and a prize pet by his mother from that day forth. Often sent as a scout to prospective raiding targets, he often felt the urge to just keep walking and live as something more than as a pet. One day after a particularly harrowing trip into a dwarven village, almost costing him his life, he returned to his mother dead on the ground and was told he wuz the chief's pet now.

The yearning for freedom grew ever stronger from that day forward. Freedom from the crowded nest that was his underground home. Freedom from the tyranny of the tribe's chief. He desired change, and change is what he received not long after.

Dwarven patrols sent out from Sheercliff, the city whose alertness to foreign invasions almost cost Gaz his life, soon raided the goblin's nest, massacring every goblin in sight. They dropped tar covered torches into the child pens after soaking the screeching pen in oil, lighting them ablaze. Any survivors were meticulously decapitated as the dwarves took out their hatred upon their ancient enemies.

Having heard the tromping of the steel toed boots, Gaz dove for a small rubble filled pile, squeezing in as tightly as he could to conceal himself from the merciless massacre around him. After the shrieks and screams ended, Gaz chanced a look from his pile rubble. He saw piles of goblin corpses, each either beheaded or their throats slit. The fire of the child pens was slowly burning down to embers, the stench of burnt flesh permeating the atmosphere of the cave.

The dwarves discussed among themselves for a bit, Gaz slowly feeling the draw of sleep creep up on him as the night drew to an end. He awoke in the pile of rubble, the dwarves gone except for one by a small fire, sleeping, at least what looked like sleep to Gaz. Sensing an opportunity, he stole up behind him and ripped the dwarf's throat out with his toothy maw.

The dwarf bled out on the ground, cursing the goblin as he futilely swung at him with an oddly large brutal looking knife while his life spewed out onto the ground below him. As the dwarf took his last breath, Gaz began searching and looting his body, finding a set of leather armor, a strange cloak and a pair of strange, brutal looking knives. Not letting food go to waste, Gaz reluctantly ate the dwarf's body and left the cave, swearing never to return.

A few months ran by and Gaz slowly became accustomed to civilized life, learning he had a peculiar knack fro lifting things off of other people's persons. Gaz toured the nearest city until a show of traveling actors came to town, known as "Le Cirque De Lune". Sensing an opportunity on the horizon, he began wandering the crowds gathered to see the circus lifting purses and coin pouches, where he ran into a halfling doing the same thing as him. They stared at one another for a bit until a person in the crowd noticed them calling attention to them. As the angry looking crowd turned their gaze to Jackknife and the halfling, both of them immediately squirmed out of the crowd as fast as possible. Once the halfling was no where in sight, Jackknife relaxed until a person from the crowd called him out again, causing him to do what he did best. Hide in a pile of assorted things, in this case a pile of colorful scarves by the caravan of the circus.

Peeking his head out, he was greeted by a tiefling who introduced themselves as Toya, who had spotted him earlier. They introduced themselves as the ringleader of the "Cirque De Lune" and offered him a position as a sneak thief to rummage among the crowds. Gaz readily accepted, quickly becoming firm friends with the members of the circus.

But like all things in Gaz's life, peace was not here to stay. After several successful years with the circus, a titanic red dragon razed the city they were performing at, prompting an evacuation where he lost connection with them throughout the chaos.

Alone once more, Gaz took to a nearby port city, quickly winding up on a ship working as a mercenary. He quickly adapted to the new way of life, earning a spot in the crew itself. As he worked, his fellow crew mates (many of whom were half-orcs) gave him a nickname for the skill he used his knife among the rigging, Jackknife or Jack for short.

Gaz quickly adopted his new name, and after growing tired of the captain's increasingly ludicrous demands, staged a mutiny. Finding freedom once more, he ran a reign of terror on the bay area. Any ships sent to oppose him soon finding themselves scuttled after having their black powder stores mysteriously set ablaze by a small shadow.

He ran unopposed for a few years, earning the nickname "Shadowstalker" at the ease at which he traveled around undetected. A storm, however, soon saw that era of his life to a swift end.

A violent storm shook his ship out of nowhere, catching the whole ship unprepared. Quickly the ship sank beneath the waves and as he looked up towards the sun, he felt something so evil he could feel it suck his vitality from its mere presence change the water around him as he blacked out. He awoke on a strange shore, without his crew the only light, a tavern off in the distance of a large city.

## Appearance

Jackknife is a small figure, typically hunched over in the shadows as if trying to sink into them. When not trying to slink around, he can been seen as a small greyish-green goblin with an elongated face. He is surprisingly thin, even for a goblin. He can usually be found slinking around with his cat familiar, Socks, and carrying his pair of dragon claw kukri and daggers.

## Personality

Jackknife has a habit of messing with people he's interested in to extreme degrees. He is incredibly cynical about most things and often chooses a person as a "target". His target is usually someone who's piqued his interest enough to make him want to follow them and see what happens.

## Relationships

Kane Dragonwood (Deceased)- He was genuinely surprised he had surprised as long he did, but he had respect for the guy. He chose him as his observational target and tormented him occasionally to see his reaction.

Magoza Dragonwood- She reminds him much of the loyal crew he had serving him on his ship and as such, he has taking a hefty liking to her.

Penance- He's come across her on several occasions for mostly business matters, but respects her ability to sneak about.

Socks- Socks is Jackknife's best friend and is an emotional pillar for the goblin.

## Aspirations

He has no long term goals, merely a simple want to be able to do whatever he pleases.