Emasi

**Emasi** is a veteran hunter that once worked for the Hunter's Haven in Etropa. He operated as a hunter and as protector of the guild and its staff.

## Description

### Appearance

Emasi is a well-built middle aged man with greying brown hair styled in a pompadour. He also has prominent sideburns and a goatee. He is usually dressed in heavy plate armor made from the parts of creature he himself has hunted, a custom shared by all hunters of the region.

### Personality

Emasi initially appears to be the poster boy of a paladin; courageous, protective of others and devoted to his cause. However, Emasi is a also man of rigid principles that allow for little to no flexibility of thought. He devoted himself to the Hunter's Guild and the Gourmand King, believing both to be righteous and worthy of following. Much of this is in his belief that the king and the guild have built their society from nothing, and have offered purpose to those that had none. He is very quick to dismiss doubting and criticism of either of these things, preferring to trust them implicitly. While he would call this faith, others would name it blindness.

There are instances where Emasi is seen to act in a respectable and honorable manner. He vouches for the renegade survivors of the Hunter's Haven, believing them to be good people who are simply misled. He offers them a chance to peacefully resolve their issue and is mostly honest in his dealings. However, a glaring exception to this is his treatment of Shandeme. Grief-stricken by the death of his friends, Emasi gave into his dark urges and deceived his fellow hunters to get himself in a prime position to murder Shandeme. In contrast to the aghast hunters, Emasi saw this unlawful execution as a righteous act, and felt no remorse for the deed. His only regret was the means of deception he used to get the unsavory act done. This paints Emasi as a hypocrite, willing to bend the holy vows he has taken in favor of personal vendettas, something he claims to abhor.

## History

At some point before Phase 2, Emasi was enrolled into Hunter's Guild of Etropa. Over the years, he made his way up the ranks to becoming a seasoned hunter. He was eventually stationed at the Hunter's Haven deep in the forests, where he acted as a guardian of the outpost. He was well acquainted with the staff members and other hunters there and considered most of them to be his friends.

## Story

### Airship Down

During the unnatural pandemonium in the nearby forests, Emasi elected to stay behind at the Haven than join his fellow hunters out in the frenzied fray. For a long period of time, no hunters returned. Eventually, a signal flare was sent up, requesting an airship. Emasi joined the Haven's instructor, Terune as they piloted an airship to collect the hunters. However, a strange missile punctured a hole in the hull and caused the airship to crash land in the forests.

Both Emasi and Terune survived the crash and attempted to salvage what they could to survive during the night. Some time after they crashed, a group of five newly recruited hunters arrived. The new recruits informed them that they were the ones who signaled for help. However, they were soon joined by a terrifying, unnatural beast that had power over illusions and dangled a corpse to lure out prey. Emasi aided the hunters in taking down the beast. Upon examination, they concluded it was like no monster they had ever seen before, also appearing to be manufactured. It was also clear that it was the beast that shot down the airship, something that no monster had ever done before. Not long after its defeat, the group was alerted to a harrowing sight; the Hunter's Haven ablaze in the distance.

### Fire and Murder

Travelling on foot, Emasi returned with the six other survivors returned to find his home ablaze. Inside, they found the bloodied remains of Guildkeep Frimme, whose wounds suggested she'd been slain by a scythe. Emasi and Terune stayed briefly with their deceased friend while the other hunters went on ahead. Emasi joined them after some time, only to find the group in the company of the culprit, Shandeme. Emasi, incredulous, demanded to know why they were siding with a murderer. However, the situation was more complex than that.

Shandeme revealed to Dirk Mannily and his cohorts that the Gourmand King was using a facility known as the Spire of Euclid to create more and more dangerous monsters and releasing them unto the wild. His plan was to infiltrate and shut down the Spire using a set of magical stones that had been kept in the possession of certain individuals. Shandeme's method of obtaining these stones, however, was simply to kill those in possession of them, which is what he had just done to the inhabitants of the Haven. A rift had thus formed between the group, who held a stand-off on one of the Haven's rope bridges. Though on the side of Pickles and Haio, who believed Shandeme should be punished for his crimes, Emasi dismissed talk of the Spire and Shandeme being of another world as the ravings of a madman, and demanded he be executed on the spot. This particular course of action was overruled, with the majority of the group convinced of the Spire's existence and deciding Shandeme should be bound. Shandeme's initially refusal saw him pushed from the bridge by Pickles and then rescued by the telekinetic powers of Haio, who reiterated Shandeme be bound. Shandeme acquiesced, and Emasi, enraged that the man who killed his friends might walk away from this, argued against it once more.

Haio once again tried to persuade Emasi to stand down and allow them to take Shandeme captive. Her attempt was unsuccessful, and Emasi was unmoved from his course. He pretended to relent and asked that he might personally inspect the bindings to ensure Shadmeme could not escape. The novice hunters allowed him to do so. With the opportunity presented to him, Emasi thrust his greatsword into the back of Shandeme and threw him from the bridge towards the forest floor below. The party was outraged at Emasi's actions, witnessing the supposed execution of an unarmed prisoner. Emasi coldly informed them he did not care what they thought of him, and that he was satisfied that he had avenged his friends. The veteran hunter then left the shell-shocked party to save what they could of the Haven, and to deliberate on their next move.

### Meeting with the King

Some time after the attack on the Hunter's Haven, Emasi was brought before the Gourmand King to provide a witness report on what had happened. Emasi explained to his liege what had transpired, including Shandeme's desire to open the Spire of Euclid. The Gourmand King then revealed to Emasi that the Spire was in fact real, though its purpose was supposedly different from what he had previously heard. The king stated that the Spire was in fact the prison of an extremely dangerous and powerful creature, one so mighty that all of Etropa was a risk if it should be released. He informed Emasi that the hunters he had met previously in the Haven were now trying to open the Spire by activating a set of runestones that were spread across the land. He tasked Emasi with protecting the final runestone from these misguided adventurers, claiming their actions would lead them to ruin. Emasi, having no inclination to doubt the words his king, agreed to assist.

### Protecting the Rune Stone

Emasi, with four other veteran members of the Hunter's Guild, set out to protect the last runestone as per the Gourmand King's instruction. Upon arriving, Emasi chose to stand guard of the stone while the others fanned out and went into hiding nearby. After some days, the renegade hunters arrived at the ruins. Emasi declared that he was willing to be diplomatic and that there did not have to be violence between them. The party agreed to talk with him, but only once Emasi signaled his allies to reveal themselves. Emasi informed the party what the Gourmand King told him and stated that he believed they were misguided, not malicious in their intentions. He made them an offer to be taken to an audience with the king to discuss the matter further. Alternatively, they could leave and return to being hunters, or perhaps seek work elsewhere if the job no longer appealed to them.

However, Dirk Mannily declared he had no such trust in the king, who he had never met, or Emasi, who had previously deceived them. Dirk and Haio also brought up Emasi's previous misdeeds in the execution of Shandeme, a deed both considered unbefitting of a knight like Emasi. This proclamation made the paladin's allies uncomfortable, but they stood their ground. Emasi, meanwhile, was taken aback, and retorted that the man had killed his friends and it was only natural that he avenge them. He also pointed out that they, like him, should be thankful to the Gourmand King for giving them a living as hunters when no other place would take them. He faced down accusations of being blindly loyal to the Gourmand King by proclaiming his oath was to the king and the true nature of the Spire was irrelevant to his duties, as it was to theirs. He denied seeing any evidence of the unnatural goings on that the renegades and Shandeme claimed to see, and opening the Spire for the sake of curiosity was too much of a risk.

The discussion coming to a head, Dirk Mannily cast a Zone of Truth on Emasi, and asked one question of the man; did he regret killing Shandeme. After a moment's hesitation, Emasi affirmed that he felt no guilt for his actions, only guilt for the deception he had to sink to in order to do so. As far as he was concerned, it was one less monster to worry about. After a moment, the overdramatic hunter Dirk approached Emasi, appearing to be willing to eschew violence and hear him out. Though there were some closing points of dissent from Nexi and Erik, Emasi reiterated his demands, that they leave the stone alone and find work wherever they can, that they trust in the Gourmand King. Dirk offered his hand and Emasi, relieved, accepted. Dirk, however, stated that Emasi looked exactly as Shandeme had upon his demise. And taking the deceived paladin off-guard, Dirk attacked, temporarily crippling Emasi's hand. And with that denouement, the two groups of hunters engaged in combat.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Battlemaster**: Emasi is a trained fighter capable of deadly maneuvers on the battlfield.
* **Blighted Anjelops Greatsword**: The greatsword Emasi wields, crafted from the body parts of a Blighted Anjelops, grant him the capacity to tap into the holy powers of a paladin, granting him the ability to heal wounds and smite his enemies with radiant energy.

## Triva

* Emasi functions as a player character when in combat. Specifically, Emasi follows the convention of this campaign in being a fighter primarily, with his secondary class being paladin.