Phrit

## **Phrit, The Desert Raider**

Phrit is an old and experienced explorer and adventurer who relentlessly searches the desert. She was born on a desert and lived there for a decade before moving to Derumi, and during her stay there she learned to speak kharr fluently. Despite what her age could suggest, Phrit is still very stong and nimble. She is capable of defending herself from various threats of the desert, like other raiders (both human and kharr), wild animals, monsters and undead. In addition, her right arm (which she lost as a child) has been replaced with a custom made prosthetic with build-in grappling hook she can use both as a tool and a weapon. This device can also be modified to shoot a bola instead.

If possible, Phrit prefers to work alone. She finds it exhausting to do something with others, who usually can't keep up with her pace, but is not actively against teamwork with people who proven to be useful. She keeps in contact with many people from New Satra who buy her findings and supply her with gear and various kharr adventurers who tip her about possible locations of places she could find interesting.

## **Story**

Phrit was born on sand, in a ruined temple buried underground. Her mother was a criminal exiled to the desert, and as as soon as young Phrit learned to walk, she had to help her in any job they could find. She grew up listening to the stories about the land behind the ocean, where the sun is not deadly and sky is full of clouds, a place where one does not have to struggle to survive each day. She dreamed of going there every day and night, and finally, when she was 11 years old, she sneaked onto a ship sailing to Derumi.

Once the ship docked Kingdom of Hope’s port city, she was admitted to an orphanage, as the ship’s captain found it too cruel to send her back to the desert. She remained there until she was 18, having hard time to socialize with other human children. She was fluent in Kharr, but had troubles speaking Seran, which made other kids laugh at her and spread rumors that her unknown father was actually a kharr (despite it not even being biologically possible). Her feral nature and rough conditions she had to suffer on the desert paid off however, as she could stand for herself and the others. During her years in Derumi she made very few friends, with one of them being a quiet kid named Libvell. Both of them craved fun adventures, and together caused so much headache for the orphanage staff, breaking every rule imaginable. Back then, they were just children having fun, until the dreadful day where they broke the one rule they should obey for the sake of their own sanity.

There a spire in the middle of a lake near the orphanage, and all children were strictly forbidden from ever even approaching the place. Phrit and Libvell ignored this rule and paid for it with their bodies and minds.

They sneaked out in the middle of the night and headed towards the spire. The moon was bright and the lake was shallow. They were excited. They were happy. They laughed and joked even as they entered the eerie abandoned spire, knee-deep in the stale water. They didn’t knew what was here. Phrit was occupied admiring the views while Libvell studied the strange runes carved on the walls.

The incomprehensible ethereal abomination who called the spire it’s home has striked them in a ways a human brain cannot understand. Libvell’s entire arm was torn off and Phrit lost a half of her’s while trying to save her friend. They ran, leaving their limbs, sanity and childhood innocence behind. The next day King’s Agents themselves brought the spire down and took everything from there back to Seru.

Phrit was never the same after that night. The monstrosity took not only her arm, but something else, a part of herself without which she felt… *wrong*. She saw it’s abysmal shape when she closed her eyes. She saw things unimaginable in her dreams, the endless caverns at the bottom of bottomless ocean of dust and darkness, from where something watched. The remembered the runes from the spire vividly. These were somehow familiar, but it took her a lot of time to remind herself why. After many years and many therapy sessions she managed to dig out an absurdly old memory. Underground. Ruined halls. Sand. *Runes carved on the walls*.

That revelation began Phrit’s life-long quest of finding the ruins where she was born in hopes of finding answers about the monster which took something from her, and the nature of her morbid dreams. The desert called, and she returned there willingly armed with a prosthetic hand made in her old friend’s laboratory. She traced her past, but the search was fruitless. She raided many ruins, found treasures and monsters, friend and foes, but not the answers she wanted. She was not alone in the search, and Libvell, who took a different path in life, had her back from New Satra.

The desert is vast, but not endless. And this place is somewhere there, buried under the sand. Waiting.

## **In-game**

Phrit is a burst assassin, with hard to use but extremly powerful Constrict ability which allows her to instantly close the gap and deal heavy damage. With her grappling hook she can dash across the map, both vertically and horizontally, which makes her one of the most mobile characters in the game.

Abilities
This ability stores up to 3 charges.
 Constrict
When she gets further than 15 blocks from constricted enemy she instantly blinks to them, dealing damage and stunning them for 1 second.
 Left for Dead
The enemy is then defiled for 3 seconds while Phrit gains 80% speed for 1 second and self-disarm for 3 seconds.

## **Trivia**

* Phrit was the first playable character not designed and coded wavgudbye. MrKisiel's only contribution in the code was changing the grappling hook from a blink to dash.
* Phrit's gender was decided by a coin toss.
* Many themes of her backstory (the forbidden spire, unknown monster and permanent damage to character's sanity) were inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.