Dirken

[Dirken]

Name: Dirken Shale
Age: 26
Race: Human
Height: 165cm
Weight: 62kg

Physical description: Dirken is reasonably muscular, with tanned skin and dark hair cropped an inch or so from his head. Surprisingly for somebody in his line of work, he does not have many scars to mar his appearance. He is rather plain-looking, neither particularly good-looking nor exceptionally ugly, although his blocky features are considered mildly unpleasant-looking to many.

He usually wears modest, travel-worn clothing of leather and cloth of reasonably good weave, the sort of clothes a seasoned traveller would favourdue to their hard-wearing qualities. Anybody paying particularly close attention would notice that he always takes extremely good care of his boots. He carries most of his possessions in a small sack slung over his shoulder.

Possessions: As well as the usual travelling essentials (spare clothing and so forth), Dirk owns two very well-looked-after tailored suits that look far too expensive for him. He also has a small collection of jewellery, mostly rings and the occasional brooch -- although appearing to be expensive, detailed analysis would reveal that the majority of these pieces are made from cheap metal alloys and glass, although there is one genuine silver ring containing an important-looking but obscure seal. He also carries a small amount of money; about what one would expect to pay for a room and food in an inn for a couple of nights, no more. He owns two fighting daggers in very good repair, one with runes etched on the blade that appear mysterious at a glance but in fact have no magical function whatsoever (they are, however, dangerous -- close inspection would reveal that the "runes" are a pattern of rivulets etched in the blade to allow poison to flow across it from a vial concealed in the handle). His most prized possession is a small collection of poisons, detailed below:

- Deadly poison -- liquid
Carried in a very small metal container wrapped in cloth and strapped to his thigh, directly next to the antidote (also liquid). Affects the nervous system. Usually causes death about 25-30 minutes after exposure via cardiac arrest. Extremely potent -- a drop is more than enough to kill, but it must enter the bloodstream; thus the poison is almost always ineffective if, say, slipped into a drink. Carries enough poison to kill three targets, but almost never uses it; firstly because it's so traceable and thus incriminating evidence, and secondly because he doesn't want to risk cutting and accidentally killing himself. Antidote is effective if administered within approximately 20 minutes.

- Sleep poison -- herbal
Carried as a small bundle of herbs in his pack. Works as a sedative; puts most targets to sleep within half an hour and sleeps for about an hour; times vary depending on metabolism. Must be taken orally. Works best when chewed; can be boiled into a tea, but this affects the potency so that large amounts are needed. Can be resisted by particularly resilient people such as heavy drinkers. No antidote is carried due to the relatively harmless nature of the drug. Dirken carries enough to put 5 people to sleep via chewing, or two people via brewing into a tea.

- Paralysis poison -- liquid
Carried in Dirken's hip flask. Works on the nervous system and must enter the bloodstream -- usually harmless if taken orally, although not something many people would like to risk. Dirken uses this poison on his "runic" blade -- it paralyses the muscles immediately surrounding a wound for a few minutes and begins to act almost immediately. Is not dangerous unless used on particularly important muscles, such as if the blade barely misses the heart. This is Dirken's favourite, but he rarely has the opportunity to use it since it requires some time to prepare and fill his blade, so cannot be used if he is taken by surprise.

Strengths:

Slight magic resistance: Dirken can usually see through a simple illusion or resist a minor compulsion or sleeping spell, but that's as far as his resistance goes -- if he's hit by a fireball, he gets cooked as much as anybody else.

Forgery and acting: Dirken is a brilliant forger of documents and very good at pretending to be somebody that he's not -- practically his whole life is an act. He also has a knack for fooling people into assuming he's an expert in things that he isn't (this does not, of course, work on actual experts, to whom he would look silly spinning absolute nonsense about whatever topic is at hand).

Some knowledge of poisons: Dirk knows quite a bit about the three poisons he carries, although practically nothing about any others.

Weaknesses:

Slight magic resistance: Dirken can't turn his magic resistance off. Unfortunately this means that while he's quite vulnerable to most aggressive magic, he automatically resists the healing spells that most people would care to use on him. Any magical assistance in healing, or anything beneficial, is usually out of his price range since the weak stuff that most of his peers would deal with is ineffective on him.

Fighting: Dirk cannot fight. He is terrible at it. The only time he has a realistic chance of winning a fight is if he's prepared his poisoned blade in advance -- otherwise his choices are run or be beaten.

Cowardice/Overestimation of the reach of a limited skill set: Dirk usually appears very confident, because he believes he can bluff his way through anything. If confronted by a situation that he can't trick his way out of, he becomes very easy to handle. Although he loves to project a confident, "lovable rogue" personality in normal circumstances, Dirk turns into a complete coward when he seriously thinks there's a chance that he may personally get hurt.

History:
Dirken has many stories of his past, that of the runaway prince searching for his sister or exiled after being framed for a crime, the kid kidnapped by pirates who just wants to get home, the rogue trader born on the road, already on the run for crimes committed by his father...

All of them are lies. They do make it easier for a mark to part with their money, though.

In fact, Dirken Shale was born the unremarkable second son of a farmer in one of the many small farming communities littered throughout Pal Tahrenor. The fact that he had no inheritance waiting for him to grow up didn't bother him -- farming was hard, unglamorous work in which he had no interest. He found that there were other, easier ways to get things from other people in the village. Turning in a thief or vandal would net a small reward. Sometimes, threatening to turn them in would net a bigger one from the transgressor. And if no such criminal was available, framing somebody worked pretty well too.

And that was how Dirk became a bounty hunter, albeit not a particularly honest one.

After reaching eighteen years of age, Dirk took a few items of value from his neighbours and left the village (the items turned out to be worthless junk, of course, but to a boy who had never set foot in a city before the paltry jewellery of a farmer's wife had seemed valuable at the time). He made his living off odds and ends, a combination of scam artist, bounty hunter and mercenary. Where there was no crime or business to profit from, he invented some, always hiding his calculating, almost psychopathic self behind a lovable rogue persona. Although he had had to leave town in a hurry a few times, Dirk's rather average skills were never enough to attract any real attention, positive or negative, from the world at large, and he continued living an anonymity, another faceless cog in the dark, slightly rusty part of the engine of civilisation, for eight years.

Deluded by his inflated sense of self-worth and exaggerated view of his own brilliance, he has moved on to the town of Marn. A backwater place like this in the middle of the desert, so primitive as to be deathly afraid of magic... such a town would be a pushover. He could pull some money from the local law enforcement by mopping up criminals with prices on their heads, pull some money from the locals with his wonderfully intricate scams, and be out before anyone knew what happened! Surely...

[Frug]

Approved - sorry for the delay.