company. Wait, no, that's not right...
of some kind. No that's not quite right either...
. No, that's definitely not right. How about...
. Nope. Definitely not.
because his last attempt, while successful hasn't yielded desirable opportunities. While he once again delves into science, he has always been somewhat more proficient with Language Arts and Social Studies, but didn't really see much of a future in those fields. Nazmazh is also an expert on all sorts of
, going so far as to captain a Reach For The Top (Think a four-player-per team two team
game.
on occasion. This is most likely an exaggeration, as are any
stuff. It gets kind of old after a while.
led me to it.
. I've made some minor edits here and there in the past. (I have Wiki Gnome tendencies.)
The bulk of it is in place now.
campaign (which may instead be turned into an outright story/comic, if/when I learn how to draw any better) I've been writing to kill some time.
, helping me better describe and understand my characters and giving me ideas for plots and settings. I thought it'd be nice to give back in some way.
. I got it from a
fansite that had a "your name in... x" generator. I've been using the
as an internet handle for a while now. In spite of it being an orcish name, I've always preferred to apply it to Goblin-type characters. It's also served as the name of many characters of mine, from
Below lies some tropes relating to the DnD Campaign mentioned above. Mostly for my own personal reference. Somewhat of an
Tropes applying to the whole of Total Mercenary Solutions:
Goodwyn Phoenicius
- Race: Tiefling
- Gender: Male
- Age: 26
- Class: Warlord
Founder and leader of the Total Mercenary Solutions company. His typical way of operating is finding the right mercenary for the job (and taking a finder's fee) instead of actually fighting every battle himself. Despite this, he does have a small crew of regulars that he goes on missions with, if the situation calls for it. Wears a long, purple coat, which is his old uniform jacket from when he was part of of the Wizards' Guild Security in his home city of Pactstone.
Tropes applying to Goodwyn
- Badass Longcoat: His purple trench coat
- Blue Blood
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Despite any of his claims otherwise, he is compelled to do the right thing.
- Combat Medic: More combat than medic, but he has healing and some Status Buff capabilities. Overlaps this role with Velia, who is more medic than combat; and Nazmazh, who is more just a plain The Medic with Status Buff capabilities.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Disappeared Dad: See Parental Neglect below
- Guile Hero
- Half-Human Hybrid / Our Demons Are Different: In Dungeons & Dragons, a child of a Tiefling is always a Tiefling, regardless of the other parent.
- Heroes Prefer Swords + Luckily My Shield Will Protect Me: To be fair, this is pretty standard warlord weaponry
- Horned Humanoid: Much to his annoyance. He frequently catches his horns on doorways and typically has to move beds away from walls just to sleep in them.
- Magnetic Hero The gods, it seem, intend this to be his ultimate destiny: Gathering the best the world has to offer to face the most dangerous foes ever seen
- Neutral Good: Though he claims to be Chaotic Neutral or True Neutral.
- Only Sane Employee: At times
- Parental Neglect: Goodwyn's mother is a high-ranking member of the Wizards' Guild in the Imperial Capital, Pactstone. The Archmagus, in fact. She never really had time for him as he was growing up. She ensured that he had the finest of all things while growing up, but was utterly distant. She even more or less told Goodwyn that he was conceived solely because she needed "the blood of a Devil child of her own bloodline" as a spell component.
- Railroading: The whole TMS angle is used as a framing device for the story. If the PCs get a little too out of bounds, he's there to nudge them back on course.
- Rebel Prince He is the son of the Archmagus of the Mizrican Empire and nephew to the Grand Duke of Phoenicia He instead has chosen to forge his own path as a mercenary.
- The Aragorn: The PCs will be out doing the major missions, but what of their allies? They're off doing another related task.
- The Captain
- The Hero: Amongst the NPC allies, anyway.
- The Strategist
- Unfortunate Names: Goodwyn is named after an obscure mythical figure. In one of the myriad versions of mythology, Goodwyn was the name of one of a group of fallen adventurers that ushered in the great Cataclysm that wiped out all civilization some 4500 years ago. Most people are not aware of this context to his name, thankfully. Those who are wonder why anyone would name their child that. (I guess the best way to compare it would be to imagine someone in our world naming their kid Dagon)
Huanya
- Race: Deva
- Gender: Male
- Age: 10 (Since last ressurection)
- Class: Invoker of Ioun
The second permanent member of TMS, Huanya joined up with Goodwyn after Goodwyn's timely intervention prevented a misunderstanding from getting out of hand.
As a Deva, Huanya has reincarnated from previous forms. Usually Devas have access to the memories of all their predecessors, however, Huanya's last incarnation is completely absent from his mind. Known only to Huanya because he left a tome containing a brief introduction at his sacred resurrection site, the wizard Vercinge is a complete mystery, aside from his mission to create a grand library of arcane knowledge.
Huanya's own mission is slightly different, he is to gather as much knowledge as he can about all manner of things, mundane or otherwise. As such he is constantly chronicling all manner of things as he travels through the world.
Aside from Vercinge, Huanya has had a few previous incarnations that he is aware of:
General Zumah
A warlord sent to organize a formerly nomadic tribe into a proper fighting force in order to defend the nexus point that they had settled on. He perished in the final battle to secure the region. The city that was founded there bore his name.
Moctegamesh
A cleric of Ioun sent to help formalize worship of the gods and foster understanding of magic and the power of the nexus point. He saw the city of Zumah through a peaceful golden age, but at the height of the city's power, was assassinated by a cult of Vecna.
Torix
An avenger of Ioun. This female Deva was sent as an incarnation of Ioun's wrath. Her mandate was to seek vengeance for the death of her predecessor and purge the cult of Vecna from the region. She operated in secret, not entirely sure of how widespread the corruption was. With the assistance of a few trusted confidants, she was able to ferret out a few cells of Vecna worshipers, all the while seeking the leaders of the heretical movement. She eventually did find those responsible: The elders of the Church of Ioun and the entire City Council had been drawn into Vecna worship. Before she could spread the word to the remaining innocent citizens of Zumah, she was betrayed by one of her confidants and slain.
Kasander
A paladin of Ioun. With Torix dead, Vecna worship became the formalized norm in Zumah. Ioun sent her champion once again, to rally an army of the righteous and rid the world of this foul infestation once and for all. His siege of the city culminated in a final confrontation with the high priest of Vecna. The priest cast a curse upon him, one designed to slay and bind a person to the caster's will as an undead servant. However, the curse was not designed to harm immortal beings such as the Deva. With his final act, Kasander struck down the priest. The city of Zumah was all but destroyed in the siege and lost to the sands of the surrounding desert. This was a strange death and it took many long years before the wizard Vercinge was reborn in Kasander's place.
Tropes applying to Huanya:
Morana Medea
- Race: Human
- Gender: Female
- Age: 24
- Class: Warlock
Morana grew up as an orphan on the streets of Rughal. She was raised in the orphanage House Medea, most raised there use Medea as a surname. She managed to make her way through life as a thief and pickpocket, constantly moving around the city once she was old enough to be on her own. One day she made the mistake of trying to steal from the wrong man, a high-ranking member of the local Gustavson criminal syndicate. Spotted by one of the gangster's bodyguards, she had no choice but to run and hide. They were persistent, however and she quickly found her normal escape routes cut off. She ducked into the nearest building, a library.
With the thugs still in pursuit, Morana scurried between rows of bookshelves, hoping to find a place to hide. She came across a door at the back of the building, which led her down a long, winding hallway. At the end of the hall, she found a small room, containing several very old books, written in languages she didn't read, some in a bookcase and some stacked on the small desk in the corner. One tome in particular, sitting open on the desk, seemed to call out to her. Morana's every instinct told her to leave this place, but she could not resist the compulsion to reach out and touch the book.
As soon as her hand made contact with the dusty page a sudden surge of energy overtook her. Images flashed before Morana's eyes, too quickly to make anything out clearly. When Morana regained consciousness, she grabbed the book and headed for the entrance of the library. She saw an old man talking with some city guards. The guards saw her sneaking around and approached her. On instinct, Morana fled. Outside, the Gustavson thugs were still hanging around the library, waiting for her to re-emerge. Morana turned the corner into the nearest alley, the gangsters and guards both in pursuit. Unfortunately, the alley was a dead end.
Cornered, Morana thought that the game was up when suddenly, a bolt of arcane energy sprung from her raised hands, blasting the nearest guard backwards. This gave her pursuers pause, but they soon started closing in again. Once more, Morana raised her hands. This time the energy struck a thug. He dropped to his knees and appeared to wither slightly. She channeled this strange new sensation and fired several more blasts, sending her foes reeling. The man she had originally stolen from fled the alleyway screaming for his life.
As Morana left the alley, she caught a glimpse of herself in glass window. Her light brown hair had turned to a blood-red colour. Her brown eyes had become an unnaturally pale blue. Her skin had become very pale. Before she could really consider this, she noticed a larger contingent of guards approaching down the streets. For the first time in her life, Morana left the Phoenician capital city. Not knowing where to go, she drifted, heading northeast, catching rides with trade caravans and walking with other travelers. Eventually she found herself in the Principality of Graedia and its capital city, Kono.
Seeking to get out of a quickly worsening snowstorm, she headed into a tavern and found a seat near the fireplace. While warming herself, several local barflies took it upon themselves to harass the pretty new stranger. She calmly and politely told them to leave her alone, which they took some exception to. As one grabbed her wrist, two figures sitting at a table in the corner jumped up, looking to intervene. Before these would-be rescuers could do anything further, Morana's arm glowed with a purple energy and her assailant screamed in agony. "She's a witch! Get her!" The Tiefling and Deva intercepted several of the barflies friends and together Morana, Goodwyn and Huanaya easily fought off the drunkards.
After the dust settled, Goodwyn asked the young lady if she would like to join them in their small mercenary company. Though she was used to being self reliant, the strangers unprompted kindness intrigued her and she accepted.
Tropes applying to Morana:
- Badass Longcoat: (Yes, I know, it seems like I really like this trope) Unlike Goodwyn and Huanya, Morana's long vest really serves no purpose. She just wanted a long coat so that she fit in with the others.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Her reason for joining up with TMS. Goodwyn and Huanya's Redundant Rescue was one of the first genuine acts of kindness that someone had preformed for her.
- Black Magician Girl
- Blue Eyes: Piercing and icy. Witch's eyes definitely describes them.
- Chaotic Neutral
- Conveniently an Orphan: The man she stole from when the chain of events was set in motion is actually her uncle. Her father, who never knew about her is the current head of the Gustavson Crime Syndicate
- Cutting the Knot: Goodwyn proposes long, complex plans, Morana prefers to take the direct route to problem solving. Sometimes to Leeroy Jenkins levels, especially if she's suffering a Super Power Meltdown / Unstoppable Rage.
- Deadpan Snarker: Much more so than Goodwyn.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Well, her hair's more red than brown.
- Fingerless Gloves
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: She's not exactly clear on how she gained her powers. This is intentional. She did make a pact with the demonic spirit sealed in the book in order to escape her pursuers but the memory was wiped from her mind.
- Life Drain: Not as a necessity, but is one of her abilities.
- Loveable Rogue
- Peek-a-Bangs
- Perky Goth: She's not exactly Goth, but it is a fairly apt description of her nature compared to her look.
- Power Glows: Whenever she uses her warlock abilities, her eyes glow purple and there is a visible purple aura around her hands and forearms.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Malachite's blue.
- Satisfied Street Rat
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Her tome
- Superpowered Evil Side: You wouldn't like her when she's angry.
- The Lancer
- The Smurfette Principle: Was the only female member of TMS until Velia joined. However, Morana was definitely never The Chick.
- Touched by Vorlons: Her gaining of powers from an ancient tome.
Malachite
- Race: Warforged
- Gender: None, identifies as Male
- Age: Unknown
- Class: Warlock
While camping alongside a lonely stretch of road in the Vidus principality en route to a mediation job, Goodwyn, Huanya and Morana were approached by a mysterious figure in a long fur-lined coat. It was a strange looking Warforged, plated in copper and brass instead of the usual steel and iron. He had metal slats fashioned into horns, of sorts, meant to resemble a Tiefling. There were ribbons of alchemical metals inlaid into his armour, as well as several runic inscriptions. He had a few wisps of lichen sprouting from gaps in his armour, mostly around his head. He joined them at their fire and while brewing a kettle of tea, told them his strange tale.
Malachite, as he was called, had awakened in the ruins of what had once been a laboratory of some sort. From what he found scattered around, it belonged to a Dwarven artificer, named Haarmann Zincheart, and this was one of his many hidden workshops. Zincheart had apparently unearthed a tomb where a large regiment of Warforged soldiers had been sealed in stasis, as a sort of honour guard. Zincheart had been removing the Warforged and tinkering around with them, experimenting with various combinations of weaponry and power sources. Malachite bore the mark, Wk-2, indicating that he was the second warlock experiment.
Ever since he awoke, Malachite had been wandering, searching for Zincheart or his other labs (the locations of which were purposefully left out of Haarmann's journals); any other awakened experiments (which were only alluded to in the reports, serial numbers without locations) or the original tomb (a closely guarded secret of Haarmann's which only he and a few trusted assistants knew).
Why the coat? Well, even though Warforged aren't exactly seen as monsters in the Mizrican Empire, a lone, strange-looking wanderer can often be mistaken for some sort of beastly creature. Malachite found that wearing a coat and carrying a few unnecessary provisions, such as his tea, made people less likely to assume he was a mindless brute.
Goodwyn was very intrigued after hearing Malachite's tale. He offered the Warforged the chance to join them. In exchange, they would help him with his search when downtime and funds permitted. True, that they already had a warlock in their group, but Goodwyn has never been the type to turn away an interesting, useful person simply because of ability overlap.
Tropes applying to Malachite:
Vidar Ashborn
- Race: Minotaur
- Gender: Male
- Age: 32
- Class: Fighter
Vidar was a guard in his relatively isolationist village in the steppes of the Vidus principality. His village, Ashendale, was downhill from a mining community, Ironbury. A miners' strike had turned violent. Miners fleeing the Ironbury Magistrate's local soldiers and mercenary forces triggered a rockslide, causing extensive damage to the Minotaur village and trapping several villagers, including Vidar, beneath rubble. Believing the Minotaurs to somehow be in league with the miners, the Magistrate's forces began attacking the village. Vidar was helpless, unable to free himself. A soldier closed in to deliver a fatal blow.
But, the blow was parried. A Tiefling in a purple coat blocked the attack. His allies disarmed and chased off the soldier. They were apparently mercenaries hired by the Prince of Vidus himself to act as mediators during the negotiations that were supposed to take place. TMS helped Vidar out of the rubble and protected the Ashendale villagers from the overzealous soldiers. Vidar's culture demanded that because Goodwyn had saved him from certain death, that his life now belonged to the Tiefling. Goodwyn tried to politely decline this eternal servitude, but there was little that could persuade the Minotaurs in the matter. To refuse this offer would imply that the life was not one worth saving, a most grievous insult.
After communicating the day's events to the Prince, TMS's instructions were to do what the could to mitigate the violence and damage to surrounding areas while the Prince's army was dispatched to put an end to the violence. Goodwyn instead came up with a plan that he hoped would bring resolution to the conflict and resume meaningful negotiations before the Prince's forces arrived. After a brief trek to the nearby Dwarven citadel,
Boatslain Fortress to arm themselves with better weaponry, TMS split its now 5-strong forces. Vidar, Morana and Malachite slipped past the Magistrate's guards and took the noble himself hostage. Vidar's brute strength, with the support of the two warlocks repelled any rescue attempts by the Magistrate's guards. Meanwhile, Goodwyn and Huanya infiltrated the miners' camp and spoke face-to-face with the foreman that had initiated the strike. He had been unable to control the violence used by some of his more aggressive workers and surrendered himself to Goodwyn's custody in hopes that it would keep his men in line.
The two groups brought their respective prisoners back to the negotiation table and were able to get them to agree to a mutual agreement, including restoration work in Ashendale village. Vidar continues to serve as Goodwyn's faithful bodyguard and the go-to muscle of TMS.
Tropes applying to Vidar:
Nazmazh
- Race: Goblin
- Gender: Male
- Age: 20
- Class: Artificer
Nazmazh's early life is mostly uninteresting, he was raised in large warren of Goblins in the mountains of Vidus, near the Dwarven citadel known as Boatslain Fortress. The Goblins were more or less peaceful towards their more civilized neighbours, even if they did not officially join civilization. They still would attack the occasional caravan or raid a local farm if the need arose, but they were considered pests at most. At the age of 14, as part of a coming-of-age ritual, Nazmazh, along with several other young Goblins snuck into Boatslain Fortress. They were tasked with retrieving an object of value each and then sneaking back out of the citadel, unnoticed. Nazmazh broke into the laboratory of an artificer.
While looking through the lab for something of value to steal, Nazmazh accidentally started up a small music box. It began to play, but was broken. Nazmazh was suddenly seized with a compulsion to open up the trinket and repair it. Using the tools he found in the workshop, Nazmazh took apart the music box, replaced the faulty part and had just finished reassembling it when the artificer, finally roused from his sleep by all the racket, stumbled into his laboratory to find the intruder sitting at his workbench.
The Dwarven artificer was impressed that the Goblin could grasp the mechanical principles involved in the music box repair and had the skill with the tools that he found laying around to repair it and took Nazmazh as an apprentice, not exactly something the young Goblin expected to happen. He never returned to his warren, finding this new vocation much more satisfying. In a few short years, Nazmazh had mastered many skills and could be called a talented artificer in his own right. However, Nazmazh was often considered little more than a novelty by the Dwarves, as one might consider a dancing bear or painting monkey.
When Goodwyn and his growing band of mercenaries travelled to Boatslain Fortress during the Miners' Dispute, they looked to stock up on magical and alchemical weapons. Goodwyn was quite impressed by the quality of work Nazmazh was able to produce. With the Dwarven master artificer's blessing, Goodwyn offered the young Goblin a chance to join his team as a permanent craftsman and tinkerer after the resolution of the conflict, making him the sixth permanent member of the group.
Tropes applying to Nazmazh:
Torvald
- Race: Longtooth Shifter
- Gender: Male
- Age: 41
- Class: Warden
Vrahin
- Race: Elf
- Gender: Male
- Age: 1080
- Class: Druid
Velia
- Race: Human Actually, Changeling
- Gender: Female
- Age: 21
- Class: Cleric of Erathis
