[Mister Kent]

The World’s History:
-        The World is created and destroyed in successive cycles, known as Ages
-        Ages are ended by an Armageddon Event, destroying most of the World
-        The Last Age’s Armageddon was a massive meteorite storm, the Great Fall
-        Void King was a massive being who shielded his people from Armageddon
-        VK died, but his people built new capital Voidheim within his colossal remains
-        Some clans of people survived the Fall through other mystical means
-        Other smaller nations have broken off from the Kingdom, some lost contact
-        There are islands floating in the sky (skylands), meteorites that never landed
-        Only recently is there reliable tech to reach them: airships and steamworks
-        Booming industries include scavenging, airship R&D, and reclaiming ruins
-        It is now 1980 years After the Fall (AF), and the World remains chaotic

[Mister Kent]

Some questions to consider as we go into the weekend. Just answer in a couple sentences.

ABI
•   How did you first hear about the painting and Maze?
•   Who is responsible for the fall of the Shadow Temple? Where are they?

BOBO
•   What safehouse are you in currently? Who owns it?
•   What terrifying thing did you briefly conjure while still an apprentice?

ELGE
•   What was the team’s first job together? Who was the job’s MVP?
•   What is the Sparkledog population in Void City like? How do you fit in?

FUKUR0
•   When did the team first encounter reptile goddess Sarparajni’s cult?
•   Why does someone want you dead—NOT the team, but YOU specifically?

GPS
•   What was the team’s last job before the heist? Why did it fail?
•   Where is the Triton territory nearest to Void City? Why did you leave?

JIISURI
•   Where was the False Chanterelle kept? How did you infiltrate?
•   What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve sold at market? The most illegal?

Q-BIT
•   Who is the team’s regular job broker/fence/informer?
•   Who was the last person to die due to your actions/inactions? Do you regret it?

TDK
•   How did you lose your 10th teammate, fallen paladin Sir Grace? (he was the one who brought Luis onto the team)
•   How did you wager a temporary truce between your team and your rivals?

ZIGZIGAROO
•   How did the Queen’s White Jacquets get onto your team’s trail?
•   What horrifying scene did you once discover while on a very important job?

[Dechado]

�   What was the team�s first job together? Who was the job�s MVP?

Sometimes your past won't let go, nulling any chance to forge your future.

The runaway, guided by his god, found shelter in a monastery, whose residents specialized in curing others. It wasn't long before Luis was able to make a name for himself among the people of both his new order, and towns nearby. For once, he seemed to be happy.

His fame soon spread through the region, eventually finding way to reach unfriendly and greedy ears.
Led by a clergy not so far away from Luis' current housing, a Paladin who went with the name of Sir Grace, was sent to "retrieve" the unguided chosen one, for a higher purpose within the ranks of the church. With little to say about it, the Order of monks and nuns who Luis called family, had no option but to follow the demands the Paladin presented.

Little did everyone know, that Sir Grace had other plans in mind. Instead of going directly to their destination, a detour was taken. Luis inquired quickly, but he only received a small and cold answer: "For a mightier purpose"

They eventually met with some other people, who seemed to be waiting for Sir Grace, and only him, for a lot of eyes with a slight mistrust were suddenly focused on Luis.
The Paladin explained and introduced the Cleric as the 10th member.

But... Member of what.

Without chance to express his discontent about this, Luis started following quietly, as he felt Sir Grace's stare judging him.
Didn't take long for the new member to realize this was a crime, a petty one, but a crime nonetheless.
He tried calling them all out, guided by his moral compass, but had his mouth shut by the Paladin. "For a mightier purpose" Sir Grace whispered.

The group divided, one consisting of Rogues, and the other was formed by those left behind.

Some minutes passed, and as boredom overcame them, a small chatter started.

"What is the reason for us staying outside?"

"Just in case something goes wrong"

Several screams were heard, as the Rogues jumped out of the windows of the building, landing in front of the rest of the party.

"You just jynxed us"

"Whatever, you like fighting, don't you?"

Guards made of magic, soon sorrounded them all. It was obvious what was going to happen next, after all, not everyone takes being mugged with a smile, especially not a grumpy old mage.

In the middle of a fight, a Warlock presented herself as Sovereign, who had seemed to see Luis as a pupil in need of guidance. Or at least that's how the healer had perceived it.
The Warlock manifested great mastery in her craft, proving to be a valuable member in this mission.

From Luis' view and thinking, she seemed to be a very valuable asset to the team.

_______________

�   What is the Sparkledog population in Void City like? How do you fit in?
Sparkledogs are scattered around the whole region as "packs", remaining either underground, or at special dimensional parallels to Void City; They generally do not enjoy interacting with other races, however some shifters are (way) more sociable than others. 

Luis, having a below pathetic performance in contests of strength, was constantly bullied. This developed a severe mistrust in other sparkledog shifters, and strangers in general.
To make things even better worse for him, God Pelor picked Luis as the vessel who'd bring the god's light into places of darkness, showing kindness, mercy, and compassion.
After Pelor's enlightment on Luis, he soon discovered he had an affinity towards healing powers. However, instead of bringing joy to himself and others, this new "divinity" only brought jealousy and even more harassment.
Fed up, Luis ran away from his pack, searching for a place where his nursing abilities would be appreciated.

[A Bad Idea]

ABI
•   How did you first hear about the painting and Maze?
•   Who is responsible for the fall of the Shadow Temple? Where are they?

- When Lai Shan isn't on the job, she keeps her ears open while masquerading among the nobility as Countess Lang, Lady of the Silver Harvest Merchantry. There's a lot of information one can glean from bored baron's wives and generals' mistresses. It didn't take long before rumors of a "painting with mystic properties" began to surface amongst the gentry, and a great many of the nobles almost expect the painting to be stolen one way or another. Whether or not the tale of its magic is true, as long as the story persists, the painting is worth the weight of its fiction.

- The Shadow Temple crumbled from within, its leaders torn by a difference of interests. They were once a great global threat, an unseen force of change that alters the course of history from the shadows through subterfuge, intrigue, and key assassinations. In the wake of the last Armageddon and in the advent of the race to industrialize the floating islands, two schools of thought emerged from the masters of the Shadow Temple; the first was eager for preservation, to maintain itself financially in a world that was fast leaving them behind. These masters and their disciples turned their talents towards building a criminal empire through robbery, extortion, smuggling, and assassination for hire; this organization later became the Syndicate as we know it today. The second school of thought, comprised of the elder masters, concerned itself with legacy, to preserve their principles and use their gifts only to guide the course of civilization from the shadows. Though they were fewer, the elder masters were exemplars of their craft, and since their departure they have remained hidden, waiting for the time in which they must render their judgement upon civilization.

[Jiisuri]

JIISURI
•   Where was the False Chanterelle kept? How did you infiltrate?
•   What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve sold at market? The most illegal?

The False Chanterelle was cept in a Mansion, one owned by a wealthy art collector who is a complete shitter and didn't know the true value of the False Chanterelle. Hence, the False Chanterelle was kept in a simple room with little security together with a bunch of other low value paintings that could be sold off at more... lucrative prices without being missed. So, simply put, through sheer luck, Yoshiko broke and entered through a window and just swiped a few of these paintings without effort, taking with her The False Chanterelle.

When not secretly swiping goods that won't be missed, Yoshiko goes by Lucy of Lucky Lucy's Golden Wares. Here she sells all sorts of goods she acquired through many means. The strangest thing she sold off was a bodysuit of questionable taste that she advertised as a POWER MUSCLESUIT, enhancing the wearer's physical prowess. The most illegal good she has sold off is a sword, one that was likely important evidence of a controversial murder that probably also carried a curse.

[Q-Bit]

Q-BIT
•   Who is the team’s regular job broker/fence/informer?

•   Benjamin Braddock, a pudgy, jolly old man with a colorful sense of humor. Dressed in ratty clothes, he drifts from place to place. Benjamin has eyes and ears all over the city in the form of Void's homeless population. He acts fatherly toward Truman, who does little to acknowledge the gesture. Try not to take him lightly, though, as some say he's a retired member of this region's underground (literally) freedom fighters.

•   Who was the last person to die due to your actions/inactions? Do you regret it?

•   The truth of this is far too personal for Truman to share publicly.

[Rose]

What safehouse are you in currently? Who owns it?

Aaron lives in a modified study space in the Voidheim Public Library. The Library was converted from a monastery, which was formerly a coliseum that was modified from a theater built on top of a burned down mansion owned by a now-disavowed family of former aristocrats, so it has a lot of quirky spaces perfect for a gorilla goblin like Aaron.

What terrifying thing did you briefly conjure while still an apprentice?

It's hard to say exactly what the dark, dripping tendrils were, but all of the scholars and magic users present at the event agree that if the creature were to find its way back into this world, it would be the source of the next Armageddon. It took the combined efforts of a few dozen mages to close the portal Aaron had accidentally opened. He still has nightmares of this event, and has a sneaking suspicion that the creature isn't completely banished...

[GPS-Device]

GPS
•   What was the team’s last job before the heist? Why did it fail?

The group was hired to retrieve a cursed artifact from the estate of Lord Downey, but were sold out, and found themselves victim to an ambush by the White Jacquets.

•   Where is the Triton territory nearest to Void City? Why did you leave?

The Triton territory is located far off in the deepsea, at the bottom of the ocean floor. Sharis left his territory to carry on an further his family legacy, one of glory, slaying mighty beasts and retrieving powerful artifacts to have them sealed away in The Deep, locked away in the Triton's territory, to save the Land Dweller's from themselves and the dark temptations of such artifacts.

[Ten Dead Kings]

�   How did you lose your 10th teammate, fallen paladin Sir Grace? (he was the one who brought Luis onto the team)

-Sovereign's blade slipped between Sir Grace's ribs and right through his heart, immediately after he revealed he sold out the group in the last job.

-It was not a quick death.

�   How did you wager a temporary truce between your team and your rivals?

-The old man enters
-Fearless, he stares straight ahead
-It would be his last

[ZigZagaroo]

�   How did the Queen�s White Jacquets get onto your team�s trail?

- Chorden is constantly asking himself the same question. With every job the team takes he takes it upon himself to map out every route to each designated location as discreetly as possible. Whether through a dark alley, sewer tunnel, rooftop, or other-worldly planar portal (given the right circumstances) would do just fine, as long as the path hid them away from the Queen's ever present gaze. However one past scenario comes to his mind that could very well be the reason behind it. In the aftermath of a finished job the team thought it best to celebrate this small victory with a visit to the nearest backwater tavern. Chorden wasn't one for celebrations such as these, a job done was all he cared for, but then again what worth does the opinion of a Kobold hold? Perhaps through their drunken banter, a bystander could have grown wary of them, so much so as to alert the nearby Jacquets. If not under the suspicion of a criminal sect, surely with the fear of letting band of aberrants run loose. A theory of which Chorden preferred over the possibility of a certain"informant" of theirs throwing them to the wolves for a quick profit...
 

�   What horrifying scene did you once discover while on a very important job?

- Chorden's seen much in his line of work. A Baron's collection of slaves with to do with as he pleases. Too many skeletons found in the closets of the everyday man. Aristocrats taking interest in the darkest of magics, paying tribute to the most vile of daemons. Yet to an extent, it all seems trivial once you've witnessed such things countless times. Yet even he fears what exactly lies in the maze he and his team seeks, and what monstrosities may emerge from it.

[A Bad Idea]

Quick character bio:

HONG LAI SHAN (first name Lai Shan), THE GOLDEN CAMELIA is a former agent of the Syndicate, a wide-reaching criminal organization whose advocates are taught the Way of Shadow martial arts. The Masters of the Syndicate consist mostly of High Elves, long-lived masters of the Shadow Arts who looked down on Lai Shan's forest origins and doubted Lai Shan's ability, but she persisted in her training for her first fifty years in the arts of infiltration, subterfuge, and the Way of Shadow, and was made an active agent of the Syndicate for fourty years, committing simple robberies, heists, and cons. The rigid nature of the Syndicate society bored her and she couldn't stand the disrespect of her High Elf masters, so she simply left one day. As a Syndicate monk on the loose, she is stealthy, charming, knowledgeable in deadly martial arts, and will rob you blind the moment you aren't looking. But to most, she is Countess Lang, Lady of the Silver Harvest, a wealthy merchant tycoon from the far east.

[Jiisuri]

Character Bio too:

Yoshiko(no surname), who goes by the alias LUCKY LUCY, was poached as a youngling by a certain Syndicate. It did not look good for the young tabaxi-hybrid. She would have been sold of as a slave or skinned illegally for her tabaxi parts.

So when the chance came, she fled.

Since then, strange rumors have spread. Some say their gold simply flew away in a blur of glimmer, never to be seen again. Others speak of a cat-eared seller of fine goods found nowhere else, one LUCKY LUCY,  appears and disappears from time to time, carrying new things every time. Few speak of a gambler who comes in and wins big before never being seen again.

Either way, she'sa cute an' speaks wi'tn accent of'a sort~

[Rose]

I s'pose I can add another bio to the list:


Aaron Khuulurgrek Grok, born simply Khuulurgrek Grok, spent his younglinghood on the streets of Voidheim, surviving on his vicious instincts as a bugbear cub. He never knew his parents or how he got separated from his tribe, but none of that would matter once he discovered his true home: the Voidheim Public Library. On a stormy day, while running from a group of angry merchants, Grok ducked into a random building. Dripping greasy rainwater and carrying a soiled bag of soggy bread and sweaty meat, the bugbear cub picked up his first book. He couldn't read, of course, but after exhausting amounts of explanation from the Chief Librarian, Lady Alexandria Reed, Grok became obsessed with the magic of gaining knowledge from marks on pieces of paper.

As he grew up, Grok became such a regular patron that the librarians unofficially adopted him, granting him his Christian name, Aaron, and offering him a room in one of the many odd spaces left over from repurposing the building so many times over its long history. He spent as much time as possible reading every book he could get his hands on, favoring non-fiction books that could teach him about the world and everything in it. As he learned more and more, he began to seek after wizardry as a path to higher knowledge. Fortunately, there was always at least a couple of wizards available to tutor and train him, and books of magic were nearly countless.

Our small band of non-heroes found shelter in the library, where law and chaos, good and evil were simply multiple faces on the endless polyhedron of Truth and Reality. Aaron saw in this group an opportunity to seek knowledge in hidden corners of the world that the library couldn't provide through books and tutors alone. And the Maze of the Blue Medusa must contain knowledge beyond measure...

[Q-Bit]

Truman is known around the seedy underbelly of Voidheim as the best at what he does. And what does he do, you might ask? The answer is usually "odd jobs". He prefers to keep his hands clean of blood, but he'll happily launder money, smuggle banned books, steal back your stolen family heirloom, etc. Especially if it's for a good cause.

If you asked Truman about his past, he'd probably say something like, "Didn't know my folks, grew up on the streets, wasn't socialized well." The latter is more and more apparent the more time you spend with him. He keeps his distance, refusing to let acquaintances become friends. Despite this, he tries to do right by those around him.

Truman has known Benjamin for several years now, and despite Truman's usual cold attitude, one can tell the two place a lot of trust in each other.

He seems to have a grudge with the law, going beyond simply being a criminal.

[GPS-Device]

Sharis Ahlorsath comes from a long line of warriors and fighters, one of many families tasked to protect the Triton kingdom from invasion or plunder, and a vanguard to hunt down the terrors of the deep seas. During his training it was discovered his fury could reach even the spirits of his ancestors, a trait rarely found, but one common amongst the greatest heros of his people.

After a time, like many before him, Sharis left his homeland as a rite of passage, with the purpose of seeing the surface world and learning from it, so that he may better defend against it, while also tracking down objects of power that might tempt the easily swayed Land Walkers, and defending them from any threats that might have escaped the tritons in the sea.

Now he works alongside the band of thieves to seek great challenges, and relieve weak minded fools of items beyond themselves.

[fukur0]

�   When did the team first encounter reptile goddess Sarparajni�s cult?

During a mission to find the Hall of Unverifiable Teapots with an informant to guide through the area, the team was suddenly ambushed out of nowhere by a couple of the Offspring of Sarparajni, who had chosen them for their next meal. The group slayed a few of them in self defense and earned the cult's wrath, with cultists being sent after their heads. The informant would later perish during the one of the ambushes.

With no way to find the Hall and the growing frustration from the constant ambushes of both the Offspring and Cult, the team was forced to give up on the mission. For now.

�   Why does someone want you dead�NOT the team, but YOU specifically?

Seth has many reasons why someone would want his head on a pike.
His preferred reason is "I'm just that big of an asshole".

[Dechado]

[Insert cool looking reference picture of Sparkledog Luis]

Just like tradition speaks in Sparkledogs' packs, the whole community helps raising all pups. So in a way, there aren't really parents, just one big huge family. Mom and Dad aren't terms known in their language.

When cubs become of age, they are separated in small groups, usually in between 2 and 6, who are then raised by Rourniys (Plural of Teacher).
The job of the mentor becomes to teach their now pupils, training to turn into a proud Sparkledog. Unfortunately, not all wolves are born with the same genetics, and such things as Intelligence, Wisdom, Creativity and Magic are looked down in these packs, Power and Strength is the only language they recognize.

Tired of being the center of abuses, both physical and emotional, one of the pups decided to flee. Where? He did not know or care, any place was better than the environment of his pack.
The renegade, apparently guided by a voice, after many days, probably even months, found himself in an unknown town.
Standing out from the crowd because of his dirty appearance and ragged clothing, a religious nun showed compassion towards the young child, and gave him shelter inside the monastery, where he was cleaned, fed, and given a proper place to rest.
Since then, the pup started being known as "Luis Rios", a name given by his order.

Even after he grew inside a place where he was showered with love and respect, that had not been enough to completely heal the wounds his pack had inflicted in his heart. Despite becoming a kind, helpful and very compassionate monk, Luis matured into an impatient and full of anger adult, unable to trust other creatures so easily.

[Ten Dead Kings]

The Blade came to her in her dreams in the monastery where she grew up all her life. It told her vague things, impossible things. Wondrous things. Eventually, it granted her power and a mission: to serve the Raven Queen. For some reason, that involves getting caught up in a gang of thieves.

[fukur0]

There's no clear history behind Seth. Its not that he doesn't want to talk about it but because he can't recall anything that's worth talking about. He doesn't care for the useless and possibly painful details.

He prefers to keep his mouth shut but when he does open his mouth, there's no filter involved, earning him a place on many shit lists. It's easier to be an asshole than trying to decent, after all. Regardless of his rudeness, he still likes to interact with people, mostly because their reactions amuse him.

 He has an odd attachment to his oversized cloak and headband that he always wears.

[Mister Kent]

In case anyone interested hasn't seen the Discord chat, I will be relaunching this soon, likely with a level up and time reconfiguration. I'm finishing a summary document now so everyone can know what everyone else was up to in their exploration