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Askeladden Vindis Sigṳrdun
The Golden Bloodhunter
Askeladden Vindis Sigṳrdun, born Topaz 2, 352, is a human assassin who is afflicted with vampirism. Born in the central regions of the Spine just south of Crobbear Lake, he spent his youth in the village of Andhold, where his father was a successful fur trapper and his mother was an accomplished weaver. When he was 13, Andhold was hit by a sudden outbreak of an unknown illness which consumed the village and the lives of his parents in a matter of weeks. It was in the events following the death of his parents he met his sire, an elderly gentleman who saved him from death with means he did not disclose. He raised him until he was sixteen and trained him to fight and to wield weapons. His sire later betrayed him, revealing what he was and what he had turned him into and stated that he had finally passed on the curse he had lived with for so long.
He spent five days in his sire’s house after he killed him in mourning, consuming what was left of the "elixir". He spent his days barely conscious, feeling the call of a new hunger as the elixir ran out. Though he tried Food and drink, he realized why he had never needed them these last years and what the elixir really was. They ceased to have meaning for him, turning to ash in his mouth, becoming utterly tasteless and devoid of the flavors he used to know. He lost all sense of time in those days, mourning the loss of his parents all over again, old wounds reopened by his sire’s betrayal. He emerged at the end of that week something he never could have foreseen. Spending several months becoming accustomed to his new body, he eventually realized what he was and what he would now have to do to survive. He determined to travel to the great city of Alliria, where he found himself in The Shallows. It was there he began to work as a freelance assassin, finding out that he could satisfy his endless thirst by drinking from the morally bankrupt dregs of a wealthy trading society.
Having no known family left in the world, Askeladden took up the nickname Askel and began to use the abilities his affliction granted him to survive, while also acquiring enough gold to secure his living situation. He has used animals and drunkards to satiate his hunger, being able to hit multiple targets a night which permits him not to drain them dry. This has recently become too risky and he managed to find assassination work, which allows him to use his only real skill to hunt unsavory targets and drink his fill from them. His prowess as an assassin has grown considerably, which has allowed him to travel and take contracts elsewhere.
Appearance
Askeladden is a slight presence in any room; standing at only 5’8 with a slim frame, so far at least, frozen in time at the age he was turned. His figure is one of a boy in his late teens transitioning into manhood with taunt muscles formed from long hours of training with his sire that hold eternally onto their youthful vigor. He carries himself in a subdued manner wherever he goes, attempting to remain just at the peripheral of one’s perception and tow the fine line between not rousing the suspicion of others by appearing to be up to some form of skullduggery while also remaining outside of anyone’s direct attention. He naturally fades into the background of any room, attiring himself in basic linens for the most part.His features still carry a boyish softness to them with a hint of the man he would have become showing through. Though he is twenty years of age, he appears to be around sixteen or seventeen, the signs of time slowing down for him evident in his features. With a disguise, he can easily pass for a younger individual. This has been a significant boon for him when completing certain contracts, being able to blend into his surroundings in a variety of clever ways. Through the softness of his facial features, one might miss the harsh and cold glint of the dark blue eyes of his heritage, reflecting the inner turmoil of one perpetually at war with himself. His unblinking, predatory gaze is often the last thing many an unfortunate victim has seen.
His hair is a shaggy blonde mop, pale and untouched by the sun since many years ago. Styled generally only for specific occasions, it usually hangs loosely around his head and is trimmed only occasionally, oftentimes by his own blade. Despite seemingly still able to grow, it is frozen in the state it was when he was turned, the sheen of youthful, supple hair still clearly present. Askel was unable to grow facial hair at the time he was turned and, much to his chagrin, is still unable to presently. Though naturally blonde, he oftentimes colors his hair, whether by dye or magic, to alter his appearance and offer a modicum of anonymity when dealing with his targets and employers.
Askel is nearly devoid of scars and blemishes due to his vampirism, giving him an almost unnatural appearance among the downtrodden denizens of his regular haunts. A few healed over scars from blades remain from before his illness, though persist only on his arms, chest and back; remaining from his days training with the sword and assisting his father in his fur trapping trade. Because his skin is kept fully out of the sun, he is pale, which only serves to accentuate his genetically pale skin tone. He has gained no further scars or blemishes since he turned.
When not on a job, Askel can be found in a simple dark colored cloak and hood with a tunic and breeches and light leather boots. When not at his dwelling or travelling about, his attire of choice is one of his dark colored cloak, and a black tunic. For fighting, his feet are usually always covered by thin leather boots that allow for rapid mobility. To protect his person, Askel wears a breastplate of thick, padded leather along with bracers and greaves. His most prized possession, a chain shirt of mithril, sits between the padded leather and his person as an extra layer of defense. Depending on where he may need to go and complete a contract, Askel owns a collection of clothing from noble finery to the tattered rags of urchins.
In his line of work, it pays to have plenty of options to engage a target. Whenever Askel is out on a contract, he carries a heavy crossbow slung over his back as his primary armament, his slight frame aided by the reinforcement of his vampirism which grants him the strength needed to operate the large weapon. When unable to carry his crossbow, he carries three daggers on his person. One on his waist, one on his left pectoral, and one behind the left member of his set of greaves. He also has gauntlets which conceal two hand crossbows on his wrists, allowing him to have limited ranged engagement options even in close quarters. The hand crossbows can swivel 180 degrees by locking into forward, right, and left positions to engage targets across a wide field of view. Strapped across his side are four small throwing knives, which he can use with deadly accuracy. Various runes are embroidered into different parts of his armor, permitting him to channel focus for spells.
Skills and Abilities
Through harsh training with his sire prior to his turning, Askel honed his martial skills and learned to stalk his quarry and kill his prey. He has gathered further skills through the experience of three years of assassinations throughout western Epressa. Despite the training he endured, he was further strengthened when he afflicted and grew more effective in his skills. A minimal education provided by his parents and later his sire at least allows him to read and write and perform basic functions of arithmetic. Through these various circumstances, Askel has gained an array of skills that allow him to survive and possibly even thrive.Vampirism. Askel is afflicted with vampirism, a disease that turns one into a parasitic creature that feeds off of the blood of living creatures. Living in a state somewhere between life and death, he has no blood of his own and must constantly replenish his supply from the creatures around him, which his body then uses as energy to power its faculties and fuel his abilities. His heart must have blood to pump or else it will halt. Human blood is ideal, but he has been able to survive off animal blood in the past when necessary. The increases to his strength and speed are directly relative to the quality of the blood he drank and the time since his last feeding. Conversely, his five senses get sharper and sharper as time passes since his last feeding. Though his attributes are still constantly elevated above normal human limitations, it can still be a dangerous mistake to dull his senses too much or to allow his strength to wane too significantly. Thus, he must still constantly be vigilant and ensure that he treads the line between hunger and satisfaction depending on which set of abilities he needs to benefit from most.
Weakness of Flesh. Gaining greater strength, speed, and sensory perception above human norms comes with drawbacks, however, that limit how Askel lives his day-to-day life. The sun, formerly a source of warmth and life, became an unpleasant assailant. While not lethal to him like others of his ilk, direct sunlight causes a painful, itching rash on his skin which is very unpleasant. Travel during the day always requires a heavy cloak or an arming cap and helm that covers his neck and face. Direct sunlight also reduces his vampiric eyesight to below average human capabilities and areas of flesh exposed to direct sunlight do not actively heal. He has also lost all ability to swim and cannot step beyond where his feet can touch the ground in any body of water, as he would not be able to swim back to the shore and would eventually starve. As it did with his sire, Askel theorizes that being stabbed through the heart would end his existence.
Insatiable Hunger. Askeladden is always burdened with a hunger resting just at the edges of his consciousness like a sense of discomfort he can’t quite shake off. As the time since his last feeding grows, it begins to slowly gnaw at him. A subtle pang at the site of a vein poking through the flesh of a passerby, the iron-tinged smell of a market stall vendor, his finger suffering the consequences of being a bit too careless with a knife. As time passes, the hunger grows, and his senses sharpen. As his five senses sharpen, his supernatural strength and regenerative abilities decrease and his higher brain functions slowly dull. Left to its own devices, the hunger turns Askel into a beast with only one desire, to become drunk on the lifeblood of those around him. At the final stage of hunger, Askel can only slaughter and drink until his hunger is satisfied.
Rapid Regeneration. Provided he continues to feed regularly, Askel can rapidly heal from any injury not involving his heart. Likely serving as the body’s natural defense against excessive blood loss, it speeds bodily recovery functions up to a feverish pace. Small injuries such as cuts and bruises can be healed in seconds. More significant injuries such as gashes, contusions, deep cuts, slashes, and deep penetrative injuries generally take several minutes to heal depending on the severity. Severe injuries such as deep slash wounds, severed arteries and muscle groups, and broken bones oftentimes take several days to fully heal. Though he has yet to lose a full limb, Askel once lost a finger, which regrew over the course of two weeks. It is likely a lost limb could be regrown given enough time. As his hunger grows from losing or using up blood, his regenerative abilities slow down. Minor injuries go from seconds to minutes to even hours. Major injuries take days to weeks to heal, and it is unlikely a lost limb would regrow as his body uses its primary energy source to fuel this ability.
Increased Physical Attributes. The vampirism he unwillingly received gives Askel greater speed, reflexes, and strength than those without his condition. When fully fed, he is many times faster than a normal human and has significantly more strength. As his hunger grows and his body uses up its life sustenance, his strength and speed wane accordingly. Without regular feedings, both attributes would likely fade leaving him only somewhat above average. Overexerting his strength or speed also causes them to fade as his body uses up its lifeblood more rapidly and decreases the time Askel can go before feeding again, though he has noted that with training and experience he has reduced the toll these abilities take on him. It is generally prudent for him to avoid long and drawn out engagements. At their height, these attributes can be difficult to regulate. Oftentimes, it is difficult to assess the drop or rise in strength outside of combat with regards to mundane tasks such as opening a door or lifting an object.
Heightened Senses. As a predator’s desperation is heightened by its failure to find prey, so too are Askel’s five senses. His sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing increase in potency and sharpness the hungrier he grows, likely as a predatory response to his body’s increasing desperation to acquire the energy it needs to continue to exist. Though still elevated above normal human levels because of his disease even after a fresh feeding, it is oftentimes beneficial to further heighten his senses by extending the gap between feedings for specific situations, though this is often difficult to plan for. The amount of time this process happens varies depending on how much energy Askel expends. His senses sharpening means he is slowing down and weakening and he often uses this as an indicator for when he needs to remove himself from a situation.
Magical Abilities. Along with the other blessings the gift bestowed, it also strengthened his ability to tap into the flow of mana throughout the world. Prior to turning, he had a limited ability to use basic magic for quality-of-life improvements. Post transformation, Askel uses magic in the form of runic incantations. Various runes are engraved onto various parts of his armor and other attire, which he uses to channel energy into and utilize magic. The items themselves, while not enchanted, provide a medium to channel energy through. Runes on the bottom of his boots allow him to perform magically enhanced leaps and climb high places. The runes engraved in his greaves enable him to cast various utility spells. On his padded leather breastplate, he can channel incantations that temporarily strengthen the armor to prepare for an impact. When freshly fed, Askel can cast higher level incantations, but these quickly tire him out. Drawing too much energy for casting causes him to tire out in the same manner utilizing increased strength and speed does. While he can cast many basic spells, Askel is hardly a trained battlemage and is mostly self-taught. Most of his spells focus on mobility, speed, and stealth to aid in accomplishing assassinations. If he were to face a skilled mage solely in a battle of magic, he would likely come up short.
Personality
Though relatively young, Askel’s transformation turned the good-natured and happy boy into a stoic and somewhat cynical individual who tries to carefully control all aspects of his existence in an effort to combat the ever-present vampiric hunger he now suffers from. Where once he simply had to worry about cleaning the daily hauls of his father’s traps, he is now concerned with the days since he last fed and keeping a low profile to be able to complete his work. As the reality of his situation has set in and he has ceased to change, mundane day-to-day concerns have become less relevant to him. The cessation of the regular human functions of eating and sleeping have dulled his sense of the passage of time and numbed someone formerly full of dreams and aspirations down to a creature who seeks to satisfy his core needs in a way he deems morally acceptable.The constant, nagging apex predatory instincts that urge him to drain those around him dry are kept in check only by indulging them periodically in order to stop them from taking control. The irony of this dichotomy is not lost on him and has contributed significantly to his emerging tendency towards cynicism. Keeping them in check by selectively choosing when, where, and who to allow them to feast on became an inescapable part of him. Fortunately, his own survival instincts have also sharpened allowing him to slowly learn control over his predatory side and allow him to go longer between feedings. This due in part to his unlikely survival rate were he to simply feed on the nearest human in the street. The stress of handling all of this alone, however, has weighed heavily on him and would likely show were he not in possession of a regenerating body.
Though under strict control, his instincts are still there. This often results in others around him perceiving him as somewhat unsettling. A feeling of fear at the edge of their senses they can’t quite put their finger on a usual occurrence. Though some exceptions to this rule among humans exist, it has made it easy for Askel to cultivate a strict, professional persona with which he uses to conduct business with his clients and keep those around him at arm’s length so they do not become aware of what he is or what he does. As it stands, he currently does not have any friends or lovers in his environment and has had none since he turned. He has developed a passable acting ability to better insert himself into situations to get closer to his targets which he often uses to throw others off his scent, should they begin to investigate him.
Despite his demeanor, Askel is still someone others might consider a good person. His victims are strictly those others would consider reprehensible people and he oftentimes will go out of his way to assist those around him, though under a condition of anonymity. He refuses to let the part of him die that inherently wanted to do good when he turned, finding a way to satisfy his needs as a predator while maintaining his desire to serve the greater good, which he considers to be the removal of those who commit atrocious acts against those who do not deserve it. Though his ideals are lofty, his youth and inexperience sometimes causes him to interfere with situations without the full breadth of the facts, which has resulted in potentially unwarranted deaths.
As a companion, Askel is very loyal and had many long-term friendships prior to the death of his home village. His desire for solitude was born out of his strong desire to protect others from himself and is not an inherent aspect of his nature. When working with others, he will maintain a calm and polite demeanor and accomplish the task as necessary but commit to nothing beyond what needs to be done. Those who spend time with him at length for various reasons may notice the cracks in his stoic demeanor as part of him longs to reach out and embrace others once again. Though he usually seeks companionship for assistance on contracts, in his heart, he longs to find the companionship he once knew before he changed.
Philosophy
Askel has developed what he considers his morality from his parents, who were both what many would consider good people. They often helped the downtrodden and less fortunate in the village and imparted that philosophy to their children. During his time with his sire, it was tempered by the struggles of combat training and the darker worldview that came from living such a long life and viewing centuries of the progressive march of humanity. With limited access to literature, Askel has primarily been shaped through experience. These experiences and the four years living as a vampire have shaped his worldview irrevocably as he tries to balance his new reality with the worldview from his old.In his own mind, there is a clear demarcation between what he considers good and evil. Those who purposefully commit acts that harm others and those who do not. It is those who do that often become the target of his assassinations. Though his family was religious, he did not persist in its practice once his parents died. Despite this, it is difficult to shake off the views of one’s youth at times. To this end, he has a very defined sense of justice, entangled in his own personal perceptions of right and wrong. This perception is oftentimes rooted in the impulsiveness of youth and results in Askel making rash decisions and judgements and has appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner on several occasions.
Battling his strong stance on right and wrong is the constant, nagging need to fulfil his predatory lust. He has had to face the challenges of needing to satisfy these urges, which do not discriminate between man or woman, adult or child, poor or rich, or any other group. It only understands the need to find satisfaction and seek sustenance. Balancing both parts of himself on a razor thin precipice, he suppresses a part of himself every time he does what his new body asks of him. Though destroying those he considers evil assuages some of his guilt, the reality of how he must live slowly gnaws at him. He remains crushed between these two realities that he finds himself struggling under the yolk of daily.
Preferences
Few habits truly carried over from before Askel was turned. Food became tasteless, turning to ash in his mouth. His body, no longer equipped to receive sustenance in the traditional human way, simply ejects any solid food that he consumes several hours later in the form of vomit. Fortunately, Askel found himself able to still consume liquids, which he theorizes is because they are the same consistency as blood. These simply mix into his bloodstream, which causes him to need to feed faster as his blood is diluted. The first sip of alcohol he ever had was after he had turned and he found he could still at least enter a light drunken stupor with enough drink. However, the amount of drink required borders on the absurd, likely because the substance must properly mix with the blood in his body, and his regenerative abilities must be in a weaker state for drunkennes to truly occur.His primary alcoholic preference is a drink he calls “blood wine”, which is a concoction of wine mixed with blood which is the only drink that can quickly cause Askel to enter a state of drunkenness. Another option to engage the vice is to drink blood directly from a person in a drunken state when his own blood reserves are low, which is easily achieved by frequenting any tavern in the city. These are the only methods that he has discovered that allow him to engage in the vice and provide a means to attain drunkenness. Drinking fresh, undiluted blood immediately returns him to sobriety. Neither of these methods are particularly tolerable to others so it is a rare day when he chooses to utilize any method other than simply consuming the drink. Even still, drunkenness provides a small means of escape from his bleak reality.
Askel is also fond of smoking and carries a wooden pipe with him wherever he goes. He regularly engages in the local blends of herbs from wherever he may be. It is a risk-free habit for him since it has minimal impact on his bloodstream and still provides a cathartic release and a mild relaxing feeling. Unless a substance has some effect on his bloodstream, he cannot feel its effectiveness due to his regenerative abilities. Psychoactive substances elicit no response from his mind since his body considers any effect of that ilk an inhibitive state.
Since his turning, he has been largely indifferent to other animals that do not provide his sustenance, though there are some exceptions. He often keeps a cat around for some companionship, as cats are one of the few animals that are not wholly wary of him. Dogs, cattle, and other larger animals tend to be more wary around him. While he can ride horses, they tend to be more unnerved when he is around. Cattle and other large beasts are a prime emergency food source for him, and he has treated them as such when during long periods of travel where civilization is sparse.
The many races of the world do not trouble Askel overly much and he is not particularly prejudiced towards any one race, assessing an individual solely based on their actions for the most part. To him, all the mortal races of the world carry the lifeblood that he requires for survival. Since he has been living with vampirism, he has become somewhat obsessed with studying the longer-lived races of the world such as elves and dwarves. Elves, especially, carry a fascination for him and he has purchased multiple volumes on the history of that race in order to study them.
Biography and Lore
Childhood
Askeladden was born Topaz 2, 352 in the village of Andhold on a cold, snowy upper peak of the spine near the great Crobbear Lake. Situated at the highest point of human habitation on Mount Varskur, the village was a key stopover for travelers traversing the area and those who came up the mountain to hunt the beasts that roamed the alpine forests. His father, Alek, was a successful fur trapper and his mother, Edna, was a weaver by trade. From almost the day he could walk, Askel was required to help his father with his trapping work, which was considered a masculine job. He often worked with his elder brother, Valmut, who was four years older and already regularly off on trips with his father.Life in Andhold could almost be considered idyllic, despite the harshness of the climate. Summers were spent hunting, trapping, and foraging off the land. What few crops could be grown in the rocky soils were grown communally in the area right outside of the village, a job that was typically done by the women. Winters were spent hunting and trapping, albeit far less, and hunkering down in the family home learning basic skills. Though young, Askel was able to learn many survival skills from his village, which was a necessity in a village this far up in the unforgiving mountains. His parents, having immigrated to the area from an origin that they never disclosed, and his sibling was the only family that he had. The family had what many would consider a good life and carved out a measure of success. Though not rich by any means, there were many years where they possessed a surplus of food for the harsh winter months.
Years with Sire
No one could’ve said for certain from whence it came. A band of weary travelers trapsed through the village, staying one night then leaving. A strange beast, trapped by one of the trappers and disposed of. These events were the heralds of the plague that swept through the village of Andhold. The elders caught it first, dying in rapid succession. It spread to the women and children after that, their deaths quick and full of suffering. Askel’s mother and father were some of the last to fall ill, protecting their sons from it by quarantining them inside their home. Both died within a few days of Askel's thirteenth birthday. Food quickly became scarce in a matter of weeks and his brother, Valmut, left home to try and forage. He never returned, leaving Askel to fend for himself. In the oncoming winter, he found himself without any source of food, as many of the villagers had either died or fled.Depressed, alone, and weary, Askel accepted his words with no protest and began his life with Torstel. He began to help him around the house, performing tasks that needed to be done that were easier for a younger individual. It only occurred to him a several weeks later that he had not been hungry in some time. Torstel would leave some nights and return in the early hours of the morning and would make them both “healing elixir”, which he claimed was required to keep the disease at bay for both of them and claimed it contained all the nutrients a human needed. Not long after Askel noted this, they began regular combat training where he learned to wield a blade, use a crossbow and short bow, and novice level spells.
On his sixteenth birthday, Torstel held a special party for him where he gave him his own jeweled dagger as a gift. It was then that he revealed everything he had done to Askel and what he now was and how he had saved him, by feeding him Torstel's own blood and transforming him into a vampire. Shocked, angry, and finally putting all of the pieces together, both of them began to fight. Torstel joyously admitted that he had finally found someone worthy of passing his gift to, and he was free of the curse of never dying. Allowing himself to be overpowered, he cackled manically as Askel slaughtered him in his rage, stabbing him through the heart and seeing the end of a second person that had truly been a father to him.
Move to Alliria
In the wake of the death of Torstel, he struck out on his own once again, burning the little cottage he had spent his last three years to the ground. Spending another week there, mourning anew his parents and his sire, despite what he had done to him, he came to terms with his new reality. He wanted to survive, for the slight hope his older brother was still alive. He found various weapons and equipment that Torstel left behind, including a heavy crossbow, multiple types of knives, and pieces of leather armor with runes etched into them. The most prized possession he found was a mithril chain shirt. Taking all these along, he left. He also located a journal Torstel had left him with the details of what he now was. Heavily cloaked, he left the perpetual cloud cover of the high peak of the mountain and ventured down into the world.With the elixir gone, he began to do what he had to do to survive. At first, he refused to feed on anything but animals. This sated him for a while as he wandered the land, his decision to journey to Alliria made several days prior to leaving the cottage. He did not feed on his first human until three weeks after he left the mountain. Accosted in a deserted region by a highwayman and terribly hungry due to a lack of farms nearby, his hunger seized control and he tore the man asunder, draining his body dry of its lifeblood. Once that occurred, he felt an inhuman strength flow into his limbs. He realized as he travelled that he could move very quickly, quicker than any human.
It was thus that he used to get him to the city of Alliria, feasting on every bandit and robber he came across, and where he formulated his plan that would allow him to survive. In his heart, he still held out hope that one day he would be reunited with his brother whom he had never found dead or alive. He determined that he would survive by killing those who hurt others and using them to fuel his survival. He knew to do this; he would need to become attuned to the criminal underworld. He immediately made his way to the shallows and began to take killer for hire contracts and bounties put out on those considered evil.
Here and Now
In the present day, Askel resides in the city of Alliria where he owns a small house well outside of the city. He has become an accomplished and well-known killer in the region and if often sought out by the elite, both criminal and otherwise, to carry out killings on dangerous individuals that other assassins often refuse to take. Professionally known as the Golden Bloodhunter, it is rumored that all his victims are killed the same way, a bolt to the heart. The corpses are always, strangely, found entirely drained of blood. Though many are suspicious, none care to ask questions, which is a well-known tenet of life in The Shallows. The more you know that doesn’t concern you, the more danger you put yourself in.Though not wealthy by any means, he has made a far amount of coin and often can be persuaded to travel for lucrative contracts. As a result, many cities and villages across the continent have been visited by the Golden Bloodhunter. Due to his nature, he currently has no real relationships with anyone other than business relationships and an occasional fling. Most of what information is passed around The Shallows involving him is conjecture, rumor, and legend. Those with money and power know where to find him, and at this stage, that is good enough for Askel.