NPCs: Captain Evergrin

“I’m no man of honor/Myself is my true king/But somewhere deep within me/The bells of conscience ring.”

— Halfman’s Song, by Miracle of Sound

Playing Evergrin

Despite the crude, cocky façade he portrays, Evergrin is at his core a broken individual. He uses crude humor and a display of arrogance to keep people at arm’s length, trying to prevent anyone from getting close enough to slip a knife between his ribs. His childhood as a slave left scars deeper than the ones that give him his name. Ultimately, though his only loyalty is to himself and he wants to believe that he is a selfish and self-serving individual, some kernel of goodness still resides within him.

Evergrin                    

Half-Elf Brawler      

CN Medium humanoid (human, elf)

Init +4; Senses low light vision, Perception +1

Defense

AC 23, 17 touch, 16 flat-footed (+4 armor, +4 Dex, +1 nat, +1 deflection, +2 dodge, +1 enhancement)

hp 76 (8d10+32)

Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +5

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Melee unarmed strike +12/+7 (1d10+3) or unarmed strike +10/+10/+5/+5 (1d10+3)

Special Attacks knockout strike 1/day (DC ), martial flexibility (swift action) 7/day

Tactics

During Combat Evergrin prefers to weave between his enemies, preventing any one from getting a solid fix on him. When targeting an enemy, he will work to disable them through trips, using Martial Flexibility to gain new tricks based on his current adversaries. When fighting a single opponent, he will try to get behind his opponent and grapple with the manacles on his wrists.

Statistics

Str 16, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10

Base Attack +8; CMB +11; CMD 25

Feats Combat Expertise, Dodge, Endurance, Improved Grapple, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Spring Attack

Skills Acrobatics +14, Climb +13, Escape Artist +14, Profession (sailor) +12, Profession (miner) +5, Swim +13

Languages Goblin, Common, Elven

SQ  AC bonus +1, brawler’s cunning, brawler’s flurry, brawler’s strike (magic), close weapon mastery, maneuver training (grapple +2, trip +1), martial training, unarmed strike

Gear masterwork chainshirt, captain’s hat, masterwork manacles, key necklace (key unlocks his manacles)

*Evergrin is stated with the Automatic Bonus Progression from Pathfinder Unchained, thus he doesn’t carry much in the way of magic items.

Backstory

One of the first slaves born under the hobgoblin empire’s breeding program, the young half-elf was sent to the mines as soon as he was old enough to walk. His early childhood was naught but work followed by an exhausted sleep, but a spark within him refused to be extinguished.

     Though he knew no other life, the young boy told himself repeatedly that he would escape one day and kill his so called “master” when he did so. To this end, deep in the mines, in the tunnels that no other slave could fit in, he trained his body to fight. He had no weapons, not even free wrists as slaves were not permitted the luxury of unbound hands. Even so, he taught himself to fight with elbow, shin, knee, foot, any and every part of his body except his hands became a weapon.

     In his late teens, as he was preparing his escape plans, the master’s eldest son was making plans of his own. The son, Ghoran, noticed a half-elven slave with a light in his eye and a rebellious hint to his lips. Deciding to do his father a favor, the future Arena Announcer took a knife and the slave to the slave barracks. Declaring that should any of the slaves get any thoughts of rebellion or escape, let what was about to happen serve as a warning.

     Using the knife, Ghoran cut the young slave’s cheeks open to his ears. As the half-elf clutched his cheeks, Ghoran decided to take a memento, and cut off the ends of his ears as well. Leaving the barracks, Ghoran told the guards to make sure that the slave lived.

     Taken from the barracks, the young slave was administered basic treatment to prevent bleed-out and infection. That night, the young slave enacted his plan a few weeks early. He had memorized the guard rotations, and had made deals with the slaves that tended the master’s quarters to learn the patrol routes during the night. With all the stealth that he could muster, the soon-to-be ex-slave snuck into the main household and strangled the master in his sleep.

     As soon as he felt the hobgoblin’s pulse fade to nothingness, the young slave all but ran from the property. His only saving grace that prevented his recapture was that the mines that he was forced to work was close to the border.

     After sneaking past the border, the ex-slave went as far south as he could go, barely stopping for rest or food until he reached the Black Ash River. Following the river, he found himself within the city of Argoport, and with no real options, signed onto a ship heading further south. It was on board this ship, the Northstar, that the ex-slave was given a name: Evergrin.

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