Turin al-Sahar
Apr 20, 2015 2:05:23 GMT -7
Post by Molokai on Apr 20, 2015 2:05:23 GMT -7
Basic Information
Name: Turin al-Sahar
Bloodlimit: None
Height: 5'-7"
Weight: 140lbs
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Birth Country: Wind
Village: Rain
Rank: A
Class: Chuunin
Special:
-Genjutsu Specialist
-Taijutsu Specialist
-Ninjutsu Non-Specialist
-Clan Non-Specialist
-Fighting Styles-
-Marksman (M)
-Throwing Specialist (m)
-Divine Reflexes (m)
-
-
-
-Genjutsu Perceptions-
-Glamour (M)
-Pattern (m)
-Phantasm (m)
-Enchantment (m)
-
-
-Miscellaneous-
-ANBU Cat
-ANBU Owl
-Ritualist Deception
-Ritualist Binding
-Jack-of-Trades Genjutsu
-Jack-of-Trades Taijutsu
-Jack-of-Trades Universal Miscellaneous
-
-Clans-
-Venator (m)
-Sensor (m)
-
-
-Freebies-
-Perceptions-
-Augmentations-
Weapons
Primary Weapon:
Secondary Items:
Limit: These type of items may be bought inside any Tailor Shop.
Cost: 1,140 Ryo
Cloak Type 1 (Overview)
Rank: "C"
Type: Main, Tailor, Slot Holder, Holds 5 Slots (5 for Items of Scroll Length), Cloak/Harness
Effect: A Cloak that holds an amount of items inside without giving a hint that the cloak may actually hold items inside.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture A Harness and Cloak that attaches to one another. This harness is attached to the chest to be held up right that have long strips of leather reaching down to the cloak that attaches to the end of the cloak. Consider each strip to be a thick belt that attaches to the chest harness. Each harness has 5 pouches that holds 1/2 a slot each. These pouches are scroll length so they are able to hold knives, senbon, kunai and other items that are the same length as a scroll. This Cloak only has 2 belts that have a total of 5 slots to carry items inside. When hands are hidden inside user gains a +10 circumstance bonus to Sleight of Hand and Pick Pocket.
Limit: These type of items may be bought inside any Tailor Shop.
Cost: 900 Ryo
Robe Type 5 (Overview)
Rank: "C"
Type: Main, Tailor, Slot Holder, Holds 5 Slots (5 for Items of Scroll Length), Robe
Effect: Robe definition, a long, loose or flowing gown or outer garment worn by men or women as ceremonial dress, an official vestment, or garb of office.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A robe that is a kimono-style sleeves and a roomy hood combine with the lightweight fabric for maximum draping effect. The weight of the fabric is great for movement and layering. This robe has inside pouch slots that can be closed with Velcro straps within the robe. The slots are close to chest and torso of the body for quick removal. This particular robe has a 5 slot pouches that can fit an object of scroll size. These slots can be placed either on the left, or right side of the robe, or distributed on both sides with the max amount of pouches of 3 on a single side. When hands are hidden inside user gains a +10 circumstance bonus to Sleight of Hand and Pick Pocket.
Limit: These type of items may be bought inside any Tailor Shop.
Cost: 900 Ryo[/spoiler]
-Secondary-
-Belt Quiver-
-Crossbow Modifications-
-Butt Bag Type Type 2-
-Cloak Type 1-
-Robe Type 5-
Non-Weapon Items
-Character Depth-
-Personality-
Turin takes his jobs very seriously. Once he's decided on a mission, that mission becomes top priority until such a time as it is finished. He will attack every aspect of the mission with full enthusiasm and determination. His work is his pride, he takes great care to make sure every mission is completed, regardless of difficulty or setbacks.
In dealing with others, this professionalism can come off as an uncaring mercenary mindset. Do job, get paid, end correspondence. When dealing with team mates, he expects them to operate to the best of their abilities. He believes that excuses are unacceptable, and that problems need to be solved, not talked about until everyone feels better about it.
Turin fully believes in himself and his abilities. He takes a great deal of pride in his shooting ability, and firmly believes that he can hit anything that he can see. He generally lacks hesitation when it comes to difficulty or danger. However, he knows his limits and knows how to work around them. He knows what he can do, and knows what needs to be done, and to him that's all it takes.
In social situations, or in disguise, his confidence is extremely useful for maintaining whatever persona he's trying to put forth. Rarely does he second-guess himself. If he messes up or something goes wrong, he'll neither lay blame nor dwell on it, he'll just learn from it and move on.
Being a smaller person who relies on stealth and deception, it behooves him that he's a relatively smart person. Intelligence comes in many forms, and Turin is at least above-average in many of them. His book smarts tend to be limited to what he needs to know for a particular mission, but his spacial reasoning ability is off the charts. He can also think and react quickly, adapting himself and his plan to match the changing situation. While he does prefer to have a plan, everybody knows that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Rigidity breeds weakness, and Turin is smart enough to be flexible.
Socially, he uses his adaptability to tell people what they want to hear to get what he wants from them. He can hold conversations about a variety of topics, and is generally open to altering his opinions based on new information. His intellectual interests are varied, although he isn't an expert in any one topic.
Turin's mindset is very much the mindset of a sniper. He feels that preparation is key to any successful operation. Preferring to observe and listen before making any sort of move, Turin measures twice and shoots once. He has a keen eye for details, and considers a multitude of factors before committing to a decision. Often, he will enter a mission with multiple plans that branch off of each step of the main plan.
In social situations, he tends toward listening very carefully to what the people around him are saying. He pays close attention to body language, tone, and even word choice, analyzing the people around him almost constantly. In doing this, he wishes to learn as much as he can about people without overtly questioning them.
Once a mission has been accepted, there are no compromises. If his mission is to kill somebody, that person is going to die. He doesn't feel any remorse or regret for the things he does while on a job. It doesn't matter the age, health, gender or position of the target, the job gets done.
To him, shinobi are trained and conditioned to do terrible things. Different ninja have different reasons, but in the end the reason for killing someone is irrelevant. A ninja will kill so many people in his or her life that there is no point in being concerned about the who, or the how, or the why. Being picky about those one kills doesn't make it noble. The method used to kill doesn't make it honorable. Killing only the wicked doesn't bring the righteous back to life. Honor and nobility only serve to make people feel better about the things they do. Turin doesn't believe in salvation. He does what the mission requires him to do, and never looks back.
Turin's ability to trust others is severely depleted. The ease and fluidity with which he can blend lies and truth has brought the realization that anybody can do this, and that most people do. This means that he rarely trusts anyone fully and completely. To him, people aren't against others, they're simply for themselves. As such, allies who are being sincere when they claim to have his back could easily change their minds in the midst of real trouble. Anybody who makes any claim, no matter how firmly they believe it at the time, can change their minds. Thus, he only affords people just as much trust as required.
While Turin will often keep his true opinions to himself, he is very quick to judge people. He holds arbitrary standards for people he meets, and if they fail to meet those standards his opinion of them immediately declines. He has a strong tendency toward reading books by their cover, and often requires a lot of convincing to let go of negative opinions. If a person demonstrates the opposite of traits he considers valuable, they become forever tainted in his eyes. To this end, he is also severely unforgiving of actions he deems unacceptable. While he won't often actively pursue vengeance, except in extreme cases, neither will he easily forget offenses against him.
[/ul]
-Appearance-
Turin is a relatively short man. Standing at only five feet, seven inches tall and weighing only a hundred forty pounds he is neither a runt nor a giant. The muscles beneath his clothes are defined from the high level of physical activity, but not particularly very large or well-shaped. His hair is a standard sandy brown, a bit thick, mostly straight but a little bit tousled, and just long enough to cover his whole forehead and the tops of his ears. He wears no facial hair, and looks to be about five or so years younger than he actually is. His facial structure is very common European, with a soft jaw line, gentle eyebrows, brown eyes, a slightly flat nose, a small mouth, and relatively straight teeth. A slight tan still remains on his skin, although it's almost entirely faded and it appears now as a slight olive color. Physically, one wouldn't look at him and be at all struck by how impressive he looked. And that's exactly the point.
His clothing consists of a white, European-style tunic with a black trimming along the hems. The deep V-neck is held together with thin leather cords, and a slightly darker undershirt can be seen covering most of his neck. The inside of the shirt is rigged with hidden pockets designed to hide knives both in the sleeves and within the chest area (Robe Type 5). Over this shirt, he wears a crisscross of leather belts. One of the belts has a gold trim in the middle goes across his chest and waist, with an extra bit hanging down from the waist and dipping just below his left hip. Another belt, slightly thicker with no trim and a sturdy iron buckle at the front, crosses his chest in the opposite way of the gold trimmed one. These belts hold his hip quiver on his left hip, and secure his disassembled crossbow to the small of his back, respectively.
Simple black pants with a brown trim adorn his legs, but the vast majority of the leg below the knee are covered by large leather boots. These boots lace all the way up to just below his knee, but feature a flair at the top that goes to about mid-thigh. They are sturdy but worn-looking, appearing as though they were not only built to last, but they have already lasted for a long time.
Over all of this, a black, hooded cloak with long sleeves obscures most of his body. Within this cloak is a harness that allows him to hide even more knives and small items on his person (Cloak Type 1). The way it hangs on his body hides both his disassembled crossbow completely unless he pulls the cloak aside.
The shape of the cloak is much like a jacket. The front goes down to a little past his waist, but the back extends all the way down to his ankles much like a cape. It is trimmed with yellow along the hems, shoulders, and hood, but the color has faded much over the years. The inside of the jacket is waterproof and lined with dark red, an adaptation to the constant rain of his village. His hood is designed to sit comfortably on his head and obscure most of his face when up. When the hood is down, it blends smoothly with the back of the jacket and accentuates the high inner collar. The sleeves are long, covering almost all of his hands, and only adorned with a simple leather pad for decoration. His hands are covered in simple, black leather gloves that are thin and well-fitted enough to prevent any loss of dexterity.
[/ul]
-Background-
-The Beggar-
-The Thief-
-The Fugitive-
-The Hunter-
-The Shinobi-
-The Killer-
-The Venator-
[/ul]
Name: Turin al-Sahar
Bloodlimit: None
Height: 5'-7"
Weight: 140lbs
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Birth Country: Wind
Village: Rain
Rank: A
Class: Chuunin
Special:
-Genjutsu Specialist
-Taijutsu Specialist
-Ninjutsu Non-Specialist
-Clan Non-Specialist
-Fighting Styles-
-Marksman (M)
-Throwing Specialist (m)
-Divine Reflexes (m)
-
-
-
-Genjutsu Perceptions-
-Glamour (M)
-Pattern (m)
-Phantasm (m)
-Enchantment (m)
-
-
-Miscellaneous-
-ANBU Cat
-ANBU Owl
-Ritualist Deception
-Ritualist Binding
-Jack-of-Trades Genjutsu
-Jack-of-Trades Taijutsu
-Jack-of-Trades Universal Miscellaneous
-
-Clans-
-Venator (m)
-Sensor (m)
-
-
-Freebies-
Trickster
Rank: "C"
Skill: Chakra Trait
Effect: Due to their upbringing and mischievous way of life they have greater ability in Figments and Glamours.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: The user is particularly adept with their abilities, and as child you quickly learned how Dancing Lights and Ghost Sound could be used to amuse their friends and fool their elders. This natural talent for illusion continued as they grew older, and before long you were being offered training in more advanced Figments and Glamours. The user gains a +1 trait bonus to their Class Level when determining the duration, range, and area of all Jutsus from Figments and Glamours. This trait replaces 1 Freebies.
Limit: Must start with Character; replaces 1 Freebies.
Child of the Streets
Rank: "C"
Skill: Social Trait
Effect: The user grew up on the streets of a large city, and as a result they have developed a knack for picking pockets and hide small objects on their person.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: The user gains a +5 trait bonus on Sleight of Hand checks, and both skills gain an additional die roll when learning the skill. This trait replaces 1 Freebies.
Limit: Must start with Character; replaces 1 Freebies.
Born to the Crossbow
Rank: "E"
Skill: Trait
Effect: User is born to handle a crossbow like a fish is born to swim in water.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: User gains a +10 damage points against defensive techniques added to the rank of their technique while using one bow from the following list: Pistol Crossbows, Compound Crossbows, Recurve Crossbows, or Rifle Crossbows. Furthermore the user gains +3 on Die Rolls pertaining to gaining knowledge in Crafting Crossbows. This trait replaces 1 of the 5 Freebies.
Limit: Must start with Character; replaces 1 of 5 Freebies. Must be a Marksman.
Rank: "C"
Skill: Chakra Trait
Effect: Due to their upbringing and mischievous way of life they have greater ability in Figments and Glamours.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: The user is particularly adept with their abilities, and as child you quickly learned how Dancing Lights and Ghost Sound could be used to amuse their friends and fool their elders. This natural talent for illusion continued as they grew older, and before long you were being offered training in more advanced Figments and Glamours. The user gains a +1 trait bonus to their Class Level when determining the duration, range, and area of all Jutsus from Figments and Glamours. This trait replaces 1 Freebies.
Limit: Must start with Character; replaces 1 Freebies.
Child of the Streets
Rank: "C"
Skill: Social Trait
Effect: The user grew up on the streets of a large city, and as a result they have developed a knack for picking pockets and hide small objects on their person.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: The user gains a +5 trait bonus on Sleight of Hand checks, and both skills gain an additional die roll when learning the skill. This trait replaces 1 Freebies.
Limit: Must start with Character; replaces 1 Freebies.
Born to the Crossbow
Rank: "E"
Skill: Trait
Effect: User is born to handle a crossbow like a fish is born to swim in water.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: User gains a +10 damage points against defensive techniques added to the rank of their technique while using one bow from the following list: Pistol Crossbows, Compound Crossbows, Recurve Crossbows, or Rifle Crossbows. Furthermore the user gains +3 on Die Rolls pertaining to gaining knowledge in Crafting Crossbows. This trait replaces 1 of the 5 Freebies.
Limit: Must start with Character; replaces 1 of 5 Freebies. Must be a Marksman.
-Perceptions-
Glamour Perception {Freebie}
Rank: "C"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: Jutsu allows the user to perform Glamour Perceptions.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Glamours cannot produce real effects, but they can change things that already exist. That's the chief difference between a Figment and a Glamour. If you want solid wood to feel rotten, birdcalls to sound like the shrieks of the damned, an otyugh to smell like perfume, or a disguise yourself, you probably want a glamour. As with Figments, everyone within range perceives the same thing and reacts appropriately.
Limit: ---
Pattern Perception {Freebie}
Rank: "C"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: Jutsu allows the user to perform Pattern Perceptions.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Patterns, like Figments and Glamours, produce sensory impressions, and everyone within range perceives the same thing. Patterns contain an additional, mind-affecting element, and they can cause real, physiological effects. All patterns are Mind-Affecting Jutsus. While everyone sees a color spray, only some of those within the cone actually deal with its effects. Note: that a particular sense is required for patterns to have an effect. Sightless creatures ignore Color Spray, for instance. If you want multiple subjects to be affected by what they see, and you do not care if everyone perceives it happening, pattern might be a good choice.
Limit: ---
Phantasm Perception {Freebie}
Rank: "C"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: Jutsu allows the user to perform Phantasm Perceptions.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Phantasms can only be perceived by the user and target, unlike the previous 3 Perceptions. The impression created by a Phantasm exists only in the mind and is personalized for everyone perceiving it. All phantasms are therefore, Mind-Affecting Jutsus. Nightmare is a good example of such a Phantasm. If you want to keep your actions secret from everyone but your subjects, Phantasm is a good choice, whether you want to frighten or to deliver a message.
Limit: ---
Rank: "C"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: Jutsu allows the user to perform Glamour Perceptions.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Glamours cannot produce real effects, but they can change things that already exist. That's the chief difference between a Figment and a Glamour. If you want solid wood to feel rotten, birdcalls to sound like the shrieks of the damned, an otyugh to smell like perfume, or a disguise yourself, you probably want a glamour. As with Figments, everyone within range perceives the same thing and reacts appropriately.
Limit: ---
Pattern Perception {Freebie}
Rank: "C"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: Jutsu allows the user to perform Pattern Perceptions.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Patterns, like Figments and Glamours, produce sensory impressions, and everyone within range perceives the same thing. Patterns contain an additional, mind-affecting element, and they can cause real, physiological effects. All patterns are Mind-Affecting Jutsus. While everyone sees a color spray, only some of those within the cone actually deal with its effects. Note: that a particular sense is required for patterns to have an effect. Sightless creatures ignore Color Spray, for instance. If you want multiple subjects to be affected by what they see, and you do not care if everyone perceives it happening, pattern might be a good choice.
Limit: ---
Phantasm Perception {Freebie}
Rank: "C"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: Jutsu allows the user to perform Phantasm Perceptions.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Phantasms can only be perceived by the user and target, unlike the previous 3 Perceptions. The impression created by a Phantasm exists only in the mind and is personalized for everyone perceiving it. All phantasms are therefore, Mind-Affecting Jutsus. Nightmare is a good example of such a Phantasm. If you want to keep your actions secret from everyone but your subjects, Phantasm is a good choice, whether you want to frighten or to deliver a message.
Limit: ---
-Augmentations-
3/8 Augmentation Points
Darkvision [35 meters]
Rank: "B"
Type: Augmentation
Effect: User gains Darkvision
Special: To perform: 3 hours; Duration: Permanent
Drawback: ---
Description: Takes up 3 Augmentation Points. User can see in total darkness out to a range of 20 meters. Darkvision is black and white only but is otherwise like normal sight.
Limit: Must be a Ritualist for Augmentation Rituals.
Cost: Market Price: 23,000 Ryo Performing Price: 17,000 Ryo
[/ul]Darkvision [35 meters]
Rank: "B"
Type: Augmentation
Effect: User gains Darkvision
Special: To perform: 3 hours; Duration: Permanent
Drawback: ---
Description: Takes up 3 Augmentation Points. User can see in total darkness out to a range of 20 meters. Darkvision is black and white only but is otherwise like normal sight.
Limit: Must be a Ritualist for Augmentation Rituals.
Cost: Market Price: 23,000 Ryo Performing Price: 17,000 Ryo
Weapons
Primary Weapon:
Secondary Items:
Limit: These type of items may be bought inside any Tailor Shop.
Cost: 1,140 Ryo
Cloak Type 1 (Overview)
Rank: "C"
Type: Main, Tailor, Slot Holder, Holds 5 Slots (5 for Items of Scroll Length), Cloak/Harness
Effect: A Cloak that holds an amount of items inside without giving a hint that the cloak may actually hold items inside.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture A Harness and Cloak that attaches to one another. This harness is attached to the chest to be held up right that have long strips of leather reaching down to the cloak that attaches to the end of the cloak. Consider each strip to be a thick belt that attaches to the chest harness. Each harness has 5 pouches that holds 1/2 a slot each. These pouches are scroll length so they are able to hold knives, senbon, kunai and other items that are the same length as a scroll. This Cloak only has 2 belts that have a total of 5 slots to carry items inside. When hands are hidden inside user gains a +10 circumstance bonus to Sleight of Hand and Pick Pocket.
Limit: These type of items may be bought inside any Tailor Shop.
Cost: 900 Ryo
Robe Type 5 (Overview)
Rank: "C"
Type: Main, Tailor, Slot Holder, Holds 5 Slots (5 for Items of Scroll Length), Robe
Effect: Robe definition, a long, loose or flowing gown or outer garment worn by men or women as ceremonial dress, an official vestment, or garb of office.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A robe that is a kimono-style sleeves and a roomy hood combine with the lightweight fabric for maximum draping effect. The weight of the fabric is great for movement and layering. This robe has inside pouch slots that can be closed with Velcro straps within the robe. The slots are close to chest and torso of the body for quick removal. This particular robe has a 5 slot pouches that can fit an object of scroll size. These slots can be placed either on the left, or right side of the robe, or distributed on both sides with the max amount of pouches of 3 on a single side. When hands are hidden inside user gains a +10 circumstance bonus to Sleight of Hand and Pick Pocket.
Limit: These type of items may be bought inside any Tailor Shop.
Cost: 900 Ryo[/spoiler]
-Secondary-
-Belt Quiver-
Bolt (Overview) 15 Quiver Slots
Rank: "C"
Type: Secondary, Weapon, 10 per Quiver Slot, Arrow
Effect: A quarrel or bolt is the term for the ammunition used in a crossbow.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture A bolt is a shafted projectile that is shot with a crossbow. A bolt tends to be smaller than an arrow and tend to be heavier than an arrow. Bolts length tend to range between 40 cm (16 in) to 55 cm (22 in). The Range Increment of a bolt depends on the 3 parts that make up an Bolt. Every Bolt must have 3 part: an Arrowhead, a Shaft, and a Fletching. The Range Increment Adjustment with this item is dependent on the 3 parts.
Limit: These types of items may be bought inside any Hunting Shop.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo per Quiver Slot, or 100 Ryo Each
Fletching: Razor Blade (Overview) (X5 slots)
Rank: "C"
Type: Secondary, 10 per Slot, Marksman, Ammunition, Fletching
Effect: Fletching used for arrows or bolts made from razor blades.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Flight archers may use razor blades for fletching, in order to reduce air resistance. Reducing Air Resistance gives better flight for the arrow or bolt. User however must be careful not to harm themselves due to the intricate design of the razor blades. The Range Increment Adjustment with this fletching is +10 meters.
Limit: These types of items may be bought inside any Hunting Shop.
Cost: 330 Ryo per Slot, or 33 Ryo Each
Arrowhead: Explosive (Overview) (30)
Rank: "A"
Type: Secondary, 50 per Slot, Marksman, Ammunition, Arrowhead
Effect: A small arrowhead that releases a small explosive charge capable of killing within a small range.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture These arrowheads are exploding arrowheads that are able to harm and kill opponents or just simply explode within a certain radius. Explosive arrowheads have a killing diameter of 1 meter, and a wounding diameter of 2 meters. The Arrowhead has 3 settings; Explode on contact, Explode 1 to 6 seconds after contact, Explode 1 to 6 seconds regardless of contact. The Range Increment Adjustment with this Arrowhead is equal to the weapon.
Limit: These types of items may be bought inside any Hunting Shop.
Cost: 7,500 Ryo per Slot, or 150 Ryo Each
Rank: "C"
Type: Secondary, Weapon, 10 per Quiver Slot, Arrow
Effect: A quarrel or bolt is the term for the ammunition used in a crossbow.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture A bolt is a shafted projectile that is shot with a crossbow. A bolt tends to be smaller than an arrow and tend to be heavier than an arrow. Bolts length tend to range between 40 cm (16 in) to 55 cm (22 in). The Range Increment of a bolt depends on the 3 parts that make up an Bolt. Every Bolt must have 3 part: an Arrowhead, a Shaft, and a Fletching. The Range Increment Adjustment with this item is dependent on the 3 parts.
Limit: These types of items may be bought inside any Hunting Shop.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo per Quiver Slot, or 100 Ryo Each
Fletching: Razor Blade (Overview) (X5 slots)
Rank: "C"
Type: Secondary, 10 per Slot, Marksman, Ammunition, Fletching
Effect: Fletching used for arrows or bolts made from razor blades.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Flight archers may use razor blades for fletching, in order to reduce air resistance. Reducing Air Resistance gives better flight for the arrow or bolt. User however must be careful not to harm themselves due to the intricate design of the razor blades. The Range Increment Adjustment with this fletching is +10 meters.
Limit: These types of items may be bought inside any Hunting Shop.
Cost: 330 Ryo per Slot, or 33 Ryo Each
Arrowhead: Explosive (Overview) (30)
Rank: "A"
Type: Secondary, 50 per Slot, Marksman, Ammunition, Arrowhead
Effect: A small arrowhead that releases a small explosive charge capable of killing within a small range.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture These arrowheads are exploding arrowheads that are able to harm and kill opponents or just simply explode within a certain radius. Explosive arrowheads have a killing diameter of 1 meter, and a wounding diameter of 2 meters. The Arrowhead has 3 settings; Explode on contact, Explode 1 to 6 seconds after contact, Explode 1 to 6 seconds regardless of contact. The Range Increment Adjustment with this Arrowhead is equal to the weapon.
Limit: These types of items may be bought inside any Hunting Shop.
Cost: 7,500 Ryo per Slot, or 150 Ryo Each
-Crossbow Modifications-
Crossbow Scope (1/2 slot) (x10 total zoom) (Thermal Vision)
Rank: "C"
Type: Secondary, 2 per Slot, Gadget, Surveillance, Spectacles
Effect: A telescope mounted on a Crossbow, etc, used for sighting
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A scope is a modified non-refracting telescope used to magnify the images of distant objects by passing light through a series of lenses and sometimes prisms; the use of prisms results in a lightweight telescope. If a Monocular has a zoom of 5 it brings objects 5 times closer through vision. The basic vision before adding a Zooming Vision capability is 5. When adding the basic Zooming Vision, it will bring it up to 10. Monocular has enough carrying capacity for 4 types of Surveillance Vision. Does not fit in Scroll size Slots.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 3,000 Ryo per Slot, or 1,500 Ryo Each
Zooming Vision x1
Rank: "C", "B", "A", "S"
Type: Secondary, 0 per Slot, Gadget, Surveillance, Vision
Effect:A vision consisting of a series of lenses and prisms, used to magnify objects so that they can be better seen from a distance.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A vision that is mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length. Zoom lenses are often described by the ratio of their longest to shortest focal lengths. Each Zooming lenses it brings it that much closer. If a Zooming Vision is a 5 it brings objects 5 times closer through vision. The basic vision before adding extra zooming capability is 5. Adding extra zooming costs 1,000 Ryo. When total of Zooming is 3,000 Ryo it becomes a "B" Rank item. When item costs 7,000 Ryo then it becomes an "A" Rank item. When item costs 12,000 Ryo or more than it becomes an "S" Rank item. User may have a max of x100.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo Each + 1,000 Ryo per extra Zoom
Thermal Vision
Rank: "B"
Type: Secondary, 0 per Slot, Gadget, Surveillance, Vision
Effect: An electro-optical image intensifying vision relay that detects visible and near-heat signatures, intensifies the signatures, and provides a visible image of the signatures.
Special: ---
Drawback: Difficult to distinguish two objects of same size and shape.
Description: A vision that perceives thermal radiation and do not need a source of illumination. They produce an image in the darkest of nights and can see through light fog, rain and smoke. It detects heat signatures that are located around within field of vision. The hotter the image the more light is produced. Only capable of seeing through a single wall as it is completely solid unlike fog, smoke, and rain.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 5,000 Ryo Each
Sniper
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 0 per Slot, Gadget, Mechanical, Weapon Enhancement
Effect: A modification allowing a Crossbow to be broken down into pieces for easier concealment.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: This modification allows the crossbow to be broken down into pieces for easier concealment. The Stock (tiller) is made of tubular metal pieces (butt, trigger assembly and headboard). There are special hinges and latches that allow the stock to be broken down and the limbs to be folded into the body (after the reinforcing of the stiff but narrow bow has been removed). Alternatively, the bow can be removed and folded in 2 and slide inside the tubular pieces, so that the weapon resembles a piece of machinery (perhaps from a wagon's running gear). Overall weight is reduced by 1lb for Compound and Recurve Crossbows, 2lbs for Rifle Crossbows. Once assembled, other characteristics remain the same.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 20,000 Ryo Each
Optima
Rank: "A"
Type: Secondary, 0 per Slot, Gadget, Mechanical, Weapon Enhancement
Effect: An internal modification that increases Base Range Increment of a Crossbow.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Quality built modification. A specially enclosed and slotted bolt groove on the tiller that extends further forward on a longer tiller. Confers greater accuracy at range increasing Base Range Increment by 10%. Cannot be used with an Ultima.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 10,000 Ryo Each
Stabilizer
Rank: "C"
Type: Main, Gadget, Mechanical, Transmitter
Effect: A weight, usually on rods, mounted on the bow to increase stability increasing precision.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Stabilizers are mounted the front of a Bow, Sling, a Compound/Recurve/Sniper Crossbow, where the weight helps keep the weapon stable, improving long-range shooting. Using a stabilizer increases the Base Range Increment by 10%.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 10,000 Ryo Each
Rank: "C"
Type: Secondary, 2 per Slot, Gadget, Surveillance, Spectacles
Effect: A telescope mounted on a Crossbow, etc, used for sighting
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A scope is a modified non-refracting telescope used to magnify the images of distant objects by passing light through a series of lenses and sometimes prisms; the use of prisms results in a lightweight telescope. If a Monocular has a zoom of 5 it brings objects 5 times closer through vision. The basic vision before adding a Zooming Vision capability is 5. When adding the basic Zooming Vision, it will bring it up to 10. Monocular has enough carrying capacity for 4 types of Surveillance Vision. Does not fit in Scroll size Slots.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 3,000 Ryo per Slot, or 1,500 Ryo Each
Zooming Vision x1
Rank: "C", "B", "A", "S"
Type: Secondary, 0 per Slot, Gadget, Surveillance, Vision
Effect:A vision consisting of a series of lenses and prisms, used to magnify objects so that they can be better seen from a distance.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A vision that is mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length. Zoom lenses are often described by the ratio of their longest to shortest focal lengths. Each Zooming lenses it brings it that much closer. If a Zooming Vision is a 5 it brings objects 5 times closer through vision. The basic vision before adding extra zooming capability is 5. Adding extra zooming costs 1,000 Ryo. When total of Zooming is 3,000 Ryo it becomes a "B" Rank item. When item costs 7,000 Ryo then it becomes an "A" Rank item. When item costs 12,000 Ryo or more than it becomes an "S" Rank item. User may have a max of x100.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo Each + 1,000 Ryo per extra Zoom
Thermal Vision
Rank: "B"
Type: Secondary, 0 per Slot, Gadget, Surveillance, Vision
Effect: An electro-optical image intensifying vision relay that detects visible and near-heat signatures, intensifies the signatures, and provides a visible image of the signatures.
Special: ---
Drawback: Difficult to distinguish two objects of same size and shape.
Description: A vision that perceives thermal radiation and do not need a source of illumination. They produce an image in the darkest of nights and can see through light fog, rain and smoke. It detects heat signatures that are located around within field of vision. The hotter the image the more light is produced. Only capable of seeing through a single wall as it is completely solid unlike fog, smoke, and rain.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 5,000 Ryo Each
Sniper
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 0 per Slot, Gadget, Mechanical, Weapon Enhancement
Effect: A modification allowing a Crossbow to be broken down into pieces for easier concealment.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: This modification allows the crossbow to be broken down into pieces for easier concealment. The Stock (tiller) is made of tubular metal pieces (butt, trigger assembly and headboard). There are special hinges and latches that allow the stock to be broken down and the limbs to be folded into the body (after the reinforcing of the stiff but narrow bow has been removed). Alternatively, the bow can be removed and folded in 2 and slide inside the tubular pieces, so that the weapon resembles a piece of machinery (perhaps from a wagon's running gear). Overall weight is reduced by 1lb for Compound and Recurve Crossbows, 2lbs for Rifle Crossbows. Once assembled, other characteristics remain the same.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 20,000 Ryo Each
Optima
Rank: "A"
Type: Secondary, 0 per Slot, Gadget, Mechanical, Weapon Enhancement
Effect: An internal modification that increases Base Range Increment of a Crossbow.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Quality built modification. A specially enclosed and slotted bolt groove on the tiller that extends further forward on a longer tiller. Confers greater accuracy at range increasing Base Range Increment by 10%. Cannot be used with an Ultima.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 10,000 Ryo Each
Stabilizer
Rank: "C"
Type: Main, Gadget, Mechanical, Transmitter
Effect: A weight, usually on rods, mounted on the bow to increase stability increasing precision.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Stabilizers are mounted the front of a Bow, Sling, a Compound/Recurve/Sniper Crossbow, where the weight helps keep the weapon stable, improving long-range shooting. Using a stabilizer increases the Base Range Increment by 10%.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 10,000 Ryo Each
-Butt Bag Type Type 2-
Compass Lensatic (Overview) x1 (1/4 slot)
Rank: "B"
Type: Secondary, 4 per Slot, Gadget, Survival, Compass
Effect: A magnetic compass having a magnifying lens for reading the compass scale.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture The Lensatic Compass features three main parts. The base forms the body of the compass and holds the needle, dial and rotating scales. The cover contains the sighting wire, and serves to protect the compass when closed. The rear lens flips out when the compass is open, and is used to read the dial. The military often uses Lensatic Compasses, which are designed for strength. The Lensatic Compass is 3.25 inches by 2.25 inches and 1.125 thick. Without a Compass there is a percentile chance the user will not be able to determine True North depending on their Geographical location.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 4,000 Ryo per Slot, or 1,000 Ryo Each
Lock Pick Set - 20 Piece (Overview) x1 set (1/4 slot)
Rank: "B"
Type: Secondary, 4 per Slot, Apparel, Holsters and Bags, Kit
Effect: A 20 piece Lock Pick Set made out of leather.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture This simple pick set contains 13 picks, 6 tension wrenches and a broken key extractor. It comes with a leather case that has a flap over lid with a snap. The picks are made of steel with handles to allow comfort. When purchasing please decide which picks will be placed inside by looking through the Lock Picks section found in the Gadget Index.
Limit: These type of items may be bought inside any Tailor Shop.
Cost: 520 Ryo for Holster by itself or 2,020 Ryo with the Locks
Included with Lock Pick Set:
Glass Cutter (Overview) (5 cutters) (1/2 slot)
Rank: "C"
Type: Secondary, 10 per Slot, Gadget, Mechanical, Cutter
Effect: A tool that scores a line on a piece of glass, allowing the glass to be snapped along the line.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture This very simple instrument consists of a small diamond cut to a fine point and set into a suitable handle or ring. Such a tool cuts through glass with almost as much ease as a knife through butter. In principle, attempting an entry through a window is always superior to forcing a door, since windows cannot be as physically tough as doors. Using this item with tar paper considerably increases its effectiveness. To use a glass cutter, the user must make successfully keep hold of the piece of glass, or accidentally break the glass. The length of the Glass Cutter is 5.125 inches while the width of the Glass Cutter is 0.5 inches. Can make a hole in glass 3 to 16 inches in diameter. To use quietly, must make a Lockpick Difficult check. If failed, the glass shatters with a loud crash (+10 to Observation when Listening).
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 2,000 Ryo per Slot, or 200 Ryo Each
Rank: "B"
Type: Secondary, 4 per Slot, Gadget, Survival, Compass
Effect: A magnetic compass having a magnifying lens for reading the compass scale.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture The Lensatic Compass features three main parts. The base forms the body of the compass and holds the needle, dial and rotating scales. The cover contains the sighting wire, and serves to protect the compass when closed. The rear lens flips out when the compass is open, and is used to read the dial. The military often uses Lensatic Compasses, which are designed for strength. The Lensatic Compass is 3.25 inches by 2.25 inches and 1.125 thick. Without a Compass there is a percentile chance the user will not be able to determine True North depending on their Geographical location.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 4,000 Ryo per Slot, or 1,000 Ryo Each
Lock Pick Set - 20 Piece (Overview) x1 set (1/4 slot)
Rank: "B"
Type: Secondary, 4 per Slot, Apparel, Holsters and Bags, Kit
Effect: A 20 piece Lock Pick Set made out of leather.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture This simple pick set contains 13 picks, 6 tension wrenches and a broken key extractor. It comes with a leather case that has a flap over lid with a snap. The picks are made of steel with handles to allow comfort. When purchasing please decide which picks will be placed inside by looking through the Lock Picks section found in the Gadget Index.
Limit: These type of items may be bought inside any Tailor Shop.
Cost: 520 Ryo for Holster by itself or 2,020 Ryo with the Locks
Included with Lock Pick Set:
Torsion Wrench (6 wrenches)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: An "L" shape tool used to hold picked pins and turn the plug.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture The Torsion wrench, also known as the tension wrench, is used to apply torque to the plug of a lock in order to hold any picked pins in place. Once all pins are picked, the torsion wrench is then used to turn the plug and open the lock. It is typically shaped like a letter "L", although the vertical part of the letter is elongated in comparison to the horizontal part. Some torsion wrenches, called feather touch wrenches, are coiled into a spring at the bend in the "L", which helps the user apply constant torque. Some users, however, maintain that such wrenches reduce torque control and the feedback available to the user. Some resemble tweezers, and allow the user to apply torque to both the top and the bottom of the lock. These would commonly be used with double sided wafer locks. It is not possible to pick a pin/tumbler or wafer lock without a torsion tool. With this and a Pick the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Half-Diamond Pick (4 picks)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: A pick used for picking individual pins.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture This versatile pick is included in nearly all kits and is mainly used for picking individual pins, but can also be used for raking and for wafer or disk locks. The half-diamond is usually 2.5 to 12 mm long. Each of the ends of the triangular half-diamond of this pick can be either steep or shallow in angle, depending on the need for picking without affecting neighboring pins, or raking as appropriate. A normal set would comprise 3 half-diamond picks and a double. With this and a Torsion Wrench the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Hook Pick (3 picks)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: A pick used for picking individual pins.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture The hook pick is similar to the half-diamond pick, but has a hook shaped tip rather than a half-diamond shape. The hook pick is sometimes referred to as a feeler or finger and is not used for raking. This is the most basic lock pick tool and is all that a professional will usually need if the lock is to be picked in the traditional sense rather than opened by raking. A variety of different sized and shaped hooks will be available in a normal set. With this and a Torsion Wrench the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Ball Pick (3 picks)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: A pick used for picking individual pins.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture The ball pick is similar to the half-diamond pick, except the end of the pick has a half or full circle shape. This pick is commonly used to open wafer locks. With this and a Torsion Wrench the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Rake Picks (3 picks)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: A pick used to rake the pins by rapidly sliding the pick past all pins repeatedly in order for the pins to reach the sheer line.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture These picks, such as the common snake rake, are designed to rake pins by rapidly sliding the pick past all the pins, repeatedly, in order to bounce the pins until they reach the shear line. This method requires much less skill than picking pins individually, and generally works well on cheaper locks. When the pins are excited they bounce all around the sheer line and with the skillful application of a tension tool this is the easiest way to pick a lock. This is also how beginners start. Advanced rakes are available which are shaped to mimic various different pin height key positions and are considerably easier to use than traditional rakes. Such rakes are typically machined from a template of common key configurations, since not all permutations of pin heights are adjacent pins are possible given the process by which keys are manufactured. With this and a Torsion Wrench the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: An "L" shape tool used to hold picked pins and turn the plug.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture The Torsion wrench, also known as the tension wrench, is used to apply torque to the plug of a lock in order to hold any picked pins in place. Once all pins are picked, the torsion wrench is then used to turn the plug and open the lock. It is typically shaped like a letter "L", although the vertical part of the letter is elongated in comparison to the horizontal part. Some torsion wrenches, called feather touch wrenches, are coiled into a spring at the bend in the "L", which helps the user apply constant torque. Some users, however, maintain that such wrenches reduce torque control and the feedback available to the user. Some resemble tweezers, and allow the user to apply torque to both the top and the bottom of the lock. These would commonly be used with double sided wafer locks. It is not possible to pick a pin/tumbler or wafer lock without a torsion tool. With this and a Pick the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Half-Diamond Pick (4 picks)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: A pick used for picking individual pins.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture This versatile pick is included in nearly all kits and is mainly used for picking individual pins, but can also be used for raking and for wafer or disk locks. The half-diamond is usually 2.5 to 12 mm long. Each of the ends of the triangular half-diamond of this pick can be either steep or shallow in angle, depending on the need for picking without affecting neighboring pins, or raking as appropriate. A normal set would comprise 3 half-diamond picks and a double. With this and a Torsion Wrench the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Hook Pick (3 picks)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: A pick used for picking individual pins.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture The hook pick is similar to the half-diamond pick, but has a hook shaped tip rather than a half-diamond shape. The hook pick is sometimes referred to as a feeler or finger and is not used for raking. This is the most basic lock pick tool and is all that a professional will usually need if the lock is to be picked in the traditional sense rather than opened by raking. A variety of different sized and shaped hooks will be available in a normal set. With this and a Torsion Wrench the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Ball Pick (3 picks)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: A pick used for picking individual pins.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture The ball pick is similar to the half-diamond pick, except the end of the pick has a half or full circle shape. This pick is commonly used to open wafer locks. With this and a Torsion Wrench the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Rake Picks (3 picks)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 400 per Slot, Mechanical, Lock Pick
Effect: A pick used to rake the pins by rapidly sliding the pick past all pins repeatedly in order for the pins to reach the sheer line.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture These picks, such as the common snake rake, are designed to rake pins by rapidly sliding the pick past all the pins, repeatedly, in order to bounce the pins until they reach the shear line. This method requires much less skill than picking pins individually, and generally works well on cheaper locks. When the pins are excited they bounce all around the sheer line and with the skillful application of a tension tool this is the easiest way to pick a lock. This is also how beginners start. Advanced rakes are available which are shaped to mimic various different pin height key positions and are considerably easier to use than traditional rakes. Such rakes are typically machined from a template of common key configurations, since not all permutations of pin heights are adjacent pins are possible given the process by which keys are manufactured. With this and a Torsion Wrench the user inquires no negatives when performing a Lock Pick.
Cost: 40,000 Ryo per Slot, 100 Ryo Each
Glass Cutter (Overview) (5 cutters) (1/2 slot)
Rank: "C"
Type: Secondary, 10 per Slot, Gadget, Mechanical, Cutter
Effect: A tool that scores a line on a piece of glass, allowing the glass to be snapped along the line.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture This very simple instrument consists of a small diamond cut to a fine point and set into a suitable handle or ring. Such a tool cuts through glass with almost as much ease as a knife through butter. In principle, attempting an entry through a window is always superior to forcing a door, since windows cannot be as physically tough as doors. Using this item with tar paper considerably increases its effectiveness. To use a glass cutter, the user must make successfully keep hold of the piece of glass, or accidentally break the glass. The length of the Glass Cutter is 5.125 inches while the width of the Glass Cutter is 0.5 inches. Can make a hole in glass 3 to 16 inches in diameter. To use quietly, must make a Lockpick Difficult check. If failed, the glass shatters with a loud crash (+10 to Observation when Listening).
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 2,000 Ryo per Slot, or 200 Ryo Each
-Cloak Type 1-
Knife (Overview) {5 slots} {10 Knives}
Rank: "C" Rank
Type: Secondary, 2 per Slot, Piercing/Slashing, Knife
Effect: An instrument composed of a blade fixed into a handle, used for cutting or as a weapon.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A Light Weapon. These weapons do +4 Amour Points of Damage. The Range Increment of this weapon is 5 meters. A knife has a blade that is about less than 1 foot in length. The user gains a +10 bonus on Sleight of Hand Skill to conceal a knife on their body.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Weapon Shop.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo per Slot, or 500 Ryo Each.
Rank: "C" Rank
Type: Secondary, 2 per Slot, Piercing/Slashing, Knife
Effect: An instrument composed of a blade fixed into a handle, used for cutting or as a weapon.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A Light Weapon. These weapons do +4 Amour Points of Damage. The Range Increment of this weapon is 5 meters. A knife has a blade that is about less than 1 foot in length. The user gains a +10 bonus on Sleight of Hand Skill to conceal a knife on their body.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Weapon Shop.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo per Slot, or 500 Ryo Each.
-Robe Type 5-
Knife (Overview) {5 slots} {10 Knives}
Rank: "C" Rank
Type: Secondary, 2 per Slot, Piercing/Slashing, Knife
Effect: An instrument composed of a blade fixed into a handle, used for cutting or as a weapon.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A Light Weapon. These weapons do +4 Amour Points of Damage. The Range Increment of this weapon is 5 meters. A knife has a blade that is about less than 1 foot in length. The user gains a +10 bonus on Sleight of Hand Skill to conceal a knife on their body.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Weapon Shop.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo per Slot, or 500 Ryo Each.
[/ul]Rank: "C" Rank
Type: Secondary, 2 per Slot, Piercing/Slashing, Knife
Effect: An instrument composed of a blade fixed into a handle, used for cutting or as a weapon.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A Light Weapon. These weapons do +4 Amour Points of Damage. The Range Increment of this weapon is 5 meters. A knife has a blade that is about less than 1 foot in length. The user gains a +10 bonus on Sleight of Hand Skill to conceal a knife on their body.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Weapon Shop.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo per Slot, or 500 Ryo Each.
Non-Weapon Items
Scroll: Map: Known World x1
Rank: "B"
Type: Main, Book, Scroll, Map
Effect: A map of any of the world's main continuous expanses of land.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Known World; entire Known World. Known World Map's dimensions are 40 inches by 24 inches. Known World Maps list the Continents, Nations, and City Capitals, of those Nations that reside within the Known World. The Known World Map also states the Oceans, Bays, and Near By Islands associated to the Known World. The Maps may be folded and can fit inside Map Holders found in Vests.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Book Shop.
Cost: 3,000 Ryo Each
Wireless Radio (2)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 16 per Slot, Gadget, Surveillance, Transmitter
Effect: A radio transmitting device that sends signals through electromagnetic waves.
Special: ---
Drawback: Limited Range in transmitting information.
Description: Picture A Device that has a Velcro strap along the neck with a voice activator along the throat. An ear piece is connected from the vocal piece to the ear in a small cord. It's a radio that transmits signals by sending electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. They can then be received by other radios in the form of sound or a wide array of signals in order to make sure important information is protected. When rolled and compact, 16 Wireless Radios are able to fit inside 1 slot. The range between two Wireless Radios is 1,000 meters (Communications for a single thread.)
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 16,000 Ryo per Slot, or 1,000 Ryo Each
[/ul]Rank: "B"
Type: Main, Book, Scroll, Map
Effect: A map of any of the world's main continuous expanses of land.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Known World; entire Known World. Known World Map's dimensions are 40 inches by 24 inches. Known World Maps list the Continents, Nations, and City Capitals, of those Nations that reside within the Known World. The Known World Map also states the Oceans, Bays, and Near By Islands associated to the Known World. The Maps may be folded and can fit inside Map Holders found in Vests.
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Book Shop.
Cost: 3,000 Ryo Each
Wireless Radio (2)
Rank: "S"
Type: Secondary, 16 per Slot, Gadget, Surveillance, Transmitter
Effect: A radio transmitting device that sends signals through electromagnetic waves.
Special: ---
Drawback: Limited Range in transmitting information.
Description: Picture A Device that has a Velcro strap along the neck with a voice activator along the throat. An ear piece is connected from the vocal piece to the ear in a small cord. It's a radio that transmits signals by sending electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. They can then be received by other radios in the form of sound or a wide array of signals in order to make sure important information is protected. When rolled and compact, 16 Wireless Radios are able to fit inside 1 slot. The range between two Wireless Radios is 1,000 meters (Communications for a single thread.)
Limit: These items may be bought inside any Gadget Shop.
Cost: 16,000 Ryo per Slot, or 1,000 Ryo Each
-Character Depth-
-Personality-
-Professional-
Turin takes his jobs very seriously. Once he's decided on a mission, that mission becomes top priority until such a time as it is finished. He will attack every aspect of the mission with full enthusiasm and determination. His work is his pride, he takes great care to make sure every mission is completed, regardless of difficulty or setbacks.
In dealing with others, this professionalism can come off as an uncaring mercenary mindset. Do job, get paid, end correspondence. When dealing with team mates, he expects them to operate to the best of their abilities. He believes that excuses are unacceptable, and that problems need to be solved, not talked about until everyone feels better about it.
-Confident-
Turin fully believes in himself and his abilities. He takes a great deal of pride in his shooting ability, and firmly believes that he can hit anything that he can see. He generally lacks hesitation when it comes to difficulty or danger. However, he knows his limits and knows how to work around them. He knows what he can do, and knows what needs to be done, and to him that's all it takes.
In social situations, or in disguise, his confidence is extremely useful for maintaining whatever persona he's trying to put forth. Rarely does he second-guess himself. If he messes up or something goes wrong, he'll neither lay blame nor dwell on it, he'll just learn from it and move on.
-Adaptable-
Being a smaller person who relies on stealth and deception, it behooves him that he's a relatively smart person. Intelligence comes in many forms, and Turin is at least above-average in many of them. His book smarts tend to be limited to what he needs to know for a particular mission, but his spacial reasoning ability is off the charts. He can also think and react quickly, adapting himself and his plan to match the changing situation. While he does prefer to have a plan, everybody knows that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Rigidity breeds weakness, and Turin is smart enough to be flexible.
Socially, he uses his adaptability to tell people what they want to hear to get what he wants from them. He can hold conversations about a variety of topics, and is generally open to altering his opinions based on new information. His intellectual interests are varied, although he isn't an expert in any one topic.
-Cautious-
Turin's mindset is very much the mindset of a sniper. He feels that preparation is key to any successful operation. Preferring to observe and listen before making any sort of move, Turin measures twice and shoots once. He has a keen eye for details, and considers a multitude of factors before committing to a decision. Often, he will enter a mission with multiple plans that branch off of each step of the main plan.
In social situations, he tends toward listening very carefully to what the people around him are saying. He pays close attention to body language, tone, and even word choice, analyzing the people around him almost constantly. In doing this, he wishes to learn as much as he can about people without overtly questioning them.
-Negative-
-Ruthless-
Once a mission has been accepted, there are no compromises. If his mission is to kill somebody, that person is going to die. He doesn't feel any remorse or regret for the things he does while on a job. It doesn't matter the age, health, gender or position of the target, the job gets done.
To him, shinobi are trained and conditioned to do terrible things. Different ninja have different reasons, but in the end the reason for killing someone is irrelevant. A ninja will kill so many people in his or her life that there is no point in being concerned about the who, or the how, or the why. Being picky about those one kills doesn't make it noble. The method used to kill doesn't make it honorable. Killing only the wicked doesn't bring the righteous back to life. Honor and nobility only serve to make people feel better about the things they do. Turin doesn't believe in salvation. He does what the mission requires him to do, and never looks back.
-Distrustful-
Turin's ability to trust others is severely depleted. The ease and fluidity with which he can blend lies and truth has brought the realization that anybody can do this, and that most people do. This means that he rarely trusts anyone fully and completely. To him, people aren't against others, they're simply for themselves. As such, allies who are being sincere when they claim to have his back could easily change their minds in the midst of real trouble. Anybody who makes any claim, no matter how firmly they believe it at the time, can change their minds. Thus, he only affords people just as much trust as required.
-Judgmental-
While Turin will often keep his true opinions to himself, he is very quick to judge people. He holds arbitrary standards for people he meets, and if they fail to meet those standards his opinion of them immediately declines. He has a strong tendency toward reading books by their cover, and often requires a lot of convincing to let go of negative opinions. If a person demonstrates the opposite of traits he considers valuable, they become forever tainted in his eyes. To this end, he is also severely unforgiving of actions he deems unacceptable. While he won't often actively pursue vengeance, except in extreme cases, neither will he easily forget offenses against him.
[/ul]
-Appearance-
Turin is a relatively short man. Standing at only five feet, seven inches tall and weighing only a hundred forty pounds he is neither a runt nor a giant. The muscles beneath his clothes are defined from the high level of physical activity, but not particularly very large or well-shaped. His hair is a standard sandy brown, a bit thick, mostly straight but a little bit tousled, and just long enough to cover his whole forehead and the tops of his ears. He wears no facial hair, and looks to be about five or so years younger than he actually is. His facial structure is very common European, with a soft jaw line, gentle eyebrows, brown eyes, a slightly flat nose, a small mouth, and relatively straight teeth. A slight tan still remains on his skin, although it's almost entirely faded and it appears now as a slight olive color. Physically, one wouldn't look at him and be at all struck by how impressive he looked. And that's exactly the point.
His clothing consists of a white, European-style tunic with a black trimming along the hems. The deep V-neck is held together with thin leather cords, and a slightly darker undershirt can be seen covering most of his neck. The inside of the shirt is rigged with hidden pockets designed to hide knives both in the sleeves and within the chest area (Robe Type 5). Over this shirt, he wears a crisscross of leather belts. One of the belts has a gold trim in the middle goes across his chest and waist, with an extra bit hanging down from the waist and dipping just below his left hip. Another belt, slightly thicker with no trim and a sturdy iron buckle at the front, crosses his chest in the opposite way of the gold trimmed one. These belts hold his hip quiver on his left hip, and secure his disassembled crossbow to the small of his back, respectively.
Simple black pants with a brown trim adorn his legs, but the vast majority of the leg below the knee are covered by large leather boots. These boots lace all the way up to just below his knee, but feature a flair at the top that goes to about mid-thigh. They are sturdy but worn-looking, appearing as though they were not only built to last, but they have already lasted for a long time.
Over all of this, a black, hooded cloak with long sleeves obscures most of his body. Within this cloak is a harness that allows him to hide even more knives and small items on his person (Cloak Type 1). The way it hangs on his body hides both his disassembled crossbow completely unless he pulls the cloak aside.
The shape of the cloak is much like a jacket. The front goes down to a little past his waist, but the back extends all the way down to his ankles much like a cape. It is trimmed with yellow along the hems, shoulders, and hood, but the color has faded much over the years. The inside of the jacket is waterproof and lined with dark red, an adaptation to the constant rain of his village. His hood is designed to sit comfortably on his head and obscure most of his face when up. When the hood is down, it blends smoothly with the back of the jacket and accentuates the high inner collar. The sleeves are long, covering almost all of his hands, and only adorned with a simple leather pad for decoration. His hands are covered in simple, black leather gloves that are thin and well-fitted enough to prevent any loss of dexterity.
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-Background-
When Turin was born, his parents were already extremely poor. They lived, or survived, in an impoverished and crumbling slum in the country of Wind. Whatever the last war was that had passed through the country, this part of town had never recovered. It was made of hollow sandstone shells with hardly more than a blanket in the dust for bedding and a hole in the sand for shitting. This is where people went when they had nowhere else to go, when they couldn't afford a house with a real door and couldn't afford the supplies to cross the desert. The unwanteds, the wretches, those who ran afoul of the corrupt government, or the victims of the organized crime that supported the government.
This is also where the al-Sahars lived.
They had once been wealthy, successful merchants who ran what was widely considered as the most secure desert caravan in the country. Working as a team, they paid their guards well, chose their suppliers carefully, and were experts in selling things for vastly more than their worth. As their reputation grew, so did their wealth, and so did their power. After just a few short years of running caravans and swindling merchants, they owned and lived in one of the largest houses in the city and sold their wares in every bazaar and market for hundreds of miles. In fact, they were so successful that there started to be people who felt their wealth was undeserved.
Merchants who they had sold to started to talk to each other, and slowly realized that they had all been deceived. The exotic products from far away lands were worthless trinkets, the cloth they paid so heftily for was no different than what they always sold, and as these realizations started to filter through the bazaars, certain people started to take notice.
One day, it occurred to the Governor General that the al-Sahars hadn't been paying their due taxes for how much money they made. He decided that this was a problem, and they deserved to be taught a lesson in paying what is owed. Once word reached him that they had been swindling their buyers, he had all the excuse he needed to send in his private army to seize everything they had. The soldiers dragged them from their homes, dragged them through the streets, publicly branded their faces with a "T" for "thief", and cut off the right hand of Ta'lik al-Sahar, Turin's father.
Overnight, the al-Sahars went from richest for miles to having nothing. Everything they owned now belonged to the Governor General, and all of their friends and allies disowned them for the brands on their faces. With nowhere else to go, they found an empty hole in the slums and stayed there. Thus began their life of begging, growing their hair out and wearing head wraps to hide their brands, barely making enough money to avoid starving. What they hadn't yet realized, was that Alie al-Sahar had been pregnant the night they were dragged from their home.
As Turin grew within her, she began to weaken. It was impossible to get enough food to care for the both of them and the baby, so Ta'lik would often go hungry just to make sure his wife got enough. After months of this, Alie gave birth on a bed of straw in the middle of the night. Tragically, after starving for so long her body couldn't hold up to the strain of childbirth. Just as Turin took his first breath, Alie took her last.
His father, Ta'lik, named him Turin after a great hero from old fables he used to read, back when he had money to afford books and a home in which to read them. He believed that giving a boy a mighty name would make him strong, and Turin would have to be strong to survive being born into poverty. His mother's undernourishment had made him scrawny, and he cried constantly because his father didn't have what it took to feed him. Through great effort and one single, solitary friend left, Ta'lik managed to find someone who could provide him with milk and diapers for an infant in the slums.
This is also where the al-Sahars lived.
They had once been wealthy, successful merchants who ran what was widely considered as the most secure desert caravan in the country. Working as a team, they paid their guards well, chose their suppliers carefully, and were experts in selling things for vastly more than their worth. As their reputation grew, so did their wealth, and so did their power. After just a few short years of running caravans and swindling merchants, they owned and lived in one of the largest houses in the city and sold their wares in every bazaar and market for hundreds of miles. In fact, they were so successful that there started to be people who felt their wealth was undeserved.
Merchants who they had sold to started to talk to each other, and slowly realized that they had all been deceived. The exotic products from far away lands were worthless trinkets, the cloth they paid so heftily for was no different than what they always sold, and as these realizations started to filter through the bazaars, certain people started to take notice.
One day, it occurred to the Governor General that the al-Sahars hadn't been paying their due taxes for how much money they made. He decided that this was a problem, and they deserved to be taught a lesson in paying what is owed. Once word reached him that they had been swindling their buyers, he had all the excuse he needed to send in his private army to seize everything they had. The soldiers dragged them from their homes, dragged them through the streets, publicly branded their faces with a "T" for "thief", and cut off the right hand of Ta'lik al-Sahar, Turin's father.
Overnight, the al-Sahars went from richest for miles to having nothing. Everything they owned now belonged to the Governor General, and all of their friends and allies disowned them for the brands on their faces. With nowhere else to go, they found an empty hole in the slums and stayed there. Thus began their life of begging, growing their hair out and wearing head wraps to hide their brands, barely making enough money to avoid starving. What they hadn't yet realized, was that Alie al-Sahar had been pregnant the night they were dragged from their home.
As Turin grew within her, she began to weaken. It was impossible to get enough food to care for the both of them and the baby, so Ta'lik would often go hungry just to make sure his wife got enough. After months of this, Alie gave birth on a bed of straw in the middle of the night. Tragically, after starving for so long her body couldn't hold up to the strain of childbirth. Just as Turin took his first breath, Alie took her last.
His father, Ta'lik, named him Turin after a great hero from old fables he used to read, back when he had money to afford books and a home in which to read them. He believed that giving a boy a mighty name would make him strong, and Turin would have to be strong to survive being born into poverty. His mother's undernourishment had made him scrawny, and he cried constantly because his father didn't have what it took to feed him. Through great effort and one single, solitary friend left, Ta'lik managed to find someone who could provide him with milk and diapers for an infant in the slums.
-The Beggar-
Years passed, Ta'lik struggled daily to keep Turin fed and warm. He took to using his infant son to gain pity so people would give him more money, and for a time it worked. Once Turin was five, his father would send him to the bazaars to beg on his own, because hopefully the two of them could make more separately.
It was here that Turin learned the power of lying. Being poor and hungry and begging for everything was all he knew, but when he told people he was an al-Sahar they would spit on him or hit him instead of giving him food or money. One day he lied and said he needed food because his mother, whom he had never met, was sick and couldn't work. To another person, he said his father had taken a new wife and kicked him out of his house. To yet another, he told a different lie. That day, he came home with more bread and coins than he had ever seen.
His father saw this and asked him where he got all of this money and bread, and when Turin told him his face turned dark and solemn. The deep lines in his face, aged vastly beyond his years from the hardship and the hunger, deepened in the kind of frown Turin had only seen on the few times he asked about his mother. For a moment, his father hesitated, and considered scolding Turin for telling lies. Then, his stomach growled, so he said nothing and took one of the pieces of bread Turin had come home with.
Taking this as a confirmation that he had done the right thing, Turin went out the next day with even grander lies and came home with an even grander hall. When he came home the second day with just as much as the first, Ta'lik looked even more troubled, but said nothing as he filled his empty stomach. For weeks, he would go out and lie to everyone who looked like they had a penny, and for weeks he and his father got to feel full. But each day he returned, his father looked sadder and sadder.
Turin noticed this in his father, and asked him about what the problem was.
His father simply replied, "I have failed you, Turin. The sins of the father are visited on the son."
The next morning, Turin awoke before his father for the first time in his life. Curious about this, Turin went over to his father's prone form and shook him. There was no response. He shouted, and there was nothing. He pounded on his chest and screamed and yelled and still, nothing happened. In his panic, he ran outside and started begging for help, but for the first time in his life, nobody would help him.
It was here that Turin learned the power of lying. Being poor and hungry and begging for everything was all he knew, but when he told people he was an al-Sahar they would spit on him or hit him instead of giving him food or money. One day he lied and said he needed food because his mother, whom he had never met, was sick and couldn't work. To another person, he said his father had taken a new wife and kicked him out of his house. To yet another, he told a different lie. That day, he came home with more bread and coins than he had ever seen.
His father saw this and asked him where he got all of this money and bread, and when Turin told him his face turned dark and solemn. The deep lines in his face, aged vastly beyond his years from the hardship and the hunger, deepened in the kind of frown Turin had only seen on the few times he asked about his mother. For a moment, his father hesitated, and considered scolding Turin for telling lies. Then, his stomach growled, so he said nothing and took one of the pieces of bread Turin had come home with.
Taking this as a confirmation that he had done the right thing, Turin went out the next day with even grander lies and came home with an even grander hall. When he came home the second day with just as much as the first, Ta'lik looked even more troubled, but said nothing as he filled his empty stomach. For weeks, he would go out and lie to everyone who looked like they had a penny, and for weeks he and his father got to feel full. But each day he returned, his father looked sadder and sadder.
Turin noticed this in his father, and asked him about what the problem was.
His father simply replied, "I have failed you, Turin. The sins of the father are visited on the son."
The next morning, Turin awoke before his father for the first time in his life. Curious about this, Turin went over to his father's prone form and shook him. There was no response. He shouted, and there was nothing. He pounded on his chest and screamed and yelled and still, nothing happened. In his panic, he ran outside and started begging for help, but for the first time in his life, nobody would help him.
-The Thief-
Turin couldn't remember what he did for the rest of that day, and he couldn't remember going to sleep. He does remember waking up the next morning feeling like it had all just been a terrible nightmare. Looking over and seeing his father's stone cold features, with more lines than ever now, brought everything crashing back.
He had always relied on his father, and now with him gone Turin didn't have the faintest idea what he was supposed to do next. For what seemed like hours, he just sat in their sandstone box staring at his father's body, half expecting him to wake up at any moment. When that moment never came, and his hunger finally overcame his grief for just a moment, he went to where his father had hid the money and the food and ate his usual share. It was habitual now, to only eat half of what he found. Eating the other half of the loaf of bread or the apple that hadn't yet spoiled didn't even occur to him.
For the following days, he didn't leave the shack, afraid that if he left someone would come along and steal his father from him. In the heat of the desert, his father didn't start to stink, but he did start to dry. After three days, he finally decided he needed to bury his father. He wanted to bury him next to where his mother was, but it was too far away and he couldn't drag something so heavy that far. So, with tears in his eyes, he dug in the hard dirt that was the floor of their hut with his bare hands. He dug and he dug until his fingers were raw, but couldn't stop until it was big enough to hold his father. It took him all night, but once the hole was large enough he dragged his father over to it and buried him with the only prayer he could remember.
Once all of the saved up food had been eaten or rotted, Turin finally gathered up the remains of their money and left the only home he had ever known. Not knowing what else to do with himself, he went back to the bazaar and started begging. His lies weren't as enthusiastic as before, and every time he mentioned his father to someone he couldn't stop himself from breaking down. Since he had never known his mother, he didn't feel anything from making up stories about her, but the wounds from his father's loss were so fresh he hardly got anything that day, or for the days following. Luckily, he had been such a successful beggar before that he actually had money saved up, so he mustered up his courage and bought the food that he needed. Unable to bear returning to see his father's body, he found a different hole to sleep in that night.
Unfortunately, the money that he had saved only lasted for a few days. Once it ran out, he returned to begging, only to be met with suspicion. Just like his father before him, his widespread lies had been noticed by the regulars of the bazaar, who had started warning people not to give him anything. Even when he told them the truth about his father's death, as difficult as it was for him, nobody would give him anything. At five years old, his reputation had already caught up with him and, just like his father, he didn't have a single coin. That night, he went to bed hungry again.
He awoke the next morning to the smell of freshly baked bread, and his stomach gurgled uncomfortably. Going over to the stall, he tried to beg the baker to give him a scrap, but the baker just told him to get lost. Something occurred to him at this point. He waited until the baker had turned his back to check on something, then snatched the biggest loaf he could carry and ran off into the crowd. Nobody stopped him, nobody called out, nobody even appeared to notice. That night, he ate more than he had ever eaten in a single meal.
That was the moment when he discovered the power of stealing. With his father gone, he felt cursed because nobody else would help him, but when he took that bread he realized he didn't need anyone else to help him. Why bother asking for permission when it was so much easier to just take it? When he returned the next day to the bazaar, he expected guards to be waiting to apprehend him, but they weren't. As he approached the bread seller from the day before, he expected at any moment to be accused of being a thief and dragged off to the dungeons to have his hand cut off and his face branded like his father. However, the baker looked directly at him and didn't even appear to recognize him. The guards walked right by without even looking down at him. He was an urchin, an unwanted wretch at whom nobody looked twice. He could take whatever he wanted. The question was no longer, "who's going to let me?" From that day forward, he only asked, "Who's going to stop me?"
For the next three years, until the age of eight, Turin perfected the art of thievery. He got stronger from eating more and running all the time, and on the rare occasion he was spotted it was easy for him to get away with his knowledge of the streets. As time went on, he discovered that constantly stealing from stalls caused people to start to notice things missing. However, when one is seen buying things from stalls honestly, suspicion of theft tends to diminish. Once he realized that people came to the bazaar from all over, and when they left they'd be gone for months or even years, he started picking their pockets for the money he needed to buy what he wanted.
Nobody ever questioned the source of money when it was being offered to them, Turin discovered, so buying things was the best way to avoid being branded. He transitioned from directly stealing food to using the massive, close-knit crowds to pick pockets and steal money from unwary stall owners. He would take just a little bit, from people few and far between, so that no two people within shouting distance of each other could proclaim that their money was missing and put together who had taken it. He began picking pockets after a year of stealing bread, and continued to pick pockets for the next two years, until the day he finally picked the wrong one.
While Turin tried to keep his locations constantly shifting so he wouldn't get made, it was only a matter of time before someone recognized him. When finally it happened, it was a noble from some far away land who did it. Nobles were easy to take from because they had so much money they often didn't even notice it had gone missing, plus they were fat and lazy and couldn't stop him even if he looked right into their eyes while he plundered their purse. This one was different, though. As soon as Turin's hand touched the purse, a very strong and very rough hand coiled around his wrist like a boa that had just struck.
Panic set in and he tried to run, but the strong hand held him fast and he had no choice but to face the man who just caught him stealing. The man snarled and said, "Got you," before another man put a sack over his head and dragged him off.
The hands that tied his own behind his back and cinched the sack over his head were trained and swift. One of the men was dressed as a foreign nobleman, clearly intended to be bait for people like Turin. The other man was a solid six feet tall, thickly muscled and wearing black, desert-style garb that covered everything but his face, which was mostly covered by a thick beard. Scrawny, eight-year-old Turin never stood a chance of resisting. One of the men, the one who had put the bag on his head, hurled him over his shoulder and started walking. Nobody on the street could be bothered to look twice at the young boy being carted off in a black bag by these guys. Everyone knew what it meant: the secret police had gotten to him.
He should have known it was only a matter of time before his life of petty crime caught up to him, but he was so caught up in day-to-day survival he had actually forgotten it was illegal. Now it was all over. These guys were hauling him off to rot in a dungeon. If he survived the starvation long enough for the "trial", they were still going to brand his face and cut off his hand. It was over. Eight years old and he was going to be one of the Branded, just like his father had been. No hope of ever escaping the slums, and with only one hand he would either starve or get caught stealing again. Only the second time it would be execution.
No, he thought, no this can't be happening. There has to be a way out of this! And so he thought. It felt like the trip to wherever they were taking him lasted hours, it took so many twists and turns Turin had no idea what part of the city they were in. It didn't strike him until he smelled it. Urine, blood, iron, and fear; the jail where they kept criminals awaiting sentencing. He was thrown roughly onto the stone floor, the bag was ripped cruelly from his head, taking a handful of hair with it. The ties were left on to rub and chafe until he could struggle free. This was it, he realized, this was where he was going to wait to die.
There was no sleeping that night, nor the following night. Turin didn't want to die, not in a cage, and he wasn't going to let himself be branded and mutilated. While he sat in his cell, he watched the movements of the guards, noted which pocket they checked after using their keys. They only inmates that got fed every day were the ones sentenced to stay there a long time, and it wasn't until the third day that they brought Turin something to eat. A small jug of water and a stale piece of bread were delivered on a tray, and Turin let his plan spring into action.
He ran to the bars, and would have been salivating if he had enough water left in his body to do so. As the guard got close, Turin reached through them and grabbed the guard around his waist like a small child clinging to his mother. There, he blubbered and wailed about wanting to be let go, and cried as much as he could in his dehydrated state. The guard only took out his club and whacked Turin on the head with it until he let go. Disgusted, the guard left without saying a word. While Turin drank the water and ate the stale bread, he examined the cell keys in the palm of his hand.
Since feeding time was over for the day, the guard wasn't going to come back for a while. Seizing his opportunity, Turin unlocked his cell as quietly as he could and crept down the hallway. One of the other inmates saw him do this and threatened to call the guard if he didn't hand over the keys, so Turin reluctantly agreed. As soon as the gate was unlocked, the gaunt man barreled over Turin and rushed the exit as fast as he could. Luckily, the guard was caught so by surprise that he actually made it out the front door before every guard in the room went chasing after him. Now completely alone except for the rats, Turin took his chance to flee in the opposite direction that the guards had gone.
He had always relied on his father, and now with him gone Turin didn't have the faintest idea what he was supposed to do next. For what seemed like hours, he just sat in their sandstone box staring at his father's body, half expecting him to wake up at any moment. When that moment never came, and his hunger finally overcame his grief for just a moment, he went to where his father had hid the money and the food and ate his usual share. It was habitual now, to only eat half of what he found. Eating the other half of the loaf of bread or the apple that hadn't yet spoiled didn't even occur to him.
For the following days, he didn't leave the shack, afraid that if he left someone would come along and steal his father from him. In the heat of the desert, his father didn't start to stink, but he did start to dry. After three days, he finally decided he needed to bury his father. He wanted to bury him next to where his mother was, but it was too far away and he couldn't drag something so heavy that far. So, with tears in his eyes, he dug in the hard dirt that was the floor of their hut with his bare hands. He dug and he dug until his fingers were raw, but couldn't stop until it was big enough to hold his father. It took him all night, but once the hole was large enough he dragged his father over to it and buried him with the only prayer he could remember.
Once all of the saved up food had been eaten or rotted, Turin finally gathered up the remains of their money and left the only home he had ever known. Not knowing what else to do with himself, he went back to the bazaar and started begging. His lies weren't as enthusiastic as before, and every time he mentioned his father to someone he couldn't stop himself from breaking down. Since he had never known his mother, he didn't feel anything from making up stories about her, but the wounds from his father's loss were so fresh he hardly got anything that day, or for the days following. Luckily, he had been such a successful beggar before that he actually had money saved up, so he mustered up his courage and bought the food that he needed. Unable to bear returning to see his father's body, he found a different hole to sleep in that night.
Unfortunately, the money that he had saved only lasted for a few days. Once it ran out, he returned to begging, only to be met with suspicion. Just like his father before him, his widespread lies had been noticed by the regulars of the bazaar, who had started warning people not to give him anything. Even when he told them the truth about his father's death, as difficult as it was for him, nobody would give him anything. At five years old, his reputation had already caught up with him and, just like his father, he didn't have a single coin. That night, he went to bed hungry again.
He awoke the next morning to the smell of freshly baked bread, and his stomach gurgled uncomfortably. Going over to the stall, he tried to beg the baker to give him a scrap, but the baker just told him to get lost. Something occurred to him at this point. He waited until the baker had turned his back to check on something, then snatched the biggest loaf he could carry and ran off into the crowd. Nobody stopped him, nobody called out, nobody even appeared to notice. That night, he ate more than he had ever eaten in a single meal.
That was the moment when he discovered the power of stealing. With his father gone, he felt cursed because nobody else would help him, but when he took that bread he realized he didn't need anyone else to help him. Why bother asking for permission when it was so much easier to just take it? When he returned the next day to the bazaar, he expected guards to be waiting to apprehend him, but they weren't. As he approached the bread seller from the day before, he expected at any moment to be accused of being a thief and dragged off to the dungeons to have his hand cut off and his face branded like his father. However, the baker looked directly at him and didn't even appear to recognize him. The guards walked right by without even looking down at him. He was an urchin, an unwanted wretch at whom nobody looked twice. He could take whatever he wanted. The question was no longer, "who's going to let me?" From that day forward, he only asked, "Who's going to stop me?"
For the next three years, until the age of eight, Turin perfected the art of thievery. He got stronger from eating more and running all the time, and on the rare occasion he was spotted it was easy for him to get away with his knowledge of the streets. As time went on, he discovered that constantly stealing from stalls caused people to start to notice things missing. However, when one is seen buying things from stalls honestly, suspicion of theft tends to diminish. Once he realized that people came to the bazaar from all over, and when they left they'd be gone for months or even years, he started picking their pockets for the money he needed to buy what he wanted.
Nobody ever questioned the source of money when it was being offered to them, Turin discovered, so buying things was the best way to avoid being branded. He transitioned from directly stealing food to using the massive, close-knit crowds to pick pockets and steal money from unwary stall owners. He would take just a little bit, from people few and far between, so that no two people within shouting distance of each other could proclaim that their money was missing and put together who had taken it. He began picking pockets after a year of stealing bread, and continued to pick pockets for the next two years, until the day he finally picked the wrong one.
While Turin tried to keep his locations constantly shifting so he wouldn't get made, it was only a matter of time before someone recognized him. When finally it happened, it was a noble from some far away land who did it. Nobles were easy to take from because they had so much money they often didn't even notice it had gone missing, plus they were fat and lazy and couldn't stop him even if he looked right into their eyes while he plundered their purse. This one was different, though. As soon as Turin's hand touched the purse, a very strong and very rough hand coiled around his wrist like a boa that had just struck.
Panic set in and he tried to run, but the strong hand held him fast and he had no choice but to face the man who just caught him stealing. The man snarled and said, "Got you," before another man put a sack over his head and dragged him off.
The hands that tied his own behind his back and cinched the sack over his head were trained and swift. One of the men was dressed as a foreign nobleman, clearly intended to be bait for people like Turin. The other man was a solid six feet tall, thickly muscled and wearing black, desert-style garb that covered everything but his face, which was mostly covered by a thick beard. Scrawny, eight-year-old Turin never stood a chance of resisting. One of the men, the one who had put the bag on his head, hurled him over his shoulder and started walking. Nobody on the street could be bothered to look twice at the young boy being carted off in a black bag by these guys. Everyone knew what it meant: the secret police had gotten to him.
He should have known it was only a matter of time before his life of petty crime caught up to him, but he was so caught up in day-to-day survival he had actually forgotten it was illegal. Now it was all over. These guys were hauling him off to rot in a dungeon. If he survived the starvation long enough for the "trial", they were still going to brand his face and cut off his hand. It was over. Eight years old and he was going to be one of the Branded, just like his father had been. No hope of ever escaping the slums, and with only one hand he would either starve or get caught stealing again. Only the second time it would be execution.
No, he thought, no this can't be happening. There has to be a way out of this! And so he thought. It felt like the trip to wherever they were taking him lasted hours, it took so many twists and turns Turin had no idea what part of the city they were in. It didn't strike him until he smelled it. Urine, blood, iron, and fear; the jail where they kept criminals awaiting sentencing. He was thrown roughly onto the stone floor, the bag was ripped cruelly from his head, taking a handful of hair with it. The ties were left on to rub and chafe until he could struggle free. This was it, he realized, this was where he was going to wait to die.
There was no sleeping that night, nor the following night. Turin didn't want to die, not in a cage, and he wasn't going to let himself be branded and mutilated. While he sat in his cell, he watched the movements of the guards, noted which pocket they checked after using their keys. They only inmates that got fed every day were the ones sentenced to stay there a long time, and it wasn't until the third day that they brought Turin something to eat. A small jug of water and a stale piece of bread were delivered on a tray, and Turin let his plan spring into action.
He ran to the bars, and would have been salivating if he had enough water left in his body to do so. As the guard got close, Turin reached through them and grabbed the guard around his waist like a small child clinging to his mother. There, he blubbered and wailed about wanting to be let go, and cried as much as he could in his dehydrated state. The guard only took out his club and whacked Turin on the head with it until he let go. Disgusted, the guard left without saying a word. While Turin drank the water and ate the stale bread, he examined the cell keys in the palm of his hand.
Since feeding time was over for the day, the guard wasn't going to come back for a while. Seizing his opportunity, Turin unlocked his cell as quietly as he could and crept down the hallway. One of the other inmates saw him do this and threatened to call the guard if he didn't hand over the keys, so Turin reluctantly agreed. As soon as the gate was unlocked, the gaunt man barreled over Turin and rushed the exit as fast as he could. Luckily, the guard was caught so by surprise that he actually made it out the front door before every guard in the room went chasing after him. Now completely alone except for the rats, Turin took his chance to flee in the opposite direction that the guards had gone.
-The Fugitive-
After escaping from prison, Turin knew he had no choice but to get out of the city. The secret police would be looking for him, and now that he escaped it would be execution. He had seen public executions at the town square before, when his father wasn't around to stop him. He didn't want to end up like that, dangling from a rope for all to throw rocks at and mock, but neither did he want to be branded and left with one hand for the rest of his life.
He ran to his secret stash, where he had been hoarding as much as he could for fear of losing any of it. In it he had a decent stock of cash, a small bag that he had bought, some dried fruit and meat that wouldn't go bad on a long journey, and a stockpile of water. Water in the desert was a commodity in the slums, and Turin took every chance he got to save some for later. These things were all he had with him when he left the city, but first he made sure to stop off at his father's grave and say goodbye one last time.
With his entire life behind him, Turin crept through the back alleys of the city until he reached the northern road, where he ran as fast as he could until he couldn't see the city behind him. After some miles and an unknown amount of time, Turin came upon a cross road. His father had insisted he learn to read, using what little books he still had left from the house he used to live in, so he was able to read the sign pointing in four different directions.
The country of Rain. Turin had always loved the rain. It had rained maybe a handful of times in his life, and he had been fascinated by it every time. Water was so rare, so valuable, but like a miracle it just fell from the sky as if there was an unlimited amount of it that anyone could have. To him, Rain Country meant the Country of Miracles, so the choice was obvious.
Walking through the desert, even following a well-established and well-traveled road, was extremely difficult. It took him four days to cross the distance between his home city and the border of rain country, and at dawn of the third day he finally ran out of water. Slowly, agonizingly, the barren landscape gave way to darker earth, then to tiny green plants, the first wild plants that Turin had ever seen that weren't cacti. A few hours later, he crossed a sign that marked the border into Rain country, and heard something he had never heard before. It was the sound of water, but it sounded like someone was pouring it out! Suddenly consumed with thirst, he needed to find whoever it was and stop them from wasting such precious water.
He followed the sound as it got louder and louder, trudging through waist-high grass that soaked him to the bone. Once he finally found the source of the noise, he couldn't believe his eyes. There, right before him, was water just. . . flowing over the ground. Nobody was dumping it out, nobody was fighting over it or selling it, it wasn't sitting in a stinking well, it was just running over some rocks. There didn't seem to be any source, and it wasn't going anywhere. It was just. . . there. Totally free and unrestricted, more water than he had ever seen before in his life. It was so miraculous he didn't want to believe it was real. He crouched low next to it and looked at it carefully. It was clear, it didn't smell bad, and it wasn't an illusion. He stuck his finger in and found that it was cold, and when he leaned further forward he fell in up to his elbow. It was freezing! The coldest water he had ever experienced! And there was just. . . tons of it.
Greedily, he dunked his entire head and took huge gulps of the clearest, freshest, freest water in the entire world. As he came up for air, a drop landed on his hand. Looking down at it, he saw another drop hit the ground next to him. It was starting to rain. The rain picked up, and soon it was a downpour. Water everywhere! What he had previously had to spend days worth of pickings to buy was now falling from the sky! It might as well have been gold coins for how excited he was. This truly was a land of miracles, if water was so easy to come by. He decided to follow the little creek to see where it led, because he had never seen one of these things before he was curious to know where it was going.
Soaking wet and happy as could be, Turin found a spring in his step he didn't know he had, and after just a few short hours of following the creek, he heard a great thundering noise from off in the distance. Excited about this new possibility, he ran toward it, and when he broke the tree line he was absolutely stunned. A river! Like the creek, except it was huge! Fifty meters wide, it must have been, flowing faster than the little creek. Turin was so shocked by the size of the water, that he just sat down right where he was standing and could do nothing but stare at it. A welling up of energy started in his chest, built up to his limbs, and once it broke free into his head he screamed at the top of his lungs and jumped in the massive river.
Having never experience a river or any body of water before, Turin had no idea how to swim or just how strong a current could be. He was instantly swept away, dragged under by the strong current and slammed into huge rocks just below the surface. The fear took him, and he scrambled with all of his might to try to get his head above the water. However, just as he did so he was slammed hard into a gigantic boulder.
Nobody is quite sure how he managed to survive, or for how long he was out, because all he remembers is waking up on the bank with two men dressed in black standing over him. Groggy at first, he just stared back at the figures standing over him, but as his memory started to return, he became afraid. They found him! The secret police tracked him down and were going to take him back to the desert! They were going to cut off his hands and burn his face and he'd have to go back to fighting for water! Panic welled within him and he thrashed at the men to try to get away. They just held him down until he ran out of energy to resist, then said,
"Relax, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you." Turin didn't know why, but he believed what the man was saying. "Now," he said, "can you tell me who you are? How did you get in the river?" Turin looked more carefully at the two men and realized they couldn't possibly be secret police. Their skin was too light, and they didn't have beards. They wore the strangest clothes he had ever seen. A weird green vest covered in pockets, long black sleeves and pants that didn't look like they could breathe at all, and a headband with a metal plate that had four vertical lines on it. Who were these guys? Had they rescued him from drowning? If so, why? They didn't know him, and he was just a street rat, so why would they bother saving him? He was pretty sure they weren't police, but that didn't mean he trusted them.
"My name," he sputtered, coughing up the last of the river water, "Is. . . Takeo." It took him a brief second to think of the name, and he hoped the men just wrote off the pause as him still recovering. They didn't.
"Lying is a very rude way to thank someone who just saved your life, you know," the more talkative one said, "what's your real name?" Turin wrestled with this for a moment. Could he really trust them? Wouldn't they just reject him once they found out he was an al-Sahar, like everyone else? But then again, could he really afford to get caught lying again? Eventually, he decided that even if they rejected him because of his name, it was better than what they might do if he lied to them again.
"Turin," he said hesitantly, "Turin al-Sahar. Are you going to throw me back in the river?" The two looked at him like that was the strangest question he could have asked.
"Why would we do that?" One of them inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Because my father is. . . was. . . Branded." The look on their faces suggested they didn't have the faintest clue what being "Branded" meant.
"We're not going to throw you in the river. Can you stand?" Turin nodded and stood. "Now, how did you get here?"
For the first time years, Turin told the entire truth of exactly how he got there and what he had done. The men just nodded and seemed to look sorry for him, and eventually the nicer one asked if he had anywhere to stay. Turin hadn't thought of that. He had been so excited about finding all of this free water that he didn't even notice that the sun was going down and he was getting cold. He shook his head, and the weirdly dressed man told him he could stay at their campsite.
One night became two, became three, and eventually the three of them became inseparable. Unfortunately, once their patrol was done they had to go somewhere that Turin couldn't follow. Instead of just leaving him in the dust like he expected them to do, they guided him to a nearby town and a man who appeared to be a friend of theirs agreed to let him stay in his house.
He ran to his secret stash, where he had been hoarding as much as he could for fear of losing any of it. In it he had a decent stock of cash, a small bag that he had bought, some dried fruit and meat that wouldn't go bad on a long journey, and a stockpile of water. Water in the desert was a commodity in the slums, and Turin took every chance he got to save some for later. These things were all he had with him when he left the city, but first he made sure to stop off at his father's grave and say goodbye one last time.
With his entire life behind him, Turin crept through the back alleys of the city until he reached the northern road, where he ran as fast as he could until he couldn't see the city behind him. After some miles and an unknown amount of time, Turin came upon a cross road. His father had insisted he learn to read, using what little books he still had left from the house he used to live in, so he was able to read the sign pointing in four different directions.
The country of Rain. Turin had always loved the rain. It had rained maybe a handful of times in his life, and he had been fascinated by it every time. Water was so rare, so valuable, but like a miracle it just fell from the sky as if there was an unlimited amount of it that anyone could have. To him, Rain Country meant the Country of Miracles, so the choice was obvious.
Walking through the desert, even following a well-established and well-traveled road, was extremely difficult. It took him four days to cross the distance between his home city and the border of rain country, and at dawn of the third day he finally ran out of water. Slowly, agonizingly, the barren landscape gave way to darker earth, then to tiny green plants, the first wild plants that Turin had ever seen that weren't cacti. A few hours later, he crossed a sign that marked the border into Rain country, and heard something he had never heard before. It was the sound of water, but it sounded like someone was pouring it out! Suddenly consumed with thirst, he needed to find whoever it was and stop them from wasting such precious water.
He followed the sound as it got louder and louder, trudging through waist-high grass that soaked him to the bone. Once he finally found the source of the noise, he couldn't believe his eyes. There, right before him, was water just. . . flowing over the ground. Nobody was dumping it out, nobody was fighting over it or selling it, it wasn't sitting in a stinking well, it was just running over some rocks. There didn't seem to be any source, and it wasn't going anywhere. It was just. . . there. Totally free and unrestricted, more water than he had ever seen before in his life. It was so miraculous he didn't want to believe it was real. He crouched low next to it and looked at it carefully. It was clear, it didn't smell bad, and it wasn't an illusion. He stuck his finger in and found that it was cold, and when he leaned further forward he fell in up to his elbow. It was freezing! The coldest water he had ever experienced! And there was just. . . tons of it.
Greedily, he dunked his entire head and took huge gulps of the clearest, freshest, freest water in the entire world. As he came up for air, a drop landed on his hand. Looking down at it, he saw another drop hit the ground next to him. It was starting to rain. The rain picked up, and soon it was a downpour. Water everywhere! What he had previously had to spend days worth of pickings to buy was now falling from the sky! It might as well have been gold coins for how excited he was. This truly was a land of miracles, if water was so easy to come by. He decided to follow the little creek to see where it led, because he had never seen one of these things before he was curious to know where it was going.
Soaking wet and happy as could be, Turin found a spring in his step he didn't know he had, and after just a few short hours of following the creek, he heard a great thundering noise from off in the distance. Excited about this new possibility, he ran toward it, and when he broke the tree line he was absolutely stunned. A river! Like the creek, except it was huge! Fifty meters wide, it must have been, flowing faster than the little creek. Turin was so shocked by the size of the water, that he just sat down right where he was standing and could do nothing but stare at it. A welling up of energy started in his chest, built up to his limbs, and once it broke free into his head he screamed at the top of his lungs and jumped in the massive river.
Having never experience a river or any body of water before, Turin had no idea how to swim or just how strong a current could be. He was instantly swept away, dragged under by the strong current and slammed into huge rocks just below the surface. The fear took him, and he scrambled with all of his might to try to get his head above the water. However, just as he did so he was slammed hard into a gigantic boulder.
Nobody is quite sure how he managed to survive, or for how long he was out, because all he remembers is waking up on the bank with two men dressed in black standing over him. Groggy at first, he just stared back at the figures standing over him, but as his memory started to return, he became afraid. They found him! The secret police tracked him down and were going to take him back to the desert! They were going to cut off his hands and burn his face and he'd have to go back to fighting for water! Panic welled within him and he thrashed at the men to try to get away. They just held him down until he ran out of energy to resist, then said,
"Relax, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you." Turin didn't know why, but he believed what the man was saying. "Now," he said, "can you tell me who you are? How did you get in the river?" Turin looked more carefully at the two men and realized they couldn't possibly be secret police. Their skin was too light, and they didn't have beards. They wore the strangest clothes he had ever seen. A weird green vest covered in pockets, long black sleeves and pants that didn't look like they could breathe at all, and a headband with a metal plate that had four vertical lines on it. Who were these guys? Had they rescued him from drowning? If so, why? They didn't know him, and he was just a street rat, so why would they bother saving him? He was pretty sure they weren't police, but that didn't mean he trusted them.
"My name," he sputtered, coughing up the last of the river water, "Is. . . Takeo." It took him a brief second to think of the name, and he hoped the men just wrote off the pause as him still recovering. They didn't.
"Lying is a very rude way to thank someone who just saved your life, you know," the more talkative one said, "what's your real name?" Turin wrestled with this for a moment. Could he really trust them? Wouldn't they just reject him once they found out he was an al-Sahar, like everyone else? But then again, could he really afford to get caught lying again? Eventually, he decided that even if they rejected him because of his name, it was better than what they might do if he lied to them again.
"Turin," he said hesitantly, "Turin al-Sahar. Are you going to throw me back in the river?" The two looked at him like that was the strangest question he could have asked.
"Why would we do that?" One of them inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Because my father is. . . was. . . Branded." The look on their faces suggested they didn't have the faintest clue what being "Branded" meant.
"We're not going to throw you in the river. Can you stand?" Turin nodded and stood. "Now, how did you get here?"
For the first time years, Turin told the entire truth of exactly how he got there and what he had done. The men just nodded and seemed to look sorry for him, and eventually the nicer one asked if he had anywhere to stay. Turin hadn't thought of that. He had been so excited about finding all of this free water that he didn't even notice that the sun was going down and he was getting cold. He shook his head, and the weirdly dressed man told him he could stay at their campsite.
One night became two, became three, and eventually the three of them became inseparable. Unfortunately, once their patrol was done they had to go somewhere that Turin couldn't follow. Instead of just leaving him in the dust like he expected them to do, they guided him to a nearby town and a man who appeared to be a friend of theirs agreed to let him stay in his house.
-The Hunter-
Turin was provided for and sheltered, but old habits die hard. By day, he would cruise around town and pick pockets, confident he could get away with it in a town where nobody knew the cursed name al-Sahar. One day his caretaker, a wiry old man named Kotei, found his coin stash and demanded to know where it had come from. When Turin told him, the old man was furious and told him that he lacked discipline. The very next day, he was dragged by the ear to an archery range, where a stern-looking, middle-aged man with a big mustache looked down on the scrawny child.
"Master Kotei here tells me that you're a pickpocket, even though he gives you everything you could ever want," the man growled, "well I'm going to teach you how to hunt so that you don't have to steal from people to get what you need." With that, he handed Turin a bow and an arrow.
Years of near starvation, plus being born puny from his mother's own near starvation, meant that Turin was too weak to so much as draw the bowstring all the way back. The archery trainer didn't say a word, he just walked away. Turin was positive he had already been given up on, and had already turned to leave when he heard the man say, "Here," and thrust a loaded crossbow at him. Taking it in his hands, he quickly discovered he was too weak to even hold it up to his eye to aim it. Again without a word, the archery instructor beckoned him over and directed him to rest the crossbow on a post. With his weakness taken out of the equation, it turned out Turin was a natural. His eyes were especially keen and his understanding of the bolt path came quickly and easily. He loved it instantly, more than he had ever remembered loving anything.
For four years, he trained with this man, who he later found out was Kotei's son, Kenzen. It only took him a few weeks to get strong enough to hold the crossbow and load it himself, and after that his skill improved by leaps and bounds every day. Master Kenzen taught him everything there was to know about how to shoot properly. Once Turin could accurately hit just about any target, he took him into the woods to shoot at game to practice using these skills in real life.
When Turin turned twelve, Kotei came to watch him shoot and hunt. Afterward, he approached his young ward and said, "I think you're ready." Before he could ask, "ready for what?" the two men who had saved him from the river appeared. They told him about the Hidden Village of Rain, about ninjas, and how they gave him to Masters Kotei and Kenzen to see if he had what it took to be one of them.
Before he left, Kenzen gave him the nicest crossbow he had ever seen, and Kotei gave him some sagely advice. "Never forget where you come from. That way you never forget why you fight." After bowing and thanking both of them, he packed up his crossbow and followed the Rain Ninjas to Amegakure.
"Master Kotei here tells me that you're a pickpocket, even though he gives you everything you could ever want," the man growled, "well I'm going to teach you how to hunt so that you don't have to steal from people to get what you need." With that, he handed Turin a bow and an arrow.
Years of near starvation, plus being born puny from his mother's own near starvation, meant that Turin was too weak to so much as draw the bowstring all the way back. The archery trainer didn't say a word, he just walked away. Turin was positive he had already been given up on, and had already turned to leave when he heard the man say, "Here," and thrust a loaded crossbow at him. Taking it in his hands, he quickly discovered he was too weak to even hold it up to his eye to aim it. Again without a word, the archery instructor beckoned him over and directed him to rest the crossbow on a post. With his weakness taken out of the equation, it turned out Turin was a natural. His eyes were especially keen and his understanding of the bolt path came quickly and easily. He loved it instantly, more than he had ever remembered loving anything.
For four years, he trained with this man, who he later found out was Kotei's son, Kenzen. It only took him a few weeks to get strong enough to hold the crossbow and load it himself, and after that his skill improved by leaps and bounds every day. Master Kenzen taught him everything there was to know about how to shoot properly. Once Turin could accurately hit just about any target, he took him into the woods to shoot at game to practice using these skills in real life.
When Turin turned twelve, Kotei came to watch him shoot and hunt. Afterward, he approached his young ward and said, "I think you're ready." Before he could ask, "ready for what?" the two men who had saved him from the river appeared. They told him about the Hidden Village of Rain, about ninjas, and how they gave him to Masters Kotei and Kenzen to see if he had what it took to be one of them.
Before he left, Kenzen gave him the nicest crossbow he had ever seen, and Kotei gave him some sagely advice. "Never forget where you come from. That way you never forget why you fight." After bowing and thanking both of them, he packed up his crossbow and followed the Rain Ninjas to Amegakure.
-The Shinobi-
From the time he was twelve years old until he finally graduated at sixteen, Turin ate, lived and breathed Ninja training. The Academy noticed his proficiency with a crossbow right away, and taught him to supplement it with throwing techniques for close range. They also honed his archery skills, taught him to fire at greater ranges, and how to better shoot at people rather than animals.
Genjutsu quickly became his favorite thing to do besides shoot. As soon as he realized the power of chakra and how he could use it to influence others, he dove into it like he dove into the river four years prior. He excelled at it, and discovered that his willpower developed from his years on the streets made his ability to influence others with chakra even stronger.
Unfortunately, he was still small for his age. The other academy students would pick on him when the instructors weren't around, and there was nothing he could do except hunker down and lose himself in his practice. There were very few of the other students he genuinely liked, but after a time he found that he could make the other kids like him so they wouldn't beat him up, even though he was small. By being funny, knowing what people wanted to hear, and picking his battles carefully, Turin overcame his bullies by making them think they were his friends.
Both the teachers and the students noticed his talent for Genjutsu and for crossbow archery, and his ability to manipulate those around him meant that he could get away with things he was less good at. However, the third aspect in which he excelled was stealth. There were two kinds of stealth they were taught. Hard Stealth, which was avoiding being seen at all by anybody, and Soft Stealth, which was disguising and infiltrating, or hiding in plain sight. Turin had been training in both of those his entire life, and with the added technique and discipline of the academy he honed them into an art.
He graduated at the very top of his class, specializing in Taijutsu and Genjutsu, with focus on hard stealth, soft stealth, distance shooting, and infiltration. For a time, becoming a Genin was the greatest accomplishment he had ever achieved, and he couldn't wait to get out into the field and do real life missions.
His first team was a standard three-man cell with a Jonin leader, and their first mission was a very simple thief-stopping. Turin, having been a thief himself since a young age, knew all the ins and outs of what their target would be doing, so he was allowed by the Jonin to make some calls. Playing to his strengths, he climbed up a building opposite from the next house the thief was expected to strike, and positioned his team around the perimeter. The plan was, as soon as Turin spotted their target, the rest would move in, and he would stay up high in order to provide overwatch.
This went very wrong very quickly, though. As soon as the expected time came around, Turin spotted the shadow moving through the very same spot he would have gone if he were robbing the house. He quietly signaled to his team over the radio, and they moved in. That was when the plan began to fall apart. Somewhere inside, somebody knocked something down. The thief attempted to bolt through the alley, and was intercepted by the one that stayed outside. They wrestled briefly, but the genin was overpowered and taken hostage.
His team mate who had gone inside came out to see that the third had been taken, and was being threatened with a knife to his throat. The would-be thief was shouting, clearly highly unstable, and the Jonin was nowhere to be found. Turin was the leader now, and he had to make a call about what to do. His fellow genin's life was in danger, the person who's life he was going to be held responsible for.
Seeing no other option, Turin took the shot.
It was a beautiful shot. The crazed man wheeled around just in time for the bolt to nail him squarely in the forehead, right in the third eye. It pierced through his skull and stuck out the back side, so that he appeared that he was growing feathers from between his eyebrows. He dropped the knife, then dropped to the ground. All three genin were horrified. This was the first time that those two had seen someone die, and for Turin it was the first time he had personally killed someone.
All of those years of training of how to shoot someone never quite prepared him for what it would actually be like to pull the trigger, knowing that the person in the scope would die. Shooting a deer is one thing, but a person, even a person threatening a person whom he cared about more, was another. A radio crackle broke their daze, Team, what's the status? came the voice of their Jonin leader in his ear.
Turin snapped out of it first, "The thief is neutralized, sir. He was highly unstable and ranting. He took Kenji hostage and I had no choice but to put him down." He said it matter-of-factly, as if the fact that he just killed someone, a real person, was just as normal as any of the training simulations he had done. A few seconds of silence, then . . . understood. I'll send in a clean up crew. You three report to the tower. "Yes, sir," he replied.
After that first mission, his team appeared to grow closer, but in reality Turin felt more distant from them. Sure, they had all experience that man's death, but Turin was the one who pulled the trigger. Turin was the one who put the bolt in his head. That sensation stayed with him, and after a while he realized the fact that he kept coming back to wasn't the person he killed, it was how good of a shot it was.
Seriously, the guy was moving around a lot, holding on to a hostage, partially obscured by shadows, and Turin nailed a perfect bullseye, dead-center of his forehead. The sensation at first was one of shock, but once that wore off all Turin could feel about it was pride. All of his years of training and hard work had paid off. He had saved his team mate, completed the mission, and pulled off a really difficult shot. It felt good. He liked it. He liked it a lot.
As the years and the missions went on, Turin worked with his team often, but secretly took on solo missions on the side. The team missions were typical genin stuff; gate guarding, cat locating, old lady street-crossing, and were utterly boring. His first ever assassination contract was about a year after killing the thief, when he was about seventeen. He found it posted on the mission board as a B rank mission, but used his talent for speech to convince the receptionist to let him take it.
There was a baron, a landlord of sorts, who was particularly horrible to the people who lived in the buildings he owned. While many offers had been made to him by other landlords to buy out his buildings, he got off on the power he held over his tenants and refused to sell. His refusal to renovate or repair the buildings was also driving down the value of the entire street, so every single person who lived in or next to his property was miserable. One of the particularly wealthy rivals of this landlord finally had enough, and put forth the money to hire a ninja to kill him so his land holdings would open up. That was where Turin came in.
He scouted the building for a few days, then put on a disguise and pretended to be interested in moving in so that he could talk directly with the landlord. Weaving in a bit of clever lies, he convinced "The Baron" as he called himself, that he could be cut in on an illegal smuggling deal. All he had to do was show up in a certain place at a certain time, and he would have more money in one paycheck than all of his tenants' monthly fees combined. Once the certain time had come, and The Baron arrived at the certain place, he suddenly sprouted feathers from his chest and was dead before he hit the ground. Nobody ever saw where the bolt came from, and a few months later the buildings formerly owned by the Baron were state-of-the-art and everyone was happy.
Especially Turin, because the pay for this job was more than he had ever had all at one time.
Assassination contracts were few and far between, however. Mostly his team missions involved using his stealth, both hard and soft, to either spy on or steal from various enemies of the village. Genin stuff, but slightly more advanced genin stuff.
Then came the time of his Chuunin exams. He almost flunked out right at the start with the written section, but managed to pull through by the skin of his teeth. During the second part, where they were divided into teams to go perform mock missions. The mission for everyone was to find a scroll hidden somewhere within the village, which would lead to the location of the final round. There were less scrolls than teams, naturally, and Turin had to drag his team mates along every step of the way. He was certain he was going to fail, until he witnessed another team finding a scroll and came up with a plan.
One of his team mates gave him a regular scroll of the same size as the ones they were looking for, and he used his genjutsu to turn invisible and follow the other team. Once the felt they were sufficiently isolated, he cast another genjutsu that broke their concentration and deftly switched the two scrolls without any of them ever knowing he was there.
Without bothering to go fetch his useless team, who's only positive contribution to the mission was providing the replacement scroll, he read the mission scroll and was the last person to make it to the final round.
The third round was, as it always is, one on one combat set between random opponents. Turin's first opponent was a ninjutsu master from Sand. Her mastery of the sand release was extremely powerful, and her sand shield kept any of his bolts from getting to her. To win, he used a genjutsu to first blind her then turn invisible. She wasn't yet strong enough to sense chakra, so Turin had time to sneak around and line up a better shot. Pulling every skill he knew into making shots more powerful, he aimed for as long as it took and fired while her back was turned. Her sand shield shot up to protect her, but his armor piercing bolt pushed right through it and lodged itself between the ribs of her left side. Turin never found out if she survived or not, because she was rushed off to the hospital as he was being declared the winner.
Then he progressed on to the finals, the last battle before he could go back to Rain as a Chuunin. This time was against someone more balanced. A swordsman from Leaf with some knowledge of ninjutsu. Turin noticed a distinct lack of genjutsu users other than himself, and he was able to use this to his advantage. Casting a genjutsu that caused the swordsman to be afraid of him, he lined up his shot while his opponent hesitated. Foolishly the other genin put down his sword and started making handseals, unwilling to get close to his frightening opponent. Turin fired two bolts extremely quickly, one directly behind the other. The swordsman was skilled indeed, and was impressively able to recover and block the first bolt. But not the second. The second bolt struck him in the throat, and he died gurgling blood into the sand.
Turin returned to Rain village and was named a Chuunin.
Genjutsu quickly became his favorite thing to do besides shoot. As soon as he realized the power of chakra and how he could use it to influence others, he dove into it like he dove into the river four years prior. He excelled at it, and discovered that his willpower developed from his years on the streets made his ability to influence others with chakra even stronger.
Unfortunately, he was still small for his age. The other academy students would pick on him when the instructors weren't around, and there was nothing he could do except hunker down and lose himself in his practice. There were very few of the other students he genuinely liked, but after a time he found that he could make the other kids like him so they wouldn't beat him up, even though he was small. By being funny, knowing what people wanted to hear, and picking his battles carefully, Turin overcame his bullies by making them think they were his friends.
Both the teachers and the students noticed his talent for Genjutsu and for crossbow archery, and his ability to manipulate those around him meant that he could get away with things he was less good at. However, the third aspect in which he excelled was stealth. There were two kinds of stealth they were taught. Hard Stealth, which was avoiding being seen at all by anybody, and Soft Stealth, which was disguising and infiltrating, or hiding in plain sight. Turin had been training in both of those his entire life, and with the added technique and discipline of the academy he honed them into an art.
He graduated at the very top of his class, specializing in Taijutsu and Genjutsu, with focus on hard stealth, soft stealth, distance shooting, and infiltration. For a time, becoming a Genin was the greatest accomplishment he had ever achieved, and he couldn't wait to get out into the field and do real life missions.
His first team was a standard three-man cell with a Jonin leader, and their first mission was a very simple thief-stopping. Turin, having been a thief himself since a young age, knew all the ins and outs of what their target would be doing, so he was allowed by the Jonin to make some calls. Playing to his strengths, he climbed up a building opposite from the next house the thief was expected to strike, and positioned his team around the perimeter. The plan was, as soon as Turin spotted their target, the rest would move in, and he would stay up high in order to provide overwatch.
This went very wrong very quickly, though. As soon as the expected time came around, Turin spotted the shadow moving through the very same spot he would have gone if he were robbing the house. He quietly signaled to his team over the radio, and they moved in. That was when the plan began to fall apart. Somewhere inside, somebody knocked something down. The thief attempted to bolt through the alley, and was intercepted by the one that stayed outside. They wrestled briefly, but the genin was overpowered and taken hostage.
His team mate who had gone inside came out to see that the third had been taken, and was being threatened with a knife to his throat. The would-be thief was shouting, clearly highly unstable, and the Jonin was nowhere to be found. Turin was the leader now, and he had to make a call about what to do. His fellow genin's life was in danger, the person who's life he was going to be held responsible for.
Seeing no other option, Turin took the shot.
It was a beautiful shot. The crazed man wheeled around just in time for the bolt to nail him squarely in the forehead, right in the third eye. It pierced through his skull and stuck out the back side, so that he appeared that he was growing feathers from between his eyebrows. He dropped the knife, then dropped to the ground. All three genin were horrified. This was the first time that those two had seen someone die, and for Turin it was the first time he had personally killed someone.
All of those years of training of how to shoot someone never quite prepared him for what it would actually be like to pull the trigger, knowing that the person in the scope would die. Shooting a deer is one thing, but a person, even a person threatening a person whom he cared about more, was another. A radio crackle broke their daze, Team, what's the status? came the voice of their Jonin leader in his ear.
Turin snapped out of it first, "The thief is neutralized, sir. He was highly unstable and ranting. He took Kenji hostage and I had no choice but to put him down." He said it matter-of-factly, as if the fact that he just killed someone, a real person, was just as normal as any of the training simulations he had done. A few seconds of silence, then . . . understood. I'll send in a clean up crew. You three report to the tower. "Yes, sir," he replied.
After that first mission, his team appeared to grow closer, but in reality Turin felt more distant from them. Sure, they had all experience that man's death, but Turin was the one who pulled the trigger. Turin was the one who put the bolt in his head. That sensation stayed with him, and after a while he realized the fact that he kept coming back to wasn't the person he killed, it was how good of a shot it was.
Seriously, the guy was moving around a lot, holding on to a hostage, partially obscured by shadows, and Turin nailed a perfect bullseye, dead-center of his forehead. The sensation at first was one of shock, but once that wore off all Turin could feel about it was pride. All of his years of training and hard work had paid off. He had saved his team mate, completed the mission, and pulled off a really difficult shot. It felt good. He liked it. He liked it a lot.
As the years and the missions went on, Turin worked with his team often, but secretly took on solo missions on the side. The team missions were typical genin stuff; gate guarding, cat locating, old lady street-crossing, and were utterly boring. His first ever assassination contract was about a year after killing the thief, when he was about seventeen. He found it posted on the mission board as a B rank mission, but used his talent for speech to convince the receptionist to let him take it.
There was a baron, a landlord of sorts, who was particularly horrible to the people who lived in the buildings he owned. While many offers had been made to him by other landlords to buy out his buildings, he got off on the power he held over his tenants and refused to sell. His refusal to renovate or repair the buildings was also driving down the value of the entire street, so every single person who lived in or next to his property was miserable. One of the particularly wealthy rivals of this landlord finally had enough, and put forth the money to hire a ninja to kill him so his land holdings would open up. That was where Turin came in.
He scouted the building for a few days, then put on a disguise and pretended to be interested in moving in so that he could talk directly with the landlord. Weaving in a bit of clever lies, he convinced "The Baron" as he called himself, that he could be cut in on an illegal smuggling deal. All he had to do was show up in a certain place at a certain time, and he would have more money in one paycheck than all of his tenants' monthly fees combined. Once the certain time had come, and The Baron arrived at the certain place, he suddenly sprouted feathers from his chest and was dead before he hit the ground. Nobody ever saw where the bolt came from, and a few months later the buildings formerly owned by the Baron were state-of-the-art and everyone was happy.
Especially Turin, because the pay for this job was more than he had ever had all at one time.
Assassination contracts were few and far between, however. Mostly his team missions involved using his stealth, both hard and soft, to either spy on or steal from various enemies of the village. Genin stuff, but slightly more advanced genin stuff.
Then came the time of his Chuunin exams. He almost flunked out right at the start with the written section, but managed to pull through by the skin of his teeth. During the second part, where they were divided into teams to go perform mock missions. The mission for everyone was to find a scroll hidden somewhere within the village, which would lead to the location of the final round. There were less scrolls than teams, naturally, and Turin had to drag his team mates along every step of the way. He was certain he was going to fail, until he witnessed another team finding a scroll and came up with a plan.
One of his team mates gave him a regular scroll of the same size as the ones they were looking for, and he used his genjutsu to turn invisible and follow the other team. Once the felt they were sufficiently isolated, he cast another genjutsu that broke their concentration and deftly switched the two scrolls without any of them ever knowing he was there.
Without bothering to go fetch his useless team, who's only positive contribution to the mission was providing the replacement scroll, he read the mission scroll and was the last person to make it to the final round.
The third round was, as it always is, one on one combat set between random opponents. Turin's first opponent was a ninjutsu master from Sand. Her mastery of the sand release was extremely powerful, and her sand shield kept any of his bolts from getting to her. To win, he used a genjutsu to first blind her then turn invisible. She wasn't yet strong enough to sense chakra, so Turin had time to sneak around and line up a better shot. Pulling every skill he knew into making shots more powerful, he aimed for as long as it took and fired while her back was turned. Her sand shield shot up to protect her, but his armor piercing bolt pushed right through it and lodged itself between the ribs of her left side. Turin never found out if she survived or not, because she was rushed off to the hospital as he was being declared the winner.
Then he progressed on to the finals, the last battle before he could go back to Rain as a Chuunin. This time was against someone more balanced. A swordsman from Leaf with some knowledge of ninjutsu. Turin noticed a distinct lack of genjutsu users other than himself, and he was able to use this to his advantage. Casting a genjutsu that caused the swordsman to be afraid of him, he lined up his shot while his opponent hesitated. Foolishly the other genin put down his sword and started making handseals, unwilling to get close to his frightening opponent. Turin fired two bolts extremely quickly, one directly behind the other. The swordsman was skilled indeed, and was impressively able to recover and block the first bolt. But not the second. The second bolt struck him in the throat, and he died gurgling blood into the sand.
Turin returned to Rain village and was named a Chuunin.
-The Killer-
With the Chuunin rank came certain perks that Turin exploited ruthlessly. Since he was now authorized to take B class missions and could form his own team, he was able to take on as many solo missions as his heart desired. Assassinations quickly became his favorite, because they allowed him to use his crossbow and challenge himself to pull off difficult shots from ever increasing distances. He took pride in every one of the shots he took, and especially the ones he had to push himself in order to accomplish.
Aside from the opportunity to both improve and show off, the higher ranking missions that he was allowed to do himself brought him more money than he had ever seen. Since he typically only spent it on food and replenishing his bolts, the coin piles in his village-provided housing unit started stacking up. His greed stemmed from going through so many years without having enough, he became obsessed with gaining so much that he would never go without again.
To that end, he started hiring himself out to organizations beyond the village. Civilians with grudges, political assassinations, even removal of business competition, every kind of contract he could get was fair game so long as it kept his money collection going up. Killing didn't bother him. He learned long ago that people die every day, and refusing to kill someone for moral reasons is just as stupid as refusing to eat for moral reasons. One does what one has to do in order to get ahead, to stay alive. Turin needed money, people pay to kill, Turin is good at killing. To him, it didn't get any simpler than that.
Of course, killing people from hundreds of meters away with his crossbow wasn't the only kind of mission he took, it's mostly just what he did on the side. For the village, because he did feel a sense of obligation to it that he couldn't quite explain, he made sure to keep up with doing missions for them. Infiltration of groups deemed threatening to the village, either to gain information about them or to take out a person associated with them, was what he performed the most. He liked it, using his skills and his techniques to become someone else and trick people into doing whatever he needed to do. He got off on it. Just not as much as he got off on a really, really good shot.
One day, he was commissioned to infiltrate what was described to him as a cult and neutralize their leader. Typical of cults, the followers believed their leader to be divine in some way. They followed the person, not the ideals, so destroying him would render the rest harmless. Relatively easy, Turin thought, since all he had to do to infiltrate a cult was try his hardest to out-crazy everyone else and he would rocket up the ranks in no time. The location of their hide-out was easy to find, as it was identified by the big ass sign over the front door.
Turin went through the usual motions. He watched the comings and goings for a few days, listened to how the people talk to each other, took notice of individual schedules, very normal job casing kind of stuff. Sure enough, every other night or so they would bring back a very suspiciously body-sized rug, and Turin began to wonder just how many rugs a cult really needed. Putting on his best crazy act, he disguised himself with a genjutsu and walked on up to the front door.
At the gatekeeper, he said what he had heard everyone else say upon entering, "Ohm sapakshum, my brother." The guard-crazy opened the door without a word and in he went. After all, what better way to infiltrate something than to be let in through the front door? Once he was inside, though, he immediately regretted this decision. Blood everywhere. Literally, all over the floors and the walls and everything. It stank like copper and shit and decomposition, and with every step the smell grew stronger.
After a hallway that seemed to go on for way longer than the length of the building, Turin came into what was clearly the main room. There he was, the Glorious Leader, seated upon a massive throne that looked like it was somehow fused into the wall of the building. As soon as he entered, all activity within stopped. Every eye in the extremely dark room looked directly at him, and with a horrible pit in his stomach he realized that the eyes were glowing.
At this point, the leader stirred. Lurched, more like. His head snapped up with inhuman speed, and Turin could see that his eyes shone more than glowed. As this man opened his mouth, Turin could see that each and every one of his teeth was sharpened to a point. Fear gripped him, stronger than he had ever been afraid in his life, even more afraid than the first time he was arrested and thought he was going to be branded. His fear turned to action as he whipped out his crossbow as quickly as he could and fired right at the leader's chest.
Direct hit. With a bolt buried in his sternum, the leader should have been drowning in his seat as his punctured trachea leaked blood into his lungs. This guy, though, barely even seemed to notice. Instead, he just sat there staring while the rest of the cult started shuffling toward him, sharp teeth bared. Suddenly, Turin regretted every decision he had ever made and made to get out as fast as he could. Turning around, he found his way blocked by people he hadn't even known were there.
That was when his skills came in very, very handy. He turned invisible as fast as he could, also masking his sound and his scent, and effectively disappeared before their very eyes. Whatever they were, they stopped walking. And started sniffing.
Their first reaction when losing sight of him was to start trying to smell him, and that turned his stomach more than he expected it do. Still, he saw his opening and shunshin'd back into the hallway before running faster than he had ever ran before.
Aside from the opportunity to both improve and show off, the higher ranking missions that he was allowed to do himself brought him more money than he had ever seen. Since he typically only spent it on food and replenishing his bolts, the coin piles in his village-provided housing unit started stacking up. His greed stemmed from going through so many years without having enough, he became obsessed with gaining so much that he would never go without again.
To that end, he started hiring himself out to organizations beyond the village. Civilians with grudges, political assassinations, even removal of business competition, every kind of contract he could get was fair game so long as it kept his money collection going up. Killing didn't bother him. He learned long ago that people die every day, and refusing to kill someone for moral reasons is just as stupid as refusing to eat for moral reasons. One does what one has to do in order to get ahead, to stay alive. Turin needed money, people pay to kill, Turin is good at killing. To him, it didn't get any simpler than that.
Of course, killing people from hundreds of meters away with his crossbow wasn't the only kind of mission he took, it's mostly just what he did on the side. For the village, because he did feel a sense of obligation to it that he couldn't quite explain, he made sure to keep up with doing missions for them. Infiltration of groups deemed threatening to the village, either to gain information about them or to take out a person associated with them, was what he performed the most. He liked it, using his skills and his techniques to become someone else and trick people into doing whatever he needed to do. He got off on it. Just not as much as he got off on a really, really good shot.
One day, he was commissioned to infiltrate what was described to him as a cult and neutralize their leader. Typical of cults, the followers believed their leader to be divine in some way. They followed the person, not the ideals, so destroying him would render the rest harmless. Relatively easy, Turin thought, since all he had to do to infiltrate a cult was try his hardest to out-crazy everyone else and he would rocket up the ranks in no time. The location of their hide-out was easy to find, as it was identified by the big ass sign over the front door.
Turin went through the usual motions. He watched the comings and goings for a few days, listened to how the people talk to each other, took notice of individual schedules, very normal job casing kind of stuff. Sure enough, every other night or so they would bring back a very suspiciously body-sized rug, and Turin began to wonder just how many rugs a cult really needed. Putting on his best crazy act, he disguised himself with a genjutsu and walked on up to the front door.
At the gatekeeper, he said what he had heard everyone else say upon entering, "Ohm sapakshum, my brother." The guard-crazy opened the door without a word and in he went. After all, what better way to infiltrate something than to be let in through the front door? Once he was inside, though, he immediately regretted this decision. Blood everywhere. Literally, all over the floors and the walls and everything. It stank like copper and shit and decomposition, and with every step the smell grew stronger.
After a hallway that seemed to go on for way longer than the length of the building, Turin came into what was clearly the main room. There he was, the Glorious Leader, seated upon a massive throne that looked like it was somehow fused into the wall of the building. As soon as he entered, all activity within stopped. Every eye in the extremely dark room looked directly at him, and with a horrible pit in his stomach he realized that the eyes were glowing.
At this point, the leader stirred. Lurched, more like. His head snapped up with inhuman speed, and Turin could see that his eyes shone more than glowed. As this man opened his mouth, Turin could see that each and every one of his teeth was sharpened to a point. Fear gripped him, stronger than he had ever been afraid in his life, even more afraid than the first time he was arrested and thought he was going to be branded. His fear turned to action as he whipped out his crossbow as quickly as he could and fired right at the leader's chest.
Direct hit. With a bolt buried in his sternum, the leader should have been drowning in his seat as his punctured trachea leaked blood into his lungs. This guy, though, barely even seemed to notice. Instead, he just sat there staring while the rest of the cult started shuffling toward him, sharp teeth bared. Suddenly, Turin regretted every decision he had ever made and made to get out as fast as he could. Turning around, he found his way blocked by people he hadn't even known were there.
That was when his skills came in very, very handy. He turned invisible as fast as he could, also masking his sound and his scent, and effectively disappeared before their very eyes. Whatever they were, they stopped walking. And started sniffing.
Their first reaction when losing sight of him was to start trying to smell him, and that turned his stomach more than he expected it do. Still, he saw his opening and shunshin'd back into the hallway before running faster than he had ever ran before.
-The Venator-
That night, Turin couldn't sleep. He didn't even try. All he could see, whether his eyes were open or shut, was that man with his sharp teeth and the bolt in his chest. And those eyes. Those glowing, no, burning eyes. It was a living nightmare, and he had a deep feeling that he hadn't seen the last of them.
He didn't realize he had fallen asleep until after he woke up. His nightmare had been about his father. He dreamed that he went back to his old city to pay his respects at his father's grave, only to find it empty. When he turned around, there he was. Ta'lik al-Sahar, eyes burning and teeth as sharp as bolt tips. The last thing he remembered before waking up in a cold sweat was smelling his father's rot and feeling the teeth digging in to his neck.
That dream bothered him for the rest of the day, but he had to get out of his tiny apartment. If he stayed there, he was afraid the walls would start to look covered in the same blood as the hallway from the previous night. Death started to follow him around like a cloud, and suddenly he started to imagine that he had seen all the faces of the people he'd killed with the teeth and the eyes, coming toward him in the darkness of that room. Never had he been so disturbed by something in all his life. Even as a boy, witnessing public executions, those had hardly phased him. Now, whenever he thought of the hanging bodies, swinging in the wind, their eyes were all burning too.
All he did that day was wander. He tried to stay in brightly lit places, but the rain of the village made that impossible. All of the shadows looked sinister. Every face he saw he dreaded would have the eyes, or the teeth. When finally he did return home, there was a man standing in his living room, waiting for him.
Paranoia and his ninja training hit him light a tidal wave and suddenly he regretted not having his crossbow ready. As soon as he spied the man, he threw a handful of knives and ducked back out the door to start assembling his crossbow.
From inside he heard, "you don't need to do that. I'm not one of them." The way he said it, it was like he knew that Turin was so bothered by.
Warily, he called back, "Who's them?"
"Those monsters you encountered last night. You've got the look in your eyes, I know what it is you saw."
The way he said these words made Turin pause. Still with distrust, he popped his head around the doorway for just a second to look at the man. No glowing eyes, no sharp teeth. For the moment, that made this guy the most trustworthy person in the universe.
"If you know what they are," he said, "tell me."
"They're vampires," he stated matter-of-factly. The look on Turin's face must have given away what he thought of that, "you don't believe me? Tell me, then, what else could they be?" Turin couldn't answer, so he lowered his crossbow. "Good," the man said, "Now we can talk."
Turin sat across from the mystery man at his normally single-person table, which had two chairs merely because it all came as a set. "My name is Kennedy," he began, "I'm with a clan called the Venatores. Our mission is to hunt down and eradicate all things evil in this world. Demons, witches, ghosts, werewolves. I can tell by the look on your face that you don't believe me, but you should. You saw for yourself the kind of creatures that exist in this world, under everyone's nose. Each of us specializes in a certain area of hunting and killing. Me? I'm a vampire hunter. I live to kill creatures like the ones you found in that building last night. And right now, I need your help."
"Help?" Turin asked, "I shot that thing square in the chest and it barely noticed. You'll need more than just me to kill it."
"That's where you're wrong, Turin," Turin didn't recall giving his name, "you have the skills and the temperament. All you lack is the equipment."
"Let me guess," Turin scoffed, "silver-tipped bolts?"
"Blessed bolts, actually," Kennedy corrected, ignoring the mocking tone, "silver is for werewolves. Be thankful it's not them we're dealing with."
"So, what's the plan, then? I go in and blast them all with my holy crossbow while you douse them with holy water?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. The lesser vampires will go down with one shot with the special bolts, but the Prime will require a ritual to dispose of. That's where I come in. He'll be weakened by the bolts, but only I can kill him. I need you to help me get that far."
"I don't know about this. . ." Turin began,
"Oh, and did I mention," interrupted Kennedy, "that you'll be paid once all this is over?"
"Sign me up."
That night, armed with a fresh quiver of blessed bolts and even a handful of blessed knives just to be on the safe side, Turin and Kennedy prepared to assault what Turin had taken to calling Vlad's Castle. On Kennedy's signal, Turin stealthily sniped all of the guards wandering around outside and the two of them stacked up on the door.
"As soon as we breach," Kennedy whispered, "I'm going to activate a technique that will both light the place up and drive them back. That should give you enough time to shoot them before they overwhelm us with numbers. Ready? Breach!"
Turin kicked down the door and immediately nailed the closest one to him. The blessed bolt buried itself in its chest and it screamed, loudly. But as it did the fire in its eyes went out and it stopped moving. Not anywhere near the grand disintegration Turin had expected, but at least he knew they could be killed. From behind him, a powerful while light illuminated the entire hallway and Turin saw just how packed it was, and how much bloodier it had become since just the previous night.
Overcome with a strange combination of zeal and fear, Turin started firing. Each bolt hit home on every shot, and every time he hit one it screamed and died. The screaming attracted more, naturally, but Kennedy's like kept them moving slowly enough that he could keep their numbers down. After what felt like ages, about the time when Turin started to worry he wouldn't have enough bolts, the vampires stopped coming through the doorway and all was quiet. The hallway was now so piled with bodies it was difficult to maneuver through them, and when they finally made it and turned left to enter the room, the one Kennedy called the Prime was standing and waiting for them.
Turin fired, and the Prime caught the bolt in mid air. Its hand sizzled and smoked briefly before it threw the bolt down and charged with an inhuman speed. Turin tried to fire after it, but it was moving too quickly even for him. Suddenly, he felt a strange energy wash over him and the Prime started to look like it was moving slower. Dodging to the right to avoid its claws, Turin looked over and saw that Kennedy was glowing, and that same glow was now on him as well. He also saw that the Prime was between he and the Venator.
Luckily, the Prime's attention was on the one it perceived to be the greatest threat, which was Kennedy. Turin pulled three of his recently blessed knives and stuck them all in the monster's back. It screamed an inhuman scream as the wounds began to smoke and stink, then it wheeled around to face him. No longer afraid, Turin calmly aimed with his crossbow, and when the monster lunged he caught it in the right eye with a blessed bolt. Its hands shot to its face and it began writhing on the ground in agony. Kennedy threw down some kind of net that further burned the vampire's skin and began whatever ritual he needed to do.
It took hours of listening to Kennedy chant while the Prime screamed, and Turin was beginning to get dizzy from the smell of the place. Finally, the screaming stopped, and just as Turin went to look down at it a blindingly bright light erupted from the ground around the creature. It was so bright and they had been in the dark for so long that Turin had to look away, and when he looked back the monster was a pile of ashes.
When they left, there were three other Venatores waiting outside for the two of them.
"Is this him?" One asked Kennedy,
"It is," Kennedy replied.
"So it's done, then?"
"It is."
"Good." Turning now to Turin, the one who was speaking said to him, "on behalf of the Venatores, I cannot thank you enough for what you've done here. As a reward, we would like to extend to you an invitation to join our order."
"Kennedy mentioned I was going to be paid for this," Turin stated, not making it apparent what he thought about the offer.
"Ah, yes, of course," the leader replied, tossing him a weighty bag of ryo, "this if for your trouble."
"Thanks," Turin said, turning to head back to his apartment.
"Wait," he heard Kennedy say, "please, Turin. We need people with your skills. You have what it takes to help eradicate evil from this world. This vampire den is just the start, you could one day be destroying demons."
"And not only that," interjected the leader of the Venatores, "we reward our people well. We take care of our own."
"You guys really know how to speak my language," Turin said, "I admit, cleansing that place felt pretty good." Indicating to the money, "if there's more where this came from, you can count me in."
The leader smiled. "Excellent," he said, "Kennedy will remain here as your trainer and your handler."
"Yes, sir," Kennedy said with a bow.
By the time Turin had looked up from counting the money, the three had gone and it was only he and Kennedy left. They shook hands and went their separate ways, at least temporarily.
The next chapter of Turin's life had begun.
He didn't realize he had fallen asleep until after he woke up. His nightmare had been about his father. He dreamed that he went back to his old city to pay his respects at his father's grave, only to find it empty. When he turned around, there he was. Ta'lik al-Sahar, eyes burning and teeth as sharp as bolt tips. The last thing he remembered before waking up in a cold sweat was smelling his father's rot and feeling the teeth digging in to his neck.
That dream bothered him for the rest of the day, but he had to get out of his tiny apartment. If he stayed there, he was afraid the walls would start to look covered in the same blood as the hallway from the previous night. Death started to follow him around like a cloud, and suddenly he started to imagine that he had seen all the faces of the people he'd killed with the teeth and the eyes, coming toward him in the darkness of that room. Never had he been so disturbed by something in all his life. Even as a boy, witnessing public executions, those had hardly phased him. Now, whenever he thought of the hanging bodies, swinging in the wind, their eyes were all burning too.
All he did that day was wander. He tried to stay in brightly lit places, but the rain of the village made that impossible. All of the shadows looked sinister. Every face he saw he dreaded would have the eyes, or the teeth. When finally he did return home, there was a man standing in his living room, waiting for him.
Paranoia and his ninja training hit him light a tidal wave and suddenly he regretted not having his crossbow ready. As soon as he spied the man, he threw a handful of knives and ducked back out the door to start assembling his crossbow.
From inside he heard, "you don't need to do that. I'm not one of them." The way he said it, it was like he knew that Turin was so bothered by.
Warily, he called back, "Who's them?"
"Those monsters you encountered last night. You've got the look in your eyes, I know what it is you saw."
The way he said these words made Turin pause. Still with distrust, he popped his head around the doorway for just a second to look at the man. No glowing eyes, no sharp teeth. For the moment, that made this guy the most trustworthy person in the universe.
"If you know what they are," he said, "tell me."
"They're vampires," he stated matter-of-factly. The look on Turin's face must have given away what he thought of that, "you don't believe me? Tell me, then, what else could they be?" Turin couldn't answer, so he lowered his crossbow. "Good," the man said, "Now we can talk."
Turin sat across from the mystery man at his normally single-person table, which had two chairs merely because it all came as a set. "My name is Kennedy," he began, "I'm with a clan called the Venatores. Our mission is to hunt down and eradicate all things evil in this world. Demons, witches, ghosts, werewolves. I can tell by the look on your face that you don't believe me, but you should. You saw for yourself the kind of creatures that exist in this world, under everyone's nose. Each of us specializes in a certain area of hunting and killing. Me? I'm a vampire hunter. I live to kill creatures like the ones you found in that building last night. And right now, I need your help."
"Help?" Turin asked, "I shot that thing square in the chest and it barely noticed. You'll need more than just me to kill it."
"That's where you're wrong, Turin," Turin didn't recall giving his name, "you have the skills and the temperament. All you lack is the equipment."
"Let me guess," Turin scoffed, "silver-tipped bolts?"
"Blessed bolts, actually," Kennedy corrected, ignoring the mocking tone, "silver is for werewolves. Be thankful it's not them we're dealing with."
"So, what's the plan, then? I go in and blast them all with my holy crossbow while you douse them with holy water?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. The lesser vampires will go down with one shot with the special bolts, but the Prime will require a ritual to dispose of. That's where I come in. He'll be weakened by the bolts, but only I can kill him. I need you to help me get that far."
"I don't know about this. . ." Turin began,
"Oh, and did I mention," interrupted Kennedy, "that you'll be paid once all this is over?"
"Sign me up."
That night, armed with a fresh quiver of blessed bolts and even a handful of blessed knives just to be on the safe side, Turin and Kennedy prepared to assault what Turin had taken to calling Vlad's Castle. On Kennedy's signal, Turin stealthily sniped all of the guards wandering around outside and the two of them stacked up on the door.
"As soon as we breach," Kennedy whispered, "I'm going to activate a technique that will both light the place up and drive them back. That should give you enough time to shoot them before they overwhelm us with numbers. Ready? Breach!"
Turin kicked down the door and immediately nailed the closest one to him. The blessed bolt buried itself in its chest and it screamed, loudly. But as it did the fire in its eyes went out and it stopped moving. Not anywhere near the grand disintegration Turin had expected, but at least he knew they could be killed. From behind him, a powerful while light illuminated the entire hallway and Turin saw just how packed it was, and how much bloodier it had become since just the previous night.
Overcome with a strange combination of zeal and fear, Turin started firing. Each bolt hit home on every shot, and every time he hit one it screamed and died. The screaming attracted more, naturally, but Kennedy's like kept them moving slowly enough that he could keep their numbers down. After what felt like ages, about the time when Turin started to worry he wouldn't have enough bolts, the vampires stopped coming through the doorway and all was quiet. The hallway was now so piled with bodies it was difficult to maneuver through them, and when they finally made it and turned left to enter the room, the one Kennedy called the Prime was standing and waiting for them.
Turin fired, and the Prime caught the bolt in mid air. Its hand sizzled and smoked briefly before it threw the bolt down and charged with an inhuman speed. Turin tried to fire after it, but it was moving too quickly even for him. Suddenly, he felt a strange energy wash over him and the Prime started to look like it was moving slower. Dodging to the right to avoid its claws, Turin looked over and saw that Kennedy was glowing, and that same glow was now on him as well. He also saw that the Prime was between he and the Venator.
Luckily, the Prime's attention was on the one it perceived to be the greatest threat, which was Kennedy. Turin pulled three of his recently blessed knives and stuck them all in the monster's back. It screamed an inhuman scream as the wounds began to smoke and stink, then it wheeled around to face him. No longer afraid, Turin calmly aimed with his crossbow, and when the monster lunged he caught it in the right eye with a blessed bolt. Its hands shot to its face and it began writhing on the ground in agony. Kennedy threw down some kind of net that further burned the vampire's skin and began whatever ritual he needed to do.
It took hours of listening to Kennedy chant while the Prime screamed, and Turin was beginning to get dizzy from the smell of the place. Finally, the screaming stopped, and just as Turin went to look down at it a blindingly bright light erupted from the ground around the creature. It was so bright and they had been in the dark for so long that Turin had to look away, and when he looked back the monster was a pile of ashes.
When they left, there were three other Venatores waiting outside for the two of them.
"Is this him?" One asked Kennedy,
"It is," Kennedy replied.
"So it's done, then?"
"It is."
"Good." Turning now to Turin, the one who was speaking said to him, "on behalf of the Venatores, I cannot thank you enough for what you've done here. As a reward, we would like to extend to you an invitation to join our order."
"Kennedy mentioned I was going to be paid for this," Turin stated, not making it apparent what he thought about the offer.
"Ah, yes, of course," the leader replied, tossing him a weighty bag of ryo, "this if for your trouble."
"Thanks," Turin said, turning to head back to his apartment.
"Wait," he heard Kennedy say, "please, Turin. We need people with your skills. You have what it takes to help eradicate evil from this world. This vampire den is just the start, you could one day be destroying demons."
"And not only that," interjected the leader of the Venatores, "we reward our people well. We take care of our own."
"You guys really know how to speak my language," Turin said, "I admit, cleansing that place felt pretty good." Indicating to the money, "if there's more where this came from, you can count me in."
The leader smiled. "Excellent," he said, "Kennedy will remain here as your trainer and your handler."
"Yes, sir," Kennedy said with a bow.
By the time Turin had looked up from counting the money, the three had gone and it was only he and Kennedy left. They shook hands and went their separate ways, at least temporarily.
The next chapter of Turin's life had begun.
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