History Of Mort Deadstock
History Of Mort Deadstock
though the ink is barely dry with the details of my last new character, i find myself preparing the next in line for what will come after ravenloft and present his background here prior to the rolling of any statistical dice, or the inevitable shopping hunt at games workshop for a suitable model. i would be very interested in any feedback anyone would like to offer...
I came, I saw, I bought the T-shirt
Mort Deadstock
MORT DEADSTOCK
Human / Male / Thief / Chaotic Neutral
A scrawny unkempt young man, with perminent five o'clock shadow and shoulders which habitually hold themselves in a hunch, Mort Deadstock grew up in the poorest quarters of the notorious Port of Blacksand and circumstance forced him to be much more mature than his years purely in order to survive. With a coarse sounding voice from a combination of his accent, years of tobacco smoking and a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush, Mort appears a bedraggled looking figure in dark clothes usually frayed at the edges and often encrusted with grim from sleeping rough on the streets. Yet under this scruffy garb is a wiry muscled body capable of unnaturally fast reflexes, conditioned from years of unburdening citizens of their valuables without the inconvenience of disturbing their distracted minds.
Generally regarded as the cheapest and most dangerous place mankind has ever been forced to try and exist, Port Blacksand is a haven for ruffians and pirates, proudly boasting that the number of deaths every year in its narrow crowded streets is twice that of the official birth rate, though evidence for this is solely down to urban myth and academics are unlikely to feel inclined to attempt to prove the claims. Poverty and destitution are the only two things citizens can depend on in their usually short violent lives, and Mort was born in typical disfunctional surroundings. His mother, a woman only ever referred to as Ma and existing in official city documents only as a bold X signiture, was a prostitute in one of the port's numerous brothels, and his father is an unknown quantity, probably a sailor eager to spend his wages during shore leave and more than likely ignorant of his son's existence.
One of eight children, each to different fathers, Mort was an unwanted child and knew it to be the case from his earliest years. Rarely seeing his only parent by either day or night and generally cared for by his older half-sisters until he was old enough to walk, Mort was soon roaming the city begging for food, often disappearing for days on end. Eventually, having learned stealing involved less time and effort than pleading with merchants for a few copper coins to buy bread, Mort was perfectly capable of surviving on his own and his visits to his mother's place of work started to become less frequent. His abscences were hardly noticed unless Ma was suffering from one of her drink fuelled bouts of parental concern, and by the beginning of his twelfth year of life, Mort had his first contact with Port Blacksand's most prosperous employment provider, the thieves guild.
In return for regular food and shelter, the children inducted into the underground world of petty crime travelled the city in small bands, by day picking the pockets of crowds at markets and by night mugging drunken citizens or distracting watchmen so the more serious work of the guild could be conducted unhindered. Mort excelled at every task that was asked of him and quickly acquired the more trusted roles within the guild for someone of his age, acting as a look-out for large scale robberies or being used as a runner between the numerous gambling dens across the city. By the time of Ma's unpleasant death from syphilis when Mort was twenty, he had become involved with smuggling weapons and narcotics, burglary and was a member of the dreaded reprisal gang which punished criminals in Blacksand that tried to operate without the thieves guild's permission. On the day of his mother's funeral Mort declined to attend citing, as his Ma had often done when he wanted her attention when he was a child, that he was too busy working and couldn't spare the time. However, in the years that have followed the disintergration of even a fractured family such as the Deadstocks as the remaining half-siblings drifted apart, Mort increasingly began to see the cheapness of exitence in Port Blacksand as something he had to distance himself from.
Deciding to become more involved in the smuggling runs of the guild because it required travelling widely away from his home city, Mort unfortunately got caught up in a sore deal resulting in his arrest. A corrupt merchant had turned informant to the local authorities for his own freedom, and Mort and his companions were charged with smuggling and sentanced to death, while the thieves guild washed its hands of the whole affair and left its ex-members to whatever fate would befall them. Three of the team from Port Blacksand staged a prison break out the night before they were due to be executed, and although two of them died before they reached the perimeter wall, the third managed to escape yet still suffered a probable arrow wound to the leg and was not pursued as it was assumed the injury would kill him anyway. It was with some surprise the guards returned to the open cell and found Mort still sitting on the straw covered floor, waiting patiently for the steak he had been promised as his last meal before his execution.
Amused by the thief's laise faire attitude to his own approaching death, the captain of the guards told his superiors of the night's events, and after the noticably paler Mort had finished his expected tender beef breakfast, he was confused to find himself led into an office rather than to the gibbet. Listening with bewilderment but undeniable interest to the terms he was offered, Mort suddenly found himself with two stark choices - to agree to perform a service on behalf of the same authorities he had spent most of his life defying, or to be marched outside then and there to be hung. His response to the idea was immediate...
Human / Male / Thief / Chaotic Neutral
A scrawny unkempt young man, with perminent five o'clock shadow and shoulders which habitually hold themselves in a hunch, Mort Deadstock grew up in the poorest quarters of the notorious Port of Blacksand and circumstance forced him to be much more mature than his years purely in order to survive. With a coarse sounding voice from a combination of his accent, years of tobacco smoking and a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush, Mort appears a bedraggled looking figure in dark clothes usually frayed at the edges and often encrusted with grim from sleeping rough on the streets. Yet under this scruffy garb is a wiry muscled body capable of unnaturally fast reflexes, conditioned from years of unburdening citizens of their valuables without the inconvenience of disturbing their distracted minds.
Generally regarded as the cheapest and most dangerous place mankind has ever been forced to try and exist, Port Blacksand is a haven for ruffians and pirates, proudly boasting that the number of deaths every year in its narrow crowded streets is twice that of the official birth rate, though evidence for this is solely down to urban myth and academics are unlikely to feel inclined to attempt to prove the claims. Poverty and destitution are the only two things citizens can depend on in their usually short violent lives, and Mort was born in typical disfunctional surroundings. His mother, a woman only ever referred to as Ma and existing in official city documents only as a bold X signiture, was a prostitute in one of the port's numerous brothels, and his father is an unknown quantity, probably a sailor eager to spend his wages during shore leave and more than likely ignorant of his son's existence.
One of eight children, each to different fathers, Mort was an unwanted child and knew it to be the case from his earliest years. Rarely seeing his only parent by either day or night and generally cared for by his older half-sisters until he was old enough to walk, Mort was soon roaming the city begging for food, often disappearing for days on end. Eventually, having learned stealing involved less time and effort than pleading with merchants for a few copper coins to buy bread, Mort was perfectly capable of surviving on his own and his visits to his mother's place of work started to become less frequent. His abscences were hardly noticed unless Ma was suffering from one of her drink fuelled bouts of parental concern, and by the beginning of his twelfth year of life, Mort had his first contact with Port Blacksand's most prosperous employment provider, the thieves guild.
In return for regular food and shelter, the children inducted into the underground world of petty crime travelled the city in small bands, by day picking the pockets of crowds at markets and by night mugging drunken citizens or distracting watchmen so the more serious work of the guild could be conducted unhindered. Mort excelled at every task that was asked of him and quickly acquired the more trusted roles within the guild for someone of his age, acting as a look-out for large scale robberies or being used as a runner between the numerous gambling dens across the city. By the time of Ma's unpleasant death from syphilis when Mort was twenty, he had become involved with smuggling weapons and narcotics, burglary and was a member of the dreaded reprisal gang which punished criminals in Blacksand that tried to operate without the thieves guild's permission. On the day of his mother's funeral Mort declined to attend citing, as his Ma had often done when he wanted her attention when he was a child, that he was too busy working and couldn't spare the time. However, in the years that have followed the disintergration of even a fractured family such as the Deadstocks as the remaining half-siblings drifted apart, Mort increasingly began to see the cheapness of exitence in Port Blacksand as something he had to distance himself from.
Deciding to become more involved in the smuggling runs of the guild because it required travelling widely away from his home city, Mort unfortunately got caught up in a sore deal resulting in his arrest. A corrupt merchant had turned informant to the local authorities for his own freedom, and Mort and his companions were charged with smuggling and sentanced to death, while the thieves guild washed its hands of the whole affair and left its ex-members to whatever fate would befall them. Three of the team from Port Blacksand staged a prison break out the night before they were due to be executed, and although two of them died before they reached the perimeter wall, the third managed to escape yet still suffered a probable arrow wound to the leg and was not pursued as it was assumed the injury would kill him anyway. It was with some surprise the guards returned to the open cell and found Mort still sitting on the straw covered floor, waiting patiently for the steak he had been promised as his last meal before his execution.
Amused by the thief's laise faire attitude to his own approaching death, the captain of the guards told his superiors of the night's events, and after the noticably paler Mort had finished his expected tender beef breakfast, he was confused to find himself led into an office rather than to the gibbet. Listening with bewilderment but undeniable interest to the terms he was offered, Mort suddenly found himself with two stark choices - to agree to perform a service on behalf of the same authorities he had spent most of his life defying, or to be marched outside then and there to be hung. His response to the idea was immediate...
I came, I saw, I bought the T-shirt
i prefer my characters to have specific reasons for getting involved with quests, and would like the next dm to consider a feasible way for mort to get involved with the adventuring group in order to receive the pardon for his freedom he would be working towards. i obviously don't know the shape and nature of how the next adventure will begin, so i'll list some ideas for consideration:
- it could be as simple as the authorities telling mort he has to use his skills to help the others, but this would only work if an official body at the start of the adventure - such as a town mayor or council - is responisble for recruiting the group together, such as in flutchen at the start of ravenloft.
- if the adventure is more likely to simply ask for the group to band together of their own accord, i would presume mort would still be working for some official group and his task during the adventure is to steal something they know the group will come across at some point.
i really liked the way mike made sure everyone in the last adventure had reasons for being in the party when it left flutchen, and would like mort to have a similar motivation for being there with this one. otherwise, doesn't it give the impression adventurers are merely plonked into a situation without prior planning...
- it could be as simple as the authorities telling mort he has to use his skills to help the others, but this would only work if an official body at the start of the adventure - such as a town mayor or council - is responisble for recruiting the group together, such as in flutchen at the start of ravenloft.
- if the adventure is more likely to simply ask for the group to band together of their own accord, i would presume mort would still be working for some official group and his task during the adventure is to steal something they know the group will come across at some point.
i really liked the way mike made sure everyone in the last adventure had reasons for being in the party when it left flutchen, and would like mort to have a similar motivation for being there with this one. otherwise, doesn't it give the impression adventurers are merely plonked into a situation without prior planning...
I came, I saw, I bought the T-shirt
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Mike
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I like the idea, I am sure the DM will give you suitable justification for being in his adventure :D . I also have a mental picture, though it is somewhat informed by Jimmy the Hand from Prince of the Blood(?) by Raymon E Fiest. 
Mike
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Mark Scollon
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Just a thought, but what if, as a part of the terms of his release he actually had to recruit the various members of a party before leading them off to do whatever it is that they have to do. I'm sure by the sound of him, he would be quite a reluctant leader but that makes the task all the more difficult for him.
I've also built up rather a good picture of him, unfortunately it is rather like the image I see in the mirror just before I have a shave.
I've also built up rather a good picture of him, unfortunately it is rather like the image I see in the mirror just before I have a shave.
a couple of loose ends in mort's story have come to my attention that may in future effect his development.
firstly, and most threateningly to him, is the fact the thieves guild will be presuming that mort is dead and certainly wont be pleased to find out he not only is still alive, but working for someone else in order to become a free citizen again. he may not return to port blacksand, but the tenticles of the underworld will surely reach far beyond the one city, and surely mort's life is now in danger from the same reprisal gang he used to be apart of. (the fact the guild willingly left him for dead will not effect their attitude of him being a traitor - there is no honour among thieves).
secondly, and tied to the point above, there is the possibility that one of the smugglers did escape during the jail break even if he was wounded - will their paths cross again in future?
thirdly, despite his promise of a pardon, mort will not relinquish his previous way of life or the skills that went with it, meaning he will still be operating as a lone thief and more than likely will want revenge on the merchant that grassed him up.
lastly, regardless of his age and social standing, i foresee sir john milton being constantly referred to as "grandad" in sarcastically disparaging tones.
ADDITIONAL - due to the poverty he grew up in and lack of any form of education, mort will not possess the theifly skill "read languages" as he is illiterate.
firstly, and most threateningly to him, is the fact the thieves guild will be presuming that mort is dead and certainly wont be pleased to find out he not only is still alive, but working for someone else in order to become a free citizen again. he may not return to port blacksand, but the tenticles of the underworld will surely reach far beyond the one city, and surely mort's life is now in danger from the same reprisal gang he used to be apart of. (the fact the guild willingly left him for dead will not effect their attitude of him being a traitor - there is no honour among thieves). secondly, and tied to the point above, there is the possibility that one of the smugglers did escape during the jail break even if he was wounded - will their paths cross again in future? thirdly, despite his promise of a pardon, mort will not relinquish his previous way of life or the skills that went with it, meaning he will still be operating as a lone thief and more than likely will want revenge on the merchant that grassed him up. lastly, regardless of his age and social standing, i foresee sir john milton being constantly referred to as "grandad" in sarcastically disparaging tones. ADDITIONAL - due to the poverty he grew up in and lack of any form of education, mort will not possess the theifly skill "read languages" as he is illiterate.I came, I saw, I bought the T-shirt
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Mike
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See how Sir John suffers so! Mockered for being childless no less! I am sure he will not become offended by such blatent rebellion by the child.Fez wrote:
Mike
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http://www.rileyuk.co.uk
Also see: http://www.dragonsfoot.org
Mort Deadstock Statistics
Seventh Level Thief (Sharper)
+10 Experience Points
24 Hit Points
Armour Class 6
14 Strength
16 Intelligence
11 Wisdom
16 Dexerity
15 Constitution
10 Charisma
12 Comeliness
Important Information
Can?t use Read Languages skill - Mort grew up destitute and has never received any academic education, therefore he is illiterate and cannot read or write
Owing to his background in the thieves? guild of Port Backsand, Mort has become a seasoned gambler which I would like to have included as a secondary profession. He is also an experienced beggar and though this does not feature on the list of secondary professions in the DMG, I think it is something Mort qualifies of having a good deal of skill at.
Mort is armed with a dagger and light crossbow
*Magical weapons to be decided
CORRECTION - that should have read magical items to be decided
Seventh Level Thief (Sharper)
+10 Experience Points
24 Hit Points
Armour Class 6
14 Strength
16 Intelligence
11 Wisdom
16 Dexerity
15 Constitution
10 Charisma
12 Comeliness
Important Information
Can?t use Read Languages skill - Mort grew up destitute and has never received any academic education, therefore he is illiterate and cannot read or write
Owing to his background in the thieves? guild of Port Backsand, Mort has become a seasoned gambler which I would like to have included as a secondary profession. He is also an experienced beggar and though this does not feature on the list of secondary professions in the DMG, I think it is something Mort qualifies of having a good deal of skill at.
Mort is armed with a dagger and light crossbow
*Magical weapons to be decided
CORRECTION - that should have read magical items to be decided
I came, I saw, I bought the T-shirt