Cobalt (shifter)

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Cobalt

Languages	Common, Quori, Orc
Species	Longtooth Shifer
Gender	Male

Cobalt is a longtooth shifter and a fighter champion. He has spent time as a gladiator and has improved his showmanship by learning skills of the bard.

Physical Appearance

As with others of his tribe, Cobalt it fit and muscular and has hyena-like traits. When he shifts into his longtooth form, his muzzle becomes elongated and his claws and tail more pronounced. His fur is a dark gray with mottled brown. He typically dons chain mail and a sword.

Personality

Cobalt has deep ties to his tribe and uses his strength and wit to serve his people. He is fierce and has a flair for the dramatic when useful. The dramatics may hide some internal conflict. He occasionally finds it hard to hold his tongue, speaking truths when he should not.

History

Cobalt hails from a hyena-like shifter tribe—the Igneus of Isonhound, whose people have dwindled over the last decades. As conflict increased and their artifacts went missing, Cobalt and a few of his peers traveled to nearby wolf-like shifter tribe—the Alluvium—to train with their mighty militia. There, he learned the art of swordsmanship. When the Alluvium’s leaders asked him to go on a covert mission to investigate rumors of a nearby dragon that may be the source of the disappearances of both tribe’s artifacts, he couldn’t say no. He left Spinel a note announcing his departure but knew she would hate him for leaving. Their bonds ran deep, and she would not understand.

Languages

Common, Quori, Orc

Powers and Abilities

When needed, Cobalt enhances his hyena-like traits and is quick to use his fangs to protect himself.  He has mastered the art of defense in his training, improving the effect of his armor. As a champion, he has also learned how to improve his chances for critical hits. He has come to embrace his time as a gladiator and pit fighter, upping his showmanship to win over the crowd. In time, he sought out new ways to craft his performance, training as a bard. He uses guttural throat singing and occasionally a small drum to further manipulate his opponents and the crowd.

Into the Greedy Green

After leaving his tribe, Cobalt and the rest of his scouting party set out through Synara and beyond. However, they were set upon by a group of mercenaries and the party was split up. Surprised and overpowered, Cobalt was enslaved and forced to work in a mine. He was sure he could have escaped himself, but he wanted to help the others in this unfortunate situation and also learn if any of the others in his scouting party were nearby. After a cave-in, a group of adventures helped rescue those enslaved, and Cobalt walked free. He set out to find his people, some of whom he learned had been scattered across the region to work in other mines.

In his journeys, he came across many of the perils that faced the region, including Cheshire goblins and orcs. As he reconnected with his scouting party, he learned more of the perils currently facing Isonhound. The band of shifters did their best to help out where they could, mainly the rural areas further away from the better-protected cities.

To earn money to support their efforts, Cobalt started pit fighting. In one instance, he walked in to a pit-fighting establishment only to see a shifter already in the ring—Spinel! He wasn’t ready to face her; he did not want to be at the end of her ire, for he knew from experience that it was a sight to behold. He slid out as quickly as he entered and got out of dodge.

Through his pit fighting, Cobalt developed his sense of showmanship, as this encouraged betting and eventually drew in more crowds. He eventually explored the art of the bard to further improve these abilities. He drew motivation from the bards that frequented the many taverns in the area, moved by their stories and impressed by their ability to manipulate an audience. He focused on learning verbal spells that wouldn’t interfere with this swordsmanship.

These skills allowed Cobalt to swiftly advance through the Tournament of Fist and Fury. But he knew Spinel had also entered the tournament, and their inevitable confrontation was coming, be it in or out of the ring. He came to decide that an in-ring encounter would be better. Their blows could only go so far and healers were on hand. And, he knew through their previous time sparring together, that a fight might allow them both to express what could not be easily said. But Spinel fell in the quarterfinals (was her tabaxi helper drunk?). He needed a new plan, for she would surely be at the finals.

Cobalt suspected Spinel might enter the exhibition cash grab tournament as a way to redeem herself, and so found a team of strangely cooking-minded individuals who clearly had their own things to hide. They didn’t question his illusionary magic to hide his true form (and he wasn’t exactly sure if a finalist for the main tournament was allowed to compete in the exhibition tournament). The team called themselves Chef’s Surprise, and they made quick work of the wizard team Influemancers and the dwarven artificer team Thunder and Smoke. When his teammate Paula Doom was taken out, his other teammates knew just who to replace her with. He didn’t ask questions but accepted their illusions. When his own illusion dropped in the final round, Spinel didn’t act surprised at all. Cobalt hesitated—a mistake he would not make again—and Spinel and her hulking friend Ulka came to bear. Although Spinel couldn’t seem to make the final blow, her magical tricks allowed Cecil’s spell to decisively take him down.

Spinel helped him up but was clearly upset. Cobalt tried to explain, but she knew he had been avoiding her in the last months. He said he wanted to win the tournament to impress her, but she said she now knew what it was to be a true hero with a true following. He vowed to do right by her. They had a long chat that night, but she was set on supporting Bleucorundum and facing the source of Isonhound’s darkness . They set out to face this peril together.