Ren Atherton

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Ren Atherton

Ren and Morgana

Relatives	Chadicus Atherton (father), Maria Allen (mother), Dale and Lucy (younger siblings)
Languages	Common, Draconic
Affiliations	Tempest Brothers Expeditionary Company
Aliases	Allen Nittany, Nicholas Seawell, Suzie Bluth
Marital Status	single
Place of Birth	Seawell
Date of Death	N/A
Place of Death	N/A
Species	Human (Variant)
Gender	Male (he/him)
Height	5'9"
Weight	140 lbs
Eye Color	Gray

Ren Atherton is a chaotic good human from Seawell. He has the Criminal background since he was falsely accused of a crime and exiled from the town. He started with one level in Rogue, and then began as a Warlock (Great Old One - Pact of the Chain).

Physical Appearance

Ren is a 21-year-old man. At 5'9" and 140 pounds, Ren is average height and thin. He has gray eyes, sometimes glasses, medium-length black hair, and generally dresses in darker clothes and wears a black jacket. His cat has black fur, so even when he sheds, it doesn't matter as much if you're already wearing black.

His familiar Morgana usually takes the form of a cat, with white paws and some white fur on his face and tail. Morgana usually also wears a yellow collar or bandana.

As of late, Ren wears two amulets: a Dark Shard Amulet, and a Clockwork Amulet. Neither is too loud, and both work with his monochrome aesthetic. He also has the bracers of archery on under his long sleeves, which both help in battle and aren't too uncomfortable in the perpetually autumnal weather of Amusa.

He dresses like someone who doesn't want to stad out too much, since he generally doesn't. Ren even wears glasses with no prescription, so he appears more unassuming and can study and explore in peace, while also doing heists and investigations as needed. He often wears a school uniform, shown in the picture, to blend in at the local university in Galik.

Personality

Ren is social and laid back, but he is hesitant to get too close with people too soon. While around town, he often hides his face, since he doesn't trust others quite as much after being exiled.

In his free time (if he isn't forging an item or learning something), he's usually petting his cat Morgana and trying different coffees around the neighborhood.

He's becoming a bit more comfortable with everyone in the company since doing a few missions with them, but he is also a bit nervous about there being a spy potentially.

Still, he doesn't relax at big festivals too much, since the one time he truly relaxed with others since arriving in Galik, it didn't go well - he doesn't remember it well, but vaguely tells people not to go to the circus.

He enjoys making coffee for people, and he can often be found at Leblanc Cafe around the corner from the Tempest Brothers.

History

Ren grew up in the coastal city of Seawell with two parents and two siblings. His father Chadicus Atherton is a dragonborn blacksmith and locksmith, so he learned how to pick locks as his apprentice as a child. His mother Maria Allen is a changeling bard who teaches at the local school. He gets along well with his younger siblings Dale and Lucy.

Ren often ran late for school as a kid, so he learned to dash and hide as needed to convince teachers he'd been in class the whole time and was not late as they had thought.

He befriended a former thief named Ashe (out of character: his criminal contact from his "criminal" background), who changed his ways after breaking into a noble's house and being adopted instead of arrested. Ashe still knew how to pick locks and remain undetected however, and taught Ren how to do some of these things when absolutely necessary for the greater good.

While attending Seawell Community College, Ren saw a drunk man harassing a woman on the street at night, so he intervened, accidentally pushing the man to the ground. The man said that the city guard all follow him, claiming he'd sue for assault. The city guard believed the drunk man (who Ren was unable to identify, but suspects it was a member of the Stone or Bluth family), so Ren was found guilty of assault and exiled from Seawell.

Ren set out for the only major city he knew of, Galik, and stopped at an inn on the way there. That night in his dreams, a mysterious entity calling himself Igor spoke to him, offering a deal. In exchange for fighting for justice and taking down powerful and corrupt villains, Igor would grant him eldritch powers. Ren agreed and continued to Galik, where he joined the Tempest Brothers Expeditionary Company.

When he got to Galik, he signed a Pact of the Chain with Igor, and when he cast Find Familiar, it took the form of a magical cat named Morgana. The two then began adventuring together with the party.

Since joining the company, he has gone on several missions:

Megasession and Hunk's Vengeance:

He helped the party move the Arcane Forge away from the camp when it was under attack. That same month, he also saw the weird robots that melted when defeated; he doesn't really understand what was going on there.

Circus:

After some combat, he realized the importance of moving quickly, so he gained an additional level in rogue as the company returned to Galik. He decided to go with a few others to the circus, but isn't sure if they ever got there or not. He has vague memories of some circus employee at the dart game trying to jump in front of the darts? He tried to send Morgana to distract him by being an adorable cat, but even with a high persuasion roll, Morgana was afraid of this employee. Ren does not remember this person's face.

He doesn't really remember most of the rest of the circus, but he does remember the dream he had. His patron Igor sounded remarkably different and was torturing him. "Igor" or whoever he was, told him that if his family wanted to, they probably could have kept Ren from being exiled. He woke up and found out it was apparently a dream, but this whole encounter left him disturbed. He's also worried about his patron and still has a lingering doubt about his family. He then made sure to have some things under control that he could count on, so he spent his January downtime forging a Clockwork Amulet. This way, at least one attack a day would not be up to luck.

End of the Line:

Making sure to stamp out evil forces that use magic for cruelty, he and other company members went on the Galik City Railway to pursue a high-ranking cult member, one of the Groomsmen. There, he met a more experienced warlock from the company, Marion, who gave him a Dark Shard Amulet, since they had too many items and this could only be used by a warlock. Ren disguised himself as Allen Nittany, a student at the local college, to avoid suspicion. On the train, the party split up to investigate each car, and Ren had the misfortune of finding the conductor's dead body. Rather than startle the train, he tried to alert the party first, but did not hide his stress well, so some of the passengers thought he was the killer. Fortunately the party found the true killer, who then gambled everyone's lives in a game of poker. He and Marion ended up betting showing their true faces, and they lost that round, so the cult wizard has seen his face. The wizard then died though, so unless someone else was Scrying on the wizard, Ren hopes he should be ok. He then got his share of the gold they confiscated on the train and is in the good graces of the noblewoman whose gold was stolen.

Blood, Sweat, and Gears:

Ren decided to test his luck with the local nobility to raise money for the company. Instead of going in disguise, he used his real appearance to schmooze with the local nobility. He used Disguise Self as a party trick to entertain some guests. While he had good luck with persuasion, he noticed people who had liked him earlier were no reluctant to support the Tempest Brothers. It turned out that "Lambda" had been accusing them behind their back. He and Ronin were able to communicate telepathically to decide what to do.

Ren's first priority was the safety of everyone at the dinner, so he gave a speech to all the attendees that just as he could disguise himself, this "Lambda" was an impostor as well. After "Lambda" was defeated, Ren convinced the seven remaining warforged staffing the event (save for the doorman, who had disappeared) to stand down and join the company instead of continuing unnecessary bloodshed.

Lost and Found:

After successfully schmoozing with the nobles, Ren decided to continue getting to know about the society of Galik. He used Disguise Self to look as generic as possible, similar to the Allen Nittany disguise (which he used on the train in an earlier session). He looked so generic that the housekeeper was worried he was hear to cause trouble, just as the cultists who took Zyler looked.

He went with everyone to the Crypt after the party found records from the Archives. With buffs from Danke Schon, the dim lighting from the crypt, and a lucky roll, he got a critical hit with shadow blade, helping to turn the tide of battle.

With luck critical successes two sessions in a row, he was feeling (possibly too) confident going into the next session:

Make Galik Great Again:

After realizing how much influence the High Burgher can have in Galik, he wanted to learn about politics in the city and do his part to ensure a good leader is elected this year. He went with the party to investigate the Hearthornes. He accepted one of two daggers from Shelmlock Domes, so he was on the lookout for an opportunity to stab whoever had the contract for the bounty, in hopes of breaking it. He asked a question to two candidates about what they think the real issues are, and upon hearing a well-worded response from Alistair Hearthorne, decided he could get close to him by volunteering for his campaign.

Unfortunately, the window of opportunity for this was very narrow, so he had little choice but to get into the carriage with Alistair and his wife Lenore. He was promptly charmed into wanting to kill the party when he next saw them. Fortunately, he made the wisdom save to remember what he heard in the carriage and tell the party when he regained his senses:

They are working to acquire more bodies

They speak of increasing arms at Camp Emberclaw

Find the head of Ripjaw

To make way for their honored guest

He was lucky to be able to remember that. He had no more luck for the rest of the session, clearly very tired from the incident in the carriage. He was nervous when Ronin appraoched the carriage, since he would be compelled to attack him, but fortunately they were kept apart by guards.

The party broke concentration on Ren's charm effect before he hurt any allies. In the fight he dealt a measly bit of damage with Eldritch Blast, but was otherwise so tired that he couldn't hit someone standing next to him, even with advantage. He was downed when this random person hit two critical hits on him in six seconds. Fortunately the power of friendship prevailed as healers were present, so we all lived, though the Bride and Groom got away.

Ren is now more annoyed about politics than ever, and feels a renewed commitment to help the people of this city.

He was also glad to meet someone else from Seawell, Twilsby, a powerful wizard and seemingly a decent noble, which is refreshing.

Down in the Deep:

Ren ventured with the company to investigate rumors of connections between Sly, Lenore, and the large family that runs the docks. He and Morgana sniffed out the entrances to the sewers, and Twilsby figured out which one had been interfered with. Ren used his scroll of Pass Without Trace from earlier that week. On the surface, he and the party quickly defeated the thieves, though the others did not allow Ren to keep one of them alive.

In the sewers, he lent his Boots of Elvenkind to Heli so she would be stealthy enough despite her armor. The party then fought two guards and four myconids. Ren was more successful with Shadow Blade this time, keeping at a distance and attack the mushrooms and guards. This meant he never go charmed or blinded by them. In fact, he never took any damage from any enemies this session.

The sewers were dark, so Ren purchased Goggles of Night before this mission, which went well with Shadow Blade.

That changed at the end of the fight, when he didn't realize that Heli was still charmed to attack the party, leading to a fight between Ren and Heli. The rest of the party stopped Heli as Ren got away. Kh'jan briefly attacked Ren too at first, despite not being charmed, because he figured that if Heli was attacking someone, they must be a bad person. All was well in the end, and everyone lived.

Ren decided that it would be good to be able to heal himself or others, so he decided that once he has enough experience, he'll learn to make snacks to heal people in battle.

Aliases

Since learning to disguise himself, Ren has taken on three go-to identities:

Allen Nittany passes himself off as a student at the nearest college to access their libraries and listen in on conversations to gather intel. This is the disguise he uses the most, including on the train.

Nicholas Seawell is allegedly a merchant with connections to the Port of Seawell. Ren sometimes takes on this identity to meet nobles and other officials.

Suzie Bluth claims to be a member of the powerful Bluth family of carpenters and developers that own a disturbing amount of the land in the Seawell area. She claims to be surveying other lands to find some places to build real estate, but Ren usually takes on this identity to gather info from men at taverns, before leaving when the 1-hour duration of Disguise Self is up.

His Patron, Igor

Igor appears as an old man with a long nose and a black suit. Although he appears the same as an old human, Ren figures he is far older, likely a Great Old One. He appears to his warlocks occasionally in dreams, typically in a dark blue room that sums up the person's inner thoughts. Upon meeting a new warlock for the first time, Igor will often say "welcome to the Velvet Room," or a similar statement. He usually plays around with decks of cards - especially tarot cards - while explaining arcane secrets to his warlocks. He will sometimes have an assistant who helps explain things, though this varies for each adventurer. He considers most of his warlocks to be "fools," not in that they are ignorant (though Ren only has 10 INT), but in that they have much potential and are at the starts of their adventures. He often vaguely alludes to Ren's "rehabilitation," possibly referring to getting over the grief of exile and finding a better purpose. To help him along this path, Igor gave Ren a familiar named Morgana, so someone who was exiled would have company for his journey to Galik and beyond.

In Ren's most recent meeting with Igor however, his patron sounded oddly different than usual, which Ren finds concerning, though he also wonders if this was merely a circus-related illusion.

Languages

Like most people in Seawell, he learned Common. He also learned Draconic from his father, who mostly spoke Common in town but would use Draconic half of the time at home and always when swearing after a workplace injury.

Powers and Abilities

Ren is the embodiment of "the power of friendship and this gun I found" (persuasion and Eldritch Blast). He tries to avoid violence if he can, turning toward Persuasion first. If he can stay hidden and disengage from melee, he almost always will try to. But if needed, he's happy to use Eldritch Blast and Hex to hurt and hinder enemies from a (hopefully) safe distance. With high dexterity and Mage Armor, he's harder to hit, but if he does get hit, things get rough for him.

Since his mother and siblings are changelings but he is a human and unable to shapeshift freely, he learned the Mask of Many Faces invocation so he could do the same once he returns home to his family.

His familiar, Morgana, can take on many forms, but is usually in the form of a cat. Ren plans on developing Morgana's surveillance skills as he gains a better understanding of the Pact of the Chain. Morgana can apparently speak duck, though he is usually in the form of a cat.

Within 30 feet anyway, he can psychically communicate with people, but only one-way. He's used this on the train to communicate secretly without alerting bystanders.

He now has a Clockwork Amulet, so he can get a guaranteed 10 roll on an attack once a day, and a Dark Shard Amulet, so (with a DC 10 Arcana roll), he can cast any warlock cantrip. He sometimes uses this to clean, via Prestidigitation.

Ren trained as a rogue since he needed a lot of skills to survive in Seawell given all the political backstabbing that happens there. He is Proficient in Deception, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, with Expertise in Persuasion. Sadly most of these aren't that useful in the wilds between there and Galik, so he needed to take a Warlock Pact to make it to Galik alive. And like any good rogue, he's also proficient with Thieves' Tools.

He has since purchased Boots of Elvenkind and Goggles of Night to be able to get around stealthily and see in the dark.

With his second level in rogue since getting to Galik, he learned how to dash, disengage, or hide as a bonus action, since he can't take a hit very well.

With his third level in rogue, he decided to be a Scout Rogue in case we ever venture into the Wilds again, picking up expertise in Nature and Survival.

On the train, he learned how to play poker; oddly enough, he learned from the cultist who was holding everyone hostage, who kindly paused the game to teach others how to play. Ren was proficient with a playing card set already, but this game hadn't made it to the small city of Seawell, so he never learned until then.

Instead, his favorite card game is called Palace, called Castle in some regions, which involves running out of your whole set of cards by placing a higher or lower card as needed, with 2s as wild cards, and 10s as wild cards that also clear the board. After playing your whole hand, each player still hs six additional cards: three face up, and below those, three face down, which even the player does not see until randomly playing one. He likes that this game has equal parts strategy and mystery. His patron Igor also likes explaining powers via playing cards.

Attacks and Weapons 

Ren occasionally uses a shortbow from a distance, or of he's forced into melee, a rapier for sneak attack. He doesn't like melee though, so he tries to stay out of it.

While at Bulio's Bubbles and Boons to buy Boots of Elvenkind, he ran into Thordon, who was feeling generous. Thordon bought this new adventurer the Bracers of Archery, so he can deal additional damage when he lands a hit with his bow. These boots make his steps totally silent, giving him advantage on stealth checks no matter what surface he's walking on.

Most of the time though, he uses Shadow Blade, since it counts as a finesse weapon which means it can work for sneak attack, and it deals psychic damage, which few enemies resist. He doesn't have many spell slots though, since he's a warlock, so he does his best to maintain concentration by staying out of the fray.

Accounting:

He arrived at Galik with 0G on his person.

He earned 160G adventuring in the first three sessions total, and then gained 1200G from the train, for 1360 total.

Then he spent 800G on the Boots of Elvenkind, and 100G to make the clockwork amulet, so as of the start of February, he has 460G.

Got 60G as a tip from the nobles from Blood, Sweat, and Gears, so 490G.

Got 150G from the captain of the Lyreguard, so 640.

Bought discounted Goggles of Night from Bulio for 500, so 140G.

Got a whopping 1300G for helping get rid of the bounty, so 1440G.

An additional 400G from the sewer session, with a total of 1840.

He then spent 1700G at Pennyworth's for +1 Studded Armor, and 35G at Nettle's for a bowl of Canieddyd Family Stew, leaving him with 105G.

He spent 100G of that making 4 Potions of Healing for his February downtime, leaving him with 5G to his name by the start of March.