Skelly

Skelly

Relatives	Vesuvius
Languages	Abyssal, Common, Infernal
Affiliations	Vesuvius
Aliases	Sufjan (real name)
Marital Status	Single
Place of Birth	N/A
Date of Death	Unknown
Place of Death	Mt. Vesuvius
Species	Stitched
Gender	Male
Height	6'6
Eye Color	None (Glow purple)

Skelly is a Stitched Spirits Bard in the Community Campaign, Bedlam in the Badlands. He is played by Manu.

Physical Appearance

Skelly is a somewhat freakishly tall skeletal person with no skin. They often wear a very flowy outfit to cover their ribcage, which is made of a series of tuning forks. When Skelly activates their song of Spirits, their eyes begin glowing purple and smoke begins spilling out of his mouth.

Personality

Skelly is generally extremely jovial. It's very hard to find him in a negative mood. Even in times of stress or worry, Skelly is there to jam on his violin and make the situation a bit more merry.

History

Skelly has been wandering for forever. He used to be a human named Sufjan, before his city was razed to nothing in a natural disaster. This natural disaster involved a hurricane flying directly over an erupting volcano, spitting glorious hellfire from the mountain down to the town. No one survived. Luckily and unluckily, however, Sufjan was put back together by the god of disasters, Vesuvius. By Vesuvius's will, Sufjan was ordered to wander the world in the wake of disaster. Sufjan changed his name to Skelly to distinguish himself from his past life, a life he no longer likes to think about. He wanders around the world aimlessly, looking for people affected by disaster to bring a bit of joy and levity to their situation as Vesuvius ordered. Along the way, he became very intertwined with stories of the dead, as his skeletal body seemed to help him connect more with the beyond. This connection, as well as his century of traveling, left his perception of what he actually knows and what the spirits tell him to be fused into the same idea. He often talks about spirits and the dead as if they were close friends of his in a time long gone.

Languages

Over Skelly's time as a wanderer, they have picked up the languages Infernal and Abyssal. It is not known where he learned this.

Powers and Abilities

Skelly channels stories of people who have since died, and uses them to power his allies. When he does this, his eyes glow a distinct purple and green smoke billows from his mouth. He suddenly knows the stories of the dead, which he sings about to the people around him to help out his allies. He also channels magic through his violin, singing a song named after his god. The lyrics serve as verbal components for these spells, such as "Article of Imminent Death", "You Are All I Have", "Fantasy Host", and "Tragic Oath", all leading to very different spell effects.

However, when he finishes using any of his abilities or is done with combat, he finishes with the line "Vesuvius, Fire of Fire, Follow me now as I favor the ghost."

Attacks and Weapons 

Skelly uses his leg as a rapier. It's not terribly effective, and doesn't particularly help in any given situation. He prefers not to use it if he can help it.

X Add worldbuilding credits now!

Storytime with Skelly

Clever Animal:

“Okay, okay, here's a story. There was a crab, I forget its name, but it's a crab for sure. Now this crab, it was big. And it was holy, too. The gods sent this crab. Why'd they send the crab? Well, there was this guy. Strong guy, dedicated guy. He was on a quest, and there was a god who didn't like the quest the strong guy was on. Strong guy was sent to do 12 things, the really hard things. One of ‘em was killing a Hydra. So he went to do it, and he did great! He was cutting it up, head after head, whatever. Then the crab went up to him to help the hydra and WHAM! Got him right in the leg! Now, naturally, the strong guy wasn't too happy about this, so he killed the crab. Stomped it out, crab’s dead. Poor guy, right? He could've just shook it off, but whatever. The guy kills the hydra, but the god looked at that crab and went ‘hey, you did great, crab!’ So the god rewarded the crab with a spot in the stars! Because he did well against the strong guy when he fought the hydra! And that's the story. What? What's it mean? I don't know, the crab was brave and got rewarded. That’s a hero crab!”

Renowned Duelist:

“I met this guy, long time ago. Can’t remember his name, but he was TOUGH. Real tough guy to bring down. Turns out, I heard somethin’ about him! Crazy shit, too! His mom, when he was real little, basically drowned the kid in invulnerability juice! Don’t know the name of it now, some river in the Hells. Not important. The guy, right. He did some weird shit, too, I think he claimed a woman he captured? But then this other guy, his war leader, took that woman to stop a plague from the gods. Gods are real weird, man. Anyways, this guy, he went ‘fuck you, I’m not following shit you say anymore!’ Then this other guy, he came and took the women and the plague stopped. The guy fucked off, met another guy, I think they were dating, it was kinda unclear from the way he talked about it but SOMETHING was going on between them for sure. The guy and his maybe boyfriend kinda did a whole thing where he pretended to be the guy, and then he went and died! Fucked up, leaving his man all alone! Like, what the hell? So the main guy that I’m talking about, he gets PISSED, right? Goes on a fuckin’ RAMPAGE. I, uh… don’t really remember the rest.”

Beloved Friends:

“This one’s a song after my own heart! Or it would be, if I had one! JA! Anyways, this guy I met, younger guy, he was a musician! I know! We were fast friends. But he had a gift, you know! A really great gift! You see, this guy, he could bring seasons with his music! He would strum his lyre, and flowers would start blooming! And he had a wife, a beautiful wife. But he told me he didn’t always have the gift. It took him a long fuckin’ time to get it. And while he was working and working, his wife wasted away. Went to the Hells. Poor thing. But this guy, he had something real special about him, and he walked right into the hells. He talked to a few devils down there and got himself a little deal! Smooth talker, made a few of them cry with how beautifully he sang. I mean, really! He has a great voice! So here’s the deal they made: he could take her out of the Hells. On a safe road, no devils would come and rip them to shreds, whatever. The trick was… he couldn’t look at her the whole time. UGH! I KNOW! Damn devils, ruining my love stories! Now, touching was nowhere in the rules, and I told him that, I said “why not take her hand?” and he said “I wish I thought of that!” Anyway, he gets right up to the door. RIGHT. THERE. And what does he do? Drumrollllllllllllll! HE TURNS AROUND! THIS FUCKING GUY! I ALMOST PUNCHED HIM WHEN HE TOLD ME!”

Runaway:

"I knew a guy once. Forget his name now, but he spent a lot of his time locked up. Not 'cause of anything HE did, his dad was just kind of a shithead, y'know? Something about a prison the old fucker built. Anyway, they both got locked up. No fuckin’ clue why specifically! Something about a minotaur? Maybe? Who knows. Not important. This dad, though. GREAT crafter. Like, one of the best in the world. So, you know, naturally, he wants to be free. And his son might as well come too, so he got to work. Made some wings for both of them. Gorgeous wings. But they were made of wax, so they couldn’t go too high with them! This guy, the kid, he started flying. Way, way up into the sky. Past the sky, to the clouds. To the beyond. To the sun. And then… his wings melted. Kids get excited like that, you know? So excited that they do dangerous shit. And get themselves killed. I miss that guy.

Beguiler:

“So there was this guy. A king. Stand-up king, I think. Maybe. Probably. I never lived in his kingdom. Something happened to him, this guy. He got the taste for something. Gold. He LOVED gold. So he talked to a god. Wise god, smart god, asshole god. What’d this god do? The king says he loves gold, what’s the god do? Lemme tell ya. He makes everything the guy touches turn into gold. Dick move, right? Like, really! You know what the guy meant, give him, like, a single gold piece! Anyway, the king goes and he touches a bunch of shit, and he goes, “ohh, wowwww! I love gold, I love gold!” And then he starts touching other shit. Like… his food. And now he can’t eat anymore. Ever. So he went ‘oh, fuck this shit.’ He HATED it. Oh, he turned all of the roses into his garden? All gold. Every single one. So his daughter comes to him. To yell at him a little- DESERVEDLY, deservedly… and he goes and he touches his daughter and she turns to gold. Dead. He killed his daughter trying to poke her. And he went back to the god and he said ‘oh, I hate this curse! Get rid of it! I’m sorry!” And the god did it, they took the curse back. But they didn’t undo the damage. His daughter’s still golden. Still dead.