Name: Hecate The Bone Watcher
Age, Gender: 27, Female
Appearance: 
Personality: Hecate is aloof and often watchful, never really interfering with others yet always present to spectate. Hecate has a personal code of non-interference when it comes to dealing with others, trying her best to minimize how often she has to interact with people. She doesn't have a good reason for this: she simply doesn't like people hanging around her, though she isn't above stalking others for entertainment.
Hecate is a bad liar and thus would often tell the truth, however she's also used to never revealing the full truth, or at least "misinterpreting" whatever truth she decides to tell. Sometimes she pulls it off, sometimes she makes things too complex and the entire attempt falls flat. It doesn't help that Hecate has a compulsion to tell these half-truths, and thus anyone who knows her well knows not to believe everything she says at face value. If she's not being cryptic, she's being overly blunt.
Hecate doesn't hide her feelings even when subtly is called for. She will cry when she's hurt or sad, and she will fight when she's angry. She will be drunk and upbeat when she's happy and would often want or seek out others feeling the same. Hecate lacks social grace and doesn't really understand how others feel; she has a hard time sensing the true motives of others, often time making herself look very ignorant.
Backstory: Hecate was born in a small, nameless village at the base of the mountains near the Grinds. Her little village mined iron, raised pigs, and grew corn for other villages and themselves. As far as presence goes, it wouldn't be hard to forget about her sleepy little village even if you were raised there all your life. But there was a secret to this small town.
Unlike some other places, the town was lead by a woman, Hecate's mother, who wasn't the mayor so much as the coven leader. Hecate, her mother, and many other women in the village were druids, or at least that's what they called themselves. Others would brand them as witches, but its not as if they went about stealing children or trying to commune with demons. No, Hecate and the women of her village studied nature and tried to find both enlightenment and understanding of nature. Their quirky interest and location brought very few people to their village, and the few who came were odd indeed.
Hecate was introduced into the coven as a tender age of six. And while her mother was the Eldest, the leader of the coven, Hecate did not see her very often. Like many young girls introduced into the coven, much of their time was spent learning the tenets and duties of the druids. For Hecate, this mostly involved going into the forest, gathering herbs, learning how to read and write in Druidic, and typical house chores. This made it quite easy for passerby to simply think that the girls were being raised to become standard house wives. But those casual observers would not notice when Hecate and other girls were taught how to mix herbs, roots, and even stones into potions and poisons, how to both butcher and tame animals, and even read the weather.
As Hecate became older she was given more specialized tasks, and one that she found particularly attractive was attending to the dead. Death was a natural part of life in their world, whether it be due to sickness or steel, and thus it was Hecate's duty to put the dead to rest. She was not merely a gravekeeper however: Hecate was to give the dead their holy rites as mandated by the Druids, and occasionally, put a restless spirit to sleep. Often times this would involve reading the bones of the dead, thus her nickname: The Bone Watcher.
For many years, Hecate served as a Bone Watcher of her village. She of course also learned other practical skills, such as how to cut up a man to reach into his bones, how to prepare a body so that it cannot be used as an undead thrall, to discover the cause of their death, and how to contain the blight their bodies would carry within them. Hecate also learned other bits of druid lore, such as herbalism, and on the rare occasions she would go out and hunt with the men. It was during one of these hunts that a tragedy unfolded.
Hecate went with 4 young men from the village to hunt elk for the village. It was the right season and one of the druid animal whispers had learned that a large herd was coming through. They would have killed a few of the more elderly elk, ensuring that the herd is not too disrupted by their hunting while still getting the meat and skins they need. But when they approached the herd, they saw a massive black beast attacking the elk. It was shaped like a man, yet his body was covered in thick blackness, and he had vicious looking claws that allowed him to slash an elk apart, if he had not simply used his strength to tear it limb-from-limb. But more frightfully, light did not land on the beast; it's form was only determined due to it's shadowy silhouette. It was as if darkness was attracted to this monster.
Hecate knew of this beast. She had heard tales of it by the druids. This was a shadow walker, specifically a monster called
Grendel. Hecate told the hunters to leave, but they were young and foolish. Strong and skilled as they were, even all four together could not hope to stand against the beast. Hecate followed them in hopes of bringing at least one alive, but soon it was evident that she would be blessed by the gods if she left alive. When the hunters attacked they tried using arrows on the beast, but when they shot their arrows darkness exploded from Grendal, creating a mass of shadows that made it impossible for the hunters to see where the beast was. Soon Grendel dashed out from the standing darkness as fast as an arrow himself, killing a hunter before he could even scream.
The others fought bravely and until the bitter end, but none were able to land a blow on the shadow walker. Even the rare few times they managed to hit something solid instead of being tricked into striking a shadow, their iron-tipped spears simply shattered against the beast's skin. He tore apart the hunters as if they were bread and soon came to Hecate. She did not know what to do; the druids had a ritual to ward off the likes of Grendel, but they had no means to actually defeat him. So Hecate ran. She tossed her spear aside and ran away from the beast, but he was too fast. He toyed with her, stalking her through the woods. He would appear right in front of her when she thought she had gotten away, and would leave the heads of the hunters in her path when she had managed to lose him. Slowly, she was growing insane and desperate, and the sweet allure of death seemed all the more desirable.
Eventually Grendel stopped playing around. Hecate had gotten lost in the forest and ended up at a river. Grendel walked out from the forest edge and approached her slowly, savoring her fear. She tried to swim away in the river, and for a moment she thought that perhaps Grendel could not swim. But when he did instead was that when Hecate was at the center of the river, he jumped a great distance right on top of her, bringing her down to the riverbed. He wrapped his hand around Hecate's neck and mouth, choking her, wanting to see the horror in Hecate's eyes. And horror she felt. Despite how monstrous Grendel was, he was no spawn of man: he represented a darkness in nature. A cruelty that is present in all, from every beast to every plant. A being that enjoys bringing death for no reason other than it could.
And he wanted to see Hecate die.
When they finally landed on the river bed Hecate was running out of breath. If she did not guest killed by Grendel first, then surely she would have drowned to death. She had thought this may be her head. However... Hecate was not going to die like prey. If today was her time to die then so be it. But she wasn't going to let herself be humiliated like this. With her final breath Hecate reached out to something on the river floor, and stabbed at Grendel with it. To both their surprise this actually hurt the shadowy beast and he began to bleed. He felt pain, great pain, and ran away. Hecate was able to drift onto the river's edge, where she was eventually found by other members of the village who wondered what had become of Hecate and the hunters. She could not answer immediately as she was unconscious, but she didn't need to say much.
When Hecate awoke she had two things; a mark on her neck and a bone shard. Her mother was the first to see her and told her what had happened to Hecate; that she was attacked by a creature of the night, marked by it, and was now going to be hunted down. Fortunately for her, Hecate had somehow managed to wound it grievously, so there was some time for her to prepare. Hecate begged her mother for assistance and guidance, and she was more than willing to give all she could, but she made it clear to her daughter that the village cannot save her. They simply lack the means to do so. Even if everyone took up arms to fight Grendel alongside Hecate, many would die and there is no guarantee that they would even succeed.
So Hecate was given supplies, money, and advice: if she wishes to defeat Grendel, she would need to find others outside of the village. Not just warriors; those who have also been marked by a creature of the night. They were the only ones destined to be able to fight against these monsters. With those cryptic words, Hecate set off from home, looking for other cursed individuals like herself.
Equipment: Bone Dagger - The same bone Hecate used to hurt Grendel. Apparently it's just a normal bone, but Hecate thinks it'll help.
Spear - A six-foot long spear with an cold-iron tip. Said to be highly effective against the fey, though Hecate has yet to test this theory.
Bow and Arrows - A simple hunting bow good for killing animals and unarmored people. Hecate has a bundle of arrows, but also five silver-tipped arrows. Said to be useful against demons.
Map - A trade map from Hecate's village to other villages, as well as the main roads and the main city.
Journal - Hecate often writes in Druidic to keep her logs a secret. She writes whenever she has the time.
Medicinal Herbs - A variety of dried roots and stems that Hecate can brew into medicine or poultices. With them she can cure anything from an upset stomach to deadly poison. She can also use these herbs to disinfect wounds and even speed up the healing process.
Leaf Cloak - A special cloak made by the druids that would allow Hecate to disguise herself as a bush camouflage into tree branches. Also good at keeping Hecate warm and dry.
Money - Enough coin for Hecate to buy food, though she doesn't know how much things should cost.
Theme: Other: May add more later.
