CustardSlice

---

Ratte spent the better part of 4 hours scouring the internet’s resources for clues and ideas about how and where to start on her mission. She was confident that getting close was just a matter of slipping the guards, but the castle itself posed a problem. She wondered if there were any places that she could find a magical trinket of sorts to help ward off any unwanted magical creatures or allow her to see traps. It was worth looking around whilst her car was in the garage tomorrow.

She set her laptop down when her eyes blurred too much for her to read anymore and she curled up into the sheets. They were a little scratchier than the ones in her last hotel, but at least they were warm. She dozed off quickly and slept through until the morning.

March 20, 201X

Ratte rose with the sun and streched her arms up and over her head as she watched the city start to rise out of the window. She watched a dragon fly in over the top of the city in awe and bit her lip, grinning. The city felt different; it felt alive with a sort of buzz that she had felt last night being in the presence of so much magic.

She changed into comfortable clothes - jeans and a black leather jacket, played with her hair briefly in the mirror and stuffed the money that Vincent had given her into a pocket at the bottom of her duffel bag. She put her wallet and phone into the pocket of her jeans and set out to her car. Since the car was likely to need at least an hour’s work, she wanted to scout this part of town out and she decided to get breakfast out too. She didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself and hoped to blend in as much as she could. The more she blended, the more she would be forgotten at the end of her mission when someone realised the book was missing.

Ratte jumped into the car and ignored the red flashing light again. She drove up to the garage, listening to the radio again and keeping half an eye on the streets. It was amazing to see so many magical creatures around. It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen them before- magical folk were in every city and town she had ever been in, but the sheer number here in Springfield was something that she hadn’t seen before. It was exciting. She pulled into the garage car park and parked up. She stepped out of the car and walked towards the garage door, looking for someone to talk to.

---

Ratte felt Vincent’s eyes bore into her and it gave her chills down to her core. She met his grip with a firm one of her own, then began to walk from the door. She greeted Vincent’s warning with a firm stare and a sharp nod, before she followed the shrivelled up vampire out to the club floor. The doors opened and the sound hit her like a wave, making her wince and hesitate for a second.

Her eyes took in the strobe lights and she followed a path through the partying club-goers and then let her feet take her through them. It took a lot of effort not to stay there with them, to find the elven woman or the faerie girl from outside to spend the night with one or both of them. She ignored the signs flashing on the walls, telling her to forget herself here for the next few hours and pushed her way back through to the doors and out onto the street. She had a job to do and until she had a good idea about how she would perform her theft, she couldn’t let herself get distracted.

She slipped out of the front door and made her way back to her car. She found it and quickly slipped into the front seat. She checked her phone for any messages from Fallon and the screen came up blank. Not that she had really expected more - Fallon had very high expectations and only had to reinforce them when the job wasn’t done to his standards. So far, she had been meeting them and he never needed to send her any more messages after the initial instructions. She put the phone back into her pocket and started the engine.

Almost instantly a high-pitcher beep flared her senses and she looked over at the dashboard. Engine fault. Brake light fault. it flashed. She growled at it, “Are you kidding me? You’re a new car, what the hell’s wrong with you?” She hit the steering wheel, “Dieses Sheißauto! Ugh.. I hope there’s a garage near my hotel..” she grumbled more as she followed the route to a nearby hotel and stayed in a mood as she checked in. She snatched the card key from the receptionist and made her way up to the room.

She never paid for the luxury suites, no matter how much she got paid. Half of the money went to Fallon as commission anyway and the rest she was saving up. As long as she was comfortable, the extra effort was wasted on her. She closed her room door, dumped her bag and showered first, before settling to research Morval Castle on her laptop as well as the nearest garage for first thing in the morning.

---

Again, this was something that she was used to and worked well with. Lying was often a big part of her role and she had grown unfortunately good at it. She nodded as Vincent explained his removal from the situation, “I understand. Hopefully I won’t need any support but maybe someone up in security will need convincing.. I’ll head out there first thing tomorrow and scout out any outreach security.”

Ratte leaned back against the support behind her and chewed her thumb thoughtfully, “Unless I run into problems i’m Not going to tell you anything else though... if I let you know all my secrets you will spot me coming if I work against you one day,” she grinned mischievously, moving the hand she had been chewing behind her head. “And it’s probably best if you don’t know everything i’m doing. Like you said, you want to be removed from the situation.”

She looked at the cigarettes, not recognising the brand and frowning just a tiny bit. She shook her head, hoping that he wouldn’t be offended by her second refusal of the night, “I am embarrassingly bad at smoking - I regard the habit as a waste of money, so I am well out of practise and tend to choke rather than smoke.” She explained lightly. “I think I’ll get going if that’s everything you need to tell me. Early start.” She pushed herself out of her chair and held out a hand, “A pleasure; hopefully we will see each other again soon.”

---

Leaning forward, Ratte took the money from Vincent and looked over his number briefly. She flicked through the wad of money, before putting it into a pocket on the inside of her jacket. She zipped it shut and leaned back again, “Should be plenty enough, I appreciate it.” She meant it. As much as she earned a lot, she didn’t like spending it. Having that extra cash meant she could avoid spending anything she brought with her at least until there was an emergency.

She considered the name of the castle. She hadn’t seen any tourist signs for it, but she remembered admiring the huge building beside the lake as she had driven in along the highway. It was an impressive building and she suspected that the lack of signs had been due to the fact that it was dangerous. That could mean a lack of maps or direction.

“I am wondering.. if there’s a map available to get there or any sort of blueprints for the castle? It might be good to guess where they would have placed security than go in completely blind. If you know where I might find some I can find them, it’s no trouble.” She watched Vincent as she spoke. He did seem like he could be trusted to be reasonable. It didn’t mean that she would trust him to be though.

---

Ratte took the phone and looked at it with keen interest. The book was old and delicate-looking, whilst it also looked powerful. She frowned, taking in the little details of the book so that she might hope to recognise it when she did get it. She looked up to Vincent as he told her the conditions that she had to follow.

Guards she could handle - she had been evading them as much as she could for most of her life and she had a lot of experience in the field. She nodded, listening and again when he spoke of no murder. She could do that easily, it made the whole operation simpler in fact. Ethics weren’t something that she worried about, but at least she’d sleep easy knowing that all she had done was take a book from them. She looked back at the book on the phone again, concealing a small egotistical smirk. It was good to hear that Fallon had been selling her well. She had worked hard to be as good as she was. The fact that the boss recognised it was nice.

She looked at Vincent again when he mentioned the money. She raised an eyebrow and let the smile curl at the edge of her lips again. This was something really worthwhile after all, “Alright.. those conditions are fair, I can take it on. My only worry is this time limit. Do you have any ideas about where this book might be kept? If I am searching for it, that could take weeks of research on my own, especially if it’s out of the country.” She said, handing the phone back to him.

“I may need help finding it if you’re saying it’s well guarded and hidden. A head start would be a great thing for you to tell me.”

---

Vampire it was, though not the man she was expecting to see. The scrawny creature that ushered her inside didn't feel like one of her usual clients and her heart began to sink before she saw the rest of the room that she was lead into. She felt instantly uncomfortable and on show as the room fell into a hush and she stood before them. Her eyes quickly surveyed the room and she clocked the marks on the necks of the women almost instantly. Vampires were definitely at work here and although she admired the fact that these gorgeous women were here just because of the vampires, it did unnerve her. Not that she let it show. She held herself in a powerful stance - legs apart and one hand on her hip as the current residents left, then she looked to the man who had sent them away.

This had to be him, had to be her guy. He looked powerful and as she had seen, he was definitely in charge. He moved with purpose and yet barely moved at all. Now she knew that she wasn't simply retrieving a family heirloom from the attic. When the man addressed her, she couldn't help but twitch her nose. The man had done his research or Fallon was giving out far too much detail. She took a step closer and decided to stay standing for now. "With due respect, sir, I would prefer it if you called me Ratte. I haven't gone by my birth name since I was in Kindergarten." The hint of an accent bled through her pronunciation of the word 'Kindergarten', with the rest being well practised American-English.

Ratte watched Morales as he circled the room. He was a well-kept and handsome gentleman with strong features. Every vampire she had ever met had been beautiful and he was no exception to this rule. She noted that he didn't have a reflection and it suddenly made sense that his face wasn't anywhere to be found online. She decided to sit when Morales mentioned Fallon. If he was familiar with Fallon and had communicated with him, then he knew the rules of the contract he was under - touch Fallon's men and you lose your deposit. It wasn't a deposit without something valuable on the line, so she felt safe at least whilst she was working for him.

"I'd rather get straight to business. I would take your offer normally, but I haven't checked into my hotel yet, so let's keep this short." She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, fingers woven together between them, "What do you want me to find?"

---

Ratte gave the bouncer her name and tucked both hands into her back pockets. She watched the orc search for her name then took in the vast building stretching tall above her. It was set deep in the foundations of the street it was sitting in and looked as old as the buildings beside it without appearing unclean or unsightly. The words 'Club Shadowfell' were striking and confident and the flashing neon made her feel excited about the club waiting inside. When she was granted permission, she nodded briefly and stepped through the doors with a quick glance back to the line of strangers waiting to come inside.

She passed straight through the antechamber eyeing the clientele without judgement, just curiosity, and smiled to herself. She was so used to seeing humans surrounding one or maybe two vampires, who normally milked the attention and clearly enjoyed being the mysterious nighttime creatures humans craved. Here it was almost nice to see them in a more natural habitat, being themselves and not needing to show off. They looked like normal young adults here; comfortable in their own skin and excited by the drinks inside them

She pushed the doors open into the main club floor and felt the bass thumping through her body. Ratte had the strong urge to walk out onto the dancefloor and dance and grind with the hoard of people already there. The club itself was huge - possibly the biggest that she had ever been to and already she felt drawn in and alive at the sights and the pulsing music flooding the place. Her head flicked left to right and up and down as she took in the building. One part of her was making plans to come back and visit for pleasure, perhaps with a pretty fairy or two, the other was scouting for a way out and for the make-up of the buildings. It was dark, but reasonably well lit and although there were platforms scattered throughout the dancefloor, the room was well-spaced and meant that anyone looking down on it could see everything happening. She took note of the security - most prominent were the two orcs by the dining area. She had to imagine that there was more, hidden somewhere, but she couldn't see it. What she did see was the flashy elf DJ and the door behind him that she needed to get to.

She stepped forward into the crowd of dancers and weaved her way through them. Lights flashed on the walls and the words 'party', 'dance'urged her to join them. She caught the arm of a beautiful elven woman who was throwing her arms around to dance with her friend and ducked under it, catching her green eyes and flashing a grin as she slowly let go and carried on through to the DJ booth. She made it to the guards at the bottom of the stairs and shouted her name into their ears, before stepping up the staircase and knocking loudly on the door. Given the club name and design, she was expecting either a mafia boss or a vampire to open the door. She had briefly searched Vincent Morales' name before setting off earlier that day and his name was a rather big one. There were very few images of him, more of his company and the buildings that he owned; all very impressive. Whatever artifact he wanted, it was going to be worth a lot of time and money.

---

The instructions had come as they always did. Vague, direct, blunt and via text message. She was used to it by now. Ratte had been getting the same treatment for years, since her employer had deemed her worthy and no longer needed to train her personally. She wasn't entirely sure that she would be able to pick Fallon de Meurtre out of a police line up anymore; it had been years since he had shown his pale face.

Vincent Morales. Shadowfell. Springfield, Fairview County. SP: AR. Car waiting.

As was customary of a mission provided by Fallon, a Range Rover Evoque had been left with a full tank and instructions about how to get to Springfield. It was parked in a secluded car park and the keys had been delivered to her hotel room first thing that morning. The instructions were inside an envelope alongside an updated road map. Fallon didn't believe in sat navs due to their tendency to be tracked. Because of this, Ratte had learnt and memorized most of the roads in America through her training, so this process was normally simple. Springfield was a new city though; one she had only heard of and she hadn't heard it's name often. Rumours surrounded it; it was a magical hub; only vampires lived there; all of the magical and mysterious happenings that had spread across America since the Cold War had all started there; monsters and supernatural weapons were being build and bred there to start World War 3. Some of the rumours she believed, but most she took as drunken vampires and elves trying to scare the mundane folk.

She had set off at lunchtime; duffel bag packed and maps memorized. When she finally hit the turn-off for Springfield, the sun was setting behind her and spreading firey reds and yellows across the horizon as it went. The wide highway lead straight to the city and it grew up suddenly in front of her; tall silhouetted buildings and shimmering lights dancing more as she got closer. The city itself looked alive and buzzed with the thrum of activity. She felt excited by it. Ratte had been expecting the city to be dull and small, full of woodland creatures and elves like the stories children read suggested, but this was far from it. As a great silver dragon glided through the air over the highway, she laughed and whooped, "Damn! I thought those things were extinct!"

She sped up and made it into the city just as the sky turned inky black around her. She tuned her car radio from static buzz to the local station and caught the end of an over-excited woman updating about the city's news. She raised an eyebrow - rock worms and oozes? This wasn't your average city, that was for sure. She turned up the gritty guitar that played in ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man and tapped along with her hand on top of the steering wheel until she saw the flashing neon sign she was looking for: Club Shadowfell.

She parked and stepped out of the car, slamming the door shut with the clash of cymbals in the song still playing in her head. The air was cool and a breeze brushed her dark bangs from her face. She tucked her left hand into the back pocket of her dark pants and made her way around to the front of the club. She eyed the guests lined up and waiting to be let inside as she stepped past them. There were some humans that she could make out, but most were more fantastical than that. She didn't think she'd seen so many different eye colours before. She winked at a particularly attractive faery before stepping up to the orc bouncer and clearing her throat. She looked tiny beside him; him being built of muscle and brawn; and her being lithe and lean but she grounded herself regardless, "Excuse me," she began, her voice clear over the hum of voices and low bass escaping from the club doors, "I'm here to see Mr Vincent Morales... I don't believe he'd like to be kept waiting any longer than he already has."

---

“I don’t think we’ve met.. beautiful women tend to remember me very well.” - Krista Müller

Name |

Krista “Ratte” Müller (Rah-tuh)

Age |

27

Race |

Human

Gender |

Female

Appearance |

Ratte is a short and lithe woman who makes an effort to stay in shape. She has good muscle on her arms and legs and carries little fat, making her appear small and hard. She has dark brown eyes set just a little too close to her nose, giving her face a slight pinch, hence her nickname. She wears her hair short, shaved on the back and sides with her bangs and the top of her hair cut longer. She dyes her hair a deep purple colour and sometimes shaves stripes or zigzags into her side shave. Ratte doesn’t really wear make-up but when she does she’ll wear kohl around her eyes to make them look darker. She is often wearing black and enjoys the perhaps more vampiric aesthetic of tight-fitting clothes, belts and buckles; though she’s also just as comfortable in leggings and a loose-fitting tank top.

Occupation |

Being stray-like in nature, Ratte was regularly between jobs and rarely worked in one place for more than a couple of months. She is currently under the employment of Fallon De Muertre, who fed into this knack she had for travelling to work and regularly finds her jobs to do, some more serious than others. Under his employment she has become a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, working anywhere from lifting crates in magical shops, to retrieving magical objects for his black market dealings, to assassinations and kidnappings.

Personality |

Ratte has a strict code of conduct when it comes to her outlook on life. If something comes along that earns her money, she will do it. Her moral compass was broken a long time ago and she’s more interested in keeping the people, or person, that she cares about most safe than worrying about ethics and people’s opinions. Since she was very young she has always put others that she seemed worthy ahead of herself and made that her aim in life; everything else she does is for pleasure. Ratte is boisterous and flirtatious in nature. She rarely gets attached to anything or anyone, preferring to flit between places and women than settle and stick to just one. Those that she did fall for and stay with long enough to start growing feelings for never returned them to her, so to save herself any kind of weakness, she prefers to save herself the trouble.
She’s impulsive by nature but not stupid. She has a lot of street smarts and knows how to handle herself in a pinch. She’s independent to the core and sometimes this can cause her problems with getting to know other people.

Background |

Ratte’s childhood was simple and outlined by poverty in a small German town just north of Freiburg. Her family worked hard to make ends meet and never really had enough. As soon as she was old enough, she was told to find work to support her family and although she brought in little, she learnt from a young age that hard work and learning to do the job properly brought in the most money. She was around 14 when her little sister fell ill and it broke her heart to see someone that she saw as a perfect angel fallen to earth struggling so much. Without money, her family struggled to pay for her treatment, so Ratte began to steal and take on more risky jobs with more dangerous people to earn more. When her family found out, they couldn’t face the shame and guilt and asked her to leave. She left home at 16 and under a fake ID at first worked wherever would take her; in shops, cafes, bars, garages, anywhere that would help her get by. She saved up every last penny that she could and sent it home to her family. Whether they accept it or use it on her sister, she doesn’t really know to this day. She regularly got into trouble with her employers for being hot-headed and temperamental and oftentimes for stealing from the cash registers. She never stayed long to hide this developing habit until it was too late for her bosses to figure out what she had done. When she was 21, she travelled to the USA, having exhausted all means of work all over Germany. She waited tables and sold magical ailment potions in back alleys to earn enough for a room at a hostel until she met a man called Fallon De Muerte; a man who deals with people in any way he is paid to. He employed her like he did his other agents; young and ripe for persuasion and training. She worked hard under his employment and began to earn a lot more money than she had ever had before. It was with him that her confidence and more flirtatious manner grew. She took the money out into the city and drank it away in nightclubs, enjoying the thrill of the night and the women it brought her. She began to spend a little more on herself and found herself enjoying living life mysteriously in the city, never staying too long in one place. She built a name for herself here, working hard and picking up skills quickly to get the job done.

Abilities |

Being a jack-of-all-trades, Ratte is a very quick learner and knows many useful skills, from knowing the properties of several magical elements and materials, to being able to pull apart a gun and put it back together in under 8 seconds. She has a precise shot at distance but still struggles to hit the exact target at close range. She is slightly long-sighted, but she never mentions it and probably will need glasses in the future.

Extra notes |

Ratte earned her nickname in Germany and after a while it stuck. It means ‘rat’ in German and being a street-rat, stealing and skulking around like a rat would, it was a name that many employers would call her. In the USA, it was something she bragged about.
She often carries a small handgun concealed under her jacket in the small of her back and a knife strapped to her lower calf, hidden by the boots she wears.

Edit History

Edit 00 - Created character sheet.
Edit 01 - Added picture of face claim.
Edit 02 - Added edit history bar

Guild of Dishonor

@Raptra She’s on the boat 😂 stepping aside to subtly grip onto the side of the boat for dear life perhaps but on the boat :)