- Pre-Existing / Improvised Concept. April Hill brought a pre-made character concept parameter (a sinister, deal-making Night Hag shopkeeper named Kyth) and used a mix of on-air improvisation and random table rolls.
- What is this character’s name? - Kyth (like "kith", just with a "y").
- What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Night Hag.
- What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Sinister Shopkeeper / Soul Trader. Kyth owns and operates an exquisitely decorated, high-end shop located on a small, isolated island just off the coast of a bustling port town. While her establishment looks pristine and welcoming, Kyth herself is a decrepit Night Hag who lures desperate sailors, bards, and adventurers into deals that seem too good to be true, quietly corrupting their souls and trading for precious memories or future favors rather than gold.
- How old are you? - Elder (Ancient and well-established in her hag ways).
- Describe your physical appearance. - In stark contrast to her pristine, spotless shop, Kyth makes no attempt to disguise her true, grotesque form. She has oily, dark-purple skin, long, cracked, yellowed fingernails, and greasy green hair hanging in matted strings around her gaunt face. She wears ragged, unkempt dark garments and moves with a stooped, menacing posture.
- Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Persuasive, Conniving, and Evil.
- What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Secret Item—The Feywild Shard Whistle: Kyth wears a whistle-shaped shard of pure Feywild crystal around her neck, taken as a trophy from her very first soul-corrupting deal eons ago. Whenever she blows the whistle, it triggers a unpredictable Wild Magic surge in her surroundings (such as instantly sprouting giant toadstools around uncooperative customers).
- What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Protecting the Up-and-Coming Bard. Kyth hires the adventuring party to act as bodyguards for a famous visiting bard performing at the port town's tavern, protecting the bard from being kidnapped by a local cult. Kyth's Hidden Agenda: Kyth is playing both sides. The cultists previously defaulted on a contract with her, so she uses the adventurers to foil the cult's plans, framing herself as a patron of the arts so the grateful bard will willingly enter into a binding soul-contract with her later.
- What would be their reward for succeeding? - Discounted Deals & Memory Payment. If the party successfully protects the bard, Kyth grants them a "discount" at her shop. Instead of demanding a core, defining happy memory or soul-fraction for her rare magic items, she accepts a minor happy memory from the last five years as full payment.
- What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Reoccurring Villainy & Soul Contracts. If the party accepts her contract and lets the bard die, or attempts to double-cross her after taking her shop discounts, Kyth becomes a relentless reoccurring antagonist, dispatching fiendish agents to hunt them down or invoking hidden fine-print clauses that strip the failing party members of their identities or souls.
Optional Questions - not required
- What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Kyth's primary motivation is the slow, deliberate corruption of mortal souls through ironclad, fine-print contracts that leave her victims believing they got the better end of the deal.
- How do these affect your general personality? - She uses psychological mind-games, false politeness, and sweet-talking manipulation to put mortals off their guard. She takes immense satisfaction in watching mortals ruin their own lives through greedy choices.
- How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - She treats customers like valued patrons at a luxury boutique, speaking with smooth, chilling persuasion. When dealing with defaulted clients or cultists (like the cult fanatic leader), she telepathically whispers self-doubt directly into the minds of their underlings to sow mutiny from within.
- Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - She speaks Common, Abyssal, and Infernal in a raspy, honeyed, yet sinister cadence. Physical idiosyncrasies include blowing her Feywild Whistle when annoyed, stroking her long fingernails over shiny store counters, and telepathically projecting thoughts into the minds of nearby minions.
- What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Kyth's island shop is the subject of regional urban legends; sailors and desperate citizens whisper about the "Lady on the Shoals" who can grant any desire, oblivious to the steady stream of corrupted souls leaving her island.
- Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - She is bound by the strict laws of planar contracts. Because she relies on voluntary mortal consent and fine-print agreements to harvest souls, she cannot simply attack or rob adventuring parties without them first entering her shop or agreeing to a deal.