Last week I introduced you to Celcitorn, the young cleric of Procan. In his background, we also met the lizardfolk Kepesk. This week we take at look at what his character looks like, again exploring some of the new background options from Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
Kepesk was born into a small tribe of lizardfolk that made their way as mercenary warriors, and he was raised from a young age to be a soldier. But he wasn’t trained to be just any soldier. He was trained to be the toughest soldier. He went many days with out food or sleep, forging himself into a weapon that would be able to defeat his enemies alongside his brothers and sisters within the tribe. He grew to be very good at what he did and quickly gained a reputation among his kin and his enemies.
But it all went terribly wrong.
His tribe was hired for a job. They should have sensed something was wrong. The job was too easy for the amount they were being offered. Their employer was on the payroll of a particularly powerful merchant whose smuggling operation the tribe had broken up in the past and led them into a trap. The mercenaries gave as good as they got, but they were outmatched and slaughtered to the man. All but Kepesk. As he watched his kin fall before his eyes, something inside of his snapped. His training broke and he gave himself over to a primal fury. When the battle ended, he was the only one left standing. Without time to even bury his comrades and family he ran far from the site of the battle.
For the next years he survived the only way he could, living off the land until he was sure that no one was looking for him. And even then, he wasn’t sure he could go back to civilization. The wound was still fresh. But he swore vengeance nightly on the employer that led them into the trap and the merchant who set it in the first place. Before he left this world, he would see the life leave their eyes at the end of his weapon. Or he would die trying.
As it so happened, the merchant had a habit of sending explorers out to shipwrecks in an effort to plunder any treasure that was inside of them and had taken several pieces from a ship that Procan himself had deemed sacred. Hearing the oath of vengeance, the Storm Lord gave his blessing to the lizardfolk, strange as it was. The fury that burned within Kepesk changed from fire to lightning and thunder and he awoke with the mark of Procan on his body. He learned what it was from an itinerant priest that he met by chance one day and he set about learning what he could about the Sailor of the Sea and Sky.
It wasn’t until years later that Kepesk found a young man face down in the water near the shoreline where he had made camp. Sure the boy was dead, Kepesk fished the body out to give it a proper burial only to find that the human was very much alive. He sensed a similar power inside of the young man that he felt in himself.. Celcitorn, the young human eventually came to and spoke to Kepesk of the visions he had while under the water. Kepesk knew that the god of the sea had saved him from the storm that raged the night before and spoke to the young man of the deity, offering to escort him back to his home. As chance would have it, they passed through a town with a temple to the god, and Celcitorn made the life-altering decision to dedicate himself to the Storm Lord.
Kepesk wasn’t sure why, but he knew his meeting Celcitorn was no mere coincidence. He’s not entirely sure where the path he’s on now will ultimately lead, but he’s willing to find out.
Ben Erickson
