Profile
shadow in the night
Always the fool, with the slowest heart.
A mysterious, scarlet-eyed rogue with a harrowing past, Mara has been traveling alone for quite a while now — though that quickly changes after a strange encounter with a tiefling inside an inn's tavern, who is offering a very tempting reward for completing a simple mission. Easy enough! She's no detective, but finding out why someone was found dead inside his room shouldn't be too difficult, right?
But of course there's other people who want in on the gold, so now she's found herself in the company of two others: a meathead tabaxi and a small, squishy, reptilian wizard, and it's not too long after that two more peculiar guests have decided to tag along. Mara isn't too happy about receiving less money now that they'll have to split the reward between the five of them once they reach the capital, but at least she doesn't have to deal with pesky bandits all by herself along the way.
As it turns out, this mission is a bit more complicated than Mara initially sized it up to be. Make no mistake, the assassin is no stranger to near-death experiences, but this many? In such a short amount of time? It's starting to concern her. She's dealt with enough dark magic for a lifetime, and frankly, she just wants to get this whole mess over with.
Details
Likes
- Drinking: Perhaps it's not the best way of coping with "inconvenient" situations, but it still brings a fleeting feeling of euphoria; a temporary release from the stress and burdens of the world. And it's even better when you have someone to do it with!
- Money: After all, who doesn't love money? It gets Mara what she wants. And as someone who didn't exactly have an abundance of wealth growing up, Mara will do just about anything to get her hands on some gold pieces... even if those things aren't always the most morally correct.
- Showing off: Any chance Mara gets to flaunt her skills, she'll gladly take. It's simply part of her competitive nature... certainly not something else, like the constant, nagging feeling of needing validation from others or anything like that.
- Stars: The stars are one of the very few things that have stayed consistent in Mara's troubled life. Their gentle, sparkling light gives her a small sense of peace... when all seems lost, at least she can look up and the stars will still be there at night.
Dislikes
- Being startled: Given her history, Mara is not particularly a fan of being surprised — especially when it involves being grabbed or touched out of nowhere. It brings up... unpleasant memories, to say the absolute least.
- Getting one-upped: There's nothing more aggravating to Mara than being shown up by someone, and it's even worse when it's done purely out of spite. People who go out of their way to purposely try and make Mara feel inferior is one of the things she hates the most.
- Hangovers: No one enjoys hangovers, obviously. And Mara is no stranger to them (since she is undoubtedly a lightweight), but that doesn't make them any less terrible. It definitely doesn't help that she doesn't really know her limits, either.
- Nightmares: Unfortunately, these bad dreams seem to plague Mara nearly every night. She's grown used to them over the years, but rest still does not come easy when the same haunting figure apppears once she drifts off to sleep.
Personality
Competitive
Mara is very competitive, willing to go to great lengths in order to win — sometimes even to her own detriment. Mara absolutely hates losing, and often times will even play or fight dirty in order to ensure victory.
Cunning
Calculating, sneaky, and slick, Mara is quite skilled at coming up with different, and sometimes unconventional ways in order to get what she wants. She's always searching for ways to get a leg up on her opponents, keeping an eye out for any potential weaknesses to exploit.
Greedy
Mara isn't exactly the most generous person out there. She tends to keep personal matters close to her chest, usually looking out for herself rather than people around her. She's not heartless, though, and there are some exceptions to her typical selfishness, but they are far and few.
Oblivious
Although she can sometimes get a decent read of other people, Mara has a distinct lack of self-awareness.
Playful
Facing most serious situations with a sense of humor, Mara will never turn down an opportunity for making a dumb joke or pulling a prank.
Reckless
Due to her general disregard for her own safety, Mara will often jump into dangerous or risky situations headfirst without thinking about the possible consequences; especially when it comes to those that could end up with her possibly gaining something.
Appearance
Description
Mara is a young adult woman of average height with an athletic, defined build. She has fair skin and dark, ashy brown hair that falls beneath her shoulder blades. Her eyes are sharp and slightly pointed in shape, with bright scarlet irises and thick black eyelashes. There are two large scars on her face; one going across the bridge of her nose and the other on the left side of her face, spanning from her jawline to her cheek. She acquired another scar on her right collarbone after recently being attacked by a Grick, but it is usually mostly covered up by her shirt and cloak. Her hands and forearms are near black in color; tainted with dark, shadow-like markings that reach just below her elbows. These same markings appear on her legs, starting from the tips of her toes and spanning up to mid-shin level.
Outfit
Mara's usual outfit consists of a fitted black sleeveless top and a brown underbust corset made of leather, and a hooded brown cloak that reaches down to her calves. She wears taupe colored pants with two brown belts around her waist, one with a silver buckle and one that has a pouch that sits on her lower right hip. She also has two black garter style belts strapped around her left thigh. On her feet, she sports black, knee-high cuffed boots with heels that are about one and a half inches high.
Design Notes
- Her eyelashes are mandatory in drawings!
- The scar on the bridge of her nose is a bit more jagged than the one on the side of her face, which looks more sharp and cleanly cut.
- Usually her hair is covering her ears. Not mandatory in art, but preferred!
- Her pupils are a bit thinner and almost a bit cat-like compared to most human pupils, which are typically completely round.
- The marks on her arms are not tattoos, but they are permanent and cannot be rubbed or scratched off. These marks are also on her legs, ending just underneath her knees.
- Her canine teeth are slightly sharper than most other humans, but are only noticeable when she's smiling.
- She keeps two daggers hidden on herself at all times.
Moodboard
Second Chance
[ party member / friend? ]
One of the first two people Mara met on her current adventure. At the start, she didn't think much of Sec other than him being "the big, dumb, strong guy". Despite the fact that they butted heads a bit in the beginning due to their similar personalities, Mara had taken somewhat of a shine to him — but things became a bit rocky after the barbarian attuned to that strange sword. However, Mara's initial anger towards his decision to attune to it has turned into a much more conflicting emotion after an unexpected heart-to-heart on the beach. Even though it still wasn't a good choice to make, perhaps it's not all quite as black and white as Mara thought. Why did you leave? I thought we were friends.
Yssa
[ party member ]
The second of the first two people Mara met at the start of the party's journey to the capital, Mara is rather impartial to Yssa most of the time. They're certainly vastly different in personality and moral code, but Mara can respect her knowledge and magic skills well enough. She's cute, non-threatening, and seems to know what she's talking about more often than not. Although Mara originally thought that Yssa's unwavering anger towards another one of their party members was completely justified, some "new developments" in their current situation may be leading Mara to believe that Yssa should be placing the blame on someone, or something... else.
Klytie
[ party member / friend ]
Initially Mara didn't think too much would come out of her and Klytie's relationship, but things have gone quite differently than expected. After helping to save her from drowning in a cave, Klytie hasn't seemed nearly as afraid of the shadow-touched human as she was previously — and after Mara suffered for over a day from an unfortunate bout of extreme paranoia, Klytie was the one who went the extra mile in order to gain her trust. Perhaps she had originally misjudged the satyr... of course she's still a bit quirky, and can be annoyingly high-strung sometimes, but it seems that there's more to Klytie than meets the eye. She's nothing if not kind, but it's apparent that she's hurting in a way that Mara hadn't noticed before. A recent drunken confrontation had left her and the druid on somewhat unsteady terms, but the two were seemingly able to resolve the awkwardness. Mara considers Klytie to be a good friend, and someone that she can confide in if needed; now, it's just a matter of getting the closed-off rogue to actually open up.
Fen
[ party member ]
Fen is... certainly a "unique" character, Mara would say. It's not often that you meet someone so young (like Klytie said, she's just a kid) that is so nonchalant and accepting of how dark and cruel the world actually is. Despite all this, she still views the young cervitaur as both levelheaded and dependable. But because of Fen's detached (sometimes jarringly so) and indifferent disposition, Mara suspects that she's gone through a lot. She doesn't know the extent of it, but it seems like it might have something to do with "mommy issues"?
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