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Ghost (few know him as Query)
he/him
41
true neutral
sorcerer
shadow magic
tiefling
city watch - investigator
By rights, he should be noticeable—for the sharp curve of his horn arching high, for the cold that settles around him like an aura. But he isn’t. He blends into the shadows so easily, silent and still… too still.
Unbreathing. Unblinking. Undead, but not quite. Until he moves, the only sign of life about him is his pocket watch, ticking steadily along as if to replace his scarce-beating heart.
- He exists somewhere between life and death - his heart beating only rarely, his skin cool. It also makes him difficult to kill, for what seems to be a mortal blow may leave him still (more or less) alive.
- Able to summon a hound formed of swirling shadows. He confides in it more than anyone else these days.
SKILLS: deception, insight, investigation, persuasion
PROFICIENCIES: daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows
A nifty spellcasting focus that enhances his innate magical abilities, for the price of a few drops of blood.
He prefers to use spells, but best to be prepared in case that isn’t possible.
A last resort. He isn’t very good with it.
- pocket watch from Anath
- bottle of Forget Me Not gin
- ring of protection
- sending stone
- set of manacles
- crowbar
- 10 pitons
- 50 feet of rope
- bone fragment
1 action
120 feet
1 round
necrotic
You create a ghostly, skeletal hand in the space of a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the creature to assail it with the chill of the grave. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and it can’t regain hit points until the start of your next turn. Until then, the hand clings to the target. If you hit an undead target, it also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.
1 action
60 feet
up to 10 minutes
darkness
Magical darkness spreads from a point you choose within range to fill a 15-foot-radius sphere for the duration. The darkness spreads around corners. A creature with darkvision can’t see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can’t illuminate it. If cast with sorcery points, you can see through the darkness created by the spell.
1 action
60 feet
up to 1 minute
psychic
You attempt to bind a creature within an illusory cell that only it perceives. One creature you can see within range must make an Intelligence saving throw. The target succeeds automatically if it is immune to being charmed. On a successful save, the target takes 5d10 psychic damage, and the spell ends. On a failed save, the target takes 5d10 psychic damage, and you make the area immediately around the target’s space appear dangerous to it in some way. You might cause the target to perceive itself as being surrounded by fire, floating razors, or hideous maws filled with dripping teeth. Whatever form the illusion takes, the target can’t see or hear anything beyond it and is restrained for the spell’s duration. If the target is moved out of the illusion, makes a melee attack through it, or reaches any part of its body through it, the target takes 10d10 psychic damage, and the spell ends.
Born and raised in The Glades, Ghost was originally called Query. With his suitably inquisitive mind as his best asset and a desire for as much respectability as a tiefling could hope to achieve, he joined the city guard as an investigator. Shortly thereafter he was partnered with a high elf named Anath Eshant. They quickly became a complementary team - where Query had a way with people, able to ferret out facts and insights from their conversations, Anath could pick apart just about any item to find the evidence they’d need to close the case. Together they rose quickly through the ranks, their assignments likewise growing more complex and dangerous.
Still, the pair forged ahead with confidence, certain they could handle any challenge. So certain that, when presented with a tempting lead on a string of missing persons cases, they went after it without waiting for backup. Though perhaps backup wouldn’t have helped, because they were ambushed so suddenly and decisively that they didn’t even have a chance to scream before darkness crashed over them.
Query woke to the sound of a medic declaring him dead, fingers hot against his neck where a pulse no longer beat. As if reminded by this thought, his heart gave a sluggish thump, and he jerked upright. Alive, apparently, though he didn’t feel like it - and didn’t much look like it, judging by the reactions of the other guards who had arrived on the scene. Whatever he felt was better than the alternative - better than Anath, vanished without a trace. Query knew Anath was alive, though. The pocket watch Anath had given him proved it - though the hands were frozen at 9 and 1, the gears ticked stubbornly on, the artificer’s machinations persisting.
The other guards were less convinced. Weeks of work turned up no new leads, the trail gone cold as the grave. Query, though stumbling on his own, forever turning towards a partner who wasn’t there, refused to give up. His fellow guards reacted with mingled pity and disdain. “Just a ghost,” they whispered, “Haunting us, moaning about the past, about the dead, half-dead himself. Why won’t he accept it?”
And so Query became Ghost. It suited him better now anyway. He didn’t feel like the cheerfully curious person he’d been with Anath at his side any longer. Frustrated by the guards’ inaction - and half-convinced some of them must be involved - Ghost quit and devoted himself to his search.
Ghost's missing partner and closest companion.
In addition to his work as an investigator, Anath enchanted ingenious mechanical devices (like the pocket watch Ghost carries to this day).
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