The twin assassins moved stealthily, seemingly impossible to pin down in the night. One moment, a poison-tipped dagger would be fencing with a long-eared rogue; the next, that same knife was lunging at the Fighter. Every time the black-robed fiends weren't illuminated by pale moonlight, it seemed like they were everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Near the back of the fight, a man in a blue doublet flashed an impish smirk. His hands glowed with a strange, bluish light. "Well, isn't that a fancy trick? Quite the stagecraft, I admit. How about a little time in the spotlight, hrm?" A whizzing firework streaked from his palm, detonating harmlessly between the two murderous assailants. They cackled and went about the fight. "A mere parlor trick. Was that meant to frighten us, magician?"
"Hahahah! Fright, amazement, amusement and thrills. I do it all!"
"You'll not be laughing, when my blade sours your BLOOD!"

The hyena cackled and dove headlong into the shadows of a nearby merchant's canopy. He'd done this trick any number of times - fading into the darkness only to spring from his prey's shadow and stab them in the back.

This time, however, he felt only the blunt sting of his body slamming into solid stone. A bushel of apples tipped onto its side as the cloth of the merchant stall entangled him. Why had he not become one with the shadows?!

His heart skipped a beat as he looked to his own gnarled paw. It blazed with an ethereal blue light - the same glow conjured by the human's paws. Harmless and beautiful, it not only highlighted him to his foes, but also made the tenebrous murderer into a living night light! Nowhere would the shadows be dim enough to meld into, if he were his own light source!

The assassin cursed that brethren idiot, struggling to find his footing amidst the rolling apples and the whipping blade of a Rogue's rapier. He stole a quick glance at his brother, whose hardened fists bloodied themselves against the impenetrable white armor of a Paladin. This was looking bad, but not unsalvageable. The key was to pick off any straggler from the pack, and his eyes locked on the roughshod fox on the roof. His chest was heaving, his sword shaking in one paw.

Perfect.

With one agile flip, he escapes from the Rabbit's blade and rolls some feet away. Whirling on his heel, the hyena flings an obsidian dagger skyward, its point finding purchase in the reynard's side.
"Hehehahaha!"

The rogue rushes him, only to find his opponent vanished in a cloud of sulphuric black smoke. Where once he'd been standing on cobblestone, the hyena had materialized where his thrown knife had landed and took considerable delight in trying to murder the fox.
"Khazaak!!"

The fox snarled and grappled with his assassin, flinging him to the side and scoring a solid hit on him with his bejeweled bastard sword. It was easy to strike a target that lit up the night. One whirling slash after another, and what remained of the hyena came to regret his choice of targets. That damn rabbit was scurrying into the building, no doubt making his way to the roof, while the mage... that damnable mage... was flittering through the air on a pair of gossamer wings.

Straight upwards, into the pale moonlight.
All alone.

At last, Caveat had his straggler! Oh how he would revel in this.
"Khazaak? I believe that fiend found his way here. Do you need any h-"

The human's words caught in his throat as an obsidian knife jammed into his shoulder. He suppressed the airy and instinctive urge he felt every time he was in pain. The poisoned spur of its crooked blade was caught in the thick, padded cloth of his coat. He could feel it pressed uncomfortably to his body, but thankfully it hadn't broken skin. That dagger... he knew the assassin could jump to it, and he moves quickly to pull it out only for a black plume of smoke to burst in his face. A sneering grin emerged from it, now perched on his chest.
"Nono... leave it in."

"Ohshit, Vydras!!" the fighter gasps. The strange caster could do immense things, provided he was kept safe from the fray. It must have been a tactical error, on his part, to move into such a vulnerable position! As he runs, Khazaak throws wide his cloak and transforms it into a crimson mantle of wings. Why hadn't the mage teleported, or gone invisible, or left an illusory copy of himself to...
Oh.

"Gaaahahahahaha!! You. Think you're so CLEVER!"
Clutching onto the magician proved more difficult than Caveat had thought - he was a more agile than he seemed, and it was hard to do combat with someone midair. His knife struck once against something hard in his coat, dealing him no damage. Swipe after swipe, until finally his poisoned blade found the caster's shoulder - two inches down and to the right of where it seemed to be!
"Gotcha!"

Vydras grit his teeth. He could feel the stinging poison burn his flesh, though thankfully not spread any further than the initial wound. His hand clutched the handle of the knife buried in his shoulder as he flashed his murderer a charming smile.
"Do you, now...?"

This time, it was the mage's turn to disappear in a puff, leaving the wide-eyed assassin to realize he was hanging onto nothing and about 40 feet in the air!
"What...?"
His claws swiped at the flurry of ethereal butterflies and rose petals where once there had been a grinning Warlock, but it was like grasping for thin air. His paws passed right through them.

As Caveat plummeted, he noticed a tiny flash some distance above. A stylish pirouette as the magician re-materialized himself, now playfully juggling the assassin's daggers.
. . .All of them. . .
Ever grinning, Vydras gave him a little wink, pursing his lips into a whistle that emulated the sound of falling. He waited until he could hear a wet 'thud' before catching each of the knives and stowing them in his coat.
"Thank you, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you're too kind. I'll be here all week. Please - tip your waiters and waitresses!"

---

Druid: "Sorry, WHAT is your character's back story, again...?"
Me: "...Find out." >:3

What started as a Wild Behind the Witchlight adventure has since evolved into a full-blown campaign! This time around, I'm playing Oliver Hightower (aka Vydras), a Warlock who has made a pact with the King of the Fae himself. Once a merchant of books and magical artifacts, he was spirited away one night as he became lost in the woods. Pursued by the Lord of the Wild Hunt, it was only through sheer luck that he was able to escape. This thrilled immortal Oberon, who has since grown bored with his existence and seeks to meddle with the mortal realm. If the Warlock can keep the King of Fae amused, he has agreed that Oliver's wife and their five children will live long, peaceful, and prosperous lives. In exchange for his arcane powers, his memories.... and the promise that he can never see them again.

He wandered namelessly, until a kindly Tiefling nun took him in. He liked the word they said around him 'vy drias', and took it on for himself not knowing what it meant in Abyssal. Each night, he was hunted by the King of Dreams, and each night, he was caught. Oberon began to grow bored, and to give him a fighting chance, he would change Vydras into a wild animal of his choice and give him a head start. It was little help, and as a further amusement/humiliation, he would wake up that morning partially transformed into that beast!

Between his strange and unsettling magics and twisted features, Vydras has learned over time how to conceal himself. A pair of gloves for the days when he must deal with paws. Heeled boots to hide his digitigrade gait, or a long coat to conceal a tail. Aided by lies and illusions, he's become quite adept at weaseling his way into places he shouldn't be, his magic and slippery nature seeing him to safety. Even when logically, no man should have survived what he has, Vydras finds himself listless. So long as he puts himself in danger, so long as he plays up the part of the lunatic, his patron is amused... and his family is safe.

For some time, he tried to find people who could help him - New adventuring parties, new social groups.
But everyone has left him in the end, and he's long since hardened his heart to the fact. However, now his adventures in the faewilds have introduced him to a curious lot. People as strange as he that accept Vydras, strange and chaotic and fickle as he is, no matter how hard he tries to hasten their exit. Maybe he's finally found a home. A business. A life.

That all came crashing to an end when a mysterious, dark figure began to pursue him. No amount of trickery or fae nonsense can dissuade the thing's relentless, single-minded pursuit. It claims that he's wronged him - cheated Death one too many times, and now wants what it is owed. In one final, desperate bargain, Vydras and his friends have been shunted across the multiverse, thrust into a sanctuary reality and cut off from both his patron and his pursuer.

But, as always, things are never what they seem...

Sketch commission by Lavilsa.