Eliott Mantis

Eliott Mantis, called the Strong

As a child, Eliott wanted to party. As a grown man, he made it his trade. An average mandolin player and a passable poet, he has only one real talent: throwing anyone off balance with an improvised song. Taverns fight over him. The nobility had a taste of him for one season, until the night he put an Alcott in his place, in rhyme, in front of the whole court. No noble door opens for him within a thousand leagues. He has never regretted the verse.

Describe him

When he walks in, the tankards rise before he has opened his mouth. His voice carries as if he were singing to a hall three times the size. They call him the Strong, and he never says whether it's for the voice, the build, or how much he can put away. In a fight, his magic is for singing louder and hitting harder, nothing more refined. He looks you straight in the eye, like someone who has already decided to like you and is waiting to see if you deserve it.

Play him

Have him laugh at everything, including what ought to worry him. Let him take risks for the thrill, never for the strategy. As long as the group hasn't proven itself, have him land them in trouble on purpose, an insult thrown at the wrong guard, a debt confessed at the worst moment, to see who covers for him. Once the players have backed him, the tests stop for good. Hold one rule beneath the laughter: danger is something he wants for himself alone, never knowingly for those who covered for him.

What he says (rarely)

"Bad mandolin, bad poet, excellent friend. Remember whichever you like."
"Sir, I have nothing against your nose. It seems to have something against you."
(quietly, as the whole room turns toward you) "Right. Now I know who stays."