Persephone (Per-sef-oh-nee)

For once, an adventurer's childhood doesn't involve a dead family, sadness and melancholy, or anger and revenge. Okay maybe a little sadness and melancholy later...

Persephone was raised in Oron Hightopple's Traveling Sideshow, Circus, and Carnival. Her parents were performers in the circus. Her mother, Shehera, was the star aerialist, and acrobat. Her father, Tygorr, the circus's equestrian director, trainer, and stunt rider. Persephone was born into the entertainment industry, and had been training since early childhood, learning tumbling and acrobatic skills. By the time Perspehone was in her 10th year, she was performing alongside her mother under the big top.

"Come see the Silver Shores' most death defying mother and daughter act on the high wire and trapeze! Don't miss the 'Flying Felines'!" the halfling ringmaster Oron would bellow from his megaphone while standing amidst a bustling crowd in the middle of the carnival midway. Even in the smallest of towns and provinces from the Kingdom of Galador to the Republic of Lumene', the big tent would be standing room only as they astonished crowds with their high-flying routine; the last act to perform before the night's big finale.

In the middle of the evening's performance, Persephone's father would gain the crowd's affection and admiration with the act he created starring his prized steeds bred in The Horse Wilds. Tygorr's act would include dangerous stunt riding and tricks making even the most skilled jockey or cavalier green with envy.

These feats of agility and grace, while dangerous, came naturally to those with preternatural dexterity and swiftness typical of those born a Catfolk. Persephone's father would watch from ringside every night as his mate and kitten would fly high above the audience, accompanied by the nightly chorus of cheers and applause, his arms crossed over his chest and a proud smile on his muzzle.

But one thing not known by the audience, and the public at large, is that Oron Hightopple's Travelling Sideshow, Circus, and Carnival supplemented it's income from ticket sales with a little bit of larceny. Feed for the exotic animals and the performers room and board was expensive. So, jugglers and sideshow magicians would engage in a little pickpocketing here and there. Not all of the carnival games were rigged, well okay they were, but on some nights the workers would run honest games of chance and skill. "We can't be run out of every town the circus blows into!" Oron would exclaim.

And sure enough, if local magistrates came sniffing around the midway, the circus would go legit for that particular stand.

Little Perspehone got into the "act," much to her sire and mother's chagrin. The two really didn't approve of the circus's "side hustles," but they also acknowledged that the show must go on. So Perspehone learned to pick pockets while running and playing among the "rubes" that shuffled along the midway. She learned to talk "fast" by being tutored by some of the best carnival barkers in the realms, and she learned to run even faster when an especially alert "pigeon" suspected that her Three Dragon Ante game might be rigged.

Oron wanted to keep the catfolk couple happy as both were his star attractions under the big top, but he didn't discourage Persephone from her illicit activities either. If the kitten did get "pinched," it was all too easy for the charismatic halfling to fast-talk the victims out of alerting the local lauthorities by apologizing for the adorable little girl, and giving the would be suckers free passes to the "big, big show under the big, big top." This would be followed by Perspephone feigning shame and uttering the words "I sowwy" to the offended parties.

Yup. She was having the time of her life. Running, playing, and causing mischief during the day, and at night gaining the admiration of a couple of hundred onlookers as she performed stunts fifty feet in the air that no sane non-catfolk would dream of attempting. If anyone was in the audience that she angered during the day, during her act all transgressions would be forgotten.

Persephone's closest friend at the circus was the son of a juggler and fire-eater, a human boy named Kobe. Like Perspephone, Kobe was learning the family trades of juggling, eating fire, and...lockpicking. As the two reached young adulthood, they became very close and eventually fell in love. The pair made quite the duo, Kobe distracting carnival goers juggling lit torches, while the teenage girl snuck paws into coin purses. As she got older her skills at thievery had improved by leaps and bounds, she almost never got caught during this phase of her life.

The two spent nearly every waking hour they weren't performing or doing roustabout work together. Everyone who lived and worked for Hightopple's had assumed the pair would wed someday, and when their parent's retired from the life, the two would stay with the show with their own acts to dazzle crowds with. Persephone did have a rival for the young fire-breathers affection however; a half-elf girl and snake charmer named Alinora.

Alinora was a pretty girl with golden spun long hair and big violet elven eyes. She frequently made disparaging remarks about Perspehone to Kobe such as, "I can't believe you would fancy her over me! Her ears are huge, and I am not covered in fur!" or "When you kiss her, Kobe, is her tongue rough just like a cat's?"

Despite Alinora's beauty, she would never win Kobe's heart from Perspehone. The catfolk girl chalked it up to Alinora spending too much with snakes, because she certainly possessed the personality of one. In reality it was because the two had grown up together, and they were kindred spirits with their mutual love of adventure and danger.

During Persephone's seventeenth year, Kobe came to her with a very disconcerting story. He fell upon a meeting between Oron and some rough looking customers-in the descriptive sense, not the literal. The young man overheard that the circus owner and ringleader had to borrow some coin months back to keep the circus in the black during some lean times, and the hard looking lenders had come to collect. Oron, of course, did not have the gold dragons to repay the loan sharks immediately, so they gave him twenty four hours to come up with the loot, or the ne'er do wells would burn the big tent to the ground.

The circus was at a lot just outside of Newacre, a somewhat affluent merchant community in Galador. The circus had just started their week long engagement, and couldn't just pull up stakes and flee. Kobe and Persephone had been "thievin' and griftin' " for years. Maybe it was time to put their skills to use away from the midway? Hightopple had forbidden any scandalous activity for anything other than petty theft, and not to happen off the lot, but this was an emergency and higher stakes were involved.

They spent that day scouting the crowds looking for the most opulent looking rube amidst the crowd. Indeed they spotted one, a fat bearded merchant draped in fine silks, his neck and fingers boasting glittering jewelry. The man had an entourage with him, so the pair decided to keep tabs on the mark all day. The spent the afternoon in the hot summer sun planning how best to rob him and use the ill gotten gains to pay Oron's debt. They would follow the merchant to his home, and in the dead of night burgle his belongings.

The plan began with Persephone utilizing her fast talk skills and giving the merchant, who she learned in conversation was named Bargos- a native of the Empire of Vaszkysa, passes for he and his entourage to that night's performance under the big top. Kobe became the ostentatious man's tail, sitting a few rows behind him in the bleachers trying his best to remain unnoticed.

Persephone could not concentrate during her performance. Her mind flooded with worry. Lifting a coin purse was one thing, but committing actual burglary was another, and that another would get them both a lengthy sentence behind bars if they were caught. She almost failed catching her mother on the trapeze after the elder's triple somersault. The crowd gasped.

Shehera caught herself by grabbing the trapeze at the absolute last second before she would plummet to the ground below. She gave her daughter an angry look also filled with concern. They finished the rest of their act without incident, the crowd gave the mother/daughter duo a standing ovation as Perspephone scanned the crowd with her cat-like senses and finding the merchant on his feet applauding vigorously, with Kobe being seated right behind him.

With the finale over, Tygorr and Shehara cornered their daughter backstage. They could sense something was going on. The parents were born and raised in the Horse Wilds among their own people. Catfolk relied on mostly non verbal communication and being able to sense the emotions of one another; Perspehone was raised among the diversity of the performers and roustabouts of the circus and was not taught the subtle language of the catfolk, and thus was unable to hide her anxiety.

"You were terribly distracted tonight, kitten," Tygorr said to his daughter, "Whatever your mind is on could have led to a very costly mistake."

Shehera touched her daughter's shoulder gently. "Persephone, if there is something you need to tell us, please come forward with it. If you and Kobe are in trouble, we wish to help."

"Mother, father," Perspehone replied as she did her voice to hide her nervousness and excitement. "Kobe and I are fine. We were almost caught grifting today on the midway this afternoon. But everything is ok." Persephone had always had a loving bond with her parents. She had no wish to involve them in her and Kobe's plan, there was too much danger involved. They would have forbid her actions because of that alone, and Persephone's anxiety was beginning to turn into excitement. She did not want to give up that night's venture. She had also never lied to her parents before.

"Bah!" Tygorr exclaimed. "Damn that halfling shyster for teaching you to be a scoundrel! Maybe it is time we quit the show and find somewhere to settle. We hadn't bargained on what growing up in the business would do to our little one. I could always buy some land and breed horses..."

"No Papa, please don't." Persephone pleaded. "I am sorry for my lack of focus tonight, mother. I'll talk to Kobe right away, and tell him we need to quit the thievin'. This is my home and my life and I have no wish to leave and settle in one spot and be a 'towner' somewhere. BOH-RING!" Perspehone exclaimed. "From here on out, my focus and attention will be on the routine. No more griftin'."

Shehera could sense that her daughter wasn't being forthright, but had no grounds other than a mother's intuition to stand on. "Go straight to our wagon. We WILL discuss this more tomorrow." Perephone turned and hung head low in feigned shame, and walked towards the circus's "back yard."

When she pulled the dressing room curtain closed behind her, Persephone ran towards the agreed upon meeting spot and found Kobe already there waiting.

"I swiped Pop's lockpicks, 'Seph." Kobe was talking rapidly, obviously manic with excitement. "The pigeon and his goons just got in a carriage and are headed towards town. We have to run now before we lose them!"

The pair effortlessly silent and unseen quickly snuck off the circus lot. Under the black of night, for Nocturna hid behind dark clouds, they tailed the carriage and kept pace but stayed several hundred behind; a catfolk's eyes operated just as well in the dark as in daylight, and the would be burglars had no problem keeping the merchant in sight as they raced toward Newacre.

An hour had passed. The carriage trotted through the village stopping at, and then passing through, an iron bound wooden gate, Once the horses and carriage entered the courtyard, the gate closed. A 10 foot wooden wall surrounded a two story stone manor. Persephone and Kobe waited in the shadows for close to half an hour, and then both easily scaled the wooden barrier.

Quietly the pair made their way through the courtyard. Staying hidden in the ground's foliage, the two shared a whispered conversation. In attendance tonight were the merchant and two bodyguards and a servant. Spying the grounds, no one stayed outside; no one was guarding the door. A light shone from inside a second story window, while the first level of the home appeared dark. After a wait, the light in the second story window went out.

Skulking around to the back of the house they came to a locked door, Kobe withdrew his father's set of lockpicks from a leather pouch. The tool's handles were wrapped in cloth so they wouldn't make a jingling sound. After a few attempts, Kobe picked the door's lock; gentle and slowly they pulled the door's iron ring and it opened into a modest kitchen.

Her darkvision and natural agility made her more suited to scout the inside of the manor, Kobe stayed by the back door and gave his partner in crime the lockpicks. It was now Persephone's turn to sneak through the house to find where this wealthy silk merchant might keep his coin. The bottom floor hosted a bath, a foyer and dining or gathering area in addition to the kitchen. A small spiral staircase led to the floor above.

The top of the staircase led to a narrow hall lined with doors, all of them shut. She crept up to each door putting an ear against each one. From the other side one door, Persephone could hear loud snoring. The second, light from a candle beamed from underneath the door. Her gut told her the door at the far end of the hall would be the one to try.

Persephone pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, and she crouched down and deftly picked the door's lock. This appeared to be a sitting room with long velvet curtain covering a single window. A few old looking paintings adorned the walls, and expensive looking vases and statuettes sat atop wooden end tables. On the floor sat an oaken trunk with iron bands, held secure by a padlock. The lock was opened in seconds, easily picked by nimble fingers and an expertly made set of thieves' tools.

Perspehone opened the lid, and the chest was filled with coinage from other kingdoms as well as the dragon headed minted currency of Galador. Jewels and gems of various sizes and colors lay amidst the metal coins. A pendant on a gold chain caught Persephone's eye. It almost glimmered even in the darkened room. She wasted no time seizing it and stuffing it in her belt pouch. Not wanting to be weighed down by loud and heavy loose coins, Persephone grabbed a few sparkly gems instead, hoping that this ill gotten gain would be worth enough to pay off Oron's debt.

Perspehone head the sound of a blade being unsheathed behind her, "Don't move, or I'll skewer ye!" a gruff voice bellowed. Persephone could hear the sounds of stirring from the other rooms down the hall. She had been caught. Her panicked mind plotted her escape route.

The would-be thief pulled her cloak tightly around her body and sprang to her feet. The sentry shouted a quick "Hey!" as she sprinted toward the curtained window. And through it she leapt.

The sound of shattering glass and splintering wood rang through the manor, alerting Kobe who was still standing watch, as well as everyone else in the house. Persephone was well used to falling through the air, and landed safely on her feet fifteen feet below the broken window. Kobe ran around the far corner of the house following the sound of breaking glass. Shouts could be heard from within the manor.

The boy rounded the corner, and saw Persephone rising from a crouch and in position to run. "Let's move!" she hissed. Footfalls could be heard mere seconds away coming from the same direction Kobe had appeared from. Both intruders sprinted through the manor grounds, making their way towards the wooden wall. Scaling it quickly and disappearing into the night was their only means of immediate escape.

Persephone had reached the top of the wall in less than a second. With one hand clutching the pouch with the loot and lockpicks, she reached her other hand downwards to Kobe to assist him climbing to the top of the wall. She glanced towards the manor and saw three men running towards them closing the distance rapidly. They knew the grounds and the layout, the thieves did not. One of them was carrying a crossbow. He stopped and took aim.

Persephone could hear the twang of the weapon's string being released. The next sound she heard was the thunk of the crossbow bolt piercing Kobe's back and the gasp that escaped his lips immediately after. Kobe let go of Perspephone's wrist, though she still grasped his. "Go," he weakly muttered. The two men were less than half a dozen steps away from the wounded man, and Perspephone could see the third stayed back arming his crossbow.

Closing her eyes and whispering a prayer to all the gods, she let go of her lover's wrist and allowed his now limp body to fall to the ground. Perspephone swung her upper body around and dropped from the top of the wall. In an instant, she called upon her feline swiftness and ran into the night.

Not knowing where to go or what to do, Perspephone's only plan was to return to the circus. She would leave the stolen goods with Oron, pack her things and run away. Kobe had been caught and might be dead. Tears blinded her as she ran, now panicked and stricken with grief. She couldn't tell if she was hearing the sounds of horse's hooves in the distance, or if it was her imagination. She wasn't even certain what direction she followed, she just knew she was putting the town of Newacre behind her.

She knew not how long she ran for, but did so until the wee hours of the night. Exhausted, she found a small copse of trees not far from a road. She stopped to rest, and passed out til she was awakened by the light of Primus crawling over the horizon, bringing the dawn with him. Perspehone rose to her feet, gathered her bearings and began jogging in a direction she suspected would lead to the circus. She had no idea what she would do upon her return, what she would tell her parents, she only knew she had to return to the caravan that she called home.

It was still early morning when she found her way back to the back yard of the lot. There were people everywhere. Workers, artists, a handful of armed men she assumed to be the Newacre guard. In the crowd, she could see Oron talking to the merchant they robbed and the guardsmen, her parents, Kobe's father, and Alinora. She walked to the back of the crowd, and felt a hand tightly grab her arm. She spun and looked and saw her mother gripping Persephone's arm tightly.

"Where were you?" Shehera hissed at her daughter. Tygorr's upper lip curled back in an angry snarl, slightly revealing his sharp fangs. "These men brought back Kobe. He is dead, and they are claiming Kobe and another person tried to rob a merchant in town!" Persephone choked back letting out a cry upon hearing of her love's fate.

"You've been gone all night. Everyone suspects you were the other thief," Tygorr growled.

"I...I was..." Perspephone stammered for an answer, but her mind was empty and she felt a numbness coursing through her.

"There she is! There's the thief! That's Kobe's beloved!" a female voice shouted. The voice belonged to Alinora. She was yelling and pointing at Persephone excitedly.

The armored men strode toward the exhausted, grief-stricken girl. Blades hissed as swords were drawn from scabbards. Tygorr stepped in between the guardsmen and his daughter and released a roar, his fur rising on his back, and brandished his claws. A guardman knocked the cat-man in the side of his head with the pommel of a longsword, and Tygorr staggered to his knees. The guardsmen pushed Shehera aware from her daughter. Alinora stepped in front of the crowd that was beginning to circle Persephone and the lawmen to get a better view, a wicked smile stretched across her face.

"Kobe would not wish for me to be caught," was the only thought that crossed Persephone's mind in that moment. This thought woke Perspehone from her malaise. She knew now how to get out of this.

Persephone feigned weakness and staggered backwards towards Alinora. She subtly reached her clawed hand into her belt pouch and pulled out the pendant she had stolen the night before. In one swift and unseen motion, Perspephone opened Alinora's pouch slightly and dropped the pendant inside.

As the guards grabbed for Persephone, she yelled above the din on the onlookers, "Alinora was the accomplice!" Persephone could hear everyone gasp and she knew she "had them."

"She talked Kobe into going to the merchant's house!" Persephone shouted. "I wanted nothing to do with her scheme, but she convinced Kobe to go with her! I was upset and distraught that Kobe would follow her to commit such a deed, so I ran off. I must have been in hysterics. I walked away from camp until I became so tired that I passed out. I just now got back to find my beloved dead," Persephone then pointed a clawed finger at Alinora, "and this witch is responsible!"

The crowd began to mutter loudly, Alinora was screaming her innocence, and Oron began pushing his way through the crowd attempting to calm everyone down. Two armored men grabbed the half-elf woman by her arms restraining her, a third began searching her and reached into her pouch. He produced in his gloved hand the pendant.

"That's mine!" exclaimed the merchant now crashing to the front of the throng of people as well. He snatched the jewelry from the guardsman. "I demand she be taken in irons and face justice! These vagrants need to leave Newacre!" the merchant demanded.

The guardsmen pulled Alinora away from the crowd; cries of denial leaving her lips and tears streaming down her face. With his possession returned, the merchant disappeared into the mob. A guard turned to Oron, "You are to cancel your following dates. I want your circus away from Newacre by sundown." Oron knew he had no choice but to obey the decree. The ringmaster bowed his head in obedience.

Tygorr was helped to his feet by his mate. Both stood in front of Persephone, and gazed directly into her eyes. "I am sorry about Kobe, and what happened with Alinora. We suspected you all but briefly, but suspected you all the same."

"You have our deepest apologies and sympathies, Kitten," Tygorr weakly proclaimed. "Your mother and I will help with the tear down. Go and get some rest in the wagon."

Persephone felt ashamed for deceiving her parents. But also felt a wave of relief rush over her. Oron strode over to her and adressed her. "I wish to speak with you in my tent. Now." the halfling commanded.

Minutes later, Persephone found herself in the boss tent. The tent flaps were closed, and the sounds of workers disassembling everything could be heard outside. Persephone knew they would be safe to talk freely.

Oron cleared his throat, and looked directly at Persephone. "I know you were involved. I saw you and Kobe leave the circus together last night. I didn't tell anyone at first because I thought you both might have been sneaking away for some privacy. Had I known what you two were doing, I would have stopped you. I didn't say anything this morning, not even when the townsfolk presented Kobe's body to me. I need to know what happened."

Persephone caved to her mentor's steely gaze and retold the previous day's and night's events to him. Oron's eyes almost bulged out of his sockets, and his mouth hung agape. He composed himself after hearing the young woman's harrowing tale and spoke, "You have been like a daughter to me, Persephone. I couldn't turn you in, but the fire-breather is without a son, I am without a snake charmer, and my circus needs your parents' acts to sell tickets and survive. I appreciate the risk you took on my behalf, but these events are going to be more costly than my debt to a small time thieves' guild. I can handle those leg breakers, but you cannot stay Persephone. I do not wish the "Flying Felines" to go with you, but if that's the gods' will, then so be it,. You can travel with us to the next stop, but then you must go."

Persephone gave Oron the gemstones she still had on her person and asked they be given to Kobe's father, and retreated to the wagon her family slept in and slumbered the rest of the day.

Persephone did travel to the circus's next stop, a small village called Fairhill. Once the caravan stopped into the village, Persephone gathered some travelling clothes and wrote her parents a note:

My dear Mother and Father,

In Fairhill, Persephone picked the pocket of a merchant that was part of a caravan that was lodging in the village, and used to silver dragons to purchase a seat with the caravan.

In the following years, Persephone wandered aimlessly throughout northern Galador, plying her considerable skills when she could; sometimes for hire and sometimes for her own gain. She began to like the ale, mead, and wine as the means to drown the memories of that terrible night. Though her first heist may have gone tits up, the ones that followed over the years did not. But the catfolk turned rogue and thief did parlay her success into a surplus of financial gain, oftentimes making just enough coin to get to the next town to find the next score; still living a transient life like the one she grew up with. She fell in love with the excitement, and the adventure again-not feeling that alive since before Kobe's death. She liked the coinage that came along with the risks almost as much.

But one particular drunken night, after one ale too many, Persephone got a bit too bold lightening the coin purses of several patrons of a tavern in some village of which she had forgotten the name. When the mob drug her outside to "teach the furry thief a lesson," a wandering half-orc in plate and chain happened upon the beating, and let the tavern-goers know what he, and the gods, thought of mob justice. As he healed Persephone's wounds, he introduced himself as Deimos the Devoted.

Owing Deimos her life, and feeling kinship with someone else who just wandered from settlement to settlement, Persephone followed Deimos on his travels, as he introduced her to the life of an adventurer, which she found could be just as lucrative as theivery and grifting, and a lot more fun.

The pair have traveled together since.

Persephone is trained in acrobatics and gymnastics, performance, and the art of thievery

Persephone was an aerialist and trapeze artist, and until meeting Deimos the Devoted , a rogue and thief for hire. Now she is an adventurer.

• Aiding in killing the aboleth, Dagon, who conquered the small fishing village, Ashepport.
• Explored the ruins of Celinad, recovered the sword Gaurwaith, and killed the black dragon, Drakathar

Her worst failure to date is the botched robbery of Bargos, an Imperial silk merchant which led to the death of her love, Kobe, and her exile from the Hightopple Circus.