Jackal

Summary
A young Dragonborn usually in over his head, Jackal is out on a journey in search of fame, renown and gold to put towards his family's business. Wielding a maul, he outwardly fights with a simplistic approach to combat but ocassionally displays surprising capacity for strategy. Affable and good-natured, Jackal enjoys the company of others and cares deeply for those who choose to remain around him. He still struggles to think for himself and stay calm under pressure due to his lack of experience, but he has been making progress in that regard.

Relationship with The Party
Kote: Cool guy! This one's definitely a thinker, I'm glad to have someone like him as a friend. A little scrawny, but I'll keep him out of trouble.

Snoot: Funny and has one hell of a wit. Not sure where she went, but I'm sure she's fine.

Zephira: Didn't expect to run into a paladin out here, wow she's cool! And she's really nice too, definitely looking forward to seeing what she can do.

Molly: Dangerous. Seems nice around us so far but I'll have to stay wary.

Clementine: She'd fit in with the Goobers. Little bit scary, but she can't be all bad if Zephira likes her.

Family
Jackal belongs to a family of Dragonborn merchants. His father Bermon (formerly Ferret) passed away during a mysterious house fire in his sleep. Jackal remembers little about his father as he was five at the time of his death. All he knows is that Bermon started the family business with Lynx, Jackal's mother, early in their life. He managed the merchantile side of things while Jackal's mother scrounged loot and items to sell through adventuring.

Lynx hung up adventuring to take over the business after her husband's death, and took a more active role in raising the family. Friendly if a little brutish, it's easy to see where Jackal got much of his attitude and values. Unfortunately though, she still hasn't quite adapted to the merchant life after all these years, lacking the savvy with people her husband had.

Finally there's Gecko, Jackal's elder brother of eight years. As opposed to the rest of his family, Gecko maintains a cold disposition around anyone other than his brother. Currently he has taken up dungeoneering and mercenary work.

Early Life
Jackal enjoyed a comfortable life growing up in the city of PLACEHOLDER within the Delver's Paradise. He was well cared for by his father Bermon up until his passing. After that he found himself assisting his mother in running the business, helping with inventory and even dealing with customers as he grew older.

His relationship with his brother started out shaky. After his father's passing, Gecko grew distant from his family for a few years. As they grew older however, Gecko started to see Jackal as someone he could trust and confide in, and took a more active role as the older brother, despite his relatively hostile relationship with their mother.

Once Jackal reached adolescence, his mother began training him how to fight like she had begun to with Gecko. Initially she tried teaching him her more barbaric fighting style, but found he didn't take to it. While he had the strength and hardiness required of her style, he lacked the natural instinct and ability to focus and control his emotions. Eventually she conceded and trained him for more general purpose fighting with a variety of weapons, and he found himself favouring the glaive and the halberd.

The Goodberry Blades
Jackal's relationship with The Goodberry Blades began early in his life. As he slept one night at the age of five, a fire had begun engulfing the business that he, his brother and his father lived in. A passing group of mercenaries saw the fire had engulfed the lower floor of the building, and heard yelling coming from upstairs.

Thinking quickly, one of the mercenaries threw a grappling hook through the upstairs window and climbed up into the burning house. Moments later they returned holding a distressed five year old dragonborn and his unconscious teenage brother, dropping them down to their companions.

For the next few days the mercenary group looked after the two dragonborn kids until their mother was back in town. Steering away conversation from their father, the smaller group that rescued the boys regaled them with stories of their work, instilling in them a sense of wonder and respect for mercenary life.

Jackal's Employment
By the age of fifteen, Jackal was eager to set out and put his skills to work. Having looked up to the mercenary group that saved him and his brother all those years ago, he set out for their headquarters for work. Thanks to his martial competency, Jackal's employment was accepted and he was put to work doing basic jobs.

For reasons only known to him and the Goodberry Blades, Jackal left the mercenary organisation on bad terms. Since then, he has done his best to distance himself from the group to an extent, although still leaves a note of his employment with them on his resume.

Then and Now
After leaving The Goodberry Blades, Jackal returned home and spent a few months assisting his mother with running the store. However, he soon found that issues with the store have come up since he left.

A local business had singled out Delver's Paradise as a rival and had taken many of their adventurer contacts, offering them contracts too good to refuse. Without many people bringing in wares to sell, the business has slowly started to fail. Additionally, Jackal could tell his mother would rather be out adventuring while she still can, but felt an obligation to keep the place running in her husband's place.

Leaving a note behind explaining his reasoning, Jackal set out to further the family business, attain wealth and wares, and eventually gain enough influence to take over the business for his mother.