Rael

Backstory
Rael Dekker hails from a large and well-respected family in Davros. His parents were wealthy industrialists, Sartari and her former "assistant" turned husband Xarrus. Rael, the only boy and youngest in the family struggled to stand out on his own. Each of Rael’s sisters: Arysa, Velari, Chant, Natmine proved to be incredibly skilled in their respective fields which ranged from Arcane Sciences to Arithromancy.

Rael lacked the cut-throat business acumen of Velari, or Arysa’s wizardry with numbers. He had no interest in serving the faith like Chant, and brilliant inventions of Natmine were well beyond his capabilities. What Rael *did* find he was skilled at, was reading people. He was a natural charmer with an exceptional ear for music. On a whim his parents sent him to study bardic magic.

The tiefling had no lack of talent when it came to music, but he seemed to show an almost pathological aversion to attending classes, studying the great epics, or even learning an instrument. He chose to rely solely on his strong, clear voice and charm to carry him through school… until it didn’t. Rael was expelled when it was discovered that he had used an exceptionally powerful charm spell on a professor to boost his grades.

He returned home and began working for his parents’ company, where he served as Velari’s second assistant, until she became frustrated and pushed him off onto Arysa…who became irritated with him and sent him to work for Natmine. Natmine said she wouldn’t make Rael work provided he stay out of her way and avoid getting into trouble.

It would have been a perfect arrangement, were Rael not fiercely independent. He decided that he would prove himself to his family by striking out on his own. All he needed was a little gold to start himself off. His parents would gladly have given him the funds to start, but they’d never let him forget who he owed his success to.

While reading a mystery novel and hiding out in the back of Natmine’s laboratory, he came across the perfect plan: blackmail. He would target a wealthy family, one of the Dekker’s business rivals, learn their secrets, then blackmail them through a third party.

It didn’t take him long to build a strong rapport with one of Natmine’s research assistants, Darmina, a member of the prominent Celsus family. Everything would have gone smoothly had Rael been more patient and taken his time. His delivery of the threat was sloppy, and the Celsus family worked out who was attempting to pull one over on them almost immediately.

The family didn't want to lose their status if Rael went public, and they saw an opportunity to ride on the ever growing success of Dek’co. The simplest solution would be to arrange a marriage between Rael and their daughter, Darmina. It would save both families the scandal of Rael’s actions being revealed and ensure that both groups would be harmed in the event that their secrets came to light.

Rael’s greatest weakness has always been a pretty face, however. He had charmed his way into the Celsus home through Darmina, but his interactions with her had always been (mostly) innocent. To her credit, Darmina hadn’t been the one to let a family secret slip… it had been her brother Sef, who Rael had courted secretly. The two had been having a fiery affair, and Rael had proposed that Sef run away with him one day. There’s a chance that Rael had even been briefly sincere in his promise. His public engagement to the other Celsus sibling had put Rael in a tight predicament.

All he’d wanted to do was make a little easy money, now he was doomed to a loveless marriage with Darmina, or to run away with Sef in tow… with the possibility of revealing that he’d been using Sef hanging over the both of them. Not to mention the real possibility of the Celsus or Dekker family finding him, the two groups commanded significant resources between the two of them.

The only option was to run farther than either could touch him. Like most solutions to his problems, Rael got the solution he was looking for when he needed it most. While drinking away his troubles alone the week before his wedding, he encountered a very drunk and very distressed tiefling man.

The poor soul had been entered into the lottery as a prank, and been unfortunate enough to win. Rael saw an out. He worked on the man all evening, getting him drunk to the point of passing out. He pretended to be a friend helping the man home, then stole his pass and clothes.

The next morning he boarded the ship as a lottery winner, number 13 aboard the 70th journey to Hardholme.

Arrival in Hardholme
On arriving in Hardholme, Rael resolved to earn enough money to establish himself... by any means necessary. He began running a number of confidence scams, convincing people that potions and elixirs he sold had curative properties. In reality, the potions were water that had been modified with ink, oil, and a dash of prestidigitation to seem like real elixirs, their properties simulated on the spot using bardic magic. Once his inventory was sold out, Rael would move on to another area and try the scam again.

It didn’t take trouble long to find Rael, though.. Or perhaps it was the other way around. He thought he had a foolproof plan to make a little extra spending cash; Graeme of the 6th is a wonderfully pleasant Dwarf with a very lucrative weapons shop - Old World Arms - and Rael was positive that taking him for some coin would be as easy as taking candy from an Ogre. Unfortunately, he turned out to also a member of the Town Council, and perhaps not as drunk as intially thought. Not long after, Rael found himself in a cell at the local jailhouse under the watchful eye of Constable Jackson of the 31st.