• Location • The Panther Hut

[Dementia]

The Panther Hut

Source: Pixabay. Used under a CCO Public Commons license.

Moderator permission is required to roleplay in this area or with this NPC.

The panther hut is a simple hut in the fringes of the wilds near Desnind. It’s constructed by the hermit who lives there and covered with a thick layer of reeds bark that gives the hut very good protection from rain. It holds some simple cooking attire and other very basic things, like a mattress stuffed with dried grass to sleep on.
The hut is located quite a ways from the main city of Desnind.

It’s also pretty dangerous to go there as the inhabitant is a Sev'ryn arcanist with the mind of a black panther. He plays with people, or preys on them, sometimes pounces on them if he finds reason. But the risk can be worth the while for those who want to learn about wilderness survival, hunting, tracking and archery from a master.

Every arc there’s a few unfortunate young fools who return from the panther hut with claw wounds that will turn into remarkable scars. These are called “panther tattoos” and seen as honorable signs of courage.

NPC

Name: Cai'meth, but goes by "Cai'meth Black Panther"
Race: Sev'ryn
Age: Born Arc 660

Skills:
Wilderness Survival: Master (93)
Archery: Master (87)
Hunting: Master (84)
Tracking: Master (79)
Attunement: Expert (68)
Abrogation: Expert (57)

Other Information: Training with Cai'meth can be rewarding, but it's hard. First the trainee needs to gain his trust, and persuade him to abstain from the solitude he craves. If Cai'meth takes on a pupil, he will give them hard tests and quests and sometimes supervise in panther form. He may pounce on trainees if he dislikes something. There's no such thing as training with Cai'meth without getting at least a small "panther tattoo" from his claws.

NPC Life history

Cai’meth had a happy childhood in Desnind. None of those surrounding him ever dared to suspect he would become a dangerous arcanist with the spirit of a panther.

At the time Cai’meth left Desnind to seek his familiar in the world outside, everything seemed like a bright and hopeful adventure. He was a strong and skilled young hunter, a physically impressive outdoorsman who was competent at coping in the wilds. Trapping, tracking, hunting, although in the Sev’ryn way with respect for nature, was his life and he knew how to use a bow. It didn’t occur to Cai’meth that other people could see him as first class slave material. But this was how it was. As soon as the ship he traveled with on his first journey ever reached Athart, he was sold to an Avriel. Not long after this, his familiar found him and bonded with him, a spiritual black panther. During his many arcs as slave in Athart, Cai’meth survived mentally by spending much time with his familiar, which would later in his life lead to the panther soul taking over.

With Cai'meth's highly active background, he was strong and fit and thereby immensely desirable as a slave. Due to this, his owner, an incredibly arrogant Avriel warrior named Sagrud, didn’t sell him like he did with so many other of his slaves when he tired of them and lost interest after a while. Instead, Sagrud used Caimeth as a sparring partner. This meant tough years of double messages and constant psychological and physical violence. Sagrud alternated between fawning over his favorite slave and demanding extraordinary performance of him, then getting enraged at the slightest sign of Cai’meth being able to win over his supposedly superior master. Day after day, the Sev’ryn was treading a fine line between riling his owner up by not being good enough, and riling him up by being too good. The latter wouldn’t result in being sold, but in being executed, as Sagrud couldn’t have a slave who beat him. Nor could he let such a slave fall into the hands of anyone else-he'd be a strong opponent especially if trained to hate.

Eventually a new slave was added to Sagrud’s collection: a storyteller named Barry Leuwen. His task was to entertain Sagrud. But, the man was more than he seemed to be. He was a member of The Seekers, a foolish Sorcerer who had been caught while inebriated and robbed before being sold into slavery. Barry's only goal was to get as far away from Sagrud as he possibly could, and he decided that the person who was best suited to support his escape was Cai’meth. It was easy for him to persuade the Sev’ryn, and eventually the two of them escaped together. As Cai’meth wanted to see more or the world and the thought of magic exited him, he followed his friend and joined The Seekers as a Neophyte. Here he trained in the magics of Attunement and Abrogation, spending almost all of his time alone save for his familiar and occasionally teacher.

As time went on, Cai'meth began to notice his behavior was changing. Originally, the changes were small-he blinked less, his posture subtly shifted. But the changes came faster and became more severe until they were past denial. Cai’meth knew what was happening. He had spent too much time with his panther familiar and it had started to alter his soul. He knew there was only one place in the world where he would be able to live as more panther than human: Desnind, where people would find him worth something despite his state. He left The Seekers and returned to Desnind. For a while he even tried to lead a normal life. He settled down with a partner and they had a child named Sel'ma. Sadly, even with his family, what was left of his human spirit could not maintain control. The panther in him took over. He fled outside Desnind, where he built a small hut in the forest.

Price List

Cai'meth is mentally a panther more than a man. He's one with nature and needs almost nothing. One can learn wilderness survival, hunting, tracking, and archery from him. But there's no way to pay him, except by enduring the hardships he gives his trainees and accept the clawmarks and scars that are almost always part of the training. Becoming a student under Cai'meth is mentally and physically exhausting, but those who have studied under him always say it was worth it.

Many thanks to Sel'ma, the original creator of the Panther Hut and Cai'meth.