aka The Black Skull
G U I G
Mercenary, gladiator, monster
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Ht: 6'5 * / Wt: 300 / Age: unknown
Hair: black / Eyes: yellow / Race: Wight
Hair: black / Eyes: yellow / Race: Wight
PROFILE
Most spectators at the Leonera assume that the Black Skull's monstrous persona is some kind of hoax, but after witnessing his first few bouts against human opponents, no more challengers presented themselves, and the Skull became the subject of increasingly stacked matches against wild animals and other exotic monsters. In the pits, Guig fights with a mix of fearless savagery and cruel cunning. He is horrifically strong and seemingly indifferent to pain, which only adds to the grisly spectacle.
Like most wights, Guig knows little of his origins or his true age, and he seems to care even less. His stated interests are mostly food, drink, murder, and money - and everything has its price. His manner is vulgar and cynical, though not without a touch of bravado and mordant humour. Matters of life, death, and personal injury seem of scant concern to him.
When not fighting, he seems to mostly spend his hours brooding in his dungeon ~ drunk, slumbering, or simply staring at the stone walls... waiting.
To hear Guig tell the tale, he was once the most handsome wight in all the underrealms. That is, until he displeased the wight called Lord Agrivaine, and was punished by the colony. His body was broken and brutally tortured. His face was mostly seared away in subterranean acid pools, with the remains gnawed off by carrion worms. Somehow, he endured all of this and escaped with his life, but now his appearance is hideous even by the standards of his people.
He seems cavalier when he speaks of this ordeal, but behind his ghoulish rictus, one senses the cold, bitter grudge he still bears for Agrivaine... and perhaps all of his kind.
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| GUIG in full armour and helmet (zc) |
His face is a terrible thing to behold - his stoney grey skin appears to have been burned or eaten away, leaving the impression of a skeletal grimace, with hints of discoloured bone showing through scabby, colourless scar tissue. Barely enough lip remains to cover his stained teeth and there's barely any cheek to close the gaps in the sides of his mouth. His nose is mostly gone, with little more than a snubbed, boney ridge.
His eyes still retain some lid, and peer warily from under his heavy brow. Yellow and bloodshot, they gleam strangely bright in their deeply-recessed sockets. A shaggy mane of coarse black hair sprouts from a receded hairline, and hangs about his shoulders in matted locks.
He wears very old splinted mail, tarnished sooty black in most places. It bears finely molded details and engraved knotwork that hint at ancient origins, although it has been clumsily altered in places to suit Guig’s large frame. In one hand, he carries a large metal-hafted battleaxe, with a long, well-honed blade bearing etched runes. On the other side, he bears a heavy, oblong shield that might well have been a jousting breastplate at one time, which he wears over one forearm like a sleeve. Crude blades and spikes have been bolted to it, making it look more like a weapon than protection.
