The Hooded Man
Biographical InformationOther NamesElias
Location Summarch
DeathSiege of the Seat
Physical DescriptionGenderMale
HeightTall
HairNone
ClothingA long, black cloak that obscured all features
The Hooded Man, whose former name was Elias, was a creation of the Grandmother placed into the service of Rennick. He was the first of the Bloodless, undying spies invisible to magic.
History
In his beginning, the Hooded Man was the man Elias Mallister, a member of the Mallister banking family and the older sibling of Leon Mallister. He owned a war hammer that he practiced with often.
Shortly before Elias turned twenty years of age, the Mallister home was broken into and destroyed on the orders of family friend Panry Chenech, who wished to end the bank’s investigation of his finances in order to keep secret his connections to the Guild and the Nameless. Elias’ parents were killed in the attack, but Elias and his youngest brother Rodrick (Leon managed to escape, taking Elias’ war hammer with him) were captured and taken to Panry, who subsequently gave them to the Grandmother for her experiments.
There Elias was slowly and painfully turned into one of the Bloodless, losing his free will and most of his memories in the process. Rodrick did not survive.
Elias was then given over to Rennick as a spy and assassin, whom he served well. Eventually he became known as the Hooded Man, and the name Elias was forgotten.
As the Hooded Man
The Hooded Man slew many on Rennick’s behalf, but his highest-profile murder was the killing of Grandmaster Hagar, leader of the Allhammers.
Shortly after, in the summer of 1374 A.B., a party of Allhammers (which included his brother, Leon Mallister) started looking into Hagar’s death, correctly identifying it as an assassination. The Hooded Man began to follow them through the streets of Summarch, watching and waiting. In the night, the party split up into various contingents. Seeing a chance to isolate his foes, the Hooded Man struck, ambushing Leon, Babar Ett-Clan, and Eol Firenze in a small alley. Narrowly he was beaten back. Surprised, the Hooded Man retreated to the rooftops before vanishing into the city. He did not resurface for some weeks.
In the autumn, the party was dispatched by Rennick, now the Grandmaster of the Allhammers, into the Far North in pursuit of cultists of Zhē Drūmor. Near the start of the journey, in the early hours before dawn, the Hooded Man crept into their campsite and attacked them. The fight was long and hard. Both Eol and Shiv were knocked unconscious before the Hooded Man was finally defeated. Staggered, the party took the opportunity to bind the assassin and throw back his hood. Leon then fell to his knees, shocked to discover the face of his lost sibling underneath.
Words were exchanged between the two brothers as the party took the Hooded Man back to the Winehall, remanding him to Rennick’s custody before leaving to continue on their northbound mission. With the party departed, Rennick quietly released his spy, killing an Allhammer and posing him as a slain watchman to make it appear as though the Hooded Man had forced his way out.
When Rennick began his rebellion against Selwin, he used the Hooded Man to eliminate a number of the opposition’s leaders.
At the Siege of the Seat, the rebellion’s culmination, the Hooded Man was tasked with guarding the entrance to Selwin’s throne room while Rennick disposed of the lord. When Cresadoc, the Steward of the Allhammers, tried to enter to stop Rennick, the Hooded Man smote him with his fist, caving in his chest. Soon after he came into conflict with the party having returned out of the north as well, barring them from opening the doors. The two sides exchanged many blows till the battle’s end, where the Hooded Man was struck by the hammer Daybreak, made out of Elias’ old war hammer, and finally destroyed.
Known Talents and Abilities
See Bloodless.