<strong>Rumar</strong>(https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1515561)<br/><br/>Rumar, the second son of a merchant, grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Ahum, who could do no wrong in their father's eyes. No matter what Rumar did, Ahum was the chosen son, and Rumar was always second place. He competed fiercely with Ahum in school, trying to outdo him, but he rarely succeeded, and when he did it was overlooked. Most of the teachers were paid very well to ensure Ahum got the best education possible and they reciprocated by speaking highly him at every opportunity but they  weren't paid nearly so well for Rumar. Their father only needed one son to inherit the shop and carry on the name.<br/><br/>That all changed when Ahum went off to the priesthood. Suddenly Rumar needed to be trained to one day inherit the shop. Their father called on him to help more and more often, teaching him the ways of a merchant. Rumar, although angry at his father and jealous of his brother, did his best to garner his father's approval. He quickly found he had a natural talent for getting people to buy and sell things they usually wouldn't for sometimes ridiculous prices. He had no patience for the math involved though. Market prices and supply and demand and so on. It was all so boring. The people themselves were what interested Rumar. There were so many different people who would come into the shop. Slaves buying something for their masters, nobles searching for only the best, guards looking to sell something they'd found laying around. And Rumar quickly learned that while slaves are very easy to subtly intimidate into buying something at an higher price, that same tactic didn't work on nobles. Each new person was a puzzle.<br/><br/>As Rumar grew older he started being bored with just manipulating people in the shop. He started skipping classes, especially math classes, to wander among the people of the city. He learned about dice and gambling. Cards and card tricks. He learned to fake telling someones fortune, and to hypnotize people. His father was not happy to hear he'd been skipping class. But Rumar was used to that by now and the people out in the world were just so interesting. They all had their own lives and desires. Such subtle and easy manipulation and Rumar could get just about anything he wanted.<br/><br/>When Ahum came to Rumar one night asking about goblins and wanting to go out and kill some, Rumar was very hesitant at first. He had recently learned his power of persuasion wasn't purely good technique, it was at least partially something more. He had manifested a psychic illusion but he managed to keep it completely secret and he wasn't sure how far his powers went. What he did know though, is the right guy to talk to among the guards to get outside the city and right where the nearest goblin threat would be.<br/><br/>He decided to help Ahum, if only to learn more about his newfound powers and make sure Ahum made it back safely. As much as he was jealous of Ahum, Ahum was his brother, and he empathized with Ahum's boredom. Plus it was nice to hear of Ahum breaking a rule for once and he wanted to see what happened.<br/><br/>The entire trip was a nightmare. Rumar had no trouble getting them out of the city. Dazing an already sleepy guard. But the trip there and into the cave was such a long walk. And everyone was so quiet. It was boring and tiring. Once they got to the cave it was also very creepy and scary. He had a walking stick, tied to his wrist just in case, that cleverly hid a sword, a trick he'd picked up around the city but he wasn't very good with it. Fighting wasn't really his forte, and he wasn't sure his powers of persuasion would even work on a goblin. He was just about to tell them they should just turn around when he heard a scream from behind him.<br/><br/>He turned and saw Ahum's friend covered in goblins. He watched on in stunned silence, unable to think as the boy was ripped apart in front of his eyes until his brother grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his trance. Suddenly they were surrounded and running for it. They managed to make it a decent ways but Ahum was slower in his armor and the goblins were gaining on them. He concentrated and created what looked like a cave-in behind them. It had none of the noise of an actual cave in, and could easily be walked through, such that even a goblin could figure out it was fake but it would take them a minute. And that was all the boys needed.<br/><br/>Home at last, Rumar let Ahum do the talking. He was too ashamed and shocked to talk any himself. His father was mad as all hell of course, but Rumar didn't care. There was nothing his father could do that hurt any more than the image of that kid being torn to shreds in front of him. The image haunted him at night and kept him from sleep so Rumar started sneaking out to go see his brother. He didn't know who else to talk to. He didn't have any other real friends. Just people he used as a means to an end. He started to realize his brother and him had a lot in common.<br/><br/>He confided in his brother that he had a special gift, a power, and met with him regularly to learn to control and use it better. He wanted to be stronger to keep what he'd seen from happening to anyone else ever again.