Howie

Tacyon Howeth aka Howie was a criminal, political activist, and wanted terrorist from Aigrot. They co-founded the ALF and were a member of the Antidote.

History

Early Life

Tacyon Howeth was born in Aigrot around 30 years before the events of Spireloft. Shortly after their birth Tacyon, their sibling Tallas, and father moved to Aucturacten after their family was evicted from their land by an Antan noble, leaving their mother in Aigrot. The family shared a small apartment above a pawn shop on Saffron Street, an area with many Aigrotians. Members of the extended Tacyon family soon began to arrive in Aucteracted as well.

As their home was crowded, Tacyon and Tallas spent much of their time on the streets. When Tacyon was about 14, they and Tallas joined the Saffron Street Social Club, a local group that organised community events and offered support for members facing hardships.

A few years past, with Tallas taking a leading role in the SSSC. Tacyon, wishing to reconnect to their roots, travelled to Aigrot where they worked as a farmer during the harvest, returning to Aucteracten in the off-season. This brought Tacyon into contact with members of the Aigrot Liberation Movement whom Tacyon introduced to their brother and the SSSC, which began hosting fundraisers for the movement.

This, unfortunately, lead to Tallas' home being raided by Antan guards during one of Tacyon's absences. The SSSC was labelled a criminal organisation and forced to pay fines. Tacyon petitioned to the Liberation Movement to support the SSSC, but this was declined as the Movement's representatives did not want to tarnish their reputation by supporting designated criminals. Frustrated, both Howeth brothers returned to Aigrot.

Founding the ALF

While Tacyon was content to keep working as a farmer, Tallas spent most of his time connecting with the local Liberation Movement's chapter. Tallas eventually became frustrated with the movement as well, with Tacyon's urging him to lead members of the chapter away from the movement to found a new organisation.

Tallas agreed to this, provided that Tacyon finally take an active role and hold a speech denouncing the Liberation Movement's passive approach. Tacyon agreed, and many dissatisfied members of the local chapter signed with the Howeths' new organisation.

They chose the name Aigrot Liberation Front, the acronym being a reference to a play the SSSC had once staged. They also adopted elements of the SSSC's organisation, including an inner council.

As the ALF's membership grew, Tacyon involved themself with the logistics of running an underground organisation. While recruitment was overseen by Kiet Kiet, Tacyon sometimes was involved in training new recruits. They disagreed significantly over the recruiting of Lyss Cadogin, the child of Antan nobility, but eventually came to trust Lyss.

The ALF began to attack Antan security forces as well as nobles and prominent citizens in Aigrot who opposed independence. Tacyon participated in many of these, evading capture on several occasions.

Tacyon was involved in a plan to deliver sensitive documents to an unaware Klaes Cadogin, where they would be safe and could be distributed or retrieved later.

The Attack

Tallas Howeth was able to rehabilitate himself into the Liberation Movement, but left again after it became clear that changing their course from within would be impossible. In reaction to this, the ALF's inner council began to plan for a series of simultaneous attacks against leading members of the Liberation Movement, hoping to end its dominance in the independence struggle and take over as the legitimate representative of Aigrot.

Each of the ALF officers were assigned a cell to lead during the attack, except for Kiet Kiet. Tacyon's cell planned to attack a gathering of liberation activists in the village of Bola, and either capture or kill them. However, Tacyon's scouts discovered that Antan guards were watching over the gathering and elected to hold back, something which most of the other cells failed to do.

The operation was a complete failure for the ALF, leaving many officers including Tallas and Lyss presumed dead. Tacyon and their cell retreated to Aucteracten, where they reconnected with Kiet Kiet and a few survivors. However, as only Tallas had known the location of all of them, it would be impossible to reconnect with all of the surviving cells.

Kiet Kiet notifed Tacyon that notices for their arrest had been posted by the Antan authorities, and Tacyon and a few members of their cell decided to leave Ante completely.

Before they departed, Kiet Kiet notified Tacyon of the possibility that Klaes Cadogin could possess documents pointing to the locations of the other cells, which would allow the ALF to rebuild.

Exile

Tacyon and four of their closest companions headed south, hoping to cross from Ante to Elixis. They encountered a fellow ALF member and companion of Lyss Cadogin named Phree who had participated in Tallas's operation, who confirmed that Tallas and Lyss were dead. She also confirmed that a final letter from Lyss had been transmitted to Ardrigde.

The group managed to escape to Elixis, bar one member who was killed or apprehended by Antan forces near the border. The remaining members of the party decided that continuing on to Sylthe or Basillera would be safer, as Antan security forces could operate in Elixis as part of the international presence there.

Their journey continued onwards to Nycen, where the party agreed to stop. After a short discussion, a decision was made to form the ALF-Nycen Branch as a cell in the old style.

All five members of the ALF-NB attempted to integrate into Nycen life. Tacyon found employment at a local shop, taking the name Howie. They, like all members of ALF-NB, save a portion of their wage as part of a collective fund, intending to use it to buy weapons and a ship to travel back to Ante.

During their time in Nycen, Howie was able to contact the ALF agent at Ardridge, who stated that Klaes had left Ardridge, presumably going home to avoid his upcoming exams which the agent believed Klaes would inevitably fail.

Almost exactly a year after leaving Ante, Howie was startled to see a young human who almost exactly matched the description of Klaes Cadogin Lyss had given him enter the shop Howie worked at. The coincidence was incredible, as Lyss had assured the ALF that Klaes was unlikely to leave Ardridge at all, let alone Ante entirely. Howie probed the wizard with a few questions and learned that he was indeed Klaes, and that he was camped a short distance away from the centre of town.

Howie approached the tent where Klaes and his companions were camped at during the night, after discovering that the members of Group 7422 still awake were engrossed in playing music. They poked around the bags, locating one that seemed to belong to Klaes, but were interrupted by Gerardanson Durand exiting the tent. Howie attempted to distract Gerardanson by complaining about the music being played, which included an Antan military tune, and as soon as the ex-general had turned his back Howie struct him across the head and ran off.

Lamenting the missed opportunity, Howie resumed their work at the shop. The ALF-NB's collective fund was reaching enough to buy a ship, and one of their members named Bornei had intercepted a cartful of pikes and swords which had been stashed near Nycen. Unfortunately, only a few days after the run-in with Group 7422 the second Woodhollow expansion occurred, engulfing Nycen.

The ALF-NB helped organise the evacuation from Nycen, remaining among citizens who had fled the town after they arrived in Adyta. Although they had been forced to leave many of their weapons behind, they had managed to bring their funds with them, but ultimately agreed to spend it on chartering a much larger ship in order to bring as many refugees to Basillera as possible.

Howie and The Antidote

"What was that you said? That everyone around you dies? I hope you're right." This article contains major spoilers! It either discusses or references a major event in a campaign.

The ship chartered by the ALF-NB arrived in Cutler Cove immediately after the successful operation against Rockerluck had concluded, meeting the returning soldiers and Group 7422. One of the first people to spot the arriving ship was Gerardanson, who also recognised Howie. Howie, who could not recall punching Gerardanson at first, offered the extremely angry ex-general a bowl of soup as an apology, which Gerardanson refused.

Howie met the rest of the group, learning that Klaes had died shortly before their arrival. This solidified Howie's belief that the letter was long gone. They stowed away in a caravan chartered for the victorious party to Revixot, where they intended to gain Matolara's audience to bring attention to the situation in Sylthe and get Basillera to send relief supplies. At Arginor's party, they were assisted by Kiorend Weffr and Tarot.

After Matolara gave a half-enthusiastic promise for aid, Howie followed the party to their encounter with Matolara and Haymer, where they overheard discussion of Basillera's old ruler being apparently poisoned. The discussion of sending an investigation team to Woodhollow, and Howie's suspicions that a new war between Basillera and Ante conflict could be imminent, lead Howie to decided to accompany the party. Howie suspected that the mission to Woodhollow was intended to recover a poison for Matolara to use against the Queen of Ante.

Howie followed the party to Woodhollow as part of the Woodhollow Division. Howie encountered Idari Archbrand, recovering Klaes' letters. They found themselves increasingly at odds with Gerardanson who seemingly disregarded his comrades' safety, such as injuring Rift with a falling sword. Howie also attempted to recover artefacts from Woodhaven, which they hoped might lift the spirits of the refugees with the rest of ALF-NB.

During the battle with Avenir, Howie was forced to choose between saving Clemond (whom they had grown to respect) and saving Gelecek, ultimately only saving Gelecek. This would prove to be a heavy weight on them for years to come.

Howie was not particularly impressed with the High Druid's decision not to reabsorb Avenir's body, even though doing so could greatly speed up the restoration of Woodhaven.

Upon returning to Erumita, Howie was intending to leave the Antidote and make their way back to Ante. However, the opportunity presented itself when Jaux Auborin mentioned the upcoming wedding of Abby Amberthorn and Kamo Okremore. Howie attempted to convince the Antidote to travel to Ante to investigate, and prevent the death of Slasstian Mendrow who Howie respected. Ultimately, the decision was made (over soup at the Twin Blade Tavern).

The Antidote journey to Ante through Elixis. While stopping at a home belonging to the Archbrand Family, Howie stole several pieces of jewellery intending to sell them later as funds for the ALF. They used the name Lyss Cadogin while crossing the Antan border, with the fact that the name wasn't recognised confirming their suspicions that Lyss (and likely Tallas too) were dead, not captured.

Upon arrival in Aucturacten, Howie escalated the raid on Addileena Andressi's home by kidnapping Andressi, although they were convinced to turn her loose.

Upon reconnecting Kiet Kiet and the ALF cell in Aucteracten again, Howie was given a secret objective to assassinate Kamo Okremore, who came from a prominent Aigrotian family. Kiet Kiet believed that this would be a blow to Ante, but also serve as a warning to Aigrotians willing to collaborate with Ante. Howie agreed to the task.

During the wedding, Howie managed to plant a hidden explosive on Kamo. They later spoke with Kamo personally after she left the main celebrations, comforting her and convincing her to return to the wedding. Despite genuinely enjoying the conversation, Howie resolved to complete the mission and detonated the explosive immediately after reentering the wedding hall, killing Kamo. They then hurled a glass bottle of sludge from Nycen at Jaux, who was organising the festivities, striking her in the face and injuring her, before fleeing the manor with Idari.

Separated from the rest of the Antidote, Idari and Howie sought refuge in Howie's father's house on Saffron Street, spending the night in Howie's childhood room. The two had a deep conversation, with Howie coming away with more understanding of what the members of the Antidote were fighting for.

Despite this, Howie resolved to leave the group the next day, as they reconvened at the tavern where Kiet Kiet and Mendrow had last spoken to the Antidote. However, upon learning that Mendrow had departed to Winter's Nails and was likely in danger, Howie decided to accompany the Antidote for a little while longer.

They learned of Mendrow's death at Arginor's hands, and after encountering Caladrin were teleported back to Lorecia and then Basillera.

Howie accompanied the Antidote to Scaenapulcra, motivated by a desire to protect their friends (especially Idari) and avenge Mendrow even if they personally did not believe that Caladrin was capable of what he claimed. Howie fought against Arginor's reanimated corpses, and assisted Tarot Sagebend in dispatching Mendrow.

After Gerardanson stabbed Rift in an apparent betrayal of the Antidote to gain Caladrin's favour as Arignor's replacement, Howie attacked the ex-general, wounding him badly. However, Kiorend was able to kill Arginor and the rest of the party broke the fight between Gerardanson and Howie.

After Spireloft

As the rest of the Antidote tended to their wounds and collected the dead, Howie took Gerardanson aside and told him they believed he was the most dangerous person in the building: someone willing to follow orders from corrupt source. Gerardanson asked if Howie intended to kill him, but Howie let the ex-general go.

The wandered outside and encountered Idari. They confessed their reasons for sticking with the party, and Idari that he believed the Antidote to be over. Howie told him of his past, and the disastrous attack on the Liberation Movement that had left Tallas dead, but also expressed his gratitude to Klaes for what the wizard had unknowingly done for the ALF.

Howie left Idari and the Antidote behind. They retrieved Slasstian Mendrow's corpse, and carried it through Scaenapulcra on foot in a generally eastern direction. They found a Basilleran Military outpost, stealing a horse from the seemingly lobotomised guards which they used to carry Mendrow. They named the horse Criminal, a nod to Gerardanson's accusations.

Howie and Criminal travelled through Ante, encountering two deserters from the military named Greeves and Eckenburl. Eckenburl gave Howie a vial of strange liquid which they used to cremate Mendrow's body, whose ashes replaced the fluid through a mechanism Howie did not understand. They bid their farewells from the deserters and continued east.

Reforging the ALF

In the years after their return to Aigrot, Howie through themself back into the running of the ALF. The letter from Klaes had allowed Kiet Kiet to reconnect with the other cells, some of which had begun to gather new recruits.

Howie also remained in contact with Idari Archbrand, whose sympathies to Aigrot grew to the point that an ALF cell-in-exile was founded at the Twin Blade Tavern. They were also contacted by Tarot Sagebend, who took up arms alongside the ALF.

Five years after the events of Spireloft, Howie contacted Gerardanson Durand.

Relationships

• Gerardanson Durand: Howie had an extreme dislike for Gerardanson, often reminiscing of their missed opportunities to kill him.

Equipment and Abilities

Howie wore a suit of Aigrotian chain main that covered their full body and came with a hood. They had inherited this from a fellow farmworker while in Aigrot, as the worker had no children to gift it to. While they typically did not wear this during their time in hiding, they began wearing it more often after joining the Antidote. Howie often wore magenta clothing while not wearing their chainmail, the colour of Aigrot.

Howie's weapon of choice was a collapsible glaive, which they could fold down to store in their pack. They favoured hard-hitting attacks rather than fencing.

In battle, Howie focused on coordinating their fellow fighters rather than attacking head on, unless an opportunity presented itself for a strike that would cause sufficient damage to prevent a counter-attack.

Trivia

• Howie enjoyed soup, especially the soup made by Dibble.