Dax
Bullywug - Spellthief, Scout, Magic "Sampler"

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Backstory

Dax was born in a mire, no name, just a swampy place most maps didn’t bother marking. The bullywugs of the mire lived simple lives, croaking lullabies, catching flies, and avoiding anything larger than them. But Dax was different, he was curious, too inquisitive for the simple life that his people lived. From a young age, he found joy in motion, exploring places he was not meant to go, and getting into trouble more than most bullywugs. He leapt farther, listened harder, and most unusually, felt the subtle tug of magic in the world around him. While others croaked contentedly, he would annoy them by asking questions. "Why does the sky crackle before rain?" "Why do spells tingle on your skin when you're close to them?" "Why do my eyes glow?" His elders called him touched, and not in a good way.

When a caravan of mercenaries passed near the mire, pursued by magehunters, Dax couldn’t help but watch. Magic spilled from their bags like candlelight through cloth. He followed them in secret, until the hunters caught up. One of the mercenaries, a half-blind illusionist named Serka, was cornered and doomed. But Dax, with no thought for his own safety, flung a stolen bolt of magic he had somehow caught between his fingers. It fizzled... then exploded. Just enough to let her escape.

He ended up following her, staying by her side as she fled.

Serka laughed the whole way out of the mire. She called him a "little chaos-kisser" and offered him a place among her band. He accepted, eager and bright eyed, never once looking back at the mire he called home. But as their journey stretched on, Dax saw how poorly the world treated the small, the strange, and the kind. He saw cities burn poor folk for crimes they didn’t understand. He saw gold outweigh lives... and one day, Serka vanished in the night after a bounty went up for “rogue mages,” Dax realized, those with power stole from the world.

It was only fair he steal some back.

His knack for absorbing magic made him incredibly useful. He honed his ability on his travels, learning the silent vibrations of magic as it pulsed through the air. The hum when a spell began to churn, and the crackle it made as it was near completion. With quick fingers, quicker feet, and a mind for mimicry he managed to learn how to copy a spell as soon as it was being cast.

He would join multiple crews of people, all from different walks of life, until he stumbled upon a curious ship...

They found him in a barrel.

A water barrel, half-empty and sloshing, with a frogkin crouched inside, wide-eyed and shivering. The crew had docked at a port plagued by raiders and bribes, and no one noticed the soggy stowaway until the barrel rolled across the deck during a storm and cracked open like a secret.

Dax blinked up at them, wrapped in a soaked cloak three sizes too big. “I’m not here to steal anything,” he croaked. “Just... catching a ride. Also, I may have eaten some of the ship’s lemons. Sorry about that.”

Arden stood over him, arms crossed, unimpressed. “And why shouldn’t I toss you back into the sea?”

Dax shrugged, looked up, and gave the most honest smile anyone had ever seen.
“Because I don’t have anywhere else to go. But I learn fast. I work harder than I look. And if you let me stay... I swear I’ll make myself worth it.”

It was Bones who offered him a hand. Lorelai brought him a dry blanket. Pickles threw a biscuit at his head. From that moment on, he was one of them.

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Life on the Emberwake

Life aboard the Emberwake is everything Dax never knew he needed.

He wakes with the sun and hums frogfolk work songs as he helps swab the deck. He’s everywhere... coiling ropes, polishing cannon barrels, sticking his fingers in vents he definitely shouldn’t be near. He asks too many questions, laughs too loud, and sometimes falls asleep in the crow’s nest curled up like a leaf in the rain.

He’s one of the first to volunteer, the last to back down, and always the one to break tension with a joke or a song sung entirely off-key.

When missions go awry, Dax is the scout who sneaks past magical wards and returns with a trinket he shouldn’t have been able to steal. When the crew is down, he’s the one who juggles sea urchins or reenacts dramatic battles with spoons and candlesticks. He doesn't always understand pain the way others do, but he feels it all the same, and he carries it like water in cupped hands, never letting it spill into cruelty.

He’s broken things, he’s blown things up, and he once accidentally turned Thalion’s boots into singing clams, but he always tries to make it right.

He never feels sorrow, and always tries to lighten the mood, if one thing could be said, the frog is always happy.

No matter how far the horizon, how dark the waters may get, or how heavy the world may weigh, Dax is always smiling, and he wants you to smile as well.

He is a Spellthief by trade, but if he can steal away a little bit of someone's sorrow that's enough for him, "Maybe I wasn't born with a place in this world... but if I can make someone smile, steal a little sorrow, or light a lantern in the dark... then maybe thats enough. Maybe that's home."

"If you’re a monster, then I’m the puddle you cry in. And I’m proud to be that. ‘Cause monsters deserve someone too." - To Vivian when she said once talked about her past

"Some people were born to shine. Me? I was born to stand next to them… and clap real loud so they knew someone saw it." - To Rogier