The Dreaded Nighthawk - Avencourt's Vigilante

(a.k.a. Shadow Court's Bane)

"Yer worried about runnin' into 'im? You've a better chance of gettin' hit by lightnin'." "Aye, but I might survive the lightnin'." -Two thieves discussing the Dreaded Nighthawk

For the past two years, both independent thieves and members of the Shadow Court, Avencourt's organized crime syndicate, have been plagued with a mysterious vigilante that roams the streets and rooftops at night, attacking thugs and robbers and breaking up criminal enterprises.  The vigilante calls himself the Dreaded Nighthawk, scourge of the criminal underworld.  He hunts the night and criminals are his prey.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

The Dreaded Nighthawk is in peak physical condition, as demonstrated regularly by his ability to fight multiple opponents at once, leap from rooftop to rooftop, run great distances after miscreants and still have breath to speak his trademark phrases.

Special abilities

The Dreaded Nighthawk is a master of unarmed combat, specializing in attacks that stun or incapacitate his foes swiftly. He is also adept with thrown weapons, striking targets precisely from several yards away.
Mentally, the Nighthawk never forgets a face or a name of a criminal he has fought.  Many rogues and thugs have been surprised when the Nighthawk calls them by name on a subsequent encounter.

Apparel & Accessories

The Nighthawk wears an suit of supple black leather that covers him from head to toe, which has hardened leather plates sewn onto it. This armor, known as "boiled leather" or cuir bouilli, made of blackened leather, but the chest pieces are dyed yellow to give the armor a sinister look. Some claim that the yellow chest plates are actually steel wrapped in leather to deflect arrows and give the body greater protection, and the color is to attract blows to where the armor is strongest. No one has been able to confirm this guesswork.
The Nighthawk's face is covered by a hooded mask of a bird of prey, dyed yellow to resemble a beak. The eye holes are protected by glass that some thieves whisper are magical, permitting the vigilante to see in even clearly even in the darkest of places, perhaps even seeing things made invisible by magic.
On his back, the Dreaded Nighthawk wears a reversible cape of dark red on the outside and dusty black on the inside.  This cape is not attached to the hood that covers his head, and pulling on it will simply detach it (as several thugs who tried that in an effort to incapacitate the Nighthawk learned).  The bottom of the cape is weighted by small lead weights sewn into the cloth.  One robber claimed he saw the Nighthawk whip off his cape and use it like a weighted net, tangling his opponent in the heavy fabric before knocking him unconscious with a vicious kick to the head.

Specialized Equipment

The Dreaded Nighthawk wears a pair of weighted knuckle gloves that give his blows more power and damage.  He is known for carrying a short (25 foot) length of silk rope and a grappling hook that can be disassembled, along with several clay vials filled with various fluids - some create a large area of smoke (like a smoke grenade), others give off a gas that makes a victim nauseous, still others will render people unconscious.  Some thieves have reported a gas that causes fear in the inhaler, most who have heard such tales chalk it up to the cowardice of the storyteller.  Finally, the Nighthawk is known to carry at least one small set of bolas and a throwing knife.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

No one knows where the Dreaded Nighthawk came from.  He appeared for the first time on a moonless summer night in Auldmarket, breaking up a mugging and leaving three thugs bloody and unconscious.  Since then, he has appeared irregularly, always at night.  While his main targets appear to be robbers and muggers and the like, he has forcefully closed down one drug den and beaten a serial raper close to death.  Two fences in stolen property have closed up shop since he began operating.

Image created using Hero Forge^TM

Current Location

Avencourt - the City of Banners

Species

Human

Age

uknown

Gender

Male

Eyes

unknown

Hair

unknown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

unknown

Height

5 ft, 9 in

Weight

198 lbs