Name: Lotho Wanderer

Aliases: Lo

Age: 22

Gender: Male

Race: Halfling, lightfoot

Height: 3 feet

Appearance:
 
 Lo is not much to look at, often mistaken for a young child at first glance. He usually keeps his head ducked, or a hood pulled over, hiding his face. This does not help dispel the child-like looks at all. Even if you catch sight of his sideburns and realize you are viewing a halfling, Lo is small to begin with, thin and pale, when his skin is revealed. Usually, he prefers to be as covered as possible- from hoods scarves to long sleeves to gloves, with the colors being more earthy tones, as to blend in with his surroundings. Like many halflings, though, he prefers to run around barefoot, the soles of his feet well worn from years of doing so. At most, he weighs about 25 to 30 pounds, though he avoids being handled. One thing many people note are Lotho's eyes, an icy blue color that seems to glow from within. Match that with his pale, almost sickly complexion and dark mass of curly hair, it is not hard to see why people are drawn to them.

  He does not look others in the eyes very often, instead either keeping his head lowered or looking over their shoulder when talking to people. He can be seen as a bit nervous or flighty, often glancing around himself and shifting, as if he cannot get comfortable in one spot. Often, Lo would pull his hood low over his face when he is talking with someone for a long period of time, or wrap a scarf around his face, careful not to muffle his voice. He is a quiet speaker, one of few words, only saying what is necessary, and then stay quiet. Still, because of his small stature he is often overlooked, and uses this as an advantage to keep unnoticed. He often overhears things, and if someone is in pursuit, he uses his small size to fit into tight places. Sometimes it is good to be small.

  When it comes to clothing and personal property, Lo has a limited amount, but keeps it with himself at all times. Mostly, his pants and shirts are older, with a few patches, but long, and neutral earthy colors like greens, tans and browns. He has a few scarves, thin in material, and seem to be used for covering more than for warmth. He also has two cloaks with large hoods, one a deep green color, almost black, and the other a light tan. They are newer, but still show signs of being worn quite often. His most valuable article of clothing would be his gloves; rich, dark colored leather gloves that are obviously new. He spends most of his earnings on them, and would be lost without them. Besides his clothes, Lo has a small bag filled with different herbs and gauzes, as will as wraps and a small book about different healing spells. The book is well worn, to the point some of the spells are smudged from over-reading, but Lo carries it for more sentimental reasons than for actually looking up spells.

Personality:

Lotho is a very quiet individual, preferring to be overlooked by those around him, and just be ignored in general. Over the years, he has found that when you get noticed, bad things tend to happen to you. He doesn't often speak unless spoken to, and even then, he keeps his sentences short and to the point. Even so, he is quite caring, and often has a bit of a personality reversal when he sees someone injured. Well stocked in both supplies and medical knowledge, Lo lets his well tuned skills in healing to take over, and makes quick work in patching up his patients. Unlike his normal attitude, the second he starts patching up a person, Lotho is sure handed, quick and with no fear. It comes as naturally as breathing. Usually afterwards, he becomes shocked at how close he allowed himself to get with another, and withdraws quickly.

  If someone can break through the wall around the halfling, they would find a very shy, but curious mind. He only knows medical knowledge and spells, so fighting, sword techniques, and offensive magic is amazing to Lo. He likes to watch people practice such skills, in awe of their knowledge. In fact, the halfling might even try and sneak a peek at any books they might be using as a reference, his own curiosity driving him to learn more about the world.  He has a phobia of being touched by others, and will go out of his way to avoid brushing by people, even on accident. He flinches away if someone touches him, drawing back as if he was burned, and a fearful look in his eyes. Because he likes to be covered, rumors have started he is horribly scarred underneath his clothing, and Lo would rather not talk about it.

Strengths:

Medical Knowledge:

  Lotho has spent most of his life studying, practicing, and honing in his medical skills and knowledge has made him quite useful. Under the umbrella, his skill includes knowledge of traditional medical care using bandages, gauzes, salves, and local plants to promote healing. He also has basic spell magic for healing, though how well he rather not say. Because of his vast experience, when faced with a situation where his skills are needed, he kinda goes into a different mindset, focusing all his energy and attention on healing the patient. It makes it easy to ignore battles around him when treating wounded soldier, but can leave him vulnerable to attack.

Academia:

Lotho has the ability to read and write quite proficiently, and will not mind using his talents to acquire information and take down notes to be used later on. He has knowledge of a few languages, though he can only read and write in the other languages. He can speak a few lines, but not enough to communicate well.

Quick Footed, Quick Minded:

When a situation arises that some might view as fearful, Lo has learned to take flight instead of freeze in fright. He usually has his feet moving before his brain tells them to move, and while he is moving, he is figuring the best routes to use with his small stature.

Neutral Aspects:

Halfling:

Standing at 3 feet and weighing roughly 28 pounds, Lotho can take it or leave it some days. While it is nice to be overlooked and left alone, mistaken for a child, his small size makes him an easy target for attacks, and even if he is quick footed, his legs are only so long.

Weaknesses:

Phobia of Contact:

He does not like to be touched. Oftentimes, he will avoid it as much as possible, even running away if he has to. When he is caring for another, his phobia is either ignored or goes away briefly, but comes right back the second the injured is no longer in danger.

Touch of Dark Magic:

On top of traditional spell healing, Lo has a secondary healing technique which manifested itself at a young age, drawing the Black Herb to him. It involves putting his own life force on the line, and tapping into the ability often leaves him starving and tired, as well as bearing a new injury reminiscent of the one he just healed. He tries not to talk about this ability, avoiding it as much as possible. In fact, unless you are with the Black Herb, you probably know nothing of this ability. Because of the magic, he also has random memories floating in his head that are not his own.

Haunting Past:

He does not remember a time spent as a 'normal child'. From early on, a man found out he had a talent in healing spells, and spent years teaching Lo about the magic. Years of practice, studying, learning, and then as he got older, experimenting. Exactly what he learned to do he refuses to say, but most nights he spends staring at the sky, fearing trying to sleep and letting the night terrors take hold once more. He is not sure if the Black Herb is looking for him, but Lotho is sure the Man is.

Notable Equipment:

Simple bag which includes:
1 Healing Spell Book
1 Herbs and Medicinal Plants Book
Several herbs and salves in small jars for injuries
Gauze
Bandages
Paper and writing utensils

Likes: Starry Skies, Rain, Water in general (for some reason, water helps sooth the memories that are not his own), reading and learning new things
Dislikes: Being in chains or tight places for long time, being touched, having too many people paying attention to him, the Black Herb, and not being able to save someone's life
Habits: Likes checking his bag to make sure he has all his supplies, flipping through his books even if he doesn't read them, swimming or sitting by the water, sleeping during the day in the sunlight.

History:

 Lotho was born to the streets. His mother died during the birth, and his father left a short while afterwards. How he survived on his own for so long, the halfling cannot say. He has no connection to his birth family, and developed the last name Wanderer for how often he wandered the streets. Still, he was a good child, not thieving like most in his situation. In fact, he tried his hardest to help local store keepers in exchange for food. He was well liked on the streets, until one day, a strange man in robes came across the tiny halfling child. He was a strange man, holding a glowing stone, and staring at Lotho, asking the boy what he can do. Lo did not understand the question, but the man explained the halfling had a talent inside him, and would like to bring him back to his place of learning, to teach the boy. Being as naive as he was, Lotho  nodded, and followed the man.

   At first, the man was very nice, teaching the child how to read, and write. Soon, they started practicing small spells, healing little scratches and small colds. It took a while, but the more he practiced, the easier it became. The wounds became larger, more concerning, but Lotho was eating it up, finding each person a new challenge, and his magic became stronger. Then, one day, the man was attacked on his way back home, and Lotho felt something stir deep within him. Placing his hands on the man, he willed the injury to just.... heal... and it did. After a beat, as the man stared where the wound was, and then to the young halfling, Lo blinked, before crashing, suddenly dead tired. After that day, something changed within the man. He became consumed with this rare talent for natural, unspell magic, and kept pushing Lotho to see how far his powers can go. Lo did not understand why the man was so interest, but kept using his powers, even if they left him hungry and tired, past the point he would want to stop. Oftentimes, lessons now ended when Lo could physically not carry on, barely conscience. Then the man would praise him, and let him rest.

  Sometimes, the man brought other men to see Lo's talents, and they asked him questions about his family, and where he learned to technique. He had no answers, and soon they began prodding his with needles, taking his blood to study it. They brought more people, hurt people, almost dead people in to see how close to death one had to be to be brought back. And then they brought in a dead person. Lotho wasn't sure what exactly happened, the toll of the pull so much he lost consciousness, but it came out that the halfling did not have to be awake for his powers to take hold. Whatever barrier he had all these years, before healing the man, it was now gone. Any brush of skin on skin, awake or asleep, would start the 'dark healing' abilities, as long as contact was maintained. It worked faster when he was awake, but they learned if he was asleep, he tended to sleep longer, to recover the energy lost in the transfer.

  Soon, Lotho hated the man, hated the test, experiments, hated to touch or be touched. He had no say in what he healed anymore, and it scared him. What if they kept using his ability to heal others while he was asleep. What if he slept forever, in a coma. Lotho wanted to believe the kind man who offered him a home would never do that, but the strange look in his eyes nowadays made Lo not trust what he believed anymore. A side effect that neither side really paid attention to was the fact as Lotho healed, sometimes he acquired memories that were not his own. They kinda bothered Lo, but he knew the new memories were harmless, but as time wore on, more and more filled his head. For some reason, water seemed to help 'reset' the flow, not deleting them, but bringing his own memories back to the top of the pile. He did learn things, useless to himself, but when he mentioned places or events, the man took an interest. Now, after some heals, the man would ask if he learned anything. Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't.

   A few months ago, the man had strained the young adult halfling to the point he had to stay in bed for 3 days. Whatever happened, it had sent the man excitedly talking to others, something about the latest heal, someone who had been dead for a decently long amount of time. It was then Lotho realized the man no longer cared for the halfling, only found use in his abilities. In his experiments. Weak, but knowing time was limited, Lotho fled while the man was out, running to the woods to hide. He didn't stop until he found an underbrush, small enough for a halfling to crawl under and hide, but easily overlooked. Exhausted, he fell asleep. A while later, he awoke to the man and his colleagues crashing through the woods, calling Lo's name. Luckily, they passed right over his hiding spot, but the halfling knew time was short. As soon as he felt strong enough, he was running, again, hiding in the woods along the main roads, until he came across a small city. Forgoing it, he journeyed further, using his knowledge of local plants and berries to eat, and survive. He figured the man would think the halfling stopped at the closest cities, so by ignoring it and moving on, he had more time to flee.

 This has gone on for a few months, the halfling jumping from town to town, trying to survive without drawing too much attention to himself.Luckily, healers are quite useful, and traditional medical knowledge has helped him gather a bit of coin to survive. Some have offered him a more permanent gig, but the fear of the man and the Black Herb keeps the halfling from staying into a town too long. The second he feels to familiar with a person, or a place, he sneaks away in the night, heading for the next town.