Rhys the Redeemed

Rhys the Redeemed

CR 8                                                                                       XP: 4,800
Male elf ranger 9
N Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +16
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +4 Dex)
HP 67 (9d10+18)
Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +6
Defensive Abilities Will +8 vs. enchantments; evasion; Immune sleep
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk short sword +10/+5 (1d6/19–20)
Ranged +1 underwater light crossbow +14/+9 (1d8+1/19–20)
Special Attacks combat style (crossbow APG), favored enemies (aberrations +4, humans +2)
Spells Prepared (CL 6th; concentration +8) 
  2nd-—Barkskin, Cats Grace
  1st-—Animal Messenger, Longshot UC, Longstrider
Before Combat If he anticipates trouble, Rhys casts barkskin, cat’s grace, and longstrider. When preparing to fight underwater, Rhys also quaffs his potion of touch of the sea.
During Combat Rhys prefers to snipe at his foes from afar, using Improved Precise Shot to ignore the effects of cover and concealment. Rhys hates aberrations more than anything and always targets them first.
Morale When reduced to 20 hit points or fewer, Rhys attempts to flee; his sworn duty to serve the Mordant Spire is far more important than any individual fight. 
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 8
Base Atk +9; CMB +9; CMD 23
Feats Deadly Aim, Endurance, Focused Shot, Improved Precise Shot, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Reload, Skill Focus (swim)
Skills Acrobatics +10, Climb +9, Knowledge (dungeoneering, geography, nature) +11, Perception +16, Spellcraft +11, Stealth +16, Survival +14, Swim +15
  Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Spellcraft to identify magic item properties
Languages Aboleth, Azlanti, Common, Elven 
SQ elven magic, favored terrain (underground +2, water +4), hunter’s bond (companions), swift tracker, track +4, wild empathy +8, woodland stride 
Gear potion of touch of the sea
Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, +1 underwater light crossbow ARG with 20 bolts, mwk short sword, belt of mighty constitution +2, cloak of resistance +1, pouch of pearls (worth 218 gp)
Sworn to protect the secrets of ancient Azlant, Rhys the Exiled has little sympathy for the colonists with whom he is imprisoned. However, to defeat a far greater threat, he must accept the PCs’ and the colonists’ help.
Rhys was born some 150 years ago on the southernmost island in the Ironbound Archipelago, where the Mordant Spire twists into the sky. By the time Rhys came of age, he had become adept at tracking and hunting marine animals. Given his talents, it was no surprise his superiors chose him to be trained as a ranger and inducted to the elves’ sea patrol, which guards the Mordant Spire and the ruins of Azlant against treasure hunters and even more sinister enemies such as the alghollthus. 
The Mordant Spire has remained largely unchanged for thousands of years. The island’s elven inhabitants live in a closed, self-sufficient society that fosters xenophobia toward all who venture into and threaten their domain. The ancestors of the masked elves were enemies of the ancient Azlanti, and though the empire was destroyed over 10,000 years ago, the elves still consider humanity to be reckless in its use of powerful and ancient magic.
Rhys, too, was indoctrinated to distrust the “bastards of Azlant,” as many Spire elves call humankind, and as a result, he is openly contemptuous of humans. While talking to humans, he avoids eye contact and is likely to talk about them in third person as though they weren’t present, or he might speak only Azlanti to them, feigning disappointment when they don’t understand what he says. Rhys’s prior encounters with humans primarily involved chasing off and sometimes sinking the ships of greedy treasure hunters and vicious pirates who sailed too close to the ruins, and these experiences only reinforced his low opinion of humans. However, there is one thing that Rhys and his fellow Mordant Spire elves hate even more than humans: the alghollthus and their aberrant creations that still dwell in the inky depths of the ocean and the fetid marshes of forgotten islands dotting the region where the mighty empire of Azlant once stood. 
Rhys prefers to wear dark, muted colors that help him blend in to his surroundings both in aquatic environments and on the rocky islands of the Steaming Sea. The tall elf is deeply tanned, his long hair is black, and his eyes are a cool shade of blue. Most of his equipment is of elven make, though his belt once belonged to an Azlanti noble who died during Earthfall, and the fine, enchanted piece of gear has been a family heirloom of the Codali family for millennia.