Micah Pierce

Micah Pierce

Micah Pierce is a half-elf man, one of the Heroes of Saltmarsh, and a warlock formerly in service to an unknown Great Old One.
Micah today lives in Saltmarsh with his boyfriend and fellow Hero of Saltmarsh Oceanus and his pseudodragon best friend Sizzabiz.

History

Early Life

Micah was born in Waterdeep on the 30th of Marpenoth, 1470 to Warren and Calsa Pierce, a human man and elf woman respectively. Micah was the oldest of five siblings, Seraphina, the twins Pallu and Ruben, and Leora.
The Pierce family valued education, and each of each of the children were educated with the expectation of taking an apprenticeship or working with their father Warren, for his speciality tiling business. However, Micah never particularly took to any skill or trade, and was viewed by his father as a bit of a wastrel.
In 1492, while the attention of the city was focused on the Great Dragon War and the fear of Cult of the Dragon terrorist attacks, the block containing the Pierce's home became the target of a scheme by the shapechanging thief called the Mask, who was hired by an unknown patron to secure the deeds to the entire block. By posing as landlords, tenants, banking executives, and more, the Mask managed to succeed in Eleasis of 1492, but not before Seraphina was able to figure out that one person was behind the deal. Though there wasn't enough proof to prevent the Pierce's from losing their home, it did motivate Micah, against the wishes of his family, to pursue the Mask, chasing them across the Sword Coast. However, the Mask was in actuality toying with Micah, leaving clues of the places they had been to string along the half-elf for even longer.
During this chase, Micah discovered a tome in an abandoned ruin. Upon claiming it, the tome bound itself to him, forcibly entering Micah into a warlock pact with an unknown Great Old One patron.
In Alturiak of 1493, the Mask grew bored of the chase with Micah and the trail went dead in Saltmarsh, as the Mask faked their own capture and death at the hands of the Sea Princes. Unsure of what to do with himself, but too prideful to return home, Micah settled in town.
Micah attempted to find a way to support himself, attempting jobs with near every tavern, store, and market in town, including the Mountain Gem Mining Company, but ultimatley was fired from each and every position. Desperate for money, Micah instead began working as a smuggler, getting contracts from Crab, the owner of the Empty Net and chief contact for under the table jobs. Micah also occasionally mailed gold home to his family alongside letters filled with lies about how he was doing.

The Banesmark Crisis

(See the Heroes of Saltmarsh)
In Flamerule of 1496, Micah was one of the Marshers approached by Crab to investigate the haunted mansion of Saltmarsh at the request of Gellan Primewater. This request led Micah and the others to unraveling the entire Banesmark Crisis.
Clearing out the mansion, and disrupting the subsequent smuggling ring, resulted in Micah meeting the triton warrior Oceanus and the talking pseudodragon Biz, two people that would became very important in Micah's life. Ocaenus and Micah shared a mutual attraction with one another that gradually grew throughout the Banesmark Crisis, while Biz, a chronic yes-man with abadonment issues, would bond to Micah, becoming his familiar and best friend.
Following the attack on the Neverwinter Gala, Micah and the other Heroes of Saltmarsh met the Mask, who was attending the gala themselves and noticed that the attackers appeared to be from the Twilight Monastery, where both the Mask and Lyra had trained. The Mask needled Micah, revealing that they were the only one who didn't know that Lyra was a changeling, and promised to return after scouting the monastery out. Micah planned on leaving Saltmarsh to continue pursuing the Mask, but after being talked to by every one of the Heroes and Crab, relented.
During the lead up to the Dunwater Alliance's attack on the sahaugin fortress, Micah joined the other Heroes in helping the town prepare. While helping the town of Leilon drive off a group of hill giants. However, Micah's patron was growing increasingly demanding. Desperate, Micah diguised himself and broke the recently arrested Sterling Vermin out of the town jail, sacrificing the soul of the group's bard, Ygreesa Argnasi, to his patron, though the group's wizard, Tanner Liadon, escaped.
Following the Battle of the Spire, Micah returned to Saltmarsh shocked to find that his sister Seraphina had arrived in Saltmarsh while he was gone. The entire Pierce family had grown suspicious of Micah after he sent them 200 gold, which he had recieved from helping the town wizard Keledek by investigating his derelict ship. Micah refused to let Sera know about the Banesmark or get involved in the town's affairs more than she already had, and Sera vowed to stay in town until Micah grew more forthright.
On the 30th of Marpenoth, Micah, the Heroes, and Sera all celebrated his birthday by drinking at the Empty Net, a legitmately great day for Micah. However, the Mask returned the next day, proposing to the Heroes a plan to work together to infiltrate the Twilight Monastery. The moment the Mask finished, Micah attacked, intending to kill, with Lyra joining in soon after, but they were stopped by Mogran Oredelver. The Mask asked for their answer by the next day, and Micah became enraged at Mogran for stopping him. Oceanus, unsure of how to calm the situation down, also brough Sera, which led to a dramatic falling out of the two siblings due to Micah not keeping Sera in the loop and still obsessing over the Mask.
Ultimatley, the Heroes chose to assist the Mask with the plan of killing them once the mission finished, but Oceanus stayed behind in Saltmarsh to stay with Sera. However, the plan to kill the Mask never came to fruition, as Lyra died during the confrontation with the monastery's Grand Shade, resulting in the Heroes having to let the Mask go and escape the monastery using its teleportation room, which brough Micah, Biz, and Necian Arrzen to the Pierce home in Waterdeep.
Micah had an awkward, but positive reunion with his mother and a negative one with his father before leaving, first for Neverwinter to retrieve the Heroes' ship, the Big Nauti and then back to Saltmarsh to meet up with Mogran and the now-revived Lyra. Shortly after returning, Micah sacrificed the soul of one of Saltmarsh's homeless population to appease his patron, with Lyra standing guard.
While investigating Firewatch Island, the orchestrator of the Banesmark Crisis, the aboleth S'gothgah, attempted to dominate Micah's mind but was unable to, resorting instead to threatening the Heroes to leave their investigation alone or he would destroy Saltmarsh.
However, Micah, Lyra, and Mogran were able to leave town with Immortal Valentine, a friend of Sera's, and hunted the black dragon Voaraghammanthar to steal the God Trap, a powerful soul trap with seemingly limitless capacity stolen from Mogran's clan. The Heroes killed the dragon, trapping its soul, and returned to Saltmarsh, where they assisted the B-Team in killing the vampire Xolec, who was released while they were gone. Both Xolec and the dragon's souls were sacrificed to Micah's patron, now with the Heroes and Sera fully aware.
When the Heroes arrived to confront S'gothgah in his base, they were unaware that the aboleth had Banesmarked a few innocents as insurance, namely Micah's brother Pallu and Lyra's mentor Brenvark Coldscar. Mistaking the robed figures for true believers, Necian launched a fireball into the room, killing Brenvark outright and causing Pallu to flee into the Styes. Unable to retrieve him before S'gothgah ennacted his plan to create an Avatar of Bane, Micah was forced to leave Pallu behind to stop the attack on the Neveren Trade Fleet.
Following the attack, and the Heroes' killing of the S'gothgah's kraken and the trapping of the Sliver of Bane in the God Trap, Micah and the Heroes returned to Saltmarsh. Members of the Blackstaves who were curing Marshers of the Banesmark also retrieved Pallu from the Styes, leaving him in Micah and Sera's care.
A few days into the New Year, Micah sacrificed the Sliver of Bane to his patron, putting great strain on his own soul, but managed to survive the ordeal, greatly empowering his patron and freeing himself from his contract.

Life After the Crisis

The Heroes of Saltmarsh were all honored in a ceremony in Neverwinter for their efforts in saving the Great Neveren Trade Fleet and were bestowed gold and medals.
Micah and Oceanus formalized their relationship and settled down in Saltmarsh following the end of the Banesmark Crisis. Biz took over the Big Nauti and turned it into a fishing vessel, while Oceanus began working for the mariners. Micah continued jumping from job to job.
In Ches of 1500, while visitng Waterdeep, Biz was captured by the Mask in a bid to ruin the stability in Micah's life to continue their chase from years previous. However, the Heroes worked together to rescue Biz and fought the Mask, who's own mind and spirit was broken in the fight. Unexpectedly, Micah chose to offer the Mask a healing potion, telling them to never return.
In 1507, Micah joined the other Heroes and Krisella in aiding Necian's mission to free a group of slaves from the City of Brass.
In 1517, Micah and the Heroes attended the 97th Annual Tournament of Ki, cheering on Lyra's Coldscar Monastery, which was making its debut.
In the fall of 1519, Oceanus and Micah officially got married in a small ceremony in Saltmarsh. Oceanus took the Pierce last name.
In 1547, Micah once again joined the Heroes in assisting Mogran during the Liberation of Nettlemurk Hall, fighting alongside his friends in killing the chieftan of the defending orcs, turning the tide of the battle.

Physical Description

Special abilities

by Ashley

As a warlock to a Great Old One, Micah as access to various forms of magic and spells bestowed by his patron. Additionally, Micah could use his body to act as a conduit between his patron and the Prime Material Plane, allowing his patron to directly siphon the soul from another creature or holding instrument. This process was gruesome, as Micah appeared to sprout shadow tentacles from his mouth and other orifices. Additionally, acting as a conduit for a strong enough soul risked Micah's own, such as when Micah sacrificed the Sliver of Bane to his patron, nearly altering his own age and alignment in the process.
Since the Banesmark Crisis, Micah has been left with the magic powers bestowed by his patron without the need to sacrifice others to maintain them or his own soul as a reward for his sacrifice of the Sliver of Bane.

Specialized Equipment

by Ashley

Micah gained a variety of magic items during the Banesmark Crisis. One such item was a magical pipe stolen from the wizard Sanbalet that, when smoked, reveals images of the smoker's greatest accomplishment. Since the end of the Banesmark Crisis, is has shown the attack on the Neveren Trade Fleet.
Micah also has access to multiple Rods of the Pact Keeper, enhancing his warlock magic. The first rod was given by the wizard Keledek for services rendered while the second was bestowed by his patron.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Though initially quite at odds throughout the early months of the Banesmark Crisis, Lyra and Micah became closer following the confrontation with the Mask on the 31st of Marpenoth, and their shared bond in wanting to kill the same person helped mend many of the personality disagreements they had before.
Following the Banesmark Crisis, Necian began wandering Northwest Faerun trying to find his place. Micah, who had gone through something similar chasing the Mask, tried to warn him off his path, but Necian didn't listen. Though the two still have each others' back, they stay in contact mostly by letter.
Mogran and Micah remain close, especially following Mogran's adoption of Erig Oredelver in 1497 and the siblings Naomi and Dimitri in 1507. Micah took readily to the role of "fun uncle," and he and Oceanus visit or are visited by Mogran a few times a year.

Family Ties

Micah has a strained relationship with most of his family due to internal feelings of inadequacy and being unable to find his place in life, especially compared to his sister Seraphina. While Micah and Calisa do get along, perhaps due to his mother's elven heritage and long-sighted view of things, Micah and Warren butt heads due to the latter finding Micah to be a wastrel.
Of his siblings, Micah and Seraphina were always the closest due to their age, and though at times the two butt heads, they do sincerely care for one another, even if Micah has trouble accepting his sister as the adult she is. Since Micah left the family, many of the younger Pierce siblings don't know him all that wel. However, Micah and Pallu have begun bonding since the Banesmark Crisis, due to the latter's unwilling involvement near the end by being Banesmarked, finding a point of trauma only the other understands.

by Heidi

Micah, Oceanus, and Biz have formed an unusual but strong bond in the years since the Banesmark Crisis. Oceanus' levelheadedness keeps the family in check, while Biz's antics and "always in your corner" attitude means Micah always know someone is willing to hear him out. Micah also provides stability for Biz, who has (very) slowly grown less codependent, and Micah accepts and loves Oceanus for who he is, something the triton needed after being exiled from his people. When Micah and Oceanus marry, Oceanus takes Pierce as his last name.

Species

Half-elf

Date of Birth

30th of Marpenoth

Year of Birth

1470 CR 28 Years old

Birthplace

Waterdeep

Current Residence

Saltmarsh

Sex

Male

Eyes

Green

Hair

Dark brown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale

Height

5'11"

Weight

155 lbs

Aligned Organization

Heroes of Saltmarsh

by Ashley