Mollymauk Tealeaf

Mollymauk Tealeaf is a tiefling blood hunter. He is played by Taliesin Jaffe.

Appearance
Molly is a lavender tiefling with red eyes. His curled horns are pierced and extremely ostentatious, with little gems and baubles. His flamboyant appearance is often commented upon and he wears a bright and colorful robe covered with arcane symbols. Molly has two swords and a pouch that dangles from his hips. He also has many straight, overlapping scars on his neck, upper chest, and arms, presumably from drawing his own blood to activate his swords.

Tattoos
Molly first awoke with a red eye tattoo on the right side of his neck, on his right shoulder, and one eye on back and palm of his right hand. Integrating and concealing these eyes, he had a serpent tattoo made that curled all along the length of his right hand and up his arm, that wove into a floral piece on his shoulder, and then into a peacock that ran up the side of his face. Although he had tried to tattoo over the eyes they would not take ink.

Between his shoulder blades rising towards the hairline, he had tattoos of an eye within a pyramid, eliminated by another eye above it. Flanking and connecting through it like a mantle, he had a moon and sun tattoo.

Personality
Molly is described as a "literal and figurative peacock". He frequently tells extravagant lies with little mind for whether or not his audience believes them. He does not seem visibly affected by insults, as shown by his lack of reaction when the old man in Ye Olde Mudhole called him a devil and told him to leave town.

Molly is very confident about his appearance and often mentions nudity, both his own and others.

He finds everything delightful, and is on board for any thrill or high. Though he doesn't seem to mind rough living, he is also interested in extravagant — borderline hedonistic — pursuits, including being hand-fed fruit, illegal recreational drug use and getting full release massages from escorts.

Lucien
At some point in the past, a purple tiefling going by Lucien and later Nonagon led a group of people who broke away from an established order of some sort to form their own faction, called The Tomb Takers. At some point around or before 833 P.D., Lucien got involved with a spellcaster from Rexxentrum and a book of some sort. A tabaxi named Cree and the other members of the group found Lucien apparently dead in the woods after he and the spellcaster performed an unspecified ritual. They buried him and gave the book to the spellcaster.

Mollymauk
Mollymauk thinks of himself as having come into existence two years before he met the Mighty Nein, when he woke up buried in the ground with no memories. He shortly thereafter joined the The Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities. At that point, the only thing he was saying was "empty." Gustav Fletching eventually forged papers for him under the name "Mollymauk Tealeaf" in the hopes that "M.T." was somehow significant to his original name.. Molly has no desire to remember the life of the person who ended up buried where he woke up, though he has expressed some regret at not experiencing a childhood.

According to Toya, Molly wasn't talking when he first joined the carnival. Molly claimed in introductions to have been in the carnival for as "long as [he] can reasonably remember".

Molly acted as a promoter for the carnival and as a "fortune-teller" within it. His "abilities" in the latter area are the result of the application of cold-reading techniques and sleight of hand, not actual magic. He never developed an act for the show itself.

Upon meeting Cree in the Evening Nip and being addressed as Lucien, Mollymauk panicked and insisted that the Mighty Nein play along. He tried to pass himself off as having the same personality as Lucien to Cree, possibly succeeding. Later, under a Zone of Truth, Molly revealed his amnesia and desire to live as a new person separate from whoever Lucien may have been.

Jester
Molly read Jester's fortune for two copper pieces, using a small set of cards. He predicted that there is something bright and adventurous in her future.

At the Traveling Carnival of Curiosities, he showed her the moon and shadow cards together and asked if she understood what they meant.

Beauregard
Molly finds Beau very annoying, to the point of describing her as "awful" to fellow carnival members. Beau, in return, is put off by Molly being rude to her. Mollymauk dislikes monks because of an unspecified event that happened in his past.

Yasha
Molly and Yasha seem to be well acquainted from working with the Carnival of Curiosities. Molly appears to have met Yasha when she joined the Carnival a few months ago. When asked whether or not Yasha would be coming along with the party, Molly immediately accepted, referring to her as "the Charm." Yasha knows as much as Molly does about Molly's backstory.

Notable Items

 * Pair of decorated Scimitars (constructed of carnival glass)
 * Marked "fortune-telling" deck
 * "The Silver Dragon"
 * "The Anvil"
 * "The Serpent"
 * "The Eye"
 * "The Moon"
 * "The Shadow"
 * "The Chariot"
 * Disguise Kit
 * Pouch, bedazzled with gems, containing incense
 * Periapt of Wound Closure
 * Old, rusted, iron helmet that is at least two hundred years old (obtained from a cemetery)
 * A "deeply gaudy" tapestry with a symbol of the Platinum Dragon embroidered into it.
 * A brooch of the Platinum Dragon..
 * Summers Dance Scimitar.

Feats

 * Tough

Variant Tiefling Abilities

 * Darkvision
 * Devil's Tongue
 * Vicious Mockery cantrip
 * Charm Person spell (as a 2nd-level spell)
 * Enthrall spell
 * Hellish Resistance

Blood Hunter Abilities
Though concealed on his body, regardless of where he cuts himself to use his rite powers, the red eye on his neck always bleeds in response.


 * Blood Curses (2)
 * Blood Curse of the Eyeless
 * Blood Curse of Purgation
 * Blood Hunter Order: Order of the Ghostslayer
 * Esoteric Rite: Rite of the Dawn
 * Blood Maledict (1 use)
 * Crimson Rite (1d6)
 * Primal Rite: Rite of the Frozen
 * Extra Attack
 * Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting
 * Hunter's Bane

Quotations
Beauregard: Are you patronizing me, Mollymauk? Mollymauk: No, I'm hoping that you’re going to patronize us.
 * Mollymauk: Can you hand me your staff so I can watch this? I want to see this limp of yours. Purely for my own entertainment.
 * "We're carnival people: we all have our issues. You don't wind up here if you don't have some kind of issues."
 * ‪"Mother always told me to never give away a story for free.‬"
 * "When in doubt, if something goes wrong, just... nudity. It usually works."
 * "BECAUSE I'M WEIRD!"
 * When asked why he travels with weird people in the circus.
 * "I'm always ready to make a fool of myself."
 * “Be the chaos you want to see in the world.”
 * "I don’t want to remember anything, I don’t want anybody else’s baggage in my head, I don’t want anybody else’s problems, thoughts, ideas… I like this person, right now, is a good person, is a fine person, is a happy person."
 * "I spent two years before I met you all cajoling people, occasionally ripping them off, occasionally doing a good turn here or there. Never trust the truth. The truth is vicious, the truth thinks that you owe it something… None of that. I like my bullshit. It’s good, it’s happy, it makes other people happy."
 * "Let me make this abundantly clear: My name is Molly. That person is dead, and not me. It's just a person who had this body. They abandoned it. It's mine now."
 * "I am your God! Long may I reign!"
 * "There's nothing better than waking up with no pants and flowers in your hair."
 * "Whatever team you're on, I'm not sure I play for that one."

Trivia

 * Molly has implied himself to be a worshiper of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon (based on what he said to a carnival-goer in ). While under the influence of Jester's Zone of Truth, Molly revealed that he actually worshiped the Moonweaver (an unapproved deity in the Dwendalian Empire). However, he explicitly stated that his swords are entirely nonmagical and his "worship" over them was a show.
 * Taliesin Jaffe confirmed that "Mollymauk" is named after Alan "Mollymauk" Musgrave in the 1966 teen comedy film "Lord Love a Duck", which had been directed by Taliesin's grandfather, George Axelrod.
 * Molly's intials are MT, a homophone for the first thing he initially said ("empty"). Taliesin confirmed this as intentional.
 * Taliesin originally intended for Mollymauk's last name to be "Trickfoot," but Matt didn't want such an explicit reference to the first campaign so early on.
 * "Mollymauk" is a modification of "Mollymawk", the name of a species of albatross in the genus Thalassarche that originates from the Dutch "mallemok" (mal - foolish, and mok - gull).
 * The word "albatross" is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse.
 * In maritime superstition, to be followed by an albatross was considered a sign of good luck for a ship; killing the bird, such as in Samuel Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, is said to bring a curse onto the killer and their ship.
 * "Tealeaf" is a suggested surname for Halflings in several editions of the Player's Handbook.
 * "Tea leaf" is also Cockney rhyming slang for "thief".
 * Tasseography (also known as tasseomancy or tassology) is a method of divination or fortune-telling that interprets tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments.
 * Lucien originates from the Latin name Lucius, itself from the word lux (meaning "light", "shining", or "resplendent").
 * Nonagon is the name of a nine-sided polygon (also called an enneagon), from the Latin nonus ("nine") + gōnía ("corner").
 * The band They Might Be Giants have a song entitled "Nonagon" on their children's album Here Come the 123s. It refers to both an attendee at a party at which "everybody in the party is a many-sided polygon" and a dance they perform at this party
 * Taliesin has quoted lines from TMBG's song "Don't Let's Start".
 * Temples of the Baha'i Faith (a religion teaching the essential worth of all religions, and the unity and equality of all people) are required to be nonagonal, an essential architectural character stipulated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, a head of the Baha'i Faith. In the Baha'i Faith, the number nine represents completeness.
 * The number 9 has significance in several cultures, including the nine planets of Hinduism, an association with the Chinese dragon (a symbol of power, magic, and good luck), the Ennead (nine deities worshiped at the major city of Heliopolis) of Egypt, the Nine Worthies that personified the ideals of chivalry of the Middle Ages, the nine worlds of Norse mythology, and the nine muses of Greek mythology. There are also nine circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno, and nine rings of power in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth.
 * The Nine Days of Av are a religious observance in Judaism that takes place during the first nine days of the Jewish month of Av. It is a period of semi-mourning leading up to Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of Av on which both Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed. Jaffe's grandfather George Axelrod was born to a Russian Jewish father.
 * This is also a nod, coincidental or not, to the group's name The Mighty Nein.
 * Molly was the first player character of the second campaign's party to be knocked unconscious in combat.
 * Taliesin has compared Molly's personality to that of Hunter S. Thompson.
 * Taliesin had hoped that Molly could continue coming up with new lies about his backstory for a long time, but was forced to come clean during the events of.
 * Molly appears to be pansexual, or at least have little preference for who he sleeps with, as seen when he bought the services of two courtesans and when asked about his preference of gender, he specified he only cared about the one with the best hands and best conversation.
 * Molly is illiterate.