#esp tex.....

Bloodhounds

Royal guards of the Umbra tribe, they are masters of stealth and the most powerful soldiers the Umbra have to offer - however, do not be deceived by their appearance. Even their warriors are lithe. There are at least five packs of Bloodhounds, with each one headed by a Flashbang (not pictured; this is the name for Umbra tribe priests) save for the Captain’s pack, which is naturally led by him (Tex).

In older times, they would stick closely to the chieftain’s side, but in recent years, have been sent by him personally to assist the Umbra tribe’s allies, namely the Sunstaren forces.

Most Bloodhounds are assassin and rogue types. Each pack consists of seven Bloodhounds, and one is always a Flashbang. All are adept at shadow magic (the Umbra tribe’s calling card, actually, considering that Umbra means “shadow”). They will travel almost exclusively via shadow hopping, and are known to hide in the shadows of important figureheads such as kings, queens, princesses, princes, or high ranking officers. While it is possible to know when a Bloodhound is present in someone’s shadow, unless one has been trained to identify the signs, it is highly unlikely to be aware of their presence. They are difficult to identify, even by mages.

They communicate via a variety of whistles, are known to howl, and all have a laugh reminiscent of the hyena. Given the unnerving nature of their laughter, they use it to their advantage whenever possible.

Let me throw in a little thing about Umbra troll mouths, since these three show the different types of teeth / tusks they can have.

Umbra trolls are slightly Vampiric, and so generally have sharp fangs (Gorria is a fanged Umbra troll). Most “civilian” members of the tribe possess fanged mouths; do not be deceived by their “civilian” status, all Umbra trolls are capable of using shadow magic and creating illusions. Next, are tusked Umbra trolls, who simply have the stereotypical troll appearance (Bel’tza is a tusked Umbra troll).

Lastly, there are fanged AND tusked Umbra trolls, who posses hollow tusks. These Umbra trolls are known to break their tusks in combat to splatter blood in the eyes of their foes. This is why the tusks are discolored and tinged with red (Tex is a fanged and tusked Umbra troll).

Tusks are always ALWAYS kept short, especially in the event the Umbra troll also has fangs, because having large tusks makes it significantly more difficult to rip into your opponents throat.