[Rogue's Gallery] Paths of Legend: Paths of Madness

This is the character reference thread for my Paths of Madness PbP. The first post will also contain XP totals after the IC gets started.

Breeanalulia (Bree) Firewalker : Female Human (Emiran-Fire) Monk 5/Assassin 1

[sblock]Character Name: Breeanalulia (Bree) Firewalker
Race: Human (Emiran-Fire)
Class: Monk 5/Assassin 1
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Gender: Female
Age: 20
Height: 5’-9”
Weight: 135#
Skin: Dark
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

Character Level: 6

Known Languages: Common, Emiran, Thayvian, Ignan

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Strength:14 (+2) [6 point]
Dexterity: 14 (+2) [6 points]
Constitution: 12 (+1) [4 points]
Intelligence: 16 (+3) [8 points, +1 level]
Wisdom: 14 (+2) [6 points]
Charisma: 10 (+0) [2 points]

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Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dex, +2 Wis, +1 class)
Flatfooted Armor Class: 13
Touch Armor Class: 15

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Hit Points: 30
Current Hit Points: 30

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Class Abilities: Flurry of blows, unarmed strike, evasion,
still mind, ki strike (magic), slow fall 20’,
purity of body, sneak attack +1d6, death attack,
poison use, spells.

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Saves:
Fortitude: +5 (4 base, +1 Con)
Reflex: +8 (6 base, +2 Dex)
Will: +6 (4 base, +2 Wis)
* +2 bonus against enchantment spells and effects

-------------------------------------------------------

Initiative Modifier: +2
Base Attack Bonus: +3
Melee Attack Bonus: +5
Ranged Attack Bonus: +5

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Weapons:
Unarmed Strike (+5, 1d8+2, x2, B)

-------------------------------------------------------

Skills:
Balance/11 (Dex) ** 9 ranks
Disguise/5 (Cha) ** 5 ranks (4 cc ranks + 1 rank)
Escape Artist/11 (Dex) ** 9 ranks
Hide/11 (Dex) ** 9 ranks
Listen/3 (Wis) ** 1 rank
Move Silently/11 (Dex) ** 9 ranks
Sense Motive/11 (Wis) ** 9 ranks
Spot/4 (Wis) ** 2 ranks
Tumble/11 (Dex) ** 9 ranks

-------------------------------------------------------

Feats:
Combat Expertise (1st level)
Improved Unarmed Strike (1st level bonus)
Improved Grapple (1st level bonus)
Combat Reflexes (2nd level bonus)
Improved Disarm (3rd level)
Weapon Focus [unarmed strike] (6th level)

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Spells: 1 – DC 14
1: disguise self, obscuring mist

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Equipment:
Peasants Outfit (0gp, 0#, worn)
Amulet of Mighty Fists +1 (6,000gp, 0#, lost)

-------------------------------------------------------

Encumbrance: 58/116/175/350/875
Base Speed: 30 ft
Normal Speed: 40 ft[/sblock]

6th level Shadow
NE Medium undead (incorporeal)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +11, Spot +11
Languages Common, Thayan
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 13
hp 25 (3d12 HD)
Immune undead traits
Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +6
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
Spd Fly 40 ft. (good)
Melee incorporeal touch +5 (1d4 Str)
Base Atk +1; Grp +1
Special Atk create spawn*
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
Abilities Str –, Dex 20, Con –, Int 12, Wis 16, Chr 16
SQ
Feats Ghostly Grasp**, Necrotic Reserve***
Skills Hide +11 (+4 racial bonus on hide checks in areas of shadowy
illumination and -4 penalty in brightly lit areas.), Knowledge (local) +2,
Knowledge (religion) +2, Listen +11, Search +11, Spot +11,
Sleight of Hand +6
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
Experience 15,000
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
[sblock=Background]A prison guard with a split lip and spitting blood had brought the shackled prisoner down the stairs into the subterranean prison wing known, unsurprisingly, as "the dungeon". If the guard was injured, his charge was a bloody mess. The wretch's hair was matted with blood, his right eye ugly and swollen shut. He struggled to drag his left leg while desperately clutching his sore ribs with both arms. The pitiless guard kept the prisoner moving ahead of him with threats and generous thrusts of his truncheon to the small of the man's back. The prisoner continued to beg pathetically the whole time in spite of the guard's pitiless demeanor; a nearly incomprehensible litany of mumbled apologies, desperate explanations and senseless blubbering.

The hardened criminals of the dungeon, both human and otherwise, laughed and taunted the pair through cell doors as they made their way down the corridor. Word spread quickly that the man was a petty thief who'd senselessly thrown away the possibility of an early release on a foolish escape attempt in which his current escort had been injured. The predictable result was a harsh beating, a much more serious criminal charge and relocation to the dungeon. Instead of opening a cell door, the guard stopped at an iron grate in the floor and fished out a set of keys from his belt. In a few moments, it was unlocked, the grate propped open and a darkened hole loomed ominously before the prisoner. Under better circumstances a wooden ladder would have been lowered into the hole to allow access, but the spiteful guardsman turned and unceremoniously pushed the prisoner in. Still blubbering his sob story the man was caught unprepared and was quickly swallowed up by the darkness with little more than a gasp and a resounding crack of bone as he hit the oubliette floor ten feet below. Nothing but the jeers of the other inmates and the squeal of rusted hinges could be heard as the guard closed and locked the oubliette grating and walked away.

There was some debate amongst the other prisoners over the next day whether the man had even survived the fall seeing as how nothing could be heard from his hole. The question was answered in the wee hours of the morning when the man's moans and then screams of anguish echoed throughout the dungeon. Any pity the prisoners might have felt for the wretch was quickly eroded by his nearly constant cries of pain and more calls for mercy. Angry shouts for him to shut up went unheeded. A few of the more callous inmates dumped the contents of their chamberpots into the corridor so that their waste might drain down into the oubliette and so deliver a more poignant incentive to its occupant to be quiet.

For days, the badly injured prisoner continued to weep in pain while repeatedly muttering a woman's name; something like Amberline. No one knew, or much cared, whether it was the man's lover, wife, mother, sister or daughter, but the wretch seemed more concerned for her well being than his own. Eventually, much to the gratitude of prisoners and guards alike, the man lost the ability to speak and only moaned occasionally. In time, even that sound diminished to nothing. The last anyone in the dungeon heard of the man was two days later when a guardsmen dumped a bucket of drinking water into the oubliette. Some sputtering and weak slurping followed for a few minutes and then, once again, silence. It seemed that the wretch had finally met his end; alone, in the dark, with no one to remember his name, except perhaps for the woman to whom he'd called in his last moments.[/sblock]
[sblock=*]Shadow Spawn
CE Medium undead (incorporeal)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +11, Spot +11
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 11
hp 19 (3d12 HD)
Immune undead traits
Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +4
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
Spd Fly 40 ft. (good)
Melee incorporeal touch +3 (1d4 Str)
Base Atk +1; Grp –
Special Atk create spawn
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
Abilities Str –, Dex 14, Con –, Int 6, Wis 12, Chr 13
Feats Alertness, Dodge
Skills Hide +8 (+4 racial bonus on hide checks in areas of shadowy
illumination and -4 penalty in brightly lit areas.), Listen +8, Search +2,
Spot +8, [/sblock][sblock=**]GHOSTLY GRASP [MONSTROUS]
You can handle corporeal objects even while incorporeal.
Prerequisites: Cha 15, incorporeal subtype.
Benefits: You can wear, wield, and otherwise use corporeal
items as thought you were not incorporeal.
Special: Without this feat, an incorporeal creature can only
wear or wield items that have the ghost touch special ability.[/sblock][sblock=***]NECROTIC RESERVE [MONSTROUS]
You are not immediately destroyed when your hit points fall
to 0 or lower.
Prerequisites: Cha 13, supernatural ability to drain or
damage an ability score or drain energy.
Benefits: Each day that you slake your hunger by draining or
damaging a living creature's ability score, or draining a living
creature's life force, you gain a necrotic reserve. On days when
you have created a reserve, you are weakened but not destroyed
when you are dealt enough damage to reduce your hit points to
0 or lower.
A weakened undead acting on the strength of its necrotic
reserve may take a single move action or standard action each
round (but not both, nor can it take full-round actions). It moves
at half speed. Taking move actions doesn't risk further injury,
but performing any standard action (or any other action the DM
deems strenuous, including some free actions such as casting a
quickened spell) immediately expends the necrotic reserve.
Unless the action increased the weakened undead's hit points,
it is destroyed. A weakened undead acting on the strength of its
necrotic reserve is also destroyed if it is dealt additional damage
after the attack that first weakened it.
An undead may only rely on a necrotic reserve up to once per
day, even if it engages in additional feeding following its successful
return to positive hit points.
Normal: Undead reduced to 0 hit points or lower are immediately
destroyed.[/sblock]

Dremis Lightfoot
Male Halfling Rogue 6
True Neutral
Representing Rathan

[sblock=Stats/Size/Psychical FeaturesStrength 12 (+1)
Dexterity 19 (+4)
Constitution 12 (+1)
Intelligence 14 (+2)
Wisdom 10 (+0)
Charisma 12 (+1)

Size: Small
Height: 3' 4"
Weight: 38 lb
Skin: Light
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond; Straight; Beardless[/sblock]

[sblock= HP/Speed/AC/Base Attacks/Encumbrance]Total Hit Points: 24

Speed: 20 feet

Armor Class: 15 = 10, +4 [dexterity], +1 [small]

Touch AC: 15
Flat-footed: 15 [uncanny dodge]

Initiative modifier: +4 = +4 [dexterity]
Fortitude save: +4 = 2 [base] +1 [constitution] +1 [halfling]
Reflex save: +10 = 5 [base] +4 [dexterity] +1 [halfling]
Will save: +3 = 2 [base] +1 [halfling]
Attack (handheld): +6 = 4 [base] +1 [strength] +1 [small]
Weapon Finesse: +9 = 4 [base] +4 [dexterity] +1 [small]
Two Weapon Fighting: +7/+7= 4 [base] +4 [dexterity] +1 [Small] [-2/-2 two attacks]
Attack (unarmed): +6 = 4 [base] +1 [strength] +1 [small]
Attack (missile): +9 = 4 [base] +4 [dexterity] +1 [small]
Grapple check: +1 = 4 [base] +1 [strength] -4 [small]

Unarmed Damage: 1d2+1 [small]
Sickle Damage: 1d4+1 [small] (+1 dmg if I get my +1 sickles back)

Light load: 32 lb. or less
Medium load: 33-65 lb.
Heavy load: 65-98 lb.
Lift over head: 98 lb.
Lift off ground: 195 lb.
Push or drag: 488 lb.[/sblock]


Languages: Common Elven Halfling Orc

[sblock=Feats/Skills

Two-Weapon Fighting
Two-Weapon Defense
Weapon Finesse

Skills:
(Pluses with no Descriptor are ranks taken in each skill)

Appraise (Int) +4 = +2 +2 [Int]
Balance (Dex*) +10 = +4 +4 [Dex] +2
Bluff (Cha) +5= +4 +1 [Cha]
Climb (Str*) +7 = +4 +1 [Str] +2 [halfling]
Concentration (Con) +1 = +1 [Con]
Decipher Script (Int) +4 = +2 +2 [Int]
Diplomacy (Cha) +5 = +4 +1 [Cha]
Disable Device (Int) +10 = +8 +2 [Int]
Disguise (Cha) +1 = +1 [Cha]
Escape Artist (Dex*) +10 = +6 +4 [Dex]
Forgery (Int) +2 = +2 [Int]
Gather Information (Cha) +1 = +1 [Cha]
Heal (Wis) 0
Hide (Dex*) +16 = +8 +4 [Dex] +4 [small]
Intimidate (Cha) +1 = +1 [Cha]
Jump (Str*) +5 = +1 [Str] +2 [halfling] +2 [tumble]
Listen (Wis) +6 = +4 +2 [halfling]
Move Silently (Dex*) +14 = +8 +4 [Dex] +2 [halfling]
Open Lock (Dex) +12 = +8 +4 [Dex]
Ride (Dex) +4 = +4 [Dex]
Search (Int) +6 = +4 +2 [Int]
Sense Motive (Wis) 0
Sleight of Hand (Dex) +8 = +4 +4 [Dex]
Spot (Wis) +4 = +4
Survival (Wis) 0
Swim (Str**) +5 = +4 +1 [Str]
Tumble (Dex*) +10 = +6 +4 [Dex]
Use Mag. Device(Cha) +7 = +6 +1 [Cha]
Use Rope (Dex) +4 = +4 [Dex]


* = check penalty for wearing armor

Escape Artist >=5 ranks gives +2 on use rope checks for bindings.[/sblock]

[sblock=Class/Racial FeaturesHalfling:

* +2 dexterity / -2 strength (already included)

* Small (combat bonuses, +4 to hide already included)

* +2 racial bonus on climb, jump, move silently

* +1 racial bonus on all saving throws (already included)

* +2 morale bonus on saves vs. fear (stacks with racial bonus)

* +1 to hit with thrown weapons and slings

* +2 racial bonus on listen checks (already included)

Rogue:

* Sneak Attack +3d6

* Trapfinding

* Evasion (level 2)

* Trap Sense (level 3)

* Uncanny Dodge (level 4)

* Improved Uncanny Dodge (level 8)

* Special Abilities (choices begin at 10th level)

Class HP rolled
Level 1: Rogue 6
Level 2: Rogue 3.5
Level 3: Rogue 3.5
Level 4: Rogue 3.5 +1 to dexterity
Level 5: Rogue 3.5
Level 6: Rogue 3.5[/sblock]


[sblock=Equipment

None... adventure doesn't allow it.. but my character prefers using sickles and studded leather armor[/sblock]

[sblock=More about Dremis Lightfoot

Dremis' story began for him really on the hard streets just like most would imagine big city life to be. He begged, stole and, gambled for the food on his plate on a daily basis. Thankfully for Dremis though he was good at what he did, and once he realized it true potential, his efforts doubled and tripled, thus quickly earning a name for himself as a quirky little halfling thief. Dremis was getting good at his tasks at his hand, boosting confidence in himself and to be quiet honest in those that were hiring him. He would delve into dungeons on a regular basis and come back with employers requested items in had, not to mention a few goodies for himself as well. Dremis was a rather laid back being, more letting life come to him, and if he felt it amused him or interested him enough he'd interact accordingly. Dermis' ego would get the best of him at times as he knew he was good at what he did and had the skills to back this up. As most know the main problem with thievery is, once you are named as a thief, it makes doing your namesake much, MUCH more difficult. Try as he might Dremis could no longer keep the label of thief off his record, and more than likely this was his ego's own doing. Someone might have well drawn a large red bulls eye on his back when it came to law enforcement as they were getting to the point of relentless chase in order to apprehend Dremis for his crimes. Before his most recent of dilemmas Dremis was recruited by a Red Wizard Governor of his homeland by the name of Jias Theramort. This meeting was kept VERY quite and VERY hush hush as if the governor was to be known conversing with an up and coming thief he would loose all respect and some of his backing for sure. The mission was a perilous one as Dremis was commissioned to steal the most valuable treasure from the governor rivals treasure vault, a fire opal the size Dremis' head at least. After slipping past guards and traps like it was a walk in the proverbial park Dremis was less than thrilled to know that the tall tales of a gem the size of his head were nothing but a farse. The gem did happen to be size of both his fists put side to side but not as big as his mind had been salivating over for weeks before the day of the heist. The governor paid Dremis in items of a magic nature hoping the trail of payment would be slightly harder to follow as he knew that if Dremis were to ever speak his name in tales that he would have no connection to him save for some wizard in the county that made the weapons and armor for the halfling as payment. Dremis of course was less than able to keep is mouth shut as per normal, Dremis was a bit too egotistical to not link himself somehow to such a prestigious heist and because of his bravado, the last thing he remembers is a crack to the back of the head and all things going black. Soon Dremis wakes in a dirty cell with nothing but a loincloth and a waterskin of water to his name. Looking around he notes the motley crew around him and feels the hairs of the tips of his toe stand on end at the thought of what something or someONE might do to him down here..... The search for escape is at hand..........[/sblock]

[sblock=Items Dremis' would have had on him when captured (suggested taken items)]
Studded Leather +1
+1 Sickle
+1 Sickle
Masterwork Thieves Tools
Basic Adventuring Gear[/sblock]

Evan Butler
Human Paragon 3/Warlock3
AL: CN HT: 5'11" WT: 180 Hair: Red Eyes: Green

STR: 18 (+4) [8 points + 1 lvl +2 racial]
DEX: 14 (+2) [6 points]
CON: 14 (+2) [6 points]
INT: 14 (+2) [6 points]
WIS: 10 (+0) [2 points]
CHA: 12 (+1) [4 points]

HP: 45 (3d8+3d6+18) AC: 12 (10 base + 2 dex)
Saves: FORT: +4 (2 base +2 con) REF: +4 (2 base +2 dex) WILL: +6 (6 base)
Init: +2
Speed: 30'

Bab: 4
Attacks:
Punch: +8, 1d3+3d6+4 subdual dmg
E.Blast: +6 Touch, 3d6 dmg
7x6

Skills(Total/Ranks):[57 Points] Spellcraft(+13/9); Sense Motive(+9/9); Use Magic Device(+10/9); Autohypnosis(+11/9); Concentration(+7/5); Tumble(+7/5); Know: Religion(+7/5); Know: Arcana(+8/5); Knowlanes(+3/1)

Languages: Common, Thayan, Elven

Feats: [5] Improved Toughness, Empower Spell-Like Ability, Maximize Spell-Like Ability, Thick Skinned x2

Racial/Class Features: Eldritch Blast 3d6, Invocations, Detect Magic, DR 5/Cold Iron, 2 Bonus Feats, Bonus Skill, Adaptive Learning(Autohypnosis), Ability Boost(Strength)

Invocations(CL 5):
Least: Baleful Utterance, Hideous Blow, Entropic Warding

Equipment: None
(Journal & Adamantine Magebane Mace if he ever finds them again)

Background:

Personal Journal
Entry 1
Evan Butler's my name. Killing Wizards - well, that's my game. Or at least, it will be one day. Who needs a book filled with ancient scrawls when there's REAL power flowing in my very veins? It was the Rakshasa - thats right, the tiger-demons themselves - that gave me this blood, straight from the gods themselves (Or so I like to think - Humour me.), but they can't control us. Underestimated the power, and now me and the others, we're out there, and we're gunning for them.

Entry 5
I've learned a lot since I've been at the camp. They're turning us into weapons to take out the Thayans. There's a raid tonight, I've been selected, I can barely contain my excitement. Time to kill some red-robed, hide-bound, no-talent hacks.

Entry 6
They say I was nearly dead when they found me. Can't say if it was the priests who brought me back or my own stubborn will. Don't much care. What matters is I survived.

Entry 9
Have you ever just stopped and looked at your blood? It's remarkable. The power of life and death contained right here in a single scarlet pinprick.

Entry 10
I'm heading back. I don't care what Jaresh says, I'm ready. I've learned more than he thinks, I've unlocked a power he and the others don't seem to understand. I'm not like them.. I'm going in.

Entry 12
Damit, they've found me! Maybe I should've listened to Jaresh, stayed at the camp.. But it's too late now, they'll be here any minute, and I'm exhausted from all the fighting the last few days. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. All I can hope for is that this journal is found by my brothers, along with my 'cane'. I can't allow either to fall into the Wizards hands.

Seventeen

[sblock=Seventeen]
Human Bard 6
Alignment: CN
ECL: 3

Abilities: (32)
STR - 11 (3 Points)
DEX - 14 (6 Points)
CON - 12 (4 Points)
INT - 14 (6 Points)
WIS - 8 (0 Points)
CHA - 18 (13 Points + 1 LA)

HP: 6+3.5+3.5+3.5+3.5+3.5+6 = 29
Speed: 30ft
Initiative: +2

AC: 12 (+2 Dex)

Saves:
Fort: 3
Reflex: 7
Will: 4

BAB/Ranged/Grapple: +4/+6/+4

Weapons:

Class Abilities:
-Bardic Music 6/day
-Bardic Knowledge +14
-Countersong
-Fascinate - DC is Perform Check
-Inspire Courage: +1 Morale Bonus on saves versus fear and attack and damage rolls
-Inspire Competence: +2 Competence Bonus
-Suggestion - Will Save 17

Racial Abilities:
+4 Skills at 1st Level
+1 Skill at each level
Extra Feat at 1st Level
Favored Class: Any

Skills:
Bluff – 13 (9 Ranks + 4 Cha)
Diplomacy – 15 (5 Ranks + 4 Dex + 6 Synergy)
Gather Information – 15 (9 ranks + 4 Cha + 2 Synergy)
Knowledge Architecture & Engineering – 7 (5 Ranks + 2 Int)
Knowledge Geography – 7 (5 Ranks + 2 Int)
Knowledge History – 7 (5 Ranks + 2 Int)
Knowledge Local – 7 (5 Ranks + 2 Int)
Knowledge Nobility & Royalty – 7 (5 Ranks + 2 Int)
Listen – 8 (9 Ranks - 1 Wis)
Perform Oratory – 13 (9 Ranks + 4 Cha)
Sense Motive – 8 (9 Ranks - 1 Wis)
Sleight of Hand – 9 (5 Ranks + 2 Dex + 2 Synergy)
Speak Language – Emiran (1 Rank)

Feats:
1st - Weapon Finesse
1st - Obscure Lore
3rd - Extra Music
6th - Chord of Distraction

Languages:
Common
Azgund
Emiran
Thayvian
Tureni

Spells A Day:
Cantrips – 3
1st – 3
2nd – 2

Spells Known:
Cantrips – 6
1st – 4
2nd –3

Spells Known:
Cantrips – Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Read Magic, Mending, Detect Magic, Light
1st – Cure Light Wounds, Charm Person, Disguise Self, Grease
2nd – Cure Moderate Wounds, Glitterdust, Hold Person

Save DCs:
Cantrips: 14
1st: 15
2nd: 16

Physical Appearance:
Seventeen commands presence, maybe not consciously, but people are naturally drawn to him. His features are ruggedly handsome for someone so young. His eyes stand out against his golden complexion, his hair a short unkempt mess that looks so meticulously placed. He has a slight build yet conveys not an overabundance of strength or a lack of it. His smile is unbalanced, resulting in a playful smirk.

Age: 21
Height: 5’8”
Weight: 160
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Dirty Blonde
Skin: Tanned

[sblock=Background]
Seventeen was originally born Seamus Tailor. His name comes from an unknown story that changes every time he tells it. Really it is an excuse for him to delve into a story and gather the attention of a crowd. He does not share his history or the real story of his childhood with anyone, as it always grows further from the truth with each telling. But the real story is that he was born in Azgund to a tailor had a rather unremarkable upbringing.

As a teenager Seventeen was recruited into the Hidden College, his way with words winning him many favors and accolades. He’s been in Thay for only a few months, sent here under the pretense of “rabble-rousing” while secretly trying to pilfer knowledge of the Enchanter’s Circle. He was arrested under suspicion of being a spy, and was condemned to death for mere ease of dealing with the problem, the Thayvians not really caring if he was a spy or not.[/sblock]

[sblock=Personality]
Gregarious. Blatant. Charming. Seventeen knows what to say and when it say it and isn’t afraid to say it either. Some might find that endearing, some might find it irritating, but no one can deny that the man is smooth.[/sblock][/sblock]

[sblock=Grellus Red] [/sblock]
[sblock=Background]
Background
Many ogres were sent and many ogres died when the True Giant council heeded the hero Urga and allied with the Azgundians during the Shadow War. By war’s end the alliance was strained by the ogres’ relish of battle and the humans’ embarrassment of a brutal ally they no longer needed. Grellus was one such ogre wading out into whatever enemy he was pointed towards and leaving broken bodies behind with every swipe of the massive, two-handed, hickory tree club he favored.

When the war was over Grellus found himself with a band of men every bit as battle hungry and unfit for society as himself. They roamed the roads taking whatever they pleased from whomever crossed their path. An early encounter with a traveling menagerie left the men well fed and Grellus with a monkey that rarely left his shoulder. Its’ antics and shrieking hostility towards the other bandits amused Grellus and the beast became his mascot.

It was, in fact, because of the monkey that Grellus gained leadership of the bandits. In one particularly vile mood the monkey flung fresh feces at the leader of the band which struck the man on the side of the face. Enraged, he drew his sword and attempted to kill the beast. The monkey fled shrieking back to Grellus and Grellus, in a fit of anger, killed the bandit leader and two of the man’s closest cronies.

Grellus’ tenure as the bandit leader was particularly violent and the men took to calling him Grellus the Red because of his penchant for shedding blood. The band’s reputation and enemies Grellus made finally brought him down: while raiding within the borders of Thay Ouen One-Eye sold the group out to a Thayan force hunting them. The monkey was killed in a burst of fire and Grellus was taken.

Grellus passed the next years as a slave in a Thayan labor camp. His only comfort was the tiny monkey corpse tightly bound in rags to which he somehow managed to keep hold. Eventually, his temper bested him again and he lashed out killing an overseer with a chain. Now he sits waiting for death in a deep cell, but he hardly notices as he coos an awful song to the stinky, mummified, monkey corpse he cradles in one huge hand.

Motivations
1) Grellus wants a return to his ‘glory’ days of being a bandit leader. He has seized upon his former nickname of ‘the Red’ in his single-minded simplicity and transferred it to a liking for red objects. He’s just as likely to use his (usually transparant) savage cunning as violence to gain those things he desires.
2) Disparaging comments about his monkey will anger Grellus and he will likely hold a severe grudge. The monkey is, after all, probably the only thing that Grellus ever cared about.
3) The mad gnome’s whispers have prodded Grellus from his mournful lethargy and now he wants out.[/sblock]

[sblock=Shard]
Name: Shard
Race: Human
Class/Level: Psion (Shaper) 6
Gender: Female
Exp

Desc
Pale skinned, crowned with a shock of long, unruly white hair and with faded blue eyes, Shard is an unusual looking specimen. Waifishly thin, young and pretty in her own strange way, she is clad only in a simple thin white dress, now stained and soiled with grass, dust and grime. In the center of her forehead, there is a fragment of clear crystal about the size of a man's thumbnail. Examination bears witness that this isn't some awful injury, but that the crystal is fused with flesh and bone as if it had somehow grown from her body.

Strength (STR) 8
Dexterity (DEX) 12
Constitution (CON) 12
Intelligence (INT) 19
Wisdom (WIS) 14
Charisma (CHA) 10

Alignment: Chaotic Good
AC: 11 (+1 dex)
Hit Points: 34
Movement: 30 ground

Init: +1
Base Attack Bonus: +3
Melee Attack: +2
Ranged Attack: +4
Fort: +5
Reflex: +3
Will: +7

Race Abilities
Bonus Feat
Bonus Skills

Class Abilities:
Discipline: Metacreativity
Proficiency: club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, quarterstaff, and shortspear
Psionics
Bonus Feats

Skills: 63
Autohypnosis CC (Wis) +8 (4 ccranks + 2 Wis +2 synergy)
Bluff (Cha) +9 (9 ranks + 0 Cha)
Concentration (Con) +10 (9 ranks + 1 Con)
Craft (Sculpture) (Int) +13 (9 ranks + 4 int)
Knowledge (Psionics) (Int) +9 (5 ranks + 4 int)
Psicraft (Int) +15 (9 ranks + 4 int + 2 synergy)
Sense Motive CC (Wis) +6 (4 ccranks +2 Wis)
Use Psionic Device (Cha) +6 (6 ranks + 0 Cha)

Feats
1 Psionic Body
1 Psicrystal Affinity
1b Boost Construct (+1 special ability from available table)
3 Psionic Meditation (regain focus with move action)
5b Expanded Knowledge: Clairvoyant Sense
6 Up the Walls

Languages - Common, Thayan, Azgundi, Halfling, Djihon

Psionics (DC 14+lvl, caster level 6)
Power Points: 47
Level One
Astral Construct (lvl 1 1pp, lvl 2 3pp, lvl 3 5pp)
Minor Creation
Entangling Ectoplasm
Inertial Armor (+4 for 1pp, +6 for 5pp)
Empathy

Level Two
Clairvoyant Sense (From feat)
Swarm of Crystals
Cloud Mind
Detect Hostile Intent
Energy Adaptation (Specified)

Level Three
Body Adjustment
Greater Concealing Amorpha
Ectoplasmic Cocoon
Touchsight

Money -

Weapons -


Armour -
None

Gear -
None


Magic -
None


[sblock=Background]Once upon a time...
There was a town beholden to Thay near the border. Mostly subsistence farmers and men of crafts, it had to barter its own people to its wizard overlords for protection. Though there was a keep on a nearby hill where they grazed their sheep, it had been empty for generations and no one even knew it's name now. Crumbling and in disrepair, it nevertheless gave the villagers a sense that they were heirs to something noble, and they took from it the name of their town: Shepherds Keep.

In a far off land...
This small community decided that no protection at all was better than sending their children off to slavery. Though the issue was contentious, and they knew there would be consequences, the stubborn people of Shepherd's Keep had been pushed as far as they would go. Rallied by a brave (though some said foolish) man, they prepared for Thay's response.

There lived a brave, idealistic man...
Under their charismatic leader, the villagers turned their town into a trap, then worked feverishly on restoring the keep on the hill. They kept some people in the village, and worked on the keep from the inside though. When wizard familiars scouted Shepherd's Keep, and scrying eyes appeared in the sky, they saw only minimal preparations. In Thay, cruel voices laughed and issued commands. A small task force was assembled to punish the small town.

They arrived at Shepherd's Keep to an empty village. Yet as they explored they encountered triplines that fired crossbows from empty houses. Covered pits full of tarry water their horses couldn't get out of. Buckets of lamp oil sealed with wax with a bit of alchemist's fire at the top...they burst into terrible clinging flames when the wax seal broke (which was usually when the bucket fell onto soldiers as they burst into a house). The survivors put the remaining town to the torch, but they couldn't find the PEOPLE. That is, until the scout sent to the keep didn't come back.

When what was left of the punishment detail went to the keep to investigate, they were met with arrow fire and hurled spears from the battlements! The keep's doors had been restored and fortified, and its stone walls, while crumbling, were more than enough to keep them at bay. They retreated and waited for reinforcements, knowing that the wizards were watching.

...and his daughter.
As the farmers and shepherds celebrated their 'victory' in the keep, doom gathered on the horizon. What had been thought by the wizards as mere recalcitrance...inevitable and forgivable with punishment...had become full blown armed revolt, however pathetic. In their dark hearts, the wizards of Thay feared this the most. Rebellion could spread like a fire in wild grass if left unchecked. Even the faintest hint of success could inflame the passions of the oppressed. There would be no quarter now, no mercy. An example would be made.

Thay returned to Shepherd's Keep with an army that had a full wizard's contingent. The shields of phalanx batted aside hunting arrows and javelins. No courage was enough when the ground shook, and the very stones of the keep seemed to come alive to strike at the men manning the walls. Lightning roared down from the sky, and fire bloomed across the battlements. The second battle of Shepherd's Keep was not a battle at all.

In the moments before the final attack, the women and children of Shepard's Keep were brought to a cramped, dark escape tunnel in the cellar. It would come out in the woods some distance from the hill. The chances were slim, even so. When the wizards found the tunnel, they would send hounds and worse to track them...but it was all they had left.

The leader of what had become an insurrection took his daughter aside. A quiet, intelligent girl, he had done everything he could to foster her mind. Everything except one. As he explained what to do, and told her not to protest, he had another conversation with the voice in his head...the voice that had been there ever since he'd been in the Thayan guard, and had mercifully let a strange 'sorceror who was not a sorceror' escape his pursuers. Soon he would be dead, he explained to its presence in his mind, and of no further use to it. Go to her, he begged it silently. Give her your strength, so she can guide them to safety. Please.

The girl, his daughter, was crying and pleading for him to come too when she stopped, and her eyes widened. Father and daughter alike were gripped with a terrible pain, as the One Mind tried to do something it hadn't tried before...moving a fragment from one to another, rather than just making a new one. The experiment was a...qualified success. On some levels.

Numbed by pain both physical, mental and emotional, his daughter retreated behind a veil of delusion. This was a dream. A nightmare, perhaps, but a dream. It was the only explanation for this madness. The only refuge from despair. She played by its rules though, and when her father told her to run, she ran...

The escape tunnel was pitch black and caked with fungus and little squirming things that lived in it. Mothers frantically shushed the terror of their young ones, and they forged on. The ground shook behind them, as the keep was attacked and broken.

It was in the forest that they first heard the baying of hounds. The shellshocked daughter of the one who had led them told them all to flee...that she would stop the pursuers. The first hound burst through the brush and charged her, jaws slavering with bloodlust...only to strike an invisible barrier around her. Then, as it gathered itself to bite her, it was impaled from behind by a silvery sharp bladed arm. A dreamlike creature called by the girl who now thought of herself only as Shard...the name she'd had before was locked away with the other memories of when she was 'awake.' She stepped in the dog's blood and ran off in another direction, reasoning that the hounds would chase that scent above all others... She ran to lead them away from...something important. Something she'd promised to protect. Somehow. She ran.

And in her own way, in this dark and smelly cell, she is running still.[/sblock]

Psicrystal:
Alastor
Diminutive Construct
Hit Dice: 6 (17)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), climb 20 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+4 size, +2 Dex, +2 natural), touch 16, flatfooted 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/-14
Attack: -
Full Attack: -
Space/Reach: 1 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Construct traits, hardness 8, psicrystal granted abilities (improved evasion, personality, self-propulsion,share powers, sighted, telepathic link, Hero Personality, deliver touch, telepathic speech)
Saves: +2 fot, +4 ref, +5 will
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 15, Con -, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10
Skills: Climb +14*, Listen +6, Move Silently +6, Search +3, Spot +6, Plus Shard's ranks
Feats: Alertness [/sblock]

Sheet
[sblock]
Steise
Male kalashtar telepath 5/thrallherd 1
Chaotic Neutral humanoid
Init +1; Senses Listen +1, Spot +1
Languages Common, Quor, Draconic, Elven, Dwarven

AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10
(+1 DEX)
hp 22 (=14 Telepath + 2.5 Thrallherd + 6 CON)
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +7

Speed 30ft
Base Atk +2; Grp +2
Powers Known (ML 5); Power Points 41 (25 Psion + 10 Bonus + 6 Kalashtar)
1st Level (5)
conceal thoughts, crystal shard, mind link, psionic charm, synchronicity
2nd Level (4)
ego whip, read thoughts, psionic suggestion, psionic tongues
3rd Level (2)
energy wall, psionic darkvision
Psi-Like Abilities:
Mindlink 1/day, DC CHA-based, ML 1/2 HD

Abilities Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 13, Cha 14
Feats Inquisitor (1), Psionic Meditation (Psion1), Overchannel (3), Extend Power (Psion5), Talented (6)
Skills Autohypnosis +9, Concentration +9, Diplomacy +12, Bluff +6, Knowledge (psionics) +14, Psicraft +14, Sense Motive +9 (Skill Ranks: Autohypnosis 6, Bluff 2, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Knowledge (psionics) 8, Psicraft 8, Sense Motive 8)
Possessions

Skills
Kalashtar gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate Checks
Kalashtar gain a +2 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to impersonate a human

Racial
Immunity to effects that rely on the target's ability to dream
+1 Power Point per character level

Experience Points: 15,000
Next Level: 21,000
[/sblock]

Fluffy Bits
[sblock]
Appearance
Steise has lightly-tanned skin, with a frail, weak body. His crimson eyes hold a bright, penetrating stare when something interests him, taking in everything all at once. He wears his pale blonde hair shorn short, though it has grown shaggy due to his incarceration, wild and unkempt. He has all the delicate features common amongst Kalashtar, heightened by his malnourished body, making him seem human and something other at the same time.

Personality
Steise has a vaguely loose grasp on reality. The part of the One Mind that is imparted to him that granted him his psionic abilities snapped something in him, which, when nothing draws his attention, tends to cause him to stare off into space, lost within the expanses of his mind. Despite this, he is an outgoing, friendly sort who seems to make friends easily. He tends to look out for himself when things hit the fan, though in the company of others, he will contribute to the best of his abilities - so long as it doesn't endanger him too much.

Steise regards his more-than-casual-acquaintences friends as his dearest treasures, however, and will gladly defend them and come to their aid whenever possible. He'd gladly take an arrow for a friend - not in the chest, certainly, but in the thigh, or the shoulder, or some not-entirely-essential body part like that.

Background
The One Mind gifted Steise at a young age, granting the formerly skill-less boy a competence he had never known before. With the power of the mind opened to him, a once gray and dreary world suddenly brightened with color as he delved into the possibilities that had opened up for him.

When Steise reached adulthood, he left the Awakened Lands, determined to travel the length and breadth of the world to see what sights awaited. With naught but his psionic powers and his wits (few and far between, some would say), he drifted from land to land. Mostly, it was mercenary work that sustained him with that precious commodity that makes the world go 'round: gold. Spying on his employers' foes from a safe distance, turning bodyguards against their masters, sowing a bit of chaos into order, that sort of thing.

Understandably, this has earned him more than a few enemies, and a number of bounties on his head. In particular, the Dijhon have a pretty high bounty on his head, due to a little misunderstanding about some runaway slaves, a missing key, and a few chests of gold. And the Thayvians had a bounty out for him, due to a little fracas involving an uppity son of a 6th tier Red Wizard. It was only a wounding; he still doesn't know why they made such a big deal out of it.

Which is why he finds himself in his current situation. Oh, he fought as best he could against the wizards who came to take him into custody, even manging to draw blood from one of them, but he fell to their holding magics. Oh, and that trial! Wouldn't even let him explain it was a misunderstanding and he didn't mean to seriously hurt the guy.

Now he languishes in prison, execution ever looming closer. With the lunatic gnome telling him of an escape route, though, he's willing to take a few chances to avoid being executed in a public, possibly embarassing manner.

Age: 44
Height: 5'
Weight: 135 lbs
Hair: Light blond
Eyes: Red
[/sblock]

Current Status
[sblock]
HP: 22/22
PP: 41/41
AC: 11, Touch 11, Flat 10

Buffs:
[/sblock]

Gru'Xarl the Mindflayer




Background: Secret!