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Message: <blockquote data-quote="orbitalfreak" data-source="post: 833830" data-attributes="member: 1669">Jared Krauss, Wiz4 Ingredients::Key Phrase: "Good fences make good neighbours."Other Ingredients: An odd birthmark, The greatest threat the town has ever known, or is it...? "You can't judge a book by its cover."Background:Jared Krauss is a tall, lanky man of thirty-odd years.  His build is slight, but he has a strength beyond what one would expect from his slender frame.  Already balding, he wears his blond hair down to his shoulders, neither tied nor braided.  His blue eyes constantly dart around, and his slender fingers twitch nervously at every moment.  An odd birthmark (see picture below) stains his left cheek. Jared Krauss is a magician of little reknown, and this suits him just fine.  Krauss is what you could call paranoid, though that particular word doesn't quite do justice to the man.  He lives in a small shack down by the lake, surrounded by an eight-foot high wooden fence; after all, when you're paranoid, not only do good fences make good neighbours, but they are often the best sort of neighbour to have.Little is known about Jared Krauss before he came to settle in Mor's End.  He was part of a company of adventurers seeking to make a name for themselves, but one of the guides on their last adventure happened to be a turncoat.  The scoundrel attempted to abandon the party in the lair of an Allip, intending to come back later to retreive the valuable equipment off of the corpses; Krauss, however, saw through his plan at the last minute.  A single sleep spell put the turncoat out of comission, but Krauss and his allies were still set upon by the Allip.  Tragically, the entire party was slain, and Krauss barely managed to escape with his life, though his mind was severely affected by the Allip's wisdom draining touch.  This hindered mental state, along with his last interaction with another person ending in treason, has left poor Krauss very untrustworthy of anyone but himself.  He has even dismissed his raven familiar, for he suspected it to be plotting to peck out his eyes.  No matter what, no matter where he goes, Krauss believes that someone is out to kill him, or to steal his property, or to do other unkind things to him.  To compensate for this, Krauss has taken up the study of various types of protective magics; his spellbook contains many divination spells, as well as several from his specialty school of abjuration.  These protective measures help him to feel safe, and prevent him from slipping further into madness.  In keeping with his paranoia, though, his spellbook is disguised.  Not some gaudy, leather-bound, gem-set tome favoured by other magicians, Krauss pens his spells on the pages of a book with the title "History of the Violet Fungus, with Recipes."  If nothing else, this shows that one should not judge a book by its cover.In recent years, Jared Krauss had taken up the study of the silkfish which populate the lake at Mor's End.  He has become engrossed with their nature, and now spends much of his time growing these creatures in a small pond on his property.  He seeks a way to more efficiently (and safely!) harvest the tentacles of the silkfish, so they may be spun into silk.  In his studies, though, he has stumbled upon a discovery that others have failed to see.  The silkfish population is diminishing, and is being fed upon by a strange predator: an Ethereal Marauder.  Krauss has even seen the beast snacking on a few of his personal silkfish.  This could be the greatest threat the town has ever known, and Krauss has attempted to warn the locals.Of course, Krauss had not been beleived.  Really, a monster that appears out of no-where, eats a silkfish of all things, and vanishes without a trace?  Surely this is nothing more than the ramblings of a deluded and paranoid mind.  Or is it?Plot Hooks1:  Hearing tales of a madman predicting the doom of one of the main exports of Mor's End, the PC's attempt to seek out information to disprove the rumour, or to stop the tragedy if the rumours turn out to be true.2:  Krauss takes a more direct role in stopping the Ethereal Maurauder.  Approaching the PC's in disguise, he tells them of the troubles he has seen, and personally asks them to hunt the Marauder.  Jared Krauss, acting like he hasn't acted in a dozen years, offers to accompany the PC's on this quest.  If the experience goes well, Krauss may become more trusting of others in the future, and could even become a permanent travelling companion of the PC's.3:  A person has gone missing, the locals say.  His name is Jared Krauss, a paranoid wizard who lives by the lake.  Lately he had been warning the populace of a beast terrorizing the silkfish population, but they ignored his warnings, attributing them to the man's paranoia.  However, the people are concerned about the mage, for though he was a little crazy, he never hurt anyone.  Maybe his warnings of a creature were real, and the thing claimed Krauss as a victim?  Or did Krauss take it upon himself to exterminate the beast, and is now in need of assistance, where ever he is?  The PC's are offered a small reward (a few gold pieces, and a nice dinner) if they manage to discover the fate of Jared Krauss.Stat Block:Jared Krauss, male human Wiz4: CR 4; ECL 4; Medium-size Humanoid (human); HD 4d4+12; hp 23; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; AC 12 (+2 Dex); Melee unarmed strike +1 (1d3+1); SA spells; SQ summon familiar; AL NG; SV Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +2; Str 12, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 19, Wis 6, Cha 10.Skills and Feats: Listen -1, Spot -1, Heal -1, Spellcraft +11, Knowledge(arcana) +11, Disguise +3, Knowledge (nature) +10; Scibe Scroll, Skill Focus (Knowledge [arcana]), Skill Focus (Knowledge [nature]), Craft Wonderous Item.Wizard Spells Prepared (4/4/3): (0)-Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Mending, Prestigitation, Resistance; (1)-Alarm, Alter Self, Hold Portal, Obscuring Mist, Tenser's Floating Disk;(2)-Arcane Lock, Detect Thoughts, Obscure Object, Rope Trick.Equipment: Potion of Intelligence, hat of Disguise, Dust of Tracelessness, Dust of Illusion, Quall's Feather Token (tree).</blockquote>

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