CRYSTAL TIGERSTORM
The Silver Witch
Crystal Tigerstorm (CR 18)
Crystal Tigerstorm is the granddaughter of Carl Tigerstorm and one of the most loyal members of the Tiger Guild. Her youth was full of strife and darkness. Her father, Garth, knew nothing about her birth as her mother, a woman Crystal doesn't remember, died in childbirth. Thus, Crystal was raised in an orphanage in Massalia, an old Sword Imperium city — totally oblivious to her birthright. After being sold into the service of a local necromancer when she was eight, Crystal languished as common house servant for years. It was only when she started to show aptitude with magic that her master stopped beating her and began training her as his apprentice.
It was the first of several mistakes that would eventually cost him his life. For while Crystal eagerly took to the old wizard's teachings, she hated the old man. She used all her skills and wit to lull him into a false sense of security. As she grew to womanhood, the old codger fell in love with her and she used all her charms and considerable beauty to trick the old necromancer into showing her his most powerful spells. She killed the old fool, flailed the skin from his body, and burned his flesh and bones into ashes. The apprentice had become the master.
Crystal then set upon finding out who her parent's were. She seduced many of her former master's colleagues in the Ara Guild in Massalia and forced the owner of the orphanage to spill his guts, literally. She used up all of her old master's magical items and possessions to buy powerful divination scrolls. Finally, she tracked down her grandfather in Fruen and went to confront the family that had abandoned her. What she found was a strong willed, righteous man that didn't know what she was talking about. His son Garth had only ever had one relationship that he knew of and that was with the elven druid, Eiithinia Starchild.
But to her surprise, he summoned for his son and swore that if Crystal was indeed family that she would be welcomed into the Tigerstorm family with open arms. Garth arrived at his father's guildhall in Fruen to find a charming, young woman who looked exactly like a young priestess who he had fought beside and he had fallen in love with a long time ago. Crystal's mother had been a cleric of Jalivier named Dawn Almondsky. Garth had believed she had died near the end of the Second Ogre War. He hadn't seen her for forty years and was positive that he couldn't be Crystal's father. She was too young.
Crystal didn't believe him and swore she would make him suffer for denying her right to call herself a Tigerstorm. She stormed out of the room leaving the two men to speculate about the truth. After she had gone, Carl asked his son, “are you sure that she's not your daughter. After all, she has your temperament.” Garth left Fruen after that while Carl tried to unravel the young woman's origin.
Crystal was angry but more than that she was heartbroken. She was sure that she was a Tigerstorm. She could feel it. If they would not admit she was one of them then she would take the Tiger Guild by force. She would claim her birthright even if she had to kill all of them. Years of abuse and frustration took over as she fell in league with a growing hordes of evil humanoids and soldiers planning to lay siege to Fruen. She rode near the front as the hordes moved towards the city. The armies of Thallin moved to meet them with several prominent adventurers leading the charge including Garth and his half-elven son, Dabuk.
Dabuk and Crystal met on the battlefield and something about her spoke to the young half-elven ranger. Somehow he felt he knew this person; he felt a kinship with her. She too felt something and the two just stood there looking at each other. When Garth came across the two of them staring at each other, he knew they were indeed brother and sister. “I don't know how, but you are my daughter. Together, we will find the truth. I swear it by the love of a father who did not know.”
Crystal's eyes swelled up with tears. No one had ever cared about her before. No one had truly ever loved her. But this man did — she could see it. What was she doing? This was her family. She was a Tigerstorm! Her eyes went wide as she turned on her former allies. She rocked the hordes of darkness with lightning bolts and clouds of magical death. She rode into the fray with wild abandon hacking at gnolls and dark soldiers with her dagger in one hand and casting deadly necromantic magic with the other.
“She really has your temper.” Garth could only nod his head at his son's words.
As time passed, Crystal gave up her specialty in the Dark Arts. She traced her mother's ancestry to the city of Magdalene in the Kingdom of Navirosov and claimed her birthright there as well. Crystal discovered that she is the granddaughter of a noblewoman, Lady Elaine Almondsky. Lady Almondsky had given up hope of discovering what had happened to her daughter after her disappearance. Finding Crystal was like getting Dawn back. Together, the two women unraveled the mystery of Dawn Almondsky's disappearance.
After Crystal's conception, Dawn had become trapped in a permanent temporal stasis field and Garth had been sure she was dead. However, before the body could be buried, it disappeared. The wizards of the Ara Guild had stolen the body intending to use it in some future, dark experimentation. For years, Dawn laid dormant in the temporal stasis and it was only when a lowly apprentice figured out that the body wasn't decaying that she was brought to the attention of the masters of the guild. Fearing that someone might learn of the woman's plight, the wizards removed the temporal stasis and had her dumped in the slums of Massalia. Dawn quickly came to term, but she died during the birth.
Against the wishes of her grandmother, who feared she'd lose her granddaughter like she did her daughter, Crystal returned to Massalia and brought several of the perpetrators in the Ara Guild to justice — her justice (note that there is any real justice in Massalia). Crystal found her mother's body, returned it to Magdalene, and buried it in the Almondsky Family crypt, taking a powerful magical staff with her from a fallen wizard of the Ara Guild.
Crystal then went back to Fruen to stay with her grandfather, vowing to her grandmother that she would visit her as often as possible. She swore fealty to the Tiger Guild and her grandfather. She gets along well enough with her father, but she feels closer to Carl. She has fallen in love with a young knight named Sir Mojo Rising, a friend and traveling companion of her brother. However, she is reluctant to speak of her feelings to anyone but her grandfather.
Since the fall from grace of the Kingdom of Thallin, Crystal has made it her mission to overthrow King Varath Dragonguard and restore freedom to the country. She is the highest-ranking member of the Tiger Guild who still works within the kingdom's borders, and she single-handily leads the most powerful resistance movement in the kingdom. She also spends a great deal of time in the city of Tian in the Duchy of Minar advising her grandfather.
hp 87 (18d4+36);
DR 10/evil
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Female human wizard 18 (ex-necromancer)
NG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +5;
Senses Listen +5, Smell +10, Spot +5, Taste +10
Languages Abyssal, Common, Denila (regional), Draconic, Dwarven, and Elven.
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AC 17 (+1 Dex, +4 deflection, +2 luck), touch 15, flat-footed 16
Resist Cold 5, fire 5;
SR 18
Fort +10,
Ref +9,
Will +15
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Speed 30 feet (6 squares)
Melee Staff of power +11 (1d6+2/x2) or
Melee Staff of power +7/+2 (1d6+2/x2) and
staff of power +3 (1d6+2/x2)
Melee +3 dagger +12 (1d4+3/19-20/x2) or
Melee +3 dagger +12/+7 (1d4+3/19-20/x2) or
Ranged +3 dagger +13 (1d4+3/19-20/x2)
Space 5 ft.;
Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +9;
Grp +9
Combat Gear Potion of cure critical wounds (x3),
virge of mage armor (15 charges),
virge of magic missile (15 charges)
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 18th; save DC = 14 + spell level)
9th (2/day) — Empowered delayed blast fireball, Widened circle of death
8th (3/day) — dimensional lock, Quickened force missiles 1, sunburst
7th (3/day) — banishment, greater teleport, prismatic spray
6th (4/day) — antimagic field, Empowered explosive cascade 1, freezing sphere, globe of invulnerability
5th (4/day) — cone of cold, Empowered fireball, Rary’s telepathic bond, sending
4th (5/day) — arcane eye, contagion, Evard’s black tentacles, ice storm, shout
3rd (5/day) — dispel magic, halt undead, haste, stony grasp 1, water breathing
2nd (5/day) — darkness, glitterdust, Melf’s acid arrow, protection from arrows, scare
1st (5/day) — burning hands, chill touch, detect undead, feather fall, shield
0th (4/day) — arcane mark, detect magic, disrupt undead, read magic
Restriction Cannot cast Enchantment and Illusion spells.
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Abilities Str 11 (+0), Dex 13 (+1), Con 14 (+2), Int 18 (+4), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 20 (+5)
SA Spells
SQ Bonus languages, bonus wizard feats, summon familiar
Feats Combat Casting, Craft Extraordinary Item, Craft Lesser Magical Arms and Armor, Craft Virge, Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Improved Initiative, Leadership, Persuasive (B), Quicken Spell, Scribe Roll (B), Widen Spell.
Skills Bluff +12, Concentration +12, Craft (alchemy) +14, Craft (bookbinding) +12, Diplomacy +12, Disguise +5 (+7 to act), Gather Information +7, Heal +4, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (geography) +14, Knowledge (local) +14, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +14, Knowledge (the planes) +14, Knowledge (the undead) +14, Listen +5, Smell +10, Spellcraft +12, Spot +5, Survival +2 (+4 on other planes or to avoid hazards), Taste +10
Possessions +3 dagger,
amulet of health +2,
belt of warding (cold and fire resistance 5, SR 18), belt pouch,
boots of teleportation,
bustier of Charisma +4, courtier’s outfit, explorer’s outfit,
gloves of good and righteousness (DR 10/evil, cast
holy word 1/day),
ring of counterspells (
magic jar),
ring of protection +4, spell component pouch,
staff of power (unique variant), waterskin.
Spellbooks Crystal has various magical tomes at her disposal, but she prefers to choose most of her spells from her two primary spellbooks. These two tomes include all her memorized spells and all the spells listed below.
8th — Bigby's clenched fist, discern location, lightning ring 1, temporal stasis, wall of greater dispel magic 1
7th — come to me 2, control weather, energy ebb 1, forcecage, teleport object
6th — control water, make manifest 1, superior resistance 1, through the looking glass 2, undeath to death
5th — contact other plane, impotency 2, magic jar, night's caress 1, permanency, secret chest
4th — attune form 1, fear, mind to mind 2, orb of electricity 1, wall of fire, wall of water 1
3rd — anticipate teleportation 1, clairaudience/clairvoyance, demon dirge 1, explosive runes, privacy 2, secret page, sepia snake sigil
2nd — baleful transposition 1, body of the sun 1, ghoul touch, rope trick, spectral hand, touch me not 2, web
1st — alarm, block the seed 2, comprehend languages, enlarge person, low-light vision 1, nerveskitter 1, shocking grasp
0th — all cantrips from the D&D Player's Handbook v.3.5 and D&D Spell Compendium
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Age 40;
Personality Devoted, imposing, and enigmatic.
Description Crystal is of medium height with long, flowing blond hair and deep blue eyes, and she is incredibly beautiful (men tend to gawk with their mouths wide open). She used to be a necromancer and is still fond of wearing dark foreboding clothes. She always wears a silver-star pendant (her amulet of health +2), which was her mother's, as well as simple, yet elegant silver rings, bracelets, and fine metal cords braided into her hair on the left side. She always wears silver colored lipstick and nail polish. Her garments are always fine silk that are too revealing sometimes. She always wears more modest undergarments under these clothes coving her from just above the breast to just above the knees. She prefers soft leather boots, or sandals if she is going to be inside. She carries a powerful variant of a staff of power, shod in silver with a 3D silver star on the top (multiple star points in every direction — like a star-burst).
Height 5 feet 11 inches;
Weight 121 lbs.
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1 D&D Spell Compendium
2 Book of Erotic Fantasy