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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8914696" data-attributes="member: 30538">Elwasse<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-sQQ5Pqb/0/2dabed7c/M/ezgif-2-f3f1b45214-M.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Everyone knows that bards are spies. Everyone takes it for granted that, as the bards wander about looking for tales to turn into songs, they learn all sorts of other interesting and dangerous things that they invariably pass on to their patrons, who are typically magnates of the various realms. So most people are careful about what they reveal when they think a bard might be listening. And nobody really believes in the so-called free bards, who claim to owe no allegiance to any lord but only to their craft.Elwasse of Surbrook is a free bard. Raised by the first of her calling from the gutters of the city from which she takes her name, she sells her songs for food and lodging, but never sells the secrets that she has learned to anyone, high or low. Most who have learned a bit about the free bards assume that their first, the playwright Calum Pikesway, acts as their patron, collecting the secrets that they gather and secretly selling them to the highest bidder. They are wrong.While Calum has, from time to time, advised Elwasse of matters that she might want to investigate, he never asks her to report on anything, trusting in the sense of duty he has instilled in her to keep her on the right path. Her adventures are guided by that sense of duty, by her faith, and by her periodic glimpses of potential futures, most of which show her things that she seeks to prevent. She does her best to keep these visions a secret, as she fears that she would be regarded as a servant of one of the prideful Ascendants if they became known. (Her belief is that such beings are deceivers seeking to prevent mortals from coming to the understanding of the Shaper of Worlds.)Typically, on learning of a situation that demands her involvement, Elwasse will recruit allies from other adventurers, ideally those with whom she has worked well in the past. When needs must, though, she will take whatever help she can get, and hope for the best. This might lead to her being allied with nearly anyone, depending on the circumstances. The ally of today might be the enemy of tomorrow, after all.Sometimes, she wonders why Calum chose to train her, and the other free bards, in this way. In her darkest moments, she fears that he might be a pawn of one of the Ascendants, making her one by proxy. He wears a symbol that she has seen nowhere else, a sort of stylized eye. When she asked about it, he told her a strange tale, of a giant with many eyes who was lulled to sleep and then killed as part of some scheme. "So I wear this so that one of the eyes of Argus is always open. Wherever and whenever."The name meant nothing to her, of course. Elwasse -- PL 5Abilities:STR 0 | STA 1 | AGL 2 | DEX 1 | FGT 3 | INT 3 | AWE 2 | PRE 4Powers:Oracular: Senses 4 (precognition), Unreliable - 2 pointsAdvantages:Attractive, Connections, Contacts, Equipment 3, Fascinate (Performance), Improved Defense, Jack-of-all-trades, Uncanny Dodge.Equipment:Armor (Protection 2), Rapier (Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical), Throwing Knives (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1), Masterwork Fiddle (+2 circumstance bonus to Performance checks) and 7 points of equipment as needed.Skills:Close Combat: Rapier 2 (+5), Deception 2 (+6), Expertise: History 6 (+9), Expertise: Magic 4 (+7)*, Expertise: Performance 6 (+10), Insight 8 (+10), Investigation 4 (+7), Perception 6 (+8), Persuasion 4 (+8), Ranged Combat: Throwing 4 (+5), Stealth 4 (+6).* INT-based.Offense:Initiative +2Unarmed +3 (Close Damage 0)Rapier +5 (Close Damage 3, Crit 19-20)Throwing Knives +5 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1) Defense:Dodge 5, Parry 5, Fortitude 3, Toughness 3/1, Will 7Totals:Abilities 32 + Powers 2 + Advantages 10 + Skills 23 + Defenses 13 = 80 pointsOffensive PL: 4Defensive PL: 4Resistance PL: 5Skill PL: 5Complications:Duty--Motivation. Faith. Honor (code of the free bards.) Secret (oracular visions.)</blockquote>

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