Kail_Traeganni

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 Through long hours of trekking through the rain, grim and dejected from loss of a companion and indecision after bewitchment, Ardir's face had been stone. Your mind was weak. You wanted the illusion. The easy path. Lucky nobody died... oh right, Raven may well have. Part of his mind mocks him even as he answers Tysh's question. "A few hours... best to meet whatever we find there in daylight. Let's find a good place off the road to make camp."

Onward to Silbervas then!

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 Kain receives a sullen glare. "Pardon milord, fer me lack of ahrcain edgeoocayshun. It's just that while I know a wizard's incantation may influence me regardless of my hearing, I've met bards enough that the magic of songs only work on those hearing them." Then Ardir grimaces, "But yeah, if she's in some lair rather than that hovel, we might meet a rough end by charging into a darkness that only a few of us can see into, and stumbling into whatever traps a hungry trickster leaves about. Seeing as only you saw the way into her lair, perhaps you've a notion? I was going to try knocking on her door again- unless she's a diviner, she might come up, hoping for a lone traveler. Must be hungry, after working up an appetite for Harin here."

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 Harin's words and Tysh's caution war in Ardir's heart. Then, a hungry smile spreads across his features, "Yes... her song. We can avoid it." Lightning strikes, and the haggard elf's face is alight with a vicious joy. He reaches down and scoops his hand into the wetted earth beneath, kneading himself a ball of mud, and then plugging his right ear. "We make ourselves deaf, plug up our ears with mud now, and set upon her. By the time she realizes her song has no effect, our blade and arms will make a ruin of her. Who's with me?" Ardir casts an expectant gaze across his companions, ready to plug his other ear with mud.

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 The memory of a kindly smile and safe home turned into a cruel jest, and Ardir has a moment of wondering where the keening wail of pain and rage was coming from, before recognizing his own voice. He turns, noticing the trunk of a nearby tree broken and caved in by his maul. His muscles spasm, body and face, as he fights back his berserk rage. For a moment, his pupils become his whole eye, two pools of ashen coal beneath the lightning-rent sky. But the moment passes, and as his body relaxes, his eyes return, and Ardir growls, "That black-hearted wretch! Yes, retribution later, though it pains me to say it... we might again become her affable dolls as matters stand." His face grimly set, he nods to Tysh and the ragged man. "Onward."

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 Ardir rubs his forehead as Kain and Tysh speak, finding himself frustrated. He shakes the cold water from his hair with a grimace. "Oi! Let's hold off our ceremonies and tribunals for when we're safe- the storm is getting too rough. Through pouring rain and lightning, it's already too easy to miss the approach of the undead. We have mere minutes. Let's press on, hard, looking for a good hollow to shelter in... or go back to Oma's, where we know there's a warm fire. And if we are going back, I'll not hear ill of the host we ask for refuge."

Seems Scarby's words are only for Kain, for now- perhaps they can use the midden bones to convince us that our friendly acquaintance is indeed evil. If Kain reacts to Scarby's stomach growling and starts shouting about us traveling with a cannibal, that's a whole different direction.

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 Ardir chuckles ruefully, "I count myself no great singer, though many ears prize the timbre of elfin voices." At Tysh's approach and whispered question, he simply hangs his head and gives her arm a squeeze, returning her low tones in kind. "Thank you, friend... thought it is hard to say what you can do. Likely as not, we'll just find empty homes, and I'll know little more than I do now. But if I find my beloveds shambling among the dead... I don't know if I'll fly into a rage or collapse entirely. If it comes to it... watch my back, make me eat, don't take any harsh words or mulish silences personally."

There's a fair bit to do between now and being ready for play- making a proper sheet, of course. I'd also flesh out the village where Jonnar grew up (maybe 10 miles out from Shade's End), Miss Wynflaed, and the presently unnamed apprentice of hers. I'd also want to confirm things like the interactions between the Covenant of Mists and mortal lords, my reason for Jonnar being in town based on the notion that a lord might call for a practitioner to confirm when one accused of a crime says they were mentally influenced, with the Covenant held responsible for chasing down rogue practitioners. While any given town or village might not have more than a handful of practitioners who are members of the Mists... with spells like minor dream being secret, reliable, and not dependent on proximity, it only takes a few practitioners at and beyond 5th level to enable coordination across vast areas. So I conceive of the overall Covenant as a body much larger than those outside would conceive based on the rarity of practitioners. I also reckoned that conversing with the dead, practitioners come upon secrets of the living and earn their ire. I made up a whole rule for the Covenant about Practice and fighting mortals- don't use it, and certainly don't kill with it (much like the seven laws of the Council in the Dresden Files, but less developed and permissive of mindreading.) Hence Jonnar being fully martially trained. As for your review and selection- I think the character concepts, story-wise and mechanically, are about there. What would you like to see at this stage? On the magic item front- I can come up with a pair of traditional magic items under 25k gp, but here's what I'd love: Blade of Spirit Binding A +1 Ghost Touch Longsword that acts like the and feats. This sword will automatically absorb any rejuvenation-capable spirit or haunt it reduces to 0 HP. Once per day, the sword can be plunged into a corpse which the spirit is then poured into: allowing others to hear the spirit's replies, with questions answered as if speak with dead were cast at the wielder's level. The wielder makes daily saves as normal for Absorb Spirit, and if left unattended, the spirit can escape the weapon- however, it is possible for the weapon to be passed between wielders, sharing this burden. Finally, enchantment spells directed at the blade can influence the spirit within, as if they were cast using the metamagic.

Would using the fixed legendary medium without hot-swapping make Jonnar's build valid? I was meaning to ask about keeping spells from the archmage/hierophant as psychic spells anyway. On campaign vibe, I definitely noticed how many of the occult classes had abilities that work well in horror/mystery type campaigns. I wanted to go Medium because that felt the richest for RP, talking directly with all sorts of haunts, legends, recent dead, etc. Jonnar would be a member of the Covenant of Mists, part of a faction (working title- Covenant of the Seal) which not only prepares for the Coming, but actively works to delay it by questing to find and resolve haunts, even acting to prevent their formation. This faction believes every haunt is a small breach between the material and the spirit world- and when small breaches are not sealed, the whole fabric dividing the realities might tear asunder. To a lesser degree, they believe that lingering spirits are living breaches, and that irresponsible uses of occult practice widen the breach.

Name: Jonnar Starfound Race: Human Gender, Age: Male, 25 Class: Legendary MediumNo spirit hot-swapping, one seance per 8-hour rest 7 | Id RagerBlood Rager's Id Rager Archetype, with the Dedication emotional focus. He's not angry, he's just absurdly resolved. 7 Alignment: NG Organization, Faction: Covenant of the Mists, Covenant of the Scales Concept More psychopomp than spirit hunter, Jonnar aids spirits and mortals alike in attaining peace. Stats & Char Notes STR: 14 DEX: 14 CON: 14 INT: 11 WIS: 12 CHA: 18 Description Appearance: Jonnar wears his shoulder-length hair tied back and keeps his beard closely cropped, and that beard is slightly interrupted by a scar traveling from his left eye nearly to his jawline. Chainmail glints beneath his cloak, and he moves with the hard grace of a trained warrior, but his eyes are unfailingly kind. Goals, Motivations Immediate goal: - Find the spirit or practitioner who corrupted the wine merchant. A group of haunts and specters were born when dozens of House Braithwere family members died of poisoned wine. When the wine merchant was later caught, he cried that he had been ensorceled... many fools claim such a defense, hoping that it cannot be verified. Fortunately for the merchant, he indeed was found to be missing memories. The merchant had bought his stock in Shadewatch, and there are three individuals whose faces the merchant had seen directly before the missing periods- the cooper, who made the barrels. The vineyard manager, who made the wine. And the messenger from the Braithweres who commissioned the order. Any of them might themselves be enchanted, or a willing agent who meant to saw the Braithweres dead. Somewhere behind all this is a practitioner or influencing spirit, and they must be brought to justice. Broad Goal: - Slow the Coming by sealing rifts between worlds Covenant of the Mists Organization The Mists has a few broad ideological factions, and a few orders of special function. Factions The Covenant of the Scales (colloquially, Balancers), are the largest faction within the greater Covenant of Mists. They hold that there is a narrow path to be walked in how our world is divided from the spirit world. The barrier must be like a mist that divides and obscures, and can be passed through. If the mist is blown away, the Coming will merge the realities, and none can truly be prepared for such a cataclysm. But if the mist became a wall... there would be no magic in the world, artifacts would become dull things, and practitioners would lose all supernatural power. The Balancers also recognizes that exchange, not war, must govern the relationship between the living and the dead. Medium and spiritualists are welcome members of this Covenant, as spirits must be engaged to be understood and helped on their journey to the next world. Corporeal undeath, however, is fundamentally unnatural, and outbreaks of the physical undead signify a hole between the worlds. They are at odds with the Covenant of the Flame, Burners, which uses methods of spiritual destruction to unmake spirits totally, and the Covenant of the Key, Lock-breakers, which believes the Coming to be inevitable- being inevitable, the wise and enterprising should advance the Coming on their own terms. Many members don't belong to any faction- they either don't know what to believe about the Coming, or have forsworn the holding of unproven hypotheses and simply insist on learning more. Orders Order of the Tome: Dedicated to collecting, advancing, and preserving occult knowledge. They have only one sanctum in the province, carved into the depths of the Fogpeaks. The Lock-breakers are relatively new, and their radical theory emerged from among this Order. Order of the Bond: Dedicated to relations with the mortal world and spirit world alike, maintaining favor (or at least, avoiding the wrath of) the great lords. Almost wholly populated by Balancers. Order of the Hammer: Dedicated to fighting the undead. Almost all Burners serve in this manner. Leadership: Every decade, a great dream council is called, and the worthies (those who can cast dream) of the Covenant gather in the dreamscape of a current leader. The Council is always of seven: four elected from among the whole Covenant, three being the leaders of the Orders. They will elevate one of the four elected members to serve for the next decade, as Mistspeaker. Other functions are distributed- finding children with the Gift is everyone's business, as is training them. His personal, long-term goal:s - Face the truth of his origins, fulfill a prophecy, and cleanse Narrow Island. He'll need more power, more allies, and specific ritual knowledge for this. - Break the curse that coats his spirit and rejects the magic of others Motivations: Compassion Duty Joy Belonging Background As a child, Jonnar was found by the Rivier Guild, clutching some timber about a mile downriver of Narrow Island. He was nearly mute for two years after that, and by the time he began speaking in full sentences again, his mind had blotted out whatever happened there. The Rivermen left him with a wise woman who they'd long trusted with their ailments, and she raised him as her own. Miss Wynflaed had already taken an apprentice, but there was nowhere else to put the boy, so he also helped her with her duties. He listened carefully and took instruction well, if anything, she had her work cut out trying to get him playing with other village children his age- though her apprentivce may as well have been his elder sister. By his 13th birthday (well, the day she'd taken him in, having clocked him as about seven then), he was showing unmistakable signs of the Gift. She was mostly an herbalist and counselor, with a few knacks, but she knew enough of the Practice to know that most didn't show until fifteen summers, and showing earlier was the mark of deep potential. Magic and testosterone changed him. Discovering a love for wrestling the village boys who'd grown up slinging hay bales rather than digging up roots. He talked with every spirit he could find, despite her words of caution. The timidity of boyhood gave way, and the same determination that must have once saved his life shone forth. His gaze barely faltered when she told him that he would be apprenticed to a true practitioner of the occult, traveling far from home. For the next decade, he was trained relentlessly. Master Nidian taught that there were many groups who showed great suspicion and little mercy toward powerful practitioners: "most spirits, most peasants, most nobles- and most everyone else!" Jonnar was schooled relentlessly in the types and habits of spirits, the laws of the realm concerning Practice, and the strictures held in common among the Covenant. They sparred daily with the sword, for- "against mortal foes, to use Practice at all must be a last resort- and to kill a mortal using Practice is anathema." Only two years ago, Jonnar was pronounced ready to act on his own initiative. Beyond any shows of power, each Master of the Covenant must have performed two great works one,: to prevent the Coming, to advance understanding of the Coming, or to prepare for the Coming. The other- to steward the growth of a worthy apprentice. Some Master assign tasks, some apprentices name their own goals. Jonnar was given his by a seer. The issue of Narrow Island is beyond one haunt or phantom, and he is himself prophesied to return and remember. Only through true grief of the living will the unquiet dead move on from whatever tragedy befell that place, and he the only person alive who was there for whatever happened. But Jonnar must face far more than the weight of memory when he sets foot there. Build Notes Sure, Elephant in the Room! But for a game like this, I'll mostly avoid combat feats. Traits: , Notable Feats: Determination focus: Skill Focus [Diplomacy] Id Rager 4: Iron Will 1st: : The events he survived so young left his soul in a turmoil that divides him from the magic of others. Human: : There may come moments when it seems right to cast spells from the Medium side of the gestalt while bloodraging. This will let that happen. 3rd: : Abberant Spirit 5th: : Location Channel 7th: : The act of mercy may yet offer a chance for peace. Spells Knacks: Detect Magic, Guidance, Sift, Message, Mage Hand, Read Magic Medium Spells Prepared (usual day) Bloodrager Spells Known 1 Calm Spirit 1 Enlarge Person 1 Psychic Reading 1 Magic Missile 1 Disguise Self 1 Protection from Evil 1 Object Reading 1 Shield 2 Locate Object 2 Glitterdust 2 Haste 2 Mark of Blood

Happy Holidays everyone!

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 Having gathered back his maul and javelins, the weight of war settled again over Ardir's shoulders. Stopping with Oma had been a welcome respite from the rain, but now for Silbervas. Now to return home, and face the horror of its ruin. He feels Tysh's eye on him, and turns a smile her way. "Good of you to offer Oma a blessing, a pity she wasn't ready to receive it."

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 Ardir laughs with easy mirth crinkling his eyes. "Merchants! Ha- you do need more visitors. Only Lekar yet stands before the undead, there are no other towns of the living to trade with. The Mist left us here just a few hours ago- by Her mercy, depositing us together. I reached my majority in Silbervas, so I mean to see what remains of the city and seek what survivors may yet linger. Nor are we Vistani, nor Talons or whatever else. We're simply people trying to stay alive in a world gone mad, and thankful to meet unexpected friends."

Ardir Hálilúëa Humble Farrier, Shadar-Kai Barbarian AC: 15 (AC Bonus) | HP: 15/15 (1d12+3) | Speed: 30 ft. Senses: passive Perception 13, Insight 13, Investigation 10 Scarby's words echo in Ardir's mind. Bewitched... probable enough. He had been so sad. So angry. So powerless against the world's misery. What was left, but to trudge forward against oblivion, hammering back an inevitable end, and bring the memories of this fall back to the Raven Queen? Perhaps it isn't so bad to be bewitched. Calm, welcomed, ready to trust, amiable. This is... yes, the sort of mood when he worked with horses, undistracted by their riders, and felt the warm strength of those great and gentle beasts. He'd wonder of their stories, what they'd think of while trotting about guided by riders firm and fair, cruel and kind? Well, here was a friend he could ask! "Say, Oma- how did you come to live out here? You from Silbervas, or further off?"