Naihm "Neve" Ashwood ne' Nevergreen - Smallfolk Rogue

[Cirlot]

Character Information

Name	Naihm "Neve" Ashwood	Title	Taker, Nevergreen Carvan
Race	Smallfolk (Gnome)	Class	Rogue 3 / Magic User 1
Alignment	Neutral Good	Religion	Ivana, cult of Basillea

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Age	37 Years	Gender	♀ (She/They)
Height	10 Hands (3' 6")	Weight	3 Stone, 3 lbs (45 lb)
Eyes	Smoked Quartz	Hair	Chestnut

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Language Proficiency
Vulgate, Dwarven, Elvish, Smallfolk, Goblin, Low Draconic, Darkspeech*

Personality

"Neve?   Tightlipped that one.  Goes with being a Taker, I suppose, the ones chosen or taken for Her Lady's service change after.  She was always the serious one, though - that ain't changed.  Losing her ma when she did, well she had to half raise her sister and that sobers a young soul 'fore it's time.  Especially the way her da was, or rather wasn't  . . . "

Naihm is no happy go lucky rogue - to knowingly stand outside the bounds of law as a matter of occupation is to dance upon a knifes edge and it she kens dance better than most.  She drinks little, curses more, treats those save she knows well with a cautious distance and claims even fewer friends. Knowing the world for what it is, she is wary of it & would it be wary in return.

Appearance

"Takers?  Tend to the leather and the rough - comes with being more a tombrobber than a thief, really, despite what the gossip mongrels would tell yah.  Neve's no exception.  Now, every once and awhile the Guild'll have her turn out**  - a festival they're working here, a merchants manse there - and, well, that's a whole 'nother story.  Finery suits her, if she'd let it . . ."

Lean, angular and sly are all good descriptions of Naihm - there's a narrowness to her, her features and gaze, like she's been sharpened down to an edge held at the throat of the world.  Her occupation requires that she be a frequent chameleon, adapting to the situation at hand but a few things stand  constant.  Short  hair - a fistful of her chestnut locks nearly cost Neve her head in a fight some years gone - supple boots of the finest craftsmanship she can afford at any given moment and a choker covering the ghoul-touch mark of her initiation about her throat.

Background

"How is one Risen a Taker?  

The Old Hands speak of it in riddles to confuse the natty lads freshsworn to guild but it is no real mystery.   An existing Taker dies or, rarely, retires; there is only one per Dusksworn line per Caravan after all - our numbers stand small, less than a half dozen per caravan, perhaps ten score scattered across all the 'vans.  Upon the first black moon after the passing of the Taker's mantle, a sworn hand must find their way to the barrow of the taker's line.  Sometimes the Taker's predecessor will  anoint a successor, revealing the location to an apprentice, other times the would-be Taker must scour for clues in the old's affects or in the secret histories of the caravan's Loredancers.    From there it is a simple matter to make it to the central chamber - there are traps, yes, and it's a test in it's own way but it is more about resolve than skill.  The marks of a dozen lockpicks, a dozen trapsmiths, all the takers who have gone before are there for the seeing if you've the eye for it.  Then, in the central fane one imbibes vetimyr until sap-drunk and waits until the small hours.

Then the ghouls come.  Rarely a Duskdaughter herself.  It is ritual, there are words and oaths but it's easy symbolism.  The ghoul touch paralyzes, makes one as unto dead, brands us as part of the Fell such that the lesser shades that roam the wilds between no longer trouble us as Takers so long as we do not trouble them.  They then carry you to the mound, cover you with a shroud and light earth and then with the rising sun the rigor vanishes and life returns and you're symbolically remade new, etc. A Taker sworn to service of Daughter and 'Van.

One word of warning; should sap-fever or fear take you during the taking do NOT bite the hand that marks you.  Especially if it belongs to a Duskdaughter.

Ask me how I know."

 

---

 

"I'm not one to traffik in rumors, but the Ashwoods?  The youngest?  Let's just say she's the looks more of her 'sister' than her mother in the right light, if you take my meaning.  And if your tongue wags, t'wasn't me that told you.  I daren't cross a Taker."

 

Main Statistics

Primary	Attribute	Mod		Saves
	Strength	11	+0	Paralysis, Constriction
✔	Dexterity	16	+2	Breath Weapons, Traps
	Constitution	13	+1	Disease, Energy Drain, Poison
✔	Intelligence	16	+2	Arcane Magic, Illusions
	Wisdom	13	+1	Confusion, Divine Magic, Gazes, Petrification, Polymorph
	Charisma	13	+1	Death Attack, Charm, Fear

 

Racial Abilities

Name	Effect
Animal Empathy	Nonverbal communication with burrowing mammals
Combat Expertise	+1 to Melee BtH vs. Goblins & Kobolds
Darkvision	See in complete darkness, 60'
Enhanced Hearing	+3 to Listen Checks
Innate Spellcasting	Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound, Prestidigitation 1/Day

 

Class Abilities

Shared
Name	Effect
Weapon Proficiency	Any (per MU)
Armor Proficiency	Any (Rogue Abilities limited to +3 AC Armors or less)*
Primary Class (EL 3)
Back Attack	+4 to Melee BtH, x2 Damage
Cant	Thieves Tongue
Climb	[DEX] 1/4 Move climb speed, Fail >5 results in fall
Decipher Script	[INT] 2d8 minutes per page of text, -10 for Arcane Texts
Hide	[DEX] 1/2 Normal Movement (-5 & 1/4 if Silent)
Listen	[WIS] Can hear a whisper at 30' (+3 per Enhanced Hearing)
Move Silently	[DEX] 1/2 Move (1/4 if Hiding)
Open Lock	[DEX] Requires Thieves Picks
Pick Pockets	[DEX] Stealing or Sleight of Hand. TN (- HD) of Target
Traps	[INT] Find & Remove; 1 minute per check (10'x10')
Secondary Class (EL 1)
Channel Magic	4 SP per level/day; 1 SP per channel, duration 2 rounds or 1 ✔
Detect Magic	Innate Ability per spell detect magic
Locate Magic Item	450' Range, as detect object, need not be familiar with item
Read Magic	[INT] as per read magic spell
Use Magic	Can use all magic items regardless of limitations, All Scrolls
Special/Fated Boon
Legend Lore	[INT] Local, Historical or Cultural Knowledge

 

Combat Statistics

AC (Total)	Base	Armor	Shield	Dexterity Mod	Misc.
15 / 16	10	+2	[+1 Parry]	+2	+1*

To Hit (Total)	Base	Attribute	Level Bonus	Misc.
+1/+3	1d20	0 / +2	+1	+1 vs Goblin/Kobold

Current HP	Maximum HP	Wounds	Hit Die	Encumbrance
16	16	0	d6	-- / 16.5

 

Equipment

Weapon	Bonus To Hit	Bonus Damage	Base Damage	Notes
Sling*			1d4	EV 1: Rng 50' Bullets (8 / 8)
Parrying Dagger			1d4+1	EV 2, Alt, Parry +1 AC
Cold Iron Rapier	+1		1d6	EV 1, Expert Craftsmanship
Light Crossbow			1d6	EV 4: Rng 80' Bolts (12 / 12)
				*can be used as improvised Sap or Garrote (1d3/1d4 + CON Sv)
Armor / Shield	AC Bonus	Weight	Encumbrance	Notes
Leather Armor	+2	15 lb	2

Item / Clothing	Weight	Encumbrance	Notes
Large Expert Shoulder Pack	58 lb	13.5	Internal capacity 18 EV.  Quick-release 3 seconds/1 with Dex check (CL 9)
External Contents: Summer bedroll (tied to bottom), 2 torches, rolled up in bedroll 50’ silk rope (tied to outside back), Two (2) 1 quart waterskins (one on each side), Dual-headed hatchet/hammer (tied to side), Small shovel
Internal Contents:  4 sets bandages (2 wounds each), Small steel mirror, Razor, Soap bar, Sewing kit, Small steel flask, Whistle, Adventure Supplies, Flint & steel, 100’ silk rope, Wedge (splitting), 10 Spikes, Whetstone, 5 Candles, 2 Oil flasks, Extra set of clothing, Iron rations (7 days: OOOOO / OO)
Rogues Tools	1 lb	1
Magical Treasure	Weight	Encumbrance	Notes
Bracelet of Non-Detection	4 oz	.5 EV	Truename Du'athór (Heart's Shroud)
Potion of Neutralize Poison	1 oz	-	Per Spell & +4 to Save v. Poison for 1 hr
Scroll of Dream	2 oz	-	Per Spell (Illusionist 5), +1 Question
Scroll of Summoning	2 oz	-	??? [+1 AC while carried]

 

Money

Platinum	Gold	Silver	Copper	Jewels
x	29	x	x	x

 

Mount / Animal Companion / Familiar

Name	Type	HP	AC	Move	Attacks	Damage	Saves	Notes
x	x	x/x	x	x	x	x	List+x vs. Paralysis, Constriction +x vs. Breath Weapons, Traps +x vs. Disease, Energy Drain, Poison +x vs. Arcane Magic, Illusions +x vs. Confusion, Divine Magic, Gazes, Petrification, Polymorph +x vs. Death Attack, Charm, Fear	x

 

Magic

Smallfolk Magic (EL 1)
Spell	Description	Used [1/ Day]
Dancing Lights	Up to 4 torchlights in 20' radius [CT 1: 150' + mv100' / round. 1 Minute; V,S]	✔
Ghost Sound	Conjure Sounds [CT 1: 150'. 1 Round; Sv. INT; V,S,M]
Prestidigitation	Minor magical effect - effect up to 1'x1'x1' or 1 lb [CT 1: 10'. 1 Hour; V,S]

Magic User Channeling (EL1)
Siege Points (SP)	Max SP per Use	1	SP per Day	4 / lvl	Current	4

Enhancement	Range	Duration	Cost	Used
Enhance Attribute Check	110'	Instant	1sp / +1	1
Enhance Spellcasting	110'	Instant	2sp/lvl
Hit Points (as per Heal spell)	Touch	Permanent	1sp/hp
Imbue Object (Weapon, Armor or Item)	110'	2 rounds	1sp / +1

Imbued Objects		Duration	Bonus	Used

*GM determines utility - could be old Fell or a necromantic/undead language, or something like Tolkeins Blackspeech. Or something like 5E'sUndercommon.

**authorial implication is in "turned out" as in well dressed but phrase is left deliberately ambiguous given the source (thieves guild after all):

 

Edited March 11 by Cirlot (see edit history)

[Cirlot]

" - the etched silver of her mask resting on the earth beside her caught the last gloaming sun, red gold illuminating runes older than the Fell in a crawl like the slow, ebbing flow of blood.  She looked up at me then, from her rest, the Duskdaughter.  She of the Gallows.  Guildmistress of the Nevergreen Caravan. Eyes the color of jet glanced up at me once, appraising, framed in a silken cascade of hair the color of midnight, pale as death and preserved as porcelain.  My mouth still tasted of the barrows, of the taking - grave earth and dust and ghouleather - as I sank to my knees beside her and my my heart skipped one last, faltering beat before it stilled at her feet.

'You are either very brave or very foolish, small one.  But what's done is done.  Whatever you were - ' she rose, uncoiling from the ground like a serpent, the silver mask of her office lifted back into place with a leather gloved hand.  Behind it, the coal pits of her eyes smoldered.  ' - you are now mine.'

As I rose in obseience our shadows crawled behind us, lengthening in flight of the dying sun toward some far horizon I dared not see. "   

- First Entry in the Book of Gallows (Nevergreen Guild) of 13th Taker Naihm Ashwood

 

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<Expanded Background Goes Here>

Edited October 4, 2023 by Cirlot (see edit history)

[Cirlot]

Quick notes, odd asks and other stuff thrown down here.

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I have a lot locked in my head and not on the page so just throwing out the bullet points to shape later.

Bio/background notes

• "Takers" are caravan sanctioned thieves/adventurers granted permission to travel outside the fell or contract outside their own Caravan. There are many carvan thieves that can guide or hire to parties INSIDE the Fell but only a handful are allowed outside.
• The "ne Nevergreen" indicates Neve's sworn allegiance to her Duskdaughter patron (tenatively "House Gallow" - Nevergreen is thieves cant for Gallows]
• Not all Takers are sworn directly to a patron.
• Not all sworn takers are initiated by their Guildmistress.
• Neve broke something in the ritual and is now bound to her Duskdaughter in an abnormal way (hence the MU level.)
• Neve doesn't know this. The Duskdaughter does.

Family

• Neve's "sister" is really her daughter from her early years (early 20's, equivalent to human mid teens). Father is dead.
• Sister doesn't know.
• Parents were ill suited: father was lovestruck boy next door, mother was wild child had fallen in with a lad from another 'van who abandoned her in trouble. Father raised Neve as his own. Mother resented settling down. Partnership deteriorated - drink on one side, infidelity on the other. Mother eventually left for another Caravan in the dead of night.
• Neve and mother are of like temper - same wants (freedom, agency, etc.) different presentation.

Impossible Quest

No clue yet. The obvious thing would for her to be responsible in breaking the satelmate in the Fell between the Lich-Queen and her Daughters but that seems . . . too easy? Would find it interesting for the quest to be orthogonal to her swearing the Fell and her Duskdaughter: that the Fell and the Liche Queen to be part of something larger and not the whole would rattle both Neve's patron and her.

 

Random Asides & Mechanical Bits

There's notes on masterwork weapons in book but I'm not seeing rules for weapons made of special materials. Given the nature of the Fell a cold iron or silver blade seems reasonable. I have a notion her rapier is stylized - not named - but Fell touched in some way; made of ironthorn or wrapped in wight-leather. Inspiration pic attached.

Show this

The inspiration of the ghoul mark is the idea it provides safer passage in the Fell from the wild undead or low level monsters - marks the bearer as like the things hunting him or her, and most monsters/animals don't go after their own kind. Not suggesting it have a mechanical effect (a "ward" is too strong for what this thing is - if I had to mechanics, the mark would allow CHA to apply to reaction rolls vs. undead or monstrous beasts normally not so affected, or prompt reaction rolls to normally mindless threats of the Fell.)

Edited October 5, 2023 by Cirlot (see edit history)

[Cirlot]

 What is Naihm's relationship with her sister-daughter?

"Aisling is . . . we're . . .

It's an unkind question.  And it grows unkinder by the day.  Sisterhood let me pretend to spare her the hurt, to selfishly play the paternal elder when I care to without the chain of expectation.  Without her having to know that I love her as my own heart but despite it all 'tis not enough, and never could be.  A sister forsaking family for selfish whims and desires?  Hurtful, pretty, ugly.  But she'd know the fault was mine.  A mother, telling her child by word and deed the same?  She'd think it was hers.  She's too young to know any better.  Better then to forefeit a title I never really wanted.  

It's a small trade for that kindness.  So I keep telling myself."

 

---

 

Ainsling is a few years from what humans would consider her teenage years and her attendant troubles but she's bright eyed, questioning and spoiled by Neve's father - or rather, his relations; he's an amiable drunk but largely leaves the care to Neve when she's present - rare these days - and his in-laws when she's not.  Neve definitely provides the bulk of the financial support for the family.  All of which casts their relationship as 'not quite.'  Not quite a parent.  Not quite a sister.  Not quite there.  They're fond of each other, joy in each other's company but it is all and ever bounded by the fact that their time together always ends.  Either for another task for the Nevergreen Guild or a a hired expedition or training . . . Aisling still brightens when Neve enters the room and Neve still smiles in the small hours when she traces her fingers over the latest woven bracelet or bit of embroidery Aisling made her before the most recent excursion.

That may change in the next few years, when the questions of the townsfolk and Aisnling own become more pointed as she ages into her mothers daughter. Neve tries not to think about that, even as Aisling tries not to think about what must be so wonderful about the outside world that her sister seems so desperate to leave the caravan each and every time.

Who would they consider to be their best friend? What about their worst enemy, or perhaps greatest rival?

"You think I have friends?  Cute.  Fine.  If there must be a name . . . Mila Voclain - calls herself a nethermancer which is a fancy way of saying a Fell obsessed illusionist.  She was one of my first charters, back when I was just starting out in the guild.  Before the whole taker thing.  She's . . . brave.  Beautiful.  Reckless.  Hired me to as a guide to some old watchtower on the southern borderlands.  Just her.  No party, no band, no retainers , just her against the Fell . . .  and, feck it all if she's not brilliant enough to carry it alone.   Nearly alone. Hells, nearly died a half dozen times on that trip - nearly throttled her for want of sense more than once - but she just has this way, y'know?  We can be covered in blood and dirt and tomb dust, on the ragged edge and she'll just catch you eye and grin and be like 'isn't this great' and when she says it, it bloody is.

Anyway, she hits the Fell at least once a season - sometimes with a party, sometimes not - sometimes winters over.  Hires me each time. Hosted her in the 'van more than once.  She's the only one, outside the Guildmistress, to know about, well, me.  What happened.  And Aisling.

Rivals?  Fewer than you'd think - Takers are small in number but we play fair.  When we can, that is. Sometimes our patrons put an edge to things but it's never really personal - they're family as much as we are after all.  That . .  well, if the game ever gets serious it could get bad I suppose.  If I had to name one worry, Niall Berrywine - Taker of Lady Sapphire, next eldest Duskdaughter to my Lady Gallows.  The ladies used to be thick as thieves, or so M'lady Gallows said, but they've gone to cross purposes the past decade or two.

 . . . around since I was taken, come to think it.

Oh, 'the Arcane Crows' an adventuring troupe.  Not rivals, not enemies but gods and goddesses I wouldn't piss on them - or him, rather - if they were on fire.  Hired me once - Mila and I both mind - for a trip up Ebonflow Rill to the Mirrorglass - erm, that is Mirrorglass lake and the ruins around there.  Leader was this preening second son nobleman gone thaumaturge who just happened to have hired naught but female traveling companions.  Spent the entire expedition trying to sneak one or all of us into his bedroll any given night and nearly slipping in his own drool during the day when taking rearguard.  The 'troupe' swings around every few years with a new batch of hires but he's always the heart of it.  Every once and a while one of the lasses lasts a few seasons which gets . . .  strange.  

Personal rivals?  

Aunt. F*cking.  Teàrlag.  My mother's sister and Carvan Mistress these past five years.  All smiles and sunshine and backbiting - never forgave my Mum for what was past, never took to me, hasn't a kind word to say about anyone save Aisling who has taken to her a bit too much for my liking.  Nearly fed auntie her teeth when I heard her tell Aisling to call her 'Ma . . . "

 

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Mila Voclain is a half elven Illusionist / Wizard class & a half adventurer (and backup character?  Possibly!) who frequents the Fell on her own Impossible Quest.  Niall Berrywine is a halfling Ranger or Pacer, probably more than a few levels higher than Neve - there's no particular animus at present but their patrons are the most like of all the Duskdaughters to come into direct conflict if they can't make an alliance against the others and it's possible Niall has been tasked to uncover the secrets of Neve's Taking.

Leader of the Arcane Crows has been left unnamed but I'm imagining him as a Human Wizard or spellcasting Bard with a focus on enchantment.  Lower level than the rest of his party which may or may not have their loyalty reinforced by enchantment in addition to coin.

Aunt Teàrlag isn't as bad as all that - she's a politician with some family grudges against Naihm's mother (if you want FULL DRAMA Tearlag was in love with the man Naihm's mother fell in with before her father married and raised her, so old grudge here and more than a little conflicted feeling about Neve.  If it's too late 90's WB teen drama this angle can be cut.)  The REAL animus here is that Teàrlag is there when Neve isn't, lets her know it, and has in effect become Aisling's mother in all but name as Neve's father slips further into uselessness and she spends more time abroad.

What would she say is the most significant impact being a Taker has had on her life?

"It's freedom.  From want.  From the caravan.  It's the world offered to me upon a platter - that there's obedience due in exchange is a small trade.  I've seen more, done more than most and I have traveled far, far beyond the rounding trails of the Fell that we smallfolk travel round and round season to season.

And . . . it is odd to say this aloud.  M'lady Gallows?  She understands this.  We are not, rather I dare not say we are friends or even friendly but my taking, my rising broke the normal rites and upended a few rules.  The result is she stands more candid with me than I think she has been with other Takers, or I flatter myself such that is so.  She has not said in so many words but it is my understanding that the magicks that bind her and her sisters, the Twilight Throne entire, well . . . when the Liche-Queen wove her dweomer and bound all her family to her shadow-life, I think she did so by blood.  Her blood.  Her blood that passed to her daughter.  Of which I partook by biting the hand that changed me.

She has not said such but I think the Lady Gallow sees me as  . . . family?  Mayhaps no more than an idiot cousin but  . . ."

 

---

 

Naihm's fate and her desired future run along two axes: she would wish an eventful life filled with adventure and strange sights and her status as a Taker grants her that in full.  She calls home wildland, dale, barrow and village and has cause and capacity to travel as freely and as widely as she may wish.  That she does so with purposeful and considered intent does not dampen the desire.

She just wants to survive her adventures and live well beyond them.

However, by virtue of her rising, of her singular, reflexive mistake - or defiance - no ordinary Taker's life stands before her.  She doesn't know it yet but she's become a pawn in The Game between the Fell houses, pitting Duskdaughter against Duskdaughter.  It's a change that a few years on she still has not yet fathomed but will likely come to define her should she survive the years to come. Whether or not this fate can be avoided - or hastened - remains a question.

If things went really badly in her life, where is Naihm most likely to run for safety?

"Yes, because speaking it aloud to the likely architect of said flight stands advised, m'Lady.

 . . .

Fine.  Fine!  Cease the reproachful look.  There's a town upon the cost  some weeks to the North, one of the last Freeports under the old Watchtower Baronies.  It's a lively place; enough trade that it seems the whole world passes by the piers and yet small enough that the Great Guilds and Houses have no particular hold there.  There's . . . there's a tavern there.  The Nine Tailed Cat. My . . . my mother owns it.  Works there.  I'm not exactly sure.  Runs it at least, I think.

Anyway, it took me years to find her - it - chances are if I'm in enough trouble that hiding is the course of the day there's where I'd do it.  And after all of it she owes me haven, if nothing else."

What is the most widely spread rumor about her patron? What is something practically nobody knows about them?

"Oh, Goddess; beside the standard ones you mean?  That she drinks blood, eats the flesh of the dead - or the living for that matter - swallows the souls of her enemies, that she would cloak the world in darkness, that she would kill her mother and sisters, that she would enslave her mother and sisters, that she would enslave us all or kill us all and reign over a empire of corpses .  . . All the Duskdaughters are charged which such.

The most pernicious rumor, which has the sting of truth, is that m'Lady Nevergreen and House of Gallows are the weakest of the claimants to the Undying throne.  I do not know that it is true but what gives the rumormongers leave to say so is that we act the part.  House Gallows moves in shadows, lurks in silence and eschews confrontation with the other Daughters and their Takers.  That discretion reinforces suspicions already borne due to m'lady being the youngest.

As for her secrets?  Well, she sings like a goddess damned angel.  Better than you at any rate.  Caught her a few times, just to herself and . . . oh, not what you're interested in.  Fine, fine, fine.  You already know of my Rising so what's one more oddity.  So be it.  M'Lady is not simple arcanist like her sisters -  she's a Rune Mark."   

Which ability provided by Rogue most calls to her or is most comfortable for her?

"Neve would tell you that she's hired for her more larcenous skills - and true, she's adept at all the rogues tricks in a more than useful way.  I do not mean to discount them.  But why I hired her in the first and every season since?  I've seen none with a head for languages or ciphers like she, which for my researches is invaluable.  She's provided aid in deciphering any of the dozen of glyphic languages native to the pre-Fell and more than once she's helped me reconstruct a fragmented map or coordinate schema leading to another site . . ."

Decipher script - before she was a taker or a trained rogue Neve learned of the wider world and stoked her wanderlust with books sold and traded through the caravan, teaching herself to read first in her own tongue then in any script she got ahold of.

As above, which ability provided by Magic User does the same?

"I find myself enamored of scrolls but that took instruction and does not come naturally.  There is a slip between the sigil and the tongue which requires translation  in a way simply comprehending them does not.  Rather, it's strange - the imbuing of items with spell-weaving, magick, whatever you call it . . . it came easily.  Not all of it, moments, other spells remain challenges.  But objects?  It's like reading.  Or writing?  The first time it was in blood - long story - but now sweat, dust, even the oil on my finger is enough.  I trace the name of the thing I'm imbuing and the magic flows with each line and letter.  

The symbols are not a language I know, and after the moment of naming I can't recall what I just wrote but it flows from my fingers when needful."

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Cirlot (see edit history)

[Cirlot]

As a master of language and traveler of the world, would you prefer to gain the Legend Lore ability of the Bard (keyed to Intelligence), or the Language Mastery ability from the Rune Mark?

This one is tricky: Legend Lore just kind of clicks conceptually and further solidifies Naihm as this kinda of Lara Croft/Indian Jones treasure hunter who is delving the ancient ruins of the world in search of legends and artifacts.  However, the Rune Mark/Language Mastery would suggest a certain amount of bleed through or influence of her patron which has roleplaying potential . . .

Hmm.

I'm a bit leery of tying the quest/plot too closely to Naihms patron, there's already a bit of special snowflakeness around Niahm so I'm reluctant to doubling down on it?   Plus "smallfolk Lara Croft" has a certain ring to it.

Legend Lore it is.

 

If you had your choice of 3 consumables (potions/oils/scrolls) to reflect things she'd collected in her travels (or gifts presented to her by whoever sent her on her quest), what would you most like for them to be?

I think just as part of her standard kit she would source a Potion of Neutralize Poison before every expedition.  It's not fancy, it's not flashy, might even just be something she buys through the guild but given her profession and the likelhood of poison traps or venoms but she'd not start any venture without one.

Mila gifted Naihm a scroll of Dream (Illusionist 5) many years ago, after Niahm's rising and the start of the changes to the Taker's life that incurred.  Whether she intended it for Naihm to reach out for helkp if she was in over her head, or for Naihm to have one last chance to speak with her daughter in the event of something .  . unfortunate . . . happening, Niahm has carried it ever since.

One of the rare items that Naihm has not handed over to her patron or her other contracted employers is a scroll of Summoning.  WHAT the scroll summons is unclear - even with Naihms nascent Magic User abilities she can't seem to identify the spell or even the type of magic, just that it calls somethingThrowing this out as a potential hook: it could easily be a scoll of Summon Elemental, Lesser Monster or Shadow Monster if that's the preference but I'm thinking the reason Naihm can't parse the scroll is that she has it backwards. The scroll summons the reader (and their party) TO the maker (who is likely long dead and interned)..

 

I'll also offer you a bracelet of either Detect Thoughts (usable level times/day) or Nondetection (always active) as a gift from her patron to assist in her duties. The catch being, you have to give it a cool name.

If this is from her patron, it's the Bracelet of Nondetection.  HUMINT and scrying/mind reading other Takers is too risky for too little reward while keeping her weird, bizarre thrall of a Taker hidden from her sister's prying eyes seems worthwhile . . . at least until she can figure out how to replicate what happened with Naihm.

Show Braclet

The bracelet is stunningly nondescript - a layered braid of leather fastened with electrum fittings, it appears at first glance no more than a valued trinket of antiquated - if fine - craftsmanship.  In truth, the braid is made of Dark Naga hide, and the fastenings are engraved with astral wards designing to catch the dewomers un-dettered that slip through the bindings.  Centuries ago it was one of the Lady Gallow's first makings, a thing she had in fact crafted for herself in the long ago quickness of a youth lived before breath stilled.  She named it then, in old High Fell, with the whimsical earnestness not yet robbed of her, weaving the name into the leather with the language of knots and inscribing it within the wards.

If the Lady of Gallows could still be embarrassed, the knowledge of this particular name would make her so.  Juvenile poetry is ever best left in the past.

Naihm knows the braclets' truename is Du'athór.  She has not told the Lady she has parsed the old tongue's meaning.  Heart's Shroud*Taken from the Elven Dictionary

Duath- Nightshade/Shadow. Shroud.
Ore - Heart (inner mind/urge).

Edited October 14, 2023 by Cirlot (see edit history)

[Cirlot]

Fates, foibles and fumbles dice rolls . . .

Ah! I screwed up the rounding on the 3/4 Hit die. Need to revise Neve. Had her at 19 when she should be 17

Hmm - if I need to rejigger my hit points anyway: screw it, lets roll! Taking Max at 1st (1d6+1) = 7

Roll with a min of 82nd Level: (6/2)=3 + CON (+1) = 4
4=3rd Level: (6/2)=3 + CON (+1) = 4 EDIT: 9+7 = 16 welp, missed out on 1 HP from taking the 3/4 option but so the dice go.

 

Now, impossible tasks. I'm imagining that the nature of the Fell, of Naihms patron and just all of it suggests it's less a personal compulsion more a mystical charge in her case. To whit:

 

"The sprig of the ever-young Nevergreen shall steal the heart of the Maiden, quicken the Fall of the Fell and dim the stars by moonlight righting the court of Night and Day."

 

Naihm and her patron read the above charge - obtained from a blind witch-seer of Basillea - as writ that Naihm (the "sprig" being the small offshoot - Neve - of House Gallows (Nevergreen being the thieves cant for the same) is tasked/fated to find the phlyacerty (Heart) of the Maiden (Lady Gallow) and transform the Fell by upending the succession in the Court of Twilight ("the court of Night and day").

ANOTHER reading would be that Naihm (sprig of the Nevergreen, etc. etc.) is tasked to find a relic of the Divine Maiden Ivana, somehow bringing about a change in the Fell (Fall may be seasonal, the start of the decline of the Twilight Court.  Perhaps literal, if the relic be a key to the Dread Queens ritual) and in returning the relic "dim the stars" by returning the Ivanan - goddess of the moon - in her proper place outshining the rest of night sky (her faith) and altering the faith (the Court of Night - Ivana - and Day - Niro). This would tie her task to that of Sister Clairese.

There are, I'm sure, potentially other readings to complicate matters should the GM wish to play with the knife I've so gleefully handed them. (not saying Sprig of Nevergreen could apply to Aisling if we consider Neve a Nevergreen herself

Blind Witch-Seer of Basillea

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Cirlot (see edit history)