About Aria GestBackground:
I have always been a dreamer, I was practically raised on stories of high adventure and derring do. You see a distant ancestor of mine, Durvin Gest was one of the original pathfinders. While other kids were running around outside I was pouring over the chronicles. I’ve read all the ones that mention Durvin of course and many beside, the first chronicle is still my favorite, and one day I hope to own a copy. Looking back on it now it’s clear my early childhood was cosseted, my parents were merchants, traveling up and down the length of the inner seat to ply their wares. Where ever we’d travel father would promise to find me another chronicle. I guess he couldn’t help but indulge his only daughter, besides secretly he enjoyed them too.I still remember the last chronicle father gave me, it was a battered old copy of the twenty seventh. I loved it, and it helped take my mind away from the reality of doing business in Riddleport.
Riddleport as bad as you’ve heard, a den of scum and villainy. Our boat was stolen, ironically by a traveller from Vudra rather than one of the local Sczarni. This was a disaster, mitigated only by the fact our merchandise, cases of fine wine, had been mostly offloaded. Father resolved to join a wagon train and travel overland via the Cinder Road to Wartle and Magnimar where he planned to sell the wine. A fine idea in theory but just after we’d cleared the Churlwood a band of goblins came boiling down from the Fogscar Mountains and attacked caravan, slaughtering indiscriminately. Father stuffed me into a box in the wagon so that I could hide, I heard him die. I felt his blood trickling through the box lid. I have never been so frightened in my life, I still have nightmares about being confined in a coffin to this day. I think the only reason I survived was because the goblins found so much plunder that they didn’t bother to search every last chest. They drunk most of father’s wine and danced in the light of the full moon shrieking obscenities and toying cruelly with the last survivors. By the morning they were gone, having smashed everything they couldn’t carry. In the light of the morning I wandered lost and afraid down the road and was rescued by a group of Varisian travelers. I’d lost everything and took pity on me and invited me to stay with them in their brightly colored caravans. The laughter of the head woman, Eva’s somehow made the world smile despite the grimness that had seeped into my soul. Her kindness will stay with me forever, she opened my eyes to the Art, and her sons taught me how to fight. They became my new family and for years we traveled, seemingly at random within Variasia although I began to realize after the third summer there was a rhythm to their wanderings. The golden rule was never return to a place too quickly, I think this is when it dawned on me that they where Scarnazi. It was kind of exciting for a while, but then there was trouble in Magnimar. There was a fight, a man got killed and we left in a hurry, suddenly it wasn’t fun anymore and I asked to leave at the next town. That was Sandpoint, about a year ago a friend of theirs Jubrayl Vhiski took me in. I was disgusted when I found out what Jubrayl was hoping I’d do to pay for a roof over my head! I explained quite firmly that no, I would not be doing that even if it meant I had to gut hagfish for a living! Unfortunately that’s exactly what I had to do at first but now things are looking up. I’ve been doing odd jobs at Savaha’s arms and armory for the past few months and I’ve been able to save some money for the first time in my life! Description:
At first glance Aria is a tall (almost 6') lean weather beaten young woman, with flame red hair dark eyes and a crooked smile. Despite being a little bookish and shy, she’s clearly been keeping trim and something about the look in her eye suggests an an inner core of iron. She has an impressive tattoo of a stylized dragon over her left shoulder which if you look closely is made out of hundreds of tiny runes. Courtesy of Madame Eva, it supposedly describes the story of how she became part of the family. Combat Vignette, lvl 3 vs mooks:
The three toughs drew their swords and started circling Aria, One of them had an impressive scar across his face, she called him handsome. Another one she called Curly had curly locks of lank hair and a wispy beard. That left the lumbering brute nicknamed Haystacks. Handsome leered at her and boasted ”You’ve nowhere to run little wren, we’re going to show you a good time!”. ”Now boys, that’s no way to treat a lady!” Aria cried as Curly lunged at her. With reflexes enhanced by her arcane trance, she batted the point of his epee out of the way and riposted scoring a hit on his left shoulder which blossomed red with blood. Curly yelped in surprise.
Concentrating hard, she held the forma of a spell in her mind. Dodging several thrusts, she whispered the words that unlocked the power she’d gathered within. A circular plane of force shimmered into existence, which suddenly shifted to intercept a thrust from Handsome and Haystacks who had circled behind her. Whipping around Aria lightly touched Handsome’s sword as it past her, deflecting it enough so that it ran Haystacks through instead. Both men looked shocked, Haystacks because he was dead and Handsome because he’d killed him. ”Get her!” screamed Curly, favouring his shoulder. Circling like wolves the two men bore down on her, Curly feinted high before lunging at waist level. Aria lightly parried his blade and sidestepped foiling Handsome’s strike. They weren't the best of fighters but together they were dangerous, Aria’s luck wouldn’t last, she needed to drop one and fast! Aria parried another thrust as she concentrated, holding the forma for an offensive spell in her mind. Curly’s footwork was getting slower, and he stumbled slightly. Aria thrusted suddenly, Curly desperately managed to block, but Aria whispered the last words to her spell and suddenly her blade crackled with electricity. Startled, Curly tied to dodge away but Aria was faster, her blade pierced his chest and he convulsed as the electric charge fried him. Curly toppled backwards with smoke coming from his eyes. Whirling on the last man standing she demanded, ”Sure you still want to play handsome?” He glances at the still twitching corpse of Curly and the puddle around Haystacks and ran off screaming! Build:
Aria Gest
Human magus 1 (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 9) CG Medium humanoid (human) Init +1; Senses Perception +1 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +1 Dex) hp 10 (1d8+2) Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +2 -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee rapier +3 (1d6+3/18-20) Ranged light crossbow +1 (1d8/19-20) Special Attacks arcane pool (+1, 3 points), spell combat Magus Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +3) . . 1st—shield, shocking grasp . . 0 (at will)—daze (DC 12), detect magic, light -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 17, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 9 Base Atk +0; CMB +3; CMD 14 Feats Artful Dodge, Redirect Attack Traits family ties, scholar of the great beyond Skills Climb +5, Craft (alchemy) +6, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (history) +7, Knowledge (local) +7, Knowledge (planes) +7, Perception +1, Spellcraft +6 Languages Common, Elven, Halfling, Varisian Other Gear lamellar (leather) armor[UC], light crossbow, rapier, magus starting spellbook -------------------- Special Abilities -------------------- Arcane Pool +1 (3/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers. Artful Dodge Gain +1 dodge bonus to AC vs. opponent only you threaten. Redirect Attack Once a turn redirect a failed attack from opoonent to another target. Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other. Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at https://www.wolflair.com
Bot Me:
At level one, Aria is a bit fragile so she'll try to and select a single weaker opponent to take advantage of Artful Dodge. If the combat looks tough (multiple opponents), Aria will cast Shield for +4 ac before wading into combat. She will also try to save her arcane pool for harder combats. If she has Shield up, she'll try to engage several adjacent opponents to trigger Redirect Attack.
If facing enemy archers, she will open with a daze cantrip (DC 12 will) before moving in to threaten. [dice = Rapier thrust]1d20+3[/dice] [dice = Damage]1d6+3[/dice]
Spellbook:
1. Shield, Shocking Grasp, Silent Image, Truestrike, Vanish |