About Constanczia PathfinderPATHFINDER PATRON: Constanczia Pathfinder
Constanczia Marcellus was born to a well-to-do family in Westcrown, and had been groomed to be a dancer by her parents, who were patrons of the arts (and already had promised anything worth inheriting to her older siblings). Having little desire to be a trophy wife, she snuck off with some adventurous friends and joined the Darklight Sisterhood, changing her name to Constanczia Darklight, when her parents disowned her for running off on disreputable ‘adventures.’ For a time, the government encouraged this potential state-sponsored rival to the Pathfinder Society, and she and her ‘sisters’ were in Osirion, hoping to take advantage of that nations imminent announcement that they were about to open the ancient ruins of their nation’s past to foreign ‘exploration.’ Her sisters, more suited to political machinations, managed to catch the Pathfinder expedition flat-footed by paying their native bearers to guide them astray, buying them a solid day’s advantage in exploring the ruin that both the Sisterhood and the Society had targeted for first dibs, and it was in securing that advantage that Constanczia learned the depth of her companions unpreparedness for the dangers that came with such explorations. A day later, the Pathfinder expedition arrived, and of the five Sisters and four native guides they had retained, three Sisters and a single guide still lived. The survivors were trapped, some unconscious, at the bottom of a pit, only having survived a crushing stone trap by the failure of the ancient mechanism, which had jammed and remain hovering over their heads, preventing them from escaping, and occasionally shifting and groaning ominously. The Halfling venture captain whom her team had sent wandering off into the unknown squirmed down beneath the great stone block and, suspended by ropes held by his companions, caused the trap to reset and the stone to lift high enough that the Sisters could be pulled free. Constanczia secured the ropes to the unconscious body of her ‘team leader,’ and watched as the Pathfinders they had mocked and misled pulled her to safety, followed by her remaining conscious Sister, and then the native guide, before allowing herself to be pulled free as well. Hours later, as her Sister was roused by the healing magics of the Pathfinder’s clerical support, the Pathfinder venture captain suggested that they combine resources, as his own team had lost some of their guides to a sandstorm, and her friend and Sister laughed bitterly. Shamed by this behavior, Constanczia quit with her Sisters, and let them huddle at the front of the ruin, while she explored it’s depths with the Pathfinders who had saved their lives. She learned many useful things in this first trial by fire, things that a bunch of arrogant young nobles with too much money and too little experience outside of the intrigues of court would have been woefully unprepared to face, and when they finished, she warned the venture captain that her Sisters were as likely to betray them on the return trip as not, finding the sting of this betrayal to be less than she would have thought. Months later, she was accepted into the Pathfinder Society, and changed her name again, to Constanczia Pathfinder, resolving that this was the last time she would abandon a name, or a family. No longer a pampered child, she has strengthened her body with ascetic training, becoming far more than a dancer with a gift for picking pockets, but a lean no-nonsense woman who can run like the wind, avoid blows as if wearing a steel breastplate and strike with the force of a warhammer. Constanczia prefers missions based out of Absalom, uncomfortable with the relationships between her native Cheliax and the Society, and wryly amused at how quickly the Darklight Sisterhood has fallen from favor, with more and more Chelish Pathfinders working under her auspices, all-too often willing to engage in the sort of disreputable behavior that she remembers well from her own youth. She is the most likely to be assigned ‘troublesome’ Chelish recruits, as she presents a friendly face to them, and yet can keep an eagle’s eye on them for the moment when they might allow nationalistic pride to motivate them to keep some find from Pathfinder records. Earning her favor is as simple as performing her assignments with a minimum of what she calls ‘foolishness,’ and she checks up on those work for her, to ensure that they not only complete their assigned tasks, but also do not foster a poor impression with local communities. A mission from Constanczia might not merely request the exploration of a site of interest, but also to interview the locals as to the disposition of previous Pathfinder expeditions in the area. Boons Constanczia practices a technique she calls ‘ghost running’ (similar to parkour or ‘free running’), with which she gains a +1 bonus to her Armor Class when she takes a double move or Run action, and is willing to teach this technique to a monk ally who has earned her favor. Non-monks will find that she offers the usual assistance a Pathfinder of note can lend, such as reduced rates for ship transport to distant lands, the aid and support of Lodge personnel in such locales, etc. |
