About Nox UmbraeStats: Young Nightmare Kitsune Wildblooded Sorcerer 5 CE Small Humanoid (kitsune, shapechanger) Init +7; Senses Darkvision 120 feet, Perception +4 Aura Fear (60 ft, DC 20), Frightful Presence (30 ft, DC 20), Unnatural Aura (20 ft) ————— Defense ————— AC 19, touch 18, flat-footed 13(+6 Dex, +1 Size, +1 armor, +1 deflection) (+1 deflection v. good) hp 27 (5d6+5) DR 5/Good or silver; Regeneration 5 (good or silver) Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +4 (+4 v. illusion effects) (+1 resistance v good) Defensive Abilities Illusion Resistance, Protection from Good ————— Offense ————— Speed 30 feet; 10 feet fly (perfect) Melee Bite +1 (1d3-2) Ranged Touch +9 Special Attacks Cloak of Shadows (+2; 11/day), Night Terrors (DC 20), Blood Intensity (1/day) Spell-Like abilities Constant- Protection from Good 3/day- Detect Thoughts (DC 20), Dream, Nightmare (DC 23), Suggestion (DC 21) 1/day- Shadow Walk Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +13) . . 2nd(6/day)(DC 20)— Glitterdust, Flaming Sphere, Darkvision . . 1st(8/day) (DC 19; 20 for illusions)— Silent Image, Enlarge Person, Grease, Charm Person, Ray of Enfeeblement, Floating Disk, Reduce Person, Mount . . 0 (at will)—(DC 18; 19 for illusions) Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, Sotto Voice, Ghost Sound, Drench, Touch of Fatigue, Penumbra, Spark, Guidance Bloodline: Umbral (Shadow Wildblood) ————— Statistics ————— Str 6, Dex 22, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 27 Base Atk +2; CMB -1; CMD 15 Feats Eschew Materials, Fox Shape, Spell Focus (illusion), Human guise Traits Warded Against Nature (drawback), Awakened from Stasis, Resilient, Seeker Skills Acrobatics +8, Bluff +12, Fly +10, Intimidate +20, Perception +4, Stealth +22, Spellcraft +5, Use Magic Device +12 Languages Common, Sylvan, Aklo SQ Bloodline Arcana, Feign Death (DC 20), Change Shape (Specific Humanoid or fox only; Alter self or Beast Shape II) Other Gear: Cloak of Resistance +1, ring of deflection +1, headband of alluring charisma +2, haramaki, dusty rose prism ioun stone, cold iron dagger, feather token (tree), orange prism ioun stone (guidance), spell lattice (mount), explorer's outfit, belt pouch 7 pp, 23 gp, (weight: 10 lbs) ————— Special Abilities ————— Abilities: Class Abilities:
Cloak of Shadows (Sp): At 1st level, as a standard action, you can grant one target a cloak of shadows. This cloak gives the target a bonus on Stealth checks made in areas of dim or no light equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level for 1 round per 2 sorcerer levels you possess (minimum +1 bonus for 1 round). You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. This bloodline power replaces shadowstrike. FCB: Human FCB, +1 spell known (+3 0-level, +2 1st-level
Backstory: Some never make it home in the Dark. Sometimes, you make it home through the Dark with more than you think. And every once in a while, the Darkness is your home. Nox Umbrae was born a… normal-ish kitsune. However, she always stood out from the others of her kind, likely on account of her appearance. Her fur was a glossy black, head to tail, and her eyes were a burnished red color, in stark contrast to her kin's auburn fur and brilliant blue or green eyes. Even when her shapeshifting powers came in at an unusually young age, Nox's other skins still set her apart. Her human form was raven-haired and pale skinned, and her fox form albino. Regardless of her appearance or form, though, she loved harmless pranks and jokes, interacting with the wildlife nearby, and had a beautiful, clear laugh. She loved to wander and explore, the wider world never holding any fear for her. …She should have been far more afraid. One day, she wandered too far from home. Too far into the Darkness. Too far into the unknown. And she never came home. Nox's family, naturally, searched for her far and wide, but they never could find her. They searched for weeks and months, but, one by one, they all gave up, saying that she must have fallen off the edge, or a wild animal took her. Which is why they were all stunned when one day, years later, Nox reappeared. No explanation, no acknowledgement of the fact all her playmates were grown up, she just… came home. And not a day older, either. She continued playing as she had always, oblivious to the fact she was playing with all new playmates (many of whom had been warned away from interacting with her). Everything seemed normal, but those who observed her noticed she was… different, somehow. Nothing obvious, but just little, unsettling differences. She had a cruel sense of humor, and her pranks frequently left their victims injured and scarred. Where she would once chase after deer and birds (who loved her in return), now she would hunt them, taking great joy in the kill, even as they fled from her and refused to approach. While she still laughed a lot, it now had a disturbing undertone that unsettled those that heard it. Within weeks of her return, the town was ready to drive her away. And then the nightmares started. They started subtly enough. Plenty of people were already having bad dreams about Nox and her differences. But then they started to get worse. People were waking up in the middle of the night exhausted and more tired than they had been going to bed. Many found their personalities drained, and all were exhausted. And they all had similar nightmares: Nox, chained to a stone slab, with shadowy, indistinct shapes cutting her open. Nox, with black-purple energy being forced into her. Pain, so much pain as Nox writhed between shapes, tortured and abused in every way possible. Nox, left alone in dark cells and beaten violently. Nox, forced to fight monstrous and terrible beasts. Nox, being used in horrible ways. Nox, being experimented on… And then, the first death. A village elder by the name of Dasiala began writhing in her sleep, just like so many others. However, unlike the others, she didn't wake up in a frenzy. Rather, she continued writhing for hours, until she finally went limp and her heart stopped. The next night, a young kit named Sajir likewise never woke up. It went on for nearly a week, one or two deaths a night, until finally the leaders could contain the furious mob no longer, and nearly the entire village rose against Nox, coming to her den as she slept and killing her. The next morning, Nox was right back playing with other children, and that night, two more deaths occurred. Once again, the village rose against the black-furred kitsune and killed her. And again, Nox barely seemed to notice. Enraged, the village (realizing that killing her wasn't working, there was only one single person* not against Nox at this point) rose up and simply tried to drive her out of the village, to take her to the nearest edge and drop her. And they did, taking the sleeping form (killing it first for good measure) and dropping it off the nearest island edge. That night, there was not a single death and the village rested easy, now that the undead (for what else could she be?) menace had passed. And yet, the next morning, Nox was found playing in the fields outside the village. Finally, the town drew a silver blade, blessed it with the combined blessings of every good god known, and came to put the sick young deathless fox to her final rest. Nobody knows what happened next (and those that do know won't talk), but it is known that there were few survivors, and even fewer uninjured. The entire village was razed, and the blade destroyed. Nox vanished into the night, and a few broken kitsune carried on with their lives, either trying to rebuild their homes or move on to a new place. Far away, on a distant island system, a raven-haired girl drifted into town one day, and nobody was any the wiser. Criminals started disappearing, corrupt politicians began having nightmares that left them exhausted and drained, and the righteous and just, the kind and the tender-hearted, were left unscathed. And the little girl moved on, satisfied with taking out her rage, her anger, and her desperation on those like the ones that preyed on her. As the albino fox continues on, she has kept her wanderlust and love of discovery, constantly pressing on in her quest to rebuild herself, accumulating trinkets to better herself and collecting trophies from her prey. More recently, a black-furred kitsune girl signed on as magical protection for a shipment of Talium crystals on an airship. She wants to travel, after all, and airships are far faster than her personal flight (and she has grown to appreciate treasure and gold). She travels light, carrying only a few magical items with her, and a payment from some recent mercenary work.
Spoiler: This single person was a kindly kitsune a few years older than Nox herself, named Jerisio. He defended her, saying that, whatever had happened to her, it was both deeply traumatizing and had done something with her magical gifting. She was stuck as a child, and was simply lashing out at her own nightmares. She needed to be cared for, not hunted like a dangerous beast.
Appearance and Personality: Nox is something of a perpetual child, both mentally and physically. She loves wandering, kind people, treasure hunting, exploring, animals, and brutal murder. While she loves helping people, the scars in her past (absolute PTSD to the highest degree) and her deep-seated love of killing prevent her from ever redeeming herself. Given time, a goodly mentor, and restorative magic, who knows? But for now, she is deeply wounded and firmly Evil in action, if not personality or motives. Secrets: Most of Nox's life is a secret, and she deflects any questions directed at her about her past. However, the two big ones are: She wandered into a small shadow well when she vanished. This led her to a location in the Farlands, where Drow captured her and experimented upon her, forcing a form of quintessence extracted from the Dimension of Dreams and the Plane of Shadow into her, and then tested her mercilessly, giving her all forms of horrible experiments to test the outcome of their project. Eventually, she killed off her captors through her Dream Terrors ability one by one, before fleeing through the Plane of Shadow back home, where she unleashed her severe PTSD upon her unsuspecting town quite unintentionally (she was still getting used to her powers at that time), and demolishing the town through fire and shadow (starting fires through Spark and hiding them with Darkness), before setting off, her mania satisfied for the moment and her powers slightly more tamed. The other secret is her deep-seated love of killing. While she tries to cover it up, in fights her bloodlust can get the better of her and she relishes the death of those she deems worthy of death.
Explanations:
So, a couple of my choices may not make total sense in-game. This is where I explain them! Awakened from Stasis is the big one. While Nox was not captured by aliens, she was captured by Drow and basically force-fed pure dreams. Beyond insomnia from her experience, her sleep (as essentially her native habitat) is more concentrated and potent, refreshing her faster. Seeker is the next one. She's not on the hunt for treasure per say, but she does always keep a watchful eye out for those deserving of some well-deserved vengeance. |
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