DM Salsa Presents: The Curse of the Crimson Throne (Inactive)

Game Master AdamWarnock

4d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 2, 4) = 11 10
4d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 5, 2) = 15 13
4d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 2, 6) = 16 14
4d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 5, 2) = 14 12
4d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 2, 5) = 18 16
4d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 3, 5) = 17 14

Annabelle
Female changeling ranger 1
LG Medium humanoid (changeling)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +2

AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+2 armor, +1 natural, +3 Dex)
hp 11 (1d10+1)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2 (+4 vs. fear)

Speed 30 ft.
Melee long-sword +4 (1d8+3/19-20)or
dagger +4 (1d4+3/19-20)
Melee longbow +4 (1d8/x3) or
dagger +4 (1d4+3/19-20)
Special Abilities favored enemy (human +2)

Abilities Str 16, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 11
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 17
Feats Point Blank Shot
Skills Climb +7, Knowledge (Nature) +4, Perception +6, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +7, Survival +6 (+7 tracking), Swim +7
+1 to Sense Motive
SQ hag trait (sea lungs), track +1, wild empathy +1
Gear Longsword, longbow, 20 arrows, leather armor, dagger, caltrops, backpack, bedroll, flint/steel, 50-ft hemp rope, trail rations (1 day), waterskin, traveler’s outfit, coin (69 gp, 4 sp)

1: 4d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 2, 3) = 16 = 14 (5)
2: 4d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 4, 2) = 15 = 13 (3)
3: 4d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 5, 4) = 15 = 12 (2)
4: 4d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 4, 6) = 17 = 16 (10)
5: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 6, 2) = 17 = 15 (7)
6: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 3, 5) = 17 = 14 (5)

Step 1: Write 5 background and concept elements that you feel are important to your image of the character. These can be a concept overview, a list of important life events, a physical description, a personality profile...whatever you need to get an image in your mind.
1. Kary is obviously a tiefling. With long horns sweeping back from her forehead and bright red irises, she is undoubtedly hell-touched in some way. She has also been tattoo’d in blue symbols and geometric shapes visible on her face, neck, and arms. Still, for all that, she might be considered pretty, with a slightly aquiline nose and an almost perpetual smirk. Her hair is dark and smooth, but shot with red, and usually lose and wild.
2. Kary is an optimist and an opportunist. Morality is for people who don’t know what they want. Good or evil is less important than doing what needs to be done to survive. She’s been booted around the lower echelons of society too much to believe in much goodness and been subject to too much evil to walk that path herself. Lawfulness is just practical, after all.
3. Like many tieflings, Kary was abandoned when she was young, and bounced around various stops for the unattended young in Korvosa. She finally ended up as one of Gaedan’s Lamm’s herself, working for a while in his operations. Fortunately, she was always smart – and as soon as she was old enough to find other employment, she skipped out on Lamm … always with the intent of paying him back for the abuse of her younger years. If there’s anything Kary knows how to nurse, it’s a grudge.
4. Having taught herself to read and write at a young age, Kary managed to sneak herself into working at a small library in Korvosa, and it was there she discovered books on magic. Though originally just a custodian, she spent enough time in the stacks to learn the fundamentals of magic. Combining that with the reflexes she learned on the streets creates her distinctive fighting style. Kary has put particular study into enhancing her weapon.
5. Kary has little to no interest in her heritage. Whatever or whoever her parents were, well … they haven’t been any use to her her whole life, and they don’t seem likely to start now. Plenty of tieflings are curious, but Kary discarded the idea of finding them long ago and isn’t prone to taking back decisions once she makes them.

Step 2: List at least two goals for the character. At least one of these goals should be one that the character has, while another should be one that you, as a player, want to see developed over the course of the game.
1. Kary’s goal is further study. She has secondary ideas about revenge on Lamm, but those are more daydreams than things she actively pursues. Since her introduction to magic, she is filled with a desire to understand it.
2. I’d like to see Kary developing attachments to people and finding a better cause than her own self-interest. For the most part she’s been alone since she was abandoned, and some social interaction would teach her to better interact with the world. Maybe potentially shift her alignment to neutral good through RP. Lose some respect for blind law following and gain an appreciation for helping people.

Step 4: Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile. If you like, you can include an enemy of yours here as well, so I have an instant NPC nemesis to throw at you.
1. Marica – Kary’s boss at the library. The curator sometimes snuck books to the tiefling after hours, fostering the girls’ interest in learning.
2. Jordy – Another orphan that was at Lamm’s while Kary was there. They were close, and helped to keep some of the younger children safe. She doesn’t know what happened to him after she got away from Lamm, and would be curious to find out.
3. Gaeden Lamm, Kary’s childhood tormentor. She was always a little too clever for his tastes, and she slipped the noose before he would have liked. Though he may not be actively searching for her, he’d certainly have something to say if he saw her again. Kary could always stir up the other children to work against him … and she’d certainly do it again if she met any of the “lambs” now…

Step 5: Describe three memories, mannerisms, or quirks that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.
1. Kary remembers a vague sensation of someone caring for her when she was very young. She’s always been curious who that was, whether a mother or someone else that cared for her as a baby.
2. Kary likes to read, and always has a book on her somewhere. If she has free time, she’ll find somewhere to sit and read.
3. Kary has little to no experience with high society. She’s never really left Korvosa, and in that time never really left the seedier parts of it. The library wasn’t exactly in the slums, but rather just over a wall from it. Anything outside of this area makes her uncomfortable.

Nicoletta Scarletti
Female Human (Chelaxian) Swashbuckler 1
CG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +4
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Defense
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AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+2 armor, +1 shield, +3 Dex)
hp 12 (1d10+2)
Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +0
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee dagger +5 (1d4/19-20) and
. . rapier +5 (1d6/18-20)
Special Attacks deed: opportune parry and riposte, panache
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Statistics
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Str 11, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 16
Base Atk +1; CMB +1; CMD 15 (15 vs. disarm, 15 vs. steal, 15 vs. sunder)
Feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes
Traits fencer, framed (family honor), local know-it-all (varisia)
Skills Acrobatics +5, Bluff +9, Climb +1, Knowledge (local) +5, Perception +4, Sense Motive +4; Racial Modifiers deed: derring-do
Languages Common, Shoanti
SQ deed: dodging panache, swashbuckler finesse
Other Gear leather armor, buckler, dagger (5), rapier, backpack, masterwork, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, mess kit, pot, hemp rope (50 ft.), torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, 72 gp, 3 sp
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Special Abilities
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Combat Expertise +/-1 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Deed: Derring-Do (Ex) Spend 1 panache to add 1d6 when making Escape Artist, Fly, Ride, or Swim check.
Deed: Dodging Panache +3 (Ex) When attacked, spend 1 panache to step 5 ft. and gain +3 to AC vs. attack.
Deed: Opportune Parry and Riposte (Ex) 1 panache and 1 AoO to attempt to parry a melee attack, then counterattack.
Fencer +1 to hit with dagger or sword AoOs.
Local Know-It-All (Varisia, Korvosa) +2 on Knowledge (local) checks related to selected community.
Panache (Ex) Gain a pool of points that are spent to fuel deeds, regained on light/piercing crit/killing blow.
Swashbuckler Finesse At 1st level, a swashbuckler gains the benefits of the Weapon Finesse feat with light or one-handed piercing melee weapons, and she can use her Charisma score in place of Intelligence as a prerequisite for Combat Expertise.

Nicoletta Scarletti grew up in a decidedly middle-class Korvosan family, a fiery young woman of Chelaxian stock. Standing out among her siblings for being the only girl, she quickly learned the value of holding one’s own against larger combatants, thanks to the frequent friendly brawls she engaged in with her brothers. While lacking much of the strength of her male companions, she possessed a slippery form, and even slipperier tongue, though it was sharp-edged and prone to profanity – which earned her more than one belting from her father, who would often remind her that it was no way for a woman to talk.

To her mother, Nicoletta was a gem. To her father, she was a treasure. To her brothers – Aurelio, Lotario, and Rainieri – she was a brat, but a likable enough one. And out of the four siblings, it was Nicoletta who was chosen to learn the art of the sword.

Though unable to afford the tuition to the fabled fencing college of Vencarlo Orisini, Nicoletta’s father, Antonio, was able to find her a tutor for a more modest sum. While Nicoletta wasn’t as physically strong as her mentor, she was nimble, determined, and able to read his movements, predicting his moves and ducking or sidestepping out of the way almost every time. The lessons wore on, and she grew more and more confident in her abilities. A fine future as a guardswoman was ahead of her, or better yet, as a competitive fencer, travelling Varisia – or even the rest of the Inner Sea! – fighting for coin and spreading her fame.

Unfortunately for Nicoletta, it wasn’t to last. As her brothers grew older and moved into various walks of life – Aurelio to the Guard, Lotario to the copper-beaters, and Rainieri, the youngest, to the temple of Sarenrae – Nicoletta realized her dream would have to be pushed aside. Just as she turned eighteen, and was ready to resign herself to a dreary future, she found two armed men of the Korvosan Guard at the door to the family home.

Her father was a murderer.

Though Nicoletta knew it wasn’t true, the Guard didn’t believe her, or the accused, and the courts were convinced her father was guilty. His knife had been found in the dead man’s back, after all; the evidence was damning enough on its own, but it was the testimony of a fisherman that sealed it.

While the sentencing wasn’t immediate, Antonio couldn’t live with the shame and accusatory looks from the community. When he nearly took his own life in an attempt that had Rainieri pulling every string he could at the temple to restore him to health, Nicoletta fumed with rage and a burning desire for revenge. She took to the streets, hunting down leads, lying her way out of trouble and into the right places, and finally managed to find the fisherman who’d testified against her father. A blade against his throat proved her correct – he’d lied to the courts. He’d planted the murder weapon, he’d been paid to do so by a man named Lamm. And when Nicoletta reeled with alarm, he ran.

She found him dead in a gutter two days later, apparently silenced before she could take him to the judge.

But she had a name. Lamm. And it’s this name she’s been following for two years now.

Lamm.

Nicoletta is a lithe woman, around five feet, eight inches in height, with sharp cheekbones and a tapered jawline framed by wavy hair – a burning red, unusual for her lineage, and the reason her father would joke about her having a bit of devil’s blood. Her eyes are dark and smouldering – not with any of the more base human drives, but with a thirst for vengeance and a fierce determination that gives men pause.

Her figure is reasonably attractive, and while she wears clothing that flatters certain assets, she prefers not to show skin. While not as buxom or curvaceous as many of the Varisian performers, Nicoletta knows she doesn’t look half-bad in a fitted blouse – she just doesn’t bother to wear such things most of the time. Her preferred colours are simple backs, whites, and muted reds, and she always wears a finely-crafted rapier on her belt, a dagger in her boot (and several more in various places), and a buckler within easy reach. After all, she has no doubt she’s made an enemy of this ‘Lamm’ fellow, whoever he is.

She’s a practical young woman – she prefers to be called Nic as opposed to her full name, or, by close friends, ‘Red’, in reference to her unusual hair colour. After all, ‘Nicoletta’ is a mouthful, and simply too big for her. Nic suits her just fine, and after a few pints, she’ll even answer to more colloquial variants.

Nic is a lass of simple faith – she follows the Drunken Hero, simply because his ideals of freedom and bravery sit well with her dreams of travel and heroics. She leaves the fancier points of religion to her Sarenrite brother, preferring to worship Cayden the way he’d like it – with a drink and a song (in her rather recognizable [read: grating] singing voice). She’s fond of a drink, but prefers duelling, and is quick to challenge someone over a perceived slight – and she tends to perceive slights where there are none, leading to more than a share of awkward moments.

To her friends, Nic is loyal and easygoing; to her enemies, she is a red-haired she-devil capable of slicing a man from navel to nose before he can blink. Well, one day, hopefully... she’s yet to actually kill someone, though has no doubt she could do so if need be! Maybe. She thinks.

Lamm, at least. She knows she could kill Lamm, given the chance.

Catcher
Female N Human Wizard,
Level 1,

HP 11/11, Speed 30ft

AC 12, Touch 12, Flat-footed 10,

CMD 14,

Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +3,

CMB +2,

Base Attack Bonus 0

Great Sword -2 (2d6+2, 19-20 x2)

Abilities Str 15, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 13

Being born in a poor family, in Korvosa poorest district, she grew always hungry and with almost nothing to eat.
Despite of that, she was a cute child, sparkling green eyes, golden hair.
She could not understand whom those men’s that took her away from her family were. Mom only cried, Father would not look in her eyes, but she never forgot the distinct sound of coins thrown to father.
She was seven.
After that, life only got worse. Her new ‘family’ were always travelling, her new ‘father’ always looked at her with strange eyes, her new ‘mother’ however, was really nice. Of course, she would always get a beating for not doing her chores, even if she did it. However, at the end of the day, ‘mother’ would embrace her, and sing songs to make her sleep, and even thought life was hard, she was happy. She no longer would go hungry for days.
One night, after a particularly hard day, she was sleeping when mother came. Without saying anything, the woman hugged her, and then, mother started to cry, singing soft children songs. Not much later, father came, a strange look in his eyes ”It’s yer fault for being pretty…” it was all he said as he took the children from the woman’s embrace.
She was eleven.
They were near Korvosa again, and she were sold to a man called ‘Lamm’
Lamm took her back to the city, and life that already was bad, became hell.
The first days were especially worse. They hurt her in manners she was not aware they could hurt someone.
She became Lamm’s Pet; she would attend to his every need. To get him food, clean his room. Whenever he went, Lamm took her along.
In one of those times, when he took her to a meeting with an ex-member from the Academae, the mage took a liking to her. It did not needed much to frighten Lamm into trading the girl, once more, she saw her life take a turn, for worse, she thought. More after the murderous look Lamm gave her before leaving.
She was thirteen.
The first thing sir Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa did, was to make her clean. Servants took her and after a bath in hot water (which nearly killed her of fear, since it was her first time cleaning that way), and changing some simple, but clean clothes, she was brought to her new ‘master’.
Inside his studio, he was sitting comfortably, while observing her.
Once more, she prepared herself mentally for the worse, since child, she had learned to enter in a ‘special place’, where she could ignore all things that happened to her body, she would only feel the afterwards. However, strange enough, he was only looking.
”I am sure you have experienced a lot of hardship in your life. I can see it in your eyes.” still in his chair, he leans towards her and continues. ”I’m not saying your life here will be easier,” that made her tremble in fear, “But the only punishment you’ll receive, are those you earn.” after saying that, he got up from his chair using a cane to help him walk. ”Here in my household, no one is treated in an unfair manner. You get what you deserve, nothing more, and nothing less. In addition, if you try to flee, know that I have means to find you, no matter where you hide. Now go and attend to the servant quarters, they will tell you what is expected of you.”
Despite of her new master threats, life got better. She still got punished, from time to time, but it was only due her own failings, and less than she was used too.
They taught her how to read and write, and a proper etiquette for a servant woman. Her duty was to serve the master needs. To keep his room and his studio clean.
One day, her curiosity got the best of her, and the master found her reading his diaries. She saw in him that day, an array of strange expressions, dreading for the worse, she closed her eyes and waited for punishment.
”It occurs to me, that you have been working under this house for almost a year now, and I do not know your name.”
She was startled, her name? What was it? She could not remember. ”I do not know it master.”
”How can you be here for an entire year and do not have a name?” question Agrippa.
”They call me Catcher, master.” says the girl
Smiling at the name the master asked “And why is that?”
”They found me trying to catch an apple in the garden, on my first day here, master.” answer Catcher.
Laughing the mage continue, ”Yes, yes. Very fitting. Tell me Catcher, what do you think of my diary?”
The question surprised her; she was not going to be punished?
”Its confusing master. I can understand you use the diagrams and formulae to call something from another place, and bind it to your will, but I got lost with all those numbers and calculus…”
The master blinked in surprise. ”How… were you able to understand it?”
”I do not know master; it just made sense that it worked that way.”
Still smiling in disbelief Agrippa asked ”Would you like to learn more about it, Catcher?”
Sensing an opportunity and being cautious she answered ”Only if you see fitting to teach me, master.”
This was how she turned to be personal assistant and pupil of Sir Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, ex-member of the academae.
She was fourteen.
The next three years passed in a blur.
She was free from house chores; her only duties were to assist the master and to study, which made her happy.
Nothing would work in the two first years of training, she doubt for a moment that she had what it takes to be a wizard, but her effort paid in the end.
Master had mastered the arcane ways of conjuring things and making things appear out of blue.
Her power however, focused in the raw power of magic, more fitting to transform and enhance, than to create or conjure.
She was seventeen when Agrippa officially declared her no longer an apprentice, and gave her first and real grimoire.
That was the happiest day of Catcher life.
Her relationship with the master only improved after that, they never saw each other as man and woman; it was more like father and daughter.
In a peculiar day, Agrippa called her into his studio. He seemed different, anxious.
”Catcher, it has been four years you were brought into this house, and three years since I began to teach you.” looking at the window he continued ”You gained my trust and affection in this period of time, not out of compassion, but because you deserved it.”
His words filled her with pride and fear.
”Today, a matter of extreme importance has surfaced. I can trust only you to help me.”
He turned and faced her, in his hands a small message container ”I need this delivered with utmost secrecy to an associate of mine that lives in Magnimar.”
He looked at the window again ”I know it’s a long travel, but I think it will be good for you to know new places.”
After saying that, he walk to her and in an unexpected gesture, gave her a hug
”You made me proud of teaching you. Do not disappoint me in this.”
In the next day, she left Korvosa, with a secret to deliver, and despite of all, she was happy.
Dressed as an adventurer, the mercenary group hired to escort her seemed a bit familiar, but Catcher did not paid any attention to it.
In the first night, tired from the long day of journey, she did not waked up when someone entered her tent. What followed next was not easy to remember later. The mercenaries tortured her for hours, and before passing out, she was able to see Lamm entering her tent, a wicked smile in his lips. ”Finish her” was the only thing she remember before passing out in pain.

Catcher was found, days later, half-dead in a riverside.
Her recovery was a slow one, more than one month later when she was back at Korvosa.
In that time spam, her guardian had been accused and his house taken as property of his Highness. Rumor said Agrippa fled, after an ugly confrontation with the city guard.
Slipping inside the now abandoned house, she searched her master studio, for the secret places she knew. All save one already found. Inside it, she found her master old grimoire, from his time as an academae student, a huge sword, with some personal heraldry, some golden coins.
Taking it all, she left the house, promising to avenge the master and bring Lamm to steel justice.

She is a methodic person (Lawful), and likes to calculate before doing things. She is accustomed to brutal things and not really into giving her life for those she does not know or have no feelings, but she is true to her friends (not that she as one). (Neutral)
Even then, she is open minded and easy going. Having no real experience with others, she will be delighted and easy influenced by the others. But it’s hard to gain her trust, because things that happened to her in the past.

She will serve at first as the party mage. Being an Transmuter (not sure yet the opposite schools), she will still get the opposite spells, if they are needed. Later, I plan to have her dip into fighter (possible training with one of the group members) and lastly at Eldrich knight. She will then move to a secondary melee character, staying in middle term between front linier and a mage.

Finneous will be a fiercely loyal companion, prankster, and somewhat psychotic in battle. He would think nothing of launching himself off a bridge to land heroically on the back of a dragon ... or not. He will also throw himself into harms way to save an ally should the need arise. He is a gifted rogue but not a thief.

Finneous is bored. Plain and simple. His mundane life back home on his family's lands lacked a certain excitement. And it is adventure Finneous craved! Right from a young age his mother Elda could often be heard saying "that boy ain't right in the head!" as Finneous would often be found climbing a sheer cliff face without rope or taunting Farmer Waddle's hounds and running away.

The only thing Finneous craves more than adventure is laughter. He often plays practical jokes on those he is close to. "If he isn't playing you for a fool, he doesn't like you" said his school teachers. "That is just his way and there's no way of getting him to stop."

Catcher
Female Wizard
LN Medium Humanoid (Human)
Init +8; Senses Perception +1
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Defense
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AC 12, Touch 12, Flat-Footed 10 (+2 Dex)
HP 11 (1d6+5)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +3
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee Greatsword -1 (2d6+4 19-20/x2)
Dagger +3 (1d4+3/x2)
Special Attacks Telekinetic Fist (1d4)(Sp) 7/day
Wizard Spells per Day (CL 1; Concentration +5)
0th (at will)(DC 14)-
1st (DC 15)-
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Statistics
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Str 15+1, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 13
Base Atk +0; CMB+3; CMD 15
Feats Improved Initiative, Toughness
Traits Dangerously Curious, Reactionary, Childhood trait. (From AP)
Skills
Knowledge (Arcana) +8, Knowledge (History)+8, Knowledge (Planes) +8, Linguistics +8, Spellcraft +8, UMD + 6
Languages Common, Elven, Draconic, Aklo, Infernal
SQ Physical Enhancement (Su)
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Special Abilities
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Physical Enhancement (Su): You gain a +1 enhancement bonus to one physical ability score (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution). This bonus increases by +1 for every five wizard levels you possess to a maximum of +5 at 20th level. You can change this bonus to a new ability score when you prepare spells. At 20th level, this bonus applies to two physical ability scores of your choice.
Telekinetic Fist (Sp) : As a standard action you can strike with a telekinetic fist, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The telekinetic fist deals 1d4 points of bludgeoning damage + 1 for every two wizard levels you possess. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.