DM Rich's Carrion Crown

Game Master Briccone

Dark Secret: As much as he loathes undead — his vampiric heritage most of all — Niculaie has a secret taste for the blood of the recently deceased (Eldritch Heritage, Sanguine bloodline).

Background:Niculaie is a dhampir — the spawn of a vampire father and human mother. Niculaie’s father disappeared before his birth, abandoning Niculaie’s mother, her pregnancy nearly at full term, at a crossroads near her family’s estate. She died shortly after giving birth to Niculaie.

Niculaie was raised on the Pavlencas family estate by his mother’s brother, his Uncle Tomaz, and by his half-sister Valerica, who is eight years his senior. Valerica’s father died when he was thrown from his horse, less than a year before Niculaie was born. The family has always suspected that Niculaie’s father contrived to spook the horse to leave Niculaie and Valerica’s mother with less protection.

With the guidance of Uncle Tomaz and Valerica, Niculaie grew to be a gentle man, more interested in his studies and his music than in the training for battle that Pavlencas youth traditionally received. The estate’s servants respected the family too much to discuss the youth’s heritage outside of the manor house, and Tomaz exerted enough authority in the nearby farm village to put a stop to any rumors about the strange lad who was rarely seen outside the house, and then only when wrapped in robes and scarves from head to foot.

The family continued on this way for many years. As Valerica grew up, she began to take over more of the duties of managing the estate from their aging uncle, while Niculaie remained in the dhampir’s prolonged adolescence. As insular as the family secret caused them to be, they were, in the main, quietly happy.

One night, however, when Tomaz and Valerica were away from the estate for a few days arranging the purchase of new livestock for the estate’s own small farming operation, there was an accident near the crossroads where Niculaie’s mother had been found. Niculaie and some of the servants heard the commotion and rushed to the scene, and found a horse cart smashed at the bottom of a gulley. The driver was unconscious and not likely to survive and one horse was dead, while a second horse was injured beyond any hope of recovery, whinnying pitifully.

The servants made a makeshift stretcher from pieces of the broken cart and carried the unconscious man back to the house to do what they could for him. Alone, Niculaie drew his sword and ended the poor horse’s torment by cutting its throat. As the animal’s blood flowed over his arm and hand, the dhampir experienced a hunger more powerful than anything he had ever felt. Before he could think better of it, he raised his hand to his mouth and tasted blood for the first time in his life (but not the last).

It was in that position, licking the animal’s blood from his hand, face covered in red, the full moon shining on his thin form accenting his pale skin and silver hair, when another rider approached the crossroads. Seeing Niculaie, the rider shrieked and spurred his horse, galloping into the village crying “Vampyr! Vampyr!” at the top of his lungs.

Niculaie realized that if he stayed, Tomaz and Valerica would be blamed for harboring a monster in their home. Fearing for the safety of his family, and deeply ashamed for giving in to what he sees as a weakness inherited from his father, Niculaie ran back to the house, hurriedly changed his clothes and washed the blood from his face. Packing a small bag, he left his uncle and sister a note, swore the servants to secrecy, and set out on foot through the woods to make his escape.

Eventually, he made his way to a small village in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. There, his willingness to work for low wages and long hours without complaint through the cold, dark winter on the worst of the reconstruction projects was more important to potential employers than his heritage or where he had come from, and by the time anyone might have thought to ask, he had been there long enough that nobody cared enough to bother.

With the dirge bard archetype, Niculaie’s mind-affecting spells affect undead as though they were living creatures. Although not optimized for combat, his levels in investigator (gravedigger) give Niculaie a handful of abilities that add flavor and make him more effective against undead opponents, including Studied Strike vs. undead as though two levels higher.

Niculaie invests his skill points broadly, with particular attention to knowledge skills that the current party may lack, with the added benefit of unlimited use of inspiration on knowledge, linguistics, and spellcraft checks. Given the common prejudice against dhampirs, he is not focused on serving as the party face, but has enough skill in diplomacy and bluff to be useful and can invest more in those skills over time. His primary roles will be knowledge skills, spellcasting (focusing on illusions and enchantments, as his mind-affecting spells will work against undead), buffing/support, and he can assist in combat with his bow, scythe, and shovel.

Note:Niculaie will never use either of the necromantic Relic Focus powers available to him from the gravedigger investigator archetype because they are both minor versions of animate dead (he probably doesn’t even realize he could use one of them). If it wouldn’t offend the other PCs and would benefit the party, he would consider using the ability to cast grave words.

My Dearest Valerica,

I was delighted to receive your latest letter. News from home always seems to shrink the distance between us, and I was most relieved to read that you are nearly recovered from your injuries. You really must be more careful, dear sister - I have the greatest respect for your skill with a blade, but you know better than to wander near the edge of the woods on the night of a full moon. If not for your own sake, then please be cautious for the people of the estate; since our uncle's death, you are the lady of the manor and they need your protection. If the worst should happen to you, our cousin Arkandru would inherit, and you know my opinion of him.

I am well, and remain reasonably comfortable here in the frozen north. It has taken several years, but the villagers have come to tolerate my presence, even if they do not yet accept me as one of their own. It has been quite some time since I have been refused service at the tavern or by any of the local craftsmen. Although there are certain roughneck half-orcs I have learned to avoid after they have had more than three or four pints of ale, I believe they make me their target due to my mannerisms and what they may sense of the aristocratic upbringing you and I share, rather than because of my paternal heritage. That is itself a sort of victory; a pathetic victory, but a victory nonetheless.

I can picture your skeptical smile even after so long apart. “Your small victories are well and good,” I imagine you saying, “but from whence comes the coin necessary for the purchase of necessities from these local craftsmen, or for the occasional evening of levity at the village’s sole watering hole?”

Fear not, sweet sister! This is neither a plea for financial assistance nor for your pity, but rather a bit of boasting.

This past summer, when there was little work to be found save on the fishing boats - and I have neither the strength nor the skill to serve with these northern hunters of the sea - the village’s Pharasman priest took pity on me and offered me a position digging graves and watching over the cemetery at night. He is a hard man, as are many of his faith where my kind are concerned, but perhaps he was curious. Whatever his reasons, I accepted gratefully.

I suppose he kept watch over me as I worked, to make certain I was as harmless as I seemed. One early morning before dawn, he surprised me with an invitation to share his breakfast. While we ate a simple meal, the priest asked me about my music! He had heard me singing to myself as I worked each night - he said he had not known that those of us born with the taint of unlife could express ourselves through artistry in a way that the truly living might appreciate.

Then, my dear sister, he invited me to sing that very night at the interment of a poor man with few friends and no family, who had been killed in a shipboard accident. Of course, I accepted - I have had so few opportunities to perform in public that I jumped at the chance to sing for an audience, even at an occasion as somber as a funeral.

Of course, I hoped that my brief performance would provide some comfort to the friends of the decedent, and with that in mind I prepared Stonefoot's Requiem. You will remember, I am certain the dwarven composer's lament for those of his people who perished defending the great sky citadels from the orc hordes. Old Stonefoot wrote it to be performed by a single vocalist accompanied by pipe and drum, but it is easily arranged to be performed by a singer alone.

There were no more than a dozen mourners standing around the open grave that evening. Clouds thick with pent up rain blocked the night sky from view, so that the only light came from the flickering flame of a single, magical torch held aloft by the priest's young acolyte. The priest stood at the head of the open pit, leading the dead man's friends in their somber, joyless prayers, while I waited at the foot opposite him, my stomach tied in knots with stage fright. I could not even remember the last time I had performed for an audience, even if it were just you and Uncle and some of the household staff. However, when the priest finished his prayer and looked up from his book to me, I mastered my anxiety and began with nary a tremble.

Six minutes, seventeen seconds. That is the length of the second movement of Stonefoot's Requiem, which I had decided would be most appropriate for the funeral. I performed it in the original Dwarven -- few, if any, of the mourners would understand the words, but the lyrics were not the point. It is the emotion infused into the haunting melody by the composer, and by the performer, that moves the listener, and my audience was indeed moved. As the last lingering note faded across the graveyard, I saw tears on the faces of the dead man's friends -- no surprise at a burial -- and that of the young acolyte. But when I looked to the priest for some affirmation that my performance had been satisfactory, to my astonishment I saw a single tear tracing its path down his own cheek, toughened by faith and raw experience. Before I could register anything more, the clouds burst as though the heavens themselves had started weeping, and all devolved to chaos as we rushed to complete the burial while the thunder boomed and lightning struck trees that were too close for anyone's comfort.

The storm raged throughout the night and all the next day, so it was not until the following night that I was once again summoned to the Pharasman temple. I assumed that I was needed to dig more graves, but to my surprise the acolyte ushered me into the priest's small library, where I found him waiting for me among the stacks of neatly organized books and scrolls with a small pouch of silver coins.

"These," he said, "are for you. Collected by the mourners who were so moved by your funeral song the other night, at their own initiative. I have added a contribution from the church as well." He gave me a tight smile. "Niculaie, I suspect that I will be asked again if you will sing my parishoners’ loved ones to their rest. Is that something that would interest you?"

Of course, I replied in the affirmative. Since then, I have performed at six more burials and memorial services. The families and friends of the departed have all been very appreciative, and while it has yet to make any obvious difference in the way I am treated in the village, the funds I have been given -- ranging from a few coppers from the poorest of families to (once) a fistful of gold crowns from the family of the region’s most notorious miser -- have been more than enough to keep food on my table and for materials to repair the leaking roof over my head. Perhaps the most nourishing result, though, has been my growing friendship with the Pharasman priest, who has learned to look past my pallor and unnaturally long canine teeth (yes, I know it is childish of me to hew to Uncle's rule about the "f" word even now, but old habits are the hardest to break). I still dig graves as needed, but we have spent many a long night playing chess and debating the relative importance to a civilized society of the worship of the Lady of Graves as opposed to my own patron, the Eternal Rose. He has also allowed me free use of his library -- modest compared to the library at home, of course, but more than adequate considering the locale. It is perhaps a bit focused on a single subject, but as that subject is one that is of particular interest to me anyway, that is not as limiting as it might sound. We have even fought side-by-side, during an unpleasant incident involving an outbreak of ghoul fever last winter. For the first time in nearly a decade of my self-imposed exile, dear sister, I no longer feel completely alone.

This brings me to the kind offer you made in your letter, which I must, with the greatest regret, decline.

Your suggestion that I might return home for good would have brought me to tears, were my barren eyes capable of producing them. But the folk of our county have a long memory, and a mere decade is not nearly long enough for them to forget what they believe they saw on the night I departed. I am sure they love you as they did Uncle, if not more, but that love will not keep the mob from storming the manor with pitchforks and torches if word gets around that the family monster has returned.

My delay in responding to your correspondence is due to hesitation over whether to accept your offer to visit me here or elsewhere instead. Just a few days after I received your letter, as I was composing my initial response, I received a letter from a solicitor notifying me that Professor Petros Lorrimor has gone to his judgment and requesting I attend the reading of his will in Ravengro.

You may remember my tale of the traveler I met on a forest road in the first year of my exile — he was beset by bandits, and may well have lost his life as well as his purse had I not frightened them off by singing a haunting melody and giving them the briefest glimpse of my unusual dentition as I approached. When the bandits took to their heels, this traveler eagerly professed his gratitude for my intervention (as well as a discomfiting interest in my ancestry) and gave me his name. It was, as you may have guessed, the same Professor Lorrimor.

The solicitor’s missive was long delayed; the winter that has just ended was a hard one, and the ice in our harbor so thick as to render it impassible until this month. I have already missed the reading of the professor’s will, but after long consideration and consultation with my friend the priest, I shall be on board the next ship to accept passengers and within a few weeks will present myself at the office of the solicitor in Ravengro to learn the reason for this mysterious invitation. Once I have completed that mission and have made arrangements for lodging in Ravengro or elsewhere, I will send word to you, dear Valerica, and we may decide the place and time for our reunion.

Until then, again, I beg you to take more care of yourself. I never knew our mother, of course, and I will not speak of my father. You and Uncle have been my only true family, and with his passing, you are all I have left, and I flatter myself that you may feel the same for me. You must not be so eager to follow him too quickly!

The next time I write, I shall once again be within the borders of our homeland; the thought fills me with dread and eager anticipation in equal measure. Until then, I remain, as always,

Your loving brother,
Niculaie

Niculaie Pavlencas
Male dhampir bard (dirge bard) 4/investigator (gravedigger) 2 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 30, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 89, Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures 54, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 26)
NG Medium humanoid (dhampir)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +4
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Defense
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AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+5 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex)
hp 39 (6d8+6)
Fort +3, Ref +10, Will +8; +2 bonus vs. death effects and energy drain, +4 vs. fear, energy drain, death effects, and necromantic effects, +2 vs. disease and mind-affecting effects
Defensive Abilities negative energy affinity; Resist haunted eyes, undead resistance
Weaknesses light sensitivity
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee dagger +5 (1d4+1/19-20) or
mwk scythe +6 (2d4+1/×4) or
silver light mace +5 (1d6+1)
Ranged +1 darkwood composite shortbow +7 (1d6+2/×3)
Special Attacks bardic performance 14 rounds/day (countersong, distraction, fascinate [DC 16], inspire competence +2, inspire courage +1), the blood is the life
Bard (Dirge Bard) Spells Known (CL 6th; concentration +10)
2nd (2/day)—ghostbane dirge[APG] (DC 16), oneiric horror[OA] (DC 16)
1st (4/day)—lesser confusion (DC 15), grease, inflict light wounds (DC 15), saving finale[APG] (DC 15), vanish[APG] (DC 15)
0 (at will)—detect magic, ghost sound (DC 14), know direction, open/close (DC 14), read magic, sift[APG]
Investigator (Gravedigger) Extracts Prepared (CL 2nd; concentration +4)
1st—expeditious retreat, shield, true strike
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 18
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 18
Feats Eldritch Heritage[UM], Exotic Heritage (Knowledge [religion])[UW], Lingering Performance[APG]
Traits chance savior, magical knack
Skills Acrobatics +3 (-1 to jump), Appraise +6, Bluff +8, Climb +2, Craft (alchemy) +8, Diplomacy +8, Disable Device +1, Disguise +8, Escape Artist +3, Heal +4, Knowledge (arcana) +13, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +8, Knowledge (engineering) +8, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (history) +10, Knowledge (local) +8, Knowledge (nature) +10, Knowledge (nobility) +8, Knowledge (planes) +8, Knowledge (religion) +10 (+12 to identify undead creatures and their abilities), Linguistics +7, Perception +4, Perform (dance) +8, Perform (sing) +13, Perform (string instruments) +10, Perform (wind instruments) +10, Profession (gravedigger) +6, Sense Motive +4, Sleight of Hand +3, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +3, Use Magic Device +9
Languages Common, Dwarven, Shoanti, Skald, Varisian
SQ bardic knowledge +2, fangs[ARG], grave magic, inspiration (3/day), kill the dead, read the bones, relic focus, resist level drain, secrets of the grave, vampiric empathy[ARG]
Combat Gear potion of inflict light wounds (3), potion of levitate, scroll of eagle's splendor, scroll of heroism, scroll of share language (x2), scroll of songbird (x2), wand of inflict light wounds (50 charges), alchemist's fire (4), oil (4); Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, +1 darkwood composite shortbow (+1 Str), arrows (20), blunt arrows[APG] (20), dagger, mwk scythe, silver light mace, belt of mighty constitution +2, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, traveler's any-tool[UE], bedroll, belt pouch, bullseye lantern, candle (2), fishhook (2), flint and steel, formula book, ink, inkpen, journal[UE], masterwork backpack[APG], masterwork flute, masterwork lyre, mug/tankard, occultist's implement[OA], scroll box[UE], sewing needle, signal whistle, string or twine[APG], sunrod, thread (50 ft.), torch, trail rations (7), waterskin, whetstone, 1,846 gp, 4 sp, 7 cp
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Special Abilities
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Bardic Knowledge +2 (Ex) Add +2 to all knowledge skill checks.
Bardic Performance (standard action, 14 rounds/day) Your performances can create magical effects.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Fangs You can bite a helpless (automatic) or grappled (with a CMB check) foe for 1d3 dam.
Grave Magic (Sp) Sacrifice unused extract slots to cast certain spells.
Haunted Eyes (Ex) +4 to saves vs. fear, energy drain, death and necromancy effects.
Inspiration (+1d6, 3/day) (Ex) Use 1 point, +1d6 to trained skill or ability check. Use 2 points, to add to attack or save.
Kill the Dead Studied combat and studied strike function as 2 levels higher vs. undead, 2 levels lower vs. non-undead.
Light Sensitivity (Ex) Dazzled as long as remain in bright light.
Lingering Performance Bardic Performances last 2 rds after you stop concentrating.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Mind Fear (DC 13) (Su) Target creature is frightened 1d4 rnds. if it has your HD or less, shaken if more (Will neg).
Negative Energy Affinity (Ex) You are alive, but react to positive/negative energy as though you were undead.
Read the Bones (Su) Perform object reading on corpses, bones, and other physical remains.
Relic Focus (1/day) (Su) Spend inspiration for nec. resonant power 1/day, or grave words any number of times.
Resist Level Drain (Ex) Negative levels don't impose penalties or become permanent, but still kill if exceed HD.
Secrets of the Grave (+2) (Ex) Undead lose imm to mind affecting, bonus to Knowledge (religion) vs. undead.
The Blood Is the Life (7/day) At 1st level, you can gain sustenance from the blood of the recently dead. As a standard action, you can drink the blood of a creature that died within the past minute. The creature must be corporeal, must be at least the same size as you, and must have blood. This ability heals you 1d6 hit points and nourishes you as if you'd had a full meal. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. This bloodline power replaces grave touch.
Undead Resistance +2 bonus to saves vs. disease and mind affecting effects.
Vampiric Empathy Speak with bats, rats, and wolves and +2 Diplomacy dealing with them.

Pontia is tall and slender, with short black hair and dark eyes. She typically dresses in modest and practical wizard's robes, and puts little or no apparent effort into dressing well or looking good; her hair is short because it's less trouble that way. Most of the time she comes across as disinterested and aloof, but that's because she spends a lot of time thinking and doesn't put much effort into presentation (except when she's teaching). It's not that she's rude, it's just that social activities don't seem to interest her very much. These days, she spends most of her time on scholarship, wizardry, and contending with evils across much of the Inner Sea region.

From her name and arcane specialty, it's no surprise that she hails from Cheliax. She is the daughter and student of the late Titus Canario, a teacher of conjuration to Chelaxian petty nobility for many years and a longtime colleague of Professor Lorrimor's. It was during her studies that Pontia became acquainted with the Professor, and the two carried on a correspondence that continued throughout her travels.

Following Titus' death, Pontia left the intrigues and deviltry of Cheliax--first for Absalom, where she spent time studying at the Arcanamirum, and then to the Mwangi Expanse, where she studied at the Magaambya and showed the Tempest-Sun Mages there techniques of Chelaxian wizardry. Although she was tempted to remain in Sargava, she chose instead to return to Absalom. It was there that news of Lorrimor's death reached her. As soon as she was able, she set out for Ustalav. After a pause in Ravengro to visit the Professor's grave, she followed the band of adventurers who had been commissioned by Lorrimor to carry out his final wishes.

• Every character will need at least a short background. If you can incorporate some horror elements into it, that will only help your chances of being selected. Please also give mention to your relationship with Professor Lorrimor.

~Born in Lastwall, Cole grew up in a small village that was the nearest the dread tomb of the lich-king. This proximity to so much death and evil led Cole to explore the area near the forbidden tower in curiosity. One fateful day he found a man under attack by some ghouls near the tower and Cole's dormant Kineticist abilities flared to life, allowing him to help save the human. Professor Lorrimer was his name, and they declared that day a friendship that would last their lifetimes.

• Dark Secret: Every PC should have a dark secret of some sort, which, if exposed, would cause extreme embarrassment at the very least. Please keep it PG-13 and not entirely counter to your alignment. This should be part of your background, although if you wish to hide it via a spoiler tag or to send it to me via private message, that's perfectly acceptable.

~Adopted into the Lastwall militia when his powers emerged, he became an expert on the various undead drawn to the dread tower (and his home) and often joined patrols near there. Ambushed by wights many years later, his patrol was lost to man, except for himself. When the smoke had settled...and his thoughts had cleared...it was evident Cole had not only helped kill the wights, but had accidentally killed several of his comrades too in his zeal to destroy the undead. Knowing he couldn't stay in Lastwall, he immediately headed for the border...changing his name to Cole Burrns in order to try and hide his identity.

• Please give me a rough idea of where you want to go with your character, and what skills s/he brings/will bring to the table to round out a good party.

Cole is a gregarious and tough fellow, physically large but not overly strong. Built like a rock, he tends to tough out problems until he can no longer face them. A natural pyromaniac at heart, he has managed to channel his tendencies with the help of his religion. Hunting undead has become an official job for him, and he's good at it, but it is not an obsession. On the rare occasion he has committed simple acts of arson for profit, and for something new to do. Cole easily fills the role of an arcane caster, although his abilities are not as varied. His one goal in life is live a full life away from Lastwall's prisons. Anything that helps keep that goal alive...

• I'd also like to know your anticipated posting schedule. I'll be expecting at least 1 post per day unless you've already let us know you'll be gone for a short period.

I can usually post once a day at least. Weekends can be harder sometimes, but I'm a pretty prolific PBP poster for the last several years.

The bloodline itself is Sanguine.

NG Medium Humanoid (Human) / Outsider (Native)
Init: +4, Senses: Darkvision (60'), Perception +9
Languages: Common, Draconic, Infernal, Necril, Orc, Sylvan.
Deity: Nethys
Age: 24 Birthday: 16 Neth
Favoured Class: Wizard

Kaeryn stands a mere half hand under six feet tall and weighs about eleven stone. Her frame is a blend of feminine curves and the well-muscled physique of a runner or a soldier, rather than one who spent years in the library. Her hair is the blue-black of the midnight sky on a moonless night, and it falls loosely around her face before being tied into a braid which starts at the nape of her neck and falls to the middle of her back. The darkness of her hair stands in a marked contrast to her pale skin, almost alabaster, save for a sprinkling of also-pale freckles on her high cheeks, across the bridge of her small nose, and reaching up past storm-grey eyes to her forehead.

Kaeryn was born and raised in Vigil, the third child, and only daughter of Lord Deryn Ciocan, a heavy lancer and favourite of the Precentor Martial for Cavalry. Like her brothers, Kaeryn grew up having the sacred duty of keeping Vigil and watching the spire fed to her daily, as if it were a part of the water she drank. Like her brothers, Kaeryn knew from a young age that she was destined to attend the Crusader War College. Unlike her brothers, however, Kaeryn had inherited her mother's magical abilities and would be headed to the Battlemage Academy... Kaeryn was resistant to that idea -- not that she didn't love magic, but she wasn't the bookish sort, rather she saw herself as a woman of action, one destined to take up the blade, stand in the frontlines and fight. It didn't help, to be fair, that with her quick mind, she was smarter and more able than most of her tutors growing up, making her studies almost tortuously slow and painful... except in the summers she spent in the Fangwood learning magic with her mother and some of her fey allies.

When the time came, Kaeryn stubbornly enrolled and started the year at the War College's Infantry School before her sense of duty (and a number of speeches on the subject from her father) overcame the resistance and she tranfered to the Battlemage Academy. There, she was relieved to see that her day-to-day studies were less boring than she'd feared-- especially in the rest of that first year, when the challenge of cramming and catching up to the others kept her very busy...

Her enthusiasm started to fade in her second year -- caught up, now, she found the general rate of teaching less than challenging... at least until one of the Journeyman-Instructors, a young dwarf named Conal, brought her in to help him on his own more advanced, experimental work. Conal was a Transmuter, like herself, and one that had been feytouched in his childhood. Knowing that he was infused with this (faint) magic, Conal was convinced there must be a way to reach it and magnify it, to have that magic make him stronger. Kaeryn was thrilled by the possibilities of this research (especially given her own special, celestial nature)... and, even more, she was delighted to have her natural intellect and ability recognized by so sharp and mind.

It was her excitement that caused her to miss some of the warning signs about the darker nature of Conal's experiments -- never questioning where the magic-infused blood or organs they were working with might have come from... or why she was, increasingly, becoming the test subject for the experimentation. It all came to a head one night, when Kaeryn came early to a session and saw Conal tearing apart a Vine Leshy, harvesting it for its essence. She rushed forward to stop him, but the dwarf had the advantage of decades of practice with his warhammer and she had only a dagger -- it wasn't a fair fight, and she fell quicky. Conal strapped her down to the table next to the leshy she'd tried to save, dripping his newest concoction into her mouth before turning back to finish the harvest. Unlike the other potions, this one burned, she could feel it in her stomach and then flowing through her -- she was convinced it was going to melt her heart away like acid... until Conal went too far, killing the leshy, releasing a burst of verdant energy and filling the area with plants... and Kaeryn with a strange, supernatural strength.. one that started to heal her wounds.

It only took her a few moments to tear the bindings holding her down -- she grabbed one of the oil burners, throwing it at the dwarf's research, lighting it ablaze to cover her escape. It took a few hours before she was able to lead the authorities to Conal's lab, and when they got there, most of the dwarf's notes had burned up -- and he had died trying to save them. It was a scandal, enough that they almost cast Kaeryn out of the Academy for helping in the research, especially based on the notes that remained after the fire -- but her family's name and her ignorance of what had been happening was enough to save her.

Still, she couldn't face the Academy anymore, the constant reminder of what she'd been through was just too much and so she dropped out at the end of the year. Her sense of duty wouldn't let her abandon Lastwall, however, and so she ended up at Castle Firine, defending not against the Tryant, but Belkzen's orcs. Here, she could use her magic, and her skill at arms, to protect people far away from the stares and whispers about what happened, and how involved she might have been. It was there, or, more accurately, about an hour's walk from there, that she encountered Professor Lorimar, tripping over the orcish warband that had just ambushed him as he was coming out of the Ghostlight Marsh, striking quickly and saving his life. The Professor accepted her escort to Firine, buying her a hot bowl of stew and and ale that night, and promising greater reward. Honestly, Kaeryn thought very little of it... until, four years later, the letter arrived, informing her that she was named in the Professor's will.

When Kaeryn had her first bloodrage and pulled herself free of the bindings, she took the dwarf's warhammer and struck him down with it (in fact, keeping it and bonding with it) and used the fire she'd started to cover that fact... ...and also the fact that she took a large portion of the research with her -- just in case the power he'd introduced into her ever started to fade.

AC 17, Touch 12, Flat-footed 15, CMD 22 [24]
(+5 armor, +2 dex)
HP 47/47 (6HD - 12, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 + 5FC)
Fort: +6, Ref: +4, Will: +4 {+6 v. death effects}
Resistances: Negative Energy: 5

Speed: 40 ft. (8 Squares)

Melee:

Bonded +1 Furious Warhammer +6 [+10] 1d8+3 [1d8+7] (x3)

Dagger +5 [+7] 1d4+2 [1d4+4] (19-20/x2)

Gore (Battleshaping) +6 [+8] 1d8+3[+5] or secondary weapon +1 [+3] 1d8+2[+3]
Special: +2 damage {Arcane Strike}; Battleshaping (+1 enhancement);

Ranged:

+1 Adaptive Composite Longbow +6 (1d8+2[+4]/x3), 110' increment

Dagger (thrown) +5 [1d4+2] (19-20/x2), 10' increment
Special: +2 damage {Arcane Strike}; +1 to hit when adjacent to 2 enemies {crowd control}

Base Atk: +3, CMB: +10 [+12]

Str 15 {19}, Dex 14, Con 12 [14], Int 18 [20], Wis 10, Cha 11

Chance Saviour (Campaign)
Fate smiled on you and Professor Lorrimor one day in the not so distant past. Through a matter of pure chance, you were in a position to save the late scholar's life and did so. His gratitude was effusive, and he promised that he would never forget you. You are unsure of the nature of the summons in his will, but believe he may have listed you as a possible heir in thanks for saving him from an untimely demise. Your ability to think quickly on your feet has stayed with you, and you quite often feel that you're in the right place at the right time. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Initiative checks.

Magical Knack (Magic) [Wizard]
You were raised, either wholly or in part, by a magical creature, either after it found you abandoned in the woods or because your parents often left you in the care of a magical minion. This constant exposure to magic has made its mysteries easy for you to understand, even when you turn your mind to other devotions and tasks. Pick a class when you gain this trait—your caster level in that class gains a +2 trait bonus as long as this bonus doesn’t raise your caster level above your current Hit Dice.

Armour Proficiencies: Light + Medium.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple, Martial.

Arcane Strike, Arcane Armour Training, Extra Rage

Bonus: Scribe Scroll (W1), Arcane Discovery: Knowledge is Power (W5).

Trained are marked with *, italics for class skills.

Skill Name [Total] = Rnk + Stat + Misc (Description)
Trained skills in italics; * indicate class skills
Acrobatics* [+11] 6.0 + 2 + 3
--Jump [+15]
Appraise* [+9] 1.0 + 5 + 3
Bluff [+0] 0.0 + 0 + 0
Climb* [+6] 1.0 + 2 + 3
Craft (Untrained) [+5] 0.0 + 5 + 0
Diplomacy* [+4] 1.0 + 0 + 3
Disguise [+0] 0.0 + 0 + 0
Escape Artist [+2] 0.0 + 2 + 0
Fly* [+11] 6.0 + 2 + 3
Heal [+0] 0.0 + 0 + 0
Intimidate* [+6] 3.0 + 0 + 3
Knowledge (Arcana)* [+11] 3.0 + 5 + 3
Knowledge (Dungeon)* [+10] 2.0 + 5 + 3
Knowledge (Local)* [+9] 1.0 + 5 + 3
Knowledge (Nature)* [+10] 2.0 + 5 + 3
Knowledge (Planes)* [+12] 2.0 + 5 + 3 + 2 [Racial]
Knowledge (Religion)* [+11] 3.0 + 5 + 3
Linguistics)* [+10] 2.0 + 5 + 3
--Necril, Infernal
Perception* [+9] 6.0 + 0 + 3
Perform (Untrained) [+0] 0.0 + 0 + 0
Ride [+2] 0.0 + 2 + 0
Sense Motive* [+4] 1.0 + 0 + 3
Spellcraft* [+16] 6.0 + 5 + 3 + 2 [Racial]
Stealth [+2] 0.0 + 2 + 0
Survival* [+4] 1.0 + 0 + 3
Swim* [+6] 1.0 + 2 + 3

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INNATE SPELL-LIKE ABILITIES (CL 6)
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1/day: Pyrotechnics (DC 12)
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SPELLS (Wizard, CL 6) -- Arcane Failure: 10% [0%]
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Opposition Schools: Enchantment, Illusion.

Apprentice's Spellbook
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Blank Pages remaining: 22
3rd Level: daylight, dispel magic, fireball, fly, haste.
2nd Level: alter self, blindness/deafness, bull's strength, cat's grace, continual flame, false life, glitterdust, rage, scorching ray, stone call, web
1st Level: abundant ammunition, alarm, ant haul, burning hands, comprehend languages, corrosive touch, detect undead, enlarge person, gravity bow, grease, infernal healing, long arm, magic missile, magic weapon, obscuring mist, protection from evil, ray of enfeeblement, shield, shocking grasp, summon monster i, touch of gracelessness, true strike
Cantrips:acid splash, arcane mark, bleed, dancing lights, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt undead, flare, light, mage hand, mending, message, open/close, prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic, resistance, spark, touch of fatigue

Journeyman's Spellbook
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Blank Pages remaining: 78
2nd Level: animal aspect, knock, make whole, see invisibility, summon monster ii.
3rd Level: halt undead, magic circle against evil, magic weapon (greater), summon monster iii.

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Prepared Spells (Concentration: +11) [4 -- 5+1/3+1/2+1/0/0/0/0/0/0 + Arcane Bond]
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Cantrips: (DC 15) Detect Magic, Message, Prestidigitation, Disrupt Undead.
Level 1: (DC 16) Enlarge Person*, Gravity Bow, Shocking Grasp, Magic Missile, Touch of Gracelessness, Shield. + Pearl of Power
Level 2: (DC 17) Alter Self*, False Life, Glitterdust, Scorching Ray.
Level 3: (DC 18) Dispel Magic, Fireball, Haste*

Deathless Spirit (Ex)
Particularly strong-willed aasimars possess celestial spirits capable of resisting the powers of death. They gain resistance 5 against negative energy damage. They do not lose hit points when they gain a negative level, and they gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against death effects, energy drain, negative energy, and spells or spell-like abilities of the necromancy school. This racial trait replaces celestial resistance.

Scion of Humanity (Ex)
You count as an outsider (native) and a humanoid (human) for any effect related to race. You can pass for human without using the Disguise skill.

Skilled (Ex)
Peri Blooded Aasimars receive a +2 bonus to Knowledge (planes) and Spellcraft checks.

Spell-Like Ability (Sp)
Peri Blooded Aasimars can use pyrotechnics 1/day as a spell-like ability.

Arcane Bond (Su) Bonded Object: Dwarven Warhammer
If a wizard attempts to cast a spell without his bonded object worn or in hand, he must make a concentration check or lose the spell. The DC for this check is equal to 20 + the spell's level. If the object is a ring or amulet, it occupies the ring or neck slot accordingly.

A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell that the wizard has in his spellbook and is capable of casting, even if the spell is not prepared. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the wizard, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the wizard's level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities. The bonded object cannot be used to cast spells from the wizard's opposition schools (see arcane school).

A wizard can add additional magic abilities to his bonded object as if he has the required item creation feats and if he meets the level prerequisites of the feat. For example, a wizard with a bonded dagger must be at least 5th level to add magic abilities to the dagger (see the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat in Feats). If the bonded object is a wand, it loses its wand abilities when its last charge is consumed, but it is not destroyed and it retains all of its bonded object properties and can be used to craft a new wand. The magic properties of a bonded object, including any magic abilities added to the object, only function for the wizard who owns it. If a bonded object's owner dies, or the item is replaced, the object reverts to being an ordinary masterwork item of the appropriate type.

If a bonded object is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the wizard prepares his spells. If the object of an arcane bond is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week in a special ritual that costs 200 gp per wizard level plus the cost of the masterwork item. This ritual takes 8 hours to complete. Items replaced in this way do not possess any of the additional enchantments of the previous bonded item. A wizard can designate an existing magic item as his bonded item. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic item retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded item.

Battleshaping (Su) (ooooo ooo)
As a swift action, you grow a single natural weapon. The natural weapon lasts for 1 round and has a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls. You can grow a claw, a bite, or a gore attack. These attacks deal the normal damage for a creature of your size. At 11th level, you can shape two natural weapons. You can use this ability 8 times per day.

Physical Enhancement (Su) {Constitution}
You gain a +2 enhancement bonus to one physical ability score (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution). You can change this bonus to a new ability score when you prepare spells.

Controlled Bloodrage (Su) (ooooo ooooo o[o])
The bloodrager’s source of internal power grants him the ability to bloodrage. At 1st level, a bloodrager can bloodrage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + his Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, he can bloodrage for 2 additional rounds per day. Temporary increases to Constitution (such as those gained from bloodraging or spells like bear’s endurance) don’t increase the total number of rounds that a bloodrager can bloodrage per day. The total number of rounds of bloodrage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours need not be consecutive.

When an urban bloodrager rages, she does not gain the normal benefits. Instead, she can apply a +4 morale bonus to her Constitution, Dexterity, or Strength. This bonus increases to +6 when she gains greater bloodrage and to +8 when she gains mighty bloodrage. She can apply the full bonus to one ability score or split the bonus between several scores in increments of 2. When using a controlled bloodrage, an urban bloodrager gains no bonus on Will saves, takes no penalties to AC, and can still use Charisma-, Dexterity-, and Intelligence-based skills. A controlled bloodrage still counts as a bloodrage for the purposes of any spells, feats, and other effects. This ability alters bloodrage.

A bloodrager can end his bloodrage as a free action. When the bloodrage ends, he’s fatigued for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds spent in the bloodrage. A bloodrager cannot enter a new bloodrage while fatigued or exhausted, but can otherwise enter bloodrage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a bloodrager falls unconscious, his bloodrage immediately ends, placing him in peril of death. 11 [12] rounds per day.

Bloodline (Verdant)
Your body is suffused with raw plant life. When you bloodrage, your plantlike characteristics bolster your durability and grant you some control over vegetation. While bloodraging, you gain plantlike abilities and immunities as you become overgrown with jagged branches, rugged bark, and thick vines.

- Verdant Growth (Su) You gain fast healing 1 while bloodraging. If you have a bloodrager class feature that also grants you fast healing (such as the spelleater's blood of life class feature), you can stack up to half of your fast healing from such abilities with the fast healing gained from this ability, but you cannot do so by an amount that exceeds your Charisma bonus (minimum 0).

Fast Movement (Ex)
A bloodrager's base speed is faster than is normal for his race by 10 feet. This benefit applies only when he is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor, and not carrying a heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying the bloodrager's speed due to any armor worn or load carried. This bonus stacks with any other bonuses to the bloodrager's base speed.

dwarven warhammer (bonded, +1 furious); mithral shirt +1; headband of vast intelligence +2 [fly]; +1 adaptive composite longbow; traveler's outfit; arrow, flight (x20); arrow, blunt (x20); arrow (x20); dagger; grappling arrow; dagger, pearl of power (1st level); tanglefoot bag; wand of shield (50); spell component pouch; cloak of resistance +1;

Backpack, Masterwork [ Apprentice's Spellbook; Journeyman's Spellbook; Bedroll; Rations (Trail/Per Day) (x5); Waterskin (Filled); Grappling Hook, Common; Rope, Silk (50 ft.); Bedroll; Spell Component Pouch; Mess Kit; ];

Scrollcase [ shield (CL 1) x4 ]
Scrollcase [ enlarge person (CL 1) x4 ]

Coinpurse: 4pp, 11gp, 13cp. [2 x Jet (10gp)]

Current load: Light
Limits: 76 (Light), 153(Medium), 230 (Heavy).

Zeno Sebaya is a half-elven man of average height, with a well trimmed beard and a mess of shaggy brown hair. His eyes are brown, and he wears a pair of well-made spectacles. He carries a small satchel on his back, and has a bandolier with a few vials for easy access. His only other items are a small buckler and rapier which hang from belt sheaths. He is about twenty-five years old, and has a few scars on his face and hands that demonstrate a harder life than what might be typical for an academic.

Zeno was born under a bad sign in Lepidstadt to a pair of half-elven parents, a luxury tailor and a adjunct professor at Lepisdadt. His mother never was able to advance past this level for political reasons, but her knowledge of natural philosophy was unparalleled at the university, and she frequently gave lectures on various topics. Zeno’s father dresses many of the finest people in the city, but the family always struggled to stay afloat. Zeno fell in with a street gang to make extra money at a very young age, and the gang frequently robbed and harassed folks visiting the university, until one day, the guard grew tired of their foolishness and threatened to send them to forced labor camps to pay restitution (particularly for accidentally managing to burn down a number of important buildings on campus). Professor Lorrimor intervened, as he had gotten to know young Zeno, and recognizing his mind could be set on a more disciplined and constructive path, lobbied for him to act as a sort of finder and apprentice for himself and the the university when he was older. Zeno agreed, not wanting to burden his family further, and learned a great deal about the strange monsters of Ustalav and the natural world.

He learned this, eventually, by going on retrieval expeditions to get rare monster parts and to catalogue more data for the research of various professors. He appreciates the work, though it has taken him outside of the area for some time. He heard of Lorrimor’s death, he made his way back from Mendez, where he was cataloguing and researching the undead, only now getting back.

Zeno is friendly and brash, and comes across sometimes as a know-it-all, but his identification skills and combat advice can be second-to-none. He likes to check his note before any investigation, rummaging through the small library he keeps in his bag of of Pathfinder Chronicles. He has a good amount of bravado, which is not necessarily unearned, but typically uses this to disarm folks, as the bravado is never at anyone else’s expense. He watches people’s behavior analytically, searching their faces for clues to future behavior, and sometimes inadvertently classifying them by type and behavior instead of seeing the whole of their person. He also seems to be extremely confident, believing that any monster can be defeated with research and preparation.

Dark Secret: Zeno accidentally lost his best friend in the fire in his street gang, which Zeno originally set (it was his idea). He couldn’t save his friend, but he has now developed a minor phobia of fire, and his still haunted by the screams, even more than twelve years later. He is extremely remorseful, and the weight of his poor choices can burden him emotionally.

Zeno
Male half-elf investigator (cryptid scholar, natural philosopher) 5/swashbuckler (inspired blade) 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Magic Tactics Toolbox 18, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 30, 56, 125, Ultimate Wilderness 56)
LG Medium humanoid (elf, human)
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +11
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Defense
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AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+5 armor, +2 Dex, +2 shield)
hp 47 (6 HD; 5d8+1d10+12)
Fort +4, Ref +9, Will +6; +2 racial bonus vs. necromancy and curse spells and spell like abilities and to remove negative levels, +2 vs fear
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 rapier +8 (1d6+3/18-20)
Ranged mwk composite longbow +7 (1d8/×3)
Special Attacks deeds (derring-do, dodging panache, opportune parry and riposte), panache (6)
Investigator (Cryptid Scholar, Natural Philosopher) Extracts Prepared (CL 5th; concentration +9)
. . 2nd—barkskin, barkskin, see invisibility
. . 1st—cure light wounds, disguise self, heightened awareness[ACG], monkey fish[ACG], shield
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 14
Base Atk +4; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Extra Investigator Talent[ACG], Extra Investigator Talent[ACG], Fencing Grace[UI], Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (rapier)
Trairs Making Good on Promises, Warrior Of Old
Skills Acrobatics +8, Bluff +7, Climb +4, Craft (alchemy) +16 (+21 to create alchemical items), Diplomacy +7, Disable Device +8, Disguise +6, Escape Artist +6, Fly +6, Heal +5, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +9, Knowledge (engineering) +8, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (history) +8, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nature) +13, Knowledge (nobility) +8, Knowledge (planes) +9, Knowledge (religion) +9, Linguistics +8, Perception +11, Ride +6, Sense Motive +5, Sleight of Hand +6, Spellcraft +8, Stealth +6, Survival +6, Swim +4, Use Magic Device +11; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Celestial, Common, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Sylvan, Varisian
SQ alchemy (alchemy crafting +5), blightborn[HA], elf blood, herbalism +2, inspired panache, intuitive monster lore, investigator talents (chronicler's insight, expanded inspiration[ACG], infusion, mutagen[UM]), keen recollection, knowledgeable strike, mutagen (+4/-2, +2 natural armor, 50 minutes), natural philosopher’s inspiration (6/day), opportune advice, swift alchemy, track +2
Combat Gear boro bead (1st level)[UE]; Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, +1 buckler, +1 rapier, mwk composite longbow, cloak of resistance +1, formula alembic[UE], handy haversack, headband of vast intelligence +2, hybridization funnel[UE], traveler's any-tool[UE], formula book, masterwork backpack[APG], masterwork thieves' tools, pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], pathfinder chronicle[ISWG], portable alchemist's lab[APG], 275 gp
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Special Abilities
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Alchemy +5 (Su) +5 to Craft (Alchemy) to create alchemical items, can Id potions by touch.
Blightborn +2 to save vs. necromancy, curses, and temp negative levels.
Chronicler's Insight (Ex) Std; gain benefit of pathfinder chronicle. 1 insp.: extend duration and gain extra bonus
Deeds
Elf Blood Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.
Expanded Inspiration (Ex) Free Inspiration on Diplomacy, Heal, Perception, Profession, Sense Motive (if trained).
Fencing Grace Use Dexterity on rapier damage rolls
Herbalism +2 (Su) Use Knowledge (nature) in place of Craft (alchemy) and Profession (herbalist) checks.
Infusion Create an extract can be used by anyone but takes up a slot until used.
Inspired Panache (Ex) Gain no panache from killing blow, only from rapier crits.
Intuitive Monster Lore +1 (Ex) Add Wis mod to knowledge checks to ID foes.
Keen Recollection At 3rd level, an investigator can attempt all Knowledge skill checks untrained.
Knowledgeable Strike +1d6 (Ex) As a move action end advice and deal extra dam vs. foe type for 1 rd.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Mutagen This discovery gives the alchemist the mutagen class ability, as described in the Advanced Player's Guide. (This discovery exists so alchemist archetypes who have variant mutagens, such as the mindchemist, can learn how to make standard mutage
Mutagen (DC 16) (Su) Mutagen adds +4/-2 to physical/mental attributes, and +2 nat. armor for 50 minutes.
Natural Philosopher’s Inspiration (+1d6+1, 6/day) (Ex) Use 1 point, +1d6 to trained skill or ability check. Use 2 points, to add to attack or save.
Opportune Advice +1 (4 rounds) (Ex) As a move action when ID monster, allies in 30 ft gain +1 AC and saves vs. them.
Panache (Ex) Gain a pool of points that are spent to fuel deeds, regained on light/piercing crit/killing blow.
Swift Alchemy (Ex) Construct alchemical items in half the normal time.
Track +2 Add the listed bonus to Survival checks made to track.

My planned character is an Oozemorph Shifter multiclassed with either a Unchained Monk or Flowing Monk, or a Wild Hunter Ranger. Haven't exactly decided which would be more mechanically feasible. Probably 6 levels of Oozemorph and from there just stick to whatever class I go with.

Conceptually, he's a bottled ooze named Ichorius (or just "Ike"). An eccentric alchemist made him and something in the process gave Ike self-awareness, effectively awakening him and making him intelligent. His creator placed him on a shelf once finished and kinda forgot about him for three years, though he was aware enough to hear his creator and learned speech by listening to him mutter and ramble over time. He was freed when a vampire barged into his creator's lab and attacked him, killing the alchemist and knocking Ike's bottle off the shelf and breaking it. Ike attacked, but couldn't overpower the assailant, though he did manage to snag something off the vampire that gives him a clue to hunt him down. Ike learned to shape shift into humanoid forms and eventually pass himself off as a human over the course of a year. He's still mentally fairly young and somewhat easily fooled, but hungry for company and community. He also wants to avenge his creator's death.

Essentially, he's a naive sentient ooze looking for his maker's vampire murderer, while trying to find a place where he can fit in and hiding the fact that he is actually a "monster."

I am a history teacher who hasn’t played a TTRPG in person in a couple years. I have significant experience with 3.5e as a player and PF1 as a GM. I decided I wanted to get into PbP early in 2020, but I wasn’t sure exactly what the best way to go about doing so was. I spent a lot of time trawling through old posts, looking for advice on the best ways to start and manage a PbP and reading successful games to figure out why they went well. My ultimate conclusion from this research is that games succeed or fail based on the reliability of the players and the energy and time commitment of the GM. I created a game in August of 2020 that has been going well, so far that hypothesis has not been challenged.

I am a frequent poster with a strong background in academic writing. In the game I GM, I am almost always able to post at least twice per day, often more. I don't have any other games that I've participated in, so no other posting history to point you too. When asked, my players have said they enjoy my game a lot and that my writing quality is quite high. I don’t know how well that would transfer from being a GM to being a player, but I can guarantee that I will be engaged and put effort into enjoying all facets of your game. I especially enjoy the horror genre, and have learned that when my own game involves horror elements my writing is better overall and I am more engaged. I will also put effort into engaging with the other players and trying to create an interesting and enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

Gregor is hugely tall, with unnaturally broad shoulders and a freakishly thin waist that belongs on a smaller person. His limbs are long and lanky, especially his arms, which reach to his knees. He’s used to superstitious Ustlavans reacting strangely to his body, and is extremely self conscious about his appearance, though he would never say that to a stranger. He carries his back straight and perpetually shrugs his shoulders so his arms look shorter. Wool stuffing in his tailored doublet makes his abdomen look fuller, and he often wears a long grey cloak that wraps around his body. He has a handsome face, perfect teeth, and a silky smooth voice like the rustle of leaves in the wind. As a young man he never realized how good looking he was, but he’s learned that if people don’t notice his body, they can be charmed by his face.

Gregor's parents, Belor and Eshe, ran out of money and were in debt to a local noble. Eshe had been a soldier, a good hand with a fauchard, but received a wound to the knee that left her unable to fight. They were hungry and stole stuff to feed themselves. A traveling sorcerer offered to pay their debts and buy them a farm, but in exchange he would father a child with Gregor’s mother. He said that he had aberrant blood, and that he was researching techniques that would allow him to father a child without this tainted blood. Those techniques failed.

Gregor was shaped differently from other babies. His arms were freakishly long, while his hips and waist were narrow. And he was strange in other ways, too. His eyes were intensely green, his hair grew in too fast, and he was too tall. In the small town he grew up in, there were only a couple dozen other children of roughly his age. Some of them were superstitious. Freak-man, they called him. Monster. Most of them were sympathetic. Their parents knew his, and they knew it wasn’t his fault. He never seemed violent or dangerous when he was a boy.

Wrestling was a popular sport in his village, but Gregor never participated. He didn’t want people to get the wrong idea about him. He was a peaceful young man who attended regular lessons with the local priest and would one day inherit his parents farm. They had no other children, and they loved him dearly. Though he had friends, he was always wary. They might reference his unusual physique in an insensitive way, mutter an insult when they thought he couldn’t hear, or laugh when the mean kids made jokes about him. The closer a friend was, the more it stung when they inevitably hurt him in one way or another. And once they did, Gregor wouldn’t forget. There was only one child in the entire town who had never ever hurt him in that way: Nonek. Nonek was also the best wrestler of all the kids their age, and the fastest runner, and the best with girls. Gregor liked boys as much as girls, and Nonek was his favorite. Though the feelings were not reciprocated, the two were close.

As he grew into a young man, Gregor became scary. His muscles developed faster than a normal human’s, and his eyes tinted closer to yellow, an unnatural color. He and Nonek were part of a group of four close friends. Gradually, the other two boys began to spend time with Gregor and Nonek more and more reluctantly. That made Nonek anxious, since he was friends with all three of them, and wanted the group to stay together. Gregor told him it was ok if they didn’t spend as much time together. At the time, he had started seeing a girl, and thought he wouldn’t have so much time for the other boys anyway. He regretted that after they broke up.

One day, Gregor was walking by the practice yard when the other young adults were wrestling. Nonek’s father, an insensitive, red nosed man, had hailed him, shamed him into practicing with them. A skilled man can always beat an untrained brute, no matter how tall or strong, the man had said. Gregor threw two men down in the dirt, then squared off against Nonek. His friend was unhappy to do it, but he pinned Gregor handily. Then everyone laughed. The mutant’s no match for our man, they jeered. Nonek was anguished. They drifted apart for a time after that.
Gregor started feeling different. Before, he had always been a gentle man, sad, at times, and an outcast, but never violent. He grew angry and bitter. He stopped saying he would inherit his family farm, and after a year he left the village he had grown up, headed west to serve as a soldier.

Gregor’s time as a soldier changed him. The people he served with, after they saw that he was no monster, treated him differently from the people he had grown up with. They would call him a freak right to his face, but not to be vicious, just to be honest. And they accepted him. He learned to be comfortable in his own skin. When the fighting started, Gregor would sometimes lose control of himself, flying into a cold, quiet rage. His commanding officer tasked three other soldiers with keeping him in control, and the four of them grew into good friends. Gregor was even romantically involved with one of them for a time, though they eventually broke that off because it interfered with their relationship with the other soldiers.

After several years in the army, Gregor decided to return home. He was doing alright in the army, but he knew he would never be an officer, and he missed his parents. Things were different after his return. If people had been afraid of him before, they were terrified now. Someone had spread a rumor that he had been forced to leave the army after he’d been found eating the corpses of his fallen comrades, though that had no basis in reality. It was nice to see Nonek again, and his other childhood friends, but having seen the wider world and learned that he could get by just fine, Gregor was bitter about the way the people he had grown up around treated him.

On a cold and windy day, Gregor met Allie. She was a traveling sorceress who had been passing through the village on her way to the local noble’s estate. Like Gregor, she had always felt different from other people, though there was nothing outwardly unusual about her. She saw right past his malproportioned limbs and strange, yellow eyes, or so it seemed. The two hit it off, and before long they were romantically involved. She had a laugh like spring and lots of interesting stories from her travels.

After several months together, Gregor traveled with Allie to her home in Caliphas. Things were different there. Allie’s family didn’t like Gregor. They said they couldn’t bring him to meet their friends, couldn’t imagine introducing someone like him as their son in law. Allie didn’t support him, though she had always loved him. They had a shouting match, Gregor’s eyes glowing yellow, veins throbbing on his forehead, Allie’s parents trying to separate them. It was bad.

Gregor spent the next week on the road back to his village seeing red. The one person he blamed more than any other for his condition was the noble who his parents had been in debt to, Emanus, who had forced them to accept the sorcerer's child. Well, he blamed the sorcerer too, but that man was far away, and the noble was close. When he arrived at his village, he didn’t go to see his family, instead he went to live at a small settlement closer to the Emanus’ estate. He bought a potion that could be used to disguise himself as the relative of another petty noble and waited until there was a party. He snuck in, waited until Emanus had to use the latrine, then took him by surprise and murdered him in cold blood. He escaped just as the alarm was being raised. He never told his parents, just showed up at their door the next day bedraggled and grim faced. He told them he had done something bad, that he couldn’t come back to the village anymore, though he wasn’t sure if anyone knew it was him. They said their last goodbyes, and Gregor left.

Revenge had not been very satisfying. Perhaps he would track down his real father after all, maybe that would feel better. But first, Gregor needed to train. He had begun to manifest magical abilities, and he needed to learn to control them. He traveled to Vigil with the rest of his savings from his time as a soldier in search of someone who could train him. He found Isabela, a white haired old woman who agreed to tutor him. They got on well enough, though they never grew close. Eventually, Gregor lost the rest of his money in a rigged game of cards, and couldn’t afford to keep taking lessons.

He left the city and set about finding work. Gregor was a real adventurer now, with experience in the army, magical training, and cold blood on his hands. He ended up traveling north, to Canterwall, where he had been a soldier, and through Ardeal. There were a few interesting people along the way, but more who shunned him as a freak. Gregor was too bitter and hard shelled to make close friends at this time in his life. He drank a lot, and went on dangerous adventures with people he didn’t know very well. He learned to control his rage, to present himself as a civilized soldier who served honourably for several years. He even found large sums of treasure to outfit himself with. But he felt empty and alone.

Eventually, Gregor stumbled on a major clue that might help him find the man who was his true father by blood. He saw another young man who looked exactly like him. The same long arms, the same freakishly small waist. The young man even had piercingly green eyes, just as Gregor had when he was younger. The young man was named Gillac, and he led Gregor to a clue. It was an old laboratory in an abandoned building, one that had been used by the man who was their father. Gregor started connecting dots, following clues, interrogating witnesses. His pulse started to rise again. The clues led him to a city, he was sure he would find the man, confront him, make him face the consequences of his actions. Then he saw Nonek, his old friend from childhood. They talked over a pint of honeyed mead. The man convinced Gregor to put aside this quest for revenge, to try to do something positive instead. Gregor listened.

The meeting changed him. He paid more attention to the people he met, felt more sure of himself than ever before. He went back to Gillac. They had many of the same life experiences, and it was helpful for the young man to see someone older than himself.

Soon after that, Gregor arrived in the town the PCs are currently in.

Each section is arranged chronologically.

Allies

Belor and Eshe, his parents
Unlike many adventurers, Gregor has always had a good relationship with his parents. He never stopped being able to depend on them as a source of stability and love in his life. He can’t visit home anymore and his parents don’t want to leave their farm, which they received from the Sorcerer.

Nonek, his best friend from childhood
Nonek is a fantastic wrestler who has competed in many of Ustlav’s cities. Gregor bumps into him from time to time and they always share a pint of their favorite drink: honeyed mead.

Octavian and Horace, his two other friends from childhood
These two were always decent friends with Gregor and always better friends with Nonek. They still live in the village Gregor grew up in, now working on his parents farm, though they sometimes travel, as farmers do while they wait for their crops to grow. Gregor has seen them once in the recent past.

Anatan, Serghu, Filip
They first met while Gregor was a soldier in the northwest of Ustalav. These are the three soldiers assigned to make sure Gregor didn’t do anything bad while raging. Gregor was romantically involved with Filip for a couple of months, but they broke things off because it was interfering with their relationship with the other soldiers. Anatan was slightly older, and might be retired now. The other two could still be soldiers, or may have moved on to other things. Gregor hasn’t seen them in a while.

Gillac, his half brother by blood
Gregor met this young man while traveling in North Central Ustalav. They have a very similar appearance, as they were both fathered by the same man. Gillac was positively affected by the presence of an older role model who proved to him that he could become a good person.

Enemies

The Sorcerer
The man who is, by blood, Gregor’s father. Gregor blames this man for his unnatural appearance and the unhappiness in his life. He spent some time trying to hunt him down, and even found some clues that might be helpful, but he’s never seen him.

Nonek’s father, Nonius
He was never the same after his wife died. Nonius still thinks of himself as his son’s coach, and travels with him to competitions. In reality, he is an old, sad drunk whose son has long since surpassed him in every way.

Allie, his first love, and her family
Based in Caliphas, Allie is a sorcerer who travels frequently for her work. I’m not really sure what that is, certainly something dangerous. She never really stopped loving Gregor, but they had a major quarrel and things between them were left sour and awkward. Her family never liked Gregor, and would prefer he and she never meet again.

Beatrix, a con artist
While in Vigil taking lessons from Isabela to learn to control his magic, Gregor got scammed. Badly. If he ever sees this hustler again, he’ll do his best to bring her to justice.

Henric, a rival adventurer, and his party
During Gregor’s adventuring days in North Central Ustalav, before he met Gillac, he ran afoul of another group of adventurers. Something about stealing all the treasure from some deep crypt that had really belonged to Henric and his group. Things had nearly come to blows, but for the honeyed words of a woman Gregor was traveling with and the approach of another group of travelers. Henric vowed they would get revenge one day, Gregor rolled his eyes and moved on with his life.

Neutral

Flaviu, Gregor’s commanding officer from his time in the army
They got on ok. The man never really saw past Gregor’s aberrant appearance, and didn’t like that Gregor sometimes flew into a rage. On the other hand, Gregor was a fantastic fighter, and he seemed to get on ok with his fellow soldiers.

Isabela, Gregor’s magic tutor
The white haired old woman lived in Vigil when Gregor knew her. He paid her his savings, and she took him on as an apprentice. Their relationship was relatively professional, and they never really got close.

CG to CN Male Human Bloodrager (Blood Conduit) 8
Initiative +4 (2 dex + 2 trait) Perception +11

HP 68 (8d10+8 Con +8 FCB)
DR 1/-
AC 20 {18 Raging} (10 + 7 Armor + 2 Dex + 1 Deflection {-2 Raging}) Flat 20 {16 Raging} Touch 13 {11 Raging}
Saves Fort +10 {+12 Raging} (+6 Base +1 Con +3 Cloak {+2 Raging}), Ref +7 (+2 Base +2 Dex +3 Cloak), Will +5 {+7 Raging} (+2 Base +3 Cloak {+2 Raging}) {+2 vs allies or own spells}
Immune Sickened, Nauseated
CMD 23 {+4 trip, +2 raging} (10 + 5 Str {+2 raging} + 8 bab {+4 trip})

Offence
Reach 10 ft (15 ft with reach weapon)
CMB 13 {20 trip, +2 raging} (8 bab + 5 str {+2 raging} {+4 trip feats, +3 trip enchantment})
Raging Power Attack +1 Furious Fauchard (8 bab + 7 strength + 3 enchantment +1 focus - 3 power attack) +16/+11 (1d10+10+9+3 18-20)

Ability Scores
Str 20 {24 Raging} (15 base + 2 racial + 1 advancement + 2 item {+4 Raging}) Dex 14 Con 12 Int 13 Wis 10 Cha 14 (13 base + 1 advancement)
Feats
Power Attack (1st level), Improved Trip (Blood Conduit Bonus), Combat Expertise (Human Bonus), Weapon Focus (Fauchard, 3rd level), Eschew Materials (4th level Bloodrager Bonus), Improved Reposition (5th level, unsure about this, may change), Combat Reflexes (6th level Bloodline Bonus), Greater Trip (7th level)
Traits Reactionary, Heirloom Weapon
Skills 4 + 1 (int) + 1 (racial) skills per level (48 total)

Key Equipment
+1 Mithral Breastplate 5550
+1 Furious Fauchard 8364
+3 Cloak of Resistance 9000
+1 Ring of Deflection 2000
+2 Belt of Strength 4000

Key Spells known (CL 8th)
1st - Enlarge Person, Shield, Corrosive Touch
2nd - Ghoul Touch, Mirror Image, Frigid Touch

Gregor is a frontline fighter. He rages and hits for good base damage while mixing in trip attempts. He has an impressive 15ft reach, 25ft when enlarged, which he can cast on himself, which combined with his tripping ability allows him to control the battlefield decently well. I am thinking about working up another feat chain, such as improved, greater, and rapid reposition, which would further that role. Gregor can also mix in touch spells with his trip attempts for debuffing/extra damage. His AC and Will save are lackluster, although the former can be patched with the spells shield and mirror image. He has a weak con score because I put points in Dex and Cha instead (for combat reflexes, AC, and rp purposes), so his HP isn’t as high as you might expect. He is also lacking raging vitality, which could be a problem. I am considering rebuilding him with less of a focus on AoOs and more of a focus on solid defences, although his backstory is based around the aberrant bloodline. If allowed, taking rage powers instead of the 8th level bloodline feature, which is a situational immunity, would allow me to improve my defences or expand my controlling options further.
Out of combat, Gregor has a decent Survival, Perception, and Knowledge Arcana. He has some ranks in cha based skills and a good charisma score, but they aren’t class skills, so he’s not the best at them. He’s got an unusual appearance which may cause negative reactions, but he’s used to dealing with that and has mostly been able to avoid violence as a result of it.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Bloodragers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields). A bloodrager can cast bloodrager spells while wearing light armor or medium armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. This does not affect the arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes. Like other arcane spellcasters, a bloodrager wearing heavy armor or wielding a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has somatic components.

Bloodline
Each bloodrager has a source of magic somewhere in his heritage that empowers his bloodrages, bonus feats, and bonus spells. Sometimes this source reflects a distant blood relationship to a powerful being, or is due to an extreme event involving such a creature somewhere in his family’s past. Regardless of the source, this influence manifests in a number of ways. A bloodrager must pick one bloodline upon taking his first level of bloodrager. Once made, this choice cannot be changed.
When choosing a bloodline, the bloodrager’s alignment doesn’t restrict his choices. A good bloodrager could come from an abyssal bloodline, a celestial bloodline could beget an evil bloodrager generations later, a bloodrager from an infernal bloodline could be chaotic, and so on. Though his bloodline empowers him, it doesn’t dictate or limit his thoughts and behavior.
The bloodrager gains bloodline powers at 1st level, 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter. The bloodline powers a bloodrager gains are described in his chosen bloodline. For all spell-like bloodline powers, treat the character’s bloodrager level as the caster level.
At 6th level and every 3 levels thereafter, a bloodrager receives one bonus feat chosen from a list specific to each bloodline. The bloodrager must meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats. At 7th, 10th, 13th, and 16th levels, a bloodrager learns an additional spell derived from his bloodline. These spells are in addition to the number of spells given on Table: Bloodrager. These spells cannot be exchanged for different spells at higher levels.
If the bloodrager takes levels in another class that grants a bloodline, the bloodlines must be the same type, even if that means that the bloodline of one of the classes must change. Subject to GM discretion, the bloodrager can change his former bloodline to make them conform.
Aberrant
There is a taint in your blood that is both alien and bizarre. When you bloodrage, this manifests in peculiar and terrifying ways.
Bonus Feats: Combat Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Improved Disarm, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will.
Bonus Spells: Enlarge person (7th), see invisibility (10th), displacement (13th), black tentacles (16th).
Bloodline Powers: While bloodraging, you gain the abilities and immunities of some aberrations, but show signs of your tainted heritage.
Staggering Strike (Su)
At 1st level, when you confirm a critical hit the target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or be staggered for 1 round. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your bloodrager level + your Constitution modifier. These effects stack with the Staggering Critical feat; the target must save against each effect individually.
Abnormal Reach (Su)
At 4th level, your limbs elongate; your reach increases by 5 feet.
Aberrant Fortitude (Su)
At 8th level, you become immune to the sickened and nauseated conditions.

Bloodrage (Su)
The bloodrager’s source of internal power grants him the ability to bloodrage.
At 1st level, a bloodrager can bloodrage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + his Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, he can bloodrage for 2 additional rounds per day. Temporary increases to Constitution (such as those gained from bloodraging or spells like bear’s endurance) don’t increase the total number of rounds that a bloodrager can bloodrage per day. The total number of rounds of bloodrage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours need not be consecutive.
A bloodrager can enter a bloodrage as a free action. While in a bloodrage, a bloodrager gains a +4 morale bonus to his Strength and Constitution, as well as a +2 morale bonus on Will saves. In addition, he takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase to Constitution grants the bloodrager 2 hit points per Hit Die, but these disappear when the bloodrage ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points. While bloodraging, a bloodrager cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
A bloodrager can end his bloodrage as a free action. When the bloodrage ends, he’s fatigued for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds spent in the bloodrage. A bloodrager cannot enter a new bloodrage while fatigued or exhausted, but can otherwise enter bloodrage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a bloodrager falls unconscious, his bloodrage immediately ends, placing him in peril of death.
Bloodrage counts as the barbarian’s rage class feature for the purpose of feat prerequisites, feat abilities, magic item abilities, and spell effects.
(Replaces Fast Movement)
Contact Specialist (Ex)
At 1st level, a blood conduit selects a bonus feat from the following: Improved Bull Rush, Improved Grapple, Improved Reposition, Improved Trip, and Improved Unarmed Strike. He does not need to meet the prerequisites to take this feat. He also adds those feats to his list of bloodline feats.
This ability replaces fast movement and alters bloodline feats.

Blood Sanctuary (Su)
At 3rd level, due to the power of his blood, a bloodrager can stand confidently amid the effects of spells cast by himself or his allies. He gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells that he or an ally casts.
Blood Casting (Su)
At 4th level, the bloodrager gains the ability to cast spells even while bloodraging. He can also cast these spells defensively and can make concentration checks for these spells while bloodraging. While bloodraging, he can cast and concentrate on only his bloodrager spells (see below); spells from other classes cannot be cast during this state.
Eschew Materials
At 4th level, the bloodrager gains Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.
(Replaces Uncanny Dodge and Improved Uncanny Dodge) Spell Conduit (Su)
At 5th level, as long as a blood conduit is wearing light or no armor, he can deliver bloodrager spells with a range of touch through bodily contact. When he succeeds at a combat maneuver check to bull rush, grapple, pin, reposition, or trip an opponent, or makes an unarmed strike against an enemy, he can as a swift action cast a touch spell on the creature that he affected with the combat maneuver, requiring no further touch attack roll. If this spell would usually require a successful touch attack, his successful combat maneuver check counts as this attack.
This ability replaces uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge.
Damage Reduction (Ex)
At 7th level, a bloodrager gains damage reduction. Subtract 1 from the damage the bloodrager takes each time he is dealt damage from a weapon or a natural attack. At 10th level, and every 3 levels thereafter, this damage reduction increases by 1 point. Damage Reduction can reduce damage to 0, but not below 0.

I am not very knowledgeable about Golarion, having mostly run homebrew/setting light games. How do you think I could connect my character more to the region of Ustalav? Are the places I named appropriate? Are there details I could include that would make sense? Are there details I do include that seem out of place?

Is it important to you that I focus more of my backstory on motivating Gregor to be involved in whatever the party is doing? What is the party doing, anyway? You noted that it’s a sandboxy game, and I don’t get the sense that it’s super important that my character be directly engaged with the main plot before joining the current PCs, but I could be wrong about that. Let me know.

How interesting do you think the notable NPCs section is? Are you prepared to integrate some characters from my backstory into the game?

Do you like my character’s backstory? Do you think it makes sense? Should I tone up or tone down the extent to which his appearance is unusual? That is, right now I’m trying to toe the line between “people react violently when they see him” and “he’s still able to make friends and live a sortof normal life”. Does this seem appropriate?

How much do you like his backstory overall?

Do you want me to provide some text of him interacting with the world, other characters from his story, other players so you get a sense of what he’s like? Do you want me to include a personality section to also give you a sense of what he’s like?

Mykas
Human inquisitor of the Pale Horse 6/mortal usher 2 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 38)
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +6; Senses Perception +14
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 23, touch 14, flat-footed 20 (+8 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 57 (8d8+14)
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +10
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +2 trident +13 (2d8+15 plus 1d6 neg/pos energy)
Special Attacks bane (7 rounds/day), judgment 3/day, reaping strike (1d6)
Inquisitor Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th; concentration +10)
. . At will—detect alignment, discern lies (7 rounds/day)
Inquisitor Spells Known (CL 7th; concentration +10)
. . 3rd (2/day)—cure serious wounds, heroism
. . 2nd (4/day)—cure moderate wounds, communal protection from evil[UC], lesser restoration, see invisibility
. . 1st (5/day)—bless, cure light wounds, divine favor, protection from evil, shield of faith
. . 0 (at will)—create water, detect magic, disrupt undead, guidance, light, read magic
. . Domain Conversion inquisition[UM]
--------------------
Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 10
Base Atk +5; CMB +8; CMD 24
Feats Deific Obedience, Fast Learner[ARG], Furious Focus[APG], Outflank[APG], Power Attack, Precise Strike[APG], Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (trident)
Traits deft dodger, oathbound
Skills Acrobatics +0 (-4 to jump), Bluff +7, Diplomacy +13, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Knowledge (planes) +10, Knowledge (religion) +10, Perception +14, Sense Motive +17, Stealth +9, Survival +14
Languages Common, Daemonic
SQ monster lore +3, solo tactics, stern gaze +3, track +3
Combat Gear silversheen (2), holy water (2); Other Gear +2 breastplate, +2 trident, amulet of natural armor +1, belt of physical might +2 (Str, Dex), cloak of resistance +1, headband of inspired wisdom +2, ring of protection +1, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, hemp rope (50 ft.), iron holy symbol of the Pale Horse[UE], manacles, masterwork backpack[APG], mess kit[UE], pot, small tent, soap, spell component pouch, trail rations (5), waterskin, 693 gp, 2 sp
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Special Abilities
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Bane (+2 / 2d6, 7 rounds/day) (Su) Make the weapon you are holding a bane weapon.
Deific Obedience Purify yourself daily to prove devotion to a deity and gain benefits.
Pale Horse obedience: gain a +4 insight bonus on saves against death effects and effects that would cause you to become fatigued.
Detect Alignment (At will) (Sp) Detect chaos, evil, good, or law at will.
Discern Lies (7 rounds/day) (Sp) Discern Lies at will
Furious Focus If you are wielding a weapon in two hands, ignore the penalty for your first attack of each turn.
Inquisitor Domain (Conversion Inquisition) Deities: Any deity.
Granted Powers: You are a powerful persuader. A honeyed tongue empowered by divine argumentation sways the indifferent and adversarial to your side.
Judgment (3/day) (Su) Variable bonuses increase as the combat continues.
Sacred Destruction: +3 damage
Sacred Healing: fast healing 3
Sacred Justice: +2 to hit
Sacred Piercing: +3 concentration and spell penetration
Sacred Protection: +2 AC
Sacred Purity +2 on saves
Sacred Resiliency: DR 2/magic
Sacred Resistance: 6 energy resist
Sacred Smiting: Weapons overcome DR/magic
Monster Lore +3 (Ex) +3 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknesses of creatures.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Precise Strike +1d6 precision damage for melee attacks if you and an ally with this feat flank the same target.
Reaping Strike (1d6) (Su) Deal additional damage to living and undead creatures with attack actions, single target spells, and alchemical items.
Solo Tactics (Ex) Count Teamwork feats as if your allies had the same ones.
Stern Gaze +3 (Ex) +3 to Sense Motive and Intimidate.
Track +3 Add the listed bonus to Survival checks made to track.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.

Mykas was born to a family of poor tenant farmers in the River Kingdom of Pitax. His parents departed for better things soon after he was born, leaving him and his brother in the care of his kindly but aged grandparents. His upbringing was monotonous, he and his family suffering under the harsh laws of King Irovetti. Death was a part of life, whether from nigh-impossible grain tithes or the King’s brutal enforcers. He came of age in a hard land, with a nihilistic approach to life from years of harsh, bitter struggle.

When his brother was killed by enforcers, his grandmother died from the shock, with his grandfather following soon after. Within a month, Mykas was left all alone in the world, nobody to turn to. That was until he encountered the Ferrymen. They seemed, at first, a collection of ferry drivers and chaplains, travelling the Kingdoms and giving funeral services to the deceased. There was more than met the eye. While a scant few of the Ferrymen were benign, the group was inundated, through and through, with cultists of Charon, the Horseman of Death. The funerary rites on the newly deceased condemned their souls to Abaddon and the grim powers that reside there.

But death and nihilism were second nature to Mykas, and he fit in with the cult. He was strong and determined, and though he could rarely properly administer the blasphemous rites, he could aid in the rituals and protect the priests of Charon. He lived on the edges of the cult, with the highest servants of the First Horseman likely never knowing he existed. He had found a place and a cause, but still felt discontented.

The Ferrymen massed their forces, and on a moonless night in winter they fell upon an isolated village, a vast sacrifice to their dark master.

Mykas was filled with blasphemous fervor, the battle hymns and Daggermark-made drugs sending him into a frenzy. He would fight for his master and win glory.

He was the first to die. A pig farmer ran him through with a pitchfork, simply a scared man defending his family. His death was inglorious. His body was forgotten in the muck and refuse of a pigsty. In his final moment, he felt regret. Regret for all that led him to that moment. Regret for all he could not make of his grim and hopeless life.

Mykas awoke in a dark and empty moor, coarse grasses interspersed by stands of small trees and crisscrossed by cold, brackish streams. He was dead, wasn’t he? He wondered if this was truly the fate that awaited him in Charon’s domain.

On the horizon, he saw another light. A white horse galloped towards him and as it drew closer he saw the being in all its radiance. It was a horse, one unlike any he had seen. It was headless, but a horse skull floated above its neck, and above that a burning crown. It filled him with dread and wonder and, for the first time, hope.

The Pale Horse spoke to him, told him that just as the Horse had once been a daemonic tyrant, a mighty servant of Charon, he had repented and turned to the service of Pharasma. Mykas could too. Mykas had died in unforgiving service, miserable, and alone. He was all that the Pale Horse desired in a servant, so he was given a choice. He could live again, make something of his life, in return for a lifetime of penance and service to the Pale Horse.

Mykas accepted. He awoke once more, now in a pigsty in a burned out village with a pitchfork in his gut. He wrenched the weapon from himself, and as his wounds began to knit closed, he felt renewed. He served a better purpose. He would hunt down those who flaunted death’s justice, those who made a mockery of the great balance.

Mykas wandered, fighting the enemies of the faith and offering a chance at repentance to those who would accept service. He kept that pitchfork, having it reforged into a combat worthy weapon, a trident in the image of his lord’s sacred weapon. His faith is strong, stronger than it was when his service began, for he has come to realize that he can offer the same redemption that the Pale Horse offered him.

Of late, his master has urged him towards Ustalav, speaking of dark tidings in the Shudderwood.

Mykas is, at least on first impressions, a hard and dour man. His upbringing made him weary of the world, with a grim outlook on most things. His redemption changed that in many ways. He cares more deeply, feels more strongly, and fights harder when the time calls. He is quite skilled in social situations, not from charisma or force of personality, but a keen insight into what must be said and saying it. He generally rejects the teachings of evil and chaos, but likewise does little to espouse the doctrines of good and law. Simply, he wants all things to be in balance, for the world to run in a way that allows all to live to their best and fullest.

Mykas is of fairly average height with a muscular build, roughly 5’ 9” and 150 pounds. Keen, dark eyes look out from a strong brow, and his brown hair is cut short. He wears a breastplate along with dark clothes cut to resemble the vestments of a Pharasmin inquisitor, though with the holy symbol of the Pale Horse in the place of Pharasma’s spiral. He rarely uses the longbow slung over his back, preferring the trident that strongly resembles a pitchfork he is never seen without.

Mykas is a secondary melee character, with some wilderness and social skills. He's built around flanking and Vital Strike, so there should be good synergy with the rogue and the other frontliner if needed. Once I get a few more levels in mortal usher, I'll have reliable access to invisibility, so I can help scout as well.

Jean-Claude
Werecrocodile-kin skinwalker (scaleheart) inquisitor (abolisher, sacred huntsmaster) of Jalaijatali 8 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Hunter's Handbook 7, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 99, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 38, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 5)
CG Medium humanoid (shapechanger, skinwalker)
Init +7; Senses low-light vision; Perception +13 (+17 on opposed rolls vs. Stealth and Disguise)
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 22, touch 14, flat-footed 19 (+7 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 55 (8d8+16)
Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +10
Resist cold 10
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Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +1 cold iron boarding pike +10/+5 (1d8+5/×3)
Ranged +1 adaptive paueliel composite longbow +10/+5 (1d8+4/×3)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with +1 cold iron boarding pike)
Special Attacks bane (8 rounds/day)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +7)
. . 1/day—scare (DC 11)
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +10)
. . 5/day—icicle (1d6+4 cold)
Inquisitor Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +10)
. . At will—detect aberration[APG]
Inquisitor (Abolisher, Sacred Huntsmaster) Spells Known (CL 8th; concentration +10)
. . 3rd (2/day)—channel vigor, heroism, shield of wings
. . 2nd (5/day)—blistering invective[UC] (DC 14), invisibility, shared training, tongues
. . 1st (5/day)—divine favor, heightened awareness[ACG], litany of weakness[UC], protection from evil, shield of faith
. . 0 (at will)—acid splash, brand[APG] (DC 12), detect poison, disrupt undead, guidance, oath of anonymity
. . Domain Water
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Statistics
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Str 17, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 8
Base Atk +6; CMB +9; CMD 23
Feats Combat Reflexes, Extra Feature, Improved Outflank, Outflank[APG], Planar Focus, Power Attack
Traits beast bond, chance savior
Skills Acrobatics +0 (-4 to jump), Climb +7, Disguise +10, Handle Animal +11 (+13 vs. Maurice while worn), Intimidate +10, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +9, Knowledge (nature) +9, Knowledge (planes) +9, Knowledge (religion) +7, Perception +13 (+17 on opposed rolls vs. Stealth and Disguise), Perform (string instruments) +2, Ride +5, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +7, Survival +8, Swim +6; Racial Modifiers +2 Stealth
Languages Common, Giant
SQ animal companion (alligator (accursed companion) named Maurice), animal focus (8 minutes/day), animal focus (bull[ACG]), change shape, change shape (bite), change shape (darkvision), change shape (ferocity), change shape (swim 30 ft.), escape corruption's grasp, expose aberration, hunter tactics, improved empathic link, monster lore +2, revealing gaze +4, track +4
Combat Gear tanglefoot bag (3); Other Gear +1 agile breastplate[APG], +1 adaptive paueliel composite longbow, +1 cold iron boarding pike, amulet of natural armor +1, belt of incredible dexterity +2, cloak of resistance +2, headband of inspired wisdom +2, ring of protection +1, bear trap[APG], bedroll, bell tripwire trap, belt pouch, canteen[UE], disguise kit, fetters, masterwork (barbed)[ARG], flint and steel, holy text (Jalaijatali)[UE], manacles, masterwork (barbed)[ARG], masterwork backpack[APG], masterwork Banjo, mess kit[UE], net rigging, pot, reinforced scarf[UE], silk rope (50 ft.), skeleton key[UE], spell component pouch, superior lock, wooden holy symbol of Jalaijatali, 579 gp, 7 sp, 1 cp
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Special Abilities
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Animal Companion (animal companion (alligator (accursed companion) named Maurice)) (Ex) If no current companion, summon nature's ally spells last 1 min/level but only 1 at a time.
Animal Focus (8 minutes/day) (Su) As a swift action, gain bonuses from emulated animal(s). If no companion, +1 slots.
Bane (+2 / 2d6, 8 rounds/day) (Su) Make the weapon you are holding a bane weapon.
Bull +4 (Su) When assuming this aspect, gain listed enhancement bonus to Str.
Change Shape (Bite) (Su) You can choose to gain a bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage when shifting into bestial form.
Change Shape (Darkvision) (Su) You can choose to gain darkvision with a range of 60 feet when shifting into bestial form.
Change Shape (Ferocity) (Su) You can choose to gain the ferocity ability when shifting into bestial form.
Change Shape (Su) Shapeshift into bestial form, granting animal-like powers.
Change Shape (Swim 30 ft.) (Su) You can choose to gain a climb speed of 30 feet when shifting into bestial form.
Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Energy Resistance, Cold (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Escape Corruption's Grasp (8 rounds/day) As an imm action, gain freedom of movement on self.
Expose Aberration (Sp) On hit, auto know if foe is aberration. Imm action activate bane after hit and before dam.
Extra Feature Gain additional feature in bestial form.
Hunter Tactics (Ex) Animal companion also gains the bonus teamwork feats, but doesn't need to meet pre-reqs.
Icicle 1d6+4 cold (5/day) (Sp) As a standard action, ranged touch attack deals cold dam to foe in 30 ft.
Improved Empathic Link (1 mile) (Su) As the familiar ability, but as a swift action can see through companion's eyes (but not own).
Inquisitor (Abolisher, Sacred Huntsmaster) Domain (Water) Granted Powers: You can manipulate water and mist and ice, conjure creatures of water, and resist cold.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Monster Lore +2 (Ex) +2 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknesses of creatures.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Planar Focus By studying other planes, you've learned to take on aspects of outsiders as well as animals.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Revealing Gaze +4 (Ex) Gain listed bones on opposed Perception rolls vs. Disguise and Stealth. Adj allies gain same bonus.
Track +4 Add the listed bonus to Survival checks made to track.

Jean-Claude was born cursed.

His parents were poor peat cutter swampers of Graidmere, they didn't need another mouth to feed. He was the last one of his family born, and was a runt compared to the others. The family, crude, boisterous, rude, and xenophobic, would viciously attack outsiders from their small home overlooking the water. He lived this miserable life for quite some time, though he tried to spend time away from his horrible family as much as possible. He swam through the narrow waterways, and trudged with his heavy boots when this wasn't possible, investigating the dark corners of the world, which was fine with his family, as he lacked the edge to "humor" (a cruel streak) to appreciate them. He often felt cold, certainly, and detatched, but he never seemed to want to harm the animals that they found for food - swamp birds, marmots, nutria, and very commonly, gators. His family would torture the little creatures to death, and he would take no part, making him a black sheep of sorts. The breaking point for him was when they captured some poor villager from southern ustalav that had ventured into their "territory" accidentally and forced Jean-Claude to participate in a perverse "hunt" through the foggy and damp swamps. The villager was released and given the opportunity to escape. They hunted this nameless soul for hours, giving him multiple chances to flee, but the fellow never had a chance. At the end, when they'd run down the soul, they threatened Jean-Claude with pain and death, if he didn't kill the villager and eat his heart. Jean-Claude refused, and they raised the knife to dispatch their useless kin.

Something snapped in the huge man. His form changed, and he grew a large snout with rows of teeth, and with scales covering his body. Startled, his family was confused. He snapped out, and bit off half of his brother's hand, gulping down the digits reflexively, and hissing. His father swung an axe, but Jean-Claude was stronger now, and grabbed the hand, hissing, with a clawed appendage, and broke it at the wrist. Jean-Claude stood and roared at his family, who, startled and confused, fled back to the only home he had ever known.

The nameless villager, far from being grateful, screamed in horror, and fled away. Jean Claude screamed in rage, confused and befuddled by the turn of events, but he followed the villager, snapping at the man's heels until he got out of the swamp, and hissing at the man as he left, claiming the swamp as his own as well, and bitter at being rejected again

Alone, with nothing, the stocky fellow melted back into the wilds. His family hunted desperately for him, to enact revenge, but could never find the resourceful fellow, who by then had learned much more about the deep reaches of the soggy place than they ever had.

For Jean-Claude had found a baby alligator, another orphan, and raised it, gaining a deep bond with the scaled creature. He named the fellow "Maurice", after the other black sheep of his family that he knew, his grandfather's brother who was also exile by his family as a cautionary tale. Miraculously, Jean-Claude, while cold and with an odd affect, grew more of a conscience as he became an adult and raised Maurice. He and the gator would scare travelers away from his family's plot, and away from other, more dangerous parts of the swamp. One day, he tried desperatly to get a small, old woman with dark skin to leave, one who stubbornly refused any of his frightening tricks, and was singing quietly to herself, but she wasn't frightened. In his desperation, he changed hoping that the shock would set her to flee, but the woman just smiled sadly, and approached, whispering "this is not a curse, you do not need to be ashamed." In shock, he stood there, stock still, and Maurice lowered himself to the ground, resting quietly. The woman came to Jean-Claude and touched the side of his snout, nodding at him. The touch spread warmth through his body, and when his nictating eyes blinked, the woman was gone.

Confused, but at peace, and with a sense of purpose in his blood, Jean Claude changed his focus. He would find out what happened, and what the meaning was behind the woman and her touch. Now, he watched carefully what the villagers did, and how they dressed, before scaring them off. Eventually figuring out a passable approximation of a human, he and Maurice ventured out of the swamp. He made his way as a trapper and bounty hunter across Ustalav, learning what he could about civilized "society" and eventually discovering Lepidstadt was the place for him to go if he wished to learn more.

Ungainly, huge, and odd-looking, with a cold affect, he was barely tolerated. He knew little of etiquette, and he insisted on taking the docile and otherwise friendly Maurice everwhere, a nonetheless unsettling habit. The one man open-minded enough to help Jean-Claude was Lorrimer, who was fascinated by Jean-Claude's origin, and eventually, his alternate form. Jean-Claude grew to trust the man, and even saved him from a tentacled abomination which came to kill the professor during the night once, Jean-Claude grew to hate and fear such things as a result. Eventually they discovered that the big man was likely influenced, or (as Jean-Claude desperately hoped) touched, by the empyreal lord Jalaijatali, who mercifully gave Jean-Claude an opening to leave his desperate existence and learn more.

Joyful for the first time ever, Jean-Claude had a purpose. He would protect the far-reaches of the world from those which would despoil them. He would help outcasts and the lonely, even if they didn't know they needed help. And he would kill any of the abominable monstrosities that would try to corrupt Golarion. After a few years, he departed Lepidstadt and found his way across Ustalav, careful to keep his "true" form hidden when necessary, acting as a good-hearted mercenary, hunter, and bounty hunter.

Jean-Claude appears to be, generally, a large (about 6'1" man with large muscles and thick bones). He's got scars over much of his body, including above one of his his odd-looking eyes which seem to blink much less often than is appropriate. He has weathered skin, with black hair, and black eyes. He's usually disguised as a human, wearing traveler's clothes to blend in, and trying to look like a "local" wherever he his.

He's generally quiet, except when roused to anger, as he and Maurice can get from time to time. When angry, though, his face becomes implacable and expressionless, his face stripped of emotion, as the primal nature of his ancestors seem to "take over" a little of his personality. Such a thing is manifest even in his "true" form, a little bit, especially as most folks don't know how to process a 6-foot-tall gator man bearing down on them. Otherwise, he's kind, especially to those who are alone. He will never take a contract if the job doesn't seem "just" and he will avoid imprisoning folks without a good reason.

From time-to-time, he will quietly play a banjo that he has, which Maurice seems to enjoy greatly. He isn't very good at playing, but he's practicing, and he tries his best.

Maurice is on the large size for an alligator, and the reptile is oddly playful and friendly. The creature seems to be dressed in armor (when preparing for trouble), and Jean-Claude has strapped a skullcap to the top of Maurice's head, seemingly protecting the gator's ears. He doesn't attack people unless directed by Jean-Claude, and will let children ride him, happily hissing as he trots around on his stubby legs. The gator is obviously much more intelligent than a typical gator, and seems to even understand the common tongue. He doesn't listen to anyone but Jean-Claude (and kids under the age of 8, who he's partial to listening to even more than his friend).

Basically a typical inquistor, good in a fight with some protective and utility spells. He knows a little about monster hunting, and is especially good against aberrations. Maurice is especially good at grappling foes and dragging them to their doom, should it come up. He is comfortable in most environments, other than social ones, as he really only knows how to intimidate people to get what he wants.

I am a history teacher who hasn’t played a TTRPG in person in a couple years. I have significant experience with 3.5e as a player and PF1 as a GM. I decided I wanted to get into PbP early in 2020, but I wasn’t sure exactly what the best way to go about doing so was. I spent a lot of time trawling through old posts, looking for advice on the best ways to start and manage a PbP and reading successful games to figure out why they went well. My ultimate conclusion from this research is that games succeed or fail based on the reliability of the players and the energy and time commitment of the GM. I created a game in August of 2020 that has been going well, so far that hypothesis has not been challenged.

I am a frequent poster with a strong background in academic writing. In the game I GM, I am almost always able to post at least twice per day, often more. I don't have any other games that I've participated in, so no other posting history to point you too. When asked, my players have said they enjoy my game a lot and that my writing quality is high. I don’t know how well that would transfer from being a GM to being a player, but I can guarantee that I will put effort into enjoying all facets of your game. I especially enjoy the horror genre, and have learned that when my own game involves horror elements I have more fun overall. I will also put effort into engaging with the other players and trying to create an interesting and enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

Gregor is hugely tall, with unnaturally broad shoulders and a freakishly thin waist that belongs on a smaller person. His limbs are long and lanky, especially his arms, which reach to his knees. He’s used to superstitious Ustlavans reacting strangely to his body, and is extremely self conscious about his appearance, though he would never say that to a stranger. He’s not an insecure person, but he knows it’s important that he presents himself well. He carries his back straight and perpetually shrugs his shoulders so his arms look shorter. Wool stuffing in his tailored doublet makes his abdomen look fuller, and he often wears a long grey cloak that wraps around his body. He has a handsome face, perfect teeth, and a silky smooth voice like the rustle of leaves in the wind. As a young man he never realized how good looking he was, but he’s learned that if people aren’t put off by his body, they can be charmed by his face. He takes good care of himself, making sure to shave often as his hair grows unnaturally fast.

Gregor’s parents were in debt to a local noble. A traveling sorcerer offered to pay their debt, but they would have to let him father a child with Gregor’s mother. He claimed he was researching techniques to be able to father a child who did not possess his own aberrant blood. Those techniques failed.

Gregor was always unnaturally shaped. The other people in his village looked down on him, pitied him, or openly mocked him, though he was personable enough and made some friends. He presented himself as a good, peaceful citizen, but physically he matured more quickly than other boys. People were scared of him. Eventually, after a humiliating event, he left his hometown to become a soldier in west Ustalav.

His time as a soldier made him more secure, but it wasn’t fulfilling. He made friends and felt accepted, but he was never going to rise through the ranks. Gregor returned home after a couple of years and met a traveling sorceress named Allie. They formed a deep romantic relationship and stayed together for some time. But when she introduced Gregor to her family, they disapproved of him, saying they couldn’t imagine him as their son in law. He got into a bitter fight with Allie and they broke up.

Gregor returned home seeing red. He used magic to disguise himself as the son of another petty noble and murdered the man his parents had been in debt to, who he blamed for his condition. It wasn’t satisfying, and Gregor resolved to hunt down his blood father. But first, he traveled to a city in order to learn to harness his latent magical powers.

After leaving that city, Gregor spent some time traveling across Ustalav, adventuring occasionally but mostly intent on finding his father. Eventually, he ran into a half brother by blood, who gave him a major clue. He started following the breadcrumbs, but stopped after running into a childhood friend. Gregor went back to his half brother, formed a positive relationship with him, and grew into a healthier, more complete person. He put aside his quest for revenge.

Gregor resolved to be a good adventurer, someone who would defend the good and the weak and be looked up to by even the strong. He was finally the person he had always hoped he would become. The Cult of the Whispering Way was stirring in the Shudderwood, and Gregor resolved to go there and do what he could to put an end to them.

Gregor's parents were named Belor and Eshe. They met while Eshe had been a soldier, Belor had written a poem for her and they had married within a year. Eshe was a strong hand with a fauchard, and received good pay, until she received a wound to the knee that left her unable to fight. The couple had no family to fall back on. They moved to the country so Belor could find work on a farm, but it wasn’t enough. Winter came. Belor had gone hungry before, but he couldn’t stand the sight of his emaciated wife wasting away. Though she begged him not to, he went out one night and murdered a goat, butchering it in a field and bringing the meat home.

The next day, they were dragged before the local noble, a man named Emanus. Before he could punish them, however, a traveling sorcerer standing by in court offered to pay their debts. Even better, he would buy them a farm, something to live on and sustain them for the rest of their lives. He asked a heavy price. In exchange, he would father a child with Eshe. He said that he had aberrant blood, tainted by the foul magics that stained Ustalav. There were ways for him to have a child with pure blood, he assured her, but he would have no way of knowing if they worked without a test. He lit candles, drew a circle, scattered sacred waters, but what did the gods care? His efforts failed.

Gregor was shaped differently from other babies. His arms were freakishly long, while his hips and waist were narrow, like the segmented body of a bug. He was strange in other ways, too. His eyes were intensely green, his hair grew in too fast, and he was too tall. In the small town he grew up in, there were only a couple dozen other children of roughly his age. Some of them were superstitious. Freak-boy, they called him. Mutant. Monster. Most of them were sympathetic. Their parents knew his, and they knew it wasn’t his fault. He never seemed violent or dangerous, just different.

Wrestling was a popular sport in the village, but Gregor never participated. He didn’t want people to get the wrong idea about him. He was a peaceful young lad who attended regular lessons with the local priest of and would one day grow up and inherit his parents farm. They had no other children, and they loved him dearly. Though he was affable and gregarious, Gregor was wary of having close friends. The closer he got to someone, the more it would sting when they laughed at a joke about him, or talked about him when they thought he couldn’t hear. There was only one child in the entire town who had never hurt him in that way: Nonek. Nonek was also the best wrestler of all the kids their age, and the fastest runner, and the best with girls. Gregor liked boys as much as girls, and Nonek was his favorite. Though the feelings were not reciprocated, the two were close.

As he grew into a young man, Gregor started to become scary. His muscles developed faster than a normal human’s, and his eyes tinted closer to yellow, a blasphemous and unnatural color. He and Nonek were part of a group of four close friends. Gradually, the other two boys began to spend time with Gregor more and more reluctantly. That made Nonek anxious, since he was friends with all three of them, and wanted the group to stay together. Gregor had started seeing a girl, and thought he wouldn’t have so much time for the other boys anyway. He told Nonek it was ok to focus more on his relationship with the other two boys. He regretted that after he broke up with the girl.

One day, Gregor was walking by the practice yard when the other young adults were wrestling. Nonek’s father, an insensitive, red nosed man, hailed him and shamed him into practicing with them. A skilled man can always beat an untrained brute, no matter how tall or strong, the man had said. Gregor threw his first opponent in the dirt. The man cursed him and said he was lucky. The whole group gathered round, shoving Nonek forward. Gregor’s friend was unhappy to do it, and it was a betrayal of sorts, but he pinned Gregor handily. Everyone laughed. The mutant’s no match for our man, they jeered. Nonek was anguished. The two drifted apart for a time after that.

Gregor started feeling different. Before, he had always been a gentle man, sad, at times, and an outcast, but never violent. Now he grew angry and bitter. He stopped saying he would inherit his family farm, and after a year he left the village he had grown up, headed west to serve as a soldier.

Gregor’s time as a soldier changed him. The people he served with, after they saw that he was no monster, treated him differently from the people he had grown up with. They would call him a freak right to his face, but not to be vicious. They were a unit, and there was no shame in being yourself among their number. They accepted Gregor. He learned to be comfortable in his own skin. When the fighting started, Gregor would sometimes lose control of himself, flying into a cold, quiet rage. His commanding officer tasked three other soldiers with keeping him in control, and the four of them grew into good friends. Gregor was even romantically involved with one of them for a time, though they eventually broke that off because it interfered with their relationship with the other soldiers.

After several years in the army, Gregor decided to return home. He was doing alright in the army, but he knew he would never be an officer, and he missed his parents. Somehow, he felt like things would be different now that he was a man. Maybe he would be comfortable there, as he had been in the army, and maybe he could reclaim the childhood he’d always wanted but never had. Things were different, but not in the way he had hoped. If people had been afraid of him before, they were terrified now. Someone had spread a rumor that he had been forced to leave the army after he’d been found eating the corpses of his fallen comrades, though that had no basis in reality. They whispered about him from behind corners, and kept their eyes down around him. It was nice to see Nonek again, and his other childhood friends, but having seen the wider world and learned that he could get by just fine, Gregor was bitter about the way the people he had grown up around treated him.

On a cold and windy day, Gregor met Allie. She was a traveling sorceress who had been passing through the village on her way to the local noble’s estate. Like Gregor, she had always felt different from other people, though there was nothing outwardly unusual about her. She saw right past his malproportioned limbs and strange, yellow eyes, or so it seemed. The two hit it off, and before long they were romantically involved. She had a laugh like spring and a kiss like sweet summer wine.

After several months together, Gregor traveled with Allie away from his village. They went on a short adventure in the mountains before returning to her home in Caliphas. Things were different there. Allie’s family didn’t like Gregor. They said they couldn’t bring him to meet their friends, couldn’t imagine introducing someone like him as their son in law. Allie didn’t support him, though she had always loved him. Things escalated. Gregor told himself he deserved more than what he was getting. They had a shouting match, Gregor’s eyes glowing yellow, veins throbbing on his forehead, Allie’s parents trying to separate them. It was bad.

Gregor spent the next week on the road back to his village seeing red. The one person he blamed more than any other for his condition was the noble who his parents had been in debt to, Emanus, who had forced them into a position to accept the sorcerer's tainted seed. Gregor blamed the sorcerer too, but that man was far away, and the noble was close. When he arrived at his village, he didn’t go to see his family. Instead he went to live at a small settlement closer to the Emanus’ estate. He bought a potion that could be used to disguise himself as the relative of another petty noble and waited until there was a party. He snuck in, waited until Emanus had to use the latrine, then took him by surprise. He wasn’t sure what he was planning on until the knife, hot in his hands, quenched itself in the man’s heart. It was quiet. Gregor escaped just as the alarm was being raised. He never told his parents, just showed up at their door the next day bedraggled and grim faced. He told them he had done something bad, that he couldn’t come back to the village anymore, though he wasn’t sure if anyone knew it was him. They said their last goodbyes, and Gregor left.

Revenge had not been very satisfying. Perhaps he would track down his real father after all. But first, Gregor needed to train. He had begun to manifest magical abilities, and he needed to learn to control them. He traveled to Vigil with the rest of his savings in search of someone who could train him. He found Isabela, a white haired old woman who agreed to tutor him. They got on well enough, though they never grew close. Gregor heard a rumor from the east, that there had been a bloody feud between two petty nobles that started when the son of one murdered the other in his latrine. The needless deaths froze Gregor’s heart, made him wonder who he really was. He thought about killing himself. Instead, he went to an inn, got roaring drunk, and lost the rest of his money in a rigged game of cards. Then he got into a fistfight and lost, badly.

He left the city and set about searching for his true father. Gregor was a real adventurer now, with experience in the army, magical training, and blood on his hands. And a quest for vengeance. Though he had lost his savings, he still had his mother’s fauchard and his suit of steel. He traveled north, to Canterwall, where he had been a soldier, and through Ardeal. There were a few interesting people along the way, but more who shunned him as a freak. Gregor was too bitter and hard shelled to make close friends at this time in his life. He drank a lot, and went on dangerous adventures with people he didn’t know very well just to scrape together enough coin to finance his hunt. He learned to control his rage, to present himself as a civilized soldier who served honourably for several years, but it was a facade that fell apart easily.

Eventually, near Chastel, Gregor stumbled on a major clue that might help him find the man who was his true father by blood. He saw another young man who looked exactly like him. The same long arms, the same freakishly small waist. The young man even had piercingly green eyes, just as Gregor had when he was younger. The young man was named Gillac, but to Gregor he was just a source of information. He led Gregor to a clue. It was an old laboratory in an abandoned building, one that had been used by the man who was their father. Gregor started connecting dots, following clues, interrogating witnesses. His pulse started to rise again. The clues led him to Chastel, he was sure he would find the man, confront him, make him face the consequences of his actions. Maybe murder him. The dark thought nestled like a raven in his mind, straining to take wing.

Then he saw Nonek, his old friend from childhood. They talked over a pint of honeyed mead. It was strange, drinking something that tasted good, instead of drinking something just to get drunk. Gregor’s unusual anatomy seemed resistant to alcohol, and he had never minded the fiery taste of strong spirits. Nonek convinced Gregor to put aside his quest for revenge, to try to do something positive instead. Gregor listened. He went back to Gillac, apologized for the way he had treated him earlier. He spent the winter with the man’s family, who were not so forgiving or understanding about their son’s condition as his own parents had been. Spring came, and Gregor’s heart thawed. He mentored Gillac, helping him navigate difficult social situations, teaching him to have ambitions beyond the narrow, prejudiced world of a rural Ustalavan village. It felt good to be strong, and it felt good to help someone. Gregor took a holy symbol of Cayden Calean away from that village, and a smile.

After that, things were different. Gregor traveled from one town to the next, offering his help to those in need. He visited a tailor and got himself some fashionable clothes as well as a boost to his ego. He figured he needed to do something in the way of atonement. He was becoming the person he had always wanted to be. Strong. Accepted. Good people were glad to have on their side, whether they thanked him or not, and sometimes they didn’t. His travels took him into the Shudderwood. Dark things were creeping beneath shadowy boughs. The cult of the Whispering Way was gathering, and Gregor was one who would stand in their way.

Each section is arranged chronologically.

Allies

Belor and Eshe, his parents
Unlike many adventurers, Gregor has always had a good relationship with his parents. He never stopped being able to depend on them as a source of stability and love in his life. He can’t visit home anymore and his parents don’t want to leave their farm, which they received from the Sorcerer.

Nonek, his best friend from childhood
Nonek is a fantastic wrestler who has competed in many of Ustlav’s cities. Gregor bumps into him from time to time and they always share a pint of their favorite drink: honeyed mead.

Octavian and Horace, his two other friends from childhood
These two were always decent friends with Gregor and always better friends with Nonek. They still live in the village Gregor grew up in, now working on his parents farm, though they sometimes travel, as farmers do while they wait for their crops to grow. Gregor has seen them once in the recent past.

Anatan, Serghu, Filip
They first met while Gregor was a soldier in the northwest of Ustalav. These are the three soldiers assigned to make sure Gregor didn’t do anything bad while raging. Gregor was romantically involved with Filip for a couple of months, but they broke things off because it was interfering with their relationship with the other soldiers. Anatan was slightly older, and might be retired now. The other two could still be soldiers, or may have moved on to other things. Gregor hasn’t seen them in a while.

Gillac, his half brother by blood
Gregor met this young man while traveling in North Central Ustalav. They have a very similar appearance, as they were both fathered by the same man. Gillac was positively affected by the presence of an older role model who proved to him that he could become a good person.

Lucia, his tailor
Gregor’s tailor was one of the few people who genuinely admired his physique. She saw him as having great potential for beauty, but only if he worked at it in a competent way. And he needed help to do that. Gregor enjoyed being groomed and primped, and she enjoyed the challenge of crafting clothing that was beautiful, highly functional and durable, and that fit an unusually shaped man. Being a homeless adventurer, Gregor keeps several changes of clothes with her, such as his summer outfit. I’m not sure what city she lives in, but ideally somewhere in central Ustalav, as Gregor would not have formed the relationship he did with her until after his time with Gillac.

Enemies

The Sorcerer
The man who is, by blood, Gregor’s father. Gregor blames this man for his unnatural appearance and the unhappiness in his life. He spent some time trying to hunt him down, and even found some clues that might be helpful, but he’s never seen him.

Nonek’s father, Nonius
He was never the same after his wife died. Nonius still thinks of himself as his son’s coach, and travels with him to competitions. In reality, he is an old, sad drunk whose son has long since surpassed him in every way.

Allie, his first love, and her family
Based in Caliphas, Allie is a sorcerer who travels frequently for her work. I’m not really sure what that is, certainly something dangerous. She never really stopped loving Gregor, but they had a major quarrel and things between them were left sour and awkward. Her family never liked Gregor, and would prefer he and she never meet again.

Beatrix, a con artist
While in Vigil taking lessons from Isabela to learn to control his magic, Gregor got scammed at a rigged game of cards. He had no business being at the table, really, he was so drunk he could barely keep track of who he was playing with. But the next day, he remembered her face.

Henric, a rival adventurer, and his party
During Gregor’s vengeful, coldhearted adventuring days near Chastel, before he met Gillac, he ran afoul of another group of adventurers. Something about stealing all the treasure from some deep crypt that had really belonged to Henric and his group. Things had nearly come to blows, but for the honeyed words of a woman Gregor was traveling with and the approach of another group of travelers. Henric vowed they would get revenge one day, Gregor rolled his eyes and forgot about the man. If confronted by him again, he might not even remember him.

Neutral

Flaviu, Gregor’s commanding officer from his time in the army
They got on ok. The man never really saw past Gregor’s aberrant appearance, and didn’t like that Gregor sometimes flew into a rage. On the other hand, Gregor was a fantastic fighter, and he seemed to get on ok with his fellow soldiers.

Isabela, Gregor’s magic tutor
The white haired old woman lived in Vigil when Gregor knew her. He paid her his savings, and she took him on as an apprentice. Their relationship was relatively professional, and they never really got close.

CG to CN Male Human Bloodrager (Steelblood) 8
Initiative +5 (2 dex + 2 trait + 1 Ioun stone) Perception +12

HP 76 {100 Raging} (8d10 + 16 Con + 8 FCB {+24 Raging})
AC 24 {22 Raging, +1 vs charging} (10 + 10 Armor +1 Natural + 2 Dex + 1 Deflection {-2 Raging} {+1 vs charging}) Flat 22 {19 Raging} Touch 13 {11 Raging}
Saves Fort +11 {+14 Raging} (+6 Base +2 Con +3 Cloak {+3 Raging}), Ref +7 {+8 vs trample} (+2 Base +2 Dex +3 Cloak {+1 vs trample}), Will +5 {+7 Raging} (+2 Base +3 Cloak {+2 Raging}) {+2 vs allies or own spells}
Immune Sickened, Nauseated
CMD 23 {+4 trip, +2 raging, +1 vs overrun} (10 + 5 Str {+2 raging} + 8 bab {+4 trip} {+1 vs overrun)

Offence
Speed 25 ft (30 ft when not wearing armor)
Reach 10 ft (15 ft with reach weapon)
CMB 14 {21 trip, +2 raging} (8 bab + 5 str + 1 steelblood {+2 raging} {+4 trip feats, +3 trip enchantment})
Raging Power Attack +1 Furious Fauchard (8 bab + 7 strength + 3 enchantment - 3 power attack) +15/+10 (1d10+22 18-20)

Ability Scores
Str 20 {24 Raging} (15 base + 2 racial + 1 advancement + 2 item {+4 Raging}) Dex 14 Con 15 (14 base + 1 advancement) Int 10 Wis 10 Cha 13
Feats
Power Attack (1st level), Dirty Fighting (Human Bonus), Improved Trip (3rd level), Eschew Materials (4th level Bloodrager Bonus), Raging Vitality (5th level), Combat Reflexes (6th level Bloodline Bonus), Greater Trip (7th level)
Traits Reactionary, Heirloom Weapon
Languages Common, Varisian
Skills 4 + 1 (racial) skills per level (40 total, 40 allocated)
ACP = 4 (`6 - 1 (mwk) - 1 (armor training)
Acrobatics +2 (1 rank + 3 class skill + 2 Dex - 4 ACP)
Climb +5 (1 rank + 3 class skill + 5 Str + - 4 ACP)
Disguise +3 (2 ranks + 1 Cha)
Diplomacy +6 (5 ranks + 1 Cha)
Intimidate +7 (3 ranks + 3 class skill + 1 Cha)
Knowledge (Arcana) +6 (2 ranks + 3 class skill)
Linguistics +1 (1 rank)
Perception +12 (8 ranks + 3 class skill + 1 Ioun Stone)
Ride +2 (1 ranks + 3 class skill + 2 Dex - 4 ACP)
Sense Motive +3 (3 ranks)
Spellcraft +7 (4 ranks + 3 class skill)
Survival +11 (8 ranks + 3 class skill {+2 kit})
Swim +5 (1 rank + 3 class skill + 5 str - 4 ACP)

Key Equipment
+1 Full Plate 2650
+1 Furious Fauchard 8364
+3 Cloak of Resistance 9000
+1 Ring of Deflection 2000
+1 Amulet of Natural Armor 2000
+2 Belt of Strength 4000
Full inventory spreadsheet

Spells known (CL 8th, Concentration +10)
1st (2/day, DC 12) - Enlarge Person (Bloodline Bonus), Shield, Protection from Evil, Mount, Endure Elements
2nd (1/day, DC 13) - Mirror Image, Resist Energy, Stone call

Gregor is a frontline fighter. In the second draft, I have made him significantly more optimized. Overall, I have not closely compared him to other party members, so I can’t tell if he’s within a reasonable power range, but I suspect I may want to scale him back a little bit on a final pass should I be selected.

He rages and hits for good base damage while mixing in trip attempts. He has an impressive 15ft reach, 25ft when enlarged, as well as three AoOs per round. Combined with his tripping ability this allows him to control the battlefield decently well. I have changed him to be a steelblood instead of a blood conduit, meaning that his AC is reasonable when not enlarged, and can be further augmented through the use of the spells shield and mirror image. I shifted points away from Int and Cha to get his Con up to the score necessary to qualify for Raging Vitality, since I want to avoid immediately dying when I fall unconscious, which doesn’t seem like very much fun. His Will save is still not great, but is passable while raging.

Out of combat, Gregor has a decent Survival and Perception. He has some ranks in cha based skills but they aren’t class skills, so he’s not the best at them. He’s got an unusual appearance which may cause negative reactions, but he’s used to dealing with that and has mostly been able to avoid violence as a result of it. He has a variety of mundane survival items and an enormous carrying capacity, if this ever comes up.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Bloodragers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields). A bloodrager can cast bloodrager spells while wearing light armor or medium armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. This does not affect the arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes. Like other arcane spellcasters, a bloodrager wearing heavy armor or wielding a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has somatic components.
A steelblood gains proficiency in heavy armor. A steelblood can cast bloodrager spells while wearing heavy armor without incurring an arcane spell failure chance. This replaces the bloodrager’s armor proficiency.

Bloodline
Each bloodrager has a source of magic somewhere in his heritage that empowers his bloodrages, bonus feats, and bonus spells. Sometimes this source reflects a distant blood relationship to a powerful being, or is due to an extreme event involving such a creature somewhere in his family’s past. Regardless of the source, this influence manifests in a number of ways. A bloodrager must pick one bloodline upon taking his first level of bloodrager. Once made, this choice cannot be changed.
When choosing a bloodline, the bloodrager’s alignment doesn’t restrict his choices. A good bloodrager could come from an abyssal bloodline, a celestial bloodline could beget an evil bloodrager generations later, a bloodrager from an infernal bloodline could be chaotic, and so on. Though his bloodline empowers him, it doesn’t dictate or limit his thoughts and behavior.
The bloodrager gains bloodline powers at 1st level, 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter. The bloodline powers a bloodrager gains are described in his chosen bloodline. For all spell-like bloodline powers, treat the character’s bloodrager level as the caster level.
At 6th level and every 3 levels thereafter, a bloodrager receives one bonus feat chosen from a list specific to each bloodline. The bloodrager must meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats. At 7th, 10th, 13th, and 16th levels, a bloodrager learns an additional spell derived from his bloodline. These spells are in addition to the number of spells given on Table: Bloodrager. These spells cannot be exchanged for different spells at higher levels.
If the bloodrager takes levels in another class that grants a bloodline, the bloodlines must be the same type, even if that means that the bloodline of one of the classes must change. Subject to GM discretion, the bloodrager can change his former bloodline to make them conform.
Aberrant
There is a taint in your blood that is both alien and bizarre. When you bloodrage, this manifests in peculiar and terrifying ways.
Bonus Feats: Combat Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Improved Disarm, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will.
Bonus Spells: Enlarge person (7th), see invisibility (10th), displacement (13th), black tentacles (16th).
Bloodline Powers: While bloodraging, you gain the abilities and immunities of some aberrations, but show signs of your tainted heritage.
Staggering Strike (Su)
At 1st level, when you confirm a critical hit the target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or be staggered for 1 round. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your bloodrager level + your Constitution modifier. These effects stack with the Staggering Critical feat; the target must save against each effect individually.
Abnormal Reach (Su)
At 4th level, your limbs elongate; your reach increases by 5 feet.
Aberrant Fortitude (Su)
At 8th level, you become immune to the sickened and nauseated conditions.

Bloodrage (Su)
The bloodrager’s source of internal power grants him the ability to bloodrage.
At 1st level, a bloodrager can bloodrage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + his Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, he can bloodrage for 2 additional rounds per day. Temporary increases to Constitution (such as those gained from bloodraging or spells like bear’s endurance) don’t increase the total number of rounds that a bloodrager can bloodrage per day. The total number of rounds of bloodrage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours need not be consecutive.
A bloodrager can enter a bloodrage as a free action. While in a bloodrage, a bloodrager gains a +4 morale bonus to his Strength and Constitution, as well as a +2 morale bonus on Will saves. In addition, he takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase to Constitution grants the bloodrager 2 hit points per Hit Die, but these disappear when the bloodrage ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points. While bloodraging, a bloodrager cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
A bloodrager can end his bloodrage as a free action. When the bloodrage ends, he’s fatigued for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds spent in the bloodrage. A bloodrager cannot enter a new bloodrage while fatigued or exhausted, but can otherwise enter bloodrage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a bloodrager falls unconscious, his bloodrage immediately ends, placing him in peril of death.
Bloodrage counts as the barbarian’s rage class feature for the purpose of feat prerequisites, feat abilities, magic item abilities, and spell effects.
(Replaces Fast Movement)
Indomitable Stance (Ex)
At 1st level, a steelblood gains a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks, to CMD against overrun combat maneuvers, and on Reflex saving throws against trample attacks. He also gains a +1 bonus to his AC against charge attacks and on attack and damage rolls against charging creatures.
This ability replaces fast movement and alters bloodline feats.
(Replaces Uncanny Dodge)
Armored Swiftness (Ex)
At 2nd level, a steelblood moves faster in medium and heavy armor. When wearing medium or heavy armor, a steelblood can move 5 feet faster than normal in that armor, to a maximum of his unencumbered speed.
Blood Sanctuary (Su)
At 3rd level, due to the power of his blood, a bloodrager can stand confidently amid the effects of spells cast by himself or his allies. He gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells that he or an ally casts.
Blood Casting (Su)
At 4th level, the bloodrager gains the ability to cast spells even while bloodraging. He can also cast these spells defensively and can make concentration checks for these spells while bloodraging. While bloodraging, he can cast and concentrate on only his bloodrager spells (see below); spells from other classes cannot be cast during this state.
Eschew Materials
At 4th level, the bloodrager gains Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.
(Replaces Improved Uncanny Dodge)
Armor Training (Ex)
At 5th level, a steelblood learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a maximum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. Every 4 levels thereafter (9th, 13th, and 17th), these bonuses increase by 1, to a maximum 4-point reduction of the armor check penalty and a +4 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus. This ability stacks with the fighter class feature of the same name.
Blood Deflection (Su)
At 7th level, as an immediate action a steelblood can sacrifice a bloodrager spell slot to gain a deflection bonus to AC equal to the level of the spell sacrificed. The deflection bonus lasts until the start of his next turn. This ability can be applied after an attack roll is made against the steelblood, allowing the steelblood to convert a hit into a miss if the deflection bonus is high enough.

Twice remembers next to nothing about his previous life, only the end. All he remembers was riding a horse as fast as it could handle, hitting his head against a branch as he looked back to see what was behind him, a cracking sound and a fall onto soft leaves. That and the consistent howling.

The first memory of his current life were of a graveyard near a small town in the northern of Amaans, a region in central Ustalav, and how the grave keeper chased him off.

The next thing he remembers was nicer. When Twice, then still nameless, stood still to catch his breath a raven landed on a bush next to him. Before Twice had even turned to look at the bird it started to talk, complaining about how these days these stupid country bumpkins were an uncouth bunch and that they had had no respect for messengers from the beyond. Apparently the same grave keeper that had chased Twice away also chased the bird off when it started to speak.
Then the raven introduced himself as Putzicher Theocrastin Monucher, or Putz for short and told Twice that he was to be his guide. Normally he'd just be an observer but now, with Twice being all alone, he figured the youngling needed guidance.

Together the pair wandered the roads of Ustalav, living of the land. They quickly became quite adapt at avoiding the things that lurk in the darkness.
They spent several years this way, with Twice actually christening himself Twice Born sometime near the end of the first year after Putz had told him more about what it meant to be a Duskwalker. By the time their wandering brought them to a large forest, which he now knows is called Shudderwood, Twice already appeared to be his late teens, though in fact he was just 3 years old, and he had become an accomplished hunter. Filled with bravado fitting his appearance and despite warnings from Putz, he decided to head into the forest. Forests often meant better hunting after all.
But he was only a few miles into the woods when a strange feeling crept over him, as if he was being watched or maybe even stalked.
Then he heard a howling, followed by a push that landed him face first in the dirt and then hot breath in his neck. Twice braced himself for the end, but that didn't come. Instead he heard a whooshing sound, followed by a crack, many different growls and then the sound of fighting. Then he passed out.

When he woke up the environment had changed. No longer were there leaves and trees and dirt but instead he laid under something soft and in a warm bed and he was surrounded by wooden walls. In the next room he could hear wood burning in what must be a big fire and over it he could hear two voice, one was Putz but the other he did not know.
Before moving into the next room Twice tried to overhear the conversation, which apparently was a philosophical debate on the nature of divinity that he couldn't quite decipher.
He decided to open the door.
The room he now entered was similar to the one he had come from, though larger and without any beds. Instead there was a table with chairs and the roaring fireplace Twice had already heard. Putz was sitting on the backrest of a chair, looking at Twice as he entered the room. On another chair, across from Putz, sat a massive looking man and next to him sat a tall girl that looked roughly the same age as Twice. Both looked straight at him, the girl flushed red before quickly turning her face away, which in turn caused Putz to fly up and usher Twice back into his room to get dressed.

Once he returned, fully clothed this time, the man introduced himself as Beorn and the young woman, who had left the room, as his daughter Aricia. He then proceeded to explain how he had saved Twice from a werewolf and it's pack of wolves and how Putz had made a deal with him to take Twice in and teach him while the bird had to go off to run other errands. Twice just nodded.

Putz' errands ended up taking quit a bit longer than Twice expected as he spent several years with the father and daughter. He quickly learnt how Beorn had fought off the werewolf for he himself was a lycanthrope as well, though a werebear instead of a wolf. A werebear who held a seething hatred for werewolves since the day they attacked and killed his wife and a strong dislike for the humans that did not respect the forest and kept falling into the clutches of the packs, thus helping them grow. He also learnt the man was a druid, though his daughter was more gifted in the druidic arts while he was more of a warrior. Both trained him and both saw him excel.
Aricia didn't just train him though. Being roughly the same age, as long as you ignored the actual numbers, and more or less stuck with each other a friendship formed which then bloomed into romance.

The three of them lived together, trained together and hunted werewolves together for several years. When Putz finally returned Twice had become a young man and an accomplished killer of all kinds of foul beasts. Putz had also changed as the bird now wore a large, beaked leather mask. It even had googles sown in. As he explained he also had come of age and that meant he now had the honor to wear the mask associated with those of his station. Putz was impressed by how Twice had grown, though less so when he discovered the young man had no desire to leave his new home and his love behind. Knowing a lost battle, the bird merely sighed and instead joined the odd family.

Things changed recently though. As Beorn grew older he became more and more consumed with finding the wolf responsible for his wife's death and taking vengeance on it. Twice's relationship with Aricia had also become troubled and had then ended after they discovered that Twice, being a Duskwalker, was incapable of having children with her. So instead she had started seeing a human man from a lumber camp several miles closer to the forest's edge, behind her father's back as he still despised humans and lumberjacks in particular.

Now Beorn had gone missing. He left the house in his grey streaked hybrid form, wielding his massive axe growling about having found the scent. Aricia was away to meet her new paramour leaving Twice and Putz to try and find Beorn now he hasn't returned for two full weeks.

Beorn Werebear, warrior, teacher and father of his ex-girlfriend. Now missing after leaving to track a werewolf he holds responsible for his wife's death.
Aricia Werebear, druidess, ex-girlfriend. Twice still loves he and she loves him but she has decided they can't be together because he can't sire children.