Yggsdreth's Fearsome Five (Inactive)

Game Master Reckless

Idly tracing a dirty finger in the mud, occasionally disturbing some vermin, yawning widely, allowing for the unearthed vermin to explore his sore throat, causing him to cough; recovering the hole is a bored little green goblin fresh from the witch's hut.
Pretending to be a boring stupid gobbos was hard! All day he had to fake being stupid; fighting, biting, bleeding and eating, he abided the humiliation, awaiting for the day of freedom!
And, here he was; face down in stupid mud, waiting for nothing! Stupid biggest gobbos said to watch road. So, here he is watching the stupid and boring....
....a faint rustling from straight ahead floats into his tiny ears (for a goblin) on the breeze. The strong smell of wet fur invades his pierced nostrils. Tiny bumps begin to cover his green thin arms. The acrid taste of bile creeps up his throat.
Horse!
The little green goblin stands, turns,and runs into a tree! Knocked out cold, he falls back amongst the foliage.
Waking up hurts! Rubbing his aching head, the small goblin recalls the reason for his nap. Staying dead still, listening for the vile creature (or what usually accompanies them), he slowly crawls forward. After only a few dozen feet, he spots a horse sleeping on a heavily armored Longshanks.
A Knight!
Keeping low to the ground, the green goblin creeps closer. Upon closer observation, he can see that the horse is dead; an arrow through its eye. The labored breathing of the knight announces his time is not for long to end.
Laughing and clapping his hands together, the smiling goblin reaches for a book from his pack. Tracing runes and symbols in the mud around the dying Longshanks, the goblin ignores the knights pleas.
Reaching in his sack, producing a tiny bird-lizard, the smart goblin begins reciting primal words. Drawing a dagger out and stepping over the prone knight, the druid plunges the dagger deep into the throat and rubs the bird-lizard into the fountain!
Me be known as Ser Helmut now!
Announces the goblin as he yanks the dead knight's helmet off, placing the blood washed trophy onto his head.
Releasing the now calm, but also blood washed bird-lizard into the air, Ser Helmut claims,
You Now bees Mees companion. Ser Helmut named you Merlin!

If you grew up with one or two family members, your closeness to them made you highly aware of their feelings, and you. Add an Intelligence ability boost and a Wisdom ability boost to your options.

Ancestry: Human
Family Size: 1d100 ⇒ 84 5 family members Cha and Dex

Homeland: 1d20 ⇒ 16 Coastal Community: You grew up along a wide river, in a wetland, beside an ocean, or on an island. Add Fishing Lore, Sailing Lore, and Lore of a specific type of sea creature (such as Shark Lore) to your background options.

Major Childhood Event: 1d20 ⇒ 4 Betrayed: A friend or family member whom you trusted more than anyone else betrayed you. Add the skill feat to your background options.

Influential Associate: 1d20 ⇒ 15 The Mystic: You were especially close to a holy person in your community who fundamentally changed your life, opening your eyes to the incredible powers that exist beyond the natural world. Regardless of whether you now follow a faith, certain religious artifacts, rituals, and texts played a large part in making you the person you are. Add a Wisdom ability boost to your background options.

Inspiring Relationship: 1d12 ⇒ 7 Magician: This character supported your brief dalliance with stage magic, which you took up as a precursor to learning actual magic or simply to keep your fingers nimble. Add the Subtle Theft skill feat to your background options.

Challenging Relationship: 1d12 ⇒ 9 Seeking Accolades: You never seemed to capture the attention of the crowds at the tavern as easily as this character did, so you worked hard to practice your showmanship. Add the Impressive Performance skill feat to your background options.

Relic Aspect: 1d12 ⇒ 2 Beast
Relic Aspect: 1d12 ⇒ 5 Earth

Champion, likely focused on range

The frontier is a hard place. Many would tell you that such a place takes everything from you or gives you everything it has, that there is no inbetween. But life itself is always the inbetween. Sometimes you plant the seed and the weather smiles and the stocks grow strong, giving a bounty that feeds all and the yellow grain turns to golden coin. Yet other years the stocks grow hard, and withered, the coin isn’t enough. It is then that the true hardship of the frontier and the hardship of people shows itself. Families that tend that farm often have many children, after all it is free labor. But when the fields fail, and the coffers are empty all those children are just mouths to feed with no food. The longer it goes on the darker choices must be made. Revna fell victim to one of these darker choices.
The flooding had taken the fields, sickness from the water took the pigs and cattle. Feeding such a large family became… impossible. Only six at the time, Revna’s birth father took her deep into the forest that was a day or so from their farm, then left small sleeping Revna there under an old mighty tree. It would shield her from the rain at least. Then he turned his back and left her there. The sacrifice of one to hopefully save the others.
Revna awoke to the cold and silent forest, scared and alone. Her father had left her wrapped in her blanket at the very least, the one her mother had made for her, but she found him nowhere. She curled herself up under the tree she had been left under, looking around at the dark forest around her. Her father would come back, wouldn’t he? She just had to not leave this place so that he could find her. A day past, thirst set in. The rain gave enough to slake it. But when day two came, it brought a familiar feeling, hunger. But what could she eat… there was nothing. Revna hadn’t been left any food. Not that there was anything to eat at home either. She wondered if soon she’d die to hunger, and Revna began to cry. A scared and alone child, hungry and abandoned. She didn’t hear the sound of the buck’s hooves in the soft mud, nor the sound of it’s breath. But when it smelled her hair she looked up to see not any buck, but a Megaloceros. Time seemed to slow as their eyes met. Then the megaloceros lowered it’s head to bring the massive horns within Revna’s reach. Grabbing ahold, the creature lifted the child up and onto its back. Ravna felt a bit of joy for once in some time, as the megaloceros began to move through the trees with her upon its back. Step by step the dark cold forest didn’t seem so bad and the warm soft megaloceros fur lulled Revna to sleep.
When Revna awoke, she was warm and something smelled so good. Looking around she noticed it was a camp, and she had been wrapped up in another blanket and sleeping mat. There was a pot on the fire and it filled the air with the smell of some kind of stew or soup. Then Revna noticed the megaloceros, and the man seated across the fire from her next to the buck. Her face must have shown some kind of worry or fear, as the man raised his hand and spoke calmly. ”Calm, Jorvk brought you to me. He must have seen something in you.” He told her as he took out a wooden bowl and filled it with the stew. ”I am Sakir Stigen, where are your parents?” Sakir asked as he held the bowl out to Revna. The girl snatched the bowl from him and began to devour what it held. ”Easy, careful. Slow down. If you eat too fast like that your stomach will reject it.” He told her, and Revna slowed down a bit.
He noticed that she hadn’t answered his question, but that was alright. He had put two and two together just from how she ate. The area had been hit hard, and many children had been left to die in the forest. Sakir had buried those he had found too late, and he was sure animals had gotten to the others. ”What is your name?” Sakir asked. At this, the girl finally answered. ”Revna…” ”Revna, would you like to come and meet my family?” Sakir asked. ”I think you’ll like them.” He was very calm, and his voice put Revna at ease. So she nodded in agreement.
They spent some time talking while they finished dinner, and Revna found out that Sakir was a hunter by trade, but he was also a cleric of Cernunnos. That was what he was doing out here, trying to get some food to fill his small habit’s larders with meat so that they didn’t have to eat through all their livestock. But most importantly, he promised that she wouldn’t be abandoned again. While Revna was unsure of the promise, a warm place to stay with food was too much to pass up. So, allowing Revna to ride Jorvk, Sakir led them back through the forest further away from Revna’s first home, and to his home along with what he had hunted.
When they arrived, Revna saw that this place was much smaller than her old home was. Only a total of seven homes from what she could see. Sakir stopped by one of the homes and out of the door came a woman and three sons. Sakir embraced the woman with a smile, and then turned his attention to the boys, hugging and ruffling their hair. It was a scene that made the small Revna cry. The woman came up alongside Jorvk, and offered Revna a kind loving smile. ”I’m Mika, come here little one.” She picked Revna up off of Jorvk’s back and held her close. ”You’re safe here my dear.” Mika reassured the small girl as she brought the child into the home.
Sakir and Mika welcomed Revna into their home and raised her alongside their sons, Skuvur, Leivur, and Aksel. Revna became Revna Stigen and Sakir kept his word. They raised Revna just as they did their sons. Taught her to read, write, how to shoot a bow, walk the paths of the forest, and Sakir taught her his faith. As the years moved on, Revna remembered how she met Sakir and Jorvk. While learning of Cernunnos and remembering her fate, Revna came to a conclusion… The only reason she survived was because of Cernunnos. He sent Jorvk to her, and in turn Jorvk brought her to Sakir. In turn that gave her a family who loved her. So Revna took to the Cernunnos faith but far more… savagely than Sakir did. While Sakir paid respect to the wild life he killed to feed the people, Revna chose to walk the forests and protect the place that gave life to her home. She would ensure through all the seasons that the wilds thrived and would feed her people, her family.
And woe be to any who dare threaten that way of life. For Revna would not stand for anything that would threaten them.

In time however, a taint set into the land… bandits filled the fields and forests alike… and one place sent out the call, Yggsdreth. Revna would not let evil go unanswered. So she made her decision, and packed for Yggsdreth. Skuvur and Leivur had their own families now, and Aksel was well on his way towards that as well, but they came a week before Revna left and seemed a little more silent than normal. Her mother seemed to work feverishly and her father went through told items from his past hunts. Revna was worried about so much else she didn’t think much of it. Till the day came for her to leave for Yggsdreth. Revna was met by her whole family, and together they handed over a necklace. A thick braided woven strand held claws and teeth from many of the animals Sakir and Skuvur hunted, Leivur had supplied two disks of wood from the trees in his orchard, and Aksel worked them into a beautiful scene of family and a large tree that showed every season. ”You will always be welcomed here” Sakir told his daughter. ”And we will always love you” Mika added smiling though the years had aged them both, Revna still saw them as the day she met them. A loving couple with much to give. ”Be careful out there.” Skuvur told her as he stepped up and pulled her cloak closer around her. ”Keep your eyes wide.” Leivur warned. ”And most of all…” Aksel began though all spoke after it. ”Come home to us.” Revna embraced her family, smiling with tears in her eyes. She loved them, but she knew she had to do this. Taking the necklace and putting it over her head, she picked up her bag then gave Jorvk a scratch on his head, before she turned her way to Yggsdreth.
Once there Revna was very blunt with the rulers of Yggsdreth. ”I am here for these bandits.” She told them. ”I know the lands, I know the creatures, and I know the cruelty of man. Their evil will not go unpunished, Cernunnos will not allow it and I will not sit by while it happens. If you want true results, you want me.”

Life on the edge of Orc held lands is never easy. Especially so when your Father is a militia archer and your Mother is a battle medic. Life gets even harder when your family’s camp is overrun by raiding Orcs and you’re left behind. Luckily for me, the Orc Shaman (who happens to be the Chief’s mother and sister) found me playing with Friend and noticed my unique magical gifts. I wasn’t worried, Friend told me not to be, and Friend always took care of me.

I became a thing of intrigue, an oddity for the Shaman. I was used in magical rituals that left my head spinning for days. I was given the name Grombolar (link to name meaning) but not much else. The Orc adults didn’t fear me or my gift, but they feared the wrath of the Shaman, and so they largely ignored my existence. The Orc children on the other hand, took it upon themselves to make my life hell. I was broken many times but Friend always scared them off and Shaman knew how to heal. I didn’t grow strong but I became hardy from the beatings I took. I learned to play the Orc children against themselves and slip away amid the distraction.

I knew it would end eventually. Friend told me so many times as I lay recovering in the Shaman’s tent. The time for action would come and Friend would guide me.

Wait for the sign.

Wait until a murder of deadly crows black out the sky.

Then we will leave this place.

We will begin our journey to greatness.

Dawn came with the sounds of scout’s horns blaring an alarm. One, two, three blasts. We were under attack. Stepping out of the tent flap, I looked to the sky. A volley of arrows rose from the horizon, covering the morning light like a curtain pulled across a window. Inside! I fell backward into the tent. Arrows punctured the tent ceiling, but the thick hide slowed their fall so the fletching caught. Deadly steel points dangled from the ceiling, a few of them failing harmlessly to the dirt floor. The Shaman shoved past me into the fray, knocking me to the floor. My head landing next to an arrow on the floor. Black fletching. A crow.

The humans this time were too numerous for the orcs. After the sound of killing faded, Friend led me to the Shaman’s fallen body. The various humans around eyed me with suspicion but went about their grim task of eradicating the fallen orcs. I found her lying face down, gashes across her legs and back. Take her tusk, the left one. Wrap it with the sinew of her legs. Wear it. I went to work with my dagger.

The humans who found me probably still tell stories of the man they found covered in blood up to his elbows, wearing orc clothes and unconcerned with the death around him, as he made an orc-tusk necklace. You did well. They feared you. That was the day my journey began and Friend hasn’t steered me wrong thus far. Friend says we’re heading to a new kingdom. We keep telling people we’re a monster hunter, but I’ve never hunted monsters...

Family Size: 1d100 ⇒ 42 2 (INT or WIS)
Homeland: 1d20 ⇒ 1 Underground
Major Childhood Event: 1d20 ⇒ 1 Abandoned in a Distant Land (Multilingual – Orc,Giant)
Influential Associate: 1d20 ⇒ 11 The Liege Lord (CHA Boost)
Inspiring Relationship: 1d12 ⇒ 10 Religious Students (Student of the Canon)
Challenging Relationship: 1d12 ⇒ 4 Matter of Might (Hefty Hauler)

Relic 1: 1d12 ⇒ 6 Fiend
Relic 2: 1d12 ⇒ 11 Shadow – Gift: Encompassing Darkness (Orc Tusk Necklace)

Would replace Underground with Another Ancestry's Settlement (Adopted Ancestry – Orc Superstition??, Orc Lore?)
Another Ancestry's Settlement: 1d20 ⇒ 12 Front Lines (Heraldry Lore, Scouting Lore, Warfare Lore)

Human
Two Free Boosts: CHA, DEX
Unconventional Weaponry: Trained Orc Knuckle Dagger
Versatile Heritage: General Feat – Fleet +5 Speed
Languages: Common, Daemonic, Dwarven (+1+INTMod)
8 HP | Medium | 25 feet

Background
INT (Family Size) CHA (Liege Lord) CON (Free)
Multilingual: Orcish, Jotun (Abandoned in a Distant Land)
Adopted Ancestry: Orc Superstition, Orc Lore (Another Ancestry’s Settlement => Front Line)

Sorcerer
6 + CON Mod HP
Trained Perception
Trained Fort, Reflex
Expert Will
Trained Intimidation, Religion (bloodline skills)
Trained Occultism, Deception, Stealth (2+INT Mod Skills)
Trained Simple Weapons/Unarmed
Untrained Armor
Trained Unarmored Defense
Trained Spells (Divine – Demonic Bloodline)
Blood Magic: The corruption of sin weakens a target’s defenses or makes you more imposing. Either a target takes a –1 status penalty to AC for 1 round, or you gain a +1 status bonus to Intimidation checks for 1 round.

Focus Point: 1
Focus Spell: Glutton’s Jaw

Sorcerer Feat 1 – Reach Spell

5 – Cantrips
Acid Splash (bloodline)
TBD

3- Lvl 1
Fear (bloodline)
TBD

4 Free Boosts
CHA
DEX
CON
WIS

Ability Scores
+0 | 10 STR
+2 | 14 DEX ++
+2 | 14 CON ++
+1 | 12 INT +
+1 | 12 WIS +
+4 | 18 CHA ++++

16 total HP

This is the first PbP game I'm applying to, so even if I am not chosen, please DM me with feedback on how I could have improved. The other PbP I'm in was a recruitment from my in person GM running AoA (I also haven't had my other PbP character introduced to the story yet), so I'm new(ish) to this format of play.
I have GM'd both 1e (homebrew up to lvl7) and 2e (active RotR conversion @ lvl3). I've played WoD Vampire and some 5E. I look forward to the pacing of PbP since it is more condusive to my families schedule than in-person 3-6hr sessions.

Family Size: 1d100 ⇒ 17 2 Family Members (int boost, wis boost)
Homeland: 1d20 ⇒ 12 Front Lines (heraldy lore, scouting lore, warfare lore)
Major Childhood Event: 1d20 ⇒ 18 Witnessed War (battlefield medicine)
Influential Associate: 1d20 ⇒ 19 The Wanderer (dex boost)
Inspiring Relationship: 1d12 ⇒ 11 Timely Cure (alchemical crafting)
Challenging Relationship: 1d12 ⇒ 2 Accusation of Theft (pickpocket)

Boosts Wisdom, Dexterity
Lores scouting lore, warfare lore
Feats Battlefield Medicine (medicine), Alchemical Crafting (craft)

The tales of the Mendevian Crusades speak of stoic knights valiantly fighting against the chaotic hordes of the Abyss. Though some tales end in defeat, they always focus on the heroism of men. Rarely do they speak of the countless refugees, the poor lives drawn into the midst of the eternal wars. The Blackbush family had ended up in Kenabres in 4704 after their caravan was raided by marauding demons. Many of the travelers were killed, and Aberdeen was severely wounded. The knights who ultimately broke the attack brought the survivors to the battle front city and saw they were treated, then left them to their own devices.

When Aberdeen recovered, he learned that only he, his mother Elesyn, and sister Midra survived. Elesyn found work assisting in a tavern, and was meagerly able to provide for her children. Aberdeen, troubled by the death of his father and brothers, took up with some of the other refugee children as street urchins, grifting for what they could. His quick wit and light touch helped to better his mother and sister’s situation. But one day he was caught trying to steal supplies from a surgeon’s tent. The surgeon had a keen eye, and recognized the boy as one he had patched back together some months earlier. He offered him a choice: serve as his assistant, or get turned over to the guard. So into a life of servitude he submitted.

Surprising himself, Aberdeen took to the learning required of a surgeon’s assistant. His steady hand was a useful aid to the aging medic, and the trauma he had endured seemed to have inured him to the horrors of the wounded. The surgeon paid him for his work, and as his skill improved so did the pay. This benefitted his mother and sister far more than anything he had gathered engaging in petty theft, and he began to brighten to the path ahead of him.

As Aberdeen’s learning continued, the surgeon began schooling him on the alchemical tinctures required to help in treating the ill. Indeed, Aberdeen was tasked with some of the more basic cases that came through. One such patient was a man named Gavin, a scout and hunter for a company fighting in the crusades. Gavin was battling an infection in his foot, which Aberdeen was able to get under control for him. As their relationship grew, Gavin told Aberdeen not only of his duties and responsibilities as a scout for the crusaders, but of his days as a youth in the wilderness of the River Kingdoms. The lush, green land to the east sounded quiet and idyllic to the young surgeon’s apprentice. Just before Gavin deployed once more into the Worldwound he gave Aberdeen an amulet, which he said was gifted by a beautiful dryad that lived in a great oak in those wild lands. It was a ward to bring Aberdeen luck.

Sadly, Aberdeen didn’t find luck in the coming days. Instead, the attack on Kenabres that launched the Fifth Great Crusade happened. The city was scattered in ruins, and Aberdeen was separated from him family. In the ruins of the once great realm, he scavenged what he could to survive, and as the days passed, came to be among a cluster of survivors, whom he offered aid to. He had a run in with another survivor, falsely accusing them of pilfering some much needed medical supplies from him. It had been someone else, but a rift was formed. In short time, a band of heroes won back the city, but there was no victory for Aberdeen. The lad found the broken forms of his mother and sister in the shattered remains of the inn, severing any remaining reason for him to stay in the accursed lands. Clutching the amulet Gavin had gifted him, Aberdeen went east from Mendev, hoping to discover a new beginning in the wilderness and beauty of the River Kingdoms.

Aberdeen at his core is a simple soul, wanting nothing more than to live a life of comfort and joy. Sadly, that is something he has never truly known, growing up as a refugee and then a war camp attendant. So, instead of the quiet life most halflings enjoy, he seeks the pleasures that soldiers have described – a good drink, a friendly laugh, the touch of a woman, and the excitement of adventure. He is friendly and welcoming, though perhaps has a slightly darker sense of humor than most of his kin, given mostly to the horrors he has seen. In quiet moments he misses his family, but tries to hold true to the ideals they taught him, even in the somewhat convoluted sense of morality of a refugee- thief- medic.

Standing a touch below three feet with a slim frame except for a small paunch, Aberdeen looks like he has seen many challenging years. Slightly gaunt through the face, his eyes carry a shadowed look. He tries to keep his long brown hair bound back, but the attempt to restrain it is often in vain. Aberdeen wears a stout pair of brown leather breeches and matching vest, with a simple shirt beneath. To ward against the weather he wears an earth gray hooded longcoat. He frequently has a pack on his shoulder and a walking stick in his hands. He carries a small blade for defense when necessary, and his time at the surgeon’s side has made him surprisingly capable in a scuffle.