Anastasius Poli's page

[dice=Perception]1d20+1[/dice]
[dice=Initiative]1d20+6[/dice]

[dice=Knowledge (any)]1d20+9[/dice]

[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+10[/dice]

Anastasius is a rather small man with dark hair and green eyes. A flick of white can be seen here and there in his hair. He keeps a well-groomed face and wears long robes with the symbol of Mitra on his heart. Jewelry hangs around his neck and wrists. The man keeps a stern expression, his face being hard to read.

Anastasius seems distracted most of the time. He sometimes mumbles inaudible words but otherwise pays attention to the world around him. He's a merchant of antiquities and thus, knows how to judge the items people carry around. Fond of books, he always seems to have some in a a bag he wears on his shoulders.

Growing as a child in Talingarde was never easy for Anastasius. Last son of an important clerical family bound to House Darius, he had to forcefully dedicate his life to Mitra, a God he's never saw a sign of and never heard of, except by dusty old geezers and crones. The teen never understood what attracted people to revere such a god. Light! Sun! Hope! How futile! In his head, Mitra was the god of the weak. The god of the foolish. The god of the cowards.

Knowing too well he'll never make it alive if he revealed what he thought, Anastasius chose to conceal these considerations for long years. When he reached the age of reason, Anastasius gathered his courage and asked the permission to live a humbler life than one in service of Mitra. Being the last son of his family, his father allowed him to do so. At this moment, he thought that this son, at last, met Mitra and accepted the god in his heart. To this permission, the father gave only one condition: Anastasius was to serve Mitra as a simple acolyte in a temple of Mitra while the sun was up in the sky, doing chores. However, when night came, the young man could do whatever he wanted.

Forced to accept this condition, Anastasius began a new life. Far from his family and half-freed, Anastasius wondered what he wanted to do during these long nights. It was not long before he realised his true interest: collecting books and antiquities, as much as he could. Since only the cult of Mitra was allowed, he had a burning desire to learn. Learn anything else than knowledge about Mitra and the cult. Very soon, the place in his heart where he concealed during all these years his deep thoughts began to open.

Spreading like a slow but tenacious vine in his heart, Anastasius chose to aquire more risked books, sometimes waiting for merchants to fall asleep in taverns to rob them. He had enough "decent" stock to open a store, only open at night. The man chose to call his new place "The Shining Moon". His interest never was gold, though. It was knowledge. Mitra, the god he didn't believe into anymore but served during daylight, seemed more like a blinding light, oscuring everything else. Anastasius dreamt of an eclipse! To silence the foolish clerics! To restore people's sight! To provide a new light to his land!

Anastasius continued to rob merchants, but one night, he stealed an entire stock of what could be called "indecent" tomes. Among them, books with formaluae and words of arcane. His heart nearly exploded of happiness! At last, knowledge came to him! And he learnt so much in these tomes... He understood that a force he only saw in the clergy was possible to learn with words of power. The man discovered that magic not only lies in relationship with Mitra but also with knowledge.

Anastasius continued to rob "magic merchants" as he called them. He however chose to do something insane: he opened a back store to sell "indecent" tomes, an address he gave only to those he trusted deeply, and they were not many. But how faithful they were! One of them proposed a bargain to Anastasius: they would exchange books for books. Indecency for indecency. He accepted, greedy to learn more. The first book he recieved in payment in this manner was one wearing only a crimson trident.

The same night, he closed the store to read the forbidden book. Only one thing was written on the first page: "What do you seek?" He wrote: "Arcane knowledge". The book flapped open and in a mist of heat, a form appeared and proposed him a deal: the desecration of a church of Mitra in exchange for arcane knowledge. Anastasius, horrified and overwhelmed with joy at the same time accepted. And as soon as the book was closed, Anastasius knew. He could cast spells, understand ancient languages and use incredible powers!

The next day, using his arcane knowledge and powers, he waited until sunset to destroy some pipes leading to the discharge of the city's sewers inside the temple. Anastasius finished his work by writing with arcane and permanent words: "May the filth open your eyes! The shining god is blinding you!"

Once he got back to his lair after his deed, Anastasius barricaded himself into his inner lair. He stayed inside for several days, still shaking from the emotions the desecration made him feel. A mere merchant like him could do this with his own hands and magic powers! The man, now a wanted criminal, never stopped shaking from the moment he left the temple, both from fear and excitement.

By desecrating the holy place, Anastasius had definitely cut the ties to his family. He could no longer appear by daylight and was condemned to go searching for food and water during the night. In his books of arcane knowledge, he had learnt some minor illusions to make his shop appear like an uninteresting cellar door. The man was waiting for another appearance from the being that gave him his powers but nothing came.

A night where Anastasius chose to head back into the dark streets of Talingarde, maybe because of some untamed vanity or eagerness, he returned to the temple he desecrated some days earlier. The merchant discovered with anger that the whole temple had been cleaned up as if nothing happened. Was his heinous deed done for nothing?

As the man was thinking fast about this, a patrol found him and tried to apprehend him. Anastasius, tapping in his arcane powers, quickly dispatched most of the patrol running in the streets, conjuring grease and spitting adhesive matter to slow his opponents. The sergeant was better than his men, though, and managed to grab the fleeing outlaw. He recognized Anastasius but the mage, once again tapping in his arcane powers, took control of the man's mind, convincing the soldier that it was a mistake and that the real fugitive got away.

The sergeant nodded and went off but stopped after some paces and fell on the ground, dead. Out from the shadows emerged a fearsome lady dressed in white, slowly clapping, a large grin on her face. "So, eventually we find the desecrator!" she said. "So nice to meet you! I'm delighted to see you at work. My name is Talindora and my master has an offer for you. Come with me, now." Still abashed, Anastasius looked at the corpse which was quickly decaying and turning into filth. "One of the many feats granted to those who follow the ways to power." she punctuated, smiling. Acknowledging her prowess, Anastasius chose to remain silent and followed the lady to meet her master.

The man extended a hand. “Well, if it is not our desecrator? Welcome, I am Cardinal Adrastus Thorn, last High priest of Asmodeus. Yes, I know you understand what it means.” Anastasius gulped down noisily. Divine servants always made him ill at ease. A scar in the mind he bore for life. “I have an offer, Anastasius Poli. I need people like you, fight the insipid sun god of Talingarde with me and you will be rewarded with knowledge.”

Anastasius' shaking stopped for the first time since the desecration. A new purpose, at last! He bent a knee and lowered his head, fearful of the powerful man. "I will be your tool." he accepted. This night, he could at last sleep more than a couple hours and in his dreams, he saw a red mist covering the city of Talingarde. He heard the voice that gave him powers saying "NOW IT BEGINS" as the statues of Mitra fell down in filth and fire.

All of the cantrips from the wizard list.

Level 1: Adhesive Spittle ; Arcane Pocket ; Charm Person ; Enlarge Person ; Disguise Self ; Grease ; Obscuring Mist ; Stumble Gap ; Unseen Servant ; Vanish.

By bending and sometimes even breaking the rules of magic, the arcanist learns to exploit gaps and exceptions in the laws of magic. Some of these exploits allow her to break down various forms of magic, adding their essence to her arcane reservoir. At 1st level and every 2 levels thereafter, the arcanist learns a new arcane exploit selected from the following list. An arcanist exploit cannot be selected more than once. Once an arcanist exploit has been selected, it cannot be changed. Most arcanist exploits require the arcanist to expend points from her arcane reservoir to function. Unless otherwise noted, the saving throw DC for an arcanist exploit is equal to 10 + 1/2 the arcanist’s level + the arcanist’s Charisma modifier = DC 13.

The arcanist can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir as a free action whenever she casts an arcanist spell. If she does, she can choose to increase the caster level by 1 or increase the spell’s DC by 1. She can expend no more than 1 point from her reservoir on a given spell in this way.

Familiar (Ex): An arcanist with this exploit can acquire a familiar as the arcane bond wizard class feature, using her arcanist level as her wizard level to determine any of the statistics and abilities of the familiar. If the arcanist receives a familiar from another class, her levels of arcanist stack with the levels from that class when determining the familiar’s statistics and abilities (this ability does not stack with a familiar gained through the bloodline development exploit; she must choose one or the other).
Familiar selected: Greensting Scorpion

Quick Study (Ex): The arcanist can prepare a spell in place of an existing spell by expending 1 point from her arcane reservoir. Using this ability is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. The arcanist must be able to reference her spellbook when using this ability. The spell prepared must be of the same level as the spell being replaced.