About BaregaN Halfling Druid 5 s 12 +1
BAB +3
Init: +2
F: 7*= 4+1+1h+1r [+2 vs animal psionics]
Feats/Traits:
Abilities:
Skills ((4+1i+1fc)*5):
Spells (lvl:perday:dc):
Languages: (illiterate) Halfling, Common, Druidic Items
APPEARANCE Barega is a bit over 3' tall, lean, and unnaturally quick. His dark face looks weathered beyond its years, and adorned with a number of ritual scars and tattoos. He often layers streaks of pigment over this, to provide camouflage. His slightly greying black hair is long and matted, and desiccated bones and other talismans have been woven into it. His small stature and stillness make him easy to overlook, but his piercing eyes miss nothing. He is clad in finely fashioned leather armor and a mottled cloak, from whose hem dangle rows of canine teeth. Several crude spears are slung across his back. BACKGROUND Barega hails from a border settlement in the Forest Ridge. Early in his youth, he discovered an affinity and a sort of joy in the Wind, and he has followed its fickle direction for most of his life. A great turning point in his life came when he, as a young hunter, set off on a on a walkabout that turned into many years spent 'chasing the Wind'. He chased it far and wide, and spent considerable time learning its ways in the Alluvial Wastes. During this portion of his walkabout, Barega was approached by a strangely ageless man (a ‘tall one’). After getting past a somewhat tense initial encounter, the two men traveled together for some time. Barega found, to his great surprise, that the man was a sort of kindred spirit, another chaser of the Wind. In fact, the man was a Druid who had been stealthily observing Barega's progress and natural talents for many days. Barega was enthralled by the man's stories about the Land Spirits, and the Blue Time, and by his deep knowledge of the Wind and the Land. They traveled together for many years, during which the man taught Barega his ways and they performed together many minor yet valiant acts of resistance against various defilers. When the man judged that Barega had learned sufficiently, the two parted ways. Barega returned to his tribe wise beyond his years, and with an uncommon (if minor) tolerance toward the Tall Ones. He grew once again into the community, taking a particular joy in teaching his youngers and the preparation of holiday meals. He felt he appreciated it more for his years of solitude, but his fellows noted forever thereafter a bit of an oddness about him, who had once willingly spent some alone and in the company of Men. With his unusual intimacy with the land and the Wind, Barega eventually came to find himself leading bands of his fellows in violent actions against intruding Defilers, with a fair degree of success. It was on one such excursion a few years back, where he met the Preserver. Barega and a band of his hunters had been tracking Dhojakt, an ambitious up-and-coming Defiler with whom they had tangled several times in the past, through the jungle for many days. When they finally cornered the Wizard and launched their attack, they discovered that they had been chasing an illusory decoy. Dhojakt had spotted them, and sent them off after his illusion while he doubled back to hit the tribe's settlement (whose defenses had been thinned to populate the hunting party). Furious and terrified, the hunters ran for a day and a night through the jungle and Dhojakt's soldiers, losing many of their number along the march, in an attempt to catch the Defiler in time to assist in the defense of their village. Their progress was slowed by Dhojakt's minions (whom they slew with their best brutal efficiency, but who still cost them time and men). Finally, exhausted and almost certainly too late, they made it back to their settlement. But they did not find what they expected. There was a tall one, an old man, who had intervened and chased off Dhojakt in the hunters' absence, when it seemed that he was about to overwhelm the remaining halfling fighters. Humbled and ashamed at his lack of caution, Barega pledged his service and gratitude to man. They spoke at length, during which the man revealed himself as a Preserver, and then the man left. Barega learned a sort of caution from this experience, and would no longer allow the hunters to accompany him on his actions after this. He took to splitting his time between performing shamanic duties at the village, and going on extended solo patrols around the perimeter. He never truly forgave himself for foolishly exposing his family to such danger, and he continuously looks for opportunities to redeem himself. One day as he was patroling the perimeter of his village, a message from the Preserver reached him, as a whispering on the wind. His old debt had been called in. He stopped only briefly at the settlement to confer with the elders, before setting out for the wastelands below. -------------- The man winced and emitted a sharp yelp of pain as blood trickled from his leg. Barega grinned. "We must set the bone, or your already clumsy gait will soon include a limp as well." "I know," said the man. "You needn't take such joy in it." The halfling continued his ministrations to the man's wound. "That should do it," Barega said, finishing the splint and turning away. His hands were covered in the Man's blood. "Get some rest." His thoughts began to drift. It had been a close thing, this fight. This arcanist was clever, and his mercenaries fierce. The big one had nearly taken this man's leg off at the knee with his hammer, and it would have been Barega's head if the man hadn't interposed himself. Another debt that he would find it hard to repay. "Don't even think about it!", the man exclaimed sharply. Startled, Barega noticed that he had been licking his fingers, and was salivating slightly. He paused. It had been a while since he'd had a good meal... The skin around his eyes crinkled. "No, not today, Man. Perhaps tomorrow." PERSONALITY The xenophobia inherent to the People has been dulled somewhat in Barega, through his experiences with his mentor and with the Preserver who saved his kin from Dhojakt. He does not understand the folk of other races, but he has learned that some of them are not beasts, and he is willing to make the attempt. Compared against his kin, Barega's intimacy with the Wind has made him curious, a bit fickle, and unusually jocular -- he is quick to laugh, but his sense of humor is strange. This tendency is tempered with caution, as Barega is haunted by the specter of the ruin that his rash decisions might have brought (or might still bring) on those he cares about. |
