Raeli's page

Ranger:
--Favored enemy (humanoid, elf)
--Proficient with all simple and martial weapons
--Track: +1 to Survival checks to identify/follow tracks

Trapper archetype:
--Lose ranger spellcasting
--Add Disable Device to class skill list
--Add 1/2 ranger level on Perception checks made to locate traps and on Disable Device to disarm magic traps

Druid:
--Nature sense: +2 on Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks
--Wild empathy: 1d20 + 7
--Orisons
--Trackless step: leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked
(won’t gain wild shape until 8th level of druid)
--Spontaneous casting of summon nature’s ally

Pack Lord archetype:
--Pack Bond: +2 bonus on wild empathy and Handle Animal checks regarding her animal companion (replaces nature’s bond)

Reincarnated Druid archetype:
--Mysterious stranger: add ½ druid level to the DC of Sense Motive, Diplomacy and Knowledge checks to learn about her (replaces woodland stride)

--Resist Death’s Touch: +4 bonus on saving throws against death effects, energy drain, and necromancy effects, and on stabilization checks when dying (replaces resist nature’s lure)

--Many Lives: If she is killed, may automatically reincarnate (as the spell) 1 day later. She appears in a safe location within 1 mile of her previous body. At will for the next 7 days, she can sense the presence of her remains as if using locate object as a spell-like ability. If she is killed during these 7 days, she remains dead and does not reincarnate. Does not function if slain by a death effect. Cannot be raised from the dead or resurrected.

Shifter:
--Shapechanger subtype
--Speed 30'
--Shift 1/day, 3 round duration
--low-light vision
--+2 racial bonus to Acrobatics and Climb
--Wildhunt trait: when shifting, +2 bonus to Con, gain scent ability; when not shifting, +2 racial bonus to Survival

Elf:
--Silent Hunter (replaces elven magic): reduce penalty for using Stealth while moving by 5; can make Stealth checks while running at -20 penalty
--Weapon familiarity: proficient with longbows, longswords, rapiers, shortbows, and treat any weapon with the word "elven" in its name as a martial weapon

--Seeking the oathbow that belonged to her family and was taken when they were killed
--Wants to see House Thuranni taken down and Phiarlin left as the only elf House
--She is working down the list of individual Thuranni assassins she remembers from the night of the slayings; adding to the list as she learns new names; she has killed two of the assassins so far (in her male half-orc body)
--Baron Elar d’Thuranni is her ultimate (and elusive) target; she wants to have a nice long chat with him about why he ordered the murder of her family line, then either destroy him by ruining his name and fortune or kill him (probably depending on how he answers her questions)
--She hopes that if she brings justice to the one who ordered the attacks, she will regain her elf body
--She does not know the Emerald Claw tipped off the leader of the Thuranni line; if/when she finds out, she will want to know much, much more
--Wants to travel to see the great druid Oalian to find out why she reincarnates

Family Ties
--Her father is a Valenar elf, a druid explorer, but she hasn’t seen him (knowlingly, anyway) since she was a child; this is one of the reasons she is so particularly attached to her horse -- she feels a connection to her only possible living family through Karmel
--Her mother was very empathic and trained animals for the Phiarlian carnivals; Raeli did trick riding in the carnivals and was training under her mother

--Started with the idea of a girl and her horse (and her dog)
--Went to wanting a Valenar horse but a character who isn’t supposed to have a Valenar horse; what if she was an elf, but not anymore?
--Altered Carbon (book by Richard K. Morgan): the idea of bodies being just a “sleeve” for the soul, dealing with the issues of living in a new body; self/not-self
--Always wanted to play a surviving Paelion elf
--An assassin-type character who shows up in new bodies has a very nice Eberron ring to it
--And, of course, Inigo Montoya

Large Animal
Hit Dice: 4d8+24 (42 hp)
Speed: 90 ft. (18 squares)
Armor Class: 21 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +6 natural, +1 dodge, +2 armor), touch 13, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/CMB: +3/+11
Attack: Bite +7 melee (1d4 + 5), 2 hooves +2 melee (1d6 + 2)* secondary natural attack
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Qualities: Combative mount, low-light vision, scent; link, share spells, evasion
Saves: Fort +8 (4 + 4 Con), Ref +7 (4 + 3 Dex), Will +4 (1 + 3 Wis)
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 17, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 10
Skills: +11 Acrobatics (3 ranks + 5 Str +3 class) (+34 Jump due to increased speed)
+7 Perception (1 rank + 3 Wis +3 class)
Feats: Endurance, Dodge
Tricks: Attack, Come, Defend, Down, Guard, Heel (combat trained), Perform, Stay

Valenar warhorses are fiercely loyal, and most will die before they will accept a rider of another race. Aside from its enhanced speed and Dexterity, a Valenar horse can live for up to ten times the lifespan of a normal horse; the Tairnadal attribute this longevity to the elven blood they believe runs through the veins of the steed. A typical Valenar cavalry soldier has served with his horse for decades, and the two have a tremendously strong bond: A Valenar will certainly seek vengeance against anyone who kills his horse.

Combative Mount (Ex): The rider of a Valenar warhorse gets a +2 circumstance bonus on Ride checks. The warhorse is proficient with light, medium, and heavy armor, although the Valenar rarely use heavy barding.
Carrying Capacity: A light load for a Valenar warhorse is up to 300 pounds; a medium load, 301-600 pounds; and a heavy load 601-900 pounds. A Valenar warhorse can drag 4,500 pounds.

Small Animal
Speed 40’
17hp (2d8+4)
AC 14 (10, +2 natural armor, +1 Dex, +1 size),12 Touch, 12 FF
BAB +1, CMD +5, 16 CMD
Attack: bite +4 melee, 1d4+3
Saves: Fort +5 (3 +2 Con), Ref +4 (3 + 1 Dex), Will +1 (0 + 1 Wis)
Ability Score Str 16, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Special Qualities: low-light vision, scent, link, share spells
Skills: +5 Perception (1 rank + 1 Wis +3 class), +7 Stealth (1 rank + 1 Dex + 3 class + 2 stealthy), +3 Escape Artist (1 Dex + 2 stealthy)
Feats: Stealthy
Tricks: Fetch

+1 huntsman (APG) elven curve blade (8,380gp)
mighty (+2) composite longbow, mwk (600gp)
Rhino Hide armor (5,165gp) [+4 armor bonus, +2 enhancement bonus, max Dex +4, ACP with trait: -1]
Footprint book (50gp): +2 circumstance bonus to identify creature from its tracks
Bedroll (1sp)
Winter blanket (5sp)
Scroll case (1gp)
Belt pouch (1gp)
50’ silk rope x2 (20gp)
Waterskin (1gp)
Torch x3 (3cp)
Explorer’s Outfit x2 (10gp)
Riding saddle (10gp)
Bit and bridle (2gp)
Saddlebags (4gp)
Leather barding (40gp)
Wand of CLW (750gp)
Metamagic rod, extend (lesser) (3,000gp)
Scrolls:

100gp worth of crushed metals and rare inks (for create treasure map spell)

Remaining gold to spend: 1865gp

972 YK

The Order of the Emerald Claw was a favored client of the Thuranni family, as well as the most important espionage-related organization in Karrnath’s government. Knight Superior Kadrath ir’Vardikk, a high-ranking Emerald Claw officer, came to Lord Elar Thurannia d’Phiarlan with information that pointed to a Brelish plot to assassinate both Karnnath’s regent and its young king The plot relied heavily on the talents of the Paelion line, the most fearsome assassins in House Phiarlan. Sir Kadrath demanded that the Thuranni line eliminate the Paelions before the assassins could carry out their mission.

In trying to verify the information, Lord Elar uncovered a larger plot by Lord Tolar Paelion d’Phiarlan to end the Last War and gather the reins of power, not in Breland’s hands, but his own. Part of this plan, it seems, involved eliminating the other Phiarlan families as well as the leadership of the other dragonmarked houses.

Lord Elar himself killed Tolar and his immediate family, while the Thuranni agents at his command slaughtered every Paelion within the family holdings in Lhazaar, and every one they could find in Phiarlan holdings across Khorvaire.

Some would suggest that the Order of the Emerald Claw actually fabricated evidence against the Paelions, bringing some of it to Lord Elar while planting the rest in the Paelion holdings for Elar’s spies to uncover. Some further suggest a link between the Emerald Claw’s role in the Shadow Schism and Regent Moranna’s decision to outlaw the order just four years later.

Other theories suggest wilder conspiracies. Some claim that human agents of the draconic Chamber helpedto bring the schism about in order to fulfill prophecies regarding 13 Houses or the split of a single house. Others whisper that at least one prisoner in Dreadhold is imprisoned there for his role in fomenting the schism. Still others claim that Lord Elar and Baron Elvinor amicably agreed to a split in the House and used a mutual enemy, the Paelion line, as a scapegoat to cloak their true intention.

Upon arriving in Korth three years ago, Raeli quickly discovered that a skilled free agent is a hot commodity. With no ties to any of the dragonmarked houses or to the politics of Karrnath, and a well-nurtured reputation for discretion, she has become the go-to tracker and wilderness guide for those who would rather not reveal their purposes to the entirety of The Twelve by using the services of Tharashk or Deneith.

Born and raised in the Lhazaar Principalities, specifically Greentarn (Regalport), wanted to see more of the world, ended up in Korth where she has been working as a tracker and wilderness guide for various members of The Twelve. The curious wanderer, interested in the draconic prophecy and “what role my people might play in it.”

I write this journal not because I want to think about what happened, but because I must remember and I cannot trust my mind to hold the knowledge for me. This is the second time I have returned from death, reborn from Eberron’s flesh, and each time it becomes harder to remember my life and my purpose. When I first awoke, in the weak and alien frame of a Halfling, I remembered almost nothing but blurred images of violence in darkness. It was only when I stumbled across the pyres they were building to burn my family that I remembered who I was, and now I hold on to memories with the desperation of a broken bird trying to protect its nestlings.

I retreated from the world, at first, and at the behest of my faceless teacher -- who I begin to think was a pure incarnation of nature formed for the purpose of training me, or at least to keep me from tearing myself apart. It must have been a year before I could deal with the dreaming. A mind freed from rational thought is more terrifying than death. I am told there is such a thing as pleasant dreams, but I have not experienced them. Once I overcame that terror, I spent a decade learning the secret lore of nature, though the secret of my rebirth still eludes me.

In that meadow, Eberron taught me what I needed to survive, but there was always an itch in my blood to understand why I was murdered, why we were all murdered. I can’t imagine an answer to that question that will satisfy me, but I will ask it. And then I will make them pay.

Eventually even the mystery and wonder of the world around me could not keep me from returning to my home. It was a foolish maneuver, an attempt to recover some family heirlooms I could not bear to see used by our murderers. I should have known better than to brave the displacer beast in its den – am apt symbol for the usurper House. I paid fully for my foolishness, for they killed me again. I suppose I can’t add that to my grievances, for I was an intruder, but the weight of their guilt is so great that it would only be a feather upon a great pile of rocks anyway.

And now, I pay even further. I have returned as a half-human, half-orc. And as a male. I wonder, are all men controlled so by their bodies, or is it the orc blood that overwhelms with passions for violence and lust? It is getting easier to control this body, but at first, I could only scream in frustration and, deep-down, cry in relief, that I was alone and could not vent myself on any other being.

When I finished running I crumpled from exhaustion, finally succumbing to the terrors waiting in my dreams, and I discovered that the human-orc dreams are even worse. Primal, visceral, barbaric…is this body revealing something that was always hidden in the depths of my soul, or is it changing me?

But a surprise greeted my awakening, a saving grace. A thick wet tongue licked the sweat from my brow, and I started up in fear, naked and weaponless. Then I laughed for perhaps the first time since I stopped wearing my own body. Kalemar I have named him, and how a Valenar warhorse found its way to Greentarn is beyond me. But he was meant for me, a boon companion who senses my true blood, else he would never let me near him.

***following in the journal is a description of a few years in Regalport, getting up to speed on current events and House Thuranni’s goals, finally following two remembered assassins on a ship to the mainland of Khorvaire, killing one on the way and tracking the other through the woods of Karrnath; the account picks up in a slightly different hand***

Falko d’Thuranni lies dead in the depths of the Karrnwood, feeding the wolves. Next to him lies a male half-orc. The memory of seeing what had been my body turns this new stomach of mine. I now realize that something inherent in the magic of my rebirthing draws me to my previous shell. I will not miss being a male, though I am already missing some of the advantages of the last body. Darkness is darker, but I have never been afraid of shadows.

I will call this shifter-self Raeli, for I am far from home and far from my old self. In the morning I travel on to Korth. Thuranni has always had close ties to the Karrnathi crown, and I am sure I will find some of the assassins there, if not Elar himself. I will have an elven curve blade made there – it will be fitting for him to die on the same weapon he used to spill out my lifeblood.

--Why does she use an exotic elven blade?
--She’s had Karmel as a companion since her previous incarnation; someone might tie the horse to the male half-orc who boarded a vessel from Regalport with two important Thuranni agents who never made it to Korth
--If the Shadow Hunter has the “sense shadows” ability, they might realize she has the mark of shadow and that would draw SERIOUS attention; she is aware of this possibility, however, and tries to guard against it – partly by relying on the fact that no one would expect a shifter to have the mark and thus wouldn’t look for it, partly by staying close to Ulvak whenever she’s around other elves in the hope that they would assume what they are sensing is from him; regardless, the ability is rare enough that it wouldn’t come up much
--Her journal is the most important and most dangerous of her possessions; the truth of her history and identity is laid out clearly within. It is written in druidic (she re-wrote the earlier portions once she learned the secret language), but it contains drawings of herself as she remembers her original form, her mother, her father, and every face she can remember from the night she was killed; she keeps it strapped to her body, and when she makes a strike against a Thuranni assassin she buries it in a safe location and drills the location into her mind in case she is killed

(feel free to use these explanations or not; they are merely some possibilities to explain some events in her life):
--Her dragonmark is what brings her back when she dies; perhaps the draconic prophecy requires a Paelion to exist; perhaps the extinguishing of so many Marks of Shadow around her at the same moment her mark manifested imbued it with extra power?

--Her father sent Karmel (her horse) to her; maybe he assumed his daughter was killed in the slaughter of the Paelion line but decades later felt an urging to scry on her and discovered she is alive, though in a different body; Valenar warhorses are mystical creatures very closely tied to Valenar elf blood

(and may cause her to doubt her purpose, or at least her method):
--That the head of her family line was supposedly plotting to eliminate the other Phiarlan families and kill the other House heads so he could take control of Galifar
--That Lord Elar Thuranni was tipped off by the Emerald Claw; she has assumed this was an entirely internal affair

49pp from encounter with Roderol
Essence gem containing Roderol's soul