Elxurian's page

Hero Points:
+1 fromLevel 3

Faction Status
Fame: 1
Prestige: 1
Missions Accomplished: Watch the Starstone;

Other data
Friendly Factions: Bloodhoof tribe;
Completed Missions Investigate the missing Centaur; Exchange the pendant;

Elxurian
Female Human Paladin of Iomedae 3 (Oath of Vengeance) - LG Medium Humanoid (Human)
Init: +1, Senses: Perception: +0
Aura: Aura of Good (3) Languages: Common, Celestial.
=================================================
DEFENSE
=================================================
AC 16, Touch 11, Flat-footed 15, CMD 17 (+5 armor, +1 dex)
HP 20 (3d10+3con+3fc)
Fort: +6, Ref: +4, Will: +7
=================================================
OFFENSE
=================================================
Speed: 20 ft. (4 Squares)
Melee MW Greatsword (2H) +7 (2d6+4/19-20/x2)
Ranged Crossbow +4 (1d8/19-20/x2)
Melee Warhammer (2H) +6 (1d8+4/x3)
Face: 5 ft. Reach: 5 ft.
Base Atk: +3, CMB: +6
Canptrips (1/day each): Detect Magic; Spark
=================================================
STATISTICS
=================================================
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 15
Feats: Light/Medium/Heavy Armor Proficiency, Simple/Martial Weapon Proficiency, Shield Proficiency, Power Attack [1st], Iron Will [Human]; Greater Mercy [3rd]
Traits: Wealthy Dabbler; Fanatic (Human)
Skill Points: (2 class + 1 int + 1 skilled)x3=12
Skills: (Attribute+ranks+misc+acp or other)
Armor Check Penalty (Scale Mail): -4
-3 Acrobatics DEX (1+0+0-4)
+1 Appraise INT (1+0+0)
+2 Bluff CHA (2+0+0)
-1 Climb STR (3+0+0-4)
+7 Craft (Alchemy) INT (1+3+3) CS (background rank)
+7 Diplomacy CHA (2+2+3) CS
+2 Disguise CHA (2+0+0)
-3 Disable Device DEX (1+0+0-4)
-3 Escape Artist DEX (1+0+0-4)
+4 Heal WIS (0+1+3) CS
+2 Intimidate CHA (2+0+0)
+7 Knowledge (Arcana) INT (1+1+3+1trait) CS
+6 Knowledge (Geography) INT (1+2+3) CS (background rank)
+2 Knowledge (History) INT (1+0+0+1trait)
+1 Knowledge (Nobility) INT (1+1+3) CS
+7 Knowledge (Religion) INT (1+3+3) CS
+1 Linguistics INT (1+0+0)
+0 Perception WIS (0+0+0)
+0 Profession WIS (0+0+0) CS
-3 Ride DEX (1+0+0-4) CS
+5 Sense Motive WIS (0+2+3) CS
-3 Sleight of Hand DEX (1+0+0-4)
+5 Spellcraft INT (1+1+3) CS
-3 Stealth DEX (1+0-4)
+0 Survival WIS (0+0+0)
-1 Swim STR (3+0-4)
Possessions: Scale Mail (50gp) ACP -4; MW Greatsword (free); Cold Iron Warhammer (24gp); Light Crossbow (35gp); Crossbow Bolts (10)(1gp); 2 Javelins (2gp); Waterskin (1gp); Holy Symbol (wooden)(1gp); Flint and steel (1gp); Bedroll (0.1gp); 3 Piton (0.3gp); 8 Rations (day) (4gp); Sunrod (2gp); 4 Torches (0.04gp); Rope (Hemp 50ft)(1gp); Traveler's Outfit (0gp); Backpack (2gp); 25gp; 5sp; 6cp.

=================================================
SPECIAL ABILITIES
=================================================
Aura of Good (Ex): The power of a paladin's aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her paladin level.
Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell. A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the paladin does not detect evil in any other object or individual within range.
Smite Evil(Su)- 1/day
- Swift action to activate;
- +2 (CHA) to attack, +3 (paladin lvl) to damage;
- If target is Outsider(evil), evil dragon, or an undead creature, +6 to damage instead (2xPaladin lvl) on the FIRST attack;
- Bypasses any DR the creature might possess;
- +2 (CHA) deflection bonus against the target;
Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a paladin gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all Saving Throws.
Lay On Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin can heal wounds (her own or those of others) by touch. Each day she can use this ability a number of times equal to 1/2 her paladin level plus her Charisma modifier. With one use of this ability, a paladin can heal 1d6 hit points of damage for every two paladin levels she possesses. Using this ability is a standard action, unless the paladin targets herself, in which case it is a swift action. Despite the name of this ability, a paladin only needs one free hand to use this ability. Alternatively, a paladin can use this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures, dealing 1d6 points of damage for every two levels the paladin possesses. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity. Undead do not receive a saving throw against this damage.
Aura of Courage (Su): At 3rd level, a paladin is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. This ability functions only while the paladin is conscious, not if she is unconscious or dead.
Divine Health (Ex): At 3rd level, a paladin is immune to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases, including mummy rot.
Mercy (Su)[fatigued]: At 3rd level, and every three levels thereafter, a paladin can select one mercy. Each mercy adds an effect to the paladin's lay on hands ability. Whenever the paladin uses lay on hands to heal damage to one target, the target also receives the additional effects from all of the mercies possessed by the paladin. A mercy can remove a condition caused by a curse, disease, or poison without curing the affliction. Such conditions return after 1 hour unless the mercy actually removes the affliction that causes the condition.
Fatigued: The target is no longer fatigued.

Ability Score Racial Traits: Human characters gain a +2 racial bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Languages: Humans begin play speaking Common. Humans with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Size: Humans are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Base Speed: Humans have a base speed of 30 feet.

Elxurian was a girl that had a very lovely childhood. She was raised by her mother and her father, and although she was already beautiful at a young age, she was a curious girl and liked to get into some trouble every now and then. The Darkmoon Wood provided several challenges to misbehaving children, including a mysterious witch, ghosts, berries, a talking black wolf, and caverns filled with bats, not to mention the rest of the Blackmoon Vale! Of course you could not go too deep into the woods, but some short expeditions never put her into much trouble, and she learned quite a few things.

Later on she got strikingly beautiful, inheriting her mother's beauty. With pure black hair and green eyes, when she entered teenage years and started to look more like a woman than a girl, the entire Falcon's Hollow was talking about her and who would be a good match for the marriage.

And so life moved on, and everyone was happy, proposals came in, and she was like a princess in a fairy tale! But as luck favors one, she curses another.

Several other teenage girls envied her, but in innocence she couldn't have realized what they were planning to do when they challenged Elxurian to go with them to a darker place within the Darkmoon Woods. Competitive and stubborn as she was, it was impossible to refuse. And thus, hell took place.

The four girls, who envied her for being much prettier than them, gave her a lesson she would never forget. They beat her, cut her, tortured her with water and, to spoil her beauty once and for all, they held her tight and dropped burning coals upon her face.

Yes we're talking about a monstrous act that usually teenagers, even the mean ones, would not do. There was an evil mood in the air, acting in the backstage, probably something related to that place in the forest. Whatever it was, the fact is that Elxurian was tortured, for minutes that seemed like years. And no one came to save her. And the pain was so intense she passed out many times. And the girls laughed, like mad hyenas. She was bleeding from several cuts, but none of her torturers cared about it. As night gathered, and they left her there, agonizing. People say that burns are the most painful kind of injury. They are wrong. It is much worse.

She woke up in the middle of the night, still exhausted and hurt. Elxurian touched her body injuries, but could not abide to touch her once beautiful face. At least half of it was totally ruined, and her left eye was not seeing anything. She tried to get up and found out she was in a shackle of some kind, with a slender black figure a few feet away from her. It spoke in a female, sweet voice, but its face was hidden by the darkness:

"Poor girl. Once beautiful and lovely. Such a bright future you had, but now all of it is ruined. Oh, what did those demons do to you? They deserve to pay for it. They do." The weird woman nodded, agreeing with her own sentence. "Tell me, do you want to return all the suffering those girls caused you?"

The girl was not in mental condition to think about it, but her heart spoke loud enough. She was not mean, nor evil. Elxurian certainly wanted that, but did not have the courage to speak her mind and agree to such maleficent act. Thus she turned her gaze away from the woman, trying to put her mind to work, but she faced the wrong direction. A wicked mirror was there, which reflected a wicked version of herself with a half burned face and a red shining eye, similar to a devil's eye, if the stories could be believed. Is that... me?" As certainty took hold in her heart there was no space left for mercy, or goodness, or whatever doubt she had about doing this.

The tricky words from the witch populated her mind with a desire to get revenge from her devious enemies. ..a bright future you had... they deserve to pay... "They do."
She accepted the witch's offer and followed her to a dark room, with smoke that didn't seem to vanish. I know this place ... don't I? She tried to make a coherent thought but her wish for payback always returned to the priority spotlight.
Pain for pain.
Blood for blood.
An eye for an eye.

And so they proceeded, with the girl simply too stunned to realize what the witch was doing. The devilish woman prepared a ritual to fulfill the girl's desires. The last ingredient was her own blood, which she provided happily, and more than she actually should.

She should have passed out because of that, but she didn't. Somehow she was awake long enough to watch the show. And what a show. Dark magic drained her, but also filled her. She felt emotions she never had, experienced memories of things she never watched. For that moment alone she knew how to speak a dark magic language and how to do profane rituals.

Through filthy magic she watched the payback, with details as if she was right beside her victims. Even being miles away from town she could hear the girls' piercing screams endlessly crossing the woods. I'll not tell you what those 4 young girls have gone through, cause you would probably puke, and that's not the purpose of this story.

That night, Elxurian's first lesson was pain.
Now she learned what evil meant.
And it disgusted and frightened her. She vomited and passed out, but not before seeing the suffering materialized, the evil on it's supernal form, which she would not forget as long as she lived.

And morning came, and she was still in the middle of the forest. Her facial wounds were mostly healed, but her eye was still not seeing much. Pain still coursed through her, drawing her constant attention, but her life was certainly not in danger.

Her mother was probably worried, since she slept in the forest. Suddenly the vicious images of last night's event flooded her mind again, and she was unable to stop shivering for several minutes. Now it was clear what she had done, and that she could not go back and face her family. Also, she needed to get away from such horrendous memories. She came back to town, managing to avoid the citizens that were in the forest calling out for her, and got into her house mostly undetected. Apparently everyone was somewhere else. If praying, burying the girls, or trying to heal them, she could not tell. Her parents were not there either, and were probably were looking for her, thus she left them a message.

Dad and Mom
Evil struck tonight, and I must admit I was a part of it. I need to atone for what I did, and maybe a lifetime will not be enough. But don't worry about me, as long as evil exists I'll live to fight it. I'll leave now, but I'll come back one day, when I'm strong enough to face what I did. And when that day comes I'll kill the witch and whoever supports evil. Please don't look for me, as it is not my intent to be found. You know I am strong, and I trust you will be too.
Love you always.

Carpenden. Bellis. Woodsedge. Litran. Isarn. Edme. Yanmass. Maheto. Oppara, and many smaller ones. The running took many years, and she learned enough on how to protect herself and how to survive. She did things she would like to forget, but that led her to Absalom, where the amount of people would camouflage her presence and give her time to heal the deeper wounds, the ones from her soul. After some months struggling to make a living at several professions, the only of which she liked being a taxidermist assistant, she sought council from the wiser priests of many of the city's churches, some of which were clearly disgusted by the act she confessed, and gave her only prayers to ask for forgiveness from the gods. But, one cleric suggested her to devote herself to the cause of good. Join the order, pray and practice to become a righteous member of society. But she didn't have much patience to meditate and pray for forgiveness, wanting some more martial path that would lead to her revenge. Still, it was still better than nothing.

So she tried, for some time, but the doubts she acquired during her life weren't going away. Instead, she was pretty sure there was no place in the clergy for her, specially since she could just not let her desire for revenge go away. She was about to leave everything behind and join a band of mercenaries when she got a message, probably a divine one, I would say. It was an invitation to come and to practice the martial and divine path of the paladins of Iomedae. No one could guarantee she would ever become one, but at least she would have some training to protect herself and, in her mind, go after what she wanted most, revenge, if it ever came to that. She thought to herself that it would be better than wandering the world alone and without real skill-at-arms, so the woman tried her luck at it.

The training was wild, one could say. Becoming a paladin is no easy task, but she had a long-term goal in her mind, and it gave her the necessary strength to keep going against the odds. Yes, the odds were definitely not in her favor, as the anger and fear she had stored in her heart during the last years made her mind quite unstable, and her temper was not appropriate to a paladin. But impressively enough, Elxurian had some benefits for taking part in the witchery mentioned. Her eye healed eventually, but had a weird pink tone that was quite difficult to ignore. With this eye she easily learned to detect the presence of evil and even to sense magic. In her free time she studied the peculiarities of magic and realized that mental control was one of the strongest powers evil used, and thus she focused some part of her training on resisting this effects.

So after some time Elxurian managed to find some missions that put her training to the test, and slowly turned into a self-assured woman, putting her fears and doubts past her, enough to receive the title of a paladin of Iomedae. In her mind the god represented justice, and although she wanted revenge, at the end they were just two faces of the same coin. She ended up swearing an oath in favor of the organization she was working for, the Mendev Crusaders. Of course, the Mendev were far from powerful in Absalom, but that was not a problem in her opinion. The missions were pretty straightforward, and although she did not like to think about it, the extremism the faction had against evil was very comfortable. Seeing everything in black and white was pretty easy.

With the short missions she had around Absalom's island and in the city itself, the crusader earned some money and bought a nice weapon. She worried less about her armor, spending the rest of her money on a magical tool to help others fight evil compulsions: A wand of protection from evil, which she only used to increase her protection so far, but it will prove useful in the future.

Now Elxurian slays evil wherever it may be found, apparently without a second thought.
"Evil is palpable, a destructible force that will use you if you do nothing about it. Don't negotiate with it, cause it is tricky. There are no middle terms. Or you are in the cause of good, or evil will use you to fight for it." But of course... gray roads always come into your path...

More background on the "Unknown friend" spoiler.

Goals: Elxurian wants to become strong and experienced enough to return to Falcon's Hollow and kill that god damned witch (although I use the word witch that's not necessarily her class). Of course, things might change and the hag might not even be there when she returns, but she cannot fail this long-term quest, so she seeks to prepare herself properly. She knows that working for the Crusaders will eventually drive her north and closer to the Worldwound, but she does not mind it. As long as she is able to get her revenge against her main enemy, the rest does not matter, and serving the crusaders in the war sounds like a great idea.

Sidney is a clever and dedicated human who helped Elxurian during her harsh times, providing advise, moral support and also knowledge about many things. She thinks it's in great part due to this man that she didn't walk away from the paladin call and kept her mind in place to do some right choices. He's always studying something about magic and mythic creatures, and seems to understand how Elxurian thinks. Sidney is always glad when she returns from a mission alive, but gets specially cheerful when she defeated (and even more when she killed and studied) her enemies during it, and he has a lot of knowledge to share in order to make her life easier in the future. She took a liking to the man because she can speak her mind to him, and also because he can teach her things about magic and creatures that she would otherwise take a long time to comprehend in a reading. They usually meet at his place close to Westgate, and take notes of their progress, sharing experiences and knowledge. The benefits are mutual, and although Sidney is not a wizard yet, Elxurian is certain he will manage to turn into one in the future. Sidney still has a lot of time to accomplish that, since he's 21.

This one is much more than a friend, it's a guardian angel. Elxurian had never seen this man, but she owes him her sanity. For the sake of simplicity, let's identify him as OUF (One unknown friend) for now.

When the woman sought advice on what to do with her life, this was one of the guys who heard about her evil acts on a confessional, and he genuinely tried to help her. First, he suggested her to join the church and pray for atonement, and then to seek constant guidance to ease her pain, practicing the good in here everyday life. She heard what he had to say, among what several others said, and his advice kinda worked for her, at first, but having never seen his face she couldn't give him any credit (nor did she thought about it, by the way). But then she realized the clergy was not for her, and OUF used his influence to provide an invitation letter to the paladins training grounds before the woman could move away from the city or throw her life away joining some mercenary company.

OUF knew that if Elxurian was left alone she would probably be doomed. Her traumas were too deep, and although she tried to deny them, they were always ready to come back to the surface. As if that weren't good enough, he always kept an eye on her from afar, trying to provide guidance through a little bit of manipulation, actually, since the woman didn't have a strong mind to go through a spirit renovation. Her fears haunted her, and they were really serious and kinda contradictory with what she was doing. She was trying to become a strong paladin, and her behavior showed them she wouldn't have any mercy on her enemies. Still, although she consciously wanted this path, deep down her heart she was afraid to be hurting the wrong enemy, as she already did once. She avenged her suffering on that dark day, long ago, taking revenge on the wrong enemy. The girls were never that mean. In the beginning of her wanderings she realized the girls were magically manipulated by an evil force, the witch, and so was Elxurian. Thus, she caused suffering in people who were not responsible for their acts. Being merciless could lead to that again, to hit the apparent enemy who's not actually the real one. But she knew this only in an unconscious level, since her mind tried to bury that deep down, where it would never come out. Being merciless to the enemy was something that made her strong, a foundation to her own existence as a paladin.

OUF knew she wasn't ready to face this reality when she started her training, and so he tried to protect her from herself. If Elxurian knew about these contradiction, her career as a paladin would never progress any forward, and she would probably be lost to darkness and insanity. These facts were still close to the surface back then, and very close to her grasp. Her self-confidence was not strong, and she needed a path to improve it. OUF used his contacts in the crusaders to, in the backstage, provide some jobs to the young woman. She didn't suspect anything at the time, since she had no idea how did the factions worked, and no real knowledge about the different kinds of missions. OUF managed to send her only black and white missions through her superior, Dennis, missions on which she would clearly see who the enemy was, and could thus earn experience and some self-confidence to one day fight her own inside battles. The war between good and evil was no problem to Elxurian, she could take that easily, and it worked so well that after a few missions she managed to be named a paladin of Iomedae. She also got somehow used to be named to those straightforward missions, where there were no shades of gray (no, I'm not making a reference), and thus so far Elxurian didn't have to face that problem, but not everything in the world is made as pure black or white...

I share Vincent's concern about knowing too much (as a player) about this supposed-to-be-unknown person, so I didn't give him exact details. Although I'm capable of avoiding metagame, I believe it will prove a much better experience if OUF shows up in the story without me (or the other players) knowing who this guy is and what did he do to help the paladin. That's why I didn't give specifics regarding name, what faith does he belong to, what's his position in the chain of command and so forth. Everything I know is that he has some influence both on Iomedae's faith and in the Crusaders, but if you want me to provide the other information just say so.

Of course, the witch from the Darkmoon Woods is Elxurian's main enemy, but I'm also a GM and I understand that sometimes an enemy like that can split the group and take the party away from the main quest in Absalom, so I'm gonna name another one.

Barnes definitely doesn't like Elxurian. She doesn't know exactly when it started, but he went from being her rival to considering her an enemy, although they are both paladins of Iomedae. The fact is, even tough Elxurian can be considered an extreme person, merciless and determined, she is no match in this concept to Barnes. The man is living proof that one can get insane if they are too extreme. He knows about Elxurian's past, and thinks that she could never have been approved as a paladin because of that. In his mind she was once a practitioner of the evil arts, and the subsequent taint on her soul would never disappear.

Still, she was approved, which irritated him even more, because there was nothing he could do inside the organization to prevent that, since he got admitted just one year before her. Barnes does not hide his feelings, and despises Elxurian openly, which more than once resulted in a rebuke from his superiors. Since he cannot push his luck anymore, he now hopes and expects for the moment in which Elxurian will step away from the righteous path so he can have the required permit to solve the problem once and for all. More than than, he knows she's gonna do that, evil as she is. It's just a matter of time.

On the other hand, Elxurian considers Barnes a colleague, and albeit she knows about his feelings, there's the certainty that Barnes is not the enemy, and thus she wouldn't plot anything against him.

As OUF was put in her life to help her, OUE was there to use her. Interesting enough, he is also a cleric, one of which despised her for the act she committed. But of course, huge as Absalom was, there weren't only good clerics here. This guy covertly had connections to the underworld of the city, and had his own reasons to cause some caos. Elxurian was the perfect tool, sent to him by the gods. The woman was a living bomb, waiting for the moment to cause havoc with the proper... impulse. OUE kept an eye on her, and also manipulated some this in her life so she wouldn't reach the peace of mind she needed to disarm such bomb. He was main reason behind her abandonment of the church, but he wasn't expecting there would be someone sponsoring her behind the curtains. Still, having the woman join the ranks of Iomedae's servant was good for his own purposes, and so he let it happen.

Barnes is also fruit of his plotting. OUE has had long-term plans for Elxurian, that went from depravity to the slaying of part of her own order when they retaliated.

Elxurian is already sworn to the order, since she doesn't see reason not to give her maximum to such a righteous organization. Her immediate superior is Dennis, and she has been in 6 lonely missions and 3 in which she followed a group of companions chosen apparently at random in the order.

My time zone is GMT -4, I'm fairly often on the boards. I work monday to saturday, and I'm unavailable from 4pm to 8pm monday to thursday, sometimes on friday afternoons, and always on saturday from 8am to noon and from 2pm to 4pm. That's when I work. Other than that I'm pretty consistent, checking and posting on my games several times a day. My currently in use characters are some that I've been playing with for quite a while, Argan, Calla, Halara, Mirage, Pretty, Roland, and Venator. I'm usually the loot keeper in the games I play, since I like to organize my stuff in sheets (here's an example). I don't abandon campaigns and I don't disappear. There has been times when I needed to be away from the boards for some days, but always warn the people before that. Very little things bother me, and I usually try to express any concerns I have in a productive way to help the game better (it happened with Venator some days ago). I like to roleplay and there's been times when we did all the social interactions with the GM rolling all the dice behind a screen (Argan during Balentyne tower), since I prefer that way of playing as the player can't preview the result of the dice. I like to play complex characters with simple builds. I think that for all the effort you've put in this recruitment threat this is going to be a great game, so I wanna take part on it (although yes we know you used a great part of the explanation from another game - from the goblin stuff and also the "7th level"). So, I hope you like Elxurian!

Elxurian is a melee character, focused on damage (although not the broken type). She can also play the role of face of the party, but her ways are usually extreme (at least for now) and may lead the party into a war against evil.