About Janos ArdealJanos Ardeal
Languages Common, Varisian
Defense
Offense
Melee vs. FE Undead (trait bonus to damage) +1 Keen Longsword(1-handed) +16/+11 (1d8+9/17-20/x2) or +1 Keen Longsword(2-handed) +16/+11 (1d8+10/17-20/x2) or +1 Handaxe +16/+11 (1d6+9/x3)
Melee vs. FE Human +1 Keen Longsword(1-handed) +14/+9 (1d8+6/17-20/x2) or +1 Keen Longsword(2-handed) +14/+9 (1d8+7/17-20/x2) or +1 Handaxe +14/+9 (1d6+6/x3)
Ranger Spells
Statistics
Racial Traits
Class Abilities
Feats
Traits
Skills
Equipment
Background:
Janos was born out of wedlock. His father had been an elf wandering Ustalav looking for lost glory and his mother already a wife to another man. Unlike others who found the elven stranger odd, his mother, Eva, became entranced with elven stories of bravery and glory. One night of indiscretion is all it took, and the elf was gone before Eva ever began showing. She convinced everyone, even herself, believe the child was her husband’s, but once the the baby was born, there was little she could do to deny his parentage. To her credit, Eva faced the whispers and accusations head-on, protecting her son. In return, she lost her marriage, her standing, and her livelihood. Living on the outskirts of town, Janos grew up knowing hunger, poverty, and shame. Trips into town were filled with stares whenever someone saw the half-elf. This would typically lead to whispers of his mother and stories about her infidelity. Janos himself did not help matters when he began talking to things which were not there. The villagers saw this as a sure sign Eva and Janos had been cursed by the gods for her actions. This all would eventually take too much of a toll on his mother. Never as healthy as she was before his birth (which only fueled the rumors of a curse on her), Eva became seriously ill a month before Janos was to turn 8. There seemed to be little the town healers could or wanted to do. On her deathbed, Eva was visited by a Witch of the bogs, Alisia. Alisia told her that death was calling and all she could do was to help ease the pain. In her last hours, Eva secured a promise from Alisia to take Janos with her, to spare him from the villagers, to teach him, and give him a good life. Hours after Eva had passed, Janos was leaving his only home to trail Alisia through the swamps. Life with Alisia was harder than it ever had been with his mother, but it was also rewarding. Alisia made good on her promise to Eva. She taught young Janos discipline and strength, the ways of the swamp, and even helped him listen to the voices he heard. Janos learned these voices were of the land itself. He heard rocks, trees, the wind, and the mud. One thing Janos could not learn, however, was the ways of witchcraft. Alisia tried time and again, but she soon found that no patron would claim Janos because he was already claimed by the spirit voices he heard. From then on, Janos trained instead as a protector of the land. His elven heritage granted him skill in arms and even without a tutor, his skills seemed to grow. While he initially accompanied Alisia on her trips to villages, as he grew older, she would send him alone on tasks or to explore rumors. One day, he stumbled onto an old graveyard buried deep in a bog. He entered to explore the ruins, but the dead were restless. Sensing his life, zombies rose out of a few of the graves. Janos fled, barely making it out of the graveyard. The next day, Alisia returned with him and she was able to banish the spirits. As a lesson, however, she made her young student take some of the body parts home to study them. She gave him scrolls to allow him to see the latent necromantic forces at work, and she made him study how the bones, muscles, and tendons were made to move. She taught him about shadows and spirits too, though their power was far more dangerous. Slowly, Janos came to have a good understanding of the undead, their strengths, and their vulnerabilities. During the years of learning and training, Professor Lorrimor visited them many times. The professor was well-known to Alisia and consulted her on various matters from time to time. He took an immediate liking to Janos, especially when he learned of his ability to hear the nature spirits. Professor Lorrimor gave him great insight on how to harness these voices and his connection with the land. He also found Janos' experience with the undead to be fascinating and often took notes when Janos would comment on a point of his study. When Alisia and Janos heard of the Professor’s death, they were greatly distraught. With the witch needing to tend to several more villages, Janos went to Ravengro to represent them both.
Description/Personality:
Janos is a slim young man with his lithe figure is both due to his elven blood and the lack of food during his childhood. In his recent years, however, Janos has made the most of his life and training with Alisia, growing strong and hearty, and expanding his mind as well. The half-elf moves with a practiced grace, stepping lightly and easily slipping unnoticed in and out of rooms. His gray eyes move quickly around, seeming to watch everywhere and giving him a wary, almost paranoid look. Janos is much more at ease in the wild, be it among the trees or the bogs, than he is in a civilized settlement. His experiences as a child taught him the cruelty of townsfolk. While among townspeople, he typically wears a hood or wide strip of brown cloth to hide his elven ears.
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