Josh Tarko's page

Josh is an outgoing young man who's interest in discovering and learning things will probably serve him well in this "mad, maaad world," as he puts it himself. Josh has certified genius-level intelligence, and knows practically every little piece of ancient history known in other world. Here, however, his knowledge will be near useless. Josh doesn't view this as a disappointment, however. He views it as a challenge. Josh views it as an opportunity to discover and try things he never could have done in the Real World.

Josh, as a "man of logic and science" as he puts it, is astounded and bewildered by, well, everything. He does, however, feel a strange connection to this world...

"I have learned pretty much everything the RL had to offer. I'm frequently amazed by this place, wherever 'here' is, and discovering more about this place may lead to clues about how to get back-not that I want to, just if I meet some other poor soul here who wants to. Anyways-this place is much more interesting!"-Josh Tarko

Josh's parents died in a fire by the time Josh was four years old. But the toddler had only known them the first six months of his life. They had been investigating some promising ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula, but the natives didn't take very kindly to their poking around. They were burned at the stake.

Josh was taken care of by his grandfather after his parents' death. He was a kindly man, fond of stories, good rum, and ancient history.

When his grandfather died at age eighty-two, Josh started going through the system. It wasn't as horrible as all the popular books starring orphans suggested. It had its mix of good and bad. Oftentimes, Josh hit rock bottom for a foster parent for one rotation, then got set up with an amazing one after. It was just random chance.

In his free time, Josh read social studies textbooks and visited museums, learning more about ancient history and archaeology as he went. And, although he had no one to play with, he studied AD&D 2e rulebooks by heart, until he knew every caveat of the system. Josh knew the difference from the oriental barbarian and the standard, the Knight of Solamnia and the cavalier from Unearthed Arcana. Yet, I must reiterate, he had no one to play with.

His two peculiar hobbies set him apart from everybody else at his schools. And, combined with his amazing grades, that made a juicy target for bullies everywhere. To make a long story short, Josh's life was miserable until Enter the Dragon.

There, he found common ground with many members in the group. Josh studied archaeology with Miya and discussed various trivia about ancient history, learnt the wonders of video games with Phillip, and Luc scared away whatever bullies that still tried to go after Josh.

All of Josh's friends begrudgingly complied to playing Dungeons and Dragons with him, and were surprised when they actually liked the game.

By the time college rolled around, they went their separate ways and said their goodbyes. And you know the rest of the story.

In the World, Josh is tall and lanky. His golden eyes sparkle with intelligence, and he is always quick to smile. Josh's metallic bronze skin and flame orange hair isn't a far cry from his normal looks... but his friends definitely won't recognize him on sight. He wears his original clothes: a khaki vest to hold all of his archaeology tools, a white muscle shirt, jeans, goggles, and a bandanna.

Josh paced the temple's hidden shrine, intrigued. The musty room was filled with carvings of Divs and Peris of the Iranian mythos. Which was strange, considering that this recently-uncovered temple was in Greece. Josh's mind rushed to calculate what in the world would cause this phenomenon, and a small part of him wondered how strong of a plot hook this would make.

The archaeologist smiled briefly as he imagined his friends teasing him about his incessant geekiness. Then the grin disappeared. His friends were gone, killed in a supposed terrorist attack on the Mesa campus in San Diego. They weren't coming back.

Josh thought to himself that he was lucky... and yet unlucky. A brilliant student in archaeology, Josh's natural fetish for knowledge and curiosity for ancient history made him a natural. His professors, seeing all of the knowledge that they offered Josh completely devoured in under a semester, got permission for a grant to take Josh on a transcontinental field trip to Greece.

Unfortunately-at least it seemed like that at the time-he wasn't able to see his friends before he went. Writing a letter about how this was the chance of his life and he had more important things to attend to, he set off for Eurasia. For three months, Josh dug with the professors in Greece, doing field work and being a general errand-boy. The reason they were there: there were interesting digs that revealed Iranian temples outside Greek metropolises. Josh was happy, doing what he could, even though he rarely found anything useful.

Then, Josh got the letter. His friends had all died in an explosion, a presumed terrorist attack. Luckily, all of the other students in the library survived with some broken bones, but his friends were in the center of the explosion. There wasn't even a trace of them. Josh has immersed himself under a sea of facts, glyphs, and dusty tombs since then, hoping to drown his sorrow.

Unconsciously, Josh traced one of the Peri carvings with his index finger. The young man's finger pricked on something sharp, and drew blood. "Ow!" Josh exclaimed, and nursed his thumb. However, he soon found himself with something else to occupy himself with. Slowly, red light flowed out from the spot where the red-haired youth pricked his thumb.

Josh's mind went awhirl with the possibilities. A compound that reacted to blood, possibly? Before he could even sort out the chemical formulae required for such a thing, the light began to fill the whole room, illuminating Josh's ruddy skin. A rune on a pedestal in the center of the room began to glow brightly, and time seemed to slow down. Josh screamed-except the scream arrived several seconds after the intent, and it was strangely elongated. A burst of brilliant, multicolored light flashed before Josh's eyes. And then all was black.

Josh woke up in a strange room, completely different from the one he passed out in. "Jonas," Josh grumbled "Did you get me to drink ten consecutive shots of tequila again?" Suddenly, he remembered. Some kind of trap door? Jonas mused to himself as he stood up unsteadily. Looking at the roof, he found no hint of a crack or line. Josh then turned his attention to the six wells in the center of the room. Five were empty, one was glowing. Inexplicably, Josh felt the urge to dip his hand in the glowing one. He strode toward the glowing one and, taking out a vial from his khaki vest, dipped it into the well. Knowledge suddenly coursed through Josh's veins. He felt himself grow more agile and stronger.

Josh sat down for a minute afterward, stunned. Feeling something in his hand, Josh opened all five of his digits slowly. There was a smooth, polished stone in it, with a smaller version of the rune on the pedestal back in the shrine on it. Josh flopped down, breathing slowly, trying to process all of the information he was receiving.

After he had recovered-slightly-Josh checked the vial. Nothing in there. Propping himself up, Josh glanced at the well. Entranced and shocked, the young archaeologist looked at his reflection. His ruddy skin had turned downright metallic bronze, his eyes were flashing gold, and his hair had turned flame red. That was the final straw. However, before he could faint, reality began to shift and change again

Josh watched, enraptured, as the room deconstructed itself, stripping itself down to the barest, most basic levels, before disappearing altogether. It's like watching some sort of bug degrade a complicated program, Josh mused to himself before blacking out.

NG Medium Humanoid
Init +2 Senses Perception +7; Darkvision 60 ft.
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Defense
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AC 14 (Dex +4) touch 14; flat-footed 10
hp 16
Ref +4 Fort +1 Will +2
Resistances acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee shortsword +4 (1d6+1/19-20)
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Statistics
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Str 10 Dex 18 Con 13 Int 15 Wis 10 Cha 16
Skills Perception +5; Stealth +9; Disable Device +10; Diplomacy +10; Bluff +8; Profession (archaeologist) +5; Acrobatics +9; Knowledge (engineering) +7; Knowledge (religion) +7; Knowledge (geography) +7
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Special Powers
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Archaeologist's Luck (Ex): Fortune favors the archaeologist. As a swift action, an archaeologist can call on fortune's favor, giving him a +1 luck bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls. He can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + his Charisma modifier. Maintaining this bonus is a free action, but it ends immediately if the archaeologist is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. Archaeologist's luck is treated as bardic performance for the purposes of feats, abilities, effects, and the like that affect bardic performance. Like bardic performance, it cannot be maintained at the same time as other performance abilities. This bonus increases to +2 at 5th level, +3 at 11th level, and +4 at 17th level.
World Traveler, Diplomacy: Your family has taken the love of travel to an extreme, roaming the world extensively. You've seen dozens of cultures and have learned to appreciate the diversity of what the world has to offer. Select one of the following skills: Diplomacy, Knowledge (local), or Sense Motive. You gain a +1 trait bonus on checks with that skill, and it is always a class skill for you.
Scholar of Ruins: From the moment you could walk and talk, the ruins of ancient civilizations have fascinated you. Because of this, you have special insight into geography as well as expertise in exploring lost places. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (geography) and Knowledge (dungeoneering) checks. One of these skills (your choice) is always a class skill for you.
Scion of Humanity: Some aasimars' heavenly ancestry is extremely distant. An aasimar with this racial trait counts as an outsider (native) and a humanoid (human) for any effect related to race, including feat prerequisites and spells that affect humanoids. She can pass for human without using the Disguise skill
Incorruptible: Occasionally, aasimars arise with the ability to further ward away evil. Aasimars with this racial trait can cast corruption resistance against evil once per day as a spell-like ability. If an aasimar uses this ability on herself, the duration increases to 1 hour per level. This racial trait replaces the spell-like ability racial trait.
Pride: You can't abide challenges to your dignity, authority, or honor. When someone threatens, accuses, or challenges you, you take a —2 penalty on Diplomacy checks and Sense Motive checks involving that creature until the creature apologizes to you.
Friend in Every Town: You have no problem making friends and learning information from them wherever you go. You gain a +1 trait bonus on all Knowledge (local) checks and Diplomacy checks. One of these skills (your choice) is always a class skill for you.
Weapon Finesse