Katswiri's page

Chronicle #1: The Sky Key Solution

Chronicle #2: Welcome to Pathfinder

Chronicle #3: The Wounded Wisp

Chronicle #4: The Confirmation

Chronicle #5: The Merchant's Wake

Chronicle #6: Genericon Boon #8

Chronicle #7: Tyranny of Winds, Part 1: The Sandstorm Prophecy

Chronicle #8: Tyranny of Winds, Part 2: Secrets of the Endless Sky

Chronicle #9: From Under Ice

Chronicle #10: Solstice Scar

Chronicle #11: The Night March of Kalkamedes

Chronicle #12: Treason's Chains

Chronicle #13: The Cosmic Captive

Chronicle #14: The Unseen Inclusion

Chronicle #15: Bid for Alabastrine

Chronicle #16: The Citadel of Flame

Chronicle #17: Destiny of Sands, Pt 1: A Bitter Bargain

Chronicle #18: Destiny of Sands, Pt 2: Race to Seeker's Folly

Chronicle #19: Destiny of the Sands, Pt 3: Sanctum of the Sages

Chronicle #20: Year of the Shadow Lodge

Chronicle #21: Oath of the Overwatched

Chronicle #22: To Scale The Dragon

Chronicle #23: Ancient's Anguish

Chronicle #24: The Refuge of Time

Chronicle #25: Glories of the Past, Part 1: Halls of Dwarven Lore

Chronicle #26: Glories of the Past, Part 2: The Price of Friendship

Chronicle #27: Beacon Below

Chronicle #28: Feast of Sigils

Chronicle #29: The Cultist's Kiss

Chronicle #30: Torrent's Last Will

Katswiri was born deep in the deserts of Osiron to two human parents who had split from a Garundi tribe. She was cursed with the oracle's deafness from birth. Her parents both died when she was 4, and she was left to herself in the wild. She would have certainly died at that point, except that the gods saw her potential and manifested her oracle powers in response to her dire need. Her magic kept her safe from the elements, healed her when she was hurt, gave her water, and made spoiled food safe to eat.

While she grew quite adept at living in the wild, she had a deep curiosity and a hunger to learn driven partially by natural curiosity and partially by the divinely inspired visions she receives from her mystery. As she grew into her early teen years, she ventured out of the deep desert and back into civilization, drawn by the lure of exploring the unknown and the knowledge she could acquire there. While the initial transition to being surrounded by people was a shock, with hard work, determination, a prodigious intellect and the blessings of the gods, she was able to learn both to read lips and a number of languages.

She traveled widely, seeking out new experiences and knowledge. She managed to train for a time at several prestigious universities, where she studied painting, history and magic. Her academic excellence attracted the attention of the scarab sage faction of the pathfinder society, who recruited her.

Katswiri views everything in the world as connected. Nature, Artifice, Magic -- these are all components of a greater whole, bound together by rules and knowledge. Katswiri knows deep in her heart, guided by the visions she receives, that it is her destiny to try and learn all there is to know. This insatiable curiosity has driven her to many places in her life, most recently to becoming a member of the pathfinder society.

As she was deaf and very young, she was only partially aware of the concept of words when her parents died. Left to her own devices, she did not develop a spoken language, instead thinking in abstract concepts, imagery and symbolism. This led to great difficulty in her initial acclimation to interaction with other humans, as she did not think in the correct ways to understand the way they communicated. It was only with the blessings bestowed by her mystery that she was able to piece together the connections between lip movements and the more concrete thoughts she used. Once the initial conceptual leaps were accomplished, she quickly learned a wide variety of languages and lip reading, and has since become quite fond of learning new ones.

As Katswiri thinks primarily in interconnected images and concepts, she tends to view sound based names as peripheral to a thing's true name. To her, a thing's true name is just the essence of what it is, the mental image that encompasses everything known about it. As such, for some time she did not have an audible or written name for herself. While studying at university, one of her fellow students started referring to her as Katswiri, or 'Scholar' in their native tongue, due to her purpose and her amazing academic abilities. Katswiri has chosen to give it as her name when necessary, as it accurately reflects at least a portion of how she views her true name in her mind, and she likes the shape it makes on her lips.

Katswiri is an attractive Garundi woman in her early 30’s. She is 5’7”, with brown eyes and medium length black hair she keeps pulled back in a pony tail. She is fit, well tanned and lightly muscled from her travels. While traveling, she is usually wearing a wide brimmed hat and a tough, practical wardrobe complete with knee high leather boots under her armor. She keeps a morning star at her side, and is fairly adept at defending herself with it.

Katswiri is a very friendly woman. She enjoys traveling and meeting new people and having new experiences. She tries to keep an open mind about everyone she meets, and is generally tolerant of others behavior.

Katswiri loves the joy of discovery, of creation, and learning. She is happiest when reading or creating something. Painting is her favorite act of creation, as it allows her to truly express what she sees in her mind. She occasionally paint landscapes, portraits or other subjects for relaxation, which she usually sells to help provide funds for travel. She keeps a journal, all in pictures, detailing key moments in her travels and life, most recently her recruitment into the pathfinder society.

Katswiri paints scenes from her life that she finds of particular significance. Upon joining the society, she has started painting scenes and objects of relevance from her missions. Her journal currently have the following scenes. Warning: Potential Spoilers for PFS Scenarios.

1. Learning to Speak: Katswiri was taught to speak by a Mwangi scholar, a man named Uboro that she met and fell in love with when she entered the university. This is a scene of the two of them sitting on a bed, her fingers touching his neck to feel the vibrations while she sounds out her first words.

2. Library Access: When Katswiri was first admitted to the great library at the university, she painted a picture of the room. This picture is a room with high, arched ceilings, large stained glass windows with tables covered in ancient tomes.

3. Songbird: During her studies, Katswiri found an injured bird in the garden. She healed it with her magical powers, and painted a picture afterwards. This picture is of Katswiri in a brightly lit garden, sitting under a tree, surrounded by flowers and bushes, hands closed over a songbird.

4. Lecture: The first time Katswiri was asked to fill in for a lecture in a course on magical theory, she painted a picture of the class. The picture depicts Katswiri standing in front of a semicircle of students, pointing to a diagram on a chalk board.

5. Recruitment: When Katswiri was recruited into the Pathfinder Society, it was a momentous change in her life. This picture depcits Katswiri meeting with two members from the Pathfinder Society in a small room, standing and shaking one of their hands.

6. Ship: Katswiri took a ship to Absalom to join the Pathfinder Society. When traveling there, Katswiri painted the first good view of the city from the deck of the ship. It depicts the docks and the railing of the ship as it sailed through the Flotsam Graveyard.

7. Serpentfolk: When she took part in the Sky Key Solution, Katswiri painted a picture of the slain serpentfolk and the murals in the surrounding caverns.

8. Statuary: As part of the Sky Key Solution, Katswiri helped defeat an animated statue. This picture depicts a smashed serpentfolk statue in the center of a verdant, ancient stone temple.

9. Artifacts: As part of the Sky Key Solution, Katswiri helped uncover a cache of serpentfolk statues and artifacts. This is a non-scenic depiction of the various artifacts, brought back as records for the pathfinder society.

10. Sarcophagus: As part of the Wounded Wisp, Katswiri investigated a stone shaper's tomb, which was covered in intricate and detailed carvings. Katswiri has replicated them to the best of her ability in this picture.

11. Pig's Paunch: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri drew a rough sketch of the Pig's Paunch early in the day, before the dawn meeting for her assignment. It lacks the detail of her more serious paintings, but captures the sleepy, early morning tavern environment.

12. Campsite: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri camped with her team in the Cairnlands outside of Absalom. It is a picturesque scene of rocks, trees and tents with a dying campfire in the middle drawn to help her relax before sleep.

13. Aspects of Aroden: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri encountered a hidden cave full of ancient religious carvings celebrating Aroden. This picture is split into four parts, each containing a column of stone with carvings depicting one of Aroden's aspects.

14. Holy Pool: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri found a pool of holy water containing a shrine to Aroden in the middle, surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites. Uncommon for Katswiri, there are written notes regarding the geological composition in the margins.

15. River Funeral: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri helped put to rest a number of Gilman skeletons who had been animated by a necromancer. This is a picture of a Gilman performing funeral rites for these skeletons, placing the bones into a wooded mountain stream.

16. Snake Swarm: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri's group faced a swarm of snakes on her trip. This page depicts a swarm of snakes being burned by gouts of fire cast forth from the hands of a colorfully dressed, acrobatic human. A half-orc throws an alchemist's fire into the swarm as Katswiri and a number of her companions take cover in the underbrush.

17. Escape from the Minotaur: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri's group encountered a Minotaur. This page depicts a halfling woman taunting the minotaur and leading it off into the forest as a human is shown slipping into a narrow cave entrance.

18. Pit: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri encountered a pit trap that had to be crossed. This page depicts a deep pit in a cavern tunnel, with a cloak the bottom. Katswiri is shown in the picture looking over the edge for scale.

19. Skeletons: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri encountered a group of skeletons. This page depicts four skeletons approaching the viewer out of a dark, narrow cavern. An explosion is shown detonating two of the skeletons, and there is a body in the corner. Care it taken to show the body wearing a ring, with a pearl and a book lying next to it.

20. Minotaur Fight: As part of the Confirmation, Katswiri fought a minotaur. This page depicts a minotaur standing next to a forested mountain stream, being blown apart by an explosion while sliced in the leg by a half orc. There is a note at the bottom: "Chronology of trip: pgs 12, 16, 17, 18, 13, 14, 19, 20, 15. 15-20 drawn from memory."

21. Elemental Wall - History of Anit-Jat: As part of the Tyranny of Winds, Katswiri helped follow a thief to the sun scorched deserts of Osirion. There, she encountered two elemental tribes of earth and air, and an ancient mural carved into a cliff face depicting their war.

22. Orchids - As part of the Tyranny of Winds, Katswiri recovered peculiar magical Orchids growing in the canyons of the Osirion desert. This detailed painting shows the flower in full bloom.

23. Elemental Plane of Air, Metropolis - As part of the Tyranny of winds, Katswiri traveled to a planar metropolis on the elemental plane of Air on a magical flying carriage. This picture portrays the floating city in the clouds from a vantage point high above, air elementals and Djinni swirling in the foreground.

24. Vault of the Concordance - As part of the Tyranny of winds, Katswiri investigated a secret society, uncovering a chamber containing relics from the four elements. This painting shows the various relics uncovered.

25. River Boat Irrisen - As part of From Under Ice, Katswiri traveled on a river boat through the frozen lands of Irrisen. This is a landscape painting of a river winding through a forest of ice clad trees, the early morning sun shining through the branches.

26. Torchbearing - As part of the Solstice Scar, Katswiri attended the torchbearing celebration at the grand lodge. Here, she met a number of colorful individuals at a dinner, and painted a scene with the group containing a Ganzi, a Azata Eidolon, a Dwarf and a Halfling laughing and eating while having a conversation.

27. Blakros Hellfire - As part of the Solstice Scar, Katswiri helped fight a bearded devil that was bound into a lamp in the Blakros museum. This is a picture painted after the fact, depicting Katswiri in the foreground casting a spell of protection on a dwarf with an earthbreaker. He is fending off strikes from the devil's glaive, as a heavily armored human stabs into the devils side with a sword.

28. Portal to Space! - As part of The Cosmic Captive, Katswiri crossed through a magical portal from Golarion to the surface of an asteroid. This picture shows her standing next to a portal at the top of a small hill, with a field visible through the portal and a group of adventurers engaged in combat with two earth elementals and a gargoyle. The sky through the portal is blue, while the sky in the rest of the painting is the starlit black of space.

29. Water Veela - As part of The Cosmic Captive, Katswiri helped in a fight between two Water Veela. This picture shows her healing a Dwarf who is reeling from being encrusted in ice, while magic missiles shoot from the hands of a red haired human to strike and one of two Water Veela engaged in combat with each other.

30. The Oracle of Lovo - As part of the Cosmic Captive, Katswiri assisted in calming the Oracle of Lovo, who gave the party information about the creatures in the icy depths. This picture shows Katswiri and her companions standing around an ethereal humanoid figure, in the center of a circle of runes within an icy temple.

31. A Wish Fulfilled - As part of the Cosmic Captive, Katswiri helped free a Noble Marid. This picture shows Katswiri and her companions in an immense chamber with a huge, partially melted block of ice held suspended by chains. The Marid is waving its hand, as a scimitar and rapier are in the process of materializing.

32. A Crafty Wish - As part of the Cosmic Captive, Katswiri helped entertain the court of a Noble Efreeti. This picture shows a sumptuous feast hall, with fire elemental servants carrying platters of food to and from the table. At the focus of the painting, Katswiri is talking to the Efreeti, who is waving his hand with a resigned look on his face as several rods and potions begin to materialize in front of Katswiri.

33. A floating island - As part of the Cosmic Captive, Katswiri invaded a floating island fortress. This scene depicts a collection of small floating islands orbiting around a great, floating central stone riddled with dark passages. People are on the islands or flying between them, heading towards the center.

34. Puzzle Orb - As part of the Cosmic Captive, Katswiri helped unlock a magical prison, represented as a glowing orb covered in symbols floating in the air inside a stone cave. The orb is surrounded by warding circles of several colors carved into the rock.

35. Fireball - As part of the Cosmic Captive, Katswiri fought in a battle against an army of constructs. One of her companions, Kije, cast forth a great fireball, incinerating two of them where they stood while blasting away a warding circle. This picture depicts the red haired sorcerer casting forth the blast with fire ink borrowed from Kije, causing it to glow and ripple on the page.

36. Spiral of Magic Symbols - As part of the Unseen Inclusion, Katswiri discovered an ancient magical array of symbols. This picture depicts a large room, the floor covered in magical red symbols. The symbols are etched in exquisite detail, while the room's other features are left less well defined.

37. Ancient Parchment - As part of the Unseen Inclusion, Katswiri found a collection of ancient partchment scraps. This picture depicts those fragments, with notes on the information and translation.

38. Retrieved Artifacts - As part of the Unseen Inclusion, Katswiri found a collection of ancient Osiriani artifacts. This picture shows a collection of ancient arms and armor, incense, and an ornate box containing three horns.

39. Woman with the Blurred Face - As part of the Unseen Inclusion, Katswiri encountered ancient visions, showing a woman with indistinct features. The same woman is painted here multiple times, her face blurred and indistinct in each image.

40. Onyx Sage Jewel - As part of the Unseen Inclusion, Katswiri recovered an ancient gem known as the Onyx Sage Jewel. This painting depicts the gem in great detail from several perspectives, with notes on its dimensions and weight.

41. Visions of a Broken Wheel - As part of the Bid for Alabastrine, Katswiri used her oracular powers to fortell dangers on her path. The painting is somewhat abstract; drawing rough outlines of a mountain pass, mist glowing orange with the sun peeking over the horizon. A coach with a broken wheel, with a dark hooded figure pushing it over a cliff.

42. The Luminous Warf of Alabastrine - As part of the Bid for Alabastrine, Katswiri traveled past the island city of Alabastrine by boat. This picture depicts the island city from a vantage point near the Luminous Wharf. Five enormous globes of continual flame hover above the docks. The tranquil blue light floods the area and much of the neighboring districts.

43. The Bridge of Moloch - As part of The Citadel of Flame, Katswiri had a vision of an ancient bridge connecting two buildings, high above the ground. The bridge was crumbling and wreathed in flame, and Katswiri painted the contents of her vision to share with her companions.

44 - 48. The Trials of Moloch - As part of the Citadel of Flame, Katswiri encountered a series of murals depicting the trials of a priestess of Moloch and her eventual reward in Malbolge. Katswiri faithfully copied the murals into her journal for sharing with the Pathfinder Society.

49. Hall of Nethys - As part of the Destiny of Sands, Katswiri encountered a hallway dedicated to Nethys and covered in ancient lore. This painting depics a large, pristine pool occupying much of a chamber, with a statue of a warrior maiden in the center endlessly pouring water from an ornate jar. A large carving on the wall depicts Nethys, and many hieroglyphs are carved on the walls. A water elemental stands in the pool next to the statue.

50. Golden Sarcophagus - As part of the Destiny of Sands, Katswiri encountered a hidden storehouse of ancient documents. This painting shows a room packed full of deep slots containing papyrus scrolls. Painted in detail is a golden sarcophagus, with notes describing its use to interrogate the spirits of the corpse held within.

Volume 2
1-3. The Pharoah's Armies: As part of the Destiny of Sands, Katswiri encountered a vision granted by a haunt of Ancient Osirion. Afterwards, she painted it to share with the Society. These paintings show the dead rising up from ancient tombs, armies of divs marching forth from a massive structure of black stone, and a plague of locusts sweeping over the land.

4: The Void Stares Back: As part of Oath of the Overwatched, Katswiri gazed into the void and saw something that was not meant for human eyes to see. This page depicts a shallow representation of what she say, a green, writhing mass of impossible geometry set against a sea of darkness and bright points of stars.

5: Remorhaz Eggs: As part of To Scale the Dragon, Katswiri came across a nest of Remorhaz eggs. She painted them after the mission; this depicts a collection of large, peculiarly shaded eggs.

In combat, Katswiri will usually take actions in the following rough priority order depending on what is appropriate for the situation:
--Cast Blessings of Fervor in the first round of combat if Haste is not available.
--Sound Burst one or more opponents, if it can be safely done.
--Plug any narrow passages where an opponent could try to get through to squishier party members by standing in them and taking a total defense action.
--Heal any of her companions who are hurt.
--Attack with her mace.
--Cast Bless or Protection from Evil.

Character Name: Katswiri
PFS ID #: 228480-1
Faction: Scarab Sages
Day Job: [dice=Craft: Painting]1d20+15[/dice]

Katswiri is a Lore Oracle, and a member of the Scarab Sages. She's a Seer, and has a lot of Divination/Skill Boosting abilities; her most stand out ability is to more or less automatically succeed at three out of combat Int based skill checks each day using her Focused Trance revelation. She spends standard actions for 1d6 rounds (which usually precludes combat use), then gets to make a check with a +20 circumstance bonus. Her natural divination ability also usually is used to get three skill checks with a +10 competence bonus, for helping to guarantee a few important non-int skill checks. She can also effectively cast Divination 1/day with a 1 minute cast time to get general advice on the adventure and Commune 1/day with a 1 hour cast time using her Gift of Prophecy and Automatic Writing revelations. I usually flavor all these abilities as either omens or visions of the past or future, as Katswiri is a seer.

In addition to her limited use abilities, she can act as a face with a good diplomacy and reasonable bluff check, and is trained in every int based skill, so can handle a lot of skill checks even once her limited use abilities run out.

In combat, she's less exciting, mostly acting as support with buffing and healing. She's got a -3 initiative modifier (though it can get up to +1 with Heightened Awareness), so is often later in the initiative order. She usually casts sound burst or heals people depending on the situation, though can also do mediocre melee damage with her mace. She gets CHA to AC and Reflex saves in place of dex, so does have a pretty good AC though, especially when fully buffed. She can do a good amount of buffing as well, handing out Shield of Faith, Delay Poison, Eagle's Splendor, Bless, Magic Vestment, Communal Resist Energy, and Blessing of Fervor for combat. She can cast Silence to mess with enemy spellcasters (and isn't impeded by it), and carries an extensive scroll collection of 45+ spells to use with Menumonic Vestments or in a pinch to fix various problems.

Katswiri has the deaf oracle curse, so she cannot hear. Mechanically, deafness:
--Causes her to automatically fail all perception checks based on sound
--Gives her a -4 penalty to initiative checks [Reduced to -2 by her curse's level 5 ability].
--Gives her a -4 penalty to opposed perception checks
--Makes her immune to language dependent spells and abilities, audible bardic performances, and some specific spells or situations (like the stun on sound burst)
--Would give her a 20% spell failure chance for casting spells with verbal components, but her curse gives her the silent spell metamagic on all her spells for free with no level or cast time increase.

To help understand the people around her, she took read lips as a language with linguistics as noted in the PFS faq: http://paizo.com/organizedplay/faq#v5748eaic9vhs

More recently, she has purchased magical Spectacles of Lip Reading, which have made it much easier for her to understand those around her without needing ideal conditions (she just needs to pass a DC 0 perception check, modified by distance and conditions as appropriate to understand someone as long as she speaks the language they are using). Most of the time, lip reading is sufficient to allow her to function pretty well, but occasionally events will require some help with someone repeating information or explaining things, like when she runs into intelligent talking objects or there are loud noises out of sight that need to be responded to.

Katswiri keeps a visual journal of her adventures, where if she has the opportunity, she will paint pictures of various important events or interesting people/scenery/objects that occur during the mission. Its mostly fluff, but it's fun, and its how she does her reporting for the society.