Lily Nolton's page

I'm a sucker for stories of mundane people caught up into things larger than themselves forced to stand up and be great. That's definitely Lily's story. She has a destiny that she never would realize if not for the Ironfang Invasion throwing her life into chaos and forcing her to step up.

Regarding the fate of her husband Thomas, I'm happy to leave that up to you. She might learn that he died (which seems more likely) or find that he survived. Either way would be a pivotal character moment.

I have some plans for Lily to slowly learn more about the bronze dragon and Irori but again I would be totally happy if you had plans for that.

Regarding how she could join up with the PCs, I'm still reading gameplay to get a better idea of what's going on. I think the PCs are affiliated with a fair number of refugees in the Fangwood, among whom could be Lily and her children. Lily isn't aware that her amulet allows her to be a fighter so she wouldn't leap into such a situation on her own. But if she were thrust into something, say she saw someone in dire trouble or got caught up in the middle of a skirmish while foraging, then she could slowly learn how to fight.

Lily is a tank/scout with decent melee damage capabilities. She doesn't have much in the ways of social skills (high cha but few skills). But she has decent perception, great stealth, good mobility, and good AC and saves for scouting.

For example, Lily's AC against hobgoblins is 25 and she can deflect one arrow per round. She can launch three attacks at +11 for 1d6+5 or, if she is using her smite-like ability from paladin, AC 26 and +12 for 1d6+6. Not great offense but pretty solid defense. If she gets someone to cast mage armor on her, we're talking AC 30. I could go into more specifics/eventualities, such as my plans for getting shield cast on her to potentially bring ac up to 34, but those are all contingent on various situations. I'm just trying to illustrate that I take the deadliness level of this game seriously, even if my character's flavor seems soft or emotional.

I dislike having too much of my wealth tied up in one item but Lily just barely has the starting wealth to have the amulet of mighty fists (adaptive) that makes the build viable at all. So it's also a significant part of her background.

Small note on the vain drawback: Lily isn't so much vain as afraid of coming across as overbearing or foolish. If she were to put herself forward to try to convince somebody of something and fail, she would be hesitant to speak again for some time.

Small note on ability scores: Monks are very MAD, unfortunately. I think Lily is probably more like a 9 or 10 int, flavor-wise, but she needs those points desperately. She has a few points in wisdom, which her flavor requires more than the points in intelligence.

Deep in Lake Encarthan, Okeanskata Vistina considered the words of the Master of Masters. "Add your lightning to my disciipline. Then keep the amulet safe until my servant comes." Okeanskata, like all great bronzes, was unaccustomed to being instructed. But perhaps she should make an exception for Irori himself. After all, he said that his servant would master self-discipline through hardship while protecting the weak and innocent. That was enough for her. So she helped with the amulet and kept it safe in the depths of the lake for centuries until the time was right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily walked along the small beach, admiring snail shells, driftwood, and the smoothed stones. She looked back over her shoulder and smiled at her husband Thomas, fishing assiduously with three lines out into the lake. He grinned back at her and waved his cap. She turned back to watch where she was going. After all, she had to be a little more careful how she walked with this strange, wonderful large belly throwing off her balance. A small kick reminded her of this fact and she chuckled quietly.

A little farther along, a large log of driftwood was lodged in some rocks on the waterline. As small waves came in off the lake, the log moved up and down but remained stuck. Lily climbed carefully up onto the rocks to take a look. Down in the crag the log was wedged in, a brief flash of light caught her eye. Looking more carefully, she saw a fine bronze chain tangled in some of the log's branches. Curious, she watched for several minutes as the log rose and fell with the waves. After a while, she became confident she could reach her hand down into the crag and get a hold on the chain. She put her arm in up to the shoulder and could just barely feel the chain but it was stuck fast. The next time the log lifted, she was able to wriggle a tiny bit of the chain free. She repeated this process for several minutes and realized that if she let go of the chain once, it would become hopelessly tangled again.

Her muscles ached from holding herself, heavier while pregnant than she'd ever been, in an awkward position with one arm extended deep into the rocky crag. And everyone now and then the massive log neared her hand, surely able to crush her small fingers. But she was confident it could come no closer and that, if she kept her mind to it, she could have the little chain, necklace, whatever it was out of there. After a while, Thomas left his fishing, worried. "Lily! Are you stuck! What's wrong?" She shook her head and called back "I'm fine, Thomas. Don't you worry. There's a necklace down in this hole and I'm working it free." Only partially relieved, Thomas' brow furrowed "Are you sure it's ok for you to be all hunched over like that for a long time? Will it hurt you or the baby?" Lily laughed and shook her head. "I've said it once and I'll say it again, Thomas Nolton. I'm pregnant, not an invalid!" Blushing, Thomas walked back to his tackle.

After holding the excruciating position for an hour and making tiny steps of progress every few minutes, Lily got the chain free and held it up to the light. It was a bronze necklace set with a blue hand. Lily hadn't the slightest idea what this was but it struck her fancy. "After all" she muttered to herself "I worked hard enough to get it. I don't mind keeping it. Granny would have said 'Ya deserve what ya work for, good or ill.'" With that she put the necklace on and climbed off the rocks back onto shore to show Thomas.

Soon, life became too busy for Lily and Thomas to think much about the necklace. Little Thomas was precious indeed but did not let them relax too often! But despite the difficulties, steady work and patience served her well. "Granny always said: 'Most good things take work and work's a good thing.'" Granny, who was born a slave in Molthune, had no time for slackers. She'd escaped to Nirmathas and worked her way up from nothing. Her sayings served Lily as well in motherhood as they had in the rest of her life. Her little family of three occupied her whole world as they worked, ate, sang, and danced together. Two more children, Isaac and Orchid, came along a few years later. After the children went to bed every night, Lily would take some time to relax and look lovingly at her husband, happy to grow old with him.

Then terror struck, sudden and swift, as hobgoblins swarmed Phaendar without warning. Thomas helped Lily pack up some food and blankets as fast as can be. Then they rushed to leave town, hoping to join those brave folk from the Taproot Inn who seemed so sure and confident about what to do in an emergency. But before they could reach the bridge, two hobgoblins spotted them and gave chase. "Run with the children, Lily! I'll find you later!" With that, he rushed away, the hobgoblins chasing after him. Tears streaming from her eyes, Lily knew she had to bustle the children along. They made it into the Fangwood with the others but Thomas never came back to them. It was all she could do to not waste her time worrying over him but she forced herself, every day, to scrounge for food, feed the children, and keep them warm. Her heart grew heavier and so did, oddly, her old bronze necklace.

Cracked vibrant purple prism can store shield for me.