About Lucca LeanderThe easiest way to describe Lucca Leander is adventurous. Silly. The kid of the group, whether he's the oldest or the youngest. Growing up, he was always the one to pick truth instead of dare, but would do the dare anyway. He would be the first to grab his stuff and go out on whatever adventure his friends would suggest, though was rarely the one to some up with the plan. He was always along for the ride, looking for a fun time. This, of course, led him to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He and his friends had heard about some old mansion up on top of a hill that had some crazy old man living in it. There were tales of him being seen late at night with a shovel, and a few bodies had gone missing from graves, though no one seemed to make the connection except those who thrived on rumors and gossip. One night, while he and his pals were hanging out in a barn to be together but out of the rain, one of his friends, Petra, a red-haired girl he kind of liked but didn't pay much attention to, burst in, claiming she saw the old man and a few cronies dragging a coffin up to his place. No one believed her. Except Lucca-plus he wanted to show off to his buddies a bit. Grinning, he hopped down from the loft, clasping his hands on the girl's shoulders. "Hey look-I believe you. Let's go check it out!" And the two of them stole off into the night together, looking for the old man's mansion. They weren't close, so it took them a few hours to get there on foot. The storm was growing worse and worse, lightning picking up as they approached. They saw something strange appear from the top of the building. Petra, getting nervous, suggested turning back, but Lucca was already climbing the side of the mansion, having a variety of footholds and hand holds due to the style. The two of them reached the top to find that on the roof were a variety of slabs, as well as the old man, a massive, hulking, hunched lackey, and four cloaked men. As they crept up, they hid behind one of the machines there, which had a large copper ball on an antenna reaching up into the sky. Crouching low, Lucca started to sneak forward to hear what the man was saying-something about... instilling life? From lightning? Petra had gone around the other way, though was freaking out a bit more, especially when she saw what was on the slabs. Grabing Lucca, dragging him over, they say each of the dozen beds had a body on it. A dead body. It seemed they were working on something dastardly, though what neither of them were smart enough to figure out. Suddenly, they found themselves being grabbed from behind as the hulking figure grabbed each by the back of the shirt, lifting them up in the air. They were busted. Being dragged in front of the old man and held in place by what they now realized was a hulking gray orc, the old man came over to talk to them. Much to their surprise, he was elven-he must've been bery, very old. He introduced himself and Firenze, Professor Frienze Enstein, and his faithful manservant Gori. Lucca cared little for the introduction. "What do you want? What sick thing are you doing up here" It was at this point Professor Enstein began telling them of his plan. For far too long, death was viewed as inevitable. And in a way, it is. But then what do they do with the bodies? Simply toss them away! Bury them, or burn them. Set them adrift on the sea. Why get rid of something, when you can... recycle. He enthralled the teens with his plan, to use the power of storms to revive the dead, making them into incredibly strong slaves to do his bidding. It would fix the world's problem with morality when it came to the current slave trade, and those who stood in the way of such progress would be dealt with... swiftly. And no magical knowhow required! Just a little alchemical solution, a large metal rod, and a thunderstorm. And for those too impatient enough to wait for one need only anger a local druid. The teens were disgusted by his plan, and all the while Lucca was working on pulling his whitling knife from his pocket. It was as the old man finished his story, telling Gori to kill them, but not crush their heads, that Lucca sprung into action. Stabbing the blade into Gori's hand, the orc lost his grip on them. Grabbing Petra's hand, the two of them ran, behind some shelves that had been set up. As Ebstein came at them, they pushed the shelves over onto him, covering him and them with the liquids from it, then tried to make a break for it-though with them being on the roof, there was hardly anywhere to go. Grabbing one of the helmets attached to thick cables connecting back to the lightning catching device, they ran to the edge of the mansion. Giving Petra the helmet, he told her to jump, insisting that she'd be fine. She took a breath, then hopped down off the edge of the three story mansion, though as she looked up at him, she saw a large orcish hand wrap around Lucca's head, grabbing him and tossing him, hard. Directly into the lightning catcher. In the distance, he heard a muffled voice yelling "You oafish fool! At that moment, as Gori reached down to grab the cable that was quickly going over the side with Petra holding it for dear life, as Lucca's world started to go dark, as he had definitely broken some important bones, lightning struck the antenna. It coursed through his body, it coursed through the corpses, it went through to the helmet Petra held... And that was the last thing he saw before everything went black. It was through this darkness Lucca found himself... floating. Weightless. Surrounded by dark swirls of cloud. He tried to move, tried to swim, but found himself just sitting there, trapped, unable to do much of anything. Looking into the swirls of darkness, he saw nothing... until there was a spark. A small arc of lightning, though in slow motion. It seemed to be... swimming. Moving from one dark swirl to the next, a bright light that seemed to be approaching him, then traveling in a circle around him, slowly encircling him-and the moment the circle was complete, he felt ans saw it reach out to him, touching his soul. He arched his back as his body took in the lightning-and then he was falling. Falling, rapidly, at breakneck speed. He turned around to see what looked like the top of the mansion, seeing for the briefest of moments were Petra, Gori, Enstein, and even himself all were, before slamming into the metal ball on the antenna, suddenly waking him from the strangest of dreams. It was morning. He was still sitting in the front of the device. Though as he stood, he realized that wasn't accurate. He had been laying inside the front of the device, for he had been thrown through it. Still, looking himself over, Lucca found no injuries-he seemed fine, aside from a headache. Suddenly, he remembered what had happened. He looked to where Enstein had been-gone, with the shelf overturned. No Gori nearby. There were still half a dozen bodies there, though half of them were gone. five out of six were burnt to a crisp, though the helmetless one was still just a dead body. No hooded figures. Wait, the helmet! Petra. Running to the edge of the building, he looked down to where the other helmet led, but there was no one at the bottom. Realizing he'd been left for dead, he decided he was better off getting out of there. He nervously grabbed the edge of the ledge and started to let himself go down the cable slowly, but suddenly found himself at the bottom, faster than he thought possible. Unless he blacked out a bit. He definitely wasn't feeling quite right. He looked around the base of the building for Petra, but she was nowhere in sight. Maybe she'd gone back to town. Or something. Still, he needed to make sure she was ok. Deciding to get back to town, he started to run. Much to his surprise, he hit his normal running speed without breaking a sweat. Confused, but still desperate, he started to run faster, and faster and faster, until the next thing he knew he was back at the barn. A trip that had taken him an hour the night before took him a few minutes. Freaking out, he looked down to his hands, and saw beneath the skin an eerie glow, an electrical glow, much like that slow moving lightning from the night before. In a panic, he ran again, this time to Petra's house, though looking in the window, she wasn't there. Then he ran again, this time to an area about two hours away by horse, a trip he made again in mere minutes. It was a nice, secluded area in the woods near a waterfall, where he and Petra had gone often, hoping she had made her way there. Instead, he found nothing. And now his hands were glowing even brighter. In a panic, he flicked his wrist and, much to his surprise, a bolt of lightning shot out, striking a nearby tree, causing it to split. Yelping in surprise, Lucca turned to the cliff wall, looking at his hands, then tried the same motion again and, to his shock and almost delight, another bolt of lightning shot from his hands striking a rock this time, leaving no damage but a scorch mark. Excited, he did it a few more times. He also felt stronger.. faster... Something had happened to him. And while he was excited, he grew more worried-still no Petra. Then it hit him. Enstein. Gori. Maybe they had her. Dashing back to town, seeing bits of energy flying off him, he stopped in an ally, letting him come in to the town square as normal. Much to his surprise, it seemed people were rallying there. Apparently, it seemed that morning, a large caravan had arrived and picked up Enstein, his large manservant, and 10 others, as well as some lab equipment. They had been in a hurry. Normally someone leaving town wouldn't have been a big deal, but apparently, the horses and men were that of the guard and military of [[Insert Pathfinder Bad Guys Here. Chelliax maybe?]] Lucca was furious. He wanted to chase after them, but knew they had headed east, which led to a place where the road split into many. He might be able to check them all, and quickly, but it was at that moment he passed out in the townsquare. Waking, he found himself incredibly hungry and at home, surrounded by his parents and the local doctor. They were worried sick about him, but the doctor said he was just dehydrated and starving a little. His mother started to scorn him for being out so late while his father did the same for him not eating, though both were just relieved he was ok. After eating til he was full (though that took some doing) he checked his fingers for a spark, to see if it had all been a dream-but a cackle of electricity let him know it wasn't. Sitting in his room, head in his hands, he had to figure this out. Then he remembered what Enstein had said, about instilling the dead with lightning, and realized that's what must've happened to him-instilled with lightning. And he likely had Petra, as well as six walking dead. Getting angry, he blasted part of the wall, putting a hole through into his closet. He wanted to stop Enstein, get Petra back. He didn't realize how much he'd cared for her till she was gone. That was it. He was going to have to find them. Get her back. Going into that closet, he found a vest and some pants that had been dyed a brownish red when he mixed up his mother's clothing dye with soap. He grabbed a yellow scarf Petra had given him, wearing that over it so she'd recognize him even if no one else would, and a pair of his father's welding goggles to keep the wind from his eyes. Wrapping some cloth around his wrists and over the lower part of his mouth, he looked in a mirror and couldn't help but grin-he looked rather dashing. And with that, he snuck out, running to find Professor Enstein, get Petra back, and help anyone else along the way. After searching for a while, he started honing his skills. He learnied he could put electricity into his muscles for more punches, shock punches, and figured out how to throw his bolts even further. He could even make his cells charge and heal up a bit, though big hits still hurt (con-based DR). His travels took him to a village where they had passed through en route to Absalom. While a few people said they saw a similar caravan pass through, only one person could really help. A young girl handed him a scroll case she said was... connected. Within it was an almost blank sheet of paper with some lines and Xs on it. But when he went to thank her... She was gone. Lucca Leander
Str 14
Defense Score= 28
CMB Str 10
Fort 6
Melee 14/14 1d8+4 (13/13 1d8+6)
Speed 90ft
Traits
Feats
Skills 8/Level Acrobatics 12, Climb 8, Diplomacy 7, Escape Artist 12, K History 7*, Linguistics 4*, Perception 10, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of hand 9, Stealth 12
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