Mercy Ülricsdottir's page

Mercy was born into a family of six brothers, headed by an aging veteran of a father. The seventh child in a family of pious supplicants of the ancient god of battle, Gorum, she was raised by a household committed to the virtues of combat. Being allowed to train and learn the trade of the soldier with her older brothers had its benefits. By her eleventh year she was proud to be stronger than any boy in the school yard and better with a sword than anyone she'd ever fought, family excluded, a fact she proudly used as a tool to intimidate the other children out of sword fights she thought she might have lost.

Yet, the cult of Gorum that her father, Ulric, belonged to prohibited any woman to learn the art of combat beyond basic techniques and in-combat triage. Her arguments with her father gained her no ground-- as devout, and fanatic, as he was to willingly train a child in the use of deadly weaponry, he was equally unmoved by her objections. Arguments that her mother, had she survived her illness, would allow her to continue earned her no gratitude from her single parent. Until she was fifteen, Mercy was estranged as the only member of the family forbidden from the practice circle or the firing range in a home headed by a proud warrior and teeming with eager soldiers ready to find their own glory in battle. In her village, she was also alone-- as she had taught the other children to fear her, they had followed her examples and would avoid her as best as they could.

One night, a group of nightwatchmen rode by Ulric's home just outside the village, riddled with arrows and beating bloody hooves back to the town hall. They warned the villagers as best they could about the incoming threat-- a warband of goblins, headed by a fearsome troll. Her brothers, unable to contain their excitement at finally being able to experience real combat, equipped themselves and immediately headed out with the remaining guard to push back the meager threat.

Yet, what the townsfolk did not know was that the warband was not a warband of pitiful goblins led by a monstrous troll, yet a warband of subjugated trolls led by a gang of cunning goblins. Every man to the last was slain by the horde of six trolls, including Mercy's brothers. The gang began to move into the town's farms, setting each farmhouse ablaze as they came across them, killing the farmers and their wives and children as they fled from their burning homes. They came to Mercy's home, and lit it on fire.

Mercy's memories of that night are hazy. She knows her father fought, and died, at the hands of the trolls. Rather than run and be caught, Mercy locked herself into the earthen cellar underneath their armory, but the door didn't hold, and a single, lingering troll had come searching for lost wine or looted treasure. She didn't stand a chance. As it strangled her against the wall, she could feel her life dim, and something touched her from beyond. With strength she couldn't imagine, she had suddenly taken the troll's arm from him, and he fled. She laid in the dark of the cellar, alive, but blinded by the raw energy of whatever had given her the strength to survive.

She later learned that the goblin-led troll warband had been destroyed by a group of adventurers from the west not a day after the monsters had arrived, coincidentally after the adventurers had. Some people blamed the heroes for leading the horde into the town, that they had come for revenge, but the adventurers left before anything could come of the accusations. The only survivor of the incident was a one-armed troll who had been seen fleeing through the woods that morning by the local farmers who had just come out of hiding.

Mercy seeks the one-armed troll to finish off what she believes to be the last living creature alive responsible for the death of her entire family.

Mercy left her village for Tanner's Crossing when she was sixteen and hasn't looked back. She found a job that paid in the tavern, where her strange beauty and even more uncommon strength pay well enough. She keeps her fingers on the pulse of the world around her, always excited to hear news from other villages from anyone who walks through the door. Since the incident that caused her to leave her home, she's become more and more accustomed to her blindness to the point where she can swear she can even tell faces from thirty feet or more (though she can barely tell heraldry or holy symbols from fifteen).

Mercy latches on to whoever walks in the door who looks like they have a story to tell, so of course she ended up at Kiptera and Caelin's one night. She loved hearing them share their experiences and ever since has looked forward to their sometimes-frequent visits.

Mercy could easily latch on to any of the other party members in such a way-- she's keenly excited by tales of the adventurer's life, and always out for information regarding what she seeks. By correlation, her status and job in the community makes her excellent to learn information from-- if it was suitably exciting enough to remember in the first place.

-Defense---------------------------------
AC 16, touch 12 flat-footed 14 (+4 armor +2 Dex)
hp 12 (1d8+4)
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +1

-Offense---------------------------------
Space 5 ft. Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with guisarme)
Spd 30 ft.
Melee guisarme +3 (2d4+4/x3) or shortsword +3 (1d6+3/19-20)

Spells Known (CL 1st)
0 (-/day) - light, mending, stabilize, create water
1st (3/day) - shield of faith, divine favor, cure light wounds

Traits: Armor Expert, Bully
-Statistics------------------------------
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 18
Base Atk ; CMB ; CMD
Feats Toughness*, Improved Initiative
Skills Intimidate +9, Knowledge (engineering) +4, Perception +3, Diplomacy +8, Heal +3, Knowledge (planes), Knowledge (religion) +4, Profession (Bar maid) +3, Sense Motive -1, and Spellcraft +0
Languages Common
SQ oracle's curse (clouded vision), revelations (skill at arms)

Gear guisarme, chain shirt, quarterstaff, short sword, 2 daggers, longsword, backpack (bedroll, winter blanket, 1 pint of oil, fish hook and tackle, 4 days of trail rations, sewing needle, hemp rope [50ft.], waterskin, 2 torches, a bar of soap, 2 candles and a glass bottle), lantern, hooded, explorer's clothes - Encumbrance 59 lb, light load. Coin 3 silver 1 copper