Pavlo Rache's page

I've a fairly long time GM and player now in PbP on the boards, running and playing 1E and Starfinder. You can take a peek at my games if you'd like, but I basically keep up a 1/day schedule with diligence as long as the rest of the players and GM remain active. I've really been excited to get into another active game that keeps up a fast pace.

"If I had to pick, I'd steal the candy from the baby rather than the mother. Babies don't fight back, ya see, and I've met some mothers with a mean right hook."

Although Pavlo spent his early childhood as an orphan in Diamond Lake, a series of poor decisions and a major act of theft led him to flee at an early age all the way to Magnimar. Magnimar's streets changed him into a true criminal, but hardly a particularly successful one. The crew he ran with was affiliated with Night Scales, a local thieves guild, and they made good use of his telekinetic talents to conduct heists or to set up smash and grabs. However, Pavlo's good fortunes didn't rise along with them, his light fingers, lack of team spirit, and poor networking had him excluded and always on the edge of being shut out of loot and prestige. His own morals, never anything close to selfless, only degraded during this time. Although he wasn't violent, he had few qualms about stealing from anyone and everyone, so long as he could get away with it.

"She told me I tend to burn bridges, but I don't know what she's talking about. They're the ones that are always getting upset at me! Framing me for shit I didn't do. It isn't fair."

One evening drinking in a Magnimaran tavern that he could barely afford, Pavlo fell for a woman. After a clumsy but unusually honest introduction, they'd spent the evening together, telling stories of their pasts, playing dice games where he lost most of his money, singing a particularly hearty karaoke performance, and drinking plenty of alcohol. In the morning all he remembered was her coppery eyes, the sense that she was incredibly clever and funny, and the desire to see her again. He was smitten. He pulled the few strings he had to try to learn more about her and started looking for her in the most stalkerish fashion possible.

He met her several more times "by accident", misunderstood her interest in him, and attempted to initiate a more serious relationship, only to get utterly rebuffed. He followed her out of the city only the lose her in the countryside. He learned only afterward of her true identity, the young copper dragon "Kheptry".

"I could never love a human as devoid of charity and compassion as you are. For all you're fun to talk with, your heart is as black as the night sea, and you see and hear only yourself. Begone. If I see the vileness in your soul again, I'll strike you down and make the world a better place."

Pavlo stole valuable wines, cheeses and chocolates, along with luxurious goods of all kinds, and took them to Kheptry's manor outside - hoping somehow to still woo her. But all his gifts, no matter how extravagant, only raised her ire against him further. She finally struck him down with her claw, speaking plainly for once rather than in jokes and riddles, that she had no interest in a selfish thief and murderer and that she would far sooner slay him than marry him.

The experience shook Pavlo to his core. He reflected on his life so far and while he still ignored most of the harm he'd caused, even he could pick out a few events that he could identify as "wrong". He resolved then to try to seek redemption. Mostly for purely selfish reasons, to be sure, but redemption nonetheless. This task took him all the way back to his hometown of Diamond Lake, where he was swiftly slapped into chains for his thefts eight years ago.

"Being honest isn't hard. It just means taking the bad things and holding onto them, rather than passing them to some sucker. I can do this. I'm sure I can do this for her."

He was passed into the care of Ragnolin Dourstone, and sent to work off his sentence in the mines. His young age at the time of his crimes resulted in a lighter term of only a year in the mines. A long and dreary time that Pavlo only endured through reflecting on the memory of Kheptry's promise and threat. He honestly worked hard, attempted to treat others with respect, even Ragnolin, and avoided getting into any fights. By the end, he had only stolen 300 gold pieces worth of valuable minerals, a super-human degree of restraint for the habitual burglar.

All his life, Pavlo has burned bridges, crossed people, ruined the lives of those who didn't deserve it, and generally made himself a nuisance before he's run away from his growing problems. Its only now, where he's attempting to make amends, that he may prove to be a valuable team player. And perhaps will find a path to heroism and greatness in the process.