It feels a bit like an old AOL chatroom in here. So many voices that it is difficult to keep a conversation. Still here, but Pinwheel is going to drink her milk until things quiet down.
Pinwheel munches a handful of bar snacks as she chats with the elven witch. "Nah, I'm not a gnome. I'm a human. But I share their proclivity for scientific inquiry." She wipes her hand on her robes and smacks her mouth. "These pretzels are making me thirsty."
As the drow soldier begins to speak, Pinwheel pulls a pad from her belt pouch with a small lead pencil. She makes neat, orderly notes as the veteran speaks, and frowns as she excuses herself to the back of the tavern. "Awww, darn it. I was getting excellent notes on battlefield shock. I wonder if triggering an associated stimulus would provoke a nervous response?...." More scribbled notes.
"Hello? Um... I don't mean to bother you but... err... Iwaswonderingifthatwasyourbigmetalthingoutside?"
Pinwheel raises a conspiratorial eyebrow, looks left and right, then leans in to the elven witch. "Yes. It is a Centurion-class bipedal mechanical armature. I call him Mr. Pickles." She leans back upright and drinks casually, flicking her eyes about to see if anyone was spying.
Scattered shouts and cries of panic drift in from the street into the crowded tavern. Townsfolk shutter their windows and bar their doors. A distant booming noise can be heard above the din of the common room, and a small, even vibration can be felt through the floorboards and bar. Dun... Dun... Dun... Dun... It grows louder, coming down the street outside the Happy Duck, and stopping at the nearest intersection.
"Why have we stopped?!" A small, feminine voice cries out in the sudden silence.
"OBSTRUCTION. OBSTRUCTION." A gravelly, hollow voice.
"What? I don't... Oh, move! Move, you stupid cow! Step over the dumb thing!"
"AFFIRMATIVE."
The booming begins again for several repetitions, seeming to move toward the tavern, then stops just outside.
"DESTINATION COMPLETE."
"Ah, excellent work, Mr. Pickles! Now you stay here. Assume guard protocol."
"AFFIRMATIVE, MAHAL."
Those who peek out the windows of the tavern see a bright-eyed young woman with hair the color of lavender petals, tightly gathered into a pair of pigtails. Her eyes are ocean blue, with small flecks of silver near the iris. Her skin is very pale, with years of scholarly work evident in her somewhat pasty complexion. She is dressed in a tight-fitting courtier's outfit - a brown and blue-trimmed three-quarter length coat, with breeches, vest, gloves, and collared white shirt - covered by a set of glittering scale mail armor. She is short and spindly, all elbows and knees, with a wiry frame and straight posture.
In stark contrast is the 16-foot-tall iron construct lumbering behind her. A mess of gears, rods, pistons, and gyros, the metal giant has exaggerated arms and shoulders with numerous studs and striking surfaces. Its face is an opaque rectangular screen, with a pair of eyes drifting back and forth as it surveys its surroundings. On its chest is a small plaque, reading, "Mr. Pickles."
The metal machine stands stoically outside the Happy Duck Tavern, while the young woman enters. She strides confidently to the bar and raises a hand. "One honeyed milk, please!" She takes a seat on the bar stool and sticks her hands flat underneath her bottom. She fidgets slightly, rocking back and forth as she cranes her neck to peer around the common room.
2. Faction Stuff - I spent prestige points to gain shatter, spider climb, web, daylight, flaming bolt, stinking cloud, and stone shape.
3. To make the mechanus, first visit the Machinesmith page. On it, you will find that one of the class abilities is called 'Greatworks.' You can choose between the Analyzer, Mobius Weapon, or Mechanus. Similar to an animal companion or eidolon, the mechanus has base stats which improve by level, along with a selection of special abilities. I copied-pasted a stat block from another construct, such as an animated object, into my character sheet and replaced it with the stats for my mechanus. I then visited the Construction Points page, which provides rules for adding various accessories to constructs for an additional cost.
I used Craft Wondrous Item, Hedge Magician, and Adopted (Eldritch Smith) in the construction of the following: headband of vast intelligence +4 (Knowledge: Dungeoneering, Use Magic Device), belt of incredible dexterity +2, all tools vest, bag of holding II, bottle of air, cloak of resistance +2, cauldron of brewing, and muleback cords.
I used Craft (armor) in the construction of the following: mithral scale mail, dagger, masterwork repeating heavy crossbow, and masterwork heavy crossbow.
2. Faction
I spent 7 CPA on new prototypes.
3. Age
I was planning on keeping her at age 15 and playing up the wunderkind background. Like Doogie Howser with a giant robot. I definitely do not plan on having her be one of those creepy-savant children. She will be bubbly, insecure, and awkward like any 15-year-old girl.
Description:
Hair: Pink-Mauve
Eyes: Blue
Height: 4'11"
Weight: 110
You see a bright-eyed young woman with hair the color of lavender petals, tightly gathered into a pair of pigtails. Her eyes are ocean blue, with small flecks of silver near the iris. Her skin is very pale, with years of scholarly work evident in her somewhat pasty complexion. She is dressed in a tight-fitting courtier's outfit - a brown and blue-trimmed three-quarter length coat, with breeches, vest, gloves, and collared white shirt - covered by a set of glittering scale mail armor. She is short and spindly, all elbows and knees, with a wiry frame and straight posture.
In stark contrast is the 16-foot-tall iron construct lumbering behind her. A mess of gears, rods, pistons, and gyros, the metal giant has exaggerated arms and shoulders with numerous studs and striking surfaces. Its face is an opaque rectangular screen, with a pair of eyes drifting back and forth as it surveys its surroundings. On its chest is a small plaque, reading, "Mr. Pickles."
Personality:
No one would ever call Pinwheel a friendly young lady. Certainly, she is unfailingly polite to others, but in a detached, clinical sort of way that suggests she is studying your reactions more so than caring about your reactions. She has a tendency of unnerving adults who cross her path and an awkward disregard for people around her. Professional? Of course. Competent? Very much. Meticulous? Sometimes tediously so. But never friendly. It is difficult to know whether or not Pinwheel truly cares for or approves any person or thing in particular - most of the time she bounces from interest to interest so quickly that there is little investment beyond academic inquiry. She is cursed with being a bumbling professor while still pubescent, and her work trumps such base needs as human sociality.
Background:
Pinwheel is not this young lady's real name, of course. That is quite lost. The young woman who would be Pinwheel was found as a mewling infant by a dwarven merchant named Siv Firebeard. Returning to Janderhoff with a mule team loaded with steel ingots, Siv heard the cries of a human baby just off the road as he neared the end of his journey. What he discovered shook him, as the babe was wrapped in swaddling clothes, still clutched by the broken body of her mother. The woman, along with several men, lied dead near a ransacked wagon. Fearing bandits or worse, Siv quickly gathered the child into his arms, returned to his wagon, and hurried to Janderhoff.
Several months passed as letters and flyers to local human communities looking for friends and family of the baby went unanswered. Already having a wife and several children, Siv shrugged his shoulders and took it as a task set him by Torag for some purpose. Unsure of how to name her, the dwarven family took to calling her after a toy that captured her attention on windy days as her cradle rocked near the open window; Pinwheel. The baby grew into a little girl, and adapted seamlessly into her new home in Janderhoff, frequently following her mother to work as a forger in the city foundry. She played and explored through a maze of furnaces and anvils, schematics and blueprints. She took up the craft of machinesmithing, and fashioned her first mechanus at the tender age of 10. "Mr. Pickles," as she called him, has grown and progressed as her crafts improved.
At the age of 15, having completed her journeyman's examination and received the title of Mahal, Pinwheel was recognized as an adult in the dwarven sky citadel. Her first assignment was to accompany her father, Siv, on a long trek through Nirmathas, Lastwall, Ustalav, and Numeria to reach the capital of Mendev, Nerosyan. Having arrived with the caravan, Pinwheel has been tasked to investigate the city and nearby area for its potential as a permanent trade hub for weapons and armor.
Here is the work-in-progress character for Tanner Nielsen. Due to a combination of a long work day and the machinesmith being a very involved class, she is far from finished. However, I am free tomorrow and will have it finished by then.
Ogee has not participated in any online campaigns.
