Female Half-elf Hedge Witch 2
NG Medium humanoid (human, elf)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +3
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Defense
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AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex)
hp 12 (2d6+2)
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +4; +2 vs. enchantments
Immunesleep
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Statistics
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Str 2, Dex 15, Con 8, Int 6, Wis 15, Cha 7
Base Atk +1; CMB +1; CMD 7
Feats Skill Focus (perception), Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +6, Knowledge (arcana) +0, Knowledge (history) +0, Knowledge (nature) +0, Knowledge (planes) +0, Perception +6, Spellcraft +0
Languages Elven
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Special Abilities
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Familiar master gains +3 on Appraise checks
Alertness master gains Alertness feat when within arm's reach
Empathic Link master can communicate empathically when within one mile
Share Spells master may cast spells with target of "you" on the familiar
Store Spells stores all the spells the master knows
. 1st—bless, charm person, command, cure light wounds, ear piercing scream, enlarge person, identify, mage armor, mount, unseen servant
. 0—(all)
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Description
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Polina is a tall, slender young woman standing at just over six feet, with short blonde hair carefully brushed in a futile attempt to hide the pointed tips of her ears. She has deep-set emerald eyes and a small nose, her face remarkably free of blemishes and her teeth show signs of magical straightening.
She wears a maroon woollen surcoat edged in gold-colored embroidery over a white linen shirt, with a simple traveler's cloak pinned to the shoulders. A compass hangs from a simple leather lanyard worn around her neck, and a signal horn is suspended from a similar piece of leather stretching from her right shoulder down to her left hip. A coin pouch and dagger hang from her woven leather belt, and strapped to her high-quality backpack is a finely crafted repeating light crossbow. Her hands are bare aside from a silver signet ring, which depicts an eagle with spread wings grasping a rose in its talons. A woollen skirt matching her surcoat covers her legs down nearly to her ankles, just barely leaving her sturdy boots visible.
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Background
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Polina Orlov is the bastard daughter of Lady Marina Orlovsky, cousin to Duke Poul Orlovsky, and an unknown elven father. Her mother has never admitted which elf she might have had an affair with, but Polina's pointed ears made it clear from the day she was born that she was illegitimate. Though named after her first cousin once removed, the current duke of House Orlovsky, the circumstances of Polina's birth ensured she would never become a favored scion of the house.
Though she was still raised among the nobility, learning the history of Brevoy alongside her half-brother and various cousins, it was plainly evident that she would not need to learn heraldry or politics, and so the rest of her education was left to House Orlovsky's court wizard. Though Polina showed great aptitude at the ancient art of alchemy, she seemed unable to master even the simplest of spells until the day a raven flew in through her open bedroom window to settle on her dresser. Amused by the bird, so similar in appearance to the black eagle which was her family's crest, Polina offered it a biscuit and asked whether it was lost.
To her astonishment, the raven answered in Elven that it had been lost for many years, but was now quite sure it had found who it was looking for. In just a matter of hours of conversing with the surprisingly intelligent bird, Polina found that she could finally conjure orbs of light just the same as Master Lukov had so often demonstrated. The old court wizard seemed not the least perturbed by Polina's new animal friend, and her instruction swiftened, though many of the spells he attempted to teach her remained far beyond her grasp, whereas the raven, who Polina had taken to calling Asvoria, was able to teach her spells of healing that seemed equally beyond the old mage.
Polina still doesn't know what power brought Asvoria through her window that day, but she loves the raven dearly and consulted with it for many days before deciding to pack her belongings and leave the fortress of Eagle's Watch and make her way south to Restov. Though her family was clearly hoping that she might some day replace Master Lukov as House Orlovsky's court wizard, there truly was little left that he could teach her, and the lure of the Swordlords' offer of charters of expedition was far too tempting. When she finally made it to the city of Restov, however, she discovered that she was too late, as all the chartered expeditions had already left. Undaunted, she set out for Oleg's Trading Post on the Brevic border, hoping to catch up to one of the expeditions and join up, rather than return home in failure.
