About Ribitta AndersenBackground:
27 years ago, on a rainy day in early Calistril, a strange child was born to Varisian nomads. The babe was sickly with a rasping cough, its eyes were dull and unfocused, its skin damp, grey and sticky, with sparse patches of scales and a long thin tail. Fearful and superstitious, the nomads saw their child as an ill omen and left it to die in the Brinestump Marsh, and their caravan simply moved onward.
But despite the swamp and the storm, the newborn clung to life. As the rain fell and the storm worsened, its cries eventually attracted the attention of a toad in the shape of a man, a boggard. It greedily collected the baby in its arms and opened its mouth wide to swallow it whole when thunder clapped before the lightning struck. An omen. A sign of the great god Bokrug, king of storms. The boggard lowered the baby and clutched it tight against its chest. The Priest-king needed to know. The Priest-king, Brekekèx, led their tribe in spirit and in deed, father and mother to every boggard. He spent many years in hibernation, waking to interpret signs and receive visions and guidance from their gods, as well as to birth and foster tadpoles. Presently, Brekekèx was attempting to grow an heir, to foster a child into a being of great power like himself when his subject walked in with the baby. "Bokrug calls for this one," croaked the subject, proffering the baby towards the Priest-king. "He made the thunder call before the lightning." Brekekèx stretched forth his tongue and wrapped it around the child, pulling it towards him. "Fortuitous. All this time searching, praying, and god simply provides." He placed the babe back in the hands of the lesser boggard and unwrapped his tongue. "Take it to the birthing pool, my birthing pool. It may take several seasons to fully develop but it is a choice candidate." And Brekekèx resumed his hibernation. The boggards attending Brekekèx's children took care to protect the baby from both the water and its tadpole siblings, weaving it a basket to float in. All of the Priest-king's children were fed the same: a slurry of poisonous, hallucinogenic dragonflies intended to cull the weak and grant the survivors with enhanced mental and magical capabilities, to allow them to hear the call of their god. After four months, the child was the only one left alive, and Brekekèx was awoken to stand witness. "Why is it still so small?" he asked, gathering the baby once more in his tongue and pulling it towards him. "The land folk grow much slower than us, seer," answered an attendant. "It is pathetic and helpless, when it voids it cries until we wash it, even." "And yet Bokrug has chosen you," he pondered, and cradled the child in his arms, loosing his tongue. "Very well. I shall raise it as my own and teach it everything I know. How to croak, how to hop. It shall want for nothing." He named the child Ribbita, and cared for them intently, never sleeping for twelve years. Brekekèx quickly found that his child lacked the throat to speak the boggard language, and taught them to speak the common tongue of the land folk instead. Ribitta still ate only the slurry of dragonflies, bathing in the visions and ecstacy of Bokrug. They longed for peers and companionship, but while Ribitta grew slowly, boggard tadpoles grew through to maturity within a year's time. Besides, they were the Priest-king's second. They had no peers. When Brekekèx finally reached exhaustion and entered a brief hibernation, Ribitta ran, and none stopped them, fearful of angering the Priest-king. The wind whipped and rain poured as they ran out of the swamp. Bokrug had feelings about this, but Ribitta had no intent to interpret his whims. They came across a cabin, a far cry from the mud huts and hovels of the boggard village. They knocked, desperate for something other than all they had ever known. An answer came, an older woman who welcomed Ribitta in, saying, "the cold and the rain was no place for a child like you. What is your name?" "Ribitta." "Roberta? A beautiful name for a young girl. I'm Susan. Susan Andersen." "What's a girl?" asked the child, having no prior concept of gender; it was meaningless among the boggards. Susan laughed, and then answered, "not many would say so these days but I like to think of myself as one. You can be one too, if you'd like." Desperate for identity, Ribitta nodded, once and then again, waiting for acknowledgement as she had been taught, before realizing that Susan was blind. "I would. How do you live out here, alone, and blind?" asked the young girl. "Oh I get by. Sometimes travelers or people from town will stop by and bring me things." "I could help you," Ribitta offered. She spent two years with Susan Andersen. It took Ribitta a long time to adjust to eating food other than dragonfly slurry, vomiting often at first, both because of her new and varied diet and also from withdrawals brought on by the lack of the poison and hallucinations she had dealt with her whole life. The travelers and townspeople who visited Susan never liked Ribitta. They would always stare, sometimes leaving without talking. One even yelled at her. She didn't like any of it. But then the goblins came. Ribitta had plenty of experience with goblins, as the boggards and the Licktoad goblins were constantly warring with another for control over the marsh; she had even had to find and kill one to prove to Brekekèx that she was an adult and ready for his teachings at age seven. But the boggards were ready for invasion at any time. Susan was caught entirely by surprise. They murdered her and set her home aflame with Ribitta still inside. Her screams and the rain both summoned her family to her. Awakened, Brekekèx came for her; with powerful magic, he extinguished the flame and slaughtered the goblin horde. "The rain called for me," he croaked. "You brought me here to you. Welcome home, child." She did not struggle, finding a strange comfort in her return to the swamp. Brekekèx nurtured her hate and desire for vengeance against the goblins, explaining that Bokrug was not just the god of water and storms, but revenge also. "You shall be a holy warrior, and lead our people into victory over the Licktoad tribe." He gave her his ranseur, Bokrug's holy weapon, and instructed her in its use daily, until it became an extension of herself, easy and efficient. "You have spent time already with the land folk and become accustomed to their ways. Now that you can defend yourself also, lost one, you shall be our emissary. Go to the village and get supplies for us." That was her new role as Brekekèx slept once more, go into Sandpoint and barter for whatever the tribe required. She learned quickly to hide her face; she had seen what she looked like and people just, didn't look like her. Her skin was grey and wet, and no one here had scales or a tail or those bumps on her forehead; the boggards didn't even have tails, except the tadpoles. Sometimes she found her curious appearance came to her advantage, usually she could just growl or croak at someone bothering her and they would leave her alone all together. As much as the people of Sandpoint distrusted her, she grew to crave her visits, to be among people like her, who couldn't hop or croak nearly as impressively as boggards, and who liked food other than just squirrels, rabbits and insects. She grew especially fond of Brodert Quink, a man largely unbothered by her appearance, who welcomed her into his house as long as she pitched in with his research into ancient Bakhrahn and Thassilon as a whole. He called her Betty. The thought of lost civilization fascinated Ribitta, and she spent hours and days with Quink, studying his books and writings and learning the language to the best of her ability. And then the Unpleasantness began. People were less welcoming of her in Sandpoint, spitting at her and throwing bread and rocks at her when she passed, and things weren't easy in the swamp, either. Something had changed in Brekekèx since his last awakening. He was angrier, more aggressive. He began to hunt and kidnap goblins and humans who, as he put it, "trespassed into my swamp," and crucified them along the outskirts of his self declared territory "as a warning." He left Borguk behind entirely, and began to focus his worship on the demon lord, Gogunta. Ribitta tried to spend as much time away from the swamp as possible, fearful of the boggard she once called father, but he would call for her with new tasks and assignments, and she had no choice but to answer. Eventually she discovered that he had begun trying to replace her. Dragonflies were being fed to his tadpoles, as he searched for someone strong enough to take up the mantle in her place. None yet survived. But they grew quick, and he kept trying. Eventually, the Licktoad tribe grew entirely quiet, and he challenged her. "Find out what the Licktoads are plotting, or I will eat you." That night he resumed hibernation, planning to skip the nine months of waiting to see which, if any, of his new tadpoles was a viable candidate. She waded gently through the slime of his bedchambers, stood over his slumbering form and plunged her ranseur- his ranseur -, deep into his fat body. It rained that night. Bokrug bowing his head in gratitude, but also a reminder of a night long ago. Thirteen years back, a fire. She must follow through on Brekekèx's last request; the Licktoads had killed Susan, and she still owed Bokrug her vengeance. And so she left the swamp behind her forever, and headed into town, into Sandpoint. Crunch:
Ribitta Andersen, CN Demon-spawn Tiefling Cleric of Bokrug (Elder Mythos Cultist) 1
Init +1; Perception 0 ------------------------------------------ DEFENSE ------------------------------------------ AC 16, touch 11, flatfooted 15 (+1 Dex +4 Armor +1 Natural) HP 26 (8+2d8+6+3) Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +5 DR/5 Fire ------------------------------------------ OFFENSE ------------------------------------------ Speed 20 ft. Melee Mwk Ranseur 2d4 P, Reach, 20x3 (+5/+3) PA: (+4/+6) Ranged - ------------------------------------------ STATISTICS ------------------------------------------ Str 15, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 15 Base Attack +2; CMB +3; CMD 14 F: +4 R: +2 W: +5 (-2 vs Mind Affecting, auto fail confuse/insane/nightmare if the opposing caster level is higher than my own) Feats: Monstrous Mask, Power Attack Traits: Omen, Scholar of the Ancients Favored Class: Cleric, 3 HP Skills (2/level): Bluff: +7 (1 ranks, 2 CHA, 4 racial to tell lies) Intimidate: +14 (3 ranks, 2 CHA, 3 class, 1 trait, 5 feat) Knowledge (arcana): +8 (2 ranks, 0 INT, 3 class, 1 trait, 2 profane) Background Skills: Knowledge (history): +6 (2 rank, 0 INT, 3 class, 1 trait) Linguistics: +5 (2 rank, 0 INT, 3 class) Lore (Ancient Bakrakhan): +5 (2 rank, 0 INT, 3 class) Lore (Frogs): +4 (1 rank, 0 INT, 3 class) Languages: Common, Abyssal, Goblin, Boggard, Thassilonian Equipment: Mwk Ranseur 310 gp Hide Armor 15 gp Cleric's Kit 16 Collapsible Bathtub 15 gp 4 gp ------------------------------------------ SPECIAL ABILITIES ------------------------------------------ -Class Abilities- Forbidden Knowledge (Ex): An Elder Mythos cultist gains a +2 profane bonus on all Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (planes), and Knowledge (religion) checks, and can attempt these checks untrained. This bonus doubles if the check is related to the Elder Mythos. Unhinged Mind (Ex): Bartering sanity for unspeakable knowledge, an Elder Mythos cultist props up his crumbling sanity with a darkly enigmatic personality. An Elder Mythos cultist uses Charisma instead of Wisdom as his key spellcasting ability score (to determine his spell DCs, bonus spells per day, bonus on concentration checks, and so on), to determine the effects and umber of uses of his domain powers, and to modify his Will saving throws. However, because of the fragile state of his mind, the Elder Mythos cultist takes a –2 penalty on Will saves to resist mind-affecting effects. An Elder Mythos cultist automatically fails any save to resist the effects of confusion, insanity, and nightmare, and other similar effects so long as the effect’s caster level is higher than his character level. Channel the Void (Su): At 1st level, when an Elder Mythos cultist channels energy, he taps into the unthinkable void between the stars. This is similar to channeling negative energy, but instead of healing undead, this blast of energy harms and devours living beings, corporeal non-skeletal undead, and constructs crafted from flesh (such as flesh golems). This is not negative energy damage; instead, the damage manifests in the form of wounds from supernatural deterioration and rot. A creature that would take damage from this energy can attempt a Fortitude save to halve the damage, rather than a Will save. At 8th level, a creature that both fails the Fortitude save and would be killed or destroyed by this effect is entirely disintegrated, leaving behind only a trace of fine dust. A disintegrated creature’s equipment is unaffected. This ability still counts as channel energy, but it counts as neither positive nor negative energy specifically (for example, the Elder Mythos cultist couldn’t take the Turn Undead or Command Undead feat). For the purposes of feats that require channel energy but refer to what happens if the character channels positive or negative energy, this ability alters the listed effect for negative energy. For instance, an Elder Mythos cultist could use Channel Smite to damage living or fleshy creatures with his melee attack. This ability alters channel energy and replaces spontaneous casting. Aura of Chaos Domains: Chaos Touch of Chaos (Sp): You can imbue a target with chaos as a melee touch attack. For the next round, anytime the target rolls a d20, he must roll twice and take the less favorable result. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Spells Prepared:
1
2
Alternate Racial Traits: traded out Fiendish Sorcery for Prehensile Tail, Fiendish Resistance for Scaled Skin, Skilled for Beguiling Liar, traded out SLA for All Around Vision |
