Sharea's page

Sharea closes her eyes for a few moments. Next time she would pose as a tough pirate woman that slices anyone who makes unwelcome advances.

She waves dismissively.
"Knowing him, it won't take long anyway... and..." she adds a grin, "it won't hurt your chances to conduct a lot more business. No reason to not be generous to who's generous to us."

Diplomacy (Aid another): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22

She had no idea how to disable the alarm, though, that's not her field of expertise. She casts a glance over to Cil and raises an eyebrow, wondering whether Cil needs Sharea to step with a carefully placed charm spell.

Actually I don't have to roll to "aid another" on diplomacy, since I can't usually score less than 10, anyway.

Hmmmm. Don't have knowledge local, unfortunately.

Just to make sure that I am not missing anything: We are trying to distract folks in order to get through into the warehouse without anyone stopping us, right?

And we do have the box with the replacement vase with us?

I checked Sharea's stats again and noticed she is good in both diplomacy and intimidate, but I don't think that would be very helpful at the moment.

As she gets a clap on the bum she can barely stop herself from giving Falko a cold stare. Instead she forces herself to grin a bit stupid.

As Saronis indicates interes in the brothel she pouts. "I don't get silver an' now you're askin' for another whores... those are rotten with all kindsa diseases."

To the bartender she adds: "Woulda be mighty kind of you, an' he's not gonna drop it anyway. But if you don't... I can do all kinds of eksotic to earn that one. Them's no fun when they are in bad mood, but quite generous when back from successful trip." She deliberately pronounced the word "exotic" a bit wrong, as though she did not truly know what it meant. She took a good sip from her grog (about the quality one might expect in such a place, but she has drunken worse things and she was actually thankful for the amount of water in it). She smiled friendly at him and leaned back. "Besta get over with and reap the coin."

Diplomacy (Aid Another): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19

With the bartender out of the picture they would have to worry about the guards first and foremost. She might use a charm spell to distract one - of course she was pretty sure that she could do so without using a spell, but then she might be she might manoeuvre herself into a position in which it may be tricky to get out.

I am sorry, I find it hard to focus on my play by post games recently. I'll post more regularly.

A priate bar. Not exactly the place she would have chosen herself. She was used of wearing disguises, but as maiden in Stormhome was a lot better than as a pirate damsel in such a crowd. She kept close to Falko and tried to raise the impression she was his ... pretty young escort. (She actually thought a different word at first, but she would not even admit that to herself.)

Fortunately looking sullen and annoyed was perfectly alright, so she put some emphasize to it and the drive to either fight or flee was ever present. "Do we have to suffer those landlubbers, masta? Will I get a grog? Am bored." She tried her best to look like a dumb, starry-eyed tramp. She did not speak too loud, otherwise she would only emphasize that she was not a pirate at all and knew precious little about skyfaring; shamefully little for a Lyrandar in fact.

She tried to figure out the best way to emphasize her supposedly bad manners and decided to dig her nose. Hopefully Cil would get them out of here soon.

"A little help with the disguise would be appreciated." grumbled Sharea. Not particularly keen on the idea anyway.

She squinted uncomfortably sideways. "It might be advisable to keep the back of my neck hidden, if not by hair then by something else." She wore her dragon mark with a certain pride, even though it was hardly an achievement. She had kept it hidden from everyone who did not need to know about it for now. She wasn't particularly worried if Cil found out about it, even though she did not know how she might react.

I am ready to move on... into the sewers.

"Dirtier..." Sharea repeats and her expression makes it apparent how little thinks about the idea. "Would a cloak to veil me do by any chance? I can hold in the background as much as needed. I take pride in my... Can't I pass as the pretty wh... doll by some pirate captain's side?" she stopped herself. Alright, she was vain, but deliberately looking dirty just to deal with scum? The smell in there alone must be painful if half of what she knows about the area is correct.

If those were sky pirates... well, she had not grown up as Lyrandar and all of this was relatively new to her, but it had not taken her long to inherit her family's resentment for sky pirates.

The prospect of going through the sewers silenced her right again. The tubes and pipes of these towers were not places visit. They would be lucky if everything they found there would at least be dead. But going through the front door did not seem like a good idea at all.

Sharea does not have Knowledge (Local), max DC is 10
Knowledge (Local: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

Sharea did not reply as he shrugged her attempt to entice him off. She would certainly not kiss him, unless in the unlikely case that he earned it. He was beating her at her favourite game. The question for the compensation surprised her, but as a Deneith he was a professional in that matter. The amount of money involved surprised her a bit and while the prospect of earning that much was most welcome, it worried her as well.

She hoped she would not serve some dark purpose or some common criminal to do things worse than smuggling, but it would be pointless to ask for details, but his self-righteous attitude angered her. "I suppose our success is in your best interest. Thusly, a few more details to ensure it would be appropriate; you are our client, not the other way around, if I am not mistaken. If your perception of the situation deviates from mine, please elaborate. Here's looking at you, Kid."

She took a sip from her drink and thought about a task, unsure how that was supposed to help. "There is nothing I can do about an alarm spell in place, I am afraid. But as you know, I have means to help as get away..." the thought lightened up her mood. Illusions were insanely slippery by their very nature, and yet a well placed illusion could buy a couple of heartbeat here or there.

Sorry, changed the medium paragraph 10 minutes after I posted the original version. Could not resist about the Casablanca quote. ;)

Sharea smirks as Cil enchants Shalya with the disguise "Well, you look gorgeous." Before they leave she remarks calmly: "Whoever your client is, he must be extremely powerful. I am not sure what that means, but I would not be surprised if his trouble with the shifters were of a different kind than ours. I am most curious to meet him, but the things we're dealing with might be bigger than we thought."

That certainly makes things more interesting and a powerful ally might come in handy, though the strange feeling of still being played gnaws on her.

When they meet their 'client', Sharea steps forward, returns the spark in his eyes with her own and reaches out her hand for him to take in a lady-like gesture. "... and yet, I am grateful for such a pleasurable venue to meet you, sir." She adds to Cil's statement. "And even more so to make your acquaintance. After such a distressful night, that certainly is a welcome change of events." She angled her head a little and showed him a grin as though there was more she was not saying. "I am Sharea." She indicated a curtsey without breaking eye contact.

I am assuming that he might be sexually attracted to Sharea and thus the Charming applies, otherwise it's +10
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

She has a bit of a bad conscious to play herself into the foreground and disregard the others - especially Saronis. The man had said that he knew him, but she wanted his attention on herself, to be able to use her best flirt-fu and hit him with her best shot. All of this was unusual and he had used a very powerful spell to contact Cil, so it might be worthwhile to try and get through to him, even though she hardly expected to be able to wrap him around her little finger. Apart from that, he was good looking, even though she strongly preferred her own kind. The way he acted she would not be surprised if his way of utilizing magic was not so very unlike her own. They just did. But there was certainly no silver dragon in that red head.

Her voice carried a distinct fake-elven accent. But just like her dagger, fake-elven just meant as authentic half-elven as it gets. She was curious what Saronis would think about it, she wouldn't be surprised if it annoyed him.

Now Sharea is completely surprised: "Hate you? Why, I am worried. I don't hate you." She reaches her slender hand out for Shalyna and offers it along with an encouraging smile.

Sharea tries to find out what that halo was and how the message was relayed. She will also cast detect magic if she may do so in time before the effect fades.
Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

"Thank you, indeed." she added friendly to Saronis.

"You have a client you don't know? Is that in any way related to the trouble we're in as far as you know?" Either Cil wasn't willing to give the gender of her client away or she didn't know it. Sharea suspected the latter.

Pondering, she arches her head a little. "I hope this is not a trap to call us, even though subtlety did not seem our chasers' speciality so far." She wasn't exactly comfortable that the idea of checking Baric was so easily discarded, especially since they were going to go out anyway. They needed more information. Yet it was indeed very difficult to say who was friend and foe at the moment.

She raises an eyebrow on Shalyna's outburst. If it wasn't for those strange spark, she would have thought it was a bad dream. Understandable given the circumstances. Right now Sharea isn't quite sure whether she just witnessed a misplaced prank or whether there is indeed something wrong with Shalyna. "Are you alright?" she asks, focusing her those steady green eyes; calm yet with the promise of an underlying fury.

If that was magic (including supernatural effects) Sharea would notice, due to the earlier detect magic.

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

"So, you think all of this has something to do with this job." Sharea mumbles in the half dark, busy cleaning her dresses and getting them straight again to achieve some sense of normality. "I wasn't even in on it, so why target me? And why let me run? What was this show of Force meant to achieve... the authorities don't care about the usual gang war down there, but as soon as members of..." she wanted to say "dragon marked houses are involved that drives it too far", because that did not just include Falko, whom she was originally referring to, but also herself.

She made sure all shutters were tightly closed before she cast a light spell on her dagger.

"I do have a contact, I might talk to... if we manage that in silence. You're thinking what I am thinking, Cil?"

Sorry, I would have had a Cure Light Wounds potion, but that's a little late now, I suppose.

Sharea hastily runs for it as she sees the others depart, gathering the skirt part of her dress with the left. She has used half her magical power so far and there is no telling how long this chase will last. On several occasions she considers to use an illusion to distract their enemies from their trail, but it does not seem absolutely necessary, so she abstains from it.

"If it helps, I can use illusions to create false dead ends to hide our route, hide chasms in the tower or create a non-existing threat, just tell me where, I don't know the environment as good as you do and my power is not unlimited." she hisses to Cil.

"blessed by the dark blood", echoes the words of that thug in her mind. She tries to dig her mind and all the books she read for a clue; she may not be an expert on cults, but if it has anything to with magic... Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

"Do you know a good place to hide where we can recover and figure out what's going on?"

Did that guy have spell resistance or simply so many hit points that he does not care about a magic missile? I can use a Silent Image to hinder our pursuers, but I have already used three (2 x Magic Missile + 1 x Mage Armor) of my six spells today. (The Gust of Wind was a dragon mark power, not a spell.)

I will place it on the window then. The next round I shall move back to the kitchen and use another magic missile.

It's a line... I don't want to catch my own people in it. If that's not possible I rather not do it. I am primarily focused on the two newcomers...

Panic is building at the edge of Sharea's mind, but she has lost the students already, she won't leave anyone else behind today. The different calls are confusing her... Are we leaving or aren't we?

But however frightened she may be, there is still a dragon in her. Quite literally. Heat builds up in the back of her neck as the mark starts to glow and in walking backwards she thrusts the winds of the dragon against her foes.

She activates the least Mark of Storm to summon a Gust of Wind. They have to succeed a strength check DC 15 (assuming they are medium size to move against it) and every open flame like a torch or candle is automatically extinguished. I will try to position it so that I hinder our enemies but my allies, if that ain't possible I'll have to try something else.

While she does so she retreats further into the kitchen.
Normal move action.

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (12) + 0 = 12

I updated my profile to include the mage armour. It lasts for three hours...

"Rook, time to seek the safer end of bravery! Come!" Sharea calls out and throws nonchalantly two magic missiles out of her left hand at the one climbing through the window, without actually stopping to move towards the kitchen door.

Single move towards the kitchen door, magic missile at the attacking shifter. Damage: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (4, 4) + 2 = 10

Sharea slips her dagger out of the sheath attached to her dress and her left is raised to cast a spell. "That's too many... how..."

She interrupts herself and focuses. "There is a back door in the kitchen. Apart from that we could climb the tower up or down for an exit, but that would be several stories. I can cover our way with illusions." She rushes her fingers through her hair and adjust her dress to gather her composure. Now is not the time to hesitate or worry.

I'll use an illusion like making it appear like there was a broom chamber behind a door we went through or that the floor was our or a fire blocking the way, especially if there are actual fires nearby, given the opportunity.

Without thinking much about it she mumbles: "Strands of arcane shelter me." and runs her open hands over her body.*

____
* Mage armour

Sorry, I am still here.

A little later Sharea arrives at the Rusty Tankard a little later. On the outside she appears cool and smooth as ever, though it easy to see for one who knows him that something must have agitated her greatly.

"Where is Cil?" she asks the next best patron in unusual, direct fashion. "I need to talk to her."

Once she finds Cil (which she hopefully does eventually) she tells her story. She tells of the letter that she found, how she thought that it was some kind of invitation to a game, how she found some students in the dormitories to play along, and how she head been wrong and those... shifters or whatever they may have been had killed the students, but spared killed her. You may review my latest spoilers. Something out there is after Sharea, something that does indeed kill just to scare her. But whatever that something is, it is not attacking Sharea directly yet.

Well, just cut this is short as possible. I wanted to just go on and write a post where she coming into the Rusty Tankard and meets the others, but in order to do so I must have an understanding of what went on. At the moment I could say: "Hello folks... something happened." and if I was to explain what "something" means I'd be at a loss.

I would really like to meet up with the group and get going.

Sharea smirks.

She thought for a moment.
"... what you should bring. Paper and ink for clues if they need a little help. Well, make sure you got your spell components. A blanket or two would not be bad and it's definitely a good choice to bring your dagger. Staffs or so would not be bad, either. We have to get relatively deep down to make it interesting. And you Rose..." Sharea liked the little brat. "Depending how badly you want to be caught... no, I will check by the little alchemy shop myself." She rather wanted to get contraception potions from an alchemist she trusted. The way Rose was dressed up it appeared that at least one of them might need it.

"Don't worry Deven. We have to be a bit careful, but I am sure it's going to be fun. True magic is out there! Consider this a study at what magic truly means. I don't know every single one of them, but I know the writer of this letter." Unless it was actually a trap, of course. But she did not like to even think about that right now. "You're going to like her."

When Sharea read the first lines she blinked twice. First she thought it was a threat. A took her a moment that it was actually an invitation. It was a bit silly to play catch as a grown up woman to engage in something like this, especially for a member of a Dragonmarked House. But! If she were that grown up she would not have used this masquerade after all.

Where was she supposed to find someone who would play along with this? The note said she was supposed to bring friends. Well, there were a few adventurous types among the academy students. Pretty lasses, but not too pretty, Sharea liked to stand out after all. A little gang of two humans (faculty: evocation and summoning) and a gnome illusionist. They would not do their home work anyway, so she might as well ask them to come along for the ride.

And the her own illusion capabilities added to that of a gnome illusionist would sure make it interesting.

She packed in extra bottle of wine in case she needed a bribe and left for the dormitories of the academy.

On the way she was thinking about where she should hide and whether she should leave some clues to make it not too difficult. The city was pretty big. Something spooky and intense, probably. A graveyard? An old section torn by war? An industry ruin or an abandoned slaughterhouse?

Finally she reached the the dormitories, went down (pretty dirty and graffity covered) tunnels and passed by the students with a business-like demeanor. When she finally reached the room she was looking for she knocked and put on a more friendly face. "Hi! Don't worry, you're not in trouble, unless you want to. The professor did not send me, I am here on my own... and don't call me Miss You-know-who, I am the White Lady. May I come in?" She waved with the letter.

Sharea shut the door silently as she entered her apartment. She felt like slamming it, she forced herself to keep quiet. She felt terrible but she knew she did that to herself. She looked on the floor whether there was a letter from her sister slid through the door, but it was empty. She put down the little crate she was carrying and looking inside it cheered her up a little. Wine. From home. From Mister Summers wine farm in Wyr. It was good wine, but not particularly valuable wine, a few silver pieces for a wine of similar quality in the shops of Sharn.

Yet it was a piece of home, so she had imported it via skyship. Not smuggled but perfectly legal, she actually paid all the import taxes, which exceeded the price of skyship transport by far.

Now she only had to find someone to drink it with.

It was a beautiful day to, the sun was shining through the light gaps into the towers of Sharn. Kids were playing in the streets and greeted her as she passed by. I should get myself some of those. she thought, not for the first time. And for a moment she allowed herself to dream of a simple life, with a husband and kids and unimportant but not disrespected position in house Lyrandar. A life like that of her neighbours, a friendly lot.

When the thought faded she realized what she had done without thinking about it. Taken her jewellery off and put it in her backpack, removed the garter belt and silk stockings under her dress and replaced them with short suede pants, replaced her elegant shoes with smooth suede boots, checked the remarkable dagger she found at a bazaar in the depth, elegant, handy, well weighed and yet so distinctly fake-elven that it could not be more authentic half-elven craft. Her scroll case was in place hooked into subtle slope in the side of her dress - she hated wearing belts and the magic ring in her left hand's index finger.

And suddenly, when she looked in the mirror and applied the fantastic markings she liked so much in with a coal stick, she felt real again and the woman in the mirror responded with a smile. Goodbye, arcane academy employee Sharea and hello sorceress Sharea. In a flight of vanity she added the d'Lyrandar mentally to the thought.

A smoky jazz club in an area of the city where the White Lady would be recognized would do her good right now and she wondered how Cil was doing.

To Cil, Saronis and Falko, yes. :) All right, gotta get some groceries and then I'll write something... starting with how she prepares in her own apartment, if I got that right.

The story isn't the best I've ever written. A lot of kitsch, a lot of Cinderella in there. But I think when I rewrote the original I made it a bit more plausible and gave it at least a bit more spice.

Alright... I think this character is finished so far. May I post now?

She might as well know Falko. She does not usuaully represent house Lyrandar in affairs dealing with other houses, but there may have been a matter that was simply not very important and Sharea was readily available. Maybe a dig of the academy she works needed security and thus she dealt with Falko as member of her house. Later Falko recognized her in her more shady dealings with Cil and Sharea came to visit Falko to implore him to keep quiet about this.

You could have a connection to Saronis easily he could be a friend, mentor, or such to your father. Saronis could be related to Sharea somehow, he could be her uncle or some other familial tie. Lots of options, the only question is how you want to incorporate him or others. If there is a familial tie, it would make even more sense why a dragonmark appeared on you Sharea.

Recent background and events

Part of the background was that she lives in Sharn now after not being not welcome in Stormhome.

While she commands magic intuitively she is curious about magic. While she has no intention of becoming a wizard she works at the university for a professor, helping him severely to spice his lectures up, making them actually popular among the students and thus deepening her own understanding of magic by experiencing it without being forced into the thinking of a wizard.

She is not actually unhappy, but she is more and more drifting into an all too normal life as an employee and she would very much like to find ways to prove herself and ... well, she is not naive, but cannot deny quite romantic dreams of adventures. Which is why she hangs out at the borders of the underground and delves in information brokerage and provides magical expertise as "QD1".

She is supposed to be a bit of a femme fatale in film noir, but a well meaning one.

She lives in a half-elven community in Sharn, like most half-elves she prefers to stick to her own and likes to involve herself in the community, but keeps that strictly separate from her "adventures".

As you can see from the stats, the familiar was removed, because sorcerers in Pathfinder don't usually have familiars (as opposed to D&D 3). And since she is a dragonmark wielder, she has a dragon bloodline. Silver Dragon to be specific.

Equipment
Well, some items that Tanira had do not make sense for Sharea. In order to be done quickly I bought a ring of protection +1 for 2000 gp and a masterwork dagger, leaving me with 700 gp of which I spend 500 gp on minor things.

Post Rate
I would like once per day. More often is tricky, due to the difference in time zone and because we post at different times of the day - I live in GMT+1.

Connections
She may know Saronis, but then more from her youth at the edge of the forest. She lived near the village of Wyr in Aundair as a child. So I suppose he might know Sharea's mother. Sharea's father is captain of a skyship of house Lyrandar. Sharea's parents met back when he was a lieutenant and their ship had to perform a crash landing near Wyr and they needed appropriate wood to fix the damage. Sharea's mother knew the forest best and... well, the two had a very intense yet short relationship. But I don't see how Saronis would know a trade captain of one of the houses.

She may know Cil, especially if she originally posed as a half elf... helping her with smuggling operations and cast a "silent image" or a "charm person" here and there to cover things up, but she does not wish to be directly involved into anything illegal and would definitely not use the her real name in this context. She would trade her services for rare magical components to get some support at the academy in order to make the professor look over a glitch in operations or other resources disappearing now and then. She would definitely be inclined to help the oppressed and make life a little easier for them. She would not do anything she considers outright unethical. Ultimately she's not in it for the money (she is not greedy and has enough) nor out of altruism (she is a good girl but that's not what drives her), but for the excitement.

Oooof. I clicked together a character in my generator as fast as I could. An English version of the background is still pending, though I think I will write a condensed version at first in order to get started. To connect with the others... we shall see.