Shelka Dogwood's page

About Shelka Dogwood

CN Female humanoid (Changeling) Fighter 4 / Witch 11
Init. +5; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Perception +0

AC 14 (+1 Dex., +3 armour)
hp 100
Fort +9; Ref +6; Will +8 (+9 vs. fear)

Speed 30 ft.
Melee
+10 Claws; 1d4+1 damage
+10 Unarmed strike; 1d4+1 damage
Ranged +10

Str 13, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 15
Base Atk +9; CMB +10; CMD +21
Feats
Eschew Materials
Greater Grapple
Heighten Spell
Improved Grapple
Improved Initiative
Improved Unarmed Strike
Mother's Gift (Uncanny Resistance)
Run
Silent Spell
Spell Focus (Enchantment)
Still Spell
Skills
Bluff +17 (15 skill ranks, +2 Cha.)
Climb +5 (1 skill rank, +1 Str. +3 class skill)
Fly +8 (5 ranks, +1 Dex., +3 class skill)
Handle animal +7 (2 skill ranks, +2 Cha., +3 class skill)
Heal +7 (4 skill ranks, +0 Wis., +3 class skill)
Knowledge (arcana) +12 (6 skill ranks, +3 Int., +3 class skill)
Knowledge (geography) +8 (1 skill rank, +3 Int., +3 class skill, +1 trait bonus)
Knowledge (nature) +12 (5 skill ranks, +3 Int., +3 class skill, +1 trait bonus)
Knowledge (planes) +10 (4 skill ranks, +3 Int., +3 class skill)
Linguistics +6 (3 skill ranks, +3 Int.)
Profession (cook) +7 (4 skill ranks, +0 Wis., +3 class skill)
Profession (farmer) +7 (4 skills ranks, +0 Wis., +3 class skill)
Ride +8 (4 skill ranks, +1 Dex., +3 class skill)
Spellcraft +10 (4 skill ranks, +3 Int., +3 class skill)
Stealth +8 (3 skill ranks, +1 Dex., +3 class skill, +1 trait bonus); +9 in rocky areas (3 skll ranks, +1 Dex., +3 class skill, +2 trait bonus)
Survival +7 (4 skill ranks, +0 Wis., +3 class skill)
Swim +10 (2 skill ranks, +1 Str., +3 class skill, +4 'racial')
Use Magic Device +10 (5 skill ranks, +2 Cha., +3 class skill)
Traits
Devotee of the Green
Highlander
Languages
Common, Elven, Giant, Hallit, Orc, Shoanti, Varisian
SQ
Armour training, Bravery +1, Cantrips, Claws, Darkvision 60 ft., Green Widow, Hexes (Charm, Coven, Flight, Healing, Slumber), Major Hex (Waxen Image), Patron theme (Strength), Uncanny Resistance (Spell Resistance 21), Witch's familiar (Owl)

Spellcasting

Spells/day: 4 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 4 / 2 / 1

DC 13 + spell level; DC 14 + spell level for Enchantment school spells

Spells known:
0 - All
1 - Charm Person, Divine Favour, Mage Armour, Obscuring Mist, Reduce Person, Sleep, Summon Monster I
2 - Bull's Strength, Cure Moderate Wounds, Delay Poison, See Invisibility, , Summon Monster II, Summon Swarm
3 - Bestow Curse, Deep Slumber, Dispel Magic, Glyph of Warding, Greater Magic Weapon, Remove Disease, Sepia Snake Sigil, Suggestion, , Summon Monster III
4 - Charm Monster, Dimension Door, Divine Power, Greater False Life, Neutralize Poison, Phantasmal Killer, , Summon Monster IV, Vermin Shape II
5 - Baleful Polymorph, Cure Critical Wounds, Mass Pain Strike, Reincarnate, Righteous Might, Summon Monster V, Telepathic Bond
6 - Guards and Wards, Mass Suggestion

Equipment
Owl familiar
Studded leather armour

Background
Once upon a time, a Hag dallied with a human man. Before she devoured the unfortunate soul, he managed to impregnate her, and a baby Changeling was born. The Hag could have slaughtered the squalling infant out of hand, but held back out of some deep instinct for mischief. Instead, she stalked the frozen lands of her home until she found a tribe of nomadic Kellids, bedded down for the night. Her unerring sense of smell lead her to a tent where dreamed a small family - father, mother and baby girl - and she easily made the switch. The Changeling grew up with her new parents, but the fate of the human baby stolen is best left unspoken...

Growing up in the Lands of the Mammoth Lords, Shelka never quite fit in. Even at a young age, her inhuman heritage showed in her heterochromatic eyes and her willowy build. A youth spent living rough in that inhospitable landscape managed to undo the latter, but the former quality remained - as did the girl's burgeoning instinct for matters arcane. For a girl, she was uncommonly physical, much preferring to rough-and-tumble with other children over learning her mother's crafts. When chores needed doing, Shelka usually felt that she should be doing something else, like climbing trees, stalking through the hills or even swimming in the icy rivers.

Around the same time that Shelka developed an interest in boys, she was visited in the dead of night by an Owl, who introduced himself as her familiar and bestowed her first arcane spells on her. The Call came for her around the same time, but the Changeling girl was not interested in following it; her Owl was instructing her in all the arcane secrets she wanted to know every night, and she did not fancy her chances at survival all alone. Shelka kept the magic a careful secret, holding herself back (with increasing difficulty) from using any of her fabulous new powers until she was convinced that she could employ them without being detected. While she did do some little good for her tribe, Shelka mostly used her powers selfishly. She charmed the most handsome men the tribe had into her embrace and her bed, fixed any injury or discomfort she suffered, and brought down minor nuisances on people who annoyed her.

Matters came to a head when the tribe encountered and adopted a Cleric of Gorum. It did not take the holy man long to find out what the source of all the odd 'accidents' and 'hauntings' was. Shelka managed to escape being burned alive or some other, equally brutal fate, by the skin of her teeth -- or rather, the skin of her feet. She travelled far from her tribe's lands and fell in with a band of marauders, young men and women eager to invade the 'weak southern lands' and reap a rich bounty. Shelka herself was not much interested in fighting or killing, but went along on the basis that wealth was always welcome, and she might find a new home with the younglings' tribe when they returned there.

The raiders made it all the way to Varisia, where their leader foolishly ordered a series of raids on the farming communities allied with the grand city of Magnimar. While smoke from burning villages and the wailing of the survivors rose to the heavens, well-disciplined soldiers were on the march. It was not long before the inexperienced raiders were routed, their membership dead, fled -- or captured. Shelka was among the latter.

Things could have gone very badly for the Changeling girl at that point, but she still had her innate guile -- not to mention her magical powers. Abandoning the veneer of Kellid dignity she had been taught during her childhood, she cast away her weapons and armour, and threw herself at the feet of a middle-aged soldier, crying and begging for mercy. Either it was whatever kindness he still held in his battered old heart, or else it was the Suggestion spells the wily Witch cast at him without sound or gesture, but the soldier claimed Shelka as part of his loot from the defeated raiders.

Shelka took to being a slave in name rather well. Her owner, Mannius Dogwood, was well-pleased with a pretty, energetic young woman who knew how to cook, tend minor injuries, and was not shy between the sheets, so he treated her well. The middle-aged soldier was tired of life in the armed service and the city, eager to return to the simpler life as a farmer that he remembered from his youth. It did not take a lot of persuading, even without Shelka's magic, to convince him to take the step he had already been contemplating. Within two years of her 'capture', Shelka was accompanying Mannius to a tidy farmstead in the Varisian countryside. A year more, and Mannius surprised her by properly marrying her; the old soldier-turned-farmer hoped to conceive an heir for his farmstead with her, and a legal heir would be best.

The farm has become Shelka's true home. Moreso than Mannius' ageing body and his skill with weapons, it is her spells that keep the place safe. While Mannius has failed to impregnate her, he remains reasonably well-pleased with the comforts Shelka brings to his home. Thanks to her skill at deception and her spells, he remains largely unaware of Shelka's 'entertainments'.

Current Sketch
Shelka plays the role of a dutiful farmer's wife to perfection. She cooks; she cleans; she tends her husband's cattle; she tends him when he is sick, weary or hurt, and above all she is a charming hostess to the guests he keeps bringing home. After dark, when Mannius is asleep due to the day's work, a bit too much ale, Shelka's embrace or her magic, the Witch sneaks out to the nearby forest.
Over the years, Shelka has discovered girls on the neighbouring farms who possessed the gift for witchcraft, and she has assembled a coven that meets on the nights of the full moon. One of the members is a disguised Green Hag, who cheerfully abstains from hunting in the territory held by her 'sisters' in trade for safety when she lairs there.
When coven matters do not draw Shelka out, the Changeling just likes to roam the wilderness, confident in her ability to subdue or even kill most things that might wish her harm, or else to outrun them. At times, she herself is the threat in the darkness. When she encounters groups of travelers, Shelka spies at them from the darkness, looking for handsome men or treasures she finds she covets. In the latter case, she uses her spells to sow confusion while summoned minions attempt to purloin whatever bauble has caught their mistress' attention. In the former case, Shelka uses her powers over the weather to waylay travellers and drive them towards the farm.
Mannius always welcomes unfortunates who find themselves beset by the 'freak storms' the region is known for. After an evening of good food and charming company, when the guests have retired to their beds, Shelka sneaks to the rooms of whatever men appealed to her most. Her tastes are broad; she is equally fond of inexperienced boys, worldly men, handsome Elves and rugged and burly Orcs or Half-Orcs. If a guest does not succumb to her charms (be they magical or physical), Shelka has no trouble with subduing them through Bull's Strength-augmented wrestling techniques. Even when Mannius catches his wife at her infidelity, Shelka has numerous ways of soothing him and making him forget.