Sophone Tilfaen's page

Sophone was born to fugitive ex-slaves, living in hiding in the hills around Westcrown. Her parents were tillers in the Bellflower Network. Sophone grew up accustomed to secrecy, and with a fear of humans, but she never really understood what slavery was; only that it was bad.

Sophone was born to fugitive ex-slaves, living in hiding in the hills around Westcrown. Her parents were tillers in the Bellflower Network. Sophone grew up accustomed to secrecy, and with a fear of humans, but she never really understood what slavery was; only that it was bad.

All that changed when Sophone was 15 years old. Her family was caught in a sting operation by Hellknights and put to a cruel death as punishment for their "crimes." Sophone was rewarded as a personal slave to one of the Hellknights who had been instrumental in her capture, a member of a respected Chelish noble house. Her childlike beauty did not serve her well for the next seven years of her life. She was spared from manual labor, but the duties she was made to perform were unspeakably worse.

Inside the walls of her prison home, Sophone saw neither flower, nor grass, nor tree for all the years of her slavery. All she saw was the thick stone walls, the elegant tapestries, the finely made furniture. To her, it all seemed rotten, diseased. The only thing she could see outside the manor was the sky, and to it she turned in her solace. The sun, the moon, and the stars reminded her that there was still a world outside her personal hell. Occasionally, she heard the sounds of halfling voices raised in song, in the wee hours of the morning, from somewhere deep below her in the slave quarters, but she was not allowed to mingle with the rest of the slaves. Those voices reminded her that others shared her plight, but they also reminded her how alone she was.

Sophone learned to walk quietly in those years. She learned to get in to locked rooms where she wouldn't be found. She learned to hide. One day, as she was lying silently under a cabinet, she saw the housecat chasing a mouse. She could see that the mouse had no chance to escape. The cat was toying with it, letting it run and then catching it again in its cruelly pointed fangs. All is pain for you, with no way to escape, she thought. Just then, her master walked into the room and looked around. He was about to leave, when he stopped, turned, and ducked down to look under the cabinet.

"There you are, my china doll," he said, pulling her out roughly. "Daddy has been looking all over for you. It's time to play." This was always his way; sadistic treatment of her body was not enough, he also had to play with her mind. As he roughly dragged her away, she thought again of the mouse. And the same for me. Her master was especially viscious that day; she had hidden well, and had taken him longer than usual to find her. But Sophone, still thinking of the mouse, didn't hear his words. She looked at the window and watched the sun slip behind a cloud. He noticed her attention drifting, and hit the side of her head with a cupped hand, making her ears ring. "Is daddy's little girl getting bored? Here, let's play a new game!" His voice receded into the distance, and she drifted away from her physical body.

Hours later, when her master's wicked appetite was sated, Sophone crept, aching, back into the room she had hidden in earlier. It was night, and the clouds had cleared. A moonbeam fell on the floor from the window, illumiating the mouse. It lay still. The well-fed cat had abandoned it. Sophone stared at it. Minutes passed. She knelt in front of it. She lay down beside it, cupped it in her hands, held it to her face. Mouse, she thought, you got away. You are free. The cat can never catch you, and now you live in the moonlight.

Her ears were still ringing. It was all she could hear. Her belly rumbled. She hadn't eaten anything since the thin gruel she got for breakfast. The master liked her thin. She sat up, holding the mouse by its tail. She had eaten mice before. But this mouse was different. It was special. This mouse had shown her something sacred, something pure. She clutched it to her breast and walked to the window. It was locked, but she could unlock it. She opened the window and looked down. The courtyard was three stories below, made of hard black stone. She looked up at the moon, and its light enveloped her, like the arms of her mother, dead these many years. "Mother," she whispered, but she couldn't hear herself.

Sophone, I am here, said the moonlight, You are safe with me. Sophone looked down at those hard black rocks, and looked at the mouse, still clutched in her hand.

No, child, said the moon, Your time will come, but not yet. You are still needed.

When Sophone awoke the next day, the ringing in her ears had diminished, but she still couldn't hear anything else. As time passed, the ringing faded completely away, leaving Sophone in eternal silence. Her master was not pleased. At first, he thought she was ignoring him, but when he finally realized the truth, he sold her off like a broken toy. On the way to the auction house, Sophone was rescued by Lupi Rhatwell, an escaped slave from the same manor, and the two have been hiding out together in Westcrown ever since.

Female halfling commoner 1 / seeker (oracle) 1
Height: 2'6"
Weight: 25 lb.
Age: 22
Deity: Pharasma

Description]
Sophone is slight, even for a halfling. She is shockingly beautiful, with skin like porcelain, a dainty nose, faintly dimpled cheeks, and gleaming platinum-blonde hair. However, her beauty is somehow unreal, even disconcerting. She looks like a human child, a mere toddler -- or a doll, a stylized representation of youth and innocence. Yet her black eyes have a faraway, desperate look, and she never smiles or speaks. When she walks, her feet make no sound, and she leaves no footprints, as though she were a spirit, not even there.

Personality
Sophone is devoted to the goddess Pharasma, who she identifies with the light of the moon. The whispers of the moon are the only thing she can hear. She carries a dead mouse with her at all times, and may silently consult with it in times of difficulty. Though she is fascinated with corpses, Sophone abhors the undead; she considers death to be the ultimate freedom, and undeath the ultimate slavery. She is also generally opposed to magical resurrection, although if she met an emissary of Pharasma in the afterlife and was directed to return, she would obey.

Her early upbringing in the Bellflower Network and her years of abuse at the hands of a human master have left Sophone deeply mistrustful of big people, and equally compassionate for the weak and oppressed. She considers the law and honor of big people, and Cheliax in particular, to be a thinly veiled rationalization for the strong to bully the weak. She does not scruple to use trickery, mind-effecting magic, poison, or other "dishonorable" means in the defense of the downtrodden.

Small humanoid (halfling)
Init -1 (+3 dex, -4 deaf)
Senses shadow child; Perception +3 (no sound-based)

DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+2 armor, +3 Dex, +1 size)
hp 13 of 13 (1d8 +1d6 +1 favored class)
Fort +1 (+1 race)
Ref +4 (+3 dex, +1 race)
Will +3 (+2 base, +1 race); +2 vs. fear

OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee dagger +4 (+3 dex, +1 size) (1d3-2/19-20) (-2 str)
Ranged dagger +4 (+3 dex, +1 size) (1d3-2/19-20) (-2 str)
Ranged light crossbow +4 (+3 dex, +1 size) (1d6/19-20)
Ranged blowgun +4 (+3 dex, +1 size) (1)

Oracle Spells Known (CL 1, Concentration +7 (1 CL, +4 cha, +2 trait), touch +4)
1st level (4/4 per day): bane (DC 15), cure light wounds, sanctuary
Orisons (at will): detect magic, guidance, light, light

STATISTICS
Str 7; Dex 16; Con 10; Int 12; Wis 11; Cha 19
BAB 0
CMB -3 (-1 size, -2 str)
CMD 10 (-1 size, -2 str, +3 dex)
Feats Childlike
Traits Desperate Focus, Shadow Child
Skills
Acrobatics +5 (+3 dex, +2 race)
Appraise +1 (+1 int)
Bluff +4 (+4 cha)
Climb 0 (-2 str, +2 race)
Diplomacy +4 (+4 cha)
Disable Device +8 (1 rank, +3 dex, +3 class, +1 tinkerer)
Disguise +4 (+4 cha) (+6 to appear as human child)
Escape Artist +3 (+3 dex)
Fly +5 (+3 dex, +2 size)
Heal +4 (1 rank, +3 class)
Intimidate +4 (+4 cha)
Perception +7 (2 rank, +3 class, +2 racial) (+8 to find traps)
Ride +3 (+3 dex)
Sense Motive 0
Spellcraft +5 (1 rank, +1 int, +3 class)
Stealth +9 (2 rank, +3 dex, +4 size)
Survival 0
Swim -2 (-2 str)

Languages Common (written only), Halfling (written only), Sign Language
SQ fearless, halfling luck, keen senses, lure of the heavens, oracle mystery (heavens), oracle's curse (deaf), swift as shadows, tinkering, weapon familiarity

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Deafened (Ex): –4 penalty on initiative checks, automatically fails Perception checks based on sound, –4 penalty on opposed Perception checks
Fearless (Ex): +2 Racial bonus on saves vs. fear
Halfling Luck (Ex): +1 Racial bonus on all saves
Keen Senses: +2 Racial bonus on Perception checks
Lure of the Heavens (Su): no longer leave tracks
Mystery: Heavens: Bonus Spells: color spray (2nd), hypnotic pattern (4th), daylight (6th), rainbow pattern (8th), overland f light (10th), chain lightning (12th), prismatic spray (14th), sunburst (16th), meteor swarm (18th)
Oracle's Curse (Ex): Deaf; Cannot hear and suffer all of penalties for being deafened; cast all of spells as if modified by Silent Spell w/out increase to level or casting time
Swift as Shadows: Stealth penalty while moving reduced by 5; Stealth penalty for sniping reduced by 10
Tinkering (Ex): Gain Disable Device as a class skill. Adds half oracle level on Perception to locate traps and on all Disable Device (minimum +1). Can use Disable Device to disarm magical traps.
Weapon Familiarity (Halfling): proficient w/ Sling; all "Halfling" weapons are Martial

Equipment
Worn:
peasant's outfit
leather armor

Carried on person:
dagger
blowgun (made from a polished bone)
light crossbow
bolts (20 remain)
blowgun darts (10 remain)
thieves' tools
dead mouse
small chalkboard (on a string around her neck)
chalk

Weight carried: 14 lb
Light: 17; Med: 35; Heavy: 53; Lift off ground: 105; Push/drag: 263

Total value of Gear: 87g 5c