Here's my final submission for Tessaviri Cervallin (the current alias is for an earlier PFS version). I bumped a few things around mechanically & story-wise from the last post, but not much.
Edit: oops. The background changed way more than I expected in the new writeup...much more than just fleshed out some more. I like how it came out though. The mechanical build didn't change a ton. I wasn't able to take Power Attack yet, so Elephant in the Room adjustments weren't really a thing.
The crisp, frosty morning air
Melody of the Shudderwood
Shaded glades gleaming as the sun rises
The world ends
"On occasion, some have asked me what I saw when the god of the humans died. The truth is that I didn't see much. It's odd to say that the end of the world seemed ordinary, but much of the time it was. The sun rises and sets. You try to find food and help someone else if you can. That sort of thing..."
"A great storm came that was a herald of the destruction to come. It shook the Shudderwood fiercely, but the elders told us not to worry: that this storm would pass like all the others before it. They didn't know what was happening just outside our forest."
"I was very young then, when the demons came. We first heard of attacks on outlying parts of the forest and my father and brother left to go defend our homes with others from the village. We never saw them again. My older sisters and I tried to flee, but it was already too late. The demons came and the horse I was on scattered into the wind while my sisters gave their lives to save me."
"Somehow I escaped. A Sarkorian took me in as he fled the demons. Even with so little left of their own, they shared with me what they had as well all tried to escape the coming destruction."
"Then came the crusade. I remember the skepticism of those around me. What could the followers of a mere herald of a god who no longer answered prayers do to stop the end of the world? I thought differently...that they would take vengeance for my family and push the demons back to where they came. We were both wrong. I don't think anyone could have imagined how long this would go on...that it could possibly result in the long wars we've seen ever since."
"The world is still ending, you know. You can see it for yourself."
Tessaviri was born in the year, 4589 AR and was still a child when Aroden died and the Worldwound opened. She fled from the demons while the elves from her forest village, including her father and sisters, died to buy time for the children to escape. A demon attacked them as they fled, and Tessaviri was only saved by the appearance of a Kellid ranger who drove the demon away to look for easier prey. The man's name was Krangu, and she followed him about as he left Sarkoris behind and began a life of hunting the edges of the Estrovian Forest. They rarely talked, but so long as Tessaviri was mostly able to keep up with him, he left food out for her and made space in his shelter.
Krangu's migratory path each year took him through the domain of a wolf pack, and he taught Tessaviri to form a bond with them – the wolves were hunters just like they were, but were older and possessed the land, whatever the cityfolk of Mendev thought. As winter was setting in and as spring began, they would stop to observe the wolves and pay their respects before leaving again.
When Krangu died Tessaviri was still too young to survive all by herself in the wild, so she went to the city and found her way to an orphanage in Egede run by the church of Iomedae, which was only then gaining a presence in the region. Soon Tessaviri found herself helping the priests as they cared for wounded knights and soldiers brought back from the frontline fighting against the demons. She was too young to act as a healer, but she could fetch water and bandages as they worked.
One day, a young nobleman named Amos Cervallin was brought back from the front. While his wounds had been healed, he suffered from a demonic fever that the priests of Iomedae were unable to root out. Tessaviri stayed with him through the night as he suffered and died. Amos left his sword with her, and asked the healers to return it to his family. No other priests could be spared for the task, and Tessaviri volunteered to make the delivery to the Cervallin home off the Lake of Mists and Shadows.
That journey began the next major chapter of Tessaviri's life. The Cervallin family thanked her for delivering their son's arms to them and hired her to work for them as a maid. Over time, she helped to raise generations of their children as a household servant. The Cervallins were a martial household, arrived from Cheliax at the start of the First Crusade and were firm believers in the Inheritor. Several children Tessaviri knew as babies outgrew her and died in the Worldwound while she was still herself a child. Though sorrowful at the deaths, she took renewed joy in her duties as she continued to serve the descendants of the fallen.
As Tessaviri finally approached adulthood herself she fell in love with one of the Cervallin scions named Turio and received permission to marry into the family. Two years after her wedding, Tessaviri received word of Turio's death while she was still with child. She named her son Norithos.
Tessaviri planned to stay with the Cervallins and raise her son but fate had other ideas. Seven years after Norithos was born, her left arm began to throb painfully and soon an old wound reopened where a demon's talon had sliced her a century before. Alarmed, the Cervallins brought her to healers in Egede who found themselves unable to stanch the wound. Only after a night spent praying before a shrine to the Inheritor did the injury seal, though the mark remains.
While recovering from the injury, Tessaviri dreamed of the forest clearing where she had been attacked by the demon so many years before. Instead of fleeing children, she saw a wolf that leapt at the demon and tore out its throat. As the demon's blood fell, swords sprouted up from the ground around it. Much about the dream defied explanation, but Tessaviri felt deep in her heart that the Inheritor was calling her to service.
Obedient to the call of the goddess, she moved with her son to Egede to begin training as a priest of Iomedae. As her training concluded, Tessaviri received an order to deploy to Kenabres. She brought Norithos one last time to visit the wolf pack she had continued to visit as Krangu had taught her. Unlike before, one of the young wolves not yet a year old approached them. Tessaviri recognized the wolf from her dreams and when they left the forest, the wolf followed her. She named her new friend Karogo.
Leaving Norithos in the care of the Cervallins, Tessaviri left for Kenabres in search of the destiny Iomedae called her to.
Took a spin through the background questions to see if I'm forgetting anything. In my head I'd answered a lot of these questions already which is nice. It would be good to formalize it more here though.
Tessaviri Background questions:
1. What is your character’s name? Tessaviri Erisanthe when she was born. Took the surname of Cervallin when she was adopted by a Chelaxian crusader family.
2. How old is your character? Exact age depends on our starting year. If we use the real-world release date of August 2013 and translate that to a Golarion year, she would be 124.
3. What would somebody see at first glance (i.e. height, weight, skin color, eye color, hair color, physique, race, and visible equipment)? White hair with green eyes. She stands out in Mendev largely by being an elf.
4. What additional attributes would be noticed upon meeting the character (i.e. Speech, mannerisms)?
5. Where was your character born? Where were you raised? By who? She was born in the Shudderwood. She was raised first by her parents until they died, then by a succession of humans that took her in. Next was a Kellid ranger named Gron, who helped her escape the ruins of Sarkoris and taught her how to live in the wild. Finally the Cervallin family that she joined first as a servant before eventually being adopted after living with them for a few generations.
6. Who are your parents? Are they alive? What do they do for a living? Tessa's mother left home well before the Worldwound opened, but she hasn't found word of her since.
7. Do you have any other family or friends? Living longer than those around her, Tessaviri has had plenty of opportunity to have friends, many of whom might be advanced in age now. Her family is with the Cervallins, who may get a lineage written up eventually. She would probably have some friends in the Church of Iomedae as well. I can easily imagine her being friends with some of the older church members in Kenabres, whom she might have served alongside since they were children. I haven't written up anyone specific yet though.
8. What is your character’s marital status? Kids? In the prior thread, I had Tessaviri marrying into the Cervallin family and she had a half-elf son. I'm vacillating on that point now.
9. What is your character’s alignment?
10. What is your character’s moral code? She isn't a paladin, but I'd expect a cleric of Iomedae to be no less bound to her vows. She lived through the witch hunts of the Third Crusade and I expect her to be very off-put by that sort of zealotry. She also continues to be influenced by her childhood spent in the wilds and has a deep respect for the natural world.
11. Does your character have goals? My internal justification for the Divine Hunter archtype is that Tessaviri has been called to raise a new line of wolves made to hunt down demons--hence the Celestial template for her companion Karogo. She doesn't have that class feature *yet* though, so it might be a goal she picks up early in the campaign.
12. Is your character religious?
13. What are your character’s personal beliefs?
14. Does your character have any personality quirks (i.e. anti-social, arrogant, optimistic, paranoid)?
15. Why does your character adventure? Tessaviri has lived almost her whole life in the shadow of the Worldwound. Beyond her father & sisters, that ongoing struggle would have cost her many friends and associates over the course of her life. Generations of humans have grown up and found glory or perished in the Worldwound while she has been forced to wait on the sidelines. She probably feel an odd mix of indebtedness & eagerness to finally be able to take on the fight herself.
16. How does your character view his/her role as an adventurer?
17. Does your character have any distinguishing marks (birth-marks, scars, deformities)?
18. How does your character get along with others?
19. Is there anything that your character hates?
20. Is there anything that your character fears?
I'd like to re-submit Tessaviri Cervallin, modified this time to a Divine Hunter/Cleric of Iomedae & more melee focused than my prior plan.
Background:
Note: My ideas for her background have evolved a bit since my last submission. The essentials are still the same, but it's a bit in flux. I'm short on time for this post to get it all hammered down.
The crisp, frosty morning air
Melody of the Shudderwood
Shaded glades gleaming as the sun rises
The world ends
"On occasion, some have asked me what I saw when the god of the humans died. The truth is that I didn't see much. It's odd to say that the end of the world seemed ordinary, but much of the time it was. The sun rises and sets. You try to find food and help someone else if you can. That sort of thing..."
"A great storm came that was a herald of the destruction to come. It shook the Shudderwood fiercely, but the elders told us not to worry: that this storm would pass like all the others before it. They didn't know what was happening just outside our forest."
"I was very young then, when the demons came. We first heard of attacks on outlying parts of the forest and my father and brother left to go defend our homes with others from the village. We never saw them again. My older sisters and I tried to flee, but it was already too late. The demons came and the horse I was on scattered into the wind while my sisters gave their lives to save me."
"Somehow I escaped. Some Sarkorians took me in as they fled the demons. Even with so little left of their own, they shared with me what they had as well all tried to escape the coming destruction."
"Then came the crusade. I remember the skepticism of those around me. What could the followers of a mere herald of a god who no longer answered prayers do to stop the end of the world? I thought differently...that they would take vengeance for my family and push the demons back to where they came. We were both wrong. I don't think anyone could have imagined how long this would go on...that it could possibly result in the long wars we've seen ever since."
"The world is still ending, you know. You can see it for yourself."
Tessaviri was born in the year, 4589 AR and was still a child when Aroden died and the Worldwound opened.
One of the Sarkorians that rescued her as a child gave her a home as he hunted the wilds near Egede, always provided that she could keep up. She learned much of the wilderness and its creatures there, and he introduced her to a family of wolves that lived in the edges of the Estrovian Forest. Even after he died Tessaviri continued to visit the wolves, always watching them from a distance.
Tessaviri eventually found employment helping the healers in Kenabres as they treated crusaders wounded in battle. She was introduced to the church by the Cervallins, a family of crusaders that hailed from pre-Thrune Cheliax and were now in exile in Mendev. Much later, they adopted Tessaviri as one of their own.
After the Third Crusade burned itself out, Tessaviri formally joined the Church of Iomedae and began training with their priests when she was old enough.
Mechanics:
Race: Elf
Classes: Hunter/Cleric of Iomedae
Archtypes: Hunter (Divine Hunter) & Cleric (Mendevian Priest)
Domains: Good (Redemption) from Divine Hunter & Sun (Revelation) from Cleric
Animal Companion: Wolf
Eventual Mythic Path: Guardian
"You should meet with our Venture Captain, Ograk. Your people did not receive the help they sought here, but perhaps we can aid each other in another way," Tessaviri calls out to Uirch as he prepares to leave.
Some things we could do to help preserve and respect the Bastion come to mind: removing the corpses & burying them, some general cleanup of the building & informing the townsfolk nearby of the Reaver's defeat. Any complaints if we take some time for that?
Tessaviri Primary Arrow: Attack 25 v touch, Confirm 27, Base Damage 26, Crit Addition 28, Spell Penetration 14 Tessaviri Iterative Arrow: Attack 20 v touch, Confirm 24, Base Damage 25, Crit Addition 25, Spell Penetration 15
I also re-sized Karogo on the map. He's huge size right now. Also, he has DR 5/evil, so unless the Reaver's attacks are evil-aligned he should have had 19 damage (14 after Ograk's healing).
Stepping back slightly from the fray, Tessaviri draws her Named Bullet blessed arrows and takes aim at the Reaver. "For Victory! For the Heart!" she cries, invoking Iomedae's memory as she fires.
Tessaviri doesn't have anything special to deal with the cover that her allies are granting the Reaver. Her Named Bullet arrows should be targeting touch AC though.
Oops. I added the Stealth roll in after I put up Karogo's attacks and it changed the result. The end effect is probably still the same, but the natural one I booed is gone.
Just to confirm: Karogo's anti-evil damage didn't happen?
Tessaviri moves behind Narayan and casts Divine Favor on Karogo.
Casting Defensively if threatened:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31 vs Karogo Spell Resistance DC 14:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26
Tessaviri should be in stealth due to her Blend. Casting might somewhat ruin the stealth, but I'll roll anyway. She uses an Animal Focus for Stealth and Constitution. Blend Stealth:1d20 + 18 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 18 + 4 + 6 = 41
Karogo howls as the beast enters the room and bites at the fearsome creature. Applied the Divine Favor since both of those checks would pass. Karogo uses his Smite Evil on the Reaver.
For tactics: I'm not worried about whether we want to fight outside or in the main hall. I guess the only critical difference would be whether we wanted to try to make use of the orc traps.
Tessa ran out of spells, but if anyone has some left over, we should probably help out the Sarenite orc some if they're helping with the fight.
Broadly speaking, I'd suggest we try to use a now-huge Karogo as a focus target/bait for the Reaver. He should be quite durable.
Tessaviri nods and casts some spells in preparation. "It's time we faced this creature."
Tessaviri Spell Preparations:
Tessaviri renews her castings of Barkskin on Sayna and Karogo.
She creates two Named Bullet arrows. The correct type is magical beast, I believe?
She casts Animal Growth on Karogo, increasing his size to huge. This assumes that we're fighting in the main hall.
She casts Blend on herself.
Karogo quick stats @ huge size with Barkskin:
Karogo Init +2; 10' reach
AC 37, touch 14, flat-footed 34, CMD 37 (+2 dex, +1 dodge, +7 armor, +16 natural armor, -2 size +3 sacred)
Hit Points 121 (85 without Bear focus) (+40 animal, +81 constitution)
Fort +16, Ref +9, Will +5 (+4 vs enchantments)
Damage Reduction 5/evil, resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, evasion, SR 14
Melee +20/+15 bite (2d6+21 and +24 trip/20/x2) +2d6 damage to evil creatures
Special Abilities Smite Evil 1/day (+9 damage until target dies or Karogo rests)
Str 36, Dex 14, Con 28, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 6
Very short term spell preparations if able to do so:
Tessaviri gives the Thorn Body extract to Karogo, casts Divine Favor on him, and then Divine Favor on herself.
Regarding our choices now, I was under the impression that there was an upstairs area to the Bastion that we hadn't explored yet. I may have gotten lost in the back-and-forth though. Have we explored all obviously accessible areas of the building?
"This should be able to help us against the Reaver."
Tessa can auto-aid the Religion check (in addition to being able to read the book, I guess. I haven't said so before, but reading the rityal instructions takes 10 minutes, according to the spoiler earlier.
GM: since that amount of time is spell duration relevant, can we get an estimate for how long it has been since we started casting 10-minute spells at the edge of town?
Other than a language with which to talk at Karogo, I don't think it has ever been relevant before that Tessaviri could speak Celestial. Whoo!
"The book records instructions for performing a cleansing ritual used during the Shining Crusade. I think we could re-enact it with this, but it will take some time to get the details right."
Is there any indication what we could use the cleansing ritual for? We found it in a room with a helm we can't move, but 'cleansing' isn't my first guess on what we would need to do to change that.
Tessaviri nods at Ograk's words. "Whatever the Reaver might have been before it came to the Bastion, it only seems to be an engine of destruction now: releasing it would be too dangerous. We intend to slay the beast and claim the helmet for the Silver Crusade, our benefactors in this endeavour. We mean no disrespect. Is that outcome acceptable to you?"
With the bowl gaining attention, Tessaviri decides to divine its purpose and casts Detect Magic. "What is this thing?"
Which is cute, but she doesn't really have the ability to do anything about this, lacking Arcana and Spellcraft. Can someone else 'assist'? (in reality you just need to take over)
Ah, it looks like the ritual was in the Perception spoiler, and I didn't get high enough on Tessaviri's check to look at that.
That post also mentions a cool holy symbol. Did anyone take it? Tessaviri will snag it if no one else does, but she probably doesn't need it unless things get very bad.
"He's a Sarenite, or at least bears her symbol," Tessaviri says as she moves forward with Karogo and examines his condition.
Mostly dependent on her fellows for knowledge of the Sarenite lore, Tessaviri considers the puzzle carefully.
"Placing Sarenrae at the center or 'heart' of the ankh seems obvious. For the others, I'd guess that Charlabu should go on the bottom, as he is the 'foundation'. Aeabos is depicted as travelling the sky, so placing him on top might be correct."
"There is no explicit mention made of right, left, east or west, but Sunlord Thalachos is associated with the rising sun and Mystmorning with the setting sun. Their order would depend on whether Sarenrae is facing north or south..."
Tessaviri approaches the ankh to check it for traps. If she finds no traps, she'll try placing Aeabos top, Sarenrae center, Charlabu bottom, Sunlord Thalachos right & Mystmorning left. If that doesn't work and nothing bad happens to her, she'll reverse those two.
"Is he saying anything besides his surrender, Sayna?" Tessaviri asks as she moves up and begins treating the wounds of any of the orcs that she can find alive. Stabilize mostly, but she has a take-10 of 26 on Heal.
"If you were going to throw around clouds of evil doom, you could have said something earlier," Tessaviri grumbles at Dr. Vitruvian as she begins casting another spell.
She casts Life Bubble on Karogo, holding the remaining charges to give out to her other companions later and commands Karogo to continue attacking.
Back from the holidays! I think that only Adulese hasn't gone yet? They had a question about how many rounds had passed since we entered, but otherwise haven't acted in the combat round.
I took some liberties with the map, copying it to slide 4, enlarging it, moving the minis (hopefully to the right spots) and giving the orcs color borders. If that's alright with our GM, I suggest we use the slide 4 map. The slide 3 map scale is hard to work with.
Tessaviri moves behind Karogo and gives the large wolf an order, then casts Divine Favor on him.
Then Karogo bounds forward, squeezing into the door frame to bite at one of the orcs before running back to his position. Attacking yellow orc with Spring Attack. Green orc will get an opportunity attack on Karogo (AC 38 with Mobility).
Unable to understand any of the words but sensing the orc's disdain, Karogo stands beside his master and utters a low growl. Tessaviri puts a hand on his flank to calm the wolf, and otherwise allows Sayna space to work with them.
Tessaviri motions to her allies and approaches them to whisper. "Someone else is here. The Reaver wouldn't tolerate interlopers for long, so I'd guess that some of the orcs survived and made it inside. We have a powerful enough enemy already: perhaps we should arrange a truce between us? We don't even know what the orcs are here for, and they haven't attacked the town."
Tessaviri is not a good talker. Does anyone know orc or have the ability to get Tongues going? If not, we'll probably just have to hope they can speak Taldane or something.
"Take care to preserve the ruins as much as you can. This is a holy place," Tessaviri says as she scans the area. As she does, she points up toward the ceiling.
"There's some sort of contraption there. A muzzle and collar? Was someone trying to tame the Reaver?"
Absent other directions, I'll vote to search the remainder of this room quickly and then go through the door on the right (east I think).
GM, we were told earlier that we should seek out ritual and relic sites so that we could sever the Red Reaver's connection with them. Do we just need to make Perception (maybe Knowledge (Religion)?) checks to recognize such sites, or is another process needed?
"They said the Reaver likes shiny things!" Tessaviri shouts as she ducks under a piece of masonry the reaver sent flying through the air. "Let's give him some!"
Sense Motive & Tiger/Stag Focus:1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 3 + 2 = 16- I'm omitting any talk of assist since the checks should end up as assists if I don't roll the highest. I'm thinking Karogo can't really add in on this one.
Seeing the fortifications, Tessaviri and Karogo increase their speed to find a path the party can take ahead.
Tessaviri Acrobatics & Tiger/Stag Focus:1d20 + 5 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 1 + 2 = 13 Karogo Acrobatics, Tiger/Stag Focus & base 50' speed:1d20 + 7 + 2 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 7 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 18
Tessaviri begins rapidly shifting through animal focuses as she races away from the Red Reaver.
8/10 focuses remaining. It didn't look necessary, but I would have used them before I saw Narayan's rolls. And I hardly ever use many focuses, so this is neat!
A lot of the modern chases I've seen don't require players to declare assist or not. The highest roll is assisted by everyone else automatically. Does that apply here?
Also, am I OK to have Karogo join in the various checks? Or if you want to keep it to just one of us & avoid inflating the player count, I could just use whichever of the two characters would be better at the challenge in question.
Double-checking to make sure it wasn't just lost in the shuffle. No one has asked to get a Serve command from Karogo, which would let you give him trick orders with Tessaviri's bonus (so automatically under a wide range of conditions).
I'd be able to fill you in on available orders if someone wants to take it. If no one does, that's perfectly fine too.
Tessa's posting may be a little sketchy from now until Monday, especially over the weekend when I'll be out of town. I'll try to keep up though.
Silver Crusader & GM talk:
I could be mistaken in my impression, but after reading the thread & the Silver Crusade handout, it seems like Narayan and I might have different impressions of our mission. Narayan has said several things about wanting to avoid violence with the Red Reaver, while I'm reading the "take heed that you do not judge too quickly" part of it to apply to others we might encounter there, probably the orcs.
It might be fine if we have different ideas about what is required, but Tessaviri fully intends to kill the beast right now.
If the behavior of the Red Reaver ever makes me start thinking otherwise, I've got a spare Explore, Report, Cooperate boon to blow on it.
Tessaviri raises an eyebrow at Sayna's request. "May the light of the Inheritor keep you safe," she says as she casts Barkskin on Sayna. This is a +4 AC Barkskin at CL 10, so even better than you were saying!
With all this spellcasting, I hope that we're within range of our destination! It's fair anyway, though, given sign of orcs in the area.
"I don't think the orcs change anything about our mission, though. They aren't attacking the village at the moment anyway. Let's go seek out Gorm Greathammer."
Absent any objections, she begins riding her wolf into the village.
