Aaugh!  Enough discussing discussing already let's do this thing!

I want you to tell me about your coolest character ever!  I want to know about the world they live in.  I want to know about what they've done.  I want to know how they died.  What I don't want to hear is a single game statistic, no levels, classes or rules artifacts.

I'll Start!

Kitten is a hulking hobgoblin mercenary from a banally generic fantasy realm.  He is clad in bulky armour cobbled together from scraps of cured hide and various metal bits that fit him.  He carries a brutal, jagged spear, a wicked crooked scimitar and tucked in his belt, an innocuous little knife that is the true secret of his success.  Because for all his bulky armour, kitten is really a sneak and a theif.  He often props up his armour with the spear inside it while on sentry duty to make it look like he's still there while he's robbing the pay chest.

The little knife in his belt was taken from a necromancer he once worked for and it allows him to see into the spirit world and even attack its inhabitants from the mortal realm.

Kitten plays the dumb fighter, deliberately miss conjugating sentances and restricting his vocabulary to seem less than he really is.  He is capable of fluent common and elven speech but will rarely do so.  His cover persona is deliberately rude and arguementative and he will often eat a raw onion during conversations.

Secretly he is tired of his life, having long since sold his own people out to the elves over a petty vendetta with the chieftain over a female.

Unable to find his place in the world he amuses himself with increasingly daring thefts until he eventually signs on with a band of heroes to raid an ancient tomb.  There he is consumed by living shadows.

"Am Kitten, big ferocious hunter, sharp teeth, kill you dead!"

I've only been playing NPCs the last few years - can they count?

- Ed C.

Sure, while Kitten started out as a D&D 3.5 character, I liked him so much I brought him back as an npc in my RMSS campaign.  The PC's still think he's a dumb as a rock fighter who's not very sneaky at all.

He's a rogue.  I think his name is Alec or something.  He's the most incompetent rogue in the history of D&D.  I roll above a 10 maybe half a dozen times a night if I'm lucky.  

I kinda hope he dies soon, so I can maybe roll sometihng better, but the damn GM won't let him die.

I don't know about my favorite character, but this is my current character, Carmen Fortunato, who is about to undertake an Expedition to Castle Greyhawk.  She was 3rd level when I first created her.  I played her till she was 6th level, retired her, and then brought her back in at 8th level when her replacement got killed.

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The Lady Carmen Fortunato,
Countessa of Guernica, Captain of the Luminous Order

Personality Carmen is a tempestuous and hot-headed warrior.  A relentless thrill-seeker, she craves combat and will frequently let her desire for a battle color her perception of events.  While a fundamentally good person, Carmen can be very self-righteous and arrogant, and doesn't take counsel from others with grace.  She can be tactless and reeks of moral superiority, while being completely blind to her own hypocrisy.  Her saving grace is an unwavering commitment to protecting her comrades from danger, and fearlessness in the face of overwhelming danger.

Appearance Carmen is a tall, athletically built woman with olive skin, brilliant blue eyes, and dark auburn-blonde hair.  Carmen is stunningly beautiful in a very cold, heartless way.  She rarely smiles, habitually scowling at a world that disappoints her greatly.

History Carmen is the fourth child and only daughter of a minor count in a sun-drenched coastal valley barony.  Carmen lived an easy life, but as she grew older and realized that her brother's would inherit the power and wealth of the family, she took up the adventuring life, preferring danger and excitement to the dull tedium of a brokered marriage to some petty lord.

Vitals height 5'11”, weight 165, age 23

Captain Carmen Fortunato   CR 8
Female Human Knight 8
LG Medium humanoid
Init +0; Senses Listen +1, Spot +1
Languages Common (Angobaron)   
AC 22, touch 10, flat-footed 22; Shield Block (+1)
HP 71 (8 HD)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +7
   +2 Will  w/ Fighting Challenge   
Speed 30 ft.
Melee   espada magnífica  +15 (1d8+6) or
    espada magnífica +13/+8 (1d8+6) and
   protetor honorável +11 (1d8+3)
Range   shortbow +8/+3 (1d6)
Base Atk +8/+3, Grapple +12
Atk Options Fighting Challenge, Test of Mettle
Combat Gear healing belt, potion of cure light wounds   
Abilities Str 18, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16
SQ Armor Mastery (medium), Bulwark of Defense, Vigilant Defender, Shield Ally, Knight's Code
Feats Agile Shield Fighter, Endurance, Improved Shield Bash, Mounted Combat, Shield Specialization, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Skills Appraise +0, Balance -2, Bluff +3, Climb +2, Concentration +1, Diplomacy +5, Disguise +2, Escape Artist -2, Forgery +0, Gather Information +3, Heal +1, Hide -2, Intimidate +12, Jump +3, Knowledge (Nobility) +2, Listen +1, Move Silently -1, Perform (all) +3, Ride +10, Search +0, Sense Motive +1, Spot +1, Survival +1, Swim +3, Use Rope +0
Possessions espada magnífica (longsword +2) with least crystal of return, mithril breastplate +1 with least crystal of aquatic action, protetor honorável (bashing heavy steel shield +2), cloak of charisma +2, amulet of natural armor +1, healing belt, luminary tabard, watch lamp, backpack (bedroll, flint and steel, outfit (nobles), outfit (travelers), waterskin, whetstone), dagger, quiver, shortbow (total 70 lbs.)

HISTORY

• Carmen Fortunato is born to Count Ernesto Fortunato and his wife, Contessa Miranda
• Carmen grows up on her family estate.  Forced to compete with three older brothers for her father's attention, Carmen becomes something of a tom-boy, excelling at riding and swordplay, and routinely embarrassing her siblings.
• At the age of 14 Carmen is introduced to Count Guevera, age 37, to whom she'll be wed in an arrangement that will increase her family's power.
• At age 16, Carmen packs a horse in the night, and leaving only a note, rides off to join the Imperial Army.
• Carmen serves a tour of duty in the Imperial Army, serving in the heavy calvary.  She distinguishes herself in combat and valor, but finds that her sex makes advancement difficult.
• While serving on the Northern Front, Carmen meets Pitorus Marconi, a dashing paladin from the capital city serving temporarily with the army.  They have a brief affair.
• Pitorus is called to join the Luminous Order, and Carmen decides to leave the army and travel with him.
• Pitorus and Carmen team up with a wizard and cleric from the order to take on the Cult of Grazz't.  While they ultimately emerge victorious, Pitorus and the wizard are both slain.  Carmen vows to never let another of her comrades fall in combat again.
• Having successfully thwarted the goals of the cult, Carmen is invited to join the Luminous Order.  She accepts and is sent towards ancient Slaughtergard.
• Carmen is tasked with joining a group of adventurers and guiding their exploration of the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard, watching after the order's interests.
• After the defeat of the forces of Slaughtergaard, Carmen retired from adventuring to pursue a post at the Luminous Tower.
• Recently Carmen quit her post and decided to return to adventuring, citing boredom and restlessness as a primary cause of her departure.

POSSESSIONS

• Protetor Honorável ("Shield of Honor") is a bashing heavy steel shield +2. It is a family heirloom, and was enchanted for her great-grandfather.  Carmen has had it further enchanted, enhancing it's effectiveness as a weapon.
  
• Espada Magnífica ("Magnificent Sword") is a longsword +2 that Carmen purchased it .  It has been augmented with a least crystal of returning, which allows it to be drawn as a free action.
  
• The Luminary Tabard was a gift from the Luminous Order.  It grants a +2 enhancement bonus to Reflex saves.  Additionally, if Carmen successfully saves against a fear effect, the tabard heals damage equal to the hit dice or caster level of the effect's originator.
  
• Carmen wears a mithril breastplate +1 she found while adventuring.  While she enjoys the mobility it affords, she would prefer to wear heavier armor.  It has been augmented with a least crystal of aquatic action, which negates the armor penalty for swimming.
  
• The Healing Belt was purcased in Eadro, and may be used as a standard action.   When used Carmen may heal herself or an adjacent character.
• The Watch Lamp is an extremely useful device that Carmen's former wizard comrade created for her.  A simple head band, it generates a floating ball of light that hovers over Carmen's shoulder, illuminating her path like a torch would.
• Carmen recently invested in a magical cloak, the casaco da autoridade, that increases the presence and authority of wearer.
  
• Carmen has a heavy warhorse that wears chain barding.  The horse's name is Starfoot III, in honor of it's predecessors Starfoot I, who fell valiantly in battle, and Starfoot II, who was murdered most treacherously by a Troglodyte cleric.

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Quote from: David JohansenSure, .....

My Aces & Angels campaign centers around a group of black pilots during WW2. One of the NPCs a British Captain named Portman was created while I was doing some research for this particular setting.

From here :   http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0299/tusk2.htm

“When we were overseas, we were accepted [by the Europeans],” McGee said. “We hardly ever experienced difficulties abroad, even with our white squadron mates. But when you brought that same group back to the States, that’s when the alienation showed up. It wasn’t ‘Hey, Chuck,’ anymore. They turned their backs on us. Peer pressure told them blacks and whites don’t work and play together back here.”

This particular character was only to supposed to be in the first game but the players interacted with him so well that I had too keep him on. We always use actors as character potraits, so Portman looks like Damian Lewis from Band of Brothers and more recently the TV series Life.

It's a complicated relationship he has with the pcs. He likes them, respects them and genuinely thinks of them as brothers in arms....but when he's around other white officers he tends to avoid them or retreats into a very formal relationship with them.

However he's also helped them out a great deal by using his connections and influence "to get things done quickly as though you were white". So it's part confrontational, part mutual respect, part antagonism....it's complicated.

Regards,
David R

Sergeant Crowe was a survivor. That is all he did survived.
Initially a soldier he managed to surive a number of adventures throughout the Gnoll wars. Through doing so he acquired a magical blade that belonged to a Captain who wasn't quite as good at surviving as his sergeant and a suit of mail from a body of one of The 300, the Emperor's Imperial body guard.
After the gnolls were pushed back and war became too dangerous, hunting down unpredictable monsters and the like, Crowe went freelance. The armour and the blade were enough to convince most potential clients that he was an honourable ex-officer. He put together a little team and took on jobs that looked safe but offered a sweet pay off. Never one to risk more than he needed to or turn down a bribe to look the other way the group was by it's nature fluid and eventually had to be jetisoned in favour of a quick exit.
Whist staying in a one horse town he was attacked by a wolf creature. He fled having fought off the creature and took work on a caravan train.
On the journey he developed the tell tale signs of Lycanthropy, not that he recognised them as such. Nights were punctuated by raids on small homesteads and a couple of vengeful fellows had to be taken out in a far more public way than Crowe would have liked, for the security of the caravan, of course.
The Lycanthropy became worse and whilst the healing and the additional strength were welcomed. The whole sleeping all day and nightly blood lust was becoming a strain on his continued employment.
He now seeks a cure for his affliction but is still in two minds because the wages of sin may be madness and chaos but the fringe benefits are great.

Best line (to the caravan owner in reference to a knight who had just stopped the caravan to search for a foul beast that ran amok in a village on his estate the night before)  - Look if you want to fight him so much you do it I am staying here, under the cart.

Most memorable moment - just after the above when he was eventually persuaded to fight said knight, for 8 gold,  and slew his horse with a single blow - a lucky crit - and then pinned the fellow whilst the rest of the crew hacked him to bits.

(Crowe is now a 7th level fighter - 2eAD&D myrmidon kit, his stats were appalling 15 con and 13 str being the best. However Lycanthropy has boosted this to 16 Str and regeneration.... so you can see why he is loathe to loose it. Long sword +1/+3 versus undead - apparently although he has never met one to test it-, +1 chainmail)

Alethiasterix ux Dragonsong is the "greatest operatic singer in Stormreach", or at least that is what the posters say. In truth she was originally nothing but a talented spellscale streetgirl who was discovered and trained by the gnomish svengali Rigben. When Rigben eventually passed on, Alethia joined the Crimson Codex as an operative and spy, while continuing her singing career as a cover identity.

Throughout her ensuing adventuring career, Dragonsong was usually able to use her cover as a singer (and her magical talent with enchantments and illusions) to help Codex Operations and to gain access to high prestige places (including the estates of the Coin Lords). On one memorable caper she impersonated the lover of a visiting Karrnathi dignitary and managed to help the Codex avert a second war between Karrnath and Breland.

In a world conquered by the cthulhu mythos, civilisation was on the brink. Enter Jethro Bloodaxe, dwarf thief extraordinaire - well, quite ordinary actually, albeit stinking to high heaven and having his own colony of ticks and lice. Jethro was a scavenger. He delved the ruins of old cities for anything salvagable and ate what he could find along the way, even if it was still squirming. Jethro fell in with a bunch of do-gooders who travelled the world setting up clandestine fighting forces wherever they went. Waiting for the day that they could call them to battle for freedom against the evil mythos. We collected elder signs, we set up chapter houses, we delved ruined Lankmar and conversed with the Gods in Lankmar. Finally, the battle was joined - all the Gods that had been deposed by the mythos returned and the free people gathered to fight the mythos hoards. Thor had a smackdown with cthulhu himself...and lost. Some chinese God dude destroyed Hastur and our little army was in the centre of the line. We survived and the mythos was defeated. Civilisation began to return. We ended the campaign there.

The greatest exploit of Jethro Bloodaxe was his epic climb in the depths of hell. The party paladin had been imprisoned by a Nycodaemon? High up in an ice covered cliff-face. Alone, Jethro scaled the cliff, all 1,000 feet of it and entered the cave. There, the Paladin was held within a trapped cage. Jethro bypassed the trap. Just as we were about to leave, the daemon returned. Outgunned and desperate, Jethro grabbed the Paladin and leapt from the cave-mouth...unfurling his wings of flying as he did so. It was less of a controlled descent and more of a controlled plummet. We crashed to ground and were seriously wounded, but we had escaped.

I can tell you about my funniest character ever - "Mordath the Contemplater"

It was a faux-D&D FUDGE one-shot game.  I created a philosopher/nobleman character who was incredibly indecisive.  He started off the adventure in the stereotypical Inn because his castle roof was undergoing repairs from storm damage and the roofing contractor was taking longer than expected to get the job done (because, you know, he was a roofer and therefore unreliable).

But, because he was an educated nobleman, the rest of the group made him the leader and wanted him to make decisions.  Whenever a decision came up, he'd start off with a breezy, "Well, we could do X...on the other hand, we could do Y..."  and debate with himself back and forth for well over 10 minutes until one of the other characters couldn't take it anymore and would force him to sort-of make a decision ("Well, I suppose we could do X, but...")

I thought that after it happened the first time, they'd wise up and have someone else be leader.  Hilarity ensued when they didn't.

It may sound like I was being a bit of a snit with that character, but everyone actually went for a less-than-serious character - the other members of the party included a "horny pirate" character, a really butch female fighter character, and a stereotypical effeminate gay fighter character.

Sadly, the GM was the only one not really in on the joke.  I suspect he intended to have a serious dungeoncrawl.  Instead, he got indecisive soliloquies, a million and one gay/lesbian jokes, and a pirate that spent his time performing unnatural acts on tree knotholes (good thing we didn't have a druid or ranger in the group...)

In the Unknown Armies campaign that we wrapped up a month ago, I played Karl Gillen, real estate agent and lawyer, following the merchant avatar.  He had developed a successful business and had a big home and large family in New Jersey.  He uprooted it all to go to Cincinnati where he was convinced (by a dream) that he could find the site that would allow him to build a building to protect him from the oncoming magical holocaust.  He, along with the rest of the party (united by sharing the same dream), got hooked in deep to the occult underground in Cincy and things got weird.  Unfortunately, Karl brought his work home with him and it caused some serious problems in the family, including his teenage daughter, Bethany, falling under the sway of a drug-dealing pimp epidomancer.

Karl's climax came when the New Inquisition came to his home and tried to kidnap his wife and kids in order to get the group to give up the magical-holocaust proof building they had built.  Thanks to Bethany's new found epidomancer skills, Karl was able to get his family out of there.  He sent them packing to New Jersey, staked out the still-living representative of the New Inquisition to his front lawn with badminton net spikes from the garage, poured gas all over him and his house, told the upscale suburban neighbourhood to fuck off and set it all on fire.

He did survive the holocaust and now works with Bethany in Cincinnati doing real estate, still messing with the occult and sending cheques regularily to his bitter wife who thinks he is dead.

And then on a more upbeat note, for our Spirit of the Century interim campaign that we just started, here's Roboboy!



Finally, we have a player in our group who can draw!  It's so awesome to have someone just sketch up your character and have it really capture the idea you were going for.

The general idea for Roboboy is that he has an advanced brain, with superhuman memory retention and academic knowledge. All this inside a powerful mechanical package. However, he has never really grown up and is still a kid at heart, socially and physically awkward. He is fun loving with a strong sense of right and wrong. He has an appreciation for machinery and doesn't like causing destruction unless absolutely necessary. He is shy around women and a bit awestruck by confident men.

I've been a player so rarely that I can't think of a character worth tooting about who wasn't an NPC.

El Gallo (The Rooster) grew up in all the wrong hoods. While other kids played with toys and watched trideo, he was scrabbling to avoid larger predators while looking for clean water and food. His fists hardened right along side his heart as he watched his siblings die from simple diseases, the kind that had been cured decades ago for th rich, starvation and malnutrition.

Never formally educated he attended a series of underground schools that tried to help people like him for a variety of reasons-some actually cared, others were looking for something else. Those were the worst. As he grew larger and stronger his struggle to survive became easier-he learned how to use the weapons that were abundant on the streets, where to take from and how.

As he matured he quickly realized he had three choices in life-join a gang, die, or join the Military. Being Bilingual helped him get into the CAS military. He excelled in the militarys structured environment, picking up close combat techniques and weapons training as if he had been born to them. However his lack of formal education hurt his chances at promotion, and made the social aspects of military life difficult for him.

After six years he exited active service with a honorable discharge, a few minor pieces of cybernetic modification and some cash in his pocket. He relocated to a southwestern part of Texas, where he purchased a trailer in the middle of nowhere, near the border.

He quickly adapted to life in the desert, spending his time hunting and moving about the out of doors for sheer enjoyment. Soon he began to get requests from assorted individuals about helping them move through the desert, and across the border. Bored with just hunting, trapping and fishing in the desert El Gallo moved up to being a Guide, and sometime bodyguard.

As things became more dangerous he adapted his lifestyle-more cybernetics, and replacement organs to fix the damaged ones. He invested his money into better equipment, and into fortifying his trailer-which sat on top of an old mine shaft. Although he enjoyed the thrill of his new found lifestyle, he still has found himself unable to interact on a regular basis with people, so his life is solitary-with a few exceptions for work.

El Gallo is cold, and calculating, and willing to do whatever ti takes to survive. He is not a gruesome or wanton killer, but he would not hesitate to kill anyone if he felt he had no choice. Quiet, and small he tends to blend into the crowd-a talent which he uses to his benefit.

1 - Prologue

Michael Tyner

Personal Statistics:
Age 22,  
Height 5'11"
Weight 161 lbs,
Black Hair,
Brown Eyes
Social Security Number 550-69-0274

Formal Education:
Santa Ana High School-Santa Ana, California, Class of 1995,
University of California Long Beach 1996-1997 2 yrs. Major: Sports Medicine.
Marine Corp Boot Camp-1999, Camp Pendleton, California,
Advanced Infantry Training-1999-2000, Camp Pendleton,
Designation: Emergency Medical Technician / Combat Medic.
Assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 3rd Amphibious Assault Brigade in January 2000 A.D. for a 3-year tour of duty with the United States Marine Corp as a combat medic.

While on a live fire exercise one night in May of the year 2000 A.D. at Twenty-Nine Palms Marine Corp Base Michael was separated from his unit, Company D, 1st Battalion, 3rd Amphibious Assault Brigade, during an intense firefight where two other soldiers in his company were actually wounded from live fire that wasn't supposed to be targeted at the area his company was in.

The next morning, alone, he wandered south towards the town of Joshua, looking for his unit, for anybody really, that could give him directions. He came upon a small ruined Spanish style house with a strange oriental style arch in the yard the arch that faced east/west. After checking inside the house for occupants, maps, and or directions, Michael went back out, and, because the arch was so odd looking, he walked over to get a closer look at the arch. Because really weird stuff had been happening to him for the last twelve hours or so he decided that stepping through the arch was not a good idea. It was at that time that the arch moved. It moved so fast that all he had time to do was to open his mouth and say "Ohhhhh..."

A wave of dizziness came over him. He thought of Sting, and that new song, Desert Rose. He thought, how odd? Ofra Haza is dead, and now Sting is singing her songs. The dizziness got worse.... It became vertigo... he saw nothing.... He felt nauseous...

When he regained consciousness he was aware of two things at once... first, he was aware that he had been unconscious, but only for a few seconds... second, that he was looking up at a blue sky from a prone position on the ground. The M-16 was still slung over his left shoulder, and he saw he still had all of his equipment, and was wearing his desert camo battle dress uniform with blackened rank insignia. He sat up and looked around and was not surprised to see the arch about where it was before he fell down.

He thought to himself; "maybe I had some kind of seizure?" At just about the same time he realized everything but the arch was different. Instead of the Mojave desert scrub, the sand, the cactus, and the Joshua trees, he was looking at small grass covered hills near beach sand dunes. The beach itself was 30 or so yards away to the north??? The Sun itself was smaller. The sun was in the wrong place, and the color was more yellow than he remembered. By the time he sat up he was also aware there was a really excited, ugly, old, man in a black robe about 4 or 5 yards from him, pointing at him, and stammering in some 3rd world language he never even
imagined hearing.

A moment later he felt another wave of dizziness and his vision blurred. When his sight cleared he saw the old man in black waving his hands around some more. He saw trails of fire and light following the old mans' hands, he saw the old man point at him and watched incredulously as the flames and the light snaked together, and apart, and in a most fascinating pattern, wander carelessly right up to him.

An explosion of pain brought out his combat reflexes. He rolled away from the source of the pain, and looked down while he was rolling to see his Battle Dress uniform burning, in some places it was completely gone. He saw a ragged hole in his skin smoking, and charred. He saw at least two of his own right ribs, lower ones, covered with patches of sooty black, and already the blood was starting to flow...

By the time he finished his roll he had rotated his automatic rifle and was pointing it at the old man. The old man was continuing in a new series of motions and words, and light started dancing around the old man hands once again. He toggled off the safety, switched to full automatic and aimed for a point on the ground and to the left of the old man. As the fire and light began its' lazy dance towards him once again, he pulled the trigger and gently arced his rifle up and slowly to the right. He never let go of the trigger.

He felt sick. "What now?" he thought. Dizziness and vertigo once again dragged Michael into the darkness of unconsciousness.

Kishara was out for a morning walk down the beach that day. The sun was approaching mid-day when she observed two figures lying on weed dunes near the beach. As she approached, both, she saw were males, "a territory fight." She thought. She immediately recognized the member of the mages guild as Thantrase. He was a wizard of great renown in the Gem Isles, but the pools of blood that already leeched into the sand told her he was dead. The other man was a mystery. He wore clothes that were lighter than her own, the colors of the desert, so, she thought, a man from the desert. She had never met a man who lived in the desert. He was bleeding, burnt, but alive, barely...

She bound his wounds, and prayed to Freeia, goddess of healing, so that Freeia would intervene and spare his life. She already knew that he had defied the great wizard Thantrese and was still breathing. She knew that no one living had opposed any wizard of the guild one-on-one in the Gem archipelago and lived, until now.

This caught her interest. She rigged a stretcher, laying Mikal on a cloth that she went home to get. He was breathing, but the wizard had thrown a spell on him. Fireball she thought, She figured this by what she saw, and by what she smelled. She saw him, his ragged breath coming in waves... He had strange equipment on him.... nothing from the seas or the islands belonged to him, or was from him, she thought.

It was four days before he opened his eyes, and even though he spoke a language she never heard, she knew he was hungry the moment he woke up. In the weeks that he spent in healing she learned quite a few things. He did not even speak the common tongue. She learned that he knew of no place where women ruled She learned he was not from the Gem Isles. She learned he was a healer. She learned that although he could not speak any known language to her, he had a good heart, and was kind. She learned he was from a place so far away that she never even heard of it. Kali-forna was where he was from. It felt strange to even say it. She learned that his name was Mikal Tyner.

An adept from the wizards' guild of Emerald showed up in less than half of a moon. He came by boat, and he already knew that Thantrase had been slain. He said that Thantrase was on a great quest to solve the riddle of Asush. He offered two great boats to whoever could identify, or locate, the murderer of Thantrase. He said that Thantrase had been stalked for his knowledge of the Amazon parts of the Gem Isles, and that the Killer had killed Thantrase because he would not reveal the location of the Amazon shrines to Freeia. One look at Mikal, and Kishara knew the adept was either lying, or was grossly misinformed.

It was at the time shortly after Mikal learned that he should be subservient to the Women of Topaz, and just after she herself had claimed slave-owner rights over Mikal, when the assassin came. One night, she was sleeping peacefully, and he in her own personal slave quarters, unchained even..., and grateful, when her
Mothers favorite ward woke her from her sleep. At that moment she grabbed her favorite diamond spear "Ashanka" and with a cat-like agility slipped out into the courtyard of her own estate.

After a few moments she was aware that someone strange was in her place. She felt the magic energies swirling in the air around her. In fact her flesh crawled with all the energy in the air around her. She saw him easily... the magic of Freeia enveloping him in a dark blue, darker than lightning, but lighter than the night. That bastard was walking slowly towards the slave quarters. She moved in behind him, on his right rear quarter, mimicking his movements, pausing when he paused, stopping when he stopped.

Yes... It was a strange man who invaded her home, The magic of Freeia told her even as her rage grew, of who would dare come into the personal quarters of an Amazon without an invitation, even more her mothers' magic told of a male whom showed no offer of service to Freeia whatsoever.

It was as slap into the face of all Amazons! How could the wizards presume their spells superior... Arrogant bastards. She slipped to a point only steps from the male intruder and noted that he appeared to be a thief. Light armor, made of leather she saw. Small blades, easily concealed, and rapidly deployed. No magic at all except for a ring of protection that glowed red even through the stupid mans' body.

Why did the mages of the Gem guilds send this man to intrude on her estate? This thought was lost as she watched him move towards her slave quarters, towards the door closest to her own where Mikal slept. She stepped onto her own stone porch then, and declared herself.

In the common tongue she spoke aloud "Man! Why are you in my home uninvited?"

In response the man whirled and flung two daggers at her that she easily dodged. Her response to that... she closed the short distance between them, and she jabbed with Ashanka

It was a good strike... The mans' left shoulder hung limp, she knew right away she had cut into his shoulder muscle.

Again she declared herself. " I am Kishara, Daughter of Kisha the Seer, Why are you in my home? Declare your Intentions!"
The strange man spoke. "I am named Dare, sent to avenge the death of Thantrese."

"Without my invitation, or request? The punishment for an insubordinate male is death in Topaz!"

He spoke carefully, moving even more carefully to avoid the spear tip... "If you can make that happen, bitch..."

With that he drew a long sword and advanced upon her. Kishara did not hesitate with her spear, and she had plenty of practice on insubordinate and rebellious slaves.

The next day, at her home Kisha and Telandra, the village priestess, were present examining the body and weapons of the man who called himself Dare. "He smells of both death and wizardry" Telandra remarked during the examination. A short counsel between the three of them decided matters quickly. The fact that
Kishas' ward on the front gate of Kishandra's home was burnt completely away helped.

After telling Mikal that his life was in danger, and by offering proof, with the body of Dare, Kishandra convinced Mikal he was in peril. That very night after speaking at length with her mother Kisha, Kishandra and Mikal slipped away in the night on a small light boat stolen from a nearby village and made for Midland.


On Kishara...

Kishara, Female, Amazon Priestess, Age 24, long blonde hair, green eyes 5'2" tall, 105 lbs. from the easternmost island of the Gem Island archipelago, Topaz. Kishara was born the daughter of Kisha, village priestess in the village of Tiana-mara some 24 summers ago. Raised with the amazons from birth, Kishara,
until recently, knew little of the rest of the Gorland, and only vague rumors from captured men, from sailors, explorers, miners, and other soldiers of Midland that visited her island from time to time.

She never knew her father, as he was a male slave that was executed shortly after her conception for the crime of insulting a female. On the Island where she was born Topaz men are in general unwelcome, and always subordinate to women. Gems and crystal are found in plentiful quantities, and the Amazon women generally make a living by keeping most of the male slaves in the fields at work, in trading gems on the mainland, and in their raiding forays on fast light sailing skiffs that they use to raid Midland, and the other islands in the Gem
Archipelago.

Kishara wears a white cotton robe that comes down to just above her knees, her robe is tied with a leather girdle, and above that she wears a leather breastplate that she took from that pig Khozar, before he died. Her soft Midland Dwarven crafted boots are the only item she wears that was imported, and she purchased them at the age of 17 in exchange for the best male slave she owned at the time. She carries three diamond-tipped spears she crafted herself. Two spears are in a special spear sling on her back.

Three moons ago, she found Mikal Tyner, nearly dead, on a beach near her home. A dead wizard lay just a few feet from him. She came to find out he was an outsider, with a price on his head from the mages guild. She wanted to keep him and claimed her tribes' equivalent of salvage rights on Mikal, as he would have been dead but for her efforts. The Amazon Eldar in the village accepted claim of salvage, but the wizards' guild did not and sent at least one assassin and numerous spies in an effort to locate Mikal. To save the honor, and the secrecy of the Amazon Aldar custom, and further, to prevent a serious disagreement between the wizards guild and her Amazon tribe, Kishara secretly took Mikal and fled from the Gem archipelago and went to Midland to earn a living as a warrior/healer.