Character Sheet
The Mysterious Orphan

Name: Lotte, daughter of Henrik and Anelie
Sexuality: Pansexual
Age: 18
Species: Lamia, Central Lands Human Culture
Level: 3
Class: Hunter
Weapons: Bow, Knife

XP: 2/18

Description: A tall lamia, with short blond hair, and blue eyes, dressed in a protective vest and a noble's hunting shirt. They are muscular, well-formed and handsome, and have slightly yellowish eyes and a forked tongue. Their snake-half is in a forest pattern that helps for blending in, except for the occasional splash of Tyrian purple.

Traits:

Just Devotions (Racial--Human, Central, Cultural)(Level 0): Humans in some parts of the world worship the Gods, vast and sometimes unknowable beings that do grant blessings to those that believe in them, magical blessings. But even the lowliest of the pious knows how to pray to them, how to do the right supplications, how to act in the proper ways. This knowledge can sometimes be put to good use, though the Gods rarely turn their eyes to every little prayer.

Wholesome Farm Looks (Human, Central, Physical, Level 1): Though most of the people of the Central lands, that mass of Kingdoms, Princedoms, Dukedoms, Duchess States, and more, are of course quite poor, they are a hardy, hard-working people, and sometimes this life less beats a person down and more hones them. They have reasonably good looks, and even more importantly, look trustworthy, clean-cut, and otherwise like the kind of person who'd never lied a day in their life or slacked off a single hour, either. This remains even after becoming a lamia, though it is... tempered, obviously.

Snake Eyes (Level 1, Physical, Lamia): You can see in the dark pretty well. It isn't perfect, but the night is not nearly so dark and full of dangers as you expected it would be, for whatever reason.


Forest Wanderer (0, Pre-Class): The forest is a fascinating place for a child, as long as they don't go too far. As one gets used to it, one learns more about its ins and outs, and while some of it only applies to the forest that such a child lived in at first, much of it is quite helpful later.

Forest Eyes (Level 1. Class): As one could have eyes that pick out every tiny detail of the tundra, so can one be used to seeing in the dark forest tracks, possibilities, old growth, traps, and anything else, especially when one knows how to use your ears and nose to aid it. It is remarkable how much you can see, when you see what is actually there.

Hunter's Mettle (Level 1, Class): To hunt, one needs a bow, an arrow, and perhaps a knife for self-defense. Having some skill at them is inevitable, having solid skill at them is admirable, and quite useful.

Steady Arm (Level 2, Class): You have a strong, consistent aim. You're not a superlative archer, at least by the standards of adventurers, but you don't have off moments, and you don't waver from being able to hit your target, even if you're not doing the fancier tricks.

Leave Few Traces (Level 2, Class): The experience of being on one side of the hunt makes you wonder how you'd hide your tracks if you were being hunted, or tracked by hostile enemies, as sometimes does happen in adventures. You've begun to practice how not to be followed in the woods, and perhaps elsewhere.


Mending Knowledge, Basic (Level 0, Pre-Class, Healing Priest): You know how to apply poultrices, and you know the basic ingredients of a number of potions that cure headaches, deal with common pains, put someone into a gentle sleep, and other minor things. You can also bandage someone properly. You are not very good at this, merely adequate... but that's more than what most people are.


Whitlin' Ways (Level 1, Common): A man or woman who knows how to whittle will never want for whistles, or spoons, or any number of goods. It's a useful, solid sort of skill, and one that could be made into a trade. It also makes a pretty decent way to pass the time, and the person who whittles never lacks for a knife in sticky situations.

Penny Pincher (Level 1, General): You know the value of a Pfin, and how to keep from wasting all of your money, even if you're far from a merchant. Money is something you're familiar with.

Steel Nerves (General, Level 3): You've seen enough strange places and done enough fantastic things that you are less likely to panic in terrible situations, and more likely to think things through, however difficult. This doesn't mean you can't panic at all, but you have a grip on those nerves. In battle and danger only, this unfortunately doesn't help at all with social anxiety.


Divine Sense (Level 0, Divine): You can sense when someone is a Demigod, and there's at least the potential ability--though you have not figured it out yet--to try to track people through their divine 'scent.' A person's 'scent' gets stronger as they get more magically and divinely powerful... but on the other hand, you now have a 'scent' of your own, that will allow other demigods to know you for what you are, increasingly as you grow more powerful yourself.

Captivating Eyes (Level 2, Divine): You can sometimes 'catch' people with your eyes. If you're concentrating, they'll find it slightly more difficult to look away, though any sense of threat or danger breaks it immediately, and they'll hear your words clearly, actually listening… or at least hearing them. There's no requirement to listen to them, nor does it seem as if anyone's mind is being altered in any way, but it's an interesting, if bizarre, power, and certainly is a new take on 'lost in their eyes.'

Slithering Shadows (Level 3, Divine): You can blend into the shadows better than you should be able to. At night, and in darker areas, you can seem to shift away from sight. It doesn't work well in a wide-open space, but that little bit of extra secrecy can be very useful as a hunter, and as someone who might need to sneak through various areas.
 
Last edited:
2:8
2:8

It was hard to hear anyone even speak, over the clamour. Oscar was waving his sword around. "How. Dare. You!" he yelled. "What proof is there to your--"

"So you, what, listened to some ghost and murdered a bunch of--"

"The Will of the Gods is--" Alda began, trying to speak over everyone else.

Clemencia, meanwhile, was marching towards them, though she carefully set aside her weapon on the ground and held out her hands. Lotte felt the need to follow her, to figure out what she was saying, and what was happening.

"How did you do it?! This is of magical and religious interest!" Clemencia shouted, so loud she drowned out the others. All of said others except Oscar quieted down to hear it. "What role did the artifacts play in it? How were you able to sync the ancestor without the proper rituals, or even a body?!"

"What?" the priest in the center asked.

"He isn't in someone's body, is he?"

Oscar had finally quieted down, staring at the two of them. Lotte kept behind Clemencia, not sure what to ask yet. This was a strange religious moment.

Even she understood some of it. The Sepult all thought about their ancestors and their beliefs, and here it was claimed that the martyr, dead though he was, had been talking to them. It wasn't something a holy martyr was supposed to be able to do except in an indirect way, in that she knew that the martyrs were close to the Gods and could talk to them, if need be.

But if they could, then why all of this? Even if the Gods didn't always intervene, whatever ill the shrine had done to Ingeld surely could have solved it some other way?

People had died.

Quite a few people had died, and quite a few would die in the future.

A shudder went up Lotte's spine, and her hand itched.

"No, no, he could enter a body, if he wanted, but for the moment, it's… you know how the sky is glass and the stars are tears being held back, hot and flaming, from drowning the world?"

"No, no I don't," Clemencia said, frowning.

"Well, the artifacts are like the stars, and his manner of death is like the glass. But there was a leak, like there sometimes is in the sky, a small one. He'd been slain with a weapon, cursed and strange, but when the descendent, the Knighted descendent, of That Man entered the shrine, where I worked as a servant--"

"As a what?" Oscar demanded. "A servant?"

"Yes. He whispered to me, and I began to have dreams. I left when I could, and have spent the last five years gathering for this moment, to free the enslaved and the forgotten--"

"Why not ask the Gods?" Lotte asked, stepping forward, aware that she had no right to speak, but speaking anyways. "They, they do not answer to most people, but if you are a priest, if you know Ingeld, if he spoke to you in dreams and signs, then surely they would be willing to intercede."

"We tried," the priest said. "We tried for nearly a year while trying other things. We could get the occasional answer, but they said that it was veiled, that the coils were around the heart of the matter, and only time would unwind them."

Lotte stared at that. "And now they are uncoiling?"

"I do not know. Why do you ask, strange forest adventurer?"

"My name is Lotte, and… last night, the Nachtmater spoke to me, and I can't imagine anything about me being important enough to warrant this. But if somehow my survival brought us here, to this grove. A… like a…" but she couldn't even think of a simile, beautiful or otherwise. "I don't know, but, I think--"

She reached her hand out, only to stare at it. The scar was shining, bright as daylight, visible to everyone.

If she'd died, or taken sick, they would have turned back, perhaps taking the time to locate the base before then. An army of adventurers would have dealt the finishing blows, and nobody would have known or cared.

Her life had value in that simple sense that nobody else was stupid enough to suggest a parley. But even the word 'stupid' felt as meaningful as a fancy armor when hunting, or as relevant as blood when skinning an animal.

It was a strange feeling, one she didn't have a word for. Even ideas almost failed. It was like meat drawing pain from a wound, but not. It was like the feeling of walking in the sunshine on a pleasant day and knowing all her labors were ones she chose.

"I think that we were meant to meet, and that to defy the Gods is a mistake," Lotte said. "The shrine, it has places to pray to the other Gods, right?"

"Yessss," a voice said. It was deep, it rumbled, and it came, it almost seemed, from the cart behind everyone. "To seize and reveal oneself in the name of the Gods, before the Gods, where they cannot be denied, where nothing can be denied. They have fallen far, and they do not even know it! I did not wish for them to die, but what other way was there for me to escape?"

"Escape," Oscar asked. "What did they do, what do you mean, the one who killed you?"

"Nobles are pious, so long as it enhances their status, just as merchants can measure their piety in coins," Ingeld's voice said. "They were afraid of me. Afraid, because I loved them not. So they sent a liar, a thief, a monster to kill me, and promised him a petty lordship a 'knighthood' if he'd do it and make it seem an accident. He did, and they reneged. They died for it, some of them, and he became a Knight, and his son was a Knight, and his son's son was a slightly less petty lord, and his son's son's daughter was a lady of great power, and on down generations of poisoned, hidden evil."

As he spoke, the world seemed to shift. It was subtle, but it was as if the trees were bending further inward, the wind blowing so as to not carry the words any further than their grove. Perhaps even less far than that. The sky didn't darken, but it did seem to shift, the clouds gathering around as if keeping a watch.

Lotte didn't know how to describe it, except to be a little afraid and a little awed. Perhaps she'd one day get used to it, to the power that some could hold over the very world itself. But she wasn't getting used to it, yet.

"Is this so?" Guilliam asked.

"Yes."

"Then, again, why the shrine? Why not the Lordling?"

"It is a first step. A way to gain the power needed to act. Men such as that understand only violence and power, and I currently have neither," Ingeld declared, his voice low and careful.

"That's--" Guilliam began.

"How can we help, my lord?" Oscar asked, giving a sort of half-bow, his sword put away. Lotte turned to look at him, and could see the worship on his features.

"There is a question. What can we do?" the priest asked. "The plan for the martyr was to let him recover his strength there, and defend him at a shrine that believes in him, one that hasn't grown fat off the table scraps of the nobility."

"But, sir, Priest, what is one Lordling against such a crime?" Oscar asked. "If you blamed people long past, and brought down condemnation only on the killer, then they would rally to you--"

"Rally to me? Do you think I believe in vengeance? Do you think I rallied the people of the forest, and the beastfolk, the priests and the peasants, the low and the middle, for vengeance?"

The Beastfolk? Nobody spoke of that, Lotte was pretty sure.

Every story Lotte had told might be false. It was a terrifying thing to consider. In fact, Lotte willfully didn't consider it, acted like a horse with blinders and focused merely on the stories of Ingeld and what this all might mean.

"Then what will you do?" Guilliam asked. "It is one thing to say you will do great things, but in my experience a person might meet their moment only once in their lifetime."

"Then it is good that my lifetime is through," Ingeld said. "You are remarkably impious, dear child, and your accent remarkably unbelievable."

"What?" Guilliam asked, eyes wide.

"No matter."

"Fine, then, I have an idea. We go to the shrine in force, we open their eyes, and once you have the priests on your side, by force or otherwise, then you can use them to broadcast accusations."

"I cannot do so without a body," Ingeld insisted. "I need something to hold my power, to help it stand. I need a partner, for however brief a time, in order to do this."

"I can do so," Clemencia said, stepping forward. "I have experience in connecting with ancestors and--"

"I thank you, but no," Ingeld said. "There is a sort of interference, especially as time goes on, when one joins with a woman if one is a man. It sickens the soul, like the poison which killed me, and so I cannot join with you, though in most other ways you are suitable. I do not know why it does so, but I cannot choose you."

"What does this choice even involve? Are you possessing us?" Guilliam asked. "Or, whoever agrees, that is."

"No. It is a partnership, a sort of joining. It is like the heroic adventurers in the story, when they are guided by the Gods. The Gods dwell in them, but they dwell in and with the Gods. But I am no God, just a man who did his best, and so it will be far more even, the balance. You, boy, step forward, let me see…"

Nobody stepped forward.

"Boy next to the Sepult."

Lotte flushed, and stepped forward, "Sir, I'm not a boy--"

"Well. Perhaps my eyes are not what they used to be. Let me look you over anyways, hrm. Hmm."

Lotte was of course offended at having been mistaken for a guy twice in a matter of days. It stood to reason that that was the strange, fluttery feeling in her chest, because what else could it be?

There was almost a minute before Ingeld spoke again, sounding a little shaken. "Sorry, but no. You are, you are excellent, yes, your heart is pure, and untainted by too much education--"

Which sounded like an insult, in truth.

"But I do not think you would be the… right host for the, er, situation." Ingeld no longer sounded quite as steady as he did before. "But, there are others… if you consent. I cannot do it without agreement."

"I… suppose," Guilliam said. Lotte suspected he saw it as a way to have some sort of control over Ingeld's actions.

"Of course, I am willing," Oscar said.

There was a long pause, no doubt of consideration, and then Ingeld made his choice.

Who did he choose?

[] Oscar. A Knight, but pious and honest and true and rather violent, combining the two might be explosive, but it's certainly predictable in a way how things will go. Not that it's Lotte's choice. No, it's yours.
[] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.
[] One of the 'bandits'. On the one hand, there'd be a good sync between the two, but of course there'd be no check. They'd be unlikely to disagree with someone they'd been working that long with.
[] One of the men who worship the Nachtmater. Theoretically neutral, but who knows what they'd feel and think?

*******

A/N: Not really Lotte's choice, but I'd figure you'd want it, so, here!
 
Lotte flushed, and stepped forward, "Sir, I'm not a boy--"

"Well. Perhaps my eyes are not what they used to be. Let me look you over anyways, hrm. Hmm."

Lotte was of course offended at having been mistaken for a guy twice in a matter of days. It stood to reason that that was the strange, fluttery feeling in her chest, because what else could it be?

There was almost a minute before Ingeld spoke again, sounding a little shaken. "Sorry, but no. You are, you are excellent, yes, your heart is pure, and untainted by too much education--"

Which sounded like an insult, in truth.

"But I do not think you would be the… right host for the, er, situation." Ingeld no longer sounded quite as steady as he did before. "But, there are others… if you consent. I cannot do it without agreement."

Somebody doesn't want to go around cracking eggs before they're ready to hatch.
 
This seems incredibly shady but then I'm hardly surprised the establishment is corrupt and believing their own lies. Really, as soon as we started this particular quest I was waiting for it. Now: who's least likely to start a riot of ignorant zealous?

I'm thinking the bard or the wildcard "neural" option (which totally will somehow backfire). But hey, it'll be entertaining!
 
[X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.

It would be entertaining and give some contrast to our religious character. Plus he's less likely to be manipulated being smart socially and in all bardic ways.
 
[X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.

It will make for a better story, and aren't we making a story here?
You shouldn't have given us the right to choose, Ingeld The Laurent. :V

At least I was right in one thing, pretty obvious one admittedly.

How much money on him getting offed by one of his noble allies who had the same thought? No takers? Strange.

There was almost a minute before Ingeld spoke again, sounding a little shaken. "Sorry, but no. You are, you are excellent, yes, your heart is pure, and untainted by too much education--"

Which sounded like an insult, in truth.

Ingeld, you anarcho-syndicalist ass.
Just for this I'll stuff you into the spoony bard.

"But I do not think you would be the… right host for the, er, situation." Ingeld no longer sounded quite as steady as he did before.

Whatever the reason, Ingeld really doesn't like the idea of sharing the El Ranger's body with him. Not foreboding at all, right.

Ingeld has his own fucking problems, he doesn't want to add the bigger ones to his list.

Also, in retrospect, asking the Mother Moth about what she did to our hand would have been the most interesting question to me. Answer, even more so.
 
Last edited:
Ingeld has just met his first trans man, I see, and has no idea how to broach the subject when the trans man in question is not yet aware of it.
 
[X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.

Should lead to more drama and interesting story.
 
[X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.
 
[X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.
Gotta have some breaks on the vaguely vengeful martyr. Probably fairly uncomfortable for both, but no-one else looks like they'd treat it with the humour it deserves.
 
[X] One of the men who worship the Nachtmater. Theoretically neutral, but who knows what they'd feel and think?
 
[X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.
 
[X] Oscar. A Knight, but pious and honest and true and rather violent, combining the two might be explosive, but it's certainly predictable in a way how things will go. Not that it's Lotte's choice. No, it's yours.

I, um, kinda want to see the fireworks.
 
[X] Oscar. A Knight, but pious and honest and true and rather violent, combining the two might be explosive, but it's certainly predictable in a way how things will go. Not that it's Lotte's choice. No, it's yours.

From Knight to COMRADE Knight!
 
[X] Oscar. A Knight, but pious and honest and true and rather violent, combining the two might be explosive, but it's certainly predictable in a way how things will go. Not that it's Lotte's choice. No, it's yours.
 
[X] Oscar. A Knight, but pious and honest and true and rather violent, combining the two might be explosive, but it's certainly predictable in a way how things will go. Not that it's Lotte's choice. No, it's yours.

The true restitution of agrarian faith was the friendship we made on the way.
 
Close! Rally, knights and bards, to your causes.
Adhoc vote count started by NemoMarx on Sep 17, 2019 at 12:18 PM, finished with 16 posts and 11 votes.

  • [X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.
    [X] Oscar. A Knight, but pious and honest and true and rather violent, combining the two might be explosive, but it's certainly predictable in a way how things will go. Not that it's Lotte's choice. No, it's yours.
    [X] One of the men who worship the Nachtmater. Theoretically neutral, but who knows what they'd feel and think?
 
[X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.
 
[X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.

I vote the skeptic gets possessed by the saint. Sounds fun.
 
Honestly, the Skeptic and the Saint might be amusing, but it sounds like they'd have some... incompatibilities, to say the least.

Whereas the Knight and the Saint would be compatible in the same way that a house and fire are compatible. Which is to say, in interesting ways that are very dramatic, and which leave a trail of ash and smoke in their wake.

As it so happens, I want to see what happens when everything gets set on fire! Should be neat.
 
There's also the consent issue: bard is reluctant, knight is enthusiastic.
 
Final Tally
Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Sep 18, 2019 at 5:45 AM, finished with 23 posts and 13 votes.

  • [X] Guilliam, a Troubadour, a cynic, a religious skeptic, and yet also cleverer than Oscar and of course smarter than Lotte. He's something of a mystery to others, and his very skepticism might complicate any union, however temporary.
    [X] Oscar. A Knight, but pious and honest and true and rather violent, combining the two might be explosive, but it's certainly predictable in a way how things will go. Not that it's Lotte's choice. No, it's yours.
    [X] One of the men who worship the Nachtmater. Theoretically neutral, but who knows what they'd feel and think?
 
Back
Top