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.
 
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Write ins allowed? I don't want to get tied here for long.

Also, what Lotte knows about according procedures when someone goes missing? Also, are there guilds? Rat Piper guilds, in particular?
 
[X] Aldrich is a proud man too. He wants revenge. So deny him it. Hunt food for the family so they eat better than they did before he started cursing them. Trade some of it with others for things for the family. Make him mad, and make it seem pointless.

I am petty and this appeals to me.
 
As usual in early votes in a quest, I think this reflects a bit of not just the specific situation, but also how the protags mindset is. Do you reach out to people to help you, or authority? Do you confront the villain head on? Do you outlast and spite them?

Ask yourself that sort of question and you can't go wrong, really.
 
As usual in early votes in a quest, I think this reflects a bit of not just the specific situation, but also how the protags mindset is. Do you reach out to people to help you, or authority? Do you confront the villain head on? Do you outlast and spite them?
We T-Pose to assert dominance until they concede victory to us, of course.
 
[x] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.

Having the headman at least try to talk the Piper down seems like a good shout.

Also really liked the realistic rat emotes in this chapter!
 
[X] Aldrich is a proud man too. He wants revenge. So deny him it. Hunt food for the family so they eat better than they did before he started cursing them. Trade some of it with others for things for the family. Make him mad, and make it seem pointless.

The best place to hurt a man is his vitals. The second best place is his balls.
But since those are off the table, we go for #3- the ego
 
[X] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.
 
[X] Aldrich is a proud man too. He wants revenge. So deny him it. Hunt food for the family so they eat better than they did before he started cursing them. Trade some of it with others for things for the family. Make him mad, and make it seem pointless.

Either he gives up, or he does something stupid. Either way, we win!
 
[X] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.
 
[X] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.
 
[x] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.

If Aldritch is a tradesman, even a crooked one, he understands something about not antagonizing your clientele overmuch.

Of course, the headman will tell us there is nothing he can do, because if he could do anyrhing he'd already have done it, and because we are the Protagonist and as such we are supposed to get things done. But, we might as well try for the non-violent solution.
 
[X] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.
 
[X] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.
 
[X] Aldrich is a proud man too. He wants revenge. So deny him it. Hunt food for the family so they eat better than they did before he started cursing them. Trade some of it with others for things for the family. Make him mad, and make it seem pointless.
 
[X] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.
 
As usual in early votes in a quest, I think this reflects a bit of not just the specific situation, but also how the protags mindset is. Do you reach out to people to help you, or authority? Do you confront the villain head on? Do you outlast and spite them?

Ask yourself that sort of question and you can't go wrong, really.

With this in mind I am going vote against my personal inclination to talk to the headman. This is Lotte's first adventure and I don't want her to establish herself as the person who runs to the nearest authority figure for every problem. She is a hunter and her own skills can be enough to help Friedrich and Hilda, to ruin Aldrich's plans, and to establish herself as an adventurer.

[X] Aldrich is a proud man too. He wants revenge. So deny him it. Hunt food for the family so they eat better than they did before he started cursing them. Trade some of it with others for things for the family. Make him mad, and make it seem pointless.
 
[X] Aldrich is a proud man too. He wants revenge. So deny him it. Hunt food for the family so they eat better than they did before he started cursing them. Trade some of it with others for things for the family. Make him mad, and make it seem pointless.
 
[X] Go to the village headman, whom she has seen before, though never spoken to. Surely he might have some power to talk to the Rat Piper and warn him off of anything too drastic. At the very least, it'll be a help for later.
 
So, very early tally. I find it interesting that no one at all is going for the direct confrontation? But it looks like it'll be a pretty close vote between the other two options, anyway.

To keep discussion going:

What do you think the Headman could do to warn off Aldrich?

How long do you think Aldrich would hold out with Lotte keeping the family fed and happy and resisting him?
Adhoc vote count started by NemoMarx on Jun 16, 2019 at 1:13 PM, finished with 243 posts and 19 votes.
 
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How long do you think Aldrich would hold out with Lotte keeping the family fed and happy and resisting him?
Honestly, this is sort of tangential to your question, but I really like the idea of Lotte's approach to a down-on-their-luck family who is stuck in poverty and getting preyed upon by a bully to be helping them get out of the situation that's causing their problems, rather than just solving the immediate problem that Aldrich poses and then leaving them in the same position as before?

It's just a really neat character note, and an approach that I don't think I've ever seen taken in most fiction.

How long before things come to a head isn't certain- and honestly, Aldrich will probably try to force the issue in a fairly short period- but I just love the idea of straight up helping people and making their lives better, without asking whether that's allowed or just brute forcing the immediate problems away.
 
What do you think the Headman could do to warn off Aldrich

Tell other local headmen not to deal with him? Sure, he could just straight up move to extorsion in response, but I guess either the Rat Piper Guild or the Royal Guard or even just a more murder-happy adventurer would eventually take notice. Bad for business, that.
 
So, very early tally. I find it interesting that no one at all is going for the direct confrontation? But it looks like it'll be a pretty close vote between the other two options, anyway.

To keep discussion going:

What do you think the Headman could do to warn off Aldrich?

How long do you think Aldrich would hold out with Lotte keeping the family fed and happy and resisting him?

Even more tangentially, I love the idea of Lotte being a helpful hand to every family she meets, so much so that by the end of their acquaintance they'd rather adopt him, but the sweet siren song of adventure calls him away.

Kinda reminds me of a Russian folklore fairy tale, 'Kolobok'. For some reason. It's about animate piece of bread that runs away from his creator/baker, ( who really just wanted a son/grandson, because he was getting old in the years, actually ) then some animals, only to get eaten by a fox in the end.

Well, I'm sure it's not a purely Russian fairy-tale, there's probably fifteen or so variations in Europe.

Okay, so... yeah. Something like that.
 
I want to talk to the Headman before Aldrich to find out the details of their business arrangement. I'm guessing that this whole thing is caused by Freidrich being too proud to accept charity and Aldrich being too proud to let one old farmer in the middle of nowhere think he got one over on him.

If that's the case, I think Aldrich can hold out for a while. The solution is to find a way for both sides to save face. To do so a 'neutral' third party will be helpful in bringing them both to the table.
 
I want to talk to the Headman before Aldrich to find out the details of their business arrangement. I'm guessing that this whole thing is caused by Freidrich being too proud to accept charity and Aldrich being too proud to let one old farmer in the middle of nowhere think he got one over on him.

If that's the case, I think Aldrich can hold out for a while. The solution is to find a way for both sides to save face. To do so a 'neutral' third party will be helpful in bringing them both to the table.

For now, it kiiiinda seems like Friedrich is extorting the whole village, because he's the only one able to provide his services in the area, and the villagers don't really want to confront him, since if they drive him away, who's gonna pipe the rats, eh?

But maybe not. Sure looks like it, though.
 
Well, you have to consider how much of a rat problem there would be without a piper?

He has bags of them at the ready for a reason, after all. But maybe there was a problem and someone called him to this town?

Apropros of nothing, I really liked Maurice's educated rodents. My first pretchett book, and an old favorite.
 
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