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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Eighteen, actually! He was sixteen when he first wanted to go, and then spent two years training and helping out around the farm.

All of the protags were going to be at least eighteen for various reasons. How much over eighteen depended. The Sepult was thirty-something, which is to say, like, 19 in Sepult years.
Ok! Any specifics on pronouns for Lotte? I see 'she' used in the story and 'he'/'she' used as well.
 
Ok! Any specifics on pronouns for Lotte? I see 'she' used in the story and 'he'/'she' used as well.

It's gonna be he, once the eggshell cracks. Which puts us at an annoying time pronoun wise?

Basically it'll be a firm he after the prologue, I think, but right now Lotte wouldn't understand why you were using that, in the same way the dream was confusing.
 
Built to charm boys, girls, and others. The innocent farmer cuts through the chaff of political intrigue to melt the hearts of stone faced schemers and reminds them of the important things in life, like built hotties. People shall assume Lotte's alignment as a neutral good before they have even met the wannabe adventurer. Damn it don't assume, even if it's probably true! And I'm certain this will just make everyone go to Lotte about their problems because of these prince(ss) charming looks! How annoying!
Lotte isn't actually a prince, though. Or if he is, he doesn't know it.
 
Lotte isn't actually a prince, though. Or if he is, he doesn't know it.

You don't have to be royalty to be a Prince Charming.

A Prince or Princess Charming is a dashing young man or woman who is noble in action and beautiful in form who unknowingly wins the hearts of all with their fair hearted deeds, earning admirers and companions along the way!
 
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[X] Little Lost Lamb: Lotte stumbles across a shepherd boy who is looking for one of his sheep. His stepfather will kill him if he doesn't find it, and so he desperately tasks Lotte to go and see what happened to it, and save it if she can. There's been rumors of bandits and wild animals in the area, but it should be nothing an adventurer can handle, right?!
 
This is absurdly close. We'll probably be able to keep the vote open a while, at this rate.
Adhoc vote count started by NemoMarx on Jun 2, 2019 at 1:51 AM, finished with 131 posts and 22 votes.

  • [X] Rats!: Just two villages over down the trade route, she finds that a village is being harassed by a Rat Piper, a man whose pipe allows him to control rats… and who is making at least some of them pay for the privilege of not having rats. Those that refuse, well, they have rats in the kitchen and rats everywhere, enough rats that even cats run away at them. He, and his apprentice, are a menace, and something has to be done! The peasants who have been most bothered are those who can least afford to pay, especially so soon after winter's end, so the rewards wouldn't exactly be great… but rats all over, biting things, peeing everywhere… it was a menace!
    [X] Little Lost Lamb: Lotte stumbles across a shepherd boy who is looking for one of his sheep. His stepfather will kill him if he doesn't find it, and so he desperately tasks Lotte to go and see what happened to it, and save it if she can. There's been rumors of bandits and wild animals in the area, but it should be nothing an adventurer can't handle, right?!
    [X] Neither Rain Nor…: After almost a week of not finding much, at least not much that didn't start and end with standing in place to guard something, Lotte was handed a package by a sickly looking man and told that if she continued to the nearest town, she could deliver it to a certain address, and that she'd be paid for it. She was also implored not to open either the package or the message, because they were personal. Which made sense to Lotte!
 
It's gonna be he, once the eggshell cracks. Which puts us at an annoying time pronoun wise?

Basically it'll be a firm he after the prologue, I think, but right now Lotte wouldn't understand why you were using that, in the same way the dream was confusing.
I'd probably count things as She right now, because what matters most is the person being referred to.
 
I'd probably count things as She right now, because what matters most is the person being referred to.

It gets messier for me because I have to talk about the future with Laurent a lot, and so I'm going back and forth.

Absolutely, if Lotte were a person and not a character, it would be most proper to use she right now. So I'm not gonan be upset at people going that route? I'm mostly trying to avoid pronoun use in my posts so that I don't encourage she now, for instance, and then make it harder for people to switch later on or something.
 
The wholesome means, among other things, that Lotte just comes off as generally trustworthy... though maybe also naïve and easily taken advantage of, in another light.
So, between this and the way that the 'Neither Rain nor Shine' quest was written... would I be completely off base if I were to assume that the guy giving us the package actually had nefarious ends in mind- possibly just using us as a catspaw for delivering illegal goods, but also possibly sending us into a trap with the hopes of selling us into slavery?

Because I had the thought, "This sounds like a trap" when I first read that quest description, tbh.
 
[X] Little Lost Lamb: Lotte stumbles across a shepherd boy who is looking for one of his sheep. His stepfather will kill him if he doesn't find it, and so he desperately tasks Lotte to go and see what happened to it, and save it if she can. There's been rumors of bandits and wild animals in the area, but it should be nothing an adventurer can't handle, right?!

I like this one because it's the one that best fits in with Lotte's experience and skill set.
 
[] Neither Rain Nor…: After almost a week of not finding much, at least not much that didn't start and end with standing in place to guard something, Lotte was handed a package by a sickly looking man and told that if she continued to the nearest town, she could deliver it to a certain address, and that she'd be paid for it. She was also implored not to open either the package or the message, because they were personal. Which made sense to Lotte!

Edit : vote changed.
 
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So, between this and the way that the 'Neither Rain nor Shine' quest was written... would I be completely off base if I were to assume that the guy giving us the package actually had nefarious ends in mind- possibly just using us as a catspaw for delivering illegal goods, but also possibly sending us into a trap with the hopes of selling us into slavery?

Because I had the thought, "This sounds like a trap" when I first read that quest description, tbh.

I can give this reassurance: if it is a trap, it's a level appropriate trap. I wouldn't provide an option that got you *that* far over your head for his first mission.
 
I can give this reassurance: if it is a trap, it's a level appropriate trap. I wouldn't provide an option that got you *that* far over your head for his first mission.

The QM has spoken!
It's a trap designed to make us break through our limits! A flurry of riveting action purposefully constructed to level our character up by a level or two!
Like a shounen protagonist, really.

:V
 
[X] Little Lost Lamb: Lotte stumbles across a shepherd boy who is looking for one of his sheep. His stepfather will kill him if he doesn't find it, and so he desperately tasks Lotte to go and see what happened to it, and save it if she can. There's been rumors of bandits and wild animals in the area, but it should be nothing an adventurer can't handle, right?!
 
[X] Little Lost Lamb: Lotte stumbles across a shepherd boy who is looking for one of his sheep. His stepfather will kill him if he doesn't find it, and so he desperately tasks Lotte to go and see what happened to it, and save it if she can. There's been rumors of bandits and wild animals in the area, but it should be nothing an adventurer can't handle, right?!
 
I can give this reassurance: if it is a trap, it's a level appropriate trap. I wouldn't provide an option that got you *that* far over your head for his first mission.

Why not though? I understand the reluctance to murder your MC less than 15k words into the quest, but being sold into slavery? Or some other terrible consequence, like being cursed? That can be interesting to explore, imo.
 
Why not though? I understand the reluctance to murder your MC less than 15k words into the quest, but being sold into slavery? Or some other terrible consequence, like being cursed? That can be interesting to explore, imo.

If you'd picked someone other than the Orphan, those would have been very on the table. But the other characters started at a higher level for a reason, and so they'd have gotten into messes a bit faster too.
 
It helps that nobody is really the Orphan's enemy. Just the random encounter table and she's not dumb, and a reasonably good forester
 
But other moments, drunken moments, he seemed to resent her for not having gone with him. He'd have been fine, if only he'd had a friend out there.
well, just shows that the world beat some cynicism and quite a bit of hate or anger into him.

[x] Rats!

After all, what self respecting adventurer never encountered Rats? This should also give us some idea about the magics of this world. Maybe the Rat Piper is even innocent and just able enough to fend away the comming plague?
 
[X] Neither Rain Nor…: After almost a week of not finding much, at least not much that didn't start and end with standing in place to guard something, Lotte was handed a package by a sickly looking man and told that if she continued to the nearest town, she could deliver it to a certain address, and that she'd be paid for it. She was also implored not to open either the package or the message, because they were personal. Which made sense to Lotte!
 
[X] Rats!: Just two villages over down the trade route, she finds that a village is being harassed by a Rat Piper, a man whose pipe allows him to control rats… and who is making at least some of them pay for the privilege of not having rats. Those that refuse, well, they have rats in the kitchen and rats everywhere, enough rats that even cats run away at them. He, and his apprentice, are a menace, and something has to be done! The peasants who have been most bothered are those who can least afford to pay, especially so soon after winter's end, so the rewards wouldn't exactly be great… but rats all over, biting things, peeing everywhere… it was a menace!
 
So, to try and shake out some more discussion, I have questions.

What do people think Lotte's role in an adventuring party would be, based on the traits you have now? Who would you look for to fill out that party, in terms of combat but also in terms of personality?

Do you think Lotte needs a grizzled adventurer to help them, or more fresh naive newbies to compliment the vibe you've already got going?
 
So, to try and shake out some more discussion, I have questions.

What do people think Lotte's role in an adventuring party would be, based on the traits you have now? Who would you look for to fill out that party, in terms of combat but also in terms of personality?

Do you think Lotte needs a grizzled adventurer to help them, or more fresh naive newbies to compliment the vibe you've already got going?

Answering in order:
A scout, most likely, not necessarily a ranger, but someone who knows how to keep up with what's ahead and how to kill things dead. Bad things, of course.
If I was doing the roster, I'd be going for people with questions as a theme. Questions about themselves, about the world they live in, about their role in it. How to kill bad things dead with the least effort possible and get adequately paid for it. All these eternal philosophical questions you ask yourself on the road.
At least one veteran. Not necessarily with the same 'class' as her, just someone who knows their way around things. An Obi-Wan is a time-honored profession among the adventurers. Others could be not necessarily newbs, but people of or near to our protag's age.
Like, I dunno, a knight looking for a damsel in distress to save, only to realize that Lotte is neither a damsel, nor is she/he in particular distress. :V
 
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