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yrro
2005-05-16, 03:32 AM
Kat gently brushed aside a branch of her bushy cover, squinting her eyes against the firelight to survey her targets. The bard and wizard were dark shapes on the ground, dreaming away the whole night to restore their spells. A single, scarred fighter sat on a log by the fire, his head nodding intermittently as he struggled against sleep. As Kat watched, he finally succumbed, and the soft snores of a nose that had been broken one-too-many times drifted across the moonless night.
Perfect, she thought. Vinn was already in place on the other side of the camp. Even if she couldn't see him, he was as reliable as the clock she once stole from a wizard, and she knew that he was poised in the darkness, ready to remove the casters from the fight before they could even wake. All she needed now was stealth and good aim, and the lone guard would fall before he could raise the alarm.
She drew her bow to her cheek, counting the rise and fall of her breathing as she took aim for his left eye. Fire on three - one, two–
"What are you doing?" Long blonde hair shimmered in the firelight, and a pair of deep blue eyes looked into hers from less than a hand away. Her eyes were so beautiful, like a summer sun reflected off the high mountain lakes of Kat's homeland. She could stare into their depths for hours, and–
"I thought I told Aspic to tie you up," Kat hissed out of the corner of her mouth, forcing herself to think of the task at hand. She glared over her shoulder at the pale young man standing in the shadows behind her and looking sheepish.
The valkyric beauty shrugged her shoulders, sending her lovely bosom in very interesting directions. Her smile was genuine as a child's, "Oh, Raspy tried to, but he really didn't want to hurt me."
How could anything want to hurt you, Angela, Kat thought.
"But, anyway, why are you going to ambush those men? You know it's quite awful to attack people when they're sleeping."
"Oh, umm..." Kat stalled. Why should she care what this goody goody dimwit thought of her actions – the woman was her captive after all. And yet - those eyes, that hair, and that smile all said that she did care. "They're bad men, very bad. They kill children and kick puppies and are very dangerous. That's why we have to attack them before they wake up, so that we can take them to justice."
It was complete bull****, only a moron would buy that story, especially considering that the moron had become a captive when Kat and her group and slain her entire caravan.
Angela smiled brightly, her cheeks dimpling. "Well, then, I guess that's ok. But be very careful you don't get hurt, I don't want to have to ask my God for more healing than is necessary; that's a sin, you know."
Kat found herself smiling back, then forced her face back to businesslike apathy. Unfortunately, she found her heart beating too hard to hold her heart steady, and she closed her eyes and breathed deeply to settle herself again. When she opened them, she was staring directly into the tan, scarred face of the fighter she should have killed five minutes ago.
She fell back, her bow coming up to fire, but she was too slow. His sword flashed in the firelight as it came down in a quick arc toward her face. She wasn't going to get the shot off in time. As she fell, she felt more than saw a large, dark shape shove past her, and then the fighter's blade was caught on an axe handle and the light from the fight was cut off by the massive bulk of her savior. The dark eyes of the fighting man stared straight into pale orbs that burned out of a face even more scarred than his. The barbarian roared with a hoarse animalistic sound, and as his mouth open the firelight revealed that his tongue was missing, leaving only a blackened scar. He flung the fighter backward, and he bare arms rippled as with a smooth motion, too fast for something that large, he brought the axe down, cleaving the fallen fighter's head in two.
Relieved, but not particularly surprised, Kat turned quickly to survey the rest of the battlefield. The fight was already over – Vinn was rising over the still motionless bodies of the target casters, his blades dripping. Relieved that this raid wasn't a failure after all, she moved quickly to start searching the bodies of the dead before Rasputin raised them to add to their stock of useful fodder. Even as she worked though, and despite all she argued with herself, her thoughts were on how she could convince Angela that their actions were justified.

Kat's Cutthroats

Kat's Cutthroats are a small mercenary band for hire. They have no concerns about the morality or lack thereof of their work, answering only to the highest bidder. Since evil tends to pay better than good, this means that they are often employed by whatever Evil Overlord is currently threatening the peace and tranquility of all the happy peasants. Although motley and dissimilar in temperament, they work well together, and are generally used for specific assignments that the Overlord's normal dumb shock troops of orcs and bugbears would completely screw up.


Kat Starleaf, Female Human, Level 7 Rogue
Kat is the leader of the group. Darkly beautiful, perfectly charming, and dangerously cunning, she is the sort of girl that can seem as at home in a ballroom as she is in a tavern or castle siege. A born leader, she possesses a keen mind and a strong will. She is not above using her natural gifts to her advantage, although in most cases she has no need to. Her early past is a mystery, but her reputation as a vicious enemy is well-known, and well deserved.
She does, however, have a weakness. Like many good girls who lust after a rebel, this amoral bad girl finds herself irresistibly drawn to proper, law-following men and women completely beyond her reach. She has had many failed relationships with Paladins, and leaves a string of broken hearts behind her, although those few who know her well all agree that until parting, she was a wholeheartedly taken with those chaste knights as they were with her.
Enter Angela. Kat found Angela attempting to convert a caravan that Kat's current employer considered a fat target. Unable to control herself, she disobeyed ordered and spared Angela, and has since been hauling her around as a "prisoner," despite having every reason for either releasing her or offing her immediately.

Rasputin Aspic, Male Human, Level 7 Specialist Wizard - Necromancer

Rasputin (or Rasp, as her prefers to be called) is a prime example of a boy following in his fathers footsteps. In his case, however, his father happened to be a powerful necromancer who turned himself into a Lich on his son's fifth birthday. Raspy grew up in his father's tomb, playing with skeletons and zombies, and helping his dad in his research. He was a quick study, and by the time he was twelve his father put him in charge of organizing the tomb's defenses against curious adventurers. He became a master of traps and massed zombie tactics. He never considered his life odd, and as a child found the cold, lonely catacombs quite comfortable. However, as he hit puberty, he came to a horrible realization – zombie chicks aren't much fun at parties. His father's isolation now seemed a curse, and rebelling, he attempted to go down into the nearby town to find himself a girlfriend. This was when he realized his pale skin, dark, scraggly hair, and stench of death and decay were a strong turnoff for most girls his age. Dejected and angry, he sent his skeletal friends to destroy the town and went to mope in his chamber. His father, however, was furious, as the strike had drawn too much attention to his tomb, and the new influx of adventurers was hampering his research. They had quite an argument, after which the now fifteen-year-old Rasputin packed his spell components and set off into the world on his own, with dreams of fame, fortune, absolute power, and a girlfriend.

Rasputin joined Kat's Cutthroats because Kat is totally hot. He has a huge crush on her, but is too shy to admit it. He is also crazy about Angela, as she is gorgeous even if she is too good for him and probably wouldn't like his zombies. He is constantly trying to improve his skills with women, which are currently nonexistent.

Rasputin had a familiar as a child, a hamster. When it died, he raised it as a skeleton, and now keeps it as more of a pet. It is his only friend, and he talks to it often, although it lost the ability to listen or understand when it lost its flesh.

Thok EagleClaw, Male Half-Orc, Level 7 Barbarian

Thok was the eldest son of the chieftain of the Eagle Mountain Orc clan. Although a bastard with one of the chieftain's captured slaves, he was considered the heir of his clan, and his father had high hopes for him to one day rule the proud barbarians. Thok, however, had other ideas – he found the tests of strength and combat by which the Eagle tribe defined their manliness to be boring, and rather... barbaric. Although as the chieftain's son he dutifully trained constantly with the best warriors, he spent his free time reading, composing nature poetry, and dreaming of true love. He saw his birthright as a burden, and which that he could have grown up among his mother's people, where he might have found others who thought like him. He never rebelled directly, but his father scolded him often that he did not have the proper attitude of an honorable warrior of his tribe. One such scolding was, in fact, the last thing his father ever said to him.
The Eagle Mountain Orcs were ambushed by a small army of humans – humans from the same town Thok's mother had been taken from. Lead by a hired group of mercenaries, they silenced the watch with magic and fell upon the barbarian clan without warning. Every adult man and woman of Thok's tribe was slaughtered before his eyes, including his father, who died at Thok's feet clutching his prized battle-axe.
Thok and the rest of the children were chained and sold into slavery, and the leader of the slavers (one of the mercenaries) personally took Thok's father's axe for his own. The children were tortured, their tongues removed so they could not talk to each other, and send to work in the mines. There Thok grew with a strong purpose, for in the moment his father died, so died too any desire to be anything but the royal warrior son of the Eagle Mountain clan.
After five years in the mines, Thok lead a successful rebellion again his owners and personally slew the bearer of his father's axe bare-handed. He has since been on a quest to hunt down the rest of his clan's killers, while simultaneously living the barbarian code of warrior's honor that was lost with them.

Vinn Tinel, Male Half-Drow, Level 1 sorcerer, Level 6 ranger

*note - I used the half-elf template to avoid any weirdness by playing an NPC race.
Vinn Tinel - it means "Good Bye" in the tongue of a forgotten cult of magic, and is an alias more than a name – Vinn Tinel, the mage assassin.
Born the bastard son of a houseless female drow warrior and a powerful human mage, Vinn grew up alone on the streets of Menzobaeranzan, despised by either race he could lay claim to. He survived by his wits and natural magical talent, his father's magic blood mixing with the abilities of the drow to create a true survivor. He was eventually picked up by a mercenary group who thought he could be useful, and soon established himself as a premiere assassin, especially against those of magical abilities.
Eventually tiring of the Underdark, Vinn "convinced" a mage to send him to the surface. He continues to make his way as a mercenary, and has teamed with Kat because of her efficiency. They have a mutual understanding - she leads, as long as she doesn't tell him to do anything stupid.

Angela GoldHart, Female Human, Level 7 cleric

Angela is blonde, beautiful, pure, good, wise, and incredibly airheaded. While capable of surprising depth of faith and human intuition, she is completely oblivious. She is currently the captive of the Cutthroats, but considers them to be good people at heart who just need a little time to be brought back into the church. She is so genuine and gorgeous as to be completely irresistible.

yrro
2005-05-16, 03:35 AM
Well, here's a rough draft of the flavor text. I have stats, but no feats or skills or items, so I'll just wait and post all of these at once.

This party seems as though it'd work much better as a PC party than NPC - none of the interesting bits of the characters really come out in a few fights. I can see some fun role-play over of the love-triangle.

They're designed to be very morally ambiguous, to where it would be entirely up to the players how good or evil the party actually ended up being, even if they were working for the most evil bad guy imaginable. Level 7 was mostly because my necromancer needed to be able to cast raise dead, or he'd be a pretty poor excuse for a necromancer.