Time for an encore; Swords of the Serpentine has been on my mind quite a bit the last few weeks, so I decided to do a repeat. Mostly since I had a simple scene in my mind, one of a battered thief hunter, somewhere in a hidden chamber well below the city. A partially sun-lit chamber, floor covered with sand, and the hunter is in deep conversation with a giant scorpion. Boots of someone likely deceased are just jutting into the image. For some reason, it is obvious that the monster and the thief hunter are becoming friends of some sort.
Enter Imelda Minucci, said thief hunter. Since I have described how to make a SotS character already on Day 7, I will not repeat that part. Instead, I will talk a bit about Imelda. I picture her as someone quiet, usually mono-syllabic, but competent at her day job. She has hidden depths and has always looked for something ... different. I think while she likes people well enough, she has always been looking for someone to have deeper conversations with. Turns out she found it a while ago when chasing a heavy from the thieves guild deep into the hidden areas under the city. I am thinking all of this happened somewhere under Sag Harbor, a poor area where Imelda both works and lives. I think she shadowed the bad guy to Ropso's Fight Club (nomen est omen), and then further underground. At some point, she ran into a trap, and only made it out since the giant scorpion, hidden deep in the bowels of the city after escaping the FC as a youngling, decided to intervene.
Imelda came back from time to time, largely to convince herself that she did not imagine that the scorpion had helped, and might even be friendly. After a time she tried to connect via scratches in the ground. Finally, she managed to hunt down a sorcerer who helped her strike a minor deal with a small god to get access to sorcery, in return for some help that should not be mentioned. I think the sorcerer probably learned her true name in the process, something she does not know about. This will allow him easier access to her with his magic. And if the GM wants she might still owe the god a favor.
So, what about the stats? Her Best Things in Life depict why she became a thief hunter - she loves 'Springing Traps on a Trapper', the thrill of outwitting someone who traps and hunts people for profit, like thieves, burglars, robbers. Killers. She enjoys challenging her own viewpoint - 'Deep conversation with someone from a wildly different world'. Learning to communicate via magic allowed her to contact more monstrosities, and she is slowly becoming an ally of sorts to them. At least the nicer ones. Finally, she has a soft spot for the outcast ('Protecting those outcast'), underlying both her watch activities and her unusual relationships.
Her other stats should mostly explain themselves; socially, she will usually try the more charming approach and tends to backstab more than threaten and attack (Charm 1, Liar's Tell 1, Servility 1, Trustworthy 1). She is a Sentinel and has the basic abilities her work requires (Felonious Intent 1, Laws & Traditions 1, Vigilance 1), but her unusual place in the watch, and her hobby, have led to some unusual additions. She has a better idea of the hidden nooks and crannies of Eversink than most coppers, and she has also learned basic magic (City's Secrets 1, Skulduggery 1, Corruption 1, Know Monstrosities 2). Her magic sphere is Monstrosities (Mental). It depicts the communication ability, but I assume that comes with some other capacities, and I think her non-human contacts might serve to explain rare occasions where this becomes useful towards humans. Imagine driving enemies away when some 'friends' of hers appear, which mechanically might very well be the use of her Sorcery.
Her General Abilities are varied, she has Athletics 2 (from walking and running a lot), Burglary 2 (Thief-Catchers do weird things in the pursuit of criminals), Preparedness 8, Stealth 4, Sorcery 2, Sway 4, and Warfare 8.
Finally, equipment-wise she is subtle; she has chosen a place to live that allows easy access to the underground where her friends roam, and she has some items that describe her past. The trinkets that she has gathered from monstrosities serve as color for the Sorcery, and maybe some other abilities. She is a subtle character, with hidden depths. A team player who might pull out a colorful surprise at some point during a game.
Done.
Note: Now that I am done I realize that I could just make the same character without the Sorcery and Corruption; after all, the game does allow one to use any explanation for abilities, and GM willing I could just say she can talk to non-human Monsters and use Ally Monstrosities (maybe pushed to 2) as an excuse to add color to other abilities. But I like the idea that someone like Imelda went out and made a shady deal to learn sorcery, putting her on a new life path.
Edit: Generated an image using DallE.
No comments:
Post a Comment