To condense the various posts I've done...
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- character art:
Alt art:
- An introduction:
Note that you will require the font available in Post 1 to be able to properly read this.
The room is dark and cool. Your candle flickers slightly in an unseen breeze as you enter the room, and you suddenly notice someone standing quite still in the corner of the room, the light glinting off their eyes. Her eyes. They shine with an unblinking, almost malevolent intensity. She's dressed as a maid, with dark, frilled dress and little white headband, and carries a broom with her. The girl is grinning widely and cocks her head a little before speaking in a clear, girlish soprano.
Tee hee, you found me. You weren't supposed to see me. Daddy's going to be mad. Tee hee hee, really mad. It was going to be a surprise when I grabbed you by the leg in the cemetery during the funeral.
She licks her lips absentmindedly and comes closer, but never stops grinning. Now the light's clearer, you can see her a little better. Her eyes are mis-matched; one a dark red, the other a dull grey. She has long dark hair, with a few distinct streaks of white, and pale skin. It's also clear that the maid isn't a girl, but a short, lightly built woman.
Well, come on then. They're waiting for you. Don't be like that, it was only a joke. Tee hee, don't worry, I wouldn't hurt you...Unless I could get away with it.
The maid starts leading you through the house, talking a little to you, and about herself when you ask. Me? I'm just a maid here. Alice Crivens. Alice the Watcher, the Professor used to call me. I was one of his proteges, but we couldn't afford the tuition, so Daddy and I worked here to cover costs. Daddy's the butler, but he's away on other work right now, otherwise he'd have seen you in.
Tee hee hee, Mummy's dead. Funny you should ask that. Just a few years ago. She was a Night Hag, and some fruitloops barged into her home and killed her and her coven. Daddy was very angry about that, because they were awfully rude about it. Didn't even pay tax on the things they stole from her. Alice strokes her broom lovingly. This old broom is all I have left of Mummy. It used to fly, but the magic's gone now. Daddy's taught me how to use it in other ways, though. Tee hee hee, Daddy's very good at that sort of thing. One day, I'll find that pesky thief and kill him with this very broom. Tee hee, that would make Mummy very happy.
Alice brings you to a stop outside an old, oak door. This is the place. Go on it, they're expecting you. Tee hee, don't worry about me, I'll be there if they need me. With that, the maid steps back into the shadows and vanishes. And I'll be watching you... her voice, even though it is no louder than a whisper, sounds as if it might come from anywhere in the room. With a start, you realise that Alice had been staring unblinkingly at you for your whole conversation, and never once stopped her wide grin.
- History:
Alice's origins are unusual, but perhaps not unexpected for the child of an adventurer. A story worth telling in its own right but abridged for current purposes, the masterful butler and improvised weapon master, Mister John Crivens, was travelling to the city of Corentyn in Cheliax seeking employment when he and some travelling companions encountered a member of a coven of hags that called themselves the Coven of Eyes. Circumstances of the time were such that his travelling companions felt obliged to slay the hag, although he was very much reluctant to do so.
The rest of the coven were furious, and worked together to haunt the group's dreams for months afterwards. Mr. Crivens himself regretted that events had happened as they had, and wished that there was some way of making amends with the rest of the coven. When his companions performed a crime and left him to take the blame, his fury was great, and he cursed the group. Though he was saved by Hellknights of the Order of the Chain, he sought out the leader of the Coven, a Night Hag who dwelled beneath the city of Corentyn, to make amends and work together with her to mete out justice to the party.
Out of that relationship came Alice. Her mother knew her days were numbered when the party ultimately returned to Corentyn, and magically accelerated her pregnancy to ensure a successor, using a private demiplane with fast relative time to rear her. Thus, when the party sent some new 'friends' to slay her, the girl Alice, aged 12 years in a matter of months after conception, was already safely away with her father, now a fully qualified Hellknight. The pair of them swore vengance on her Mother's slayer, a rich geokineticist by the name of Tiddles Dealing.
The Hellknights however, are a poor organisation to raise a child in, especially one with such an unusual background. Mr. Crivens looked for a way out, and eventually found Professor Lorrimor in the slave markets one day. He had been searching for a group of slavers who had been dealing in unlawfully taken slaves: supposedly sold to them by a Baron who had been slaying and enslaving lawful citizens instead of barbarians or criminals. After some sneaking around, he was surprised to discover that the Professor, having bought a slave from the slavers (a girl by the name of Axelle), apparently knowing full well the nature of her capture, freed her to take her rightful place in the world.
Mr. Crivens knew at this point that he had found his way out. He knew that having done this once, the Professor was likely to do the same again. He informed his superiors and soon after entered the Professor's employ as a butler, to ensure that he could keep an eye on him. He was a useful contact for the Order of the Chain, and was able to find several more groups of unscrupulous slavers, but Crivens was there to ensure that he didn't get... carried away with his slave freeing.
Alice enters into the story more here. She learnt the duties of a maid from her father and spent a lot of time with the Professor (and for a while, took care of Axelle while she got used to freedom). The Professor was quite intrigued by Alice, both by the means of her unusual parentage and rapid ageing. Knowledge of the planes was their particular area of interest, since Night Hags are extraplanar creatures, and Alice herself spent a long time on other planes.
However, her Mother's nature and bizarre circumstances of birth made an impact on young Alice, and the Professor found her slightly unsettling. Her seldom blinking eyes, her secretly knowing, perpetual smile and her perverse interest in the lower planes were the sorts of things that made the Professor's spine tingle. Despite being one of the Professor's proteges, they gradually spent less and less time together. Mostly this was the Professor's doing, finding excuses to leave their discussions early or going on extended trips. By the end of his life, Alice barely saw him at all, and instead occupied her time with her duties as a maid and learning the devious arts of improvised combat from her father.
And then, of course, he died. Alice's father went back to the headquarters of the Order of the Chain to report. Alice knew very little about the circumstances of his death, confining herself to the manor for the most part and only occasionally leaving for the outside world on short trips. But here is where her tale truly begins...
- character sheet:
Alice 'the Watcher' Crivens
Female changeling mesmerist 1
Medium humanoid (changeling)
Init +1; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +6
DEFENCE
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex)
hp 8 (1d8)
Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +4
OFFENCE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Broom +2 (1d6+1)
Ranged Kitchen knives +2 (1d4+1)
Special Hypnotic Stare, Painful Stare
STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 12, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 12
Feats Deceitful
Skills Bluff +10{1} (+12 for creatures sexually attracted to her), Disguise +9{1}, Escape Artist +5{1}, Knowledge(Planes) +7{1}, Perception +6{1}, Sense Motive +6{1}, Sleight of Hand +5{1}, Stealth +5{1}, Profession(Maid) +6{1B}, Lore(Night Hags) +5(1B}
Languages Common, Chelish, Infernal
MESMERIST ABILITIES
Spells known
0th - Detect Psychic Significance, Message, Prestidigitation, Daze (DC 14)
1st - 2/day - Charm Person (DC 15), Sleep (DC 15)
Mesmerist Tricks (4/day)
Psychosomatic Surge (gives 1d8 temporary hp when target takes damage. +1d8 if reduced to 0 or lower)
Consummate Liar +1 bluff
MISCELLANEOUS
Hag Magic Replaces claws and natural armour. Increase enchantment DCs by 1. Can cast dancing lights, detect magic, disguise self and pass without trace as spell-like abilities 1/day
Green Widow +2 on bluff checks vs creatures that are sexually attracted to me (since there's no Night Hag option)
Teacher's Pet (campaign trait) +2 Knowledge(Planes), and it's a class skill
Rough and Ready (equipment trait) Can use maid tools as improvised weapons with no penalty and +1 on attack rolls with them
Fate's Favoured Increase any luck bonuses by 1
EQUIPMENT
Equipped Fancy maid outfit worth 10 gp (functions as pickpocket's outfit), 2 sharpened kitchen knives, ex-broom of flying (nonmagical), cracked Heartstone worth 10 gp
Ready access Disguise Kit (2 uses)
Stored elsewhere Masterwork Maid's tools, 3 Bear Traps, Trapmaking tools, 2 Fancy Maid Outfits, 10 gp