Inyx

[chalice]

'INYX'


This amiable young woman, smiling a lopsided smile from beneath a battered broad-brimmed hat, takes no trouble to hide her half-elven heritage. To anyone who would know about such things, her colouring suggests Gray Elf descent – silver-blonde hair, cropped so that it sits just above her slender shoulders, reveals delicately tapering ears, and her sparkling eyes are pure amber. She has the slight build of her kind, but seems comfortable in her worn leather and chain armour. She has the intense gaze and precise manners of a scholar, coupled with a ready grin and friendly manner. A silver charm in the shape of a harp hangs around her neck, proclaiming her a cleic of Lilleth; a second chain about her neck bears a ring of some kind, and is usually tucked inside her shirt. A narrow white scar crosses the palm of her left hand.

RACE Half-Elven.

AGE 26

CLASS Cleric, level 3

XP 3412/6000

HT/WT 5’4”/ 8 stone

ATTRIBUTES
Str: 9 -1 melee attack rolls and damage
Dex: 12 +1 ranged attack; +1 AC; +1 reflex saving throw
Con: 10
Int: 16 +3 lang; +3 skill pt/level; +3 relevant skill checks
Wis: 13 +1 Will saving throws; +1 1st level spell; +1 relevant skill checks
Cha: 13 +1 turning, +1 relevant skill checks

HIT POINTS 12/12

INITIATIVE +1 (Dex)

BAB
0 melee [or +1 if using her MW shortsword, +1]
+2 ranged

ARMOUR CLASS
AC 15
AC Flat-footed: 14
AC Touch: 11

SAVES
Ref: +2 [+1(Dex); +1 level]
Will: +4 [+1 (Wis); +3 (Class)]
Fort: +3 (Class)

TURN UNDEAD
No. of attempts/day 4 3 base +1 (Cha)
Bonus to Turn +3 +1 (Cha) +2 (Kn. Relig.)

RACIAL FEATS/ABILITIES
Lowlight Vision
+1 to Listen, Search and Spot checks
+2 to Diplomacy and Gather Info checks
Immunity to Sleep spells and similar magic effects
+2 to save vs enchantment spells or effects

LILLETH DOMAINS
Good, Healing, Community, Family(not chosen)

Community
use calm emotions as a spell-like ability once per day
Gain +2 competence bonus on Diplomacy checks

Good
cast Good spells at +1 caster level

Healing
cast healing spells at +1 caster level


FEATS
Negotiator +2 Diplomacy checks +2 Sense Motive checks
Augment Healing add +2 pts per spell level to damage healed


LANGUAGES

Free languages
Ventran
Elven
Kinth
Celestial
Abyssal

Bought Languages
Draconic
Raik


SKILLS

Class Skills
Concentration +6 5 ranks +0 (Con)
Decipher Script +8 5 ranks+ 3 (Int)
Diplomacy +9 2 ranks+1 (Cha) +2 Race +2 Domain +2 Negotiator
Heal +9 6 ranks +1 (Wis) +2 (Healer’s Kit)
Knowledge (history) +6 3 ranks + 3 (Int)
Knowledge (religion) +8 5 ranks + 3 (Int)
Knowledge (arcana) +8 5 ranks + 3 (Int )
Knowledge (Planes) +4 1 ranks + 3 (Int)
Performance (wind instr) +3[+5] 2 ranks +1 (Cha) [+2 MW flute]
Performance (dance) +2 1 rank +1 (Cha)
Spellcraft +7 2 ranks +3 (Int) +2 (Kn. Arcana)

Cross-class skills
Gather Info +3 0 ranks +1 (Cha) +2 (race)
Knowledge (local) +4 1 rank +3(Int)
Listen +2 0 ranks +1 (Wis) +1 (race)
Ride +2 1 rank +1 (Dex) = +2
Search +4 0 ranks +3 (Int) +1 (race)
Sense Motive +5 2 ranks +1 (Wis) +2 (negotiator)
Spot +2 0 ranks +1 (Wis) +1 (race)
Use Magic Device 2[+4] 1 rank +1 (Cha) [+2 if scroll (Decipher Script)]


PREPARED SPELLS
used spells will be coloured red
available spells in separate section

[Note – extended list for cloistered cleric: 0-message;1-erase,identify,unseen servant;2-fox's cunning;3-illusory script, secret page, tongues(reduced from 4th level);4-detect scrying;6-analyze dweomer;7-sequester;9-vision]

O-level (4)

1. Resistance – subject gains +1 on saving throws

2. Detect magic – detects spells and maigic items within 60 ft

3. Cure Minor Wounds – cures 1 point of damage

4. Guidance – grants +1 on one attack roll, saving throw or skill check


1st level General (3)

1. Nimbus of Light – sunlight illuminates you until released as an attack for max of 1d8 +1/level damage (ranged touch attack).

2. Resurgence – you grant a subject a second chance at a saving throw

3.[B] Summon Monster I – calls extraplanar creature to fight for caster. Duration 1 round/level - traded in for CLW


1st level Domain (1)

1. Cure Light Wounds– cures 1d8 damage +1/level IE +4 from casting level +2 Augment Healing = 1d8+6

2nd level General (1)
1. Delay Poison - stops poison from harming subject for 1 hour/level

2nd level Domain (1)

1. Cure Moderate Wounds - cures 2d8 +1 per caster level (IE +4 for casting level, +4 due to Augment cure = +8)


PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE

Inyx is a cleric of Lilleth, and quite open about having left the Imperium so as to get away from the Emperor’s imposition of ‘The Great Wheel’. She is less forthcoming about her personal background, using no family name; her delicate manners and cut-glass accented Ventran, though, hint at a gentle upbringing. Though a seasoned traveller who can ‘rough it’ when necessary, she does like her comfort when she can get it. She tends to be hired for her scholarly skills as well as her clerical magic; her inquiring mind and life in the temple have given her a broad command of languages, and various branches of knowledge. The downside is that she is sometimes to be found peering intently through her eyeglasses at some obscure inscription when a sensible adventurer would be running away or readying for a fight. When absorbed in a book, she becomes deaf to the world; usually soft-spoken, she grows excitable in debate or discovery – companions learn to stay far enough back to avoid her enthusiastic gestures on such occasions.

[chalice]

“There’s something moving over there.”


– “Yes, but just look at the carving on this inscription…"


- "Maybe several somethings..."


-"... looks like Second Age Raik with definite Celestial influences…
I only need another few minutes…”



Inyx comes from a family of fairly high social status in the Imperium. Her mother’s marriage to her elven father lasted only long enough to make the child she had conceived legitimate; it was then amicably dissolved and a few years later the Lady Chryseis obediently married the second son of another noble House.

Inyx was raised in the sheltered environment of a convent/temple to make sure she was absolutely suited for a 'good' marriage when she came of age and to keep her out of her step-father’s way - but she discovered a true vocation and a great love of studying. She especially loved to learn about the past, and about other societies, which in turn led her to study an array of languages, so as to read foreign and ancient books in their original tongues. When her temple seemed likely to be 'absorbed' into the Imperium's new religious deal, several of the brothers and sisters chose to leave and get out of the Empire/its allied states rather than comply and she went with them, finally indulging the wanderlust in her blood.

Now the renegade cleric sells her skills as a merc, to raise money for the Concors discordia, a kind of 'church underground' in the Imperium, made up of clerics from varied religions who don’t care for the new Great Wheel imposition and are keeping secret shrines and religious gatherings going. Its younger members refer to it irreverently as ‘the Spoke in the Wheel’. Clerics of Lilleth have proved particularly useful in disguising religious ceremonies as ‘quaint local folk customs’ such as the crowning of the Spring Lady and her lad, and ‘dancing in the harvest’. Inyx is also trying to gather information and make contacts for her ‘home’ church.

But most of all, she’s having a marvellous time – what could be better than getting paid to search ancient sites for knowledge and artefacts? [If Daniel Jackson were half-elven and female, he’d be Inyx.]

Of course, the outside world was something of a shock to someone raised to be an Imperial Lady, who expected never to leave her scholarly life at the temple unless it were for an arranged marriage and a life of luxury. She at first found the company of adventurers a little rough for her tastes, and sometimes still does, but contact with ‘ordinary’ people has been an enlightening experience for her, and she plans never to go back to her family, or the Imperium.

[chalice]

Equipment/Encumbrance


Worn: 30.5 lb

Carried: 12 lb

In backpack: 17.25 lb


Total weight carried/worn 42.5 lbs = medium enc
with backpack 59.75 lbs = medium enc


Worn
Chain shirt100 gp 25 lb
Masterwork shortsword 310gp 2 lb
Dagger 2 gp 1 lb
Holy Symbol (silver) 25 gp 1 lb
Explorer’s outfit -
Signet ring10 gp - twice ‘normal’ value – very nice; worn on chain around neck (concealed)
Belt pouch1 gp 0.5 lb


Carried about person
Light Crossbow 35 gp 4 lb
20 crossbow bolts 2 gp 2 lb (worn in bandolier)
Quarterstaff - 4 lb
Holy Water x 1 flask 25 gp 1 lb
Potion, cure light wounds 50 gp 1lb
Masterwork flute 100 gp 1 lb silver-inlaid, can also be used as Divine Focus
(the book says all instruments weigh the same – 3 lb – but I cannot believe it. A flute isn’t a lute or a harp! So I gratuitously made this 1 lb.)


In backpack
(Backpack 2 gp 2 lb)
Bedroll 1sp 5 lb
Bottle of fine wine 10 gp 0.75 lb
Candles x 5 5 cp -
Chalk x 2 pieces 2 cp -
Flask (empty) 3 cp 0.5 -1 lb
Flint & steel 1 gp -
Healer’s Kit (10 uses) 50 gp 1 lb
Hooded Lantern 7 gp 2 lb
Ink (1 oz vial) 8 gp -
Inkpen x 3 3 sp -
Mirror, small steel 10 gp 0.5 lb
Oil x 1 pint 1 sp 1 lb
Paper x 10 sheets 4 gp -
Parchment x 2 sheet 4 sp -
Sack (empty) 1 sp 0.5 lb
Scroll case x 2 2 gp 1 lb
Sunrod x 1 2gp 1lb
Waterskin (half empty) 1 gp 2 lb

Animals and Gear
Mule 8 gp
Saddlebags 4 gp 8 lb
Pack saddle 5 gp 15 lb

On mule
with backpack 182.25 lb
without backpack 165 lb

6 days trail rations 3 gp 6lb
6 days feed for pony 3 sp 60lb
Blanket, winter x 2 1gp 6 lb
Canvas 4 sq yards 4 sp 4 lb
Clerical vestments 5 gp 6 lb
Crowbar 2 gp 5 lb
Hammer 5 sp 2 lb
Ink (spare) vial 8 gp –
Oil (spare) x 2 pints 2 sp 2 lb
Pick, miners 3 gp 10 lb
Rope, silk, 50’ 10 gp 5 lb
Sealing wax 1 gp 1 lb
Shovel 2 gp 8 lb
Soap 1 gp 1 lb (double usual cost – nice soap!)
Spare water skin (full) 1 gp 4lb
Sunrod x 2 4gp 2lb
Tent 10 gp 20 lb


Current funds
Gold 48
Silver 6
Copper 0

[chalice]

“I don’t understand, Inyxa!” Calli’s eyes were as blue as the summer sky, and cursed near as empty. “Aurelion is the Emperor’s own nephew. And gorgeous besides! Why wouldn’t you want to marry him?”

‘Because he’s an unmitigated ass and a bully besides’ were the words on the tip of my tongue, but Callida was looking at me with big, hurt eyes like a puppy denied a treat for stick-fetching. My stepsister is a hopeless romantic, fair of face, blue of eye, sparing of brain. In all, a hard-to-dislike little ninny, with no ill-will for anyone. Rather adorable, if that’s your sort of thing.

Her brother Evander, on the other hand, has ill-will enough for both of them, most of it directed firmly at me. For some reason, he has always taken the existence of a child from our mother’s first marriage as some kind of personal insult to his own father, a threat to his claim on the mother he adored. Everyone adored Chryseis.

Maybe it would have been different if I’d favoured her – but I had thrown directly back to my father’s kind with my silver-blonde hair, tapering ears and eyes of pure amber. I think one of the reasons mother placed me so early in the Temple’s keeping was that she couldn’t bear being faced every day with a pale reflection of her first, lost love. I’d never asked her about him, even so much as his name. One day, I’d thought, one day…and then suddenly one day had become never. Two summers gone, she’d taken the sweating sickness and died.

“The Emperor has a dozen nephews,” I said, ungraciously. “You marry him, Calli – I’ll give him to you gladly.” Callida and I giggled together, but Evander looked blacker than ever.

“He asked for you,” he said coldly, his sneer making it quite clear he found such a preference incomprehensible.

‘Asked for the Xemeles heir, rather’ suggested the sour voice in my head.

I too doubted that the Emperor’s handsome nephew had been smitten with a sudden desire for my pointy-eared person. Evander’s dislike was overcoming his usually sound mercenary instincts. One of the reasons he hates me so much is that I, not he, am our maternal grandfather’s heir. Chryseis was Quirinius’ only child, heir to one of the oldest noble families of the Empire, so he had been careful to ensure I was born with all the legalities satisfied – even if my mother’s marriage had been dissolved after a year to make way for one more politically desirable. I had fended off three different marriage proposals since her death. Evander had wealth and to spare as Prosper’s heir, but he still looked covetously at the Xemeles estates and title. Aurelion presumably found them as enticing as he did.

I was grandfather’s heir, the law was clear. There was nothing Evander could do about it unless I died – and even I didn’t think he would go that far. It seemed he had decided to settle for seeing me buried alive instead. Uneasily, I wondered what Aurelion might have promised him in return for delivering me.


“You won’t be able to hide behind your vows this time, Inyxaminia. The days of your precious temple are numbered. The Emperor’s new Wheel will sweep your kind before and beneath it. You should be grateful that father and myself” – Goddess, how he savoured those words! – “have concerned ourselves with your future welfare.”

By ‘father and myself’ he meant himself. Prosper was ever a gentle, bookish man, content to leave practical matters in the hands of his greedy son. After mother’s death, he became even more remote, emerging rarely from his library. I could imagine the familiar “certainly, my boy, whatever you think best,” with which he would have sealed my fate.


As matter of fact, Evander’s news did not come as the shattering surprise he hoped. Mother Adamina had known for some months that the days of our Temple were numbered, and her own plans were in motion. Even before the Emperor’s Wheel crushed the old, small, familiar faiths beneath its iron tread, the movement which would oppose it in secret, that would guard the flame of the old ways, was taking shape.

The news did mean that I must speed up my own plans. First, though, I had to draw Evander’s teeth, and buy some time. I cast my eyes down as if dejected, and spoke in tones calculated to flatter his condescending image.

“Forgive me, brother, you are correct. It’s shocking how out of touch one becomes, cloistered away like this. Believe me, I am not ungrateful for your efforts. It is only – this is all very sudden…”

My voice faltered like a schoolgirl’s – only someone as supremely arrogant as my cursed stepbrother would have swallowed my sudden surrender, my play of pathetically grateful sister and modest maiden.

I met his ice blue eyes with wide anxious ones. “If only…yes, if I could but have a little time – just a few weeks – to make a prayerful retreat and accustom myself to the idea? To prepare myself to enter the world again?”

I could almost hear the wheels turning in his mind – ‘Humour the girl, she’ll come quietly’ – and his sneer became a satisfied smirk.

“You have three weeks. Your betrothal feast is set for that date. Three weeks prayer should satisfy even your delicate sensibilities, sister.”

“Two weeks,” Calli chimed in, all smiles to see us apparently reconciled. “I’ll need at least a week to take her shopping before the festivities!”

Evander ignored her. “So I may tell father you consent freely?”

Dear old Prosper, had he stood up for me, then? He was no match for his son, never had been, but it warmed me to think he might have tried.

I smiled right into my brother’s hateful face and triumphant eyes, and soothed him further with the bow I would owe normally only to the head of my family. “Yes, of course. And Evander – I am grateful to you for thinking of me.”

I was, too. If he hadn’t wanted to gloat, to show me that finally he had won, he might not have rushed here in person to throw the news in my face. He might have simply dispatched a contingent of the family guard to fetch me home. As it was, I had three precious weeks.

I could be over the border in one.

[chalice]

“And the really great thing is,” I finished, feeling more than a little pleased with myself “that once I’m gone, Evander will probably do everything he can to cover for me – the last thing he’d want would be for me to come back and claim my dues.”

Drusilla smiled, and raised her winecup in salute. “He is just a little predictable, isn’t he? He isn’t going to be popular with Aurelion, though….”

I sipped primly from my own cup. “I find I can live with that idea.” I gave her the wide-eyed, innocent look I’d used on my stepbrother: “Does that make me a bad person?”

“I forgive you, my child,” intoned my best friend in a passing fair imitation of Mother Adamina.

We both laughed, but it sounded a little hollow. Then at the same moment, we both blurted out our true thoughts:

“I wish you wouldn’t- ” The laughter was more natural this time, but it ended in sighs. We both knew the word in the other’s mind – go for Drusilla, stay for me.

“Oh, Inyx. I hate to think of you exiled, living rough, sleeping Goddess knows where, a renegade…”

“Your path is going to be harder,” I assured her, before she could depress me any further. And actually, I believed it was true.

“Really, Dee. Are you sure you want to stay? Things could get so ugly here…”

Drusilla smiled archly. “You think my chosen husband will make me unhappy?”

“I think any man married to you will worship the ground you walk on within a week,” I said, with complete conviction. Dee is as beautiful as she is bright; most men only see the first part. “But you’ll still be – alone.”

‘Alone in your mind, friend of mine, alone in a life of outward conformity to an oppressive ideal, keeping your true faith a secret even from the person who shares your life most intimately, a person you might, in time, come to love. All so that our faith might be passed to your children, right in the heart of the new religion’s stronghold.’

It was a path many of my sisters had chosen as part of concors discordia’s plan – to outwardly leave the Order and enter strategically important marriages. Many noble families sent their daughters to Lilleth’s temple as a sort of academy for Young Ladies – not to become clerics, but to gain just enough education in ‘suitable’ subjects to improve their marriageable value and assure the world of their continuing state of virtue. It never seemed to occur to them that surrounding their daughters with so much learning might lead to some of them developing minds of their own.

I shook my head. “I couldn’t do what you’re doing.” I grinned at her. “Not enough skill with the art of little-finger wrapping and eyelash-fluttering.”

Dee made a face at me. “No more of my nice wine for you, Inyxaminia Xemeles!”

“That’s probably the last time anyone will ever call me that,” I said softly, sobered by the knowledge that if things went according to plan I should never see my best friend again. “Hey – what are you doing with that dagger?”

Drusilla’s eyes were brilliant in the moonlight. “Swear blood-sistership with me, Inyx! Like people did in the old stories. That way, we’ll always be joined, even when you’re so far away.” She was already slicing lightly across the palm of her hand, and letting a few drops of blood fall into her cup of wine. A little doubtfully, but as unable to refuse her as usual, I followed suit.

It wasn’t a proper ritual, but we treated it like one, drinking solemnly in turn, then clasping our bloody palms together until the bleeding stopped.

There seemed little to say after that, except whispered ‘goodbyes’ as we hugged one another tightly.

“Goodbye, Inyx. Goddess give you joy.”

“Goodbye, Dee. Goddess give you strength.”

I stared down into my empty winecup as she walked away, superstitiously unwilling to see her leave. Her footsteps stopped, and I knew she had paused in the gateway to look back at me.

“Keep the faith,” she said, softly, and was gone before I could reply.

[chalice]

GENERAL CLERIC SPELLS


0-level (orisons)

Create Water – creates 2 gallons/level pure water

Cure Minor Wounds – cures 1 point of damage

Detect magic – detects spells and maigic items within 60 ft

Detect poison – detects poison in one creature or object

Guidance – grants +1 on one attack roll, saving throw or skill check

Light – object shines like a torch

Mending – makes minor repairs on an object

Purify food & drink – 1 cu. ft/level food or water

Read magic – read scrolls and spellbooks

Resistance – subject gains +1 on saving throws

Virtue – subject gains 1 temp HP



1 –level

Bane - enemies take -1 on attack rols & saves vs Fear

Bless – allies take +1 on attack rolls & saves vs Fear

Bless Water – makes holy Water (m); 1 pint

Cause Fear – one creature of 5HD or less flees for 1d4 rounds

Command – subject obeys selected command for 1 round

Cure Light Wounds – cures 1d8 damage +1/level (max +5)

Deathwatch – reveals how near death subjects within 30’ are

Detect Chaos/Evil/Law/Good – reveals creatures, spells or objects of selected alignment

Detect Undead – reveals undead within 60’

Divine Favour – gain +1 per 3 levels on attack and damage rolls

Doom – one subject takes -2 on attack rolls, damage rolls, saves and chacks

Endure Elements – exist comfortably in hot or cold environments

Entropic Shield – ranged attacks against you have 20% miss chance

Hide from Undead – undead cannot perceive one subject

Magic stone – three stones gain +1 on attack, deal 1d6 damage

Magic Weapon – weapon gains +1 bonus

Obscuring Mist – fog surrounds you

Protection from Chaos/Evil/Law – +2 to AC and saves, counter mind control, hedge out elementals and outsiders

Remove Fear – suppresses fear or gives +4 on saves vs Fear for one subject +1per 4 levels

Sanctuary – opponents cannot attack you, and you cannot attack

Shield of faith – aura grants +2 or higher deflection bonus

Summon Monster I – calls extraplanar creature to fight for you.



New 1-level spells from Complete Divine

Nimbus of Light – sunlight illuminates you until released as an attack for 1d8 +1/level damage

Omen of Peril – you know how dangerous the future will be

Resurgence – you grant a subject a second chance at a saving throw

Vigor, lesser – creature heals 1 HP/round (max 15 rounds)



DOMAIN SPELLS

GOOD
Level 1:
Protection from Evil – gives +2 to AC and saves, counter mind control, hedge out elementals and outsiders

HEALING
Level 1:
Cure Light Wounds – cures 1d8 damage +1/ level (max 5

COMMUNITY
Level 1:
Bless – allies gain +1 attack and +1 on save vs fear