Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Blackwood: Breathless Pin

Once upon a time there was a young lady who was apprenticed to a  master clockmaker, she showed glimmers of genius and was quick to solve a problem. As long as there was work, everything went well, but when the master's patron was bankrupted she was dismissed, and the master told her she could go wherever she wanted. 

Her parents were dead and she no longer had a home. So, she went to her brothers and asked them to support her until she found a patron. The brothers, however, had hardened their hearts against her and said "What can we do with you? You are too old to find a husband! Begone and make your own way!"

Left with nothing but her tools, she set out into the Wider World. 

Crossing heath, mountain, and sea, she ended her travels in the city of Farwater Beach. There she finds what she was seeking: a home. The apprentice clockmaker built beautiful works, and became a journeyman, and in time she was considered a master.

This bothered her, however, because she had not ascended through the ranks in a traditional manner. To be a master she needed to construct a masterwork. No one could doubt her ambition as she set out to build an automated man.

As word of her project and her progress spread, it caught the attention of those in high places. The clockmaker was approached by an envious noblewoman who bought what she could not make and took what she could not buy. Three times the clockmaker refused the noblewoman, irritated with each interruption as she creeped nearer completion. 

The noblewoman was determined that if she could not own the clockwork man, then no one could. Through her influence a gang of ruffians burned down the clockmaker's workshop with her inside. Delirious from breathing in the smoke, she loosed the incomplete masterwork and fell. Smothered by the burning remnants of the life she had built.

The workshop had become an oven, though they would fare better without air than their creator, the extreme heat played havoc with his springs and sprockets. Surely he would have perished there too, if a fellowship of errants hadn't fought their way into the building to make sure there were no victims.

CULTURE - Automat - An incomplete masterwork that can't be duplicated. Construct (Doesn't need to breathe/sleep/eat, etc.), Cannot Speak (Amelii's prototype larynx was unfinished when the "accident" happened), Clueless (He wasn't raised in a traditional manner, -2 on Common Knowledge rolls), Dependency (His key is in a place he can't reach, someone else must turn it), Noisy (His gears and springs grind,whir, click and clack. -2 on Stealth rolls)
BADGE OF ERRANTRY - A locket containing a picture of their creator, Amelii Rozse.
RANK - Seasoned
STATS - Strength D8 Agility D8 Vigor D8 Smarts D6 Spirit D6
SKILLS -  Athletics D8 Fighting D8, Knowledge (Classics and Music) D6 Lockpicking D6  Repair D4, Weird Science D8 
PARRY 8 TOUGHNESS 8 (2)
EDGES - Arcane Background (Clockwork), Aspiring Student (J'Osudeau)
HINDRANCES - Code of Honor (Major, Breathless Pin is dedicated to the Errant virtue of Benevolence, maybe he can teach Cannibal Ox.) Loyal (Minor, Dust and Lady Ceryneia pulled him from the fire. Now no one gets left behind.), Vow (Minor, To avenge the death of Amelii. Kestrel has leads.)
CLOCKWORK POWER - 10 PP - Warrior's Gift (Pin can imitate the fighting style of anyone he's seen)
EQUIPMENT
Lancing Sword (1D8+1D6 Damage, +1 Parry, Ranged 2/4/8), Hauberk (+2 armor to torso, arms, and legs), Buckler (+1 Parry), Badge of Errantry

The 7 Errants are a fellowship of heroic martial artists and wanderers for Eli Kurtz' Blackwood setting - a mash-up of Wuxia action and frontier fairy tales. You can find the book for sale here and a free quick start bundle here

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