CHARACTER: Name: Myriam Walker Age: 18 (28 after ghost) Race: Ghul-kin, soultaker Height: 8'0" Class (2nd edition): 11th Level Thief Weight: 380 lbs. AL: Neutral (Evil) Hair: dark, tangled Eyes: black STR: 8 hp: 66 INT: 13 AC: -6 (Nat'l AC, DEX, Belt) WIS: 13 -7 vs. good creatures/-8 vs. goblinoids DEX: 17 (18) CON: 16 CHA: 12 CMS: 15 Weapons: ATT: THAC0: Damage: Speed: Claws 2 12 1-6 0 Bite 1 12 2-12 0 Sling/20 bullets 3 10 2-5/2-7 +4 Sling +2/7 bullets +2 3 6 2-5/2-7 (+4) 0 blessed knife 1 12 1-3/1-2 0 silver longsword 1 12 1-8/1-12 +2 Longsword +3 1 9 1-8/1-12 (+3) -1 2 daggers +2 1 10(8*) 1-4/1-3 (+2) -3 Dagger of Throwing +2 1 10(8*) 2-8/2-6 (+2) -3 *with Dex bonus when thrown Possessions: Knife, Sling and 20 bullets, Backpack, Thief's tools, Boot Sheath and second knife, cooking supplies and spices, water skin, Small Belt pouch, Cloak, Needle and Thread, 2 extra sets of clothes (one shirt a baby sling for Tia and one made green with white fringe by Flips), Scissors, silver longsword, light tube, horse, Whetstone, 20 bottles of spices, 3 bottles of weapons black, a healers bag, 3 candles, 3 pieces of chalk, flint and steel, a pair of crampons, a small metal mirror, signal whistle, 4 bottles of oil, 2 wine skins, 5 sewing needles, winter blanket, 264 gp, 100 silver sling bullets (20 in pouch, 80 on horse), 4 Continual Light sling bullets, dwarven blessed silver longsword, gold coin with Continual Light, blessed silver dagger Magic Items: bright silver cylinder ioun stone (turn ethereal for 1 hour - 9 charges) Bracers of Defense AC4 2 Daggers +2 Shadow Cloak Wand of Lightning Bolts (65 charges) Potion of Fire Breath Dagger of Throwing +2 Wand of Illumination (87 charges) Potion of Fire Breath Gauntlets of Dexterity Sling of Seeking +2 (7) Sling Bullets +2 Longsword +3 Belt of Goblinoid Protection (+4 against goblinoid creatures and all weapons of goblin origin, +2 against all other creatures and weapons and it continually functions as a belt of protection +3 when good creatures attack the wearer.) Brooch of Non-Detection (Non-Detection 3/day) Brooch Symbol of Lavret (two-way communication with Lavret, pass through shielded areas of Kaza, makes detectable alignment NG) Thief Abilities: Pick Pockets: 45% (60% w/gauntlets) Open Lock: 50% (65% w/gauntlets) Find/Remove Traps: 50% (55% w/gauntlets) Move Silently: 90% (95% w/gauntlets) Hide in Shadows: 65% (70% w/gauntlets, 95% w/gauntlets and cloak) Hear Noise: 75% Climb Walls: 90% Read Languages: 40% Backstab x4 Racial Abilties: Move: 18, Sw: 12 Polymorph Self (with voice mimicry) at will Invisibily at will Immune to non-wooden weapons Possession (kiss attack at -3 to hit; on hit, victim must make save vs. spell at -2 penalty; see below more notes) Immune to sleep, charm, hold, and cold-based magic, paralyzation and poison Can use magic items usable by priests and mages Racial Weaknesses: Suffer 2d6 points of damage from holy water Able to function in daylight, though they suffer a -1 to their attack rolls and saving throws when in bright sunlight Turn as Spectres Proficiencies (Weapon and Non-weapon): Knife, Dagger, Sling, Cooking, Sewing, Longsword, R/W Common, Etiquette, Speak Elvish (Wapei-La), Speak Common (Tulu), Speak Thief's Cant, Tumbling, Singing Appearance: As Myriam: Short clipped brown (or red) hair, almost boyish looking, always looking around, a shy yet attractive smile. Natural Form: Long, gangly arms and legs. They have thick, tangled hair, bone-white pock-marked skin, clawed hands, and powerful jaws filled with sharp yellow teeth. Their eyes shine with a feral light, and their ears are sharply pointed. Ghul-kin exude an unpleaseant odor and are rubbery and cold to the touch. Personality: Shy, trying hard to be strong, supportive, regrets the fact that she takes orders from men so willingly...and then gets angry at herself for not standing up for what she wants, an emotional minefield... you never know what her sore points are, and she has a lot of them (most of them around men giving her orders, not being helpful, being abusive, assuming she'll do all of the cleanup/chores with absolutely no praise given...), she's a good person, but in conversation, she's always listening to the other person to see what they're trying to get out of her. She has no faith as she barely believes in herself. She attaches to strong female figures quickly, and looks to them for advice. Brief Background: The daughter of a wealthy merchant, one would think that Myriam Baeker had everything. She did, but that also included the nightly beatings from her father. Starting almost at a time when she was too young to remember, they began. YOU DIDN'T EAT ALL YOUR FOOD! YOUR ROOM'S A MESS! THAT'S NOT WHAT I TOLD YOU TO DO!... Myriam felt small, and the smaller she made herself, the easier life became. She learned how to walk around the house without making a noise, shrink into the shadows in a little ball to avoid being seen by her drunken father, and take what she wanted/needed without being noticed by the others. Her mother was her only source of comfort, but Myriam hated her mother too, for never stepping in and stopping the abuse. At the age of 13, Myriam was married off to a business partner of her fathers', Bengt Strom. She was so happy that she was finally out of that household she actually broke down into tears (which her father later beat her for, misunderstanding her happiness with displeasure at his decision). Things were fine in the beginning. Then, slowly, measures of control were added to her life. The desk with the extra spending money was locked up. She had no key. Her good clothes were all locked in the closet until she was told what to wear. All of the books were stored behind the locking screens of the office bookshelves. Her husband would leave, sometimes for several days at a time, and lock her in the house for her own protection. It was when the beatings started that she began to get desperate for a way out. She began to plan a way to escape. In her husband's absence, she learned how to open the locks in the house to get what she needed. Before the books were all locked up, she had started to teach herself to read. After they were locked up, she continued her self teaching. The day she was planning on leaving her home, her husband came home early. She thought she had all of her supplies hidden, but evidently, she did not. At dinner that evening, her husband confronted her as she was bringing the dessert to the table. She doesn't remember much at that point. All she remembers is fear, pain, anger, and the awful cry of a human burning alive. The cherries a flambé must have fallen on him and he caught fire. She ran to the door, out into the night, and never went back. She feels horribly guilty at the death of her husband, and she believes (rightly or not) that the law is chasing her down. Over the years, she's been a beggar, part of the beggar's guild, sold to a whore house, a whore (that didn't work well as she nearly killed the man who tried to touch her), semi-adopted by a warrior woman who liked the kid's spunk, and a trail cook for a caravan duty the warrior woman worked on. All through her adventures, she's tried to keep an eye out for how her mother was doing. When she finally heard of her mother's death (an accident at the house) she snuck into her old estate and robbed her father blind. This is how she managed to afford the equipment she now has. All the left over gold she had stolen, she gave to everyone who had been nice to her along the way...leaving little packages inside their doors, on their beds...with just a note saying thank you. The only thing she kept from her father's was her mother's old ring. She knows it's dangerous to keep it, but she want's something to remind her that she will not just sit quietly and let a man ruin her life. Since then, she calls herself Myriam Walker, because she's managed to actually walk away. Myriam's caravan stopped at a small village in the mountains. She was glad to have a break from cooking and even more happy to get further away from her father's domain. Her mistrust of men wasn't helped much when four drunk villagers decided to have the cooking wench and followed her past a dark alley where they drug her in and attacked her. She fought well, but was outnumbered and overpowered. To her rescue came a charp looking wemic, half-man/half-lion, who succeeded in scaring them men away without so much as drawing his swords. Myriam was angered that she had to be saved form men by another man, or male anyway, but relieved she wasn't harmed. She stared into the eyes of the wemic for only a second, and knew he was a creature of honor. She ran away, leaving the town behind, into the wooded area around the village. Barely a day later, she saw the group of men who attacked her, along with a horse of others, hunting for something in the forest. Afraid it was she, she kept hidden and outsmarted them while they searched. Feeling good about herself, she soon realized that it wasn't her they were after, but the wemic! They captured the creature and set up camp for the night, getting drunk to celebrate and speaking harshly about what they'd do to the lion-thing. That night, as the men got drunk and slept, Myriam crept up to him and freed him, smiling a shy, yet knowing grin and running off into the night with the wemic. She learned his name was Taro, and he swore to protect her whenever need be. The two decided that, at least for the time being, it was advantageous to travel together, at least until they were far from the men of that village. Several days later, as the two traveled southwest, they came across a large group of people, some humans and elves, a dwarf, a gnome and a minotaur, among others. One man seemed to be performing a spell on the body of a fallen comrade. The morning was rainy and the group didn't seem to notice the two as yet. Notes of Possession: Soultakers have a special attack form which they can use in lieu of making their normal attack. In order to use it, however, the soultaker must make an attack roll at a -3 penalty. If successful, the soultaker has kissed its victim on the lips. Victims who fail a saving throw vs. spell (at a -2 penalty) are possessed by a portion of the soultaker's essence and fall under the ghul's control. Though the victims' minds are still present in their own bodies, they are helpless prisoners, unable to speak or make their plight know to others. Instead, the soultaker speaks and acts for its victims, always working to the detriment of its victims' companions, though often in cunning and subtle ways. Once the possession has occurred, the soultaker can control its victim at any range so long as they are both on the same plane of existence. If the victim is a spellcaster, the soultaker can use whatever spells the victim had memorized at the time possession toolk place but cannot force its victim to relearn or pray for new spells. Soultakers may possess and control one victim for every two points of Intelligence (rounded down). The soultaker will not willingly go near a priest of mosque, nor will anyone possessed by one. It will force the victim to fight to prevent the possession from being broken and may attempt to summon its possessed victim to its lair rather than allowing him or her to be freed of its infulence. The possession may be detected by various means. First, any attempt to know alignment of the victim will result in a reading of neutral evil. In addition, strangers react to the victim with distrust and suspicion, just as thought he or she were under the effects of anevil eye. The victim may say or do evil things, and his or her behavior may undergo a radical change. He or she may even attack his or her own party without apparent cause. A sha'ir (desert mage) of 3rd level or above may detect that there is genie work connected with the victim; a hakima (desert priest) of 9th level or above may tell that the victim is possessed; any priest casting detect evil or detect charm may learn that the victim is under the control of some evil force. Several spells may be used to combat teh effects of the possesion. A protection from evil or protection from evil, 10' radius spell will keep the soultaker from excercising its control while the spell is in effect. An anto-magic shell will negate the possession if the victim is in the area of effect when teh spell is cast, and remove curse will break the possession. Dispel evil cast on the victim will break the possession and cause 3-24 (3d8) points of damage to the soultaker.