Darya Ironblade:

Name: Darya Ironblade

True Name: Darya Sestque

Alignment: Unprincipled (Good / Selfish) - Scrupulous Tendencies

Hit Points: 50 (Natural 40) S.D.C. (Physical): 89 (Natural 59)

Attributes: I.Q.: 19 (+5% / +2), M.E.: 19 (+2/+2), M.A.: 12, P.S.: 30 (+15) [Natural 18], P.P.: 22 (+4) [44 with Fleet Feet (+8 / +3)], P.E.: 24 (+18%/+5) [Natural 14], P.B.: 17 (35%), SPD: 44 [Natural 14 / 88 with Fleet Feet]

Weight: 132 lbs (59.9 kg) Height: 5 foot 8 inches (1.73 meters)

Age: 26 years Race: Human Sex: Female P.P.E.: 8

Disposition:

From an early age, Darya wanted to be a warrior. Just something that seemed to be in her blood, enjoying the idea of testing one’s fighting abilities against another. Tied in with this is an enjoyment of travel. It is possible that if her parents were more receptive to her desires, she might have ended up learning the skills of a ranger instead of a mercenary soldier.

While a warrior, she is also very intelligent and quite literate. While not her primary pursuit, Darya does enjoy reading and scholarly activities. Her reasonable grasp on history has helped with exploration in the lands of the Old Kingdom. In addition, few mercenaries are literate in four languages.

Loyalty is very important her but still there are times in her life where she had decided to break fidelity. This includes escaping her parents and abandoning the company she first joined. Still, those actions have bothered her from time to time. Still, she will do whatever possible to protect her friends and companions if at all possible. Her family is still very important to her and greatly loves her brother.

She does have a strong code of conduct. While she might break the rules from time to time, she will not harm those who are unable to protect themselves. She will defend herself and if somebody was to attack her with a weapon but not really know how to fight, she would defend herself. With how combat reaction are, the attacker might end up hurt.

Very careful about her appearance, Darya prefers to wear well tailored and immaculate clothing whenever possible. Even though sometimes casual with certain rules, she does tend to consider discipline important. Even with the spell of “Superhuman Strength”, still works out to keep her body toned. In many ways, she might have fit better as a soldier than mercenary with her discipline.

As far as religion, she is not extremely religious. Does give some sketchy devotion to the Church of Light and Dark. Mainly, this includes Thoth, who is worshiped by her family as being scribes, as well as Isis and Satet, both female goddesses of battle.

O.C.C.: Mercenary Experience Level: Fifth (5)

Combat Skill: Hand to Hand: Expert & Boxing

Attacks per Melee: Six (6) [Twelve (12) with Fleet Feet]

Bonuses, Combat: Strike: +2 (+6) [+10 with Fleet Feet], Disarm: +0, Parry: +3 (+11) [+16 with Fleet Feet], Dodge: +3 (+15) [+20 with Fleet Feet], Damage: +15, Initiative: +0 [+1 with Fleet Feet], Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact: +2 (+5), Pull Punch: +2 (+4), Knockout / Stun: Natural 20, and Critical Strike: Natural 20. Kick Attack: Karate Type: 2D4+15, Roundhouse Kick: 3D6+15, Tripping/Leg Hook: Knockdown Attack

Bonus; Save: Lethal Poison [14] - Impervious, Non-Lethal Poison [16] - Impervious, Harmful Drugs [15] +5, Insanity [12] +2, Psionics [15] +2 (+3 vs Psychic Charms), Magic [12 /16 ] +7 (+9 vs Death Magic and +10 vs Charm Magic), Horror Factor [Varies] +4, +38% vs Coma and Death.

Ward Enchantments: Using wards, a number of enchantments were sewn into her flesh. They are located on her shoulders and lower back.

Spells:

Eyes of the Wolf: Keen 20/20 vision, sees reduced / blurred colors, Night Vision: 100 ft (30.5 m), See the invisible: 75%, Identify plants/fruits: 70%, Identify tracks: 85%, Track (by sight): 50%, Recognize poison: 65%.

Impervious to Energy: Energy attacks inflict no damage. Includes Fire, Heat, Lightning, Light, etc.

Impervious to Poisons: Impervious to poisons, deadly toxins, and poisonous gasses.

Superhuman Speed: Speed Attribute 44 and gives +2 to parry and +6 to dodge.

Superhuman Strength: Immune to fatigue. Physical Strength 30, Physical Endurance 24, and adds 30 S.D.C.

Telekinesis: Always active ability to use telekinesis, Range: 60 ft (18.3 m), Maximum Weight: 60 lbs (27 kg), Bonuses: +3 strike / +4 parry (no prowess / skill bonuses)

Wards:

Protection vs Agony: Duration of and penalties from spells and psychic attacks causing pain are halved. Also reduces effects of normal pain.

Protection vs Charm: Gives +3 protection vs all magic and psychic charms

Protection vs Cold: Can endure cold twice as long as normal without ill effects and when affected, penalties and damage are half

Protection vs Death: Gives +2 protection vs death magic and +20% vs coma and death

Protection vs Magic: Gives +2 protection vs magic

Protection vs Undead: Immune to bite / mind control of vampires. Wild vampires, mummies, and zombies will not attack unless attacked first.

O.C.C. Bonuses: +2 to pull punch, and +1 to save vs horror factor at levels 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12.

O.C.C. Skills: Physical: Hand to Hand: Expert, Athletics - General, Climb/Scale Walls (+10%) 65%/60%, Scholar/Technical: Language: Elven (+10%) 75%, Language: Southern [Native] 98%, Language: Western (+10%) 75%, Wilderness: Wilderness Survival (+10%) 65%, Weapon Proficiencies: W.P. Shield (+1 [+7 / +11 Fleet Feet] Strike / +2 [+13 /+18 Fleet Feet] Parry), W.P. Sword (+2 [+8 / +12 Fleet Feet] Strike / +1 [+7 /+11 Fleet Feet] Throw / +2 [+13 / +18 Fleet Feet] Parry), W.P. Thrown Weapons (+3 [+9 / +13 Fleet Feet] Throw), W.P. Paired Weapons - Sword and Shield

O.C.C. Related Skills: Espionage: Detect Ambush (+5%) 60%, Disguise (+5%) 55%, Intelligence [Gained third level] (+5%) 43%, Track Humanoids (+5%) 55%, Horsemanship: Horsemanship - General (+5%) 65%/50%, Military: Camouflage (+5%) 50%, Field Armorer (+5%) 60%, Scholar/Technical: Language: Goblin [Gained third level] (+10%) 65%, Literacy: Elven (+10%) 65%, Literacy: Western (+10%) 65%, Lore: Demon and Monster (+10%) 60%,

Secondary Skills: Medical: First Aid 55%, Physical: Boxing, Swimming 65%, Wrestling [Gained at fifth level], Scholar/Technical: History [Gained at fifth level] 35%, Wilderness: Land Navigation 59%

Background Skills - Scholarly and Educated: Technical: Language: Eastern (+4%) 69%, Literacy: Eastern (+4%) 59%, Literacy: Southern [Native] (+5%) 60%, Writing (+4%) 49%

Appearance:

Darya is fairly fall at five foot eight inches tall. Even though her incredible strength is due to a permanent spell, she still exercise regularly and is quite well toned. She had a fairly female figure with moderate breasts. She was a bit of a late bloomer and when she was younger had a bit more boyish figure. Otherwise, she is pretty attractive with a moderate dark tan skill tone with brown eyes. Black with red highlights, she wears her hair loose usually and it hangs down the middle of her back. She does not tend to wear cosmetics very often although sometimes will wear a hint of them.

Does not tend to wear dresses or skirts very often, instead preferring tunic and leggings. She likes dark blues and greens generally. She likes to wear carefully tailored clothing with interesting designs, almost uniforms in styles that still show off her figure. Usually wears knee length boots. As well, Darya tends to keep her clothing as immaculate as possible. Her scale armor is kept similarly in immaculate condition.

While usually under her clothing, around her bone ward are a series of tattoos on her back and shoulders. They are not images of an specific creatures or are writing but instead are more abstract warrior tattoos. They have the secondary purpose of concealing her wards.

Weapons, Magical:

Enchanted Bastard Sword: Weight: 4.5 lbs (2.1 kg) Length: 3.75 feet (1.0 meters)

Highest quality Dwarven manufacture - +2 to Initiative, +2 (+10 / +14 Fleet Feet) to Strike, +3 (+16 / +20 Fleet Feet) to Parry, and +4 to damage. Enchantments: Additional Damage (1D6), Indestructible, Eternally Sharp (+3), Damage: 3D6+9 (3D6+24 with strength)

Enchanted Round Shield: Weight: 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg)

Has a dimensional pocket inside shield to carry throwing darts. Has design of an eagle outside of shield. Highest quality Dwarven manufacture - has +3 (+16 /+20 Fleet Feet) to parry and +4 to damage. Enchantments: Indestructible. Damage: 1D4+4 (1D4+19 with strength)

Weapons, Non Magical:

16 Heavy Throwing Darts: Weight: 1.8 lbs (0.8 kg) each

Carried in dimensional pocket inside of shield. Four are silver plated. High quality Kobold crafted weapons with +3 to damage, Damage: 1D6+3 (1D6+1D4+18 with strength / targeting)

2 Parazonium: Weight: 1.1 lbs (0.5 kg) each. Length: 1.6 feet (.5 meters)

Heavy long bladed triangular dagger. High quality Dwarven crafted with +4 to damage, +2 to parry, +2 to strike, +2 to strike when thrown, and +2 to initiative. Damage: 1D8+6 (1D8+21 with strength)

Armor, Magical:

“Ward Scored” Chimera Scale Armor: A.R. Rating: 16 S.D.C.: 250 Weight: Effectively weightless

Enchanted with spells of “weightless” using a permanency ward. Reinforced, Increased AR Rating, Double S.D.C.

Magical Items:

2 Belt Pouches with Dimensional Pocket: Made permanent with ward. Will hold up to 30 lbs worth of items.

Bloodstone Pendant (3 x Daily): Can cast spell of “Heal Self” up to three times per day. Heals up to 4D6 hit points or S.D.C. each activation.

Container of Much Water: Waterskin enchanted to provide up to six gallons of clean, fresh, drinkable water every 24 hours.

Crystal of Light: Many Faceted gem that is about the size of a Golf Ball, It emits light equal to about 2 candles.

“Environmental” Sleeping Bag / Bedroll: Enchantment is designed to protect the person against most weather conditions. Protects vs weather and keeps the environment at 70 degrees and dry. Does not protect against lightning, floods, mud slides, earthquakes, and so on. Also cannot protect from magically induced elemental forces above fourth level.

Ring of “Fleet Feet (3 x Daily): Duration 3 minutes (12 melee rounds) per activation. Can be activated up to three times per day. Enchantment doubles P.P. (Increasing bonuses), SPD, and number of attackers for the duration of enchantment. Does however give -2 to initiative and -20% to skills requiring precise control.

Ring of Mending (3 x Daily): Magic ring will repair most inanimate materials up to 60 S.D.C. (1 M.D.C.) per activation. Will also clean most stains. Can be activated up to three times per day.

Other Equipment:

Normal:

Clothing: 4 Sets of travel clothing (tunic and legging), dress clothing (tunic and legging), leather knee high boots, leather gloves, and leather belt.

Containers: Bastard sword scabbard, 2 parazonium scabbards.

Field Equipment: 80 feet of Rope, Sharpening stone, cooking gear, 2 person tent.

Lighting: tinderbox,

Writing Equipment: 24 sheets of parchment, 4 quill pens, 6 oz bottle of ink (inside leather protective case)

Provisions: 6 weeks trail rations

Miscellaneous: Feminine items (Including birth herbs), cosmetics, soap, bronze comb, medical supplies.

Jewelry, Gems, and Valuables: 20,000 Gold and 50,000 gold in gems and jewelry.

Background:

Darya and Chadra are fraternal twins. Unlike many children from the Land of the South Winds, they got an excellent education almost that of nobles. They were taught from an early age how to read and write due to the fact that their parents were scribes. According to family stories, the family had a thimbleful of noble blood although exact relationships have been lost. Even though from an early age the sister and brother seemed destined for different paths, they have always been quite close.

Chadra from an early age was always interested in learning magic, specifically the mastery of magical wards. It is quite possible that he wanted to see magic come from the symbols he learned. A very intelligent child, he was able to persuade his parents to allow him to apprentice with one of the most skilled ward masters in the kingdom.

Darya on the other hand did not share her brother’s fascination with magic. She was capable enough in her own scribe skills but never had the relish for it. Instead, she was always interested in the arts of war and battle. Wanted to be a soldier or mercenary from an early age. Unlike her brother, her parents refused to let her pursue the path she wished to follow. Eventually, this resulted in her running away.

As an act of desperation, she ended up as a raw recruit in a mercenary company. She had tried to join several of the more respected companies but they refused her. She speculates that it is due to the fact that several lords had recently mustered out a large number of soldiers and the companies were glutted and had no need for a raw recruit, even one with a lot of potential.

She was out of money and had to pretty much take what she could find. It also did not appear quite as bad as she later learned. She had no desire to be a camp follower either. Few questions were asked of those who joined the company. The company operated on the margins, taking the contracts that none of the more respectable companies would take and often operated on the edge of lawlessness.

She posed as a boy when she joined the company and went by the name of Darryn. Darya always had a bit of skill in disguise and that time her figure was still quite boyish. Other than the company followers, there were no other females, or at least none that were open. It actually is unusual for mercenary companies in the Palladium world not to have any female troops although they tend to be uncommon.

Beyond hiding her sex from the company, there were other reasons she never really fit in. Most of the other recruits came from the lower classes including quite a number of escaped serfs. A fair number came from lawless backgrounds and likely a few had prices on their head. Certainly, few had any kind of education and she was one of the few in the company who knew how to read and write. Few even among the officers were literate. There are some companies where a fair number in the companies are literate.

The Land of the South Winds is often known for a certain lawlessness. Often the various nobles will squabble among themselves with the common people taking the brunt of these squabbles. Her company was hired to pillage and burn a number of villages belonging to enemies of a noble in the western part of the kingdom. Using the company allowed him to look like his hands were clean of any involvement.

By this time, she had managed to survive a number of battles and develop some fighting skills. Unlike many companies, this company never really had any kind of training program. Instead, they were thrown in battle to sink or swim. In some cases, soldiers would train against each other but there was never anything formal. As one might expect, casualties were often bad as well as desertion. This required the company to recruit raw recruits quite often.

As the company moved through the countryside, a path of death and destruction followed them. Many in the mercenary company enjoyed the pillage and the destruction. For Darya, it just made her feel sick. Battle was one thing, pillaging innocent villagers was something different. She tried at first to stay back and not get involved but what the company was doing made her feel sicker.

Soon after ravaging yet another village and leaving the ground strewn with dead bodies, she decided she could stand no more. Many in the company were considered poor sentry, often caught sleeping or otherwise screwing off. She was generally considered pretty reliable and often was tasked with sentry duty.

This night however, she decided to simply disappear with nothing more than what she had on her back. There was a lot of risk. If she had been caught, odds are good that she would have been tortured before being executed. Even though desertions were common, it did not stop the company from punishing them when they could catch them. Just a few days before, another soldier had been caught escaping and had met an extremely grizzly end.

It was a fortuitous time to leave the company. Since she left, she had heard rumors that they were ambushed by a force of regulars. Apparently, the mercenary company had sown just too much destruction and the military was forced to react. The story is that the mercenaries shattered upon battle with the much better trained troop. Some escaped but most were either imprisoned or killed.

Just in case the company might come looking for her, she went back to her actual name Darya and stopped posing as a boy. Coinciding with this, her figure was becoming more filled out and was having more trouble posing as male. Her initial hope was perhaps hiring on with a merchant as a guard. Reasonably skilled soldiers could often find work with merchants. With her education, she also could converse with merchants quite well. Her hope was to travel back east towards the coast.

Fate intervened however as it often does. A scholar had researched a legend, might be better to call it a rumor, of an ancient ruin just outside of the western border of the Land of the South Wind. The scholar had persuaded a number of adventurers to join in the attempt at the ruins. These included a pair of solders, a wizard, and a thief. Still, the group was looking for additional companions and invited Darya to join.

With little better to occupy her time and the possibility of fabulous riches, she decided to join the party. It turned out it was further than they though, almost at the foothills of the southern mountain spur. They pressed on and after several engagements with the bands that rove the lands, they reached an ancient ruin. There was disappointment when they found that others had been to the ruins long before they had been. Still, the party managed to find an intact vault. While a fraction of what was found in many stories, it was still more wealth than Darya had ever seen and enough to equip her in much better gear than she had previously.

After this, the party continued traveling together. They were more successful than many other adventurers. Still, they never found any tremendous finds and it was mainly hard work that allowed them to be successful. They instead looked for places where those looking for specular cache would not likely look. Even so, as often as not, they found nothing or found far less than they hoped. In addition to being pretty honorable, several of her other companions were also female. As a result, she could feel more comfortable than she had with the mercenary company.

Even though magic items were not the main goal of the group, instead looking for artifacts one might sell to collectors, a number were found. Some of which were kept by the adventures including Darya. These include an enchanted bastard sword and round shield. Likely the owner died centuries ago, the skeleton appeared as if it might have once been a knight from the figure’s rusted armor. Unlike the armor, the sword and shield appeared as if they had been newly forged without a touch of rust on them.

One day a ward master visited them in the inn which they had been stay at while preparing for their next excursion. He was interested in joining their party in their next trip into the unsettled lands. Something felt familiar to Darya about the ward master but she was not sure where he might have seen them. Ward masters and not quite as distrusted as circle masters but still are distrusted by many. Still, after a long discussion, it was decided to allow him to join.

It was only after a few weeks that she realized that the ward master was actually her brother. He claims not to have been looking for although she is skeptical. The name Darya is not uncommon and she had not been using her family name and instead going by the name Darya Ironblade. Her appearance had also radically changed, no longer boyish but also quite a bit taller and tones that she had been as a sixteen year old girl. In turn, his own appearance had changed being quite a bit taller. He went by the name of Xahepi while adventuring as well

Even with her suspicions, they hit it off extremely well. Their parents came up quickly but he told her that they were sorry that they driven her away and wanted to see her again. At first reluctantly, she agreed that when she got a chance, she would return home to see them again.

Some of the other members of the party were concerned they were lovers with as much time as they spent together and how overly familiar they were. While she had never become involved with an adventuring companion, it often created problems in the group. There had been other cases of it and there had been jealousy and other hard feeling resulting in some cases. When Darya found out that the others that they were lovers, she set about setting them straight explaining that they were brother and sister and that they had not seen each other for years.

Of course she had been hurt before, plenty of times in fact. When she had been in the mercenary company she had been badly injured. Adventuring had not always been kind to her either and she had been hurt a number of times as well. This time though her luck almost ran out and she fell in a battle with a group of ogres. In fact, she came within a hairbreadth of dying. It was only through healing magic and the application of the ward “Protection from death” that she survived.

After she recovered, he decided to make her tougher and stronger with the use of wards. While wards can, with the use of dragon bone, be sewn directly on flesh, it is incredibly rare. He worked with the wizard to put a number of spells on her as well as some of his own wards.

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Image drawn and copyrighted by Staino.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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