Terran Ackenth:

Name: Terran.

True Name: Terran Ackenth.

Alignment: Scrupulous (Good).

Hit Points: 56. S.D.C. (Physical): 16.

Attributes: I.Q.: 21 (+7%/+3), M.E.: 18 (+2), M.A.: 15, P.S.: 11, P.P.: 22 (+4), P.E.: 23 (+16%/+4), P.B.: 15, SPD: 21.

Weight: 148 lbs (67.1 kg). Height: 5 foot 8 inches (1.72 meters).

Age: 29. Race: Human. Sex: Male.

Disposition:

The most important person in his life is his sister and is devoted towards her. At one time, his mother would have been the second most important person to him but she died a number of years ago. There is no sexual relationship between brother and sister although a few have tried to suggest it over the years. Losing her would devastate him just as much as losing him would her.

This does not mean that he does not have other friends. He is pretty sociable and has a number of close friends. Many of his traveling companions are close friends. He is quite loyal to his friends. Sexually, he is attracted to members of the same sex. While his sister tends to be flighty with her relationships, he likes more long term relationships. There have been problems however with some of his lovers being jealous of the relationship he has with his sister.

Quite intelligent, still he is less scholarly in his overall demeanor than his sister is. Less interested in writing especially. Still, he is good at knuckling down when he needs to. In general, he likes to get his hand’s dirty. Has a collection of both unusual rocks and unusual fossils. Kind of curious about them. Always was interested in languages as well.

Very skilled with combining his own elemental abilities with his sister’s abilities. One of his favorite tools is to summon multiple little mud mounds using the energy of them to summon the next one. He is not incapable when it comes to tactical thinking but his sister seems to click better in that ability.

O.C.C.: Warlock / Elementalist (Earth). Experience Level: Seventh (7).

Combat Skill: Hand to Hand Basic.

Attacks per Melee: Five (5).

Bonuses, Combat: Critical Strike: Natural 19 or 20. Bonuses: Damage: +2, Strike: +5, Parry: +6, Dodge: +6, Roll (with Punch, Fall, or Impact): +3, and Pull Punch: +2. Kick Attacks: Snap Kick 1D6+2.

Bonus; Save: Lethal Poison [14] +4, Non-Lethal Poison [16] +4, Harmful Drugs [15] +4, Insanity [12] +3, Psionics [15] +3 (+4 with Amulet), Magic [12] +5 (+6 with Amulet), Horror Factor +5 [+9 vs Elementals] (+7 / +11 with Amulet.)

Psionics: None.

Special Abilities:

Bonuses: +2 vs horror factor (+6 vs elemental beings), +1 vs magic, +1 vs possession, and +2 spell strength.

Other Abilities: Speak Elemental 98% (Base 92%), Sense elemental 50% (25%+5% per level) at 120 feet /36.6 meter (+20% if concentrating - 240 feet / 73.2 meter.) 75% of seeing invisible elemental beings as well. Intuitively recognize a fellow warlock. Summon Elemental 35% (5% per level. Has +10% at Ley Line and +20% at a Nexus Point.) Recognize Minerals 81% (62%+2% per level), Sense tremors in a 40 mile (64 km) radius, Sense Earth Traps 63% (32%+4% per level), Sense of Direction Underground 98% (80%+2% per level), Holistic Medicine 57% (Base 50% or +12% if skill taken), and Identify Plants and Fruit 72% (Base 65%).

Spells: P.P.E.: 173 + 2D6 per level of experience.

First Level Spells: Chameleon (5), Rock to Mud (6), Rot Wood (4).

Second Level Spells: Grow Plants (8), Hopping Stone (6), Wither Plants (10).

Third Level Spells: Crumble Stone (10), [1] Heart of Oak (15), Locate Mineral (10).

Fourth Level Spells: [1] Forge Metal (15), Quicksand (15), Repel Animals (10).

Fifth Level Spells: [1] Earth Mother’s Touch (40), Little Mud Mound (35), Travel through Earth (20).

Sixth Level Spells: Stone to Flesh (30), Travel Through Stone (35), Wood to Stone (30).

Seventh Level Spells: Metal to Clay (40), River of Lava (50), Wall of Iron (45).

[1] Web related spells.

O. C. C. Skills: Physical: Hand to Hand: Basic, Technical / Scholar: Language: Eastern [Native] 98%, Language: Elven / Dragonese (+10%) 87%, Language: Western (+10%) 87%, Literacy: Elven / Dragonese (+10%) 77%, Lore: Demon & Monster (+10%) 72%, Lore: Faerie Folk (+5%) 67%, Wilderness: Land Navigation (+10%) 71%, Wilderness Survival (+10%) 77%, Weapon Proficiencies: W.P.: Knife (+3 [+8] strike / +3 [+8] throw / +3 [+9] parry), W.P.: Staff (+3 [+8] strike / +1 [+6] throw / +2 [+8] parry).

O. C. C. Related Skills: Espionage: Intelligence [Gained at Sixth Level] (+5%) 46%, Science: Botany (+10%) 72%, Mathematics - Basic (+10%) 92%, Scholar/Technical: History (+10%) 77%, Language: Dwarven (+10%) 87%, Language: Wolfen (+10%) 87%, Literacy: Dwarven (+10%) 77%, Literacy: Wolfen (+10%) 77%, Lore: Magic (+10%) 72% / 62% / 57%, Writing [Gained at Third level] (+10%) 57%.

Secondary Skills: Horsemanship: Horsemanship - General 72% / 57%, Medical: First Aid [Gained at Second Level] 62%, Physical: Athletics - General Aid [Gained at Second Level], Running [Gained at Fifth Level], Swimming [Gained at Seventh Level] 47%, Rogue: Streetwise [Gained at Seventh Level] 27%, Scholar/Technical: Gemology [Gained at Fifth Level] 42%, Language: Southern 77%, Literacy: Southern 67%.

Background (Practitioner of Magic) Skills: Science: Archaeology (+4%) 61%, Scholar/Technical: Language: Goblin (+4%) 81%, Literacy: Eastern [Native] (+5%) 72%, Literacy: Western (+4%) 71%.

Appearance:

Relatively handsome, Terran is a slender and athletic man. Not all that strong, he is still pretty tough. Not extremely tall either at five foot eight inches. Has shoulder length straight sandy brown, almost dark brown, hair. Prefers to be clean shaven. He has relatively dark skin which might be described as Mediterranean with a relatively slender nose. In addition, he has soft brown eyes.

Prefers the colors of brown and green. When not on the trail, tends to wear a brown cloak over green robes with earth symbols woven into the robes. Prefers soft leather boots. On the trail, he normally wears either a tunic and legging or a suit of soft leather armor. Prefers high boots on the trail. Has a carved quarterstaff he normally carries and also carries a dagger on his side.

Magical Weapons of Note:

Enchanted Cinquedea Dagger: Weight: 1.5 lbs (0.7 kg) each. Length: 1.6 feet (.5 meters)

Large heavy dagger which is almost short sword. Design on the dagger of air and earth and mate with his sister’s dagger. Bonuses due to Quality (Dwarven): +3 damage (included in damage), +2 initiative, +2 [+10] strike, +2 [+10] throw, and +3 [+12] parry. Enchantments: Eternally sharp (+3 damage), Indestructible, and Return to wielder when thrown. Damage: 1D8+9 (+Strength)

Enchanted Ironstaff: Weight: 7.0 lbs (3.2 kg). Length: 6.0 feet (1.8 meters).

Banded with iron with staff made from “Yellow Wood” giving +2 to damage. Bonuses due to Quality (Dwarven): +4 damage (included in damage), +2 initiative, +1 strike, +2 throw, and +3 parry. Enchantments: Additional Damage, Indestructible, Damage: 3D6+8 (+Strength).

Non-Magical Weapons of Note:

None normally carried.

Armor of Note:

Leather of Iron (Soft Leather): A.R. Rating: 14. S.D.C.: 300. Weight: Effectively Weightless.

Soft leather which is dyed green and brown. Regenerates magically 4D6 S.D.C. per day. Enchantments: Noiseless, Regenerates Damage (Lesser), and Weightless.

Other Equipment:

Magical Items:

Amulet of “Charm”: Adds +1 to save vs magic and psychic attacks.

Amulet of “Protection vs the Supernatural”: Add +2 to save vs Horror Factor.

Amulet of “See the Invisible”: Allows wearer to see the invisible.

Amulet of “Warning”: Makes a low hum when there is danger, gives +1 to initiative when this occurs (generally defensive only.)

Crystal of Light: Many Faceted gem that is about the size of a golf ball and it emits light equal to about 2 candles.

Six (6) “Dimensional Pocket” Pouches: Made permanent with rune. Will hold up to 30 lbs (13.6 kg) worth of items each.

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.

Crystal of Light: Many Faceted gem that is about the size of a golf ball and it emits light equal to about 2 candles.

Quill of Endless Ink: Ordinary appearing pen but never runs out of ink.

Normal:

Clothing: Four (4) high quality brown and green robes, four (4) sets of travel clothing - brown and green, low soft boots, high leather boots, leather belt.

Containers: Leather dagger sheath, waterskin (one gallon capacity).

Field Equipment: Bedroll.

Lighting: Flint and tinderbox, four (4) candles, four (4) sticks of incense.

Writing Equipment: Twenty (20) sheets parchment, parchment book (200 pages - regular), parchment book (200 page each - indestructible silver rune paper), six (6) sticks of charcoal.

Provisions: Trail rations for four (4) weeks.

Horse Tending Equipment: Carried when needed.

Miscellaneous: Soap, comb and brush, first aid supplies, elemental symbol of earth, collection of various unusual small rocks and fossils.

Jewelry, Gems, and Valuables: 65,000 gold worth in various coins, 10,000 gold worth of jewelry, 90,000 gold worth of gems.

Background:

One of the most powerful and skilled enclaves of practitioners of the mystical arts in the Eastern Territories is the Brotherhood of Magic in the city of Llorn. The city is on the coast of the Inland Sea near the islands of Phi and Lopan.

One of the members of the brotherhood was a powerful elemental master, also sometimes called a warlock, by the name of Delodra Ackenth. Most elemental masters command one element but she commanded two elements, the element of Earth and Sky.

Even though extremely powerful, there is some suggestion that she was snubbed by others within the Brotherhood. There is some suggestion that she was not willing to play politics but there are other rumors which give darker suggestions. Even though the Brotherhood is open to men and women, only a tiny minority are female which might also have played a part.

Whatever the case, she tended to keep to herself and did not appear to be involved in a relationship with anybody. There were some rumors of a relationship many years before but even that story is more speculation than anything with any facts behind it. It appeared that in general, her only real interest appeared to have been in the Elemental arts.

Even so, the biological clock is hard to ignore. It has also been suggested that she wanted to pass on her mystic elemental legacy to children. There is also the suggestion that she always wanted to have children but realized that time was running out.

At the time, it is believed to have been almost fifty years old and any pregnancy at that age is fraught with difficulties. Had the care of a skilled psychic healer who might have helped her get through it although pregnancies are not unknown even at that age.

While one might expect one of the Brotherhood to have been the father, there were never any rumors on who that might be. One would have expected years later for him to have come forward, especially after Delodra passed away. Nobody really knows who the father is and Delodra is believed never to have talked about who it actually was.

Still, whoever the father is, she had two beautiful babies, twins although not identical twins. One was a girl and the other was a boy. It is believed that girl came out first with her brother just a few minutes later. The girl was given the name Skyla, probably for her blue eyes, and the boy was given the name Terran likely for his brown eyes.

One cannot expect the childhood of the progeny of a powerful elemental master to be normal. From an early age, they began learning about the elemental arts. Neither seemed very interested in mastering two elements but instead focused on one. She never seemed to mind that the decided to focus on one element. One might even speculate that she unconsciously focused their interest.

It was not as if the home was loveless however. She did genuinely love her children. The love between brother and sister was far stronger however. It was this stone bond that held them together no matter what life threw at them. This went beyond just protecting the other when one got in trouble.

Since they trained together in the elements from an early age, they are far better at combining their abilities together in a way that few elementalists working together can do. While not psychic, they almost appear to be able to know what the other is thinking. Few husband and wife elemental teams are as effective as the brother and sister are together. While their mother combining both elements herself, their ability to combine abilities goes beyond what she could ever do.

Just as the became masters of the elements in the own right, time caught up with Delodra. By this time, their mother was in her mid to late sixties. Though most of the twins childhood, Delodra appeared to have been quite healthy, her health took a sudden and dramatic down turn. Within just a few months, she went from being energetic to barely being able to get out of bed and could no longer teach them. Nothing any of the healers tried seemed to do any good.

It was time for them to strike out on their own even though she did live for a few more years. They had long discussed what they might do. While adventuring can be extremely dangerous, it is also a way to increase ones mastery of one’s own abilities quickly. One can also increase mastery through careful study and that appears to have been what their mother had largely done. Another advantage of adventuring was to get both treasure and enchanted items.

They did not really know much about who to join and their first expedition almost ended up a disaster with them being killed along with most of the others. Their repertoire of abilities was highly limited and summoning an elemental was something that they had only managed to do a few times at this stage. Still, their own ability to work together allowed the brother and sister to survive although ended up with nothing to show for it.

When they managed to recover, they looked at different groups much more carefully. The first group were not really bad people but their were undiscipline. Often they argued among each other and could not work together. The second group they chose did not quarrel with each other however still never really clicked as a group. The group had some success but it was limited.

Choosing the right expeditions seemed to be a matter of luck as much as anything. Some groups were more successful than others and Skyla and Terran were able to find some that were reasonable successful over the next few years. They did get more skilled at learning who they might be able to trust and not trust.

In addition, they slowly gained in their own mastery and were able to deal with threats on their own far more effectively. One trick their learned was to summon lesser elemental creatures, effectively elemental sparks. Using the energy of one to summon another allowed one to summon a virtual army. As skilled elemental masters able to work well together, some of the more elite groups began to become interested in them.

In the meantime, their mother died and when the brother and sister returned to Llorn upon hearing about their mother’s death, there was little to her estate. Both Skyla and Terran think it likely that the estate was undervalued with other members of the Brotherhood managing to acquire much of what seemed to be missing. It is impossible to prove since they were on an expedition when it occurred.

One of the most skilled and elite group of adventurers was a company lead by a skilled and experienced veteran soldier with decades of experience. While he was not a practitioner of the mystical arts himself, he had a far better understanding than most. As well, the group had an elven sorcerer who was several centuries old and skilled beyond virtually any human wizard.

Skyla and Terran were invited to join the group which they quickly accepted. The company got involved in a variety of different areas. In some cases, this was exploring long abandoned and ancient ruins while in other cases this was dealing with bandits which often plagued the lands. Managed to both acquire a number of magic items and purchase others.

The brother and sister were still with the company when stories of a massive attack of Orcs lead by Ogres began circulating. Unlike most attacks, these creatures did not just go after unfortified or lightly fortified villages but against well defended towns and even a smaller castle. Probably one of the most daring attacks was against a herd of centaurs with all the centaur scouts being killed.

Further, rumors began to spread that one of the ogres leading the orcs was a Demon Thrall. In addition, there were stories of actual demons fighting alongside the orcs and ogres. It is hard to often tell how accurate such stories are because people in fear often see things that are not there and inflate numbers of attackers. Still, this all drove the leaders in the western part of the Eastern territory to become extremely concerned.

The military forces mobilized to go after the creatures and there was a general call for mercenaries and adventurers to help hunt down them. The company which Skyla and Terran were members decided to answer the call. There was a massive bounty for whomever could defeat the creatures. Of course, they were only one of many with massive army units out also patrolling.

It might be expected that Skyla and Terran’s company were massively outnumbered but the group had a number of advantages. Probably the most key of these was the ability of Skyla and Terran to summon a massive force of elemental spark creatures. It was not the only advantage with the elven sorcerer being more skilled than even most of the kingdom’s own wizards.

Early on in the hunt, the group was joined by one of the few centaur survivors from the herd which had been decimated by the creatures. One of the weaknesses of the company prior to the centaur joining was a lack of skilled archers. Named Hafwen, the centaur began training some of the troops in using bows. Combined with Skyla and Terran’s summonings, archers could be very effective in ambushed. Using this tactic, the creature’s number were able to be whittled away.

Eventually it was decided to recruit some of the other groups even though it would mean that the bounty would have to be split. It simply was too much for a single group to deal with. Finally, the raiders were brought to ground and a massive battle ensued. The fight was far more difficult than they expected. In addition to the Demon Thrall, there was a Dark Priest among the raiders. The evil ogre priest summoned a number of demons to fight.

When the dust cleared, the orcs were scattered with many dead. All of the ogres are believed to have been killed. The mercenary and adventurers were far from being unscathed and a large percentage were killed in battle and far more were badly injured. Luckily, the group which Skyla and Terran belong to had a skilled psychic healer who was able to pull many of their own back from the brink of death.

After the battle, the elven sorcerer decided to retire even though he had centuries left when he could still be active. A number of others decided to leave the company at this time as well although a number decided to stay with the group. One of these was the centaur Hafwen. While the centaur is not real interested in treasure, she did consider the group to be her herd.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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