Alice Maybe

Alice is a young high school student who really is more talented than anyone gives her credit for. The talent is hidden underneath angsty teenage werewolf anger. She is the newest change in my new Werewolf: The Forsaken campaign. I wanted to introduce them to a Cahalith since all the players do not know what it is a Cahalith does exactly. So this post is just a small tidbit into the life of the NPC with the unfortunate name Alice Maybe.

* * * * * * *

The teacher was droning on but Alice couldn't care less, her attention was on the texting between a group a few rows away from her. Her former friend Ashley was in that group of smirking texters and eventually a look would be thrown her direction with more smiling and tick tacking for fingers hitting the touch screens with long perfectly manicured fingernails. Alice held out her thin fingers, her nails weren't perfect but they weren't pretty like their nails were. Alice went more with the fierce black that stood boldly against her pale skin.

*Alice* There was a whisper, it wasn't human. Was that a weird thing to think? She looked over to the window beside her. Her reflection looked back at her but something else, something within the reflection. Was it Portia or something sinister? Portia was the ghost of a young woman who was trapped in the high school, like Alice. Unlike Alice, Portia was at least a hundred years old at this point and still stuck within these walls. That wasn't true, she's left before, Alice had let Portia possess her before, for research they both had decided.

Portia had the ability was much too sweet of a person to take them unwillingly, Alice had come to learn. Now it was much too dangerous to let Portia possess her as often as she had let her. She was something else now, she wasn't human. She had been assured it was a blessing from the moon goddess... no, mother.... Luna.

*Alice* she heard again, the voice gave her chills. Was this one of her dreams. She looked up to the sky, clearly day with no sign of the moon. This couldn't be another message from Luna. *Look at me!* the voice growled menacingly. Alice looked around the room, nobody else heard it. Was she going crazy? Had she already gone nuts and and am imagining all of this as she sits in a padded room somewhere? She did it on instinct, wasn't even aware that she knew how to do it but looked across. There was a flash of the spirit world but she couldn't see much. There was a menacing face taking up her entire view. She swallowed back a scream as the image disappeared. Laughter filled her ears as she was visibly shaken. That laughter was something she couldn't find the words to describe.

"Alice?" a different voice asked and she shivered, slowly turning her head in the direction of the voice. It was the teacher, the lecture had paused. "Are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse?" he asked.

"Y-Yes," she said stumbling over her backpack as she got out of her desk. There was a chorus of laughter from the group of girls who tormented her. She felt a sort of relief with that laughter. That was normal. Then the unnatural laughing started again as she snatched up her bag and tried to calmly walk out of the room. When she cleared the room she bolted down the hall. She could go to Morrigan... or, what about those werewolves that helped her change? They helped her with that, the Ian guy was trying to help her with her dreams, what about this Spirit problem?

Dlor'itati'usko = "Ritati" - Chiss Jedi

Might as well add some about my Chiss Jedi - "Ritati" for the Force and Destiny game. The game is set 15 years after Order 66.

Dlor'itati'usko "Ritati" - Chiss Jedi Knight

Strength: Bravery

Weakness: Anger

Story: Dlor'itati'usko joined the jedi when she was very young with her elder brother. It was his idea to join the order and he had always had a way of getting her to see things his way. She idolized him, he was brilliant, cunning, and talented. He wasn't quick to compliment her on her own skills but when he did she believed him. Both of them flourished in the Academy and were eventually split up when they each were given Jedi Masters.

Ritati, as she was now being called was a Padawan for Mylla a Falleen Jedi Master. Ritati worked hard under Mylla, the mantra being the sooner she becomes a Jedi Knight, the sooner she can see her brother again as he promised. She learned the art of hiding in the shadows and hiding herself from Force users and non-Force users alike.

Ritani and Mylla were sent on a covert ops mission, a few specially trained clones with them as well.
With her skills displayed on this mission and her ability to bring everyone home, she was promoted to Jedi Knight. It was the happiest day that was only going to be topped by reuniting with her brother.

She was quickly assigned to Mace Windu's secret project. She called her brother and was talking to him, as he was on his own mission. He congratulated her on her achievement and was very excited to see her again. He suddenly grew serious and looked off to the side then the line went dead. It wasn't long after that Obi-Wan's warning was transmitted. The group she was assigned to quickly left Coruscant.

The group decided to take shifts with the ship and Ritati chose to settle on the planet she last knew her brother to be on. Maridun, she spent those years that she was not on the ship searching for him. It was about her second shift on the reliquary that she finally accepted that he had died when Order 66 went off.

What was she to do now? She was in hiding, her people were rising in ranks with the Empire. Would she turn her back on the Jedi Knights she worked alongside and go home? She wanted to, oh did she want to, she imagined reuniting with her family, mourning over the loss of her brother with them, how grateful her mother would be to learn that for 10 years Ritati searched for her brother, how happy her father would be to finally have her home. She had learned her lesson and she had come home. It was tempting, to say the least.

Would she be able to stay true and honor the Jedi on her third shift with the reliquary?

Ambition: Expertise - Ritati must be the best in her field, there is no excuses to let someone best you at your own game. Her level of the best had always been her brother, now she must train because she does not know the level of skill outside or where her brother would be or where she should be by this point. She spent too long waiting around, it's time to do something.

Faith: Friends and Family - There is only one thing more important to her than those she considers to be her friends and that is her family. She will do anything for a friend or family member who needs help.

Dahlia Vrir - Iosan Mage Hunter

The following is just a snippit of my Iosan Mage Hunter for the Iron Kingdoms system.

Dahlia sat in the chair looking down, those that called her here were yet to arrive. Had she done something wrong? She had killed the warcaster, the mission had been completed. She could feel her blood trickle down her arm from the wound the caster had been able to give her before she sliced through his throat. After he fell the rest of his company didn't last long as the troops around her swarmed his company.

She was young for an Iosan but still had been able to prove her ability to her superiors, she had been accepted into the mage hunters and been trained from an early age. Maybe her family name had something to do with it. She had come from a long line of mage hunters, her father was a high ranking officer by now, and her sister had joined the company under Garryth, Blade of Retribution. The door opened and an officer came in. Dahlia stood up quickly. "At ease," he said, unrolling a parchment.

"Dahlia of the Vrir house, you are to report to Pellyth Hallyr in Ord. You are being moved to special operation," he looked up. "You have proven yourself capable of handling yourself in a one-on-one situation. Our spec. ops from some of the ships coming have been unable to contact the hunter we have stationed out there. You are to search for Bres Larisar and find what has become of him. That is the least important of your duties. You are to join with Pellyth Hallyr, he is part of the Seekers out there."

"The Seekers do the opposite of what we're trying to do, what I was trained to do," Dahlia argued.

"That is exactly why we need an insider with them. Pellyth may spend some time training you and giving you a license for a cover job. From there we need you to do your job, take care of the human mages who are far from our battle lines."

"Learn from Pellyth, infiltrate the Seekers, travel along that coast looking for human warcasters we cannot yet reach. Can you do this?"

"Without a doubt, sir," Dahlia said.

* * * * * *

Arriving in Ord it wasn't long before Pellyth contacted her and told her to meet him at a local pub. She arrived early so she could observe those coming in and out of the pub, looser lips there than anywhere else. An Iosan came through the door and she could tell right away that was Pellyth even before he spotted her and came over.

"I hear you are in need of some extra training," he smiled.

"That is what I am here for, yes." Dahlia confirmed.

The discussion lasted for at least an hour before Pellyth grinned, "I could tell you were a Seeker from across the room, but I had to be sure. You are very good, a bit serious but good, yes I will train you. I will set you up as an Investigator in town, you won't have any trouble with a job like that, I can tell you're bright and I'll find someone to train you a little bit in what you should know to at least be useful in the area. From there if there is anything else you need to learn come through me and I can find someone to train you. Give me a week, I will have the papers for you, until then you'll be getting tutored for your job.

Dahlia spent the week being trained in forensics, even being taken around by the tutor to his own jobs. She got hands on experience, which was what she was grateful for because that was how she learned the best. During that time she got plenty of practice in learning Ordic.

She was given her own license after the week and continued working under her trainer for a few months. By the time she was sure she had the language and the necessary skill to get started down she started looking for work, Pellyth putting word out into town that an investigator was looking for work. She had been contacted by several people but it all meant that she would be staying in the city so she declined their offers.

Finally she was contacted by a mercenary band. They were a bit of an odd group but she accepted their offer either way. Now, the real work was to begin.

She proved herself to be a vital asset to the group and quickly rose to a high standing in the band. They hadn't pried too much into her past, they didn't need to know her history to know that she could do her job and for that she was grateful. If the time came she was an exceptional liar, always had been and now with this covert ops job it was being put to good use.

Long Time No See

So it's been awhile since I've updated this. November was the last time I posted anything. The last several months have been a whirlwind adventure of job searching, role-playing, family time, crafting, and organizing.

I was a part of a Star Wars: Edge of the Empire campaign that finished last week and in that game I got to alternate weeks playing 2 different characters (1 per week) in the same universe and working for the same employer. It was a blast, but that's not to say that there were some hiccups. There were a few people who seemed to have taken player knowledge and used it as character knowledge which caused a large enough issue that made somebody leave the game (or at least that is the reason I gathered he left). Overall though, I really enjoyed it. The GM is one who encourages role-playing as opposed to just stating what your character is doing and rolling the dice as was my experience with a few games at Armored Gopher Games. What was great was that the system really encourages role-playing in which the dice have triumphs, successes, advantages, despairs, failures, and disadvantages to gauge how an action gets accomplished. Depending on what you roll something could fail but if you get enough advantages, something good comes out of that failure. I also got to create Dia (pictured below) a Twi'lek Assassin who was trained by a slave master but was mysteriously freed and spent some time trying to change herself into a scholar. That is until she got herself arrested for protesting alien slaving and was freed and employed by Honest Cid who knew about her special skills. It was fun playing a Twi'lek who is not very typical even though by end game she had lost almost everyone she had come to love.

I have joined a few other games to take up the time that this game after ending, left open. So I will be giving 13th Age another try as well as a Star Wars: Age of Rebellion (I will be playing without the book until the finished copy comes out as the game is still in Beta, with the finished copy coming out some time this quarter). I have also joined a Shadowrun game which is a very complex game with a lot more strategy than I am used to, but based on my older character concepts, I have had some practice in. Basically I will be playing a B&E expert with a bit of a Catwoman fetish. She grew up in a Russian immigrant household and fell in love with the character Selena. So when she turned criminal and became a Shadowrunner she took the name Selena with her secret identities being named for actresses who had played the femme-fatale on screen.

I plan on keeping up with this blog again now that I am not in school, having graduated in December with an Associates. A Bachelors is to follow but not for a little bit at least.

Torn Up Character Sheet

I get really into the characters that I create and the longer I've played them the more I let myself sink into the story. This is a post about the Irraka from my World of Darkness: Forsaken pack, the one that was taken.

We went searching for him but not before I made those that work go to work since they had been neglecting to do so. Delilah went off to a meeting at a gallery who had been interested in her paintings. She was given a run around and left frustrated. Were they buying her paintings or were they just displaying them until they sold? When she got home she had no idea where to start, the two who did not work (Jayden and Mickey) were off looking for Cote and I didn't know where they were. Leila, her twin had arrived home at the same time after the courthouse had been closed due to a bomb threat (Mickey's anonymous phone call). That was when the howl was heard, it was a nervous excited howl that he had been found buy help was needed. I heard the answering howl of my beta, Jayden that he was on his way and I shifted into wolf form and sprinted in the direction of Mickey's howl with Leila following suite.

There was another howl for anyone to help and I answered this time, telling them that I was on my way. When we arrived Jayden was digging, avoiding swinging branches of a tree. He informed me that Cote was down in the hole with Mickey who was trying to pull him out. Leila and Jayden took to grabbing a large root and managed to pull it back. I shifted into near human form and started to help Mickey pull Cote out. It took awhile and we finally did. It was terrible what Dark Reaches did to him and I immediately jumped into tending the wounds. Mickey ran off to hunt rabbits for Cote to eat. As I tended to him I realized that if Cote was going to get out of this, he was going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. Then I finally understood what he had been trying to say through his pain. "End it."

My heart sank, Delilah started crying, I started crying for real. Delilah said that there was no other choice and that I was going to do what Cote asked. She said that Mickey cannot be here when this happens to protect him. Jayden went off to stop him from coming back until Delilah said it was okay. Cote smiled at me, "Challenge." She couldn't bring herself to do it, she didn't have the will power to do this. Leila stepped up, she could bring herself to do it. "1 Rule," he said. "Rabbit is awesome," Delilah sobbed as he closed his eyes and relaxed so that it would be quick. The "rule" of the pack had been in place since Cote, who was going by the name of Rabbit then, saved Delilah's life two times in one night. Leila killed him, Delilah started hugging him and crying as Jayden and Mickey came back.

Mickey saw the blood on Leila's hands, saw Delilah broken down. He shifted into full form and destroyed the tree that had helped Dark Reaches hide Cote. We all carried him home and laid him to rest there. "Number 1 Rule," Delilah reminded the pack as she sprinkled dirt over the body.

When we had finished Mickey ran inside and started turning all the lights on as it had grown quite dark. Then we saw headlights pull up and two people get out. Jayden moved to stand between the grave and the car, Delilah walked towards the car. We knew they were werewolves too, we could sense it. "What are you doing here?" Delilah demanded. They didn't answer the question, instead the old man asked what we had been doing. Mickey came out with his rifle telling them to get off of this land. The old man stood up straight and became intimidating, Delilah ordered Mickey to stand down and he did as he was told. "Again, why are you on our land?" Delilah asked.

"What are you guilty about?" the old man asked and that sparked anger in Delilah.

"This is not a good time for you guys to be here," she stated, eyes narrowing.

"Why?"

"We lost a pack mate tonight," Jayden told them. The old man turned to Mickey and put his hands on his shoulders.

"You're going to get the one who did this and you're going to make him pay, that's what you're going to do," the old man told him. Then we noticed it got unnaturally dark, Dark Reaches was coming. We were not in any shape to be facing him. Cote's death probably fed him so he would probably be stronger.

"If you want to be safe you will get in the trailer," Mickey said before turning and walking away. We followed inside and they did as well. Night had come and we had reached the end of game time so we called it a night. There was the tearing of Cote's character sheet that night upon his death, the player tears up the sheets instead of keeps them. I however am the type of person to keep mine for sentimental value.

Delilah has proven to be quite the medic, this is the second time she has had to make rolls tending to another's wounds and has done phenomenally. I think the dice are trying to tell me something, maybe Delilah should start training to be an EMT... she has the smarts for it, she just needs to medicine to back it up.

Growing as an Alpha

Saturday night was World of Darkness and I should have realized it was going to be one of those sessions when the first thing that happens is that Delilah gets challenged. After stress, trying to come up with something to do, and finally saying that now is not the time for this Cote, my Irraka drops out.

What he wanted was for Delilah to show control, say something and mean it, and show her dominance. This was a lesson that Delilah needed. After this Delilah and Cote got together and restructured the pack. While before we had stuck with the typical hierarchy of Delilah (alpha), Leila (beta), then down the list to Turtle (omega). The new structuring breaks the pack into groups that will eventually become natural.

First, there's the pack, everyone. When I say something it gets done. Then we can break into two groups with the two Cahaliths (Delilah and Turtle), a Rahu (Jimmy) and our Itheur (our newest addition Mickey). Delilah is the brains, Jimmy the muscle, and Mickey our stealthy. The second group would be our Elodoth (Leila, Delilah's twin sister and former beta), our second Rahu (Jayden my new beta), our Irraka (Cote), and our "short-hair-werewolf-in-training-who-is-really-a-mage" (Delta). This group has 2 brainy members Delta and Leila and 2 who can handle themselves in combat Jayden and Cote. From there the groups can be broken off into twos. Delilah and Turtle will stick together, we are the Cahaliths we need to know each other better and discuss our dreams and the muscle is covered with Turtle. Jimmy and Mickey are together and they can work on their own easily and move from group to group based on need. Leila and Jayden covering sneaky and brains. Finally Delta and Cote who also can break apart and work alone or go to a different group based on need.

The move to make Jayden my beta was well thought out. I had made my negative opinion of Jayden known but after hearing Cote out and giving him another chance I had started to warm up to him. Making him my beta would not only strengthen that relationship that was budding and offer an opposing view point when plans were being made but it would also give the rest of the pack the chance to give him another look. He had been not accepted by a good number of the pack and I take responsibility for fueling that fire.

With that in place it was decided that we had to take care of a ridden who was in our new territory, Dark Reaches. He had murdered Mickey's parents and been hunting Mickey ever since. It was suggested to us that Dark Reaches who is a death spirit would need an area of death to feed it most likely in our own territory. We began the hunt but we spotted a spirit, a hawk. It told us that this was not our land and that it had a message for us to leave. We sent a message back that this was our land, then proceeded to declare it with that oh so special rite that would make this land recognized by the spirits and other werewolves that this was our land and any werewolf that contested were to meet us and fight for it. 4 howls were the answer and we knew we had to deal with 4 Pure packs.

We waited, most of the pack went into hiding, Jayden and Delilah stayed out in the open. We heard then surround us.

Then the alpha of the alphas arrived in his Lincoln. He got out of the back seat and offered a deal. I realized that we were seriously out numbered, we suspected 19 werewolves surrounding us, their totems, and the spirits that Edmund had doing his bidding and agreed to a private talk with him.

I got in the car and while I was nervous, I sat tall with my head up. I was offered the choice of accept his deal or my pack would not leave these woods alive. We had to kill his omega pack, make it so Dark Reaches never came back, and later down the road Delilah had to do him a personal favor. My pack was in jeopardy... I accepted.

We got out of the car, he got out whistled then climbed back in and drove off. The other werewolves around us began to leave, leaving 3 behind and the fight began. One fell and I heard, don't kill them and I gave the order that we had to end this. My orders were followed as I fought alongside my pack. We killed the three with darkness growing thicker and thicker around us... then Dark Reaches began to attack. Mickey panicked and ran for the only source of light there was out there, the light at the barn. Turtle was hit first. Thrown through trees and I began to run in his direction following his smell. He was thrown into the barn and Mickey latched on to him. I heard Turtle get hit again and I continued running, desperate to help him. Delilah was hit next. A slash across the chest before being thrown into the barn too. Cote was the next one to be attacked. He was already suffering severe wounds from the omega pack and being thrown into the trailer that we were living in caused him to black out. Turtle told me he was down and we rushed towards him only to find that Dark Reaches had dragged him away.

Cote is gone. Dark Reaches is nowhere to be seen. We don't know what is going to happen now or even if we can find Cote.