Saturday, December 11, 2010

Villains, S&W Style 2



Villains, S&W Style 2
Not all villains are skull toting, demon worshiping, psycho killers.  Subtle villains act as others, mingling within the common populace without any knowing.  They will have positions within the community such as craftsmen, washerwomen, tavern owners, or city guards.  To some people they will be best friends and assist them in any way possible.  But to others they become a danger and often their victims don't understand why they've been targeted. 

Lavonia
0-Level, Human, Female
S: 9, D: 11, C: 8, I: 13, W: 12, Ch: 14
HP: 3, AC: 9 [10], Dam: n/a, SV: 16
Equipment: lap harp, poisons

Lavonia is one of the more beloved women in the town.  She is an attractive, generous woman who married a city guard named Wilton.  She has a beautiful singing voice and often plays during celebrations both for private and public affairs.  She suffers from poor health and often disappears for a few days because of her illness. 

Within their home, in a hidden basement is a cage where Wilton locks up Lavonia during her bouts of sickness.  Several years ago before her marriage to Wilton, Lavonia became pregnant.  Her mother became furious and would not see her daughter disgrace the family.  Her mother made her drink the poisons that would cause a miscarriage.  Lavonia had the miscarriage, but her mother continued to have her drink the poisons as punishment.  Her health diminished until she barely could speak.  It wasn't until her father returned that he immediately summoned the healers.  The poisons saturated her body.  The healers did what they could to bring her to health, but said she would always be affected by the poison for as long as she lived. 

As the years passed she grew healthier, but with severe bouts of illness.  Wilton noticed that livestock and pets would be found dead during the times of her bouts.  Then the children started getting sick.  Twin boys died with days of one another and Wilton confronted Lavonia.  He found sobbing and she admitted to poisoning the boys, but did not intend to kill them.  Lavonia is over come by a calming madness to harm other during her bouts.  She knows how to prepare poisons and hides them in food and drinks.  She will make batches of the poison and place them where others with find them, especially children.  Wilton locks her up during times when she obviously sick, but he is unaware that Lavonia is always in her calming madness and she no longer finds satisfaction in harming.  She goes to the celebrations to slip her poisons in where she can.

Gerald  'Gray Robe'
3rd Level Fighter, Human, Male
S: 13, D: 15, C: 11, I: 13, W: 9, Ch: 13
HP: 17, AC: 2 [17], Dam: 1d6+3, SV: 12
Equipment: +1 Ringmail, +1 Shield, +2 Short Sword, Ring of Feather Fall

Gerald is the Sergeant of the Watch.  He is considered a competent soldier with little potential to move above his current station.  He lacks the imagination to solve situations out of the ordinary and often requires assistance.  Because of this his men do not respect him and hope to see him retire so their group can rise in prestige.  Because of the lack of respect held by all the others Gerald's group is often thrown into the most dangerous situations to 'evaluate' the situation.  Gerald is well aware of what others think about him.

In the past few months Gerald has been going to the shadier side of town disguised.  He went there to drink away from the others and to forget his troubles in one of the comfortable beds within the brothels.  During his trek to a tavern he was attacked by two young boys who thought they had found an easy mark.  Gerald easily dispatched the two boys, killing one and critically wounding another.  He saw the fear in the boy's eyes.  In that moment he felt a surprising rush of satisfaction.  An epiphany, this is how others should be looking at him. 

Although, very little changed at within the guards, Gerald began trolling the streets at night looking for someone to provide him with the satisfaction of fear. He disguises his armor and weapons under an old tattered gray robe he got off one of his victims.  Whispers of Gray Robe are heard throughout the city.  Gerald is very pleased with himself.  He is not selective with his victims and will attack anyone who looks like they might put up a fight.

Slocum
0-Level Dwarf
S: 12, D: 10, C: 14, I: 11, W: 8, Ch: 8
HP: 4, AC: 8 [11], Dam: 1d4, SV: 16
Equipment: Leather Armor, Dagger, Ring of Azzul*
*The Ring of Azzul is a cursed item.  It will allow the wearer to resist poisons and allows the wearer to summon one skeleton/day.  The Ring of Azzul requires the wearer to sacrifice at least five hit points of blood to the dark god/day to work.  The ring cannot be removed unless the entire finger is removed or a remove curse spell is cast.  When the ring is first worn is burrows itself beneath the skin and wraps around the bone with a small protrusion above the skin that is dripped into the blood.  If the ring is not fed the full five hot points of blood it will take it from the wearer.

Slocum is a scar covered dwarf.  Because of the ring he wears he has sacrificed his own blood many times, but he always needs to supplement the ring's thirst.  Slocum, a coward, was kicked out of his dwarven clan, beard shaved and abandon at the bottom of a mountain range.  Though Slocum is a coward he is a survivor and has been through many horrible times.  During one of these times he was slave to a vicious mage who experimented on him often.  By mere chance Slocum found the ring and used against the mage.  He escaped with only his life and the ring.

Slocum quickly realized he needed to feed the ring.  He was fortune enough to get a job working in a kitchen.  Slaughtering the animals provided him enough blood to keep him from suffering the ring's hunger.  There are times when he is given days off or the masters are away he must find other sources of blood.  During these times he will bleed out livestock.

Slocum has no problem using the ring's powers against anyone to keep himself alive.  He will avoid direct combat using the skeleton to do his slaughtering.  He has used the skeleton several times to kill the people so the ring could drink. 

2 comments:

  1. This is a great series. When you lay the groundwork for a campaign by working on as many NPCs as possible, it really helps to get things started in a proper fashion. The campaign already feels "alive" before you even play.

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  2. These are excellent. I pity the party who meets all three of them in the same city stopover!

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