The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

When you want to ask out of character questions, discuss plots, talk about roleplaying or simply present your character’s bio, this is the place to do so. Small OOC bits may be accepted in the roleplaying forums, but this is the place for the larger posts. Do keep the topics related to the roleplaying however, otherwise go to the General Discussion forum.

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Shriastae Tivale
Maid
Maid
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:02 am
Location: Hip-deep in some sort of trouble.

The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

Post by Shriastae Tivale »

[b:gj7u6uwb][i:gj7u6uwb]When Shri had[/size:gj7u6uwb][/i:gj7u6uwb][/b:gj7u6uwb] lost consciousness, she was bleeding on a cavern floor in Skullport. When she woke up, she was warm in a bed in the [i:gj7u6uwb]Sede Via Dalla Sede.[/i:gj7u6uwb] Her body was in plenty of pain, but at least her wounds were healed. Altogether a much better situation than she remembered being in...

Until she noticed a very cross Petra standing over her. Shri was the first to speak, though the word speak was probably a less accurate description than whimper. "So...I take it you've been waiting there since I was brought in, huh?"

Petra didn't even answer for several seconds. She just scowled. Then, with no warning at all, the maenad woman practically fell forward and gripped Shriastae's body in a hug so tight it could've easily been painful. "You have to be more careful, [i:gj7u6uwb]Fabula[/i:gj7u6uwb]. You almost didn't survive long enough to make it back home." Her lover's choice in words hammered her point home quite nicely. "Home," something that Shri had been in need of for most of her life. It made her all the more guilty.

Even so she sighed, closing her eyes and holding on just as tightly for a timeless moment. "I know. I got in over my head. I didn't expect them to have bounty hunters with them."

With those two words, Petra grimaced. Most people, even adventurers, didn't have to worry about "bounty hunters" or "assassins" trailing them constantly. She pulled back, gripped Shri's shoulders softly and stared her right in the eyes. "I need to know what's going on, Shriastae Tivale. I need to know who you are. You're in extreme danger, and I have no idea why, or how to protect you."

Shri shifted on the bed, trying to avoid Petra's eyes. She was right, of course. She had known Petra for months and the other woman didn't have a clue who she actually was. Sure, "on the run from family" was something, but it didn't give anyone enough knowledge to actually prepare. Petra had been running blind for a very long time, and now Shri understood just how much of a problem this was.

Taking a deep breath, the young drowess closed her red eyes and lowered her head for a few seconds. Moments of silence passed, the anticipation almost palpable. Eventually, she spoke. "Alright. You deserve to know the whole story."

===

[b:gj7u6uwb][i:gj7u6uwb]I was born[/size:gj7u6uwb][/i:gj7u6uwb][/b:gj7u6uwb] Shriastae Din'iceayne Oblodra-Tivale, of House Tivale, branch family to the minor House Oblordra. My family, just as the main House, was unique in all of Menzoberranzan for its strange quasi-magic. The magic of the mind. Psionics have run in the family line for centuries, stronger in Oblordra than in Tivale.

I am the youngest of Matron Vaelistaee Tivale's four daughters. My eldest sister, Xune Faeremma Tivale, has long held a position of extremely comfortable dominance over the others, Pellanistra and Quewaun Ilivarra. All three were trained classically as clerics of Lolth, largely ignoring the heritage of their mental might. Xune Faeremma has been the House High Priestess even for the main Oblordra family for over two-hundred years. Pellanistra and Quewaun constantly squabble over whatever scraps are left over from Xune and Vaelistaee's table.

I have two brothers, as do most noble daughters. The eldest, Aramin Tivale, was the most gifted of all of the psionic soldiers in Matriarch K'yorl Odran Oblodra. The secondboy, Ulvien, was born after me. Mother had a tendancy to kill off her mates when they failed to provide her with daughters, so Aramin's and the father Ulvien and I shared are long deceaed.

When I was young, Pellanistra and Quewaun took great pleasure in making sure my life was the Nine Hells incarnate. I was a miserable child, broken-hearted and bitter, and without a mother who regularly noticed my existance. The only thing I could hope for was to become an ordained Priestess, sever myself from family ties and stay away from my elder sisters' corrupting touch. Or at least, that's what I thought. It turned out that Lolth did not favor me in the least - I was incapable of summoning up even the vaguest vestige of her power. I was a laughingstock at the Arach-Tinilith, and my failure as an acolyte only prompted my mother to ignore me even more, and my sisters to torment me ever the crueler.

Not long before my twentieth year, Aramin took pity on me. I want to believe he did it out of the kindness of his heart, but a firstboy's heart does not know kindness. It's much more likely he meant to shape me into some kind of powerful female ally. It didn't matter at the time, though. I was simply thrilled to have someone who didn't loathe me simply for existing. For years, he trained me in the Invisible Art, giving me the edge I needed to live a cautious life as the youngest daughter of a minor branch Matron. LIfe wasn't good, but it was at least a fascimile of safe.

My younger brother, secondboy Ulvien, was born twenty-four years ago. With his birth, everything changed for me. Aramin's life was unaffected with a new brother added to the mix - Ulvien was too young to even realize the concept of fraternal rivalry, and Aramin had already had decades to entrench himself as an irreplacable part of Vaelistraee's (and K'yorl's) house. However, Quewaun and Pellanistra had noticed Aramin's willingness to embrace the younger generation in order to forge himself allies for the future - both of them tried to sink their fangs into young Ulvien the moment they got a chance.

Aramin was faster.

Bringing him into the fold, he taught me to respect my younger brother the way I had respected him. He taught Ulvien the ways of the mind, just as he had me. And for the first time in my life I felt myself being jealous of a male. Jealousy is a very common drow emotion, and is very largely to blame for the cutthroat, self-destructive society that we're forced to live in. Needless to say, a jealous mind makes mistakes. I made a very common one - for the favor of my chosen family member, I indebted myself to the wrong person.

Xune Faeremma, the eldest, had paid no attention at all to my life. However, she was extremely interested in the life of the firstboy, Aramin. She wanted his resources, his support, and the extreme trust his mother had in him for her coup of the Tivale tributary house. However, his attention was on me. This was a problem for her, and she decided that I needed to be dealt with. I, of course, had no idea of this. Twenty-four years after the birth of my younger brother Ulvien, I asked Xune for her help in discretely removing him from the picture. She eagerly accepted, and designed an elaborate scheme that would allow me to wound him lethally and place the blame on Quewaun, who Xune assured me was becoming a threat to her power.

She was, of course, lying in every way, and I was a fool to trust her. Oh, she was right on how to kill Ulvien, but her plan for shifting the blame to Quewaun was a trick. I was caught instead, and forced to hide. With so many psychics searching for me, I knew it was a matter of time before I was found and killed. I had to leave the city...but first, I had to find Aramin and explain what had happened, so he wouldn't fall for Xune's tricks as I had. I sent him word to meet me at a special cliff overlooking a beautiful underground spring that we had spent many a long day beside, laughing and just enjoying the time we had to ourselves.

When I arrived, Aramin was already there, alone and standing very solemnly by the water. I approached him and tried to talk, but before I could even get a full sentence out, he had pulled out his sword and lashed me across the throat. One slice was all he needed. As he dumped my body into the water, his words burned themselves into my mind. I've never been able to forget...

"Anyone fool enough to be duped by such a simple trick is more liability than asset. I'll do you the favor of a quick death. Much more merciful than what Mother has planned for you."

Gabbing my body before it hit the ground, the threw me with one great, powerful motion over the cliff and into the lake. Everything was pain and darkness for the longest time. I thought I was dead for certain until I remembered that Aramin had taught me exactly what to do in such a situation. The mind has total command over the body - with proper application of mental force, one can convince one's body to do things that it otherwise wouldn't be able to do. I willed my wound shut as I fell through the water, into the stream it emptied out into.

When I awoke, I was very, very far from Menzoberranzan. My neck had sealed up extremely well, and Aramin's cut hadn't been as deep as it had first seemed. Curled up alone in the darkness, it didn't take me long to understand what he had done - by faking my death, he had provided me with a second chance at life, far away from the chaos of Menzoberranzan and the family that wanted my head. I was eager to take it.

The stream fed into a small drow settlement about three days from Skullport, eventually. I would have stopped there for healing and supplies, if my beloved sister Pellanistra hadn't been on an extremely convenient errand for Mother in that exact settlement. I knew she caught sight of me at one point - our eyes met, and even her painfully inferior mind had the psi-fire in it. Her mind linked with mine for a few seconds. Then I turned and ran for my life.

It's obvious to assume that she returned to Mother with this information, and the bounty hunters and assassins are a result of that. I can only guess than Aramin is dead now, though I wouldn't put it past him to have witted his way out of such a situation. He was, after all, irreplacable to Vaelistraee. Every once in a while I think about writing to him, but so far I haven't found the guts to do it. I still don't know whether to thank him or curse him.

I met a certain exiled priestess in Skullport a few months later. And as for my life since then, you know the rest.

===

Optional game statistics. Defaulted to level 10, but very mutable in her storyline - she's simple enough to adapt for new levels, since she's single-classed.

[hide:gj7u6uwb]Shriastae Din'iceayne Oblodra-Tivale
Drow Psychic Rogue 10
Chaotic Neutral
Religion: None, formerly Lolth

Str: 8
Dex: 20
Con: 12
Int: 20
Wis: 14
Cha: 10

HP: 47 ; BAB: +7/+2 ; Init: +5
AC: 25 (touch 18, FF 25); Fort/Ref/Will: +6/+12/+4

Abilities: Danger Sense (Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, Improved Uncanny Dodge), Sneak Attack +4d6, Trapfinding, Drow Traits (racial abilities, etc.)

Feats: Alertness[sup:gj7u6uwb]1[/sup:gj7u6uwb], Darkstalker, Expanded Knowledge[sup:gj7u6uwb]2[/sup:gj7u6uwb], Extend Power[sup:gj7u6uwb]2[/sup:gj7u6uwb], Psicrystal Affinity, Hidden Talent, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
[i:gj7u6uwb][sup:gj7u6uwb]1[/sup:gj7u6uwb]via psicrystal[/i:gj7u6uwb]
[i:gj7u6uwb][sup:gj7u6uwb]2[/sup:gj7u6uwb]via Feat Leech power, 9min duration, costs 3 PP[/i:gj7u6uwb]

Flaws: Absent-minded (-2 penalty to Spot/Listen checks) ; Suspicious (-4 penalty to Diplomacy)

Skill Ranks: Autohypnosis 13 (+15), Bluff 10 (+10), Concentration 13 (+14), Diplomacy 10 (+6), Disable Device 13 (+18), Escape Artist 5 (+10), Hide 13 (+18), Knowledge (Psionics) 5 (+10), Listen 13 (+15), Move Silently 13 (+18), Open Lock 10 (+15), Search 13 (+20), Sense Motive 10 (+12), Sleight of Hand 3 (+8), Spot 13 (+15), Tumble 10 (+15), Use Psionic Device 3 (+3)

Physical: 5'4" ; 103 lbs ; red eyes ; white hair ; black skin

Magic Items Worn/Carried: Short swords ("Fracture" & "Shatter": +3 Deep Crystal Short Swords of Deadly Precision); Chain shirt (+3 Mithral Chain Shirt); Gloves of Dexterity +2; Ring of Protection +3; Psicrystal ("Sigma": Hero, +2 fort saves)

Powers: 45 PP
1: Control Light, Dimension Hop, Entangling Ectoplasm, Vigor
2: Control Sound, Feat Leech, Psionic Levitate, Share Pain*
3: Greater Concealing Amorpha, Hustle
[i:gj7u6uwb]*via Feat Leech power, 9min duration, costs 3 PP[/i:gj7u6uwb]

Shri seems to always be wearing her mithral shirt, expecting an attack at any time. She otherwise dresses in dark, comfortable and practical clothes, normally all-black or close to it, with soft yet durable boots and crossed belts over her waist to contain all of her tools (and knives). Her hair is somewhere around back-length, though she usually ties it high in either a ponytail or a bun. She always seems to be expecting something, rarely letting her guard down for terribly long and speaking to people she doesn't know with barely-veiled hostility. When she's around friends, a very different person takes over, and she allows herself to relax and joke around with an almost childish nonchalance. Shri's expressions are often muted, with mild grimaces or quiet smirks much more common than outright emotional displays.

Shriastae is a shattered and wounded young woman. She's seen enough death and chaos in her life by the extremely raw age of 45 to make others blanch, and as a result she tends to take a vitriolically cynical view on everything around her. Her sense of humor is dark, bordering on morbid at times, and most of the time her solutions to problems are quite a bit more violent than most people would attempt. However, she's quiet about all of this - it's Shri's honest opinion that her life and her mind are none of anyone else's business. From the broken state of her spirit, it's extremely hard to get her to open up. However, proving genuine compassion or loyalty to her does the trick more often than not, and she's normally so grateful to find someone who harbors no ill intent towards her that (around friends, at least) she acts more like a stray puppy that's found a home than a traumatized exile.

The mind is where Shriastae is most powerful. Her control over her own thoughts allows her to push her body to extreme limits, affect her surroundings, and the minds of others. Using psionic power, Shri can bend light around her body and suppress sound, making her extremely difficult to detect when allowed to exert her mind freely. On top of this, she is a trained fighter and assassin, able to strike deadly blows against unaware opponents, infiltrate most anything she wishes, and hold her own in a fight against surprising odds for as long as her mind holds up. In general, an extremely versatile and dangerous woman.

===

[b:gj7u6uwb][i:gj7u6uwb]"Sigma"[/i:gj7u6uwb][/b:gj7u6uwb] is the name Shriastae gave to her bonded psicrystal, a kind of psionic familiar. As all psicrystals, it was formed from a fraction of its owner's consciousness...in Shri's case, a part that she felt she needed to be reminded of. Sigma serves as a floating, telepathic reminder that somewhere, deep down, Shri is capable of great bravery. Sigma constantly pushes her to just stick it out, push on, and show not an ounce of fear. Shri's relationship with Sigma is silent, since both speak telepathically to each other, but sometimes her mood will abruptly change (normally to irritation) due to one of these silent conversations.[/hide:gj7u6uwb]

If she needs a little extra kick, gestalt her with fighter levels. Changes listed below.
[hide:gj7u6uwb]HP: 67 ; BAB: +10/+5 ; Init: +7
AC: 26 (touch 18, FF 26); Fort/Ref/Will: +10/+12/+4

Feats: Alertness[sup:gj7u6uwb]1[/sup:gj7u6uwb], Darkstalker, Expanded Knowledge[sup:gj7u6uwb]2[/sup:gj7u6uwb], Extend Power[sup:gj7u6uwb]2[/sup:gj7u6uwb], Greater Weapon Focus (short sword), Psicrystal Affinity, Hidden Talent, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Twin Sword Style, Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (short sword), Weapon Specialization (short sword)

Abilities: Danger Sense (Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, Improved Uncanny Dodge), Hit-and-Run Tactics, Sneak Attack +4d6, Trapfinding, Drow Traits (racial abilities, etc.)

[u:gj7u6uwb]Effective combat stats:[/u:gj7u6uwb]
+20 HP; +4 Fort; +2 initiative
+5 to hit; +2 to damage (+7 vs. flat-footed)
+1 to AC (+3 vs designated enemy)[/hide:gj7u6uwb]
Last edited by Shriastae Tivale on Fri Dec 07, 2012 9:33 am, edited 3 times in total.
Bhaern Quel
Demigod
Posts: 2103
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:32 pm

Re: The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

Post by Bhaern Quel »

Gee, that sounds a little Evil *Wink*

[quote:mq19o22k]I asked Xune for her help in discretely removing him from the picture. She eagerly accepted, and designed an elaborate scheme that would allow me to wound him lethally and place the blame on Quewaun, who Xune assured me was becoming a threat to her power.[/quote:mq19o22k] though of course you might be less Evil now, though appears mostly scared.
Shriastae Tivale
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Maid
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:02 am
Location: Hip-deep in some sort of trouble.

Re: The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

Post by Shriastae Tivale »

"Scared" is a good way of putting it. Honestly, I'm of the firm belief that all drow are raised "evil," especially the upper-class girls. They're taught to lie, cheat, backstab, and extort their way through life from the day they're old enough to understand what lying is. The ones that learn to do otherwise are outliers.

So yeah, she was evil. That's normal. What's not normal is that she's learning the other end of it - how [i:3csvpk4w]not[/i:3csvpk4w] to be evil.
Bhaern Quel
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Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:32 pm

Re: The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

Post by Bhaern Quel »

Not all Drow are raised Evil, just most of them *S*

The Chosen clearly can offer a different way for Shri if things go well. Placed in Skullport clearly one resource is the Promenade, though it is unlikely any of us would play Qilué, it clearly is possible that play can be from lessor members, sisters, protectors, etc.

This clearly one way for you to enter a play should you desire to do so.
Shriastae Tivale
Maid
Maid
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:02 am
Location: Hip-deep in some sort of trouble.

Re: The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

Post by Shriastae Tivale »

I've been trying to work out something similar to that, so I can get her involved ASAP. Honestly, her backstory only mentions one person - Petra. Other than that, she's going to need to build up genuine RP relationships. So yeah. Whenever I find a good way to set her up for that kind of thing, she'll dive right in.

I don't have any specific direction for her in mind. She's not the evil, Lolthite "spider-kisser" that you guys were banking on her being ( :p ) and honestly she has no real direction as of now. Subsisting and surviving is her only modus operandi. Any way I can get her involved with a PC or group of PC's is cool by me.
Bhaern Quel
Demigod
Posts: 2103
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:32 pm

Re: The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

Post by Bhaern Quel »

Strangers are your friends. Offer food, shelter and protection to those in need. (No I am not directly quoting the Dogma, however the words clearly is part of the teaching.)

As far as it goes Ed vision of how Deities work, which does not always work with WotC or TSR in the past prints it, the deities enters dreams of those that follow and those that might follow with messages or ideas. Even Qilué might have recieved dream messages from Lolth - though she (if receiving) might have dismissed as nightmare or indeed a different diety trying to twist her mind.

The message is there, Petra might hear it better in her dreams then right now Shri does however the message is there.

"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace and live beneath the sun again where trees and flowers grow."
Shriastae Tivale
Maid
Maid
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:02 am
Location: Hip-deep in some sort of trouble.

Re: The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

Post by Shriastae Tivale »

Can work with that. Priestesses get visions, exiled or not. Shri goes aboveground on occasion, too, since anytime she's underground is dangerous, and a little R&R is important (even if it involves her hurting her eyes).
Bhaern Quel
Demigod
Posts: 2103
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:32 pm

Re: The Mind's Eye [Shriastae's Profile]

Post by Bhaern Quel »

As I have read Ed (actually THO the handle that speaks for him), all get offered dreams, this does not require being a Cleric. One question of Ed was why Lolth did not prevent her daughter or son and it his view this was because if blocking was done Lolth could not reach others including humans as she seeks to expand her followers. I would need to search the direct quote if you need it, however one thing always to be remembered in the Realms is there are many deities and some homage is paid to more then one. A Patron deity is the one that gets the most and as result the most Blessings (Spells, magical bonuses, etc.).
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