Name: Alma Sehlama’im (Waterstone) bin q’Dosh
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Ethnicity: q’Doshi Sinai
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 129 lb.
Profession: Witch
Appearance: Alma Sehlama’im cuts a striking figure, with sharp and delicate features, large russet eyes, umber skin with coppery undertones, and thick black hair falling in loose curls to just below her shoulders. Her nose is broad and rounded, and her full lips curve naturally into a smirking grin. She almost always wears a dark violet dress, loose below the waist, but fitting close to her slim figure above, with lacing up the front, and bare shoulders and arms. Over this, she often wears her dark grey woolen hooded cloak. About her waist is a tightly cinched belt with dozens of small pouches and clasps. She carries a leather shoulderbag with her potion making tools and her Book of Shadows, and a special pouch designated for her rat familiar, Malakai. Her leather boots lace up to the top of her calves, and her leather fingerless gloves cover her hands and forearms. About her neck, she wears a pentacle necklace of worked iron, a symbol of her faith and status as a witch.
Alma can alter or augment her appearance with her glamours, either as makeup or as a disguise. A favorite disguise is the “old crone,” consisting of hair turned brittle-looking and white, skin wrinkled and covered with liver spots, joints swollen with rheumatism, and hunching over as she clutches her staff.
Vignette: One…two…three…now
“Whoa-ey, mo’ yer arse, drunk’rd,” slurred the witch through a mouthful of grass, pitching her voice up a harsh octave. She hunched as hard as she could, making a strong showing of nearly dropping her armful of britches. Pushing past her robed mark, she bustled into the shop door around the corner and deposited her load on an empty section of table before returning to the doorway. Her own spellwork whistled at the edge of her consciousness, a quiet hum of glamour on the inapparently empty room, as she peered out past the threshold at the oblivious mage.
Alma had seen him about town in the past few days, hobbling along with some dark-haired lady-friend, and sensed the magic about him immediately. His own energy, of course, swirled about him constantly, a current flowing through him not unlike her own, though more powerful and less subtle and refined. Of greater interest, however, was the thrum of power from his waist. Three artifacts, humming at his belt with a gentle, but steady pull. She recognized one at only a glance, as its patterns were all too similar to her own waterstones. The others, though, drew her attention: one for the powerful custom work, likely by the qosem himself, burning with otherworldly heat as her mind touched upon it; the other was not so powerful, but with her own eyes she saw the real intrigue. An azure sheen to the enchanted blade assured her the true value of the man’s knife, where the weak teleportation spell only brought her attention to it. She decided, then and there, that the blade was hers.
This wasn’t common behavior for the witch, by any means, but it occurred often enough that she hatched her plan quite quickly. A knife of similar style and a quality walking stick, bought. A bit of fortunetelling on a stolen hair to learn his eventual plan to visit the Citadel, though he hadn’t yet known it. Some snooping to find his lodgings. A shopfront found, and winsome shopkeep persuaded to sleep in (blessings to the goddess Qadeshtu for the fringe benefit). And finally, a few glamours about the place and herself, and a carefully crafted simulacrum.
And now, as she approached the crippled man once more, she spotted the one thing she’d forgotten. “Ye keep walking’ on ‘at, whatever it is ails ye, ye’ll regret it,” she said in her affected accent as she quickly reached out to the clearly marked sign reading ‘Holly’s Hoes and Gardening Supplies,’ and working the glamour even as she turned it to her mark.
Jack in the Green
Wood Goods, Britches and Hoes,
Seeds Sown and Tears Sewn
“In, in, we’re nah open, bu’ Jackie’ll see ta ye if’n Ah tell ‘im,” Alma crowed, ushering the young man into the shoppe even as she slipped the knife from his belt.
Only a short while later, the magician was walking out of the shoppe again, leaning heavily on a well built staff, and unwittingly a brand new steel knife. Alma waited until he was out of sight before drawing out a chunk of clay from a pouch with arthritic-seeming hands. With a thought, it took on the form of a small wand, which she stowed in her purse, next to her prize.
The worst part of the whole ordeal, as always, was the cleanup, she mused as she loosened a purse string and palmed a handful of small stones. She tossed them around the shop in a few corners, drenching the racks of rakes and trays of spades as they struck, to disrupt the illusory woodcarvings, bows, and staves that had stood there moments before. She pulled “Jackie’s” finger, causing the supposed silent woodcarver to collapse into a pile of sand. Squeezing one more of her waterstones out over herself as she walked, the witch fetched a broom from the corner to sweep up the remains of her golem.
A slam and a gasp drew her attention to the back of the shoppe, and with a sudden shiver of panic Alma turned to see a full-figured blonde standing half-dressed and disheveled in the residence door, a war between confusion, shock, and anger waged across her face. All the witch could think to say, with water streaming down her now crone-streaked face, her hair in patches of brittle white and softly curling sable, was this: “I don’t really know what this looks like, Holly. But this wasn’t part of the plan.”
Skills:
Elemental Sensitivity
Alma can, with a moment’s focus, sense the magical energies flowing through her surroundings. Strong magical energies touch on her consciousness without focus, however, and she can recognize major aspects of most common enchantments in this way. (Related: Defensive Precognition)
Elemental Alignment
Alma can slowly alter the alignment of magical energies in objects to produce various magical effects, most notably transmutations and enchantments.
Precognitive Sensitivity
Alma can focus her sensitivity to magical energies into the arcane backwash on an individual’s aura, allowing her to tell a vague fortune on a particular topic. She must be in physical contact with the individual. Holding hands will usually suffice for general information, though more intimate inspection or contact may be required for more specific fortunes. (Related: Defensive Precognition)
Familiar Link
Alma’s familiar, Malakai, provides constant companionship and can communicate with her empathically and verbally. The two can speak with and understand each other, though Malakai does not often speak in the company of others, and cannot be understood by anyone but his mistress. This link also provides longevity and good health to the rat, far beyond that of his kind. Alma has discovered, as well, that her link with Malakai allows him to recover from fatal injury, eventually completely.
Apothecary
Alma can, with the proper ingredients and enough time, create a wide variety of potions, balms, tinctures, and incenses.
Modeling Clay
A special mixture of clay and spices allows Alma to create a nonfunctional miniature replica of an enchantment or enchanted object for future study. Physical contact with the original object is required, but the shaping takes only moments if sufficient clay is supplied, and a very weak matrix of magical energies is applied identical to the original.
Abilities:
Water Stones
Alma can condense and transmute a gallon of water into four small stones in a few seconds, each containing a quart of water. These “water stones” can then be returned to liquid water an ounce at a time by squeezing them out, and the stone will shrink as it is drained until it is gone. When crushed or impacted against a solid surface, the “water stones” will burst immediately into their remaining contents of liquid water, and the resulting pressure obeys the laws of physics with regard to damaging objects. This is the signature spell of Alma Waterstone’s line, and as such she has practiced aligning the energies in these stones for various effects, the specifics of which are listed below.
Alma can load ambient apas, or Water energy, into an already formed Water Stone as she prepares to use it. Slow pressure on one of these apas-charged stones produces a trickle of icy water, often used to treat wounds and burns or in potion-making. Impact or crushing force on such a stone, however, causes it to erupt violently into a rapidly-freezing sheet of ice approximately a meter in diameter. This surface is slick and difficult to walk upon without appropriate grip and practice, like any ice, and anything standing on the surface at the moment of impact will be similarly coated by a thin layer of the ice, making removal difficult but not impossible. This energy load is unstable, and will dissipate harmlessly within ten seconds of initial charge unless released into water. Alma can charge her waterstones with this spell five times per day.
Simulacrum
Alma can create a temporary golem in the shape of herself or someone else present at the time of casting, using only sand, soil, clay, or other prevailing earth particulate. This spell will persist for five minutes, or until a piece of the golem is removed or anyone other than Alma physically interacts with the golem, upon which the golem will revert to sand and disintegrate. The golem is not capable of interacting with its physical surroundings or speaking, and can only move in basic ways (no running or jumping) within a short range of Alma. An ordinary golem created by this spell can perform simple manipulations of objects, carry objects, and walk or run at the same speed as the average human. Up to three of these golems can be made at a time, and with regular “touch-ups” to renew the spell, a golem can last as long as she needs it.
Through intense study, Alma has developed a combat-capable version of her simulacrum. This golem, called Emet or “truth,” is bound in its creation to the will of her familiar, Malakai. Its structure mimics human musculature and skeletal structure, though with flesh of dense clay and bones of stone, and it can strike with the strength of two men. Like her other golems, Emet can only travel at a walking pace, but it can otherwise move as fast as an average human. In its creation, Alma sacrifices illusive properties to imbue it with the blessings of Anat, the Warrior Goddess, and as such Emet’s appearance is not capable of being purposefully sculpted to any other form than humanoid. At creation, Emet’s substrate will also take on the form of a melee weapon, with strength equal to steel, for the golem to wield. Emet can be destroyed by removing or destroying its head, incapacitating Malakai, or marring the first letter of his name as it is etched on his head, changing it to Met or “death.”
Glamour
Alma can generate a matrix of seeming across an object that she touches, making those who look upon it see, rather than the object or individual, an illusion of what she wishes them to see. This seeming lasts until it is disrupted by running water, which will wash away the glamour as it runs over the object. It cannot make the target invisible, but it can make the target appear to be someone or something else of similar size and shape. Interaction with any part of the glamour allows a chance at seeing through the veil, but only those of strong will have been known to succeed. She can now, also, project her glamours onto objects that her noncombat golems touch.
Alma’s worldly experience has taught her that a number of creatures and individuals can see through her glamours as if they were not there, and has exhaustively researched a counter to this practice. Her glamours can now consist of a double-layer of seeming, the first layer appearing as a normal glamour. The underlying layer, however, is woven into the first in such a way as to provide confusing feedback to anyone or anything that sees through her glamour with magic. The result is confounding evidence that her glamour is not simply a veil over who or what is there, but that it is merely an image where nothing exists. This improved version of her glamour cannot be projected from a golem, however, and as such Alma herself must touch the subject.
Shadow Stone
Alma can load ambient prithvi, or Earth energy, into a lodestone pebble, and shape those energies into a shadowbinding spell. She can then throw the lodestone into a shadow, binding it and it’s owner to the stone. The affected target cannot move in such a way that their shadow no longer falls upon the lodestone. If they reach the edge of their shadow, an invisible force impedes their progress, stops their arm or leg, or otherwise halts them. This can be circumvented by picking up the lodestone and carrying it with them. If the lodestone is physically moved beyond where the shadow falls, such as by throwing or kicking the lodestone, the affected individual is pulled by the same invisible force. The elemental energies powering this spell will dissipate within three posts, or one if it the lodestone lays in the rain or running water.
With an improved formulation, Alma’s shadow stones now follow their bound targets when they teleport or plane shift.
Shillelagh
Alma can transmute a set of clothes and her staff to temporarily reinforce them to the strength of [steel. The enchantment lasts for five minutes, but degrades more quickly in the rain or running water, lasting only half the time in such circumstances. This spell, cast on her Witch’s Staff, disrupts its flight-based enchantments while active. As well, her clothing hardens and stiffens against assault, but restricts her mobility like a suit of scale mail without the weight.
Upon imbuing her Witch’s Staff with her shillelagh enchantment, Alma can also reshape the wood from which it is constructed. The gnarls surrounding the leadened end of her staff will grow into a sharp edge, creating a spear, scythe, glaive, or warpick. Alma is blessed by the goddess Anat to be proficient with any weapon made from her Witch’s Staff. The thorn blade, like the rest of her staff, gains the enhanced material strength of the shillelagh spell.
Defensive Precognition
Alma’s sensitivity to magical energies can, at times, extend into the future, allowing a momentary glimpse of potential coming misfortune. While not foolproof, she can often sense incoming spells and other attacks via the backwash of disturbance to her personal aura. She still must think and act quickly to defend herself.
Witch’s Flight
Alma has laced her staff with permanent enchantments to make it more receptive to her own flight spell. The resulting effect is that she can fly at approximately twenty miles-per-hour on her staff with good maneuverability, and can hover when needed. Her flight spell works on other rod-like objects, such as brooms, mops, and pitchforks, but with less predictable results. Used with any object other than her spell-laced staff, her maneuverability is difficult, and she can only maintain altitude through constant motion. As well, she cannot cast spells while flying a normal object. The spell is not a persistent effect of its own, either, so the flying object must be in constant contact with Alma, and she can only work the effect on one object at a time. This flight requires focus, and if her focus is disrupted by psychic assault she will fall. Alma can carry one passenger (familiar aside) when flying on her staff, but cannot make combat maneuvers with the extra weight.
Swarm Sand
Alma can scatter a pinch of specially prepared herbs and sand to transform it into a swarm of flying or crawling insects or arachnids of any type, including but not limited to locusts, bees, butterflies, and moths. The vermin are vaguely under her psychic command, and will blindly follow the last orders given unless directly controlled by the witch, requiring her complete concentration. These insects can sting and bite similar to their natural counterparts, and carry whatever venoms their natural counterparts would. This spell lasts for one minute, following which the insects return to sand and burnt herbs, though contact with flame will immediately cease any affected members of the swarm. The vermin in this swarm have a moderate ability to dodge projectiles. Alma can cast this spell once per day at present.
Blight
Alma can, with a touch and a prayer, withdraw the blessings of the Kotharat from man, beast, or locale. When used on her surroundings, she can cause nearby flora to wither, soil to dry and crack, and stone to soften and disintegrate. The effect initially covers a five-foot radius around Alma within seconds, and with continued concentration she can spread the blighted area’s radius by five feet per minute, out to a 50 foot radius. When used on an animate target, living or dead, necrosis spreads from the point of her contact out to an inch radius within seconds, and with continued concentration can spread the blight by an inch in radius per post, out to an area the size of a human forearm. This necrosis strips flesh, weakens muscle, and causes intense pain. The effect on a living subject is temporary, however, and will likely heal within a day or two, and less if one treats the wound appropriately or pays penance to the goddesses of the Kotharat. Alma can only blight an individual who is not currently suffering the effects of her blight. Alma can blight up to four individuals simultaneously, but can only apply one blight at a time. Alma can only concentrate on the most recent blight, and once concentration is broken she cannot resume concentration on that blight.
Equipment:
Witch’s Staff
Alma’s staff, made of a lightning-struck oak branch, serves as her weapon of choice and primary transport. At 5 and a half feet, it is slightly longer than she is tall, and she has carved into it a number of spells of buoyancy, maneuverability, and flight. She can fly on any similar rod-shaped object, but the spellwork on her staff provides for a smoother, more reliable flight, and less distraction from discomfort. There are various raised notches on the surface of the heavily engraved staff from its time as a tree branch, though they now serve well as grips and places to hang small pouches while flying. As well, a witch’s staff has a knob on the end, hollowed out and filled with molten lead for weight to stabilize flight, as a comfortable foothold, and for beatings.
Ingredients
Alma has, amongst various belt pouches and hidden pockets, a large assortment of herbs and other ingredients for her spells and potions. These include most common grasses, leaves and flowers from a variety of bushes and trees in temperate climates, and a few animal teeth and claws. She also has a small supply of lodestones, brownish-black lustrous stones of magnetized magnetite, which fluctuates in quantity as she uses and gathers them, but usually hovers around five.
Waterstones
Alma maintains a ready supply of her signature waterstones, usually between 10 and 20.
Witch’s Tools
Alma’s tools consist of a pewter set of mortar and pestle, a small pewter bowl, and a set of glass vials.
Prevalida Athame
Alma “borrowed” this single-edged knife from a young magician she chanced upon in her travels. It has an enchantment on it to teleport back to its owner’s hand after being thrown, as long as it lands within 50 feet.
Book of Shadows
Any witch will have a Book of Shadows. Wizards have their spell books, alchemists will have notebooks of formulae, and witches compile the results of their research, as well as personal notes and journals, in a Book of Shadows. Alma’s is bound in leather with spellwork inscribed across its surface to protect it from fire and water, and to help her locate it when lost. Its pages are covered in neatly written notations of her research into spells she has mastered or has experimented with, experiences with fortunetelling, potion recipes, and compiled knowledge of herbs, stones, crystals, and magical artifacts. As it becomes full, she will unbind the book, enspell a new cover, and rebind it.
This map may be used at any time in a thread to gain an additional 100% to your GP gains. Alternatively, if you use said map and the purpose of the thread is to actually hunt the treasure, your gains increase to 500% GP increase.
Familiar
Name: Malakai
Age: 17
Species: Rat
Gender: Male
Fur Color and Marking: Hooded Black
While most rats only live, in ideal conditions, between two and three years, Malakai’s status as Alma’s familiar has endowed him with longevity and strong health. While he rarely speaks to the witch in the company of others, the inextricable link between the two allows him to understand her and communicate empathically and verbally with her.
Malakai has always maintained an inquisitive personality, and in her adolescence would goad Alma into trouble. He is easily frightened however, and will often hide in the folds of her clothing, or his specially prepared pouch, often kept at her hip. Malakai will also sleep in this pouch through most daylight hours, and come out more often at night to groom Alma or assist in her potion making and research. He is fond of dried yogurt drops as treats, but more often eats small bits of whatever his mistress is having.
