Bloodrose
07-21-09, 09:36 AM
LVL 8 Updates and Additions in gold!
Level 7 Profile (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=17400)
Biographical Information:
Name: Teric 'Bloodrose' Barton
Alias: "Wolfe"
Age: 53
Race: Human
Hair Color: Grey
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 176 lbs
Personality:
Stern and reserved, Teric is not well known for his amiable nature. With inhibitions lowered thanks to alcohol or similar vice he can be personable, sometimes even funny, but the mercenary is automatically wary of people he doesn't know. Harboring deep-seeded trust and abandonment issues - planted by his tumultuous personal history and nurtured by a long career as a mercenary - Teric is prone to treating everyone he meets as "temporary acquaintances". His aversion to personal connections is best demonstrated by his preference for expensive prostitutes over the company of other women, since relationships with ladies of the night have a fixed expiration date.
With his moral choices guided by an ever-slimming (and constantly for sale) list of principles he adheres to like a code of conduct, and his predisposition towards treating people like disposable objects, Teric has been described by some as a free radical; the perfect mercenary.
Physical Description:
Teric is relatively unremarkable appearance-wise, but his straight back and muscular frame betray a level of fitness not often seen in men his age. He keeps his silvery hair cropped close to his head, and maintains a neatly trimmed beard to try and hide the wrinkles and scars he does have; a look that might attract women with a thing for older gentlemen. His blue eyes have been described as non-descript, but seem to fit, and the old warrior has recently developed something that could pass for a healthy skin tone.
Dressed predominantly in black with a splash of crimson, Teric's wardrobe is indicative of Salvan nobility, despite the fact that he holds no official lands or titles. Fencing breeches, leather boots, shirt and complimenting vest - the mercenary tends to look as much a fencing instructor as he does a fighter.
Skills: (Passive)
Current Fighting Style: Waterdancing
Waterdancing is a fighting style heavily rooted in light-armed combat, and focuses primarily on speed, agility, and balance. As he has grown older, and the brute strength of his youth waned, Teric slowly began to develop this style of fighting as a replacement. Now perfected, this style enables Teric to perform an extensive catalog of swordplay attacks and parries, and teaches the old fighter how to move in ways that give the appearance of grace and speed without actually having to heighten his abilities in these areas. By comparison you could equate Teric's fighting skill here to a Legendary level of skill in other schools of fighting.
Pros: While the fighting style itself is not specifically designed to abnormally or superficially enchance speed and agility, it does encourage practitioners to develop in these areas. That said, it is not uncommon for Waterdancers to excel in these areas after practicing the style for a good period of time.
1) Overall Speed: Teric is now approximately 5x faster than the average warrior.
2) Increased Agility: Teric can now comfortably evade normal attacks from people of advanced skill. This is to say that an advanced swordsman would have a difficult time striking Teric, while a master swordsman would not have the same level of difficulty. His increased agility also affords him the ability to perform skilled acrobatic feats such as short wall runs, somersaults, and tumbles.
Cons: Since speed and agility are the core tenants of the Waterdancing style, doing things that would impede the practitioner in these areas can carry some serious penalties.
1) Heavy Armor: Wearing heavy armors (plate mail, scale mail, or any other stiff/rigid torso armor crafted from heavy materials) will negate almost all of the benefits garnered from the Pros.
Peak Physical Conditioning
For all intensive purposes, despite its aged and worn appearance, Teric possesses the body of a man not even half his age. Rigorous training and a knack for finding himself in physically violent situations have toned and shaped the warrior's body into top form; even by the standards of men in their twenties. This level of fitness affords Teric the ability to strenuously exert himself for long periods of time and to lift, carry and/or throw up to 6x his body weight fair distances. This superior level of stength lends itself passively to Teric's sword attacks as well, making his strikes all the more deadly and difficult to defend against. It would not be inappropriate the say that Teric can cleave through light armors (Leather strength or below) with relative ease, assuming that he wields a weapon strong enough to deliver such a blow. It would also be appropriate to believe that physically weaker opponents would have a difficult time parrying Teric's strikes.
Dense Skeleton
The hundreds and thousands of micro-fractures Teric has suffered over decades of being beaten and pummeled have slowly compacted his bones and made them denser. By virtue of this phenomenon, Teric's bones are now roughly as strong as Titanium. While this makes Teric's bones more difficult to break, it also adds the disadvantage of making his bones brittle as well. When they do break, they tend to break badly rather than just fracture or crack.
As an added result of his skeletal durability, it is much more difficult to damage Teric's organs or vitals with regular blows alone. For example, a blow powerful enough to give the average fighter a concussion would likely be strugged off by Teric without difficulty, and it would be far more difficult to knock the wind out of his body with a blow to the ribs.
Veteran's Aura
As a result of his experience and reputation, Teric seems to exude an air of confidence and strength capable of unnerving even the most stalwart opponents. This aura that seems to follow Teric wherever he goes has a subtle, subconcious effect on those around him, bolstering the confidence of his allies while diminishing that of his opponents. Indeed, individuals fighting Teric in battle will find that this subconcious toll reduces slightly the effectiveness of their attacks on Teric's mind or body. Magical spells, since they can require intense focus, are especially reduced in potency.
Opponents LVL 0 - 3 : -30% Spell Potency / -10% Danger from Physical Attacks
Opponents LVL 4 - 6 : -15% Spell Potency / -5% Danger from Physical Attacks
Opponents LVL 7+ : No Modifier
Techniques: (Non-Passive)
Cross-Slash
One of the few techniques Teric can still perform at his current level of fitness. "Slash" refers to both the method and result of the technique, with Teric whipping the blade of his weapon through the air at such a speed that it rends the air for several feet in an arc, following the trail of the blade. The technique now also creates a second arc that travels perpendicular to the first. The effectiveness of this technique is directly tied to the range at which it is used, and the effectiveness drops exponentially the farther away Teric is from his target.
At a range of 0 - 10 feet the arc can damage persons or objects as if they had been struck by a Mythril blade. The force of the blow is such that the arc can pierce Titanium.
At a range of 10 - 21 feet the arc loses its cutting edge, but retains enough blunt force to dent Delyn.
At a range of 21 - 32 feet the arc will begin to dissipate, and the target will feel a strong gust of wind blow past them. This wind gust is powerful enough to disrupt the trajectory of projectiles in flight.
After 32 feet the arc is completely dissipated.
Teric can use this ability up to 4 times per thread.
Devastating Strike:
Building off his Cross-Slash technique, and utilizing his speed and strength to their fullest, Teric has found that he can deliver individual blows with tremendous power. These "Devastating Strikes" are essentially blows like any other, except that they contain the same potent force utilized to create the air-blades in a Cross-Slash. In this case that force sticks to the edge of the weapon rather than fanning outward in an air-blade, and the force is released in a concussive blast as soon at the weapon being used makes contact with a solid object.
The force of the blow is easily enough to snap through objects made of Delyn or lesser material, and the directed concussive force of the strike is enough to disorient and stun lesser opponents.
Teric can use this ability up to 1 time per thread.
A Player's permission would be required to break any object owned by a PC, and the magnitude of the stunning and/or disorienting effects of the blow would be up to whoever is on the receiving end.
Quick Step:
While already significantly faster than the average fighter, Teric has found that he can greatly increase his movement speed by focusing his will to do so. The result is something akin to a teleportation spell - meaning that Teric can propel himself in a given direction so fast as to appear to vanish and reappear somewhere else. Movement in such a manner is restricted to straight lines on flat, horizontal planes, and Teric must have a clear path to travel along. Unlike a teleportation spell, the veteran's body actually travels physically from Point A to Point B, and he will collide with anything that intercepts his path of travel.
At this moment Teric can quick step a distance of 20 or less feet, and he no longer has to focus on stopping to prevent falling over as a result of his extra momentum. While currently having practiced enough to utilize this feat at a second's notice, Teric cannot string multiple quick steps together, nor can he perform the feat more than 3 times without exhausting himself.
Flashbang:
This is an old shock-and-awe tactic Teric picked up from a street magician turned street fighter in his youth. While normally performed using an explosive powder or similar medium, this particular magician had found a way to recreate the results using a low-level fire cantrip. It is essentially a fireball spell minus the fireball, and allows Teric to quickly conjure up a flash of bright light accompanied by a loud banging noise as the magics normally used to condense the fireball rapidly expand and escape Teric's palm.
Anyone looking directly at Teric at the time of casting is subject to the blinding and/or stunning influences of the flashbang. The flash of light is also now accompanied by a shockwave capable of stunning weaker opponents for several seconds. Teric is immune to the stunning effects of the shockwave.
Whether or not PC's are affected by the light or sound is entirely up to them. Can be cast within the time period of 1 post.
Teric can use this ability 2 times per thread, and needs to close his eyes when casting to prevent blinding himself.
Equipment/Inventory:
Mythril Haubergeon: A short-sleeved chainmail shirt crafted from Mythril. The light weight and incredible strength of the material it is crafted from make this armor extremely useful and valuable, despite the fact that the armor bears no enchantments. [Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12902)]
Mythril Fencing Sword w/Prevalida Basket Hilt: A Mythril fencing saber with a Prevalida Basket Hilt. It is an extemely durable and capable weapon, despite the fact that the weapon bears no enchantments. [Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12902)]
Uncanny Satchel: A non-descript brown satchel bag, complete with shoulder strap. It is constructed of burlap with leather reinforcing the edges, and is closed with a simple steel clasp. The bag would be completely unremarkable if it were not for the enchantment placed upon it. The enchantment allows the Uncanny Satchel to carry up to five times the normal volume such a bag should be able to carry, and has the added effect of reducing the weight of items contained within it. The bag cannot stetch to accomodate larger items, however, and only items that would normal fit into the satchel can be placed inside. [Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12585)]
Eklan Buckler: A small, rounded buckler crafted of Eklan. It is of average quality, and slightly used. This item bears no enchantments or enhancements of any kind.
Plynt Dagger: A dirk-like, guardless plynt dagger with leather bound handle that Teric stole from a Quan merchant when visiting the Docks in Scara Brae. It is of average quality, and he typically keeps the blade tucked into his boot. This item bears no enchantments or enhancements of any kind.
Enchanted Boots: Iron-shod black leather boots with iron plates across the three buckles in front, protecting the shin up to the knee. The boots are specifically designed for Teric to hug his feet, ankles, shins, and calf muscles like a second skin. This helps support his lower leg, and prevents him from spraining or twisting his ankles. The boots are also enchanted so as to maintain traction on any solid surface, allowing Teric to - for example - run across ice as easily as he might run across dirt or a wooden floor. [Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=123572)]
Clothing: A deliberate selection of black and crimson clothing that almost completely conceal the decades of aging scar tissue that mar his skin. Black vlince breeches, a crimson vlince shirt with black vest, a heavy black leather belt, and underclothes.
Red Ribbon: A simple, foot-long ribbon made of red silk. A trophy of sorts, and one that Teric has taken to wearing tied around his left bicep for good-luck.
History:
I removed this to clean things up while the "Spoiler" tags aren't working correctly, and because I'm trying to condense the sprawling history into a short, easy to read version. Anyone really interested in knowing some Teric backstory at this point can feel free to contact me.
NPC: Milo
"Milo" is a larger mixbreed of Drave and Coyote heritage. He stands about thigh-high at the shoulder, and is easily identified as a fairly unremarkable canine.
Related Items:
Collar of Empathy: A black leather dog collar complete with silver pyramid studs. From the size of the collar, it is obviously intended to be worn by larger breeds. There is an enchantment on the collar that creates a mild empathetic link between an animal and its master. This link enables the animal to understand given commands without prior training, and allows the master to 'feel' what the animal feels on a minor level. [Aquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12585)]
The "Pet Store Package": A large tin food bowl, green and white cotton collar, and a cotton leash approximately 6 feet in length.
Milo and associated items aquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12613)
Level 7 Profile (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=17400)
Biographical Information:
Name: Teric 'Bloodrose' Barton
Alias: "Wolfe"
Age: 53
Race: Human
Hair Color: Grey
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 176 lbs
Personality:
Stern and reserved, Teric is not well known for his amiable nature. With inhibitions lowered thanks to alcohol or similar vice he can be personable, sometimes even funny, but the mercenary is automatically wary of people he doesn't know. Harboring deep-seeded trust and abandonment issues - planted by his tumultuous personal history and nurtured by a long career as a mercenary - Teric is prone to treating everyone he meets as "temporary acquaintances". His aversion to personal connections is best demonstrated by his preference for expensive prostitutes over the company of other women, since relationships with ladies of the night have a fixed expiration date.
With his moral choices guided by an ever-slimming (and constantly for sale) list of principles he adheres to like a code of conduct, and his predisposition towards treating people like disposable objects, Teric has been described by some as a free radical; the perfect mercenary.
Physical Description:
Teric is relatively unremarkable appearance-wise, but his straight back and muscular frame betray a level of fitness not often seen in men his age. He keeps his silvery hair cropped close to his head, and maintains a neatly trimmed beard to try and hide the wrinkles and scars he does have; a look that might attract women with a thing for older gentlemen. His blue eyes have been described as non-descript, but seem to fit, and the old warrior has recently developed something that could pass for a healthy skin tone.
Dressed predominantly in black with a splash of crimson, Teric's wardrobe is indicative of Salvan nobility, despite the fact that he holds no official lands or titles. Fencing breeches, leather boots, shirt and complimenting vest - the mercenary tends to look as much a fencing instructor as he does a fighter.
Skills: (Passive)
Current Fighting Style: Waterdancing
Waterdancing is a fighting style heavily rooted in light-armed combat, and focuses primarily on speed, agility, and balance. As he has grown older, and the brute strength of his youth waned, Teric slowly began to develop this style of fighting as a replacement. Now perfected, this style enables Teric to perform an extensive catalog of swordplay attacks and parries, and teaches the old fighter how to move in ways that give the appearance of grace and speed without actually having to heighten his abilities in these areas. By comparison you could equate Teric's fighting skill here to a Legendary level of skill in other schools of fighting.
Pros: While the fighting style itself is not specifically designed to abnormally or superficially enchance speed and agility, it does encourage practitioners to develop in these areas. That said, it is not uncommon for Waterdancers to excel in these areas after practicing the style for a good period of time.
1) Overall Speed: Teric is now approximately 5x faster than the average warrior.
2) Increased Agility: Teric can now comfortably evade normal attacks from people of advanced skill. This is to say that an advanced swordsman would have a difficult time striking Teric, while a master swordsman would not have the same level of difficulty. His increased agility also affords him the ability to perform skilled acrobatic feats such as short wall runs, somersaults, and tumbles.
Cons: Since speed and agility are the core tenants of the Waterdancing style, doing things that would impede the practitioner in these areas can carry some serious penalties.
1) Heavy Armor: Wearing heavy armors (plate mail, scale mail, or any other stiff/rigid torso armor crafted from heavy materials) will negate almost all of the benefits garnered from the Pros.
Peak Physical Conditioning
For all intensive purposes, despite its aged and worn appearance, Teric possesses the body of a man not even half his age. Rigorous training and a knack for finding himself in physically violent situations have toned and shaped the warrior's body into top form; even by the standards of men in their twenties. This level of fitness affords Teric the ability to strenuously exert himself for long periods of time and to lift, carry and/or throw up to 6x his body weight fair distances. This superior level of stength lends itself passively to Teric's sword attacks as well, making his strikes all the more deadly and difficult to defend against. It would not be inappropriate the say that Teric can cleave through light armors (Leather strength or below) with relative ease, assuming that he wields a weapon strong enough to deliver such a blow. It would also be appropriate to believe that physically weaker opponents would have a difficult time parrying Teric's strikes.
Dense Skeleton
The hundreds and thousands of micro-fractures Teric has suffered over decades of being beaten and pummeled have slowly compacted his bones and made them denser. By virtue of this phenomenon, Teric's bones are now roughly as strong as Titanium. While this makes Teric's bones more difficult to break, it also adds the disadvantage of making his bones brittle as well. When they do break, they tend to break badly rather than just fracture or crack.
As an added result of his skeletal durability, it is much more difficult to damage Teric's organs or vitals with regular blows alone. For example, a blow powerful enough to give the average fighter a concussion would likely be strugged off by Teric without difficulty, and it would be far more difficult to knock the wind out of his body with a blow to the ribs.
Veteran's Aura
As a result of his experience and reputation, Teric seems to exude an air of confidence and strength capable of unnerving even the most stalwart opponents. This aura that seems to follow Teric wherever he goes has a subtle, subconcious effect on those around him, bolstering the confidence of his allies while diminishing that of his opponents. Indeed, individuals fighting Teric in battle will find that this subconcious toll reduces slightly the effectiveness of their attacks on Teric's mind or body. Magical spells, since they can require intense focus, are especially reduced in potency.
Opponents LVL 0 - 3 : -30% Spell Potency / -10% Danger from Physical Attacks
Opponents LVL 4 - 6 : -15% Spell Potency / -5% Danger from Physical Attacks
Opponents LVL 7+ : No Modifier
Techniques: (Non-Passive)
Cross-Slash
One of the few techniques Teric can still perform at his current level of fitness. "Slash" refers to both the method and result of the technique, with Teric whipping the blade of his weapon through the air at such a speed that it rends the air for several feet in an arc, following the trail of the blade. The technique now also creates a second arc that travels perpendicular to the first. The effectiveness of this technique is directly tied to the range at which it is used, and the effectiveness drops exponentially the farther away Teric is from his target.
At a range of 0 - 10 feet the arc can damage persons or objects as if they had been struck by a Mythril blade. The force of the blow is such that the arc can pierce Titanium.
At a range of 10 - 21 feet the arc loses its cutting edge, but retains enough blunt force to dent Delyn.
At a range of 21 - 32 feet the arc will begin to dissipate, and the target will feel a strong gust of wind blow past them. This wind gust is powerful enough to disrupt the trajectory of projectiles in flight.
After 32 feet the arc is completely dissipated.
Teric can use this ability up to 4 times per thread.
Devastating Strike:
Building off his Cross-Slash technique, and utilizing his speed and strength to their fullest, Teric has found that he can deliver individual blows with tremendous power. These "Devastating Strikes" are essentially blows like any other, except that they contain the same potent force utilized to create the air-blades in a Cross-Slash. In this case that force sticks to the edge of the weapon rather than fanning outward in an air-blade, and the force is released in a concussive blast as soon at the weapon being used makes contact with a solid object.
The force of the blow is easily enough to snap through objects made of Delyn or lesser material, and the directed concussive force of the strike is enough to disorient and stun lesser opponents.
Teric can use this ability up to 1 time per thread.
A Player's permission would be required to break any object owned by a PC, and the magnitude of the stunning and/or disorienting effects of the blow would be up to whoever is on the receiving end.
Quick Step:
While already significantly faster than the average fighter, Teric has found that he can greatly increase his movement speed by focusing his will to do so. The result is something akin to a teleportation spell - meaning that Teric can propel himself in a given direction so fast as to appear to vanish and reappear somewhere else. Movement in such a manner is restricted to straight lines on flat, horizontal planes, and Teric must have a clear path to travel along. Unlike a teleportation spell, the veteran's body actually travels physically from Point A to Point B, and he will collide with anything that intercepts his path of travel.
At this moment Teric can quick step a distance of 20 or less feet, and he no longer has to focus on stopping to prevent falling over as a result of his extra momentum. While currently having practiced enough to utilize this feat at a second's notice, Teric cannot string multiple quick steps together, nor can he perform the feat more than 3 times without exhausting himself.
Flashbang:
This is an old shock-and-awe tactic Teric picked up from a street magician turned street fighter in his youth. While normally performed using an explosive powder or similar medium, this particular magician had found a way to recreate the results using a low-level fire cantrip. It is essentially a fireball spell minus the fireball, and allows Teric to quickly conjure up a flash of bright light accompanied by a loud banging noise as the magics normally used to condense the fireball rapidly expand and escape Teric's palm.
Anyone looking directly at Teric at the time of casting is subject to the blinding and/or stunning influences of the flashbang. The flash of light is also now accompanied by a shockwave capable of stunning weaker opponents for several seconds. Teric is immune to the stunning effects of the shockwave.
Whether or not PC's are affected by the light or sound is entirely up to them. Can be cast within the time period of 1 post.
Teric can use this ability 2 times per thread, and needs to close his eyes when casting to prevent blinding himself.
Equipment/Inventory:
Mythril Haubergeon: A short-sleeved chainmail shirt crafted from Mythril. The light weight and incredible strength of the material it is crafted from make this armor extremely useful and valuable, despite the fact that the armor bears no enchantments. [Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12902)]
Mythril Fencing Sword w/Prevalida Basket Hilt: A Mythril fencing saber with a Prevalida Basket Hilt. It is an extemely durable and capable weapon, despite the fact that the weapon bears no enchantments. [Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12902)]
Uncanny Satchel: A non-descript brown satchel bag, complete with shoulder strap. It is constructed of burlap with leather reinforcing the edges, and is closed with a simple steel clasp. The bag would be completely unremarkable if it were not for the enchantment placed upon it. The enchantment allows the Uncanny Satchel to carry up to five times the normal volume such a bag should be able to carry, and has the added effect of reducing the weight of items contained within it. The bag cannot stetch to accomodate larger items, however, and only items that would normal fit into the satchel can be placed inside. [Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12585)]
Eklan Buckler: A small, rounded buckler crafted of Eklan. It is of average quality, and slightly used. This item bears no enchantments or enhancements of any kind.
Plynt Dagger: A dirk-like, guardless plynt dagger with leather bound handle that Teric stole from a Quan merchant when visiting the Docks in Scara Brae. It is of average quality, and he typically keeps the blade tucked into his boot. This item bears no enchantments or enhancements of any kind.
Enchanted Boots: Iron-shod black leather boots with iron plates across the three buckles in front, protecting the shin up to the knee. The boots are specifically designed for Teric to hug his feet, ankles, shins, and calf muscles like a second skin. This helps support his lower leg, and prevents him from spraining or twisting his ankles. The boots are also enchanted so as to maintain traction on any solid surface, allowing Teric to - for example - run across ice as easily as he might run across dirt or a wooden floor. [Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=123572)]
Clothing: A deliberate selection of black and crimson clothing that almost completely conceal the decades of aging scar tissue that mar his skin. Black vlince breeches, a crimson vlince shirt with black vest, a heavy black leather belt, and underclothes.
Red Ribbon: A simple, foot-long ribbon made of red silk. A trophy of sorts, and one that Teric has taken to wearing tied around his left bicep for good-luck.
History:
I removed this to clean things up while the "Spoiler" tags aren't working correctly, and because I'm trying to condense the sprawling history into a short, easy to read version. Anyone really interested in knowing some Teric backstory at this point can feel free to contact me.
NPC: Milo
"Milo" is a larger mixbreed of Drave and Coyote heritage. He stands about thigh-high at the shoulder, and is easily identified as a fairly unremarkable canine.
Related Items:
Collar of Empathy: A black leather dog collar complete with silver pyramid studs. From the size of the collar, it is obviously intended to be worn by larger breeds. There is an enchantment on the collar that creates a mild empathetic link between an animal and its master. This link enables the animal to understand given commands without prior training, and allows the master to 'feel' what the animal feels on a minor level. [Aquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12585)]
The "Pet Store Package": A large tin food bowl, green and white cotton collar, and a cotton leash approximately 6 feet in length.
Milo and associated items aquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=12613)