The Fields of Winter To the west of Ruk Mythral, bordering the desert of Stor Thrik, there is a valley nestled within a ring of large mountains wherein subarctic climate is the norm. The valley is perhaps fifty miles long, and approximately as wide, and the dwarves who live nearby (a small suburban tribe) give it wide berth. The party will appear between the valley and Stor Thrik, on a north-south mountain road (they will actually appear in a cave). To the east, they will see a snow-covered valley; to the west a high cliff, with mists rising behind it. The road climbs to the north (up to the dwarven rukia), and drops to the south, opening out into the snowcovered valley. Somewhere on the road, they will encounter three snow goons. To the west of the fields of winter, behind the high cliff, are the misty marshes -- a marshy lowland region where the icecold waters from the Fields meet the desert climate that is typical for this region. The Marshes are perpetually shrouded in fog, and are the home of a monastic temple. The Fields of Winter, as they are called, are a place of power, connected through the leylines to the Savage Land, a tropical forest within Recjavik. In the center of the valley is an enormous castle, composed entirely of ice, which was once the sanctum of Ebeneezer the Cold, a shaman who followed Shalisti, a winter spirit, and utilized its power to build an army of ice creatures, magically animated ice-statues that utilize Shalisti's will to mimic consciousness. Ebeneezer was destroyed five years ago, attempting to perform a ritual to make his ice army permanent. The creatures themselves continued to guard the Ice Keep, although without specific instructions they became disorganized, wandered away, and now wander throughout the Fields of Winter seeking to keep out intruders. Each creature is "powered" by a crystal of mythril deep within it, and animated by a magical device also inside it. Three years ago, a necromancer named Kalith and his followers entered this valley, having heard rumours of its magical properties. He found the Keep abandoned, and took it over. Over the last few years, Kalith has gathered and commanded some of the ice army by means of a magical device of Ebeneezer's making, has desecrated all of the altars and consecrated ground within the keep, and has taken advantage of the region's preservative properties to raise a large number of powerful undead. These are mostly drawn from those communities of Northern barbarians who arrive in the Fields from the Savage Land. The necromancer has a familiar, a bat-like creature with a paralytic sting, which he uses to bring in victims for his rituals of possession. Also, there are a number of undead guardians and servants who populate the keep nearby. Shalisti remains aware of this area of the world, having been angered by Kalith's disrespect. It is, however, powerless to do anything here. Rukia Mythril-Nieve This is a dwarven colony, of about 50 fighting men, a village swearing fealty to Ruk Mythril. It is ruled by Hakim Greyskin, a dark-skinned dwarf who is great-grandson of one of Kragin's generals; Hakim is a great warrior, but his enemies whispered that he was offspring of duergar, and he was sent to Mythril-Nieve to remove him from the dwarven courts. He is bitter, but sees his position as a way to silence the rumours; Nieve is situated on the single mountain path that leads to a portal to the duergar realms, and has on more than one occassion in the last several decades held off the duergar until the armies of Mythril arrived. What few people know is that Hakim is illegitimate brother to Halik, an assassin who was exiled not long ago; Hakim is subject to the same insanities, but is treated by mineralists and witchwives (who have discovered lithium). The Rukia is heavily walled and fortressed, and the dwarves are extremely suspicious of strangers. Few of them speak Common, including Hakim; however, several of the greybeards are fluent in many languages and will translate. Many of them also speak the Recjavik barbarian tongue. There are about 25 Recjavik barbarians who have a colony in the fields of winter, having passed through from the Savage Land accidentally over the years. The barbarians, some of whom speak dwarven, have agreed to an alliance with the dwarves; however, in general they leave the dwarves alone. The guards will be suspicious and belligerent (in dwarven) at first. When they see Clar, they will recognize her as being of the Recjavik clans and will quiet down and summon the captain, who speaks poor but servicable Common and a smattering of the Recjavik barbarian tongue. The captain will assume that she is a barbarian emissary of some sort, though he will not understand why they would send a female. He will eventually be convinced to bring her and her comrades to the king. Hakim will be somewhat friendly (for a dwarf) to Clar and tolerate her companions, he too will assume that she is an emissary of the colony. If he realizes she is not, he will become upset and ask what their purpose is, and be reasonably likely to want to throw them out. Alia will stop her, subtly, if he tries before she speaks with them. In any case, they will be asked to leave Nieve the next day. Hakim will, if asked, explain that winter came to the Fields approximately fifteen years ago, for reasons unknown. It should be noted that Nieve is slowly starving, and that for this reason the dwarves are extremely paranoid about strangers/spies. Alia, the Mother of the rukia, will get the party alone and ask them if they have seen another dwarf along the road. She knows that Halik is her "stepson," through her late husband's affair with another woman, and knows that Hakim is also homicidal; she will not reveal this to strangers. She does know the insanity can be treated, as she treated her husband in his time, but Halik was found and exiled before she could do so, and Hakim refused to allow it rather than admit his relationship with a thief and assassin. Net result: she wishes the party to find and return Halik, secretly, so she can treat him and send him to Ruk-Mythril, rather than having him remain in exile. She will go to the rear gate at dusk every day for half an hour, where she will await them and allow them entrance, and reward them for Halik's return. If the party tavern-hops or otherwise leaves the court scene that night, they will run into Wanda, a tavern-maid and (unknown to most) Halik's mother. She knows nothing save that Halik is her son, and that he was exiled for thievery, and that he is Hakim's halfbrother; she wishes to use this information against Hakim, whom she dislikes. She will offer to reward the party for returning Halik to her, and for any proof that he is Hakim's halfbrother; if they do so she will explain that she cannot actually reward them until Hakim is actually removed from his position and replaced by the next in line by lineage, who will reward her. It should be noted that as far as the Rukia is concerned, Halik is now a non-person, having never existed. The Recjavik colony There are 25 barbarian warriors based near the path, having wandered accidentally from the Savage Lands through portals in the leylines, in the last fifteen years. They have since then attempted to find their way back, meanwhile hunting and surviving on the ice, as they are used to doing. Recently (last three years), they have been preyed upon by Kalith's familiar, who has snatched away hunters and explorers for quite some time now. They hunt in groups of two or three, now. Clar will recognize some nearby marks as reference marks for arctic travel, showing the way to the colony. The barbarians will welcome Clar, although the more recent arrivals will be somewhat suspicious of her scar -- not enough to matter. They will be actively unpleasant to the draconian, but not hostile per se. They will be suspicious of the rest of the party; however, these people have all been thrown into unusual situations and are less hidebound than usual. The barbarians will offer hospitality if asked for it, although they will expect the party to hunt. They will answer questions if asked, but will not volunteer information. They know about the bat and about the snow goons, and that they are based in a large castle to the east, from which none have returned. They know about the dwarves, and that they are hungry, and have purchased food from the barbarians in the past. They know that this place is not designed to be arctic, and is dying. They wish to return to Recjavik. One of the barbarians is a snowblind shaman, who will sense the spirit of the djinn around the party. He will, if talked to and given the traditional best parts of the kill, attempt to answer their questions; he follows a winter spirit whose power here is insignificant, however he is attuned vaguely to the spirit of Shalisti and knows her anger. If encouraged, he will attempt to trance and get useful information; he will babble a riddle-poem about Shalisti's nature and desires: I speak for the angry one, who shrieks in every blizzard, whose tears are snowflakes, whose name is known to those who cannot speak it; she, whose name opens doors, who raises walls of water, cold who watches the sleeping, waiting, who brings her home to meet her; she is the angry one, her people sleeping, her palace red; she seeks a champion to wake them, and befriend her servant, that her home may be cleansed, and grow. He will, of course, not remember anything that happened while he was entranced; however, he will be extremely cold. The Ice Keep The Keep is composed entirely of ice. Although it is not inherently magical, much of it is enchanted in various ways. A. The keep is triangular, roughly 60"/side, and has a 4-story high tower at each vertex. The outside of the keep is 2 stories high, with windows on the second story facing outward and inwards, into the "courtyard" that is the roof of the ground floor. B. The three second-story tiers are isolated from each other, and each is designed as a guest-house, containing several independant suites of bedrooms, lounges, bathrooms, and meditation chambers as well as a large common lounge. Each tier has a number of devices that were intended to maintain them at livable temperatures; the mythril that powered each device has been removed in all tiers but the front. All three tiers have windows facing front and back; the windows have been prepared with alarm-wards, but here too the mythril has been removed everywhere but the front tier. Each tier has a set of stairs leading up, to its roof; the rooves contain some locked trunks with huge arrows and some huge mounted bows with adjustable sights. The doors lock automatically behind, but are unlocked from the inside. There are handholds from the roof to the inside courtyard. Each tier has a set of stairs leading down, on the opposite end, to the ground floor. The doors leading down from these stairs are locked, those on the back tiers are are also barred, and are locked from the stairs-side as well as the inside. The front tier is where Kalith's followers and apprentices live, and has been maintained at livable temperatures. His followers sleep throughout the day and work at night. 1. Jani's chambers. These are locked, decorated with various pictures and etchings and stuff. There is a desk, with a locked drawer filled with notes about necromantic rituals, a locked drawer filled with charts of human and dwarven anatomy, and an unlocked drawer containing a bottle of foul-smelling liquid (bloodroot immunity potion), a quarter full, and a spoon. A smaller drawer contains a sharp knife. Under the pillow is another knife, and under the mattress are drawing supplies, paper, and a book of sketches. In the closet are some (not many) clothes, a black robe with hood, a hidden knife, a bottle of a similar (but not quite the same) foul-smelling substance (bloodroot blade venom), and a hidden book. The book contains sketches and writings, the writings are diary entries telling Jani's story, and some of the story of Kalith's takeover of the Keep. 2. Pietro's chambers. These are unlocked, decorated with weapons of various sorts. Pietro is in his chambers if the party has surprised the Keep; he is working out against a practice target on the wall. The bed looks recently slept in, sweated on, rumpled. Under the mattress are several sheafs of notes regarding necromantic rituals, all seemingly written from memory after observing them, all encoded rather trivially by letter substitution. Under the bed are a couple of lengths of rope, a pair of cuffs, and some lengths of chain. In the closet are a simple robe, a tunic, and a pair of leather boots, a studded belt, and a leather vest. On a shelf is a copy of the Kama Sutra. 3. Redblade's chambers. These are locked and the handle has a poison needle within it (1d6 no def per turn unless successfully treated, CON roll for 1/2). The rooms are empty and spartan, save for a practice target in one corner that shows signs of multiple attacks. Everything else is well-hidden, but includes a stash of herbs, some lockpicking tools, some mechanical bits, a small bottle of lime-smelling gel (poison), some daggers, and a garotte. 4. Scarlet's chambers. These, too, are unlocked and empty. They have lots of well-preserved flowers all over the place; the bed is large and well-apportioned. Under the bed are all manner of sexual aids; behind the bedpost is hidden a long knife. On an end-table is a large bottle of some herbal concoction, with a large cylindrical tube with a plunger and holes poked in the end. Near it is another bottle with a pleasant-smelling, slippery oil. In the closet are an astonishing gamut of seductive clothes. In a corner of a closet shelf is a small pouch of gold, it has a letter "P" embossed on it. C. The courtyard is about 6 feet deep in snow and ice, and fierce winds play about it at all times. Within the snowdrifts are 5 snowgoons who will attack anything that enters the courtyard; any battle will alert Kalith and his followers. Also within the courtyard is a small animal who was once Ebeneezer's familiar, a rodent-like creature with a virtual immunity to cold. The ice-weasel is fairly intelligent, but cannot speak, read, or write any human languages. The weasel is attuned to Shalisti's presence and desires, and will attempt to aid any who attack Kalith and his followers. The weasel knows the entire Keep, including its defensive mechanisms. Currently, the weasel is hibernating; it will begin to awaken if the courtyard is disturbed, or whenever the party becomes clearly alligned against Kalith. D. The ground floor is actually a triangle, bisected by an entrance hallway that leads to a large triangular audience chamber. The hallway is periodically interrupted by inset lounges and guardposts. The chamber contains an altar covered with dried blood and other nasty stuff; the base of the altar has been chipped but not shattered. The walls show signs of similar abuse, and many regions have been scraped and scoured. Strange symbols have been painted in what appears to be blood throughout the chamber. In the back of the chamber is a sealed door to the rear tower, along the front wall there are two other passageways: one to the left and one to the right. The halls are patrolled by undead wolves, who have instructions to track and attack any people they don't know. The left passage winds through the lefthand side of the keep, periodically passing rooms. Although most of the rooms on this floor have the appearance of once having been ritual and meditation rooms, they have all been turned into other things. On the left, one large bank of rooms is arranged as a bank of jail cells, another as a torture-chamber/surgical room, a third as a preserving room, filled with strange organs and odd fluids, and a fourth as a laboratory of some sort. The remaining rooms simply show signs of being looted and damaged. All the rooms in this part of the Keep are locked. Along the corridor is a locked door opening to stairs leading down; at the end of the corridor is a sealed entrance to the corner tower. Within a jail cell is a naked dwarf, Halik. He will attack anyone who enters the cell, and will require a lot of convincing that they are OK, but he wants vengeance on Kalith and will cheerfully ally with them to get it. Halik will attempt to keep from attacking the party until Kalith is dead. (see Halik the dwarf) Within another chamber, locked, is Redblade, meditating. The right passage winds similarly through the keep, and here again the rooms appear to have been modified. One room is now a workshop, another an area for food storage, a third a dining hall. In another section is a chamber that contains a altar seemingly composed of bones and skulls. The floor of this room is covered with carvings and blood-marks, the walls have several mounted implements of questionable purposes -- medical, sexual, martial, who the hell knows. In one of these rooms will be Jani, one of Kalith's apprentices, recovering from a recent ritual that involved some rather unspeakable acts being performed upon her. (see Kalith's followers) Jani will attempt to escape from the party and warn Kalith. One of these rooms is Kalith's chambers, where Kalith will be, involved in some bizarre ritual. The chamber is guarded by the skeletons, who currently have no instructions. He will attempt to escape and call in his assistants if confronted, having the skeletons attack the party. Along this corridor is another locked staircase leading down; at the end of it is another tower entrance. E. The cellar of the Ice Keep is earth, sanctified to the nether spirits Kalith utilizes in his summonings and conjurings -- a most disturbing place. One large section of it is graveyard, containing the bodies of Ebeneezer's followers who Kalith overwhelmed. They are in "hibernation", not dead; Kalith knows this and regularly performs a ritual to drain their psychospiritual energies. The rest of it is given over to a nauseating altar, around which are arranged numerous artifacts and scrolls, for rituals of undead creation, nether spiritual summoning, draining of spiritual energies, and other nasty stuff. Destroying the altar will cause the undead to deteriorate; over the course of a day they will be gone. The cellar is guarded by a dozen zombies with orders to attack anyone but Kalith. F. The upper towers of the Ice Keep are sealed, and Kalith has been unable and unwilling to break those seals. There are three towers; one was where Ebeneezer conjured and created his snow goons, one where he lived, and one where he conducted his researches. None of the towers are heated. The first tower (in the back) is sealed with an intricate mechanical lock that is frozen shut. Stairs climb up to the top of the tower. In the tower are a number of goons in various stages of construction, a large deposit of metals and a metalurgical workshop for constructing orichalcum devices, and a large dais/obelisk with the same pattern as Kalith's amulet. From the obelisk, any follower of Shalisti can control all the goons in the Fields, as well as more easily contact the spirit itself; also, anyone invoking their names will awaken Ebeneezer's followers. In one chamber, Ebeneezer's well-preserved corpse will be found, along with a lot of ritual equipment, burned-out mythril, and copies of notes from the last of the notes in the second tower. His body is unharmed; his soul is gone. The second tower (front right) is merely locked, although the lock here is also frozen shut. It contains living chambers, food stores, and a number of similar rooms. None of it is warmed. If searched, besides all the mundane stuff will be found the following: Ebeneezer's grimoires, labelled "The Book of Shadows, of Ebeneezer of Shalisti". The book contains a large number of prayers to Shalisti, including a number of prayers/invocations for summoning Shalisti's servants and invoking her power to influence winter-spirits and animate creatures of winter, although it will not be clear to anyone that these are rituals as well as prayers... A series of notes and diagrams, formulas and equations and sketches, for the design of various of the items in the first tower. The last of these will be really complicated, include lots of sketches of leylines, notes about particular mythril crystals and their properties, diagrams of ritual equipment that will be found around Ebeneezer's corpse, and lots of scribbled-in-the-margin notes: a few symbols managaratha will recognize as warning signs, meaning "stress point, may snap," it is in the context of leyline travel and twisting and body/spirit dissociation. A bound set of notes and diagrams for the device in the third tower, also containing lots of scribbled notes about dimensional twisting, thermal boundries, and god-only-knows what else. Numerous warning points along the diagrams with the symbol %. Numerous maps of the area, including the desert and mountains, with odd notations in contour format centered around the keep. There are several sets of markings, spanning a couple of years; one line marks the spread of winter over that time; one marks the thermal borders with nearby areas; one charts local leylines; and so forth. Along a line around the keep on the last of the maps is a border with the % symbol, this border is well within the current border of the winter field; the other symbols on this map are in pencil and have lots of question marks and alternatives. A copy of the "Shalisti Oracles" -- lots of ravings of Ebeneezer and his apprentices and followers when the spirit was upon them. Much of it is in poetry, some in free verse, all incomprehensible. It does, however, contain the names of alll Ebeneezer's followers. The third tower is sealed with a magical ward, keyed to open in response to Shalisti's name being invoked. In the third, there are parts of rituals and an elaborate magical device that is responsible for maintaining the Fields of Winter and the Savage Land. The device is designed to spread the arctic climate throughout this area, even the desert itself in time. The device is dimensional in nature, and incorporates a triggered spell that will send any party that attempts to damage it or interferes with its operations through a rift into the Savage Land. Kalith the Necromancer *** Stats (-5) *** SPELLS (4) STUN 17 END 22 str 3 int 18 end 22 pd 3/4 dex 8 ego 11 rec 3 ed 2/5 con 11 pre 10 stun 17 spd 3 bod 9 com 2 *** Magic (50) *** Spellcasting (3) 30 AP spellcasting pool (15) Mana battery 40 END (4) Life Sphere (5) *Spell: Fist of Death -- 8d6 STR suppress, delayed effect 16- (6) {+1 extra time, incantations and gestures throughout} {side effect: 3d6 BODY drain on caster} {-3 to sphere roll, 12 END} *Spell: Sense Life -- Sense Life, Ranged, Discrim, +4 perception 16- (6) {costs END, ...} {side effect: 3d6 flash to caster's sight} {...} *Spell: Wasting Death -- 2d6 BODY drain, gradual, slow recovery 16- (6) {...} {side effect: 2d6 BODY transfer to target} {...} *Regenerate: Aid to BODY, triggered at -5 BODY, gradual 15- (5) *** Spiritualism *** KS: Necromantic rituals Contact nether spirits, 12- *** Other skills *** Forensic Medicine 13- +4 OCV with daggers Herbalism 13- KS: Poisons and toxins Immunity to Bloodroot Stealth AK: Castle *** Magic Items & other stuff *** The Rod - 30 END mana battery poisoned dagger - bloodroot compound, 3d6 BODY drain vials of various poisons & weird compounds Potion of healing: 6d6 healing, one use. 3 vials of cold - 2d6 1-hex NND EB, 1-shot. Leather Armor - 3 DEF The Amulet - 6d6 mindcontrol snow goons Mantle of cold protection: Change environment, local, warm. *** Followers *** Bat-familiar Barbarian zombies, 16 Undead wolves, 8 Snow goons, 32 Skeleton guardians, 4 Mortal Followers, 4 Bat-familiar Stats (13) STUN(27) BOD(28) str 15 int 7 stun 27 pd 2/9 - applies to kastun ocv 4 dex 11 ego 3 end 28 ed 2/5 - applies to kastun dcv 4+ con 13 pre 3 rec 6 spd 5 bod 12 com 4 50"/turn flight (5) [primary movement] 12"/turn running [secondary] concealment 15- (11) aerial acrobatics 15- (9) 1 body regen (10) paralytic bite (1d6 HKA, plus 4d6 STR drain, slow recovery, only if BODY is done, once/turn) [35] leather hide 2/2 rdef, def applies to kastun Primary sense mode hearing/sonar, vision is poor. -- vulnerable to sonics cowardly; runs if wounded doesn't take risks must follow Kalith's orders Snow Goons (32) Stats str 25 int -3 stun 31 pd 6/13 - applies to kastun dex 7 ego 3 end 36 ed 3/5 - applies to kastun con 18 pre 3 rec 9 spd 2 bod 9 com -3 wield big clubs -- +1 OCV, 6d6N, STR minimum 15 (8d6 total) 1d6 STR drain, requires a successful grab -- no manipulation no creativity extremely susceptible to above-freezing temperatures berserk in combat --- STUN (31) BOD (9) 1 9 17 25 2 10 18 26 3 11 19 27 4 12 20 28 5 13 21 29 6 14 22 30 7 15 23 31 8 16 24 32 Barbarian zombies (16) str 20 int -10 stun NA pd 7 ocv 2 dex 5 ego NA end 16 ed 2 dcv 2 con 8 pre 15 rec 6 spd 2 bod 20 com -10 Don't take stun +3d6 HA clubs nightvision BOD (20) 1 9 2 10 3 11 4 12 5 13 6 14 7 15 8 16 Undead wolves (8) str 10 int -10 stun NA pd 8 ocv 3 dex 8 ego NA end 10 ed 2 dcv 3 con 5 pre 15 rec 3 spd 3 bod 17 com -10 Don't take stun 1d6 HKA teeth BOD (17) nightvision 1 5 tracking scent 2 6 superleap 10" 3 7 +12"/turn running 4 8 Skeletons (4) BOD (9) str 5 int 0 stun NA pd 3 ocv 4 1 dex 12 ego NA end 10 ed 5 dcv 4 2 con 5 pre 20 rec 2 spd 4 3 bod 9 com -10 4 1/2 resistant damage reduction, physical, against blades. d6-1 KA claws fight to -10 BODY Halik the dwarf STUN (27) BODY (12) str 15 int 15 stun 27 pd 8 ocv 5+ dex 14 ego 11 end 24 ed 5 dcv 7+ con 13 pre 15 rec 6 spd 4 bod 12 com 15 Martial arts -- dirty infighting jumping stranglehold - 2d6 NND chokehold, no grab kidneyblow - martial strike kneestrike - martial throw crotchshot - offensive strike FAM w/common melee weapons +4 with knives IR vision bump of direction underground Stealth 14- Concealment 13- Security Systems 14- FAM w/Disguise Can read Karaduran common, cannot speak it. --- Kleptomaniac -- will take unprotected items, strong Homicidal -- will kill anyone who insults or angers him, strong Halik shows signs of lots of wounds, all seemingly surgical. His throat has several deep scars running over it, and he is unable to speak clearly (he rasps a lot). Will attempt to explain, by whatever means, that he was attacked and kidnapped by the bat, and Kalith has been keeping him to study on, muttering something about how dwarves fight off the spirits. What he will not attempt to tell them is that he was exiled from the rukia for the crime of thievery; Halik is a dwarven assassin. He is attempting to suppress his kleptomania and homicidal mania until Kalith is dead, he has +2 EGO rolls for this purpose. Kalith's mortal followers (4) Jani - 14 year old girl, raised by Kalith to be his successor, afraid of and therefore very loyal to Kalith but disturbed by his depravity and his disdain for other people. When found, will be recovering from a ritual that included, among other things, her rape. If captured and talked to, she may decide to trust the strangers. FAM w/knives FAM w/forensic medicine FAM w/necromantic rituals AK: Castle 14- Concealment 12- Immunity to bloodroot Pietro - A young tough, streetfighter, very macho. Ran into Kalith many years ago, tried to mug him, failed. Kalith took him on as a manservant/slave/follower, intending to use him as a sacrifice; instead Pietro substituted another servant in his place. He has stayed on as Kalith's assistant ever since; he has an attitude, wants power, and intends to take it from Jani after she has been initiated. He's been preparing for that. He is devious, will lie to anyone to accomplish anything, and will betray anyone at the drop of a hat; however, he is devoted to Scarlet in the way that all adolescents are to their first lay. FAM w/swords Swordfighting -- offensive strike, defensive strike, block, disarm +1 skill level with swords STR 10 CV 4 CON 11 STUN 22 FAM w/necromantic rituals DEX 11 PD 3/7 (leather armor) Acting 13- BOD 12 Redblade - a professional assassin. Redblade is uninterested in necromancy, uninterested in honor, in fact is uninterested in anything but being paid and the opportunity to kill. He is something of a sadomasochist; he stays with Kalith for financial reasons but their relationship is complicated. He wears chain. STR 15 FAM w/common melee weapons DEX 14 STUN 28 FAM w/garotte (+2d6 NND with chokehold) CON 12 PD 5/10 FAM w/blowdart (1/2d6 RKA, autofire 3) BOD 14 Compound dart-venom 15- (2d6 BOD drain, if body) Stealth 14- Security systems 14- Concealment 14- Lockpicking 13- Martial arts - offensive strike, killing strike, chokehold usable barehand, shortsword, knife. Scarlet - a prostitute, kidnapped by Kalith. She remains with him because she's unable to leave the area... She sleeps with Pietro and Kalith to keep them entertained and herself alive, as well as to buy Pietro's loyalty. She also makes a habit/game of seducing all the handsome men who are brought into the Keep before Kalith kills them and makes them undead. Mostly, she's looking for a way to escape Kalith and return to more normal places and times... STR 8 CON 13 STUN 19 DEX 14 BOD 8 PD 2 Dirty infighting - offensive strike, martial strike, nervestrike Seduction 14- Acting 14- Contortionist 13- Pickpocket15- Immunity to pregnancy and venereal diseases