She stood in the doorway, a little lost waif caught between the bitter cold outside and the glow of the hearth. Her sword hung loose in her hands as she fidgeted with the hilt, looking for all the world like she lacked the courage to enter.
One of the mercenaries gave a rough laugh as he grabbed hold of BrandThea under her arms, swinging her effortlessly into the room. She twisted, her blade spinning and slicing across his neck before arcing into another’s chest. She held the sword with both hands, dropping easily the short distance to the floor.
“Don’t,” she whispered, her voice carrying across the instant silence, “underestimate me.”
Of all the so-called Goodly Races, it’s hardest to understand why halflings turn to a life of adventure. Humans have their ambition, Dwarves their oaths and Elves their lost lands, but for a Halfling to leave their hearth and home takes something remarkable indeed. In the case of BrandThea Little Bones, that something was a boy called Jome.
Jome was a trainee Bard who passed through BrandThea’s village en route to further adventure with his master. He filled the impressionable BrandThea’s mind with tales of daring deeds, and it was only a matter of time before she decided to join him. She quickly found that the adventuring life was cold, hungry, dirty and far from heroic. By then though, it was too late. She was hooked.
Dirty little secret: With each kill, her conscience and sense of right and wrong erodes. The girl who left seeking adventure is long gone; what remains is only a step away from the evil she claims to oppose.
Notes: Battle hardened halfling who uses her quaint innocence to lure foes into a false sense of security; she’s like a well armed kitten. Her Combat Challenge is a bat of the eyelashes, a fumbled sword and a sigh. Seriously, the bad guys don’t stand a chance.
DAZ Studio, no postwork
BrandThea Little Bones
Good Female Halfling Fighter-1
STR 10, CON 16, DEX 16, INT 12, WIS 13, CHA 13
HP 31, bloodied 15, surges 7 x 12/day
AC 16 (chainmail), Fort 15, Ref 13, Will 11, Speed 5
Daggers (x2): +3 vs AC, 1d4, range 5/10; Thrown: +6 vs AC, 1d4+3
Longsword: +4 vs AC, 1d8; must use two-handed
Shortbow: +6 vs AC, 1d8+3, range 15/20; Load free, small
Cleave/at-will +4 vs AC, Sure Strike/at-will +6 vs AC
Second Chance/enc, Steel Serpent Strike/enc +4 vs AC
Comeback Strike/day +4 vs AC
Acrobatics +4, Athletics +4, Endurance +7, Streetwise +6, Thievery +4
Bold (+2 vs Fear), Nimble Reaction, Combat Challenge, Combat Superiority, 2-handed style, Lost in the Crowd
…That sounds very cute.
Creepy, effective. Seems to pull on most the Creepy Child trope.
@Wyatt: What is your avatar from?
@Benpop
It’s Charlotte “Shirley” Yeager from the anime “Strike Witches”, which I adopted after I began going through the anime on my blog. And because Shirley is awesome.
Wyatts last blog post..Religion In Eden (RPG Blog Carnival)