Forgotten Freedom:Caer
Caer of Riversheart, NG Human Ranger 2, Wizard ? (She isn't saying)
There is a certain sort of mage who makes others nervous. They tend to settle in isolated towers, where they perform unnatural experiments and create legions of hideous monsters with which they plan to conquer the world. Caer settled in a small hamlet not far from a major city, and the most hideous abominations produced in her experiments are the oddly hued flowers in her garden. Nonetheless her focus on her research can make less dedicated folk wary of what she might absently come up with...
Slender of build and medium in height, Caer is not conventionally beautiful, but most men consider her mildly attractive. Her red hair is shoulder length, held back out of her green eyes by a bandanna but otherwise is usually left to be wild. Her slight build disguises a surprising degree of strength and endurance for her size, built by regular practice with both unarmed fighting and a staff, though she lacks the hardiness and skills of a dedicated and trained warrior.
As wizards go, Caer is quite skilled, though she lacks the power of one of the Ubers. She also has limited ranger training, gained through the experience of surviving several years of guerilla warfare. Her limited weapons training is with the dagger and staff - she is surprisingly skilled with the latter. She also has significant unarmed training. Having later managed to annoy a now-defunct assassin's guild has also sharpened her senses considerably.
Under normal circumstances, Caer is interested in research. She gets curious about an idea, then tracks down everything she can find out about it, everything related to it, and anything else of interest that she turns up while researching. This has led to her doing anything from growing oddly-coloured flowers, or studying the habits of local wildlife, through alchemy and wandmaking, to what was her current project, analysis and manipulation of active spells. Her research had given limited successes - she can sometimes tamper with durational spells or ongoing magical effects, but the results can be unpredictable.
Caer also has one knack that's rather useful. She can change her shape in a fashion similar to a druid's wildshape ability. She cannot take the form of magical creatures, or gain non-biological magical powers - which still leaves her with the natural movement forms, senses, or natural attacks like poison if she chooses to assume an appropriate shape. She can assume a lycanthropic-style hybrid form of an animal if she chooses, though she doesn't often do so. She also can take the forms of an acidic ooze or large spider - creatures she has studied previously. She has learned a version of the druidic Natural Spellcasting feat and can cast spells in animal form without difficulty. She does know the standard spells for changing shapes, but is cautious about using them if there's a chance of having them dispelled.
For undisclosed reasons, howerver, she has left her research and is currently aboard the Forgotten Freedom. She has told Jarlot that she is looking for something that she believes is aboard the vessel, but has failed to reveal precisely what. Probably just as well, considering what the crew is like.
