Mortal Peril/Lambent Waves
Contents
Bio
Lambent Waves grew up poor but smart, in a family that was deeply obligated to the Guild in various shady dealings. In a frantic adolescent effort to avoid being sold into slavery, she learned how to smuggle goods and concoct drugs at an early age, and got hooked on opium by her "uncles" in the Guild. She's been trying to steer clear of opium since -- it's one of the reasons she's on a smaller island instead of a big metropolis, but it hasn't always worked out, since some of the various patrons she's worked for since have been determined to use her skills to ply their drug trade.kl To get out from under the thumb of the Guild, she was convinced by a Tya friend to sign on and ship out. She had heard that the shellfish toxin infertility was somewhat optional in many groups of Tya, but a particularly vindictive captain saw to it that she didn't slip through the cracks. Resentful, she started plying her alchemist's trade among the Tya, providing them with substances and with a concoction of her own devising that could harmlessly mimic the effects of the shellfish toxin. The Tya elders tolerated her until her surreptitious drug-dealing wound up with her hiding in a bilge during a confidential discussion about Tya Eldareth and the Storm Mothers. Lambent Waves knew she had heard something she wasn't supposed to, but when the Tya elders realized that she had overheard something, their suspicions landed hard on her illicit substance dealing and quickly escalated to veiled threats. She fled the Tya, which only increased the appearance of her guilt in many of their eyes. She's been bouncing from patron to patron ever since, often turning an embittered and blind eye to abuses and heinous criminal exploitation of locals, but she grows more and more sick of it every time. Her pattern leads her to flee to a different island in the West -- and as often as not, that means she runs afoul of the dark side of the underworld business, either before or after trying to run away. She's sick of it all.
Description
Late 30s, greyish-blue hair and dusky skin, Tya tattoos, and chemical burns. She's a very unfriendly type who doesn't make friends easily and prefers to be shut up in her lab. She tends to wear a buff jacket with a bandolier stocked with vials of various kinds, including a pouch of 8-scream devil powder and half a dozen vials of Ardent Embrace Resin... just in case. For more formal occasions, she has some fine clothing, but tends to keep it simple -- no silks or fancy stuff.
Stats
Attributes
Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Charisma 1, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2
Perception 2, Intelligence 4, Wits 3
Abilities
Awareness 2
Craft: Water 3
Dodge 3
Integrity 2
Larceny 2
Lore 4
Medicine 3
- Occult 5
Resistance 2
Thrown 3 (Specialty: Alchemical Vials 2)
Sail 2
Stealth 1
Virtues
Compassion 1
Conviction 4
Temperance 2
Valor 3
Willpower 8
Backgrounds
Resources 4
Library 2
Destiny 2
Contacts 1 (Guild)
Thaumaturgy
Art of Alchemy: Adept (2)
Art of Warding & Exorcism: Initiate (1)
Alchemical Formulae
Alchemical Touchstones (0): (Many Varieties)
Life's Little Luxury Blends (0): Soap, Deodorant, Moonshine
Blood-Staunching Compress (1)
Draught of Blessed Respite (1)
Hero's Recovery (1)
Eagle's Eye Potion (1): Vision, Smell
Venom-Allaying Draught (1): Heroin, Opium, Alcohol, Coral Snake Venom
Ardent Embrace Resin (2)
Munificent Antivenin (2)
Philtre of Desire (2)
Tiger's Heart Elixir (2): Compassion, Temperance
Valiant Warrior Formula (2)
8-Scream Devil Powder (3)
Deathlord's Breath (3)
Seven Bounties Paste (3)
Warding Rituals
Sensing the Barrier (0)
Thrice-Warded Gateway (0)
Alarm Ward (1): Fae, Undead, Terrestrial Exalts
Deathsight (1)
Elemental Sight (1)
Lesser Ward (1): Fae, Undead
Spirit Sight (1)
Flaws
Enemy 2 (Tya Elders)
Sterile 1
Vice 1 (Opium)
Profession Point Spend
Craft (Water) 1 to 3, Lore 3 to 4
Bonus Point Spend (Total 35 with Flaws and +10)
8 - Art of Alchemy 0 to 2
4 - Art of Warding 0 to 1
1 - 3 Master Formulae: 8-Scream Devil Powder, Deathlord's Breath, Seven Bounties Paste
4 - Dexterity 3 to 4
2 - Occult 3 to 5
2 - Larceny 1 to 2
2 - Awareness 1 to 2
2 - Resources 3 to 4
3 - Valor 2 to 3
2 - Willpower 7 to 8
2 - Thrown Specialty (Alchemical Vials) 0 to 2
2 - Library 0 to 2
1 - Contacts 0 to 1
Equipment
Fine Alchemical Equipment - Master-level Lab (Resources 4)
Lambent's lab has been put together over many years. It's what she relies upon for her livelihood and self-defense, and she keeps all her materials in set of folding, stackable tool-chests and boxes so that she can pack and get away in a hurry -- something she's done multiple times in her career. This lab is requisite for making pretty much any of the the Formulae that Lambent knows, although the more complex ones tend to require special ingredients that she doesn't usually have on hand. The quality of tools in her kit add +1 to rolls involving Alchemy.
Perfect Buff Jacket (Resources 3)
A very fine piece of light armor that Lambent acquired during one of her more lucrative stints as an alchemist for a wealthy merchant. 5L/6B soak, -0 Mobility, 1 Fatigue.
Perfect Throwing Needles (Resources 3)
Lambent owns a small case of exceptionally sharp, minutely barbed needles which she keeps coated with pufferfish venom (the equivalent of Coral Snake Venom in the West) or other heinous substances. She tends to flick them at targets with her right index fingernail, which she's pitted with minute amounts of acid to facilitate that style. She keeps a number of needles in a holster on her bandolier. Speed 5, Accuracy +1, Damage 3L, Rate 3, Range 10, Piercing. Venom is 6L / Toxicity 3, Resources 2.
Perfect Throwing Knives (Resources 2)
Lambent wears six of these finely balanced knives in a bandolier that she also keeps her needles and vials of Ardent Embrace Resin in. Speed 5, Accuracy +1, Damage 4L, Rate 3, Range 25.
Found Walkaway (Resources 3)
This iron ring from the prow of a shipwreck was sold to Lambent by one of the survivors, and negates one success on a single life-threatening damage roll, once per story.
Fine Clothing (Resources 2)
Lambent likes to keep it simple, but presentable for occasions when she has to deal with those who put on airs.
Warding Charm vs. Fair Folk (Resources 3)
A small coral talisman left to Lambent by her mother, which causes actions by Fair Folk against her to have a -1 penalty.
Stocked Formulae
Lambent keeps a few of the following mixtures stocked "in case of emergency" and reformulates them when they lose their efficacy, which she can't afford to do very often with the more expensive formulae.
Alchemical Touchstone: 1 each for pufferfish venom, heroin, fair folk magic, underworld essence.
Blood-Staunching Compress (3)
Draught of Blessed Respite (2)
Hero's Recovery (2)
Venom-Allaying Draught: Heroin (1), Alcohol (3)
Ardent Embrace Resin (5, in bandolier)
Munificent Antivenin (2)
8-Scream Devil Powder (1, in bandolier)
Deathlord's Breath (1)
Seven Bounties Paste (1)
