Tiffa/TheSpiderInDarkness
Contents
History
The girl that would come to be known as The Spider in Darkness and Agony was born in the city of Paragon, only a couple of decades ago. Her father was a skilled doctor, and she learned much about the human body even while she was young. She was, perhaps, too interested in it, and liked seeing the patients as they were brought in, and how her father worked on their bodies... and how some of them died.
Her father, however, died when he broke one of the many laws of Paragon. In the days before that happened, the girl saw how her father seemed increasingly agitated and refused to stay indoors in the night. Of course, it was inevitable, and the girl saw her father die in a painful way one night.
Still, she remained in Paragon, until the time came for her to take the oath to the Perfect. That day, she took whatever she could with her and left the city, leaving behind a rather nasty letter addressed to the Perfect. She has not been there since, but she wishes to return one day, and maybe do some of the things she wishes to do to the Perfect (All of them nasty and painful and degrading).
The girl eventally fell in with a gang of thieves who operated near Chiaroscuro (And sometimes inside it). As it turned out, she had little interest in petty crime, and often used what she knew of medicine to aid her companions. It was not long after that when she learned how to use her medical knowledge to cause pain instead, and she discovered she enjoyed it.
Some of the other thieves found her enjoyement of the act to be rather creepy, and finally set her up to take a fall in one of their latest crimes. She was taken along into the city of Chiaroscuro to aid in a robbery, and before she was aware what was happening, the trap was sprung. The guards were upon her quickly, as her companions had fled long ago. She was wounded terribly, but she still managed to flee and make it outside the city.
Still, her wounds were fatal, and she would have surely died has the Crimson Emperor Ascendant not appeared then, and had not offered her a chance... eternal service in exchange for her life. Having no wish whatsoever to die there, the girl accepted, and her fate was sealed. Her name was consumed, and she gained her title.
The Spider in Darkness and Agony soon learned even nastier ways to torture a person, and her enjoyement of the act did not lessen. She also learned more ways to serve her liege... to get rid of those he wished by quiet and quick assasination. The Spider became even more sadistic in her ways in the years of her service, and she has forgotten all about compassion.
As for the gang of thieves that betrayed her... it no longer exists. Those members that are still alive fear the stories of the girl that calmly hunts them down and then tortures them for hours before killing them, smiling all the time. The Spider is, however, in no hurry. Her liege is in need of her services first and foremost, she has all the time in the world, and letting the thieves believe she´s still hunting them down is as much torture as anything else she could do.
Personality
Most of the time, The Spider in Darkness and Agony appears to be a somewhat disturbing, yet undeniably cheerful girl. She -seems- friendly enough, and is never rude to the people she talks to. Of course, those that know her also know better, and tend to find her rather disturbing. The Spider thinks nothing of inflicting pain to others, and will torture someone with a smile while making polite conversation. Her tendency to smile all the time eventually unerves people that don't know her.
She ejoys playing with her prey and killing them slowly. However, she's no good in a fight and knows this very well, so she prefers to strike from behind and killing potential opponents quickly. Her specialities are both torture and silent assasination, and she finds it unfortunate that they tend to be mutually exclusive.
The Spider also has a particular quirk about collecting weapons and armor she likes. Any magical items of these sort are handed over to her liege, so that he may do as he pleases with them, but she keeps any and all non-magical items she finds especially interesting. If she's asked to deliver a non-magical piece she had particular trouble to get, she -will- do it... but likely won't be happy unless she gets something in return for it.
Appearance
The Spider in Darkness and Agony is a young and rather beautiful girl. She's somewhat on the short side, as well as fairly slim, which makes her look frail. Her white hair reaches down to about her waist, but she keeps it tied up in a ponytail. The Spider usually keeps her eyes closed while holding a conversation, and she only rarely stops smiling... even while she's killing or torturing somebody. The reason she keeps her eyes closed is that they are a -cold- jet black in color... and it serves her better to keep people thinking that she's nicer or more trusting than she really is.
She favors clothes that don't get in her way. While out in a mission, she favors dark clothes that cover her entire body. Her armor is also made so that it doesn't get in her way at all, or make unnecesary noises. As she's not very strong physically (although she's certainly more athletic than she looks), she disdains heavy and cumbersome weapons.
Finally, The Spider in Darkness and Agony is incredibly vain. She keeps herself tidy as fastidiously possible, and likes to look -good-. It's hard to tell if she likes or hates getting blood on her person. It's been known to anger her horribly and fill her with glee both, so it seems to depend on her mood.
CHARACTER SHEET
Name: The Spider in Darkness and Agony / The Keeper of Secrets and Truth
Concept: Torturer and assasin.
Nature: Conniver
Caste: Day
Anima: Black Widow
PHYSICAL
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 4
Stamina: 2
SOCIAL
Charisma: 3
Manipulation: 4
Appearance: 4
MENTAL
Perception: 3
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 3
DUSK
(x)Melee: 3
(x)Thrown: 4
MIDNIGHT
Endurance: 1
(x)Performance: 3
Presence: 2
DAYBREAK
(x)Investigation: 3
Lore: 2
(x)Medicine: 4
DAY
(x)Athletics: 3
(x)Awareness: 1
(x)Dodge: 3
(x)Larceny: 1
(x)Stealth: 5
MOONSHADOW
Linguistics: 2
BACKGROUNDS
Artifact: 2
Cult: 2
Liege: 2
Manse: 1
Underworld Manse: 1
Resources: 4
Spies: 3
Whispers: 1
CHARMS
Name | Cost (Ability)
1. Furious Blade | 1 mote/die (Melee)
2. Hungry Missile Technique | 1 mote/die (Thrown)
3. Incomparable Assasin Method | 2 motes (Thrown)
4. Haunting Inflection Style | 1 mote/2 die (Performance)
5. Excellent Inquisitor Attitude | 1 mote/die (Investigation)
6. Raiton's Nimble Perch | 3 motes (Athletics)
7. Spider Pounce Technique | 1 mote (Athletics)
8. Flitting Shadow Form | 1 mote/2 die (Dodge)
9. Concealing Distraction Discipline | 4 motes (Stealth)
10. Encounter-Banishing Gesture | 3 motes/target (Stealth)
Willpower: 6
Compassion: 1
Temperance: 2
Conviction: 3
Valor: 3
Essence: 2
Personal: 12 / 12
Periferal: 29 / 29
Commited: (8)
Soak (B / L / A): 2 / 6 / -
Health: -0x1, -1x2, -2x2, -4x1, I
Linguistics: Riverspeak, Low Realm, Old Realm
Flaws
Disturbing (2)
The Spider in Darkness and Agony may appear to be a beautiful, smiling girl, but there is definitively something wrong in the way she smiles all the time. There is a definite aura of menace that comes from her. Most people are quickly creeped out by her demeanor, and people that actually know her tend to be rather frightened.
Expanded Backgrounds
Artifact: 2
The Firmin's Nest (3)
This artifact appears to be nothing more than a red and black belt with a pouch on each side. It's light and not cumbersome at all, and has a setting for a Heathstone in the buckle. Anybody not attuned to the belt that puts a hand in the pouches will pull back with an unsoakable Lethal level of damage and a lot of needles sticking to his hand. On the other hand, those attuned to the Nest can reach out into the pouches and pull out three needles per pouch each turn without any danger. Each needle is made of Soulsteel, about 6 inches long, and perfect for throwing. Each pouch in the Nest holds about 10 such needles inch. These needles dissolve and reform in the pouch each night if not retrieved.
If the pouches run out of needles, they can still produce more, at the cost of a mote per needle. These extra needles are not quite as strong, but they'll do in a pinch.
At the cost of Three motes, the user may coat a needle she pulls in one turn in poison. She may choose from two kind of potions. One of them is deadly, and requires a Stamina+Resistance roll diff 3, or the victim takes 4 levels of Aggravated damage, and each turn take the damage minus 1 die until there are no die left. If the poison is resisted, the victim takes 2 Aggravated and 1 more the next turn. The second one is the same difficulty, but it deals 3 levels of bashing damage, and the victim loses one dot from each physical attribute. If this poison is resisted, the victim only takes 1 level of bashing damage. Only the soulsteel needles can be poisoned so, and if the needle isn't used it loses it's effect in three turns.
The Spider in Darkness and Agony uses the first poison for assasination and the second for torture, most of the time.
It costs 5 motes to attune to the Nest.
Soulsteel Needles
Thrown: Acc: +2, Damage +1L, Rate 6, Range 20
Melee: Spd -6, Acc +2, Damage +1L, Def -5, Rate 3 (Drain Essence)
Extra Needles
Thrown: Acc: +1, Damage +1L, Rate 6, Range 10
Melee: Spd -6, Acc +1, Damage +1L, Def -5, Rate 3
The Spider's Legs (Spider Grippers (2) (CB:Night, pg. 79))
The Spider appropiated this artifact from a would-be god-blooded thief a while ago, but it was in poor state at best. It was repaired by her liege's craftmen, thankfully, and now works as well as it should. In her short time with them, these grips have seen plenty of use. Nothing quite like surprising someone by climbing into their third-floor room by climbing through the wall. Thanks to this artifact, the rumour that she can get anywhere and anytime exists. She has done nothing to say otherwise.
The Spider's Legs let her climb (Dex+12) / 2 per turn, and she can climb in near damn anything. She must commit 3 motes to attune to the item.
Cult: 2
The Spider in Darkness and Agony is a Lady of the Vermillion Fist in the Order of Endless Night. She goes by The Keeper of Secrets and Truth when under this role. She basically plays the paper of an inquisitor... respected and feared. She finds those that would put the cult in peril, and deals with them one way or the other, but all of them painful.
Liege: 2
Crimson Emperor Ascendant is her liege, and she serves him dutifully. Her services are only required once in a while, however, so she gets to do as she pleases a lot of the time.
Manse: 1
The Spider is attuned to a level 1 Manse in creation, under the control of her liege. She posseses it's hearthstone, a Gem of Night Vision (Bo3C, page 111)
Underworld Manse: 1
In the Underworld, the Spider is attuned to a single manse, this one slightly more powerful at level 2. The manse produces a Gem of Shadow (Bo3C, page 115)
Resources: 4
In part thanks to her liege, but mostly because The Spider likes to live in Luxury, she has gathered quite a bit of wealth in her years. Most of it once belonged to the thieves' gang that betrayed her.
Part of this wealth comes in the form of 'trophies' of sorts. She has a hall dedicated to exotic and artistic weapons and armor, which fascinate her to no end. This items range from useless to powerful, but none of them are magical (Artifacts have better uses than looking pretty in a wall), and it's still rather incomplete. Besides weapons, she has several tools of torture (or items that can be used as torture) which she may or may not use on a whim.
She doesn't know or care to know about how to use many of these weapons, nor does she have the wish to use heavy and cumbersome armor. She just likes collecting them (and even show them off, so she makes sure they are in good state).
Of these weapons and armor, the only she uses at all are a set of Chiaroscuran Glass breastplate and slashing sword, which she got from the thieves' gang former leader. She especially likes these Glass items, and wants to try and get her hands on a complete collection of them (as well as copies of her current ones).
Glass Slashing Sword
Spd +6, Acc+2, Dam +5L, Def +1, Rate 2
Glass Breastplate
Soak (L / B) 5 / 3, Mobility Penalty -1, Fatigue 1
She's wealthy enough to keep a few slaves as well. Empty shells left by the Fair Folk, these slaves do little more than keep her house clean. Sometimes they work as target practice too, but then they need to get replaced.
Spies: 3
As her role of The Keeper of Secrets and Truth, The Spider controls an organization of around 100 spies. Many of them are in charge of keeping an eye on the members of the cult, in the lookout for any potential infiltrators and problems. Others are scattered around the place, in the Underworld and Creation both. Many of her spies actually don't know they are working for her, as they report to higher ups who in turn give this information to her.
The thought of changing or witholding information rarely crosses the mind of these spies, as many of them are terrified at the thought of what The Keeper of Secrets and Truth would do to them. This same fear has caused more than one spy to choose death over revealing what they know when captured.
However, her spies are also told to report on anything concerning their missions: from rumours to facts. Of course, facts have priority, and rumours must clearly be reported as such. If a rumour can be confirmed before being reported, all the better. A spy won't be punished for delivering false information unless it has a real negative inpact on missions (just wasting her time isn't really a good reason to have a spy killed, although it certainly annoys her).
Finally, some of her most trusted spies are told to keep an eye out for exotic weapons and armors as well as artifacts, and to repot those findings to her. If they can steal these items, and they are artifacts -or- she just likes the way they look, they have a good opportunity of being rewarded. However, such things always go after business, and reporting vital information is always better than retriving shiny things for her (with the possible exception of powerful artifacts, but mortals and most ghosts rarely have any business handling those items.)
Whispers: 1
The Spider is not -all- that connected to the Malfeans yet. This, of course, will likely change in the future, as she's not exactly a source of happiness and joy.
