Entry in the Unique NPC Contest.
Imraedi d'Tillaithra ("Imrae")
History: Imrae was born in Darksea, a large drow city in the Underdark of
Aarth. Her family was a powerful noble house, but it fell from favor and was
destroyed by other houses before Imrae had even reached her "teenage" years.
One of the matrons of the other houses took pity on her and Imrae was forced
to be her personal slave instead of being put to death. As Imrae grew into
adulthood, she learned the sword from another slave.
Only a few years after Imrae had come of age, the city of Darksea was
attacked by illithids. The monsters destroyed the city and took Imrae
captive. Her mental capacity was stripped away and she was forced into
slavery again. The illithids used her as a gladiator, and she only barely
suvived a number of matches. Imrae was eventually sold to a human sorceror
who regularly traded with the illithids. Within a year, she had murdered the
foolish sorceror and fled to the wilderness, taking with her his Cloak of
Shadows (see below).
She wandered for several months before being taken in by a kindly wizard
named Chi'kreg. She offered her services as a warrior to him, and the pair
began a long adventuring career. Eventually she enlisted in the Onagrali
Marines and became embroiled in the decades-long Serpent Wars. She rose
quickly through the ranks, eventually meeting and becoming close friends with
Turin Shadowhand, a powerful psionicist who was captain of the Special Forces
(read: hired adventurers) units for the Allied Cities.
Nine years after the Serpent Wars had closed, a catastrophy struck
Aarth--magic began to go terribly wrong. It was discovered by the Wise that a
sargasso was beginning to form around Aarth, and this caused many powerful
sorcerors to flee the planet. The IEN evacuated their people from the surface
during the "Night of the Falling Stars," and civilization began to collapse.
With their homeworld crumbling, Imrae and Turin, along with their friend
Samanthal (a skilled mercenary sorceress) took to the stars on a stolen IEN
Damselfly.
Many years have passed since Imrae left Aarth, and she now serves as
First Officer on the Nightwater, Turin's refitted Promethean Starbird from
which he plots and schemes to upset the plans of the illithids and neogi. As
his ship is lightly armed, he usually finds where slavers are and then tips
off the Pots or IEN as to their location.
12th-level Drow Fighter
Str: 15 Dex: 18 Con: 15
Int: 13 Wis: 14 Cha: 10 Com: 16
(Comliness added for those who use it in their campains)
HP 61
AC 0 (4 w/o Dex bonus)
Thac0 9 (8 with shortsword + magic bonuses)
Dmg: d6+4 / d6+4 / d6+3
AL N (good tendacies)
age 198
Drow abilities: 120' infravision, elven silence and detection of hidden doors,
dwarven detection abilities, 74% MR, +2 saves vs magical attack, +2 surprised
rolls, cast 1/day: darkness 15' r, dancing lights, faerie fire, levitate,
detect magic, know alignment
(some would argue that she should not have these abilties due to her long-term
surface exposure--see the Cloak of Shadows description and then make a
decision for your campain about this).
Proficiencies: Drowic (w/ reading), Silent Drowic, ambidexterity (drow innate
ability), shortsword (specialist), hand crossbow, dagger, longsword, ballista,
light crossbow, swimming, blindfighting, horseriding, signalling, Common,
spacemanship, 0-gravity combat, space heraldry
Equipment: Shortsword of Lifestealing +1, Shortsword +2, Elven chainmail +1
(stolen), Light crossbow, case of crossbow bolts (usually tipped with a poison
which paralyzes an opponent for 5d4 rnds if a save vs PPD is failed), Cloak of
Shadows
Cloak of Shadows: this black cloak has very similar powers to a Cloak of
Elvenkind. In dim light or darkness, this cloak allows the users to become
invisible (effectively Improved Invisibility). In any other light conditions,
the cloak allows (at best) the Thief ability of Hide in Shadows 75%. The
additional power of the cloak is to protect sensitive drow skin and vision
from the harsh light of a normal sun. Unfortunately, while the cloak is worn
the drow is not acclimated to the sun--if the cloak is removed it could have
painful effects.
Appearance: Imrae is 5'1" tall and 110 lbs of tight muscle. She is a wiry
woman, with coal-black skin, snow-white hair, and strange (for her race) gray
eyes. She is very attractive, but her personality means this is not
translated into Charisma. Her back, neck, and arms are a mass of long and
deep scars from a series of cruel masters over the years. She keeps these
scars hidden at all times.
Personality: Imrae's life of slavery and war have made her into a cold and
hard woman. She has intense hatred of slavers, and has convinced her captain
that the illithids and neogi (along with the Chainmen, Duma, and other human
slavers) are the ultimate enemy. She also dislikes the large good-aligned
organizations of wildspace, like the IEN or the Order of the Chalice. She
sees them as hypocrits who are unwilling to put their vast resources into
destroying the slavers.
She is not friendly with strangers, and tends to speak in short clipped
phrases even to people she is friends with (her Common is still poor). While
she speaks as little as possible, she often finds herself insulting those
around her with pointed observations and brutal honesty. She feels unable to
open herself up to loving relationships, although her long relationship with
Turin has begun to soften her in this regard. She has a very soft spot in her
heart for children, as she has seen too many taken from their families.
Imrae is somewhat of a loner, taken to taking long shore leaves or taking
the ship's shuttle for a one-woman mission to raid some known slaving base.
This provides a number of opportunities for PCs to meet her away from her
ship.
Plot Possibilities:
--The PCs are in an inn or bar on a large port like Bral when Imrae gets into
an argument with a pair of illithid merchants. Things are heating up and the
illithids are threatening to eat her brain. This could be an ideal initial
encounter to set up later meetings.
--The PCs are hired by a rich elvish merchant to track down and woo a
mysterious drow woman who has been seen in port. Imrae is uninterested and
difficult to find at best. This gives the DM a change of pace from giving the
PCs people to track down to kill. The DM could put a timed element in it as
well by having the elvish merchant finding out that her ship will be returning
for her in a week's time.
--Imrae hires out the PCs ship to return her to the Nightwater, which is
several spheres away. Along the way, the PCs will have to put up with her
insulting attitude and insistence on attacking possible slaver vessels.
--The PCs are involved in an anti-slaver hunting fleet, perhaps with the
Pragmatic Order of Thought. Imrae finds their ship and asks to join them.
Otherwise, perhaps the Nightwater is in the hunting fleet.
Remaining notes: The Nightwater is a Promethean Starbird, which was posted
seperately. Turin Shadowhand could be detailed seperately, but he is ideally
used as a man-behind-the-scenes tpye character, as he is rarely personally
involved in any sort of combat.
