Clockwork Abattoir: A Cadaverous Earth campaign

[TheMeanestGuest]

I dunno. It just popped into my brain.

As far as where I see him going OOC, I don't have anything particular in mind, due to the fact that Hadric himself has nothing particular in mind. Hence his future will mostly be reactive, rather than proactive. Perhaps he will develop further goals as events unfold, and as he changes as a person.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

Sounds good; I'll try and get a botany-based focus asap.

[Ghostman]

Hopefully this will be the final revision of Xavier's character sheet. The curse on him is now pretty much a random collection of tasks, selected not to form any sensible category but rather 1) to be significant enough to justify a debility and 2) to be compatible with the character's concept and skills.

[spoiler=Xavier]

Xavier is a professional hit man, an artist of cold-blooded murder. Although slaying men is his business, he doesn't consider himself a warrior. He never engages his targets in combat if he can avoid it, prefering to dispatch them via more effective means. He favours methods that are contemptible, dishonorable and decidedly unfair: poison, arson, planted explosives, orchestrating "accidents", strangling sleeping victims in their beds, etc. As long as he performs his job correctly his targets will never even know what got them, let alone have any chance to fight back. Should his plans go awry he won't hesitate to flee; he feels no sense of pride nor honor that could compel him to stand and fight. He is a ruthless pragmatist that kills without mercy, though never without reason.

Xavier is neither tough nor very strong. He is agile and possessed of lightning-fast reflexes, keen perception and sharp intellect. Although his movements are swift and precise, they are also completely devoid of grace and flair. He has no interest in the pompous showmanship of buffoonish swashbucklers, no time to waste on fancy flourishes.

His greatest expertice lies in stealth and acrobatics; he blends into the shadows and slips through the dark alleys of Skein with the ease of a ghost, dashing silently across rooftops and scuttling through the narrowest of windows and hatches. Few are the locks that can hold him out. When he isn't out on the field stalking his next victim Xavier tinkers in his laboratory, mixing deadly poisons or constructing various gadgets ranging from simple tools to intricate clockwork mechanisms and alchemical aids.

Xavier is a man of average height, with a wiry athletic build and pale complexion. His sleek coal-black hair is cut short, oiled and combed back. His face is clean shaven and narrow with sharp features. A deep scar runs from his right cheek to his forehead, interrupted by a mechanical clockwork orb that replaces his lost right eye. Xavier usually hides this device under a black eyepatch while in public, primarily because it gives him a disturbing countenance that attracts unfavourable attention from the population of Skein, but also because the preternatural vistas this eldritch mechanism reveals can be unsettling even for someone as cold-blooded as him. His left eye is of icy blue color, in contrast with the blood-red hue of it's artificial pairing.

His clothing is of quality suitable for a middle-class skeinite, albeit without the slightest hint of the typical pretenses to imitate the flamboyance of the nobility. We wears a brown shirt, black trousers and a cowled gray cloak. On his feet are boots augmented with clockwork enhancements, on his hands leather gloves similarly improved. Attached on his belt is an array of strange little tools and vials, and a sabre rests sheathed by his side. His other weapons are kept concealed until needed. The lower half of his face is covered, in accordance with customs of Skein, under a veil of black silk.

Xavier is a member of the Brass Skulls syndicate, working as one of their hitmen in addition to crafting some of the simpler mechanical gadgets. He lives in a tenement in the Copper Ward where he also keeps his smallish workshop-lab, taking advantage of the proximity to the artificer population and the local market for parts and raw materials.


[ooc=Xavier]Shrewd Male Human Rogue (Assassination) 1
XP: 0; Benefits Gained: none
Grit: 2
Pools (Edge): Might 10 (0), Agility 14 (1), Intellect 12 (0); Damage Track: Hale

Defenses: Agility (expertise), Intellect vs mental effects (expertise); AC: 0
Recovery Rolls: 1d6+1; Rolls Left: 4

Languages: Hellspeak, Shambles
Lifestyle: Decent
Senses:
Skills: flex skill (expertise)*, crafting bombs (expertise), crafting poison (expertise), deception (expertise), disguise (mastery), stealth (expertise), identifying or assessing danger, lies, quality, importance, function, or power (expertise)

Weapons:

• Sabre (medium bladed weapon)
• Garrotte (medium bladed weapon)
• Blowgun (light ranged weapon)

Tricks: 

• Pierce (1 Agility point): This is a well-aimed, penetrating ranged attack. Xavier can make an attack and inflict 1 additional point of damage if his weapon has a sharp point. Action.

• Surprise Strike: If attacking from a hidden vantage, with surprise, or before an opponent has acted, Xavier reduces the difficulty of his attack by one step. On a successful hit with this surprise attack, he inflicts 2 additional points of damage. Enabler.

Flaws: 

• One-Eyed: Xavier is half-blind whenever his clockwork eye is covered, and suffers social repercussions if he leaves it uncovered in public.
• (Foible) Cursed: A witch he killed managed to curse Xavier before succumbing to poison. This eldritch malediction thwarts his efforts on an arbitrary variety of activities. The difficulty of any task involving demonology, forgery, gambling, haggling, riding or swimming, as well as any task involving interacting with demons, is increased by two steps.

• Trivial Ignorance: lore and knowledge (defect).

Items:

• Eldritch Oddities: 
  
  
  
  • Vomitignus: This appears to be a small petrified creature, some manner of chimeric hybrid of insectile and reptilian features. Small enough to fit in a pocket, the many-limbed figure is curled in what resembles a fetal position, suggesting that it might be an unborn - or unhatched - spawn of a much larger beast. What is truly odd about it is that despite it's microlithic condition, there seems to be some kind of ineffable life left in the thing: if so much as a single drop of fresh blood is sprinkled on the creature, it's gaping mouth will belch forth a tiny flame of fire - barely more than a sparkle, but enough to light a cigarette. The blood staining it's form will immediately disappear, as if absorbed by the being. Xavier bought Vomitignus from a curiosity shop whose owner claimed it had been found in the Slouching Devil Mountains.
  • Spy's Eye: This is an artificial eyeball of eldritch clockwork construction, implanted in Xavier's right eye socket after he lost his natural eye in a vicious confrontation with a Nine Eyes syndicate enforcer. The device restores his stereoscopic vision, but only when he isn't wearing an eyepatch over it. When ucovered it also negates 1-step hindrances due to dim illumination. The orb's bewitched gaze sometimes falls upon vistas not meant for the sight of mortal men, revealing glimpses of nameless hells and aberrant realms beyond the fabric of the corporeal world. Such revelations, though usually mercifully brief, can be more than a little disturbing. The mechanical nature of the graft is also readily apparent.

• Theurgic Devices:
  
  
  
  • Smoke Bomb (x2): Detonates in a cloud of thick black smoke that fills a volume in the immediate distance. The cover of the smoke screen grants a benefaction to visual-based stealth tasks, provided the affected area is between you and the target you are hiding from. Such tasks have their DC reduced by 2 steps for one round, then only reduce the DC by 1 for the following minute. Smoke bombs similarly raise the DC of sight-based tasks (e.g., perception, attacks). Action.
  • Flash Bomb: Detonates in a bright flash of light that temporarily blinds opponents in an immediate-distance, centered around wherever the bomb is thrown. You must make an Agility roll against their DC; if successful, they are blinded for 1 round. Against blinded foes, the DC of defense rolls and attack rolls is reduced by two steps. Action.
  Mundane Possessions: Clothing, a bag of light tools, bomb making tools (first-tier), a pack of cigarettes, a pocket watch, 5 crowns.
  

[/ooc]

[/spoiler]

[Rose-of-Vellum]

Xavier looks 99.9% done. One final tweak is needed for the foible, however. Flaws, like other abilities, should enhance flavor and provide a sense of conceptual coherency, so an explicit arbitrary jumble of task debilities isn't desired. Also, you have given yourself such a large number of affected skills; no need to penalize yourself so severely (at least not without evocative flavor to justify). Consequently, here are two revisions to your Curse. Feel free to pick one, add it to your 'sheet', then post in the character thread.

Infernal Curse: A diabolist, slain by Xavier, cursed the assassin before succumbing to poison. This eldritch malediction marks Xavier as an enemy of demons and their devotees. As a result, any task involving diplomacy against demons or demonologists has its DC increased by 2.

Beast-God's Curse: Before succumbing to Xavier's poison, a witch-priest of a Beast-God cursed the assassin. This eldritch malediction marks him an enemy to aquatic domains and their denizens. The difficulty of any task involving swimming or interacting with any aquatic creature, including attack and defense rolls, is increased by 2 steps.

In the former case, the mark could have been a magister's familiar, a diabolist-student of the Collegia, or a rival demon or demonologist tied to the Yellow Dragons.
In the latter case, it could be any cultist of any Beast-God, such as a hagman, leechkin, or human devotee to Draukyr the turtle-god, Basatan the Lord of Crabs, Thoggu the Slimy, Shuddegoth the Barnacle-God, etc.

[Seraph]

Ghostman and I were talking about having maybe worked together in the past.  Infernal curse seems like that would make such an arrangement...difficult, since Mr. Nix is a diabolist (I'm working on my post, by the way.  Valentine's Day kinda got in the way of my being able to write up a response) and Vex is so much a part of his identity.  Now if the Foible were just applying to demonology and demons themselves, I could see Mr. Nix being amused by how uncomfortable Xavier made Vex, and choose to be around him for that precise reason (as he is afraid Vex is controlling him subtly, and Xavier's presence would distract the familiar) But it doesn't seem likely they'd work together if it applies to interactions with diabolists and demonologists too.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

It would certainly affect the relationship, but the curse wouldn't prohibit you having a past, present, and future relationship of working together. You could like Xavier, even if Vex doesn't like him -it might make you like Xavier even more, as you pointed out. Moreover, he won't have to roll checks with interacting with you, so the curse would affect Xavier-NPC interactions rather than Xavier-PC interactions.

[Ghostman]

Infernal Curse seems the more fitting option given the flavour of Skein. The curse could be something that happened maybe a year or two ago, while Xavier's acquaintance with Mr. Nix goes back further? (I don't know how long Nix has been a Ghul and present in Skein.) That would explain why they can work together even if there's now some tension between them.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

Indeed. That does bring up a query for everyone. Approximately, how old are each of your PCs? For Mr. Nix, the question is how long since his 'death'.

[TheMeanestGuest]

I've decided Hadric is about 40 (though obviously more youthful than that, being Sheevra), having studied at the Collegia until he was about 25, then spending a bit more than a decade wandering about doing mercenary work, and having returned to Skein 3 years ago.

[Ghostman]

Xavier is 36. He was born in Skein and probably hasn't ever ventured far beyond the city's limits.

[Seraph]

Mr. Nix has only been dead a few years.  Most of that has been spent in Skein, after he found out that a secret from his past life could be found here.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

Thanks for the answers thus far.

Ghostman, Xavier's intro post is up.

SH, I likewise replied to your post (well done, sir, on portraying Mr. Nix's madness). Also, please remember to edit your character thread post with your IC blurb & background.

Superbright, your intro post will be up next. Still waiting on you to post your character to the thread (not I'm waiting on that before I post your IC thread, just wanted to remind you).

Steerpike, any update?

MG, I'll work on a potential focus as soon as I finish Superbright's intro-post.

Am I missing anything?

[Steerpike]

Apart from figuring out how the Clockwork Doll works and perhaps tweaking/replacing Brusque, is there anything you can see that I have to do?

[Rose-of-Vellum]

I haven't re-reviewed your sheet, so you may have addressed some of these already. Otherwise, here's what I posted last time

1. With a decent lifestyle, where do she call kip (and if it's in syndicate-controlled territory, on who's turf does she reside)?

2. Brusque is sketchy. The flavor is completely appropriate. However, there is a significant mechanical overlap with your stoic flaw. Basically, one shouldn't double-dip on a disposition flaw and a human foible. That said, you did broaden the task enough that I think it's permissible, as etiquette and deception don't always include emotional displays. Also, diplomacy and big enough skills that the penalty is significant (rather than having overlapping penalties on basket-weaving and sewing). But as a foible, the flaw has to be a debility, so it's a 2-step increase to DC. If you don't want to so severely penalize her on all those tasks, feel free to change or create another foible.

3. The Clockwork Doll is likewise great (in fact, I already had a foe with a very similar device). I especially love the concept of brusque, brutal Catena carrying around a delicate-looking doll. As for the mechanics, here are 2 options. 1, it could release a level 1 poison that does 2 points of Might damage to all living creatures in an immediate distance. Alternatively, it could release sickening gas that impairs all living creatures in an immediate distance. You have to make an Agility roll against the foes' level(s), and if you succeed, they are sickened (decreasing DCs to dodge, resist, or attack them by 1 step). Your call. Higher tier dolls could include more toxic poisons and/or fumes that nauseate foes for longer durations.

4. Thrum. Let me know what you think of the mechanics I posted for the drug.

Just those items, and she is done and ready to go.

Also, Superbright, your intro is up. Post at your convenience.

[Steerpike]

I like the Thrum mechanics for sure, and I like the Might-sapping gas for the doll.