Name: Oriana Gladwell Race: Halfling Affiliation: Troubadors (Assassins)
Essence: Dynamic Nature: Survivor Demeanor: Conformist
Strength 1 Charisma 4 Perception 2
Dexterity 3 Manipulation 3 Intelligence 2
Stamina 3 Appearance 2 Wits 3
Alertness 2 Leadership 2 Academics 3
Awareness 1 Melee 3 Linguistics 3
Dodge 2 Riding 1
Expression 3 Singing 3
Subterfuge 3 Stealth 3
Spheres: Correspondence 3, Mind 3
Foci: Correspondence – storytelling, Mind – singing
Resonance: Dynamic 1 (Intriguing)
Backgrounds: Allies 1, Arcane 4, Avatar 4, Resources 1
Merits: Acute Hearing, Daredevil, Lucky, Sphere Natural (Correspondence)
Flaws: Deep Sleeper, Diminished Attributes, Enemy, Short, Sphere Inept (Forces), Vengeful
Gear: Kris, dagger, crow’s mail, backpack, bedroll
Prelude: Oriana Proudcreek was born on a goat farm in Hillbottom, a small village in the mountainous regions of the halfling continent. She was the youngest of four children and always loved and was content with her family, her friends, and her home. While growing up she never once thought she would want or need to leave. She was very, very wrong.
From a young age Oriana was enamored with music and began to sing as soon as she learned how to talk. During her childhood she used to spend hours sitting in the town square, singing songs she’d made up on the spot and chatting with all the villagers who passed. And for as long as she could remember, her constant companion was Ben Gladwell, a boy her age who lived three farms away. He knew how to play the flute, and Ben and Oriana made beautiful music together. They were best friends. But when they hit their teenage years they realized something else: Ben and Oriana were falling in love with one another. One thing led to another, and at the age of eighteen Ben and Oriana were married. She moved to his parents’ farm and they began working there in preparation for Ben (the oldest son) being able to take it over someday. Both would have been perfectly content to settle down and raise a family together.
However, something unforseen happened: Oriana’s Awakening. Oriana and Ben would often exercise their mutual passion for music by going to a local inn and performing for their fellow villagers. One night, about a year into their marriage, Oriana was giving what she thought was a very poor performance, and she was disgusted with herself for not living up to her own expectations. As she began her last song of the night, Ben noticed her frustration and tried to reassure her with a small, quick smile and a kiss. All right, she decided, Ben believes in me so I’ll do the best I can for him. As the song began, Oriana tried to fill it with all the love and admiration she felt for her husband. As soon as the first notes left her mouth she knew that something was different, that her music was better than it had ever been before. When it ended there was complete silence. The crowd was staring at her, their faces showing emotions perfectly mirroring her own. At that moment Oriana realized that what she’d done hadn’t entirely come from music. Most of it had been magic, and she knew how to use it.
When Oriana discovered her new abilities, she knew they would change her life, and more than anything she wanted to stay on the farm and pretend they didn’t exist. But Ben wouldn’t allow it. He told her that a gift so amazing shouldn’t go to waste, and he insisted that she find a mentor to increase her potential. Reluctantly, she agreed, but only after Ben told her he would leave the farm and come with her.
Good mentors were few and far between on the halfling continent, so Oriana and Ben journeyed across the sea to the main continent. Once there, they settled down in the city of Arisha and began looking for a mentor for Oriana. They soon met Gareth Harana, an elven Troubador who had recently settled down in the city after many years of wandering. He agreed to teach Oriana and provide room and board for the couple. To pay for her training, Ben took a job working in a bar and befriended his boss, an Empath named Aron, who also became Oriana’s friend. Oriana spent two years living in Arisha, studying with Gareth and trying to adjust to her new life. Gareth had convinced her to use her gift for something more dramatic than goat farming, so she had decided to travel the world with Ben and use her magic and her music to bring hope to those who had none. She knew that she would never be able to go back to the way things were, but she also thought she would be able to make the best of whatever lay ahead.
When Oriana was 21, a new figure entered her life: Variel Harana, Gareth’s older brother. Variel was also a mage, a Weard and (more specifically) a Student of the Black Flame. However, in his dealings with dark creatures he had fallen prey to hubris, and his mind had become corrupted by his desire for power. Variel had come to obtain his brother’s aid (whether he offered it freely or otherwise) as he set out to conquer whatever he could reach. Gareth, of course, refused. After many attempts at coercion, the tension came to a head one night after dinner, when Gareth finally grew tired of Variel’s games and asked him to leave him in peace. Their discussion became an argument, which became a wizard’s duel, which became a no-holds-barred fight for survival.
The tide of battle turned against Gareth, and, nearly defeated, he called for the aid of his student. Oriana (followed by Ben) arrived just in time to see Variel finish off Gareth with a bolt of Prime. Devastated and infuriated, Oriana declared that she would avenge the life of her mentor and challeged Variel herself. Oriana had natural talent, but her training was incomplete, and Variel was a considerably more powerful foe than she had reckoned. It soon became apparent that she could not win. As Variel stood over her broken body, gloating, Ben (who had up until that point only been able to watch in horror) came up behind him and stabbed him in the back. But this was not enough to kill Variel outright. Oriana could do nothing as Variel turned and mercilessly slaughtered her beloved husband.
Variel left Oriana for dead, and her wounds were indeed grave. But Aron, attracted by the commotion, crept in after Variel departed, took Oriana back to the bar, and called in a favor from an Epagan friend to restore her health. Oriana swore revenge on Variel, and decided to seek out the Assassins of the Troubador tradition to teach her the trade. After another year of training at a nearby Conservatory, Oriana embarked on her goal. With Arisha as her base of operations and Aron as her primary ally and contact, she would take jobs in her chosen line of work to make ends meet and be assured that when the time came for her to face Variel again, she’d finish the job once and for all.
Oriana has spent the past year making a name for herself as an Assassin. Meanwhile, Variel has been amassing a small army, and she has incurred his wrath by killing one of his most trusted lieutenants. She seeks adventure and will work for the highest bidder, but in her mind all roads must eventually lead to her final confrontation with her nemesis...
Description: Once it made Oriana very angry when people did not take her seriously. After awhile she realized that being dismissed as no threat could be an even greater weapon than any sword she wielded. Oriana has taken great pains to become the kind of person who is easily overlooked, and all of her behaviors have been carefully tailored so as to avoid arousing any suspicion. To strangers, she is polite and friendly, but not to an extreme; in short, the kind of person you’d meet once and never think twice about. To acquaintances, Oriana is all business. She doesn’t exactly keep to herself (that would seem too strange), but she never really opens her true self up to people. Most people would describe her as useful, dependable, and responsible, but not terribly original or independent. Inside, however, Oriana approaches her duties with a passion few would suspect. She is single-mindedly bound and determined to reach her goal, and this time nothing and no one can stand in her way. So far she has only shown her true self to Aron, her best friend and confidant, but of course this does not preclude her becoming attached to anyone else. Oriana has nothing against people as a whole; so far she just hasn’t found anyone she cares about enough to want to open herself up and involve them in her complicated past. When Oriana’s Avatar appears to her, it shifts between two different appearances: one, a woman in an ornate dress who always sings rather than speaking, the other, a warrior in full plate armor covered from head to toe with blood.
Appearance: Oriana is 2’7” tall and weighs about 55 pounds. She has hazel eyes and long reddish-brown hair with several strands of multicolored glass beads woven into it. She uses a high, clear, musical voice for both speaking and singing. She is 23 years old and is generally nondescript.