Malthias Storm

"The pine stays green in winter... wisdom in hardship." - Norman Douglas

Malthias Storm

Malthias is the newly appointed Master of the Hunt and Master of Ravens for House Graben. He lives with his daughter Liza,who works in the kitchen. Malthias is of average height with a stocky build. He has short brown hair and is typically clean shaven save for the large mustache he maintains. Malthias prefers to wear earth tones and dark colors. His slight limp from a childhood injury involving a tumble down a flight of stairs coupled with a more recent series of recent injuries has been upgraded to an all out hobble, thus he has started using a staff to better move about. Save for the loss of his wife and two other daughters in a fire, his past remains largely unknown, though his use of the surname Storm and his obvious education hints at former nobility. Otherwise he has proven to be a dedicated and skilled retainer to the household. He owns two ravens he calls Ash and Ruin and a horse named Sugar.

Rumors & Tendencies

Malthias and his young daughter Liza were a tragic sight when they showed up two years ago. I had assumed they were vagabonds seeking a hand out, but he proved to be willing to work and that haunted look in their eyes truly touched me. Turns out they had left their home behind after a fire had claimed their home, his wife and two older daughters. Poor things. I put the girl to work with me in the kitchen and after asking what sort of work he was qualified for, sent him off to speak with the Master of the Hunt.
- Cook, discussing Malthias' appearance two years past

There are a variety of local rumors about Malthias:

• Malthias' accent, use of the surname Storm and his conspicuous education seems to clearly indicate that he was raised amongst Stormland nobility. He doesn't talk about his background and it's rude to ask a bastard about their heredity.
• Malthias is a terrible liar. He begins to sweat, stutter and gibbers about aromatic herbs or the like when attempting to be deceptive. He compensates with his impressive ability to go unnoticed in a crowd or his tendency to outright flee from uncomfortable social encounters.
• There are a number of rumors linking Malthias with a strange bear that lurks within the wilderness. Hunters say that the bear had come to Malthias' aid once when he had been attacked by a shadow cat and that it had appeared again during the wolf pack attack that had claimed the life of the old Master of the Hunt - if not for that bizarre intervention, the entire hunting party would likely have died. Others speak of having seen him with the bear during his forages into the forest to gather herbs for the Maester. Malthias gets prickly when the bear is brought up in conversation.
• While he is a natural leader and coordinator in a hunt, possesses a wealth of knowledge regarding animals, nature and the land, skilled with animals and can set a broken leg within seconds, Malthias is probably the worst actual hunter this side of the Narrow Sea. He is more likely to stab himself than his target with a blade and is doing well when he remembers which end of the crossbow to point away from himself.
• Given his respect for the Old Gods, fondness for Northern cuisine and his daughter's look and accent, it seems Malthias had spent some time living in the North and that his wife was very likely a Northerner.
• Malthias is easily distracted and can become so focused on a particular task or subject that he becomes oblivious to his surroundings.
• Malthias is extremely protective of the household animals; he remains very involved with all aspects of the dogs and horses, even though he has underlings to do such work, and is protective to the point of paranoia over the well being of the ravens.
• Malthias has a number of old scars on his torso that appear to have been inflicted from arrow wounds.

Abilities

Malthias is a very talented man. His skill and knowledge with animals is profound, he also possesses a knack with ravens that rivals that of most Maesters. And he knows a thing or two about the healing arts as well. He doesn't speak much of his past, and it's rude to bring up a bastard's family roots, so I don't pry - but I'm damned curious as to which fool family let this one get away, bastard or no. He's an amiable sort, though peculiar at times, so long as you don't start digging into his background, in which case he turns into a block of granite or practically vanishes if you take a moment to blink. That's another one of his talents; he's a sneaky one when he wants to be. In a crowd or in the wilderness, I've witnessed him vanish like a light fog greeting the sunrise.
- Master of the Hunt

Agility - 2 Animal - 5; Charm 1b, Train 1b Athletics - 2 Awareness - 3 Cunning - 5; Memory 1b Deception - 2 Endurance - 2 Fighting - 1 Healing - 4; Diagnosis 1b, Treat Injury 1b, Treat Ailment 1b Language - 3

Knowledge - 4; Education 1b, Research 1b Marksmanship - 2 Persuasion - 3 Status - 2 Stealth - 4; Blend In 1b, Sneak 1b Survival - 3 Thievery - 2 Warfare - 2 Will - 4; Coordinate 1b

Intrigue & Combat

Malthias Storm, an employee of the Master of the Hunt, has been promoted to kennel master and breeder for both dogs and horses belonging to the House. He has a daughter named Liza who has been working in the kitchen. He has proven to be versatile and useful in a number of ways, including assisting myself with a variety of tasks. The Master of the Hunt and myself have spoken of him to our Lord and given him high praise as a true asset to House Graben.
- Maester

• Intrigue Defense: 10 (Awareness+Cunning+Status)
• Composure: 12 (Will Ranks x3)
• Combat Defense: 6 (Agility+Athletics+Awareness+Defensive Bonus-Armor Penalty)
• Health: 6 (Endurance Ranks x3)
• Armor: padded (1)
• Armor Rating: 1
• Armor Penalty: 0
• Weapons
  • Dagger: Test 1, Damage 1, Keywords: Defensive+1, Offhand+1
  • Light Crossbow: Test 3, Damage 3, Keywords: Long range, Reload (lesser), Slow

Qualities

Malthis Storm has been named the new Master of the Hunt following the tragic passing of his predecessor in a hunting accident. With the dismissal of the Maester, he has also been named Master of Ravens given his talent with the creatures. All associated responsibilities and benefits of these positions have been transferred unto him per the Lady of the House. Malthias and his daughter have been given the Hunt Master's lodgings and he will begin his duties immediately.
- Steward of House Graben

• Destiny Points: 2
• Knowledge Focus (geography): Select one of the following areas of expertise—alchemy, architecture, astronomy, geography, heraldry, history and legends, magic, nature, religion, or underworld. When testing Knowledge in the chosen area(s), convert your Education bonus dice into test dice. You may select this quality multiple times. Each time, select a new area of expertise.
• Knowledge Focus (history & legend): When testing Knowledge in this chosen area of knowledge, convert your Education bonus dice into test dice.
• Knowledge Focus (nature): When testing Knowledge in this chosen area of knowledge, convert your Education bonus dice into test dice.
• Master of Ravens: You may dispatch ravens to bear your messages. The Narrator makes a secret Routine (6) Animal Handling test on your behalf (the Charm specialty applies). Success means the raven delivers the message to the appointed destination while failure means the message (and possibly the raven) goes astray. Additional degrees of success may allow you to coax some extra speed or distance out of your birds, at the Narrator’s discretion, or get a message through dangerous or difficult weather or the like.
• Beast Friend: When using Animal Handling Train or Charm, add +1D to the roll.
• Face in the Crowd: You may make a Stealth check to Blend In as a Free Action. In addition, you may add your Cunning rank to your Stealth test results made to Blend In.
• Furtive: When testing Stealth to sneak, you may re-roll and 1s. In addition, you may add your Agility rank to Stealth test results when sneaking.

Drawbacks & Flaws

• Bastard Born: As a bastard, you take –1D on all Persuasion tests when interacting with characters with a higher Status. You do not take your family’s name. Instead, you gain a surname based on the lands of your birth.
• Honor Bound: Whenever you test Deception, you must re-roll any die result of a 6 and take the second roll.
• Honest (Deception flaw); Disregard the lowest test die result on Deception rolls.
• Unsubtle (Thievery flaw); Disregard the lowest test die result on Thievery rolls.
• Hyper Focused: Whenever you test Awareness, you must re-roll any die result of a 6 and take the second roll.
• Clumsy (Agility flaw); Disregard the lowest test die result on Agility rolls.
• Crippled: Movement reduced by #

Possessions

Possessions: 138 silver stags, backback, journal, ink, a number of small bags & vials, flint & stone, maester's kit, dagger, light crossbow, padded armor, sturdy boots & common garb. He also has a roundsie horse named Sugar and two ravens named Ash and Ruin (he was having a bad few months when he came into possession of them). He keeps a locked strongbox hidden beneath his bed.

Liza (Daughter)

• Malthias' daughter Liza is 8 years old.
• She has a reputation as something of a little wild child, loving to play in the outdoors and to go exploring where she oughtn't. She also loves animals, and often balks at adult authority that isn't her father.

Perspective

• For each scene that you submit to the Narrator that is brought into play, you gain one Destiny Point. This can go above your normal allotment of Destiny Points, but these can only be spent, not burnt. Submit such scenes to the Narrator by email, please.
• You may also use Destiny Points to "buy in" a character into a scene, editing the scene so that it includes the character.

Goals

Please list three to five goals for your character. These can be goals the character has, or your goals for your character as a player. Please mark them as (Character) or (Player) as appropriate.

• Wed Liza to a nice, safe, boring, non-adventurous husband with very little ambition in life. (Character)
• Once he feels Liza is safe, he hopes to return to the Citadel to plead his case and be allowed to retain his chain. (Character)
• Mysteries of the Old Gods; he had his experience that made him a believer, I'd like to see more in this vein (Player)

Advancement

Earned: 50xp+6gl Total XP So Far: 46xp + 4gl Session 8.12.13: 4xp

Spent: 0xp+0gl; Unspent: 50xp+6gl Burned 1 Destiny (avoid certain death; 7.8.13)