Tolbric Storm
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"Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge." - Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Voice of the Master
Bastard born into the House Dondarrion, Tolbric Storm lived within the walls of Blackhaven until he was shipped to Old Town to undergo training to become a Maester. He may have been allowed to remain in Blackhaven if not for the fact that he had ignored advice & threats to stay away from one of the lords of House Tarth's daughter. It all ended in tears (hers), injury (his, having been tossed down a flight of stairs), a prescription of maiden's tea to prevent any chance of further shameful bastards and his being shipped off to Oldtown in order to prevent him from further injury & loss of anatomy at the hands of a very angry Tarth lord. The young heartbroken man quickly exchanged his love for a little blond girl for his love for knowledge. He took to his studies with an obsessive eagerness. Once his chain was forged he took his oaths, gave up his bastard surname, his connections to House Dondarrion and was accepted as a Maester. He was soon assigned to House Wisent in the North at which point he packed his bags and began the long trek north. Maester Tobric seeks to serve his House as well as he possibly can. Where his personal goals may be mastery over several fields of study, he is often motivated by fear of failure; failing his teachers, his House, even his birth family, though they would likely never know anything else of him. They never wrote. Not once since he left home. It was better he let them forget him as seemed their wish and focus on his new House - who needed him and his skills a great deal more than House Dondarrion did. Tolbric is an honest man, both by choice and due to the fact that he is a pathetic liar, which has caused him som serious discomfort and misfortune in his years. It has been noted during his time in Oldtown, that his inability to tell a convincing lie nearly bordered on supernatural in magnitude. In addition to these traits, Tolbric is obsessive and tends to neglect his personal surroundings when he finds something intriguing to engage his mind with - mysteries and anomalies that contradict his knowledge being chief amongst these things. Also in this vein, his foolishness tends to manifest in his tendency to always think he is safe, regardless of the information surrounding him to the contrary. He has been forced to flee from bandits on more than one occasion for wandering into the wilderness looking for rare breeds of honey bees and black berries.
Well, I have moved into my new, though rather small, quarters - barely managing to set up my things. Some of them are rather precariously perched and I have books shoved under my bed. I attempted to put some of the overflow into Ayrant's room where he has several empty shelves - but his infuriating little manservant shooed me out. I'm actually rather content with the cozy little rookery for my ravens. The man who built it for me listened to ever one of my suggestions. Hm. Maybe I could see if he can install more shelves in my room. I've managed to snare the interest of all three of my students by gently putting hooks into their studies based on their particular interests. I've conspired with Nana to create a schedule for their studies. Thus far I've found her company to be the most...comforting. She's content to either be silent or else she's telling stories - some of which I've never heard of. As for my Lord...well. He's a bit... What have I gotten myself into? My Lord is a bit of a mess. He drinks too much, from looking at his books (and by "books" I mean a massive pile of unsorted & drink stained pages) he can't tell a silver stag from an acorn, and he seems to have somewhat given up - part of the reason he summoned me...to fix his mess. And the Heir, Ayrant, seems to be far more interested in fighting and/or fucking, though I think he possesses a layer underneath this somewhat slimy varnish that is actually genuinely concerned with doing what's best for the House. We shall see. Everyone else I've met has been largely pleasant. I have a lot on my plate, but I think I'm surrounded by a good crew that can help me accomplish it, assuming I'm not shot to death with arrows while strolling to the inn to get a drink. Bandits seem to be a problem in this region and I'd rather not add more arrow scars to those I now possess. I wonder if there is a chain link I can forge for expertise on being a target dummy? The most wonderful part of this exile, er - I mean assignment is the cheese! They have so many varieties of such wonderful cheese here! I've already befriended a number of crofter wives and become a regular patron of them - happily spending my coin to keep them bustling about their churns and providing me with all the cheese I can eat - and I've found I can eat a lot. So delicious! Not like the cheese from Old Town, which tastes as if it were produced from wax cows. In addition to payment in coin, I gather up a variety of herbs for them to use when I'm out foraging for things for myself to use in my "workshop". Tomorrow I ride with Ayrant and Garwyn, a capable young man who had been part of our escort to Wisenwood Town. I hear he's a well known & accomplished tournament jouster in these parts. I look forward to my first tournament since...well, since I left Blackhaven I suppose. I enjoyed them so much as a child.
Contents
Maester Tolbric of House Wisent
Abilities
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Intrigue & Combat
- Intrigue Defense: 12 (Awareness+Cunning+Status)
- Composure: 12 (Will Ranks x3)
- Combat Defense: 7 (Agility+Athletics+Awareness+Defensive Bonus-Armor Penalty)
- Health: 6 (Endurance Ranks x3)
- Armor: robes (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
- Maester: You are a maester of the Citadel. You are now immune to the household fortunes of your birth house, but you suffer the effects of the household fortunes of the house to which you are assigned. In addition, you may add your Cunning rank to all Knowledge and Will test results. You must have the Narrator’s permission to select this quality. Taking this quality results in the loss of any Fate qualities tied to your birth house, although you regain invested Destiny Points for lost qualities.
- 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.
- 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.
- Gifted Teacher: You can impart your knowledge onto other characters. A successful Persuasion test allows you to grant that character bonus dice on Knowledge tests your student makes related to the topic of instruction. Thus, if you succeeded on Persuasion test to instruct another character about architecture, that character would gain bonus dice on his own Knowledge test related to architecture. You may not instruct characters who have a greater rank than you do in Knowledge. The Difficulty of the test depends on the size of the bonus you wish to confer. A failed test indicates the subject matter was too lofty for the student to absorb.
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Difficulty
Routine (6) |
Bonus Dice
1B |
Once you have successfully instructed the student, that student may at any time make a Challenging (9) Cunning test (Memory applies) to recall your teachings. A success grants the character +1B per degree, drawn from the bonus dice you conferred. Once the student exhausts the pool of bonus dice, the student may not draw further on your teachings.
- Head for Numbers: Whenever you roll for household events, you may add your Cunning rank to your Status test result. In addition, when testing Status to generate Coin, for personal funds or for your household, you may re-roll a number of 1s equal to the number of bonus dice in Stewardship.
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.
Possessions
Possessions: 4 gold dragons, 128 silver stags, backback, ink, greycap ingested poison (10 doses), maester's kit, roundsie horse, dagger, light crossbow, maester's chain, maester's robes, sturdy boots & north garb,
Tolbric's Journal
Well, I have moved into my new, though rather small, quarters - barely managing to set up my things. Some of them are rather precariously perched and I have books shoved under my bed. I attempted to put some of the overflow into Ayrant's room where he has several empty shelves - but his infuriating little manservant shooed me out. I'm actually rather content with the cozy little rookery for my ravens. The man who built it for me listened to ever one of my suggestions. Hm. Maybe I could see if he can install more shelves in my room. I've managed to snare the interest of all three of my students by gently putting hooks into their studies based on their particular interests. I've conspired with Nana to create a schedule for their studies. Thus far I've found her company to be the most...comforting. She's content to either be silent or else she's telling stories - some of which I've never heard of.
As for my Lord...well. He's a bit...
What have I gotten myself into? My Lord is a bit of a mess. He drinks too much, from looking at his books (and by "books" I mean a massive pile of unsorted & drink stained pages) he can't tell a silver stag from an acorn, and he seems to have somewhat given up - part of the reason he summoned me...to fix his mess. And the Heir, Ayrant, seems to be far more interested in fighting and/or fucking, though I think he possesses a layer underneath this somewhat slimy varnish that is actually genuinely concerned with doing what's best for the House. We shall see. Everyone else I've met has been largely pleasant. I have a lot on my plate, but I think I'm surrounded by a good crew that can help me accomplish it, assuming I'm not shot to death with arrows while strolling to the inn to get a drink. Bandits seem to be a problem in this region and I'd rather not add more arrow scars to those I now possess. I wonder if there is a chain link I can forge for expertise on being a target dummy?
The most wonderful part of this exile, er - I mean assignment is the cheese! They have so many varieties of such wonderful cheese here! I've already befriended a number of crofter wives and become a regular patron of them - happily spending my coin to keep them bustling about their churns and providing me with all the cheese I can eat - and I've found I can eat a lot. So delicious! Not like the cheese from Old Town, which tastes as if it were produced from wax cows. In addition to payment in coin, I gather up a variety of herbs for them to use when I'm out foraging for things for myself to use in my "workshop".
Tomorrow I ride with Ayrant and Garwyn, a capable young man who had been part of our escort to Wisenwood Town. I hear he's a well known & accomplished tournament jouster in these parts. I look forward to my first tournament since...well, since I left Blackhaven I suppose. I enjoyed them so much as a child.
Save for an encounter with a bow wielding ranger hiding in my mulberry tree, I enjoyed the trip to the pale tower much more than I would have believed I would. While I don't give into superstitions and religious nonsense, I will admit the tower has a certain...daunting air to it. Dinner was fantastic - Northerners know how to eat. Although the concept of strict rationing come Winter is a bit daunting. No, not daunting - downright terrifying. I checked out the kennels upon arrival, seeing as it's one of my tasks the Lord had assigned. They were largely in order, though a little more attention to cleanliness would be good. Two new litters. I plan to take two of the pups with me back to Wisenwood Town to train as household guardians (and I'll be honest - for myself. I like to roam the woods far too much not to have a little protection given the lands' bandit problems).
The next morning we set out for the boar hunt. I was going to stay behind and introduce myself to the crofters, but they requested that I handle the hounds - so I agreed. It went pretty quickly & we suddenly had three defeated boars lying before us. One of the hounds had gone missing, though. Garwyn & I set out to find the poor boy. He was in terribly condition. I quickly bandaged him up as best I could in order to move him when a grizzly bear appeared and was interested in the bloody dog. The bear was not actively aggressive and I wasn't going to leave the brave little dog to him. I used the skills I had learned at the Citadel regarding animal charming and it paid off. The bear was quite taken with me & the treats I had in my robes. I convinced Garwyn to take the dog & leave so that I could shoo the bear off without his attention returning to the others. Garwyn wasn't happy about it, but I insisted. He left with the dog & I was able to convince the bear that I was no longer worth it's interest & it wandered off.
I returned to find the others headed my way, convinced they were going to find a half eaten Maester. Ha!
We returned and I tended to the poor dog. The others were convinced the boy would not survive, but with a week worth of medical attention, I was able to save the dog. I may take him back with me along with the two pups.
We had a fantastic feast the night we returned. The others returned to Wisenwood Town and I followed a week later, eager for the tournament that was forthcoming!
Advancement
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Spent: 0xp+3gl; Unspent: 16xp+2gl
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Harold & Mutt
In addition to the household's ravens and other animals that he tends to, Tolbric came to the North with two well trained house pets in tow that live with him in his quarters.
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