Eslas the Tracker

Travelling Gear: Total Encumbrance = 12. Fatigue = 17 (29 – 12). Soft leather armor on limbs, stiff leather on body. Cloak protects body and arms, and can be drawn over to protect head. Iron scimitar, iron target shield, composite bow and quiver containing 30 arrows, including a number of iron and silver-tipped arrows. Values in parentheses are AP with Coder Cloak drawn and Damage Resistance 13 active.

* Eslas has up to five arrows with Damage Boosting Intensity 5 cast on them by Maculus. These do 1d8+6 damage. Notes: When mounted on horseback, Eslas's Ride skill limits bow skill to 116%. May only cast bow magic (e.g., Speedart) when under Arrowtrance.

Mobility 3, Slow 2, Heal 4, Silence 3, Farsee 1, Peaceful Cut (1).

Repair 2; Endurance 1; Speedart.

Heal Wound x1, Spirit Block x1.

Agility +14: Boat 19%, Climb 78%, Dodge 104% (−ENC), Jump 86%, Ride Horse 116%, Ride Wyvern 93%, Swim 29%, Throw 61%.

Communication +8: Fast Talk 15%, Orate 13%.

Knowledge +4: Animal Lore 89%, Evaluate 11%, First Aid 39%, Human Lore 19%, Mineral Lore 10%, Plant Lore 13%, World Lore 22%, Craft: Bowyer 78%, Craft: Fletcher 99%, Craft: Butchery 61%.

Manipulation +19: Conceal 42%, Devise 81%, Sleight 30%.

Perception +9: Listen 117%, Scan 126%, Search 113%, Track 139%.

Stealth +5: Hide 109%, Sneak 100%.

Magic +17: Ceremony 26%.

Ogodei Pentian 46/—, New Pelorian 34/25, Sartarite 22/—, Pavic 15/—, Praxian 14/—.

Eslas usually carries less than 50L. 4000L ransom from the Lunar government.

Special Items: A 6-centimeter-long twig is actually living and houses a spell spirit (INT 6 POW 11) which knows the Aldrya divine spells Find Enemy x1, Arrow Trance x2, Silence Sphere x1, and Spirit Block x1. Once cast, the spirit regains one spell per day. Lunars plundered this from the elves during the Skyburn, and it is on loan to Eslas. It has no user conditions, but the twig must stay alive and healthy. If the twig dies or breaks, the spirit escapes. Lunar mages enchanted this unique item with 9 AP.

Speedart Matrix, Amplified by 7 points (+40% to hit, +10 to damage). This silver thumb ring was created by the Lunar College of Magic, and only designated appointees may use it. It is linked to a 24 MP storage crystal, set into the ring. The crystal however, can be used to power any spells, not just the Speedart.

A silver clasp with a Repair 2 Matrix. This fits snugly around the grip of her composite bow. It has no user conditions.

A piece of knotted leather cord which Eslas wears around her ankle is an Endurance 1 matrix. Only members of the Ogodei tribe may use it. Only Ogodei people know how to untie it, so anyone else must cut it off her.

Eslas's Coder Cloak bears enchantments to protect the wearer with 8 AP. The cloak's vivid crimson imagery jars her nomad sensibilities when out on the plains. She usually wears it inside out (the lining is black), as she finds it less conspicuous this way.

Eslas comes from Pent, the grasslands to the north whose nomad inhabitants are ancient enemies of the Lunar Empire. Born with red hair, she was destined to become a child hostage of the Lunars, as all red-haired Pentians must in their 13th year. But Eslas rebelled against such a fate, and fled into the trackless wastes. During that summer she honed her skills as a hunter and tracker, but as the weather turned, living off the land became harder and harder. As winter set in, she almost perished in the cold, but a passing caravan saved her from death. Eslas was surprised to find that many of these travelers had red hair like herself, for they too had once been sent as hostages to the Empire, and had grown up in its service.

Eslas was taken back to the Lunar Heartlands where, to her surprise, she didn't find herself fed to demons or ravished by the lecherous Emperor, despite the stories told to frighten the children around the campfire. Instead, she found friendship and compassion for the first time in her life, not the pity and superstitious apprehension all Pentians feel about their unfortunate red-haired offspring. Eslas became an enthusiastic convert, both to the liberating Lunar religion and the virtues of civilization. She has been in Lunar service ever since. Eslas was recruited into the ranks of the Coders about five years ago, after successfully hunting down a fugitive nobleman across the wastes of Eol.

Appearance: Despite her years of Lunar culture and training, Eslas still has the look of the Pentian steppes about her, and despite speaking the Lunar tongue fluently, she retains a strong Pentian accent. Short and lean, her features mix Wareran and Kralori traits. Her face and hands are weather-beaten, tanned a ruddy brown, yet her unexposed skin remains pale and sallow. Eslas has Kralori eyes, which she purses into the thinnest slits as she scans the horizon. Her reddish, copper-colored hair is worn closely cropped. Her leather travel gear follows the Pentian style, though made from better materials by Lunar crafters. At formal occasions, she prefer to just reverse her cloak and wear its fancy decorations on the outside. Anderida has other ideas though, and once even managed to get Eslas into a court-dress, much to her embarrassment. Despite Eslas' embarrassment, everyone remarked how attractive she looked when scrubbed up.

Personality: Eslas is the least talkative of the Coders. Even Nose Ring has more to say. Leisure time finds Eslas endlessly cleaning and maintaining her archery tackle, and she makes all of her own arrows, using the finest materials available. Like all Pentians, Eslas is modest about her body. The leather thongs knotted around her thighs compound this coyness. They mark her as a nubile virgin of the Ogodei tribe. She does not know the magical formula to remove these bands, normally removed by tribal elders in a special ceremony. Despite the virtues of civilized hygiene, she avoids the public Baths for this reason.

Residence: Eslas lives at Jareen's (O-14), a three-star inn staffed entirely by women and run by a retired adventuress. Jareen and Eslas are now great friends. Although her room has a very comfortable bed, Eslas sleeps rolled in her blanket on the floor, nomad style. This embarrasses her, so she always messes up the bed so it looks as though she slept in it before the servants come in the morning.

Relationships with the other Coders: Eslas secretly carries a torch for Julan, and always strives to win his respect, admiration and, one day, love. She looks toward Anderida as a sort of mother figure who can teach her the civilized Lunar way, and she sometimes feels a twang of jealousy when the older woman talks of her real daughter back in the Empire. She is less close to Nose Ring, and thinks that Maculus considers her an ignorant savage. Because of this, she always tries to prove just how "civilized" she can be around him.