Name: Kay Bahniskrik
Mug:
Class: Mimic -> Xenomancer (probably)
Character Skill: Malady
Starting Weapon: Thunder
Affinity: (leave this blank; it will be rolled for later by me when your character got accepted)
Personal Fault:
Inquisitorial Trauma: against Foes Equipped with Light Magic -10 Dodge.
No, they aren't the ones who took her... but still...Personal Skills:
Double Double Toil and Trouble: When above 50% HP, +2 DR.
A Practitioners most important tool is herself, so it is best to keep it in the best shape possible.Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog: When obtaining a Spell from an Ally both heal 2 HP.
My research is for the good of all mankind, it is only right I share some of the fruits.\\
Mirror Mirror on the Wall: The last spell obtained from an Enemy has +15 Hit against that Enemy's First Class and its Promotions until the end of the Map
I believe those God-Botherers have a saying for this; something about eagle feathers I think?Preferred Stats:
Skill, Speed -> Skill, Magic
Weapon Profs:
Anima (C) -> Anima (A), Hidden (A)
Total Level: 1
Level: Mimic 1
HP: 18 (40%)
STR: 0 (0%)
MAG: 5+1=6 (50%)
SKL: 6 (25%)
LCK: 3 (30%)
DEF: 1+1=2 (70%)
RES: 4 (65%)
SPD: 4+2=6 (55%)
CON: 7
AID: 6
MOV: 5
Bio:
As the first child of a couple of peasants from a village called Bahniskrik (lit. Swamp Bush), Kay wasn’t expected to be, or achieve, anything special, however as a small child she was, for lack of a better term, bought from her parents by a noblewoman named Countess Marcela Calmstein. Said noblewoman intended to use her for a Dark Ritual, with the help of a “Practitioner” who went by “Baba Havran” (lit. Grandmother Raven) (Kay would later learn that wasn’t her real name (Kay had her suspicions, she looked way too young to be a grandmother), but out of caution she, like many other Practitioners, was not one to give out her real name). However, it turns out the Countess (and/or her underlings) did not do their due diligence, failing to check that Kay was born on the correct day for the ritual (on account of ambiguity on which calendar Kay’s parents used: Gregorian, Julian, or some local one), as well as (rather embarrassingly) actually getting her full name: turns out Kay wasn’t what her parents had named her, but it was just a nickname, and Kay was too young to pronounce her name (and by the time she was old enough to theoretically be able to, she had herself had forgotten), additionally Marcela assumed that as a commoner Kay didn’t have any family name, or patronym, or any other additional names beyond “Kay”, assuming her village of origin would suffice.
Baba Havran was none too pleased that, not wanting it to go awry, they would have to scrap the ritual (she was more annoyed for the loss of a chance to see if the ritual would actually work than anything else). That just left the question of what to actually do with Kay, after much deliberation it was decided to keep her as a test subject for some of their other, less deadly experiments, and if she survived, as an aide for Baba Havran.
She did survive, and learned a number of subjects that one generally doesn’t bring up in pious (or polite) society. All was… maybe not good per se, but it there are certainly worse lives than being the errand-girl (and occasional test subject) to a “Blue Magic Practitioner” (something completely different from a Witch, and Baba Havran WILL talk your ear off about the differences between them if you let her), regardless, her life as Baba Havran’s aide at the Calmstein Estate came to end when Count Calmstein died on one of his many “adventures”, and it turned out that he had racked up a number of debts from said adventures, debts his wife was completely unaware of until his passing. With the grief of losing her husband (and his income), having to organise the Will, dealing with relatives demanding this and that, and a number of servants who could see the oncoming collapse deciding to abscond with valuables, some things fell through the cracks, including paying Baba Havran for her sundry duties (mostly concocting medicines, poisons, cosmetics and so forth, as well as funding various research projects), a woman with some honour she confronted the Countess, and it was decided best they part ways amiacably (neither wishing to risk a religious busybody deciding to stick their nose in their experiments and decide to cause a ruckus), and to cover missed pay Baba Havran being allowed to retain ownership of a number of tools Countess Marcela had bought her… including Kay.
Thus began Kay’s life as a travelling Practitioner as an Apprentice to Baba Havran, going from village to village, court to court, plying various skills: curing diseases here, dispelling spirits there, helping translate a tome filled with arcane (and/or demonic) writings someplace else. It was in many ways harder that staying at the Calmstein Estate, while they had a wagon to keep themselves dry during the rain (when the roof didn’t leak… which was hardly a rare occurrence) it wasn’t always clear when their next decent meal would be (and as the Apprentice Kay tended to get the scraps when a decent meal could be found), but at the same time, the much greater variety meant she learned way more, way faster. The only issue was that people tend to fear that which they don’t understand, and while the pair helped many of those who were suffering from the increase in Paranormal Activity there were also many who assumed they were somehow connected. As such it was not uncommon for them to be run out of town by terrified, torch and pitchfork wielding mobs, led by a preacher accusing them of all sorts of crimes against God.
With the paranoia and increased scrutiny for anyone who wasn’t a perfectly orthodox (or Orthodox for that matter) Christian, as well as the roving bands of self appointed “Inquisitors” and “Crusaders”, it was only a matter of time until they found themselves in a dangerous situation with seemingly no way out, surrounded by men and women filled with so much faith that there was no room for mercy. As Kay considered the very real, very likely even, possibility that this would be how she would die: slowly, painfully, burning at the stake, she looked to her Mentor: she was preparing spells? Thoughts raced through her head: “She couldn’t hope to take them all on, could she? We are outnumbered by… a lot! And even if we can take them down, we’ll have signed our own death warrant, we’d only be buying ourselves a few days until…” it was then that the spells went off; the first flung Kay onto their wagon and bound her to it, unable to move, the second drove the horses into some kind of frenzy, compelling them to charge through the assembled zealots with the wagon and Kay behind them. Seeing this, the zealots not trampled by the escaping wagon charged Baba Havran, forcing Kay to watch as her Mentor was captured, almost certainly to be executed, from that position Kay was able to see her mouth one word “Survive!”.
By the time the horses had collapsed from exhaustion, and the magical bindings holding her had faded, Kay had run out of tears to cry. After finding a place to hide the wagon, horses and herself, as well as some water (and with that water she found a few more tears to cry), Kay knew what the next thing she needed to do was: erect some kind of memorial to her late Mentor. With her very limited skills with Earth Magic she attempted to make a simple stone cenotaph, however an issue arose: she didn’t know her name: Baba Havran wasn’t her “real name”, giving someone your full name could invite any number of curses if the wrong people got a hold of it, as such it was common practice to use a pseudonym, and Kay had never asked, not that Baba Havrin would likely have given her it, it wasn’t as if Kay could give her hers (as the only people who know it would be… her parents… no, they don’t deserve to be called her parents after selling their own child…). Thinking on their travels it wasn’t uncommon for them to pretend to be (grand)mother and (grand)child, so after much deliberation decided to put
“Baba Havran Bahniskrik, Blue Mage, Mentor, Family”
After putting the finishing touches on the tribute to the closest thing Kay ever had to family, (she wasn’t sure if Baba Havran would have felt the same, but the fact she sacrificed her life to save Kay’s…) she clasped her hand… and couldn’t bring herself to say a prayer, every time she tried, her voice would break, and she would break down sobbing again, and considering how she died… it just didn’t seem right…
Kay still had the wagon and all its contents, from equipment and notes, to some food and reagents, as well as a couple of exhausted horses (she would trade them for Baba Havran in a heartbeat, but that wasn’t an option) so she was able to resume her previous work as a Travelling Practitioner… but while it was hard to make a living with a Blue Mage that has a wide range of esoteric skills, as little more than an Apprentice it was near impossible, over the weeks and months since… losing her Mentor… Kay had to make hard decisions on what jobs to take, as well as other ways of making money, which often meant selling the things she and Baba Havran had worked so hard on. Eventually it became obvious that such was untenable, her only option left being the so-called “Demon Castle”: who knows what treasures lay inside, if not enough to live on, then the knowledge could kick start all sorts of other discoveries; plus there was something about a moderately wealthy family attempting something, maybe if she proves herself useful she could find a permanent place in their court.
"The Devil is an old foe, whose trickery is known, and against whom we already have the the perfect weapon in Christ. He can puppet the unwilling to a lesser extent, but the kind of full corruption that we saw here requires convincing over a long period. He must have latched onto some small sin this poor priest had, and had not absolved himself of, which at his urging became greater and greater until he gave himself to the devil. It's unfortunate, but this is why it's important to confess and purify your sins before they become too great."
Yes, and I simply wish to learn more so that we may use such a weapon more effectively.
If we knew more about what devilry had befallen him, we may have been able to "cut the strings" puppeting him and save his life, and maybe even his soul.
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