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Timken, Halfling Vampire Thief
Submitted by Arislyn
Name: Timken
Race: Halfling Vampire
Class: Thief
Level: 13th
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Gender: Female
| Strength: 18/76 |
Stamina: 18/76 |
Muscle: 18/76 |
| Dexterity: 19 |
Aim: 19 |
Balance: 19 |
| Constitution: 14 |
Fitness: 14 |
Health: 14 |
| Intelligence: 15 |
Reason: 17 |
Knowledge: 13 |
| Wisdom: 14 |
Intuition: 14 |
Willpower: 14 |
| Charisma: 16 |
Appearance: 16 |
Leadership: 16 |
Racial Abilities:
+1 attack with hurled weapons and slings, 60' infravision, saving throw bonus, surprise bonus, charm person, drain two life energy levels in unarmed attack, invulnerable to weapons of less than +1 enchantment, regenerate 3 hitpoints per round, gaseous form, immune to: sleep, charm, hold, poisons and paralysis, shapechange, summon bats, and can spider climb.
Class/Kit Abilities:
91% Pick Pocket, 90% Open Locks, 96% Find and Remove Traps, 96% Move Silently, 91% Hide in Shadows, 90% Detect Noise, 95% Climb Walls, 66% Read Languages, backstab for 5xdamage. She is also skilled at tumbling, tightrope walking, appraising, disguise, throwing, rope use, musical instrument (cittern), cooking, trailing, investigation, and dancing.
Physical Description:
You are used to seeing plump, ruddy-cheeked halflings and this woman could not be farther from that image. Perhaps she is ill. Pale and thin, she glides into the room and graces each gaze with a sardonic smile. She pushes a lock of dark, curly hair out of her eyes and passes your table on the way to a corner chair. A chill runs up your spine as steps by. You glance around, looking for the source of the chilly breeze but find no window or door open. Your gaze wanders back to where she sits, alone and dark, possibly waiting for someone. She catches you glancing at her and fixes you with her dark, blue eyes. Again, she smiles, and this time, you think you see the tip of a fang...
History:
Timken was a fairly happy-go-lucky, young halfling thief who happened to make some very bad choices in her career. It all started when she had been chosen to infiltrate a rival thieves guild in a nearby town. Now, she was not very keen on this idea, but as it turns out, her own guild gave her little choice in the matter. It was very much a "damned if you, damned if you don't" situation. As you might have guessed, her guild did not expect her to live through this assignment. In all honesty, neither did Timken. But, ever the pragmatic one, she figured she could go along with the show until she got a chance to cut and run. Certainly, if she tried to ditch the guild this early in the game, she would be caught.
So, she set out with little intention of routing out the elusive master of the rival guild, as was her mission. No, she was going to be quite happy to simply go through the motions for a couple of days then hit the road. Once she became caught up in the intrigue, though, there was no turning back. Not only did she discover where the guild was located and manage to reveal the master, she actually (Here was her first mistake!) fell in love with that self-same guildmaster. When asked by her guild to betray him, she instead set up her original guild to take the fall. The rival guild utterly decimated them, taking over their territory. As a result, Timken settled into a comfortable position within the new guild as a scout and mistress to the guildmaster.
Her next big mistake was not necessarily her fault. It was more a stroke of very ill luck. During an outing of leisurely pick-pocketing, she lifted an amulet from a robed man in the marketplace. What she did not realize was that she had lifted a valuable magical item that belonged to the Zhentarim. Needless to say, they wanted their amulet back. In defending herself, she managed to kill several Zhentarim agents, thus setting herself up as a primary target. She turned to her guildmaster for help. As it turns out, he was not at all in love with her. For a sizable sum of gold, he happily turned her over to the Zhentarim.
When they took her back to Zhentil Keep for execution, the priests who had been assigned to torture her beforehand discovered something quite fortunate (for them!) Timken was pregnant. The priests had been working long and hard on a spell to create a nigh unstoppable creature. To complete their experiments, they but needed an unborn child. Timken's would do nicely! So, they cast their spell upon her and were quite pleased with the results. Within her belly, the child grew at a phenomenal rate, eventually tearing itself out of her instead of being born. Of course, this normally would've killed the mother, but the priests could not allow that. No, no…someone had to take care of it until it was fully mature. So, Timken was locked in a room and given the scaly, winged demon child to nurse.
Timken realized that once the spawn had reached maturity (which wasn't going to take long, judging by the rate it was growing), she would no longer be of use to them. Once she was no longer needed, she would be killed. Desperate now to escape, she busted the mirror in her room and used a shard to slit her guard's throat. Once the guard was out of the way, she jumped from the third story window, breaking an arm. She dashed through the streets, barely evading recapture at every turn. She reached the ocean and leapt in, despite the fact that she could not swim. This was her only means of escape. Caught in a rip tide, she was swept out to sea.
She awakened on a distant shore, beaten, bruised, and cut from being slammed against barnacle-covered pylons, but alive. She staggered into the forest where she was discovered by a druid. He took care of her until she was fully functional again. Once she was well, she left the druid behind with her thanks. Where was she going from there, one might ask? Where else? She was going back to the town to kill the guildmaster and lover who had betrayed her.
Once she arrived, she found the town besieged by Zhentarim. She had not realized that the town was located on a prime trade route. Should the Zhentarim gain control of it, they would garner yet more power. This pleased Timken. Perhaps she could kill two birds with one stone. If she could find a way to foil the Zhentarim and kill the guildmaster at the same time, all the better. With that in mind, she traveled to a city south of her target and managed to weasel her way into the government. Once there, she struck a bargain with the authorities that were actively fighting the invasion to the north. She would locate the leader of the rebels who were defying the Zhents and bring him to their aide if they gave her a disguise. A truly excellent disguise - a polymorph spell. They agreed and Timken became a half-elven woman named Jera.
Once she got into town, she discovered that the rebel leader was none other than the guildmaster. As much as she truly hated him, she could not kill him and destroy the Zhentarim's plans at the same time. He was her best bet at defying them. So, while in disguise, she played the part of town whore in order to get within the Zhent barracks and spy upon the officers. Fortunately, people tend to talk when they are around those they consider to be less than themselves. It was quite easy for Timken/Jera to gain the guildmaster's trust after she had revealed several secrets to him. She planned to wait until the Zhentarim had been defeated then kill the guildmaster.
This was not to be. On one excursion, the entire party of rebels was captured. Included in that party were both Timken/Jera and the guildmaster. The guards inspected their prisoners for magic and discovered that Timken/Jera reeked of it. They called in a mage to dispel any enchantments. This revealed Timken to be their escaped prisoner from a couple of years ago. Needless to say, the Zhents had a field day with this. The commander of the enemy troops realized that Timken had been spying upon them all along. He decided that she had served the Zhents once in life, now she would do so in death. A magically controlled vampire was called forth, and Timken joined the ranks of the undead.
For weeks, she was kept locked away with her vampire mentor who taught her the finer points of being one of the most sophisticated of the undead. She learned…oh, yes, did she learn. Her mentor and the Zhents found out just exactly how well she had learned when they came to check on the two of them only to find Timken missing and the mentor staked to the floor.
Now, Timken dwells in Skullport as one of the primary crimelords of the city. She has set up a quaint, little shop which sells tours of Undermountain to unwary adventurers and she also acts as a fence. She deals in various and sundry goods (most of which she takes off of the unwary adventurers after disposing of them). In fact, if Timken's shop does not have what you are looking for, she can most likely get it for you. She also controls a vast network of spies which stretches all through Skullport and Waterdeep. These she employs to keep track of what the Zhents are up to. It matters not to her who she helps, as long as it hurts the Zhents. In fact, Harper agents have discovered Zhentish assassins nailed to the walls outside of their abodes. Though they do not know it, this is Timken's work.
Advantages:
She is a vampire with a vast network of spies. I created her before the Player's Options were published, so any advantages she has are listed in her history and racial abilities.
Disadvantages:
She is an obsessed vampire. She will do whatever is necessary to cause as much harm to the Zhentarim as possible. Also, she has the usual vampiric weaknesses such as sunlight, holy water, can be turned, the need to feed, repulsed by lawful good holy symbols, repulsed by garlic, harmed by immersion in running water, and must be invited into a home.
Special Equipment:
Amulet of Protection vs. Sunlight - Allows her to move around in full daylight for a two hour period 1/week.
Girdle of Giant Strength - Stone Giant
Ring of Elemental Metamorphosis - Air
Anklet of Water Walking
Possible Uses for the Character:
Timken is a wonderful source of items and knowledge. Unfortunately, this usually comes with a price. Should the PCs require something of her, she will most likely ask for them to run a few "errands" for her in return.
She also has managed to keep herself completely hidden from many of her most distant spies. These employees believe that they are working for a good aligned group. It would not be unreasonable for the PCs to be hired by one of Timken's spies only to somehow discover the roots of the organization are less than healthy.
The PCs could be hired by the Zhentarim to try and discover why their operatives in Waterdeep keep disappearing.
- Arislyn
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