Jessica Uthraven Copyright (c) 1995 by Jonathan Briggs In the forest near a small village, a woman lives in a tiny cabin. She seems calm and gentle to everyone who meets her. But there are stories... Stories of mutilated pets and cattle found near her cabin. Stories of terrible screams heard during the night, and the smell of sulpher in the morning. Most people in the village don't think it could be her at all. After all, she's blind. And all the animals seem to love her, and she seems to love them. No one knows where she came from, or what she is or was. She doesn't seem to know either. She arrived in the village three years ago, on a galloping horse that was covered in sweat, running as if they were pursued by demons. Inside the village, her horse collapsed, and so did she. The horse died, but she lived with the help of the villagers. Some who saw her then say she had a look of mortal terror on her face before she fell into unconciousness. The villagers built her a small simple cabin at the edge of their village and they keep her supplied with food and other things. In return, she supplies them with some small nature magics that any hedge-witch might know. Stats for Jessica: Gentle Jessica Jessica Uthraven, The Black ST 9 Attractive Appearance ST 9 Attractive Appearance DX 11 Magery 2 DX 11 Magery 2 IQ 12 Animal Empathy IQ 15 Blindness HT 10 Amnesia HT 10 Split Personality Blindness Eidetic Memory 2 Split Personality Sadism Paranoia Literacy Some minor spells from the Minor spells from the Plant, Plant, Animal, and Healing Animal, and Healing colleges. colleges of magic. Most spells from Necromancy, Other useful skills. Communication, and Body Control, some at level 21. Jessica always had talent for magic. So her noble and moderately rich family had her sent to the best teachers. One of these teachers had a well hidden, dark secret. He was a necromancer. One of the best. And he needed an apprentice to pass on the knowledge he had gained over two centuries of practice in these dark arts, because he was dying. He convinced her, he seduced her. And she learned. She learned very, very well. Eventually her teacher died, if that's what you call what highly skilled and very old necromancers do (Don't knock on his tomb, he likes peace and quiet). How did she get to her current state? Jessica was in the midst of doing a Summoning. Nothing big, just a medium sized demon for a bit of spying on a rival. Unfortunatly, during the casting, Nature decided there should be an earthquake. Not a big one, just medium sized. Just a medium sized crack, right in the middle of Jessica's carefully drawn, carefully enchanted pentacle. Surprised, she stuttered while pronouncing the Name. Big mistake. Critical failure. She didn't get a medium sized demon, she got something _much_ bigger. Something that enjoyed _playing_ with humans much more than eating them. It blinded her with white hot talons of flame. It tormented her mind, implanted images and memories horrible beyond imagination. And she couldn't forget. She can never forget. In self defense, her mind split apart. Plot ideas: 1) The PCs come to this village for supplies, information, etc, and find her. If they discover the truth, what do they do? Leave her alone, as she is? Or attempt to cure her? (In her normal state, before this happened, she wasn't a very nice person really). 2) She IS a PC, searching for her lost past. If she finds it, will she WANT to return?