| Nethrissa Vesper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nethrissa is a closeted individual who reveals little about herself. She keeps those around her at a safe distance, slow to trust and slower to befriend. But even with walls higher than the tallest in Elder Soteria, her deep care for others and her urge to help other non-humans who may have been shunned by the 10 Kingdoms seeps through in everything she does.
Special Abilities
Both innate magic use and Pact of the Tome provide spells and the ability to use magical energy.
Cantrips
- Eldritch Blast
- A beam of crackling energy streaks toward a creature within range. Eldritch Invocations allow the Eldritch Blast to push targets back up to 15 feet.
- Chill Touch
- A ghostly, skeletal hand appears and wraps around the target. The victim of the attack is assaulted by necrotic forces directly from the grave, unable to heal and their attacks weakened until the spell breaks about 10 seconds later.
- Fire Bolt (Pact of the Tome)
- A small bolt of fire is launched at the target, setting them and anything within 5 feet alight.
- Shocking Grasp (Pact of the Tome)
- Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch. A successful hit freezes the target in place for 6 seconds, and is especially effective against those wearing armor.
- Thorn Whip (Pact of the Tome)
- You create a long, vine-like whip covered in thorns that lashes out at your command toward a creature in range. Most humanoids will be pulled toward the caster by the magical whip.
Spells
- Speak with Animals
- You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence, but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you. Thanks to Eldritch Invocations, this can be cast without taking up extra energy.
- Arms of Hadar
- You invoke the power of Hadar, the Dark Hunger. Tendrils of dark energy erupt from you and batter all creatures within 10 feet of you.
- Hellish Rebuke
- You point your finger, and the creature that damaged you is momentarily surrounded by hellish flames.
- Hex
- You place a curse on a creature that you can see within range. This spell forces the target to take extra necrotic damage anytime the caster successfully attacks them, and gives them disadvantage when trying to resist or dodge future attacks. Lasts for an hour or until defeat. Can be reapplied infinitely to new targets without consuming extra energy only if the spell ended due to the target being defeated.
- Cloud of Daggers
- The air is filled with a cloud of spinning magical daggers 5 by 5 feet, anyone who enters the cloud is cut to ribbons. The spell remains active for up to a minute- or until the user’s concentration is broken.
- Crown of Madness
- A twisted crown of glowing, jagged iron appears on the head of the target and their eyes glow with magic. They attack the nearest creature, friendly or not. Lasts for 1 minute or until the caster’s concentration is broken.
- Misty Step
- Briefly surrounded by silvery mist, you teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.
- Vampiric Touch
- The touch of your shadow-wreathed hand can siphon force from others to heal your wounds.
Special Skills
- Skilled with a dagger
- Skilled with a crossbow
- Can read Infernal
Special Equipment
- Studded gambeson
- Dagger
- Crossbow
- Warlock’s Tome
Background
Memories of Nethrissa’s childhood are few and far between, blurring together into a series of rapid moves from village to village before her family settled in a town near the Cider River. They were unwelcome just about everywhere they went, anomalies and abominations from the pits of the Severed Realm that had long since faded into legend. Most considered their arrival a bad omen. This place merely tolerated their presence enough to let them stay, until bandits arrived and ravaged the town. Despite the now 16 year old Nethrissa’s parents being among the dead, the town’s only Tieflings were blamed as the cause. She was branded as cursed, beaten within an inch of her life, and left in the wilds outside the town to die. Nethrissa's parents, completely unknown to them or Nethrissa herself, were pulled by the Goddess Aelia of the Old Gods of Elder Soteria to that world after the the Backlash as cruelty for what she deemed their laziness.
And that’s when She appeared, the Goddess Aelia. She offered safety, healing, and most importantly it promised nobody would ever harm her again. All she asked was a deal, wanting to further compound her cruel control of the family she pulled long ago into her own realm. It had plans, vast and sprawling plans that involved concepts which Nethrissa could not comprehend without toeing the line of insanity. She would serve Its purposes, and It would give her the power to protect herself. She accepted, on death’s door. She was granted magic, power she did not earn. And It went silent. For two years, she used magic to secure herself safety. But as time went on, she no longer needed to worry for food or shelter, small odd jobs and petty theft kept her well supplied. She began to search for something more meaningful than survival, and the thought occurred to her that she could do some good for other non-humans with her abilities and her reputation as a tough sell-sword.
So the Brooding Devil’s Mercenary Company was founded, and its heraldry of a red skull on a black field was commissioned from a local seamstress. She had it adorned on the left breast and shoulders of her gambeson. Now she seeks new recruits to join her band, especially non-humans, outcasts, and other types that may be excluded by society at large.