Madame Ave

by Cassandra

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1st-level Half-Werepanther (medium-sized shapechanger), Neutral Good

"the children of the night... what beautiful music they make" darkness... hidden from the eyes... absence of light...

Hit Dice 1d8-1 (7 hp)
Initiative +2 (Dex)
Speed 30 ft
AC 12 (+2 Dex)
Attacks Melee +0;
Damage By weapon;
Special Attacks none
Special Qualities none
Saves Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +5
Abilities Str 10, Dex 15, Con 9, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 16
Skills no info available
Feats Iron Will

2nd edition stats :
Madame Eva (Kriska) (half-werepanther): AC 9; MV 12; HD 1; hp 5; Str 10, Dex 15, Con 9, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 16; # AT 1; Dmg by weapon; AL NG; THAC0 20, Morale 12;

Kriska is unusual because of her lycanthropic heritage, yet she is not one of those creatures. Instead, she is a human, caught in the middle of the change between hybrid and normal form. A half panther, half human mix, she is viewed as a freak and shunned by the normal world.

Known as Madame Ave, Kriska has her own tent set up when the Carnival stops at a town or city. This dark and mysterious tent is where Kriska holds fortune telling sessions over a glass ball. This ball is lit from underneath with a small candle to give it the impression of glowing. People flock to her tent to hear their fortunes for two coppers and see the exotic looking Madame Ave. Kriska bases her fortunes on obvious clues given by the target as well as bits of imaginings she comes up with. Unknown to her, the "imaginings" are small bits of insight she gains of the future. Her fortunes are never exact, but some uncanny coincidences have happened, giving rise to the possibility of Vistani blood in Kriska's far past.

Appearance

Although conceived by a lycanthrope male, Kriska is not considered a werecreature. Caught in the hybrid stage, her permanent form is that of a half human, half panther cross. She has dark green eyes that glow when she is excited. Her face is that of a cat's and human's, having a cat like nose, slanted eyes, slightly tapered ears, and soft whiskers.
She has long black hair, which has the texture of fur. Her hands, while human looking, have short stubby fingers, along with retractable claws, which can allow her to climb trees as easily as any cat. Although she doesn't have fur like the hybrid, she does have a strip of black fur running down her spine and it covers her tail that comes out of her tailbone. Her back legs are slightly bent, giving her a crouching stance, although this is a normal stance for her. Her voice is deep and throaty, which has caused many human men to be attracted to her initially. When she's happy or content, she can purr quite noticeably.
She normally dresses in peasant type clothing, since she doesn't want to stand out and have people stare at her. When she travels in the carnival show, she dresses in bright skirts and coloured blouses, in the hopes of attracting the attention of Sindra, if he should ever see her again.

Background

The details around Kriska's birth is quite strange. Typically, the conception of a child between a lycanthrope and a human produces a child that will eventually become the same as it's lycanthropic parent. Kriska's case was very different.
Beth was a beautiful young girl living in Rotwald, Valachan. She lived as most citizens did: she worked for a meager living, helping her older parents in their tailor shop. She planned to one day inherit the shop from her parents when they retired. Secretly though, she also wished to be out of Rotwald and living comfortably among the nobles. Beth had high aspirations for herself, but felt she was trapped in the rut of Rotwald.
Now Beth was a good, clean and wholesome girl. She stood around 5'4" and had beautiful long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She loved her parents deeply and would do nothing to hurt them. But she was also naive, and when a passing stranger caught sight of her and turned his attentions towards her, she fell for every smooth word he gave.
That stranger was Leon Pafaski, a newly recruited member of the Black Watch, Von Kharkov's law enforcement in the domain of Valachan. Leon's first assignment was street patrol in Rotwald, where he first sighted Beth. Still fresh with the powers of lycanthropy given to him as a member of the Watch, and filled with the feeling of power because of his station, he set his mind to getting Beth for his own.
It wasn't a very difficult task. Beth had never had a suitor who came from such an elite background. The truth of the Black Watch was unknown to the citizens, who saw them only as the law enforcement who kept back the jungle and creatures at night. Little did they know they were welcoming the creatures of the night into their city. So when Leon began sending flowers and gifts to Beth, the girl fell instantly in love. This handsome man with a high position in society was clearly her chance to escape the routine life of Rotwald.
In truth, Leon had no intention of a permanent long term relationship with Beth. He thought her beautiful and enjoyed her company immensely, but Leon didn't want any ties to hold him down. He reveled in his powers as a werepanther and wanted to use them to their fullest extent. He didn't want to settle down with anyone.
Instead of eventually leaving Beth, Leon decided to slowly poison her. He figured Beth might follow him if he was positioned in another city. That would never do, since she might foil any other plans for other women in different locations. Using a potent poison found in the jungles around Rotwald, Leon administered small doses to Beth. The small portions of poison he was feeding her were never enough to kill her outright, but in time, the poison would accumulate in her system, and she would die.
At the time that Leon was poisoning Beth, she carried his child. Leon knew about the child and since he didn't want any ties, including children, he thought this would be the perfect way to eliminate both of them. The bouts of sickness brought on by the poison was easily attributed to morning sickness brought about by the pregnancy. Leon figured Beth's death could eventually be pointed to complications in the pregnancy as well, leaving him blameless in her death.
Leon's plans for Beth's demise came to a crashing halt around the fifth month of the pregnancy. If the plans wouldn't have been halted, Beth and her unborn child would have been dead in another month. Instead, the evil Leon fell under the flashing swords of a party of adventurers, a silver arrow piercing his heart. Beth was heartbroken by the death of her beloved, still believing he loved her and was planning on staying with her for the rest of their lives. The poisoning of Beth and her child stopped with Leon's death, and she gradually grew stronger and healthier as a result of it. Unfortunately, there was damage that had yet to be seen.
Four months after the death of Leon, Beth went into labor. It was a very very difficult childbirth, but eventually, Kriska was born, leaving Beth drained of all her strength. But the combination of Leon's lycanthrophic heritage and the poison introduced into the baby's system for five months had caused some very strange results. Kriska had the features of a cat, including a pug nose, whiskers, claws, and a patch of black fur running down her spine. To top it all off, the baby had the beginnings of a tail growing out of the base of her spine! Beth and her family were horrified at the creature that had been conceived by Leon. But Beth felt this was her only link to her beloved, and still not realizing his evil background, decided to raise her child as best she could.
Kriska was faced with the trials and tribulations of growing up looking different from everyone. Her family helped her through this by raising her at home and taking care to keep her out of sight of the general populace. Lacking the funds to leave the city, they were forced to remain at the tailor shop. Kriska was trained to help out in the shop and while she was kept away from the people, she led a contented life.
Problems arose one day when Kriska was sixteen. She had become increasingly restless with staying out of sight. She knew she was different and that others wouldn't understand, but she had a restless spirit, as a result of her father's heritage. One day, she came out of the back room to ask her grandparent's something, and a customer was standing in the front room. Instead of being horrified by the different looking Kriska though, he dropped to his knees and loudly proclaimed her to be the most beautiful and exotic looking woman he had ever seen.
The man's name was Sindra and he was a traveling bard. He had stopped at the tailor's to have a tunic repaired when he saw Kriska. The young girl had never met anyone outside of her family and she was touched by the obvious emotion in Sindra's face. Her family feared for her safety, but Sindra insisted on courting the young girl. Alas, Kriska was doomed to follow in her mother's footsteps. She fell deeply in love with Sindra. The bard, on the other hand, had no such emotions for her. He desired her deeply and seeing her naivete, knew what to use to have her fall in love with him. After several weeks of courting her, the bard picked up and left the city of Rotwald for parts unknown without even saying goodbye to Kriska.

Current Sketch

Kriska is currently traveling with Carnival. Regardless of her deformity, she is still a beautiful and exotic looking creature. Her mobility with Carnival gives her the chance to search for information on her lost love Sindra. She still believes some dire fate happened to him. Her role in Carnival is that of an exotic fortune teller. There is a possibility she has a hint of Vistani blood from far back, as her fortunes are not always off the mark. She lacks the skill and accuracy of a true Vistani, but there are still some unknown forces at work behind her skills.

Personality

Kriska is still very naive about the world around her. The people in Carnival try to maintain her innocence, believing it adds to her attraction. She is quiet and soft spoken, rarely involving herself in conflicts. She is more likely to back down to a strong person than to stand up for herself. She has a strong affinity for cats, given her heritage. In a way, she can be very catlike in her personality, tending to be independent. She is a very loving and caring person.

Adventure hooks

Unknown to Kriska and any others around her, meeting up with Sindra is bound to be a very negative experience. Kriska's werepanther blood is still strong inside her. If she ever meets up with Sindra and learns the truth of his feelings for her, the lycanthrope beast within her will be released. She will turn from a quiet and loving individual into a raving creature, filled with hate and anger towards the man who stole her heart. It is unknown if she would ever recover from the betrayal.

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