Description
“Can’t we resolve this peacefully? I don’t want to fight, I’m terrible at that kind of thing. I hate suffering.”
At a glance Annice is short and elegant in appearance, but a closer look reveals a person worn down by hardships. Standing short at 5’3″ (~160cm) with a small frame that is hidden by a loosely draped robe that seems to swaddle around her. Her short light beige hair mimics her robe with small tufts and curls that seem to cup and swaddle her face in a multitude of wavy layers. Across her face, from her right cheek and across her nose, towards her left eye is a large scar that disappears under a large bandage that wraps around her temple and the entire left side of her face, concealing some kind of hideous wound. Despite this, her remaining blue eye is soft, comforting, and so welcoming that small glances towards her tend to extend into drawn out stares, bathing in the warmth of her gaze.
“Hehehe, this is such a rush! But–y’know– I’m going to cut you and stab you over and over until you regret making me like this!”
Bandage off, Annice is a completely different person. Beneath the veil lies a large, magenta, glowing, fissure-like scar that spreads out in different directions across the entire left side of her face. At the epicenter of the fissure is a dark hole where her eye should be that seems to consume everything in its gaze. Looking at it overwhelms spectators with an uncomfortable irritation; a horrific feeling that there is something innately wrong and unnatural about that gap.
With the robe cast aside, Annice reveals underneath a purely utilitarian outfit; a tight short sleeved tunic and almost knee-length leggings, both clearly designed for physical exertion, along with a small sheath containing a incomprehensibly sharp curved stronglass knife. With a closer look you can notice small scars, perhaps incisions, down and around her exposed arms and legs though it is difficult to see against the backdrop of her light skin.
With the veil removed her expression is completely different, a wide maniacal grin, furrowed brow, her remaining eye sharp and menacing; even her hair seems to turnup and unfold, becoming more wild and aggressive.
Details
- Level:
- 6 (18)
- Motive:
- Revenge; To slay the Amber Pope and detroy the papacy along with The Order of Truth.
- Health:
- 20
- Damage:
- 2
- Movement:
- Short
- Modifications:
Resists mental effects as level 7.
- Combat:
Annice uses a small but extremely sharp knife in combat. This weapon acts as a light weapon for the purposes of hit and damage. However, when attacking, Annice’s knowledge of the human body allows her to choose any pool as a target for her attacks. If damage is successful, Annice wounds the enemy in a specific way, causing actions relating to that pool to become one step more difficult for the affected individual until a heal action to heal that wound heal is taken.
When her bandage is removed Annice starts to utilise the artifact implanted into her left eye which vastly increases her already high analytical capabilities and seems to change her personality. By analysing the enemy’s movements and comparing to both standard and efficient modes of attack Annice can accurately predict the physical movements of any well trained person.
This means that against Annice, training, specialisation and inabilities have the exact opposite effect. Any combat related training or specialisation makes you less effective in combat against Annise while any combat related inabilities make you more effective in combat against Annise. Furthermore, Annise can instantly identify the function and use of any numenera while her eye is exposed.
To gain advantages against Annice, one must focus on unconventional or inefficient means of attacking that confuse both her and her artifact’s analysis capabilities.
Annice’s eye artifact is always active but covering it suppresses any analytical inputs thus negating any effects it usually has. When the bandage is removed interfacing with the artifact and its outputs becomes severely taxing for her body. Therefore while the bandage is removed, Annice automatically takes 1 extra damage per turn, at the end of her turn, in addition to any other damage taken.
This damage cannot kill her, however, and if Annice’s HP goes below 5 at any time, the artifact destroys itself with an extremely painful and searing heat that leaves Annice debilitated and at the brink of death (0 HP, soon to die, any offensive action automatically hits and slays her, can be stabilized @ difficulty level 5). If Annice is slain outright from 5 HP or above she dies as normal, though the artifact still burns away.
Annice will likely retreat if she takes any kind of significant damage from an enemy’s attack, or if she gets too worn down by the use of her eye. Pain terrifies her.
- Interaction:
With her bandage on, Annice is soft spoken and very charming, she is an expert at manipulating people and convincing them to take her side.
With her bandage off, Annice is giddy, if not crazed, belligerant, angry and malicious. She has no social graces and will almost always take violent actions to achieve her goal.
As the leader of the very small but up-and-coming ‘freedom fighting’/’terrorist’ operation called ‘The Dead Leaves’ she is constantly looking for allies that want to share in her fight against The Order of Truth. She makes superb use of her group’s tiny numbers with her superior tactics due to uncanny predictive skills, but because they’re so small they’ve yet to gain any major recognition.
Players may sympathise with her goals and join her group or otherwise become allies, especially since she sells it so well. Alternatively players might be sent to shut the group down or even assassinate their leader to cut the group off at its source.
- Use:
As an ex-Aeon Priest, Annice, like all other Aeon Priests, is skilled at identifying the use and effect of various numenera. With the help of her artifact she can identify even the most difficult to identify numenera with ease, though she would not willingly expose her artifact to anyone. She only uses her artifact as a last resort and almost exclusively to aid her in battle with the intention of killing those her oppose her.
- Loot:
5d6 Shins, 1d4 Cyphers, a stonglass knife (as described), robe (as described), fitted clothing (as described), a book on a random topic, a dairy detailing her time in ‘The Order of Truth.’