Last Name: Thunderkeg (The-thunder-of-a-wine-butt-full-of-alchemist's-fire-destroying-a-cave-full-of-goblins) Yes... that would strictly make her name "Thunderbutt" but she avoids that since she never gets any work done if she uses that name.
Appearance:
Tall slim gnome with blue eyes and blonde hair, always seems to have a smile. While working (which is most of the time) tends to wear robes that conceal her appearance somewhat so she is often mistaken for a man, or a halfling, or a halfling man.
Race: Gnome
Gender: Female
Age: 53
Height Tall... for a gnome 3' 4"
Weight: 40lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Facial Hair Style: Oi! Watch it.
Personality Profile:
Generally appearing cheerful and happy it is often a show. She tries to see a positive side to everything, even if she does sometimes fail. Very hard working, highly organised, and ridiculously clever. However she does have a slightly paranoid streak that is trained into all the residents of where she was raised. Personal information is something to be guarded.
General Health: A bit on the sickly side for a gnome, pretty average really in general terms. Gets the flu in winter like everyone else.
Deity: Gond. Mostly. Occasionally Glittergold or Waukeen depending on her mood. Not really devout in any case.
Initial Alignment: Should be LN tending to NN, not because she seeks balance but because she tends to both extremes. ("Law and order are great, everyone should obey the law. Except me. I should do what I want."). Couldn't make up my mind during character creation so she currently has the "wrong" alignment on her sheet.
Profession: Alchemist and Craftsgnome
Base Class & Proposed Development: Wizard / Master Alchemist / Maybe Techsmith of Gond Haven't quite decided. Obviously pure wizard at the moment.
Habits/Hobbies: Genuinely loves her work and studies alchemy in her spare time, also reads extensively. Has recently taken to tinkering with mechanical contrivances.
Languages:
- Common
- Gnome
- Arcane
- Elven (because bards always speak elven it's good for advertising)
- Dwarf
- Halfling
- Undercommon
- Lantanese (Because most of the latest research is from Lantan and it helps to read it in the original language)
- Draconic (Started studying recently because she has found many wizards prefer draconic for their magical studies)
Background: Born in the village of Echoing deep under the Cloudpeaks as part of the fifth generation of a clan of alchemists.
As was traditional in the clan: Women are trained as wizards and run the laboratories[1], constructing and maintaining equipment as well as conducting most of the day to day manufacturing. The men specialise in various alchemic fields and conduct research and establish new techniques.
She spent almost her entire life there, with brief trips to the surface for sales and gathering supplies that can't be grown underground.
She is a highly skilled alchemist, capable enchanter[2], skilled craftsgnome, with an excellent theoretical knowledge of magic (although her practical skills are somewhat behind her peers).
However growing up underground has left some gaps in her education: Astronomy, politics, geography, surface monsters, and anything nautical are all mysteries to her.
Echoing Deep (well it's gnomish so it's: A-combination-of-solutional-cave-and-oblique-slip-leading-to-a-cavern-with-interesting-acoustic-properties), unsurprisingly, lies deep underground, not in the underdark, but certainly next door, just the regular dark.
The greatest fear of the region are drow raiders (Very uncommon, there isn't really anything there that they want, but the drow do occasionally attack just for the fun of it) making alchemic weapons, that ignore their resistance to magic, a valuable commodity.
A few months ago she returned from a sales trip to find the village gone. There were broken weapons, blood, fires, but not a single body of friend or foe, nor could she find anything missing apart from the people either.
She visited nearby communities, asking for help but none was forthcoming "Well... you live next to the underdark. You can stay here, or you can go away, but don't stand there yelling. It attracts the wrong kind of attention".
When she returned to the village she found a goblin scouting party nosing around. With vast quantities of fire at her disposal she forced them to flee, but she knew they would return.
She buried a few valuables she couldn't take, packed what she could, and fled.
Amn wasn't really an option, they certainly wouldn't help, the village not existing as far as they were concerned and their dislike of wizards would make if difficult for her to work, so she headed north.
She prefers to think of it as "Setting out on her own, seeing new things and starting her own business".
[1] The options offered by a wizard in the laboratory are amazing. Seriously. A wizard gives an alchemy lab access to all sorts of things: refrigeration, freezing, electrolysis, summoned water and air elementals give powerful and controlled pumps, allowing you to work with samples under vacuum or low pressure, if you were inclined to demon summoning (which the Thunderkegs are not, cutting deals with planar powers always seems to end in a net loss) there's almost no end to what you can do.
[2] In the literal "Enchants items" sense, not the specialist wizard sense.
Goals:
- Establish business to raise funds -- DONE
- Save enough to be able to finance a venture south -- DONE
- Scout area and plan appropriate action -- PENDING
- Mount expedition and retake village -- PENDING
- Discover what happened to everyone -- PENDING
- Find those responsible and conduct extensive testing on their flammability -- PENDING
Maddy considered the family alchemy books the most valuable thing in the village, but books are heavy, and alchemy texts are almost always written in code (the Thunderkeg ones most certainly are) so she reluctantly wrapped them in a cloth prepared for this purpose (You too can own such a cloth for a mere 500 in gold coin you can have a 6'x6' cloth treated against rot, mold, water and insects!) and buried them in a safe spot outside the village.
Her grandfather, generally just referred to as "Thunderkeg" as he was the one that earned that familial name, was a true master alchemist. When it came to alchemy he was a jack-of-all-trades and master of every single one of them.
His alchemy notes have been the subject of much analysis since his passing. With just one tiny problem... he was a master at codes and ciphers as well. The family has only ever been able to decipher bits and pieces of his work. It could contain just about anything: His secret hotwings sauce, rumoured to have been stolen from Klauth; A recipe for the transmutation of metals; Or just a rant about how much he hates the Brittlestones on the far side of the cave.
