Name: Charisse Race: Human
Ht: 5’6, Wt: 130, Sex: Female,
Archetype: Rogue
HP: 7 / 7 Mana: 0 / 0
Stats:
Physical: 2, Moxie : 3, Spiritual: 2, Luck : 3,
Agility : 3, Magic : 2, Mental : 2, Energy : 2.
Relevant Skills: Agility - Jump, Archetype - Awareness, Moxie - Deceive, Stealth - Hide
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"I spy with my little eye," Charisse said as she quickly scanned some trees for some small detail;
A streak of blue hung in the tree's high above. Entwined with a weave of brown sticks under it, Charisse guessed it was an egg. "Something blue," then she quickly looked in a different direction to not give away the object's location.
Like gopher's twenty heads popping up from looking at the ground and swiveled to look around, Charisse took care to not look in the direction of the blue egg. After a minute, one of the villagers spotted it and excitedly said, "Found it!" and a dozen heads looked in the same direction that person was looking. Several seconds later, more voices called out their achievement.
"Those of you who missed this one, don't worry, it's very tiny, keep practicing. The next step is to have you guys work on two skills at the same time. Stealth isn't something most people think about, and it isn't just for thieves and rogues. Any fighter or warrior could benefit from a little stealth. It could be the difference between living or dying." Charisse walked back and forth in front of her class.
With all of their attention, she started counting off the students in groups of 2 and taking care to not pair male with female. She directed each group to stand off to the side, giving each one a strip of cloth.
"One of you wrap the cloth around your eyes, and the other will attempt to sneak up behind them without them hearing. Together this will work both your sense of hearing and stealth. After one person goes, swap the cloth and places. You don't have to always approach from the rear. Make sure you're far enough away from other people to ensure they don't interfere." Charisse waved at the tree's nearby. "You got thirty minutes, make the best use of it. Your people are counting on you."
She walked toward the campfire burning in the middle of an impromptu city, forcing herself not to smile. Several people worked over the fire, burning tips of sticks as they made spear, some making crude arrows. One even making wooden bucklers. Lifting a cup from a water barrel to her lips, she drank and looked around for her friends.
Todd was off in the distance with Jax teaching sword fighting and spear use. Mark had a small group, a few of them managed to throw a small ball of fire into the sky, the others just stood there grimacing like they were holding in gas. Reggie was working on making bandages; teaching ranged with a sling and bow.
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Charisse walked away from her group of students, angling toward some trees. Walking with her legs together, she stepped behind some trees. Looking around at the trainee's, she didn't see anyone looking in her direction. Mentally noting the tree's, she started moving around toward her students, keeping the trees and brush between them.
Moving parallel to the trainee's, she crept along, using people's sounds to help guide her. Once she was close enough, she found a bush nearest to the group and inched toward it. One of the trainee's glanced in her direction; their eyes met, Charisse smiled and put a finger to her lips. With a nod, the trainee turned away.
At the bush, and crouched down, Charisse paused for a moment; leaping over the shrub, yelling, 'Leeroy Jenkins!' Charisse ran toward her trainee's. The nearest one froze, the next three bolted away, further away, two positioned their feet and raised their fists.
With a smile, Charisse stopped her charge. Lifting both of her hands in the air, she smiled and laughed as she took note of how each trainee reacted.
"Good, we still have some work to do, but it does appear some of you are learning." Charisse pointed in the direction of those who fled. "Can someone get them and let them know it was a test. Also, remember the next time something scares you, running away could mean your friends and family die."
Ignoring the pained expressions of fresh wounds on some of the trainees, Charisse stepped closer to them and glanced toward the direction she'd sent someone after the runners. Pausing as if she was waiting for them to return, she mulled over inspirational movie lines. Soon the group was rejoined by the few people who fled out of instinct.
"Today is the beginning of a new era; you are fighting for your right to survive, to exist. This will be known as the day you all shouted, 'We will not go quietly into the night.'" Charisse paused and looked at everyone, trying to meet the eyes of as many as she could. "We will not go quietly into the night," she said again, throwing a fist into the air. Shouting it again, she was joined by a couple of voices, more with each successive shout. After they all yelled it a few times together, she lowered her hand. "Today will be known as your independence day."
Everyone nodded and cheered; several of the trainees hugged each other and patted each other on the back. After a few seconds of celebration, Charisse threw her hand back up in the air, the group quieted, except for one person who shouted, "We will not go…" but no one joined him.
"Now, let's get back to training. I'm going to throw small rocks as you practice. Try to dodge if you can. If you get hurt, let me know, we'll heal you. Remember, stay focused, we don't have much time."
Several more hours of training passed before Charisse called for a dinner break. Together they all wandered toward the campfires. Todd and Jax were already sitting and talking as their trainees practicing hitting trees nearby. Rhythmic thwapping of sticks against tree branches filled the background. Charisse loudly praised a few of her students as she walked closer to her friends, warning she was coming close with other people.
"What's up," Charisse said, sliding up next to Jax on the log.
"Working on how to keep morale up and keep people focused," Jax said.
"Did you try an inspiration speech?" Charisse said.
"Not a great orator," Jax said.
"Me words, no good," Todd said, then he grunted and scratched his crotch.
"Just steal something from a movie, I used part of Independence Day," Charisse said.
"That's.. Actually, a great idea." Todd smiled and nodded his head.
It took a few minutes to relay the speech to Todd and Jax. Charisse also covered what she trained them in, besides awareness and stealth.
"Any idea of Mark or Reggie had any luck?" Charisse secretly hoped a few of the villagers would have a talent for magic. Even if she could train these guys for a few weeks, a good mage would decimate them.
"Mark found four, Reggie found ten," Jax said.
"Ten healers!" Charisse's mouth fell open.
"Not all of them with the same deity, but yeah," Jax smiled.
"Damn, I think they can do this," Charisse said.
"Were you training them to die?" Jax's eyebrows moved together as his brow lowered.
"No, just figured without weapons and armor, they'd be slaughtered and lose so many that even if we win, they wouldn't have enough people to defend it." Charisse tilted her head toward her trainee's. "They have to be able to survive without us because we can't stay forever."
"Yeah, we can't stay…" Jax stared off in the distance.
"We got food!" Mark's voice echoed from the woods. A moment later, a group of trainees walked out from the trees, carrying a big log with a massive boar tied to it.
"How the…." Todd said as he stood up.
Charisse stared at the large boar, guessing its shoulder was close to six feet. The tusks were bent at an odd angle as if they were almost ripped off the skull by something pulling down upon them. The face of the creature was a crumbled mess like it hit a brick wall. She started laughing once she figured out how the animal died.