Lady Hepzibah Blackthorn

''"You frighten me." Hamfist Goblin-Crusher Took''

Overview
Lady Hepzibah Blackthorn is an adventuring necromancer/cleric of the God(s) of the Dead. She specifically worships the White Lady, the goddess of the journey of the dead soul to the ultimate judging. She is a caster of both arcane and divine magics, delving deeply into the various necromantic lores availible to both wizards and priests.

Description
Lady Blackthorn is a tall bone thin woman of increasing age. She stand 6"0 and weights no more than 160 pounds. She appears to be in her early to mid 50's, though her actual age is 67. The reason for this is due to her being a half-elf. She has very sharp angular features and seldom laughs or smiles. She hair is long and is gray, streaked with black and some white. She keeps her hair pulled back in a tight bun. She wears black nobles robes and black leather boots. The robes are emblazoned with various symbols of her faith along the sleeves and hemline. She wears a signet ring on one hand and has a blackened iron holy symbol around her neck. The holy symbol is rose superimposed over a grinning skull. When in battle, Lady Blackthorn wore black chain mail, carried a small shield and wielded a wicked looking headsman axe which she was surprisingly proficient in. She also carried a sling and a bag of sling bullets.

However after being infected with lycanthropy from a Giant Rat bite, Lady Blackthorn underwent a small personal crisis and the most immeadiate noticeable effect was her apperence. While still tall, thin and sharp featured she no longer wears her previous styles. Gone are the nobles robes and fancy boots, replaced with a simple white robes of wool and comfortable looking sandals. Her hair is now worn loose and goes surprisingly far down her back. She smiles and laughs a lot more, though she can slip back into her previous cold persona if annoyed or angry. When in battle now, she wields her personal quarterstaff, The Darkenstaff, and eschews armor and shield depending on her magics and her comrades to keep her safe. However she is more likely to punch her opponents than strike at them with the staff.

Personal Philosophy
Lady Blackthorn is a devout follower of the White Lady, the goddess of the journey a dead soul makes to its final judgement. One of her greatest concerns is ensuring that all sentient beings receive a proper burial and/or funeral rites to aid them on their way. This includes savage humanoids such as goblins and orcs. Lady Blackthorn firmly believes not giving final rites is a surefire way to create the wandering dead or to damn a soul to become one. While being a necromancer herself, she views most undead as sad abominations that need to be destroyed so to send their souls on their journey. She does have exceptions, such as undead made from non-intelligent creatures, intelligent good aligned undead (such as baelnorns or archliches), neutral undead with a function (guardian mummies, crypt things), and mindless undead created from willing souls to perform a set task.

The Guardians of the Dead are a quirky lot and Lady Blackthorn is no exception. She has many personal quirks and taboos that she follows even if they seem to make no sense. These include not eating or drinking, relying on magic to sustain her. She also now follows a vow of poverty as well as vows of chastity, celibacy and abstinence. She also has an intense hatred for slavery in all forms, though currently she has not had to deal with any slavers yet. As she grows in power and ability she is likely to pick up more taboos and quirks.

As she is a master of death due to her role and mission in life, she now realizes she must also master her own life. She now desires to live life to the fullest but to not allow that to rule her. This line of thinking is behind her increasing severe asceticism and her desire to master the lycanthropic curse she has fallen under. She wants to control it and not cure it as she views curing it as an admission she is not in control of her own life. Paradoxically this also manifests in the thawing of her personality and emotions as she now believes she can no longer hide behind a facade of aloofness and coldness.

She has a soft spot for innocent creatures and takes an extremely dim view of people harming them.

History
TBA

Special Items

 * The Darkenstaff - This quarterstaff is Lady Blackthorn`s personal magic staff. It was a gift to her from a tribe of forest gnomes she helped to free from gnoll captivity. It is made of 6 foot piece of petrified treant, black with silver veins running through it. Thus far the Darkenstaff has shown the following abilities when used by Lady Blackthorn:
 * 1) The ability to cast a Bless spell once a day.
 * 2) The ability to make the end of the staff glow with a brightish light.
 * Holy Symbol of the White Lady - This is Lady Blackthorn`s holy symbol. It is made from blackened iron and hangs around her neck on a simple iron chain. The symbol itself is a rose superimposed over a grinning skull. The Holy Symbol currently has an enchantment on it that gives Lady Blackthorn a +1 bonus to her AC.

Known Magics/Special Abilities
TBA

Familiar
Her familiar is Noctis. Normally found in the form of a raven, he has appeared as a gopher once. The truth about Noctis is that he is a shadeling. A creature of the Plane of Shadow. Lady Blackthorn is unsure how it answered her find familiar spell and she was orginal worried that the creature wasd evil. However multiple uses of the Detect Evil spell and having her familiar enter and exit a Protection from Evil spell with no hinderance has convinced her that the creature is actually good. With that reassurance she is more than happy to utilize the unusual creature in her travels and work.

Being a shadeling, Noctis has the ability to steal the shadow of any tiny or smaller animal. Once he does so he can kill the animal and assume its shape. Lady Blackthorn normally keeps him in the form of the raven for scouting purposes and to allow it to talk if need be. She has had it assume the form of a gopher once to aid in tracking the beast known as The Terror. She is not sure what the limitations of the familiar are and she is cautious about sending it into dangerous situation, though when desperate she will order the familiar to attack a powerful foe.

Stats for Noctis are below.

Noctis is a bizarre and dangerous denizen of the demiplane of Shadow. He could be compared to a doppleganger, for he seek to mimic the forms of others and then kill them. In his natural form he are flowing, sentient shadow about the size of a human, but irregular in shape.

Combat: Noctis possess the power of duplication. Noctis engulfs its victim’s shadow if the unfortunate fails a saving throw vs. breath weapon. Once this is done, Noctis takes the victim’s material form. The victim’s weaponry and armor are duplicated as well, although duplicated magical items cannot be magical themselves. Noctis immediately gains all the physical abilities of its victim, including hit points, Armor Class, and special physical attacks and defenses.

Once Noctis has taken a material form, it attempts to slay the being it has duplicated. If it manages to do so, it remains in its new form for 2d10 days. Then it returns to its true form and must find another victim. Noctis is limited to tiny or smaller animals and will not attack a sentient creature, even an evil one with his duplication ability.

In its true form, Noctis cannot be physically harmed and is unaffected by most spells. Both light and darkness spells have a 5% chance per level of the caster to destroy Noctis, and the continual versions of these spells have a 10% chance per level of the caster. Dispel good and protection from good spells affect Noctis normally, and a shadow walk spell cast upon them destroys him automatically, as does the sunray spell. A unholy word uttered at Noctis in physical form causes it to revert to its true form, while a unholy word uttered at Noctis in shadow form banishes it to the demiplane of Shadow. If killed while in the form of some other being, Noctis returns to its shadow form, but it loses the power to duplicate for a full day.

Note that although they may resemble undead, Noctis cannot be turned by priests. However, they are elemental beings and are subject to spells and other magic that affects other creatures from the Inner Planes.

Habitat/Society:Noctis seem to have only two purpose; to duplicate living beings and feed on their shadows and to serve Lady Blackthorn.

Ecology: Noctis have no natural place in the ecology of the Prime Material Plane, and nothing is known of their role in the demiplane of Shadow. However, various wizards have found some uses for these creatures in the workings of magic: Any mirror that has been prepared by casting enchant an item and permanency spells on it, and which is subsequently engulfed by a shadeling will instantly become a mirror of opposition. However Lady Blackthorn would take an extremely dim view of such an act.

Relationships
Current party members:

Erana Moonblossom - Lady Blackthorn is quite honestly concerned for Erana's future and soul. She knows well the torments that await the damned and feels Erana is heading that way fast. She is unsure what exactly caused Erana to become as she is. Was it the fall of her ancestral lands, her brother's death, something else or multiple things? While at first she found Erana's arrogant nature infuriating, after her own personal changes she is a lot more willing to tolerate Erana's outbursts and snide comments, feeling she needs a friend, confidant and maybe even mentor more than she needs a lecture or reprimand.

Tairon Two-River - Lady Blackthorn finds the swashbuckler equal parts annoying, amazing and idiotic. She admits he is a skilled sneak, assassin and overall a champion for good in his own way, but she wishes he would think before he acted a bit more, turn down the flamboyance and listen to the wisdom of his elders. She also doesn't exactly see what all the other ladies see in him. He's charming and good loking but there are a lot of men like that... though the moustache is quite dashing...

DonDarian of the First Forge - Lady Blackthorn views the dwarven champion as her staunchest ally in the party. So much so that she even trusted him to place magical wards on her spellbook. She respects his martial prowess, his clerical powers and his willingness to do what he feels is right. On a more selfish note, she also enjoys the opportunity to study not only a dwarf, but a dwarven cleric. Not everyday one gets to interact with the reclusive dwarves and she intends to learn all she can.

Sir William Peacemaker - Lady Blackthorn is currently cautious about the paladin for exactly that reason... he's a paladin. She is well aware the paladins and clerics of the True God believe that her deity is lesser to them and she does not want to get into theological conversation that neither side has a hope of winning. She feels he treats his horse rather poorly for a paladin, unsure as to why he is constantly talking down to the well trained and loyal steed. That being said paladins are a trustworthy group and she is wiling to extend her trust to him on that regards alone.

Past party members:

Hamfist Goblin-Crusher Took - While sighing at the halflings antics she was quite fond of him. She found him charming and appreciated his ability to lighten the spirits of the party and his ability to influence others. She also enjoyed his fiddling and would often sing along under her breath, while her feet kept time hidden under her robes. She felt great amusement at Hamfist's reactions to some of the more grim or unusual facets of her work or personality. She kept that amusement hidden quite well.

Important NPC's:

Major Enemies:

Minor Enemies:

Misc.
Lady Blackthorn has a wide variety of skills and interests, which include:
 * Singing - She is good singer, knowing many funeral dirges and mourning songs though she knows many other songs which she seldom sings. (Check of 13)
 * Artistic Ability in Drawing - She is also an accomplished artist, specializing in drawing the physical forms of various humans, demihumans and humanoids, both inside and out... (Check of 18 when drawing anything anatomical, 16 otherwise)
 * Riding - She is an incredibly good rider, though she seldom shows it, perfering to walk or use a cart. (Check of 19 when dealing with commoon land based animals)