<div class="floatright">(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f9/33/85/f93385f08616fa201dd67a2eef73ecc5.jpg)</div><br/>Vara of Stonewood Forest - Wood Elf Rogue - Urchin<br/><br/>Strength 8 Dexterity 16 Constitution 12 Intelligence 12 Wisdom 14 Charisma 14<br/><br/>Athletics +1 Deception +4 Insight +4 Perception +6 Persuasion +6 Sleight of Hand +5 Stealth +5<br/><br/>Light Armor<br/>Elven and Rogue Weapon Proficiencies<br/>Disguise Kit, Thieves' Tools<br/><br/>Common, Elvish, Sylvan, Thieves' Cant<br/><br/>Rapier, Shortbow, 20 Arrows, 2 Daggers (one hidden in each boot), Sap, Burglar's Pack, Thieves' Tools, Leather Armor, Small knife, Map of the home city, Pet mouse named Squeakers, Petrified Wood Amulet, Set of common clothes, Belt Pouch containing 9gp.<br/><br/>I like to squeeze into small places where no one else can get to me.<br/>I eat like a pig and have bad manners.<br/>All people, rich or poor, deserve respect.<br/>No one else should have to endure the hardships I've been through.<br/>It's not stealing if I need it more than someone else.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Vara's History</div><div class="spoiler_body">Vara was born in the city of Blue Harbor, located far across the glistening sea from the village in which she currently resides.  Her ancestors came from Stonewood Forest, a homeland which was magically petrified centuries ago, but to everyone who knew her, she was just Vara, the same way that only the nobility of Blue Harbor had any sort of surname.<br/><br/>To a child, such things didn't matter and were never questioned.  Nor was it all that important that her family had no money or residence but for the nearby woods where the Wood Elves resided.  Vara never found the natural world all that interesting or amazing, but the civilized world, that was a mystery.  Blue Harbor was a maze of buildings and roads, and her playground stretched between the rooftops, dangled beneath the archways and crept low beneath the polished stone and brick of the most expensive abodes.<br/><br/>Looking back, it was a paradise, idyllic and peaceful.  Maybe her parents sheltered her from the worst of what life had to offer.  She sometimes went hungry, but she never truly wanted, because she knew she was loved.<br/><br/>Not everyone was so kind, not even on the lowest rungs on society.  Some of her friends had to steal to get what she managed by simple begging, and even though she would share, the envy of what others had that she did not eventually burned within her as well.  Her elven grace offered her ability, and a plan was hatched, explained to her by a man she'd never met before.<br/><br/>It all went ridiculously smoothly, and then she had jewelry, a beautiful golden necklace.  Not in all of her twenty-five years had she even touched something so magnificent, and she brought it back to her parents while still in delighted shock.  Yet her parents had no joy or congratulation for her.  Her father disowned her, and her mother turned herself in with the necklace, claiming that she'd stolen it in order to keep her daughter safe.<br/><br/>Nearly a week went by as Vara found the proper cell, acquired some rope and lowered herself down upside-down to hang from the cell bars in the moonlight.  "Mom?" she asked, soft and hopeful.<br/><br/>"Vara."  She couldn't quite place her mother's mood by the tone of voice or expression; it seemed to be everything from joy and elation to guilt and disappointment.  "I guess you've found your calling."<br/><br/>"I got some thieves' tools," Vara explained.  "I talked to some friends, and they know how to get through the prison."  Her fingers twirled around one of the bars.  "Let me get you out of here.  You don't deserve this."<br/><br/>"And yet I do," Mom said, and Vara didn't understand.  "I raised a thief.  I thought you were happy, content, but..."<br/><br/>"This isn't right!" Vara said, a hiss in the whisper of her voice.  "You didn't take it, I did."<br/><br/>"And yet I won't have my daughter in a prison cell," Mom replied, obstinate.  She removed the pendant of a stone leaf she always wore, offering it to her daughter.  "Vara, somewhere beyond the sea is Stonewood Forest.  Our ancestors came from there, but a magical spell turned everything to stone."<br/><br/>Vara nodded, remembering the story.<br/><br/>"If you want to make me proud, keep that story alive.  Find a way to fix it.  Return Stonewood to Greenwood and send word far and wide for the Wood Elves of Greenwood Forest to return home.  Be an adventurer, be a Rogue, not some petty thief."  Her fingers cupped Vara's face.  "Your dad will forgive you then.  He'll be proud of you, and I always have been."<br/><br/>Vara couldn't find the words.  She didn't want to be some adventurer.  She couldn't stand toe to toe against demons and orcs in some terrible battle.  She just wanted her mom back.<br/><br/>And she knew how to get her back.<br/><br/>Judge Rathis had one of the tallest houses still made out of wood.  It was his fault her mother was locked up for a crime she didn't commit.  He had so much when others were starving, yet he was so cruel to anyone who stole.<br/><br/>Her footsteps made no noise upon the carpet.  So dark in the night, only those with elven eyes could see their way through the shadows, yet Judge Rathis was human.  And sleeping, right there on the bed.<br/><br/>The dagger felt so light in her hands.<br/><br/>What was she doing?!<br/><br/>Maybe those kids really had been a bad influence.  Maybe her mother was right to warn her away.  She left without so much as crossing the threshold to his bedroom, and made her way to the docks.<br/><br/>It didn't take her that long to find a gruff old human man, wearing a preposterous hat and smoking a pipe.  "How do I get passage on a ship?" she asked.<br/><br/>He looked her over in the lantern light.  "Have anything to pay with?" he asked.<br/><br/>She shook her head, suddenly concerned.<br/><br/>He frowned.  "What are your skills?"<br/><br/>"Well," she considered, "...I'm really good at hiding..."<br/><br/>He smirked.  "What do you have that would be useful to a captain?"<br/><br/>"You're a Captain?"  Eyes wide, she looked him over, then gave a proper salute.  She'd heard of the Captains, the proud soldiers that went into battle against the orcs.<br/><br/>He stared at her for a moment.  "Captain of a ship," he stated.  Offering a hand, he introduced himself, "Captain Olak."<br/><br/>She took the hand and shook.  "Vara of Stonewood Forest."  He recognized the place, and she asked, "Do you know how to get there?"<br/><br/>"Close enough," he said.  "Can you fish?"<br/><br/>"I can swim..." she offered.<br/><br/>"Can't outswim a ship," he said sternly.  "Can you fight?"<br/><br/>After a moment of consideration, she shook her head.<br/><br/>"Well," he asked, "what can you do to earn your keep?"<br/><br/>She pondered for a bit, looking out over his vessel, but just had no idea what would need doing.<br/><br/>He spoke first.  "See that big basket on top of the ship?"  She nodded.  "That's the Crow's Nest.  And before you ask, no, no actual crows in there."<br/><br/>"...okay..."  She just nodded.<br/><br/>"I need someone who can climb up there during the night, a good pair of elf eyes that can watch for pirates from dusk to dawn.  Do that and I'll take you to a village pretty close to Stonewood Forest.  Can you handle that?"<br/><br/>"Oh, easy," she said with a nod.  They shook on it, and the deal was done.<br/><br/>Of course, if Vara knew about seasickness, she might have reconsidered getting on the boat at all.<br/><br/>It wasn't so bad up in the Crow's Nest, but it was absolutely worst just after she'd eaten.  Sometimes it felt like something inside her stomach just wanted to swim out, but she wouldn't let it.<br/><br/>As agreed, she kept on the watch for what had already been explained to her: black flags of other ships, sailing day and night with the intent to steal from other ships.  Except this ship didn't have a lot that was even worth taking.  Food, mostly.  Some alcohol, but only that vile Dwarven stuff that burns the tongue.  No expensive golden jewelry or anything fantastic.<br/><br/>And yet...one of those ships did come.  "Pirates!" she called, swinging down the ropes to rouse everyone awake.  "Captain Olak, there's pirates here!"<br/><br/>Captain Olak came out only moments later, not wearing his scale armor but showing his stern glare that he could take on anything that would wake him up from so sweet a dream as he'd been having.  "See you shortly, Wispy," he said to his dream girl, "and I'll have some tales to tell you."  As the sailors came out with weapons, Olak's gaze spun onto Vara.  "You said you were good at hiding.  I hope for your sake that's true."<br/><br/>The ships crashed together as harpoons and anchors tied them together into a dance of carnage.  Sailor and pirate battled, arrows flew, swords clashed, yet the pirates had the advantage against the humans at night, when humans couldn't see quite as well.<br/><br/>Olak struggled more than truly battled, using his girth to barrel into pirates and try to knock them into a water.  He saw the shine of metal against the moon an instant too late, yet it dropped from his hands as yet another arrow found its mark.<br/><br/>"Wait a minute..." he said.  "None of my people have bows.  Who-"<br/><br/>He traced the line of an arrow back to the Crow's Nest, and called out to Vara, "I thought you said you couldn't fight!"<br/><br/>"This?"  Vara called out.  "This isn't fighting!"  And for all the world she meant it.  "You down there are fighting.  I'm just finishing them off while you have them distracted."<br/><br/>Word spread of her talents even after she left the ship; it took some skill to steal a bow from the enemy and use it against them.  Maybe her mom was right and this was her calling after all.<br/><br/>At least until she went to Stonewood Forest.  All she could say was that it deserved the name: stone trees, stone leaves, even a few small petrified animals.  She couldn't even begin to guess what to do about such a place.  It made her feel lost and helpless in a way she hadn't since before she was a child.<br/><br/>She's never really considered herself an adventurer, but she knows what it's like to have nothing, to not know who to turn to.  People offer her things as well, sometimes just food, sometimes weapons and armor.  Squeakers came from a litter of mice, named from his habit of squeaking almost as if to introduce himself, yet never at an inopportune time when Vara needed to be quiet.<br/><br/>If she ever goes back to Blue Harbor, she wants it to be victoriously, to tell everyone that it's safe to come back to Greenwood Forest.</div></div>