<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/6f/Irene66.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: impact;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Sophia Peace-Bond (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1054749)<br/></span></span><hr/><em>Lvl 4 Female Human Barbarian</em><br/><strong>HP:</strong>56<br/><strong>AC:</strong>12<br/><strong>Standard Perception:</strong>+5<br/><hr/><em>A bright beginning...</em><br/><br/>It was a day full of hope. Sophia stood at the prow of the<em>Rude Awakening</em>, clad in her finest winter wolf fur cloak, her face adorned with precious kohl, her mithril armour gleaming, her hair tied into ten braids festooned with beads and feathers that sparkled in the sun.<br/><br/>"My friends! My comrades!" she cried to the dozen or more loyal men and women assembled before her - some from disparate tribes not unlike hers, others from more unusual origins. "We have traveled far together. We have fought, we have struggled. Such is life. And it has been a good life, has it not? We have found fortune and renown, made names for ourselves. Found comfort and love, even if it's the expensive kind!" Pause for laughter. "Most importantly, we've come together as family. We've made something of ourselves.<br/><br/>"And now, a new adventure awaits. A new land awaits! This is - and people say this all the time, but this time I truly mean it - this is the opportunity of a lifetime! My mother raised me on tales of Armag, ancient champion of the Tiger Lords. You all have your own legends, your own founding fathers, the champions who made your tribes and nations what they are." She raised her gleaming silver greataxe high above her head. "I tell you now that<em>we</em>will be the champions that our descendants speak of in their tales! We will be the ones to overcome the trials of the Dark Continent and carve a place for us and our children for centuries to come!"<br/><br/>She slammed the butt of her axe onto the sturdy deck of the<em>Awakening</em>as her tribe cheered. "We must thank the pirates who gave us this ship, of course! I'm sure they were quite fearsome on the sea, but when you raid one too many villages, and they all cry out to the gods for help, sooner or later they'll send somebody to put an end to their depredations. Was it wrong to fall upon their lair like an avalanche while they were drinking down the proceeds of their last plunder?" She laughed at the memory. "Still, it wasn't an easy fight, was it? We earned this ship fair and square, and left this bit of coast a little bit safer.<br/><br/>"But say your farewells and let us set sail! For glory and adventure!"<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Sophia pushed a scraggly mass of sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes, and pulled back on the oars once more. Clad in just a loincloth to protect her body from the rough wood beneath her, her scarred, tattooed skin was blighted with sunburn and cracked from exposure to salt. Gone were her precious feathers and jewels, all stowed away that was not lost overboard. Her eyes were lined with salt instead of kohl. The oars had ruined her hands in a way that axe and reins never had.<br/><br/>Her arms felt like lead, but heavier still was her heart. Almost a dozen good men and women had perished on this journey. They had trusted her, let her guide them on what was to have been a great adventure. Not one without risk, of course, but<em>this</em>? This was an ignoble end.<br/><br/>But the end had not yet come, she reminded herself. There was still hope. She had to trust in her instincts, in her destiny, and in Old Deadeye. She looked down at the sabre-toothed tiger tattooed across her breasts, one claw curled protectively around her nipple. Yes, the strength of the Tiger Lords was still with her. And across her back, the sun-and-tree device of the Sept of the Green Horizon, her new tribe. They had not yet fallen. There was hope.<br/><br/>"Anything on the horizon?" she croaked, hoping their lookout had spotted something. Whether succour or hazard, anything to break the constant struggle across the sea would be welcome.