Dale Najjar

Maester **Dale Najjar** is a cleric of **Boccob** and academic originally hailing from **Maezar**. He was recruited by **Chime** to serve as navigator aboard **the Thunderbird**.

## Description

### Appearance

Dale is tall, standing at 6'03". He has a slender figure and a darker complexion, with dark eyes and messy dark brown hair that he usually wears in a ponytail. He tends to dress in comfortable clothes, usually with a scarf. Dale needs glasses to see properly.

Most noticeably, Dale has a series of tattoos along his forearm, hand, and fingers. These are arcane sigils and other geometric symbols to honor his patron god, Boccob.

### Personality

Dale is friendly and good natured; he gets along with most people, with a humble meekness and a good sense of humor. For most, his relaxed, affable demeanor makes him approachable and enjoyable to hang out with.

A brilliant mind, Dale's mind is constantly buzzing with observations, calculations, and notation. He is very curious, often stopping to note some new plant or bird.

In battle, Dale is more than happy to play the role of support. He uses his magic to empower his allies and hinder his opponents, often finding some hole in their strategy and quickly coming up with a way to counter it. He is fearless in the face of danger and tends to focus on others over himself, though this did result in his first death.

He seems to have made many friends on the ship, including Chime, **Astaria**, and **Theras**, and is well-liked among the majority of the crew. He has found himself acting as an adviser for more than one member of the crew, which is strange for him. But he takes it all in stride.

## Biography

### Background

Dale was born to a low caste in the massive city of **Dar as-Sakhr** in Mezar. He grew up an orphan on the streets, until he was taken in by a traveling priest of Boccob. The priest taught Dale how to read and write the Common tongue, and brought the boy with him when he left Maezar to return to Dharrenal.

Even as a young boy, Dale was enthralled with stories of the past, and he loved to learn new things. His curiosity proved insatiable, and he was constantly trying to find new books for his voracious mind to absorb. When he was fourteen, he was chose to enroll as an Initiate of Boccob, much to his mentor's delight.

He excelled in the program, eventually graduating the program with honors. He was chosen to become a journeyman upon completion of the program and, after much training and dedicated meditation, he was seemingly approved by Boccob to become an official journeyman cleric.

Dale left his temple at that time, his initial studies on collecting lost lore. He joined a small adventuring group in the southern reaches of Vanar. He spent seven months with them, until he found a strange magical writing in a lost ruin. He could not place it, so he traveled to the place he felt was most likely to find someone to do so: the **Grand Library of Boccob** in **Tolstov**.

### The Game

Dale had been in Tolstov for three weeks, mostly studying and enjoying the breadth of writings here. He intended to get back on the road soon, but he always found another thing to read.

That is, until he was selected by Grand Maester Pippett as one of the candidates to join a rather curious expedition. The captain of an airship, Chime, selected Dale as the navigator of their vessel, a job Dale happily accepted.

In the day leading up to Dale's departure, Grand Maester Pippett brought him aside to discuss his goals and what the church hopes for him to accomplish on the journey to recover the Dagger. None of it sat well with Dale.

### Appearances

#### Volume 1

* **Chapter 3 -** "The Imperial City"
* **Chapter 5 -** "Less Than Wonderful"
* **Chapter 6 -** "The Power of Love"
* **Chapter 7 -** "Mountain and Marsh"
* **Chapter 8 -** "The Mother of Crows"
* **Chapter 9 -** "Rough Landing"

## Relationships

### Chime

Despite only knowing each other for a short time, Dale sees Chime as a good friend, and probably his best friend aboard the Thunderbird. He respects Chime on a number of levels, both personal and professional. He appreciates all of the effort Chime has taken to feel comfortable, and he really feels like his input and efforts matter.

### Astaria

Beside Chime, Astaria is Dale's best friend on the Thunderbird. The two have much in common and have spent many nights discussing history, lore, magical theory, and literature. The two have also bonded over their somewhat unorthodox childhoods. As time has gone on, Dale has found himself increasingly enamored with Astaria, though he doubts he'd ever act on those feelings.

### Theras

Dale finds Theras to be very kind and warm person. He likes hanging out with Theras a lot; he feels it's a little therapeutic to talk over tea with the monk. He finds Theras to be very wise and gets just as much out of talking to them as Theras does talking to him.

### Desdemona

Dale finds Desdemona to be a delightful woman and the two get along quite well. Both being clerics, they have a lot in common and share a number of inside jokes that anybody outside of the clergy is likely not to understand. He thinks Desdemona is a breath of fresh air among the many servants of the church he has met, and while they don't get to hang out too often, he counts Desdemona as a good office friend.

### Lleliana

He's unsure why, but he somehow envisioned him and Lleliana being good friends. They were both recruited in Tolstov, on the same day, for more or less the same job. But she's too serious about her dogma and her job to really be any fun. Dale thinks she's kind of a downer.

### Two-Bit

Dale doesn't get great vibes from the young cleric. He's a priest of the god of tricks, after all. He's taken great measures to ensure Two-Bit can't scry into his office and tries his best to keep Two-Bit out in general.

### Emilie

Dale has taken a liking to Emilie since they were both chosen by Chime as part of **the Hunting Party**. He admires Emilie's down to earth, grounded perspective of things. They aren't particularly close, but he was touched that Emilie cared when he was killed.

### The Gardener

The Gardener scares the shit out of Dale.

### Maise

Dale found Maise to be quite delightful. The two weren't really close, but Dale always liked the **firbolg** and her gentle outlook and environmental awareness.

### Tomaq

Tomaq is a strange little guy, and Dale is constantly amused by him. Over time, he's started to see Tomaq like the little brother he never had.

### Boccob

Dale is dutiful and faithful to his god, though he describes their relationship more like that of a headmaster and pupil. He is not overly concerned with gaining or losing his god's approval in most things. Boccob is, after all, the Uncaring.

### Masester Riven

The priest who took in, Maester Riven is the closest thing Dale has ever had to a father figure. It was the gentle, guiding hand of Riven that awoke Dale's love of learning, and it was by his example that Dale joined the priesthood. He cares deeply for Maester Riven and hopes to see him again some day.

## Character Information

### Notable Items

* **Glove of Storing:** This device is a simple leather glove. On command, one item held in the hand wearing the glove disappears. The item can weigh no more than 20 pounds and must be able to be held in one hand. While stored, the item has negligible weight. With a snap of the fingers wearing the glove, the item reappears. A glove can only store one item at a time. Storing or retrieving the item is a free action.
	+ Dale used the glove to hide the **Altered Rod of Wonder** from Two-Bit.
* **Spectacles of Understanding:** These normal-seeming glasses have the special ability to convert any written language into one understood by the wearer, as the *Comprehend Languages* spell. The glasses are also good at detecting falsified documents, granting the wearer a +5 bonus to all checks made to identify them.
* **Tattoos:** Dale has a number of tattoos, which actually provide him with a few small boons:
	+ **Magical Focus:** +1 DC to Divination spells.
	+ **Protection:** The tattoos grant him a +1 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to resist Possession.

### Human Abilities

* **Bonus Feat:** Educated (+2 Arcana & History)

### Cleric Abilities

* **Turn Undead**
* **Knowledge Domain:** All Knowledge skills are class skills; +1 caster level to Divination spells
* **Magic Domain:** Dale can cause a melee weapon that he is holding to fly from his grasp and strike a foe before instantly returning. This is a standard action with a range of 30 feet.

### Cleric Spells

The following are spells Dale has used in-game or spells he can be assumed to know based on his domains.

#### Orisons

* Detect Magic
* Know Direction

#### 1st-Level

* Bless
* Cure Light Wounds
* *Knowledge Domain:* Comprehend Languages
* *Magic Domain:* Identify

#### 2nd-Level

* Arcane Lock
* Augury
* Bull's Strength
* Cure Moderate Wounds
* *Knowledge Domain:* Detect Thoughts
* *Magic Domain:* Magic Mouth

#### 3rd-Level

* Cure Serious Wounds
* *Knowledge Domain:* Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
* *Magic Domain:* Dispel Magic

## Trivia

* Dale does not carry his deity's favored weapon, instead carrying a sickle he has carried since his days in Maezar.
* Since his blood was able to be used for the Hex Bag used against Mother Crow, it is confirmed that Dale is a virgin.

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