Allaine

A blacksmith, a technician, a merchant, a barista... Allaine is a girl of many talents, and while she spreads those talents out, Allaine doesn't seem to suffer overmuch for it. If anything, at times, it almost seems as though if Allaine isn't doing multiple things at once, she'll get bored. Allaine always wears a tired look and seems almost exhausted at the concept of the world at times... But if you put her in a forge, a workshop, or in front of a cup of coffee one can see just a hint of life come back to her eyes.

## History

In Calmera, there was a small trading caravan made up primarily of Kitsune that traveled between Lightreach and the dwarven mountains. The leader of the caravan, a five-tailed Kitsune named Keydala, was ever a stern leader who did what was necessary to keep the caravan going. Her daughter, Rosmiri, was only a two-tailed kitsune who had suffered a stab wound which left her infertile. Slightly over twenty years before Allaine became an adventurer, the group had come across a tipped over wagon that looks like it had been attacked. Among the things they were salvaging, they found a two-year-old child, barely alive. Rosmiri refused to leave a child in that situation, and opted to adopt her. She named the girl Thelia, and gave her her family name of Mok'Iran, and raised her as her own. This was how Allaine began her life in a merchant caravan.

Her formative years were spent learning trades and traits. A bit of time learning how to do basic medial work, a bit of time learning how to salvage and look for the best value among things, some time learning books and getting an education from her adoptive mother and grandmother... Some time getting rapped across the knuckles for scampish behavior in her youth... But as she grew older and her personality developed, she gravitated toward a few things in particular... Shaping metal, and shaping drinks. Metalwork was easily something the caravan was eager to teach her, with the Quartermaster Bendar quickly taking to teaching the girl how to shape the metal the group needed. In his old age, he had been hoping for someone to take over for the caravan so he could retire, and the fact that the girl took to it so willingly was the best part. Within the first couple of years, Allaine new as much about making the struts, supports, nails... horseshoes and the whole like as he ever did.

She wasn't set with just that, however... She wanted to know more, and the dwarves- while stubborn and unwilling for the most part- were some of the best teachers. In the cold north is where her next passion began to take form: Brewing. Coffee, tea... She loved the smell of it, the way it seemed to bring people together... And the fact that it got the dwarves who had to deal with the cold so willing to take a bit of time to teach her a couple of tricks in weapon and armor forging when her family went north to trade with them made it so much more worthwhile. It was easy to make these trades when she was young... The dwarves, in some cases, were quite happy to teach the short, bubbly girl some tricks. As she got older, however, many of them had to be persuaded a bit more... But by and by, she eventually started picking up tricks on weapon and armor smithing, and even gunpowder and chemistry. It wasn't too awful long until she was refining both trades, smithing blades and brewing coffee in town to make extra money.

On the 26th of Calistril, sixteen years after she had been born as according to one of the journals they had found among the bodies the day they encountered the tipped over wagon, the 22nd year of might, came an important day: Her naming ceremony. In the culture the caravan came from, when an individual reached eighteen years of age, they were expected to select their own name as an adult. Standing before the rest of the caravan, on a moonlit night before the fire, Thelia was asked by her adoptive mother in sylvan: "Thelia Mok'Iran, you have been among us for sixteen years, and are as much my daughter as any blood could ever make you... And today, I ask you to give back the name I gave you and tell me with your own mouth: Who are you?" She stood tall, and spoke... And on that day, from then on, she was Allaine. The name Thelia was no longer hers, and from then on Allaine was the daughter of Rosmiri, who before her had given back the name Kikia to her mother.

### The Attack

On the 12th of Gozran, in the 28th year of might, it was another day of travel. They had been dealing with heavy rainfall leading up toward the dwarven mountains, but as they continued north, the rain had let off, leaving an overlying chill in the air. It was a sunny day for the cold, however, and it had seemed like it wasn't the worst. Allaine was riding along with her adoptive mother, having just made coffee for some of the drivers to keep them alert from the rougher journey they had just been through. Still, it wasn't easy going... The rain caused the land to be wet, making slips and hazards a problem. There was a couple points where emergency repairs landed Allaine drenched and cold, but things were finally seeming better, in spite of the delays that left her grandmother quite beleaguered.

That's when they heard the horns. Signs of an approaching band quickly appeared on the horizon, and they were closing on horses fast. A group of gorumites, by the looks of their flags, with flags of some kind of clan or tribe... Orcish. And they were very clearly on the attack. Allaine didn't know much about Gorum or his followers, and if she had known a thing or two, she would have known to question why a group of Gorumites were attacking a simple trading caravan that had no clear warriors or battle for them. For someone with more knowledge of religion, this would likely have been a red flag that something was very, very wrong... But without any knowledge about Gorum beyond the symbol and talk of powerful warriors, all she knew was a group was attacking her home. And in spite of wanting to fight, when it became clear they weren't outrunning, espescially when arrows killed some of the lead horses, her mother urged her to take the children and those who couldn't fight and run while the few who could fight held them off... This wasn't a battle they would win.

Allaine, in spite of the pain she felt in her heart, did just that, aiming for the nearby treeline and guiding the group away as the fighting began. They had just been going around a brook surrounded by rushes, Allaine picking up the rear and urging the others on toward the safety of the trees where they could scatter and regroup- even knowing the area well enough to know where to regroup too... And something smashed into the back of her head. She fell into the reeds, and the world turned black.

When she awoke, everything was destroyed, and there were bodies everywhere. A horrific soreness ached in the back of her head, and deliriously, she struggled to her feet. Mercifully, she didn't see any of the people she was trying to help escape, which meant they had to have gotten away... At least, she told herself that. Slowly, she struggled back toward the caravan's ruins. Almost everything was gone... But the bodies were everywhere. It didn't take long to find the body of her mother, laying on the ground, glassy eyes staring into a clouded sky.

Allaine cried. She cried until she was numb. She didn't even think she could cry as much as she did... but she cried and cried some more... Until eventually, the tears stopped coming. "The caravan can't continue without wheels. You do what you have to to keep going..." she said hoarseley, before, almost on automatic, her hand gently took hold of her anytool... Turning it to a shovel... And she started to dig. Well into the night, and into the next day... She dug, and she dug. Her family was not going to lie here for the birds... Every body she could find, every she could identify, she dragged into graves, and left a marker made of salvaged wood and metal, and carved their name into the wood. And then she'd do it again... And again... Each time, with each name, she grew just a little more numb.

And then she left.

### Gemini City

About two weeks of travel lead Allaine to a town somewhat nearby. She hadn't seen any of the others at the checkpoint, and she was no tracker... So the best she could do is try to head to the closest town and hope for the best. She was tired, broken, and barely able to walk. But she was still numb. The bubbly, happy energy she used to have was gone, and now Allaine felt almost like a ghost. Perhaps, to a degree, she hoped she wouldn't make it to town for a bit... But she kept hearing her mother's voice in her mind. "The caravan can't continue without wheels. You do what you have to to keep going." Each time she sat down and think she would just stop, she shoved some kind of food in her mouth- it didn't matter what so long as it would keep her nourished, even if she wasn't hungry... She would push off... And she would keep walking.

When she arrived at the town, people avoided her. Perhaps due to the strange shamble she had, almost like a zombie. She walked to the center of town, to one of those blasted indestructible stones her family always complained about being right in the way of the best spots... And she just leaned against it. There weren't tears. There wasn't time for that. She had to keep the caravan moving. So she closed her eyes, going through her memory... The caravan had to move... What was a good mercantile place to get the next step? Her mind locked onto a vague memory of a market and a pair of statues facing each other over the water... And the next thing she knew, there was a magic hum in the air... And she fell through nothingness.

On the other side, she found herself in a place she had only read about. Gemini City, Ithaca... At first, she didn't recognize it, and just continued to walk, listening and watching for signs of anything familiar. It was here that she met Ulysses, who treated her to coffee at Mimi's in exchange for her story. She said as much of it as she could bear to say at the moment in her fugue, and the man seemed to take a liking to her, offering her a job at Skyfall Armoury. With nowhere else to go, and the idea of learning new blacksmithing techniques still being one of the few things that truly interested her, she began following Ulysses instructions both to get an adventuring card while he sent feelers out to see what happened with her caravan and warn the area about these raiders so as to give her the chance to retrieve some of her people's things as well as in training for smithing.

## Appearance

Standing at 5'7 and weighing just over a hundred pounds, Allaine almost looks like your average human in all ways. Of relatively unremarkable build and countenance, she would be almost entirely unremarkable from anyone else in a crowd were it not for her equipment, her hair, and her eyes. Allaine's blond hair is typically kept in a braid that flows down to her rear, and when undone the voluminous hair falls well below her knees to about mid-calve. A single shock of red goes through her bangs, and she refuses to iterate on whether she dyes it or not. Her eyes seem almost to be made up of two different rings of color- an inner ring of hazel that blurs into an outer ring of jade green. Her eyes are often lidded in a somewhat tired look, and it's rare to see her overly reactive.

She's always seen wearing her black jacket either on directly or tied around her waist by the sleeves. The jacket doesn't react strongly to the wind and seems to weigh heavier than one would expect due to the metal plates sewn inside of the fabric, only accessible by undoing some bindings that keep the jacket itself together. Her pants are covered in straps and belts used to keep different pouches, bags, and tools strapped to her rather easily for quick reach. When her hair is bound, she fastens it with a metal cylinder. Typically, one can see her wearing a rather well-made if worn backpack with much of her gear strewn about her body, either strapped somewhere or otherwise attached in easy reach.

## Personality

Allaine comes off as quite mellow and unaffected. Almost to the point of seeming unflappable. This exterior, however, is more due to a numbness brought about by loss and pain. She holds a grudge against Gorumites as a result of the attack on her caravan, as well as a grudge against orcs to an extent... However having dealt with orcs that weren't horrible monsters in the past, this grudge tends to mostly apply when she finds orcs that act more like bandits, brigands, or bear the symbol of Gorum. Typically this means that most half-orcs don't receive the same disdain as a full orc might receive from her. Her mellowness gets broken quickly as soon as something seems threatening, revealing a certain level of hyper reactivity to situations. She's also incredibly sensitive to the sound of horns blowing, quickly entering something of a combat state as soon as she hears one.

Beyond this, she's typically a person that's very willing to listen. Her flat affect and tired demeanor in some way doesn't entirely block a certain receptiveness and respect she grants other people often, which leaves most people quite willing and happy to tell her their stories. Often, this will happen over a coffee as the girl is very willing to whip out her pot and brew for people to have a drink over conversation. Notably, though, it sometimes seems as though her drinks stick with a person long after the cup is drained. She takes brewing and making these drinks rather seriously, and seems to keep a steady supply of materials. In fact, for the most part, her backpack primarily seems like it's meant to carry her coffee pot and the various materials used in her coffee, with the rest of her gear stashed on various cords and straps across her body.

## Abilities

**Luck:** While Allaine herself wouldn't consider herself lucky, it does seem that at times things preternaturally go her way when normally they shouldn't. Sometimes, something just happens that narrowly causes her to avoid a particularly bad fate, or slightly improves what she is trying for in just the right way to get a result that seemed like it would have failed just moments ago. While some wouldn't consider luck as a power, it just seems to happen just a little too often for Allaine to be normal either. Interestingly, whenever this happens, the strange red streak of hair in her bangs grows just a little less vibrant- in two stages, really- until the next morning... Going from a bright red to something more of an umber, and then brown.

**Brewing:** Allaine's ability to brew coffee and tea sometimes seems to fill it's drinker with just a bit more pep than normal coffee. In fact, one might even feel just a bit luckier than usual. For the rest of the day, they can occasionally exert themselves just a bit more... But it comes with a drawback, as the slight burst of exertion often leaves them feeling slightly weaker for a bit.

**Smithing:** Allaine has an inherent talent in shaping metal, and proves to be something of a solid smith. This has only begun to become more apparent since beginning to work at Skyfall.

**Repair:** At times, Allaine is capable of feeling out just the right way to move and maneuver a piece of equipment to quickly bring it back to working order. She's not entirely always sure how, simply that she 'followed what felt right' and it started working again...

**Spontaneous Crafting:** Allaine also possesses a talent for creating things on the go, often making anything from bombs to heating coils to even weapons on the fly in a pinch from random scrap she brings with her.

## Equipment

**Brewpot:** While technically an "invention" Allaine's coffeepot is less of an invention and more of a normal coffeepot that she frequently cobbles together a temporary shell of tech to maintain every time she works with it. She keeps telling herself she'll do something more permanent with it- perhaps with a combination of hot and cold siccatite- but for now she's kinda stuck doing with what she's got.

**Bag of Kits:** Strapped to the bottom of her bag is a kit of tools and various scrap that she collects as she goes to work various gadgets and gizmos. It seems she's always able to pull together something out of the kit when needs make. This includes a medical kit, a box of lockpicking tools, and the like

**Traveler's Anytool:** Due to Allaine's wide variety of skills and abilities, keeping an anytool on hand is almost a must. She keeps it on one of the straps on her pants for quick and easy access when necessary.

### Inventions

**Chemthrower:** Allaine's first real 'invention' of sorts, Allaine has a custom-built chemical thrower that can either fire flames in a cone or a straight line.

## Family

Allaine's birth parents are unknown to her, and died at some point in the past. She doesn't know what her original family name is, or even if she has any other blood relatives, only what little is left of a half-destroyed journal. It's a miracle she even knows her birthday. She knows that her parents had at least been to Lightreach, however trying to gather information about them there lead to a dead end, leading her to believe they had only visited the town. Some mentions about a boat and fleeing from something were involved, but the details were illegible. She had apparently been born on the road, so they had been fleeing whatever happened for a couple of years before dying. While magical repairs to the book may be possible with enough gold, the book had been part of the caravan during the attack. If it survived at all, the orcs that attacked her caravan likely took it, and there's no guarantee what happened from there. As far as she knows and is concerned, her biological family starts and ends there.

**Keydala:** (Deceased) Allaine's adoptive grandmother. She died at the raid on the caravan, and Allaine buried her.

**Rosmira:** (Deceased) Allaine's adoptive mother. She died at the raid on the caravan, and Allaine buried her.

## Friends and Associates

Ulysses Brokenrock-Hawall: The first person she actively talked to after arriving in Gemini City, Co-owner of the Skyfall and therefore Allaine's boss. He took her on as his apprentice.

Taiki Zihan: Co-owner of Skyfall, and therefore Allaine's boss. He has also taken a role in her training to teach her more about weapons given Ulysses' decision to stop making weapons and only make armor.

## Foes

At this time, Allaine's main 'foes' are the group that attacked her caravan. While this has lead to her having a distrust of orcs and gorumites, she isn't the sort to fly off and go against everyone she meets for the actions of individuals, and Ulysses specifically stated that their actions were 'hypocritical' for gorumites, leaving Allaine somewhat unsure of where to place her despair and anger, and unwilling to act foolishly until she has more information.

## Goals

-Find the survivors of her caravan's destruction

-siege the camp of the group that attacked her caravan

-Recollect the lost things her caravan had

-If possible, find her biological family, not to reconnect, but to have a better idea of who she is.