Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:11 pm  
[Rogues Gallery] Samtha Mousefoot

Samtha Mousefoot
5th level Chaotic Halfling, female, age 40; ST 9, DE 12, CO 11, IN 10, WI 12, CH 7; HP 22; AC 9 (unarmored); Money: 530 GP Items: Ratclaw (Short Sword +3, +5 vs Lawful Creatures)

Samtha is an ugly little halfling, both in appearance and spirit. Constantly pessimistic and introverted, she's extremely secretive about her past, claiming only to hail from a small mining town in the eastern Jotens, where she says her father died in a mining accident and her mother died from a bite from a rabies infected rat.

Samtha is probably more useful as a villain or rival of the PCs, being annoying and uncooperative, but should the party be engaged in activities that interest her or if they're desperate for help and offer her enough money, she might join them for a short time. If so, she's always complaining about something, and is prone to disappearing for hours on end at night, offering pathetic excuses upon her return and growing angry when questioned about it. She's competent in battle, if not overenthuiastic, except when confronting rats, xvarts or other rodent-like creatures (except bats, which she will kill with no hesitation if asked to).

Samtha's secret
Samtha's father was a miner in the eastern Jotens, and did die in an unfortunate cave-in accident in a mine there, but that's the extent of the truth in her story. After the accident, she moved with her mother to Cryllor, where her mother worked as a cleaning girl at the Royal Archives (the huge library in Cryllor, maintained by the National Academy of Wizardry). Ilbrysis, the Corypheus Librarian (overseer of the archive, essentially. Ilbrysis is described fully in a separate article here on Canonfire: NPC Profile: Ilbrysis of Cryllor) of the archive pitied the young halfling widow and her fatherless daughter, and often allowed Mirta, Samtha's mother, to bring Samtha along when working at the Archive. It was on one of these visits that Samtha became lost in the labyrinthine vaults below the Archive and eventually met the xvart Loxynth, leader of a vile cult of worshippers of Raxivort, the god of rodents (Loxynth and her cult, the Sisterhood of the Rats Claw, are also detailed here on Canonfire, in an article entitled, oddly enough, The Sisterhood of the Rat's Claw).

Samtha was fascinated with Loxynth and Raxivort, and unbeknownst to her mother, joined the cult. Later, when Mirta discovered this, Samtha herself delivered the rabies infested giant rat to her bedside, where it attacked and killed Mirta. This act proved Samtha's devotion to the cult, and she was rewarded with a valued position as a "mouse" (the title in the cult for field operatives) in Sterich, where she gathers information on this and that, reporting now and then to Loxynth.

Samtha isn't yet experienced enough to be involved in the more sinister plots of the cult, but she is fanatically loyal to Loxynth, and will attempt to kill anyone who discovers her secret. She wears her rat's claw badge necklace tucked beneath her tunic, and sneaks off at night to be alone to conduct her prayers to the Rat Lord.
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What would Raxivort do?<br />