Sapic

"'Just leave him to die out there.'"        - Sapic to Barace about Varick sneaking away from the party at night.

Description
Sapic is a tortle monk and a founding member of the Destiny Weavers, a small adventuring party who haven't done much of note so far. Her role is mostly that of muscle, although her social skills and willingness to network have been surprisingly helpful.

Appearence
As a tortle, Sapic is upright and has a large shell. She looks like an alligator snapping turtle, complete with a sharp beak, wide maw, long claws and a surprisingly dexterous tail. Her colouration is a mottled yellow/brown, with a shell that's darker than her scales.

For all that her appearance is intimidating, she's one of the shorter members of the party, standing at only 5'7, although at an astonishing 446lbs she far outweighs them all.

She's heavily scarred, with an acid burn creating a nasty dark patch on her back as well as a still-healing dirty stab wound over what would be her collar bone. Down her front, her shell has been split diagonally in two from her left leg to her right arm, crossing over the centre where her heart is. The wound causes her significant discomfort.

Around her neck is a small glass vial that sits empty on a cord around her neck. She keeps it tucked safely by the peak of her shell and is very protective of it.

In the past she wore a loose sash across her front that connected between her right arm, left leg and the base of her tail. Sadly it was destroyed in the same attack that scarred her and she has yet to find a replacement. On the very small part of her right thumb which has flesh rather than claw sits a small inconspicuous ring. This is what allows her to swim rather than sink like a stone.

Personality
Sapic is a rough and open type, with her personality laid out in front of her for all to see. She's generally personable and up for conversation although if something is done to get on her bad side she can be cold, or even downright brutal. She's argumentative, but in a fun way, and is always up for bickering and banter. Her emotions come to her quite strongly, which can lead to brash spur-of-the-moment decisions that she may regret later on, though, while her moods can be hard to predict, a quick dose of alcohol is often enough to calm her down. She has no time for people in high authority areas if she doesn't think they've earned that role and, though she has the capacity to be polite, she rarely chooses to be. If she is defeated by someone in combat, or they manage to convince her they could, she shows them the utmost cautious respect. This often comes across as nervousness or something else to her companions.

She's been proven to be a little racist, after she got a human and an elf confused for one another and dismissively announced that all people with skin rather than scales look the same.

After the gnoll siege on Vundarth, where she got her brutal body-length scar, she seems to have simmered down somewhat. It remains to be seen how permanent of a change this is however it did prompt her to donate a not insignificant 100gp to families who lost people in the raid that were visiting Zin's Cathedral.

Expertise
As a monk, Sapic is best at physical activities like running, jumping and (with the help of her magical ring) swimming. She has proficiency in both Athletics and Acrobatics. Her time out in the wilderness before she met with the party has also gifted her proficiency in Survival and Nature(?). Her home tribe played the drums ritualistically as well as for pleasure and she is still proficient with drums, although she's a little out of practice.

Titles
None.

Companions
A small wood frog called Grung. They have a brown stripe over their eyes and a pale brown body. Their legs are ringed in dark brown stripes. They have a low voice. Sapic keeps them in a custom tank made by Den. They remind her of the story of the lake monsters she used to tell someone and she immediately became very attached to them.

Background
Sapic is from a small tortle community down by the great lake west of Adurkarn Lir in the eastern continent. By the edge of the lake is a murky swamp that leads away into a warm, damp jungle, which is the environment she grew up in. It had many large roots and branches which required clambering over and around to navigate the further she went into the jungle.

She's spent most of her adult life away from home, traveling with various groups that range from small adventuring parties like the Destiny Weavers to packs of mercenaries or roaming merchants. She never stays with them for long and moves on before anyone becomes too attached, following the trails of civilisation so she's never too distant from a bar.

A very long time ago she lost someone and seemingly the wound still cuts deep.

Abilities
As a tortle and a Way of the Astral Self monk, Sapic has many unusual abilities.

Tortle Abilities

 * Hold Breath
 * Claws
 * Natural Armour
 * Shell Defense

Way of the Astral Self Monk Abilities
As a 3rd level Way of the Astral Self monk, Sapic has earned the following abilities


 * Martial Arts
 * Unarmoured Movement
 * Ki
 * Flurry of Blows
 * Patient Defence
 * Step of the Wind
 * Deflect Missiles


 * Arms of the Astral Self
 * "Sickly pale yellow arms, emancipated, with the skin hanging off the bones. They have long sharp nails and a raggedy feel to them. A frayed string with a charm on it loops around its right wrist. The arms are lightly scaled in an undefinable pattern and they give off an unpleasant mist of the same colour as themselves. They smell sweet, like rotting fruit, but are hard and cold to the touch."
 * Slow Fall
 * Quickened Healing

Feats

 * Student of Toxin

Item-Related Abilities

 * Ring of Swimming
 * 40ft Swim Speed

Relationships
As one of the most social members of the party, Sapic is often the one to make first contact with allies, enemies and clients. That said, while she's social enough to engage in conversation she often forgets to ask the names of her new contacts and even if she does it's rare for her to consider them important enough to remember. Of the party, she only remembers Zevas's full name.

Destiny Weavers

 * Zevas Skybreaker
 * Sapic's first impression of Zevas was that they were of similar souls. Maybe not literally, but that they were both of similar age (provided she understood how humans grow), physically powerful and on the hunt for fights. She immediately tried to kill as many monsters as she could to prove that she was worthy of his respect but rather than achieving that all it did was piss him off. She instead changed her tune to teasing him and that has progressed into a friendly rivalry of sorts, with both of them keeping track of their kill counts and flourishing unnecessarily in battle. While he can be stubborn and somewhat foolhardy at times and they disagree fundamentally on what strength is and how it should be used, Zevas is the closest person in the party Sapic has to a friend. Out of everyone in the party Sapic feels like she can most easily be honest with him should she need to be. Zevas is tainted by the touch of demons. He's known by them and they seek his company. Sapic is wary of its presence and influence on him. She revealed her knowledge of Abyssal, the language of the demons, to him both as a warning for his safety and as a show of trust and support in dealing with it. He's left to ask his guildmaster the origins of his power. She misses him.
 * "My friend, older human, I trust him."




 * Den Hawkstorm
 * Den and Sapic's first interaction was one of confrontation. They immediately wanted to know who she was and why she was there and she didn't take kindly to their defensive curiosity. She turned the conversation onto them and they stomped away, which was a relief, although it didn't stop her from sneering at their back as they walked off. Since then she's been more cautious in herself around them than other members of the party, although she's worked hard to make sure they don't notice any difference. They aren't social and they're shockingly blind to the world around them but they're naturally decisive and their charisma is enough to mostly lead the party unscathed. When they're not feeling up to it Sapic takes over leading (or at least she feels she does) and she can sympathise with the stress that puts on them. She respects Den as somewhat of a leader and she trusts their decisions to keep the party safe.
 * "Half-elf, sensible, they take care of Barace."


 * Barace Kennald
 * Barace is a child. Maybe not an infant, but a child nonetheless. She's sweet and innocent and naive and that's good for her but it's not good for the party. Soon enough she's gonna get hurt or something happens and she's gonna get broken and Sapic is not taking responsibility for that. If something happens to Barace it's not her problem or fault and she wants Den specifically to know it. She doesn't interact with her very often other than to protect her booze from magical taste-changing nonsense. They had a nice conversation on the road on the way to Dhordir where Barace started talking about the various plants they were walking past and Sapic got nostalgic and chimed in with her own plant knowledge. When Sapic woke up from nearly dying Barace gave her some water and used her magic to make it taste like sweet wine, which Sapic appreciates more than she thinks Barace realises. Barace is a child and she's not Sapic's responsibility, but she's a very good kid and Sapic cares for her despite herself. Barace is convinced that Sapic knows Abyssal because a Shoosuva spoke to her in the language. She's annoyed and offended that they keep prying about it and that they didn't believe her multiple times when she said she didn't know it. She no longer trusts Barace.
 * "Lizardfolk child, naïve, Rauva's daughter."
 * Ticklish Fern
 * Sapic didn't get to know Fern for very long - only about a day or so - but she liked her. She respected her strength and her kindness. She was the first person in the vicinity of Wolf's Den she ever spoke to and she idly hopes she's doing well wherever she went.
 * Varick Nomel
 * Sapic's first impression of Varick was atrocious. She caught him trying to influence a fight between the person who defeated her and her rival and in stopping it she missed the finishing blow when she'd promised both fighters she'd watch. The only thing that stopped her from beating him to within an inch of his life was the fact that Barace found her before she could and begged her not to. She settled with shoving him and marching away to demand the one she thought was his boss to thoroughly reprimand him. Her animosity cooled somewhat after said boss turned out not to be his boss and mistook the complaint for ordering an assassination. Due to continued proximity she no longer wants to beat him but she still wouldn't risk her life for him. He earned an inch of respect when he helped her see Jewel off on her ship.
 * "Kobold, lil' shit, he can turn into animals."
 * Nephir
 * Nephir is a small young dragonborn. Barely older than Barace, by Sapic's guess. She has no hobbies or interests and is painfully quiet. Sapic is distressed at the thought of yet another child to take care of with one less adult to take the weight of responsibility from her. Even worse, the kid seems to have latched on to her. And she has a gross clicky face.

Non-Party Members

 * Jewel of the Waves
 * Jewel of the Waves is a tabaxi monk, the first other monk Sapic has met in a very long time. She was immediately curious about her powers and abilities, signing up to a tournament in order to be able to fight her all-out. She dealt one solid hit and learned on the fly to ape one of Jewel's own moves, which she was impressed by, but she was still taken out by her in a matter of seconds. She has a tremendous respect for her as a person and as a martial artist. This respect was only increased when she found out via the party of the extreme danger Wolf's Den was in and they asked her to ask Jewel for help. She did and her presence in the battle that followed undeniably saved Sapic's life.
 * Beaumont
 * Beaumont is a very scary individual. At first she just seemed like any other Cradle member and since Sapic had managed to avoid seeing everything bad they did, she didn't see anything innately threatening with that. Then she tried to meet with Beaumont to discuss Varick with her and rather than meeting covertly like a normal person, she broke into Sapic's room in the middle of the night sopping wet and asked if she wanted to take a hit out against him. When Sapic said no they had a short conversation and she left through the window with the lingering threat that if Sapic and her group get on her bad side they won't live long and that they're being watched. That threat scared her enough that she argued with the party about leaving a child to potentially die so they wouldn't interfere with the Cradle's business.
 * Chaucer the Bookeeper
 * A spectacularly old man Sapic found reading a fantastically horny-looking book. She, of course, went to go talk to such a conspicuous person. Unfortunately, much to her distaste, he turned out to be one of those nasty nosey-types who don't take no for an answer. He managed to drag out emotions that Sapic wasn't happy being dragged out of her and then he literally ran away from the conversation before he could give out anything more than his name and his workplace. Sapic hates him. He doesn't scare her but he makes her deeply uncomfortable, his presence makes her feel like something is crawling around beneath her scales and she despises it. She avoids him at all costs.
 * Rauva
 * Barace's parent. She seems stupid in an intelligent kind of way. Sapic respects that she and Barace care for each other a lot and she's happy they've found each other but she doesn't have a lot of respect for Rauva's ideas and decision-making skills. If she weren't their only key to leaving and Barace's beloved parent, she would be a lot more harsh and critical of her.
 * "Drow, very clever apparently, Barace's mum."
 * Tool
 * He's the strange metal servant of some wizard Rauva doesn't like. He has a fixation on Barace that Sapic doesn't understand and would find more immediately concerning if she weren't currently in dire straits. She isn't sure if she's actually a person or not and treats him as such, referring to him more as 'Tool', 'this one' or 'it' than as something more humanising. She doesn't trust in his abilities or intentions.
 * "Metal person, spy for some wizard, only joined us yesterday."
 * (REDACTED)
 * [REDACTED]

Quotes
"'Ah, all you skin-types look the same!'"
 * After getting a human and an elf mixed up.

"'KILL YOURSELF!'"
 * While killing a gnoll after having been woken up early that day.


 * In response to Zevas telling her the strong defend the weak so they have a duty to protect Wolf's Den from the Cradle.

"'No! The strong do whatever they want because they can and no one can stop them. The Cradle are STRONG and we CAN'T STOP THEM.'"


 * To Zevas, after he initially refused to sleep in the same room as her when he was suffering from crippling nightmares.

"'Put your manhood somewhere else.'"


 * To Barace, after she woke her up in the middle of the night to tell her Varick had gone missing.

"'Just leave him to die out there.'"


 * As she tackled Leif, the leader of the Sun-Worn Hand, to the ground.

"'We're not here for trouble!'"


 * To Zevas, in Abyssal for the very first time.

"'Demons are serious business. You don't want to mess with them.'"

Trivia

 * She is rarely seen without alcohol either on hand or in her immediate vicinity.
 * She has shown a surprising amount of knowledge and enthusiasm on the care and upkeep of flowers.
 * She seems to have some kind of personal connection with oleander in particular.
 * She's very bad at connecting names with faces and so usually only tries to remember one or the other.
 * She performs her best during drinking contests, where she shows an unreasonable amount of luck and constitution.
 * She weighs almost 20 times more than Varick.
 * Sapic dealt the killing blow on both the Night Hag of Wolf's Den and the False Hydra of Old Bhalduar
 * Despite her ki being yellow, her favourite colour is actually light pink.
 * The party believe that she and Jewel are in love but neither she or Jewel have confirmed or denied.
 * She, Rowan and Skraw all share the same player.
 * While she isn't well versed on arts and culture she was once a skilled drummer and in her travels has taken up poetry, with which she has written out some of the experiences she's had while traveling with the party.
 * She appears to be afraid of ghosts.