Triss Mistleasf Human Alchemist

[SleepingSkeleton]

Spoiler

Deadlock
Strength: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 2, 5, 3, 2, 1, total 13
Dexterity: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 2, 6, 2, 4, 1, total 15
Constitution: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, total 16
Intelligence: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 5, 1, 6, 6, 1, total 19
Wisdom: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 5, 2, 2, 1, 6, total 16
Charisma: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 6, 4, 5, 1, 3, total 19

Deadlock
Strength: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 3, 3, 2, 2, 3, total 13
Dexterity: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 3, 1, 2, 3, 4, total 13
Constitution: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 3, 1, 2, 5, 1, total 12
Intelligence: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 6, 2, 1, 5, 3, total 17
Wisdom: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 6, 1, 4, 2, 5, total 18
Charisma: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 1, 4, 5, 2, 6, total 18

Deadlock
Strength: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 6, 5, 3, 2, 1, total 17
Dexterity: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 5, 3, 4, 6, 1, total 19
Constitution: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 1, 4, 1, 4, 5, total 15
Intelligence: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 4, 4, 4, 1, 5, total 18
Wisdom: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 4, 4, 3, 1, 6, total 18
Charisma: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 5d6 : 2, 6, 2, 1, 2, total 13

Edit: Appears I have screwed this up.  Rolls that I was using was a deadlock, with STR at 10, DEX at 15, CON at 12, INT at 17, WIS at 11, and CHA at 12.  Sorry, still learning what the various things on the forum do.

[close]

[SleepingSkeleton]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TJi0-NOueqyyYDQgZVHK_T21V_oCKWJrfEPgMIknH2M/edit#gid=1406401534

[SleepingSkeleton]

Backstory
Sorry if it's a little long.

Burying the Past

"What is it?" Triss sighed, exasperatedly as she heard footsteps enter the small laboratory she used.  She didn't look up from the various tubes and beakers she was using until a large man pulled her forcibly up from the stool she was sitting on.  As she turned, she saw Garrik, a huge hulk of a man was the one who had pulled her away from her labors.  He was big and strong, but not very bright, and with a weak will.  He had helped her to get some of the alchemical components she had been working on to hone her craft beyond the products she made for her boss.  In exchange for not mentioning where the supplies were going, she gave Garrik whatever fix he wanted.  It had been a good relationship, he was happy and on whatever he wanted, and she got to make things more interesting than the Shiver that took up most of her time.  Was she though, because behind Garrik was her boss, Gaedren Lamm. The older mans gaunt face was drawn in an expression she had seen before when his "Little Lamms" had failed in some task he had set forth for them.  He looked at least as angry as when he had beaten, or mostly forced the rest of them to beat that little purple eyed girl nearly to death.  She knew what this was about, and hoped it wouldn't end as badly for her as it had for some of the others.

"I'm making up a new batch right now, Mr. Lamm," Triss quickly said.  "It'll be ready soon and I've been able to salvage some of the Dream Spider venom out of the batch that got overcooked, so we're really only down a tiny bit.  I can make a couple of the other shipments for our regulars a little weaker and then we'll be back up and running in no time.  Old Tom and Jackie are far gone enough they won't be able to tell the difference."
"How very... industrious of you," Lamm hissed back.  His hands were behind his back, and his face had not softened. His stringy white hair and dilapidated hat made it difficult to read his expression, but she saw him scanning the room.  Triss had never been great at reading people, and hoped that she was wrong, that he had softened.  She began to feel some hope when she saw the corners of his mouth tug up slightly as his eyes lit on the small fires she was using to boil the brew soon to be his new shipment of Shiver. 

"It's just, it's getting to the point where it might start to burn if I don't get back to it soon, I promise I'll have it done as-" She began, until Lamm stopped her.

"Pity your dedication keeps straying to those little side projects of yours.  If you would keep your thoughts were they belong, on my shipments, we might have made the deal today."  She had heard something about a big potential customer a few days ago from the other, but she had never worried too much about the other Little ones.  Keep her work up and Lamm would keep her fed and clothed with something resembling shelter.  And as long as she didn't draw attention she wouldn't get roughed up too bad.  She was valuable.  She mad Shiver better than anyone else.  That drug was one of Lamms favorites, and it made him a lot of money.  It stood to reason that the best way to please the man who had taken her in when her father had been killed by thieves was to learn the trade.  If the others weren't bright enough to see what the real value in themselves could be to Lamm, well, that was their problem.  But it looked like she had drawn too much attention.  Perhaps she ought to have listened to the other a bit more, and made sure his request was filled, rather than burning a batch while she was concocting a new way to store her elixirs. 

Her attention was drawn back to the two men currently occupying her doorway as something jingled in Lamms hand.  Garrik stepped forward and grabbed her wrist roughly.  She struggled to fight back, but he was a grown man, and a strong one at that.  Her 15 year old frame was unsuited to lifting anything much heavier than a full beaker, and he easily had her pinned to the table.  Lamm moved forward, pulling out the manacles he had been holding behind his back.  He secured one end around her outstretched wrist and the other to the leg of the workbench she had been sitting at, holding her across the table.  Garrik adjusted then, shoving the left side of her face to the table.  Lamm similarly manacled her other hand, and began unwrapping a length of rope.  "I think we all ought to learn a lesson from Triss here," Lamm said as he coiled it into a noose.  "Garrik, would you go get the rest?"  After giving her a moment to struggle, and seeing she could not, Garrik left the room.  She couldn't see him, but she could hear him stomping away, the sound of the decorative pin he had held by a ribbon against the plate of his steel boots echoed trough the hall.  "Garrik told me you've been using my stock on these projects of yours.  What was the last one again, simulating drunkenness or sobering you up briefly.  My dear, we already have things for those." She felt the noose being slipped over her neck.  What was he planning to do.  If he had wanted to hang her, why chain her to the bench first.  Perhaps just a choking?  They'd know when to stop, right?  They wouldn't kill her.  She was the best.  No one else could do the distilling without loosing more of the dream spider venom in the process.  For the past 5 years it had been her.  She heard the others approaching.  She tried to look up, but Lamm, now bent down beside the bench pulled on the rope, and her neck and head were pulled down with it.  All she could see were her beaker, the series of tubes to mix the components and the fires for the heat to evaporate the undesirable chemicals from the drug. 
"Now, I know you're all packed up and ready to go, after all this shack is run down, and we've begun to get questions," Lamm began, "But before we go, your friend Triss here has something she wanted to teach you all.  If you start a fire, always be sure to put it out before you leave.  Otherwise you may get burned.  And remember, my wrath burns as bright as any fire.  Take things that aren't yours, and you'll be starting one hell of a blaze!" As he said this, he pulled the satchel Triss had on a small shelf above the door, and grabbed a flask of her explosive compound out of it.  "See how stolen things burn?" He yelled as he threw it into one of the flames.  Triss cried out, now fully comprehending what was to happen to her.  But Lamm paid no mind to her pleas.  "Remember who it is that keeps your fires that warm you! Who you need to please to make sure you aren't killed when you're caught!  Learn from the wonderful example miss Triss is setting for you all!  Now run along, we have some moving to finish up, and I feel like it's going to be quite a hot day."  She could feel the heat on her face, as the hungry flames licked at the wood of the bench.  She strained against the chains, calling out to Lamm, for forgiveness.  As she watched in terror as the flames licked closer to her face, burning the slightly crimson hue that her explosives always burned as the chemicals she had been perfecting igniting ran towards her.  She called out for Garrik as the smoke began to fill her lungs.  She tried through coughs of the acrid stuff to promise him more drugs, anything he could want if he would just get her out.  But all she heard from the man was the jingle of that pin against his boots, receding.  And then all her senses were drawn to the searing pain in her face , burning downwards as her hair and shirt caught fire as well, both helped along by the spreading chemicals of the Shiver and her own work. 

She didn't want to die her, the rest of the bench was up in flames, but the stone walls would let nothing out.  Nor would the ceiling, covered with the clay they had used to ensure the smoke and fumes from her work weren't immediately visible from the outside.  She was loosing strength as the smoke burned at the eyes and filled her lungs.  Her entire left side was aflame, and she could smell the odor of meat cooking.  She could feel the rope around her neck had given, now a smoldering collar of flame.  She was going to die here.  She could not pull her hands from the manacles, and the bench would burn her before it crumbled.  She tugged once more, but felt a give in her right hands chain.  Of course, there had been more fires there as it would be the start of the evaporation.  The leg of the bench must have caught.  It was the rotten one, the one Lamm had told her would hold the weight of the table fine.  She pulled again with all her strength, and heard a splintering as the already fire-weakened wood gave out.  She pulled herself off the table and gasped for air as she fell to the floor.  The bench, now off balance tilted up, dragging her closer again, but she was now able to slip the other manacle off the leg of the table.  She was free.  But still burning.  She staggered to the door, seeing no one on her way.  They had all left her.  Left her to die.  She knew why.  No one would want to disobey Lamm.  People looked out for themselves.  And now she had to look out for herself.  The roof.  She had to get to the barre they had for rain to collect in.  If there was any chance she had to live, she had to get the fire on herself out.  She could barely see, and very more she made with the left side of her body, some of which was still aflame was torture nearly causing her to loose consciousness.  But she had to keep going.  She pulled herself up the stairs by her good hand.  It was no good trying to smother the fire.  Her chemicals would see that it kept burning.  She had to get them off of her.  The door, it was almost there.  She saw the barrel, but her leg gave under her as she tried to position herself over it.  She fell, but managed to grab the rim with her right hand, spilling is contents over herself, finally dousing the flames.  She laid there, staring up at the blue sky over Korvosa as it faded into the blackness of oblivion. 

***

6 years later, she followed the same jingle from when she was still a "Little Lamm"  Before she had lost her face.  Her arm and chest had healed, but without the money to go to a real healer, she had had to treat them herself, using what she had learned of physiology from her time making drugs to destroy it.  It was all two sides of the same coin.  And both sides of that coin could pay.  She had made a neat little purse for herself making drugs and selling them to the other refuse of the "Great City of Korvosa."  Ha, what a laugh.  This city was scum.  You looked out for yourself.  Guards wouldn't notice you if you weren't too much of a bother.  And if they did notice you, they tended not to believe that the scum who lived in The Shingles were anything but the cause of their own problems.  And if they did come looking for her, well, she knew names of other, bigger fish.  She was just a minnow in a veritable sea of thieves, dealers, addicts and killers.  But this minnow had set herself some eyes on a shark.  She watched as Garrik entered the same bar he did every third Starday of the month.  But his normal dealer wouldn't be there.  She had paid him well enough not to.  Pulling down the hood of the dark grey cloak she almost always wore to cover her face and shoulder, she followed. 

She quickly found him.  There were only a few people in the dark tavern.  She crossed over, studying him as she approached.  He had been using for a long time, and his body was showing it.  Where back then he had been muscular, the skin on his arms now hung a bit looser, and had turned slightly yellow.  His eyes were bloodshot, and she could see he would be anxious to get his fix.  He looked up briefly as she sat down across from him, and muttered, "Go 'way. I'm meetin" shumone 'ere shoon."  Slurred speech too, and not from the drink.  Hardly worth it.  But Lamm would still be.  And she wanted him to know she had not forgotten.  "Now Garrik, is that any way to talk to an old friend?" She asked.  He looked up again, studying her a bit more closely, but her hood still held most of her face in shadow, and her dark hair, the bangs grown long covered most of the rest.  "Can't shay I know ya, but I can't shee yer fache neither," he said. 

"I suppose seeing my face might remind you," Triss said, pulling back her hood slightly.  She watched as he recoiled, as she knew he would.  They all did.  The burns on her face had never truly gone away, and much of the left side of her face, and side were covered in red scars.  But people didn't tend to care much what you looked like when you were the one bringing them their hit.  "Trishh?" He asked, reaching down for the club he had strapped to his belt on a leather thong.  "Glad to see you remember your old dealer.  Especially as I'm here to do the same for you again.  Don't worry.  I'm not here to start a fight.  I'm no stronger than I was when we last met.  And I don't blame you anyways.  You were just following Lamms orders right?  He would have blamed the thief first unless that person could lead him to someone else to blame, someone bigger.  I know how the world works better now.  You were just looking out for yourself."  Just keep talking, make him follow your chain.  Logical jumps, follow what he's likely to think.  She had found that while good looks and a winning smile made things easier, getting people to follower her train of thoughts could be just as convincing.  Especially if it was what they wanted to hear.

She saw his hand loosen slightly from the club.  Good.  Keep talking, lead him to where he wants to be, and make that be where you want him.  He was always going to be the easy one.  She smiled.  "Kreeg's sorry he couldn't be here, but I said I know you, and he told me what you'd want," She said, lifting a small pouch and setting it down on the table.  She watched as the huger sprang up in his eyes. She withdrew a small box, filled with small black seeds. "A new habit, but easy enough to supply," she said, handing it over to him, and reaching back into the bag.  "And of course, some Keif.  I even manged to get you some of the black stuff.  Not cheap." 

Now she had his attention.  Keif wasn't too hard to get, but black keif was much rarer.  He wanted it though. She had him now.  "But, you look like you're a bit harder up now days.  Tell you what, let's have a drink, let me tell you what I want to say to Lamm, and then I'll give you the stuff for say, half? Unless you guys are willing to take me back, I gotta try to make ends meat still.  But I realize how stupid I was.  Lamm took good care of us right, got you what you needed, and you and him kept us little ones safe.  Now that I've been out here, I've seen how hard it is on your won.  How much it pays to have someone with pull and someone with muscle to back you up.  I'm done trying to be a stupid brat and prove I'm better than him.  I'm not, and I want what I had back.  Can't you go talk to him, for me, for an old friend?"  He looked up at her again, studying her.  But his focus kept straying to the bow and the pouch in front of him.  "If you were smart you'd know better than to take it," she thought. "But Lamm has got you right where he wants you.  Dumb and easy to control." 

"I dunno if he'll take ya back, but I can talk ta him."  Bingo.  "Thanks friend," Triss said, breaking into her friendliest smile, she hoped he wouldn't notice it didn't extend to her eyes, but people weren't fond of looking at the remains of her face, and his attention would be down on the drugs anyways.  She flagged down the barmaid, and ordered an ale for each of them.  Triss noted the barmaid wouldn't look at her once she had the first glance.  Like she and the scars of acne or a pox on her own face were so much more comely.   But perhaps as little attention as possible was for the best.  After all, the guards would occasionally lift their great magnanimous selves down to the level of the common people.  Best to be forgotten.  When the drinks returned, she uncorked the flask on her hip, and poured a bit into her mug.  "Keeps you sober," She said, holding the flask over Garrik's mug.  He nodded, not really even listening.  She poured.  It was as good as done now.  All she had to do now was steer him in the right direction so she'd have less distance to haul him.  "To burying the past!" She cheered, holding out her mug in a toast.  "Letsh let byegonesh be gone," he replied and drank.

"So, here, or did you have a place in mind?" She asked, the cool air blowing off the channels that surrounded the city.  "You know, I know the perfect place, and in honor of burying the past, I shall be your guide, " She proclaimed, bowing low in a sweeping gesture.  As her hand went out behind her, she made sure that when her cloak settled, the dagger in it's sheathe against her lower back would be easily grabbed.  "Shure," he said.  Can't rightly do it out in the open."  She lead him south, and slightly east, finally ducking into a small alley of Last way.  Fitting.  Best to keep this as quiet as possible.  It was late, she had extended a drink into several, and now most of the town was asleep.  Only the night guards and seedy elements such as themselves ought to be up now.  "It's nice enough that the guards don't patrol too close down there.  And there's always a little fire from that bakery down there.  Ought to cover any smell too.  Probably do the black stuff here, so no one else gets jealous yeah?" She asked.  He had offered her a pinch, but she told him same rule still stood, taking could make her make mistakes making more later.  Not worth it to someone who had to live on it.

"Well then, Ta Old Friendsh!" He cried.  "To burying the past," As he lit the pipe and inhaled, he looked up.  "Why'd ya keep shayin' it that way?" he asked. As she saw his eyes go a bit redder, and the veins in them begin to stand out, she laughed.  "I told you where we were going right, to a perfect place to bury the past." She gestured to the other side of the wall, in the shadow of the Pillar wall, towards Gary. His vision was turning red, and beginning to double as he realized he had made a horrible mistake.  "You bury it 6. Feet. Under." Then she was on him and the dagger was sliding into his throat. 

"He is heavy," said the young man in black robes as he helped Triss drag Garrik's corpse into the walls of Gray.  "Used to be heavier, but blood loss and a life of debauchery can do something to you," Triss grunted back as they lifted the body to the grave.  "All right, 20 doses right here," she said, lifting another sack from her satchel and handing it to the man. "As agreed," He replied and turned to go.  "Hopefully I'll have the second half of my 'cargo' soon."
"I'll be here if you do.  You know how to get me.  May you not meet our lady so soon, but if you do, I shall see you again," he said the small vials of holy water on his robes clinking as he walked away.
"To burying the past," Triss intoned one final time as she began to bury the body.  "Soon, I'll be free of it"