Okuvan the Duelist, now known as The Black Thorn, set aside his gentlemanly honor and took up a new name when his lady, Erolis,The Black Rose of the Arlian, placed him in charge of her operations in Haradel. Forming his own band of thieves the former Thormenalan swordsman works to diligently improve “The Black” network in his portion of Faelon. He has earned Erolis’ trust many times over, some even daring to whisper that his band might be the more dangerous.
https://www.dgsgames.com/black-thorn-bandit-leader/
Swift
(sw) You are +1 to Parry tests when using a weapon with this ability.
Leader
| Talent | Effect | Pre-reqs | Paths | Cost |
|---|
| Leader | A non-Feral friend within 6” may use this model’s DISC for all DISC tests. Includes Shoot Them! and Tough [+1]. The model is +1 to all Ability tests. | DISC d12 | BHMW | 4 |
Parry
| Talent | Effect | Pre-reqs | Paths | Cost |
|---|
| Parry [X] | You may roll MAR and replace your base DEF with that number after being attacked in melee. This is called a Parry test. A successful Parry test results in the attack missing. You may make one test per X per turn. Only one Parry test may be made per enemy attack. You choose which of multiple weapons/MARs to use for each Parry test. A Parry test is treated as an Opposed test with the model employing Parry as the opposer. [R] If you are hit by several attacks at the same point in the combat sequence, you may choose which to try and Parry. You may not wait until later in the sequence and try and come back to Parry an “earlier” hit. If the result is less than your DEF, your DEF is used instead of the result of the roll. Abilities such as Swift may modify the Parry test. If the roll is a Tarch, your DEF for that attack is 1 and cannot be modified. A single attack may not be both Parried and Dodged. Parry may make use of Split Dice. A Parry that makes use of Split Dice is still one Parry. Critical Success on the Parry allows an immediate single attack by you using the MAR/weapon of the Parry, against the enemy that got the original hit result. This is called a Riposte. You may only Riposte models in contact. There may be one such attack per level of Critical Success. | No unwieldy, Limited to Parry [1] unless Sword, Staff | B | 3X |
Bladedancer
| Talent | Effect | Pre-reqs | Paths | Cost |
|---|
| Bladedancer | Includes Elusive [1]. When you conduct a Break Off action, after any reaction attacks are resolved, you may treat the remainder of your activation as a Maneuver action. | AGL d10, Sword Group | BM | 2 |
Sidestep
| Talent | Effect | Pre-reqs | Paths | Cost |
|---|
| Sidestep | If you are the target of a melee attack that misses, you may move up to 1” after all attacks and actions concurrent with the triggering miss are complete. This move may be into contact with a new enemy and does not have to abide by the Proximity rule. Note a hit canceled by a talent, such as Parry or Dodge, is a miss. [R] | AGL d10, AV4 or less | BM | 1 |
Swordsman
| Talent | Effect | Pre-reqs | Paths | Cost |
|---|
| Swordsman [Weapon] | May forgo your normal melee attack with [Weapon] and instead do one of the following: [O] • Defensive Mode: Raise your melee DEF by +1. This may be done with each [Weapon]. Each [Weapon] used in this way cannot be used to make an attack. • Finesse Strike: Make a melee attack with a [Weapon] first (incurring any responses before other attacks are made by you), but if a hit is achieved, instead of damage, raise one of your other melee attacks by +1dl (and an additional +1dl for every Crit level achieved by the attack using the parrying weapon) | MAR d10, DEX d8, AV4 or less,[Weapon] must have the Matched weapon ability | BM | 2 |
Okuvan spun away from the female Apprentice Knight, her longsword’s slash wide of the mark. He rushed away to help his outlaw, defending herself with only a
dagger, her crossbow useless in melee. He plunged both his dagger and sword into the Militia Spearman’s back and kept moving through the mix of fighters. Killing the spearman from behind would have bothered him once, but that seemed like an age ago.
***
That age ago he stood before Erolis, the Black Rose of the Arlian, as she honored him with a sidelong glance. The Black Rose was holding court, as only a Queen of Thieves would, reclining on a camp stool, back against a tree, long legs extended, feet on an empty ale cask. She cleaned her nails with a fine dagger, turning her head to address her second in command.
“What do you think?” she asked.
Okuvan turned to better hear the other woman’s response. Adelika the Enchantress rose from where she was sitting and walked around him. As a Thormenalan, Okuvan knew what this woman was better than the rest of Erolis’ band. The others called her an enchantress, but he knew she was much more than that. The
Chaler woman was dangerous in ways that dwarfed the rest of Erolis’ cutthroats.
“His abilities and skills are up to the task, they are not his problem.”
“No” declared Erolis, “it is his foolish moral code”
Okuvan ground his teeth, “What is wrong with a code of honor?”
Adelika’s throaty laugh caressed his ears, “Beside the fact it is entirely misplaced? You are the blade of the Black Rose, not the duelist of some foppish
Thormenalan Lord.”
He knew she was provoking him with the prejudices of their two neighboring countries. He cut off his reply, a verbal parry referencing her true position in Koronna.
She wheeled, locking his eyes. Somehow she knew what he had been about to say, of course did. Okuvan forced his eyes away, best not continue that gaze and give her even more power.
“He has a barely contained streak of insolence, most likely the reason why he is here with us and not in some Lord’s court,.” the Rose said. The enchantress returned to her seat as Erolis continued speaking. “I have an opportunity to expand my operations Okuvan, spread the banditry of the Black into Haradel, but I need someone to lead this group.” Erolis swung her feet off the barrel slid them beneath her leaning forward, “Can you do it?”
***
Okuvan flowed through the fighting, looking for the High Questor. I can end this fight quickly, he thought. He spotted the Haradelan knight bearing down on Ridan, his bands best crossbowman. Okuvan stepped in between the two and received the knight’s charge, barely parrying the heavy blade. Okuvan wounded the knight and again parried the knight’s blade, but a militiaman moved along-side the knight and thrust his spear at the bandit leader. Okuvan deflected the spear point with his dagger, “well Erolis, now is the moment of truth”, he thought.
***
“I have allowed you, as my best blade, to seek out the best fighter among our enemies and drop them” said Erolis. “If you are to lead and entire band you need to
change”. Remove all threats as quickly as possible, in whatever order you can, and damn your honorable ways. Those honorable ways will result in the loss of your
people.”
“Can you do this Thormenalan?” asked Adelika. “Can you strike down an opponent’s minions instead of always facing their champions?” Her voice, along with a
cocked eyebrow over an almond eye told him she thought not.
“I will do whatever must be done to lead and protect my people” growled Okuvan to the Chaler woman.
“We shall see” she stated.
***
Okuvan parried the Knight easily but instead of wounding him again he turned and killed the spearman in a single thrust. The enraged Knight bellowed a war cry,
swinging wildly with his longsword. The knight’s over-extended swing allowed Okuvan to riposte and end the knight. The new Bandit leader cleaned his blade as the rest of the Haradelan band left the field. “Have it your way Erolis”, he muttered to himself.
“Good work girl”, Erolis slapped Adelika on the back as Okuvan stalked off. The enchantress winced, rolling her shoulders to dissipate the effect of her leader’s
“congratulations”.
"It was too easy to push the man in the direction we wanted. A thick- headed Thormenalan man’s abilities being questioned by a Koronnan woman? Too easy”
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