Elindariel, fire-haired Elf-maid

Torchbearer The Inn
1

My first Torchbearer character! I picked Elf mostly because I really like the fighter-mage archetype.

Name: Elindariel
Stock: Elf
Class: Ranger
Age: 60
Home: Dwarven Halls
Raiment: A faded green cloak made in her lost homeland.
Parents: Orphan
Mentor: Limbran the Armorer
Friend: Brogan the Stonemason
Enemy: Grima the Adventurer
Alignment: Unaffiliated
Belief: “To not act is the same as being dead.”
Instinct: “When we make camp, I draw a map.”
Traits: First Born (level 1), Fiery (level 2)
Abilities: Will 4, Health 4, Nature 4, Resources 0, Circles 4
Wises: Elven Lore-Wise, Orc-Wise
Skills: Arcanist 3, Fighter 3, Lore Master 3, Armorer 2, Cartographer 2, Persuader 2, Scholar 2, Scout 2, Survivalist 2
Spells: Dance of the Fireflies

Elindariel was born in a small elvish settlement (I don’t know if it would count as Elfland per se; I’m thinking Rivendell as compared to Lothlorien), but it was wiped out and its forests burned down by a tribe of orcs when she was young. She fled to the nearby Dwarven Halls with her uncle Limbran and a handful of other refugees, which is where she has spent the majority of her life. Elindariel is completely lacking the typical calm serenity and wisdom of the elves; instead she is fiery, passionate, and intense. Her uncle sometimes claims with exasperation that she is more dwarf than elf. She has a fierce hatred for orcs, and has made a study of their ways, the better to wipe them off the face of the world. Her enemy, Grima, is a dwarf-maid that she grew up alongside, but who blames Elindariel and Limbran for driving her father’s armor shop out of business.

Things I learned from a session and a half of playing: 1) Level 2 traits are really powerful! Especially if they’re something broad like Fiery that can benefit a whole host of situations (and hinder just as many). 2) Spending checks to gain advancement from help is really useful. 3) Being Angry sucks! 4) It seems like the most space-efficient inventory trick is to carry a sack of sacks in one hand (i.e., a small sack with a large sack and a second small one inside it).

2

I’ll bite – what is the trick? Is there something about the ‘Sacks within Sacks (within Sacks)’ section on p. 36 I’m missing? And why the combination of a large and a small sack inside? Why not two large sacks?

3

I’m fairly sure you’re meant to be limited to two small sacks and one large sack per character–at least, that’s all there’s room for on the character sheet. And you want to be carrying the small sack in your hand because carrying a large sack in one hand requires a Laborer test. Anyway, on to the trick:

You want to be carrying your sacks rather than keeping them in your backpack/satchel so that you can fill your backpack/satchel with other stuff. Then, after you’ve traveled a little ways into the dungeon and found a likely camping spot, you take each character’s large sack, pack one of their small sacks into them, and pack the less immediately important items from your backpacks/satchels into the large sacks and have your best Dungeoneer hide them.

This way you can leave town filled to the brim, but walk around with one empty small sack and hopefully a few empty backpack slots for stashing loot–probably 3-6 empty slots per character. It does of course come with a small risk of losing the stuff you hid in the large sacks, but an adventurer’s life is never without risk!

4

I endorse this plan! Carry sacks; hide sacks! What could go wrong?