Miri

Miri is human fighter and member of The Valkyrie Knights. She is played by Wren.

Introduction
Miri may be the member of the party least suited to travelling with a group: generally contrary, a raging alcoholic, inherently distrustful, and overall apathetic to the well-being of others, she would choose to live in the wilderness without ever talking to another human soul, if it weren't for the two complications of her adoptive brother Morne and the bounty hunters that presumably track her every move.

Appearance
A human of slim but strong build, and just tall enough to be slightly unnerving, Miri's appearance gives the air of someone who would rather not talk to you. Her olive skinned-face and almond-shaped dark eyes are framed by dark hair, messily chopped by herself just under the chin.

Miri's clothing is usually dark smugglers clothing, meant to be comfortable as well as sturdy: slacks, thick boots, and a black woollen cloak she has carried since childhood.

Personality
As a result of growing up an orphan and learning to fight only for herself, Miri tends towards chaotic neutral, willing to do anything protect herself and maintain her freedom. This is also driven by her hatred of authority and capitalism, believing them to be corrupt and dishonest systems. She places no stock in either, steals mercilessly if necessary, and wouldn't know the laws of her home country if you asked her. Understandably, this made her well-suited for her life as a smuggler.

When it comes to other people, Miri finds most not worth talking to. She tends toward sitting silently, working little wooden totems or sharpening her tools. Its hard to tell what she's thinking.

If you managed to get to know Miri well, you might learn that she's cripplingly claustrophobic, finding it hard to breathe and think underground. She also has soft spots for animals and small children, though she would slice you limb from limb if you dared point it out. Additionally, her cynicism about the world would emerge. But if you're strong and willing to help her in a fight, she may start to consider you a friend.

Politics
Miri is essentially an anarchist-communist, and feels very strongly about it. She believes that all people deserve to be treated equally, that wealth is evil, that those in positions of power are inevitably corrupted, exploitative, and evil, that people in communities need to help each other and themselves, that self-governance and community justice is important, that there is no such thing as a 'Good' king/noble/authority figure, that it's okay to break the laws to help people, that everyone deserves to eat, drink, and be sheltered, no matter their status or wealth, that societies exist to serve people and not the other way around, and that anyone who doesn't agree with her is wrong. Despite her strong views, she is cynical- she believes that most people don't share the same views on power and leadership as she does, and therefore that most of the world is a lost cause and there will always be evil authority figures. She will help as many individual downtrodden and disadvantaged people as she can- she just doesn't really believe that systemic change is possible because most of the world is too cruel. While she may come across as violent, she does not believe in killing people unless they have done great harm to others: killing the rich, the cruel, the exploitative, and the 'noble' is okay, killing most anyone else probably isn't.

Childhood
Miri's oldest memory is of being sick and feverish, writhing in pain from a devastating illness. It was a fever that many children in her home country of Tieck die of, but Miri miraculously recovered. However, this was not without cost; Miri's beloved older brother caught the fever from her, and died very soon after. While they would never have said anything, Miri's parents secretly blame her for the loss of their firstborn.

 'We'll come back for you, we promise.' 

At four years old, Miri was abandoned at an Isul Aieha orphanage on the outskirts of the city of Tierm by parents too poor to feed her. Her only solace growing up in the horrible conditions of the church basement was her friend Morne, a reserved boy two years older than herself. Miri and Morne found themselves often the targets of orphanage bullies, and so Miri learned to fight with her fists while Morne grew used to bandaging her up afterwards. Miri also suffered abuse at the hands of male religious heads of the orphanage, which led to a strong distrust of adult men, even as an adult herself, and deep-seated religious trauma. This could also have been the beginning of Miri's belief that all authority figures are corrupt.

After years of living in the orphanage together, Morne tells Miri that he is going into training to become a cleric. Miri, resentful of the religious figures that have mistreated her her entire childhood, considered this a betrayal and fleed the church soon afterwards to fend for herself.

Life in Tieck
Miri's first few years outside of the orphanage were a blur of hunger and cold. She made her way further into the city of Tierm as she lived as little more than a street urchin at the age of thirteen. However, her remarkable sleight of hand skills, used initially just to feed herself, got her noticed by the Thieves Guild. The Thieves Guild of Tieck influenced Miri's ideals greatly- mostly that it is okay to steal to help less fortunate people, and that those in positions of power don't care about the poor and common people. Soon Miri had a warm place to stay, food and drink, a mission in life, and a group of friends. For a brief period of time, life was warm and enjoyable. Miri became especially well known for operations that involved wiping out checkpoints on the Telimarian trading route through Tieck, giving her the Guild name Miri of the Black Road. During these times, she never forgot Morne, and would visit him if she was injured or ill.

But after several years, Miri's reputation began to precede her, and she was contacted by Asriel Starym, an incredibly rich Elvish Telimarian merchant. A cunning and corrupt man, he promised her vast riches in return for her ability to discretely smuggle special goods in and out of the city for him, strongly implying that if she refused, she would be killed. She accepted, and began to work for him. But working so close to a man of nobility she learned horrifying things. While she had a history of stealing trading goods, the items Asriel had her smuggle were so valuable she could barely conceive it, and yet this man simply hoarded them, or traded them for even more valuable things. It made Miri angry. The final straw was when Miri was asked to guard the transit of Asriel's 'crown jewels'- two young women that he kept as sex slaves. Miri was so overtaken by anger that she instead freed the girls and placed them in the care of a family from her childhood church. But when the news returned to Asriel that the girls were gone, he retaliated by hunting down and wiping out much of her former Thieves Guild as well as sending a hitman after her.

The death of her friends and the attempt of her life hurt Miri, and, blinded by guilt and grief, returned to the outskirts of Tierm once more to seek out Morne, and tell him she was going to be fleeing the country of Tieck for good. To her surprise, he demanded to come with her, and together they set out for Helfjord. However, this was not before receiving a letter from her former best friend, a thief known only as Crux, to tell her that he was still alive and also fleeing Tieck. While Miri was unable to write back, she hopes to come across him again someday.

Weapons

 * Short swords, x2: simple weapons which Miri can dual wield. 1d6 damage each. Unknown origin.
 * Hand axes, x2: simple weapons that can be thrown if necessary. 1d6 damage each. Unknown origin.
 * Longbow. Ranged weapon which Miri uses occasionally, though she heavily prefers melee combat. 1d8 damage. Unknown origin.
 * Dagger. Simple weapon that can be thrown or used up close. 1d4 damage. Borrowed from Orlando Bloom.
 * Gauntlets: metal hand coverings that enhance Miri's unarmed strike. Imbued with magic. 1d4 damage. Won in a tavern brawl tournament in the slums of Port Sailen.
 * Earthsplitter: a green-bladed greatsword found in a temple of the Earth Goddess of the Deasian Polytheism. A magical weapon that requires blood to activate its power, it can cast second level Earth Tremor when activated and used to attack. This adds 2d6 damage, creates a 10ft radius of difficult terrain, and knocks the target prone if they fail a Dexterity saving throw.

Key equipment

 * Disguise kit (from smuggler's background)
 * Dungeoneers pack
 * Chain shirt (medium armour)
 * Shovel and plank of wood, from Shoveler's Guild
 * Arrows, for longbow.
 * Mithril chainmail (medium armour, made of a magical material light enough to be worn under clothing)

Languages

 * Common
 * Elvish, as learned from Asriel
 * Abyssal, possibly obtained from her demonic curse
 * Thieves Cant

Proficiencies

 * All armor
 * All shields
 * Simple, Martial, and Improvised weapons
 * Horse riding
 * Dice set
 * Poisoner's kit
 * Thieves' tools

Skills

 * Animal Handling (Wis): +3
 * Athletics (Str): +9
 * Deception (Cha): +6
 * Nature (Int): +5
 * Intimidation (Cha): +10 (expertise)
 * Persuasion (Cha): +6
 * Sleight of Hand (Dex): +6
 * Stealth (Dex): +6

Feats and class features

 * Great Weapon Fighting (Fighting Style): Miri is adept at fighting with two-handed weapons of any kind. When attacking with such a weapon, damage die that land on 1 or 2 can be re-rolled.
 * Tavern Brawler Feat: activated by wearing gauntlets. Makes Miri proficient in improvised weapons, enhances her unarmed strike, and grants her the ability to grapple on a bonus action when hitting a creature with an unarmed strike or improvised weapon.
 * Born to the Saddle (Cavalier feature): gives Miri advantage on saving throws to avoid falling from mount, can land on feet when falling from mount, and mounting and dismounting uses 5ft of movement instead of an action
 * Unwavering Mark (Cavalier feature): when Miri hits a creature with a melee attack, they are 'marked' until the end of her next turn. The marked creature has disadvantage if targeting anyone besides Miri. Additionally, if the creature damages anyone besides Miri, she gets a bonus action melee attack against it on her next turn, with advantage, and deals extra damage equal to half her fighter level.
 * Extra attack: from 5th level, Miri can attack twice per action.
 * Prodigy Feat: Miri gained one skill proficiency (Nature), one tool proficiency (Poisoning Kit), one language (Abyssal), and gained expertise in one skill (Intimidation)
 * Warding Maneuver: if an attack targets Miri or an ally within 5ft of her, she can block the strike. This is done by rolling 1d8 as a reaction, and adding it to the targets AC. Even if the attack still hits, the target has resistance to the damage. This can be used 3 times oer long rest.
 * Mage Slayer: Miri is proficient at fighting spellcasters. When a creature within 5ft of her casts a spell, she can use her reaction to make an attack against it. When she damages a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage to maintain concentration on the spell. Additionally, Miri has advantage on saving throws against spells cast by creatures within 5ft of her.
 * Indomitable: Once per long rest, Miri can reroll a failed saving throw.

Curse
Since arriving in Helfjord, a strange curse seems to have afflicted Miri. Whenever she encounters demons or demonic energy, a wound on the back of her neck begins to bleed and she experiences sharp, shooting pains. This has so far happened in both Port Sailen and Helmund.

In Port Sailen, Miri gets her fortune told by a mysterious woman, who says that she sees the dreaded black moth, and calls Miri the 'cursed child', declaring that everything that surrounds her will be covered with despair.

In Helmund, the druid Alice examines Miri's blood by planting a seed in it. From it sprouts a red and orange flower, which the druid says is linked to demonic energy.

Miri suspects that the curse is linked to the death of her brother, but has not shared this information with the party yet.

Relationships

 * Morne: having known Morne since a very young age, Miri cares about Morne deeply and is incredibly protective of him. Miri will always follow Morne, even if the situation is one she would normally avoid, and fights her hardest when it is to protect him. However, this is masked by Miri's harsh, flippant, and sarcastic outer walls. Morne is the only person in the world that trumps Miri's self-preservation instinct. She would die to protect him, though she knows he would never let that happen. Due to her trauma from growing up in the orphanage, Miri dislikes that Morne is a paladin, but tries not to antagonize him about it as she knows he is doing what he thinks is right (plus, she admires his power). Morne is the most important other person in the world.
 * Orlando: fellow party member. Miri respects Orlando for often being a person who does what needs to be done, for having a somewhat mysterious past like she does, and for sometimes being morally grey. She is wary of his bond to his celestial patron, though appreciates that it has been helpful to the group. She likens it somewhat to Morne's religion.
 * Erdan: fellow party member. Erdan and Miri share a similar fighting, competitive spirit, and cheer each other on in battle. Additionally, they are both filled with hatred for Erdan's evil brother Laucian. Miri does not approve of Erdan's noble background as she principally dislikes those sort of people, but ignores this in favour of having Erdan as a powerful ally in fights.
 * Bug: fellow party member. Bug and Miri have a fairly antagonistic relationship, largely due to their vastly differing backgrounds and views of the world. Miri believes Bug is a privileged, sheltered monarchist who doesn't care about the struggles of common people, and Bug thinks Miri is a reckless, dangerous anarchist. Additionally, Miri is jealous of Bug bonding with Morne over their shared religion, especially considering Bug doesnt understand at all the struggles that Miri and Morne lived through in relation to it (growing up in the orphanage, Morne's incredibly difficult paladin training, etc.)
 * Crab: Miri was a little suspicious of Crab when they first met, having never met a goblin before. However, Crab's idolisation of Morne piqued her curiosity, and upon observation found him to be a rather interesting character, and she appreciated him asking her to help him buy Morne's new sword, Night Crackle.
 * Alistara Baratie: Ali is a beautiful and talented elven rogue whom Miri and the party have sworn themselves to assist. Miri is somewhat entranced by Ali, but is always very unsure of how serious to act around her, so their interactions are a little awkward. Miri admires Ali's talents and stength, but is conflicted about helping her return to a position of power in a system that Miri disagrees with.
 * Mannusslur: Manus is a red Tiefling man who Miri worked with in the smuggling business many years ago, and recently reunited with in Midgard, where he leads a gang called the Devilspawn. Manus works as an informant: he considers his job to gather as much information as possible and pass it on to the right person (often the highest bidder). Manus and Miri consider each other old colleagues, rather than friends, but are warm and familiar in manner. He is somewhat afraid of her physical power, she is secretly somewhat afraid of his influence and wisdom. She currently owes him 6 favours.

Related Music
