Mate Lady Charlotte Marlow

Lady Charlotte Marlow
Mate
Vampire

Carousin': 4
Plunderin': 2
Swashbucklin': 1
Wenchin': 5

Background

Raise a glass, me jolly lads, to the greatest crew what sailed the Seven Seas! Led by Captain "Red" Ned Morris, th' rouges and scallywags manning the Jolly Rancher are the finest, the fiercest, and the most shipshape crew in all of creation. Yer exploits are known th' world over, bringing the crew fame an' enough gold to keep you well for a bunch of scurvy seahands. And now you're nearly at th' end of your quest for the Blood Jewel, ye can feel it! Worth thousands of dubloons, ye think it would keep the crew for at least ten years. In celebration of yer continued good fortune, Capt'n Morris has declared tonight a revel, an' while work t' find the Jewel is welcome, this is a night for rum and tobacco. The Capt'n has left the plannin' to his First Mate Nathaniel Teach for the night. So here's t' the Jolly Rancher and her crew; any landlubber or bilge rat what doesn't give you quarter will end up prayin' they be given th' chance t' walk the plank rather than cross ye!

. . . all right, that's enough. Whew! If you can keep that up, no one will be the wiser.

Your name is Lady Charlotte Marlow, and you are a vampire. Once mortal like everyone else, you were found and changed by one much like you into the predator of predators, feeding on the blood of the living to survive. You are cautious to reveal too much in order to avoid the misunderstandings it could cause; due to human intervention you may be one of the last of your kind.

You were made by a beautiful Portugese nobleman who tried to woo you. You remember him fondly. He was gorgeous, dashing and quite wealthy. You found ways to keep your chaperones distracted and sneak off with him for an exciting evening. Eventually, he decided to make you his; he told you as much before he grabbed you and sunk his fangs into your neck. After he slashed his wrist and forced the thick, dark liquid down your throat, you found you wanted more despite its iron tang. When he let his guard down, you returned the favor tenfold. That was the last you saw of him.

Since then you have lived the life of a dilettante, taking on a noble title here and there as it suits you. You consider yourself something of a collector, of things and of people. In a sense, you like the things better than the people. People break in unexpected ways and, when you tire of them, it's harder to put them on a shelf. After a mortal lifetime or five traveling, you decided to join a pirate ship. You're a recent addition to the Jolly Rancher as one of the hands. Since you have been on the ship you have "collected" the captain, the second mate and the master gunner. You may have to start looking for someone new for your collection.

Speaking of which, you've come into the possession of a couple new items recently. While looking to see if you could find some spare blood sitting around in the kitchens you happened upon a little vial of liquid. It smells exquisite, but you don't think it's perfume. You've been holding onto it for safe keeping.

The other item, an exquisite peridot ring, has something of a story to it. You found the door of the sailing master's room unexpectedly open one evening -- you have a tendency to glance around others' rooms when they're not looking if you get the chance -- and you decided to look around. At one point you heard a noise and, glancing past the door and seeing her coming, realized you had no way to escape before you were seen. You turned invisible and found that she was bedding down for the night. You had to stay there until she left in the morning! But while there you saw where she put this absolutely gorgeous ring. Knowing how rare peridot is, you decided to make it yours. And conveniently enough, you found her door open again this afternoon, a few hours after you had found this chintzy crystal bottle in a barrel in the hold. At first you thought you would grow to like it, but soon you realized it was just tacky so you found a small sack, dropped it in, and left it for the sailing master when you took her ring. Hopefully a little trickery will help obscure what actually happened to it. Perhaps this will make up for the poison ring you lost recently. Whatever happened to that thing?

Finally -- and this sound a little strange, even to you -- you've been hoping to try something a little more exotic recently, and you remember stories when you were a little girl of unusual creatures who roam the countryside. At the time you thought they were only fairy tales, but now that you've become a vampire who knows what is possible? At some point . . . if they exist and you get the chance . . . you would love to try dragon's blood. It reminds you of Vlad Tepes, one of your progenitors, and you think it could bring you great strength. At the very least, it should prove an interesting experience.

Ah well, maybe you'll have more luck with the Blood Jewel. Worth thousands of doubloons to the proper buyer, the gold it would garner could secure the crew's future for a decade or put you up for life. But that's not your reason for wanting it. Rumor has it that the Blood Jewel is no jewel at all, but a source of great magical power. If this were the case, using it in the proper ritual could bring back one of your progenitors to repopulate your kind. No longer would you live in fear of humans destroying you slowly, one by one. The crew's navigations have led you here, to this cove. It may simply be a matter of searching. If it does turn out to be source of great magical energy, you hope to keep it for yourself. And if that means you need to reveal yourself as a vampire, you'll do it, though you realize you could be giving away your true nature to humans.

But tonight is a night of carousing, a hard-earned reward for your work. As is the Captain's right, he has chosen to spend the night enjoying himself rather than keeping the crew in order, handing over that task to his First Mate, Nathaniel Teach. This doesn't mean that he won't make the final decisions on any important matters, of course, especially about the Blood Jewel. For now, however, we eat, we drink and make merry! Three cheers for the Jolly Rancher and her crew!

Who You Know

• Sam Bellamy - Quiet and thoughtful.
• Edward Blackfellow, Second Mate - A man who's been a leader. He is in your collection.
• Calico - The ship's (supposedly talking) cat. The captain found her soon after his encounter with the Sky Devil.
• Grace Duguay, Helmsman - Cheerful and friendly.
• Flintlock Jack, Master Gunner - An intense man who seems to care about honor. He is in your collection.
• Pele Giggs, Boatswain - A little odd, but good at his job.
• Stede Hawthorne, Quartermaster - A steady, reliable sort.
• Kate Highwater, Sailing Master - Charming but hard to read. Where did she get such a lovely ring?
• Thomas Kidd, Cook - A great cook, and a warm and chatty guy.
• Siofra O'Malley, Cooper - A freespirited, personable woman.
• Tully Morgan, Lookout - A woman who knows herself.
• "Red" Ned Morris, Captain - A charismatic, able captain. He is in your collection.
• Mary Rackham, Carpenter - A bit of an unknown. She is intriguing.
• Bloody Christian Read, Surgeon - As good a doctor as a carouser.
• Nathaniel Teach, First Mate - A smart, learned man.

Abilities

• Appraisal - You can assess the value of things. If you come to a GM with an item, they can tell you its relative worth compared to other things you have seen.
• Limited Invisibility - If you can get out of visual range and stand still, you may turn invisible. If you move to any genuinely noticeable degree, the invisibility will be broken. To simulate this, cross your arms over your chest in an X.
• Seductive - Twice during the game, you may persuade any characters interested in females to pass the Blood Jewel to you if they otherwise appear on the fence about it.

Items

• Peridot Ring - A gorgeous ring inset with a large peridot gem, one of the rarest gemstones in the world.
• Sparkly Vial - A sparkly vial with some slightly thick and sweet substance in it.