Moss
Saint_Tropic
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- 1 year, 2 months ago
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- Saint_Tropic
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Profile
Moss
"it's just a button, man."
Moss is an undead tabaxi barbarian (path of the beast) who was kidnapped from the Nighback Clan in Savalirwood as a young child by the Watchful Order for experimentation regarding necromancy and research into prolonging life. This is why Moss is undead. They were killed in a variety of ways and brough back to life in just as many. Moss was used for manual labor. When they were beyond repair and no longer proved useful to their captors, Moss was rented out to the rich and derranged for performances and eerie fashion shows where after 300 years, Moss was freed by a changeling teenager by complete accident and ran their way to freedom.
During their time in captivity, they met a little spider who lived in their enclosure, Tippy. Who lives within Moss's cavities and totally doesn't consume Moss when he doesn't have access to other food.
A few years after their escape, they met the tiefling grave domain cleric, Sanguine, who welcomed them to travel with her, and they'd been together ever since. Until they took on a job to find the cure to a mysterious disease alongside some other eccentric people, and decided to continue traveling with them to create an adventuring party.
Likes
- Tippy
- Sanguine
- violence
- scaring people
- creepy shit
- friends
Dislikes
- money, capitalism, & the rich
- authority & the government
- nonconsentual necromancy
- tight spaces
- dancing & performing
- needles
- clothes
Details
Appearance
A 4'1" undead mossy green colored tabaxi with one yellowish green eye, while the other has red mushrooms sprouting from the socket. They often have a scowl as their resting face with two, small, yellow fangs on either side of their mouth and a black nose. They have tall ears and a long, scrawny tail. Their fur very matted, scraggly, and quite dirty, with moss growing freely with little plants and fungi growing from its surface. They wear a brown, very tattered and dirty cloak of sorts and a mysterious black collar around their neck
They will grow local flora and fauna if the weather conditions permit, and they spend enough time in one place. They will keep just wnough flowers to attract insects for Tippy to consume.
Backstory
3 Centuries ago, Dualhei 13th, Moss lived with their family in the Nightback Clan of tabaxi in the Savalirwood as a young child. Upon the corruption of the Savalirwood by a relic retrieved from the floating city Aeor (which had crashed into Eiselcross) and brought to the elven city within the Savalirwoods, Molaesmyr, the majority of elves fled the city, and the Nightback Clan blamed them and held resentment toward them for the curse. This corruption was the catalyst for Moss’s capture by an organization called The Watchful Order. But because they were so young at the time of the kidnapping and experienced centuries of experimentation, they do not remember this.
Moss, as a child, is captured by The Watchful Order. They kept Moss to experiment upon regarding necromancy, and possibly were the cause of their beastial rage. Moss was called One. They killed Moss, and while successfully brought Moss back to life, Moss was considered a failure because of the growth of moss, fungi, and other little plants all over them, as well as their difficult temperament. But they kept Moss around for profit, as well as needing the first draft to improve upon the subsequent experiments. Moss often heard members of the order refer to a boss, a woman who was surprisingly around for hundreds of years as well. She was often referred to as “being watchful” or her eyes being “all seeing”. Moss also frequently encountered a human necromancer named Oriole. A mean, stinky man who was responsible for Moss being rented out for the noble’s entertainment, thinking while Moss was a failure, they should at least make a profit. Which DID ultimately lead to Moss’s escape down the line. He also had a partner, a brown aarakocra named Thimble who was missing an eye and barely spoke. Moss was rented out at this time to exclusive, rich, and weird parties, where attendees were to sign nda’s. They were very niche and very bizarre, being runway shows and performances by other undead and/or slaves. Moss was often forced to wear hideous and garish outfits while the rich would prod, poke, and gawk. This led to Moss’s resentment for money and the rich (and fancy clothes). They would sometimes play a tambourine. While in containment, Moss heard many things about the organization, including lots of references to seeing and watching, to animals with good vision, etc. They met a little spider in their cage one day which they named Tippy. They are unable to communicate exactly with the spider, and often just project what they would want someone to say or act like onto him. Moss considers Tippy family, since they are the only being whose stuck around and has been nice to Moss. They’ll often vent to them and let Moss crawl on them. He’s normally hanging out on Moss whether that be in Moss’s fur, their mushrooms, or tail, that Moss will leave curled so Tippy can make a web in the crook to catch bugs. Moss is sure there are other people like them who are being experimented upon, but they were unable to help or find out where they were. Or even meet them. They are also the reason why Moss is so small, due to being malnourished as well as their growth being affected by the experimentation. While Moss remained feisty and angry, they did lose hope and stop counting the years after 80 or so.
After 300 years, Moss eventually escaped containment by a very lucky accident with Fisk. Moss met Fisk at an event in Grimgolir where Moss was being shown. While moving through the crowd to go onto the stage, Moss bumps into Fisk, who was a teenager at the time in disguise. As he is shocked and traumatized, he accidentally drops the charade and reveals his true changeling face, which is somewhat of a rorschach form. This frightens Moss quite a bit, having never seen anyone change their appearance, and the form being so horrifying. Upon seeing his true form, Moss gains the ability of Misty Step, which as SOON as they realize they have a touch of magic, vanish and step as far as they can, making a break for it. They ran into wizard Jessi May in Rexxentrum as they ran, scaring her half to death, but as her divine senses took over, she helped to heal Moss and helped them escape the Shimmer Ward
Moss fled Grimgolir as fast as they could, and found themselves in Rexxentrum in the slums. They had no place to go, and no real concept of the world around them, where to get help, not even that they WANTED help since they didn’t trust anyone. But they eventually noticed a tiefling cleric named Sanguine. They observed Sanguine performing funeral rites, and appreciated their respect for the dead and the overall process of life to death. They followed her for a little while, thinking they were quite sneaky about it, but were pretty obvious, and Sanguine, both out of duty and curiosity, approached Moss, asking if they would like to be put to rest. Moss interpreted this as a joke, despite being serious. Sanguine offered for Moss to tag along since she sensed that they weren’t going to be forthright about it, and Moss, despite WANTING to join her and very happy at the request since they had very few friends, “reluctantly” accepted, agreeing to come along if she needed them that bad. Upon being asked their name, Moss is at a loss, only having been called One. Wanting to leave this behind, they see the moss growing on their cloak, and call themselves such. After traveling from place to place for 2-3 years, they barely know about one another, never asking questions. Moss doesn’t dare ask her anything since they wouldn’t like to talk about their past. All they know about Sanguine is her job, and that she wants to figure out what is happening with the god she serves. They would never admit it, but Moss admires Sanguine and sees her as an older sibling figure. Sometimes Moss enjoys Sanguine acting protective over Moss, and sometimes they don’t .
Stats
Moss
Feats
Fighting Initiate
You learn one Fighting Style option of your choice from the fighter class.
Blind Fighting: You have blindsight with a range of 10 ft. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even if you’re blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.
Fate Touched
You learn the misty step spell and you learn the invisibility spell. You can cast each of these spells without expending a spell slot. Once you cast either of these spells in this way, you can’t cast that spell in this way again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells’ spellcasting ability is Charisma.
Invisibility (2nd)
Misty Step (2nd)
Improved Sentinel
You have mastered techniques to take advantage of every drop in any enemy's guard, gaining the following benefits: When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn. Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach. When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have a similar feature as Sentinel), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature. Alternatively, if a creature within 5 feet of you misses with an attack against you, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature. Once on each of your turns when you miss with a weapon attack, you can make another weapon attack as part of the same action.
Inventory
Greataxe [ Weapon, common ]
Moss's weapon of choice. Melee, 5ft, 1d12+4, slashing, heavy & 2 handed
Ring of Disguise [ Wondrous item, common ]
While wearing this ring, you can use an action to cast the disguise self spell from it once per day. The spell ends if the ring is removed.
Silk Weaver's Kit [ Wondrous item, uncommon ]
This kit contains Weaver's Tools, Leatherworker's Tools, and Cobbler's Tools. It also includes an in depth guide on how to properly use them with silk. While using this kit specifically, you are considered half-proficient with Weaver's Tools, Leatherworker's Tools, and Cobbler's Tools. Properly woven silk string can be used to repair just about anything, and can be used to craft light-weight versions of various items. Your Animal Handling checks to interact with non-fiendish insects and arachnids are made at advantage, assuming you haven't shown yourself to be harmful to them first. You also gain half-proficiency (rounded up) in Animal Handling. This kit now functions similarly to a Wand of Web, allowing you to cast the [spell]Web[/spell[ spell (DC 15) a number of times per day equal to your Animal Handling skill modifier. If you use all of this kit's charges in a single day, roll a d20. On a 1, this spell is permanently disabled. Instead, you can cast Thaumaturgy with the same charges. When using this kit, you are now considered half-proficient (rounded up) with Weaver's Tools, Leatherworker's Tools, and Cobbler's Tools. Additionally, you have advantage on any checks made to barter or sell goods you have mended or crafted with those tools.
Everlasting Candle [ Wondrous item, common ]
The flame of this candle is not extinguished when immersed in water. It gives off light and heat like a normal candle, but never melts away the wax! For 1 hour, it sheds bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light for an additional 5 feet. The candle then dies out until lit again.
Lock of Trickery [ Wondrous item, common ]
This lock appears to be an ordinary lock (of the type described in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook) and comes with a single key. The tumblers in this lock magically adjust to thwart burglars. Dexterity checks made to pick the lock have disadvantage.
Exandria 1-20
The Minus One Daggers
Moss began the campaign by traveling with tiefling grave cleric, Sanguine. The two were a very odd duo, an undead being with a grave cleric. But Moss didn't mind. They WERE aware of the possible odd looks the two might get if anyone was aware of the Watchful Order since they'd often travel in twos, and were a necromancy cult. But Moss liked Sanguine's company quite a bit. They liked her philosophy on death, letting it happen and accepting it. While Moss didn't ACTIVELY want to die, they did feel that their existence was against the natural order and wouldn't want anyone else to suffer their fate if they didn't choose so. Coming out of a cult who experimented on them in a variety of immoral ways, treating Moss like a lab rat, to traveling with a sister/motherly figure who took care of them and treated them as an equal was a very welcome change for them. They loved her, but they would never say that, as that meant talking and sharing. If Moss didn't ask Sanguine about her past, she wouldn't ask about theirs, and that's how they wanted to keep it. And family had always seemed to be a rough topic for her, so Moss didn't want to open old wounds.
Sanguine was performing a funeral in Palebank when the party formed to investigate the Frigid Woe, a fatal disease that seemingly had no cure. Along the way, both Moss and Sanguine caught this disease, and almost said their goodbyes before finding a cure in the wilderness beyond Syrinlia. Before catching it, and curinng it again.
Moss was at first very apprehensive on forming a group. It'd always been them and Sanguine, and they liked it that way. And after being called some microagressions by other members of this party, they did not like the people that were chosen for this job. But after one of them genuinely realized their mistake and apologized, Moss started to become more open to the idea of sticking around these people. The first to fight Moss because of their misstep actually became Moss's first official friend.
They like nearly everyone in the party after they all agreed to travel together, and Moss is slowly opening up and learning how to make and be friends. They are quite jealous that Sanguine is making friends with others too, and calling them such as they haven't asked each other if they're friends through misunderstandings. They just don't want to be left behind, and they want to remian special to Sanguine, as she is special to them.
Fun Facts
- Moss will grow local flora and fauna if the weather and plants permit
- Moss is actually very good at working with clothes despite hating them. During their time at the Watchful Order, they were forced to craft clothing as well as model clothes tha exaggerated their undead features at eerie runway shows for the rich and derranged.
- Moss has a little book filled with observations and advice they've recieved on how to be polite and be friends, since they'd never had one before.
- Moss's beast form is triggered by their rage, a result of the necromancy magic over hundreds of years they were exposed to being an experiment.
- Moss is actually not that confient in themself, despite appearing to be so. They're really only confident in combat.
- Moss doesn't like to dance or perform for a similar reason to why they dislike clothes. They were forced to perform at some of these shows with their tambourine, and so they choose now to not ever perform again, as it was extremely humiliating.
- Moss doesn't do well in closed spaces that they don't have the key for because it reminds them of the hundreds of years they spent in a cage.
- Despite being covered with fur, Moss has a tattoo on their back which reveals the name of the Nightback Clan in the Savalir Woods, where Moss was born. They're unaware of this fact.
- While Moss acknowlegdes that you need money to live, they despise the idea of it since they were used for profit, so they hand off all the money they earn to Sanguine, who in turn buys what Moss needs.
- As an undead being, Moss is against the idea of non consentual necromancy, even if they undead aren't aware. They don't like seeing anyone else going through what they are. While they don't understand why anyone would want to be undead, they do respect those who choose to become undead.
- They're at peace with the fact they are undead, but Moss would give anything to go back in time and be a normal tabaxi. They accept what has happened, and take advantage of what has happened to them, and wouldn't find someone to have it undone.
- Moss's favorite flowers are poppies because they remind them of Sanguine, but if they had to pick a second, it would be lilies.
- Moss's collar around their neck is an old shock collar they were fitted with during their time at the Watchful Order. They took off the collars on their ankles and wrists, but chose to leave this one until they were really free, by destroying the Order and making those who experimented on them, pay.
- They value freedom over all else, to a detrimental extent.
- They came up with their name, Moss. They never had one beyond a numer, so when Sanguine asked, Moss panicked and picked what covered them. Moss is not good at names.
- Moss uses their strength as a coping mechanism. They insist they're strong enough to handle anything, even when they know deep down they don't believe it.
- Moss uses their strength as a coping mechanism. They insist they're strong enough to handle anything, even when they know deep down they don't believe it.
- Their favorite animal is a spider. They love bugs.
- Moss actually really likes head pats. Only from certain people though.
Relationships
Pet/Family
Tippy (Tip Sheet) The Spider
7, '02, he/him, spider. Moss’s little spider friend. They found him during captivity in the Watchful Order, and because the little guy stuck around, they consider him family. The only family they have. They have no way of understanding Tippy, so they end up often projecting what they would want someone to tell them or react to what they say onto him. Tippy DOES like Moss back, hangs out on Moss whether on their tail, in their fur, on the mushrooms coming out of their eye socket, in their ribs, or even in their arm, and Moss will often keep their tail bent so Tippy can wake a web within the crook to catch bugs. This is why Moss is often covered in webs. Occasionally he leaves to crawl along the ground, trees, or stones when Moss takes time to rest. Food and temperature are rarely an issue for Tippy, as the maze of Moss' corpse provide a plethora of food and insulation when times get tough.
Older Sister/ Party Member
Sanguine The Traveller
When Moss spotted Sanguine the tiefling cleric for the first time, they very much appreciated Sanguine's approach to death, as she appeared to respected the life and death cycle, seeing death as a natural end to life, and nothing more. After Moss approached, she offered them to come along on her travels doing funerals, which Moss agreed "for her sake". Moss doesn't like to admit how much they depend on her, and how much they care. They'd never had any sense of family before, and they see her as a very motherly, older sister figure. Having someone care about them in a positive way is a very new and strange feeling to them that they are inequipt to comprehend. They want to be the cloest person in her life, but doesn't know how to express that beyond being her personal body guard, never letting anyone touch her if she didn't permit it. They love her, but love is a new emotion they don't quite understand. And they're quite jealous she'd called other people in the party friends, but not them. Despite not having the guts to call her a friend themself. They also have yet to admit how much they need her, as much as they claim she needs them.
Party-member
Kriv Fairwinds
Kriv was Moss's first "official" friend. After some...insensitive comments made by him on the first day they met and Moss knocked him unconscious in one hit, they made amends and became friends.
Moss would never admit it, but sees him almost as an older brother figure. They find him, not quite the smartest in the bunch, as they have a similar intelligence but in opposite directions, they look up to him. They do also like their occasional spars.
Party-member
Ava Wygeld
Ava is the scariest member of the party to Moss. She is everything that they were connvinced did not exist, a person who genuinely wants to help others, and trusts implicitly. She's Moss's polar opposite. While it gets on Moss's nerves how trusting she is and how much she spills regarding the party's plans, Moss does like her.
Moss likes her willingness to fight as well as how she agreed to make armor for Tippy the spider. Because Tippy is the most important thing to Moss, they are extremely grateful and will do whatever Ava wants because of this.
Party-member
Rabi
Rabi confuses Moss quite a bit. He, like them, doesn't seem to understand friendship, so they tacitly agreed to figure it out together by "officially" becoming friends. Because Rabi is the smartest in the party, Moss often trusts his insight more than the others.
Moss was originally quite suspicious of him given he was a wizard, who seemed to tamper with forces he didn't entirely understand. But after offering to let them borrow his clockwork amulet when the party had to stay in a bunker over night which was not the ideal environment for Moss, Moss was extremely grateful, and had a new respect and appreciation for him.
Party-member
Mirago Hemlock
Moss was at first extremely suspicious of Mirago, not for any real reason other than he seemed to be one of the types of people Moss doesn't like: someone who participates in formalities, cares quite a bit about their appearance, and a people-pleaser. Moss has really been mean to him, to the point of telling him they don't like him to his face. To which Moss did apologize. Their mistrust lasted way longer than it should, not trusting him to keep watch by himself, and refusing to call him a friend.
While they do like making fun of him because it's easy, their mistrust is slowly fading, as he's helped in combat as well as come clean about giving a cursed item to another member in the party.
