Kirsten Fichtenau (nee Eissfeldt)

Female Human, 5th level Expert, 2nd level Rogue

Hit Dice: 7d6 (6 + 1 + 5 + 4 + 6 + 2 + 6) + 7.

Special: +1d6 damage sneak attack, evasion (no damage on a successful Reflex save); proficient with simple weapons, some martial weapons, light armour.

Skills: Alchemy +14, Appraise +8, Balance +10, Climb +3, Disable Device +8, Forgery +8, Gather Information +5, Hide +14, Jump +7, Listen +9, Move Silently +14, Open Lock +8, Pick Pockets +8, Profession (gambler) +7, Profession (shopkeeper) +12, Ride +8, Search +10, Spot +9, Tumble +10.

Feats: Ambidexterity, Dodge, Iron Will, Point Blank Shot.

Languages: Stadthagen, literate in Old Stadthagen.

Possessions: Kirsten is now a wealthy woman with substantial investments. When she was travelling, she had three horses, one to carry her and the other two to carry her clothing, bedding, provisions, and other belongings. She collects scarves, and bought over two dozen in the six months after her adopted parents' home was burned down (July 2116) before she met Adalbert (December 2116).

Appearance: Kirsten is 5'8" tall and weighs 120lbs (55 kg). She was born on 19 February 2096 (620 by the Skye calendar), turned 21 during the ten months she travelled with Jon, Michael, Rat, Kahn and Slade (from July 640 to April 641 by the Skye calendar), and is now 26.

Background: Kirsten was born in Salzseestadt, Falkenberg, the second of four children and elder daughter of Ludwig and Martina Aistlaitner. Ludwig worked as a porter in the warehouse district, and life was not easy for the Aistlaitners. Not surprisingly, Kirsten took to shoplifting in her teens to make life easier for herself. Fortunately for her, before she was caught for and arrested for any misdemeanour, her intelligence came to the attention of Wolfgang and Sabine Eissfeldt, alchemists who lived on the same block as the Aistlaitners. Sabine was unable to bear children to term because of the minerals and toxins she was exposed to in their profession, and the Eissfeldts wanted an heir to carry on the family trade. They discussed the matter with the Aistlaitners, and by agreement Kirsten was adopted into the Eissfeldt family at the age of fourteen.

As alchemists, the Eissfeldts earned their money in a variey of ways. Most profitable were their criminal activities: creating fake gold for the export market, providing poisons and antidotes for the criminal underworld, and melting down stolen goods for the precious metals. As Kirsten grew older and learned more about the family business, she became more involved with the Eissfeldt's criminal connections, meeting a handsome young man named Ernst, and grew increasingly distant from her former improverished circle of friends.

Kirsten was lucky to escape when a group of armed men broke into her home and killed her adopted parents. She climbed out her bedroom window, breaking her wrist when she fell to the ground, and was fortunate to run into a group of recently arrived travellers from the east before the armed men caught her. The travellers fought the armed men, and only Kirsten and one of the travellers, Jon, escaped before the city guard arrived. Obligated to help, Kirsten sought out Ernst for the first time in many months and asked him for assistance, offering herself to him as incentive. Ernst agreed, introducing Jon to his employer, Meneer Wattemburg, and finding Kirsten a safe place to stay. Not safe enough, however, as a woman attacked Kirsten there and killed Ernst when he held her up, giving Kirsten time to flee.

The men who killed Kirsten's parents were sentenced to death, while the other travellers (Michael, Rat, Slade and Kahn) were acquitted. Kirsten remained with them, as her parents' home had burned down and she didn't want to go to her biological family for help, while they investigated the criminal underbelly of Salzseestadt and uncovered the truth about what was happening. The men who killed Kirsten's parents were actually disgruntled police officers trying to cut through the tissue of lies and corruption in Salzseestadt, as Kirsten and the travellers helped make clear. After a week, senior officers were sent to Salzseestadt by the Graf of Falkenberg, and the Abteilung Fuhrer investigated all matters, setting the killers of Kirsten's parents free. The Abteilung Fuhrer also decided that Kirsten was free to go, not holding her responsible for the illegal actions she performed under her adopted father's instructions.

Distressed and not knowing what else to do, Kirsten travelled with the others towards the capital, Hochstadt, where the Graf wanted to meet them. She found herself attracted to one of the travellers, Slade, who sometimes seemed to like her in return and sometimes seemed to consider her worthless and beneath him, consistently refusing to pay for anything on her behalf despite her straightened circumstances. Depending on Jon for handouts of money, Kirsten also discovered that she was pregnant to Ernst. Accompanied by a group of professional jugger players, the travellers eventually arrived at Hochstadt, where they were accommodated at the Graf's castle for a month. During that time, Kirsten miscarried, tripped and fell after getting tipsy at a luncheon with the Grafin, breaking her jaw, and, in a moment of bad judgement, fell into bed with Slade while drunk.

After Jon agreed to travel north and handle a problem with some arms smugglers for the Graf, the group travelled back to Salzseestadt. Slade kept on falling into bed with Kirsten, usually after he had been drinking, and in steadily compounding moments of bad judgement, Kirsten kept on welcoming him back, hoping his behaviour would change and he would consistently be kind and thoughtful to her. Back in Salzseestadt, Kirsten's godfather, Meneer Heinzelmann, delivered letters from her biological family and helped arrange for the sale of the Eissfeldt's property in Salzseestadt and the managment of her investments. Now independently wealthy, Kirsten funded the equipment needed for the group's cover story as they travelled north, particularly the brandy they would be selling along the way. She and Slade were to be newlyweds and share a tent on the rugged journey.

Things did not go well on the journey north. Slade continued to run hot and cold in his affections for Kirsten, sometimes paying attention, sometimes ignoring her. Kirsten found herself increasingly unhappy, and eventually they had a vehement argment that ended with Slade walking out unclothed, Kirsten locking him out of the room, and eventually throwing his bags out the window into the courtyard. Fortunately, the travellers had reached the town where the trail of arms smugglers began, and Kirsten joined the others in helping Jon investigate and interrogate smugglers, though she insisted that location of the bodies of smugglers he executed should be made known so that they could receive a proper burial. In the end, the entire chain of smugglers was eliminated, though Kirsten found out two days later that Jon did not consider her his employee despite paying her in the past, making her actions legally dubious and making her possible morally responsible.

Although no longer willing to assist Jon in his investigations, Kirsten continued to travel with him, Michael and Rat to Braunschweig to investigate the possible involvement of the Graf von Falkenhausen rather than wait at Silverthal with Slade and Kahn, who didn't want to continue travelling in the increasingly inhospitable early winter. On the way back from Silverthal, the four travellers were trapped by a blizzard and forced to stay at the castle of the von Westermarks, who do not meet them until dinner that evening. At dinner, Kirsten met Adalbert von Westermark, and they were taken with each other straightaway, leaving the meal early to talk together throughout the night.

When she got up late the next afternoon, the others asked Kirsten if she had strange dreams the night before, but Kirsten had not. She then spent the entire evening talking with Adalbert, returning to her room just before dawn. Shortly afterwards, Jon and Michael woke her to find out if she had been bitten, as it appeared the von Westermarks were vampires, legendary monsters from children's stories. The four companions fortified the armoury and spent a tense night holding off the von Westermarks, of whom all bar Adalbert wanted to kill them. The next day, Kirsten found a note from Adalbert with a clue that enabled them to get into the von Westermarks hidden crypt and kill every vampire except Adalbert, ending the danger.

The companions sent for Slade and Kahn, who arrived with a minister for the funerals and Kirsten and Adalbert's wedding, at which Kirsten took his original surname, Fichtenau. Over the winter months, the group explored the caverns below the castle, finding an ancient book with the secrets of vampirism, giving Jon the information he needed to duplicate the curse of vampirism and then to cure it. In the spring, the group abandoned the castle shortly before it was struck by lightning and travelled to Tremisdorf, the capital of Luchtenberg. While her companions returned to Schonthal by ship along the coast, Kirsten and Adalbert remained behind. They became independently wealthy quickly by selling rare and antique books, paintings and silverware from castle von Westermark, settling down and starting a family.

Roleplaying Notes: Kirsten had a very bad year, full of sudden changes and bad choices, but ending in happiness and stability. She wasn't good at compromising with her travelling companions, expecting them to think like her just as much as they expected her to think like them. Of the five companions, Michael and Jon were the only two she considered close friends and called by name, and that only after they helped free her husband from the curse of vampirism. She is now happily occupied managing their household, raising their son Johann, and monitoring their investments: Kirsten has no interest in further adventure, having refound the security she lost when the Eissfeldts were killed and their home burned to the ground.

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