Greetings,
Once again, it is I, Xermillion Glass. Today we have possibly the queerest among my bloodline, at least those that have been discovered thus-far, Tabitha Lin.
The Lin are a venerable house of Vulpine that swears their banners to house Rendi. Some two hundred years ago, house Rendi was beset by a dozen or so minor houses - all Vulpine, by the way - with house Lin at their vanguard and command. It was a long war, but all Rendi's patriarch at the time, was eventually able to stem the tide through a duel and bring them all to heel. Ky Rendi, as it were, our own Ky's namesake, if you would believe it.
I tell you this tale to help explain Tabitha's situation. The Lin's pride was badly damaged from their revolt, two centuries ago though it was, and as such, do their best to keep face with the other houses. Tabitha's mother, Mindie, was abducted while doing something unwise of someone of her station and taken captive by brigands. I do not wish to presume, but seeming as there is no evidence one way or another and all those involved are dead or missing, I will have to.
All I know, is that Mindie's father, Forendar, did not pay the ransom in a timely fashion, and that Mindie was pregnant when she eventually returned home. One can fill in the blanks without me needing to be explicit.
As such, Tabitha Lin was born a brigand's bastard, her mother taking her own life shortly after her birth, some say at the insistence of Stonegrove's Emberwatcher - Blind Berard, the call him.
Tabitha's youth and upbringing was not befitting to her blood. She was fostered by her uncle Sten, but by all accounts, her uncles and cousins all treated her like a common serving girl, with her grandfather, Forendar, being the only one to treat her like real family.
Forendar Lin passed from the wasting disease, some short while ago. It was the only saving grace the girl had, that her grandfather had lived so long.
Tabitha became a knight, a talented one at that. She is a blackblood, but you would never have known that before she became what she is now.
I had the pleasure of meeting her one year, a few years before Forendar passed. I remember talking with him of everything and nothing, as we did, we were good friends after all, though, I admit that I hadn't made my way to Stonegrove in a long while and it was the last time that I have made the trek. But, we were talking in his expansive chambers, and a rap came upon his door. It must have been a recognizable knock, for Forendar willed her in in a gentle way, excited to have me meet her.
She was a quiet thing, beautiful as most Vulpine of her age were, before all the vigor drains from them and they become wiry phantoms. She said narry three words to me, but I was cordial, I remember. She delivered her message, and was off after a swift kiss on her grandfather's cheek. Forendar informed me that she was ever dutiful and quite the devout girl, often praying for her mother's soul - he even made a joke of offering her hand to me, as he seemed to believe that I was taken with her. I was, truth to be told, but I am an heir to Xerenia and I cannot be married to an orphaned bastard from a minor house. I, of course, declined.
Well, listen to me prattle on about nothing like an old woman does.
In any case, Tabitha seems to have been in the midst of dying when our curse struck. Half of her face is missing and half of her mind as well. She isn't the girl that I met, more akin to a monster, though the kind that death would be a boon for, not a curse.
Main
Tabitha's main form of offence is her mace. She alternates between striking with blunt force and striking with a mana-laden weapon. Whether this back and forth is the result of careful practice or another side effect of her brush with death, I cannot say.
From the shroomer, she can learn to: increase the amount of healing the swing causes, spawn a pulsing sphere of magic at the strike point with each magic-laden swing, or cause magic and blunt harm with each strike, albeit with less force for each.
Secondary
Tabitha is able to manifest spirit mana better than she ever was able to use fire. I believe that she kept it hidden, probably at Forendar's insistence. But, she is able to summon a sphere, which she tosses forward. Once it strikes something, it sticks in the air, like a grain of rice stuck to a wall, and begins to grow over the course of a few seconds, harming all those inside all the while.
From the monkey, she can learn to: heal herself for all those affected, increase the maximum size of the sphere, or cause the sphere to move slowly forward after striking something.
Dodge
The only time that she uses fire anymore, at least in so pure a form, is when she uses it to propel herself forward.
From the shroomery, she can learn to: harm foes that she passes through, leave a burning area underneath her, harming those that touch it, or teleport the same distance, forgoing the rush entirely.
Ultimate
Her last trick is to condense fire and spirit mana into a glass-like bubble, quickly expanding it and knocking foes away along with burning them with her spirit mana.
She can learn to: vastly increase the harm that it causes, increase the distance that is knocks foes back by, or cause the explosion to recondense, pulsing outwards two more times, losing potency with each.
And there you have it. A girl who could have been my wife, but ended up as she is, scarred and, most likely, scared. Forendar's granddaughter did not deserve this fate, though, few of us really do.
Next week we will be talking of, I loath to do this, but that arrogant monkey, Stephan Orasmius. I hate that man more than any I have met in a very long time. An absurd monkey from across the River of Ice in eastern Xerenia. One of his ancestors was bannerman who fought again Saren Glass in the Storm Wars.
Anyhow, needs must be done.
Until next time,
Xermillion Glass