Katrine
A hardened mercenary

Katrine is a tough-as-nails mercenary willing to work for anyone who can pay her bills. The veteran of many hard-fought battles, Katrine has little patience for fools.

Appearance:

This woman, in her mid-20's and standing no taller than 5 feet 6 inches, has red hair cropped very closely to her head. The fair skin of her face is crossed with the subtle pink lines of a dozen or more healed scars; her grey eyes are hard and determined. She wears an old and equally battle-scarred suit of dark grey plate armor, and carries a black iron battleaxe and a battered shield.

History:

Katrine was born to a farmer and his wife, which would not have been that bad except for the fact that she was clearly not the farmer's daughter. The farmer turned Katrine and her mother out before the year was through, leaving them to seek shelter where they could find it. As Katrine grew up in the streets, her mother told her tales of her biological father, a sergeant in the kingdom's army, and how they had spent a night of passion together. Katrine began to imagine her father as a consummate warrior, a hero, someone who would come some day to sweep her and her mother into a life of safety.

That never happened, of course, because the soldier had never known he had sired a child in the first place. Her mother eventually remarried to a blacksmith and settled in a new village, but Katrine did not get along with the other children. She often got into fights with the boys, including her two stepbrothers; some of these she won, but many she lost. She became withdrawn and violent, and attempts by her stepfather to focus her anger into the craft of smithing just made her physically stronger, but no less prone to fighting.

With images of her real father, the supposed warrior-hero, still in her head, Katrine ran away from home at age 15 to join the kingdom's military. She lied about her age, and was able to convince them to allow her to join by beating two other applicants almost to death with a training sword. Drilling was long and difficult, and many tried to force her to quit and return home, but she completed the training and was instated into the infantry.

The following month, the kingdom went to war.

The conflict was brutal, and Katrine saw many of her fellow soldiers die. It was during the war that she first cut off her long red hair to keep it out of her eyes during battle, something she still does to this day. Katrine did not distinguish herself with any great act of heroism, but she survived the 2-year-long war, which is more than could be said for many. She was rewarded by being stationed to an outpost on the kingdom's frontier, a settlement that was raided by orcs and other humanoids regularly for the remainder of her four year enlistment. Katrine never rose in the ranks, but she became known as a warrior who could hold off four or five orcs at once.

Since leaving the army, Katrine has spent her time as a mercenary. She has a reputation for toughness, and is often sought for defensive duty, particularly when the site being guarded is certain to come under attack. She has sunk her money into improving her equipment and entertaining herself, with no real long-range plans or goals.

Personality:

Katrine is a warrior who has seen more bloodshed and death than some soldiers twice her age. She is fairly serious and determined, though she often displays a certain affection for gallows humor. With no real direction, she continues to take assignments until she either strikes it rich or is killed, and frankly, she wouldn't know what to do if she struck it rich. She believes in survival first and foremost; she will not hesitate to surrender in order to avoid being killed. She prefers simply fighting a defensive battle, however, trying to make it too costly for the enemy to assault her position.

She has issues with authority figures, often giving them lip just for the hell of it. As a veteran of many conflicts, she has a natural sense about battlefield tactics, but is not a very good leader or communicator. She's oddly content to let others lead, despite the fact that she will constantly harass them for doing so.

Katrine is uncomfortable around women who are very feminine in their dress and behavior, particularly if they seem to define themselves by their sexuality. This discomfort is usually displayed as open hostility. She is likewise rude and abusive towards wizards and other spellcasters, treating them as interlopers into the world of fair combat between warriors.

 

Katrine True Neutral female human (Medium humanoid) Fighter 6th Hit Dice: 6d10+24 (61 hp) Initiative: +6 Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares; full plate armor); base 30 ft. (6 squares) Armor Class: 26 (+2 Dex, +10 armor, +2 Armor Specialization, +2 shield), touch 12, flat-footed 22 Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+9 Attack: Battleaxe +11 melee (1d8+6, 20/x3) Full Attack: Battleaxe +11/+6 melee (1d8+6, 20/x3) Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Saves: Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +5 Abilities: Str 17, Dex 14, Con 19, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 10 Skills: Craft (armorsmithing) +5, Craft (weaponsmithing) +5, Hide -3, Intimidate +9, Move Silently -3, Ride +10, Spot +5, Survival +3. Armor Check Penalty -5. Feats: Armor Focus (full plate armor), Armor Specialization (full plate armor), Cleave, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (battleaxe), Weapon Specialization (battleaxe) Equipment: +2 full plate armor, masterwork heavy steel shield, +1 cold iron battleaxe, cloak of resistance +2, 240 gp. Tactics Round-by-Round Katrine will fight if threatened, but she sincerely hopes that every mercenary contract she takes will never result in actual combat. She prefers to takes a defensive stance, especially if one or more other mercs have her back. She will stand in the path of several melee combatants while her allies (if any) pick them off with spells, arrows, or flanking attacks. First Round: If already attacked, Katrine will make a full attack with full Combat Expertise. If no foes are within reach, she will move in front of a more vulnerable ally and ready a partial charge against the first foe to come within 10 feet of that ally. Second Round: Assuming she has been engaged, she will continue to make full attacks. Only if she is confident that she cannot be successfully hit by the current foe will she drop her Combat Expertise to increase her chance to hit. She will simply engage any foe attacking, but will leave the elimination of enemy spellcasters or ranged attackers to allies; her job, as she sees it, is to be the front line. Later Rounds: Once victory is in hand, Katrine will switch to using Power Attack. Challenge Rating: Katrine has a Challenge Rating of 6.

 

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