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| "Larina" by Jeff Dee |
Just got back from visiting my family. Anytime I meet up with them, especially my brothers and sisters, we get to talking about all the scary stories we know. This time it was about a road where people, in particular single women, will often just vanish. Yes. We know the truth is a different sort of horror, but this is still where our thoughts took us.
The "haunted road" tale is very old. This got me to think about who, or what, is haunting them and who, or what, should be guarding them.
While it is great for modern supernatural games, I was reading over Tim Knight's new blog, Cowboys, Capes, and Claws, and was reminded of how much fun I always had with Villains & Vigilantes.
And given that we both have Jeff Dee art of our characters, I can't help but think that they exist in the same universe.
The Witch and The Road Warden
Larina Nichols did not become a hero because she wanted to save the world. She became one because the world kept losing people in the spaces no one watched.
She had survived a house fire that should have killed her. Officially ruled an accident, it never sat right with her. From that moment on, Larina heard things others did not, felt the pull of grief and danger like a pulse beneath the skin of everyday life. Roads felt watched. Abandoned places whispered. Women went missing, and the silence around their absence was louder than any alarm. She learned early that evil did not always announce itself, and that survival carried an obligation.
The truth found her on a moonlit stretch of forgotten highway, following a pattern no one else believed in. What haunted those roads was not a man or a monster in the simple sense, but a thing older than asphalt, a guardian spirit twisted feral by neglect and blood. A Road Warden. When Hecate, guardian of the crossroads, answered Larina’s call, it was not with command but recognition. Strength came, clarity followed, but the magic was never a gift alone. Larina studied, bled, bargained, and learned the old ways.
Her first act was not destruction but binding. She restored the Road Warden to its true purpose, and in doing so, saved some who were lost and mourned those who were found. The world called it a miracle. Larina called it insufficient and kept going. For this, she received the Blessing of Artemis and may call on her in her need.
She wears no mask, only intention. Her power is divine and learned, occult and earned, sharpened by grief rather than dulled by it. In a world of capes and symbols, Larina walks the liminal spaces, guarding thresholds, sealing cracks, and watching the places heroes overlook. She does not promise salvation. She promises attention. Sometimes that is enough.
Sometimes it has to be.
Larina "Nix" Nichols (formerly Larina Macalister), Villains and Vigilantes
SIDE: Good
SEX: F
AGE: 28
WEIGHT: 128 lbs
EXPERIENCE: 90,000
LEVEL: 13
TRAINING: Occult Studies, Folklore, Ritual Magic
POWERS
Magic Spells (requires speaking & gestures)
- Witch Bolt (Power Blast, 1d20, magical; +3 to hit)
- Witchfire Ward (Force Field +7 vs physical/energy)
- Glamour (Illusions, all senses)
- Mirror Walk (Teleport; medium = mirrors/reflective surfaces)
- Divination (Precognition/Postcognition; Detect Magic)
- Binding Curse (Paralysis/Affliction; Will/mental resistance applies)
- Flight (broom or spell)
Familiar: Cotton (small white flying cat; mental link; while nearby, Larina gains +2 Detect Hidden and +2 Detect Danger)
Weakness: Must be able to speak and gesture to cast.
ABILITIES
STRENGTH: 10
ENDURANCE: 14
AGILITY: 13
INTELLIGENCE: 21
CHARISMA: 22
DERIVED STATS
BASIC HITS: 3
HIT MOD: (STR 1.0)(END 1.4)(AGL 1.3)(INT 1.4) = 2.548
HIT POINTS: 8 (3 × 2.55 → 7.65, rounds to 8)
POWER: 58
CARRYING CAPACITY: 132 lbs
BASE HTH DAMAGE: 1d4 (STR 10)
HEALING RATE: 1.0/day (END 14)
ACCURACY MODIFIER: +1 (AGL 13)
DAMAGE MODIFIER: +3 (AGL/INT)
DETECT HIDDEN: 16% (INT 21)
DETECT DANGER: 20% (INT 21)
REACTION FROM GOOD: +4 REACTION FROM EVIL: –4 (CHA 22)
MOVEMENT
Ground: 37" (AGL 13)
Flight: 90 MPH (broom/spell)
INVENTING
INVENTING POINTS: 29.4 (INT-based)
INVENTING %: 63% (~INT × 3%)
Citizen of the US with no criminal record.
ORIGIN & BACKGROUND
Multiversal witch and occult scholar; protector of the gifted. Known in mystical circles as Nix the Witch Queen. Her familiar Cotton is psychically linked and often scouts or warns of danger.
VISUAL
Flowing dark purple costume with glowing runes, black boots, triple-moon goddess symbol, bracers engraved with warding symbols, and a faint aura of witchfire. Crescent moon burn scar near her left collar bone. Triple moon goddess tattoo on her back, between her shoulder blades.
Red hair, blue eyes.
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Ok, this is a good build and there are enough differences between this version of Larina and say my Mutants & Masterminds versions [2][3][4]. Larina was never one of my V&V characters back then. That honor goes to Johan as "The Paladin." But she certainly works here.
Given her Triple Goddess tattoo I am saying she is in contact with three goddesses, Artemis, Selene, and Hecate; representing the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. I went with Greek here because that is what I would have done back when I was playing V&V. If I had gone with my usual Celtic, then it would have been Brigid, Cerridwen, and the Morrigan.
Links
- Taryn, Larina's (future) daughter (V&V)
- Johan, Taryn, and Larina for Mighty Protectors
- Justice and Iron Maiden for V&V
- Willow & Tara
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