Character Sheet

Marcella Mignot was born in Galt, and that country’s chaotic political climate shaped much of her early life. Constant upheavals within the government forced the Mignot family from village to village, and so the young Marcella never had a place that she could truly call home. That feeling of being a constant outsider followed her even after she left Galt as an adolescent to seek her fortune elsewhere in the world.

Marcella was taken under the wing of a master thief, a Keleshite woman named Sorouz, after Sorouz caught her trying to slice open her coin purse with a rusty knife in the Taldan city of Yanmass. Sorouz saw both a spark of greatness and hunger within Marcella and agreed to teach the girl everything she knew about the rogue’s life: what to steal, who to take it from, when to pilfer it, and, most importantly, how not to get caught. The two traveled throughout Taldor, Qadira, and Andoran over the next few years, and soon Marcella went from student to mastermind.

After robbing a corrupt Andoran senator’s manse, Sorouz took her share of the spoils and retired to Absalom. Still eager to ply her trade, Marcella continued on her own, never staying in (or stealing from) one place for long. She soon began to solely target the rich and powerful, especially if she’d witnessed them abusing their position or treating a member of the lower class poorly.

With this modus operandi, Marcella made her way into Cheliax, knowing she’d have an abundance of targets. However, while in the capital city of Egorian, the thief ran afoul of a wealthy diabolist whose fiendish minions magically tracked her to her hideout (close to The Terrific Toybox) after she stole their master’s prized possession: an adamantine tuning fork set to one of the levels of Hell. The minions killed Marcella to retrieve the item, but her story didn’t end there.

The next thing Marcella remembers is waking up on a table in some kind of workshop. An older human man loomed over her, holding a rasp in one hand and a paintbrush in another. Marcella tried to scramble to feet only to discover that all her limbs were made of wood and attached to pieces of string. She eventually learned that she was in the basement of The Terrific Toybox and that her spirit had come to reside within a marionette mime recently crafted by the toy maker Gettorio Galla, due to the innate magic of the shop. Though surprised, she soon came to terms with her new life, getting to know Gettorio (who reminded her of her father) and the other poppets, and calling the toyshop her home.

Playing Marcella the Marionette

Marcella is the mastermind behind this heist, and she constantly reminds everyone that she has the most experience at this sort of thing. She will bring up her past exploits from cities across the Inner Sea Region when they are relevant to the situation at hand. While this might make her seem cocky and headstrong, she does listen to her fellow poppets when they are eager to contribute, especially in their areas of expertise.

• Marcella is a planner, and she isn’t comfortable entering a situation unless her contingency plans have contingency plans. This manifests in occasional periods of silence as she tries to think several steps ahead.
• Marcella is cool, calm, and collected, even when her plans go awry. She doesn’t point out her teammates’ mistakes (even if she might be silently judging them), because she knows that even the most competent people mess up from time to time. In fact, her greatest misstep led to her death!

Combat: In a fight, Marcella first assesses the situation. If she can act before her enemies, she takes advantage of their slowness with a surprise attack. She then tries to Recall Knowledge (using Occultism or Society) to learn something about a foe and render them off-guard against her attacks until the start of the next turn. If she is near enough to that enemy, she closes the distance and attacks with her shortsword; otherwise, she brings her hand crossbow to bear. In subsequent rounds, she will move to flank a foe with her allies, using Mobility to Stride half her speed without worrying about reactions or Tumbling Through that creature’s space if necessary. She tends to use Nimble Dodge against the first attack made against her each round.

If she thinks she’s going to face a spellcaster, she’ll chug her lesser bravo’s brew, and she’ll use her oil of potency when pitted against a formidable foe or one she just can’t seem to hit.

Exploration Mode: In exploration mode, Marcella tries to keep to the shadows, Avoiding the Notice of any potential foes so she can get the drop on them in combat. She will pretend to be a harmless doll (using the ancestry feat of the same name) if she believes she is about to be spotted.

Healing: Marcella keeps a minor elixir of life handy in case things go south, but she isn’t completely unskilled with a set of healer’s tools.

Other Characters

Cutie Killstuff: You chose Cutie as the group’s muscle, as they can dish out incredible pain when motivated. Their overly cheery demeanor, however, is an acquired taste that you haven’t quite acquired.

Hellpup: You hope that the stuffed hellhound’s insight into Cheliax’s fascination with devils will come in handy during the heist. If not, their ability to heal the group definitely will.

The Tin Wizard: Tin (as you call him) made for an excellent partner in planning the heist, though he isn’t as experienced with subterfuge as you are. He might need one of his metallic hands held if things don’t go exactly to plan.

Ghost Poppet

Marcella awakened when a bit of another person’s life force and a fragment of their soul—possibly, but not always, at the moment of their death—found its way into her constructed body. She gains resistance to void damage equal to half her level (minimum 1).

Harmless Doll

You look like nothing more than an ordinary toy, doll, or statuette, and you can fool others with your innocuous appearance. You gain the trained proficiency rank in Deception (or another skill if you’re already trained in Deception), and you can Impersonate an inanimate toy or a mindless poppet. You can Hide without any cover or concealment from creatures that don’t realize you’re alive so long as you’re in a location where a toy of your shape wouldn’t be out of place, like in a carnival booth, city street, or toy shop (at the GM’s discretion). If you succeed, onlookers still see you, but they mistake you for an inanimate toy. After being fooled once, they realize you’re alive, and you can’t Hide from them in that way again.