Gwalchmai, the Hawk of May

A stunning beauty, Gwalchmai is a 22-year old young woman and a master of hawks and falcons. She inherited the position from her father, who is still hale and who is continuing to teach her, adding his experience to her own supernatural abilities. Her lord, Sir Aversham, desires her, and although Gwalchmai has gone to extremes to discourage him, this is creating tension in the household (especially with Lady Aversham). Gwalchmai is wild at heart and impossible to tame; she has dreamt of fleeing Aversham for the country, but she cannot bear to leave her father.

Gwalchmai's situation was made more complicated when she and her father hosted Standing Elk, as a favor to Cernunnos. The strange foreigner learned the ways of animals from Gwalchmai's father, but more importantly, the couple fell in love. They have successfully hidden their romance from Sir Aversham, but not from Gwalchmai's father, who grieves for the tragedy which is bound to result.

Gwalchmai remains torn between duty and love. She longs to travel with Standing Elk, but cannot leave her father.

Age 22 (born 1206)

Size 0

Confidence 1 (3)

Carefree +3, Reckless +3, Loyal (familiars) +3, Loving +2, Wild at Heart +1

Virtues & Flaws: Falconer (+1); Animal Ken (+1), Improved Characteristics (+1), Privileged Upbringing (+1), Puissant Hunt (+1), Summon Animals (+3); Animal Companion: four goshawks (-3), Carefree (-1), Curse of Venus (-3), Reckless (-1)

Int +1, Per +1, Pre +1, Com +1, Str -1, Sta +1, Dex +2, Qik +2

Abilities: Algonquin 1 (Standing Elk), Animal Handling 3 (15) (falcons), Animal Ken 4 (falcons), Artes Liberales 1, Athletics 3 (evasion), Awareness 3 (flying things), Beast-master Lore 1 (famous figures), Brawl 3 (dagger), Gaelic 5 (Irish), Hibernia Lore 1 (Connacht), Hunt 3+2 (falconry), Latin 3 (reading), Ride 2 (courser), Summon Animals 5 (falcons)

Combat

• Dagger: Init +2, Atk +8, Def +6, Dmg +2

• Evasion: Def +7

• Familiars: Init +7, Atk +9, Def +12, Dmg -4; +12 trained group bonus.

Soak +1 (Sta)

Wound Levels: Light (1-5), Medium (6-10), Heavy (11-15), Incapacitated (16-20), Dead (21+)

Possessions: Clothing, dagger, falconry gear

Familiars

Gwalchmai has 4 familiars, all mundane female goshawks without Magical Might. They have Int -3 and can understand (but not speak) Gaelic. They all have Loyal +3 to her. She can enter a trance-like state to see through any of these familiars, but she is not really aware of her own body while she is doing this.

In combat, Gwalchmai can lead her goshawks into battle as a trained group. She acts as Leader, while one of the falcons is Vanguard. She can lose one falcon with no penalty to the group bonus, but subsequent losses reduce her Attack by 6 per bird.

Init +7, Atk +9, Def +12, Dmg -4; +12 bonus to Atk or Def each round; 4 wounds inflicted.

Summoned Falcons

Gwalchmai typically summons sparrowhawks, the most common kind of falcon. A sparrowhawk is Size -4 and, when she calls them, she summons 300 of them at a time, darkening the skies.

Gwalchmai rolls Com + Summon Animals (a total of +7). If she gets a 9, the birds arrive within an hour. If she gets a 12, they arrive in two minutes. If she gets a 15, they arrive in one round.

Sparrowhawks fight in untrained groups of 5 each. They have one additional fatigue level, and when they exert themselves add +2 to the attack (+3 with talons). Their best tactic in battle is to enter with a swooping attack, spending Confidence and using their group bonus to Atk; on the next round, they switch their group bonus to Def and disengage. This allows them to make another swooping attack, repeating as necessary:

Sparrowhawks

Confidence 1 (3: Swooping attacks)

Combat:

Talons: Init +7, Atk +5, Def +15, Dmg -6; 5 wounds inflicted.

Beak: Init +8, Atk +6, Def +13, Dmg -7; 5 wounds inflicted.

Soak -3

Fatigue Levels OK, -1/-1, -3, -5, Unconscious

Wound Levels Light (1), Medium (2), Heavy (3), Incapacitated (4), Dead (5)

Mass Combat Notes

Gwalchmai's Mass Combat Modifier is 5 when she is commanding falcons. This represents her natural Stamina, and her skill commanding her falcons in battle.

Se has a +4 bonus to Soak when attacked by someone shapeshifted into an animal form.