The Great Game – Interlude 2: Shoshana
With snowstorms devastating the group’s availability, the Great Game takes another break in the tale to explore another Non-Player Character associated with the FoJ. Enjoy!
In early 594 CY, a fledgling Fond of Justice League was headed into the Sea of Dust in search of a ruined city and the grand adventure that accompanied it. On the 8th of Fireseek, they arrived at a trading post village called Saint Fulton’s, in the Yeomanry. St. Fulton’s was on one side of a mountain pass, crossing the range known as the Crystalmists. For their travels, they learned they needed some assistance, as none knew the area well, nor had the proper skills for mountaineering or desert travel. Amongst the handful of people hired for different tasks was Shoshana Il-Ibn-Al-Fazar-Smith, a rather attractive young woman who knew the pass well, and spoke the language of the desert peoples on the opposite side of the mountains.
Shoshana, a woman of admittedly mixed heritage, kept to herself and didn’t enjoy the company of the many men of the FoJ. The others learned of her extreme mercenary nature fairly quickly, as she did not enter early combat situations until she received higher pay. As a guide she performed well, but showed some of her true nature after a bandit was captured following an attack on a caravan ahead of the party. During the evening, Shoshana attempted to kill the bandit, but was discovered. Mortified, she ran off, to be found some time later by Pierre Magucci, a founding member of the FoJ. Pierre had learned that the prisoner had done some ill towards Shoshana in the past, for which the bandit chose to fall on his sword than continue to be prisoner. Shoshana chose to remain with the FoJ for the long haul at that point, for reasons known only to herself.
Throughout the adventure in the Sea of Dust, Shoshana proved beneficial a number of times, from sandstorms to language barriers and information. She also was found to be useful in fights, using daggers and knives with great ability. Over time, the others learned of her other skills, those that used her natural dexterity or physical charms to her own benefit, as well as the group.
Shoshana changed allegiances within the party a number of times. Once, after becoming separated from the group and saving all of their belongings nearly single-handed from an attacking nomadic tribe, she rejoined them as a hireling of Ivan-Igor, the FoJ’s resident thief (and also founding member) at the time. By the 5th of Growfest, a momentous partnership started, with Shoshana hiring Morton Shrupshireslasher, a low-level illusionist and eventual founding member of the FoJ. In Morton, Shoshana found a kindred spirit and person that does not question her goals, needs and occasional intensity. Their relationship, never more than platonic, has allowed for mutual benefit between them.
During the adventure in the Sea of Dust, Shoshana found and kept a ring of power – one that allows her to turn invisible at will. It’s become her prized possession, which she lost at one time and retrieved with the aid of Morton. His selfless act to help her endeared him to her more than anyone else in her life, which occasionally embarrasses him. Later, when a djinn is freed from imprisonment by members of the party, it grants boons to all present, including Shoshana. She keeps hers a secret from the others for a long period of time, but it does affect her greatly, as she weeps after the boon is given.
Later, members of the adventuring party are separated after an attack. Shoshana tracked them and returned them to the group, to some discomfort and even greater disbelief. Shortly after that, the party concluded their adventure in the Sea of Dust, a nearly year-long trip few of them enjoyed. Having returned to Greyhawk, the group found themselves in a city under Martial Law due to a number of situations that happened while the adventure in the Sea of Dust continued. Morton and Shoshana immediately left the group to search for one of Morton’s aides, lost during the trip. Finding nothing to help them, they returned to the group and left on another adventure using the magical Well of Worlds, where a number of odd things happened to solidify the ties between Shoshana and Morton. At one point, Shoshana was likely killed, only to be returned to life due to a pact made with the god Nerull by Morton. Neither was fond of this situation and worked their way to rid themselves of it.
After returning to Greyhawk once the trip through the Well of Worlds was completed, Shoshana left the party without comment, on a mission of her own. At some point in Planting of 595 CY, she contacted Morton at the newly organized Fond of Justice League headquarters, known as the Barony of Kron Kite, part of the lands controlled by the Free City of Dyvers. She informed him of her current mission, and the boon granted to her by the djinn. Long before she met the group, she had been assaulted by 12 males in the region of the Yeomanry, but she did not know who they were. The djinn gave her the names and locations of each one, which she memorized. Telling Morton at that point she had only a few names left on her list to eliminate, he offered to help her. Shoshana turned him down, promising to return once she was finished with her revenge.
On the 4th of Wealsun, 596 CY, Shoshana returned for good to the FoJ HQ, to wait her reuniting with Morton and the others. By the 18th of that same month, the rest of the group has returned home, with Shoshana gladly rejoining them, or at least Morton, her favorite companion. She has remained so to the current date, now exploring new options with the powerful illusionist.
Shoshana is a rare human female. Ruthless when she needs to be, quiet and resilient, dangerous and controlled, she has little tolerance for useless people and likes to make them useful – even if it means their death. She’s exceptionally good at making money, particularly in clandestine ways. She knows knives and daggers well, has been known to use poisons when they suit her and has above-average survival skills in the wilds and desert. She speaks an unknown amount of languages and tells few her life story. Even Morton doesn’t know everything of her past. Shoshana is not a founding member of the Fond of Justice League, though she was asked to be. She has no interest being known to the general masses, preferring the shadows and clandestine machinations she is occasionally involved in. Her best friend, Morton, is the absolute opposite of her, which suits her fine.
Shoshana tolerates most of the FoJ, past and present. She has a great fondness for Ivan-Igor, the Halfling who shared some of her skill set. She enjoyed Spaartuk the magician, to a degree. She finds Solstrum aggravating in his stiff aristocratic elven demeanor, but trusts him. She’s made friends with many of the followers of the FoJ, such as Sandyil and Kallar, former guardsmen of Spaartuk, who treated her as a formidable equal, something she was uncomfortable with at first. Amongst the current group, she admires Hannah for her explosive directness and Ceelo for his cheerful distraction and power. She greatly misses the elven priest of Pelor, Keblier, who had a heart bigger than his head and the spirit of generosity she rarely saw in Saint Fulton’s. She also secretly hopes Morton can help their friend Randy, who was her occasional rival in scout work, and didn’t deserve the fate granted him.
Read the Great Game from the beginning!
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