Riley Joan Pendleton

Backstory
Riley Jo was born to a single mother - Beth Ann Samuels. Her childhood was happy, if a little hard just being the two of them, but Beth Ann loved her daughter to the ends of the earth and Riley Jo loved her mother in the same way back

Riley Jo never met her father, but she feels like she totally knows him from all the stories Beth Ann would tell. Riley Jo grew up listening to the fantastic tales of Cass “Slipfang” Pendleton, Cat Burglar, Friend and Hero to the Poor and the best Explorer there’s ever been. (In modern terms, think of a cross between Robin Hood and Laura Croft with some Indiana Jones thrown in there.) Cass Pendleton was brave and heroic and a defender of justice and Riley Jo wanted to be just like him. Cass’ greatest enemy was his older brother, Joshua Pendleton, who was wildly jealous and constantly tried to one up and sabotage the more virtuous Cass. Joshua used “tricksey magics” While Cass only ever used his physical and mental prowess and always won out in the end.

(Riley doesn’t trust many Tricksy Mages with their Tricksy Magic. They all smell a little Fishy to her. A few have turned out alright and healers tend to be really nice, but on the whole she doesn’t trust them as far as she can throw them.)

And then, of course, the love story between the heroic Cass and the ever patient and loving Beth Ann who would wait for him when he went off to adventures. Cass saved Beth Ann from an evil nobleman who tried to force her to be his wife instead, but Cass rescued Beth Ann and killed the evil nobleman.

Unfortunately, Cass disappeared under mysterious circumstances when Riley Jo was little, and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. But Beth Ann told the stories over and over to Riley Jo as she grew, and Riley Jo was always enraptured. Now that’s she’s grown, the only thing Riley Jo wants to do in life is to be like her father, and carry on the righteous work he did. (If she can find him or find out what happened to him, all the better. She can’t decide if it’s cooler if he got kidnapped or lost in some ruins or had to run away to protect her and her mom from the dastardly Joshua).

((How much this story is true is absolutely up to you.))

Attempting to follow in her father’s footsteps, Riley began to try and learn the ways of Cat Burglary, getting good at sneaking and stealing and going on “adventures” in the abandoned mines outside of her hometown. When she was 16, she discovered her first bad guy - a local merchant who was buying up the local farm selling the food produced at high prices, causing starvation and shortages across the town, but no one could prove he was doing it intentionally. All of the farms had been bought up by different people, supposedly. But on one of her adventures into the mines she came across the merchant as he bought the deed from one of the “independent buyers.”

Riley Jo knew what she had to do. She snuck into the merchant’s home, picked open his safe and found all the deeds to all the farms, and ran to the middle of the town to tell everyone. An angry crowd began to form, and she led them back to the merchant to drive him out. The merchant fled and Riley gave everyone back their land who wanted it, and she was lauded a hero.

Bolstered by her first big success, Riley decided she was ready to strike out and really begin her life as Riley Jo Pendleton, Cat Burglar Extraordinaire.

The last two years, she’s had markedly less success, but hey, can’t win them all. She’s helped a few people out here and there, but these are her Early Years after all. She’s not Perfect yet. She’ll get there.

She writes her mom as often as possible, detailing her exploits and adventures.

(She can’t wait until she meets her nemesis).

————

Of course, that’s not the whole truth. Riley Jo’s faced her share of failures, but her first big failure was… bad.

Her second ever ‘‘mission,” she was far too confident from her first victory and bit off more than she could chew. Attempting to one up her crusade against a corrupt merchant, she attempted to take down a smuggling ring on her own. She was doing okay, but then it broke bad. She wasn’t aware one of the smugglers had a familiar, and the magical owl spotted her. She was caught easily after that.

The next morning, a local tinkerer named Terrance Washburn found her left in a ditch to die, stabbed, declawed and missing her tail past a few inches. Terrance rescued her and nursed her back to health. He also fashioned her prosthetics for her claws and tail.

Her claw prosthetics attach at the wrist like bracelets, and are made of thin, sturdy metallic structures that bend and move with her hands, and can retract and extend with the flexing of her little toe beans. Her tail almost looks like it’s made of cool, liquid metal. In reality it’s a series of shifting metal plates that allow her full range of movement, both for balance reasons and for emotional/body language expression.

(It is still metal and can and will take out your ankles)

The real damage done, however, was the injury done to Riley Jo’s mind. Instead of shattering her childlike and innocent worldview, she retreated into it, using it like a security blanket. She has completely blocked the incident from her mind, repressing the memory and constructing a story around her disabilities - they’re birth defects and Terrence has always been her family friend, making her prosthetics her whole life. She holds onto her storybook like idea of her life - the good guy wins, the bad guy loses, and nothing truly bad ever happens - to avoid dealing with the trauma. She doesn’t know she’s repressed anything, and it’s buried so deep down.

Terrence has only ever supported her delusion. Beth Ann has never been told about any of this. After recovering, Riley Jo went back out into the world, attacking her life goal as if she was never captured by the smugglers at all. Terrence convinced her she had beaten and killed them, and so she left, thinking herself a hero again. Riley Jo writes Terrence as she writes her mom, and they’re pen pals.

———

Riley Jo would be a passenger on the ship, heading off to a new land in search for more adventure. It’s been a couple years since losing her claws, and so where she’s sailing to and from specifically isn’t all that important, except from one populated place to another. Whether she’s riding a victory, just lost some sort of fight or has been all dry up on adventures for a while can be really how you see fit.

Info From Me
Riley Jo grew up in Caelkirk on the island of Idolan. Idolan is mostly made up of farming villages, with nowhere more than a weeks travel from each other. Caelkirk is a small town on the road between Myford and Doveport, the two major port towns on Idolan. A lot of local farmers and craftsmen go through it on there way to the larger cities (probably how she got wind of the smugglers). On the eastern side of Idolan there is the Hulmiota Thicket, a pretty forest known for the bandits and miscreants that hid there. She would have definitely had a few run ins with them.

The incident with the smugglers would’ve happened in Myford, and was probably one of the first times Riley Jo had left the immediate vicinity of Caelkirk, with the exception of a few times Beth Ann took her to Doveport or Myford for special occasions like festivals and such.

Terrance Washburn would've been in Myford and that's where Riley Jo were based for a while after the accident, before she decided to do more adventuring outside of Idolan.

Cass and Beth Ann
so you'd get that she told riley jo that he disappeared under mysterious circumstances, but in reality you get that he told Beth Ann that he had to leave to deal with something for their safety but he never came back. she hasn't heard from cass, but occasionally there are bards and storytellers that come through with tales that match cass. she has no clue why he didnt come back

Beth Ann Samuels
Ginger Tabaxi, a little taller than Riley Jo with blue eyes. She’s always been a loving mother, if a bit stretched thin trying to raise Riley Jo on her own. She’s a seamstress for the local tailor and has been for basically as long as Riley Jo can remember. She loves telling stories and genuinely loves her daughter. When Riley Jo expressed desire to be like her father, Beth Ann was supportive but worried - you know, like a parent would be if their child wanted to be a famous burglar/adventurer type. Her personality has always been softer than Riley Jo, she isn’t as loud or assertive, but Riley Jo did get her stubbornness from somewhere. Beth Ann was never the type to let someone walk all over her, but she was always content to not make a scene if she didn’t have to. Intelligent if overworked, Beth Ann did her goddamn best raising a child like Riley Jo.

Cass Pendleton
so you'd get that she told riley jo that he disappeared under mysterious circumstances, but in reality you get that he told Beth Ann that he had to leave to deal with something for their safety but he never came back. she hasn't heard from cass, but occasionally there are bards and storytellers that come through with tales that match cass. she has no clue why he didn't come back

Beth-Ann thinks that it had to do with Joshua

Josie
ex-gf

She did have a girlfriend at one point I think, whom she broke up with as she left  Calkirk. Probably a halfling, might have been a little less supportive of Riley Jo’s Dreams & chosen career path on account of, well, its dangerous as fuck? Riley Jo broke up with her when it became clear the girlfriend was very much making it a choice between her and leaving Calkirk. Riley Jo has a little bit of a resentment towards her for making it an ultimatum, but also kind of understands why she didn’t want to stay with an adventurer. Good memories.

Sara - josie's mom

Terrence Washburn
Hafling tinkerer from Myford - took in Riley Jo and helped her as well as making her prosthetics after her accident

Halfling tinkerer/inventor. He’s got a big heart despite everything his brain tells him is a better option. Always a bit scruffy, dark hair and eyes, Terrence lives alone (last Riley Jo knew) and half his house is his lab. He’s been... successful enough to support himself, but isn’t a big time inventor or anything. He was caring towards Riley Jo during her recovery, and was the one who initially told her she beat the smugglers to get her to stay in bed. He didn’t challenge her as her memories reformed around to suppress the trauma. He hasn’t got the best social skills and is a bit awkward at times, but means well & is really good with his tinkerer’s tools.

Caelkirk
As for other people in Calkirk, I don’t think Riley Jo ever had any close friends. She was friendly towards the other children and they were never mean or bullied her, but she was always a little bit in her own world and busy working on her burglar skills to be really close to any of the others. She has fond memories of them. She did have a girlfriend at one point I think, whom she broke up with as she left  Calkirk. Probably a halfling, might have been a little less supportive of Riley Jo’s Dreams & chosen career path on account of, well, its dangerous as fuck? Riley Jo broke up with her when it became clear the girlfriend was very much making it a choice between her and leaving Calkirk. Riley Jo has a little bit of a resentment towards her for making it an ultimatum, but also kind of understands why she didn’t want to stay with an adventurer. Good memories.

Adults treated her with amused dismissal, probably not believing the stories about her father but liking the little excitable girl. Cute, but everyone was waiting for her to grow up as it were. When she exposed the merchant’s plot, everyone was surprised but grateful, and I’m sure a few became to wonder if Beth Ann’s flighty daughter could actually be a good adventurer one day

Backstory Tie In
The smuggling ring she attempted to take down on her own is the same one tied into Valxik’s backstory. Its lead by a powerful warlock and their owl familiar.

While in Lourcana Riley Jo hears a bard singing a song about Cass Pendleton and his deeds, but it reffers to events that seem to have transpired much more recently than when Beth Ann and Riley Jo last heard from him.

Description
Calico Tabaxi girl, young adult. Leather armor, yellow eyes. Her tail and her claws are metal prosthetics, but still fairly fluid and responsive (magic babeyyy). The claws are retractable, and the tail is the proper length, but made of moving metal pieces.