Rade Ilphukiir

[CrankyOzzie]

Rade Ilphukiir is the single, longest-played character of mine on the Neverwinter Nights persistant world of Talus. in fact, the longest played character of mine on any NwN server. I have played many, many other characters on Talus, but she is the one I have stuck with for over a year (or thereabouts).
She is a Chaotic Good follower of Eilistraee, who grew up in a small Eilistraeen community, consisting mostly of Drow. There was also a Dwarven couple, a Half-Elven, a young Hin couple, and a Half-Orc. A mixed bunch indeed.

She grew up as a single child to loving parents, her mother falling barren due to an accident a few years after her birth. So she's a bit of a spoilt brat. She was taught to sing at a young age by her mother, a Bard/Cleric of Eilistraee, and was given some instruction in use of the Longbow and Rapier by her father. Growing bored with the village life, she set out from home at the age of about 150 to see the world. During her travels, she learned just how cruel people can be to Drow. Instead of becoming bitter towards them, however, she felt only pity. Whilst travelling the lands, she came across a near mortally wounded man and nursed him back to health. Once he'd gotten over his predjudice towards Drow (it's kind of hard to hate someone who's saved your life), they traveled around for a while together, and she was introduced to the Harpers through him.

Rade had returned home from Talus on hearing of her father's death, only to see her mother waste away with greif within the year. In what would have to be a rare event, she actually got to see her mother's 'Final Dance'. The presence of her Goddess overawed her, and turned her faith from a tenuous, half-there thing into something more solid.

Her travels eventually brought her to the lands of Talus. During her stay there, she decided to settle down a bit. While many people still view her with suspicion, she has had only one act of violence directed towards her. Recently, Rade almost singel-handedly thwarted an attempt by House Vedaess to invade the surface, allying briefly with House Maisul. She hopes this can lead to further understanding between the city of Drak' Maisul and the surfacers, though this seems unlikely. In the past month, she has finally had her house completed, which she shares with a Half-Celestial Wizard. Rade had also given aid to a Drow refugee, whos House was destroyed, causing her to flee the Underdark. unfortunatley, this refugee went missing (person playing her left the server). Rade is always ready to aid those fresh to adventuring and offer words of support. Many times she's helped someone fresh off the boat, either by use of her spells, some helpful advice, or the donation of equipment, potions, or some gold.

Rade, like most Drow, is a sensual person, and is not averse to enjoying the 'pleasures of the flesh', with either gender. This is not to say she is indiscriminate, as she has had very few 'lovers'. She's a cheeky woman, always ready with a tongue-in-cheek remark or joke, and loves nothing better than to show of her singing or dancing skills. Though she has semi-retired from adventuring, she is ready to defend the lands she calls home if she has to. Rade is currently level 31, with 5 levels of Fighter, 21 of Bard, and 5 of Harper Agent (or Scout, as they're known in NwN). She tries to follow the dogma of Eilistraee as closely as possible, though of course, she does not follow it to the letter.

She considers the Pixies of the Sunshine Guild to be her good friends, and the Freeblade legion to be allies. Admittedly, the legion has fallen from grace with her a little. When she announced House Vedaess' plans, their response was "We'll think about it". The leader of the pixie guild and an elven monk who were present at the time were the only ones to give firm indication they'd help how they could.


When I first started playing her, my only thought was "A good drow, cool!". After reading the forums at this site, and doing my research a bit, she has grown from a flat, two-dimensional collection of pixels, to a living, breathing entity on the Talus server. She is Talus' highest level Bard, and the most 'famous' since I have been playing there, and I love playing her. I'd say, without The Chosen of Eilistraee site, I'd have stopped playing her long ago, as it has been a wealth of information on how to make her alive, not just a "toon".

P.S. People are free to comment on this.

[Rooky]

Cool

[Tyrmer]

So are we going tostart up that thread again? Sarval was a good character!

[CrankyOzzie]

If you mean the one about the Halfling using a Greatsword, it's not very likely. I never could get 'into' playing her. However, if people have no objections, given her level, I'd love to play Rade.

[Ssin'urn Streea]

[font=Times New Roman:1of9c8t3][b:1of9c8t3][i:1of9c8t3][color=indigo:1of9c8t3]Rade!!![/color:1of9c8t3][/i:1of9c8t3][/b:1of9c8t3][/size:1of9c8t3][/font:1of9c8t3]

[CrankyOzzie]

[quote="Ssin'urn Streea":ontpf8s2][font=Times New Roman:ontpf8s2][b:ontpf8s2][i:ontpf8s2][color=indigo:ontpf8s2]Rade!!![/color:ontpf8s2][/i:ontpf8s2][/b:ontpf8s2][/size:ontpf8s2][/font:ontpf8s2][/quote:ontpf8s2]

/me Tranqulizes Ssin'urn.

Sigh, I knew trying to win her over to the dark maiden's side by springing for a night at the El'lar d'Ssinssrigg was a mistake. Now she just won't leave me alone!

[CrankyOzzie]

Hrmm. What's been happening to the naughty little drow lately?
Well, she's currently delving for information about Mourn -- the Elf that first showed her the Dark Maiden's temple beneath the city of Lomatin -- and a 'book of the dead' he has been playing with in order to bring back his 'dead' wife (who is actually trapped on the hell plane).
She already warned him off coming near her, Triel (the drow who she aided months ago) or her house after Mourn tried to choke Triel.. on her first day back in the lands, no less. Rade has successfully converted Triel to the Dark Maiden, though she is still adjusting to many things. Rade has loaned her two books her mother owned, outlining the dogma of Eilstraee, and what is expected of her followers (contents courtesy of this very site.. I made them in the toolset and left them in Rade's house when logged in as DM once).

So yeah, once again, Rade is acting as protector to her home and friends, potentially putting herself in danger in order to ensure their safety.

[CrankyOzzie]

Well, Rade has gone into 'retirement'. Due to issues with one of the DMs on the server I was playing on (He was a hypocritical, megalomanic bastard), and the fact most players were doing nothing but grinding/farming/playing power builds, I left that server.

No doubt she will make a return if/when I can get a new computer, in order to run NwN2.
At the risk of sounding like a sentimental wimp; deciding to "pack her away" was tough. She is my longest played character, [i:22c62mtp]ever[/i:22c62mtp] in Neverwinter Nights. Given the fact she is very dependant on her diplomatic skills, and therefore almost NEEDS to have dice rolled, and the current server I'm playing on doesn't have them, I realised how tough it was likely going to be playing her. She's not a 'combat wombat' like most characters seem to be these days. And, as most players tend to do, her attempts at diplomacy probably would have gone ignored, so..

[Shando]

Awww, maybe our Drows can be friends?

Intresting read, and gave me a nice little insight on your character! Seems you like her alot, eh?

[CrankyOzzie]

Yeah, she was great fun to play. On more than one occasion she defused potentially bloody affairs between others with her diplomacy.

Rade would happily befriend any follower of the dark maiden, and even those who didn't follow her, so long as they weren't commiting evil.

[Shando]

And what does she consider evil?