Largesse
#1 of DnD
Here's a quick little story about my DnD character for a campaign I'm doing: Gifter of Wealth, the generous tabaxi sorcerer. It's not a canon story, but I wanted to write something anyway, because I love the character.
A cloaked figure glides down the street, a light skip in their step. Hands clasped behind their back, they hum softly to themselves, slitted eyes scanning the noisy shopping district. Despite her best efforts, the orange tip of a tail pokes out from the bottom of the cloak, ridges on the hood of the cloak indicate large flattened ears, and her paws can be seen by those that make the effort to look down.
Regardless, Gifter of Wealth still likes to think she's inconspicuous.
As she makes her way down the cobblestone road, weaving in between customers and capital guards, she stops humming to occasionally mutter something under her breath. Each time she does, a flash of green can be seen underneath her cloak, and a spectral hand appears to float a gold coin from her coin pouch and onto the laps, hands, and heads of street urchins and beggars she sees.
As they glance around in confusion at the sudden appearance of currency, the tiger skinned tabaxi smiles to herself. Her companions may chastise her for taking so long to catch up with them, but she feels that it's worth it if only to see the surprise on peoples faces.
An itch in the back of her mind causes one of her fingers to twitch involuntarily, and before she knows it, she's throwing a coin towards a random merchant who's trying to bargain with a customer regarding silk clothing. The merchant stops speaking for a confused moment as a coin strikes his temple, glances around to see who threw it, shrugs, and pockets the coin,
She continues on her way, nearing the edge of the shopping district where the road opens up to the towns center, where the Town Hall sits, its spires scrapping the sky. They're supposed to help the Town Hall stand out more for newcomers who may get lost in the towns twisting streets, but Gifter feels they're a bit much.
Her companions are waiting for her inside. They had completed a recent job for the mayor of the town, and were receiving their reward for doing so, but Gifter wanted to purchase the cloak she currently had on, as well as trade one of her platinum coins into 100 gold ones. So they went to obtain the reward while Gifter did what she needed.
She nears the main doors of Town Hall, nodding to the guards as she does, when the ground begins to shake. Spinning around, Gifter looks down the street to see a large stone wall blocking the road. Her companions stand in front of the structure, looking frustrated. She hurries up to them, cloak billowing around her as she runs. Daught the goliath is beating on the wall with a large hammer, trying to break through it as Gifter catches up.
"What happened?" She asks, taking her hood off to reveal feline features, orange fur catching the sun.
Peren, a half elf with a viol hanging behind their back, turns to Gifter. "Pickpocket. They took my entire coin pouch."
"Powerful pickpocket." Gifter says, examining the Wall of Stone spell they had been able to cast. "Want me to get it back? Or at leassst ssslow them down for you guysss to catch up?"
"It's not a whole lot of money." Peren says. "It would be appreciated, but we're going to get paid by the mayor anyway that would compensate for what I lost."
Gifter takes out a platinum coin, rolling it across her knuckles before flicking it towards the half elf, who catches it before it hits their face.
"Just do it, Gifter." Saryn, their final party member, says. "I don't like the idea of a spell casting pickpocket running around town."
Gifter nods, unclasping her cloak. Underneath she's wearing simple fitted trousers, daggers strapped to both her thighs, and a linen shirt with holes in the back to expose her shoulder blades. An emerald necklace hangs around her neck, and there's a decorative sash around her waist that has pockets for various items.
She hangs the hood of the cloak on Daughts bald head. The goliath, who had cracked a large section of the wall off with his last swing, stops brutalizing the wall to glance at Gifter, hammer poised to swing again. The cloak barely reaches past his hips.
"Boossst me?" Gifter asks, taking a few steps back and pointing up.
Daught looks back at the wall, his body tense as he contemplates taking one more swing, but relents and puts the hammer down with a heavy thump. He bends down, lacing his large fingers together.
Gifter sprints forward, putting a paw in Daughts hands and jumping. At the same time, the goliath throws the tabaxi upwards, launching Gifter high above the wall and clearing the roofs of some of the nearby houses. The second Gifter is airborne, large leathery dragon wings sprout out of her back. She gives them several hard flaps, using Daughts throw to reach several dozen feet of air in seconds.
She slows to a hover, flapping her wings to stay in the air as she scans the ground below her. From her lofty vantage point, Gifter spots a figure running down the street, pushing past people as they do so.
Folding her wings in, Gifter drops into a dive, unfurling her wings again to pull into a glide a few feet above the street. Her wings fade away back into her shoulder blades, and she drops to the road in a sprint.
Her claws clack against the cobblestone as they dig into the ground for extra grip. The pickpocket hears the clacking behind him and spares a glance. Upon seeing a determined tabaxi chasing after them, they redouble their efforts to escape.
But when it comes to a tabaxi's agility and tenacity, there are few rivals. With a quick burst of speed, Gifter gets close enough to grab the pickpocket's shirt and pull, causing the pickpocket to trip and tumble to the ground.
Breathing heavily, Gifter slows to a stop, turning to pin the groaning pickpockets hands behind their back.
"I would like my friendsss money back." Gifter says between gasps of breath.
"Get off me," the pickpocket says, voice muffled from being pressed against the ground.
They press their thumbs together, and their hands start to glow as they mutter an incantation. Gifters eyes grow wide, and she jumps back, but not before a plume of fire sprays from the pickpockets fingertips. Gifter is able to dodge the majority of the attack, but her arm and half her face is still bathed in flames. Gifter flinches from the attack, the smell of burned fur filling the air. It stings, but not very much. The golden draconic scales that coat her skin beneath her fur protect her from anything serious.
While Gifter is distracted, the pickpocket tries to make another break for it, but Gifter's emerald necklace glows, and a ring of fire erupts around them, encompassing the two of them in a wall of heat. The pickpocket falls back, crying out at the sudden flames that appeared in his path.
"Are you crazy?!" The pickpocket shouts. "What about the people you could burn on the outside?"
"You can only feel the heat inssside the ring." Gifter replies, orange fur shifting and shimmering in the heat around them. "Besssidesss, my companionsss need to know where we are."
The pickpocket smirks. "If they can get past my wall before your spell ends."
Gifter clasps her hands behind her back, rocking back on her paws. "Do you know only one high level ssspell? You cassst Burning handsss jussst now, a sssimple cantrip."
The pickpocket visibly hesitates.
"It'sss a good ssspell, but I think you forget how Wall of Ssstone worksss." Gifter pulls out a gold coin and flicks it towards the pickpocket, who fumbles with it before it clatters to the ground. He picks it up, a confused look on his face.
"You can't cassst other ssspellsss while you have it active, or it fadesss."
With all the fire swirling around them, it's easy for Gifter to see the color drain from the pickpockets face. She holds out a hand, some of the fur on it and her arm black and curled from the pickpockets attack.
Reluctantly, the pickpocket pulls out Peren's coin pouch and places it in Gifters outstretched hand.
Gifters tail swishes happily as she takes the coin pouch back. "Thank you, my friend will appreccciate thisss."
She glances around at the flames around them, watching them flow ferociously, fueled by nothing but pure magic. "I think it'sss been long enough."
She releases her hold on the spell, and the flames fade away into the air. Concerned bystanders stare at the two of them, having backed away from the fire. A few guards are mixed in, keeping their distance, but after seeing the wall of fire disappear, they begin to warily come forward.
Up the road, Gifter sees her companions hurrying towards them. Daught, still wearing Gifters cloak on his head, is hefting his hammer triumphantly.
Saryn comes up besides Gifter. "He thinks he destroyed the wall with his hammer, because he struck it and it suddenly disappeared," the fighter whispers to her.
The pickpocket is sitting on the ground, making no move to escape, rubbing the coin Gifter had given him between his fingers.
Gifter hands the coin pouch back to Peren, who accepts it graciously. The half elf then begins to speak with the guards about what had transpired, motioning towards the pickpocket.
Gifter carefully pads up to the thief, crouching down to his level.
He has a defeated look in his eye, and after seeing it, the tabaxi feels the itch come in the back of her mind again. She pulls out a platinum coin, but instead of throwing it at the pickpocket, she gently takes his hand and places it in his palm, closing his fingers around it.
He looks up at her. "Why?"
"It'sss a forccce of habit." She answers. "But I think you could ssstill ussse it. I'm cccertain there are many ssspellcassstersss that would accccept sssomeone with an aptitude for magic like yourssself. Show them your Wall of Ssstone ssspell, it'sss not one jussst anyone can cassst."
The pickpocket gives Gifter a strange look, but she just smiles and stands up straight, the guards coming over to arrest him.
"No fight?" Daught asks simply, hammer lowering.
Peren shakes their head. "No fight."
Daught lets out a disappointed grunt, taking off Gifters cloak and sheathing his hammer in a holster on his back.
Gifter takes the cloak, clasping it around her neck again.
"You know," Saryn says, watching the pickpocket get taken away. "They may never change. Once they get out, they'll probably go right back to stealing again."
Gifter shrugs. "Perhapsss, but I sssee no point in not trying."
Thanks for reading! May your inner fire burn strong!