NPC: Lady Robin of High Hermitage (tbf)
“Leave the ruins where they fall.
And let the wild take over.”
Name: Robin Bredbeddle, Lady of the High Hermitage, Knight of the Holly, Mistress of Revels
Age: It is not honorable to ask a lady her age.
Species & Class: Faerie Mage-Knight
Occupation: Knight of Queen Tatiana, Royal Master of Ceremonies, Emissary to the Courts of the Realms, Judgement of Heroes
Guild: Officially serves a Moonstone-aligned court, but in her capacity as the keeper of High Hermitage and a judge of would-be heroes, she prides herself in showing no guild-based favoritism or offering any extra boons or challenges based only on one’s allegiance.
As a fae of the courts, Lady Robin possesses powerful illusion and charm magics and is inherently capable of flight via a pair of delicate-looking insect wings (dragonfly wings, to be specific). Her personal preference in magic leans heavily towards illusion, and she’ll often project the images of objects, structures, beasts, traps, other NPCs, or even duplicates of herself during a fight. These illusions are a bit unusual in that they *can*, in fact, deal damage to PCs until the PC being attacked or damage declares that the illusion is not real. Robin also has a special affinity for plants and, once an individual or party has broken through her illusions and misdirections, often controls the vines and briars of the forest to hinder and ensnare her opponents. She’s been seen to whisper to tree boughs and clusters of flowers and creeping vines, asking them to “keep watch” for her. Whether this has any direct mechanical effect or not has not yet been confirmed.
Outside of her magical abilities, Robin is a highly competent swordswoman and fighter. While unusually low in strength for a fighter, she’s extremely agile and skilled with a blade. She’s hard to hit, and she has the endurance score to keep her dancing around for long periods of time without tiring or providing players with easy shots at her. This is likely as not meant to discourage players from fighting her more than necessary.
Robin’s wings are only slightly less fragile than they look. While her wings heal and even regenerate fairly quickly (a non-standard trait for fae, though also not a trait exclusive to her), it’s quite effective to deal a good amount of damage to her by knocking her out of the sky. It also seriously impedes her mobility for the next few rounds of combat. As a very plant-aligned fae, Robin is also vulnerable to fire, and her illusions flicker slightly whenever an open flame comes within a few feet of them. Though going right up to every single obstacle and monster in the High Hermitage with a torch isn’t exactly a great idea, either, considering that not *all* of them are illusions.
Another of Robin’s greatest weaknesses (depending on who you ask…) is her inability to lie. While she is by no means required to tell the whole truth of anything or to answer every question she is asked, she must either speak truthfully or not speak at all. This is very much at odds with her illusion powers and not a standard trait shared by all fae, so there’s some speculation that it’s the result of some as-yet-undiscovered element of her backstory.
Appearance: Lady Robin first appears to players entering the High Hermitage as a beautiful red-haired woman with delicate, almost doll-like features and a distant, serene expression. She has no wings. Her gown is green with silver and red embroidery and a lighter green sash, with a single cluster of holly pinned neatly to the sash’s knot. She first issues her challenge to players in this form, and if they do not accept, they are physically unable to enter the level.
Once players enter into the level and deal their three promised strikes to the Lady of High Hermitage, though, this illusion of Robin disintegrates into the ground. The true Robin then steps out from behind a half-collapsed stone arch in the form she’ll take for the rest of the level. In this form, Robin has jewel green dragonfly wings that stretch out from the back of one of the most ornate sets of armor in the game. Her hair is tied back with a length of dark green ribbon and topped with a circlet of vines. Her cluster of holly berries now appears on her scabbard. In this second form, she also has a noted tendency for highly expressive glaring and amused smirking, and screenshots and gifs of both are common reaction images in the online GQ community.
Places Most Likely to be Found In-Game: For most of the year, Lady Robin is found mainly in the High Hermitage and in a brief cameo appearance in the court of Queen Tatiana in the following level. There have also been a handful of sightings of Robin in level-appropriate attire in the courts of Prince Finvarra, Princess Aliane, and other rulers throughout Gem Quest, suggesting that she may serve as a regular emissary of Queen Tatiana to other kingdoms. Around the winter holidays, Robin also hosts a grand winter festival that manifests across several levels, with her pet event being a large tournament of various martial and magical disciplines held within a portion of the High Hermitage that is inaccessible for the rest of the year and is (for the duration of the festival) open to all players that have cleared at least Level 10 to fast travel to. While she serves as the Master of Ceremonies for the tournament there, she also appears more frequently in other court levels during this time and at most of the major holiday events throughout the game.
Strongest Character Traits: Playful, steadfast, in fact prefers to be a mentor but is also more than capable of being a fearsome judge
Stats: (Lady Robin is, in terms of basic stats and of encounter difficulty level, one of Gem Quest’s most powerful humanoid foes that players are required to face in single combat no matter what choices they make. This is offset by the fact that they don’t actually have to definitively vanquish her. They just have to work through her tests, which only entails having to stand a few rounds of combat with her while doing some amount of damage. The only stat in which she’s significantly below average is Cautiousness, and often a moment of reckless flourish or a spur-of-the-moment little trick on her part opens up a good chance for players to strike meaningful blows against her.)
* STRENGTH: 5
* DEFENCE: 6
* CHARISMA: 6
* PSYCHE: 8
* WILLPOWER: 8
* CAUTIOUSNESS: 2
* AGILITY: 10
* ENDURANCE: 9
* INTELLIGENCE: 7
* LUCK: 5
