A write-up of Garleth, an apprentic herbalist and native of the planet Galentor, from Tyranny of the Daleks. This is using the second edition rules from the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7.
GARLETH, APPRENTICE HERBALIST
Concept: Human herbalist
Focus: Herbalism
Homeworld: Galentor
Tech level: 1
Short-term goal: To help his tribe to survive
Long-term goal: To be a shaman of the Pham
Awareness 2, Coordination 3 (1),
Ingenuity 3, Presence 2 (0),
Resolve 1(0), Strength 2 (0)
Skills: Athletics 3 (Running), Conflict 1, Convince 0, Craft 2, Intuition 0, Knowledge 3 (Pham’s Herbal Lore), Medicine 1, Science 0, Subterfuge 0, Survival 0, Technology 0, Transport 0
Condition: Due to the injuries suffered in a Mugati attack, shown with the lower attributes in brackets, Garleth is unconscious when discovered by the time travellers.
Story Points: 0
The Doctor finds Garleth, who is seriously injured after a Mugati attack |
Character notes
Garleth is the twin brother of Thregar, and they are both respected members of the Pham for their lore. Garleth is especially known for his knowledge of the tribe’s herbal lore, and spends much of his time foraging for Lumtarg, the large fungi that are ubiquitous in Galentor’s forests.
Garleth wants to learn as much as he can about the lore of his Pham on herbs, and plants of all descriptions, which ultimately derives from the original settlers’ scientific knowledge, but has become ritualised over time since the Dalek invasion into folklore and superstition.
Before the start of the adventure he has been attacked by two Mugati, and is now on the point of death. The figures in brackets are his condition after the attack.
Once as a young man searching for Lumtarg in a dark wood, he realised he had stayed out later than planned, and only the light of Tarack, the Moon, illuminated his way. Suddenly, a pulsing blue light appeared in the distance, rising up to about twice the height of a man. Putting his superstitious fear and awe to one side, Garleth was drawn toward it, reminded as he was by tales, told by Thural and the other elders round the tribe’s fireplace, of forest spirits that guard the woods.
Following the light, shining brightly in the dark of the forest at night, he soon found himself a short distance from it, in a clearing amongst the tall trees. Suddenly, the light stopped, hovering in place. At this, Garleth dropped to his knees, a sense of dread creeping up his soul, and he prayed fearfully to Lentargi for protection.
Before he could finish his supplication though, the forest shook, and a grey hand clawed its way from under the ground below the light, tearing at the night air. Standing, Garleth could only look on, frozen with fright, as a Robo-Man pulled itself out of the ground, its eyes pulsing with the same cyan light as that which he took to be a forest spirit.
Stumbling back in revulsion, Garleth gasped at the horrific sight of the half-decayed flesh of the Robo-Man’s face, seemingly having been buried in the soil for many years before the forest spirit, or light, revived it, unable to comprehend the full power of Dalek technology involved.
Terrified, Garleth threw his walking stick at the rotting Robo-Man, which bounced uselessly against his target’s helmet. The dead former tribesman staggered forward towards the living one, and in his haste, Garleth tripped over a protruding root of a tree. Turning back, he gazed bewildered as the Robo-Man stumbled closer, his arms outstretched to grapple Garleth, when, without warning, a snarling Mugati leapt up out of the foliage, swiping the Robo-Man to the side in its charge.
Not wasting a moment, Garleth turned and fled as fast as he could, back through the woods to the relative safety of his tribal homelands, convinced he had witnessed a supernatural battle between the living dead and ancient spirits of the forest.
Another incident from Garleth’s past is as follows. Once, around a year ago, in his foraging for Lumtarg, Garleth explored far beyond the Pham’s normal tribal homelands, and came across the Targmaw Gorge, a deep chasm carved by millenia of rushing water, since dried out. As he stopped and looked, he noted a slender bridge arcing from his side of the gorge. Thinking of crossing, as he grew closer, he saw that it was in many places broken and fallen in, and whilst it still spanned from one side to the other, at a number of points it was so decayed that nobody could cross it in safety. Indeed, the far side of the bridge had largely collapsed into the swirling mists below.
Also, he could see glowing fungi growing on the sides of the gorge and on the remaining parts of the bridge, casting a dim light in the forest’s darkness. Whilst taking all this in, distant howls echoed between the trees. Realising Mugati beasts must have picked up his trail, Garleth grasped his walking staff tightly, noting fearfully that they were behind him, but that there was no way forward to escape.
But before the Mugati could emerge from the twisting vines and trunks of the forest, a soft voice called out to him, “Human! Hold fast!” Turning, he saw a Thal warrior he knew to be named Loran, her golden hair shining brightly as it caught the sun’s rays, falling between a gap in the forest’s canopy.. With commanding, confident movement, she ran to him from nearer the precarious outcrop of rock from which the bridge spanned out across the open gorge below.
His mind reeling as he heard the Mugati approaching from the rear, Garleth assumed the Thal planned to somehow cross the broken bridge. “We’ll never make it across!”, he implored, panicking.
Reaching into a sack tied to her belt, Loran produced a coil of sturdy, vine-like rope. “We don’t need to”, she answered calmly, “we’ll climb”. Loran anchored one end of the rope to a protruding piece of the broken bridge and looped it around herself and Garleth tightly. At her command, Garleth held on to her closely, as Loran began to lower them both down the side of the gorge, using her enhanced strength, honed by years of the struggle for survival and intense training.
Just as they slipped below the edge of the bridge, the Mugati leapt forward, snarling as they prowled the open ground left where the forest terminated at the gorge. There was no way they could follow though, given the sheerness of the drop and their unwillingness to climb down using the rope. The sides of the gorge were slick and dotted with glowing fungi emitting a faint, soothing light.
Halfway down, the rope gave slightly. Garleth gasped in fright and Loran steadied him, saying, “Trust the strength of the rope”. After a tense further descent, they lowered themselves onto a narrow ledge in the face of the gorge, and from here Loran led Garleth into a hidden network of natural tunnels the Thals had surveyed some years before, which ultimately led back to safety.