Terry Pynn

Terry Pynn

Terry the Tortle · Bart (player slip s8) · Terry Bladesinger

Character

Status Alive First seen s4 Last seen s17 Player Chris Faction Sevryn's recruits

Terry Pynn (a play on terrapin, in keeping with the species joke) is a tortle wizard, currently a Fighter 1 / Bladesinger Wizard 3 at character level 4, played by Chris from session 4 to the present. He joined the party in Mirestrand (s4) as the replacement for the briefly-played Earthwing the Owlin, who in turn replaced the deceased Cholmondeley. Originally built as a College of Glamour bard with intent to multiclass into paladin, Terry was respec’d between sessions 5 and 6 into a Fighter / Wizard build aimed at the Bladesinger subclass, which he selected on hitting level 4 at the end of session 14 and first deployed in combat in session 15. He carries permanent in-fiction stat damage from a failed Performance check at Harvo’s funeral in session 9 (-1 Charisma), and his familiar — an owl named Earthwing, in homage to his abortive predecessor — is summoned via Find Familiar using a bagpipe-Macarena ritual.

Appearance and personality

Terry is a tortle, identified at his s4 introduction as having travelled forty-seven years for fresh water ^[14]. He carries a set of bagpipes as his enduring instrument — a holdover from his bard origins that survived the wizard respec — and uses them as the somatic prop for the Find Familiar ritual, which he refers to at the table as the “bagpipe-Macarena” ^[15]. His scimitar and short sword (the latter silvered) are his close-range armament; his spellbook is the Bladesinger’s tutelar focus.

Terry’s voice across the campaign tracks his class transitions in three discernible registers. As a bard (s4-s5) he speaks slowly and ramblesomely, drops Lord-of-the-Rings references — “I am no man. Sir. I am a woman. A woman.” ^[16] — and refers to his fellow adventurers as “lads”. The recurring jab “I’m a turtle. I always go last” ^[17] bridges the bard era into the wizard one. As a wizard (s6+) he is drier and pithier, given to lines like “I’m a smart wizard, I know not to touch things” ^[18] and the now-famous “I can’t help but notice that two of the people I’m traveling with are corrupted by demons. One’s corrupted by a dragon and one’s corrupted by the void.” ^[19]. As a Bladesinger (s14+) he is briskly confident, casting in motion: “I activate Bladesong” ^[8].

Terry is also the party’s licensed stalling-tactic deliverer, reciting Yakko’s chemistry song ^[20] and the Animaniacs countries song ^[21] in-character when the table’s momentum dips. He is religious-philosophical in flavour, with a “people” who maintain a Rite of Returning that he is not yet musically competent to perform ^[5].

Background

Tortle of unspecified geography. Forty-seven years of travel for fresh water predate his arrival at the Still Current Inn in Mirestrand. Like Earthwing the Owlin and Ruin after him, Terry was directed to the party by Sevryn — the party recognised the pattern by Terry’s third session at the latest. He observed in s4: “Sevryn seems to be pulling people from all around the world” ^[22].

A previous in-fiction sister figure looms over Terry’s character — referenced in Mharos’s succubus vision at the Black Vein Quarry (s9) and again by Terry’s failed Rite of Returning at Harvo’s funeral. The sister’s status (gone? unsung?) is unresolved.

Build history

Terry’s mechanical history is the messiest of any active PC. Chris has provided the canonical sequence:

1. s4-s5: Bard 3. College of Glamour subclass intent (would have unlocked at level 4 with a 1-level paladin dip; the dip was never taken). Carries bagpipes for flavour. The “Bart” mishearing in later sessions stems from the player nickname for the bard build.
2. Off-screen between s5 and s6: respec to Fighter 1 / Wizard 2. The bard 3 build was retired entirely; the planned paladin dip never happened. The same character narratively, with rebuilt mechanical scaffolding. The first in-session evidence is wizard-coded behaviour at ^[23] and L649. The first explicit table acknowledgement is another player asking, “Oh, no, wait, you changed from Bart to Wizard, did you?” ^[3].
3. s11: build path declared. Terry tells the table: “One level of fighter, two levels of wizard. The fighter stuff’s irrelevant until I get Bladesinger” ^[6].
4. s14: level 4 reached, Bladesinger subclass selected. The subclass features were locked behind a long rest at session’s end.
5. s15: Bladesinger first deployed in combat. “I activate Bladesong” ^[8]. Dual-wielding short sword + scimitar; on his first turn under Bladesong he scored a natural-20 scimitar attack and beheaded an Aurelian recruit ^[9].

Current build at the end of session 16: Fighter 1 / Bladesinger Wizard 3 (level 4 total).

Equipment

• Bagpipes — flavour instrument, somatic prop for Find Familiar and other rituals.
• Short sword (silvered) — primary off-hand.
• Scimitar — Bladesinger primary weapon since s14.
• Cloak of Protection — gifted by Sevryn in session 11.
• Spellbook (standard Bladesinger kit, including Shadow Blade cast for the first time in ^[24] and Find Familiar ritualised every session since s8).

Familiar

Terry summoned an owl familiar via Find Familiar in session 8 ^[4], naming it Earthwing after the abortive s3 PC of the same name — a deliberate reuse, treated as the owl-version of the same in-fiction character. The owl was shot down on its first scouting flight at the Black Vein Quarry by an unseen sniper (s8) and has been re-summoned at need; the s16 owl is presumed dead per the recap’s references. Terry’s reaction to the first downing was “There better be something that killed my familiar I’m coming to find you motherfucker” ^[25].

Penalties

• Permanent -1 Charisma for failing the Performance check on the Rite of Returning at Harvo’s funeral ^[5]. Terry was not yet proficient in Performance; the DM imposed the stat penalty as a ritual-significant consequence. The ruling stands.
• “Crybaby points” / negative inspiration: ongoing DM-applied -1d4 penalties accumulated as Terry’s player has griped. Still active or referenced as a running joke as of the latest sessions.

Campaign role

Terry joined the party at the Still Current Inn in Mirestrand in session 4, alongside the Black Mask and the introduction of Hugo’s Project Veilbreak backstory, replacing the briefly-played Earthwing the Owlin cameo of session 3. Through the Warrens arc he was the table’s bard / generalist support; in session 5 he failed a Deception attempt to bluff the Hollow Guardians (“we are servants of the hollow”, ^[26] but the encounter was talked through. By session 6 he had quietly become a wizard. In session 8 he ritualised Find Familiar for the first time and summoned Earthwing the owl. In session 9 he delivered the funeral attempt for Harvo and took his permanent Charisma loss. He has carried on as the party’s wizard, declaring his Bladesinger build path in s11 and locking it in at the end of s14. He debuted Bladesong in s15 to immediate lethal effect — a beheading on a nat-20 scimitar attack — and in session 16 he stood between two pipes during Vasquez’s sewer-water electrification stunt and remained dry while Caelumn took 7 lightning damage from the conducting water ^[27].

He has not died. He has been demoted in social capability and is gathering inspiration deficits, and the DM still uses “crybaby points” as a cudgel.

In session 17, with Vasquez and Althea retconned out (captured by Aurelians at the end of s16 and now departed offscreen - not pending rescue), Terry greeted the two new PCs Mike and Steven with the session’s defining table-meta line — “Welcome, and I warn you, we never make comments about US politics in this group, ever” ^[10] — and warned Mike to hide his spellbook on principle around the Aurelian-patrolled coast. In the s17 Rimeclaw Skulker combat ^[28], Terry passed the initial surprise Dex save on a nat 20 ^[29], Absorbed Elements on the Skulker’s frost-breath line to take 8 instead of 16 cold ^[12], activated Bladesong on his own turn ^[13], missed both scimitar attacks against the Skulker on the same turn (“the most disappointing round I’ve had as a blade singer”, ^[30], and reactively cast Silvery Barbs to reroll a water-wolf nat-20 bite on Mike — the reroll itself came up another nat 20 (the table immediately flagged “1 in 400”, ^[31] and Mike Shield-blocked the second roll for 0 damage ^[32]. Terry’s resource sheet at session-end: Bladesong concentration active, one 1st-level slot spent on Absorb Elements, one 1st-level slot spent on Silvery Barbs.

Status at session 17

Alive. Aboard a small skiff with Hugo, Caelumn, and the two new PCs Mike and Steven, mid-combat against a Rimeclaw Skulker and water-wolf pack in a cold-water frost-zone reef line. Approximately half a day’s sail from the White Lantern Shrine per Hugo’s reading of the map ^[33]. Permanent -1 CHA still in effect. Crybaby points still on the books. Bladesong concentration still ticking down.

Player

Played by Chris from session 4 onward; previously played Cholmondeley (s2-s3) and (briefly) Earthwing the Owlin (s3 cameo). On Speaker-N transcripts, Chris’s track is always the Microphone channel.

Notable quotes

“Sevryn seems to be pulling people from all around the world.” — Terry, ^[22]

“I am no man. Sir. I am a woman. A woman.” — Terry, ^[16]

“I’m a smart wizard, I know not to touch things.” — Terry, ^[18]

“I’m a turtle. I always go last.” — Terry, ^[34] (recurring)

“There better be something that killed my familiar I’m coming to find you motherfucker.” — Terry, ^[25]

“I can’t help but notice that two of the people I’m traveling with are corrupted by demons. One’s corrupted by a dragon and one’s corrupted by the void.” — Terry, ^[19]

“One level of fighter, two levels of wizard. The fighter stuff’s irrelevant until I get Bladesinger.” — Terry, ^[6]

“I activate Bladesong.” — Terry, ^[8]

“I’m gonna scream slightly with my bagpipes like an angry Scotsman.” — Terry, ^[35]

“I’m doing a Van Damme. I’m doing the splits between the trucks.” — Terry, ^[36]

See also

• Cholmondeley — Chris’s previous PC; killed in s3.
• Earthwing the Owlin — Chris’s s3 cameo; never played in combat. The owl familiar reuses the name.
• Earthwing — Terry’s owl familiar.
• Find Familiar
• Cloak of Protection
• Harvo — Terry’s failed funeral performance subject.
• Mharos — succubus vision in s9 invoked Terry’s missing sister.
• Terry’s progression tracker

References

1. ^ Session 4, line 46 — First appearance, joins party (DM asks Terry to introduce his character).
2. ^ Session 6, line 288 — First in-session evidence of wizard build ("do you want to send the wizard in first?").
3. ^ Session 8, line 483 — Table-acknowledged respec ("you changed from Bart to Wizard, did you?").
4. ^ Session 8, line 1589-1619 — Find Familiar ritual succeeds, Earthwing the owl summoned.
5. ^ Session 9, line 1646 — Failed Performance check at Harvo's funeral, permanent -1 Charisma.
6. ^ Session 11, line 1521 — Build path declared: "One level of fighter, two levels of wizard. The fighter stuff's irrelevant until I get Bladesinger.".
7. ^ Session 14, line 1556 — Hits level 4, picks Bladesinger subclass.
8. ^ Session 15, line 156 — First Bladesong activation in combat.
9. ^ Session 15, line 196-199 — Natural-20 scimitar attack, beheads Aurelian recruit under Bladesong.
10. ^ Session 17, line 29 — "Welcome, and I warn you, we never make comments about US politics in this group, ever." — greets new players Mike and Steven.
11. ^ Session 17, line 1786, 1810-1815 — Silvery Barbs reroll on the water-wolf nat-20 bite on Mike; the reroll itself comes up nat 20 (1-in-400 interaction) and Mike Shield-blocks for 0.
12. ^ Session 17, line 1645 — Absorb Elements on Round-1 frost-breath line (takes 8 cold instead of 16).
13. ^ Session 17, line 1763 — Bladesong active for the s17 Rimeclaw Skulker combat.
14. ^ Session 4, line 1048 — Inline citation.
15. ^ Session 8, line 1619 — Inline citation.
16. ^ Session 5, line 1280 — Inline citation.
17. ^ Session 6, line 1583 — Inline citation.
18. ^ Session 6, line 343 — Inline citation.
19. ^ Session 10, line 1088 — Inline citation.
20. ^ Session 11, line 880-884 — Inline citation.
21. ^ Session 11, line 1584 — Inline citation.
22. ^ Session 4, line 849 — Inline citation.
23. ^ Session 6, line 539 — Inline citation.
24. ^ Session 15, line 1141 — Inline citation.
25. ^ Session 9, line 278 — Inline citation.
26. ^ Session 5, line 908 — Inline citation.
27. ^ Session 15, line 1163-1175 — Inline citation.
28. ^ Session 17, line 1568-1987 — Inline citation.
29. ^ Session 17, line 1583-1587 — Inline citation.
30. ^ Session 17, line 1779 — Inline citation.
31. ^ Session 17, line 1810 — Inline citation.
32. ^ Session 17, line 1815 — Inline citation.
33. ^ Session 17, line 1544 — Inline citation.
34. ^ Session 6, line 3129 — Inline citation.
35. ^ Session 15, line 187 — Inline citation.
36. ^ Session 15, line 1147 — Inline citation.