S&S: The Baltic Maidens

[APlaying]

Snow took a deep breath to steady herself, letting Svetlana’s cheerful energy dissipate some of her anxiety.

“Okay... one step at a time. I can do this,” Snow said, a faint, relieved smile appearing on her lips. She looked away from the confusing grids filled with numbers and focused on Svetlana’s question about her character’s past. This backstory felt much more comfortable to her than the mathematical calculations. “Well...” The actress rested the eraser end of her pencil against her chin and met Svetlana’s gaze. In that moment, she recalled one of her best roles: Shanoan, in the film *Timing Hunters*.

“Well, she used to move from place to place, and not exactly by choice. She probably didn’t have a big, welcoming family, so she had to learn to blend into the shadows of busy city streets just to survive. She’s quick, observant, and, without a doubt, knows how to keep a secret—after all, secrets were what kept her alive.” She tapped her finger on the character sheet, right next to the word rogue. “I suppose that’s why she’s a rogue. She’s the type of person who notices a hidden pocket or a guard looking the other way. But, even though she’s tough, she isn’t cruel. She simply... does what she has to do.” Snow looked up at Svetlana; her enthusiasm was finally beginning to take hold, overcoming her confusion. “So, if she’s that stealthy and quick... which of these level 1 numbers show just how good she is at those things?”

[Highfly]

Svetlana nodded. "Okay this is great!" Svetlana said. "Combat you use smaller melee weapons and can be suited to some ranged combat as well with small crossbows." Svetlana said.

"So skills over here are kind of what you sre good-natured away from a fight. Rogues get a lot of skill points the hard part is deciding where they go." She said. "Maybe someone who can sneak, observe, disguise herself and that type of thing works better than pick pocketing and the like." Svetlana said.

"Right now we get to roll your stats." She said getting dice ready. "Roll four of these, ignore the lowest roll then add the rest. We get 6 numbers then you assign them where you like."

[APlaying]

Snow understood only a few words, which at least gave her a rough idea of ​​what was happening. In a way, she felt creatively constrained, something that often happened when film directors assigned her roles. Even so, she took the dice and shook them, a strange sensation washing over her as she felt their edges. "I just have to roll them, right?" After doing so, Snow wasn't quite sure what to do next; in any case, Svetlana would know how to interpret the results. "By the way, aren't you going to play too, with a character of your own?" she asked, curious.

[Highfly]

Svetlana nodded. "Yes, roll away and write down the results, if you roll really bad we can start over too." Svetlana said as the gears turned in her own mind with her thinking of who or what would fot well with the final result of Snows character creation.

"I am. I wanted to see what you would make first before I created someone." Svetlana said as she continued to think.

Svetlana was watching Snow and very curious how stat assignment was going to go...

[APlaying]

Snow let the dice roll across the table and watched as they came to a stop, revealing their numbers; her face reflected a mix of curiosity and anticipation.

Snow's raw dice rolls and final calculated stats are:

• First Roll: 6, 5, 3, 1 — Drops the 1 — Total: 14
• Second Roll: 6, 6, 3, 2 — Drops the 2 — Total: 15
• Third Roll: 5, 4, 2, 2 — Drops a 2 — Total: 11
• Fourth Roll: 6, 6, 3, 2 — Drops the 2 — Total: 15
• Fifth Roll: 3, 2, 2, 1 — Drops the 1 — Total: 7
• Sixth Roll: 5, 4, 3, 2 — Drops the 2 — Total: 12

As Svetlana began to note down the results, Snow leaned back; she was deeply intrigued by the fact that Svetlana was going to create a companion character. The feeling of being creatively constrained began to dissipate, giving way to the narrative possibilities that emerged as she imagined how the two characters might interact.

"Do you usually design someone who compensates for my character's weaknesses, or do you prefer someone who shares the same essence?" asked Snow, whose filmmaker’s mind immediately sought out the narrative dynamic between the two. "I mean... if I’m moving stealthily through the shadows, would you be the one to cause a noisy distraction, or would you be my accomplice?" She said this with a knowing smile, giving her friend a playful tap on the shoulder.

[Highfly]

Svetlana watched as Snow rolled. "Oh... you may want to re-roll. 10-11 is average anything less has penalties to some rolls while higher stats give bonuses to some rolls." Svetlana said.

Svetlana shrugged and answered the question about her own character. "I am not sure. If we are too similar we may struggle in a bad situation and get caught wrong-footed easily." She said. "I have a few ideas in mind don't you worry."

"Hopefully you roll better this time." Svetlana added. "Some people just have bad luck with rolls and it happens."

[APlaying]

Snow let out a boisterous laugh—a cheerful sound that shattered the tension created by the low number staring back at them from the table. She picked up the dice again, rattling them in the palm of her hand, but didn’t roll them right away. "Speaking of bad luck with dice, do you remember when I told Tina about that time Garlim ended up in a bar fight against a dozen guys?" Snow grinned mischievously. "See, that was back when we were training together for the first time—just a couple of days after we’d met. We started with a simple endurance test: we had to run a long stretch across a wasteland." Snow shook the dice and tossed them again.

• First roll: 6, 6, 5, 2 — Discard the 2 — Total: 17
• Second roll: 6, 5, 4, 1 — Discard the 1 — Total: 15
• Third roll: 5, 4, 3, 2 — Discard the 2 — Total: 12
• Fourth roll: 6, 5, 3, 1 — Discard the 1 — Total: 14
• Fifth roll: 4, 4, 3, 2 — Discard the 2 — Total: 11
• Sixth roll: 6, 4, 2, 1 — Discard the 1 — Total: 12

"I ended up completely exhausted that day. We ran for... maybe an hour and a half? We started at 6:00 PM, right after she closed the gym, and finished around eight, just as we were heading to the nearest bar. Actually, that was my idea—I just wanted some beer to cool off," she said, laughing with a hint of guilt. "Anyway, we went in, I ordered a medium-sized beer, and we started talking about why on earth I’d ​​seen that blonde MMA goddess getting absolutely thrashed the other day—by a girl half her size, no less—on her own home turf. And just as Garlim got halfway through her story, a redhead sitting a few paces away caught our attention. She recognized Garlim, and—would you believe it?" Snow paused before continuing her tale.

"Turns out she was a fighter too—and not just any fighter, but one from the underground scene—who challenged Garlim to a scrap outside the bar. Naturally, Garlim would have accepted, but there was the small issue that we’d just come from training, and we had no idea what this girl’s true intentions were. Garlim declined, which clearly didn’t sit well with the other girl; things escalated, and we had to leave right away. But that only seemed to provoke her—she shoved Garlim hard, sending her crashing into the back of a big guy who was busy rolling dice with a group of men who looked like they’d walked straight out of a thugs’ club."

[Highfly]

"You never mentioned that one before." Svetlana said as she nodded and looked at a much more usable set of rolls for stats. "I just wonder why, when you need hydration you went to a bar for alcohol which dehydrates you? Thst choice is simply unwise." Svetlana added.

"Garlim in a fight does not surprise me in the least though. It seems like she draws that type of attention frequently but right now you need to assign those stats to strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom and charisma." Svetlana said. "You can read up on those nbit as a rogue you want dexterity for sure. Now... can you elaborate on the rest of that story?"

[APlaying]

Snow tapped her chin with the rubber end of her pencil and narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the numbers on her character sheet. "By the way, I found out about the beer the next morning; I woke up with a terrible hangover and a scorching thirst... not to mention a desperate need to use the bathroom," Snow admitted with a somewhat embarrassed smile. "My brain was complete mush from all that running around in the heat; at the time, a nice cold beer seemed like a much better option than lukewarm water. Well... I guess my real-life Wisdom score isn't exactly anything to write home about."

She picked up her pencil and began scribbling in the boxes on her sheet, muttering to herself as she did so: "Let's see, I definitely want that 17 in Dexterity. But if I’m understanding all this correctly... Let’s put 15 in Charisma—because, obviously, I’m charming—and 14 in Intelligence, so my character might actually think a bit before walking into a tavern... That leaves a 12 in Constitution, a 12 in Wisdom, and... an 11 in Strength..." Snow was starting to feel quite strange; honestly, a beer right about now would really help her keep track of everything. She pulled a can of beer from one of the bags she’d brought along and cracked it open to take a sip.

"You’re right about that; Garlim is like one of those action-movie protagonists who ends up in a fight wherever they go. But you need to understand the full context. Garlim and I had only known each other for a couple of days, and we were already in a major bind. Just a couple of days! When we first met, Garlim was tied to the cage fencing of an octagon—her body covered in bruises and scratches, one eye blackened, and surrounded by blood and even more bruises. And all of this was caused by a girl half her size. Would you ever guess that this girl is a world-champion MMA fighter?" Snow paused briefly, spreading her arms out to her sides.

"Just imagine: the day we were training, her bruises had barely turned that deep purple color, and we’d spent over an hour and a half running. She was in absolutely no shape to be getting into a mess like that." She gathered her thoughts before continuing. "I mean, it’s one thing to watch a bar fight or a brawl in some enclosed space on TV or in a movie—but actually living through it? That’s a completely different story! I was genuinely terrified that, at any second, someone might come up and stab me in the back! And the guy Garlim landed on—I swear, he actually had to duck a little just to keep from hitting his head on the ceiling." Snow made a dramatic gesture with her hands, illustrating the giant’s massive frame.

"So, I thought fast and slid my hand toward my back pocket—right behind my backside—to reach my phone and pull up the speed dial, ready to call the police at a moment’s notice." Snow set her beer down on the corner of the table. "At one point, the argument escalated to such a degree that the red-headed girl didn't even let us get another word in; she just said to Garlim, 'You aren't leaving here without getting a beating first.' That was when I pressed the quick-location-tagging button and dashed toward the walls, seeing the girl coming our way to strike us."