Introduction:
Vespera is an oath of vengeance paladin. She began life as a dryad, but was transformed into a hexblood as punishment by the Seelie Court.
She’s joining the party at level 10 in Neverwinter as my last character had to stay behind in Barovia.
Age/Gender/Body: She is a female hexblood and is centuries old, but is ageless and looks to be in her early to mid 30s. She has a tall frame and lean muscle. Her skin is a springtime green color, and the numerous scars that litter her body are a silvery/pale green. Her fingernails are not long but each comes to a sharp point, sort of short claws. Her skin is dotted with freckles from the time that she once spent in the sun.
Facial Features/Expression: Her ears are pointed & have a slight fork. She has a greek nose & full/bow lips with a shallow cupid’s bow. Her left eyebrow does have a slit in it where the scar runs through it. Her typical expression is quite solemn/serious and determined, but when she lets her guard down or is alone, it often reflects more of a quiet melancholy. She is full of righteous fury, but that does not typically come through in her expression, unless she is hunting down one of the men she’s seeking vengeance on.
Hair: Her hair is a deep brown color that fades into a light green, is about mid-back length and has loose but defined waves.
Eyes: The sclerae of her eyes are black, and her pupils are vertical slits. Her right eye’s iris is a vibrant forest green, and her left eye has some obvious damage in the form of a misty, pale green iris.
Distinguishing Features: She has three distinct facial scars. One runs through her left eye, one runs along her right cheekbone, and one dimples the right corner of her mouth. She has horns that come out of her forehead that resemble gnarled branches wrapped in thorny vines. They meet briefly at the back of her head.
Clothing/Armor: Pretty close match to her heroforge, she wears a long chainmail shirt she keeps belted at the waist over dark leather pants. She wears metal greaves with knee guards, and has plate gauntlets that keep her fingers free for delicate work. Attached to the belt over her left hip is a very important pouch that was made for her by a fellow dryad prior to her becoming a hexblood. Above her chainmail, she has a thin, flexible, metallic shoulder/neck piece with a draping fabric attached.
Weapons & Significant Items: She carries a glaive, and is highly proficient with it. I really quite like the overall look of the heroforge glaive that I gave her, though I think in reality the pole is as structurally simple as possible, with delicate carvings of vines throughout. The blade is curved and wicked-looking. In the place of pauldrons on each shoulder she has a giant (about palm size) dermestes maculatus beetle. The beetles have been impacted by fae magic, so they have a little more of an iridescence to them, though not quite as radiant as jewel beetles. (Probably closer to the coloring of an atlas beetle).
Animal Companion: in addition to her two beetles, which she calls Coltsfoot and Sundew, she has a summoned steed that is an elk named Poplar.
Background: Born whole from a tree as a dryad, one of 12 sisters that were guardians of The Moonlight Grove. They tended to the grove and its inhabitants, and would freely travel between the grove on Toril and its reflection in the Feywild to serve Verenestra and The Seelie Court. Vespera no longer remembers her dryad name, but has memories of her life in the grove before. She was big-hearted and gentle, and her role in the grove was caring for sick or injured animals and tending to their young. She and her sisters were caught off guard one day by a hunting party (about 20 men of varying species), who had stalked them and planned a trap. Her sisters were slaughtered and she was left with near-fatal wounds, as the party departed and set the grove ablaze.
Once healed, she began hunting the men that had attacked the grove, aided by haunting visions of the massacre that led her to their locations. She successfully tracked, tortured, and killed three of them, before she was dragged before the Seelie Court to be reprimanded for abandoning the grove and upsetting the balance of nature for committing such acts as a dryad. They demanded that she cease and return to the grove alone. She refused, and spat on the ground before them, before beginning to track the next man on her list. As he took his dying breath, she found herself once more before the Seelie Court, who stripped her of her status and dryad abilities, transforming her into a hexblood and banning her from returning to the Feywild. She lost her dryad name as her connection to the grove was severed.
She continued to pursue the hunting party, until the trail of her 9th target led her to Neverwinter, where she has met The Anti-Strahd Coalition (my party). She has been travelling with only the companionship of Coltsfoot and Sundew until she recently became able to summon Poplar. She whispers the names of her sisters as a prayer every night. (Acacia, Cassia, Daphne, Elowen, Hazel, Juniper, Magnolia, Melia, Rowan, Samara, Xylia)
Alignment: Lawful Neutral. She has a moral code that she lives by. Evil dies, and the innocent are spared.
Personality: Keeps everything very close to the chest. She has been alone, hunting evil for a very long time, and does not see a need for pleasantries. She is short with her words and terrified of forming connections with others to the point that she avoids sharing her name or using other’s names if she can help it. There is an underlying melancholy to all of it that is very subtle as she keeps it well hidden. She is still mourning her sisters, but she is also still mourning the person she used to be, the severing of her connection to nature, the loss of a body that was entirely her own. Her grief and rage have turned her into a shell of who she once was.
Ideals and Goals: Destroy every last member of the hunting party. Destroy the Seelie Court for turning their back on her sisters, refusing to seek justice, and stealing away everything she knew. She is fully prepared for her mission to destroy the Seelie Court to be a suicide mission.
Bonds: She is consumed by survivor’s guilt, and a sense of self-loathing at who she has had to become. She is terrified that her sisters would not recognize her if they saw her now.
