Description: An attractive elf standing at 5'10" tall, Syndlara has the athletic build of a runner or dancer. She has blue eyes the color of the ocean depths, and wears her blond hair down to her shoulders. She is commonly attired in a red and black frilled shirt with loose sleeves and an open neckline, complemented by a pair of knee-high black leather boots, skin-tight red and black pants that show off her form, and black leather gloves. She cuts a dashing figure, and though she seems a bit like a harmless fop at first glance, there is something about her stance--and the scimitar at her hip--that seems out of place with that assessment.
Portrait:
Syndlara (my art)--I'll get around to a fully colored version eventually, I hope.
Background:
Syndlara was born the daughter of bards in a long line of elven bards in the Fierani Forest of Kyonin. Though born in Kyonin, her parents were prone to wanderlust and thus Syndlara spent very little of her life within the shelter of the elven realm. Instead, she traveled with her parents throughout the Inner Sea region. Fascinated by the people she met and finding that she inherited her parents' talent for song, she fell in love with the open road.
Thus, when her parents announced that they were returning to settle down for a time in Kyonin, Syndlara was aghast. The open road called to her, but she was a dutiful daughter and returned home with her parents. She quickly confirmed her fears, though: audiences weren't as varied in Kyonin, and the monotany wore on the young elven bard. She began sneaking off for longer and longer periods of time, desperate to break the monotany by changing the scenery. It was during one such jaunt that she came across a moonlit clearing. An elven figure danced in the glade, accompanied by the flash of steel. Enthralled by the artistry of it, Syndlara could only watch in silence. When the dance finished, Syndlara was surprised when the figure introduced herself--the bard hadn't realized she had been spotted. The figure introduced herself as Tahlaera Silverbow, a devout Desnan and sword-dancer. Admitting that Syndlara's parents--friends of hers--had knkown of the bard's little expeditions and had sent her, she offered to teach the young elf.
Thus it was that Syndlara began training as a sword-dancer, returning to that glade each night for years to practice and hone her newest love. But even this was not enough, and so when Tahlaera informed Syndlara that she knew all that Tahlaera could teach her, Tahlaera encouraged the young sword-dancer to go out into the world beyond Kyonin again--with her parents' blessing.
Elated, Syndlara set out as soon as she could properly thank her parents and say her farewells. Eager to put her sword-dance to use, and hearing of the troubles in the Tanglebriar, she spent some time in that blasted land fighting Treerazer's demonic minions. But before long, she found wanderlust calling to her again, and she moved on, arriving at a Desnan conservatory in Korvosa that Tahlaera had informed her of, and it was there that she heard about something truly exotic. A ship was looking for passengers and crew for a voyage to Sargava. Jumping at the opportunity, she found the first stage of the voyage uneventful enough. But a sudden storm developed, and near an island marked on few maps called Smugglers' Shiv, the ship was sunk. Somehow, Syndlara survived being thrown into the open sea as the ship was dashed against the rocks, and when she came to, she was lying on a sandy beach.
Languages: Common (Taldane), Elvish, Sylvan, Polyglot
HP 37
AC 20 Touch 14 Flat-footed 16
BAB +4 CMB +5 CMD 20
Initiative +6 Concentration +6 Movement 30 ft. (40 ft. when in battle dance)
Traits:
Warrior of old: Syndlara's period of training under the elven warrior Tahlaera Silverbow reflects itself in several ways, not the least of which is the +2 trait bonus to initiative rolls the bard receives.
Boarded in Varisia: Traveling from Kyonin to Varisia, Syndlara has little experience with the jungle, its denizens, or its strange forces. Just as the lands of Garund are wild and exotic to her, so she is to them. This unusualness manifests as a +2 trait bonus on all Bluff checks made against inhabitants of the jungle, and mind-affecting spells cast against creatures native to the jungle are treated as being cast at one level higher.
