O L A A L - F A R E S
Every being yearns for a path to tread and a bard to sing of it.
NAME
Ola Al-Fares
AGE
35
RACE
Human
CLASS
Bard
OCCUPATION
Wayfinder
ORIGINATES FROM
Locally: Swaotan - The Whispering Sands
Commonly: Western Wastes
IF OUTSIDE TORVELT
Far to the West of Torvelt lies a region known as the Western Wastes. To the people who call it home is known as Swoatan, or "Whispering Sands". Deep within it, protected by the immensity feared by others, is a people who had mastered the art of conserving and channeling the winters short rainfall; cultivating a series of lush green valleys amid tall stone outcroppings carved into palaces and homes.
The people here are of an olive skin colour and exclusively human. Other races can of course be found in the streets but breeding between races is considered taboo and punishable by death.P H Y S I C A L A T T R I B U T E S
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONOla is an average sized human female, athletically built with olive skin, green eyes and beautiful features that hint at a possible non-human ancestry. She carries herself with a sense of quiet confidence and mystery that is found only in the very best of Wayfinders. She moves with a liquidity and grace rarely associated with humans. A single small scar bridges her nose, while a another half dozen are hidden by her travel clothes, each of them pure white and in sharp contrast to her native skin colour. The colouration could best be described as, unusual.
STRENGTHS- Jack of all trades;
- Stealth;
- Survival Skills;
- Navigation (Way Finding);
- Weaving Tales / Songs; and
- Unarmed combat.
- Hyperthymesia
WEAKNESSES- Ranged weapons (Minus hand crossbows);
- Heavy armour / shields;
- Two handed melee weapons; and
- Complicated spells.
PERSONALITYConfident - Cunning - Hardworking - Stealthy - Accepting - Enthusiastic - Intelligent - Charismatic - Stubborn
SEXUALITYBicurious
FEARS- Snakes;
- Not being worthy; and
- Losing her independence.
GOALS- To unravel new mysteries; and
- To become the bard of whom other bards sing.
A listing of skills, such as horseback riding, and natural abilities such as night vision - this also includes any racial edges.
DUELLING (College of Swords)
Bards of the College of Swords are called blades, and they entertain through daring feats of weapon prowess. Blades perform stunts such as sword swallowing, knife throwing and juggling, and mock combats. Though they use their weapons to entertain, they are also highly trained and skilled warriors in their own right.
REVITALIZING INSPIRATION (College of Lords)
Ola can inspire her allies fight until their last breath. When she grants allies a bardic inspiration, they can restore partial health.
ENTHRALLING PERFORMANCE (College of Glamour)
Ola can attempt to inspire wonder in her audience by singing, reciting a poem, or dancing. At the end of the performance, some humanoids within 60 feet of her who watched and listened to all of it, can be charmed by it. While charmed in this way, the targets idolize her, speak glowingly of her to anyone who speaks to her, and it hinders anyone who opposes her, avoiding violence unless they were already inclined to fight on her behalf.
MANTLE OF WHISPERS (College of Whispers)
Ola can gain the the ability to adopt a humanoid's persona. When a humanoid dies within 30 feet of her, she can magically capture its shadow and retain this shadow until she uses it. When she does so, it vanishes, magically transforming into a disguise that appears on her; allowing her to now look like the dead person. This disguise lasts for one hour. While in the disguise, she gains access to all information that the humanoid would freely share with a casual acquaintance. Such information includes general details on its background and personal life, but doesn't include secrets. The information is enough that she can pass yourself off as the person by drawing on its memories.M A G I C
INVISIBILITY
Any creature Ola can touch, including herself, becomes invisible until the spell ends. Anything the target is wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on the target's person. Ola is able to extend the spell to include one other creature than herself.
TINY HUT
A 10-foot-radius immobile dome of force springs into existence around and above Ola and remains stationary for the duration. Nine creatures of Medium size or smaller can fit inside the dome with you.
Creatures and objects within the dome when Ola casts this spell can move through it freely. All other creatures and objects are barred from passing through it. Spells and other magical effects can't extend through the dome or be cast through it. The atmosphere inside the space is comfortable and dry, regardless of the weather outside.
Until the spell ends, Ola can command the interior to become dimly lit or dark. The dome is opaque from the outside, of any color she chooses, but it is transparent from the inside.
TONGUES
This spell grants Ola, or the creature she touches, the ability to understand any spoken language they hear. Moreover, when the target speaks, any creature that knows at least one language and can hear the target understands what it says.G E A R
ITEMS ON PERSON- Travel rucksack: Ola has what she needs to survive in the world stashed away in her ruck sack, a leather sack that always seems to hold more than it properly should;
- Leather/cloth armour; and
- A long necked lute native to Swoatan.
WEAPONS- Handheld crossbow;
- Throwing knives; and
- Scimitar.
Ola was born the eldest of sixteen children, and only one of six to make it past childhood, she quickly became a close acquaintance of death as her siblings died around her in the harsh realm they called home.
It was noted from a young age that Ola was unique to the rest of her siblings. Her sharp green eyes, incredibly rare among her people, could not go unnoticed, set her apart from nearly everyone, but that was not the most unique of her differences. Ola was six when she was bitten by a desert asp, the creature sinking its fangs into her leg as she ran giggling through the high grass. By the time her mother reached her side the wound had sealed and only two small white marks, as hard as marble, remained where the fangs had punctured her skin.
As she grew, the marks remained unchanged. They did not fade, they did not grow new skin, they stayed as white as the day they had appeared. Other injuries came with time and those too sealed with the white marble like hardness. She was at a loss to explain the phenomenon, as was everyone else in her community, except her mother.
All children of the Swoatan spend their evenings clustered around hearth fires, spellbound by dancers and the songs of the desert peoples. Many are shy but some, like Ola, thrive and embrace their ancient traditions. As a daughter, her value to the family was immense, for the Swoatan believe that the power of life is gifted from the womb of a woman. Thus, women hold all the power in a family, and a male partner exists to provide children, and protection to the community.
As the eldest daughter, Ola stood to inherit her mothers wealth, but with her position came the right to chose her course in life. It was while she prepared for this eventuality that her mother broke the news to her that she not in fact human. A stunned Ola listened as her mother explained how she was not the daughter of a man, but a Djinn, a spirit of the desert, whom her mother had taken as a lover many years before. Ola was the only living proof of the that union.
Her mother had first thought that Ola was to be like any other child, until the day of the asp bite. Since then she had watched carefully as Ola displayed a disturbing ability to learn quickly and to never forget what she had seen or heard. This had served both as a blessing and as a curse, one that she had wrestled with her entire life.
An understandably shocked Ola shrank from her mother and, shouldering a small bag of clothes, trekked deeper into the Swoatan Mountain fastness to see out the Shaeir, Keeper of Words, intent on learning more about her lineage.
The Shaeir took Ola in without question, indulging the young girls desire to learn. The more Ola learned, the more she wanted to know and her education quickly took her beyond the lands of Swaotan to lands she had never dreamed existed.
She did more than read, of course, for the home of the Shaeir is a lonely and quiet place. Ola began to sing, and to play the variety of instruments that could be found in the stone halls. She quickly proved to be a skilled musician and singer, entrancing the Shaeir and her small court with tales she read from dusty scrolls.
She learned of her heritage, the legends and truths of the Djinn, and of the magical power that had been bestowed upon her by her mothers union. Only when a Wayfinder, from far across the desert, a man with skin as white a cream and eyes bluer than the sky, came to seek the knowledge of the Shaeir, did she find her calling.
The young man entranced her with stories of his travels and his knowledge of the world. Ola decided, during those long winter months, that she was going to become a Wayfinder. He taught her to navigate by the stars and sun, pouring over maps with her and showing her geographical features that marked a beings place in the world.
When the blue eyed Wayfinder finally left Swaotan, he did so with Ola as his companion. Truth be told, the two may have been lovers, but when they eventually parted ways it was with friendship and promises to meet again one day.
Only rarely do Wayfinders settle in one place for long, and their natural desire to travel—to find new tales to tell, new skills to learn, and new discoveries beyond the horizon—makes an adventuring career a natural calling. Every adventure is an opportunity to learn, practice a variety of skills, enter long-forgotten tombs, discover lost works of magic, decipher old tomes, travel to strange places, or encounter exotic creatures.
Ola discovered that she loved to accompany heroes to witness their deeds firsthand. She had a natural talent to tell an awe-inspiring story from personal experience and entrance those who listened. She earned renown among other bards. Indeed, after telling so many stories about heroes accomplishing mighty deeds, Ola began take the themes to heart and assume heroic roles herself.
Through trial, error, and the gift of time and expertise from bards encountered along the way, she has thrived as a professional wanderer. There is rarely a tavern who will not offer a bed to a skilled bard, or a band of adventurers not glad of a stirring tale to pass the time on long treks.
Ola has come to be welcome wherever she goes; a gifted survivalist with quick smile and songs for the ages.
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