Penny of Highbridge

Opal is a mystery. The first thing she can remember is startling awake from a nightmare and finding herself alone in an unfamiliar forest. Following the sound of waves, she found a beach, which she followed for days, foraging as she went, until she saw structures - a city on the coast!

As Opal approached the city outskirts, seeking help, people screamed at her approach, shouted to each other in a language she didn’t recognize, drew weapons, and drove her away. Confused and terrified, she kept to the wilderness as she traversed this hostile land, following an instinctive pull north, towards a looming snow-capped mountain range.

The Cloud Peaks are treacherous in springtime. A fair, sunny day can rapidly turn into a blizzard, catching the unwary traveller. Opal does not know these mountains, and cannot find shelter when the heavy, wet snow starts to fall.

Exhausted, delirious, and hypothermic, Opal collapsed in the woods south of Taevsbridge. Near death, she was found by Xolph, a local cleric of Chauntea, who looked past her monstrous appearance to see a child in distress, and gradually nursed her back to health, hiding her from the rest of the village.

As Opal grew stronger, strange things started happening in the town. Unexplained illnesses in livestock, odd behaviour from people and animals, and sudden surges of elemental energy. Struggling to look after a child in secret while attending to these escalating issues, Xolph resolved to send Opal to Candlekeep as soon as possible. 

Fortunately, Panas and Petra made very good time travelling south on their soil survey, and crossed paths with Shioria upon entering Taevsbridge. Already bound for Candlekeep, the group agreed to bring Opal along. 

Distraught at the prospect of leaving Xolph, the only person who had shown her kindness in her long ordeal, Opal ran away, lashing out at the party when they followed her. Over the days, weeks, and months following that tumultuous first meeting, Opal has warmed to the party - Petra for her strength and protection, Shioria for her patience learning Opal’s language and teaching Opal to speak Common, and Panas for her very literal warmth (fire genasi = living heat lamp). 

While tagging along with the Keeper’s Hands on their missions for Candlekeep, Opal has discovered an innate connection to magic - an instinctive ability to heal, and a talent for enchanting magic items. She is taking more interest in the group’s missions, and has also started searching for answers to mysteries of her own. Where do her powers come from? Where does she come from? What is the monstrous face filled with sharp teeth that looms over her in her recurring nightmares?

Petra was born in Calimshan, but she only has hazy memories of that distant country. When she was only eight, decades of escalating tensions erupted into all-out war. Petra’s father was killed, and her mother Jordanna was forced to flee the country with three young children (and a fourth on the way). They travelled north to Waterdeep as refugees, in search of safety and a new start.

The family carved out a frugal existence in the slums of Waterdeep, with Petra watching over her younger sisters while Jordanna worked to keep them all clothed and fed. Petra’s older sister Tara found odd jobs to bring in some coin. Harvest time was spent in the farming community of Rassalantar, where Jordanna’s childhood friend Berapi was raising a family of her own.

When news of Berapi’s death reached Waterdeep, Jordanna fell into a deep depression. Unable to support the family alone, Tara started bringing Petra along to help with her “odd jobs”. 

Earth Genasi are rare in Waterdeep. Commonly stereotyped as “dirty” or “dumb as rocks”, they can face challenges finding honest employment. Less law-abiding types, however, have learned that having an Earth Genasi child along as a “good luck charm” helps things go smooth - well worth handing over a few silver to have Pass Without a Trace on your side during a heist.

At the age of 13, Petra learned to pick locks, speak in cant, and meld into the shadows, working alongside Tara and her friends in the underbelly of Waterdeep to bring in enough money to feed their family for the next three years. Until the day when everything went wrong.

A failed heist. A dead friend. An Earth Genasi teenager captured, and taken before a Magistrate. A choice: imprisonment, or training to serve in the City Guard. A second chance.

Petra embraced the rigour of the City Guard, finding mentors, comrades, and a purpose in protecting the City and its people. She reconnected with her childhood friend Panas, who was studying magic, and offered to serve as her guard on a two-year expedition, surveying soil conditions up and down the Sword Coast. 

With Petra keeping Panas on a strict schedule, they reached the southernmost point of their journey - the village of Taevsbridge - in record time. After helping the local cleric with some strange mushrooms, and picking up a few new travelling companions, Petra and Panas travelled together to Candlekeep.

After capably escaping an extradimensional space and saving a researcher in peril, Petra and her companions caught the attention of the Keeper of Tomes, and were asked to serve as the Keeper’s Hands - extending a planned tenday stay into six months of probationary employment, with free room and board, a monthly stipend, and library access. Not much of a reader, Petra has carved out a place for herself among the defenders of the library-fortress, honing her skills, and helping to train Avowed adjutants in the basics of combat. 

As a member of the Keeper’s Hands, Petra has acted in Candlekeep’s interests (and has gotten to meet and pet *so many* good dogs!) First, venturing north to Baldur’s Gate to confront a seller of dangerous books. Next, east to Elturgard, crossing into the Shadowfell, to help a girl trapped in the body of a raven. En route to the Cloud Peaks to investigate rumours of an abandoned village and platinum mine, Petra received an urgent message from home. With the aid of Candlekeep’s mages, she was transported to Waterdeep to help her family, and has since returned to the library and her friends. 

Panas was raised in the farming community of Rassalantar, a day’s journey north of Waterdeep, where her father’s family has worked the land for generations. Panas heavily takes after her mother, who emigrated north to escape conflict in Calimshan, and found work magically burning away stubble from farmers’ fields.

Orcs raided Rassalantar when Panas was 13, killing her mother. In her fear and grief, Panas’s spark of magic grew to an inferno, killing the raiders and saving the village. 

This event caught the attention of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors in Waterdeep, and Panas commenced formal training in magic. She discovered a love for magical theory, becoming the protégée of Master Girvin Jelen - a brilliant but controversial wizard. Under his tutelage, she started learning how to change spells in the act of casting them - so an incantation that would usually create fire might produce ice or a clap of thunder instead.

Then, without warning, Master Jelen suddenly disappeared. After studying under him for over a decade, Panas was left with no supervisor, and none of the reference materials she needed to finish her research work and achieve her formal credentials as a mage.

To fulfill her outstanding credit requirements, Panas took a job with the Honourable and Hardworking Guild of Dirt Farmers near Daggerford. She was tasked with conducting a two-year survey of soil conditions up and down the Sword Coast, followed by a tenday of research at Candlekeep, then returning a report with her findings that will be incorporated into the next edition of the Dirt Farmer’s Almanac. 

The last stop on Panas’s survey was the village of Taevsbridge, where seemingly innocent mushrooms have been causing illness and strange magical surges in the local livestock. From there, Panas and a few new companions travelled together to Candlekeep.

After capably escaping an extradimensional space and saving a researcher in peril, Panas and her companions caught the attention of the Keeper of Tomes, and were asked to serve as the Keeper’s Hands - extending a planned tenday of research into six months of probationary employment, with free room and board, a monthly stipend, and the freedom to peruse the library’s unparalleled collection of knowledge at leisure. 

In return, the group has acted in Candlekeep’s interests. First, venturing north to Baldur’s Gate to confront a seller of dangerous books. Next, east to Elturgard, crossing into the Shadowfell, to help a girl trapped in the body of a raven. Then south to the Cloud Peaks, to investigate the secrets of an abandoned village and platinum mine, high in the mountains.

Shioria Maristelle hails from the isolated enclave of Starfall, located in the heart of the Gulthmere forest. The forest borders the south coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars, and the commune is built around a crystal clear pool with a fallen star fragment at its heart.

Children in Starfall are raised collectively by the community, but Shioria never quite fit in with the rest of her age group, preferring to spend time alone reading in the library or stargazing by the pool. Upon reaching adulthood, Shioria expressed her desire to travel beyond the forest, to chart the stars beyond the horizon, and learn their names and stories in other cultures. Many in the commune were opposed to this plan, but as an adult, Shioria was permitted to leave.

Shioria’s journey has taken her across the Western Heartlands to the humble village of Taevsbridge (in the midst of many mysterious mushroom mishaps), and ultimately to the great library fortress of Candlekeep. 

After capably escaping an extradimensional space and saving a researcher in peril, Shioria and a few companions caught the attention of the Keeper of Tomes, and were asked to serve as the Keeper’s Hands - extending a planned tenday of research into six months of probationary employment, with free room and board, a monthly stipend, and the freedom to peruse the library’s unparalleled collection of knowledge at leisure. 

In return, Shioria and her companions have acted in Candlekeep’s interests. First, venturing north to Baldur’s Gate to confront a seller of dangerous books. Next, east to Elturgard, crossing into the Shadowfell, to help a girl trapped in the body of a raven. Then south to the Cloud Peaks, to investigate the secrets of an abandoned village and platinum mine, high in the mountains.