Jalette Marshbysem

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Name: Jalette Marshbysem
Birth: ??? (She lies about her age often, but she looks very young)
Hair: Black
Complexion: Stout, average height.
Class: Bard 21 / Dissonant Chord 5 / Rogue 4
Race: Human
Subrace: Chondathan
Deity: Mystra principally, most major deities worshiped in Baldur's Gate (Tempus,Torm, Ilmater, Helm, Tymora and Umberlee), doesn't really have strong feelings towards other deities.
Alignment : Neutral.
Skills: A good appraiser, performer and spellcrafter.

OOC notes at the bottom.
******SPOILERS AHEAD********

Backstory

Jalette was born in Baldur's Gate to a wealthy but unscrupulous family, her parents shined for their absence during her childhood, being raised by servants mostly, she showed a curiosity for magic at an early age, taken to Radagast for lessons, they soon learned that she had an innate talent for music and magic, as an spontaneous caster, Jalette was taught still a lot of magical theory by Radagast. She was taught how to take care of her clothing by the servants and with time she got interested in making her own designs as years passed.

An important figure for Jalette on her childhood was her grandfather, who more or less was a parental figure for her, a retired adventurer who made his fortune and quit adventuring while ahead. He taught Jalette how to fight and use many weapons, when he passed away, he left her many magical weapons.

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List of heirloom magic items:

Raging Flameblade, a silver longsword, enchanted by Grimmer Stouthammer for several battles in the Trollbark Forest, the sword was lost for many years and then recovered by Jalette's grandfather in one of his adventures. The sword is red colored, due to the fire magics it is enchanted with.

Mithral Breastplate, a magically enchanted breastplate made by order for Jalette specifically, the last favor Jalette's grandfather asked to his friend blacksmith, after he died, in her will he left her an armor that wasn't forged yet, the armor was given a crest of her choice and she picked a rodent because she thought it looked cute.

Amulet of the Skald, a magic amulet from the Icewind Dale, used to belong to her grandmother who she never got to meet. The amulet in itself seems to be made specifically for musically inclined people that finds themselves on combat situations very often.

Hallowed Greatsword, a magically tempered sword wielded by one of the companions of Jalette's grandfather, with a holy symbol of Torm on the hilt, the blade was given to Alexander Holgart in 23 Tarsakh 1357. The blade belonged to a tormtar warrior who was Jalette's grandfather adventuring companion for many years.

More items to be added in the future.

Jalette's childhood was as normal as a childhood could be in the Palace District of Baldur's Gate, something that impacted her the most was the destruction caused by the Undead Plague, this has given her nightmares that sometimes don't let her sleep, these nightmares come and go but they seem to increase during stressful and dark times.

During her teenage years she mainly interested herself in magical studies, music lessons and physical training. During her younger years she was never very interested in the gods or religion as much as anyone else, praying and making offerings mainly out of fear or superstition, while being attracted to other deities depending on her mood, and spending some of her free leisure time at Lucky Aello's store, keeping up with waterdhavian fashion and the like.

Physical Training

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Jalette trained hard and often, following a regime fit for a soldier, she's very healthy and fit, having focused mainly on the upper side of her body, shoulders and arms. Jalette always tried to apply her other skills in combat, learning to take advantage of using light armor for improved mobility in the battlefied, and striking quickly and precisely against enemies at a disadvantage, being somewhat opportunistic in her fighting style in general, also relying heavily on magic to battle at times against strong opponents that pose a threat.

Music Lessons

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Jalette was formally trained to play the harp when very young, paid by her grandfather, she personally prefers to play the lute though she doesn't do anything very flashy or too complex with it, mainly focused on her singing that has a very peculiar style of deep, expressive vocals (sort of like Amy Winehouse?), often singing sad or dark, folk songs. Part of her musical training involved learning tricks, specifically how to trick audiences, tumbling, jumping acrobatics and also how to use any kind of scroll of magical item, with an specific focus on the school of Illusion which is the most used by performers at times. She uses several stage props, her favorite one being a rug from Calimsham.

Magical Studies

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Jalette's parents paid Radagast to train her to become a wizard, though it happened that she had better qualities and future as a bard, and receiving specialized lessons by a dwarven bard who was a friend of Radagast, taught her how to disrupt the Weave with the voice and receiving more general training from Raagast, like metamagics, spellcraft, reading scrolls and understanding the nature of magic.

Not too long after becoming an adult, her parents left for Waterdeep, they offered her the choice to go with them but she declined, being too used to Baldur's Gate to leave.

She recently settled with Mystra mainly due to being impressed and fascinated by the temple itself and decided to join the ranks of their clergy as a way of finding a new family after her old one left.

Jalette is a flawed character, while she has some things going for her, she tends to just go with the flow of things and doesn't stop to think for herself much regarding certain things. While she is intelligent and possesses a lot of varied knowledge and is generally skilled, she lacks much tact and can be immensely naïve, to the point of not realizing when she's bothering or insulting someone until it's too late, with a tongue that's usually faster than her own wit, this can get her in trouble often, while on the other side, she's someone who understands and values friendship and in her own way tries to do the best that she thinks is the best she can do for others. She understands the value of the laws and society but she's not someone who is very interested in them, and enjoys and uses them when it's convenient.

She is sometimes prone being uninterested and tired at one moment and manic and hyperactive in the next, depending on factors either, internal, external or a combination of both.

Her main interests are in protecting Baldur's Gate, being someone in baldurian society and the success of the city, she has somewhat blind trust to the Dukes, seeing them as benevolent and wise figures. She has a lot of admiration for the Flaming Fist, mainly their combat prowess and their reputation of doing what needs to be done when it needs to.

Jalette Art work in progress by Maybe Detective Kayle

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OOC:

Always a work in progress! Many things are missing still.
Please pm me if you see any mistakes, corrections, or any suggestions.
Next post will be her relations with others.

References:

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 3e
Faiths and Pantheons, 3e
Magic Item Compendium, 3.5
Players Handbook 1 & 2, 3.5
Arms and Equipment Guide, 3e