Art Credits: EQPixelArmy

Name: Mavli Nivabo

Gender: Female, bi

Age: 21

Origin: Dragondeep

Species: Human, 'Farer

Racial Oddities: * no bonus damage done, but can take more overall damage, cannot lie to save her life

Family: partner Valnari

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 140, busty

Hair: heavily wooly in braids, short, reddish tan

Eyes: amber brown

Appearance: pale skinned, some small scars

Name: Valnari Ironmore

Gender: Female, gay

Age: 20

Origin: Dragondeep

Species: Human, 'Farer

Racial Oddities: *inherited magical daggers (see below), improved Dex, -3 vs magical effects

Family: partner Mavli

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 160, all muscle

Hair: shaved, curly when grown, brightly platinum blond

Eyes: clear green

Appearance: pale with green tribal tattooing

Dragondeep Specs for Mavli

Dragondeep Specs for Valnari

Mavli Nivabo hailed from Mistburn in the Willowborne Province, and spent much time learning her family's fletching and archery trade. Useful for those attacks from the Fey lands that were nearby, obviously; picking off dangerous demonic creatures at a distance meant that people had more time to rush to safety or erect magical defenses. Even from a very young age she felt comfortable with a bow, and could be trusted to do hunting and defense equally well. Her first direct experience with the Fey came when she was only 6, though they'd been around consistently all her life before then. Before that point, she was shuffled quickly into the protected underground chambers that the local authorities had built and guarded. But this time, her older brother's hand had been injured and he was unable to properly pull. She stood proudly with her small bow and an equally small quiver of arrows - and though a few of the townsmen scoffed, laughing that she was carrying toys to battle... She had been there to pin one of the weird crimson-skinned demons to a branch, allowing another stronger attack by her uncle to kill it. Thus she started to become known for her skills in quickly spotting and accurately hitting prey that was even as small as a butterfly. All that bush hunting, she thought back with a smile, when dinner would be what she brought home, it was going to be fast moving arrows versus fast moving rabbits.

*

Valnari had been brought up in the wilds south of Willowborne, the peak to the north for most of her own childhood obscured by the thick canopy of murky forests. Rugged lands that held dangers at all turns were where the girl had developed skill in grabbing and holding on to prey, surviving in the wild was essential to her group. Though they were hardly considered 'civilized', they weren't barbarians, they weren't what some Wyldkin would call 'tribals' - they were merely burly mountain men and women, with knacks for creating both weapons and art. Almost all of her own family were one or the other - and some were both. From her father she learned how to carefully work metals and bind wood to metal tang, her job in that profession would evolve into operating bellows and hammering alloys together. But she still worked with the wood and leather, and found that her mother's skills of tattooing were also of interest. Her first tattoos were imprinted on the pigskin wrapped hilt of a test sword, one which she still uses on occasion. Each of her own tattoos represents different events in her life, the one on her face, perhaps the most important - when she lost her mother, and was scarred by strange poisoned claws of a wild Fey animal. Those scars were easily covered, but her loss was still profound. With her mother gone, too, Valnari decided that her work with her father would wait - there were more than enough strong men and women in the group to help work that metal, but few who could hold their hand steady and sure, and had as good an eye for abstraction as she.

Though they tended to remain in the deep foggy canyons and intensely dangerous forest to the south, one of Valnari's clan leaders declared that they needed to move. They obeyed, and rightfully so: within a few days of their clan picking up their goods and piling them onto their burden beasts, something was heard tearing up trees and causing the ground to tremble with its foot falls. And though these were hardy people... they weren't stupid. They weren't going to hang about when an actual monster was lingering. So it was that in her 16th autumn, Valnari's life would change forever.

*

The summer days turning to fall in Mistburn meant that much of the surrounding woodland turned brilliant shades of orange and red, and it was always Mavli's favorite time of year. But it also meant that soon enough the days would shorten and after the harvests it would be almost painfully boring. Also difficult to hunt, the because deer and other large animals tended to move into the thicker woods then. When rumors of a group of wandering warriors came to her ears, she eagerly waited... and was definitely worried, when she spotted Fey that would cross the warriors' path as they neared the town. The litter of blown brown leaves concealed many of the creatures, while others flew into the air, almost exactly as leaves on the wind would look too!

Since the town had been called in for the duration, no one could easily warn visitors. They got them so rarely here, Mistburn didn't have a flag to raise or a horn to blow for wider warnings! Maybe someone should get on that! She shook out of that imagined defense, to see the line of wanderers up along the hilly ridge. She held her breath. Surely they would be able to fight their way to the town. Surely they saw--

Yes they did! Mavli held her bow at the ready, but they were quite some ways off. Usually they didn't start picking off the Fey until they were closer. They'd been lulled into a false sense of security one year, when a much larger Fey waited in the woods for someone to go collect their spent arrows. But not this time. This time there were some three dozen burly and hardy men and women. Though most of them were laden with goods, they were traveling perhaps with an eye on a more permanent resting spot, a good number still had their weapons easily available. When they spotted the rustling leaves moving a bit differently, most of them gathered into a defensive huddle, and those fighters prepared for battle.

Mavli could see the difference among them, big men with old weapons swung with ease and as natural as breathing, young teens holding their spears or swords gingerly. Then a tattooed young woman caught her eye, fighting with skill enough to fend off speedy winged creatures. As the group fought their way closer to the town, it seemed to be that tattooed woman who noticed a pathway, and urged her group to head to the town wall.

She then yelped, when an arrow shot a flying Fey out of the air right behind her! Valnari didn't waste any time, she continued to press forward and slice Fey into small pieces, as the rest of the tribe moved into place to be let in by the Earl's men. When all was said and done not a single tribesman had been injured among their group, though one of the warriors had been menaced right up in his face until he grabbed the thing and crushed it right in his massive hand.

Because she was still among the best of their spotters, Mavli had to remain where she was on the town's south-west tower, until they knew for sure that no further Fey were lurking. She could hear the group down in the central square, and when the all-clear was finally rung on their bell, she packed her bow and slung it over her shoulder to head down there. Finally to meet...

Valnari was her name. With a sheen of sweat being removed by a swipe of her gloved hand, the wanderer couldn't help but notice that this girl had a bow - there were others here with them, but this one seemed... special. "It was you," she said simply, "you saved me from that thing."

Suddenly Mavli blushed and could hardly form words let alone a sentence.

The green tattoo on the teen's face wrapped around the side of her head, and it looked... almost like a dragon? Mavli realized she was staring and meant to apologize but for Valnari slapping her free shoulder and gripping it, "thanks, I owe you... a drink? Is there a place we can sit a bit?"

Of course there was - the local pair of taverns were fit to burst with the influx of this clan. The others helped store their goods, but Mavli led her new... friend? To the closer of the pubs and settled into what would become known as 'their' booth. Over the next hour or three, or well into the next day actually, they talked about their lives. Mavli finally found her voice, relating tales of her sniping and trick shots, and listened intently as Valnari described how she'd inherited her family's precious enchanted daggers.

As the tribe got settled, even being encouraged to help extend the north-western border of the town into a functional addition, several other incursions of Fey attacked, and were repelled. More and more, this pair was at the forefront of those battles. Valnari wouldn't exactly drop everything - if she was working on a piece of art or tattooing someone obviously she let others handle it. But in her free time? Oh it was on. Mavli had taken to using Fey wings on her newest arrows - all taken from those battles, and all of those arrows unerringly hit their marks.

*

Neither of them had ever seen the Oceans. Even though Dragondeep was a land stretched thin separating the north from the south, it was still more than a thousand miles from any given coast that this town sat. As some of the teenagers in the tribe integrated into the town, and townsmen alike began to drift into the clan's caverns to learn skills that had been neglected in Mistburn. As their second autumn was celebrated it was apparent that a lot of new defenders were available to protect the town. Mavli suggested perhaps they should travel a little, see the sights. Explore, maybe.

Valnari's response was to pick up a travel bag and almost bodily put Mavli into it.

Traveling almost due east, unwilling to start the incredibly hard climb over Mount Willowborne itself, they visited several towns, villages... hardly any cities here because of MossGate's nearness. Through thick and thin, they survived and even thrived, picking up jobs to clear areas of Fey, rousting out little imps or larger demons (with help on that one), and came to know each other intimately and naturally. Mavli has a tattoo that her partner designed, between her shoulderblades - two arrows crossed with those distinct Fey wings as fletching, something that could come to be known as a family crest, should they have a family.

The two have been partners in mercenary work as well as everything else, so it is no wonder that when a strange new Portal opened they investigated together and discovered a place known as Isla. They were told 'you're good for dragons!'... Well they would hope so, after all their home world was dominated by massive and ancient dragons... Nothing at all like what they saw on these unusual sands! They weren't really sure what anyone would think, they're going to have to prepare for the worst... Dragons aren't meant to be servants, and rarely allow riders of humanoid types. But these are radically different, maybe any local dragons will be able to teach ... or even learn from them.

***

Mavli and Male Messoth

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DRAGON INFORMATION

Valnari and Female Anireth

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DRAGON INFORMATION