Shaan

Shaan's first memory involves seeing her mother arrested as a heretic, and swimming her heart out to escape from the Inqusitors, hiding between the sculpted residences of Nenaer, the underwater holy city. She lived by her wits and luck for years, never able to find her parents. She gave up looking in her early teen years, no longer sure she would even recognize her parents, and she eventually stole and saved enough to pay for a merchant to take her away. She didn't care where she went, as long as it took her far away from the Inquisitors. She still doesn't like strongly religious types.

The merchant, Serena, took her to Laurina Rin, the capital and largest metropolis of the Nelendi Kingdom. Serena kept tabs on Shaan whenever she returned home, and they became friends as Shaan found her place in the underworld of the city. Shaan made a few small thefts and earned her way into the Anglers, a local Thieves' Guild, but she craved something slightly slower paced. Serena paid her for a few caravan guard gigs. Boring, but it paid a few bills, plus it brought some rumors of sunken treasure sites.

She got a couple of friends to help her clear out the first site, and it hooked her hard. After the unsafe environment, a few animated skeletons to lay to rest, rusted locks to pick, and the ridiculous amount of traps on the chests, exploring wrecks made for easy money. She couldn't wait to explore the next site.

She accompanied Serena on a trading run to Fellport. It took a few more trips to Fellport before she decided to move in. She bought a small shop one level up from Dockside and hung out a shingle as Trident Salvage, a one-woman item recovery and ship salvage service. Business boomed, as she didn't have much overhead and got things done for a small deposit plus twenty-five percent of the value recovered. She hires others when she needs to, and she prefers to work with other Nelendi when possible.

Sometimes she helps Bez at The Sly Spider when he needs some underwater repair work done, just for a little extra cash. Thinking her way through an abandoned wreck to find the cargo within remains her first love and favorite assignment. She remains friends with Serena, and they have dinner to catch up whenever they find each other in the same place at the same time. She has done some recovery work in Fellport Harbor, but she tends to avoid the harbor's depths, and she doesn't quite know why.

Shaan
Aquatic Elf Scout Rogue (Level 9) (Urchin Background, Dungeon Delver Feat)
Str 12  Dex 18  Con 14  Int 14  Wis 12  Cha 8
Acrobatics +8, Athletics +5, Insight +5, Investigation +10, Perception +9, Nature +6, Sleight of Hand +12, Stealth +8, Survival +5

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

Fianna Vita

Fianna has always had a hard time fitting in. While the rest of her family ran her hometown of Billis in the High Dales, working in politics, law enforcement, trading, and fine dining, Fianna found herself more at home in the mountains, hills, and forests outside the town. She spent hours hunting in an attempt to help her family in some small way, and she got quite good at it. She also learned about plants, herbalism, and botany while she was at it.

Fianna joined the Scouts as soon as she could, learning the bow and short sword on top of the rapier training she received at home. In the next few years she rose in the ranks, and she proved instrumental in repelling a large werewolf pack intent on looting the town. Her uncle took the majority of the credit for the town's defense, much to the Scouts' frustration. At that point Fianna knew for sure that she had to leave or live the rest of her life if her family's shadow. She quietly disentangled herself and put her affairs in order, and when a curious and depressed Half-Elf named Damla Balik came to town, Fianna leapt at the opportunity to accompany her to her next destination.

Fianna and Damla became partners, Fianna handling scouting and combat, and Damla handling other people and figuring out obscure things. The pair found their way into all manner of adventures, hiring others to help out when needed. Damla made Fianna feel wanted and valuable in a way that Fianna's family just couldn't, and they ended up partners personally as well, pledging their lives to each other about eleven years ago.

When they got to Fellport, they found a reliable lockpicker in the form of Azeron the purple-skinned non-binary Tiefling. The three of them recovered so much treasure over the next several years that they effectively retired from adventuring and created a fine dining experience in The Sacred Squid. Fianna doesn't have much time left for hunting with her duties running the kitchen, but she does maintain a rooftop garden to provide the freshest herbs and vegetables for the restaurant.

Fianna still can't take a compliment, but Damla's influence eases her ongoing discomfort with receiving praise. She comes out from the kitchen to talk with anyone who asks about her recipes, though she still feels awkward about it after six years. Fianna keeps her dark walnut hair long in a single braid. Her wide nose and brown eyes don't distinguish her from any other Halfling in her family, but her cooking, gardening, and hunting skills place her far above most people in Fellport.

Fianna Vita
Stout Halfling Hunter Ranger (Level 6) (Outlander Background, Chef Feat)
Str 12  Dex 16  Con 14  Int 12  Wis 15  Cha 8
Athletics +4, Perception +5, Nature +4, Stealth +6, Survival +5

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

Damla Balik

Damla's ears and hair surprised her mother on the day of her birth. Her mother, Aphet Balik, made her name as a traveling entertainer all around the Okulari Steppes and bordering countries. She doesn't know much about Damla's father, and she met motherhood head on with only her friends and fellow performers to help.

When she came of age, Damla trained as a sage specializing in religious topics. She wanted to learn more, so she started wandering the world looking for all the stories she could find. She went to the sea, from Ionia to Dunhill, and even north to the Barbary Coast. She discovered she could swim like a full-blooded Aquatic Elf, and she spent some time underwater in Nenaer, the holy city of the Neneldi.

Despite all her research, Damla still knows nothing about her father. Depressed, she ended up in the High Dales, where she met Fianna Vita, a young and gruff Hominae Vitae hunter, eager to prove herself. They started taking odd jobs to pass the time, hiring others to fill gaps in their skills, but Damla and Fianna always formed the core of any group they traveled with.

Fianna brought Damla out of her depression over the years, and she convinced Damla to live in the present, not angry over not knowing the past. They grew very close, swearing themselves to each other about eleven years ago. Shortly after that, they came to Fellport and partnered up with Azeron, a purple Tiefling with social and lockpicking skills. Azeron and the couple settled into an odd little family unit, taking jobs and storing their gains until retiring and opening The Sacred Squid. The name pays homage to Damla's time in Nenaer. The three live over the restaurant in a spacious master apartment, and they occasionally rent out the other two smaller apartments to friends or patrons in need.

Damla adapts to new situations easily, and she tries to keep everyone calm so she can find the path where everyone leaves happy. She has nothing left to prove to anyone, so at this point she just wants to spread as much joy as possible. She cuts a striking figure, her bronze skin and blue-tinged blonde hair framing her intense sea-green eyes. She has mastered mimicry and gentle mockery of public figures, though her humor rarely turns mean, and she can rip out a flute tune like few others.

Damla Balik
Half-Elf (Okulari/Aquatic Elf) Lore Bard (Level 6) (Sage Background, Actor Feat)
Str 8  Dex 12  Con 12  Int 14  Wis 14  Cha 18
Animal Handling +5, Arcana +5, Deception +7, History +5, Insight +5, Investigation +5, Perception +5, Performance +7, Persuasion +7, Religion +5

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

Azeron

Azeron grew up in the Tiefling community of Yoobinaux, named for its founder, tucked in a valley in the foothills between the lowlands of the Barbary Tribes and the Alpen Range of the dwarves. The community downplayed the demonic elements of their heritage and impressed the value of hard work onto the younger residents, Azeron included. Azeron didn't take well to that particular doctrine, though they played along really well and managed to get groomed as an up-and-coming Elder. Once they started to figure out that something else motivated the Elders, they knew they had to escape Yoobinaux. When the Elders granted their request for the traditional Walkabout ten years ago, they left and never went back.

Azeron made their way south, through the Dunhill Confederacy and into Fellport. With the bewildering array of people in town, Azeron finally found a place to fit in. They answered an ad for a lockpicker and fell in with Damla Balik and Fianna Vita. This little team went on several adventures together and got into all sorts of trouble. Once they salvaged more treasure than they could feasibly spend in a lifetime, the three decided to change their fates and open a restaurant together. Azeron took on the role of bartender, spending a year studying other mixologists and consulting every book on mixing drinks that they could find. After spending a huge sum of gold on a solid location and the finest imported wood to remodel the old building, The Sacred Squid opened to much fanfare.

Currently in their late twenties, Azeron plays up their otherworldly physical features in a backlash against their Yoobinaux upbringing: dark purple skin, all-black eyes, polished and pointed horns sprouting from the sides of their eyebrows, and black hair cut in a mohawk. They've trained their tail to handle and pour drink bottles, and they enjoy speaking in Infernal or Orcish for the shock value. They see through lies easily, though they tend to use that information to verbally spar with strangers. For regular patrons and friends they will keep anything they figure out to themselves, only bringing it up in private in an attempt to help. Azeron doesn't trust easily, but they enjoy figuring people out. Bartending at a high-end restaurant manages to cover both goals in one lucrative and enjoyable pastime.

Azeron
Tielfing (Dispater) Inquisitive Rogue (Level 6) (they/them) (Noble Background, Observant Feat)
Str 10  Dex 16  Con 8  Int 14  Wis 14  Cha 14
Acrobatics +9, Deception +5, History +8, Insight +8, Persuasion +5, Sleight of Hand +9

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

The Sacred Squid

Midway between the Lift and the Lakeside Ramp on Level 3, a broad two-story modern building invites you to dine in opulence in stark contrast to the surrounding plain neighborhood of houses and modest shops. A softly glowing, gently moving, twenty foot long squid stretches above the glass double doors and extends over the large windows to either side. The glass doors lead to an area with a large open hearth, like a grand stone fireplace without walls, providing a backdrop for the low eternal flame within.

The red-stained wooden host stand to the left of the hearth serves as nerve center for Damla Balik, one of the owners of The Sacred Squid, her curious mix of bronze skin, sea-green eyes, and blue-tinged blonde hair advertising her unlikely parentage. Damla runs the service team with calm presence and effortless efficiency, never letting a customer leave with anything but praise for their dining experience. She offers several seating options, from the open teak balcony overhanging the level below in good weather, to the mezzanine window tables overlooking the harbor, to a long fireside table, to a cozy booth in a secluded corner. She even has a small room available for private parties with enough advanced warning.

For those who need to wait for a table, Damla indicates the bar area to the right of the hearth. Polished woods from all over the world create an intricate striped pattern on the curved face of the bar, though a few solid slabs of local oak form the bar's top, the grain matched and joined masterfully between the slabs. Several small tables provide places for drinks and appetizers around the room, and the front wall boasts a shallower live-edge bar also made from local oak that runs the entire width of the room under the street-facing windows. A purple-skinned Tiefling named Azeron runs the bar, and they really play up the otherworldy aspect of their nature. They especially enjoy pouring drinks with their tail and talking in Infernal or Orcish, and their deep knowledge of mixology surpasses most in Fellport.

The chef, a Hominae Vitae (Halfling) woman named Fianna Vita, plain-looking with a long walnut-brown braid, maintains an adventurous menu between the local seafood and game, the garden she maintains on the roof, and various exotic ingredients that flow into the harbor below. She prefers to hunt when she can, though the restaurant's success keeps her in the kitchen and talking with patrons who swiftly become devoted fans nearly all the time now.

The Sacred Squid has earned its spectacular reputation over the past six years, and most people below Council Row have either eaten here or have it on their bucket list. Expect to pay for the experience of eating at The Sacred Squid, but also expect feelings of deep satisfaction and utter contentment. Paying a deposit ahead of time to reserve a table will guarantee a seat, especially on weekends. Many patrons make a meal out of appetizers at the bar, though Azeron will tease them mercilessly about it.

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.