Krel'a Tavesh, often referred to by her human moniker Krill McTavish, is an legendary bard trickster, merrymaker, con artist, and adventurer that travels across the world of Hazeron. Originally hailing from Suphestis, Krel'la came to the Material Plane after becoming enamored with the concepts of money and fame. Krel'la constantly shifts between forms using her powerful magic, but is particularly fond of taking the form of a human man named Krill. She is known for her ability to throw legendary parties, and has adventured alongside great heroes and villains alike while collecting the greatest stories to spread in song, the most famous being her unnamed Song of Great Legend.
Description
Appearance
In her eladrin form, Krel'la is a small, fey-looking woman with long, wide ears that round at the tip. Her pale skin contrasts with her dark black hair that gleams iridescently under light. She has very large blue eyes that betray her otherwise devious nature with a feeling of innocence. She is rather fond of a dirty, simple black robe that was one of her first material possessions, but changes her wardrobe constantly to suit the occasion.
As Krill, Krel'la generally appears as a human male with rugged black medium-cut hair and light facial hair behind a prominent goatee. He stands relatively tall at roughly 6 feet, wearing an ornate, decorated leather vest over fine cotton clothes, with a variety of satchels and bags hanging from his belt.
Personality
Krel'la was originally quite timid in her eladrin form, preferring to hide behind a disguise that gave her the courage to act in a large, braggadocious and cunning manner. However, her demeanor changed over time as she became more confident in herself, and she became more of the person she wished to be; loud, manipulative, mischievous, and confident. While she still adopts other forms on a regular basis, she no longer shirks from the limelight in her elven form.
Krel'la is exceedingly obsessed with gold and attention, and will often attempt all manner of things to swindle one of these two things out of the people around her, and ideally both.
Skills and Abilities
When in disguise, Krel'la is extraordinarily charismatic, able to easily control the mood of a room and bend a tavern to her will. She can just as easily turn a town to revelry as she could incite a mob.
Krel'la is a skilled user of bardic magic, capable of weaving great spells through song and story.
Illusionist
Krill is very skilled with illusions, somehow able to consistently maintain an illusory form that changes their height, appearance, and voice.
Song of Great Legend
Krel'la is a bearer of an unnamed Song of Great Legend, as recognized by the College of Thiera. Krel'la's song is a ballad in three parts that weaves the tale of a great hero. Each part of the ballad causes a different effect on the listener; the first part details the hero's humble beginnings as a thief, dimming lights and allowing allies to move with great stealth, wreathed in shadow. The second bard details the hero's rise to greatness, filling listeners with great alacrity and courage; the last part details the defeat of a evil lord, and the hero's celebration, which causes great revelry, constitution, and peace of mind.
History
In roughly 790 IaC, Krel'la was born somewhere in Suphestis, otherwise known as the Feywild. She led a reserved, simple live in her youth, but was always seen as a black sheep amongst her siblings and people. While wandering the forests, she happened upon a crossing that folded the Feywild and Material Plane together, discovering a small coin on the ground. Krel'la began to study the cultures of the Material Plane from the Feywild, using divination to observe societies between the planes. Irritated with the boringly carefree and peaceful life she had in her home, she crossed the planes, and adopted a new identity as Krill McTavish, professional bard and conman around 942 IaC.
As Krill, Krel'la traveled around the continents, conning his way into business contracts and fleeing when his lies were exposed, usually with the money of others. With significant amounts of coin, Krill would then enter inns and taverns to throw celebrations of great notoriety, often swindling more money out of the locals to keep the beer flowing. Krill would leave before dawn to find new sources of income, repeating this cycle for a number of years. At some point, she would become a devoted worshiper of the god Durzick after hearing tales of the god from other bards, while also offering her prayers to the goddess Alarin.
In 951 IaC, Krill traveled to the town of Vardev, where he picked up a local contract to clear out the strange "plague" in the municipality of Kinoclast. After receiving a forward on the reward, Krill apparently "lost" most of the coin gambling in a local pub before causing a disturbance and getting kicked out of town altogether. Krill was discovered arguing with a gate guard by the Peas, whom Krill pretended were his own hirelings in order to gain access to town, something the Peas trepidatiously played along with.
The Peas grew untrusting of Krill's constant lies and omissions after Krill entered the party into his contract. Fearing he would attempt to abscond with their rewards, the party stuck to Krill like glue, who lead the group into the tavern district of town. After getting some of the members sufficiently drunk, Krill disappeared into the city alleys to escape his "captors". Regardless of his nature, he appeared at the city gates in the morning as he promised the night before, and accompanied the party to Kinoclast. Here, Krill would hesitantly enter Azmok's Tower with the group, where he was soon knocked unconscious by a swinging log. This dropped the glamour around his body, returning his form to that of Krel'la. Uncomfortable without her disguise, Krel'la continued to follow and assist the Peas with her magic, though she was notably more timid and unsure of herself. Krel'la assisted in fighting the rogue paladin Godfrey, and after getting hammered that night, assisted in reinstating Azmok in his tower.
Krel'la later transformed back into Krill, and accompanied the Peas back to Vardev, where he received his payment from Bauldren Boulderbane, and was convinced by the party to stick around while they investigated a series of muggings that had resulted from Mardyth's attempts to find the Sallow Stone. Krill would nearly do battle with the formidable Arghan Highmaker Athuniano, but was knocked unconscious after driving a wagon into the giant's side.
After accompanying the Peas north from Vardev to the Bandry Keep, Krel'la snuck away from the group in the night, leaving an enchanted bag in the care of Wander.
Krill, sometimes Krel'la, continued to wander the continent of Gessaria for some time, meeting various individuals in her travels, including the rebel leader of Betaria Unknown and the strange gnomish warlock Unknown. As Krel'la, she used her skills in diplomacy to calm the tensions of two warring bakeries in Pallam, which she later recounted in the song The Fires of Rye.
Krel'la would later offer her assistance in the Battle for the Sun. While she did not enter the fray in person, she projected her image to the Peas as they assaulted the Shadow Fort, playing a song that filled the group with courage and speed, which would later become part of her Song of Great Legend.
While still leading a carefree lifestyle for many years, Krel'la became obsessed with finishing her Song of Great Legend. She traveled to Atavar in order to study at the great bardic universities, but her duplicitous nature often resulted in the mistrust of the great bards, and usually her expulsion from their campuses. After experiencing many setbacks, Krel'la resolved that her muse could only be found in real world experience, and headed back out into the world in search of great deeds and people.
For some time from 954-958 IaC, Krel'la wandered Gessaria in search of inspiration, flirting with relationships on all sides of the Great Throne War. For some time she followed the bloodthirsty general of Betaria Unknown in his battles against Falderheim, and for some time, she worked alongside the Rain Knight and his crusade against his father. Krel'la acted as a guide for the adventurers Wander and Journey as they entered the Deadmarch, but soon disappeared without a word, eventually reappearing in the Eldermoon Federation in 960.
During this time, Krel'la continued to work on her Song of Great Legend, but also wrote a number of other ballads and songs, many of which were adopted by other traveling bards that witnessed her performances. Krel'la became famous for never performing the same way twice, varying her music, appearance, and mood to make each memorable and unique. Word of her prowess began to slowly spread, and by Iron 978, she was regarded as a bardic legend.
In Iron 983, Krel'la announced the completion of her Song of Great Legend, which she played in front of the city of Madrioc, inciting a massive party on the streets. Members of the College of Thiera in the audience confirmed the power of the song.