Samanthiss

Samanthiss was a medusa, or greater medusa by some accounts, who practiced wizardry and ran the Morden Winery in the Vast, alongside Vorlon, her maedar mate, in the mid-to-late 14 century DR.
==Description==
Like other medusae, Samanthiss had a monstrous appearance and a head full of living snake hair.
==Personality==
Samanthiss was a highly intelligent medusa and was considered an oddity among her kin. She lacked the vicious malice common among the medusae and preferred a studious lifestyle. Samanthiss happily stayed in seclusion from others and dedicated her time to magic and winemaking.
==Abilities==
As a medusa, Samanthiss possessed a deadly petrifying gaze, and her serpentine snake hair had a venomous bite. She also used the same medusa poison to coat her arrows. As a mage, Samanthiss was a competent spellcaster and had access to a number of spells collected in the spellbooks she stored in the winery cellar. All of Samanthiss's books were penned in an arcane language, unknown to those unfamiliar with such magics. The medusa knew how to sling spells from the fourth circle of magic and had such spells as feeblemind, phantasmal killer, vampiric touch, lightning bolt, and mirror image memorized, among others.
Together with her mate, Samanthiss could work magics that grew plants, trees, and henges and could summon and entrap various guardian plant creatures and beasts. Some of the creatures under the medusa's command were local crows and her huge crow familiar called Stoner, who kept its attentive eye on the winery from high up in the air. The duo also kept two stray dogs who found a home at the winery, Merlot and Wander, as well as a collection of bloodthorns, thornslingers, and serpent vine snakes.
==Possessions==
Samanthiss's most prized possessions were her spellbooks, priced at 4,000 gp if sold to such interested parties as Ravens Bluff's Wizards Guild.
==Activities==
Alongside her husband, Vorlon, Samanthiss committed her life to studying and improving the art of winemaking—something the couple found a passion in. Arcane magic was another passion of the medusa. She spent her days in the cellars underneath the winery, where she established a study, researching magic and creating variations of existing spells. At night, the medusa walked the land and tended to the vines. She also left her seclusion when her petrifying gaze was needed to defend the winery from marauders, bandits, and roaming monstrous humanoids.
==History==
Samanthiss and Vorlon hailed from the Cold Lands and the Bloodstone Lands. Vorlon suffered a loss of family at the hands of some adventurers early in his life, sending him onto a nomadic traveling life. Eventually, he came across Samanthiss, and the two became mates. Vorlon felt a strong familial affection and protectiveness for his mate because of the trauma and loss he suffered. Keeping them both alive was his goal in life.
A couple of years after the , Samanthiss and Vorlon came across a newly rebuilt winery just outside of Dragon Falls in the Vast. The winery was run by a priest of Chauntea named Larn. Vorlon, a follower of the Earthmother himself, and Samanthiss were both impressed with the grapevines and the winery's well-maintained condition. Samanthiss took an opportunity to petrify Larn, allowing Vorlon to take over the priest's identity. The couple continued running the winery for the following decade. Vorlon showed remorse over Larn's fate but came to love winemaking. Larn's stone body was kept in good condition for if the medusas ever needed food.
Vorlon and Samanthiss discovered a set of Books of the Master Winemaker that taught them everything they needed to know to produce quality wine. Samanthiss found the winery's extensive cellars and used them to house her study, where the medusa could hone her skill by day while hiding her monstrous appearance and caring for the grapevine by night. The new owners quickly mastered winemaking and began producing a variety of good-tasting wine, much more than they could ever hope to consume themselves. There were many dangers in the Vast: bandits, monstrous humanoids, wild beasts. All were known to target the Morden Winery occasionally. Over the next decade, the medusa and her maedar mate defended their new home and used the slain intruders for food. To further protect themselves, Samanthiss and Vorlon used various magics to grow a thorny thicket around the vineyards, further segregating it with a row of trees. They also summoned creatures to act as eyes in the sky, guards, and muscle.
However, the winery's rightful owner, Shauna Morden of Ravens Bluff, discovered its existence after her father Charles Morden's death circa the . She renovated and reopened the Tavern of the Garden and was interested in using a family-owned winery. The young woman hired a group of capable adventurers of the Living City to investigate the presumably abandoned winery and its condition and establish a dialogue or partnership with its keepers, if there were any.
When the adventurers reached Dragon Falls, they met the proprietor of the local Tavern of the Flagon Dragon and found out that the winery was supplying the establishment with cheap but quality wine and that the hermits who ran the winery had few other interactions with the locals. The group also met a local hero and druid defender, Keldar of the Forest, who knew of Samanthiss's nature but did not consider the medusa and maedar to be disruptive to the natural balance and let them be. Subsequently, adventurers established a dialogue with the medusae, despite Vorlon's misguided attempt to let the adventurers perish in a harpy encounter. Subsequently, the Morden Winery was returned to the Morden family, and, by some accounts, the maedar vintner was allowed to run the business; by others, the medusas were slain. Larn was believed to have been released from the decade of being a statue. In one account of the events, Samanthiss and her mate were so grateful for the adventurers' understanding they eagerly met with Shauna Morden and, when they were satisfied with the agreement that would let them work the winery in peace, they gifted the adventurers with copies of the Books of the Master Winemaker, as well as several other precious enchanted items and exotic precious wines.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Medusae
Category:Greater medusae
Category:Wizards
Category:Wizards (2e)
Category:Vintners
Category:Inhabitants of Toril
Category:Inhabitants of Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Northeast Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Interior Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of the Cold Lands
Category:Inhabitants of the Bloodstone Lands
Category:Inhabitants of the Vast
Category:Inhabitants of the Eastern Heartlands
Category:Inhabitants of Dragon Falls
Category:Inhabitants of the Morden Winery