Sylvette Marion

Official Sylvette art by Bee.

Sylvette Marion is an antagonist from The Rising Dawn Chapter 5: A Merchant's Revenge, and a figure from Cassian's past. She is a merchant from the Shaiste town of Firesse and was first glimpsed in the first part of Chapter 4: Carnival of the Damned.

BEWARE! **SPOILERS BELOW**!

### **Appearance**

She is around 5ft7, very slight with few curves and lots of sharp edges. Her hair is white, straight and very long, usually worn all gathered back in a high ponytail and accessorised with gold and ruby drop earrings. The rest of her outfit is simple but classy - black jodhpurs and long boots with a form fitting red velvet jacket and some fine leather pauldrons and chest armour which looks mostly decorative. Even when travelling she keeps her makeup pristine to accentuate her grey eyes. She carries herself with grace and an air of arrogance, seemingly bored with everything.

### **Kidnapping**

Sylvette's introduction is on a ship on the Shaiste lake, where Cassian recognises her voice from his past whilst he is locked up inside of a covered cart, having been kidnapped by Sylvette's men for the money being offered by his parents for his safe return. She plans on returning him to Mirrortail and taking the 2000 gold for herself.

However, Cassian quickly puts his foot in it by revealing that he is responsible for ruining Sylvette's reputation a few years earlier after meeting her in disguise at a party in Mirrortail, going by the name 'Nero Monti'. Learning that Sylvette was cheating on her wife Melissa, he spread it around as a rumor along with several accusations that were not true, including that she was involved in black market smuggling. Despite the fact she travels on a similar enchanted vessel to the one the Dawnbringers stole from the smugglers in Sanskra, she insists she has never had any connection with smuggling.

Cassian's rumor-milling backfired after he learned that Sylvette was in Mirrortail to do a trade deal with his parents, which she explains was worth 10,000 gold to the Firesse Merchant's Guild. Cassian's mother rejected the deal after hearing the rumours, word reaching back to Firesse and getting her cast out of the guild entirely, still owing the money to them as a debt. Sylvette also got a divorce following the rumors.

Sylvette loses her temper with him after the revelation and has her men rough him up, before later snapping and stabbing him in the shoulder. She applies an arcane Mark of the Prisoner spellwrought tattoo to his neck, which will harm him if he gets too far from her and cannot be removed until her conditions are met. After the party rescue him, she finds them and demands they be her champions in a quest that would see her made the new Lake Lord of Firesse, saying she will consider his debt to her repaid if they do so.

### **Relationships**

**Cassian**

Sylvette and Cassian have an antagonistic relationship fuelled by his behaviour in the past. Despite this, they clearly have the potential to be friends. Cassian comments that they got along well when he first met her, until she spilled her secret and he decided to use it against her to alleviate his boredom with his long uneventful existence as an elf.

**Ingrid Fischer**

Ingrid is a young woman who is travelling with Sylvette. She is sweet and kind, aiding Cassian when he is left alone in Sylvette's camp and chatting with him, and later the rest of the party. She insists that Sylvette's temper is better than it used to be and the two appear to have a romantic connection. She confirms that Sylvette has an official contract with the Eisenstarke Arms Guild, rather than stealing it.

**Mikhail**

Mikhail is a paladin seemingly in Sylvette's service. He and her seem to be on equal footing, although he does get frustrated with her when she lashes out unneccessarily at Cassian. He has divine healing, which he uses after Sylvette stabs Cassian, to heal the injury. He and Ingrid are clearly quite close too, as he does not need to ask before carrying her to the Lyra Bird so she doesn't have to get wet in the lake.