Taja Inverno

> "*...I trust you to take the right course of action, and to remember what we've talked about. Be cautious, kitten.*"
> ― Taja, reminding Silaqui of her softer side as the latter prepares to take command of the Alouzen resistance
>
>

## Taja Inverno

* Autumn's Art
* Polaris' Art

## Character Information

### Affiliations

Silaqui (girlfriend) the party (friends), grandmother, Eric (cousin), other cousins, Dorian (father), Felicia (mother), Mount Aislah/Mon Hiásla Monastery (teachers/friends/colleagues), Shen Fosa (colleague)

### Aliases/Nicknames

Person Hadoo, birb

**Master Taja Inverno** is a harpy monk/cleric trained in the Way of the Kensei, and one of the primary protagonists of the first Anevandos campaign. She is played by Polaris.

## Background

Taja was born in the care of the Mon Hiásla Monastery of Chalmentum, and grew up training in its ways with less contact to the outside world than most harpies. Though she excelled in martial combat with her quarterstaff and held a good standing in the community, the girl sometimes chafed under her secluded lifestyle and struggled with its religious aspects.

Shortly after her 11th birthday, she convinced her masters that she could handle the traditional pilgrimage a year early, and set off with intent to abandon the faith entirely if she couldn't find peace. Despite failing in this goal, Taja had an epiphany about her spiritual ennui, deciding that a change of setting and pace by "extending" the scope of her pilgrimage could help. To this end, she eventually befriended a ship captain in Destuan, was inspired to visit Tundraga during a stay in Viridia Gardens, and earned her passage on several ships through hunting and labor, meeting her future allies on the final leg of the journey to Arkhold.

## In the series

### Infestation of Snowcreek

After deciding to travel along with the party for extra safety, Taja later assisted them with the fight against and investigation of the centipede nest below Snowcreek. Most notably, she flew through the subterranean environment alone in order to scout for the rest, though this came at the expense of discomfort from the cramped environment and nearly being captured by Nuul. Later into their underground travels, she fled in a panicked attempt to find an escape route when the party was confronted by Jakois Mustele and his escorts, though the conflict was over quickly enough that she only succeeded in returning to non-lethally shoot a soldier (and advocate for his safe passage up). After the battle against the Very Hungry Centipede, in which she simply stayed on a ledge and contributed to its death with her longbow, she kept the creature's stinger as proof for the leaders aboveground, where she failed to restrain Grigore Ardelean several times as he resisted arrest. When the party was asked to leave Snowcreek by Amales Mustele, she remained with them out of obligation to see the various crimes through with a higher court.

### The Demon Cult

In the Royal Builders' Hills, on the way to Chorofeyre, Taja journeyed along with Silaqui one night to gain information on a mysterious tower they spotted after an attack from a barghest. Seeing Atonus Sepa and K study a curious hammer, she managed to carry Silaqui up to the window to judge for herself. The two concluded that the tower's residents weren't a threat and returned to the party's camp undetected, where she learned a little about Silaqui's past and soon fell asleep near her. She would later join the party in helping Atonus get the Miracle Hammer back from a group of cultists. Despite her fear and relative inexperience, she played a much more involved role in this battle than the last, recklessly swooping onto the leader and slowing down his devil-summoning ritual while dodging or parrying the majority of the cultist mob's attacks. The sustained effort of this combat and pursuit of the Barghest very nearly killed her, leading her to beg Grigore for aid. Afterwards, Taja managed to Command the Barghest to grovel with her racial magic, ensuring its speedy death at the hands of Liecen Varonos. Relieved to be alive thanks to the party's noble efforts, she warmed to them as a result, praising their prowess and cooking the whole lot brunch at K's house the next day (after sleeping in with Mirabel Nox on her lap due to exhaustion).

### Short-Lived Downtime

When they reached Chorofeyre at last, Taja joined the meetings over the events at Snowcreek and commissioned a Chalmentian chain whip from a blacksmith, but largely spent her time exploring the books on local geography and history in the city's library. She later spoke with Mirabel and Silaqui regarding a job from the government to investigate an ithre smuggling ring in the nearby mining town of Milton, feeling unsure of whether to join despite her growing respect for the party. Though all three agreed that they had their reservations about the task, Mirabel felt a duty to keep watch on Grigore (who would be taking up the offer), and so Taja agreed to help in this endeavor. Following the recommendation of a woman she had met in the city, she encouraged them to try fruit tea from the Berrybush Tea Rooms, unaware that Cornelius Durret would spike their drinks with ithre. Experiencing a vivid nightmare of suffocating in a collapsing cave that night, she managed to throw up most of the ithre and assisted some of the others with their own poisonings, while Grigore procured medical attention via Sending. They chased Cornelius to Milton in Mirabel's wagon shortly after being treated, causing Taja to miss out on her chain whip, a storyteller coming to the library that day, and a tea date with the woman and her son.

### Tracking the Ithre

In Milton, she again scouted for the party after they learned that suspicious things had been happening in the town's mine, finding various monsters and general disrepair in the upper levels. When the town's infamous lord, Damin Argyre, invited the party to dinner at his home, she proved fairly helpful with the negotiations but was distressed and at a loss for what to do when Mirabel was magically charmed into staying at his house for the night (against the party's stated desires and Mirabel's own withdrawn personality). Removing an extremely suspicious and confrontational Grigore from the premises, hoping to keep them from engaging Argyre with Mirabel still charmed, she encouraged Silaqui and the rest of the party to keep an eye on the kobold that night and left with Grigore to investigate the mines under cover of darkness. They didn't actually make it in before needing to return when word reached them that Mirabel had been captured by Argyre (and subsequently escaped, along with several other female captives, to subdue him). Taja's failure to help with the charm or prevent the kidnapping compelled her to be more careful, though it would be far from her last regret in this field.

Later on, after capturing Cornelius, the party infiltrated the mines and found an entrance to the Underdark, where the smuggling of ithre was said to originate. Though somewhat out of her element with the investigation, she helped them fight off a cloaker outside the Rats' Nest, and learned after some fruitless searching inside that her ki was the key to opening a chest that a gnome had approached the party for help with. Inside, to her shock, was a long dead but well-preserved harpy in the dress of a master, with a single shining blue feather on the corpse which the gnome quickly snatched. She attempted to convince him (actually a disguised Vhudelk) to leave the body with her rather than sell it, resorting to a threat with her quarterstaff, but was charmed by his magic lens and forced to pursue Grigore (who was carrying away the chest/coffin with its contents) outside of town, though her stillness of mind at least allowed her not to overtake him. Once Vhudelk was subdued and the charm's effect ended, she was given the feather back by two Underdark gnomes who had helped catch him. The visions she saw (of an unknown adventuring party and the harpy's last moments channeling ki into his feather), along with a feeling that the master had intended it as a boon for other monks, convinced her to keep it close. With a bit of help from Silaqui, she then buried his coffin outside of town, performing a small rite to his memory.

### The Smuggling Ring

A famous criminal in the region soon approached the party to provide direction towards the ring's base, believing that his brother had gone too far by participating in it. They made their way further into the winding and dangerous caves with Taja's flight and Atonus' environmental magic helping them to navigate (mostly the latter), eventually reaching a pool with underwater boulders blocking a path forward. Having neither the raw strength nor the magical prowess to move or destroy the boulders, Taja exited the pool in hopes of drying off her wings. Unfortunately, three inaids showed up shortly afterwards, paralyzing some of the party members that were in or entering the water with their gazes, and instantly incapacitating Grigore (who was most distant from the others due to moving the last rock). Being unable to fly, she jumped back in to engage the farthest inaid that she could reach, but was paralyzed as well and left unable to aid Grigore before he suddenly drowned (despite Einkill's blessing and Silaqui's attempt to reach him). Unaware that he had actually died, Taja helped kill the remaining inaids as Silaqui dragged Grigore towards shore and then gave up the only diamond in their possession (which had served to protect her as a magic item), allowing Einkill to cast Revivify and restore him to life.

As she comforted Mirabel, who had taken his momentary death hard, Taja realized that she had grown quite attached to her allies in a way she'd never experienced before, and also needed to find a way to protect them more readily lest she lose someone close for good. This sparked a new sense of spiritual purpose in her, but there was little time for reflection due to the party being attacked by a courier of illicit goods. Mirabel quickly trivialized her ambush by turning her into a frog, so Taja and the others engaged the two inaids that were summoned with much more care and distance. Afterwards, she had no qualms about helping the others incapacitate and interrogate 'Mindorl', and though she couldn't help but regret the courier's ensuing death she brushed it off as justified. The party took an opportunity to recover in the cave, too weary to continue without. It was later implied that Taja approached Einkill about his work and faith during this rest, but the details of their conversation were left unclear.

Once they were ready, they continued forward into the unknown, Taja taking the lead alongside Silaqui in hopes of helping to parry a sudden attack. Instead, the two were entangled by magical vines as the party entered a small cave that served as the smuggling ring's base of operations, where Taja recognized a fellow harpy monk: Paya Praxél. Though she initially aimed to bring her former colleague down, Einkill banished Paya shortly into the fight and Grigore cut her out of the vines, allowing Taja to engage and occasionally stun a group of yeth hounds commanded by the Underdark criminal's brother. In the process, she was thoroughly exhausted and hurt greatly by a cloud of sickly light that had lingered after its caster's defeat, though she nonetheless killed the hounds alongside the party. As they prepared for Paya emerging from banishment, however, Mirabel (who had been frightened by a hound and safely spent the fight shooting from afar) was knocked out by a strange creature that no one had previously seen. Taja was nearly overcome with rage from this second failure, but caught herself upon seeing Einkill resuscitate her and instead attempted to shoot the attacker. With Paya emerging from the pocket dimension, Taja recklessly engaged her despite low vitality and exhaustion limiting her movement, managing to dodge the other's attacks until she underestimated her opponent's ability to bounce back from fear inflicted by Grigore. Due to this misstep, she succumbed to Paya's magical poisoned daggers, falling unconscious. By this time, however, Paya was the only combatant left and both Einkill and Grigore were nearby to heal her, eliciting a slurred apology. Taja rose in time to see Silaqui incapacitate the ring's remaining operative, then flew over the pit in the room to restrain the monk.

### Purpose

It was at this point that she heard a weak, familiar voice calling her name from behind a curtain they hadn't seen. She trotted over and pulled it back to discover other monks that she recognized: a trio of battered, dirty, traumatized and slightly crippled harpies named Ramón, Kalista and Matilde, all behind bars. She asked them what Paya had done, beginning to dread the implications of their presence, and Ramón explained that the three had come from Chalmentum to find the remains of the first harpy monk, lured by Paya into capture and slavery for the ring's purposes. He then requested that Taja privately check the crates littered around the room, but she first focused on carrying the three across the pit to have Einkill heal their wounds (once Silaqui was done picking the lock and freeing them). With this accomplished, she looked inside one of the containers and was utterly horrified to find shattered harpy eggs, traces of ithre, and residue from the partly magical race that had been harvested for its production. Silaqui gave her condolences, though this did little to curb a frantic search through the rest of the crates, none of which held untouched eggs. Somehow, Taja managed to keep from breaking down, instead slashing Paya's throat apart and taking a single broken egg as proof.

The party regrouped with their sole captive and the three slightly healthier harpies in tow, eventually reaching the Rats' Nest where Taja was quick to confront their informant. Though sympathetic to what she had learned, Marosi asked the party to leave his brother with him, citing mental health issues as the source of Engan's sins. He was eventually convinced that incarceration would be a better fate, but before they could leave, he informed them that a human woman had been a major player in the smuggling operation, and accepted Taja's request that he find a way to let them know of updates on her identity or location. Once outside, Ramón asked her about the whereabouts of the harpy corpse she'd obtained, and they dug up the coffin with the master monk preserved inside for the monastery. At the same time, she offered the three his ki-infused feather with an explanation of what had occurred, prompting a conversation between them in which she admitted to failing her pilgrimage, finally finding spiritual direction through trying to protect lives, and still feeling unworthy to return. Ramón, initially wondering why she wouldn't want to return with them, suggested that she had already found what a pilgrimage was meant to accomplish, reminding her that the master monk they were now carrying home had never completed his either. Faced with this, she informed them that she'd decide after their job was officially done.

### Prep and Ceremony

Later that day, the group made it back up to Milton, where they picked up Cornelius and finally returned to Chorofeyre 3 hours later (Taja easily nodding off on the wagon ride there, following more talk with Einkill). After helping to turn in criminals and knowledge about ithre smuggling to the government, receiving her reward, and securing medical attention and lodgings at the castle for her fellow monks, Taja couldn't help but collapse into a bed from exhaustion. The next midday, she was eventually roused by Einkill after a half-conscious swipe at him and quite a bit of volume escalation, learning that the other harpies had chosen her room to sleep in. Her grumbles were quickly replaced by nervous energy as the two set out, with Einkill correctly divining (or perhaps just guessing) that she would best serve Roltver out of the various aspects and finding a suitable church nearby. Einkill introduced her as a new hopeful to the young priest they encountered, and Taja made her simple case for becoming a cleric despite being so nervous now that she stammered the entire speech. The priest, undeterred, showed her a simple list of Roltver's principles and the vows she would take, with each fitting her recent experiences so well that her doubts were largely dispelled. After being anointed, agreeing to the vows, and receiving a ceremonial dedication, Taja was successfully inducted into Roltver's service as a cleric of the protection domain and asked to call on Brother Rotu, Einkill or their shared deity whenever she needed guidance. The two left, with Taja promising him to do her best, and briefly hugging Einkill once they were outside. She apologized for seeing the dwarf as an oaf, then thanked him for pulling through in the end. He assured her that no thanks were needed.

The remainder of the day was spent checking in with the monks, resolving loose ends (including her chain whip and the tea woman), purchasing various materials as preventative measures and making sure that the party was lively and well. Back at the castle when all was said and done, Kalista informed her that they were slowly recovering from the trauma, and that the mating Paya had forced them to engage in had left her with one egg to come. Taja assured her that they'd have the quickest boat back as possible, with comfortable enough conditions to see to her if need be, earning Kalista's appreciation. Late that night, however, Taja was unable to sleep despite her continuing exhaustion, and took a moment to apologize (knowing that at least Kalista was awake) for not lending their incarceration and rape the gravity it warranted. Acknowledging that her disgust with the ring's missing leader had quickly become murderous with time to process, Taja decided that neglecting the three in their time of need would itself be a great injustice and vowed to not only see them home safely, but make sure their suffering meant something. Though there was no reply, the settling of Kalista's bed eventually allowed her to rest.

### Shorter-Lived Downtime

The next morning, Taja recalled that the storyteller would return on certain days, including that one. She invited the group to join her in seeing him, finding to her surprise that Mirabel and Grigore were interested enough to go reserve seats at the library all day. Because of the large wait until afternoon, she then spent the first hour or two tenuously attempting to pray, opting to remain in her borrowed bedroom rather than go to a church the way Liecen and Einkill did. Though unsure of herself, the prayers allowed her to bless a small vial of water that she had picked up earlier, leaving her silently overjoyed. To celebrate, she headed out to spend time with the others, first coming across Atonus fishing at the city's harbor. He hardly took notice of her or her request to learn how to fish from him, though mimicking his conduct seemed to work well enough. She ended with no fish caught, but a vigorous pantomiming form that finally earned his approval as he quit the waters for the day. Running into Liecen on the way back, Taja learned that he was searching for a street girl he'd previously dealt with named [Spider], on behalf of her friend. Knowing that Silaqui had befriended the kids earlier, she offered to try finding the woman to gain her expertise, though her investigation went nowhere fast when it became clear that Silaqui had gone in the general direction of Milton hours earlier.

As she returned from her search, the party informed her that Argyre and several cultists had escaped from jail, making the search for Spider much more critical. She joined them, initially wanting to run into the church cellar where Spider was suspected to be held herself, but eventually conceding to have Einkill simply ask. He learned from Brother Rotu that she'd likely be in the Valor Vista Inn, and they headed there with a company of guards. Though Taja once again requested to be placed at the heart of the search, she was asked to remain outside and send in the cavalry if needed. Sure enough, Grigore quickly [informed her] that a small cult was inside, and so she led the charge into the inn, encouraging the guests to evacuate as a [fiend], [Yuan-Ti] and newly charmed Grigore emerged from the stairs. After stunning the incubus and watching him be [banished] by Einkill, she saw that her allies and the company of guards were handling the charm spells and remaining enemies. After employing her first cast of [Bless], she hurried downstairs to find the surrounded guard captain with Spider tied to a table and decided to focus on getting Spider out safely, ignoring Argyre cowering in a corner. Unfortunately, the blessing wasn't enough to prevent the captain from succumbing to the small crowd of cultists, though they luckily didn't finish him off as she applied magical disease-healing ointment to Spider and was distressed to see the girl's arms still afflicted by something. Cutting her free of the bonds, Taja managed to weave through most of the cultists' attacks with her and dragged the guard captain upstairs as well. She sustained quite a bit of damage in the process, but resuscitated him with [her newly-realized cantrip] and escaped to the first floor nonetheless.

Afterwards, with the fighting and Argyre's gruesome demise handled by the rest of her party, she returned Spider to the care of Wes Pommiliòne, who she'd correctly guessed was her father despite the girl's urchin-like ways. It was later revealed to her that the cult had cut her arms open and left ithre and bistre (a similar substance) in each as an experiment. Despite Taja's fears, Spider reported feeling much better and the only magical effect appeared to be unnatural vitality. She nonetheless encouraged Wes and the doctors to keep her close, and also encouraged Spider to keep her street dealings and government-affiliated privileges separate for her safety (having learned that the enchanted bag she used had belonged to Wes, and briefly fallen into the cult's hands). Though Spider mostly brushed off her advice, the girl thanked Taja for helping to save her life. With the commotion taken care of, the party realized that they could still catch the storyteller's final performance if they hurried, and so Taja retrieved the three monks for a bit of entertainment, finally hearing the tale of a half-elf who'd sought knowledge but ended up dabbling in the unknown and becoming fused with an Old One. After the event, she informed the group of her impending travel to Chalmentum, inviting them along, before retiring to the castle's guest room for the night.

Later, unwilling to sleep until she knew that Silaqui was safe, Taja was eventually visited by her. The two exchanged information on their respective days, and though Taja was reluctant to invite her given the woman's unfinished business, Silaqui insisted that she ought to cut her ties with Nuul and the two parted ways.

## Trivia

* Taja was the second player character in the series to multiclass, after Silaqui. The two later also became the first player characters to pursue a romantic relationship.
* She was the first player character to share a class with another member of the same party, in this case becoming a cleric like Einkill (though she focuses on the Protection domain while he cleaves to the Life domain).
* Despite being by far the youngest party member, Taja is roughly as tall as the other non-kobold party members at 5'3"/160cm (and is fairly tall for a harpy overall).