Ves Meliam

An archaeologist trained by and working with the Guild. Current home base is Ilbidor. Also a Druid.

## Silvestra “Ves” Meliam

### Relatives

Mother - Haniel MeliamFather - Francis Meliam (deceased)

5 sisters - Alena, Bridget, Teresa, Francene, Corinne

## Stats

Languages spoken: Common, Elvish, Celestial, Undercommon, Druidic

Tool proficiencies: Cartographers' Tools; Herbalism Kit

Skill Proficiencies: History (expertise); Insight; Nature; Perception; Religion; Sleight of Hand; Survival

Feats: Observant

Spell save DC: 16

## Appearance

Tall, but not the tallest of her sisters (Teresa is 6'1" and Corinne fully grown will be 6'4"). Oval shaped face, soft cheeks. Crook in her nose from where Alena broke it when they were children and it didn't set right. Thin eyes, a deep emerald green in colour but appears to shift in the light. Long eyelashes. Wide lips. Thick, black hair in many braids, some with bells and ribbons and flowers tied in. Olive skin.

Thin, not particularly muscular but enough to show she's active. Long fingers, usually dirty. Nails which are definitely bitten.

Usually wears comfortable clothing, hide armour. Wears her scimitar and shield across her back. Has a belt with pockets and patches attached to it. Has no idea what is in most of the pockets. Has wraps around her feet because she doesn't like shoes, but will wear shoes when she has to. A medallion around her neck - a green circle with pale swirls on it in no particular pattern.

## Background

Born during a solar eclipse, Silvestra - more commonly known as Ves - is the second of the six Meliam sisters.  Her mother was an Elvish high priest at the temple of Silvanus in their small rural town and her father a human gardener and the eight of them lived in the small house attached to the temple. She and her sisters - Alena, Bridget, Teresa, Francene and Corinne - spent their childhood happy and free range, exploring the forest behind the town and helping their mother in the temple and their father in the grounds.

Ves loved her sisters dearly but they were sometimes too much for her and she would break off from the group to play on her own. Once Francene was born it happened less - the two were as thick as thieves - but Ves continued to need time on her own, away from her many sisters, to recharge. They were exhausting, at times. She frustrated her mother and father to no end with her disappearances and quiet, absent minded nature that meant when they asked where she'd been or what she'd been doing, she often had no answer for them, just a smile and a vague, "the forest told me to follow, so I did."

Ves thought her mother would be more pleased the forest was talking to her. Well - not talking exactly. She did hear some whispers as she played in the woods, but it was more that she'd be doing something, and then something would catch her eye, and she'd feel a nudge, and she'd know the forest wanted her to move deeper, so she would. Anyway, her mother had been telling her since she was small that Silvestra was named for the Oakfather, the god of nature and the forests, and one day she would join her mother as his priest in the temple. Ves therefore thought her mother would be more impressed that she'd been communing with the forests.

She was 12 she found the ruins. She had left Alena bossing the younger children about, their father distracted by newborn Corinne, and ventured far into the woods behind her house, far beyond the oak grove they often played in. She roamed for what seemed like hours, stumbling over logs and around great trees, walking deeper and deeper in. Every time she thought she should turn back, a wind would blow and move a branch out of the way, or she'd hear the burble of a stream, or a squirrel would chirp from a nearby tree and she would continue on.

Eventually, she came across a clearing. It was beautiful, idyllic. Sun streamed through the dappled branches and the grass was overgrown and verdant, and colourful wildflowers grew in patches. In the centre of the clearing, there was an old tree, and around that, the ruins of an old building. Ves took to investigating it immediately. She looked at the structure, the rocks, the carving in the tree, the way the plants had overgrown up and around it as if they had been part of the initial structure. She dug through the mud and found evidence of the temple that had been here - a burnished candlestick, part of an old pot and a carved wooden symbol - the head of a unicorn. It was as she pulled this last out of the ground and began to brush the dirt off that she met the dryad.

The dryad lived in the tree in the centre of the ruin and wanted to know how Ves had found her home. Honestly, Ves told her that the forest had told her how to get here, which the dryad was not expecting much. Ves showed her the things she had found and asked if she knew what used to be here. The dryad told her it used to be a place to show dedication to the Forest Queen but it had fallen into obscurity and disrepair over the years as people moved towards other faiths. Ves was fascinated, and asked the dryad to tell her more and more about the ruins and what had happened to them. The dryad was confused but flattered by the interest and relatively certain that the child meant no harm and so indulged her.

Ves had to return home before long, but the dryad promised if she came back she'd tell her more. She made a wildflower bloom and gave it to Ves as promise, and Ves asked if she could learn to do that as well. "Maybe," the dryad said, and vanished back into her tree.

Haniel and Francis were furious when Ves returned, and she was banned from leaving the temple grounds for a month. Throughout that month, Ves played with her sisters and helped in the gardens and noticed that the flower never seemed to wilt. When she eventually could go back to the clearing, the dryad was there and told her more about the Forest Queen and began to teach her small tricks.

As Ves grew older, she returned to the clearing when she could and her power began to grow. She paid less and less attention to her mother's lessons about Silvanus and began to chafe at his - and Haniel's - strictness and unforgiving nature. The things she learnt with the dryad were so much more fun. They delighted in nature and what it could do, there wasn't this seemingly arbitrary, "you must do this, you must do that, I am lord of all and must be obeyed."

At 17, Ves announced she going to leave on her 18th birthday. She didn't want to be a priest of Silvanus, she wanted to explore the world and find new ruins and new people to teach her things. Haniel laughed to begin with, sure that Ves was joking, but once she realised she was being serious, began to grow angry. "How dare you?" Haniel yelled, "how dare you? I raised you to be his follower!"

"I don't want to be his follower," Ves replied. "I don't want to stay here in this little village all my life and guard the trees. I want to see the world."

"If you don't want to be his follower, you can leave right now!" Haniel said. "I won't have dissenters living in my home."

Francene and Corinne begged Ves not to go, but she packed her bag that night and left home. She and her mother had never been close and had fought like many teenage girls and their mothers do, but she didn't think she'd actually be thrown out. She went to the clearing that night, where she sat against the tree and cried. The dryad came out to comfort her, after a while. "Shh, my child," she said. "This is for the best, you'll see."

"How?" Ves sobbed. "I have no home, no money, nowhere to go. What do I do now?"

"It is like you told me when we first met. The forest will guide you."

And guide her the forest did. The next morning, Ves dried her eyes, said goodbye to the dryad and walked out of the clearing in the opposite direction of her village. She emerged on the other side to find a town where - fortuitously - a drow elf named Kinvar Dhalmass was looking for people to join an expedition, to discover lost tombs in the moorlands. Ves signed up and has not looked back since. Kinvar trained her up as a prime archaeologist, and set her off to find her own expeditions. On one of her first digs with Kinvar, after she had first gotten his attention with her potential, she found a chest that contained 6 medallions, each green with pale swirls on them. Kinvar said they were worthless, far more interested in the rings and pendants in the chest, and she could keep them if she wanted, so she did. She kept one for herself, and sent the other 5 to her sisters, with letters that said she was sorry for leaving like she did, but she still loved them and their parents very much and she thought of them daily.

Her sisters wrote back to her after a time, first Alena and Teresa, then Francene, then Corinne, then finally Bridget. They each said that they missed her, too, and that their mother was still very angry. Alena said she was hoping to leave for the Big City nearby soon, to train as a guard there and she was excited to leave. Francene told her about the new places she'd found in the woods and the new games she was playing. Corinne - obviously dictated and written by their father - said she loved her very very much and the necklace was soooo pretty and she was going to wear it every day. Teresa wrote that Haniel had turned her attentions to Bridget since she had left. Bridget didn't write much of anything, but expressed her gratitude for the pendant and said things were different now she was away.

In the first few years after she left, Ves returned to her village every couple of months to see her family, and then to the City to see Alena. Her mother was always cold to her and Bridget grew colder as well as time went on.

When Ves was 22, her father died while she was in the middle of an expedition, and she didn't hear until a month later when she returned to the place she was currently calling home. She rushed back to the village to find she had - of course - missed the funeral. Haniel was worse to her than usual. "Couldn't even come backto say goodbye to your father, could you?" She sneered.

"I - I would have!" Ves protested. "I was away, I only just found out. Where - where did you bury him?"

"In the yard." Haniel said.

"May I see him?" Ves asked.

"No. He's buried in consecrated grounds - for followers of the Oakfather only. Having a non-believer there would disturb it. You can't go. In fact, it might be better for you to stay away from here entirely. Your father was the only one that wanted you back in the first place. You're no daughter of mine anymore. It was probably his horror at what you've become that killed him."

Ves was heartbroken. She quietly acknowledged her mother's words and left the home she grew up in, never to return again. After a few months, her younger sisters wrote and asked by she hadn't been writing or visiting, and Ves replied that their mother was angry with her and she thought her sisters were as well. They assured her they were not, but agreed that it would be for the best if she didn't return for now.

For the last 6 years, Ves has been continuing her archaeological studies, and communing with the forests where she can. The forest always seems happy to see her, no matter how long she has been away and she takes comfort in that. She's still in touch with her sisters and not her mother, but she's less hurt by that than she used to be. She's continuing to find new places and temples and learn about the past, and maybe one day she'll go home. Maybe.

## Personality

Traps don't make me nervous. Idiots who trigger traps make me nervous. I have no qualms about stealing from the dead. I love a good puzzle or mystery. I'm happier in a dusty old tomb than I am in the centres of civilisation.

Fairly meek and quiet. Obliging but absent minded. Deeply cares for her family and writes letters to her sisters and sends them trinkets everywhere she goes. Doesn't really like attention much. Opinionated but doesn't like causing a fuss so will bow to pressure. If she could spend the rest of her life adventuring through tombs on her own, she would.

I have a secret fear of some common wild animal ― and in my work, I see them everywhere. (it's spiders)

Can be super passive aggressive, and also aggressive aggressive, when offended. Something of a coward, doesn't like confrontation much. An iffy and occasionally openly disdainful relationship with organised religion and the religious, especially those who follow Silvanus. Forgetful. Doesn't suffer fools gladly.

## Relationships

* **Kinvar Dhalmass** - A Drow Archaeologist who Ves apprenticed under. Member of the Guild, resident in Ilbidor.
* **Melchior and Juliotte Fieffer** - Wealthy human siblings who live in Ilbidor. Ves' frequent patrons, for the past 4 years, on private digs for the benefit of their museum. Ves is madly in love with Juliotte but hasn't told her.

### The Ziggurats

#### Breena

Breena and Ves have been friends since Ves arrived on Ilbidor 11 years ago. They are close and understand each other well. Ves frequently tried to encourage Breena to leave the Guard and follow her passion for potion making, and so was thrilled when she did so and joined the group on their adventures. Ves sees Breena as an additional sister and feels comfortable expressing herself around Breena in a way she would not with the others she has recently met.

#### Leoven

Ves and Leo bonded over their mutual love of nature and being raised by Elves. They have similar laid back personalities and work well together, as they learnt in the druidic forges on Khaldaria. However, Ves sees in Leo a lot of what she ran away from and what she could have been had she stayed, and this is very confusing for her.

#### Rocky

Ves and Rocky understand each other on a level that can only come with two people who just want to make others happy. Ves appreciates Rocky's good humour and can do attitude and that he is willing to go along with some of her sillier suggestions. In some ways she sees Rocky as an additional sister as well and she looks out for him and treats him like she does her younger sisters back home.

#### Narko

Ves was the first person Narko let ride on his back. They have a special relationship. Ves likes that Narko will take the lead and make decisions so that she doesn't have to. She thinks he could probably stand to loosen up a bit though.

### Family

* **Haniel Meliam** - Ves’ mother. A wood elf, and the head cleric at the village temple to Silvanus, the Oakfather. They don't get on.
* **Alena Meliam** - Ves’ only elder sister. 31 years old. Alena moved out of home when she was 23, and is currently a member of the City Guard in Ramsdale. She sends money back to her family when she can.
	+ Talios Fahren- Alena's husband, human.
	+ Peony Meliam-Fahren - Alena’s daughter, Ves’ niece. 3 years old.
* **Bridget Meliam** - 3rd Meliam daughter. 25 years old. Teresa’s twin. Ves and Bridget have rarely gotten on. Took over as trainee cleric when Ves left.
* **Teresa Meliam** - 4th Meliam daughter. 25 years old. Bridget’s twin. Very devout. Lives with Alena in Ramsdale.
* **Francene Meliam** - 5th Meliam daughter. 23 years old. Ves' favourite sister.
* **Corinne Meliam** - 6th (and last) Meliam daughter. 16 years old. Mostly an unknown to Ves as they haven't seen each other in person since Corinne was 10.
* **Francis Meliam** (deceased) - Ves’ father. Human. He died when Ves was 22 (6 years ago). The last time she returned to the village was just after his death.