Dess

RP
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**Dess** is a player character in the Avernus campaign. She is a fast-talking changeling bardlock with a knack for showbiz, and she always takes her cut.

## Description

#### Physical

Dess is a changeling of many forms, but her natural visage is pale and elongated. She has colorless eyes and silver hair. In Avernus, she mutated to have leathery wings. A few of her transformations have included:

* Fabio (yes, that Fabio)
* a kind goliath who befriended a kid named Timmy during a performance
* Allan, an elderly elf man who is hard of hearing and orders milk at bars
* Sovereignty's twin
* Periwinkle Periwinkle, a human noblewoman
* a purple-horned rock-n-roll devil (who, notably, won an impromptu Elturel Idol)
* a small Loxodon therapist... (she insists she said 'elf' woman but the party all heard 'elephant' woman, sooo...)
* Archie, a young red dragonborn; fanboy and self-proclaimed son of Arkhan

#### Personality

Motivated by survival and money. Slowly opening her heart to the possibility that other people might be important sometimes, too.

## Biography

* Dessarina, named after the river Dessarin, spent her orphan childhood disguising herself as non-changeling children for a few nights at a time, to survive on the streets and experience living in a home
* She was rescued and raised by the pirate queen La
* During the party's teleportation into Avernus, Dess ended up on a detour through the Astral Plane; she met Excelsa, (an envoy of Ao the Overgod), who became her astral warlock patron

## Descent into Avernus

The Sideshow Slashers are summoned to Baldur's Gate, hired by the Flaming Fist to help "root out evil" within the city. They enter the Lower City looking for their contact Captain Zodge.

**EPISODE 1:** The party ignores every plot point and red flag while entering the city, focused entirely on following their paycheck. Dess leads an impromptu show to draw a crowd, hyping up the Lower City as a Fabio-esque ringleader. She helps Sovereignty recover from a mediocre sword performance by changing into a friendly goliath and doing crowdwork. When a member of the Flaming Fist arrives, Dess creates some theatrical privacy and changes into a gnome. The guard escorts them through the city gate. Dess uses disarmingly terrible math (and very high persuasion) to double the party's pay.

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> **Dr. DM:** “Does anyone have proficiency in history or religion?”
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> **Dess:** “Absolutely not. What am I, a cleric?”
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The guard sends them all on their way to the Elfsong Tavern to meet another contact with more information.

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> **Haro:** "Which way was this tavern again?”
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> **Dess:** “It was south, right?”
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> **Sov:** “Lower city, east docks!”
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> **Guard:** “Right! Lower city, east docks. Take that tiefling with you.”
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> **Dess:** “What tiefling?”
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> **Sov:** (the tiefling) “...really, Dess?”
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At the tavern, Dess changes into an elderly elf man to build rapport with the bartender. She uses minor illusion on her hand to show a dragon tattoo matching the one on their elusive contact, and when the bartender sees it, he reveals there are others with similar markings upstairs. Sovereignty stays by her side, helping sell the ruse as the elf's "caretaker."

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> **Dess:** “Come my child, my throat is parched, let’s go and get us a drink!”
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> **Sov:** “Just because you’re like this doesn’t mean I have to buy you drinks! That’s not how this works.”
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> **Dess:** “What, child? You know I’m deaf in my left ear!”
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Dess orders a warm milk and plays her flute. The party eventually tracks down their contact Tarina, who matches Dess with lies and tricks in a game of Baldur's Bones. Tarina eventually gives the party information on the Dead Three and the Vanthampur family's exclusive, sketchy bathhouse. She also offers to return some of the gold she won if the Sideshow Slashers will "take care of" some pirates who are after her. During combat with the pirates, Dess casts one of her infamous laughing spells:

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> **Dess:** "Why don't pirates shower before walking the plank? They just wash up on shore later!"
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Despite the collateral damage from the fight, Dess negotiates free rooms for the party. She also requests earplug wax for the ambient noise. Caretaker Sov then gingerly carries elderly Dess upstairs bridal style, and the party rests.

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> **Sov:** “Dess did you actually use the wax they brought up to your room, or did you just *ask* for it?”
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> **Dess:** “Oh you know *me,* I just asked for it!”
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The next morning, Dess molds the unused beeswax into a little bee for Sovereignty. She then changes into the form of a beautiful human woman with illusory finery. She asks the barkeep for free rope until he insists they all leave. Dess bluffs her way into the Vanthampur bathhouse as wealthy noblewoman "Periwinkle Periwinkle." An attendant shows her and the party to the robes and baths, promising Periwinkle a VIP massage. Dess later bluffs to a masseuse to keep the party together. ("Oh, it's one of *those* massages?" "It is *now!*")

**EPISODE 2:** In the tunnels of the cultists' hideout, Dess calls for a team huddle when the Sideshow Slashers encounter Fenris' old friend, also accompanied by a wizard. She notes it might be helpful to have more people in the group since they left Giggles behind, but insists that the new duo prove their skills.

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> **Dess:** “I need to be impressed! Right now! I’m not moving another step. My friends are important people!”
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She enjoys some illusory popcorn during Anatoly's spectacle, but is later unsettled by Judgment's demonstration of necromancy.

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> **Judgment:** (after raising undead) “You said you wanted to see a show!”
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> **Dess:** (hiding behind Sovereignty) “I didn’t mean like that!”
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> **Judgment:** “Everything’s perfectly fine.”
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> **Dess:** “Yeah, well, I just met you like *10 minutes ago,* sooo.”
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When the party stumbles into the living quarters of some sleeping cultists, Four silently carries Dess around the room so she can kill them with her rapier. Dess also finds a bag of magical beans in the wrappings of a mummified corpse. After more exploring and combat, the party divvies up treasure left by Mortlock Vanthampur—including a white Mask of the Chromatic Dragon that Dess keeps in her bean bag. Judgment warns her not to show it to anyone.

**EPISODE 3:** The party emerges from the dungeon to find a massacre in the bathhouse, including the body of their lookout Giggles. The room is also full of living cultists that Dess identifies as wearing masks of Tiamat.

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> **Dess:** "Try to get Giggles out of the fray. If you bring him back, I can heal him.”
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> **Four:** “Giggles is gone.”
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> **Dess:** “Oh. Is he *dead* dead?”
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> **Four:** “Indeed.”
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> **Dess:** “Oh... well, ok. Maybe check the body then, take his stuff. He served us well.”
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She takes a feather from Giggles' body and keeps it in her hat. One of the cultists eyes Dess' bag where the mask is hidden. He gestures to the corpses — "A gift, from Lord Arkhan to you" — before demanding back the contents of Tiamat's hoard.

The next morning, the party puts on a show honoring Giggles' memory. They head to the docks to find another Vanthampur brother, but are intercepted by a pixie dust salesman. Dess turns into a Locathah to prank Haro and Judgment while they are accidentally high.

More notes to come!! Working thru backlog.

Dess and Sovereignty return to Baldur's Gate to begin touring on their new theatre ship, searching for cults to liberate and orphans to save along the way; Dess also plans to track down La's orphaned daughter
## Notable Inventory

* Flute
* Golden spellcasting lyre
* Mask of the Chromatic Dragon (given to Anatoly?)
* Magic beans (notable uses: a bulette that ate through a room of cultists; an aggressive animated statue; a 60ft pyramid engraved with the message "The Sideshow Slashers were here")

## Trivia

* She carries a feather from the kenku Giggles, a former member of The Sideshow Slashers
* Her favorite song is *99 Potions of Greater Healing on the Wall*