Vishara

Vishara, titled the Arm of Mielikki, was a half-elf warrior priestess of Mielikki operating in Cormanthor in the late 14 century DR.

Description
Aged 34 years, Vishara was of average height if she was a human, standing tall and weighing. Her hair was auburn-blonde in hue, but she cut it short on top except for a long ponytail in back. To complete her "tough" look, she donned spiked leather armor and blades.

History
Vishara was born in Battledale circa 1338 DR to a human mother and an elf father, and grew up an outsider to both their worlds. Her father soon followed the Retreat of the elves to Evermeet (begun in 1344 DR and peaking in 1355 DR), abandoning his young daughter and her mother, who worked too hard to pay much attention to her. It seemed no one gave a damn what Vishara did with her life, and so neither did she. As a youth, Vishara drifted aimlessly until her mother, in an effort to be rid of her, pushed her into the church of Mielikki. Free at last, her mother focused wholly on her own life and took no more interest in her daughter.

The church of Mielikki was more of a home than Vishara had ever known. Initially, Vishara trained as a paladin; she did relatively well, but lacked ambition beyond a desire to be noticed for something. Later, she came to see the Lady of the Forest as like a surrogate mother, and switched to studying as a cleric, developing a variety of skills but still no focus or direction. She proved to be militant priest and acted harshly in defense of the Cormanthor woodlands. Eventually having enough of this, senior priests channeled Vishara into the path of a divine disciple, so that she might serve Mielikki more directly.

But then Nashyim of the Desolated Wood, a volodni blightlord of Talona and servant of the Rotting Man, invaded the forests of Cormanthor. There, Nashyim started to corrupt plants and animals alike, creating horrid blightspawned creatures. Facing this affront to nature, Vishara finally found her purpose in life: destroying this so-called "fiend" violating her home forest. With newfound fervor, she became a divine champion and launched a campaign against the Talontar blightlord. She gathered likeminded allies, their numbers swelling every tenday, and had taken the fight to the enemy by 1372 DR.

Personality
For once in her life, Vishara had purpose and the sense of doing something worthwhile and of achievement and belonging. Given her youth starved of such things, it was a powerful exhilarating feeling, one she steadily became addicted too. While she had doubts she could even win against the blightlord, she could not stop nor yield leadership of the campaign to someone else. Orders from church superiors could not dissuade her either. Even if she won, she would likely seek out a new foe to wage a campaign against to maintain her emotional high. Worse, it was feared she might subconscious delay any victory against the blightlord to avoid losing it. Hence, her superiors were advised to monitor her closely.

Abilities
Vishara was proficient in a variety of weapons, but focused on the scimitar, for it was the favored weapon of Mielikki. She dual-wielded it and a kukri in a forceful style, alongside a longbow.

Her different callings gave her an assortment of divine powers, including a paladin's powers to sense and smite evil beings, to heal others by laying on hands, and to turn undead. She could also communicate via telepathy with outsiders that served Mielikki or were lawful and good in nature. She could craft magical items.

She selected her spells for their usefulness in battle and tailored them to a mission when possible. She commanded the Animal, Plant, and Travel domains. Some distinct spells she used were bodyblades, spectral stag, mace of Odo, weapon of the deity, and battletide.

However, as Vishara had not focused on any one area previously, to her regret, she had to resort to any tricks she could invent in her campaign.

Possessions
Vishara wielded a +2 scimitar and a kukri, as well as a masterwork composite longbow with a score of arrows. She also wore +2 leather armor, a belt of giant's strength +4, and gloves of dexterity +4, and used a pearl of power.

Activities
Finding that Nashyim had established a small hold in an area of the forest held by the local drow, Vishara made her "forward base" as near to the drow borders as she dared. From there, she commanded her small band of druids and rangers, as well as their animal companions and other associates, including her second-in-command, Ivellin Farwanderer, who was in charge of scouting missions. They placed defenses, scouted the enemy lands, and embarked on raids to dispatch blightspawned creatures.