Shandra Jerro

"What could I possibly know that would be important?"

- Shandra Jerro

Shandra Jerro was a human farmer and sometimes fighter from the village of Highcliff along the Sword Coast North. During the Shadow War she travelled with the Kalach-Cha, helping them locate the haven of her grandfather, Ammon Jerro.

Appearance
By all accounts, Shandra was unusually beautiful, even for a woman of her relatively young age. Though having the calloused hands and firm muscles of a hard-working peasant, and devoid of any jewelry or clothes of high fashion, instead wearing simple peasant trappings, Shandra was ruggedly attractive. Her fine features and simple beauty would be something that many would comment on during her life. After joining the Kalach-Cha, Shandra would take to using a short sword as her favored weapon.

Personality
Shandra was a woman who, by and by, preferred to keep to herself. Preferring the quiet life of her farm near Highcliff, Shandra rarely sought trouble, though she would find it drawn to her. She often dealt with such sorrows with a biting tongue and sarcastic demeanor, treating her troubles as a cruel joke by life on her. However, in spite of her sometimes grim and seemingly jaded attitude, Shandra was, in the end, an optimistic and idealistic woman, who held close to her ideals and hoped to find such devotion in others as well.

Biography
Shandra was born shortly before the destruction of West Harbor during the King of Shadows' initial attempt at his conquest of the Sword Coast. During the preceding battles many of her family had been slain, so many that her grandfather Ammon Jerro, the King of Shadows' chief foe, would come to believe his entire line had been killed. However, both Shandra and her parents escaped the destruction wrought by the King of Shadows and his minions, managing to escape to a quiet life in Highcliff.

Farm Life
Shandra would be raised as a country farmgirl, learning from her mother primarily since her father died when she qas very young. Hard-working and generous, Shandra would take on much of the workload, eventually becoming the head of the household. In addition to teaching Shandra how to work, her mother would also relate to her tales of her grandfather, who she told Shandra was an accomplished wizard. She would also tell Shandra about Ammon Jerro's Haven, a dark and forbidding location filled with deathtraps and with a demand for the blood of a Jerro. These tales would give Shandra nightmares for years before she finally grew out of them.

A few years before the Shadow War, Shandra's mother would become very ill with swamp fever, putting most of the responsibilities of the farm on Shandra's shoulders. Shandra would care for her mother until her end and grieve for her afterwards, before stoically accepting her duties. From then on, until the Shadow War, Shandra would live alone on her farm, making frequent visits to Highcliff and occassional trips to Port Llast and Ember in the north, who benefited greatly from her grain shipments.

Shandra, stubborn and independent-minded, would not feel comfortable facing the hardships of the swamps that surrounded Highcliff and would often disregard the orders or wishes of the mayor of Highcliff. Such was the case when, shortly before the Shadow War, lizardfolk began to move into the neighboring countryside, threatening the village both overtly and covertly. Unlike many farmers, Shandra refused to abandon her farm and livelihood, both for her own sake and her customers'.

First Meetings with the Kalach-Cha
Shortly after the trouble with the lizardfolk started, the Kalach-Cha would walk into Shandra's life. Hoping to resolve the conflict between the lizardfolk and the villagers of Highcliff so that they could receive passage to Neverwinter by sea, the Kalach-Cha and their companions came to the farm after the village elder suggested asking Shandra if she knew where the lizardfolk were coming from, being the only one whose farm had not been destroyed.

Shandra was able to enlighten the Kalach-Cha somewhat, both about the lizardfolk and some strange disturbances at the ruins of Highcliff Castle, such as some odd lights from the presumably abandoned site. However, while in the midst of this discussion, the Kalach-Cha unintentionally provided a distraction for the a band of lizardfolk to sneak in and burn her farm. Furious, Shandra would tell the hero off, demanding that they leave her alone, a wish that the Kalach-Cha complied with.

However, the Kalach-Cha would return to Shandra's farm some time later, when they were searching for answers about Ammon Jerro and the Silver Sword of Gith. Learning that Shandra was the granddaughter and sole living descendant of the arcanist and that she was now a target of the githyanki hunting them. Both the githyanki and the hero rushed to Shandra's farm, both intent on retrieving her and in the process her farm was burned to the ground. However, Shandra was rescued from the githyanki and the Kalach-Cha brought her back to the Sunken Flagon where Duncan welcomed her with open arms. Shandra was more skeptical of her rescuers, however, and heartbroken over her home's destruction and the Kalach-Cha's seeming association with disaster.

However, her sanctuary was short-lived. Determined to get the answers they wanted, the githyanki attacked the Flagon, kidnapping Shandra and nearly setting the inn afire. As such, the Kalach-Cha was forced to pursue her once again, this time taking the ranger Bishop to aid them in their search. Meanwhile, Shandra was interrogated and imprisoned by the githyanki, who sought to bring the justice they felt the deceased Ammon deserved against her. Shandra was very close to meeting the end of her usefulness when the Kalach-Cha appeared again, having discovered the githyanki lair. The hero subsequently slew the githyanki and their leader Zeearie, rescuing Shandra again. Determined that, in the end, being with the hero was safer than being apart, Shandra asked the Kalach-Cha to remain with her and train her in self-defense. The Kalach-Cha agreed and Shandra would rarely leave the side of her mentor and protector thereafter.

Subsequent Travels with the Kalach-Cha
Shortly after Shandra joined the Kalach-Cha the hero was slammed with accusations of murdering the entire population of the Luskan village of Ember. Shandra and the other companions would help to defend the hero against these false charges and during an attempted assassination by the Circle of Blades, an assassin's guild from Luskan, Shandra would help foil the plot. Shandra would prove useful to the investigation in other respects, helping in the questioning of the witness Alaine, who was a close friend, as well as in the trial itself, where she may or may not have served as a witness herself.

After the trial, and the Kalach-Cha's exoneration from the crimes, Shandra would help the hero in their subsequent missions on behalf of Neverwinter and in search of clues about Neverwinter's unseen enemies. Eventually, these clues would lead the Kalach-Cha to the discovery of Zhjaeve, the ruins of Arvahn, and revelations about the King of Shadows' past and weaknesses. This would in turn lead to the Kalach-Cha's decision that Ammon Jerro's Haven must be sought out, in order for the group to be fully prepared to do battle with the King. With Shandra's somewhat reluctant help, the Haven was discovered.

Death and Legacy
Upon reaching the Haven Shandra discovered, as her mother had told her, that a drop of blood was required to get in. Shandra agreed and entrance was granted. However, once inside Shandra was immediately teleported away and separated from her friends, who immediately presumed her kidnapped once again and in need of rescue. In fact, Shandra discovered herself to be in considerably less danger than the Kalach-Cha and she wandered the haven trying to locate her friends. Eventually, she came across the erinyes leader Hezebel who told her that since she was of Jerro blood, she could psychically communicate with her friends and teleport to different locations in the haven at will. Unfortunately, not being a mage she didn't quite know how to control these abilities and subsequently teleported around the area at random.

Eventually, Shandra ran into the balor Baalbisan. Seeing a possible opportunity, the demon revealed to her that the one whom they had thought all along was the King of Shadows was in fact her grandfather Ammon, who had returned from the dead or otherwise survived the battle with the King of Shadows. This information was revealed very shortly before Shandra began to realize that her friends' were about to be ended by Ammon. Thinking quickly, Shandra determined a way to set the devils and demons who were giving Ammon his power free, thereby weakening her grandfather'a ability to fight. To do this, would require the shedding her own blood, a sacrifice she was now willing to make.

The sacrifice worked, and as Ammon prepared to end the invaders of his Haven, he found his power suddenly vanished. Furious, he dashed about, looking to blame one of the fiends bound to him, though all denied any part. Eventually, he found Shandra, realizing she ewas responsible. Enraged, he struck out against her without thinking, giving her no time to explain fully. Badly injured from both her own self-inflicted wounds and the attacks of her grandfather, Shandra died, apologizing to Ammon with her last breath.

Shocked both that he still had family and that he had been responsible for her death, Ammon was ill-prepared when the Kalach-Cha and their companions arrived a few moments later. Surrendering to them out of both self-loathing and the hopes of attoning for what he saw as a horrendous crime, Ammon teleported the group out of his Haven safely.

The death of Shandra would have a heavy influence on both Ammon and the Kalach-Cha, becoming a substantial influence in their relationship. Through his sorrow at Shandra's death, Ammon would lay aside his traditional role as leader and perhaps learn to regret the brash methods he had favored in his first war against the King of Shadows, though the degree to which this occurred would be dependent upon the Kalach-Cha's degree of friendship with Shandra. The warlock may even have begged the spirit of his fallen granddaughter for forgiveness, leading him to the discover of a tear shaped pendant amongst the ruins of her farm.

In Highcliff, Shandra's partnership with the Kalach-Cha may have been remembered. If this were the case, it is said that farmers may have come to the location of her home during the harvest season to pay their respects, believing Shandra to have fallen in battle against the King of Shadows, rather than at her grandfather's hand. Alternatively, the wilderness may have claimed the ruins, which would eventually become forgotten, as her grandfather had been.

Behind the Scenes
Shandra was voiced by Rachel York in Neverwinter Nights 2. Although an important character within the story, arguably moreso than most of the other companion characters, Shandra was not a romanceable character for either male or female PCs (the Kalach-Cha) though many NPCs would comment on her beauty and allure.

Unlike many companions, Shandra does not appear to have suffered from large amounts of cut content. However, she does remark in one conversation that did not make it to the final game that she had studied at a temple for some time during her mother's illness. There she learned some healing prayers and found an ability to perform small miracles, hinting at a greater importance for her character. She would also claim that she could sense the conviction of others' beliefs or lackthereof.

It is suggested in some of the conversations with Shandra that Ammon was her great-grandfather, and not her grandfather, to allow some edge for PCs of races with unusually long lifespans. However, this conflicts with information given by several other characters (including Ammon himself) as well as the fact that Ammon was a contemporary of characters such as Aldanon or Dalren, who almost certainly are more in the range of being Shandra's grandfather than great-grandfather. Similarly, Daeghun, the PC's foster father, is a half-elf and thus has a human-like lifespan but remains relatively young in the campaign. As a result, it can be safely presumed that Shandra was Ammon's granddaughter and that the battle at West Harbor took place roughly some twenty years prior to the Year of Lightning Storms.