Bareris Anskuld

Bareris Anskuld is a human bard. As a bard he worshippes Oghma and Milil.

Appearance
Though Bareris is truly Thayan, he stopped shaving the wheat blonde hair from his head. He can move with a duelist's catlike grace. During the war of Thay Bareris begins to neglect himself and his personal hygiene and wears a gaunt face and a cold stare.

Weapon / Magical Abilities
Bareris weapon of choice is the sword swinging at his hip in a worn leather scabbard and, in a way, the silver-stringed yarting slung across his back. He also carries a small dagger.

Bareris later gives his yarting to a band of gnolls as fee for their help in his pursuit of Tammith' captors.

By singing a quick phrase and sketching an arcane figure in the air with a free hand, he can call forth a plume of noxious vapor to cloud an opponent. He can also sing a floating orb of light into being to light his way.

Bareris had mastered a variety of bardly songs or spells, such as:
 * a battle-cry infused with the magic of his voice thus sending vitalizing surges through his body, calming and clearing his mind,
 * a song that can transport a single person several yards in a random direction,
 * an enchantment of speed,
 * a charm to augment his force of personality, letting him appear a shade taller and handsomer, thus more likeable and trustable,
 * a battle cry with thunderous boom, capable of bruising flesh and cracking bone,
 * a song forming an empathic bond between him and an animal, such as his horse,
 * a song of universal tongue, enabling him to understand and speak any human or beastly language.

Personality
Bareris is gentle and compassionate, which are very un-Thayan traits. This shows in his desperate journey to find and rescue his love, Tammith Iltazyarra. His effort to help a child in the streets of Bezantur almost gets him killed by the undead child-thing and his partner warrior. After the transformation and loss of Tammith, Bareris achieves an obsessive nature revealed in his cold stare, gaunt face, somber dress, and indifference to personal hygiene, charms of healing and solace not coming as naturally as they once had. .

Background
Bareris is of Mulan descent.

He spent 6 yrs abroad, working as a mercenary, fighting dragon worshippers, hobgoblins and reavers of every stripe. During his wanderings Bareris evolved his nick for bardly magic into a genuinely formidable talent. He became a quite powerful bard and a strong swordsman, his reflexes honed from countless battles and skirmishes.

He loves Tammith Iltazyarra since childhood.

History
After his traveling years, Bareris returns to Bezantur only to find his love Tammith had sold herself into slavery. He finds Tammith captive of Red Wizards moving towards Delhumide. Unfortunately, his first attempt at freeing Tammith fails. When he tries to flee from the Red Wizards, Gnolls find and hide him. Bareris convinces the gnolls to help him get into Delhumide where the hopes to find and rescue Tammith. They find a portal in one of the buildings through which Bareris reaches an underground fortress. He finds Tammith in a chamber - already transformed into a vampire by the undead creature Xingax - and almost gets bitten by her. Xingax finds the two and forces Tammith to drink from her former lover. Bareris escapes though by injuring Tammith and her master and escapes into the mountains. He stumbles across a ghost, named Mirror and the gravecrawler Quickstrike who help him hide from his pursuers. Mirror becomes his guide through the mountains. At the Pass of Kazahr they encounter the battle mage Aoth Fezim and follow him to the camp of the armies of Nymia Focar and Milsantos Daramos, whom Bareris tells of his findings at Xingax's fortress. He uncovers that the order of necromancy is behind the undead invasion. When it comes to a fight between the southerner's armies and the undead horde at the Keep of Thazar, Bareris meets Tammith again, obviously recovered from her injuries. The vampire attacks and tries to bite him again but Bareris manages to incapacitate her, this time hacking her to pieces in an attempt to release her from her undead nature. Bareris feels responsible for Tammith's demise and turns into a bitter man, swearing vengeance upon Xingax. During the following war, Aoth confides in Bareris his thoughts of abandoning the cause and leaving Thay altogether. But Bareris in is strive for vengeance realizes Aoth's important role as captain of the Griffon Legion and uses his bardly magic to persuade his friend to stay and fight. .

The Griffon Legion of Thay
By wish of Bareris, Aoth assigns him to the Griffon Legion, providing him a riderless griffon to make his familiar. Over the course of the war, Bareris is the master of Vengeance, who dies 1385 DR fighting an undead skeletal serpent. His current steed is Murder.