Nightshade - Lady Scout

Female Scout - Nightshade - for the Fantasy Earth Zero (F.E.Z) "Create a Character" contest.


She is called "Nightshade."

Perhaps this name grew around her because she habitually wears deep greys and blues. Perhaps 'tis because her catlike grace and reflexes make her both silent and -- when needed -- swiftly deadly.

She wears a leather jerkin with leggings of a soft, flexible cloth that permits her to move freely. Both are dyed a deep blue.

Thicker, reinforced leather encases her feet, and provides gaiters or greaves, upper-leg armor, wrist guards and pauldrons. These are dyed such a deep grey that they're nearly black. Her quiver and belts are likewise dyed. A hunting horn dangles from her quiver strap, ready at hand to summon aid or perhaps merely startle foes.

Silver bands spiral about her upper arms, adorning and protecting them from most forms of attack. A silver circlet, which rumor claims she obtained from a fallen foe, encircles, adorns and partially protects her head.

Though a highly accurate shot with her dragonwing-styled bow, she also wields daggers. Three spare daggers can be seen: one sheathed upon each hip, and a third can be found bound low upon her right leg.

An additional blade is strapped to her right forearm, ready at need and unlikely to be dropped regardless of the severity or intensity of the combat. With her talents, there is no telling where else she may have more daggers stashed!

Feathers in her hair help her to monitor wind direction, by feeling which way they blow so that she need not take her eyes from an opponent in a tense situation.

She wears her grandmother's enameled necklace, the only heirloom overlooked and left behind when raiders slaughtered her entire family. Since the day she buried her kin, she has been seeking the fiends responsible for that slaughter to render justice - with a vengeance that should prevent them from harming anyone else.

Though she generally has no interest in initiating combat with random strangers, she will not tolerate any hindrance upon her quest for justice.

Those in command of her original home territory chose not to heed her pleas for justice. As a result of this, she has transferred her allegiance to Queen Vadrithe Berkstein Hordaine, since that monarch's goals to "unite the world and create a kingdom of peace and justice" appeal to the young scout.

A strange sound alerts her, so she draws an arrow from her quiver and melts into the shadows...


(Rendered in DAZ|Studio, from items licensed for commercial use.)