Jasmine

"Life has taught Jasmine to react but not to reflect. What does the future hold among children who think this way?"
- Pax Ahlmuhn.

Overview

Jasmine was an adventurer and sword-for-hire native to Toril in Realmspace. Having signed on with the Halruaan skyship Realms Master for a month or so, she eventually joined the crew of the spacefaring pirate-mage Meredith and spent the next ten years exploring wildspace. When Jasmine returned to Toril as captain of her own ship, she and her crew were abducted by the banite priestess, Walinda. Fortunately, Jasmine escaped with the help of the Rebel Bard and the paladin Holly Harrowslough, and together they formed the adventuring company known as Finder's Band. Since then they've visited the planar city Sigil and explored a number of outer planes.

Description

Jasmine appeared to be an attractive young woman in her mid to late twenties, with short black hair and brown eyes. Lean and muscular from years of travel and fighting, she usually wore black leather armour and was typically armed with a pair of daggers, though she also carried a pair of spiked gauntlets. Although she was proficient in the use of short swords, maces and firearms, she had a distinct preference for lighter weapons and was skilled in unarmed combat.

Jasmine's most distinctive feature were a pair of large wings that sprouted from her shoulders, allowing her to fly. The wings were magical in nature, and would transform whenever she entered a new environment, changing shape as well as color. Normally Jasmine's wings resembled large, white or grey feathered wings while on Toril. However, in the Flow, her wings resembled large pink butterfly wings; on Kirstig's world, her wings resembled mottled pink and purple sylph wings; on Unipaxala her feathered wings appeared to be made of steel and could cut through stone; on Boroda, her wings resembled huge, powerful feathered wings; and when she later boarded an elven Armada, Jasmine's wings transformed into green and black crystalline wings similar to those of an elven ship.

When Jasmine and her friends began to explore the outer planes, she discovered that her wings would also transform as soon as she entered a new plane of existence. In the planar city of Sigil, her wings became large copper-colored gargoyle-like wings with a greenish patina; on the Astral plane, her wings resembled silver hummingbird wings; on the Ethereal plane, her wings became large translucent dragonfly wings with blue veins; on Arborea her wings resembled those of a large eagle with peacock-like feathers; in the Abyss, she gained red colored bat-wings speckled with gold; in the Outlands, her wings resembled those of a falcon with brown, red and white feathers; on Ysgard she gained very large pure-white moth-like wings; and on Elysium her wings resembled those of a phoenix with long fiery plumes.

While the changes in shape and color usually didn't affect the operation of her wings, some were noticeably faster and far more agile, particularly the wings she gained on Kirstig's World and the elven armada. Other changes were materially more substantial and proved a boon in combat, such as the sharp steel wings she gained on Unipaxala.

Personality

"Personally, I find a good kick in the teeth works just as well."
- Jasmine.

To outsiders, Jasmine appeared fun-loving if sarcastic and worldly. Having lost her parents at a young age, she avoided becoming close to people, preferring to look out for herself and seeing to her own needs. Despite her cynicism, Jasmine couldn't help forming close bonds with those she admired, much to her own dismay. As a teenager, Jasmine often got into trouble with the watch as she attempted to make right what she saw as wrong - according to Luna, she was a good girl but had inherited her mother's sense of justice and her father's temperament. Jasmine initially took up adventuring as a way of coping with the death of her parents, but over the years her sorrow had merely been compounded by the loss of many friends and allies.

Even a decade after acquiring her strange magical wings, Jasmine still felt uncomfortable and insecure, and this feeling was aggravated when she lost some of her power and experience when she was attacked by an abyssal creature known as a fetch, which left her feeling vulnerable and depressed.

Possessions

Jasmine preferred wearing black leather armor and was typically armed with a pair of daggers and a luck blade short sword (a gift from the goddess Tymora). She also possessed a ring of strength that greatly augmented her strength, and that of anybody she lent it to. Having lost most of her possessions in the attack on her nautiloid, Jasmine's only keepsake was a black crystal paperweight filled with stars, given to her by her friend Holly.

Relationships

Family

Jasmine's parents were a pair of paladins named Rose and Michael, but when they were were assassinated, she was taken in and fostered by their friend Luna, the proprietor of the Selûne's Smile tavern in Waterdeep.

Friends / Allies

Jasmine was a member of Finder's Band, an adventuring company in service to the god of change, Finder Wyvernspur, and she was close to her new-found friends, Joel the Rebel Bard and the paladin Holly Harrowslough. Their allies included Randal Morn, the Lord of Daggerdale, the saurials of the Lost Vale, Tymora, goddess of luck, Lathander, god of the dawn, and of course Finder himself.

Jasmine had been a member of the spacefaring pirate-mage Meredith's crew, and had fought alongside the priest Pax Ahlmuhn, his nephew Tember (with whom Jasmine had a short-lived affair), and the priestess Kirstig and her two attendants, Hannous and Rupau.

Jasmine had been a member of the crew of the Halruaan skyship Realms Master, under the command of the mage Omen, and had served alongside the iron golem Minder, the halfling thief Foxy, the paladin Priam Agrivar, the female warrior Ishi Barasume (with whom Jasmine competed for Agrivar's affections), and the elven priest Vartan Hai Sylvar.

Enemies

Jasmine considered the cruel priestess of Bane, Walinda, a personal enemy due to the pain and suffering she had put her through, but as a member of Finder's Band, her foes also included the Zhentarim, the followers of the deity Iyachtu Xvim, as well as the clergy of the deity Bane and the baneliches that oversaw his church.

History

Toril

Jasmine grew up in the City of Waterdeep on the planet Toril in Realmspace. In her early teens, her parents were murdered by assassins and she was taken in by their friend Luna, the proprietor of the Selûne's Smile tavern. As she grew older, she frequently got into trouble with the city watch, and in her late teens eventually left Waterdeep. She worked for the rabble-rouser and troublemaker Chaos Carter for some time, before signing on with a Halruaan skyship named the Realms Master. When Jasmine was kidnapped by the lecherous lich Viranton, she was rescued by the crew of the Realms Master, with the aid of the spelljamming pirate-mage Meredith and her crew. Meredith explained that she was an old friend of Jasmine's parents, and that the mysterious key-shaped pendant she had inherited from her mother Rose was in fact the key to Meredith's interdimensional vault (known as a dimensional closet). Meredith offered her a position on her crew, which Jasmine decided to accept.

When Meredith and her crew were flying back to Waterdeep, their smalljammer was attacked by an enormous creature which tried to devour the vessel. Overcome with fear, the living ship overrode Meredith's control and fled into wildspace. Unfortunately, the mysterious creature pursued the ship all the way to the crystal sphere, forcing the little ship to enter the phlogiston. When the small ship entered the Flow, Jasmine's wings underwent their first transformation, becoming vibrant pink butterfly wings. Unfortunately for the crew, the creature continued to pursue the smalljammer, even into the Flow, and when it attempted to use its fire breath in an effort to capture its fleeing prey, it caused a catastrophic explosion, killing itself and damaging the vessel. In an effort to avoid the brunt of the explosion, Meredith was forced to enter an unknown crystal sphere. Overcome with fatigue and the fear, pain and trauma of the living ship, Meredith headed towards the closest habitable planet before falling unconscious.

Kirstig's world

In preparation for what could have been a rough landing, Pax cast softwood spells on himself, Tember and Jasmine, placing them in stasis to minimise any injuries during a crash. Not long after, the smalljammer was discovered by a tribe of humans known as the People of Song and Story. When members of the tribe entered the vessel, they thought they had found a number of bodies. However, the influx of air caused the softwood cocoons to dissipate, freeing the crew. Jasmine immediately drew her weapons and confronted the tribesmen, but fortunately Pax managed to diffuse the situation using magic to communicate with them.

After Pax explained the situation, Kirstig, elder of the People and priestess of the Mother of Songs, offered them the hospitality of her tribe and to transport the small ship to the nearest body of water. With Meredith still unconscious and sealed on the ship's bridge, Pax and his companions gladly accepted. While on this world, Jasmine's wings resembled mottled pink and purple sylph wings, and she revelled in their greater speed compared to her normal wings.

Once the tribe had reached the shores of a great lake, Kirstig's jealous suitor accused Pax of trying to steal his bride. Wishing to avoid conflict, Pax and the crew withdrew back onto the smalljammer to decide what to do. Unbeknownst to them, Kirstig, accompanied by her retainers and those members of the tribe who remained loyal to her, stowed away onboard as well. While Pax and the crew tried to break into the sealed bridge, Meredith regained consciousness on her own. Overcome with thirst, she pleaded for water, and the living ship immediately responded by taking off and diving into the lake to collect drinking water for its captain. Once she had quenched her thirst, the near delirious Meredith requested that the ship return Pax to Unipaxala, and again the smalljammer responded to its captain's wishes and immediately headed into wildspace.

Once Meredith had recovered from her ordeal and had been appraised of the situation, she agreed to allow Kirstig and her companions to remain on board until she had returned Pax and Tember to Unipaxala. Once she had fulfilled her contract, she would then undertake to return them to their home world. However, as they journeyed through the phlogiston, they were attacked by a neogi mindspider. Jasmine, Tember and Kirstig's regents tried to hold off the neogi and their umber hulks, but just as they were in danger of being overrun, the owner-captain of the neogi vessel, possibly senile with age, cast a fireball spell, blowing himself up and damaging the neogi vessel. Once Meredith, Kirstig and the crew had driven the last of the umber hulks off the ship, and with Pax at the helm, the ship into entered Unipaxala's crystal sphere, only to find that the asteroid settlement had been overrun by neogi.

Unipaxala

Using the smalljammer's ability to disguise itself, Meredith and her crew were able to land on Unipaxala without being challenged. Making use of secret tunnels and caverns unknown to the invaders, Meredith, Pax and Jasmine made their way to the central chamber of the main building in an effort to activate the Ice-Ring Projector, a magical device used by the pacifistic inhabitants to encase their asteroid home in an impregnable sphere of ice. In preparation for the coming fight, Jasmine equipped herself with spiked gauntlets tipped with poison, and found to her delight that her feathered wings now appeared to be made of a metallic material strong and sharp enough to cut stone.

When they reached the central chamber, Jasmine impulsively tried to fight past the neogi and their "lord servants" in an attempt to activate the Projector, but found to her cost that it wasn't possible to activate the device without magic or a special magic hammer. While Jasmine fought the neogi and their umber hulks, Pax and Meredith made their way below the central chamber, where Pax discovered that Unipaxala had been betrayed by one of their own, a mad-woman named Seren. In the ensuing fight, Seren broke a support column in an effort to prevent Pax and Meredith from reaching the Projector. Fortunately, Meredith was able to protect Pax and herself from the ensuing collapse with a prismatic sphere, but the neogi were now aware of their presence.

In the mean time, Tember, Kirstig and her companions came to the assistance of Jasmine, who had nearly been overwhelmed by the umber hulks. In the ensuing melee, Tember managed to get hold of the hammer and activated the Ice-Ring Projector, encasing the asteroid in a sphere of ice and isolating the neogi from the bulk of their fleet. Meredith convinced the neogi to surrender and to withdraw their forces from Unipaxala. With Pax safely back on Unipaxala, Meredith had fulfilled her contract, and the Unipaxalans even agreed to transport Kirstig's people back to their home world. However, before she could leave, the Unipaxalan leadership asked Meredith to take on Tember as a crewmember, as they feared he no longer adhered to their pacifist beliefs. In addition, the priestess Kirstig and her regents, Hannous and Rupau, asked to join her crew.

Boroda

In order to prepare Tember for a life of adventure, Meredith decided to travel to the jungle planet of Boroda. There she introduced her crew to her son, Bors, leader of a community of primitive humans. On Boroda, Jasmine discovered that her wings had become large and powerful, and were far stronger than before, but not as agile. In exchange for training and equipping Tember as a warrior, Bors asked Meredith and Jasmine to assist him with several monstrous creatures that were threatening his people. When Bors first arrived on Boroda, he designed and built a barricade to keep the planet's large population of monstrous creatures away from the human village. However, something had destroyed the barricade prior to Meredith's arrival, and the monsters were once again threatening his home. Bors proposed that scouting parties be sent out to drive the monsters away from the village, and asked Jasmine if she was willing to provide aerial support, which she readily agreed to, as long as she didn't have to face any flying predators.

While she surveyed the area around the village that night, she discovered that some of the teenagers from the village were using magic to communicate with a dragon. Unsure of what to make of the situation, Jasmine decided to keep the information to herself for the moment, but the presence of a dragon on a world where there should be none concerned her. As Bors and the other warriors from the village prepared for the coming hunt, he offered Jasmine a longsword, but she declined, stating that she preferred lighter weapons. After dealing with a pair of dangerous catoblepas, Bors found that his daughter Tenah and Tember were missing. Unwilling to risk any more hunters in looking for them, Bors instead decided to return home, only to discover that the village had been attacked by a red dragon.

When Jasmine informed Bors that the teenagers from the village had been speaking to a dragon in secret, he began preparing a party to go look for them, while Meredith used her magic to repair the village wall. Just as they were about to leave, the missing children, including Tember, returned, having been transformed into young adults by the dragon using his magic. After revealing that their new draconic friend had destroyed their homes and killed many of the villagers, Bors banished them from the village. Jasmine followed the now adult children back to the dragon's lair, where the creature, named Wildfyre, revealed that he fully intended on subjugating the world, and ruling it as a god. The dragon then offered the children a dire choice: serve him or he would kill them all. When Tember refused, Jasmine had to swoop in to rescue him from dragon fire.

When Bors and his warriors took to the field the following day, Wyldfire confronted them, accompanied by the children who had all sworn loyalty to him. The red dragon delivered an ultimatum: serve and worship him as their god, or be destroyed. Bors refused to be cowed, vowing to fight the creature with all his might. Just as the dragon was going to immolate Bors, Meredith stepped in to confront the creature, eventually killing the dragon with a finger of death spell. Having dealt with the threat to Boroda, Meredith became increasingly erratic, and impulsively made the decision to leave the jungle world.

The Grimmjack

When Meredith first used her crown of stars to helm the smalljammer, she forged a link with the mind of the living ship. She was constantly inundated with the vessels fear, anxiety, and pain, and as a result had become increasingly erratic, absent minded and even unstable. Meredith spent ages telling the ship tales of her youth, and so preoccupied had she become that she flew straight into a field of stone golems.

As the vessel flew into range, the dormant automatons became active and began breaking into the ship. During the resulting melee, Meredith was overcome by the ship's pain and fear, and Kirstig was knocked unconscious. Both Tember and Hannous were thrown from the ship into the void of wildspace, followed soon after by Rupau and Jasmine in an attempt to rescue them. Realising they had been abandoned in space with only their personal air envelopes to sustain them, Hannous and Rupau combined their air bubbles and began to meditate, hoping to conserve as much air as possible. Jasmine, in turn, decided to fly after the ship in the hope of catching up to it, but finally had to admit defeat when she found herself all alone, drifting in space.

Just as Jasmine was about to run out of air, she noticed a light in the distance growing closer. But instead of the rescue she was hoping for, she instead found herself a prisoner onboard a gith pirate ship, the man-o-war Grimmjack. When she regained consciousness, she was psionically interrogated by the ship's captain, Grimvaar, who ripped any pertinent information he could from her mind. By the time she recovered from the mental violation, the Grimmjack had begun its attack on Meredith's smalljammer. Using a ring of strength she stole from Grimvaar, Jasmine broke her shackles and escaped the brig just in time for Tember to smash through the wall. Together, Jasmine and Tember fought their way to the upper deck of the Grimmjack, where they joined Kirstig and returned to the smalljammer.

While she was recovering from her ordeal, Jasmine had a tryst with Tember. However, she soon realised she had made a mistake: while he looked like an adult, Tember was still an impressionable teenager at heart, and while she considered the encounter nothing more than a brief dalliance, Tember took it a great deal more seriously, leading to friction between the two of them.

The Armada

A few days after their encounter with the gith pirates, Meredith and her crew were intercepted by an elven Armada, and forced to dock. While Meredith was summoned to meet with the capital ship's resident Council of Wizards, her crew were allowed to procure food and supplies from the local market. However, when they returned, they discovered their ship had been somehow spirited away by the elves. While Kirstig and Meredith confronted each other on the Armada's main concourse, Tember and Jasmine split up and went in search of the smalljammer. When Tember found the vessel, he immediately attacked the elves guarding the ship, only to be captured. Jasmine returned from her patrol to find him suspended by his arms and legs from four flitters, about to be rent limb from limb. Jasmine immediately went on the offensive, destroying two of the small ships, before handing Tember her ring of strength, allowing him to smash the two remaining flitters into each other and then into the crystal dome covering the Armada's main concourse. Reunited with their ship, Meredith and her crew were allowed to leave the Armada without further hindrance.

Elminster

Following the events on the Armada, the atmosphere onboard the smalljammer had become incredibly tense. Meredith, under increasing strain due to the demands of the smalljammer, the incessant bickering between Jasmine and Tember, and the naked hostility of Kirstig, finally reached her breaking point. Lashing out, she incapacitated the crew and, determined to be rid of them for good, decided to return them to their respective home worlds, starting with Jasmine. Taking her key from around Jasmine's neck, Meredith opened her dimensional closet, with its two-way inter-dimensional space leading to a secondary terminus somewhere on Toril, and flung her through it.

Jasmine appeared in the planet's atmosphere, high above the city of Waterdeep, and began plummeting towards the Mere of Dead Men. Though she managed to gain a modicum of control over her changing wings, she still crashed into the swamp, and would have been swallowed whole by a birchir if it weren't for the timeous arrival of the archmage Elminster. After he got her onboard his vessel and cleaned up, Elminster explained that, in her current state, Meredith posed a significant threat to the balance of the cosmos, and that he required Jasmine's aid to stop her.

Finder's Band

Jasmine eventually returned to wildspace, where she remained for the next ten years, even becoming the captain of her own nautiloid. She returned to Toril to have her ship repaired, only to be abducted by Walinda, a beautiful but cruel priestess of Bane. Jasmine eventually escaped with the help of Joel the Rebel Bard and the paladin Holly Harrowslough, and together they would go on to found the adventuring company known as Finder's Band.

Appendix

Gallery

External Links

• Jasmine article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
• Realms Master article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

References