Blythe Heartgrove

Player: Lurker
Race: Human
Age: 28
Deity: Sune
Alignment: CG
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 150
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red
Class: Heartwarder (Cleric)

Description

Blythe is a pale, ginger woman of striking beauty, her face, with freckle dusted cheeks and bright, emerald eyes is framed with a cascade of red tresses down her shoulder and back.

She is tall, statuesque, and rubenesque as well, with curves that are decidedly feminine, yet hold taut, lithe muscle of training beneath. Should she disrobe, they who look see scarcely a blemish upon her, save for the freckles that continue to dust her form from head to toe.

She is never seen without her symbol of the Firehair, Sune, set in a pendant upon a red velvet choker around her neck, and various jewelry adorning her, both visible and not, including of note, heart teardrop piercings of gold and ruby upon her nipples, and a shank in the hood of her clit in a like gem and metal. She has one tatto on her person: a rose vine twining its way up her left thigh.

Background

Blythe, who would come to take the name of Heartgrove, grew up with a different name; that of a prominent family in Selgaunt, Sembia. She was the youngest of four children, and the only daughter. Growing up, she adored the opulent church of the Lady Firehair, Sune in the temple district and would often steal away during the day to go to the church on her own, be it in the halls of the temple, or the sacred gardens known as the Heart’s Grove.

She mooned at the songs and tales the bards spun of romance, of knights and ladies, and love in all of its forms. And many a penitent or clergy who’d glimse who would comment how this fire haired, freckle faced girl must truly be blessed of the Goddess.

Though the older she became, closer to her coming of age, the more troubled the merchant baron’s daughter grew. She knew she wouldn’t inherit her father’s legacy, and indeed, the only future she would have in her family was to be the barter in betrothal to better her father’s station. This further troubled her in light of her dearest childhood friend, Allison, who had been betrothed against her will, and before twilight fell again after her wedding day, in a twist of classic Sembian intrigue, Allison’s father was dead, as well as her newly wed husband shortly after, with Allison nowhere to be found.

Blythe wanted nothing of a marriage that was not her choice, to someone she didn’t love, and the loss of her childhood friend only made it worse; so she appealed to her mother that she might be given to the church instead. Her mother was a persuasive one, and even a merchant baron knew his life would not be happy, if his wife weren’t; so he resigned to let his daughter forsake their house, in turn to join the chuch as an initiate.

Blythe left behind her family name, and instead, she adopted the name of the gardens in which she’d grown up basking in its beauty.

She gave herself to study of her faith, and in time, she herself found her first love, in the person of another young initiate named Euric, who dreamt to become a knight of the Ruby Rose one day. It started as a friendly rivalry in their achievements, in their sparring, and the rivalry grew into budding affections, and ultimately, they were inseparable as they went about the temple.

The day came, that Euric would see the first chapter of his dream come to reality, as he was chosen to attend an errant knight of the Church as their page. In order to chase his dream, he would go where his knight led.

And Blythe could not go with him.

Now a young acolyte, Blythe sought a commission of her own; a place she could come to know new surrouds, and new faces. Though she accepted that sometimes, love is but a chapter in a story, she wanted to write the next in a place where not everything reminded her of the one now past.

Thus she made her way to Arabel to the temple of Brightwater Hall, where she would pursue further her dreams of being a Heartwarder, to attend to other’s hearts and wellbeing, and spread the tenets of her Goddess in a new home.

In the years she’s been in Cormyr, Blythe has been not just a minister to those who come to the temple, but also sought to aid the kingdom at large in the name of her temple. She has helped to bring a stop to a planned High Hunt by followers of the Beastlord, led by a black sheep of House Calantar, and she has aided against the re-emergence of ancient Netherese wizards known as the Rulelords, twice saving the country of Cormyr from potential invasion by two of these masters of sin magic, Karzoug and Krune.

Relationships

Blythe as about as likable a person as anyone could be. Always a pleasant smile, and a warm caring heart for those hurting or in need. In her time as a priestess of Brightwater Hall, she has worked to foster the relationships between the triune Goddesses of Sune’s dominion. She has sponsored the bathhouse of Arabel in its newest construction, and assures that a relationship remains between the Church and said establishment.

During her tenure in Arabel, she’s had to confront her past to help her childhood friend Allison, and returned home to end up face to face with the intrigue their fathers were truly involved in. And in the end, Blythe returned to Arabel further jaded toward her family and the machinations of Sembia, while Alison disappeared soon after, likely to escape the intrigue from catching up with her again.

Not long after her return to Arabel she found her next true love in a Selunite wizardess named Jezra Westerbrook. Jezra dispelled many of Blythe’s preconceptions of her true love, and their relationship was torrid, tender, and enduring for many years after. Until once again, a chapter in her life came to a close when Jezra lay down her life to defende the forests of Sember during a war against the Drow. Only weeks prior, leading up to that final battle, Jezra had ended their betrothal with a cryptic reason of why:

“I would rather it be my choice, that I broke your heart.”

Blythe remained the strong senior clergy of the church, even in the face of grief. Only her closest friends knew the true pain and comforted her through it. Two of those were her once pupil, a sister Heartwarder by the name of Auroa, and Auroa’s partner, an Knight Initiate of the Ruby Rose, Raina, whose friendship would blossom into the loving partnership it’s now become. The three are almost as inseparable as was Blythe with that young would-be squire years past, and few would question their devotion. They made their betrothal vows together with no public ceremony, no fanfare or revels, just the three of them in the beds of roses beneath the falls of Eveningstar.

Goals

To date, what were Blythe’s hopes and dreams have become reality: she has found true love, not in one but in three chapters. She has become the Heartwarder she had intended to be, and she’s seen her church grow in influence in the city of Arabel. Her concerns now deal with keeping good folk of her new home safe, and she will answer just about any call to do so.

She most of all wants the security of knowing she’s put the ghosts of her past behind her; never again having to worry for the intrigues of Sembia brought about by her family coming to her doorstep.

Plot Hooks

Much like her best friend Allison, now gone missing, Blythe’s father was not an honest man; no successful merchant baron in Sembia is. Acts of vendetta against her family’s house may yet draw her in. Or her involvement in bringing down the eldest Beneventi in Allison’s attempt to quell further vendetta against her, may in fact have kindled it further, waiting to be served cold.

Notable Gear

Dominant Runeforged Lash of Disarming Seduction: Scorpion Whip: Finese, 1d4 Critical x2 (+50% damage vs. creatures with DR/Good or silver), Slashing, Agile enchantment

Woven of mithral and platinum threads and adorned with studs of celestial mithral — allowing it to cut past the resistances of fiendish outsiders — and set with blazing red gems, the length of this whip is covered in elaborate Netherese runes associated with the sins of Lust and Pride and their associated schools of magic. The length of the lash stings those struck with the weapon — particularly potent against beings counter to the Goddess’ ideals of goodness and beauty, who take a further brunt of divine wrath. Further the whip can serve as a conduit of the Goddess’ divine charm: it can deliver any touch spell cast by the wielder, and any creature that takes damage from the lash takes a –5 penalty on Will saves against all enchantment effects created by the wielder of the lash for 1 minute unless it succeeds at a DC 15 Will save.

This whip was enchanted for Blythe Heartgrove, Heartwarder of Sune, using the powers of the Abysium Heart, located at the center of the demiplane The Fabric of Reality.