Barace Kennald

"I'm going to help because I want to. And that's reason enough for me." - Barace Kennald, to Nephir, regarding her questioning why they should bother helping solve an ooze problem.

Description
Barace Kennald is a lizardfolk wizard who is one of the founding members of the Destiny Weavers. They primarily provide ranged support in the form of their spellcasting, as well as offering general emotional support. They have also proven themself to be one of the party's strongest investigative forces, and has shown to know when to follow a strong gut feeling about something.

Appearance
On the smaller end of average lizardfolk size, Barace is six feet tall and weighs just about two hundred pounds. They have the broad build typical of most lizardfolk, but they don't have much visibly developed muscle. They have claw mark scars on their muzzle, neck, and torso.

Their scales are smooth, yet tough; suitable for swimming while also providing sturdy protection against attacks. Most of their scales are a soft sea green in color, but their lower jaw, leading down their neck and all the way to their tail tip is a lighter yellow-green, as are the palms of their hands and bottoms of their feet. Their eyes are yellow, their claws are black, and their head crest, which goes from the top of their head down to the bottom of their neck, is gold.

Barace's adventuring robes are indigo and purple, with silver accents, and a starry pattern on the bottom. After the fight against a Night Hag in Wolf's Den, Barace's original robes were torn up, and though they were repaired by Den, Barace decided to purchase new ones so their old robes wouldn't get destroyed again. Their original robes are a deep blue, with silver and gold accents, and a hood. Under their robes, Barace wears plain, short leggings and a tank top, both of which are usually well covered by their wizard robes.

During the colder months, Barace has a set of winter robes to wear so they do not get cold. The winter robes have a hood and is noticeably fluffy for additional warmth. The robes are various shades of blue. Barace also wears specifically tailored boots and some mitten gloves during the colder months.

They bought a handmade hat from Rasenthe, which is red and vaguely resembles a scarf. It is typically worn wrapped around the top of Barace's head, however since finding Rauva's purple witch hat in Bhalduar, they have taken to wearing it on their head with their adventuring robes and the hat they got from Rasenthe around their neck, like a scarf. They have also received a Brooch of Shielding as a reward from Beaumont, which resembles a tiny golden shield. As well, they have gotten a stone signet ring with a golden sun engraving from a trade with Kissix, and they wear it on their left ring finger.

Personality
Barace has shown themself to be compassionate and stubborn. They're generally quite enthusiastic about their interests, and they like hearing what others have to say too. Surprisingly, Barace also seems to have a bit of a sarcastic sense of humor. It tends to be obvious when something has caught Barace's attention. Barace loves openly and vocally, and seeks out to help others. When they have their mind set on something, it's a challenge to tear them away. Even when visibly nervous about something, Barace isn't deterred from acting on what they believe in, which is often for the goal of helping others. However, when they don't have a solid goal in mind, they're quite content to go along with the flow.

They have a bad habit of wandering off or otherwise doing things without telling anyone what they're up to, and sometimes they neglect mentioning other information to their party that they perceive could be worrisome, though their communication skills have been steadily improving in their travels. Generally they tend to not like arguments, but they are usually willing to confront someone when it comes to settling disagreements, and they try to do this as peacefully as they can.

Often they also take on a lot as "their responsibility", and can blame themself if something negative occurs that they believe that they could have prevented. This can quickly become overwhelming for them when times get stressful, and they have not yet learned when and how they should be taking breaks, or how to properly express their feelings on a given problem. While they can be quite emotional, Barace sometimes has tendency to clam up and shut down if they get too overwhelmed.

Expertise
Quite book-smart, Barace is proficient in topics surrounding Arcana, History, and Religion. They are also proficient with Animal Handling, Medicine, and Perception.

Barace also carries around an Herbalism Kit that they are proficient with and have used to make healing potions. As many people are, Barace is also proficient in using simple weapons, though they only carry a dagger on their person, and don't seem to like using it for battle anyway. Instead, its primary purpose seems to be for more tactical purposes, as they have used it to carve bone into darts. While they have not hurt anyone with it, they have used it to try intimidating Leif on a couple occasions.

They can speak, read, and write in Common, Draconic, and Undercommon. Through their Linguist Feat, they have also learned Elvish, Dwarvish, and Sylvan. During a period of downtime, Sapic taught Barace Aquan.

Barace, with a bit of aid from their Chronurgy abilities, also has a great reaction time. They are the only one that is consistently capable of outpacing Zevas on initiative during confrontation, though the human usually still is the first to act out of the party.

Background
Orphaned under unknown circumstances, Barace was taken in and raised by Rauva Illoryn, a drow wizard, in a tower to the North-East of Wolf's Den. When Barace showed potential as a spellcaster at a young age, Rauva also took them on as a wizard apprentice and began teaching them spells.

Barace has lived at the tower for their entire life. Though sometimes they would explore the wild winterberry orchard that surround the tower, they never went far, and have certainly never gone out far enough to meet anyone other than the wildlife in the area that they befriended. It was a secluded life, but one they enjoyed.

Rauva promised to take Barace to a holiday celebration in Wolf's Den called Sweet Night, which was meant to be Barace's introduction to the outside world. However, weeks before the festival, Rauva left the tower, and never returned. Rauva leaving for various reasons was not unusual, but she had never been away for so long before, at least not without mentioning it ahead of time, and eventually Barace decided that they would have to go out looking for her on their own. A couple days before Sweet Night, Barace left the tower for the first time, and headed out to Wolf's Den to begin their search.

Abilities
As a lizardfolk and a wizard studying Chronurgy, Barace has many abilities which come from sources other than the standard Dungeons & Dragons material, including from homebrew.

Due to their Hermit background, Barace has the Beloved of Beasts Discovery, and can cast Speak With Animals once a day without using a spell slot.

Lizardfolk Features

 * Darkvision
 * Cunning Artisan
 * Hold Breath
 * Hunter's Lore
 * Natural Armor
 * Hungry Jaws

Feats

 * Linguist
 * World Weaver

Wizard Abilities
As a 5th level wizard following the Chronurgy Tradition, Barace also has access to the following abilities:


 * Spellcasting
 * Ritual Casting
 * Arcane Recovery
 * Chronurgy Tradition
 * Chronal Shift
 * Temporal Awareness

Relationships
Barace's relationships with various others, seen throughout the campaign thus far, in order of when they met. All the following are named characters who have spoken or interacted directly with Barace at some point, and have left a notable impact on Barace. Every quote featured here was said by Barace to or about the referenced character.



Rauva Illoryn
"You missed Sweet Night." Rauva Illoryn is Barace's wizarding mentor and mother figure. They hold Rauva to a high regard, knowing her as quite the powerful wizard, and want her to be proud of them, eager to prove their abilities to her. While they look up to her so much, she is also their mother, and they are comfortable enough to crack jokes more often with her. Barace missed Rauva greatly when she was missing, and was quite relieved when they found her again in Bhalduar, even if it was under the strange circumstances of time travel. They trust Rauva's judgement and advice and try frequently update her while they are separated, be that by letter or by using Sending.

Aen
Aen is Rauva's familiar, and thus has been involved in a lot of Barace's life as well. They trust Aen as Rauva's companion and are quite fond of them as a part of their little family.

Cilio
"Cilio can sneak on ahead to see what's going on." Cilio is Barace's familiar, summoned with the Find Familiar ritual. Barace is comforted by Cilio's presence, and they have worked out creative strategies together, such as summoning Cilio into blocked off rooms to scout ahead. They dislike it whenever they have to be more than one hundred feet away from him (the maximum distance a wizard can telepathically connect with their familiar), and if Cilio is ever defeated, Barace makes sure to bring him back as soon as they possibly can.

Psalm
Psalm is a colleague of Rauva's who visited the tower a couple times when Barace was much younger. Though he is one of Rauva's more amiable colleagues, him and Barace are acquaintances at most. When he would visit the tower, Barace would run by to make his magical bells on his robes jingle, much to his annoyance. They aren't the biggest fan of Psalm, but they don't mind it that much whenever he decides to visit the tower. He even helped teach Barace more about divination, which is an act that surprised them, but they still appreciate.

Inorn Wervanion
The very first person Barace met in Wolf's Den, they accidentally got overexcited and briefly mistook him for Rauva. Inorn was quite grouchy during this first encounter, and while Barace did not pay that much mind at the time, it is still the primary impression they have of him. He provided them, Den, Zevas, and Fern with the quest to go help the bats around the winterberry orchards, and in return not only paid the group but helped check his sources on where Rauva may have gone, which Barace is thankful for.

Den Hawkstorm
"No, I believe you. I trust you." Den is the first of the other party members that Barace met. Barace's first impressions of Den were that they were grumpy, but since then they have quickly grown attached to the half-elf artificer, subconsciously seeing them as a parental figure. Usually, Barace follows Den around when the party is exploring, and they often look to Den for guidance in the outside world. Barace also takes some interest in Den's tinkering and magic, sometimes watching curiously while they work. Every so often Den and Barace run into difficulties surrounding what they trust, but despite this Barace is almost always willing to put their trust into Den's suspicions.

Zevas Skybreaker
"You helped me find Rauva, if you want support looking for your friend, I'll help." Though Barace finds general discomfort in Zevas's more brutal ways in battle, they still trust the older human and respect his skills. They see Zevas as one of the strongest people they know, and they often go to him with strategy ideas. The two share the same sort of determination for justice, as primarily seen during the party's search for the missing Diana. Barace was the first party member who Zevas confirmed to that he uses blood magic, which at the time Barace did not know much about it, aside from it obviously involving blood and being the "use of darkness to fight darkness". Since then they learned that his magic is Hemocraft, which makes them slightly more uncomfortable since they know it also to be something that Dunadel has looked into, but they still trust Zevas despite that.

Ticklish Fern
Barace and Fern only spoke briefly a couple of times during the group's quest in the orchards and when checking in on her after she got a fever the next day, but Barace enjoyed having Fern around and hopes that they will cross paths again someday.

Vakra
Barace met Vakra in the winterberry orchards nearby Wolf's Den, and Barace appreciates Vakra for taking care of the bats in the area. The two shared a brief conversation in Draconic before parting ways.

Sapic
"Yeah... she is the toughest." Sapic and Barace tend to have different viewpoints on life, whether it's about drinking (to which Barace fears that Sapic will drink herself to death) or about whether or not the consequences and punishment of the law should be risked to help those in need (to which Sapic would have left a child for dead to avoid confronting the Cradle), but they get along alright despite that. They have bonded over a common appreciation for plants, especially flowers. Barace also views Sapic as one of the strongest people they know, alongside Zevas. Barace offered Sapic their waterskin after she was nearly killed by a gnoll and obliged to altering its flavor upon request, they have crafted darts for her before, and warmed her cloak for her when they were travelling. Sapic was the one Barace trusted to be their failsave in case the Shoosuva compelled them to do "something bad". They suspect that Sapic knows Abyssal, and is slightly hurt that Sapic won't admit it to them. They don't want to pry too much though, and apologized later when they realized that, to Sapic, they already had pried too much. Barace was upset when Sapic left without saying goodbye, and worries slightly that Sapic won't want to join up with the group later.

Leif Mistwright
Both encounters between Leif and Barace involved them pointing knives at each other. Barace prevented Leif from attacking Isolde, and later they ended up confronting him in the | Sunworn Hands underground base when rescuing Diana. Barace still holds some fear and animosity towards him; they wish Beaumont had managed to catch him, and worry about possible future encounters with the yellow-eyed human; they don't want him running around and continuing to hurt others.

Isolde de Mowbray
Barace saved Isolde's life and assisted in the rescue of their younger sibling, Diana, and thus Barace and the rest of the Destiny Weavers have received invitation to come by Isolde's carpenter shop whenever they would like. Though Barace has not yet had reason to seek out their carpentering services, they still like to drop by from time to time to say hi and check in on things.

Beaumont Mithanmyr
Barace has mixed feelings on Beaumont. Their early interactions with her left Barace feeling uneasy, but as time has passed, Barace has found that there is more to Beaumont than they initially thought (for example, seeing Beaumont comforting a child when she thought that the party had already left). While still a bit nervous around her, Barace feels that they can trust her more now. They apologized to Beaumont for associating the Cradle with the Sunworn Hands, and though their apology was genuine, Beaumont's response of calling Barace "amusing" was not comforting to them. Overall, Barace would much rather avoid Beaumont if possible, but is okay with working with her and the Cradle when needed for the greater good.

Thori Flintmace
Thori helped provide Barace with directions to where Rauva may have gone, so they appreciate him for that. Though his directions of looking for Rauva at Dhordir were correct, some conversations with others, namely Brynsael, left them wondering about how much he can really be trusted, and if there is more going on with him. Later, they learned that Thori and Rauva met when Thori had attempted to mug Rauva, which puts Barace off slightly, but they're still more inclined to trust Thori than some other Cradle members.

Varick Nomel
"You got swallowed by a False Hydra trying to help me, you'd be sorely mistaken if you think I wouldn't do the same for you." Despite some strange first impressions, including mistaking Varick for a Cradle member and then having to rescue him from an irritated Sapic, Barace likes having Varick around in the party. They have a concern over his alcoholic tendancies, similarly to Sapic, have offered their blanket to him for comfort on a couple occasions and bought him a sunhat after noticing that he kept squinting in the sunlight. Barace teases Varick the most often of the party members, and in particular comments every time he does something reckless after he scolded them for it before.

Rasenthe
On the evening of the first day of Sweet Night, Barace bought a hat from Rasenthe and listened to her tell tales of her days on the sea. They were captivated by the stories Rasenthe told, and certainly would not pass up another opportunity to speak to her again. Barace often pays Rasenthe extra whenever they purchase something from her.

Clifton Chaucer
Barace first met Clifton Chaucer when he literally ran into them, and then gave them a scroll of Disguise Self before running off and telling them to visit his bookstore. Through visiting the bookstore, Barace managed to learn a bit more about Chronurgy magic, including that it's a dead magic, and thus began making frequent visits to the bookstore. Though Clifton Chaucer has rarely been able to give precise advice for Barace's magic, since he does not know it himself, they appreciate talking to him nevertheless.

Kissix
Barace visits Kissix's store, the Arcane Feather, quite frequently whenever in Vundarth, and makes sure to keep an eye out for interesting items to offer to the goblin for trades.

Captain Idla Farlight
Barace views Captain Idla Farlight as a respectable leader and a strong leader, and likes working with them. Though, Idla talks a lot about honorable sacrifices in regards to guards being killed in battle, which Barace still doesn't quite understand.

Seraphina
While they have never actually had a conversation yet, Barace saved Seraphina during the gnoll ambush with the healing potion from Vakra, and later in that same fight, Seraphina helped Barace with their medicine check to stabilize Sapic. Idla later mentioned that Seraphina is extremely thankful of Barace saving her, though Barace still feels guilty that she was the only guard they were able to save. In any case, Barace is thankful for Seraphina's help as well, and sees her as being quite courageous.

Trostin
Barace named Trostin after learning that he didn't have a name while talking to him with Speak With Animals after the party had first purchased him. Though he is a draft horse, they see him as more of an equal in the party rather than just an animal.

Alat
"Alat, you're not a weapon, you're a person." Initially when meeting Alat, Barace felt on edge around him, suspicious of what he and his "Master" wanted with them. However, very quickly his presence grew on Barace, and they didn't mind having the extra assistance around. Some things about him irritated them though, primarily his willingness to kill anyone who posed the slightest opposition to the party. They are aware through some others' comments that the magic that Alat was created with is from dark sources, but Barace does not fully comprehend what this could entail and does not allow it to impact their opinion on Alat. Though he reports himself to just being a tool, Barace offered to give him a name and seems to be convinced that he is still his own feeling person, rather than simply a machine like everyone else, including himself, believes. They requested that he not forget his name or that he is more of a person than he thinks he is when he left the party to go back to Dunadel.

Dunadel
Though Barace has not met Dunadel in person yet, they were able to speak with him through Alat, and had heard of him in the past due to Rauva speaking of him. Rauva never shed Dunadel in the best light, leaving Barace on guard right away when talking to him. They are suspicious of his interest in Rauva's research, especially with how it seemed that he was far more interested in the research itself than Rauva's wellbeing, but agreed to work with him, or rather, work with Alat, during their search for Rauva. When Dunadel later offered to have Barace and Rauva join him in his work, where they could have "great power", Barace turned him down. They do not trust him, and now worry that the information he was provided through Alat may have negative consequences.

Nephir
"Is that paint on your scales? I like it! It looks nice. Barace likes having Nephir around. They are happy with the extra traveling company, especially after Zevas left to return to his guild in Doveport and later Sapic left to warmer places. They're quite fascinated by the scale paint that Nephir wears, and curious about Nephir's particular spellcasting abilities. Barace has bonded with Nephir over them both having rodent friends (Cilio and Naryth) and they helped her get to see Rasenthe again.

Azal Earthdelver
When first picking up Azal Earthdelver from the Cradle to escort him to Nin Dorahl, Barace stated that they believe in his strength, which has led to a bit of an early bonding between the two. Azal likes to talk to Barace a lot, and they are quite happy to listen. Barace has bought a Hat of Wizardry and has lent their moon-touched sword to Azal. They also are determined to help him find his mother, understanding what he's going through.

Rowan
Barace finds Rowan to be a pleasant addition to the group. They feel a bit of a kinship towards her with their similar backgrounds of just getting out into the world for the very first time, and enjoy bonding over sharing new experiences. They're also glad that someone else is bonding with Azal and appreciate Rowan's support when it comes to actively doing "hero" stuff.

Quotes
The outside world isn't... quite what I expected. Is this why you told me to stay in the tower? I'm sorry. - From a letter Barace wrote to Rauva.

"...Am I a bad wizard?" - Asked to Den.

"This is going to sound really weird... ...but do you have any books about lizardfolk?" - To a tiefling priest at the Silver Scholar, the temple of Xidall.

"What... makes someone a monster?" "What if someone isn't... isn't in control of their intentions?" - Both asked to Zevas, the second question being a follow-up to the answer given for the first.

It helps to prepare for the unknown, especially when time is concerned. - From a note Barace wrote to keep track of events while time travelling.

"For a brief, blessed moment, he actually agreed that not drinking was better for his health. I just want to remember that." - After Varick accidentally agreed with Den that he should stop drinking.

"If... If something goes wrong, if I do something wrong, I need you to stop me." - To Sapic through the Message cantrip right before the party fought the Shoosuva.

"We know. You wouldn't have been able to do that by accident." - To Sapic after she told the party that she meant to leave without saying goodbye.

"I think the number of people I've had to kill in self-defense is a higher number than my age, and that- that's wrong! It isn't fair! Why is the world like this?" ''- To Rowan while discussing self-defense morality.

Trivia

 * Barace speaks with an Underdark Elven accent, more commonly heard from by drows. In fact, Barace lacks the same raspy tone that most other lizardfolk or Draconic-speaking races have.
 * This accent most closely sounds like a British English accent.
 * Barace carries around a simple journal with maroon covers that they got from Rauva, and usually reads or takes notes from it at the end of every day.
 * Some loose pages that are stored within the journal are letters and notes that Barace has written. Out of character, these generally serve as the player's campaign logs.
 * Most of these were letters being written for Rauva, to easily tell her everything that has been happening in their travels; Barace has recently been able to actually give these letters to Rauva, and thus no longer is storing them in their journal. They have been writing these letters in Undercommon.
 * They did also write notes to themself during their experience time travelling, and stored those in the journal as well. They have been writing these in Common.
 * It is through reading the journal, and the notes left behind in it from Rauva, that Barace began learning their Chronurgy magic.
 * This journal is not their spellbook. They have a separate book as their spellbook.
 * Barace has a strange tendency to find and own a lot of blades. They own their dagger and a knife from the Scholar's Pack, was in possession of Leif's knife before giving it to Sapic, noticed a strange sword at a blacksmith's shop, and bought a moon-touched blade from Kissix, though they have lent that to Zevas and later Azal.
 * On their way back to the Journey's Respite from Inorn's place, Den joked that they hoped that Sapic and Zevas would not be dead when they got back, since the other two were left hungover when Barace and Den left. When Barace asked if you could die from drinking too much alcohol and Den said yes, Barace became extremely worried that Sapic in particular would drink herself to death; though that worry later expanded to Varick when he joined the party and also displayed alcoholic tendencies.
 * Once to try to stop Sapic from drinking so much, Barace cast Prestidigitation to make her drink overly sweet to try and dissuade her from drinking it. It didn't work, and Barace has not since tried that strategy again; but out of character, the player has joked about using the spell to make a drink taste like bat guano.
 * In a letter to Rauva, written after the gnoll ambush in Vundarth, Barace commented that they think they understand why Sapic and Varick drink so much, making the connection that it's likely a coping mechanism.
 * Still generally inexperienced with social interaction and meeting new people, Barace often forgets to introduce themself until someone asks what their name is, and sometimes forgets to ask for the name of whoever they are speaking to.
 * Den asked what Barace's name was when they first met, and thus they introduced themself to them. However, Barace neglected to introduce themself to the others right away. Eventually Den told the others Barace's name after Zevas began giving Barace the nickname "Lizzy".
 * Barace is known to pay homage to the Ivory Moon, and performs rituals for the deity during full moons.
 * Barace has named a few characters throughout the campaign. They named Trostin and Alat during the party's adventures, and prior to any sort of adventure, Barace named their familiar, Cilio.
 * All "bosses" that the party has encountered so far (the Night Hag, the False Hydra, and the Shoosuva) were first damaged by Barace in those fights.