Aestrella Shanfarel Greyhawk Dragon

Aestrella appears as a 5'0" tall, slender half-elven maiden of youthful age (about 22 in human terms) and comely appearance, with honey-blond hair and blue green eyes typical of Celene half-elves. She is the grand diva of the Royal Opera, and patrons marvel at how such a slim young female half-elf can produce such impassioned, powerful soprano operatics. No one in Greyhawk knows Aestrella's secret, her magic resistance having protected her against the few covert scrying attempts which have been made.

Aestrella adores the applause, the longing looks of handsome young men, the flowers and gems and lovely gifts which are showered upon her by many admirers, both Greyhawkers and foreigners. She is a dragon, after all, and as such adores flattery. She likes to discuss artistic work of aU kinds with cultured and theatrical people, and is on good terms with Kahari Kellainen (see Chapter 6), who is presently trying to get her to leave the Royal Opera and come to sing in the Grand Theatre instead. Aestrella is very unhappy about the current disputes between the Grand Theatre and the Royal Opera, but is uncertain how to resolve the dispute.

Aestrella favors the use of mind affecting and investigative spells, and if she detects an evil (or CN) character with know alignment she will investigate that person further, using invisibility and spells such as clairaudience, clairvoyance, magic mirror, and wizard eye to pry further. She may then send an anonymous note to a priestly Director, or use her charm and suggestion spells to create problems for that character by persuading others into courses of actions which create obstacles for the evil individual. Her powers of persuasion are, of course, attributable to her high Charisma (appears as 18 in half-elven form) and physical attractiveness.

Involving this NPC in game play is not easy. She does not wish to reveal her identity as a Greyhawk dragon, and will not do except under the most extreme of circumstances. However, it is not necessarily improbable that she could have knowledge of intrigue in Greyhawk; she knows, and is admired by, many men in powerful positions (any major NPC you like could be smitten by her charms). Thus she could plausibly feed information to PCs about evil goings-on or political skulduggery in the city. In any event, a cultured PC could easily meet her privately - even if only for a short time providing he is a reasonably charismatic male bringing a fine gift.

Further possibilities would include having a lovestruck NPC hire the PCs to do his wooing of Aestrella by such means as bardic entertainments (a bard PC is asked to compose and recite an epic love poem which presents the NPC in a good light), procuring some priceless or none such treasure as a gift for her (possibly from Greyhawk Castle), and so on. Also, Aestrella could plausibly befriend Lady Valderesse and hear of some adventure opportunity which would introduce the PCs to her by performing some service. In short, ingenuity is required in bringing this NPC into game play.

AC 0; MV 12, Fl 24 (E): HD 11; hp 66; THAC0 10; #AT 3; Dmg 1d10/1d10/ 3d10; SA breath weapon (gas; save vs. poison at - 4 or die, 3/day, area of effect 30' cube), spells, fear effect (in dragon form SD polymorph self(5/day), detect invisibility within 60', immune to wizard spells of levels 1-4, otherwise 75% magic resistance; SZ Huge; AL LN (G).

Spells usually memorized: charm person ( x 2), comprehend languages, sleep, ESP, invisibility, know alignment, wizard Jock, clairaudience, clairvoyance, dispel magic, suggestion, charm monster( x 2), magic mirror, wizard eye, cloudkill, passwall, stone shape, telekinesis, antimagic shell, globe of invulnerability, legend Jore, stone to flesh.