Lyra

Lyra

Lyra, born as Tig, is a formerly changeling, now human, shadow monk and one of the Heroes of Saltmarsh.

History

Early Life

Tig was born in Saltmarsh on the 1st of Hammer, 1468 to Pom and Art, two changelings that had settled in the town to hide their identities. Pom and Art both disguised themselves as elves and worked as a weaver and a fisherman respectively.
Tig grew up in Saltmarsh disguised as an elf as well, but occasionally had difficulty hiding herself. This was compounded by her aging, which was typical for a changeling but atypical for an elf.
One day, when Tig was a child, a traveling human monk named Brenvark Coldscar came to Saltmarsh. Impressed with Brenvark, and believing that his discipline would benefit their daughter, Pom and Art turned Tig over to his protection, where she traveled and trained with him for years.
Though Brenvark was the Shade of Luck at the Twilight Monastery, Tig only spent part of her time training with the other acolytes. Most of her time was spent with Brenvark wandering the Sword Coast North, and the two developed a strong bond as master and apprentice. This was compounded by the bullying Tig recieved when she did train with the other acolytes, who were jealous of the favoritism Brenvark showed her. During her time with Brenvark, Tig also met another unusual member of the monastery, another shapechanger who went by Folen but was most well-know outside of the monastery as the renowned thief called the Mask. Ultimately, Tig's unusual training resulted in her never moving beyond behind an official trainee of the monastery.
Following the Great Dragon War and the expulsion of the Sea Princes, Tig moved back to Saltmarsh and acted as their elven daughter who had been off training for decades. However, Tig decided to take the skills she had gained and use them to get paid. Without telling her parents, Tig began moonlighting as the human smuggler Lyra, and often accepted various smuggling tasks from Crab, Saltmarsh's underworld liason. During this time, Crab accidentally discovered that Lyra and Tig were the same person, but promised to keep his mouth shut so long as it didn't become a problem.

The Banesmark Crisis

(See the Heroes of Saltmarsh)
In Flamerule of 1496, Lyra was one of the Marshers approached by Crab to investigate the town's haunted mansion at the request of Gellan Primewater, which set in motion Lyra's involvment in unraveling the entire Banesmark Crisis.
While the Heroes of Saltmarsh were aiding the lizardfolk of the Sunny Shore Tribe, they fought against the ogre Shre-rek. Upon dying, Lyra took the ogre's Vest of Ogre Strength, which she wore for the duration of the crisis. Lyra gained an additional magical item, the Cloak of the Walking Death, from the wizard Keledek after the Heroes investigated his missing ship.
Lyra and the other Heroes were also involved in the attack on the Neverwinter Gala. Afterwards, the group was contact by the Mask, who was in attendance and who revealed their previous connection to Micah Pierce as the thief that stole his family home. The Mask revealed that the attackers at the gala appeared to be members of the Twilight Monastery, and they stated their desire to investigate the monastery and report back to the group, potentially to work with them. During this conversation, the Mask continued to needle Micah, revealing to him that he was the only member of the group that was unaware of Lyra's changeling nature, further driving a wedge in the party.
Micah and Lyra, who had already butted heads multiple times at this point, became even more prickly with one another. The two of them were forced to play nice when they and the pseudodragon Biz investigated a group of kuo-toa for the lighthouse keeper Major Ursa, which resulted in the kuo-toa forming a new two-faced god of death from Lyra's visage. However, Micah still threatened to leave the group to continue pursuing the Mask until he was talked down.
While helping Saltmarsh prepare for the upcoming attack on a nearby sahuagin fortress, the Heroes encountered a group of deep scions on the way back from the Saltmarsh Mine. When the Heroes asked the town druid Davver Longbeard to help them determine if any of them were deep scions, Lyra's changeling nature was revealed to Davver, who promised to keep her secret.
During this time of perparation too, a group of sahuagin raided the town for slaves. Lyra's parents, unaware that Lyra was their daughter, believed that Tig had been taken by the sahuagin and joined the Mariners to fight to bring her back. Lyra, whether out of cowardness or awkwardness, did not correct her parents' assumption.
Following the Battle of the Spire, Lyra and her other traveling companions were officially proclaimed to be the Heroes of Saltmarsh. However, the battle was an overwhelming victory for the Dunwater Alliance, Lyra's mother Pom lost an eye, a crippling wound for a changeling. Following the battle, Lyra revealed herself to her parents, resulting in her mother becoming furious and her father disapointed.
In Uktar of 1496, the Mask returned to Saltmarsh with a proposal to work with the Heroes to rob the Twilight Monastery, letting the Heroes uncover more about the Banesmark and allowing the Mask to steal an item of import to them and desecrate the monastery for their god. Upon hearing this proposal, Micah attacked the Mask, and Lyra joined in, until they were stopped by Mogran Oredelver. While Micah and his sister fueded about the Mask's return, Lyra remained ready to kill them, and the Heroes ultimately decided to work with the Mask with the aim of killing them once the mission was over.
That plan was not to be. While the infiltration during the monastery's initiation ritual was successful, and Lyra even managed to secure herself a powerful new weapon, Give & Take, Lyra was ultimately slain during the fight with monastery's Grand Shade. One of Lyra's personal missions while at the monastery was to rescue her mentor Brenvark, who was being held captive for not submitting to the Banesmark. However, Lyra did not inform the other Heroes about Brenvark, causing him to be left behind when the group, panicked, let the Mask go, and Mogran took Lyra's body through the monastery's teleportation room, bringing them both back to Saltmarsh. Mogran first asked Marian Brinehand, a priestess of Umberlee, to use Speak With Dead and determine if Lyra wanted to be brought back to life. When Lyra said yes, Davver used Reserection, but doing caused Lyra to become a human permenately, resembling the facade she had taken on for years.
Though traumatized by this, Lyra continued working with the Heroes, invesetigating Firewatch Island and killing the black dragon Voaraghammanthar.
While confrontating the aboleth S'gothgah in his base in the Styes, the Necian Arrzen accidentally killed Brenvark, who had been fully inflicted with a Banesmark and was brought to the Styes as a bargaining chip for the aboleth. However, the group did not recognize Brenvark under the cult robes he wore and, mistaking him for a true believer, he was killed by a fireball. Though Lyra was distraught, the Heroes had no choice but to continue to chase the aboleth to stop the attack on the Neveren Trade Fleet.

Life After the Banesmark Crisis

Following the Banesmark Crisis, Lyra moved to Waterdeep with her parents, who wanted to seek out a great changeling community. Lyra, still restless, began laying the groundwork for what would soon become her own monastery, following more in the ideals of her master than the Twilight Monastery itself.
In Ches of 1500, Lyra and the other Heroes gathered in Waterdeep to help Micah rescue Biz, who had been captured by the Mask as a ploy to ruin the stability in Micah's life. However, the Mask was defeated and mentally broken after a fight with the Heroes.
In 1504, after years of preparation, Lyra formally established Coldscar Monastery near Waterdeep, teaching students how to master the Way of Shadows as a rival school to the Twilight Monastery.
In 1507, the Heroes gathered again to help Necian perform a slave break from the City of Brass.
In 1517, Coldscar Monastery was accepted to participate in the 97th Annual Tournament of Ki, where it dominated the competition, gaining Lyra and her school great prestige.
In 1547, a much older Lyra participated in the Liberation of Nettlemurk Hall, assisting her old friend Mogran Oredelver in taking back his clan's ancesteral home.

Physical Description

Apparel & Accessories

Lyra nearly always nears a dark robe and hood that obscures her face.

Specialized Equipment

Over the course of the Banesmark Crisis, Lyra acquired numerous magical items that would become staples for her in the years to come.
One such item is a Vest of Ogre Strength, which Lyra wears to boost her physical abilities.
Another is the Cloak of Walking Death, which allows Lyra to run in a small circle, causing a small storm of necrotic energy to emenate from her, damaging enemies near by.
Her most iconic item is Give & Take, a pair of shobo connected by a chain that can drain the health from enemies and bestow it upon allies.

Personality Characteristics

Vices & Personality flaws

Lyra is extremely secretive about her personal beliefs and feelings, which can result in both miscommunication and issues that could have been resolved in a far less messy manner had she spoken up earlier.

Species

Human

Date of Birth

1st of Hammer

Year of Birth

1468 CR 30 Years old

Birthplace

Saltmarsh

Current Residence

Waterdeep

Sex

Female

Height

5'10"

Weight

160 lbs

Aligned Organization

Heroes of Saltmarsh

Ruled Locations

• Coldscar Monastery

Lyra's human form

Tig's elven disguise

Tig's true changeling form