Tanleigh Dyrrant runs a troupe of entertainers. The nominal head is Argos, an illusionist and one of Tanleigh's two husbands, but no-one doubts that it is really Tanleigh in charge. Tanleigh's other husband, Lareus, is their minder.
Tanleigh likes husbands. As well as having two of her own, she has seduced several belonging to other women.
Tanleigh sometimes takes employment as a spy, and can thus be found almost anywhere in the Fifty Worlds. When not spying, she is generally to be found with her itinerant troupe, which travels in an around the Ligaean Peninsula on Ansuz, including the cities of Ligaea and Rajeya, and the cities along the coast to the west of the peninsula. Rajeya is about as far east as they normally go.
As a practising spy, Tanleigh has +2 on all NPC reaction rolls (in addition to any bonus from her allure) and gets many non-weapon proficiencies cheaply.
[AD&D-Specific:] Tanleigh Dyrrant, human female, Str 10 (Stamina 12, Muscle 8) Dex 17 Con 18 Int 16 Wis 9 Cha 18 Align CN Hp 69. Height: 5'4", Weight 135 lb. Age: Late thirties. Enchantress, level 12; Bard, level 16.
Tanleigh's traits are: Allure, Glibness, Impersonation and Music (Singing).
Tanleigh is an expert seductress. She has beautiful big brown eyes. Her reaction rolls are at +9, +12 for adult human males. There is little chance of an adult human male ever being anything less than friendly; most adult human males older than about their mid-twenties find her fascinating.
Tanleigh is basically selfish and amoral. She will happily cooperate with anyone, but will not go out of her way (or take risks) to help should that anyone get into trouble. She likes stories and plays providing that they do not have morals, and does not mind whether their endings are happy or sad as long as the story is entertaining. She is not religious - she leaves the Gods to their business and hopes that they will leave her to hers.
On stage, Tanleigh acts in the good old-fashioned way. She speaks her lines loudly and clearly, so that even people in the back of the audience can hear her. Her gestures are similarly emphatic. She pauses after jokes, to give the slow-of-thinking time to laugh. She knows what her audience wants, and she delivers it effectively. Off-stage, of course, her acting is more subtle.
Tanleigh Dyrrant is a stage name; it is a palindrome if spelt in sea-elven. In two of the various languages in use on the Ligaean Peninsula, "Tanleigh Dyrrant" might mean "charming mermaid" or "tough mermaid". Tanleigh's true name is Idret. She was born on the island of Jaet, a medium-sized island in the chain of tropical islands to the west of the Ligaean Peninsula. Her father was a research magician. Her mother owned a large part of the land area of that island, to which Tanleigh is heiress (property on the island descends in the female line). Tanleigh does not want to be a provincial landowner (acting and spying are far more enjoyable) and keeps her origins secret even from her husbands.
High stamina is common on the island of Jaet, where the locals are renowned swimmers.
Tanleigh needs only half the usual amount of sleep to be fully-rested, which suggests that somewhere along the line she has a trace of sea-elven ancestry.
Tanleigh's abilities as a wizard specialist in enchantment are: Armoured Wizard (leather armour); Bonus Spells; Casting Reduction; Intense Magic; Range Boost. Tanleigh cannot cast spells from the schools of Invocation, Necromancy, Conjuration or Greater Divination. Tanleigh does not have a learning bonus in enchantment or a learning penalty in other areas (her teachers were non-specialist mages, not specialist enchanters).
Tanleigh, an enchantress, can manage the odd lesser divination spell, but the only schools she ever came to grips with other than enchantment were alteration, illusion and to some extent abjuration. Casting reduction combined with Tanleigh's +2 reaction adjustment makes her spells particularly effective at short notice.
Following local practice, Tanleigh describes herself as a minstrel rather than a bard (which still, to some people, has druidic connotations, as many of Tanleigh's elders can remember the over-the-top 1st Edition bards). Tanleigh's bard abilities are: Alter Moods; Counter Effects of song and music; Detect Noise (100%); Pick Pockets (95%); Read Languages (90%); +2 Sound Resistance; Weapon Specialisation: dagger; Wizard Spells.
Alter moods used in combination with Tanleigh's psionic wild talent of telempathic projection is highly effective.
Being both an enchantress and a bard, Tanleigh can memorise many spells: 13 1st-level, 11 2nd-level, 11 3rd-level, 11 4th-level, 9 5th-level and 4 6th-level. This is improved even further by her bracelets (see below).
Tanleigh used to be mildly allergic to milk, butter and cheese. She has had this cured - she turned the big brown eyes on a high-level male cleric - but still much prefers a diet of fish, rabbit meat, sweet pastry, fruit and nuts.
For someone so powerful, it must be said that Tanleigh's saving throws are not very good. With 18 constitution, she has little to fear from petrification, but she is justifiably nervous of snakes, spiders, assassins and (especially) dragons. Tanleigh used to be terrified of dragons, and she remains nervous of them and will not willingly confront one. Tanleigh's bitter rival, Zea the Dreadless, who runs a rival troupe, knows of Tanleigh's weakness and makes intelligent use of it.
However, Tanleigh's biggest weakness is her impatience. She has the intelligence to cast 7th (and even 8th) level spells, but not the patience to research or memorise them.
Tanleigh is an expert swimmer, even by Ansuzi standards, which are high. She can swim long distances without tiring, and can, in short bursts, swim at speeds which would make Tarzan look slow by comparison. Underwater, if something is humanly possible, Tanleigh can do it, and even if it is not, she stands a fair chance.
Tanleigh is also an expert drummer. This is not an innate talent, but she practises a lot. If something can make a noise, Tanleigh can get rhythm out of it.
Tanleigh also has singing proficiency (to go with her natural talent as a singer). She is a mezzo-soprano with a sexy, seductive singing voice. Her other non-weapon proficiencies include languages (common, sea-elven, and several others), reading/writing and spellcraft.
In her early years as a bard, shortly after changing character class, Tanleigh learned many of the typical spy non-weapon proficiencies, including dancing, disguise and forgery, and also practised throwing daggers (throwing proficiency and fighting style specialisation). Although nowadays she is famed for her skill with daggers, Tanleigh did not learn dagger weapon specialisation until reaching 6th level as a bard. This is a skill she developed through patience and practice, and she is inordinately proud of it.
For a wizard, Tanleigh puts little trust in her spell-power, preferring to use her big brown eyes on anything potentially friendly and long-range missile fire against everything else. As a result, her spell-books are an odd collection: they include the well-known spells she learned from her father and her tutors; some peculiar and little-known transmutation spells devised by her father; a large selection of enchantment spells, some of them standard and others far from standard; and various odds and ends, including metamagic spells, picked up from the various male research wizards on whom she turned her big brown eyes.
Assuming that I have worked the numbers out correctly, using thrown daggers (her preferred mode of attack), Tanleigh get gets three attacks per round, her THAC0 is 6, and she does +2 damage (+4 at point-blank range). Point-blank means anything less than 70"; short means anything less than 110"; medium means anything less than 150"; and long means anything less than 190". She also gets a +1 AC bonus in exchanges of missile fire.
Tanleigh is aware that now that she is approaching forty the audiences which used to come to see her now come to see younger, prettier women. Tanleigh's big brown eyes are irresistible at short range, but they are not much use when she is on stage and the audience is seated some way away.
Fortunately, Tanleigh's troupe is well-blessed with pretty young women. Her two husbands, Lareus and Argos, were both widowers when she met them (malicious rumour that she disposed of their previous wives is entirely untrue). Lareus and Argos each have two daughters by their first marriages, and these four young women are exceedingly pretty and quite talented (although not, of course, as talented as Tanleigh herself).
Add an attractive young commedienne, who is even funnier than Tanleigh (even Tanleigh herself might admit this).
Then add the five young women's several boyfriends, most of them swashbuckling types with acrobatic talent.
I may add more information in due course. In the mean time, here are the stats for Tanleigh's husbands.
[AD&D-Specific:] Argos Karizzion, human male, Str 15 Dex 18 Con 13 Int 18 Wis 16 Cha 16 Align CG Hp 49. Age: Late forties. Fighter, level 5; Illusionist, level 8.
[AD&D-Specific:] Lareus Zhezzetis, human male, Str 18(39) Dex 15 Con 17 Int 9 Wis 12 Cha 18 Align CG Hp 104. Age: Late forties. Fighter, level 12.
In general, Tanleigh's stage performances resemble the Commedia dell'Arte, making allowance for local variations.
One important local variation is that magic works and the audience knows it. They expect to see magical illusions as part of a live stage performance. Argos provides these. They also expect to see levitation and other well-known transmutation tricks. Tanleigh usually provides these herself.
Often, Tanleigh will also throw a few charm spells into the audience, to bring attractive young people (male and female) onto stage to participate in the performance. Most members in the audience know this is going to happen, but it still catches a few by surprise. It is not unknown for showoffs in the audience to pretend to be charmed even when they are not, to provide an excuse for joining in the fun.
The audience also knows that magicians can turn invisible. Of course, if people really turned invisible, the audience would not be able to see them, making it difficult to follow the plot. Therefore, by convention, anyone wearing white is deemed to be invisible to the other characters. Tanleigh is skilled both at pretending to be invisible to others on stage and pretending that they are invisible to her. Some of her standard skits are hilarious and extremely lewd.
In recent years, the younger women in the troupe have played the heroine parts, and Tanleigh has played the villainess. She enjoys this: villainesses have the funniest lines.
I may add more information in due course.
When she is not swimming, singing or seducing, Tanleigh likes looking around old libraries for unusual spells. She has also researched a few musical spells of her own. The following rare spells appear in Tanleigh's spell-books.
Tanleigh's Fascinating Rhythm, Enchantment/Charm, 2nd level
Tanleigh's Suggestive Rhythm, Enchantment/Charm, 3rd level
Tanleigh's Crossrhythm, Enchantment/Charm, 4th level
Tanleigh's Chaotic Rhythm, Enchantment/Charm, 5th level
Tanleigh's Compelling Rhythm, Enchantment/Charm, 5th level
Tanleigh's Catching Rhythm, Enchantment/Charm, 6th level
Tanleigh's Rhythm spells more or less duplicate other enchantment spells, as follows:
| Fascinating Rhythm | = | Influence |
| Suggestive Rhythm | = | Suggestion |
| Crossrhythm | = | Confusion |
| Chaotic Rhythm | = | Chaos |
| Compelling Rhythm | = | Domination |
| Catching Rhythm | = | Mass Suggestion |
The major difference is that they are cast in one of two different ways, either by dancing or by drumming.
The spell-caster (usually Tanleigh herself) must either dance the rhythm (making a dancing proficiency check) or drum out the rhythm on her drums (making a musical instrument proficiency check). In either case, a failed proficiency check means that the spell fails. There are no verbal components and no material components (the drums in the second version are not material components as such and do not vanish when the spell is cast). Stats (casting times, ranges, durations) are the same as for the base spell. In the first version, the target(s) must be able to see the spell-caster (darkness, amongst other area-effect spells, makes it impossible to cast this version successfully). In the second version, the target(s) must be able to hear the drums (silence, amongst other area-effect spells, makes it impossible to cast this version successfully). The version must be specified when the spell is memorised. The caster's reaction adjustment (based on charisma) is subtracted from the victim(s) saving throw(s).
Tallence's Say Goodbye, Alteration, 6th level.
Tallence's Wave Goodbye, Alteration, 6th level.
These are versions of Teleport. The casting time is halved, as is the chance of a mis-teleport (round fractions down, so teleporting home one never arrives low). Say Goodbye can be cast when one is bound, but not if one is silenced or gagged. Wave Goodbye can be cast providing one has at least one arm free, even if one is silenced or gagged. They are otherwise identical to the Teleport spell.
Tanleigh will usually have both memorised, in case of emergencies.
Tallence, a research magician upon whom Tanleigh turned her big brown eyes, is a traditionalist who does not hold with the modern theory that teleport spells belong to the school of conjuration rather than the school of alteration.
Vernestare's Insect Repellant, Abjuration, 4th level.
Protects the caster from all non-magical insects and similar irritations. Magical insects (e.g. insect swarms) do half or quarter damage, depending on saving throw, which is at +3. Very useful in and around parts of the Ligaean Peninsula, which is tropical. Duration 1 hour per level.
Tanleigh does not know who Vernestare was, and neither do I. She found the spell in an old library.
Naturally, Tanleigh's spell books also contain all of the spells (except for those categorised as Conjuration/Summoning) listed in that invaluable reference work, the COMPLETE GUIDE TO AD&D SEX.
Tanleigh's magical bracelets are a semi-artefact. She will never admit where she picked them up.
Firstly, and most fearsomely, they double the number of spells of all levels up to and including 6th level which the wearer can memorise. This power is not cumulative with other spell-storing devices or memory enhancers. Wearing the bracelets, Tanleigh can memorise 26 1st-level, 22 2nd-level, 22 3rd-level, 22 4th-level, 18 5th-level and 8 6th-level spells. This was the main reason why Tanleigh switched character class - there was little incentive for Tanleigh to progress further as an enchantress. The bracelets would not double 7th-level spells even if she had the patience to learn them.
The bracelets also give Tanleigh the powers of an 18th-level psionicist. There is a catch here too. Most of the psychic powers Tanleigh receives from the bracelets duplicate the effects of spells she already knows. PSP 115, 9 sciences, 23 devotions.
Tanleigh would never be accepted for training as a psionicist, as her alignment is exactly wrong and she does not have the required wisdom. However, she does have a native wild talent, telempathic projection, which now that she has found the bracelets she has no incentive to develop.
The bracelets give Tanleigh a magical armour class AC -6. This is not cumulative with any other magical devices (the bracelets might be upset and decide not to function if Tanleigh even tried wearing other magical protection devices). It is cumulative with Tanleigh's dexterity, defensive bonus in missile exchanges, and with any invisibility or blurring spells in operation.
When they are in the mood, the bracelets also allow Tanleigh to regenerate (as per ring of regeneration) and provide a +1 bonus on all saving throws. The bracelets will only fail to do this if Tanleigh upsets them (for example by wearing a magical ring which duplicates something the bracelets can do).
The bracelets will work for anyone who is of chaotic alignment, can cast 6th-level spells, and has a psionic wild talent. However, if someone manages somehow to get them off Tanleigh, the bracelets will not be happy, as they share Tanleigh's approach to life. Expect the unexpected (such as wild surges whenever the wearer casts a spell).
Played badly, Tanleigh is quite capable of wrecking a campaign. The important point to remember is that Tanleigh gets bored easily. She will not hang about for long.
Tanleigh's functions in the campaign are:
Sir Ruthven Despard and Tanleigh Dyrrant are acquainted with one another and flirt with one another when they meet, but their relationship is no heavier than that. They will try to avoid interfering with one another's plans.
Tanleigh Dyrrant does not trust Vladimir, but then she does not trust anyone. Not long after Vladimir appeared from nowhere, he and Tanleigh were lovers. They sometimes run into one another during their travels around the worlds, and when they do they usually find time for sex.
Xukry and Tanleigh Dyrrant are effectively rivals, as they are competing for the same audience (sometimes literally so, if they happen to be in Rajeya at the same time). They will not use violence against one another, but will happily use any non-violent ways they can think of to spoil one another's performances.
Pamina and Tanleigh dislike one another intensely, but would co-operate if anything threatened their mutual friends.