Obviously a place called the Beheaded (read: decapitated) Fiend Inn should be run by someone, who knows how to slay the foul creatures from the lower planes. Tandra Fiendslayer certainly knows the dark of killing fiends. Her second name is really more of a title she earned on her adventures than a name. Her heritage and story are revealed in Tale Of A Fiendslayer. Let's suffice to say here, that she is tougher than she looks.
"Hey, woman can't learn to use the sword" - Kaidin at the
northern school.
*smack*, *punch*, *kick* SCREAM!
" 'This girl ain't natural', me always says. 'Beats up 'em big and strong guys, being little herself.' Harder than stone her skin. Natural killer that one, I tell you. Then she leaves to learn to fight for real. When me sees her the next time she has that big sword of hers and is faster than a maelstrom. That blade of hers ain't natural either. Real creepy thing if you ask me. Yes, real creepy. Talks foul languages and burns. It really burns. Yeah....
You ask me about the girl, not her sword. I say they are one and the same. Though somewhat nice when she returned. Killed that big nasty. A fiend she called it, a tanar'ri, baal'li'ir or something. Walked up to the thing that killed all, singing some odd song. Then she hacks it to pieces. Not breaking a sweat. Shiver. Turns around and asks what the problem is, as the thing dissolves into mist. I Never saw her again. Later I hears she's legend now.
--- Some prime knowing Tandra when she was 'young'
"That sword isn't really yours, is it?"
Anonymous male warrior to Tandra. He lacked a head a moment later.
"You ask me about our pupil, the female Tandra Fiendslayer. I think she went by another second name at that time. I guess she used the name of her adopted father Amiel Blackblade. He never attended the school, but he was a trustworthy soul and a reliable fighter. We where surprised, when he brought his girl here. He said that she was a natural warrior and would develop fighting skill anyway, so we should teach her the proper ways. Of course we where sceptical. This really angered her.
"She attacked many of us and several had broken bones before our leader at that time said that she was accepted. She was plain incredible. She finished her training in only three years, maybe even less, but the official records say three years. She learned everything and forged her Jivatma, the magical sword of all Sword-Dancers. Her test was killing a Balor terrorising an area. She was successful. I suspect it was not even much of a challange for her. We lost track of her some time after that. I think she walks other planes now. Some say that she broke several of our rules, but she is too far away and too dangerous to catch."
--- Retired Kaidin of the northern School
"You cannot do that. You have signed a contract..."
A baatezu leader talking to Tandra. In the dead-book now.
"Tandra Fiendslayer? Completely insane. Efficient killer. It doesn't make any sense that the baatezu hired her. She is a loner and a maniac. She could almost be a tanar'ri or at least a slaad in disguise, if I did not know that she was a prime. Know the gods or the accursed 'loths, how she knew that much about the planes. She left them after some time. Could have told them, but no baatezu would ever listen to me and I would be to busy slashing them to pieces to talk to one anyway.
"She plain did not match up with them lawful types. She was too individualistic, strange and she seems to have a certain type of attitude, a very familiar one. Killed that thingie the Yugoloths said made us teleport. How stupid do they think we are? It sure didn't have any effect on me. Actually a cool thing foiling some 'loth spawned plot. I always say it. Mortals are less predictable than a slaad on a bad day.
--- M'Tlu'Ir (or so) the marilith, Blood War commander.
"The name is Mhtluhihrr!" <growl>
M'Tlu'Ir the marilith finding another reason to hate mortals.
"What do I think of her? She is a blood to be reckoned with. She already is a legend and she does not seem to be particularly old to me. She knows many darks of the lower planes. Sometimes I think she understands the fiends better than the fiends themselves. If you want an advice about adventuring in the lower planes and battling their denizens, your best bet is asking Tandra about it. Sometimes I think that there is nothing in the lower planes that she has not yet killed.
"Over time the burning hatred of everything fiendish that burns within her has become tempered by reason. Some talk about a fateful meeting with some type of immortal paladin or celestial. She learned that slaughtering fiends was not the best way to battle their influence. She is now pretty much on the upper side of the planes in her attitude, but I do not know which one. She has already done much in her life and will do much more to reveal the darks of the fiends and their ways to help fighting them.
"Am I predisposed in her favour? Yes. She helped me save my soul. (You know, sins of the youth...)"
--- Tarsheva Longreach, Legendary Planewalker
"I am sure she is already working on a revised edition of
Faces Of Evil."
Tarsheva Longreach about Tandra Fiendslayer, after the lower planes
spat forth many new (more precisely old) fiends.
"After she was gone for some time, I took to the road again to see what had happened to her. No-one talked about her deeds any longer and I feared for the worst. I even travelled to the the other side of the world. In the city of Stargarr I followed a gate to the otherworldly city of Sigil, after making sure, that the gate would also lead back to the Pearl Of The Sea (Stargarr). Finding her was more tricky than I thought, because most of my contacts where either gone or dead. After some time I was directed to the Beheaded Fiend Inn.
"The first thing I saw, aside from the typical assortment of weird creatures you find in generalised hangouts in the cage, was her large sword, hanging behind the bar. It had a healthy rosy colour. The troublesome partial crimson, that meant a spirit that tried to escape the Blade was gone. Tandra was amongst the customers and obviously in a good mood. I was somewhat startled when a large minotaur went into my direction. It only asked me, if I wanted to stay or go. The Beheaded Fiend Inn was a busy place and they could not afford guests, who where just standing around, it explained
"Tandra smiled at me and led me to a silent table near the bar. She gave several directions to her staff and sat down with me. 'Hi dad', she said with the hint of a friendly smile curving her lips. 'Do you have a problem to be solved the hard way or do you just want to see what I have been doing since I walk the planes.' I told her that I feared that she was dead. She replied, that she had been severely wounded several times, but that she was still alive, and not as violent as she used to be.
"She said that the really dangerous fiends are not the violent ones, but those who are not. Tandra smiled at me then and looked over the crowd in her Inn. The taproom was almost filled to capacity and she said: 'The guestbook looks like that too. This is a busy place. My companions and me make sure, that guests stay peaceful.' She pointed at the pale winged female. The dwarf drinking at the next table and the giant sized minotaur. 'Do you want to leave right now or stay for a night?', she asked. I decided to stay for a night.
"Tandra got up and entered something into the guestbook, that obviously earned her some strange gazes from the personnel. There was a clamour in one of the areas of the Inn. Tandra spoke loud and her clear voice was audible in all of the room. 'If you want to duel, there is a circle in the centre of the room. Should this not be the case, you will cool down or leave.' She looked meaningfully at her sword that had already started to glow in anticipation of more bloodshed.
"The noise quickly calmed down and the minotaur' hand left the handle of its large two-handed axe. Even the dwarf had looked up from his drink and reached for his weapon. The winged female's intense gaze was also quite frightening. It was a formidable group. Not the type of persons you want to mess with, except when you felt suicidal. When I looked into her guestbook later this night, I saw that she had written 'Confidential: Special Guest' in clear, almost beautiful writing.
Strange. Her writing had always been scratchy and violent. I stayed in Sigil for several weeks to find out, how much she had changed since I had seen her for the last time."
--- Amiel Blackblade, Tandra's adopted father
Tandra "Fiendslayer" Blackblade (pr/f human half-fiend/ Fighter 14th, Blade Dancer 5th, Bard 10th/cg)
Combat:
Attacks: +34/+29/+24/+19/+14/+9/+4 Bastard Sword (see below) melee
or +31/+26/+21/+16 Dagger or unarmed melee
Damage: Bastard Sword 1d10+8 (19-20/x2); Dagger 1d4+5;
unarmed 1d3+6
Initative: +9 (+5 Dex +4 Improved Initative)
AC: 23 (+5 Dex +8 Natural)
HD: 14d10+56 + 5d12+20 (174 hp)
Speed: 30 ft.
Special Attacks: spell-like powers
Special Qualities: half-fiend qualities, blade dancer abilities
Skills: Climb +10, Concentration +10, Disguise +12, Craft
(Weaponsmith) +12, Craft (Jivatma) +12, Escape Artist +14, Gather Information +12,
Intuit Direction +10, Jump +10, Knowledge (Economics) +12, Knowledge (Fiends) +18,
Knowledge (The Planes) +16, Listen +11, Move Silently +14, Mysticcraft +16, Perform
(Dancing) +15, Perform (Singing) +16, Profession (Cook) +7, Scry +13, Sense Motive +12,
Swim +10, Tumble +14.
Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Deflect Arrows,
Expertise, Improved Critical (Bastard Sword), Improved Disarm, Improved Initative,
Power Attack, Quick-Draw, Run, Spell Penetration, Track, Weapon Focus (bastard sword),
Weapon Focus (dagger), Weapon Focus (Brawling), Weapon Mastery (Bastard Sword),
Weapon Specalisation (Bastard Sword).
Abilities and Saves
Fort +18 Ref +23 Will +16
Str 20 Dex 20 Con 18
Int 18 Wis 15 Cha 16
Special Qualities
Tandra started as a half-fiend, but through gradual alignment
change and resemption, she is now chaotic good and allied with the eladrin of Arborea.
Her spell-like powers are from the half-celestial list, while she retains the toughness,
immunities and resistances of her fiendish heritage.
Blade Dancer: Tandra is proficient with all swords. All of the
folllowing abilities, except the duelist restrction, only work when she does not wear
any armour. When fighting a duel, a fight with a single opponent, Tandra recieves a +2
bonus on her attack and damage rolls, otherwise she recieves a -2 penalty on both. She
uses her dexterity bonus instead of her strength bonus to determine the to hit chance
with her sword. Tandra may reduce the attack bonus of her sword and add the same number
to her AC against opponents who do not flank her, but must keep at least an attack
bonus of +6. She uses the full attack bonus to determine her attack bous and ignores
the four attacks per round limit. Tandra may forsake the attack with the lowest bonus
to ad +5 to all other attacks. She may do a single attack this way, but doing so is
a full attack action.
Darkvision (Ex): Tandra has 120 feet Darkvision.
Natural Armour (Ex): +8 - beneath Tandra's soft human skin is the tough
hide of a fiendish creature.
Resistances (Ex): Tandra has cold and fire resistance 20.
Immunities (Ex): Tandra is immune to damage from acid, electricity, poison and
disease, and all fear effects.
Saving Throws (Ex): All of Tandras saves are good.
Spell-like Abilities (Sp): 3/day--holy aura, protection from evil;
1/day--aid, cure serious wounds, detect evil, dispel evil, hallow, holy smite, holy
word, neutralise poison, remove disease, symbol, summon monster IX (eladrin only),
Resurrection
Unnatural Strength (Su): Unarmed attack counts as +1 weapon.
Tandra can attack an armed opponent without causing an attack of opportunity.
| Tandra's Attacks per Round | ||
| -- | Duel | Mass Combat |
| Max No. | +36/+31/+26/+21/+16/+11/+6/+1 | +32/+27/+22/+17/+12/+7/+2 |
| +41/+36/+31/+26/+21/+16/+11 | +37/+32/+27/+22/+17/+12 | |
| +46/+41/+36/+31/+26/+21 | +42/+37/+32/+27/+22 | |
| +51/+46/+41/+36/+31 | +47/+42/+37/+32 | |
| +56/+51/+46/+41 | +52/+47/+42 | |
| +61/+56/+51 | +57/+52 | |
| +66/+61 | +62 | |
| Min No. | +71 | -- |
Special Equipment
Jivatma. Tandras Jivatma is an unique
weapon called Pyrestorm. It has a true name that is only known to Tandra
herself, not even her closest friends are aware of it. She broke one of the
central laws of the sword-dancers, when she absorbed two different souls into
the blade instead of one. The first spirit within the blade is a balor, the
second is a pit fiend.
This +4 flaming sword of speed deals +4d6 points of fire damage, once the sword is
attuned, by singing for at lest five rounds with a standard performance (DC 10, +1 for
every point of damage recieved), instead of +1d6. It can appear in Tandra's hand if she
so desires, no matter where she and the sword are, even when they are on different planes
of existence.
In addition to being a formidable weapon, Pyrestorm has the two following abilities:
Tandra can command it to create a storm of elemental fire, a 250 ft. radius emanation
with long range to determine the point of origin, doing 15d6+30 points of fire damage,
reflex half DC 22. The other ability is an acid storm with same arey, doing 10d6+20
points of acid damage while exposed to the storm and half as much in the first round
after the storm ends, before the acid disperses A successful reflex saving throw
(DC 22) halves the damage. Each storm can be used for five rounds per day, which can
be split over several usus. A one-round storm is a burst intead of an emanation.
Obviously it is not a good idea (it never was) to pike off Tandra Fiendslayer.
She has a legendary and deadly reputation. There are few things that can even
hope to stand against her. While she seems largely retired know, she knows
how to fight.