Ninette

Overview

Ninette is a mysterious figure who always hides behind a cloak. A consummate rogue who appeared in Orsholon City with no known past and no desire to reveal one, they are suspected to be Veilari — an ancient, reclusive species with ties to the Urnati and the Cataclysm. Recruited by Elindine Raelle at the Enchanted Jackal, on Hargus’s behalf, they joined the expedition to Lawcrane and became one of the party’s most enigmatic and formidable members.

Background

Ninette appeared in Orsholon City with no known past and no desire to reveal one. Always cloaked and hooded, they are a consummate rogue who seems to have no background at all. Their true nature remains a mystery.

If they remove the cloak, they have the appearance of a beautiful, luminous woman of nobility — but they neither advertise this nor confirm it.

Recruited by Elindine Raelle at the Enchanted Jackal, on Hargus’s behalf, they joined the expedition to Lawcrane. Hargus himself does not meet Ninette until later. Their presence in the party is notable for the apparent influence they carry — rooms at the Aerie Inn were comped after the clerk glimpsed their face.

Veilari Traits

Ninette is suspected to be Veilari — an ancient, reclusive species with ties to the Urnati and the Cataclysm. The signs are subtle but accumulate:

• Luminous skin: On the rare occasions when the hood falls back, Ninette’s skin has an ethereal glow, as if lit from within. Veilari lore describes their kind as having a “radiance” tied to their connection with natural energy.
• Agelessness: Though listed at 32, Ninette could pass for much younger. Veilari are rumored to age slowly, with lifespans far exceeding those of humans.
• Silent observation: Veilari are watchers — observers who study but rarely intervene. Ninette’s quiet, watchful demeanor matches this description.
• Celestial and Undercommon: Their fluency in Celestial and Undercommon — tongues associated with Veilari origins — adds weight to the theory. These are not languages one learns casually.

If Ninette is indeed Veilari, their presence among the party raises profound questions about what purpose they serve in the events unfolding around Hargus.

Skills

Ninette is a consummate rogue whose abilities suggest formal training from a source they refuse to discuss:

• Lockpicking: Can defeat even complex tumbler mechanisms in seconds. Their tools are customized — each pick filed to a specific profile matching no standard set sold in Orsholon.
• Stealth and Shadowing: Capable of moving in absolute silence. Party members have reported turning around to find Ninette had simply vanished, only to reappear minutes later having scouted an entire building.
• Perception: An uncanny awareness of their surroundings. Ninette notices hidden doors, subtle tracks, and the faintest sounds that others miss entirely.
• Social Cunning: Though they speak rarely, Ninette reads people with unsettling accuracy. A glance, a pause in speech, a nervous twitch — nothing escapes their observation.

Known Languages: Celestial, Common, Thieves’ Cant, Undercommon.

Personality

Mysterious and silent. Speaks rarely if at all. Protective of those who cannot protect themselves. Motivated to right wrongs caused by evil. Standing 5’11” with a slender build, the cloak hides all but their slender, smooth hands. When light catches under the hood just right, one can glimpse beautiful, almost glowing, flawless skin and radiant eyes that flash with brilliance — but this happens very rarely.

Motivation

Ninette’s every choice traces to one sentence said to Elindine Raelle the night of the Jackal: “Only that he remain safe. That is all.” A young man was whisked out of Orsholon City in secret, and they have made his safety their purpose — not for reward or glory, but because no one else would lift a finger for someone like him. They have spent a life not being seen; they know what it costs to be hunted. That he remain safe is the whole contract they have with the world.

They did not come to the Enchanted Jackal to join a party. They came to learn what had become of him, and the road to the answer ran through Lawcrane — which meant, for the first time in years, not working alone. They had always worked alone; a group would let them observe more, but trusting strangers ran against a lifetime of hiding, and the Veil that hides them is a habit of the soul, not just the skin. That they agreed is the measure of the mission: for his sake, they would be seen.

Beneath the hood is a moral creature. They right wrongs caused by evil and protect those who cannot protect themselves — the Kerran villagers, the enslaved kobolds, the frightened boy on the compound walls. They kneel to the dragon beside Courtenay and they stay when the road north begins. What begins as a watcher’s calculation becomes something like belonging: they train the boy in what little control they have, and in the end they choose the adventurers — they stay even after he is home. “That is all” turns out to be more than they knew.

Timeline

Equipment

Shortsword, short bow, 3x daggers, leather armor, thieves’ tools, backpack, crowbar, hammer, pitons, rope, hooded lantern, oil, tinderbox, candles, ball bearings, bell, signal whistle, 8 days’ rations, waterskin.