Merilwen

Merilwen is a Wood Elf druid huntress with a fierce love and protectiveness for nature, and respect for its animals.

She is one of the founders and the official treasurer of the guild.

Background:
Not much is known of Merilwen's background except that she grew up mainly in the woods, she is quite self-sufficient from her time within nature and her keen eyesight allowed her to become proficient with bow and arrow.

She learned how to hunt, it is unknown if she taught herself how to do this or if she had a mentor of sorts, but her hunting was presumably for survival purposes and if she must hunt, she would use every part of the animal out of her respect for nature.

One day, while practicing with her bow and arrow, she happened upon a wildcat caught in some barbed wire. With her ability to commune with the animals Merilwen was able to calm the cat down and help free him, gaining his loyalty.

Great long lifespans is a hallmark, and common trait attributed to all Elves, thus, sad as it may, Merilwen has long since outlived her loyal companion. When little Simon passed away, Merilwen learned her first animal transformation spell, a wildcat in memory of her lost friend.

Appearance:
Merilwen is a Wood Elf with light brown hair that reaches to her shoulder blades that is usually adorned with braids, sometimes things from nature as well.

She is known to wear scraps of clothing she has found, bought, or made, as well as involving nature in the design of her outfits. Commonly leaves.

From "Wild Wild Woods" onward, she has a scar across her cheek.

Personality:
Merilwen is a very protective person, and she is usually the first one to question if something is a good idea. Most notably she is mainly against much of the groups outward displays of unnecessary violence, and becomes absolutely furious when Corazón kicks at a chicken who is merely pecking at his foot.

Despite her kindheartedness, and inherently good nature, she herself has stated that she is neutral, and that she does not care for the law when angry.

She has a strong love for animals and nature, which is reinforced by her druidic nature.

Equipment, Skills & Abilities:
Armor : Weapons: Tools: Skills: Abilities:  Special Attacks:
 * Light Leather & Wood Plated Armour.
 * Leather & Wooden Cuirass, Spaulders, Bracers/Vambraces, and Faulds. (Formerly wore Wooden Chest Plate Armour, and Bracers/Vambraces, with Leather Kneepads.)
 * Short-bow
 * Short Sword
 * Magical Leaf/Leaves
 * Bandolier of Vials
 * Acrobatics
 * Archery
 * Basic Swordsmanship
 * Druidic (Language Knowledge)
 * Animal Friendship
 * Wild Shape
 * Speak with Animals
 * Druidcraft
 * Spike Growth
 * Moonbeam
 * Entangle
 * Beast Sense
 * Create or Destroy Water
 * Poison Spray
 * Speak with Plants
 * Water Breathing
 * Merilwen's Meat Grinder
 * Bear-Down Protocol

Feats:

 * Friend of the Animals: Merilwen has shown to be a friend to all types of animals throughout the adventures of the Oxventurer's Guild, from terrifyingly-stupid Owlbears to Micheal the Goat. She is not only able to speak with these animals, but is able to convince them to do her bidding, such as when she called on sharks, squids, and even a whale to aid her in battle, or convincing sharks to pull the group down to an underwater temple.


 * Adorable: Merilwen (combined with her animal forms) is able to use her adorableness as a tool for the group. She has used her cat form as a distraction for a guard.


 * Animal Forms: Merilwen is capable of turning into two different animals, an adorable cat and a meat-grinder of a bear. She can use one as infiltration and tactical cuteness, and can use the bear as the ultimate murder machine.
 * Keen, Judgmental Eyes: While only used once in Oxventure Begins!, she was capable of seeing that Dob had not only missed his target, but presumed that he messed up from a long distance away.

Talents:

 * Mask of the Wild: A trait of wood elves is the ability to hide effectively in the forest, even when they are only lightly obscured by foliage, or among natural phenomenons such as heavy rain, falling snow, mist, etc.

Simon:
Merilwen was walking through her native forest and stumbled upon a cat trapped in barbed wire. Upon freeing the young wildcat, she named it Simon and kept it as a pet for many years. When Simon passed away, Merilwen learned her first animal transformation spell in memory of him.

Dob:

Merilwen and Dob are close friends, they share a love of nature and can often be seen hanging out together, either in her regular wood elf form or in her cat form.

Similar to Corazon, Dob's habit of throwing money away annoys her, though she is less vocal about it.

Corazón de Ballena:
Merilwen has had a slight grudge against Corazón for his less than nice treatment of a chicken they meet on their first adventure together, this action angers Merilwen to the point where she's still angry about it several weeks later.

In spite of that Merilwen still considers him a friend and has in their time together come to be better able to understand and deal with Corazón's childish behavior.

However, she is not afraid to show how little Corazón means to her, and in her opinion to the group as a whole. Namely, voicing that it should've been Corazón and not Dob to pick up the Chalice once things go awry, although this could have been an attempt at humor.

Prudence:
Merilwen sometimes disagrees with Prudence about what to do, but is generally friendly and often helps Prudence's plans. The main issue Merilwen usually has with Prudence's plans is collateral damage. Merilwen tries to avoid harming nature, but Prudence doesn't really care.

She looks up to Prudence and thinks she's cool.

Egbert:
The aspect of Egbert Merilwen seems to appreciate most is his kind personality, and they both have a religious aspect in their lives, her love for nature and being a druid, and his paladin sect.

Flannery The Jester:
Merilwen seems to neither have a like or dislike for Flannery. She seems to tolerate him.

Quotes

 * "Did you just kick that chicken?!"
 * "I don't know if this is just the cat me, but something smells really good."
 * "Can someone put me on Corazón?"
 * "Meow."
 * "Ignore the pirate"
 * "I'm sorry, but I'm a Wood Elf, so I don't conduct electricity."
 * "Do you want a vomit hug?"
 * "The bear part of me really wants to eat those husks..."

Trivia:

 * Is assumed to know conversational French as shown in "A Fishmas Carol"
 * Despite her benign nature, Merilwen is not bothered by instances of vulgarity. Namely Corazón's. Though, it is unknown if she herself partakes in them.
 * Is the official treasurer of the guild.undefined
 * Merilwen makes her own jewelry, presumably from things she finds in nature.
 * Merilwen is 99 years old.

Behind The Scenes Trivia:

 * Merilwen was described as a "Moral Chameleon" by Jane during the MCM London Q&A.
 * Though Ellen says Merilwen is likely unafraid of spiders, she says her character doesn't care for them, if only to avoid the possibility that any future campaign would or could include them.
 * Her name is often misspelled.
 * Merilwen is the first character to have a confirmed age.
 * Merilwen chose her octopus wild form based on her admiration for Prudence and her interest in Cthulhu as told by Ellen during the April 3rd 2020 Q&A livestream with Ellen and Luke