Vanessa Cyndrial

Huntmaster Vanessa Cyndrial is the enigmatic matron of the Slayer's Take guild and the wife of Mertin Cyndrial, a halfling who also works at the Slayer's Take.

As an NPC, Vanessa is played by Matthew Mercer.

Appearance
Vanessa is a tiefling with tussled short brown hair and deep purple skin. Her eyes are bright white and have no pupils. Her tongue sometimes flicks out like a snake's. When Vox Machina first met her, Vanessa was wearing finely-crafted, dark brown and black studded leather armor with a small cloak fixed and tossed over one of her shoulders.

Personality
Vanessa commands respect from both the guild and her husband. She keeps her affairs and motives secret.

After Vox Machina unknowingly violated a contract, Aldor took them to the Slayer's Take guild hall to meet Vanessa. She made them an offer: join the Slayer's Take as guild members so they can be retroactively added to the contract or else be prosecuted as poachers. Vox Machina accepted the offer and agreed to be split into two groups to carry out a trial.

The first half of Vox Machina arrived for their trial and met their assigned traveling companions, Zahra Hydris and Lyra. Vanessa explained that Lyra would be acting as leader of this hunt, as a test of both her leadership and Vox Machina's capabilities. Vanessa gave the group four Potions of Greater Healing and a Bag of Holding to transport perishable body parts, as well as their contract. She noted that their quarry, an adult White dragon, would be quite dangerous. She made the party sign the contract, then they departed.

Upon the group's safe and successful return, Vanessa said she was impressed with the group and offered them a place in the guild. She admitted that she was betting on their success and her husband handed her 200 gold. Lyra informed Vanessa that she knew why Aldor didn't want to be with her and Vanessa quickly decided to have a conversation with her later to make sure she wouldn't embarrass the guild. The group relinquished the requested dragon parts and Vanessa handed over the full payment of 9,000 gold. Lyra asked why Vanessa entrusted such a difficult task to this group and Vanessa admitted that she thought the group over-confident and had expected them to either realize they were outmatched and flee or to die foolishly, thus making them no longer her problem.

The second half of Vox Machina arrived for their trial and Vanessa introduced them to their traveling companions, Kashaw Vesh and Thorbir Falbek. Both were unimpressed with the group, Kashaw asked Vanessa if he had to travel with them the entire time and Thorbir asked if this was really his assigned group. Vanessa told him to play nice and reminded him that he was getting paid. She then handed Keyleth the contract and asked her to read it. The group asked Vanessa where their quarry was located and she informed them that proving themselves capable of tracking down a target was part of the test. The group signed the contract and departed.

Upon completing their contract, the group returned and found Vanessa speaking with her husband. Thorbir handed over the requested Rakshasa parts and Vanessa paid the party in full, for a total of 5,100 gold. Vanessa offered them lodging in the guild hall as fully fledged members of the Slayer's Take, officially welcoming them into the guild.

Vanessa formally inducted Vox Machina into the guild, taking them to the hidden temple of Ioun beneath the guild hall. She called Osysa out to brand the new recruits. After completing their induction, Vanessa lead them back upstairs to the guild hall to pay them their share of the hydra contract. She informed the group that they were not obligated to stay in Vasselheim or to take on contracts. Vax'ildan asked where the guild's allegiances lay and she said that they were interested in protecting their business and making money. She then paid them 630 gold each.

Vanessa appeared after returning from a hunt with guildmates Kashaw Vesh and Zahra Hydris. The trio were hunting down a doppelganger. After being prompted by Vox Machina for aid with the occupation of Emon by the Chroma Conclave, she states that they should seek allies elsewhere because the Slayer's Take primarily deals in contracts pertaining to relatively unorganized monsters. She leads them to Osysa for further advice on how to proceed.

Vox Machina checked in with the Slayer's Take while they were in Vasselheim. Vex'ahlia asked Vanessa if she would be interested in buying any black dragon parts but only dragon parts currently requested of the Slayer's Take were from bronze or white dragons. She suggested they hold onto the black dragon parts in case a contract for them came along. They realised that they had some white dragon hide and offered them over. Vex attempted to haggle the price but Vanessa didn't budge, as there was a signed contract involved, so Vex decided it would be best to sell the hide elsewhere. She pointed them in the direction of the Raven Queen's temple, then ushered them out of her office.

Appearances and mentions

 * Campaign 1