Bryndis stands short and squat at 4 ft. 7 in., a compact block of coiled muscle. Her skin bears the glossy calluses of a smith and the salty sheen of sweat and sea spray. Intricate, angular Dwarven tattoos — inked in a deep indigo that almost looks like burnished steel — crawl up both forearms, cross her broad chest, and continue up her neck to stop just below her chin. The tattoos are filled with runic knotwork that catches the light when she moves. Her hair is cropped short and black, ragged at the edges from repeated fights; many tiny piercings glint along her ears, brow, nostril, and the cartilage of her neck. She wears master-forged Dwarven armor that fits tightly — not bulky — polished matt iron with inlaid storm motifs. A weathered, rune-etched round shield is often strapped to her left arm. Despite her armor, she moves with the sudden, coiled grace of a predator; when she winds up for a strike she looks almost small and sudden — and then impossibly heavy. Unexpectedly, when she's off guard she has a habit of carefully tracing a single rune on her inner forearm with a fingertip, as if reading a memory.