#eldeth feldrun

Backstory: In the version of Out of the Abyss I've been running, Eldeth remains intensely proud of and loyal to her home city of Gauntlgrym. I decided her parents were soldiers in the inner guard of King Bruenor Battlehammer. Her father was killed and her mother paralyzed by a spinal injury during the re-taking of Gauntlgrym from the drow, and she's been raised internalizing that her family is only so esteemed and well looked-after because of the grand deeds her parent committed. Her mother's love for her is unconditional. But her pride in her is not. Growing up, Eldeth was eager to follow in the footsteps of her parents and the great heroes she heard sung of in legends. Her instructors were often quick to observe when she failed to measure up to those standards, so when she heard someone being attacked on the outskirts of the city, she rushed to their defense, to find Zaen, our party's monk, under attack by Shoor Vandree. Together, they were captured and imprisoned by the drow.

Party Niche (Mechanical): Since the party already had a ranger in Alderick, I re-spec'd Eldeth as a fighter with the Unarmed Fighting style so that the party had a frontline tank. Once she accrued some better armor, and a 20 AC, she could start functioning as an effective tank without as an NPC dealing so much damage that she gets kills too often.

Party Niche (Narrative): Eldeth is the first to think about how the party's story will be told. She's been raised on a tradition of retold epics and grand heroes, and she's the first to grasp when an action they choose might be a blight on their legacy, or a chance to become people worthy of song. This has played out very interestingly in her relationship with Zaen who, despite being a royal, struggles heavily with accounting for public perception of her actions. It also makes Eldeth acutely conscious of her status as an npc. She is a plain, non-magical fighter, in love with the wronged and noble queen of a great nation. She knows, when push comes to shove, which of them in this story is meant to die to save the other. Zaen lives forever, and death is a horror to her, but for Eldeth it's a necessary bookend to a story, and the two of them haven't fully reckoned with how they see that disconnect. Also, on a lighter note, when the party has an idea that is truly bugfuck insane, Eldeth, as the only person here who received any level of STEM education, is the character I reach for to nip it in the bud.

Act Two Goals: Despite losing her parents' shield and hammer in captivity, Eldeth returned to Gauntlgrym a hero, having rescued Zaen from the Underdark and brought crucial news of the incursion of the demon lords into the Underdark. Like her parents before her, she is a respected member of the king's inner circle. She spent all of Act One fearing she would die in ignominy, and now she labors under the knowledge that for better or worse, her actions will be remembered for centuries to come. She has a Part. She's the Knight. She has to become the person she always dreamed of being, on pain of death. And her girlfriend/queen cannot stop getting downed and falling limp in her arms.

Art dump! Featuring Eldeth's reaction to Dewd and Zaen's plan to use Destroy Water to "get rid of the Darklake and just walk from here", her truly dreadful lockpicking skills with an assist from lizard!Dewd, and her dynamic with Zaen: