#nulara

So this entry isn't even one of the ones on the roster, but I did promise at least part of it a while back.

Nulara Rusene was always an adventurous, free-spirited sort - but sometimes too clever for her own good. A Waterdhavian street rat, she did what she needed to get by, and occasionally provide a bit for those around her. Until the day she met the Man. A nice outfit and a silver tongue, he made her suspicious at first, but he talked her around. She didn't really understand the deal he was offering, but two things stood out: He was offering her poIr and opportunity, a chance to get off the streets and perhaps change the world, and he asked nothing in this world.

It wasn't until much later - when she could actually see and plan for a future - that the significance of selling her soul hit her.

It was supposed to be impossible to break an infernal contract. But didn't adventurers do the impossible? And she had poIr, now, though probably not enough. So she set out, seeking to be the sort of adventurer that could break the chains of the Nine Hells.

She's come a long way since then, having fallen in with a group of traveling companions. They've amassed considerable Ialth and holdings, and her poIr has only grown. She's been testing herself against dragons, as they rush to stop an evil cult from summoning Tiamat herself into this realm. If they can pull this off, it'll be a sign that she's almost ready... she just needs one more thing.

Design notes: I'll be honest here. I didn't exactly have a character concept that was clicking for us when it came time to build (and didn't have enough book access to study in my own time), so I fell back on a default: Recreate Iron Man out of genre. (This is a long-running gag for me.) Nulara accomplishes that handily, capable of flying in full plate and packing an assortment of missiles, bombs, repulsor blasts, and a handful of utility spells. She never did click for me as a character, though, as you can probably tell from the rather sketchy background I've given her... until the session before last took her character arc in an unexpected direction.

In the absence of a Wizard or Sorcerer, Nulara became the Arcana expert and Identify caster by default. And after a particularly tough battle, we had some nice loot to identify. Including an Artifact!

The Eye of goddamn Vecna.

"Make a Wisdom check," said the DM, grinning. "DC 20." Of course, I'd been making an Iron Man expy - Wisdom was my dump stat. It was literally impossible. So Nulara gouged out her own eye on the spot and jammed the damn thing in. Of the rest of the party, inly the Cleric had any idea what was going on, and she's reserved judgement, for now.

The rest of the party has no idea that Nulara is suddenly evil.

She knows where the hand is, and is likely to try to talk the party into helping her get it once the current crisis is resolved. She also, of course, has the magical capability to conjure her own theme music. And if she overuses her newfound awesome, a literal Evil God will possess her body on the spot.

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bonus:

What do the characters do for the Solstice?

Osuk: This was always one of my favorite holidays. All my people would go out with lanterns after nightfall and the hills of my home would positively glow.

Triss: We'd send lanterns down the river. It was always fun trying to figure out which ones came from upriver were from.

Nulara: There were several small towns around the Court that have slowly built up over the years. We would build a path of light connecting them all to each other, and as long as you weren't on duty that night, you would spend all night going from town to town meeting new people and celebrating.

Evelyn: We would hang lanterns from all the tree branches and line the pathways, and the trees would just sort of glow and there was always music playing somewhere in the distance.

Ka'Larr: We would build a bonfire to honor the sun. And there was feasting. And dancing.