#ventari

Laurel prefers blunt weapons: maces, hammers, and especially staves. She’s strong enough to put a lot of damage behind them, and her fighting style is best described as quick, fierce, and brutal. She’s never had any sort of magical ability before, and she has no intention of changing her old ways, much to Ventari’s dismay. He’s rusted out her mace and wrapped her staff in vines, but he can’t quite manage to keep her from hitting people with the thorns just yet. He does, however, utterly refuse to help her with anything violent, so she’s on her own when it comes to offense.

Laurel is stubborn, acerbic, suspicious, and surprisingly clever when she wants to be. Her main problem is that she doesn’t trust anyone, which leads her to double-cross others before, in her mind, they will inevitably double-cross her. She puts no stock in love or blood ties, and even less in formal contracts; to her, the only thing she can rely on is power. To be fair, she’s had few people worthy of her trust. She’s been betrayed multiple times – or at least, she thinks she has.

The worst betrayal came during her time in the Vanguard. Young and naïve, Laurel voluntarily joined a mission assigned by a captain that she trusted with her whole heart, only to find out too late that she'd signed up for a suicide mission. She alone survived by sheer luck and playing dead, but not before a charr soldier tore open her back from hip to opposite shoulder blade, leaving her with extensive scars.

While they’ve long healed, the scars still hinder her at times. While short bursts of mobility are fine, walking or even standing for too long unaided puts pressure on her spine and results in pain (shockingly, this does not improve her attitude). While Laurel generally chooses not to tell anyone about her condition, secretly her staff serves as a mobility aid as well as her chief weapon. Ventari has offered to help with pain mitigation as well, encouraging Laurel to make better use of his healing abilities for that purpose. Laurel isn’t quite sure if she trusts his advice yet, but maybe a little testing couldn’t hurt?

Obviously, this little disaster of a revenant has a long road ahead. Maybe she’ll wind up a proper healer eventually, if she can manage to avoid the many dangers and less-charitable Legends that would love to prey on her. I have new Legends and new mortal friends ready for her (some of whom have their own in-game models and stories), a general backstory, and the bones of an adventure. I might even write it down someday :P