:: Random NPC—Llywelyn, Bórean Priestess ::

Llywelyn (“Lion”)

by Wm Jay Carter III, 5/26/15

Race: Bórean (Moles)

Age: Middle-Aged

Gender: Female

Stature: Tall

Physical: Small Hands

Outwardly: Angry

Inwardly: Troubled

Profession: Farmer

Magic: Priest—Dark

Catchphrase: “You have desecrated this unholy place. Now, by the command of the Darkness, you shall die.”

You cut through the farmer’s field to shave a little distance off your journey; surely what the old codger doesn’t know won’t hurt him. But as you walk, the sky begins to darken, and the clouds, once white and puffy, take on the bright red of blood. The roar of a lion pulls your attention back to the ground, where you see an enormous cat wreathed in a mane of fire. Beside it stands the tallest Bórean you’ve ever seen (still only the height of a tall child). The mole-person squints her beady eyes, raises her small clawed hands to either side, and utters: “You have desecrated this unholy place. Now, by the command of the Darkness, you shall die.” The flaming lion rears back to leap on its prey.

Llywelyn’s life began with difficulty, and it has been unforgiving with her ever since. Her mother died shortly after she was born; the midwife said it was because of Llywelyn’s size. When she was a child, Llywelyn’s small hands made her a source of shame for her family—for in the underground world of the Bóreans, where your path is literally made by your hands, Llywelyn could never lead.

And so, while still young, she escaped to the world above, where she found work tilling a human farmer’s field in exchange for a burrow and as many grubs as she could eat. For a time, she felt that her hands were not such a curse after all, for the farmer only praised her abilities. Over time, he introduced her to the worship of the Darkness, and taught her that challenges only exist to force us to change and become stronger.

But one fateful night the farmer fell deathly ill of a plague that knew no cure. Desperate to save the only man that had shown her unconditional kindness, she made a pact with the powers of Darkness to save him. He survived, but was transformed into a hellish creature with the body of a lion and a mane of fire. Knowing that the Darkness had changed him to become stronger, she consecrated the farm to the Darkness and has protected it ever since.