Leliana Brightstar
Leliana, teenager (left) & adult (right)
While she is now a capable adventurer, Leliana was raised in isolation by a hag pretending to be her mother. Spending the first 17 years of her life in a swamp, her life finally changed when the Headhunters slew her false mother and rescued her from the attacking Levira. Hugh Morris took Leliana, who was injured in the attack, to a Temple of the Divines to recover. She stayed there and began to study divine magic, becoming an arcana cleric of Corellon Larethian, Elven God of Magic. She accompanied the Headhunters on several adventures, showing a growing mastery of magic during their battles against the Morlocks.
In the aftermath of the war, Leliana learned that Corellon had betrayed her. Corellon coveted her birthright as the last light elf and sought to use that power against his drow enemies, caring nothing for Leliana herself. She denounced the elven god but soon found new purpose in the goddess Lurue, the Unicorn Queen, who truly cared for her in a way Corellon never had. Empowered with new divine magic, Leliana continued to help people in the way she knew was right with the full backing of a deity who truly, sincerely supported her.
Table of Contents
History
Pre-Campaign
The Last of Her Kind
Leliana's people, the light elves, have long since been considered extinct. But faint traces of their bloodline remains in other elven peoples, which normally has no bearing on anyone carrying their heritage. But something was different about Leliana's parents; they had just the right combination of genetic traits that their daughter became the first light elf born in many generations. This unexpected heritage gave Leliana the potential to wield great magical power. Unfortunately, it also meant she was born with a rather large target on her back.
Her parents fought off many assailants but met their match when Levira came for the infant Leliana. They could not defeat her; they could barely slow her down. With fighting no longer an option, her parents did the next best thing they could: they hid. They beseeched many powers greater than themselves for aid and were desperate enough to accept aid from the first one who came along: Baba Yaga, Mother of Hags.
Baba Yaga is known as a cruel dealmaker and her offer to Leliana's parents was no exception. In exchange for their daughter's safety, she would take everything from them. They would belong to her in mind, body, heart, and soul. They agreed. And so the infant was whisked away by the Bone Mother and given to one of her minions, hidden deep in the Giantsheel Swamp where none would ever notice her.
Shadows Unleashed campaign
An Unexpected Rescue
Leliana's childhood was unusual, to say the least. Her hag mother taught her some things about the outside world but always stressed that it was a dangerous place and that certain death laid beyond their swamp. While she did not question these things for many years, she grew suspicious when her mother began to receive guests. Her mother made various excuses about these men, claiming them to be traders, gentlemen callers, and other such things. In truth, she was abducting people from nearby and converting them to wisps as increased security after imprisoning Levira in a mirror of life trapping.
Leliana began to sneak out into the swamp, talking with the local grung and spying on passersby. It was on one of the expeditions that she spied upon the Headhunters, who were in the swamp investigating nearby disappearances. They spotted her spying on them, panicked, and fired a firebolt in her direction. She fled as the fire went over her head. Running back home, she confessed to her mother that she'd seen intruders. Her mother instructed her to hide in the cellar while she convinced the intruders to leave peacefully, then promptly sunk her wisps on the adventurers.
Once most of the wisps were down, the hag grabbed Leliana and fled into the swamp. She instructed Leliana to keep running while she stayed behind to hold the adventurers off. She was unsuccessful, meeting her end at the adventurers' hands, and Leliana fled as Levira (who tricked Hugh into freeing her from the mirror) pursued. Hugh intervened when he realized Levira meant to murder Leliana, grabbing her and flying to safety as Levira fired crossbow bolts after the pair. They eluded her and her wolves in the swamp for days before Hugh Morris left her at a chapel in the hands of Father O'malley to recover.
Finding Faith & A New Life
Leliana physically recovered from her ordeal quickly, but her life had very abruptly been shattered. Someone was hunting her and she didn't know why. She didn't know how to defend herself or what to do next, despite being nearly a grown woman. But O'Malley guided her through this uncertainty the best he could, advising her to pray to the gods for guidance. And so she did, but she never expected one of the gods to speak back to her directly.
Corellon, patron god of magic as well as elves, told Leliana much about her heritage. Her power, her upbringing, all started to become clear but much was still uncertain. Corellon explained that while there was much for her to learn, learning it all at once would overwhelm her. He gave her his blessing and bade that she go into the world and do good. "Don't you mean do well?", Leliana asked. "No," Corellon replied, "do good."
Her vision of the god of magic faded and Leliana found herself now blessed with divine magic. But how to use it? She spent some time helping those less fortunate than herself before seeing a small band of adventurers pass through town. They reminded her of the adventurers who had rescued her, particularly that bard who'd put his life on the line for her. She joined the Adventurer's Guild the next day.
Life as an Adventurer
Leliana proved to be a capable adventurer, rising through the lower ranks of the guild in near-record time. When the time came for her to take the Trial of the Elements and earn her silver ranking, she found herself reunited and partnered with the Headhunters and together they bested the Elemental Guardians in combat. The Headhunters later approached Leliana for advice on removing Kiri's cursed tattoo, which she promised to begin looking into. She was present several weeks later when Kiri accidentally made his curse worse using a Gravestone, using her magic to repel it before it could kill him, and pointing out he was foolish for messing with an obviously dangerous magic item. She told the Headhunters to meet her at her church the next morning.
The following day, Leliana led them into the empty church and summoned the yugoloth Kishin inside a magic circle. She maintained the circle while the Headhunters bartered for a list of ingredients needed for the spell that would remove Kiri's curse. She wished the party luck in gathering the ingredients, though Kiri was later killed before there was a chance to remove his curse.
The Headhunters later recruited Leliana to accompany them and the Guildmaster into the Great Sengorian Forest, looking for one of the 7 Swords. She learned of the bounty on Mira's head alongside the rest of the party in the lycanthrope village and assisted them in repairing Mielikki's ruined temple. During the battle against the Thornheart Void Beast, Leliana was severely injured but rescued at the last moment by Hugh. Once Mielikki's temple was fully restored by the summoned unicorn Brightstar, the celestial gave Leliana a small enchanted bird as a familiar to reward her efforts. She named him Aviary.
Before the Battle of Inkhear
After her close encounter with Thornheart, Leliana upgraded her armor at Ohnaka's shop on a sort of mini-date with Hugh. It became clear to Hugh that Leliana had developed feelings for him throughout their time together, but he became flustered and unsure how to respond. Nonetheless, she resolved to take things slow until she could win his heart. Later that evening, she had a chance to save him by banishing an allip that Hugh inadvertently summoned from a book magically trapped by Levira. She dropped her banishment spell and brought the allip back to the guildhall just long enough for Guildmaster Nergalee to kill it.
The next day, Leliana and Hugh went to the city of Iron Rock while Artie and Chigiri were away on other business, waiting in town for a few days while their friends caught up. It was during this time that Mira approached Hugh, trying to convince him to leave the country before the Morlocks freed Mesogog (though she didn't speak about the details of their plans). Leliana assisted Artie and Chigiri with sneaking up on her, but Mira was ultimately able to escape their ambush and lose the party in the city's alleyways.
As the party headed for Mount Celestia, Levira attacked them en route along with one of her Void Beasts, the Krake Spawn. Leliana managed to banish Levira during this fight and the rest of the party protected her so that she could maintain the spell and keep Levira gone. She then accompanied the party into the Seven Heavens where she vouched for Chigiri and Artie to be let in and witnessed Hugh's duel against Zoryas, as well as Sweetmeat's imprisonment.
Coping with the Death of Friends
Leliana accompanied The Headhunters to the outskirts of the Giantsheel Swamp when the local monsters started charging Inkhear's walls. Talking to a few fleeing grung in their own language, she managed to figure out someone was herding the monsters as a distraction. She accompanied the party back to town, fighting their way past the Morlocks' minions and rushing through Mesogog's prison to try and stop the villains from freeing their master.
When the Headhunters caught up to their adversaries, Leliana tried to once again banish Levira but failed to do so this time. As the door to the prison began to crack open, Artie ordered Beauty (his summoned beholderkin) to drag Leliana to safety. She protested as her dwarf friend sacrificed himself to stall the Morlocks and Beauty vanished as her friend died. Commander Truestrike, Dume, and Cordelia found her in the maze that led to Mesogog's former prison and told her to stay behind while they went ahead. She later accompanied them back to the guildhall after they confirmed the Morlocks had fled.
The next time Leliana saw The Headhunters, Hugh Morris had been reincarnated into a githyanki following his death at the hands of Leliana's foster aunt (though Hugh kept this detail a secret from Leliana). She embraced him, telling him through her tears that it's his job to stay safe and that she should have been there to heal him. Hugh comforted Leliana and she returned the favor when he realized he lost much of his identity when he ceased to be an aasimar. She wished him well and told him, once again, to stay safe when the Headhunters left the next morning.
Later Adventures with The Headhunters
Leliana later took a job with the Headhunters to investigate a gorgon sighting. When they discovered the supposed gorgon was in fact a clockwork construct, she met the adventurer Vinnie Vice as he joined the Headhunters. Following the constructs around, Leliana and Hugh were able to use an amulet of Bahamut and their Good natures to convince the guard constructs to let them pass. They eventually found out they were in Iskierka's home, where she was still recovering from the wounds she received from Mesogog. After promising to keep Iskierka's secret identity as Shimmerscale, the group returned to the guildhall just in time to get Gentleman Jack's warning about the Morlocks' Gravecannon.
During the Battle of the Prizyrie Mountains, Leliana was one of the chief healers at the emergency triage center. With her positive track record, she was entrusted with some of the few diamonds the guild was able to muster up in case any of their leadership needed revival magic during the battle. And promptly angered her superiors when she used those diamonds to restore Chigiri to life after he was killed by Mesogog. Nonetheless, she considered the scolding worth it to restore her friend's life.
The Final Battle for Lothal
When Hugh Morris received a letter from his old friend Father O'malley, the same priest who cared for Leliana after Hugh rescued her from Levira more than a year prior, Leliana chose to accompany him. When Levira's castle emerged from the Underdark and began firing on villages with its Gravecannon, Leliana and Hugh were given a ride by the Goose to join the assault on her fortress. Leliana proved to be a valuable asset, using her growing mastery of holy magic to clear away Shadow Skulls by the dozens. The pair eventually met up with the rest of the Headhunters and Leliana provided the group with much-needed healing before moving to engage Levira.
The group fought their way through Void Beasts and shadowy duplicates of themselves before striking down Levira, or so they thought. Now in her horrific true form, Levira revealed that with the elf corpse she'd been possessing now damaged beyond recovery, she intended to possess Leliana as her new host after killing the Headhunters. This did not come to fruition as the group destroyed Levira for good and Leliana joined her friends in escaping the crumbling castle and sharing a drink as they watched the sunset.
After the Shadows Unleashed campaign
In the aftermath, Leliana put adventuring on the backburner to focus more of her time on working with the Church of Corellon. She eventually opened her own cathedral using years of saved adventuring funds, though she refused to ever rise above the rank of Sister in order to remain hands-on helping the less fortunate.
But her good fortune was not as it seemed. Leliana eventually learned that Corellon had betrayed her. Despite the god's many cunning words, a few questionable tasks given to her and the eventual slip of the tongue caused Leliana to realize that his support had never been for her, only for her power. Corellon coveted her birthright as the last light elf and sought to use that power against his drow enemies. When confronted, Corellon did not deny his actions and acted as if a "mere half-elf", as he called her, should be grateful for his direct attention. She denounced the elven god on the spot and was stripped of her divine magic in retribution.
With her cleric power gone and her own clergy turned against her by Corellon, Leliana found herself lost. She left the very church she'd founded with nothing but the clothes on her back and her companion Aviary. It was Aviary who began the remedy for this situation, praying to his own deity Lurue for guidance. As she rested in a camp that evening, Leliana was visited by a vision from Lurue, the Unicorn Queen who offered to comfort the young woman. But her heart and soul still ached from Corellon's betrayal and she could not bring herself to trust another god so easily. Lurue assured Leliana that she need not make this decision now and would answer her prayer should Leliana change her mind.
As she made her way back to her old Adventurer's Guild, Leliana knew this was not a question she could answer alone. The turmoil in her heart made it too difficult for her to think clearly, her state of mind fogged. When she arrived at the guild, her old friend Hugh Morris was surprised to see her and could immediately see that something was wrong. They spoke in a private room, Leliana telling Hugh everything. He was speechless for only a moment, but it was his heartfelt words that began to heal the wounds on Leliana's spirit. He helped her in her crisis of faith just as she had helped him so many years before. That night, she prayed to Lurue.
In her vision, the Unicorn Queen had taken the form of a humanoid woman as the pair stood in a moonlit glade. They spoke for a time that seemed endless in a way that felt genuine to Leliana, a feeling that she realized had always been lacking in her conversations with Corellon. Whereas Corellon had viewed Leliana's devotion to helping others with ire, wishing she would instead spend time killing his enemies, Lurue had nothing but respect for Leliana's endeavors. As she looked the goddess in her eyes, Leliana could see someone who truly cared for her in a way Corellon never had. Remembering Hugh's words of encouragement, she let the goddess into her heart with no more desire than to obtain the power to help the less fortunate, unaware that in time she would become Lurue's greatest champion.
Children
Belief/Deity
Aligned Organization
+3 Amulet of the Devout
Adamantine Armor Breastplate
Mace of the Priest
Sentinel Shield
Wand of the Alicorn Titles
Chosen of Lurue
Headhunter
Lady Knight of the Silver Moon
Ladycorn
The Last Light Elf
Platinum-Ranked Adventurer
Silvermaid
Sister of the Silver Moon
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