app

[queenkiller]

PLAYER
Player name: Javid
Contact: erlking / javid#6941 @ discord
Characters currently in-game: Avisheh Razi

CHARACTER
Character Name: Hella Varal
Character Age: Never stated. Probably late twenties/early thirties.
Canon: Friends at the Table
Canon Point: After Winter in Hieron 16
History: wiki
Personality:

A paladin asks his God, "What here is evil?" And the answer always comes, people, creatures, and forces of nature alike judged by a living God King, and the answer always includes Hella.

Hella's alignment in the tabletop rpg Dungeon World is Evil, which means she gains experience when she destroys something rather than try to understand it. This underlies a lot of Hella's interactions with the world, and her struggle with the paladin and friend Hadrian trying to reform her in the eyes of his God. She comes from the land of Ordenna, a place that views magic as a curse on the world and anything "unnatural" needing to be cleansed, and she carries a lot of that political viewpoint with her. Before asking questions about some incredible event, Hella brings her sword to do the talking for her. She's really good at killing people, and is renowned as the Queenkiller of Adelaide Triste, queen to the throne of a city of undead whose curse now spreads throughout the lands.

She's also less known for killing Adelaide's estranged brother and Hella's longtime friend, a man who called himself Calhoun. She died in Nacre, and rather than becoming undead (as she had yet to earn the curse) she faced the god of death Tristero, and took his offer to replace his seat with Calhoun, his son. Ever the survivalist, she chose her own life over Calhoun's for a second time -- the first when she surrendered him to save her own skin from undead pirates -- and choked Calhoun to death three times, in quick succession. The third time's the charm. She still regrets this action, and a lot of what happened in Nacre haunts her even now, with the ghost of Adelaide Triste haunting her blade and speaking in her head and the curse spreading all over Hieron. Hella is selfish and impatient and is, again, very good at killing people, even friends.

Her impatience shines through when the group is held up in a town called Twinbrook on their way to investigate the Erasure, and she seems to be the only one who doesn't care that Ordenna is coming to raze a village of undead mothkin and doesn't see the benefit to fighting a war against her own people. Time and again she has the same tired argument with Adaire, the conniving thief who's always got a plan to work in her favor, and Hadrian, who wants to see her make the moral choice to defend a peaceful village from being decimated. Hella simply sees how none of this gets her to Rosemerrow and beyond any faster and is close to leaving the group behind entirely.

Only when it came down to it, and it seemed like Ordenna was gaining the upper hand, Hella stopped an Ordennan Justiciar from killing a few mothkin and lured him away with her fame as the Queenkiller and, newly, as a traitor. She killed him for two reasons: one, to save the ragtag crew of travelers she'd grown fond of; two, so that no one can bring the news to Ordenna that Hella Varal is a traitor. Hella is impulsive, and at times even flippant about horrific acts no matter who carries them out.

Hella's player, Ali, states that there's a reason that Hella isn't in the military, being a mercenary instead, and it's because she doesn't know how to act. Hella is awkward, always out of place wherever she goes, for being Ordennan and for being not Ordennan enough. She doesn't have manners, she doesn't have tact, she's blunt and brutal and haphazard, like an Ordennan cannonball. She says whatever's on her mind as long as she knows it won't get her tried for treason, and acts before she thinks.

She holds a lot of guilt in her, and says herself she hasn't slept well in months, always thinking of how she could have done things differently. If only she were a little more patient. If only she were a little more shrewd. She looks to Adaire as a role model in this way, but the two are so unlike one another that they are more often at odds. A bit strange, though, that a scam artist and thief is who she chooses as a role model, but times are tough in Hieron. Still, she's not naive; she doesn't view Adaire as faultless, and wants more than anything for her to stop meddling in affairs that have nothing to do with their goals.

Mostly, Hella has no idea what she's doing at any given moment. She doesn't allow herself planning or consideration. She also doesn't allow herself any mercy for the mistakes she makes as a result. She flinches when Hadrian calls her a coward for running from Ordenna rather than standing at their side, but she ultimately decides that she'd rather be a coward than a traitor. And then she becomes a traitor anyway.

Inventory:

THE BLADE IN THE DARK - Hella's cursed blade. Whoever is killed by it cannot come back to life, even gods. When people with exceptional healing ability are cut by it, the wounds heal much more slowly. It contains many souls of those killed by the blade, notably Adelaide Triste, who sends Hella visions if she concentrates on the blade, and Hella can hear giggling every time she's lauded as the Queenkiller.

SCALE MAIL - Offers 3 armor. Really heavy, but really sturdy. Likely made of Ordennan steel.

TEA KETTLE - Hella doesn't allow herself a lot of luxuries. This is one of the few she does.

MYSTERIOUS BOOKS - Historical records of Ordenna's past, notably detailing the past treachery of Hella's family, given the name Varal as the mark of a traitor. The meaning has been lost to time in common knowledge.

Abilities:

FIGHTER - Hella's class in Dungeon World. Dungeon World is unique in that there is only one person in the world that can be a certain class, and every player character is exceptional at what they do in a singular way. That means that there is no one else who could call themselves more of a fighter than Hella Varal, to the point that she doesn't even need her sword to kill the undead -- she can and has choked a ghost to death.

HEIRLOOM - Hella can consult the spirits that reside within her sword. Normally, this displays as visions in the blade, and Hella herself can't honestly understand them most of the time. She can also, randomly, hear Adelaide Triste's voice in her head, but Adelaide is mostly quiet save for some taunting giggling.

HOLD MY BEER - Hella can destroy an inanimate obstacle with her bare hands. The original name of the move is Bend Bars, Lift Gates, which is much more descriptive than Austin's renaming of the move, if a little less illustrative.

SMASH! - When Hella rolls real good, she can make her target lose something physical (e.g. a weapon, their position, a limb). A passive ability.

THROUGH DEATH'S EYES - Hella can name someone who will live and someone who will die in battle, and it will come to be. If the dice rolls a mixed success, she can only name one or the other. On a failed roll, Hella sees her own death, demoralizing her and causing her to lose her nerve (in the form of a -1 ongoing).

Flaws:

Hella is, quite literally, an Evil character in the Dungeon World system. She's brash, impulsive, impatient, brutal, and kills gods and magical beings like it's going out of style. She moves her sword before she asks questions, and often regrets it later, but it's actions that count here. She values her own survival over others, and her entire arc is a struggle with morality.

Hella claims her loyalty is to Ordenna and its ideals, but betrays her country the moment things don't go her way. She's blunt, efficient, and cruel, and will do whatever it takes to see another day. She sees all magic as a sickness, and would rather kill mages than suffer their unpredictability. She's close-minded and brutally honest about it. She's the perfect candidate for the Door.

SAMPLES
Action Log Sample:

Hella doesn't know if the fact that she sees dry ground and light when she wakes is a blessing or further evidence that the world is slowly falling apart. Not moonlight, actual sunlight, like Hadrian's God supposedly forged for the world. Hieron's first winter is over faster than it came, apparently. Surely the Heat and the Dark, if it were to come now, would involve a lot less sun and cold. At least she's dressed appropriately.

She pulls her face away from the dirt and rock, spitting on the ground and looking at the monsters around her. Now that's new. Sure, she's killed creatures, but the only monsters felled by her were people. People and a star. She hasn't spared the star a second thought since killing it. Now, she doesn't stop to ponder. Now's not the time. She cuts through the first beast that looks her way, easily piercing its flesh with her blade.

Only once the arena immediately around her is clear of these monsters does Hella stop to wonder. Another round of getting sidetracked to look for that damn tower to the south. It always seems to happen like this, doesn't it? Something leads her astray from her purpose in even coming to Velas from Ordenna in the first place. If she didn't know any better, she'd say she were cursed.

(She's probably cursed.)

She wipes her blade clean on a monster's fur, moving ever forward as she always does. Whatever new horrors this place has for her, she's ready for them. If ever she takes pride in her title as Queenkiller, Regicide, whatever they call her -- it would be times like this. Times when she knows she can face whatever's in her way and kill it before it has a chance to further curse the world with its presence.

Whatever brought her here? She would find a way to destroy it. And God help anyone who stands in her way.