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brindlestorm · 6 months

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Basil Underbough (pre-campaign)

Just some stuff about halflings before I get into this,

Modern Halflings- Live in cities and towns, typically retired adventurers or their children who were born there. Traditional (Standard) Halflings- Live in commonwealths and travel roughly every ten-fifteen years to a new village. The paths and locations are typically the same and do not change unless something has happened to a village, but most commonwealths will choose to rebuild rather than abandon them. (Mistakenly often referred to as Traditional Halflings, even by themselves) Traditional (Nomadic) Halflings- These commonwealths are small and quickly dying out as members settle down with commonwealths that don't move as frequently. These nomadic tribes of Halflings are of the original line trying to keep their customs alive.

When a halfling comes of age (20), they can choose between an apprenticeship within the commonwealth or going on a world walk for ten years. This World Walk is one of the last nods Typical Halflings have to their nomadic roots. The Itch (An Original Idea) Most commonly, the Itch is a way of saying that a halfling is becoming impatient for their 20th birthday, most often seen in younger ones when their older sibling has left for a world walk. Those that eventually gave in to the itch (Traditional (Standard) are driven most commonly by love curiously enough, the ones who are simply impatient can typically be placated until they're old enough to leave according to tradition. Its also a genetic phenomena that pushes Traditional (Nomadic) Halflings to keep moving from place to place. Not out of fear, but a genuine need to keep exploring. Those who have even a trace of (Nomadic) ancestry within say eight generations will be more susceptible to the Itch as seen above, they are the ones to be driven by love, by which I mean that their love is the final thing that pushes them out the door. The more recent in your family history the (Nomadic) ancestry is, the harder it becomes to ignore the Itch, and so you may not need love as a driving force, curiosity will be enough

The story of Basil is one of a young girl who thought she was ready for the world when she really and truly, was not.

Basil was special, she chose her name when most toddler-aged halflings had no say in the matter. She of course knew that she was simply named after a few herbs her little hands had snatched from her mother's garden and it was merely symbolic, but it was a nice thought. Perhaps if her mother had considered the meaning of those plants her family may have been more prepared for what would come, but Nora Underbough was religious, not superstitous.

Basil itself often symbolizes luck and holiness, as does clover, putting the two together may imply that Basil would grow up to be lucky, perhaps serving in a church or some position of power within their commonwealth. The third plant that went unnoticed was a small shoot of a snapdragon plant, an oddity given that it wasn't from Nora's garden or grew anywhere near their village. Snapdragons can represent grace and inner strength after growing up in a harsh environment or mean deceit and deviousness. Basil of course has no memory of this, being that she was only two and her parents discarded the flower upon finding it. A shame, because that plant would represnt her future as accurately as the other two. She grew up happy and healthy, squabbling with her older brother as all children do. She bonded with the village elder and took on feeding the old woman's flock of ravens when the woman died when she was only nine. One in particular imprinted on her and she named him Chervil, her father Marvon hated the bird and often found himself the victim to the raven's pranks. When she was twelve her commonwealth journeyed to their next village, and this would be the turning point of her life. Her brother (Bardal) and his best friend (Joorin), being seventeen and eighteen, were allowed to join the adults surveying the village before the rest of the commonwealth. Joorin was attacked by a lingering goblin and was carried back to the commonwealth by a panicked Bardal. The adults, being the parents of the two boys (The Underboughs and the Grasshills) had not returned with them, so the head (being both leader and healer) of the commonwealth had to make a tough call and declare that Joorin would most likely die and finding the survey group was their top priority. Basil could not stand by and watch Joorin die so she took matters into her own hands. She mixed a salve with the help of her friend's mother and hand stitched Joorin's wounds, then she prayed. All halflings pray to and worship Yondalla, their creator, to be a cleric in her name was an honor that not many halflings got. Basil did not pray to Yondalla for guidance and assistance in healing Joorin. Because you see, little Basil had started to hear a voice in her head when she was nine. The voice never spoke, she only laughed when Basil found herself in a humerous predicament. Tonight however, when she prayed to the voice, she replied. Basil spent a full 72 hours with Joorin to ensure his recovery, and his parents refused to allow Father Fenrik near their son after finding out he was ready to neglect Joorin in favor of them and the Underboughs (Nora and Marvon). From that point on, after determining that the voice Basil heard was Tymora, Lady Luck, she began an unofficial apprentiship under Father Fenrik and was on track to potentially become the next leader of their commonwealth, as there was no one else capable of taking on the role. (Someone would have needed to have begun the training between their 20-30's in order to have had enough experience to take over. Think of it like our own society, not enough people have taken an interest in politics and now everyone in power is getting old and the representation isn't equal anymore.)

Bardal would end up leaving at nineteen and three months, after almost losing his best friend when they first came to this new village, he didn't trust his friend to not die while on his World Walk. The whole commonwealth knew the boys to be as thick as thieves, and considering it was a well-kept secret from her husband, everyone also knew that Nora herself had left for her walk early as well, at eight-teen just a few months after Marvon left. That is to say, no one was surprised. Basil would confide in her mother not long after Bardal left that she was feeling unnaturally anxious and energetic. Nora told her daughter that she experienced something similar around her age and recommended that she take up dancing to get the energy out. And it worked well enough, for a year.

Not long after Basil's fourteenth birthday the village held a 3-day fair and a Man came to visit, he was a professor at a university a few days travel away and happened to be passing through. His focus was on culture and while there were plenty of books on Gnome and Dwarven traditions, there was next to nothing on Halflings. Basil found herself agreeing to the professor's sincere offer to take her with him to help teach a course on Halflings. After that conversation she felt the Itch in a way she never had before and found herself running and dancing for what felt like forever, with no relief. It wasn't until she had packed her bag with clothes, food, and a few other necessities that the Itch went away. Then, Tymora spoke to her again and encouraged her to take this opportunity. When Basil asked her mother if she should listen to the deity (without telling her what she said), Nora tells her that she absolutely should. And so she left, Basil left a note with Chervil and met the professor at his carriage, they left for the University of Diport.

In Diport, Basil found herself feeling very lost and overwhelmed. Back home, everything was shared and returned in a timely manner, but if she so much as looked at an apple for too long while at the market she would be accused of stealing. The churches demanded collections from everyone, rich and poor (another concept Basil would have to learn, aside from money tucked away to buy the goods and services of their neighbors after a harsh winter, halflings didn't use money among themselves), and those less fortunate received no help at all from the churches. Another major issue that the professor did not consider was how much halflings ate, Professor Kalrisk thought it was an exaggeration but soon found himself spending even more money just to make sure Basil was able to eat half as much. Two years of this would go by and Kalrisk, upon speaking with his wife and them seeing no other option, sent Basil away at sixteen, not realizing she was still considered a child by halfling culture (Professor didn't pay attention in class, lol). Now a starving halfling on the streets, Basil had no choice but to give in to the stereotypes and started stealing and gambling. She felt the Itch again but wouldn't give in as she never had enough money to get enough supplies and rations to journey outside the small port town. Soon she would meet, and be saved, by a man named Krogan who decided to take her under his wing. He didn't promise that she could eat her fill if she stayed with him, but he did promise a roof over her head and to try every day to get her something she could eat. Having adapted to eating less while with the Kalrisk's, she would soon adapt to this as well. An important thing Basil came to realize was that Krogan treated her differently from his allies. They weren't his friends, they didn't seem to particularly like each other but there was a level of trust. Most of the people Krogan had previously "taken under his wing" had been tossed out within a few months and expected to be one of his informants around the town, Basil was going on two years and had been gifted two daggers from him before the first year had ended.

Around her nineteenth birthday, she spoke to Tymora in a dream, who told her that her soul was being poisoned by a dark soul and that she must leave before Basil's own soul becomes so tainted that Tymora wouldn't be able to maintain their connection. Basil elected to not leave Diport, she still didn't have quite enough, Krogan would remind her that winter would be upon them soon, where would she even go? The next three years would feel cold and empty, having been used to the warmth in her heart when she still had that connection. She grew reckless, arguing with Krogan and getting thrown out, sometimes literally (Basil would discover from these incidents that she may in fact be an adrenaline junkie). One night a bard came to one of the seedier taverns and started badly playing a strange instrument, and interesting thing about Krogan was that his dream was always to be a bard himself, though his talents in all things art were atrocious. This gave Basil an idea. First she convinced Krogan that he had gotten better, good enough to challenge this loser to a bard's duel. After getting the young half-elf (Parrot) to accept the challenge, she then started taking bets from all the patrons. Because pretty much everyone here either worked for or were afraid of Krogan, they put their money on him. Basil was the only one willing to bet on Parrot.

After he was fully humiliated, Krogan stormed home and was enraged later that night when Basil tried to give him his half of the pot. She of course was proud of herself, Krogan had never trusted her enough to pull off a scheme on her own and she got the whole tavern to fall for one! And really, most of them worked for Krogan so all she did was give him his money back. Krogan of course did not take kindly to this, and for the first time since her monthly routine of falling from windows had started, she was severely injured, having broken two ribs and her leg. Luckily for her, an assimar cleric was out traveling, helping adventurers and towns along his journey. Father Nicos happened upon Basil and saved her, as that same day a guard had draped a white sheet over her while she was sleeping, implying that she was dead and would need to be removed and buried, likely in an unmarked grave somewhere outside of town. Basil had at this point been hardened and turned against religion almost entirely after several horrible experiences in the churches of Diport, even when she wasn't considered an urchin. She was at first uncooperative with Father Nicos, but eventually opened up about her own spiritual callings, but she never shared her name with the man. When she was healed and he was ready to leave, they gave each other advice that they both swore to follow. Basil would try her best to reach out to her deity and do something in town to help it change for the better. Father Nicos was instructed to make sure that those living in the slums were always helped in anyway his church could, and to ensure that his home would never sink to the level that Diport had gotten to, and become so callous as to allow racists and prejudice people to deny the less fortunate the help they deserved. Now 20 and not currently living under Krogan's influence, Basil found an abandoned building that she was able to turn into a shelter/hospice for those who couldn't afford the rates of clerics or potions. Occasionally she did have to steal supplies from the local apothecary, but she made up for it by leaving whatever coins she could spare on the counter. Soon she was caught, but the doctor decided to employ her instead to work off the debt, and a benefit of working for him would be being allowed to take the scraps and almost expired elixirs for her hospice.

Krogan would find her a few months into this endeavor, the building turned out to be one of his safehouses for when the guards were getting too close to finding him. At first he was angry that she never came back, and that she was using his safehouse to help the sick and needy, but soon he calmed down and surprisingly even offered to help.

Barely even a week later and the apothecary is broken into, made clear by the mess and stolen items, but was locked back up afterwards, Basil's key left under the mat where the doctor would see it when he arrived the next morning. After being accused of abusing her access to the shop rather than just asking for the potions to be added to her debt, she was fired. Basil had nothing to do with the incident though, despite it being her key that was obviously used during the break in. Upon returning to the hospice, she found most of them dead. Krogan was distant, she assumed in shock of not being help when they all dropped like flies, he told her he had asked one of the children there to make some tea, the boy must have confused the herbs meant for tea with the poisonous ones Basil kept on hand when she was making her own tinctures. Basil's problem has always been that she's too trusting, too quick with her judgement and always assumed that people would be naturally inclined to help one another. To put it simply, she was as naive as the day she decided to leave her home. She had never had a reason to believe otherwise, other than despising the churches of Diport for their treatment of the poor. She had it good on the streets, or as good as one could given the poor conditions and lack of food. Everyone out there was willing to give her a hand, and her them. She gave what she could to the less fortunate, and many of her fellow urchins would pass her a small piece of their meals with a look of soft pity. No harm shall come to the Darling of Diport

There were so many moments when she should have realized that Krogan was bad news, and not just in the way she saw but turned a blind eye to. She wrote off every scathing remark, every scar from training and sparring, When the friend's she had made in the students of Professor Kalrisk turned against her, when Tymora told her to escape from the dark soul corrupting her own, the break in at the apothecary a week after Krogan found her hospice, the deaths of everyone in said hospice, so many things that should have tipped her off.

But she ignored them all, because at the end of the day, she was safest when she was with him.

How will you offered food if you leave? You can't possibly buy rations or supplies, look at how these people treat you. Just stay with me, you'll be safer here.

Unfortunately, it took the death of someone she considered a brother for her to realize just how far Krogan was willing to go to keep her under his control.

Not that he deserves defending, but this was the first time he did something that wasn't with the intent to keep her in line. They were on a heist and tripped an alarm spell, guards would have them cornered soon if they didn't do something. Krogan told Basil to kill the youngest guard that was closest to finding them, but she couldn't.

There was something about the shape of his jaw, and the eyes lightly obscured by his helmet, she swore she knew him and refused to hurt him. So Krogan did it for her.

He left Basil behind on that mission, she chose to try and help the man who just fell to the ground in pain, he was bleeding out quickly. Removing his helmet confirmed her suspicions, this was Rupert, Professor Kalrisk's son. He had moved out not long after Basil came along, having been accepted into the guard program that provided housing for new trainees. She couldn't save him, maybe she could have if she still had her connection with Tymora, saved him the same way she did Joorin, but that wasn't in her cards anymore. Rupert gave her an old looking letter that was slightly crumpled, like he had been carrying it in his pocket for years. He told her to run, to go home to his parents and read the letter, promising that no one would blame her for turning to a life of crime when she had no other options.

She listened, and ran. His blood staining her hands, letter, and clothes. The letter was from her parents back in the commonwealth, if she had to guess, the letter must have come around her 17th birthday. They were demanding that the Kalrisk's find Basil and bring her back home to them, as she was a child when the Kalrisk's sent her away and couldn't fend for herself (Yes, yes she could, but that wasn't really the point, they still saw her as the 14 year old who ran off).

She kept the letter to herself for a week, wondering what she could possibly do to get out of this situation. Now she understood, her involvement with Krogan got so many people hurt or killed, she couldn't stay a moment longer.

But she couldn't go home to her family either, for the same reasons stated above. She would always know what her actions (and inaction) had caused, she didn't deserve to go home.

It wasn't until a new noble showed up in town that Basil got an idea.

Now she was 21, she slipped a guard a note without their notice, detailing how she knew a way to catch Krogan and arrest him for all his crimes, they had enough on him, the issue was catching him.

The plan was simple, have the noble host a 'welcome ball', with the encouragement to bring children who would get to know his own in a separate area while the adults mingled. Krogan would naturally want to find a way in so that he could get as much dirt on the noble as possible, it never hurts to have a noble under your thumb. When Krogan was caught at the entrance with his stolen ticket, the two were carted off to separate rooms. Basil would be receiving a lump sum of money and an official pardon for her involvement with Krogan and any unrelated crimes. Krogan was taken to the jail house.

She should have left it at that, let him believe that somehow the law caught up to him and that she was being held elsewhere. But some part of her, likely the part that was twisted by him, needed Krogan to know exactly how they caught and why. Basil wanted to shove it in his face, that she wasn't weak, that he held no power over her anymore.

Basil wasn't known for making good decisions.

She visited him outside his cell, remaining silent as he desperately asked her where the key was, what her plan was to get him out. She barely said a word until it sunk in for him that she was the one to rat him out. Her final scheme, executed perfectly. He never saw it coming.

She saw something in his gaze change, harden, she also saw respect, why did that make her happy? She pushed those feelings aside, she had done it, she beat him at his own game. That's all that mattered to her in the end.

Taking her letter of pardon, she was able to use most of the money she had received to gather rations and supplies. The few coins she had left were spent on hitching a ride with the next carriage out of Diport. She was dropped off halfway to the next city and had to walk from there.

Two months later, she would arrive at the gates of Yita, ready to start a new life.

!!! IMPORTANT !!!

Do not be confused, their relationship for being a romantic one, it's not. Basil was never quite sure what it was that they had going on but it would later be revealed that Krogan saw her as a daughter. Krogan only ever did awful things when he was afraid he would lose her, otherwise he mostly treated her like she was his child. An eternal child, if you will.

So that's Basil, next post will be about the different arcs of the campaign

#not warriors #basil underbough #basil #dnd #please interact #i need feedback #its like food #need it to survive #jk

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