Larka (LARR-kuh)

Larka is a vargar rogue from the Fell Tribe, one of the six tribes of the Ribahrn Territory on Udarich. Born the smallest of a litter to the Fell Tribe's chieftain, Kagero, Larka showed an innate talent to for sensing the dreams and feelings of others, a psionic gift. With no way of understanding psychic abilities or method of fostering them, Larka was unable to define her talents. The tribe shaman, Aki, mistakenly believed this indicated that Larka was Spirit-Touched, soul bonded to a supernatural wolf spirit. This led to Larka studying poison and medicine brewing under the shaman. As tradition dictated, Larka was also trained as a fighter for the tribe. Larka showed little aptitude for handling heavy melee weapons and so was trained in the bow to fight her enemies from afar instead.

Personality

Larka has been an odd pup all her life, often caught staring off into space or getting lost in the woods. This makes her shy and awkward among other tribespeople. Her lack of confidence has often led to her panicking in battle, biting enemies that come too close. This is called "going feral" in her tribe.

History

Youth

Larka was born in the winter of 3185 as the 2nd in a litter of five to the Fell Tribe chieftain Kagero and his wife. She was significantly smaller than even her younger siblings. Larka was born with an innate psychic power rare within the world of Charyba. This ability went unnoticed for much of her life growing up, manifesting mostly in the young pup unknowingly overhearing the thoughts of others or quickly finding items she thought she had left elsewhere. As she grew up, her small size made it difficult to match her peers in strength-based melee fighting so she chose to take up the bow instead.
At the age of 11, Larka's psionic abilities began to manifest more strongly. Her tracking and archery skills began to surpass even the greatest hunters in the Fell Tribe. Just by sensing the lingering thoughts of her prey, she was able to find animal dens even after a fierce storm or avoid false tracks. Larka believed that these abilities came from spirits guiding her. The young archer caught the attention of Aki the tribe shaman when she psychically sensed the impending death of a tribe member. Aki interpreted this as a sign that Larka was Spirit-Touched, soul bonded to a supernatural animal spirit.
Larka became Aki's apprentice alongside another vargar named Shoko. As a shaman apprentice, Larka was taught how to contact spirits of the dead, brew poisons and medicine, and bless harvests. Shoko was truly Spirit-Touched while Larka had difficulty with her studies. Aki's spiritual teaching failed to help Larka understand her psionic powers. Her powers proved unreliable in meeting Aki's requirements, giving Larka a feeling of inferiority.

The Big HELP

The full story of Larka's adventures can be read in The Adventures of The Big HELP.
As the daughter of the one of the six Ribahrn tribes, Larka joined her father at King Hespiro's summit regarding the future of Udarich. On boarding the Raziel, Larka sensed that the flying ship was not powered by magic but some other force. She felt that this force resonated with and disturbed her innate abilities.
Aboard the Raziel, Larka met King Hespiro who seemed to recognize her name. She was thrown together with Hest, Bigwig, and Petrichor when a bomb was detonated on the ship. Larka fought of the saboteur, Windtooth, and escaped with the other three. The next morning, Larka spotted a sinkhole that led to an abandoned tomb. In the tomb, Larka found an ancient tooth necklace but was branded on the back of her hand by a salamander. She and Bigwig heard a voice call them deeper into the tomb and asked them to drink its blood in exchange for power. They chose to leave the tomb before it collapsed instead and travelled to Popoki Village. They planned on resting in the local inn for the night before deciding going their separate ways when the town was attacked by walking skeletons. Larka helped fend off the skeletons from the shadows
The following morning, Larka joined in the celebration Popoki threw to thank her and the others for saving the village. When Zinnia's Platoon arrived, Captain Zinnia suggested that the party travel to Ghispar. Larka instead asked to follow the platoon on their journey to find survivors of the Raziel crash, worried about her father's whereabouts. The party were attacked one night on the journey and Zinnia and Kilgrid were abducted. Larka and the party followed them to a mansion. There, Larka learned that a necromancer had been experimenting and that one of his escaped subjects was described suspiciously like her father. With Zinnia rescued, the party joined her and Sera at the Raziel crash site. Larka experienced a psychic vision when arriving at the crash that showed her father surviving the crash, appearing back at their home, and fleeing an attack from King Hespiro's army. She also displayed the ability to conjure pink-tinged-with blue daggers of psychic energy. She learned that not everyone can see these daggers one night when the air genasi Oten visited Hest on their journey to Ghispar.
Arriving in Ghispar, Larka and the rest of the HELP decided to relax the night before they were summoned to a council with Catchief Urthpaw, which included a night of shopping and drinking. The Catchief and one of her advisors, Lemore Mondicrell, tasked the party with investigating undead sightings around Firelda Outpost. Larka's instincts made her immediately suspiscious of Lemore. During this meeting, Larka learned that the Rusha Kingdom had marched on her homeland and that her tribe had been scattered. Reina had been killed while Kenji was grievously wounded. All of her family were well-cared for hostages of Hespiro, leaving her distraught and poised to save them at a moment's notice. Picking up and eladrin from Nirania named Eris Tisani, Larka and the HELP travelled to the outpost. At the outpost, Larka learned it was under attack from Pascatia soldiers and helped a tracker named Helena heal a young boy with Bigwig's assistance.
Larka went with the others to investigate the undead sightings but came upon the Pascatia soldiers ready to attack the next morning. While Eris poisoned them, Larka used her psionic powers to sabotage several of the soldiers. They returned to the outpost with information about the, now handicapped, upcoming attack. The outpost led an attack on the remaining forces and only The Big HELP were around to help when an explosion rocked its foundations. Larka led the charge into the basement alongside Helena. There, they fought undead and Pascatian soldier alike until the Necromancer, channeling through one of their undead soldiers, asked the HELP to pass through a portal for a parley instead of a battle. Larka was unsurprised when the Necromancer revealed himself as Advisor Lemore. After a fierce battle, she and The Big HELP decided to spare him and turn him over to the Catchief for trial. The HELP returned to Ghispar, where Larka spent the night meditating on her psychic abilities. She tried to convince the party to travel south, free her parents, and oust Hesprio. Hest and Amroth managed to convince everyone to travel to Valadris to meet Nascour Varna, an enchanter and diplomat from Gadorr, for their personal quests.
While traveling to Valadris, Larka and the HELP learned they were being stalked. Larka and Petrichor's quick thinking immobilized several raiders before Larka realized they were her tribespeople, including her childhood rival Shoko. The raiding leader filled Larka in on what happened when Hespiro conquered the Fell Tribe. Hespiro had taken out the Fell Tribe before they could mount a defense and placed a large pink crystal in the center of Agarthi before decreeing that all magic users abandoned their craft. During this conversation, it came out that Shoko was indirectly responsible for Larka's sister, Reina's, death. Though the raiding leader banished Shoko, Larka followed in secret to kill her. The next morning, the HELP continued on their way only to run into Windtooth. They chased him all the way to Vala Pass and were able to defeat him after causing a rockslide that sealed off the pass. 
Upon arriving in Valadris, Bigwig and Petrichor led the HELP to their former Nightwalkers ally, Verga Stonehammer. Larka and Hest barely caught a glimpse of the mysterious shopkeep Demensaix while Bigwig and Petrichor caught up with Verga. The next day, the HELP took a spa day before meeting with Nascour. Larka excitedly showed the snobby spa receptionist a set of VIP tickets from Verga and spent the day in a rage room and getting a massage. The HELP eventually did visit Nascour. Once Hest and Amroth had finished talking to him, Larka asked what he knew about her psionic abilities and the psionic modifications on the Raziel. He had little knowledge of Larka's powers beyond myths and suggested that Hespiro must have modified the Raziel himself. On the way back to Verga's, Larka and the others were lured by Demensaix, though Demensaix was more interested in speaking with Bigwig at this moment.
Before heading out on a mission Hest and Amroth had promised to do for Nascour, Larka borrowed some thieving equipment from Verga. Nascour had requested crystals rumored to be found in an abandoned mine that the Cult of Arazid had recently holed up in. Larka took the lead in the mines, killing all she came across with a gleeful glint of murder in her eye. Seeing this, Amroth took a moment to step aside with her and ask if she was alright. She brushed him off, saying she was fine. As Larka descended the mines, she felt a heat in her backpack. The broken tooth she had picked up long ago seemed to be heating up the further down they went. Larka used her time in the mines to pick up arcane crystals when not murdering. While exploring the mines, Larka found a cache of armor that seemed to belong to Hespiro's forces and destroyed it. She wondered why the cult would have this armor since they seemed to be at cross purposes with Hespiro. Deeper in the mine, the HELP found the crystals they were looking for alongside an enormous door marked by the Brand of Arazid. At the foot of the door sat a sparkling blue skeleton that seemed to be trying to keep the door closed. Larka decided she wanted on of the bones and took it, causing the skeleton to collapse. This freaked Larka out and she decided to drop the bone. On their way out of the mine, the HELP were attacked by the leader of the Cult of Arazid, the Fireblood, but managed to escape with the help of their druid friend Zinnia. 
The HELP returned to Valadris and gave the crystals back to Nascour. When he offered the group an extra reward for finding the crystals surreptitiously, Larka broke down and admitted that they didn't deserve the reward seeing as she killed everyone she could. Nascour was stern but otherwise took the news surprisingly well. He asked that they take the crystals to Verga for shaping and bring them to him at the Cerisan Opera House the following evening. Larka and the others spent the next day celebrating and buying some fancy clothes for the opera. Larka met Nascour's daughter, Ania, at the opera before Madame Seid's performance. Seeing as they had backstage passes, Larka and Hest offered to take Ania's rose to show's star backstage during intermission. While they were able to do this, the met up with Bigwig and Petrichor after and learned from Zinnia that an assassin was coming for Nascour. They determined that the culprit was either a waiter, a pickpocket, or a noblewoman. Larka used her psychic abilities to interrogate the noblewoman and pickpocket, offending the noblewoman and breaking down a psychic barrier in the pickpocket's mind. With the psychic barrier down, Petrichor used Detect Thoughts and realized that the pickpocket had been planted with an unconscious command to kill Nascour. Larka and Hest guided him and Ania away. On their way back to Verga's to question the pickpocket, the pickpocket was killed and the noblewoman revealed herself to be a Cult of Arazid assassin, planning to pin the murder on Hespiro and earn him the ire of the Order of Elements on him.
Larka and the others were able to dispatch the assassin with the help of Zinnia. During the battle, Hest had been killed and reborn as a tiefling thanks to her Wild Magic. Larka made sure Hest was okay in her new body. Zinnia wanted to update Larka on Hespiro and his conquest, saying that he had pushed back the Church of Gorthag and crossed the Ribahrn River. As Zinnia divulged more information, it became clear to Larka that Zinnia had to have started working for Hespiro. Larka seethed at her, at first, but Zinnia convinced her to listen to Hespiro before making any snap decisions. He could tell her about her psionic abilities and the threat coming to Udarich. Zinnia left the party after this and Larka convinced the BiG HELP to move towards Hespiro's location next. The Big HELP chose to travel through Singor Forest to get to Hespiro and were caught up in helping a small tribe of myconids deal with a corruptive force in the forest.

Relationships

Fell Tribe Members

Larka is the daughter of the Fell Tribe Chieftain Kagero and his wife, Midori. She also has an older brother named Kenji, her father's heir, alongside three younger siblings, Rai, Yuki, and Reina.
Larka is incredibly fond of her mentor, Aki. She always hopes to impress Aki but fears that she won't live up to her mentors expectations. Larka is jealous of her fellow apprentice, Shoko. Shoko's strong spirit connection and knack for Spirit-Touched tutelage leaves Larka feeling inadequate. This makes Larka resentful of Shoko.

View Character Profile

Gender: Female
Species: Vargar
Class: Rogue
Age: 19 years
Favored Weapon: Bow