Cheerful
Cheerful
Mental characteristics
Personal history
A Spring Dawn
Cheerful - a Tiefling born to a group of Drow researchers out of Rosonha - spent much of their childhood years surrounded by magical researchers, historians, and others of their ilk as they travelled the Barbed Fields and other areas of magical importance looking into the effects of long term powerful magics on the lands, peoples, and creatures. The caravan of scholars - the details of which are muddled in Cheerful’s memory - was a joy-filled and curious place to raise children, the juxtaposition of child-like wonder and curiosity while exploring and studying dangerous locales and horrifying magics. What little Cheerful does clearly remember is a time filled with love and nurturing guidance up until a day during their sixth year that a new woman encountered the caravan while she was travelling from place to place. This newcomer offered information for information the caravan might have had, after a day or two had passed the adults “asked” for the woman to move on rescinding the hospitality they had offered.Curse of the Midnight Sun
This was, unsurprisingly, a poor move. As she left the Woman said that there will be a terrible cost for breaking hospitality; which the adults felt was naught but superstition, however over the next few days some things seemed amiss. The less physically fit members of the caravan felt weaker and weaker as each day passed, until one morning they simply didn’t awaken. When the healer of the caravan visited those who had not awoken they were faced with a dire problem. Next thing that Cheerful remembers is the door to their wagon being locked shut and warded. Unable to see out the small windows, and being only able to hear screaming and fighting, Cheerful curled up and hid as best she could, hands over their ears. They waited as long as she could, before thirst and hunger forced the young Tiefling to sneak out, wary of whatever caused the sounds of conflict. Whatever it was had wandered off by this stage, leaving only the signs of a slaughter behind; an oddly corpseless slaughter. Over the next few days Cheerful survived off of the remaining food stocks, and searched the caravan for anything to keep themselves occupied, their sleep troubled with nightmares and horrible visions. Fortunately, before long, travelling traders came by and found the orphan, after figuring out what had happened - those who didn’t awake had risen as Husk Zombies and swiftly turned the rest of the members of the caravan - they took the young tiefling with them on to Rosonha.Although the travellers couldn’t look after the orphaned Tiefling, they didn’t just ditch her in the city unaided. Cheerful was left with an orphanage to be raised by the city of Rosohna, although this didn’t last for long. Still reeling from the trauma of her world and family being destroyed and suffering ever increasing nightmares, that at some stage started to happen even when they were awake. One issue after another compounded and led to the Tiefling running away to live on the street, getting by with a sweet face, nascent magic, and a musical personality. Over time Cheerful found other street children that would benefit from her help, and gradually help the Tiefling heal - somewhat - the pain of losing one family, and so Cheerful’s found family began. Over the next few years, until their early teens, Cheerful gathered a small handful of children - informally founding the Den of Heicyne - as she works to aid other street children as and when she can, although no more join Cheerful’s family.
It was during this time that Cheerful heard of, and met, another young street kid who was also having visions who Cheerful helped out as best as they could until it came to light that this child was consecuted and adopted into the Den of Kryn under the name Velina.
A Summer Song
As Cheerful entered their teenage years the vestiges of the Curse that killed their family mutated and changed, intertwining with Cheerful’s interpersonal connections simultaneously strengthening them and drawing power for the Tiefling’s growing magic. Family ties became unbreakable, friendship and romance became one and the same. During this time Cheerful and Ahlysaaria operated as the parents of the small found family, while Cheerful encouraged Ahlysaaria to try to pursue her dreams of performing, frequently having to rescue Torrellan from his run-ins with the Aurora Watch from a number of con artistry schemes that drew attention. Alongside supporting Ahlysaaria and Torrellan, Cheerful also helped; Shimyra with their desire to learn sailcraft, Molvayas with his religious studies (although Cheerful was quickly outpaced in the learning department and helped by enabling him to study for long periods). Finally Cheerful did their best to look after Laele, but it was around the time when Clover/Sophie found Cheerful and - for once - the Tiefling had someone looking after them.
Sophie took Cheerful under her wing, to teach the younger girl how to harness the curse that lingers on them. During this time Sophie and Cheerful took on various lightweight jobs, and short adventures, coaxing out Cheerful’s capabilities while letting the Tiefling have space to explore themselves away from their Den and those who rely on them. Cheerful’s time with Sophie was enlightening, twisting their curse outwardly to hex and ensorcell others, attracting small creatures without much effort, and more tricks besides. After several years of being - at most - a few days apart from each other at a time Sophie introduced Cheerful to Oriwynn, although the two never spent long together, as Sophie started to travel more with the half-elf.
During Cheerful’s growing free time - as her family grows up - the Tiefling started to dive more into reading the book and scroll they had kept with them from their childhood, although they couldn’t make much headway due to some form of encoding. The book and scroll provided some insight into the nature of powerful magics, and made mention of potential routes of study leading to Olc Skerry and the rumours of the land around there. So after making sure their Den would be secure without them for a time - promising to send letters and keep in touch - the Tiefling made preparations as they had also heard from Sophie that she and Ori were heading to that area as well.
Personality Characteristics
Personality Quirks
- When physically interested in who they're talking with: Strokes a horn idly
- When anxious: wraps their tail tightly around her leg
- When stressed out but dealing with it: Sings under their breath
Social
Contacts & Relations
Ahlysaaria - Friendly Rivalry - 23y/o - Performery type - AFAB, She/Her, Pansexual
Cheerful’s longest term “sibling”, Ahlysaaria and Cheerful met while they were both performing to make ends meet on the streets and they realised that together - dancer and musician - they could have a much easier time of looking after themselves. (And their eventual family.)
Torrellan - 21y/o - Con artist - AMAB, He/Him, Gay
Torrellan was someone who floated through the same areas and circles in the outer areas of Rosohna. He joined Ahlysaaria and Cheerful after they bailed him out of trouble with someone he was trying to scam.
Shimyra - 19y/o - Sailory type - AFAB, They/Them, Ace
Shimyra found the nascent den through word of mouth, and joined them for security in numbers before finding that the relative security provided by it let them figure out what they wanted to do, eventually becoming a sailor.
Molvayas - 18y/o - Religious Student Lad - AMAB, He/They, Bi
Molvayas was found and adopted more directly, having been with the Den of Heicyne since he was a young child, and his curiosity and intelligence led to him being encouraged to pursue an academic future, eventually joining the Church of the Luxon to study religion.
Laele - Love, but not close - 16y/o - Rebel child - AFAB, She/They
A relatively recent addition, Laele hasn’t really developed a close connection with Cheerful, but is allowed much more leeway than any of the other siblings now the family is relatively comfortable - although not rich.
A golden skinned tiefling who draws her magical power from their relationships, friendships, and joie de vivre.
View Character Profile
Age
24
Birthplace
A travelling caravan just outside Rosohna
Children
Gender
Genderqueer (She/They)
Eyes
Black
Hair
White
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Golden
Height
6'4"
Weight
176lb (~80kg)
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A Break After A Fray
These are the worst visions I've dealt with in many years. I'm worried and scared. What if the Quell returns while we sleep? I could feel it pulling on my magic. I saw an old one devour a celestial. Then I saw them sever Thazz's connection to his divinity.
But before that, upon entering the Barbed Fields I found a Hawk and asked it for help with finding someone important to Sivrit, a Tiefling woman, the first night is uneventful in large part due to Calry being with us. While travelling - Mortimer leading the way with my help - we came across a small pack of Carcass Eaters, dealt with them quickly but moved on to avoid meeting any other creatures. This is when my visions started getting worse. A time long lost, when the fields were buried under bodies, a winged Celestial standing atop a small mountain faced by some monstrous undead that reaches a hand out as it devours the energy of the Celestial. I watched as the Celestial collapsed to it's knees, and slowly died, then I saw similar, but not as severe, happening to Thazzumlir and Mortimer. This is concerning but I've seen things as bad as this before, although I do pull back from Mortimer and Thazzumlir, Mort reaches out but I'm not comfortable talking about it. ( I should reach out to him, tomorrow, after we've helped Fray.)
A hawk comes down to me to relay that it had found a person matching the description I had sent out the night before, surrounded by dogs, and two white figures about my height. We head off, Heidan does some scouting. During the fight a Quell severs Thazz's divine link. We slay one, and the other becomes immaterial and retreats to safety. Heidan calls out to the hiding person who turns out to be Sivrit's girlfriend. She's lovely, it's nice to have someone I can talk to in Infernal, Fray knew a bit about the monsters we fought, Quells, and in fact had a plan to help heal the Barbed Fields over time. Maybe that'll help stop these visions about Thazz and Mort? Hopefully. We made camp. Fray performed some healing on those of us who were hurt. There's some talk between the group, as I work on earning the trust of the dog I rescued, it's good to have things to distract from the visions sometimes. After the first session with the dog - I think I'll call him Quevven - I returned to my scroll, I need to keep distracted though Mortimer makes that hard sometimes. He... I should talk to him once these visions stop. Oh! I also reached out to Calry just to let her know we're detouring tomorrow to help Fray, she looks drained. I should reach out, she seems lonely. Anyway, I'm tired. It's time to sleep. Fray makes good company. I'm probably gonna sleep awfully, but I better try.
Repulsive Revenants
I... failed. I need to do better. I'll figure it out. I'll fix it.
Somehow.
The Dragon in the Room
Travelling with a group is interesting, especially given my condition. Much like last time aboard the Twilight Dream I provided help where possible - in the form of morale boosting and timing keeper. A short time into the first day Jeanne approached me, which was surprising. They struck me as a much more conserved person. Turns out that they're under some mutagenic magical effects, possibly a curse, but it's progressing a lot slower than other similar reports I've encountered in my research upon curse magic. Jeanne appears to be transforming into a half-dragon? I'm unsure on the limits of their specific transformation. Will have to see if my research turns up more. In return I gave them some more information upon my own curse - I don't want to make this group uncomfortable with my past and my burden but they do need to have some idea of what's below my surface, it's a hard balancing act.
The second day, I had a short talk with Sivrit about potentially meeting my siblings in Rosohna, as well as potentially others I know. He's also on the lookout for a former companion and I offered to help see if I can contact or find her. We shall see. Otherwise the second day was somewhat uneventful. Although I didn't find a chance to talk to Heidan. Should look for some time to see if he has any insight to my research on curses.
Upon landing back in Xhorhas, just a short ways from the Barbed Fields, we wandered our way towards Rosohna when Calry ran ahead and around a corner. Swiftly followed by Mort. It turns out Calry's a dragon. That was a surprise, although witnessing the transformation was impressive. So Mortimer is dating a Gold Dragon, it appears, both were a bit cagey about how it came to be. Calry rescued Mort, and then ???. Calry seems... deeply lonely, which I sympathise with although I can't imagine our experiences are incredibly similar but I'd like to think I know how she feels. Will see if I can reach out to both her and Mortimer, as he seems to have some tension about interpersonal situations. For the future however, don't want to press the situation too hard.
Twilight's Dream
So, in Olc Skerry barely a week and I'm already heading back to Rosohna. But first, the events with Mortimer at his stall was... intriguing, we met the man Mortimer was supposed to sell the moss to but - outside of a handful - he didn't want to give the man the moss, which turned out to be a very mild hallucinogenic. It has very little chance of having a "reasonable" lethal dose. Calry(?) - Mortimer's apparent partner - appeared, we had an interesting discussion about (in particular) Mort's abstinence from drugs, during which Calry absconded with the bucket of moss. After the discussion on drugs, I talked to Mort a bit more about my history. My Curse. Nothing explicit - yet - but there's no reasons for obfuscating my goals for now unless I've made some secret enemies?
After the not-a-drug-sale with Mort, we returned to the house for a brief moment where I then went with Thazzumlir and Sivrit to find Captain Quavala, the man who brought me here, to get passage back to the Dynasty with my new found friends, I paid for the journey and then after a short conversation returned to the house once more for food. Heidan, it turns out, had figured out how to refine the moss into it's more potent form that people consumed, over dinner we talked and I attempted to figure out why Mortimer is so adverse to drugs which inadvertently pressured him into trying the hallucinogen. After dabbling myself I went to bed in preparation for for the trip in the morning. Hopefully the trip aboard the Twilight Dream will be as uneventful as my one here, and it'll be nice to return to the twilight of home... I think that's what I most look forward to. The sun is, while not uncomfortable, unusual for me.
Olc Skerry
So, I guess I'll start keeping a journal now I'm travelling. Should give me a good record to use when I write letters home.
I've been in Olc Skerry a few days, at this stage, getting the lay of the land and asking around after Sophie. No one seemed to know much until a couple of days into my stay at the Hag's Brew I bumped into a rather lugubrious figure at the Archives as I was asking Nedris about the nature of curse magic. Heidan, the dour figure, introduced himself and his friend - Jeanne - and it turned out these two were part of a group of explorers who had recently met with Clover. I asked if they'd mind if I tagged along next time they went exploring and Heidan said he'd bring it up with the group, but that due to their recent travels the group was all tired.
Having taken my leave of Nedris, Heidan, and Jeanne, I returned to the Hag's Brew to relax and have some fun - I put on a little music show. During the show a tired looking man entered and chancing my luck I figured he might be a part of the group Heidan had mentioned. Sivrit, his name turned out to be, was indeed part of the group and it seemed Heidan had already mentioned me to him and the others. We had an interesting little conversation about reasons for travelling to such a remote and unforgiving part of the world, my search for Clover and information about magic, his desire to learn something about himself in the wake of not knowing his father. From there Sivrit invited me back to the group's house - or one of them maybe? It was rather cramped - where I had supper, and was then quizzed by Mortimer as to "what's wrong with me" (which promptly earned him a slap from his... partner?) I didn't hide why I had come, althought I didn't give them the full truth - I'm not so gauche as to talk about The Event around a dinner table with relative strangers.
They offered me a place to sleep - for free - for the night, which I took and in the morning we had breakfast and plans were made to travel to Rosohna, after a few local errands were finished up. I offered my guidance around Rosohna, and then tagged along with Mortimer for his errand of setting up a stall and (from what I gathered) selling some plant matter from the Maw to a local.
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