Urshala Farrier

Urshala was eleven when Nesmé was destroyed. Though stalwart defenders held the town’s walls against the first few waves of goblins, orcs, and even giants, they were no match for the icy breath of a white dragon. Of the roughly six hundred who initially survived, nearly two hundred were tortured to death, and a hundred more were hunted for sport by the dark elf who’d proclaimed himself “Duke of Nesmé.” Most of the remaining Nesmians died of starvation or exposure that winter, leaving only five dozen alive to await the arrival of a spring that wasn’t likely to bring a reprieve.

Except, somehow, it did. The white dragon who’d laid waste to the town returned with the breaking of the ice floes on the River Surbrin, but it soon left with Duke Tiago astride its back. They were followed in short order by the rest of the drow, then the orcs and goblins. The survivors of Nesmé didn’t escape death so much as they were simply forgotten.

Urshala’s survival was more complicated than that. Her father had died in the siege, her seven year-old brother had been hanged as an “example”, and her mother had been a hollow shell even before she died before the first snow, but Urshala suffered a head wound during the dragon attack and thankfully remembered little of those first weeks. She was forced to serve Saribel—the duke’s indifferent but not overtly cruel wife—but one late winter day, a weary Urshala crawled into a collapsed cellar, hoping to die undisturbed. She lay there for what felt like days as her mind wheeled from one thought to the next, but she always, always circled back to avenging her family by killing Duke Tiago. Logically she knew she hadn’t the might or magic to accomplish it, but she vowed to exact vengeance on him somehow, some day.

Something was listening, and that something approved.

Traits

“I’ve faced death and no longer fear it. Though I pretend I don’t need anyone, I won’t say no to good company.”

Ideals

“I’ll take on the whole of the Underdark if that’s what it takes to get my revenge.”

Bonds

“All I have left is my quest for vengeance and the power I was granted to see it done.”

Flaws

“I’m more of a ‘planner’ than a ‘do-er’.”

“I Know a Guy”

As the survivors of Nesmé made their way down the River Surbrin on crude rafts, Urshala spent much of her time by the side of Giselle Malcomb, one of the few Riders of Nesmé to have survived. Hampered though she was by a crippled knee and months of starvation, when they reached Yartar, Giselle taught Urshala how to wield a sword and shoot a bow.

Friends & Enemies

Urshala tried to be discreet when attempting to learn more about her new magic-sharing “friend”, but she’s pretty sure Brother Ingvald of the Order of the Gilded Eye is convinced she’s some kind of evil cultist.