COVID Character: Revna

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Revna

Aliases: Gudrun's Creepy Brother
Pronouns: He/him
Character Concept: No Eldritch Blast Warlock
Character Stats: 6th level NE Human/Reborn Hermit Pact of the Tome Warlock
Campaign: Gray Skies/Gray Seas
System: D&D 5E
Campaign Status:Abandoned

 

Hoo, this guy.

 

Our GM crafted a bespoke D&D world based on the Old Norse peoples and their legends. The inciting incident of the game occurred 15 years previously, when an undead army sacked the capital city of Nidaros and killed the king. Things had been not great, but mostly stable since then. Our village was ruled by Jarl Fritjof (also known as the Bloodeye) who was a huge jerk, and everyone in the party had caused him offense or problems in some way (which was easy to do).

The campaign started with a blót to give thanks for the arrival of spring. The villagers went out in their boats to catch whales for sacrifice. In the midst of that, a ship crewed by undead warriors with iron staples in their chests arose from the depths of the sea to attack us. From that point forward, we became Jarl Bloodeye's most expendable problem solvers, sent forth to gather information on what was going on and find the people responsible.

Along the way, we dealt with local politics, some werewolves with a grudge, the cult of Níðhöggr (the serpent that gnaws at the heart of the world), a group of beekeepers who worshiped/served an insane and murderous dryad, our families, and our complex interactions with one another.

Revna did not start out particularly well-defined for this campaign. I knew that I wanted to play a creepy warlock, and I knew that I didn't want to give that warlock Eldritch Blast. The reason for the second choice is I had been in parties with warlock players before, and that's all they ever cast. 

Instead, I chose Create Bonfires, and cast that spell all the time.

Revna started out as the weirdo that nobody likes. He didn't get along with anyone, didn't really talk, and lived by himself in a cave just outside of the village. He had a sister, Gudrun, who was apprenticed to Grandmother Spinner (the powerful, incredibly ancient, village seer), who could occasionally shame him into being somewhat human. He didn't like anyone, didn't want to help anyone, and had forsaken the gods to serve The Tender of the Dreaming Gyre, an abomination whose true visage had driven Revna slightly insane.

I learned a lot more about Revna as I played him, and can now provide you with a more complete, much more emo, backstory: Revna was a sickly child who was expected to die in infancy. His father (the town abusive drunk), hated him the moment he was born, did the "I have no son" thing, and insisted on naming his new son "Revna," which is a girl's name. Ironically, Revna's father died at sea "mysteriously" but Revna survived, growing up to be a sickly, awkward, and creepy child that no one liked. 

He was groomed to be apprenticed to Grandmother Spinner, since he was frail and also creepy. Grandmother Spinner rejected him out of hand, and so he broke with all tradition and found someone/thing else that would accept him as its servant. 

All of that was fine, and good enough, and I thought Revna was fun and cool to play. But then he died, and he became even more amazing than before. 

While fighting the Cult of the Gnawer, Revna took a sword to the guts and went down. Constitution was Revna's dump stat, so he blew all of his Death Saves and died. While everyone mourned and I considered what to make for my next character, the GM took me aside and told me about the Reborn template. For those that don't know, this template makes you kind of undead, in that you don't need to sleep, eat, or drink and you get bonuses for remembering things from your past life.

I agreed to this, and Revna sat up, screaming and puking up a mix of black fluid and white worms. The players were horrified and, certain that he was actually undead, tied him to the back of a horse and carted him back to civilization.They eventually released him and found him to be much more talkative (if a bit of an emo edgelord), reasonably astute, and more likely to be helpful to their overall goals than not. They grudgingly decided to keep them.

Revna's role in the party was really interesting. To supplement Create Bonfires, I got additional spells that helped with battlefield control. I also took the warlock benefit that meant I could see perfectly in the dark. This, plus my Reborn benefits, Misty Step, and Invisibility, made me the infiltrator, investigator, and rogue for a party that didn't have one. 

In time, Revna mostly won the trust of the party. Only Helvig, a down-to-earth family man and barbarian, disliked him with any intensity. Helvig's player and I assumed that, had the campaign continued, Helvig and Revna would have an epic magic vs. sword duel on a lightning-struck mountaintop somewhere. Alas, that never happened!