Appearance

Physical Description

Small, compact, and only vaguely humanoid in shape, Dezzy is built of a multitude of desert plants, primarily cacti. Though not particularly strong or fast, her plant body is surprisingly sturdy and resilient, and she is a fast healer. She's very short, even more so than the average leshy.

Body Features

She is covered in spikes, mostly on her face, neck and arms, including a particularly dense cluster on the top of her head. There's also a large number of flowers sprouting from her skin, as well as a wide skirt of leaves above two flexible root-like legs. Her torso is covered with a coarse, grassy coating. She has stubby thorn-like fingers.

Facial Features

Dezzy has two very large, very unusual eyes: pitch black and shiny, with a deep scarlet pupil. A succulent sprouts from the left side of her head and hangs down somewhat like a leafy ponytail, and the right side is crowned by a large pinkish-red flower. A ring of smaller flowers encircles the cluster of spikes on the top of her head. She has a flat face with a small mouth and no nose, though it has many spines!

Apparel & Accessories

Dezzy always wears a crown of woven branches, flowers, berries and leaves, which appears to have melded with the flora on her head and is rarely taken off. It enhances her druidic magic and is in some way connected to the season cycle.
 
She also has a blue stormblossom flower twined into the succulent on her head, which Kai gave her during the Linmeld Festival, and wears a pair of red fingerless gloves which Alistair made for her so she can stop accidentally spiking people.
 
While travelling she wears leather armour and carries a wooden shield, but she usually prefers not wearing anything if she can get away with it. She also carries a fire staff with a glowing red stone, and a green satchel.

Special abilities

She can extend and retract her roots to some extent and usually buries them in the earth at night to absorb nutrients instead of sleeping. She can also absorb sunlight instead of eating, and can also heal wounds in this manner.
 
As a druid, she has access to a plethora of magic drawn from the natural world. Dezzy is mostly drawn to fire magic, due both to her affinity for the sun and her friendship with an old brass dragon. Fireball is her favourite spell. As a storm druid, she also has an affinity for lightning and wind spells and has recently learned a spell that allows her to fly. She has a minor resistance to fire and extreme heat.
 
Dezzy is deeply connected with nature, both through being a druid and a spirit of nature essence itself. She is skilled at healing with natural medicines, but is often too nervous to do so because of her many spines.

Mentality

Personal history

Twenty years ago, Desert Song's restless spirit was drawn into the leshy body created by Adrael of the Wilderwood Druids. Fleeing from a cultist group known as the Circle of Bone, he had come all the way from the jungle of Wistmire in Vestra, where his fellow druids had been slaughtered and scattered by the cultists, who sought a powerful essence stone in their possession. Believing himself still hunted, Adrael created a leshy to guide him through Dunahein where the Circle of Bone could not follow.
 
Desert Song spent very little time with her creator, only long enough to see him to the western edge of the desert, but she was utterly devoted to him. He never told her his name, requested that she call him 'Master' and told her very little about himself, only that he was one of the Wilderwood Druids and he had to go west. Desert Song never questioned him. When they reached the western edge of Dunahein, he told her to stay behind, promising to return to her someday. As a parting gift, he gave her a bundle of holly and mistletoe, which ultimately led to her becoming a druid herself. Thus he headed west out of the desert and left her behind.
 
That was the last she ever saw of him.
 
The twenty years that Desert Song spent alone in the desert were long, empty and lonely. She took to guiding lost and unfortunate travellers whenever she encountered them, and so spent a large amount of her time hanging around near Halshar, Dunahein's largest settlement. She did not like to venture into Halshar very often, as she felt odd and out of place there, and could not wrap her head around most mundane mortal things.
 
Sometimes months or even years passed between lost travellers who needed her guidance, and during this time Desert Song wandered far and wide across the desert. Some days she lingered among the Westrunners or the Lionfolk, but something about being near these people made her feel even lonelier, and so it was more common for her to walk alone among the dunes, watching great worms burrow in the distant sands. As she could pass as an unassuming desert plant most of the time, she was very rarely attacked by anything.
 
Roughly a year or two before the fateful decision that would set her on a path beyond the desert, Desert Song met an old brass dragon on the outskirts of Halshar. He had been driven violently from his territory near an oasis deeper in the desert by a younger blue dragon, and so, frail and beaten, he had come to rest in a den close to the city, from where he could steal water in the middle of the night. Enamored by this incredible, fiery beast, Desert Song quickly befriended him.
 
Tombac the brass dragon was very ancient indeed, and in his twilight years had begun to crave company. He welcomed Desert Song warmly, meeting her often at the edge of Halshar and eventually inviting her to his den. Through him, Desert Song learned much about the world she barely knew. He taught her Draconic, helped her master fire magic as she worked to become a druid, and told her countless stories: many of them about humans and other such mortals, whom he found funny and endearing. He would often repeat these stories several times over, as his memory had begun to fail him.
 
Desert Song adored the old dragon. She told him everything, and he was the first to ever urge her to leave the desert, seek out her druid herself, and see the world: though it would be a long time before she took his advice. He called her 'Song' and was the first person she ever considered a friend.
 
Then, one day, a druid came to Halshar. Through this druid, Desert Song learned at last that the Wilderwood Druids, to whom her master had belonged, had seemingly vanished from existence twenty years ago. Her staunch belief that he would some day return to her finally wavered. Tombac urged her to leave.
 
But she was afraid, not just of what awaited her beyond the desert, but that her master would return and she would not be there to meet him. She lingered another season, telling herself he would surely come back soon. He did not. And slowly, Tombac began to wither away. For all his long life, he was still mortal, and he had lived a very, very long time.
 
One night, Tombac told Desert Song not to come to his den the next day. She didn't understand. Worried, she ignored his wishes and came as usual, only to find him gone. By the time she tracked him deep into the desert, he had already passed on.
 
This was Desert Song's first encounter with death, and it set a deep fear into her core. Afraid, grieving and in disbelief, she took a single brass scale from Tombac's body and walked away. For weeks, she wandered alone in the desert, lost in her darkest thoughts, drowning in her fears and doubts. By the time she returned to Halshar, she had already made up her mind. She was going to find her master.
 
She took a handful of coins from Tombac's small hoard, bought all the things he'd told her she'd need, and set off eastward as he'd suggested: towards the mountains. Towards Ebonfyre.
 
Deep in the mountains, she encountered mushrooms for the first time, and used them to create a familiar for herself, if only to keep her company. This tiny leshy she named White Moon of the Earth, and with him at her side she headed down out of the mountains and onto the road into Ebonfyre.
 
And that was when she saw Alistair for the first time.

Education

As Dezzy has spent the large majority of her life alone in the desert, she is greatly ignorant about most of the rest of the world and the people in it. Things people might consider mundane and simple are completely foreign to her. When she came into Ebonfyre, she didn't even know how doors worked. A great many things still confuse her in this way.
 
Her 'education' comes only from word of mouth, tales and small-talk shared with lost travellers or stories told to her by Tombac. Being a nature spirit and a druid, she has a deep understanding of the workings of the natural world, and this is where the majority of her knowledge lies. Luckily she has Alistair and Kai to teach her things now, and she's slowly learning how things work in society...

Employment

Occasionally, the lost travellers Dezzy helped in the desert would reward her with money, so this might be considered her first 'job'! She still doesn't understand money to this day, however, and rarely cares enough to hold onto it or use it for anything. That's Alistair's thing.

Accomplishments & Achievements

• Completed the task she was created for (although she's started questioning whether that's true or not...)


• Became a druid


• Learned Draconic


• Made her own little leshy companion


• Finally built up the courage to leave the desert and set out to find her master


• Picked up on the secrets of the storm druids (and learned to fly!)


• Performed a successful stormcalling ritual with Star


• Helped a naked wizard get his clothes back


• Found some friends who actually seem to like her and want her around


• Not died yet

Failures & Embarrassments

• Let her master walk away from her and never saw him again


• Didn't listen to Tombac and was forced to confront death for the first time over his dead body


• Almost got eaten by a warg


• Hurt Kai while trying to heal her


• Almost got torn apart by trolls


• Caused nothing but trouble for her friends


• Tried to run away from her friends and caused even more trouble


• Dragged everyone on a wild goose chase across Vast and Vestra and accidentally got them mixed up with a crazy cultist group and a huge plot to destroy the balance of nature


• Got turned into a dragon and nearly killed Balmin while in dragon-induced rage


• Still hasn't found her master and probably never will :(


• Cries a lot


• Can't protect her friends because she's so small and weak and useless


• Should I go on?

Mental Trauma

There's so many things Dezzy struggles with, and her head is full of unhealthy thoughts. Ever since her druid left and did not return, she has questioned her reason for existing, believing she has already completed the task she was created for and therefore there can't be anything else she's good for. Over years and years of guiding travellers in the desert, she came to believe that people only ever saw her as a tool to use and throw away when she was no longer useful to them. She does not blame them for this. As far as she is concerned, they are right.
 
However, she deeply craves company and acceptance, and longs to be wanted and loved by someone who would never leave her. She never believed this would happen, though Alistair and Kai have started to convince her otherwise...
 
She is quick to blame herself for anything, and very easily jumps to the conclusion that someone would be better off without her. As a result, she is prone to impulsive decisions (like running away), believing her actions are for the best without consulting anyone else. She is terrified of being rejected and tends to draw away instead of seeking help or comfort, even when she dearly needs it. She blames herself for her master leaving her, and believes it's her fault if he died out there without her.
 
Dezzy also has a debilitating fear of death, even though she is technically unable to die herself. Ever since Tombac died, she has harboured this fear of mortal death and finds herself unable to understand how mortals can go on living with the threat of dying constantly hanging over them. She is terrified of 'dying' herself, as the act of leaving her false mortal body would cause her spirit to forget everything she experienced as Desert Song. Sometimes she wonders how many lives she might have forgotten in this manner, how many friends no longer exist in her memories... The thought of forgetting Alistair and Kai scares her more than anything.
 
As a result of all of this, Dezzy often finds it hard to let go and enjoy herself in any situation. The world beyond the desert is more dangerous than she could ever have imagined and she is constantly afraid. Her anxiety is nigh unmanageable, and currently the only thing keeping her stable is the steady presence of her friends, particularly Alistair, whose strength, support and bold confidence tempers her worries somewhat. She's terrified of what would happen if she lost him.

Intellectual Characteristics

Ignorant, naive and too inwardly focused, Dezzy isn't particularly intelligent and doesn't pick up on things very quickly. That said, her affinity for nature makes her knowledgeable about the natural world in ways few mortals are. Her intelligence just doesn't extend far into normal society! She is very curious and is slowly picking up on things thanks to Alistair and Kai, though.

Morality & Philosophy

Most of the time, Dezzy feels compelled to help people who need it. She spent most of her life guiding lost travellers, after all! She will always help when asked and will doggedly see a chosen task through to its end, regardless of how long it takes or where it takes her. However, her morals only extend so far, and she will not hesitate to kill anyone who threatens the people she cares about.
 
She is prone to cold indifference towards anyone who challenges her beliefs or threatens her and/or her friends. She rarely feels remorse over the people or animals she kills, unless forced in some way to think about them (which rarely happens). She usually just puts it from her mind. She's more focused on keeping herself and her friends alive to worry about the morality of killing.
 
Threatening nature is one surefire way to make her dislike you!

person.sexuality

Dezzy is completely ignorant about sex and sexuality. The thought has never crossed her mind and likely never will. All she wants is to be loved, wanted and accepted.

person.gender_identity

Dezzy doesn't think of herself in gendered terms. She is neither male nor female. She is just a spirit in a plant body. She uses feminine pronouns only because they were what her master used for her, and so she associates herself with them.

Taboos

Dezzy deeply dislikes the feeling of metal and will never use it for anything. Pollution and desecration of nature are anathema to her very existence, and she would never needlessly cause harm to plants.

Known Languages

Common, Sylvan, Druidic, Draconic

Personality

Motivation

Dezzy's motivation was always devotion to the druid who created her. When he never came back to her, she convinced herself to face her fears and leave the desert in search of him, and for much of the early journey she continued only out of dogged determination to find him. She believed she had no purpose without him.
 
More recently, however, her motivation has shifted as she has grown more and more attached to her travelling companions, and as the dark plots of the Shadow Pact have slowly been uncovered. No longer fully believing she will find her druid, she persists instead out of determination to right the imbalance of nature and, more personally, to protect her friends the way she could not protect her creator. They have become just as important to her as he was.

Quotes & Catchphrases

• "But I'm not a person. I'm just a spirit in a false body."


• "I'm scared..."


• "I don't know how you can be so confident."


• "I don't know why I'm still here... I have already completed what I was created for. What purpose do I have now?"


• "I think I understand now why Tombac loved mortals so much..."


• "I can't do this!"


• "Oh... Is that what a hug is?"


• "What gloves would fit these hands? A pair of socks, maybe..."


• "I didn't know you could buy a home."


• "But I do have another purpose. That's why I'm so scared... because if I lost you, I wouldn't have it anymore."


• "I promised myself I'd protect you, the way I couldn't protect my master..."


• "It's okay, I'd rather be close to you."

Likes & Dislikes

Likes:

• Plants, especially flowers


• Bright sunlight and warm days


• The moon


• Moon


• Fire


• Dragons


• Alistair and Kai


• Being told she's needed and wanted :')

• Metal


• The cold


• Excessive rain


• Being out of the sun for too long


• Wargs, wolves, dire wolves...


• Drakes


• The ever-present inevitability of death

Virtues & Personality perks

• Deep knowledge of the natural world


• Powerful fire and electric magic


• Strong devotion to friends


• Unwavering determination, in spite of fear


• Humility


• Cares deeply about people


• Always wants to help


• Selfless

Vices & Personality flaws

• Crippling anxiety


• Severe self-esteem issues


• Blames herself for everything


• Often so focused on her own unhealthy thoughts that she doesn't listen to reason


• Prone to rash decisions


• Bottles everything up until she has a meltdown


• Naïve and ignorant


• Doesn't learn things quickly

Social

Birthplace

Dunahein

Contacts & Relations

Close Friends:

• Alistair: Initially, Dezzy found Alistair intimidating but enthralling. Having never seen an orc before (or a half-orc for that matter) she followed him more out of curiosity than anything, although being lost and confused and fresh out of the desert certainly played a part in that.

She very quickly came to admire his strength and confidence, and upon discovering the softer, supportive side of him, found herself growing alarmingly attached. At first she resisted this feeling, believing he'd leave her the way everyone always did, but he eventually proved her wrong and cemented himself as one of her closest friends. These days, Dezzy is just as devoted to him as she was to her druid, though she lives in fear of losing him, a fear that has grown steadily as they head deeper into danger...

• Kai: Having met goblins before in Halshar, Dezzy had always been fond of their quirky personalities and big bright eyes, and this was perhaps why she invited Kai to follow them when they first met in Ebonfyre. More than that, she sensed something of a kindred spirit in Kai, someone who was just as lost as she was. She quickly came to enjoy Kai's exuberant zeal for life and her tendency to ramble when she got excited. She was the kind of fearless, careless mortal that Tombac always said he loved, and Dezzy inevitably grew attached to her in the same way.

Unfortunately Dezzy also lives in constant fear of Kai hurting herself doing something reckless or dangerous, and this does little to help her anxiety. She's recently taken to holding Kai's hand to keep her nearby and stop her doing reckless things. Mostly she just wants to keep Kai safe :')

• White Moon of the Earth: Called 'Moon' for short, this little white mushroom leshy was created by Dezzy when she first left Dunahein and headed into the mountains. He's a very frail, very tiny leshy who would not survive without her, and Dezzy makes sure he's always close to her (usually in her bag). He is her constant companion, even when she has no one else, and she loves him dearly. Though he cannot speak, they are connected on such a deep emotional level that it doesn't feel necessary. Dezzy thinks of Moon almost as an extension of herself. He is part of her.


• Star: A leaf leshy met in the town of Linmeld in Vestra, Star was the first independent leshy Dezzy ever met. They connected almost instantly, brought together by shared druidic magic (they're both storm druids!) and by the loss of their creators. The kinship Dezzy felt with Star was so sudden and strong that she was half-tempted to give up her quest and stay with Star instead, but devotion to finding her master (and later to protect the balance of nature) drove her onwards. She wants nothing more than to protect Star and misses her deeply, and holds onto the hope that they might be able to meet again one day.


• Dalman: Dezzy doesn't really understand who this investigator is or where he came from, but she recognises his devotion to seeing his chosen task through to the end (in this case, recovering the children stolen by the Circle of Bone). He once offered to help her find her druid and Dezzy has never forgotten this. She'd like to think of him as a friend.


• Balmin: This ex-cultist did not have the most pleasant first meeting with Dezzy. Polymorphed into a dragon and filled with an uncharacteristic rage directed towards those attacking Linmeld and threatening Star, Dezzy very nearly killed Balmin with lightning. Later, after Kai sprung him from prison, she threatened to hurt him again if he ever did anything to her friends, though it was a weak threat tempered by her guilt and fear of what turning into a dragon had done to her. As Balmin proved himself an ally to them, Dezzy later apologized for hurting him. She thinks of him now as a friend and, like Kai, would like nothing more than to break the curse chaining him to Osmara's Plane.


• Adrael: Dezzy's creator and master, this elusive human druid is both bane and blessing to Dezzy's life. He was a wild/leaf-order druid from the Wilderwood Druids, but there is little else Dezzy knows about him. She loved him unconditionally and would have followed him anywhere had he not forced her to stay behind. Though she longs to find him, she fears he may be dead and believes it's entirely possible that she will never know what became of him.


• Saelenne: An elven member of the Wilderwood Druids, Dezzy met Saelenne deep in the jungle of Wistmire, in the ruins of what had once been her master's home. She is the closest living link Dezzy has to the druid who created her, and as such Dezzy feels a kind of kinship with her. Her general coldness and indifference intimidates Dezzy somewhat, though. She desperately wants Saelenne to accept her.

Wealth & Financial state

Dezzy has never understood or cared for money and probably never will. She's quite happy to give everything to Alistair. At least he seems to want it. And know what to do with it. He does make her buy things sometimes, though. From what she can tell, they seem to have a lot of it... Apparently risking your life every day pays well.

Family Ties

The concept of 'family' is somewhat foreign to Dezzy. Having been created rather than 'born' she has no blood ties to anyone and has never considered what family actually is. She thinks of her creator as her master rather than her father. She makes no distinction between friends or family and longs only for close bonds, such as that which she has with Alistair and Kai. If you made her think about it, she might even consider them her family.

Religious Views

As a nature spirit and druid, Dezzy's spiritual devotion lies solely in the natural world. She worships no gods, but respects them nonetheless, even if only out of fear and awe of their power.

Social Aptitude

Though quick to approach strangers who appear in need of help, Dezzy is very shy and uncertain around large groups of people. Unless spurred on by something she's passionate about, she usually stays quiet and lets Alistair do the talking. She has grown more confident and outspoken in her friends' company, but she is still more likely to remain a quiet presence until spoken to.

Mannerisms

Dezzy doesn't need to sleep, so at night she plants her roots and spends the long quiet hours mulling over her thoughts. Whether or not this is helpful for her anxiety is debatable.
 
When upset, she tends to draw into herself and become even quieter than usual, but will open up if pushed enough. Anxiety has made her flighty and nervous in stressful situations, and she will often tell her friends off for not taking things seriously.
 
She's very cautious about touching people because of her spines, and went through a period where she was afraid to be touched at all after accidentally hurting Kai. Ever since Alistair made her the gloves, though, she's been more relaxed about this. She even allows hugs. Careful ones.
 
Recently she's found herself wanting to be close to her friends and can often be found sitting on Alistair's shoulder or holding Kai's hand.