Carol Kragg

Background

Prior to her title and infamy, Carol grew up in a border village that was relatively peaceful until it was raided. Everyone she knew was enslaved, tortured or killed over the course of one night. She’s never confirmed who coordinated the attack; all she can remember is the screams, the fire, the cart sent from the Church of the Silver Flame she hid under that saved her life, and the long quietness between the chaos and the priest taking her to the next village’s church for sanctuary.   That’s what began her life working for the church. They tried to make her a priest too, but she was too angry and impatient to just read books and speak sermons. She wanted to stop the vile corruption that she saw everywhere getting away with acts that ravaged towns and lives.   So she became an inquisitor. However, despite the title, she was never taken seriously or respected, due to either her age or gender. She would call for a trial of a murderer or demon worshipper but would be turned down, ignored or stepped down so others could take the credit or for underground political reasons.   It took a few years of experiencing this before she would start to take it into her own hands and acting as both judge and jury. There was a lot of pushback at first, where many were accusing her as a vigilante that went outside the law, but since her worst crime was sending orders to the church to detain certain individuals without a trial, not much was done to stop her.   That all changed one day when she was attributed to a massive blaze of the Winding Gorge. While there was confirmed the news of a demon in the area causing havoc and Carol was there to deal with the problem, no one accurately knows what happened there. The one thing that is similar in most tellings of the event is that the whole gorge was set ablaze and the demon was finally stopped.   From that point on, Carol became a demon-slaying folk story with extreme measures. What also fueled the story is Carol took this opportunity to heart and used her new infamy to escalate how she dealt with the vile scum she ran into. Where she used to just let the church deal with them as they so wished, she would do it herself. Where people would be turning their nose at her and her mediocre sentences, now they whispered to each other tales of setting people on fire, dropping them into wells or confiscating all their belongings and giving them to the poor.   Recently, her crusade has brought her to Thorin's Rest under suspicion of demons, tyrants and other kinds of evil. How long she will stay here is unknown to her, just like any other time. All she knows is that there is a lot to do here before she can move on.  

Personality

"There is right and there is wrong. There is no in-between."

To Carol, there is right and wrong, black and white. If you think there’s a grey, it’s clearly got at least some black at its core that needs to be removed. The only exceptions to this rule she retains in close company to keep an eye on for the later verdict. While she has a pretty sound common sense and knows there are boundaries in the law she must work in, she does not hesitate when she is tasked to make the coin toss.  

"To get ahead in this world, a woman needs to play the stage like a chessboard. Send the pawns in first and be willing to sacrifice some pieces to win."

Some would see it as being cold, some would see it as being an excessive risk-taker or gambler, some women would call her an over-ambitious girl trying to even the odds in a man’s world. The way she sees it, it’s a lot easier to explain your actions after than miss an opportunity waiting for approval. It hasn’t always worked out for her, but she takes the risks anyway because she has seen what happens when people miss their chances too often.  

Ideals

"The world must be cleansed of evil, no matter the cost."

It was evil and wickedness that destroyed her home village. It is evil that continues to corrupt wherever it can. It was good and the church that gave her sanctuary when she was homeless and broke. The world must be cleansed of this never-ending evil, no matter how extreme the action needed.  

Bonds

"You can think what you will. Whether you think I have before or not does not change what I will do now."

The real story behind the event at the Winding Gorge is only known to her, and she shall keep it that way...so don’t ask. She likes how people spread rumours about her actions as it helps her get or do what she wants.  

"That Avalynn girl is a curiosity. She seems good at heart, but there is something dark hidden in her...and I intend to find out what that is."

Since coming to Thorin’s Rest, Carol heard of a girl who was having terrifying nightmares and a mysterious past. Those possibly being signals of demon influence or corruption meant Carol had to learn more. However, upon meeting Avalynn she was surprised by how innocent and caring the girl was; for she had never seen anyone corrupted that was so pure. So Carol has decided to keep an eye on her and, should things escalate, she’ll have a tough decision to make.  

"A living statue from an old church? Is this creature a holy sign, or the workings of something sinister? Would I be shunned from the church for destroying its own creation, or praised for ridding it of its possible corruption?”

Carol was first astounded then confused by such a creature. To her, Deuteronomy is a paradox. A thing that is hypothetically both blessed and cursed. A being that is both living and lifeless. For now, she sees him as a creature trying to figure out himself what he is. If his body remains a conundrum, then maybe his intent and actions shall be more defining.  

Flaws

"My judgement is the absolute truth."

Carol has received notorious infamy for taking extreme measures before any trial or fair judgement is passed. She often sees her understanding of the situation as the true reality and if the courts say otherwise they must be corrupt.