Willowshore is a small enough town that everyone knows everyone else. Residents call Nalasa a foreigner, even though she's lived in the town for over a decade.
Well... not always in the town. She spends a lot of time in the Specterwood forest. She acts as a guide, a scout, a courier, and an amateur veterinarian. That's when she doesn't disappear into the forest for weeks at a time.
So, where did she come from? Avistan -- that much is obvious. The circumstances behind her exodus are less widely-known.
• • •
Nalasa was druid-school dropout. She left the circle to live wild. When she did venture into civilisation, her vagrant nature and abrasive personality meant that she could only rub shoulders with ne'er-do-wells. She fell in with petty criminals. She vacillated between wild living and living wild, moving from town to town, keeping one step ahead of danger.
That changed when she reached beyond her means. A caper that riled up more than the local constabulary, more than a rival gang. She got out, others didn't, and those two facts aren't unrelated.
She fled. Anywhere so long as it was far. Across the Embaral to Tian Xia, settling for a spell in Specterwood and finally stopping -- far enough now -- in Willowshore.
Nalasa is an elven druid for Pathfinder 2e (post-remaster), designed for use starting at level 1. She is a specialised shifter, using animal forms to fight when her magic isn't enough. She's a stealthy survivalist who also knows her way around a set of lock-picks.
Nalasa has featured in a number of campaigns. This is her incarnation in a Season of Ghosts campaign.
This female elf is something of a waif. Of average height, she's got pale skin, youthful features, and a slight frame that's more skinny than athletic. Raven hair frames a typical angular, elven face; often smudged with dirt. Her eyes are a dark shade of blue-green. She likes to travel light, favouring leather armours and only a few tools for survival.
Chaotic Good
Some of these items may be in flux. Please see Plot Hooks, below, for more information.
Inspiration for the GM, if inspiration is required.
• • •
Stable Living. Nalasa's home is a converted storage shed at the Willowshore Stables (W2). Her druidic talents made her useful to the veterinarian owners, who allowed her to shack up here many years ago. Over time her "temporary" accommodation has become rather permanent. Luckily, she gets on quite well with the animal-loving Soon-chong family.
• • •
Thrice-Blessed. As a casual devotee to Calistria and a "social underbelly" sort of person, Nalasa enjoyed the Thrice-Blessed Inn when it was a more rowdy establishment (before it was an inn) and got along with the owner Mother Otis. Nalasa enjoys the place still, but it's not quite the same.
• • •
Trust. At campaign start, Nalasa is private and even counter-dependent. She can make friends and even be friendly, but she avoids owing or being beholden to anyone. This is liable to change as the campaign carries on. Perhaps she is tested at some point... will she choose to risk her life to save her friends?
• • •
Ghosts of the Past. What drove Nalasa out of Avistan? The particulars have been purposefully left ambiguous, but it should be the case that she escaped because abandoned others. She and her petty-thief comrades were in way over their heads. They were not merely heading to the stockade, at least some were killed; and the sights, sounds, and/or smells of that linger in her memory.
How might that past manifest? Has someone tracked her down? One of her pursuers? One of the her abandoned comrades? Or is that now far away in all but her mind? She rationalises her act: it was self-preservation, they wouldn't have risked themselves for her. But guilt nags at her.
• • •
Circling Back. Nalasa hated her formal education, but loved the "core" of druidism. Like most of us, Nalasa had at least one teacher who cut through. And she still has a druidic "how to" tome she stole when she left. Perhaps a opportunity will present itself for her to find new teachers? Or to find a druidic cause she can champion?
See this link on Pathbuilder2e. Be aware the plan may change over time.
The following variant rules and homebrew rules are in effect:
