Eliana Braithwood, Aasimar Cleric of Lathander – DnD Character

A determined cleric who sought redemption and a cure for her vampirism I drew on commission!
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Character: Eliana Braithwood, Aasimar Cleric of Lathander
Eliana was the odd one out in her family of carpenters from Daggerford. After displaying miraculous healing abilities at four, it became clear that her future lay with the divine. From a young age, she split her time between helping her family's carpentry business and being an apprentice at the local temple. Strange dreams plagued her for years, but as she turned sixteen it finally clicked that divine magic was in her blood itself. The celestial nature of her bloodline came to light that day. She chose to devote her life to the service the Morninglord, Lathander from that point forth. Her purpose in serving was to preserve the living and put all undead back where they belong - in the grave.
At twenty, she was drawn into the land of Barovia, both by the divine will of the Morninglord and by Count Strahd von Zarovich’s power. She was there to restore the light of Lathander to the land… or to be entertainment for the count himself. She met a series of people in Barovia that were also pulled in against their will and after some time they all became known as The Company of the Shattered Broom.
Eliana's time in Barovia was traumatic. After her first death, she became an alcoholic, and two homes were destroyed in her quest for wine. One was a trusted ally's home that was rigged to blow in case of break-in. Awkward. The other was a vineyard that burned down thanks to an Arclight Phoenix with a personal vendetta against the party.
But after her second death, everything changed. She changed. Strahd himself meddled in her resurrection and turned her into an unwilling vampire slave. Her wings became featherless and skeletal. Strahd enjoyed watching her struggle and trying to break her faith. He corrupted the flow of her divine magic, and she became unable to trust it. She couldn't trust the answers received from her prayers anymore because Strahd would often imitate her god and give false answers. Strahd taunted and haunted her for months. She hated the abomination that she had become but didn't want to die as that would mean a final death and eternal separation from her father Lathander. She refused to give up her faith and continued to pray to Lathander even though Strahd was then puppeting her abilities. This corruption was ironic as Eliana had been the only party member who was unwilling to taint her soul by accepting dark gifts mere weeks before in an ancient mountain temple.
During these trials, she clung to the only words she could trust that were truly from the Morninglord. Those Lathander spoke to her during her first time in the void of death, words of reassurance and claiming her as his child. It was disturbing that the second time she saw the void, only Strahd was there waiting for her.
In the final assault against Strahd's castle, he never let up on toying with Eliana. In battle, she fell from the top of a tower onto shards of broken crystal. It was only through her divine nature and magic that she survived. Through the haze on pain and panic, she had the foresight to recast her wards before trying to meld into the stone wall to take cover from the enemy. But the moment that she touched the wall to merge, she was pulled forcibly inside. She instantly realized that 'Strahd is the Land' wasn't metaphorical - he inhabits and controls every part of his castle. Eliana was dragged up through the stone to the top of the tower, feeling Strahd’s nails on her neck and his laughter, before being released and once again falling down to the broken crystal. Her wards saved her again, but this time the stone floor restrained her limbs like tight manacles. Laying on her back and staring up through the center of the hollow tower to where the rest of the party was still fighting, she felt powerless. Especially when Strahd appeared laying down next to her with his hands mockingly relaxed behind his head.
The eventual destruction of Strahd still did not free her from his corruption. It took the willingness to risk everything and stake herself with the relic of a saint to purge the corruption from her veins, restore the light of Lathander within her and return her original power. But a shard of that darkness still remains. Nightmares plague her sleep, and while her wings have grown feathers again, they are now black with a crimson sheen instead of the radiant white that they once were.
What do you think? :)
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