Meet the Blorbos: Kire Dalca

today, it's Cerris's many greats aunt, Kire (pronounced "keer-reh") Dalca!

so apparently one Curse of Strahd campaign was not enough, because my husband decided to also write a prequel campaign! for this solo adventure in the world of Barovia 400 years earlier, i wanted to experiment with martial classes so i made her a solider. but evidently i wasn't feeling creative enough to invent a whole new hometown, so i decided, hey, why not just make her from the same town as Cerris? and then that very quickly morphed into what if she's his great-great-great etc. aunt? because i have no self control

when she first arrived in Barovia (as part of a massive army sent to keep Strahd from conquering the whole continent), Kire was idealistic, surrounded by friends and allies, certain that Strahd could be stopped and the war would be over soon. certain of her own heroics and fellow knights' survival. but time and hardship have worn her down: one can only watch a friend die so many times before developing self-sacrificial strategies to protect her allies, whatever the cost. one can only witness so many horrors before becoming constantly wary and hyper-alert. one can only be trapped in the Shadowfell for so long before giving into cynicism and gallows humor

she carries on in the name of those she's lost, but she's not the same person she was five years ago. embittered and wry and anxious, she can be cold and jumpy. and yet, a part of her still clings to the hope that with the right information, there's still some way to stop this. there must be—otherwise, what's the point of continuing to fight?