#verna tealeaf | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

vagusscriptor · 2 months ago

Text

O Captain, My Captain

Summary: Wander Tealeaf-Jorrunn, by the sea known as the Fear Fainter, recently lost her lover cruelly to Death. However, determined to bring Verna back, she has undertaken a long and difficult enterprise into Morgannan's realm, so that she may lead her wife back into the realm of the living. However, none can simply take a soul and expect the gods to be alright with it, so Morgannan gives her a last test...

Don't turn around.

Source: DND Campaign.

Genre: Tragedy.

Words: 1.4K.

"Fine. You may take her."

Those five simple words were all Wander needed for tears of happiness to replace the grieving ones, as she fell on her knees in front of Death, a certain weight lifted from her shoulders. There were so many things she wanted to say, yet none she could bring out.

Morgannan looked down at the tiefling's shivering form. Usually not one to feel pity, it was highly uncommon to find anything other than apathy on the goddess' face, though it seemed the loving pirate had nonetheless been able to bring out something else.

"Her soul will be waiting for you by the riverside."

Wander felt as though she was about to faint from excitement, relief and eternal gratitude, having to restrain herself from hugging the deity for her charity, when Morgannan continued.

"However, Jorrunn, you must now listen closely to me. No one comes back from being dead - or in your case, nobody takes someone back - without a last proof of virtue and worth."

Morgannan pointed towards the riverside where Wander spotted the spirit of Verna sitting, her back turned to her, looking over towards the island on the lake.

"You must prove to me, young fighter, that this is an act of pure love, and not selfish longing."

"How do I do that?" Wander asked, imagining the many ways already to show the halfling how true her feelings were. She could try to find flowers in this otherwise dead field. Or perhaps a serenade would do? Maybe it was wanted for her to pass the river instead of Verna, or perhaps it was a deal Morgannan was after.

Whatever task it is, Wander knew she'd do it. Anything to save her lover, even if it meant sacrificing herself.

"You are not to look at her," Morgannan then spoke, her empty sockets for eyes suddenly turning to Wander. "Not after I walked you to her for her to follow, not when you walk her back to the light. You will not see her face. You will not make eye contact. You will not turn around."

Wander's eyes widened in confusion at the task. That was it? That was how she'd prove her apparent true love to the psychopomp?

"I shall send you through the Caves of Silence: there where the water falls louder than a mortal voice. She will follow behind you, and you will not turn around. Once you do, Jorrunn, you have lost her forever. Is that clear?"

Wander, still thinking not much of it, and overwon by an almost foolish hope and overconfidence, nodded with a bright smile, saluting her childishly. To not turn around... She already heard Troth's hesitance in the back of her mind, encouraging her not to fall into whatever trap death had set for her. To turn around and let Verna rest, so she wouldn't get harmed in the process, as that was undeniably the case here. "Think about it, Wander. Even Ing turned out to be two-faced. Do you really want to risk it?"

Zyx' words accompanied his, the eladrin clearly having no understanding of love. "She's a god, Wander. You really think she's to be trusted?"

However, on the other side of the argument, stood Xenon and Velverosa, who both understood her situation. And if Wander had not already been dead set on reviving her lover, she would've been conflicted by this duality in her mind. Thankfully, her heart led her away from the doubt, as the world got dark and she grew blind, led towards the Caves of Silence, where she awaited the sign.

"You may go."

With those words, Morgannan encouraged Wander to enter the Caves of Silence, having received information regarding the route to follow. She goes into the Caves, making sure to walk slowly, so that Verna is sure to follow: the last she wants is for her lover to get lost in the darkness, or to be unable to catch up with her, even if it means Wander must sacrifice her own speed and energy for it. She was fully willing to do this, however, excitement flowing through her veins as she had to suppress the urge to run around happily, embrace her little leaf, hold her soft face in her scarred hands and tell her how beautiful she was, and how much she'd missed her.

The loud sounds of water falling upon the hard rocks below was overwhelmingly loud, the drops falling on the side of Wander's face, as she passed a few images painted on the walls of stone on her other side, the path narrow and terrifying. One missteps, and she could slip on the wet floor, fall down through the waterfall, down to a certain demise. Could this happen to Verna too, or would Morgannan's blessing keep her safe? Was she scared, hoping for Wander to take her hand and guide her through?

Was she even still there?

Wander tried to listen for the sounds of footsteps, but the destructive force of gravity onto the bottom to her left deafened her. Did Verna's spirit even make a sound as she walked, or would she have been completely silent? Would Wander even hear her, if she were to fall?

Was she still there?

Wander bit down on her own lip and dug her nails into her clenched fist in an attempt to snap herself out of her worries. She was not to turn around. She could not turn around. Verna was there, she had to be. Morgannan may test her, but she would never *trick* her. Would she?

"I love you, you know." She said, starting out speaking quietly, as if whispering it to herself as a way to deal with the anxiety, holding out her hand behind her in hope Verna would take it. "I never stopped loving you, even when I went on my adventures."

She could barely hear herself over the clamor of the stream, waiting for the cold touch of her lover, desiring to be skin-to-skin, as they were before everything. However, once she felt no fingers clasp hers, her anxiety only grew worse. Instead of the quiet mind she desired when offering her hand, her mind is now mimicking the tumult of the caves, screaming at her to turn around and make sure Verna is safe, that she's there, keeping up.

"Please, say something, my leaf," Wander spoke, using all her muscles to prevent herself from looking behind her, as she slowed her walking and opened her hand more to encourage her wife, the emptiness a constant torment, torturing her already troubled mind. A waterfall came to be on her left cheek, as she felt her heart beating against her ribcage, begging to be let out like a desperate dove. "Take my hand, alright? We're going back to the living. I'm taking you home."

Still, silence. No breeze of a soul, no reassurance from behind her. Not even a whisper, not even a hum. Just silence. Pure and utter silence, louder than the waterfall, louder than the Caves.

"Verna... Please. I can't bear the silence, I can't bear the uncertainty."

Silence. And as her heart grew with worry, with paranoia, with despair, her eyes flashed towards the water, hoping to catch a glimpse of a reflection. When she found none, her eyes widened and her heart stopped beating. Before Wander could even stop herself, she turned around.

Her eyes met Verna's, the ghostly figure's smile fading and her hand, at first seeming to be in Wander's, despite the pirate's inability to feel it, fell. Her long white tunic floated above the ground like a cloud passing by, and her hair moved in a way no mortal's could, accentuating her past fate. Her soft face, in the fraction of a second seeming to hold some sort of hope, was soon enough tainted with defeat, as she took a step back. Wander saw her love sigh, but heard no sound. At least she hadn't fallen, at least she hadn't left. But she had still lost her, despite knowing very well that her own anxiety was irrational, and that she had more chance of holding her if she just held some apathy.

Verna walked backwards, away from Wander. She wanted to reach out, to grab her, to stop her, to tell her how sorry she was, and how much she loved her little leaf, but she was instead frozen in place. Tears painted her skin, her body feeling light and yet heavy at the same time, as she extracted her hand towards her retrieving wife, the wedding ring on her finger sparkling in the darkness. Ing blessed them at their wedding, 'until death do us part'.

There is no world in which Wander did not love Verna. There is no world in which Wander did not turn around.

#dnd #dnd campaign #dnd character #fanfic #dnd fanfiction #orpheus #eurydice #greek myth #ancient greek

0 notes

nilesdaughter · 9 months ago

Text

TTRPG Characters

Active Characters

Dungeons and Dragons (5e)

Eirawen "Fox" Prowell | Eladrin (Winter -> Summer) | Rogue (Mastermind) & Fighter (Subclass TBD)

Exandria Setting: Sefris Fezim | Human (Marquesian) | Fighter (Gunslinger)

Aranthus "Tuck" Stormwood | Tiefling | Bard (College of Spirits) & Warlock (Undead)

Retired Characters