Vahlia Isyn
Level 6 Cleric
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Patron Deity: The Elder Spirits, mainly Isyn
Art by Selenada
Portrayed by Beans
"My daughter... I never imagined her as courageous... She always preferred to play pretend. It's good to know one good thing came of this family."
— Marc Fox
Vahlia Amadine Mélina Fox, also known as Vahlia Isyn, was an ally to The Wild Hunt until her death in which she sacrificed herself alongside Randall Leighton at the Summer Palace so the party could go on to save the world. She was an aristocrat from Nestwood.
Contents
Appearance
Vahlia was a small girl standing at no more than five feet and described as "round in all the roundish places" from her eighteen years as a noble. She had collarbone length strawberry blonde hair, protuberant jade-colored eyes, and with thick brown eyebrows. Her warm skin was dotted in hundreds of freckles and beauty marks of varying sizes. Upon being revived by Yuma, she received a pair of antlers which she would often decorate with roses and butterfly wings.
Personality
Vahlia was a free-spirited, kind-hearted young woman who held a passion for helping creatures in need. She was very empathetic and skilled in the art of healing, which often affected her relationship with her family, but deepened the one she shared with Moro. While not particularly brave, she would often make courageous decisions in an effort to help others.
Later on, it was revealed later on that Vahlia struggled with compulsive lying and would often lie in an effort to conceal the trauma inflicted upon her by her eldest brother, Caius. Her fear of rejection lead her to a mean streak early in her childhood in which she bullied her younger brother Maxwell Fox relentlessly. After being locked away for preparation to be married off by her father at the age of thirteen, she found herself regretting her actions and wanting to change her character for the better.
Background
Vahlia was born to Marc and Vaya Fox in Winterends. While Marc's first child, she was Vaya's second as Caius was her first child and a bastard. Named after the midwife who helped birth her, Halia Venn, Vahlia adopted the traditional "V" for a female's first name. Vaya was killed in childbirth as Vahlia "tore her in half" (postpartum hemorrhage) according to Caius who was seven at the time. Caius tortured Vahlia for this, abusing her on a daily basis and even going as far as to kill her pet bird at one point, leaving it beside her face as she slept. The trauma grew to be so much that Vahlia began hurting herself in an effort to cope. She was raised by her midwife turned nanny until age six in which Halia grew full with child. The child was revealed to be fathered by Marc and they named him Maxwell. Already having been shamed by the public for his wife birthing a bastard child, his parents forced him to exile Halia so that no more scandal could occur. Desperate for her child, she attempted to fight to keep Maxwell. Caius casted hideous laughter upon her, provoking her to accidentally fall down the stairs, cracking her neck and killing her instantly. This forced Marc to send Caius away to the Institute.
Vahlia, developing a hatred for her younger brother due to what Caius had done to her, began to torture him in different ways. She would blame him for breaking things, hurting others, and generally bullying him into submission. At one point, she managed to convince her younger brother that it was her father that had sent his mother away. She would often lie to the young boy to scare him and tell him tales of how truly awful the family was. Maxwell began displaying similar, albeit slightly less intensive signs of childhood trauma. Fearing what his daughter had become and growing to loathe her, he locked her in the upper floor of the Rose Keep until she was of age to prevent her from becoming more like Caius. Her grandparents attempted to reject this notion, saying she was just "telling stories" and "being an older sister" in an effort to defend her. Marc had none of it.
Rumor began to spread about Maxwell's parentage, thus threatening another scandal. Marc responded by sending him off to study as he did Caius. Vahlia, who was sixteen at the time, was finally allowed to leave the Rose Keep. Completely changed due to her loneliness in captivity, she learned to resent her father and deeply regret her actions towards her brother.
Experience With The Party
Kingsrun
Vahlia was met just shortly after the party entered the city of Kingsrun in which she was beside her grandmother, trying to fetch someone who would help her retrieve an emerald necklace dropped in one of the rivers running through the city. Reese Drumlin noticed and fetched it for her, introducing himself. As a reward, she gave him a hefty amount of gold coins and a letter that said to meet her at a local tavern called "The Yellow Rose" when he had the chance.
Upon going to the tavern in which Vahlia and her grandparents were staying, they discovered that she had gone missing as did three other young women whose names all started with the letter "V". The party began a hunt through the city in an effort to solve the strange murders which revolved around blonde women in their early twenties whose names all started with the letter "V". After a bit of interrogation towards her grandparents, they revealed that while their intentions for being in the city were to find her a potential husband, she claimed that she received a strange letter from an "old friend". This letter turned out to be from Caius, her older brother who had been murdering women in an effort to execute a ritual which required seven dead victims and one living. His plan was to trick Vahlia under guise of an apology and an attempt to return to the family after being exiled, but in reality was so that he could kidnap her and use her as the final piece in his ritual.
The party delved into the Kingsrun sewers, going through a secret hideout dedicated to a strange underbelly group of thieves and kidnappers that Caius had overrun. After a struggle of solving riddles, nearly having their equipment destroyed by a rust monster, and being stuck in traps, they discovered Caius and Vahlia in a strange pool of water. Caius held the heart made of the seven dead women, and forced it upon Vahlia. His intentions were to create a body for the soul of their dead mother so that she could live again and join him in his crusade to make "the world pay", but the ritual failed and a corrupted abomination was created from the hatred and sorrow of the seven women using the aspect of Vahlia's appearance. It called itself "Vaya", after the name of Caius and Vahlia's late mother. Caius attempted to control the situation by using his powers as a lich, but was "killed" by the abomination. They managed to rescue her after destroying the stitched heart and releasing the seven women's spirits, but didn't realize that this would forever scar her as being the first known harbinger of Nephilim to the party.
They returned her to the Yellow Rose to heal. A week or so later, they finished their dealings with King Rossleigh, and upon their return to gather their things they found Vahlia awake and keeping to herself. Moro and Reese sat with her in which she explained how strange she had been feeling, and that if it was allowed, she'd like to go with them so she could "get away". It was later revealed that in a fit of the nephilim overcoming her subconscious, she murdered her grandparents Geralt and Angélie Fox.
Caius, who used his ability as a lich to commit an effigy, developed the appearance of his step-grandfather and sent out an assassin to rid of his sister so she wouldn't further tamper with his plans. The party killed the assassin in a bar fight and began their venture into the Whisper Hollow with her as a cleric at their side.
The Whisper Hollow
Serving as a cleric to the party, they traveled deep into the Hollow in an effort to get to Malnathas. In a strange turn of events, Moro and Vahlia started to grow close as they shared their interest in nature and their life experiences. The two began to share feelings for each other. They shared a tent together, walked together, and spent the most time together.
This dynamic seemed to change when Vahlia revealed a dark power she had been withholding. She could touch a creature and kill it from within, crushing it's organs with just her palm. Her eyes would often turn a horrendous glowing red, and her skin bore black veins that traveled up her neck. After gathering assistance from a helpful former Warsong member of the Adventure League, she killed her when the party wasn't looking by sucking the life force from her. Moro, shattered at the realization, crumbled in a desperate attempt to stop her from further delving into this strange necrotic energy which was slowly overcoming her. They sought out Yuma, who told them they could remvove the evil in an exchange for the death of the fellow corrupted in the Warsong camp. They agreed.
Cheyuma, the corrupted leader of the Warsong, captured Vahlia and Fonia, worsening the progression. With the help of the Elders Yses and Ebvy, they approached her. She quickly possessed the spirit of Yses, becoming the warbear, and nearly killing the party. With the deal concluded between Yuma and the party, she named them her champions and resurrected Vahlia, rescuing her from The Red Dream and further preventing her from ever being possessed again. The Elder of fey and charm, Isyn, adopted her beneath her domain and promised to keep her safe and out of trouble until it was appropriate to let her go.
Vahlia shared a passionate kiss with Moro, agreeing to go steady with her and to always write before she joined Isyn in the fey plane. Some time after this, Vahlia made the journey to the Order of Clerics to become a devout in spreading the faith of the Elders.
Malnathas
Two months or so later, the party made the journey into Malnathas, the Order of Clerics sent out a small regalia to begin establishing cathedrals for religions in the faithless Elvish Realm. Some of the population rejected their entry while some welcomed it with open arms. Vahlia, who was a subject beneath the small sect of Elder worship, was working on establishing a temple to Yuma alongside two other disciples. The temple was set and Vahlia made her way into a general shop to look for an engagement ring. It was there that Morlum had found her, and the two happily reunited. Together, they found a ring for Moro and found her by the crystal fountain. It was there that Vahlia and Moro were officially engaged.
The two lived together in the Amethyst Quarter in the Velasha for some time in preparation for the journey to the Summer Palace. While clearing the fungus out of Rana El' Shazar's basement, Vahlia revealed that she had kept Moro a secret in fear of rejection from the Order of Clerics. Moro was disappointed and frustrated by this, leading to a small tear between the two which was mended shortly thereafter. This turned out to be Vahlia's biggest regret as she could not mend this wrong.
Summer Palace
Representing a portion of the Order alongside Jossa McTyr and few others, Vahlia spend most of her time alongside Moro and Morlum. When the party made their way into the chambers for discussion among the leaders, there was a nephilim outbreak as well as a large dragon which began tearing the palace asunder. Vahlia, Randall Leighton, and |Kenton Sterling attempted to stand stalwart against the door so that they couldn't attack the party nor the leaders. They met with the Hunt and made an escape, Vahlia using her abilities in restoration and the growth of plants to prevent the nephilim from getting them.
There was no way the party would escape alive if few did not hold them off. Fonia, Randall Leighton, Kenton Sterling, and Vahlia all insisted they remain. To Morlum, Vahlia made him promise one thing. '"Keep her safe, tell her I'm sorry, I'm always with her... Take care of her."' With one last goodbye, the party exited.
Vahlia managed to fight for as long as she could against the nephilim, even going as far as to attempt to rescue Randall after he had been taken. The nephilim began to mutate at accelerated rates. One of the larger creatures slammed into her, throwing her body against a wall and killing her on impact as her spine shattered. Without Vahlia's wall of thorns, the nephilim ran into Kenton and Fonia. Kenton revealed that he saw a form with black hair standing over her just before the rocks fell and seemingly crushed the two of them.
Nestwood
The party made their way into Nestwood after accepting a job from the noble Pierre to overthrow Geralt Fox, Vahlia's grandfather. They traveled into the Rose Keep, discovering a bit of her past and her affinity for twisting the truth. Vahlia's father tried to love her, but her hatred for her younger brother lead him to resent her actions. The party unknowing of her younger sibling were confused by the reveal. While never as violent as Caius, even as a child Vahlia managed to manipulate those into believing he was born out of spite. Maxwell, her younger brother, was sent off to study among the nobility of Redrock, while as punishment Vahlia was locked in the upper floor of the Keep.
When it was revealed that Caius was using an effigy to appear as Geralt, he revealed that Vahlia not only killed her grandmother in a fit of nephilim-induced rage, but her grandfather as well. Caius, who had made the journey into lichdom far prior to their meeting in Kingsrun, easily manipulated the forms into an illusion and was running Nestwood purposely into the ground. For shock factor, he revealed the body he collected from the Summer Palace of Vahlia, who appeared peaceful in her death. After defeating Caius once more, Moro was presented with the opportunity to revive Vahlia. However, she would either live the remainder of her life as a cripple or be subject to a boon by a god. Moro, knowing that her sacrifice was not in vain, decided to let Vahlia rest eternally. Her body was put in the Rose Crypts alongside her mother and grandparents. The nobility of Nestwood secured placement of a fountain for her bravery.
Trivia
- Vahlia's appearance is based off of Russian model Annita Mi.
- Vahlia, while human, is of the Vicennes heritage, which is thoroughly based off of French and Spanish culture.
- A main source of inspiration for her character came from the 1962 song by Françoise Hardy "Le temps de l'amour".
- Originally meant to have a white longbow, this had to be scrapped due to her change in class from bard to cleric. Instead she used a crossbow.
- She and Moro were the first interracial couple among the party. Moro being half-elf and Vahlia being a human.
- The name Vahlia comes from a yellow herb that typically grows in Africa.
