The thorn and the rose
Flann Thorne - better known as The Rose of Sheffield, famous arena fighter in the town of Sheffield, a town she came to, many years ago, with plans of revenge.
Flann lived a simple life, in a small, prosperous village, a small farm, a husband and a child - it was all she wanted, and all she lost… The prosperity of the village caught the eye of the Baron of Sheffield,
who seized the area, and in the violent takeover, Flann lost her daughter, her one and only Rose.
She couldn’t let go, she vowed revenge, worked every day to get stronger, went to Sheffield with only one goal: to reach the Baron and kill him. She became a fighter in the arena, to earn fame, to get closer to the Baron…
but as her fame and fortune grew, her goal was still out of reach. She got famous enough to earn a title, from the Baron himself… The Rose of Shefflield. Was he trying to mock her? Taunt her? Did he know? It didn’t matter.
She couldn’t kill him, he was still out of reach…
Until she met with a ragtag group, sent on a mission that finally led her to the Barony… finally a chance to kill the Baron, to enact her revenge. Only to learn that the Baron she knew had been dead for quite some time now,
succeeded by his son… She could’ve done it, she thought about it, really. A child for a child, wouldn’t that be fair? Wouldn’t that be enough? Wouldn’t that make everything better?
She walked away. The others didn’t help, they didn’t understand. How could they, all so young, just kids themselves in her eyes… But maybe, maybe now, this new figure, offering her what she wants - maybe now she will be able to
make a change.
For Rose.
This was a version of Flann I played in a four-shot turned five-shot turned campaign, however, her role as a player character and her story on my end was finished with the five-shot. She is still out there, in the campaign's world somewhere still, and I started the campaign with a new character, Mire.
Flann Thorne
A mother's love
"There once was a time when I was a girl
That darkness hung in my sky
I was old before I learned to be young
Stone cold 'till I learned how to cry"
There once was a girl living in a small farming village in the peaceful and prosperous Veridian. Her life was happy and she did not harbor great ambitions; she was content with her simple life and place in the small, hard-working community of her village. One summer, she even found love when she met a traveling young man from the neighbouring country of Thalas who visited their village - and then stayed, because of her. The two married soon after, and settled on a little farm in the village, preparing for a long and happy life ahead - and happy it was indeed when they were blessed by the arrival of their daughter some years later, a healthy little girl they named Rose. All was well in the little village, even as they heard troubling rumors from Thalas, life went on, and their family was happy... for a while anyway.
Rose was only five years old when everything came to a halt - their village was attacked, razed to the ground, most of the villagers lost. People thought it was a border conflict, or perhaps retaliation for stealing artifacts from their other neighbour, Tyr Amaris. But Flann knew better, she saw what happened, and heard her husband recognize the attackers, they were from Thalas. Why did they attack? No one knew, not back then. Such a great loss, they barely survived it, and the event scarred them greatly, but most of all her husband, who, no doubt, suspected what might be coming. He thought it better to return to his homeland - to the country that attacked them, took everything they had. Flann couldn't understand, nor did she have time to - she found that on top of losing her home, she also lost her family, when her husband took their daughter, her only Rose, and ran back into the arms of the enemy. She could barely believe the betrayal, she could barely put up with the loss.
She couldn't follow, so she went to their capital, Velarosa, to try and get some kind of aid, to warn the people about what was happening, what might be coming, but no one believed her. A distraught young woman, all alone in a big city, couldn't amount to much. But she found some allies, a friend in a kind-hearted tavern worker, Twiggy, who helped her get some work in the tavern, helped her get back on her feet. But Flann couldn't move on, she had to get her daughter back. She had to have more power, more influence, to help her gather people who would support her getting her Rose back.
If she wanted that kind of influence, she had to earn it, and in Velarosa, there was one way to do that for someone who had nothing - becoming a champion of the fighting pits. So she trained, learned to wield a sword, learned how to fight until she thought she could stand a chance. The climb was grueling, and it was dangerous - there was no guarantee she would make it out of the arena, but over time, she found she had a taste for this, fighting suited her, violence was easy when she had a goal, it was a means to an end. It all served the purpose of her growing influence, it was all for Rose. Of course, the money and the fame didn't hurt either, nor did the adoration and recognition, or the tavern Twiggy named after her. It certainly helped numb the pain of frustration not being able to find enough support to go get her daughter back, it helped mellow out the agony of waiting... for years.
Despite her fame, no one wanted to risk going into Thalas to help her rescue her daughter. And soon, everyone in Velarosa, everyone in Veridian had bigger problems when Thalas invaded and the war started. Flann's hope crumbled. Finally, they'd know she was right, that thalas was dangerous, but it was too late, and every life lost, every mile the front expanded into Veridian put her further away from her daughter.
But she wouldn't give up. She would find a way. She heard of the resistance; she heard of a group of heroes. She would try these. She had nothing left to lose.
Gallery
Fun facts & extras
Fun facts
- She's a retired character I played in a 4-shot (that turned into a 5-shot, that turned into a campaign) I have a new character, but she might turn up as an NPC. She's in the DM's hands now.
- I don't know what her fate is currently.
- She had a locket with the picture of her daughter in it. None of the party got to see this.
- She had a tavern named after her in Sheffield.
