Leafiara (prime)/Eyes of the Dawn

Events

Leafiara came to live in Wehnimer's Landing during the time of the war against Chaston Griffin, who exerted mental control over the Blameless and even the general populace, turning them against half-elves as murderers and assassins. Though not a part of the militia, she made early efforts to patrol town and root out snipers using herself as bait.

The conflict escalated as Leafi and hundreds of other half-elves were afflicted by a curse, later discovered to be the work of Raznel, which gave the appearance of black veins and caused debilitating outbreaks of sores and boils. Seeing the curse as a blood-related affliction, Leafi approached the blood expert Cruxophim with a proposal to find half-elven donors and supply samples of cursed and pure blood alike for his study in efforts to find a cure. She at first eagerly supplied donors and samples to Crux, amidst being fired up in more direct war efforts to repel Chaston's crusaders from the Landing and Vornavis as needed, but backed off from blood collection several weeks later after hearing certain reports about Crux's past, previously unknown to her.

The situation worsened as Chaston's forces occupied the east side of the Landing and constructed cleansing camps, taking half-elven and half-krolvin prisoners to bleed and kill them. As with her earlier self-sacrificial plan to draw out snipers, Leafiara thought of infiltrating the camps under the guise of a prisoner in fake bonds, but before she could propose it to the militia she was captured and brought into a camp in real bonds. There some of her blood was taken and she might ultimately have died if not for the unexpected intervention of Disean setting her free, for which she still says she owes him a debt. Only a week later she was kidnapped again along with several other half-elven adventurers around the Landing and brought onto a ship by Raznel herself, where the witch took their blood to complete her work with blood marble before releasing them.

Though shaken by these experiences and filled with an unfamiliar feeling of vulnerability that led her to become more physically affectionate, Leafi eventually seemed to rebound from her trauma with the support of Severine and other friends. She joined with dozens of Landing defenders aiding Rodnay in hindering Chaston's mental control and then again in defeating Drangell and Chaston himself at Talador. Despite these victories, Chaston used his final moments to activate an obelisk, seemingly powered by Raznel's blood magic, which laid waste to Talador--and for that reason along with the black blood curse, Leafiara has her eyes set on taking Raznel's head one day and cannot be satisfied until then.

As peace settled in, Brieson from the Hall of Mages was able to use Cruxophim's research to produce and distribute a cure for the black blood curse, with Leafiara being the second volunteer for early testing. She seems to be fully recovered--though several months later Dennet Kestrel would question whether this is truly the case.

Aftermath

Freedom Fighter

For her efforts in the war and with the cure, Leafiara was recognized as one of a few trusted contacts in the Landing for the Scions of Shaundara. Although the Scions themselves are not recognized by the Turamzzyrian Empire in any positive light, it is just as well for Leafi, who distrusts authority and has said that the Hall of Mages, Church of Koar, and the Emperor himself did not act quickly or forcefully enough against Chaston.

Self-Improvement

Seeing the power of Chaston and Raznel at work led Leafiara to believe early in the war that her unfamiliarity with blood magic might be hindering her duty to save the fallen and protect her loved ones. She joined Twilight Hall, a Great House dedicated to studying magic, in hopes that someone could teach her. However, after being captured very shortly thereafter, she became self-conscious about being seen as physically weak and ultimately put off those studies to rededicate herself toward greater physical strength.

Trust and Reconciliation

Despite learning about Cruxophim's past, Leafi eventually reconciled with him and expressed trust that he had changed after noticing that, when Chaston had thrown waves of mind-controlled children at adventurers in Talador to activate the obelisk, Crux had not been among those who slaughtered them.