Linge Hagebak's page

Bayu-bayushki-bayu,
Bayu-bayushki-bayu,
Ne lozhisya na krayu.
Pridyot serenkiy volchok,
On ukhvatit za bochok
On ukhvatit za bochok
I utashchit vo lesok
Pod rakitovy kustok.

When they decide to start a family, most couples settle down in a cozy little nest, protected by relatives and friends. But like migratory birds, Joakim and Ranna Hagebak were always on the move, as Joakim’s job as a shipmate prevented them from staying in one place for more than a few months. Linge spent her early childhood watching the waves, feeding seagulls, and quietly listening to her mother’s soothing lullabies at nights, undisturbed by the other sailors who rarely joined in her games. Unfortunately, her parents’ marriage crumbled when she was twelve, as Ranna was obsessed with continuing their journey further down South. After one too many a row, Joakim went out for a drink in Oppara, never to come back. Ranna and her daughter were back on the road.

The following years were especially lonely. Despite Ranna’s job as a healer, people had always been distrustful of the tall, somber-looking woman whose eyes were of an icy blue, and whose strange, foreign accent had never completely left. There was sorcellery in her skills and pagan jewellery, callousness in her detached attitude. Rumours had it that she was a witch or a werewolf, and Linge found more comfort and kindness in the company of dogs, cats and chickens than of children her own age. To her great shame, she even started to become wary of Ranna’s silence and secrets, her inexplicable aversion to cold which could leave her in a state of extreme apathy during winter. Joakim’s stories about kings defeating dragon-like creatures to earn their crown were epic and rarely scary. Ranna’s dark, twisted fairy tales about little girls running away from swarms of living doll in a land of ice and marrying princes from other countries to live in an eternal summer were as fascinating as they were morbid. While taking care of crops, beasts and people, benefitting from her mother’s teaching, Linge secretly and guiltily dreamed of leaving her behind.

It all changed, however, when mother and daughter reached the small village of Heldren, where no one batted an eye at the stern-looking, foreign woman and her skittish daughter. There was always room left for those who could heal a broken arm, sew a gash or deliver a baby. Old Mother Theodora wasn't as quick on her feet as she used to be, and the villagers welcomed all the help they could get, even coming from immigrants who kept to themselves and didn't like to answer questions.

Suddenly and surprisingly, Ranna finally seemed to settle down for good, and the tensions between her and Linge progressively eased. The young woman managed to get a job as an assistant to the apothecary, only helping out her mother with the more difficult births. Despite the odd looks she was still getting from the villagers, she no longer heard any comments on her "evil" witchcraft. In the Border Woods, she found a peaceful, quiet natural space that she loved to explore -and when, one day, she returned home with a famished, orphaned white bear cub in her arms and a guilty look on her face, her mother only chuckled.

Then, not even three years after their arrival, Ranna’s health started to decline. No longer capable of preparing basic medicine, forgetting meals on the stove and subjected to delirium, she was bedridden. An unexpectedly cold winter only made matters worse, and her sanity slipped further away. Not only did she constantly complain about being cold, and kept the curtains of her room permanently closed, she also started to refer to Linge as ‘little sister', screaming at her to go away one moment, and begging for her forgiveness the next. From what little Linge could gather from her mother’s nonsensical claims, she understood that she was under the strange delusion that Linge was a doll sent to kill her, and that Ranna was scared to death of seeing her appearing at the window. On an exceptionally cold night, her delirious rambles lasted for several hours, until she took Linge’s hand in her own, apologising about letting her ‘wander off’, and asking her ‘why she had to do that to Mom and Dad’ who ‘looked for her everywhere’, before breaking into heartwrenching sobs. She was buried in the forest before the first snowflakes. In Linge’s room, the curtains remained closed for a full week.

Baby, baby, rock-a-bye
Baby, baby, rock-a-bye
On the edge you mustn’t lie
Or the little grey wolf will come
And will nip you on the tum,
And will nip you on the tum
Tug you off into the wood
Underneath the willow-root.

Years spent rejected and distrusted by her peers have taken a toll on Linge. At nineteen years old, and despite her best efforts to fit in, she is a shy, easily flustered young woman, who is more at ease and confident with the animals she takes care of than with people. After a lifetime of being a caretaker for others, she has a motherly, easily anxious streak that can easily be perceived as fussiness. It is, however, a must-have for taking care of Horn, a particularly adventurous bear cub with the self-discipline of a four year-old child.Those who know Linge a little better, like Tessaraea Willowbark, think of her as a perfectly capable young woman, responsible and level-headed, but conflicted between her self-effacing habits and her own wanderlust.

Since her arrival in Heldren, Linge prefers wearing ample, practical clothes, which usually include heavy boots and, more and more often, a pair of pants, with a fondness for the colour green. In true Ulfen tradition, she likes sophisticated hairstyles, which she adorns with her mother’s brooches. Fully bilingual, she nevertheless speaks Taldane with an distinct accent. Her Skald, on the other hand, would strike most native Ulfens as a bit weird. Unbeknownst to her, she speaks like most inhabitants of Irrisen, but with a twinge of inflections and slang words from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, where Joakim Hagebak was born and raised.

Linge is not a fighter, and she knows it. She'll assist the party to the best of her capacities by providing information, heal, or cast boosts. When a situation looks dreary, she'll try to deflect it by aiding another with a Diplomacy check.

If combat breaks out, she’ll cast Magic Fang on Horn in the first round, and try to identify the monsters.
In the second round, she'll let Horn join in the fight. She'll stick to ranged attacks and healing, but if the situation does require her to switch to melee attacks, she'll try to provide Horn or any of her companion with a flank bonus.
If Horn's life gets seriously threatened, she'll try everything she can to get him out of the fight.

[dice=Sling]1d20+2[/dice]
[dice=Spear]1d20+0[/dice]

Horn:

[dice=Bite]1d20+3+1 (Magic Fang)[/dice]
[dice=Claws]1d20+3[/dice]