Zelda Varro's page

• Acrobatics +4
• Athletics +1
• Intimidation +3
• Medicine +0
• Performance +3
• Society +0
• Survival +0
• Thievery +3

Zelda, in the manner of most young woman born who are doted on by their fathers, tends to be brash and headstrong. The willowy young woman appears to be driven by her youthful arrogance, vanity as well as a thirst for recognition. However, she is friendly, outgoing, and gregarious by nature believing that it is better to make a friend than an enemy. Those who know her best appreciate Zelda's wry sense of humor and know her as a lover of debate and dancing.

Zelda is tall for a woman with a lithe but well-muscled build, she looks older than her years and carries herself with an air of confidence. Her features are proportionate and pleasing, she possesses a straight nose and a full mouth, that always appears as if she is about to laugh. Her large, green, eyes framed by long, full lashes set off a gaze that is both knowing and penetrating. Her dusky skin is as flawless and smooth as well creamed coffee and accentuates the auburn locks of hair that appear to reflect the light around it. Her golden brown hair is long and flowing, cascading down to the middle of her back with an ocher colored scarf holing it back from her face. The slender long-limbed beauty is most often dressed in vibrant colors with a long Kapenia worn across her shoulders.

5+ points
1. Zelda Varro is the only surviving, and over indulged, child of Zhan and Belka, Varisian travelers off the open road. They migrated along the Dawn Shadow Path peddling their tonics, elixirs, and herbal remedies following the Caravan Route between Korvosa and Kaer Maga.
2. The family’s wanderings ended in Korvosa seven years ago when Zelda’s older brother, Zario, was abducted as the pair took a short cut through a back alley. Zelda escaped and left her brother to his fate.
3. Zelda’s parents refused to leave the city without their son. They sold their wagon and used the coin to buy a rundown building in the Bridgefront Ward where her father runs an apothecary and acts as a fence for one of the local Sczarni thugs. While her mother ran a small fortune telling business in the back making coin off the superstitions of their neighbors.
4. Zelda’s mother never got over the loss of her son. Overtime she became a drunkard and drug addict using alcohol and the Shiver in an attempt to wipe away the memory of her loss hoping to find Zario in her dreams. Her mother eventually sold the Harrow Deck that had been in the family for generations in order to afford her drugs.
5. Before her decline Zelda’s mother taught her how to read the Harrow and when her mother’s business began to flounder Zelda took over realizing she had a gift. Zelda gives advice in riddles, aphorisms, and the metaphors of the Varisian people.
6. Her uncle taught her the dance of the Kapenia an ancient Varisian fighting style.
Two goals

1. Find out what happened to her brother so his soul can be at rest and her parents can find peace. 

2. Recover her mother’s Harrow Deck or earn her own.
Extra: Stop Lamm’s enslavement of the orphans of Korvosa and put an end to the shiver trade.
Two secrets
1. In an effort to help her mother find Zario in her dreams Zelda suggested that she take the Shiver introducing her mother to the drug.
2. Her brother, Zario, is still alive [Kept from the PC].
People
1. Irronku – Sczarni thug who has strong armed Zelda’s father, Zhan, into fencing items for him.
2. Dary – A local guardsman who frequents the shop. Zelda thinks he comes around trying to find evidence of her father’s illicit deals. In reality he has a crush on the intriguing Varisian girl.
3. Nicarlo – Varisian minstrel, merchant, and rumor monger. He is Zelda’s only uncle and he wanders throughout Varisia stopping by Korvosa every few years with a new story of adventure. He taught Zelda how to dance.
4. Thennewik, Massi, and Urrissa residents of Bridgefront whom Zelda has helped with a Harrow reading. Thennewik (found lost ring), Massi (told not to marry her fiancé), Urrissa (found her missing brother).
5. Vilma (Rival// enemy) A medium and Harrow reader who also resides in Bridgefront. The folk of Bridgefront variously hate, fear or revile this bitter, old woman. She blames Zelda for the turning the Varisian residents of the ward against her when Zelda revealed that Vilma was behind the recent outbreak of blood veil in the ward.
6. Zario (brother abducted and believed dead) He was a quit witted, strong willed lad. Who is to say what he might have become.
7. Zhan (Father) A worn out merchant who does his best to provide for his family but can never seem to get ahead. In addition to running the apothecary he acts as a fence for one of the Sczarni thugs. This man dotes on his daughter and in his eyes she can never do any wrong.
8 Belka (Mother) Belka was a warm caring woman who always had a song on her lips and a wide smile. After the loss of her son she tried to find answers from the Harrow and found none. In desperation she sought solace in her dreams eventually becoming addicted to the drug shiver. She a broken shell of her former self.
9 Rogar Blackthorn Minor noble and Massi’s former fiancé. Blames Zelda for breaking up his relationship and is making plans to strike at Zelda.
Key memories 

1. Her brothers abduction: Zelda’s most painful memory is of the night her brother was kidnapped. It was quick and brutal, one moment they were taking a short cut down a deserted alley. The next moment Zelda had a sack thrust over her head, and was being carried away by rough hands. She and her brother were soon separated and Zelda was put in a small stone room with another girl.

The room was bare except for a small barred window about six feet off the ground and a bucket filled with excrement. She could tell by looking up and out the window that she was in a basement. As the door closed Zelda heard one of the men say, “We’ve got a few hours before we deliver this lot. Got a good bunch here we sho…..” the man’s voice was lost as the door closed behind him. In spite of everything that happened Zelda found herself exhausted and soon collapsed into a deep sleep on the stone floor of her cell.

She awoke on the stone floor cold and whimpering, rain poured down outside the window to his cell, and flashes of lightning light up the cell every so often. She continued to lay there feeling hopeless when the door to her cell is opened. One of her jailers entered the room, with an evil grin and grabbed the other girl. “Time for me to have a little fun,” her jailer said. As he dragged the screaming girl from the room he looked back at Zelda with a sneer and said, ”You’re next moth.”

Zelda stood there frozen, not sure what was going on, but even her young mind is certain it is something twisted and evil. A bit of inspiration came to her and she moved quickly, afraid that her captor would return soon. Without hesitation she removed her cloths, balled them up and threw them out of the barred window. Next, she overturned the bucket of excrement and moved it over to the window so she could stand on it. It took every bit of self-control to do what she did next, she bent over and smeared the waste from the bucket on her shoulders, chest, and hips. For lubrication, she thought. Using the bucket she was barely able to reach the bars on the window and pull herself up. Thanks to the lubrication she was able to painfully squeeze her way through the bars.

She was fevered and delirious when she found her parent’s wagon, unable to convey what had happened for several days.

2. Being taught to dance by her Uncle: Nicarlo stood, shirtless, in the warm sunlight, the sweat glistened off his lean but well-muscled frame. He remained stationary for several seconds with his scarf draped around his back. With little warning he exploded into motion, his scarf a blur, as he went through the basic forms again; Apple Blossoms in the Wind quickly turned to The Dove Takes flight which flowed smoothly into Twining Vines . He stopped abruptly and said with an encouraging smile, ”Just like that. Use your hips.”

3. First Harrowing: ”Let’s see if we can find your ring,” Zelda announced dramatically as she looked at the spread of cards before her. Unexpectedly her eyes roll back and she is taken away in a vision:
She sees the back alleys of the Bridgefront Ward, where, nestled between rows of buildings of similar size and disrepair, is a narrow two story structure. With a tavern on the first floor, a small brewery in the basement, and living quarters on the second story. Above the door hangs a sign depicting a man being hanged with his legs kicking and an empty mug on the ground below him, At the top of the sign in faded yellow lettering it reads, The Dancing Drunk. On the bottom of the sign is the more recently added, No Dancing Allowed!

From the outside the tavern looks dilapidated, cheerless and uninviting. Soft wooden planks and oak details make up most of the building's outer structure. It's difficult to see through the dusty windows, but the gloominess from within can be felt outside.

A heavy wooden door is the only entrance to the tavern and groans when it opens. Upon entering the tavern it appears in as dire condition on the inside as it is on the outside. Dark squared, wooden beams support the upper floor with rows of small, molten candles dangling from the beams. The common room is long and narrow the walls are bare, with the plaster peeling off in places. The bar is on the left and runs the length of the room with several small tables running along the right wall along with a stone fireplace. Along the far wall are two doors, one leads to the kitchen the other to the stairs. The overall layout gives the room a cramped feel.

The tavern is almost completely abandoned the few who are here are the dredges of society and lost souls. Behind the bar is a large, stooped, overweight bartender who is routinely coughing into a dirty rag. He makes no effort to acknowledge those who enter the bar. He stops and takes a ring out of his pocket to examine it.

The young Harrower’s eyes flutter and she looks down at the cards before her. Exhausted, she looks at the man across from her, ”You’ll find your ring in the pocket of the bartender of the Dancing Drunk Tavern in Bridgefront.”

4. Second Harrowing: ”Tell me what you seek,” Zelda asked the petite woman sitting across from her.

The small woman hesitates for a second and answered in a strong voice, ”I want to know … umm … should I marry Aram.”

With what she hopes is an enigmatic smile Zelda gives a vague, ”We shall see,” as she begins to spread the Harrow Cards on the worn table in, three rows of three, the traditional Tapestry spread.

Zelda inspects the spread, ”The first row speaks of the past. With a slight pause she continues,” I see a woman with a bruise on her face crying.”

With a slight flush she relays what she sees, ”I see a woman hiding scars beneath her dress.”

Looking at the third row she sternly pronounced, ”The future holds death.”

5. Last Harrowing: 
Zelda looked down, as if suspended in the air, at the scene that unfolded before her:
The gaunt young man laid in a pool of his own vomit and blood, with a rather large figure looming over him. The young man looked up at the figure towering over him. Zelda listens and is surprised by the towering man’s words, “You bare the mark of The Lucky Drunk.”

The prone figure quietly replied to the man, “Unless he marks people with blood, piss, and vomit you’ve got the wrong man.”

Zelda almost throws up as she is brought back to the present. She centers herself before she announces, ”Your brother can be found with a priest of Cayden Calean."

FearZelda has come to understand that death is just the next part of our spirits journey towards happiness and fears becoming an undead never to have rest.

Accommodations: Old Korvosa- Apartment Suite (Bridgefront) 1–3 gp Apartment Suite (Rents the top floor of the building where her parents business is located