Background

• She’s a ghost wise halfing
• typically those are clannish characters, however Zoyana has a rough past and she’s been on her own, since she was 11
• Has a high level of mistrust in others and in connections, but
• For some reason, feels compelled to go on an adventure with a dragon and a bard.
• I can plant my thoughts into your head.
• I didn’t learn how to speak until I was 10

When Zoyana was a child, she lived with her parents and 5 siblings in a small hamlet tucked next to a waterfall.
She splashed in the waters and danced though the rainbows with, while her father worked for the nearby noble family and her mother baked kumquat pasties. While parents should never have favorites, there was always a twinkle in Zoyana’s father’s eyes when she came into the room and a particular glittering when she teased him. Her favorite past time as a child was to pull pranks on her family members and was particularly pleased when she got her mother- whose perception and ability to sense her pranks ahead of time was astronomical. One midnight, when she was nine, she went for a walk alone at the top of the to find a freangler plant (known to create small puss under people’s eyes if the plant is dried and crushed down into a powder) that she intended to put under her brother Zekeal’s nose while he was sleeping. Suddenly, a dark purple cloud came out from underneath the backside of the waterfall and surrounded her town. Before passing out, Zoyana could hear the desperate cries of her clan in the town. When Zoyana awoke, she was in the home of the Grangles- a lightfoot halfling family whose partiarch was Nemeran. Having never spoken before, Zoyana found herself struggle to communicate with her foster family. It was the family’s youngest child, Bermeran, who came and sat with her every day, playing songs and doing silly dances who helped Zoyana break out of her depression and taught her how to speak. Her first vocal words were “Can you tell me what happened to my family?” But the Grangles told her that they had no idea. In fact, no one knew what happened to the entire hamlet.
One day when Zoyana, aged 11, was out selling berries at the local market, the Grangles packed up all of their things, and left their small home. All Zoyana came home to was a note- telling her that she was the reason her family was gone. Her selfishness and inner evil had killed her whole hamlet and to leave them be forever. In fear of hurting any others, Zoyana determined to never let anyone get close to her again.

Conor’s backstory suggestion

Ever since her foster family left, Zoyana has had a strange sequence of apocalyptic dreams. The world is destroyed by cold, choking fumes, lightning storms, waves of acid, and horrible fire. The setting is almost always her home town, with the purple cloud being replaced each time, and then growing to engulf the entire world. Each time, the dream ends with ten evil eyes glaring at her from the darkness. Often, following one of these dreams, she feels a tug toward this place or that. It’s the thing that’s kept her from settling down in one place or disappearing into the woods for all of these years. The events that sent her on the path to becoming a druid happened along the way. This time, she felt a strange compulsion to travel to Phlan. Having just gotten to town, she stopped at a tavern and enjoyed a night of music. Somehow, she set up her hammock between two trees and…

A normal morning

• I pry my eyes open in the bright morning light.
• I look up and see that I had fallen out of the hammock that was in my tree.
• And my head is pounding and I clearly enjoyed some lute playing last night.

Relationships

her parents and 5 siblings - disappeared with the town in a purple fog

• brother Zekeal

foster family - the Grangles - a lightfoot halfling family

• Nemeran Grangle - patriarch
• Bermeran Grangle - youngest child who came and sat with her every day, playing songs and doing silly dances who helped Zoyana break out of her depression and taught her how to speak.

Amulet of the Crystal Sea

• Zoyana received the Amulet of the Crystal Sea from Ragvala the Coinmaker as thanks for the Looting Luters returning Dragon’s Sorrow to Rokstasha during Session 5.

Other Loot

• Zoyana received a ruby worth 100gp from the faerie dragons during Session 18