"Queen" Kora "THE GODSLAYER" Bramblefoot, August Warden of Mother

[Moonlighter]

All good things must come to an end.

As far as EFU characters go, Kora was far and away my most successful. I managed to build a religion, make friends, change the climate of the server, and affect the module in lots of little ways. More importantly, I helped loads of other people tell the stories they wanted to tell, which was the #1 goal with my character. Make EFU better through helping others. She went further than I could have ever imagined, all things considered, and I'm very grateful to every single player and DM who helped me along the way.



When Kora first came to Sanctuary, she was a coward. She'd lived through the death of her Goddess, and the loss of all she held dear. I actually don't have many screenshots from this era of her, as most of the time it was spent running away from things and screaming at the top of her lungs.

But she made friends. Chiefly, an Aasimar Paladin of Torm named Caedyn Auxmere, and the two were often sad and wasted in the Garden of the Lost together. Eventually, they decided to stop being so sad, and drunk, and promised each-other to not drink another drop until they'd saved as many people as they could. Kora held to this promise through the rest of her days, even if she far out-lived her friend.

[hide=Kora the Coward]



Everyone revelling in the gory birth of MAGNOLIA, THE SCION OF MAGNATZ...

And one halfling getting very sick and throwing up in the corner.



I wanted so bad to have a RELIC GUARDIAN RIVALRY with Malevia Cinderscourge, especially since during the attack on the Mound she and Kora wound up back to back like Lethal Weapon, fighting off enthralled drow and desperately screeching at how much they hated each-other the entire time. But mostly she just scared Kora.

Also, never EVER forget that Kora was the second best jokester in Sanctuary, given that she won the Jokeliminator.

[/hide]


Everyone was so willing to befriend obviously monstrous creatures and thralls that it led Kora to frustration. Mother's dogma spoke of protecting one's community and leading by example, so Kora created the VIOLENT CRIMINAL GANG, MOTHER'S MARAUDERS. Uh, because apparently beating up thralls and monsters is assault and brigandry. But hey, if the shoe fits, rock it, right?

[hide=Kora, Holy Brigand of Mother]


Itham, the Playwright, strikes his first blood against the enemies of the Black Arrow: Humanity.

He and Kora weren't actually friends yet.


The OG crew. Kora, Ikran, Rheena, and Charlotte.



All the noise Kora made drew the attention of the Spellguard really fast. Kora and Naomi had a... complicated relationship.

Naomi wanted Kora to be a Prefect, but she was never interested in the Spellguard "legitimizing" her leadership. After all, people flocked to her naturally. The Spellguard naming her a Prefect would mean that she would be complicit in upholding their status quo or working under/through them, which was never something she was interested in doing.



Kora even participated in the Witches Wheel, earning herself a nice pair of artifacts that served her well until she died... at the cost of everyone learning her dark secret: That she'd aided the pair of shadows, Itham the Playwright, and Kisto the Red Mushroom in their many intrigues, due to some lingering resentment against humanity due to the mistreatment of her people.

This actually earned her the enduring attention of a certain troublesome, Scythe-Wielding Agent...


[/hide]

All the while, Kora collected her relics, and made and lost friends. Some died, others turned their back on her, many disappeared into the dark to never be seen again. Eventually the Marauders were disbanded.

Kora deepened her alliance with the elvish people of Sanctuary, and became fast friends with Saevel Raedrimn, the Coronal of the Elves, who helped her to devise her ritual and was, with her, repeatedly sucked into the intrigues regarding various lowersmen, drow, and the Spellguard...

[hide=The Coronal, and the Workmill Rebellion Round 2...]

Here we are at the first attempt to revive the Ascension, and purge the Drow from Lower. Just look at all these great PCs. A true golden era.



Saevel tutors Kora on what she must do in order to realize her goal of returning Mother to life...
[/hide]

Eventually, Kora managed to secure all the relics she needed, and set to completing her ritual to bring back Mother. She called for a Scrapper Convention in Dunwarren Central, and in a surprise, loads of people turned out to bare witness to the promised miracle!

[hide=Mother's Dying Wish]


Given that it was the first all-in, open DM event for a while, loads of people showed up and actually started trading loot! I was so stunned at how successful it was that I was just standing around silently like an idiot taking it all in. But after a while, it was time for the MAIN EVENT...



It actually worked. I personally went into the ritual with the thought that Kora would die, and she very nearly did, but the ritual worked...

But alas, it was bittersweet.






[/hide]

And like that, Kora entered into a new phase. No longer a bandit, but now, a Queen... with a most holy task.

But she wouldn't just give up.

[Moonlighter]

[hide=Glademore...]
Austanias Glademore meeting Kora was a fated occasion. Glademore had access to a massive collection of relics, and Kora was naturally looking to rebuild her reliquary after her ritual had failed to bring about the desired result.

[/hide]


Mother was too weak to yet return, and the elf's plan of creating a weapon that could defeat the Nightmaiden Dendar was all she needed to hear to throw herself repeatedly into nightmarish peril, risking her life in dangerous expeditions to recover little bits and pieces of divinity for him.

[hide=PERIL]



[/hide]

After all, if there was the tiniest chance of it succeeding, then there would be little to stop Kora in bringing back her Goddess. She could return. It would all be okay.

Though, some did try to warn her of what would inevitably come as a result...

[hide=THE SACROSANCT FOUNT OF THE PURE...]


A vision, brought to Karl Brandt by the Fount's waters... Of four possible futures.




[/hide]

Kora was stubborn, and fought on. The dream was so close...



With all the relics assembled, it became time for Glademore to proceed with his ritual...

[hide=THE RITUAL...]


Things quickly went very wrong. Glademore had been a charlatan the entire time, and had no plan. And as a result...



Kora, and the others, were swallowed up by the Nightmaiden, and there in the Heart of Darkness, they would've perished... if not for the sacrifice of one of the noble gods Kora had come to revere.



His suffering was finally at an end.



[/hide]

And so the gods began to die...

And it was up to we mortals to cling together, for they wouldn't defend us any more.

[hide=New Friends]
[/hide]

And yet more friends left her. One by one, as they always did...

[hide=Goodbye, Friends...]


[/hide]

[Moonlighter]

Eventually, the tragedies began to get to Kora, and she sought salvation the one place she could think to find it: The Dunwarren Machine. While not mechanically inclined in the least, she had held to her last hope... that it had saved the memory of her Mother as it had countless others, and that by being the one to turn the key that she could set it all right.

[hide=THE MACHINE...]










Together, with her enduring connection to Lower, she helped discover The Jewels of Dunwarren, and reunite the Faussads...[/hide]

The settlement of Enginetown became Kora's priority, to the point to where she left Sanctuary entirely. Where to be closer to Mother, then there, where she waited for them to turn the key?

[hide=ENGINETOWN...]


She convinced the Scrappers to pull out of Sanctuary entirely, and led them to what was to be their temporary home until she figured out how to turn on the Machine...



And with their help, brought the Shrine with them.
[/hide]

In the end, though, Kora's salvation didn't lie in the Machine. Her life ended in the Elder Brain chamber of Ysinode, trying to strike at the one thing that she thought posed the biggest threat to them there: the Dread.

Now, for some shots of some loot:

[hide=LOOT]



Won from the Wheel! They weren't made for me, but they were awesome.




Elmo let me design my own loot for a DM quest, and I couldn't resist the urge to turn my most emoted prop into a piece of nice gear.




Kora's relic, given to her from Mother directly! An awesome piece of loot, and very thematic. Also, on hit: light rules.





A keepsake, looted from the last Temple of Helm. A relic to remind her of the mistakes she'd made in the past.




The gloves Kora got from Austanias for fetching him all those relics. Very powerful, very cool, very fitting.




A shield-relic given to her for braving a drow maze of mud, doom and death! It wasn't that strong, but it was very cool.
[/hide]

Oh, and here's my build...

[hide=POWERBUILD CRUSHBOT]

If you don't think you can make any build work on EFU with enough skill and persistence, you're probably wrong.[/hide]

Anyway, I think I'm about done with halflings for a long while. I won't be able to top this one anyway. I'll leave ya'll with some light reading. If you liked Kora's heresy/religion as simple as it is, and you want to use it on a later concept you have my blessing.

Holy Book of Mother

[SN]

Now that's a proper screenshot thread.
Fantastic character !

[Halfbrood]

Great thread, well done on the PC. Really cool, and the arc was real!

[Pup]

I loved Kora.  A great character with a true (and epic) story arc.

Congrats!

[Bearic]

THE August warden of Yondalla.