Lady Verbena

In western and central Parania, Obnivir, Panstivo, and the Royal North of Chuliana, **Lady Verbena** is a feminine dark figure that is said to loathe the joys of the Crescent Festival. She is said to appear to her unsuspecting victims, either physically or mentally, and drain their happiness, feeling, and joy.

## Legend

Lady Verbena is said to stay dormant throughout the year but is said to awaken from her home in a hollowed elm tree once the fields of verbena start to bloom, there, she starts her annual prowl for happiness.

### **Backstory**

Lady Verbena was once a normal woman named Galia who lived in the area that is now around the border of Hargenland and Silegre. She was said to be a very festive lady and has an endearment for the Crescent Festival, but during her 37th year of celebrating, she came home from verbena-picking to find her husband coupling with another woman, potentially named Bree, cheating on her in her sister's vacant bed. Galia stabbed Bree in the back with a dagger. Bree's torso was sliced open by the blade, which then struck Galia's husband in the abdomen, killing both of them. Galia then struggled to drag the bodies of Bree and her husband to the rolling fields of verbena and lavender where she set an agreement with her two friends, Blanca and Noira, to not speak a word of the murder. Once Galia, Blanca, and Noir were busy hiding the bodies in the field of verbena, Galia's sister came home to find blood puddled on her bed as well as a dagger and called the deputies who used a bloodhound to find the bodies of Bree and Galia's husband. Not far away, they found Blanca and Noira who eventually confessed to Galia killing her husband and his mistress, Bree. The deputies eventually found Galia who was making a run to the elm forest who was being held dormant by a foxhunter who passed her onto the deputies, the deputies then shooting Galia in the head with a spear, then hiding her body in a hollowed-out elm tree and covering it with a patch of common ivy. For centuries, Galia lied in the elm tree and is said to awake every Crescent Festival to seek revenge on her friends, Blanca and Noira, for telling the deputies she killed her husband and Bree. On her first awakening, Blanca and Noira were killed by Galia, now Lady Verbena, who killed them using the log of a redcedar, hitting them until they lied lifeless. After Blanca and Noira lied dead in the field of verbena, Lady Verbena was visited by the lady of the forest, Hepatica, who was riding on the back of a sleepy moose who scolded Lady Verbena for her bad-doings and took away her sense of emotion and physical body, leaving Lady Verbena a transparent spirit with a numb mind. For years, Lady Verbena became emotionless and a depressed specter, and for revenge, she finds unsuspecting victims, who are normally happy and festive, and attempts to steal their joy and happiness; but Hepatica made sure that no matter how much Galia tries, she will never feel joy again, leaving Galia a desperate and ignorant spirit who is impossible to defeat until she gets her happiness back.

### **Alternative Story**

Many believe her original backstory is too adult and violent for children so the following is the more commonly used one. Galia was apart of the local verbena-picking society, a group of women who were designated to pick lavender, gorse, and, especially, verbena from a special field to fuel up the spirit of the Crescent Festival. After a long and hard day of picking verbenas, gorse, and lavender; Galia went on her way home. In her home, Galia heard the laughter of a woman alongside her husband and thought it was her sister, but found her husband and a mysterious woman named Bree cuddling and kissing in the solar of their house. Angered, Galia quietly took poisonous belladonna leaves and dipped it in their tea and soon, the two of them dropped dead to the floor. Galia didn't want to go to the deputy during the Crescent Festival so she decided to put the bodies of her husband and his mistress in a wheelbarrow and drag them to the middle of the field of verbena where she ran into her closest friends, Noira and Blanca, who were frightened by the bodies in the wheelbarrow. Galia told them to not tell a soul of what she was doing or she would come for them too and her friends agreed, letting her dump the bodies in the verbena field without any telling to anyone. During this, Galia's sister came home from ginseng-root picking and smelt the scent of poison in the teacups set on the solar room's table and found multiple personal belongings on the floor surrounding the table including a bracelet, anklet, necklace, earrings, and a man's bow-tie as well as the room smelling strongly of verbena which brought her to one conclusion, her sister, Galia, must've killed someone. Galia's sister alerted the local deputies of what happened and they went searching for Galia in the verbena field where they ran into Noira and Blanca. The duo were frightened once they heard the deputy threaten that if they don't tell him anything, they'd be burnt at the stake and they eventually confessed of Galia's recent murder of her husband and Bree out of fear. The deputies followed the footprints of Galia which led into the elm-and-ivy forest where they saw Galia being held halted by a foxhunter who was on horseback who told the deputies he saw Galia dump the bodies in the verbena field and set an oath with her friends, Blanca and Noira, to not speak a word. The deputies then got ahold of Galia before she was accidentally kicked in the head by the foxhunter's horse's rear legs, killing her. The deputies didn't know what to do with Galia's body so they walked through the elm-and-ivy forest until they found a hollow elm tree and there they hid her, covering the hollow with ivies, gorse, ferns, verbena, and asters. Galia's body stayed in the tree for a handful of time and the local flora of the elm-and-ivy forest began to take her in as a piece of the forest as well, and soon, Galia's hair and skin was covered in vine, ivy, rose, elm leaves, and verbena. She then, suddenly, awoke fourty years later to get revenge on Blanca and Noira, who were now sixty years old and moved jobs to ivy-leaf pickers. Galia, now Lady Verbena, found the duo strolling through the woods and struck them in the head with the log of a sugar maple tree, killing them, before she was approached by another figure, and that figure was that of the Queen of the Forest, Hepatica. Hepatica was bound horseback on a sleepy moose and managed to come across Galia killing her friends, and as a consequence, took away Galia's sense of feel and emotion, leaving her a ghostly and numb apparition. Hepatica made sure that Lady Verbena will never experience joy again, so Galia is left a desperate and ignorant spirit who is impossible to defeat until she regains her happiness. For years, Lady Verbena turned into an emotionless and depressed ghost. In retaliation, she seeks out unsuspecting victims who are typically joyful and festive and attempts to steal their joy and happiness.