Raphtalia

*"Arcane magic's a weird thing...works in unusual ways. It's not like I wanted to live. In fact...maybe I wanted to die. I wasted away, my flesh n'skin rotting...stewing in it. That's when **they** came."*

Notable sewer-dweller of nigh-cryptid status, most can't hold the revulsion back upon meeting the City of the Lost's patron disgusting, homeless, helpless romantic Oracle-Witch known to some as Raphtalia. Her origins are unknown. Her scent is not.

## Appearance

Raphtalia has lovely, bright blue eyes, and a large, prize-winning, gap-toothed smile.

She is absolutely disgusting.

Her light, mousy, pallid brown hair is quite long- dry and brittle at some parts, and greasy in others. Her fingers and toes both have long unkempt nails, typically uneven, broken, and packed with dirt. Her legs are noticeably unshaven.

She wears a thin, thread-bare, rag of a dress, which is filthy, stained, and torn in several parts. She also wields a gnarled staff, which has a small, rat-boned, human-shaped effigy dangling from it. Her overall body is disgusting and unwashed, and she emanates an unpleasant odor.

Occasionally, if one stares long enough, bits of her skin seem to move and bulge, as if creatures move under the surface. This is correct, and it is not uncommon for her to cough up a small moth or centipede as her body festers and rots from the inside out. Part of her torso, near her ribs, has rotted away almost completely, and oozes slightly, the skin there dark and necrotic, and leaves a small part of her insides open to the air.

Small squeaks can be heard when standing close to her, as her rat familiar screeches from his comfortable spot inside her ribcage. Her voice is often shrill and unpleasant, and she speaks with a thick, cockney accent.

## Personality

Very cheery, obnoxious, and perpetually oblivious, Raphtalia is far more positive than she should be, with great self esteem. She is almost constantly flirting with someone.

She adores sewer and slum life, and loves the vermin which inhabit those areas alongside her. Raphtalia often asserts that she, in fact, *prefers* the company of those same disgusting pests, and considers herself a proud fellow of theirs.

Her greatest desire is to find the love of her life, someone who will settle down, get married, and have a life with her.

She does not want to take a bath. Those who ask are met with dismay and extreme resistance.

As an oracle and a witch, she has a deep fascination with and is drawn to all magic, all things arcane and perhaps some things that many consider abominative. Her interests often delve into the rather shady parts of what can be done with arcane power.

She has little value of society or its rules, and her moral philosophy, while not considered strictly *good*, is at the very least, typically benign. She typically prefers being left alone to pursue her own devices.

Raphtalia is known to worship the goddess Urgathoa- while perhaps not the most strictly, as she is \*not\* a cleric, she seems to have some ties to the goddess that she generally leaves unspoken. She can sometimes be found perusing the book "Serving Your Hunger", one of Urgathoa's unholy texts.

## Backstory

*"Wha's it matter t'you, eh?"*

The sewer-dwelling rat girl is not very forthcoming on who she is or where she came from.

She insists this is who she is, and that the life she currently leads reflects her truest self- and more than anything, that she is very happy.

## Notable Relationships

### Ratticus

Ratticus is her rat familiar and very best friend. He lives inside her torso, only occasionally gnawing at her innards.

### Ozbourne Hoarfrost

*"She knew all she needed to know about Ozbourne from the moment they met, in the dark, acrid waters.*

*A small bit of kindness, a small gesture of friendship...these small treasures meant everything. And from a man, so handsome, so effortlessly charismatic and beautiful...what light it brought to her small, dank, damp world, that felt as though it had been dark for so long."*

The man Raphtalia considers to be her true love.

While she is head over heels for him, he barely knows she exist in a romantic sense. Her love at first sight, she has unwavering commitment and devotion towards him, likely in an unhealthy manner.

More than anything, she desires to earn his everlasting love, and to marry him some day.

## Recent Activities

Raphtalia, as one of the few - perhaps only- persons to live in the sewers, occasionally pops up to notify people if she sees something...odd...happening amongst the dirty caverns.

Recently, she also attended a quest to explore a portion of the Mistwood with her beloved Ozbourne and a party of adventurers. The quest had several interesting occurrences of note, including the puppeting of several skeletons, she and her beloved turning to stone and then reviving with their party's efforts, but perhaps none so well noted as the discovery of an ancient, largely decrepit temple to Urgathoa. The party made note of Raphtalia's similarities to her goddess of worship, and made plans to destroy the temple to the evil, wretched goddess, but an oracle cannot stand idly by. Surely, Oz would understand what it feels like to have certain...obligations...