Deacon Rothford

Deacon Rothford is a cleric of the Raven Queen and a member of Andrith's party. The party met him in Grindwall, grabbing him in an alley in an attempt to use him to get into the quarantine district of the city. Once they met him, the realized that he was a close a friend of Vahlka's sister, Andrith, and managed to bully/persuade him into taking them into the quarantine district to find Andrith's former apartment. Despite his early trepidation/frustration with the party, throughout the journey into the quarantine district, the party managed to befriend him and he has been travelling with them since, with several large breaks due to circumstance separating them.

## Appearance and Personality

Deacon is a tall, skinny half elf. He has pale skin, dark hair, and completely black eyes. He wears black robes, leather armor, and a black feathered cloak with a hood that resembles the face of a bird. He also carries a staff shaped like ravens in a tree, as well as a light metal shield. As of Episode 18, the points on his ears have been clipped. It was also revealed later that Deacon's left leg is, from the knee down, a complex mechanical prosthetic made by Reanna.

Deacon is generally awkward and speaks with a stutter. He often goes by the nickname "Deek".

His personality can be bleak, anxious, and sensitive. He is often rude and paranoid, and does not trust easily. Despite this, he is extremely loyal to his friends. Deacon is often very quiet and often allows more outspoken party members to talk over him - Grey and Andrith in his original party, and Olivia, Barkley, and Vahlka when he is with the player characters. He can be a bit of a doormat as well as something of a fatalist. Despite his reserved nature, he can be overdramatic at times: sighing wearily, laying on the floor, crying, or refusing to get out of bed. Despite Deacon's somewhat abrasive and often pitiful personality, he is incredibly wise and occasionally gives the party insight on all manner of things theological, ethical, and emotional. He is also very good at sensing when others are lying or hiding their true intent.

Deacon hates necromancy, the cardinal sin according to the Raven Queen. Because of this, and because of his experiences in Barovia, he has extreme reservations about performing resurrection magic. He does seem to take comfort in his religious service and described death as "resting".

Deacon is a werewolf, a fact that causes him a great deal of trauma and self-loathing. He tries to talk about as little as possible and often has to be actively coaxed or bullied into speaking about it. He kept his lycanthropy a secret from the party for a long while, only telling Vahlka when they rekindled their relationship and never telling the rest of the party until they found out on their own when he was suddenly forced to shapeshift in Episode 114.

## Backstory

Deacon was born in Barovia, a valley in a separate plane of existence known as Ravenloft. Barovia is ruled over by a vampire named Strahd. He has obvious traumatic memories of the place he was born. The party saw images of Barovia in several visions that were filtered through Deacon's memories in his portion of Hadernyx's dream and the events in his memory sequence in the Abyss.

At the age of 11, Deacon was attacked by a female werewolf who ripped off his left leg from the knee down but intentionally left him alive so he would turn into a werewolf himself. He kept his affliction a secret out of fear and later attacked and killed both his parents under the influence of the full moon. This event still causes the half-elf a great deal of trauma and he resists any attempt to talk about it or his lycanthropy in general.

At the age of 15 Deacon claims to have killed a revenant, then made a deal with the Raven Queen to get out of Ravenloft. She did this by splitting his soul apart and pulling the darker parts of him out and leaving them behind in Ravenloft. This is an event that Deacon does not entirely understand himself and cannot explain well. The change failed to help his lycanthropy, but it did get him out of Ravenloft and into Teshol where he presumably took refuge with the temple of the Raven Queen.

At some point he was bonded to Sara Payne and acted as the silent knight's interpreter . He traveled and fought with her and had a sexual and at least one-sided romantic interest in her. Though Sara's behavior would suggest that she doesn't harbor any romantic sentiment with the cleric any longer if she ever did. She seemed as intent to kill him as the rest of the party in the Arsonist's battle with her in Episode 80. She also was mocking and dismissive toward the cleric when Vahlka spoke with her during the events of Episode 114. Despite this and not fully understanding how the paladin fell and became undead, Deacon seems to feel partially responsible for Sara's plight and wants to put the undead knight to rest.

Deacon met Andrith's party when they recovered a sacred item for the Temple of the Raven queen. He liked them and so joined them in their travels. At some point he helped slay a white dragon named Grenn, where upon his party looted its horde, including the greatsword Sethokesh.

When the player characters met him, he was taking a break from Andrith's party due to the stress of having had to ressurect Andrith after her death during a battle with the dragon Crow.

## Relationships

Deacon is largely an antisocial and introverted sort who reacts to most people awkwardly or with outright rudeness with few exceptions. He's fond of his own adventuring party; particularly Andrith and Jeth, as well as Vahlka.

Deacon long harbored an unrequited crush on Andrith despite the fact that the drow monk, a married lesbian, sees him as something more like a twin, "born under the same dark star". He seems to have mostly just suffered this with silent pining, and if it's ever been problematic for Andrith its never been apparent.

In the other direction, Reanna seems to have an unrequited crush on Deacon. Something that causes him some discomfort as he's twelve years older than her and has no romantic interest in her.

Vahlka and Deacon have been sleeping together since Episode 21ish and what was originally intended by the both of them to be a purely physical relationship has gradually turned into one of mutual, genuine, romantic love. Deacon frequently serves as a sympathetic ear and patiently reassures the paladin when she is upset and she does the same for him in return. They are fairly reserved with their affection in public. Despite now sharing a goddess, their religious views do not play a terribly large role in their relationship - though Vahlka occasionally turns to him for guidance since he is more knowledgeable about the Raven Queen and her temple.

Deacon has traveled with the party through a large portion of the game, and is largely content to follow their lead. His healing magic is a valuable contribution. He seems to have a reserved fondness for most the party. Though the group's opinion of him (excluding Vahlka) has declined significantly since his sudden shifting in the Court of Stars surprised them and they took his secrecy and dishonesty harshly. He has apologized for the event, and it was forgiven, but there's still some strain in his relationship with most the party due to his secrecy.

## Trivia

* Deacon does not usually drink alcohol, and when he does, it is sparingly. Despite this, during the dream made by Hadernyx, he was drunk and clutching a bottle.
* Deacon's name was originally chosen as a joke about him being a cleric.
* Deacon sometimes talks in his sleep. A fact that Vahlka rues because its terrifying and he's taken 20 years off her life with his creepy bullshit.
* Deacon loves bananas and carries a large amount of them with him in his bag of holding.
* He paints his fingernails black, wears lots of bracelets, and smokes weed in true goth boy fashion.
* Vahlka gifted him two rings in Episode 122. They are made of dragonbone and prevent him being forcibly removed from the plane, by an effect such as banishment or plane shift. Something he had long expressed fear of happening to him since there would be no returning for him if he went back to his native plane.

## Relevant Quotes

* "We are like twins, I think, born under similar dark stars. We are both made of old, grim fairy tales and graveyard dust." -- Andrith Shadowbane, in a letter to Deacon
* "There are g-giant fire breathing d-dragon owls." -- Deacon, teasing Vahlka.
* "I wish you did not feel as if you were so bad at talking. You aren’t. I think that listening is half of that task. Perhaps even more. It’s the greater half, at least, and you are startlingly good at that part." -- Vahlka, in a letter to Deacon.