Hannalore Szabastya

## History

Hannalore Szabastya is a nun of the **Church of All Saints**, and has been for the entirety of her life, having been adopted into the **Vyprzneka Abbey** as a toddler that arrived on the steps on the convent during a terrible storm one evening. Lost, and without the ability to speak at the time, Hannalore was adopted into the society of nuns and spent her earliest years as a junior attendant - sweeping, cooking, censor burning - until she was of an age to take the vows as a young woman. Her aptitude in medical pursuits earned her a place among the more advanced hospitallers of the convent and she took to traveling the local region, visiting ailing peasants in their homes or traveling to the towns and cities to extend her services as a physician and midwife. Hannalore was well liked. Indeed, many considered her to be one of the most virtuous of Vyprzneka. She had wit, manners, and a smile that warmed the hearts of frightened children. Until she disappeared.

She was overdue by two full days for her return to Vyprzneka from a village that was only an half a day's travel away. Understandably concerned, the convent was organizing some local boys to search for her when she returned that evening during a frightful storm. There were wolves about, she had said. They had chased her into a tree and she dared not step foot upon the ground until she was certain that they were gone. Everything was well now that dear Hannalore had returned, but the following weeks demonstrated that she was, evidently, traumatized by the event. She had forgotten where the keys were stored. She could not recall the name of a junior attendant that she had taught how to bake bread to just days before she left. Her knowledge of herbs had seemingly advanced, though she had always been well learned on such things, or at least everyone agreed. One night, Sister Jova reported in confidence to Prioress Ignacia that she was all but certain she had witnessed Hannalore break her vow of self-chastity. Hannalore denied this, and so it was believed. Hannalore had never lied, had never once had a mark of disobedience leveled upon her.

Weeks turned to months. Hannalore had returned to her normal self. No more names were forgotten, or confusion when navigating the crypt. It was not long before she returned on her medical journeys and the region once again knew the graceful touch of Hannalore Szabastya. Nothing ever seemed remiss when she traveled in a group with other hospitaller sisters. On solo outings, which could last weeks as she trekked into the deep, dark forests of **Merkatz**, into the indomitable mountains alive with fog, many believed that Hannalore carried grace as well as suffering with her in equal measure. A child born blind and deaf, healed by a concoction of her making. The next day a farmer found dead behind his barn. When a bastard child had been born under a claimed immaculate conception, a priest turned up that night to confess his parentage, but not before begging Hannalore for mercy. A cobbler, distraught in the belief that his wife had broken her marriage vows, was so aggrieved when she and her lover were found dead in a meadow that he flung himself from the nearest belfry. It didn't kill him. Hannalore took the honor of amputating his broken legs - successfully - so that he could live.

Years passed, and Hannalore had become a specter of salvation and damnation in equal measure. Some adored her. Others feared her. When a burghermeister was found poisoned the morning after she attended to his gout, it was the last straw for some, and she was driven away. The morning after that, half the village lay dead from a poisoned well. Vyprneka Abbey was not without eyes and ears. Hannalore's disturbing wake had been questioned and debated behind closed doors for a long time. Finally, the decision had to be made. Hannalore had broken her vows. Involuntarily or deliberately, she was cursed. The day of her banishment was cold and grey. She left without any words or goodbyes to those she had known her entire life. Many were still heartbroken, some even questioned the decisions of the sister superiors. Once most of the sisters had filtered back into the walled grounds of Vyprzneka, the lingering few swore that they saw Hannalore turn and speak some words towards them. An anguished goodbye to her friends? To the place she called home? Such assumptions crumbled under the icy realization that the night the sun refused to arise was the one year anniversary of Hannalore's banishment.

### Chapter 1: L'ombre sombre sur le Castow

Presently, she has appeared in Castow, continuing her divine services as a sister hospitaller.