Dhalia Thoravine

### Nicknames

"Lia", "Purple Storm" (alias), "Lydia" (alias), Lightning Staff Thoravine (government position), Chancellor Thoravine (Arcanum position)

## Stats

### CHA

20

**Dhalia Thoravine** (Dah-lee-uh • Thor-uh-veen) is a tiefling sorceress of the blue draconic bloodline.

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*Dhalia character portrait created by Alex Rosenthal.*

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## Description

### **Appearance**

#### *Tiefling Form*

Dhalia Thoravine has light blue skin and long wavy dark blue hair. Her tiefling heritage gives her pointed ears, small fangs, and a 3 foot long tail that ends in a spade. Her eyes used to be silver, but after that fateful night at The Arcanum, they changed to a lavender and glow at night. Pale yellow horns curve up towards the back of her head, and a thin layer of blue scales cover her arms, legs, and tail. The scales have started to creep up her neck and slightly onto her face.

#### *Human Form*

While wearing the Ring of Fiendish Concealment, Dhalia gains a human form. In her human form, Dhalia has pale skin, light blue eyes, and black hair. Her draconic scales show up as freckles across her body. She loses her tiefling horns and tail. She also loses the points to her ears and her fangs.

#### *Dragon Wings*

After ridding the shrine to Zinzarina - the goddess of deception, illusion, & the arcane - of an invasion of mindflayers, Dhalia felt a rush of arcane energy as she left the sacred cavern in the underdark city Undertown (see C2Ep38). Once back in the library, she found found she could sprout draconic wings on command. Her wings are blue and scaley. The underside has four panels of a pale yellow membrane that stretches between the wing digits. There are four long digits that stretch the wings and a smaller digit at the top of the wing joint; these digits all end in a darker blue talon. Although the talons look intimidating, they are actually pretty dull and cannot do any real damage.

After The Day of The Red Storm, Dhalia used wish to restore Azimuth's ability to fly, which rendered her own wings broken and torn.

### **Attire**

#### *Adventure Clothes*

She usually wears a long deep purple sorceress dress with long open sleeves, a dark purple collar, and dark purple bodice. This dress is paired with tall black boots and a dark purple, almost black, cloak. On her left hand, she always wears the handmade chainmail bracelet-ring piece that she fashioned her crystal arcane focus to. On her right hand she has the iron Ring of Fiendish Concealment she took from Skinner Mack's dead body (see C2Ep5). She wears a blue dragon choker around her neck and blue dragon claw earrings.

#### *Human Clothes*

Dhalia has opted for a blue color-scheme instead. Her long sleeve blue sorceress dress has a mix of a sweetheart neckline and sky blue high collar. Her cloak is a navy blue, and she continues to wear her tall black boots. She changed out her earrings to a pair of faux blue dragon horns.

#### *Fancy Clothes*

For Talia Salt's Masquerade Ball, Dhalia needed to purchase more formal clothes to blend in (see C2Ep21). She bought a fitted light blue evening gown with a white halter neckline and corset. The dress is paired with gold sandals, a white faux fur boa, and small gold shoulder bag - perfect for hiding a mouse-sized Adrien in. The mask had the same color-scheme and fake diamond embellishments. Her hair was made into a sophisticated high ponytail and she was able to keep her arcane focus and rings as accent pieces. Being used to her long sorceress dresses, Dhalia found the evening gown just as easy to maneuver in.

#### *Government/Chancellor Clothes*

Once given a position on the Stormgate Advisory Committee, Dhalia changed her wardrobe to fit the more official position. She forgoes a cape and instead wears a long open sleeveless Stormgate-blue coat over a purple sorceress dress with a sweetheart neckline. She wears the silver Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location along with her signature blue dragon choker. She tames her hair into a half-updo and crown braid for a more professional look.

## Aura

The description of her aura was discovered when Oli used Nothic eye drops to temporarily gain true seeing (see C2Ep18).

> Within her chest - her body cavity - there is this curled scaley presence that is just poking from beneath the surface here and there. There is magical energy pulsing beneath the surface of her skin, like writhing lightning just waiting to be shot out. She also has what looks like veins of blue crystal that are going through her whole body.
>
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## Background

### **Family**

Dhalia was born and raised in The Iron Works district of Stormgate with her older sisters Lilith and Iris by Risoli (neé Sarmaia) Thoravine and Lysander Thoravine.

#### *Mother*

Risoli is a female purple tiefling who was trained as a fighter, but now works at her smithery "The Vulcan Horseshoe" after an injury left her with a limp. Back in her day, her agility and skill with a double-bladed scimitar were unmatched. The scimitar had been a wedding present from Dhalia's paternal grandmother. She and Lysander have moved to Oathstone per Dhalia's urgent request to get out of the city.

#### *Father*

Lysander is a male half-elf druid who runs the herbal shop "Moonflower" located in Gulls Foot. His preferred druid forms are medium sized beasts, such as a wolf, panther, or bear. He and Risoli have moved to Oathstone per Dhalia's urgent request to get out of the city.

#### *Sisters*

Lilith (Lily) is ten years older than Dhalia and is a blue tiefling ranger. She took off from home when she was 18 years old in search of adventure. She has explored the mountains of Hammerhall and the jungles of Tlanaca. Lily was last known to be exploring the lands looking for a new animal companion after her blood hawk companion Nyx was disintegrated by a druid's stray moonbeam spell.

Iris is five years older than Dhalia and is a purple tiefling rogue. She was at a café when she was enlisted to help Professor Fenethir Shinebright retrieve the Wand of True Polymorph, stolen by his student Ahmed Noke. She pursued Ahmed for 10 years but to no avail. After she heard from Dhalia that The Stormguard killed Noke, Iris returned to her Robin-Hood-ways, fighting economic injustice one theft at a time.

#### *Familiar*

Adrien is a fey creature conjured by the find familiar wizard spell. He takes the form of a small black tressym (winged cat) with green eyes and a pink nose. He can often be found resting against Dhalia's horns on top of her head. His first form was a raven, so Dhalia believes Adrien's perching tendencies are residual from that. As a tressym, Adrien is lighter than a regular cat, although he is the same size. He has the ability to detect invisibility, detect poison, and see in the dark (darkvision).

### **Childhood (6779-6791)**

Dhalia always admired the skill of magic users. Her father was an excellent shape-changer, and she wielded the same magic as her mother and sisters. After her sisters left, Dhalia wanted to help protect her family and aspired to become a wizard. She was going to start the training at the same time as her childhood genasi friend Astrid Starbright when they were old enough. Astrid was going to become the best cleric in Stormgate and Dhalia the best a wizard.

### **Teen Years (6792-6798)**

Dhalia and Astrid studied together for their respective entrance exams as soon as they turned 13. The price to study at The Arcanum was high for Dhalia, but she helped her mother work overtime at The Vulcan Horseshoe to cover the costs. At 14, Dhalia learned under the teachings of Professor Fenethir Shinebright, nicknamed "Professor Sheeple" as he was still stuck in sheep form. Despite her unusual teacher, Dhalia was still excited to finally start the training to become a wizard.

#### *Manifestation of Her Draconic Bloodline*

Practicing prestidigitation one evening in The Arcanum central plaza, Dhalia was startled by a loud crack of thunder from Stormgate's infamous storms. The sound made her stumble straight into the Sorcerer's Stone just as a purple bolt of lightning struck it, causing a few pieces of the turquoise crystal to break off. It remains unknown if it was the magic within the stone or the magic within herself that protected Dhalia, but she remained unscathed after the lightning dissipated. It was only after she made it back to her house did she learn that her silver eyes now glowed the same purple color as the lightning bolt.

A month after the lightning incident, Dhalia noticed scales appeared on her tail. Consulting with Chancellor Aldrich, Dhalia learned that this was a strong sign sorcery was her calling. Chancellor Aldrich gifted Dhalia a crystal shard from the monolith to use as an arcane focus for her powers. She wanted to tell Astrid about this new development, but sadly learned Astrid's family moved away to Oathstone so she could better pursue cleric-training. Dhalia had been too caught up in her wizardry lessons that she lost touch with Astrid. With her best friend gone and her newfound powers, she rethought whether The Arcanum was the right place for her. This was reinforced when someone tried to steal her bag and she unintentionally released shocking grasp, a spell she had never learned before, on the thief. After that encounter, Dhalia decided to drop out of The Arcanum with the permission of her mother and the Chancellor since it seemed that the magic was revealing itself without study.

The blue scales spread up her body over the years; a nice symbol of her growing abilities. Dhalia worked in The Vulcan Horseshoe to create her signature bracelet to ensure she would never be without her arcane focus. Dhalia managed to write a few letters to Astrid, but responses tapered off by the end of the year. Last she heard, a large airship was spotted outside the city walls of Oathstone.

In her late teens, after The Crimson Deluge, Dhalia used her sorcery to help those in need in The Iron Works when she could. The crime rates had increased after the gruesome beheadings in 6795. While it was not always effective, Dhalia would paint a purple lightning bolt on a wall as a sign that she was protecting the inhabitants; she became known as "The Purple Storm".

### **Young** **Adulthood (6799 - 6804)**

Unfortunately, Stormgate is a huge city and she was but one tiefling. One day Dhalia bit off more than she could chew and was ambushed. She was knocked unconscious before she could fire off any spells, but instead of finding all of her money gone when she woke up, she found the bodies of her four attackers lying in a pool of their own blood and an aasimar man in heavy armor standing over them. Shortly after the incident, she joined The Stormguard, a new adventuring company, with her savior Tristram Bedivere.

Dhalia attracted some negative attention with her vigilante ways, namely from a crime organization known as The Red Serpents. The Serpents have a strong influence over Cudgel Hill, and Dhalia has thwarted their expansion as the Purple Storm into her home district the Iron Works. It also doesn't help that she draws her symbol over theirs when she beats them. With teamwork from Dhalia, Tristram, Kallorek, & Howell, The Stormguard was able to bring down the Serpents' leader Skinner Mack. She now wears Mack's iron Ring of Fiendish Concealment as a tribute to her success. Dhalia has taken on the task of learning more about the strange outbreak of Hellfire Fever in The Warrens since it is a disease that tieflings seem to be immune to and it has a larger connection with Skinner Mack's *other* criminal group The Iron Circle.

    Dhalia is now a wanted criminal after being involved in an incident where 17 innocent people were murdered (including 5 children) and escaping jail with four other members of The Stormguard (see C2Ep12). She sent her mother and father off to Oathstone where they can restart their lives without her criminal status hanging over their heads (see S1 Epilogue). The Stormguard's alias is now BARNACLE GANG but it is really only used for dramatically comedic effect.

After defeating Tarkus, Dhalia used wish to restore Azimuth's ability to fly, which rendered her own wings broken and torn.

### **Adulthood (6804-6814)**

Dhalia was given a difficult choice not long after The Stormguard killed Tarkus. Ashryn Sinclair, the rightful heir to the Stormgate throne, offered every member of the party a seat on the Stormgate Advisory Committee, while Chancellor Aldrich planned to step down from her position at the Arcanum and offered Dhalia the chance to take her place. Ultimately, Dhalia decided to defer the Chancellor appointment to help Regent Sinclair rebuild Stormgate's government. Professor Fenethir Shinebright became Interim Chancellor in Dhalia's stead. She gained the title Lightning Staff Thoravine and advised the regent on arcane matters. During this time, Dhalia and the rest of the Stormguard helped Rosie raise Fela and Eliza while she had to attend to her duties to Sarissa and the Winter Fey Court. Eliza worked to hone her psionic sorcery powers with Dhalia. It took some time, but Dhalia eventually was able to fuse the two arcane crystals from her chainmail bracelet to the The Ironstaff to create an even more powerful arcane focus. After five years as the arcane advisor, Dhalia stepped down and finally accepted the position of Chancellor of the Arcanum.

## Relationships

### *Tristram Bedivere*

Tristram saved Dhalia after an ambush attack. Since then, they've been allies and would help each other out from time to time. They joined The Stormguard together. Dhalia greatly appreciates the healing Tristram has done for her even though he's a little grouchy. They have a kind of buddy-cop dynamic, which manifests itself is rather strange ways, such as Dhalia repeating what Tristram says but in a slightly more coherent way (see C2Ep8). She misses him since he has left, but is content knowing he can help her parents when they are in Oathstone.

### *Ray*

Although Ray is a bit of a mystery to Dhalia, time on missions have shown he is trustworthy. Despite not knowing much about him, Dhalia gets along with Ray very well. She respects his personal space, and in return, he has been known to offer his arm when Dhalia needs to walk while looking through Adrien's eyes to scout ahead. After the big reveal that he is a spy of the College of the Whispered Song, Dhalia seemed to be one of the few Stormguard members who immediately forgave Ray for the ordeal his organization put them through (see C2OS1). She hopes that him being in The Stormguard won't have deeply negative consequences for the spy college in the future. She has been enjoying his new found interest in baking and will politely try his concoctions, as long as they aren't covered in sewer water. Dhalia doesn't really know what to make of this new fey-bond that he and Howell share, and sees it as something to monitor carefully during future combat scenarios. Their condition is what spurred Dhalia to hone her craft of potion-making and teach their intern Newt.

### *Theodoros Korshid*

Theo rubbed Dhalia the wrong way when they first met, but she eventually warmed up to his idiosyncrasies. He was some kind of foreign dignitary and his foreignness really seemed to show. He would be quite brazen when speaking with people and seemed to lack social awareness at times, making for awkward situations. Dhalia was somewhat impressed, while also perturbed, by his willingness to throw gold pieces around as if they were of meager value. Although that definitely came in handy at times. Theo was a good person, though. His moral compass pointed him in the right direction. He repaid the Priest of Pelor for the holy water Izwick stole (see C2Ep3). Unfortunately, he didn't always make the best decisions. fireball seemed to be his favorite spell, but it was definitely not always family friendly (see C2Ep11). Dhalia couldn't believe her eyes when she saw he had carved his holy symbol *into* his hand so he would be able to cast his cleric magic (see. C2Ep12). Although she was sad to see Theo leave, she thinks that it was one of the smartest decisions he ever made; a firestorm was definitely headed back to his homeland and he should be there to protect it.

### *Howell Yago*

Dhalia doesn't quite know what to make of Howell. He is incredibly quick-witted and sassy, but also sometimes incredibly confused. Howell makes Dhalia laugh a lot, though, and honestly that's good enough for her to trust him. It was revealed that the mysterious past he was hiding was that of being part of The Syndicate (see C2Ep17). It's pretty clear he wants nothing to do with them, especially Mr. Suit, but Dhalia is concerned his ties with them aren't something he can ever truly break. The fey-bond that he and Ray share is deeply problematic to Dhalia as it makes combat scenarios increasingly difficult when both of them are there. Their condition is what spurred Dhalia to hone her craft of potion-making and teach their intern Newt. Recently, Dhalia has realized that Howell being a fey comes with many interesting side effects. She doesn't think he can lie anymore, like what happened to Theo. He gets hurt by cold iron, something Mr. Suit and some of the party member of The Stormguard *definitely* have. And he can make magically binding contracts with people that hurt them if they go against their word. Dhalia is very nervous that Howell got turned to stone by Thaum (see C2Ep26). The party needs to be smart about how they try to rescue him or else they may suffer the same petrified fate.

### *Oli Branchlight*

Before The Stormguard became wanted criminals, Oli always seemed rather aloof to Dhalia. She was always happy to lend Oli Adrien for when he wanted to pet a furry critter that wasn't a grumpy Baphomet, but that seemed to be the extent of their interactions. However, she has noticed that the criminal life seems to be bringing him out of his smirking façade and they are more friendly with each other, such as working together to investigate the hellfire fever in The Warrens (see C2Ep16). Currently Oli and Dhalia share custody of their not- actually-a-goldfish Jeoffrey, who stays in Oli's room (see C2Ep18). After learning about Jeoffrey's true form, Dhalia has rescinded her custody of him and is very against releasing the sea dragon. Recently, she has become rather concerned with Oli bringing his non-magical awakened plant pet Leaf on adventures as they often get into heavy combat that can easily damage the small sapling. His magical fey locket was stolen at the Masquerade Ball, which bodes ill for the group, but Dhalia appreciates the sacrifice Oli made to stay to finish their mission instead of leaving to retrieve his family heirloom (see C2Ep21).

### *Jorin Helmborn*

Jorin's ability to navigate the world without his sight amazes Dhalia. He is quite perceptive despite his seeming disadvantage. With her brief training in wizardry, she has offered to help dictate spells from scrolls to Jorin so that he may record them in his spellbook. Dhalia enjoys practicing her Draconic with him, and she often uses it to discretely say things to him. She was quite taken aback when he revealed himself to be from an old noble house, but it was also his revelation and subsequent arrest that helped solidify Dhalia's belief in the corruption of the government (see C2Ep11). After Oli cast reincarnate on Jorin's dead body, Dhalia hadn't seen him around for a while. She wonders how aging works on him since his new body seems younger than his previous one. She also wonders if he can still utilize his blindsight ability now that he has working eyes again. Dhalia quite enjoyed their dance at the Masquerade Ball and was impressed with how well they worked together that night (see C2Ep21 & C2Ep22). Jorin definitely seems like one of the more level-headed members of The Stormguard - if one ignores the declaration of his illegal noble status incident. Dhalia is concerned about the rather mysterious disappearance of Jorin and hopes that he is safe wherever he is.

### *Newt*

Dhalia is very impressed with Newt's magical abilities. Although he is young, he already shows great potential. She enjoyed talking to him about Professor Shinebright in their spare time. As one of the few female figures, Dhalia felt the need to take on a motherly role with the changeling and so has taught him to value life even after death. She has also been teaching him how to make potions with a herbalism kit in hopes that he may help bolster the team's supplies in the future. She sometimes forget how young the changeling really is and wonders how well he's *really* coping with The Stormguard's criminal status.

### *Vincent Mango*

She had heard of Professor Mango's name at The Arcanum, but Dhalia never had him for a teacher. From what she heard, she was glad for that too. He is incredibly feisty for such a small creature. She finds his proclivity for fire spells is sometimes concerning and his decision making is definitely questionable at times. Despite this, Dhalia quite enjoys the kobold professor. She shares his great interest in dragons and enjoys being able to speak Infernal with him. She provided him the gold pieces and shared her find familiar spell with him as he seemed interested in her residual knowledge of wizard magic (also who doesn't want a magical pet?). Dhalia was saddened but not surprised to hear how Dr. Vincent Mango died, a big explosion of some kind.

### *Rosalyn Veredian*

Most of The Stormguard party members seem to be quite mysterious, so it's no surprising Rosalyn (aka "Roz") fits that bill as well. There are only a few things Dhalia knows about Roz: she was contracted by The Shade Sworn to help The Stormguard. She is exceptionally tall and strong. And she can teleport through shadows, which is super bad ass. Although Roz didn't originally seem terribly attached to the party, ready to leave at a moments notice, the fact that she has stuck around without a contract holding over her head might mean she's starting to like The Stormguard. Or perhaps it is because they have free rooms and her apartment was destroyed thus leaving her homeless. It's probably the former, though - she thinks they are a pretty likable group. Dhalia is unsure how Roz feels about her, but since learning her secret, Dhalia hopes Roz considers her a friend.

### *Marwyn Gandalc*

Marwyn's optimism is very refreshing; it's a nice change from the demeanor of some of the other members of The Stormguard. She and Dhalia both love the color purple, and prefer the color silver to gold. Dhalia also thinks Marwyn's spotted fur is very pretty. Her accent is a little difficult to understand sometimes, but that is part of her charm. She is incredibly inquisitive of human nature, going so far as to conduct social experiments on people she meets. She has a tendency to run ahead of the others with her feline agility, but her knack for picking up on little details is very valuable, even if she gets distracted by those details sometimes. Her feline traits remind Dhalia of Adrien, and as it turns out Marwyn quite enjoyed meeting Adrien - after the initial shock of him poofing into existence, that is.

### *Valter*

Dhalia noticed right away that Valter is incredibly competent and has strong morals. He's excellent at tracking things, and thinks things through before acting - for the most part. Dhalia is very glad to have Valter on their side.

### *Pieter Taarudesh*

Her first impression of Pieter was not very good. He cut off a dead man's legs to ensure it could not be reanimated and chase after them. While it was a smart move, the sight of him doing so was very unnerving. He has an obsession with ships, at times getting distracted on the mission by them, but does very well in a fight. Dhalia thinks he's a bit rough around the edges but in general he's a good guy. She's intrigued to learn more about his time as a pirate.