Evangeline is a Geppetin Necromancer Wizard, originally human, who was transformed into a construct-like doll form through a dark ritual performed by her mother. She is 18 years old and travels with the Girlsquad adventuring party, seeking to restore her original body while using the necromantic knowledge she acquired during years of isolation.

Background

Evangeline was born to a wealthy family in Cresthaven, a mountain city in the Province of Argonnae. Her father fell in with Vorgathrax worshippers and gave total obedience to the religion. Her mother, lonely and increasingly unstable, drifted into madness. When Evangeline’s father died (the circumstances of which remain unclear), he expected to serve Vorgathrax in the afterlife, so only his body remained behind. Evangeline’s mother, consumed by anger at being abandoned, used necromancy to curse his remains, binding them to rise and reform endlessly as a mindless zombie subject to her will.

During this period, Evangeline’s mother locked her away and subjected her to a dark ritual lasting many months. The ritual transformed Evangeline into a Geppetin, her body rendered doll-like, a twisted attempt by her mother to preserve her daughter. Eventually, a group of adventurers arrived at the family estate and killed Evangeline’s mother.

Evangeline then lived alone in the haunted mansion, avoiding her mother’s ghost and her father’s perpetually reforming zombie, while studying the ancient tomes in her parents’ library. She taught herself necromancy, hoping to find magic that could undo what had been done to her. A second group of adventurers later attempted to uncurse the estate and perished in the attempt; the unintended result was the creation of a permanent portal to the Positive Energy Plane in the mansion’s basement. Evangeline, safe from the portal’s effects as a Construct creature type, accidentally wandered through and was lost there for six years.

Current Status

Now 18, Evangeline has parted ways with the Girlsquad. For a time she traveled with the party to see the world, find more magic, and reclaim her original body, using the dark powers she learned from her parents’ library alongside techniques acquired on the road, largely in service of helping others. That arc ended at the Adamantine Reach in Banorud, 2 Lotus Secundus, 409 TC, when she chose Darkesha’s Black Hat over her companions.

Pursuing the Hat’s third seal, “that which changes under the moon,” Evangeline induced a former druid to demonstrate wild shape and then set the Hat upon him. The Hat consumed him, converting him instantly into pure magical power and breaking the seal. Evangeline showed no remorse for erasing him. When Beytel refused to keep company with an artifact so plainly evil, Evangeline kept the Hat and left to unlock its remaining power on her own. She is no longer an active adventurer.

Her declared aim is to unlock the Hat in full, then break the curse her mother laid (or seize lasting control of the ghost) and claim the family estate at Cresthaven as her own.

Evangeline’s ghost mother is independently hunting her beyond the Cresthaven estate. Wanted posters bearing an engraving of Evangeline’s doll-like form were posted at the Adamantine Reach by Bitz and Bobz, a necromancer duo hired by the ghost. The posters are signed by the ghost mother and offer a reward of 500 GP. How the ghost mother hired them, or what was promised in exchange, is unclear.

Before the split, Darkesha’s Black Hat had developed an interest in Hazelnut, a shift in the artifact’s attention from Evangeline (its bearer) to another party member. The nature and implications of that interest remain unclear.

Former Role with the Party

Evangeline was the Girlsquad’s primary arcane caster and the bearer of Darkesha’s Black Hat. While she traveled with them, the party’s pursuit of an Azure Bloom in the Sapphire Weald was tied to unlocking the Hat’s power. Cleverbeard, the ancient treant, showed a watchful and quietly suspicious disposition toward Evangeline, reading something in the forest’s mood around those who carry certain kinds of want. Her departure left Hazelnut and Beytel to continue without her.

Relationships

  • Hazelnut — Former party member. Witnessed the druid’s consumption from rat form.
  • Beytel — Former party member. His refusal to travel alongside Darkesha’s Black Hat precipitated the split.
  • Cleverbeard — Mildly suspicious of Evangeline; this disposition was established during their encounter in the Sapphire Weald.
  • Vorgathrax — Her father’s deity. Evangeline’s connection to Vorgathrax worship is indirect, through her father’s choices.