Character: Becca
Played by: Brenna Norton
I was by all accounts a relatively well-off child, and while not rich by any means my family did well enough as merchants that I never wanted for food or shelter. Hell, I’d even picked up pickling with my mother as a hobby as a child; my mother’s pickled goods went to the market for sale while my pickled goods were shared by our family. I grew up outside the in-construction colony of New Hope, which offered some fun climbing in and around construction areas. However, as you can imagine, growing up an only child resulted in me having to make a lot of my own fun and entertainment- tying myself up and seeing how quickly I could break out, beating away at the trees surrounding our small house with downed limbs like some great warrior, or sneaking up on unsuspecting wildlife that was unfortunate enough to wonder nearby. This often resulted in scratches in scrapes which I quickly learned to fix myself so I wouldn’t get scolded for wandering about the woods like a ruffian.
The perks of growing up within New Hope equaled the downfalls brought by it. I knew many people, was taught the importance of speaking up for myself as well as taking an order, and eventually I was taught to read; not that I was any good at it with the letters seeming to shift about the page like some arcane curse. In classes I learned not to read, to save myself the embarrassment of having to stutter out the words as the letters rearranged themselves. I also saw the terror of fighting the Ulven, with their witch magic and brute strength, as well as their civility and intelligence after making a treaty with the colonists only a year later.
When I turned 17 my family decided to relocate to Starkhaven, which I thought would be an amazing chance to test the sword and bow skills I’d learned from the drunken guards at the tavern. Only a short way into the trip our caravan was attacked, leaving my parents dead along with most of the other merchants we traveled with. I’d only escaped because I had gone off to use the latrine at our small night encampment; upon seeing the bandits descending on the caravan when I returned, with my parents among those lying still on the ground, I slipped back into the forest and away from the life I’d known up to that point.
I met Pike nearly a year later. He was traveling with a small band of mercenaries that clearly cared more about the coin they could scrape up in wartime than helping fight toward a peaceful life for our people on Mardrun. Pike seemed different from the rest; Sure, he fought alongside them for the coin, but he seemed to be hating every second of it. I joined up more for the money than anything else, as I’d been selling pickled goods to get by but not really earning any living wage form it. I stayed with the mercenaries and Pike for about 2 years, until our captain sent us on a suicide mission near the end of the war; I wasn’t experienced enough working with the mercenaries to understand the danger, but Pike warned me of the impending doom the mission would bring. Pike led me and 5 or so others, deserting the little mercenary group, which had had no real impact on the war but had managed to reap the profits of the carnage it had caused. We all traveled together away from the fighting, although those that left with us slowly trickled away until only Pike and I remained.
Working as a bodyguard was generally well-paying work. I worked under Pike, who negotiated our contracts. We happened upon Seymour, who became the third member of our merry band, while searching for a new contract. He’d managed to beat down three thugs before, I like to think, falling down in a drunken stupor. Seeing potential in someone who can drunkenly defend himself, Pike brought Seymour into the fold. The years that followed were mainly spent guarding the traveling poet, Carl, who wished to see the world to inspire him. He wasn’t very good and the pay was inconsistent, but he had a passion that led us all over.
Silver’s Crossing was the first place I’d been since New Hope that I’d felt at home. The quaint yet thriving community reminded me of my youth in New Hope with my parents, in addition to the wild and untamed exploration and combat of more recent years. Upon conferring with Pike and Seymore, we decided to end our days with Carl to carve out our legacy there. Hopefully, we fare better in the months to come than on our first day, where bandits nearly did us in while working with the locals. I look forward to defending a home again and not just someone with enough coin to buy my blade.