# Arabelle ## At the lake: - Once saved, Arabelle is very thankful. She tells the players that her father, Luvash, will surely reward them for saving her. - If Bluto is still alive, Arabelle lays a curse on him. "May all wine turn to water in your mouth, you drunken wretch of a man!" This should just sound like a normal outburst to the players, but little do they know, it's all real. ;) - If Arabelle learns the players are adventurers, she gets really excited and demands adventure stories as they travel together. For a kid who almost just died, she has little to cry about and bounces back really quickly. After your players save Arabelle, you might have a white elk appear the opposite bank. Even for an elk, he's huge and a notable presence across the lake. Arabelle will gasp and spot the elk, claiming it to be the Mad Mage. She doesn't know it's him for sure, but she's heard the stories and will relate them to the players. After a few moments of watching, the elk turns and walks back into the tree line out of sight. ### Story of the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok The story as Arabelle knows it: The Mad Mage came to Barovia more than a year ago to free its people from Strahd's tyranny but he underestimated Strahd's hold over the land and the creatures in it. After a battle between the two in Castle Ravenloft, strahd drove the wizard to the mountains and sent him hurling over the Tser falls. Everyone assumed that the wizard perished in the fall but my father's cousin's friend swears that he saw the wizard get up and flee into the Baratok mountains. Since then, this elk has started appearing in the woods and uncle Luvash swears that it must be the Mage in disguise! - MM came to Barovia 1yr+ ago, to free ppl from Strahd - underestimated Strahd's power + influence - battle in castle Ravenloft - Strahd drove wizard to mountains and sent him flying off Tser falls - everybody think he ded - father's cousin swears he saw MM get up and flee into forest - since then, elk started appearing in woods - Luvash swears it's MM ## Roleplaying Her Arabelle is my baby child and one of my favorite characters in the whole campaign. I've got this thing about the usefulness of children in dnd that I've mentioned in previous posts. I hate the pervading concept that all kids are useless little things in need of saving and Arabelle is my answer to that in CoS. This little girl is my heartsong and I will fight all of you on how much I love her. O_o ### Fortune Teller - Out of all the Vistani in Barovia, Arabelle is the 2nd most talented seer among them, Madam Eva coming in first of course. As such, she's plagued by vivid visions of the past, present and future. Because she lives in a grim place like Barovia, these visions are often incredibly bleak. Despite her youth, Arabelle has borne witness to brutality and gore from her second sight. - Because of her inexperience in dealing with her visions, Arabelle's sight shows up most prevalently in her dreams. Almost every night, she has dreams and nightmares that she can't quite interpret. - Arabelle also has powerful instinctual visions, usually triggered by the senses. When she touches another person, she may receive a vision of an incredibly emotional moment for them (a past trauma, or even their fast coming death for instance). Smelling a distinct odor or perfume may also trigger a vision associated the scent. No matter what, Arabelle's visions are usually sudden and completely uncontrollable. - Her visions, though clear in appearance, lack context. Unless there are direct markers or dialogue in a vision, Arabelle can't tell whether a vision is past, present, or future. #### Traumatic Moments of PCs - Lathander - ate children, found out in the mill - Squiggles - being absorbed by the flesh mound in death house - Vishara - having to talk all the time ### Tarroka - Because her visions are so difficult to understand, Arabelle religiously carries around a deck of Tarroka cards, which she uses to interpret them. Her readings are never as telling as Madam Eva's, but they can certainly help sort out what's what. - If you have Arabelle do a Tarroka reading for your party, her results are more like blurry photographs with no interpretation. For instance, if you have the players ask her where an artifact is, Arabelle would say something like this: "There's a man. He's... wearing a cloak with a big hood. But... I can't see his face. It's like the darkness is alive and it's covering his face completely. That's it, that's all I see." ### Personality - Arabelle is extraordinarily mature for her age. - Arabelle is, first and foremost, an incredibly gifted seer. As such, she's familiar with death, tragedy, and most emotional experiences in human life. This forced understanding made Arabelle grow up fast. - Arabelle understands most adult subjects and can crack a dirty joke as well as any vagabond. She's the kind of kid who knows what sex is scientifically (Arrigal gave her the birds and the bees talk at her own demanding when she was six), but can't quite comprehend why it's important just yet. She just knows that she's "not allowed to do it until I'm thirty and married, according to Uncle Arrigal." ### Smart Cookie - Arabelle is a very smart little thing. If she were in real life school, she'd likely have skipped a couple grades. Arabelle grasps concepts very quickly and positively hates it when people treat her like she's stupid. - Because of her quick uptake, she often gets frustrated with adults that talk down to her. Sometimes, when people are continuously condescending to Arabelle, she lashes out verbally. For a little kid that weighs about eighty pounds soaking wet, her words can cut deep when she wants them to. ### Queen of Sass - You heard me. Arabelle is a sassy little shit and she knows it. She loves picking on other people, but in ways that don't actually destroy their feelings. Here are some little quotes that Arabelle might use: - "Don't you worry. Strahd only goes after pretty people for his consorts." - A: "Wow! You're really brave!" Player: "Why.. thank you. That means a lot." A: "Oh, no. That wasn't a compliment." Player: "What?" A: "Sorry. What I meant to say is that you're definitely gonna die soon." - *Before a player takes a bite of their food.* "Go ahead. Eat it. I dare you." (Nothing is wrong with the food, she just wants to mess with them.) ### Friends - When Arabelle makes a friend, she makes that friend for life. She sort of picks and chooses the people she likes the most and she'll stick up for those people fiercely. She won't tolerate anyone hurting her friends and is potentially a wicked ally to the party. - Like a good little Vistani, Arabelle knows just about everyone in their camp and she gets along with them all just fine. However, there's no one that she really, truly connects with. She's far too mature for children of her own age and most adults borderline worship her for her seer abilities. So while Arabelle is technically surrounded by family, she's also always a little lonely. - The only exception to this is Arrigal. Arabelle thinks the world of her uncle and he is downright her best friend. Arrigal is the only person who actually treats her with respect and values her opinion. Luvash is Arabelle's father and yes, she loves him. But she's really Arrigal's little girl. ### In Combat - If your party decides to keep Arabelle around a while, you're going to need to know what to do with her in combat. If all she does is get in the way and die a lot, your PCs will get annoyed pretty quickly. #### The Little Helper - Arabelle is like a living Help action. She actually does her best to stay out of open combat and darts in and out of melee range to help the party. She might suddenly run across the field and wind a rope around an enemy's legs to make them stumble. She might jump on an enemy's back and throw a bag over their head to temporarily blind them for a round. Maybe she'd go and collect that arrow that missed the enemy and return it to a PC. - Either way, Arabelle isn't someone that does damage in combat. She's a support character instead. - Also remember Arabelle's visions. If she suddenly sees something bad happen to a player, she might warn them and give the PC advantage on a saving throw. [u/guildsbounty](https://www.reddit.com/u/guildsbounty/) calls this "Danger Sense" and gives a positively superb description of it in that post. ;) #### Childish Deceit - Arabelle isn't afraid to use the fact that she's a child against enemies. If an enemy is intelligent, she may distract that enemy with stunts like, "I'm lost, mister, please help." People are far less likely to suspect a child of foul play. #### Recommended: Bonus Action - If you do end up playing Arabelle in a combat situation, I would recommend you give her a Rogue's bonus action so that each turn she can either dash, disengage, or hide without expending her action. Not only is this ability incredibly useful to her, but it also suits her personality very well.