Puck

Puck, also known as Quibble (among others)

Half-elf rogue, Infected! archetype (homebrew)

23 years old, 5’7”

Puck is the character I have played for the longest time - nearly four years now. She is a half-elf with a long brown braid and a scar across her neck, rendering her mute. As a rogue, she wears typically dark clothes, favoring a deep navy waistcoat or jumper with a couple pieces of mismatched fabric from her sister sewn into the collar and interior. I created her in order to play the twin of one of my best friends’ characters, inspired by the Critical Role characters of Vax’ildan and Vex’ahlia, who are also played by two best friends. While Vax and Vex are a rogue and ranger, Puck and her sister Eris are a rogue and bard combo. They often ran scams on the streets to make (or simply steal) money, going by a number of aliases to elude the watchful eye of the law. These include but are not limited to:

• Quill and Quibble

• Robin and Finch

• Abbadon and Castiel

• Finnegan and Fern

• Cassie and Polly

• Copper and Angel

• Odd and Typ

• Lady and Luck

• Miss Tick and Miss Terry

Backstory

Eris and Puck grew up with a relatively quiet childhood, living in a small cabin in the forest with their human father. Their elven mother had disappeared when they were small; they didn’t even know her face. Eris and Puck loved their father dearly; he was their entire world. He was soft-spoken, kind, and taught them all he knew about the ways of the forest and how to exist alongside it. He also taught them of the dangers of their home, like the beasts and pitfalls that could ensnare them. But the girls were young and did not heed their father’s warnings - after venturing out on their own one day, they stumbled into an owlbear’s nest with two young. Not remembering the mother who was surely nearby, they let their guard down. When the mother returned, ready to strike down anyone who neared her children, Eris and Puck’s father caught up to them and took the killing blow, sacrificing himself to allow his children the chance to escape.

With no father and no guide, Eris and Puck grew fearful of the other beasts living in the forest. If they made a similar mistake, no one would arrive to save them. With heavy hearts, they realized they had to abandon their home. Leaving the forest for the first time, they hopped from town to town until they met a circus, the Moondrop Traveling Circus. Seeing that the circus was the one place where misfits like them would belong, they agreed to join the troupe. Although they were promised a new family, their particular circus was seedy and didn’t care for the newest (and youngest) members of the band, working them hard for little pay. Eris and Puck were employed as set ninjas, the job that was barely seen or heard. Seeing that they were the only ones who would care for each other, Eris and Puck kept their heads down and made the most of their terrible situation. Eris wanted to be a performer desperately, so she began to steal scraps of cloth and sew them into a vibrant patchwork cloak. Puck preferred the shadows to the limelight, stealthily snatching a few coins from the richer patrons of their shows to someday afford an escape from this horrendous job for both her and her sister.

Unfortunately, Puck once targeted a man who was just as angry as he was rich. He rebuked her in front of the entire tent while Puck attempted to apologize and talk him down. He wouldn’t buy it, putting a stop to her words with a knife by slashing across her neck. Eris screamed arcane curses, but her grasp on magic was not strong enough to maim him. The one decent healer in the troupe was able to save Puck’s life, but not her voice. She would remain mute. The ringleader hated Eris and Puck for the scandal and cast both of them out to the streets. Once again outcasts, the twins soon learned to use the few skills they acquired with the circus to give performances for anyone who would listen (and lighten their pockets as well).

Campaign Start

The Age of Anquintia campaign is the setting where Puck makes her debut. This campaign is DMed by a home friend of mine. He created his campaign within the same world as his girlfriend’s campaign, stepping up into the DM role after she expressed interest in playing her own character rather than… every character. She actually plays as Puck’s sister, Eris! While her campaign was set in the time after Anquintia fell into ruin, this campaign is set in an alternate timeline: the Age of Anquintia, or the timeline where Anquintia never fell. This new setting allowed us the opportunity to explore the world in all its glory.

Once the campaign began, Eris and Puck soon joined another band of misfits and learned that there was more to protect than just their own skins. They learned about an immortal civilization, that of the Anquintian Empire ruled by the white queen Yorvidia. She created the Guardians, the massive stone protectors of her Empire. After eons of peace, new challengers with dark intent seek to end her reign and plunge Anquintia into chaos, potentially leading to the alternate timeline of Fallen Anquintia. A warrior named Rose saw potential in Eris and Puck and invited them to fight for Anquintia. Soon, the twins and their new friends were traveling all across the land and learning about the history of the enemies they would face.

After a trip to the jungle village of Endivan, the party encountered the contagious Carrion virus, a bioweapon created by the mad scientists seeking to destroy Anquintia. The Carrion virus is a sentient virus connected to a massive hivemind that only seeks to kill and destroy. Puck was infected with the virus, temporarily putting her at odds with the group. Another member of the party, Drauk the dragonborn, was previously one of the mad scientists but reformed after a bout of amnesia. He set to work and developed a cure to the virus - a Currion, if you will! The Currion doesn’t remove the virus entirely, leaving a sentient voice behind, but cuts it off from the hivemind. Puck formed an unlikely alliance with the being known as Apex, the Venom-esque voice that has the ability to change her form and heighten her abilities. She became the first Infected! archetype and assists Drauk in curing others who had been infected with Carrion.

The man who took Puck’s voice turned out to be the ruthless King Lee Harikan, ruler of the land of Tyrea. This land also happened to be the home of one of our party members, Ty. Our travels eventually brought us to Tyrea, also known as the Dark City. While investigating him, we met his brother, Jack, and Jack’s wife, Soleana - Eris and Puck’s mother. She had disappeared from the forest when called back to her homeland, but when she returned to her husband and children, she could find none of them and assumed the worst. She moved on, creating a new family. Despite the tense atmosphere, after learning that her daughters are still alive, she attempted to rekindle her relationship with them and reunite her family again.

While in Tyrea, the party found a mysterious hidden door in the library archives. It led to a dungeon-eque room with a lone figure shackled in the center. That would be odd enough, except the figure was the spitting image of Puck! Enter Pandora, a captive experiment of the evil king Grimsbane. She is Grimsbane’s daughter, along with both Puck and Eris. Eris and Puck’s human father, the one who saved them from the owlbear when they were young, was not their biological father. Grimsbane and Soleana had met years prior in the feywilds and worked together on various projects, eventually falling in love. When Grimsbane cofounded the Sovereign legion, Soleana believed in its core purpose and followed her husband. Sovereign was built around the belief that there could only be peace if one immortal being ruled supreme for all time, keeping all the other nations in line. As a near immortal being, Grimsbane took the throne. But as Grimsbane set out to reign war on nations like Anquintia, Tyrea, and Sol, Soleana realized that she had to stop her husband. She ran away with babies Eris and Puck, leaving them in the care of a kind human living in a place Grimsbane would never search. Pandora, meanwhile, was captured by the Tyrean kingdom and kept prisoner in their attempts to find and learn more about Grimsbane. After Puck and the party found Pandora, they freed her and took her under their wing, showing her the same kindness Eris and Puck wished they had been given after running away with the circus.

And there you have it! I could go on and on about Puck’s adventures through Anquintia (and maybe I will one day!). But for now, enjoy an introduction to Puck and the world of Anquintia. May the dice be ever in your favor.