The Wizard, Samira

Samira awoke to the sound of crackling, as if near a large camp fire, a thick and heavy smoke now filling the room as it burned. A man was hunched over her, speckles of blood on parts of his face, and a large pair of antlers on his head. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

She blinked for a moment, trying to take in the whole situation. It took another moment before she realized her thoughts were her own. With a startled look, she looked to the sound of the pyre, and there saw it: The Gulthias tree wreathed in flame, slowly burning to cinders. "Y-You saved me. Are you from the town? Um, are you from Alqamar?" The man leaning over her nodded his head. Samira took note of the people all around her. An elf, a gnome, one of the dragon's kin, a tiefling she recognized from the town church, and two men. And on the ground hear her body, Sir Bradford, he ally and friend. She took a deep breath, and rubbed at her right eye with the bottom of her palm, pushing back the tears and emotions with just the one hand, and looked back to the man standing near her. "Thank you. Thank you for freeing us."

The group of people gathered around her, looking at her with questioning faces. Before they could begin to ask, she smiled. "I am Samira Hucrele. Oh, but I'm sure you knew that." She looked down at her hands, her skin still a bark-like texture. "I became this way because of the tree. Belak, he was a druid exiled from his order. He joined up with that red hand cult, crazy about some myth of ancient beasts. He became obsessed with making those monsters, those twisting brambles hungry for blood. Obsessed with spreading them to the surface to plague us. He even sent his goblins with those apples just to trick people into planting the monsters on the surface." She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "He forced me and Sir Bradford into the tree, and now we look like this. We became thralls of the tree. We are tied to it." She sighed. "And now that it is destroyed...so soon I will be. My life ends with it, tied to it." A tear rolled down her cheek. She blinked hard, and put back on the best smile she could. "Still. Thank you. Thank you for letting my last moments be my own." With that, Samira pulled from her hand her families ring and handed it to the man standing over her. "I'm sure if you were sent to rescue us, my family is asking for proof. So take it with you. As for me, please leave me. I wish to spend my final moments alone, what few I may have left. I...I feel tired." Samira slowly lowered her head back to the ground, closed her eyes, and breathed her last breath.