All in all, for all the family Balaena lost in her youth...

She found enough family to give Sabrae and her siblings something better.

Pafiz has a brother, a gun mage named Bubba. Bubba rides an armored draft horse that for some reason has leather mudflaps. Real fond of camo. Has bumper stickers for South of the Forest of Tethir.

Soft-spoken enough that when he does show up, he drops truth bombs that haunt Sabrae to this day.

Sabrae has another uncle in Daggerford, a Tethyrian named Morn Tallstag. Real old friend of Vaelindra, used to watch Izzy, Sabby, & Chadra. She ain't seen him in a minute but she'll probably swing by if Gale ever convinces the group to go to Waterdeep.

for some reason, he looks like Javier Bardem.

Mr. Freewinter also has a frenemy from the bardic scene in Faerûn- a satyr bard named Slice.

yes, he's a parody of someone.
he has an enchanted lute that's "electric."
and he's very self-conscious about his hair after he had a run in with a mad scientist that left him partially warforged.

Pafiz had a drinking buddy- a half-elf bard named Both Freewinter (pronounced 'bahth'). AKA Mr. Steal Your Maid.

Pafiz made a whoopee cushion of explosives and put it in Both's chair after he stole a barmaid he'd been sweet talking out from under him.

...frankly, Mr. Freewinter deserved it.

Vaelindra's got uncles from Balaena's first campaign.

See, Balaena ran afoul of some folks and that's how she came to the surface world. She was being held captive in a market and she was in pretty rough shape so the party's demolitionist purchased her freedom.

That chaos gnome is Uncle Pafiz.

this is the part I point out that Vee's homebrew campaign was wild if you hadn't noticed.

So Vee's spouse took two other consorts in addition to her and that's how her other little sister Alyffyn Mayinil Silverwind and her youngest brother Bel'aonar Rizdorl Silverwind happened.

The case could be made that Sabrae & Chadra are half-Fey'ri w/ none of the features (exc. some red highlights).

Vee fell apart with the Dlardrageth boy. It was awhile before she met another Silverwind that was monarch of the Summermist Isles & had Sabby's little brother Sorn (🎂 Tarsakh 15).

After Vee had her heart broken, she left court for awhile "to find herself" & ended up in jail for reasons I'm forbidden to discuss by Myth Teuivaean law.

She fell in with a Dlardrageth boy while she was on parole and had Sabrae on Eleint 21 one year and Chadra on Hammer 30 the next.

See, Queen Vee was heir to Myth Teuivae after her momma until King Al had kids.

Before Vee was a queen, she was married to a silver dragon & had Sabby's older brother, Izmir Silverwind. The dragon sold his soul to become a lich & that was that.

His b-day is Tarsakh 20. Make of that what you will.

See, Lady Bal is the half-sister of a good friend's chara, King Altondorl Tek'helrenz of Myth Teuivae. World class artificer, walks softly & carries a big boom stick... you should meet him some time.

So that makes King Al the uncle of Sabrae's momma, Queen Vaelindra Ken'virr of the Summermist Isles

This is where I start sounding like that cousin who knows the whole family's business spilling tea at a family reunion.

So Sabrae's grandmaa, Lady Balaena, used to know some folks from Menzoberranzan back in the day (during my first campaign). Make of that what you will.

#HalsinWeek2025 has reminded me how fun it is to be back in the saddle as a writer.

So without further ado for Sabrae Balaste Ken'virr and our favorite druid...

6/6

And finally, somewhere btwn the cartloads of orphans that call them Daddy Halsin, Daddy Astarion, & Mummy Sabrae, there is a future:

Three half-drow children-
Nymfein Alakroos Ken'virr

And the twin little sisters he calls the she-bears 🙄
Illiamvrae Phyrcice Ken'virr
Talvrae Mayinil Ken'virr

5/?

This I also know:
-She has taken her grandma, Lady Balaena, back to her childhood home on a visit to remember, to heal, and to celebrate not only surviving but thriving. There's an important reunion that happens and I shan't spoil you on it except to say

Things aren't always as they seem. 4/?

This I know for a fact:
-I kept Astarion as a spawn.
-She's still with him and Halsin. I call them the Triumvirate b/c I have no better nickname.
-She visits the 2 royal courts she grew up in from time to time but she is often found between Fluvenilstra and the wilderness of the Sword Coast.

3/?

I will tell you this- Sabrae gets a HEA that has been a long time coming, at least for 3 generations.

What was started in the blood-drenched darkness of what was left of House Ken'virr ends in the light above ground in Faerûn. Her great-grandpa Nymfein Melghym's sacrifice pays off in the end. 2/?