3. Dealing With Trauma Unhealthily Award
It is immensely difficult to pick between Dagne, Nux, and Vaeren for this one. So allow me to make my case for each.
Dagne is a mess and remains such throughout the entire campaign. They start off with a heavy dose of trauma due to the amnesia, being undead, the Last War, and their father figure Iura Josan dying in The Mourning, which they handled by drinking and trying to maintain control over everything, expecially their sense of self and purpose. The way Dagne saw it, they were a martyr of the Blood of Vol with no soul, only existing to protect the living, to their own detriment if necessary. When their control over the situation broke down and the stakes got scary, as is typical in a D&D game, they tried to break up the party over it. Also they're a liar and a rude asshole who doesn't trust anybody, very unpleasant to talk to and deal with, expecially for the NPCs. When they found out they had been intentionally killed and made undead to be a prophecy token, Dagne became incredibly despondent and lost sight of their reason for existing for a while.
Nux was forcibly entered into a warlock pact with Kyrzin and then their Whisperer cult tried to sacrifice them in a ritual. So they have a complex of guilt over not doing their duty (dying) and for the people they unintentionally killed during their escape. They were constantly dogged by the cult, who still want to complete the ritual, and demons from the Killing Cold, which wished to create a new pact with them. Nux lashed out a lot verbally and physically, especially early on in the campaign, and tried to cut a mark of Kyrzin off their own arm. Nux particularly had a strained relationship with Dagne, due to their distrust of authority. Nux saw Dagne trying to impose their will over the party as cruel and unreasonable, sometimes rightfully so.
Vaeren is the youngest child of an Aereni family where everyone becomes Deathguard, and as such had extremely high expectations to live up to. When they broke the rules and entered a dangerous part of the woods adjacent to a Mabaran manifest zone, they were blinded by a dark creature which they barely defeated in battle. Rather than having their vision healed, they were left in this state as punishment and given a spirit idol, the spirits within would act as their eyes. This made them very dependent on the Deathguard, and they had difficulties with making decisions and asserting their own opinions. They usually spoke in terms of "we" instead of "I."
The three of them all improved over the course of the campaign. None of them got all the way better, and Dagne especially got worse before getting better. I cannot decide who wins the award they're all so messed up in different ways.
7. Who wins Outstanding Plot Fucker Upper?
Dagne, 100%.
There are numerous times where Dagne really fucked up, but the worst one has gotta be near the end of the campaign. They were sent to retrieve a coautl weapon from the Age of Demons, Garthir, in order to kill Mordakesh the Shadow Sword with it. However, on the way, Mordakesh killed Nux using a demon weapon, also from the Age of Demons, Saraskha. Saraskha trapped Nux's soul in it. Once Dagne had Garthir and learned that Nux could not be revived because their soul was not in Dolurrh, they were approached by a rakshasa lieutenant of Mordakesh that they knew as Valtis Redeyes. He offered a simple trade, Saraskha, with Nux's soul in it, for Garthir.
Dagne took the trade. They were able to use Sarsakha to revivify Nux. Unknown to them, the demon weapon was already corrupting their mind, thinking in their thoughts. Dagne became convinced that Saraskha was a workable substitute for Garthir, and that they could use the soul storing properties of the weapon to kill their enemies without actually killing them. It appealed to their oath to protect the living and their need to not kill anyone. Nux, horrified by Dagne's plan, got the weapon away from them and the rest of the party helped them convince Dagne that using Saraskha was a very very bad idea.
