Many Moons

Many Moons is the twelfth and final installment for A Better Place, taking place long before the events of the previous story, Lost For Words. Canonically, it is also the second-earliest story in this series, its events taking place some time after Holidays In The Sun. Having only recently started journeying after breaking free from her reclusive and oppressive society, Txori Orzola finds herself in the unforgiving streets of the war-torn Sirota, her wallet stolen by a street urchin and herself having to hide from the night patrol. Initially willing to consider returning home in frustration, Txori instead finds herself in an ill-fated encounter with a halfling named Maribelle Helder, herself returning to the area to check on her family's orphanage, but unwilling to say much more. At Helder Orphanage, however, two make a discovery that changes not only their own lives, but also that of a young waif in the middle of the night.

Many Moons can be read here.

The above image was drawn by pepparmint310, whose online portfolio can be found here.

Many Moons was named after the song by punk rock band Darkbuster.

Maribelle Helder technically predates all other characters in the series outside of Silifrey Helder herself; "Maribelle" was infrequently referenced as a family member whom Silifrey would sometimes allude to in the real-life campaign that Silifrey was in. Maribelle herself later appeared in a small short story that acted as an epilogue for Silifrey's travels with the real-life party, entitled All In All, which also introduced her two older brothers, Victor and Edward (as named after two famous metal mascots). Given Silifrey's status as an orphan, I had a bit of fun creating her adoptive family, such as naming all of her remaining siblings after other notable rock mascots (to be precise, for Descendents, ALL, and Dio), making Maribelle the only daughter, and similar anecdotes that ultimately didn't appear in this story.

While every character in this series reflects at least part of my personality, ideals, etc., per Dungeons & Dragons tradition, I feel Maribelle probably most closely reflects myself. Much of her backstory of struggling to help others worse off than herself was partially inspired by my own career choice of pharmacy when I first started, as well as her eventual acceptance of such a role, however small. Maribelle's stern and impersonal exterior belying her kind, if sardonic interior also feels evocative of my own professional persona, more than any other character in the series.

When I started writing this series with Bring The Night On back in early 2021, I never expected to have created 12 different entries for each of the 12 classes featured in Dungeons & Dragons. It's been quite the experience to create these 12 different stories of 12 different individuals and seeing how they could interact with one another, especially after I chose to commit to a non-linear chronology. 

 I've the feeling we'll be seeing some of them again someday soon...