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Drifa, The Half-Lupine Priestess

Published: March 9th 2022, 3:54:54 am

Drifa's doc is a continuation of the Corrupted Lupine content; between them and Drifa, the 'Red Riding Hood' imagery is intentional. Her encounter only spawns/triggers if the Champion has encountered the Corrupted Lupine Pack at least once already and also defeated Alissa. While traveling around in the Old Woods, the champion will overhear a conflict. They will spot a large pack of Corrupted Lupine outnumbering a half-lupine priestess. It's clear that if the champion does not intervene, they will overwhelm her and take her to their corrupted cave.

Drifa serves as a quest-transitional character as her encounter triggers the quest to eventually locate and take on the Corrupted Lupine warren. If she is absent, the player character will have to interrogate some corrupted lupines for the location of their den. Otherwise, on top of that, Drifa serves as an npc the player can interact with and even send to the Wayfort to do so reliably. Otherwise you can only encounter her via Exploring Hawkethorne. The half-lupine priestess hits similar notes as Etheryn in that she is a timid yet sweet character. Aside from her presence as a quest npc, she is targeted to both players that wish for something saccharine or players that wish to mindbreak and corrupt her.

Personality-wise, she is as stated prior. Somewhat shy and unsure of herself, this priestess is far from weak-willed. Even stubborn at times. At her core, Drifa is genuinely kind and eventually grows comfortable in the presence of the player character. Be it as a friend, a lover, or as her master. Corrupt Drifa, in stark juxtaposition to her other variants, is much more cold and has a bit more self-assurance, albeit with a hint of depression; however, she is wholly devoted to the champ as her tether.

The corrupt version of Drifa is a story about how an innocent girl emerges out of her shell and turns into a beautiful existence, like how a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis, she grows a pair of wings but eventually falls victim to the unfairness of the world. It is about a beautiful soul living in an ugly distorted world and they cannot go back to the way things were before. This version is about losing sight of yourself as you go after things you think you need to be. For her, she wanted to be stronger — she wanted to have a tangible presence helping people. She also wanted to feel accepted. Once the dust settled, she got what she wanted and became stronger, but what did it cost? The answer is 'herself'.

Romance with Drifa is a slow, heartwarming burn if the player goes through her pure route.