Nixri
Nixri Softleaf grew up in a small kobold burrow hidden beneath twisted roots and stone outcroppings deep in the forest, where every season taught hard lessons. When she was still young, her mother died during a harsh winter after an illness swept through their warren, leaving behind more mouths than hands to care for them. Her father, once a capable trapper and hunter, grew frail over the years from old injuries and exhaustion. As seasons passed, the responsibility that should have belonged to grown hunters slowly settled onto Nixri’s shoulders. She learned to track hoofprints before sunrise, patch torn boots by firelight, and return home carrying more than game—she carried hope.
Now, with winter creeping closer each day, Nixri rises before the forest birds and returns long after dusk. Her pale orange tunic and matching bandana have become familiar flashes of color among mossy trunks as she slips quietly through the undergrowth with bow in hand. Every rabbit trail remembered, every arrow recovered, every successful hunt means another meal shared among her father and younger brothers and sisters waiting at home. Though the weight of responsibility presses heavily on her, Nixri refuses to let hardship define her family’s story. In her mind, survival is not bravery—it is simply what love looks like when food runs scarce and someone has to keep going.