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Delya

NPCs
Human · Commoner, custom background feature · Level 0

Delya

Caretaker of the palace steps and unofficial message keeper
“Who needs to hear this?”
AC10
HP9/9
Init
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
ConditionsNone

At the table

“s got a broken wing,”
From how they speak

Voice

A dry, breath-led voice with a little rasp from years of calling across courtyards. Before her name, she takes a brief nasal intake, as if testing the air for rain. Her laugh begins as a short bark and often turns into a cough she waves away.

Her speech is economical and concrete, shaped by years of giving directions over street noise and calming children through bad weather. She names the thing she means rather than dressing it up. When she tells a story, she pauses to recreate small sounds: a boot on stone, paper in rain, a door latch catching.

Speech patterns

Begins practical questions with, "Who needs to hear this?"
Uses bird-folding terms as metaphors: "That one's got a broken wing," means a message is incomplete.
Calls children "captains" when encouraging them to speak for themselves.
When angry, her words become clipped and blunt, with no softening jokes.

How to play them

Offer practical help first, then ask who the message is for and whether its maker wants it delivered. Delya is warm with children and wary of officials. She will not surrender a child's message merely because someone claims authority, but she can be persuaded by a clear explanation that protects the sender.

Goal

Keep the paper-bird custom safe and open, then find a way to speak honestly with Toma before their estrangement becomes permanent.

Motivation

She believes a message deserves to be heard even when its sender has no title, money, or courage to approach the palace gates.

Secret · GM only

Appearance

Delya has a broad, weather-browned face and a sturdy, compact frame, with creases at her eyes from squinting up palace walls and reading tiny handwriting. Her black hair is braided flat against her scalp and threaded with scraps of blue paper that flutter when she turns. She walks with an uneven, quick-set rhythm, as if keeping pace with an invisible child beside her. Before she speaks, she takes a small, audible breath through her nose, then tilts her head as though listening for a message arriving from far away. The unexpected thing about the palace steps' stern keeper is that she is an avid, terrible amateur puppeteer: two of her fingers are almost always posed as a bird's beak.

Clothing

A patched plum-brown coat with a deep inside pocket, a plain linen shirt, a wool scarf pinned with a bent brass bird, and practical boots whose soles are dusted with pale palace grit.

Body language

She favors her right side slightly when walking and plants her stick before stepping down. Her hands are busy with scraps of paper, even in conversation. When someone lies, she stops moving altogether and waits through the silence.

Height
5 ft. 2 in.
Build
Compact and sturdy, with strong forearms from years of sweeping, carrying water, and hauling bundles.
Eyes
Dark hazel, usually narrowed against the morning glare off the palace stone.
Hair
Black, streaked with iron gray
Skin
Warm brown with a weathered, sun-darkened cast
Age
Fifty-eight
Gender
Woman
Size
Medium

Distinguishing features

A bent brass bird pin with one wing polished bright from constant rubbing.
Blue paper scraps braided into her hair, changed according to the season.
A quick, uneven walking rhythm and a small nasal intake of breath before she speaks.

Personality

13 traits and drives

Delya is welcoming to the frightened and suspicious of the powerful, yet she is capable of surprising tenderness toward a pompous official who is plainly grieving. She jokes when a child is nervous, but becomes severe when an adult treats a child's hope as a nuisance. She wants to believe the palace can do good, while refusing to pretend it always does.

Alignment
Neutral good

Quirks

Makes a tiny bird beak with two fingers whenever she is considering a difficult answer.
Counts palace steps backward on her way down, insisting it keeps her from hurrying past someone who needs help.
Names each paper bird by the sound of its landing, such as "plip" or "scritch," but never writes those names down.
Leaves a folded paper fish beside any bird that has been rained on, as if the fish were its escort home.

Habits

Arrives before dawn to sweep the steps and leaves a dry patch where paper birds can sit without soaking through.
Sorts messages by the kind of fold, not by color or apparent importance.
When worried, checks the palace doors and then the nearest drain, remembering how quickly floodwater once changed her neighborhood.
Answers children directly, but makes adults state plainly what they want before she helps them.

Traits · 3

Remembers what people ask for, but forgets to mention what she herself needs.
Can be coaxed into laughing by a badly made paper bird.
Treats promises as more binding than written orders.

Flaws · 3

She withholds information when she believes she is protecting someone, even when that person has a right to know.
She can turn stubborn when palace officials insist that order matters more than the people waiting outside.
She takes on other people's burdens until she is too exhausted to ask for help.

Fears · 3

That a child's private plea will be copied, exposed, or used to punish their family.
That Toma will mistake Delya's silence about the first paper bird for indifference.
Another flood that leaves the district with nothing but scraps.

Wants and needs · 4

To know whether the ruler would truly answer the children if given the chance.
A private, honest conversation with Toma.
A reliable way to keep paper birds dry through Drauvana's wet season.
Someone trustworthy to share the work of protecting the custom.

Combat

AC 10 · HP 9 · 30 ft.

Delya avoids a fight and tries to put a solid door or a crowd between herself and danger. If cornered, she uses her stick to make space, calls for help, and retreats toward the palace guard post. She will take a risk to shield a child or protect a message, but she does not pursue fleeing opponents.

Delya

Medium humanoid (human), neutral good
Armor Class10
Hit Points9
Speed30 ft.
Level0
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Saving ThrowsWisdom
SkillsInsightPersuasionPerceptionSleight of Hand
SensesPassive Perception 12
Languages
Common
Custom feature, Paperway. Delya can identify the child who folded a paper bird by its creases and can usually infer whether it carries a happy, urgent, or frightened message.
Custom feature, Palace Steps' Keeper. Children trust Delya with messages they are afraid to deliver themselves. She never opens a bird without its maker's permission.

Actions

Walking Stick. Melee Weapon Attack: to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 () bludgeoning damage.
Message Tube. Ranged Weapon Attack: to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 2 () bludgeoning damage. Delya throws a tightly rolled message tube, not a weapon she enjoys using.

Reactions

Step Between. When a creature Delya can see attacks a child or a helpless bystander within 5 feet of her, Delya can impose disadvantage on that attack by striking at the attacker's arm with her stick. Once she uses this reaction, she cannot use it again until the start of her next turn.

Services they sell

Delivering a message within Drauvana when its sender cannot safely do so.
Finding a child or family who has left a paper bird, when the sender has asked to be found.
Offering a quiet place to wait, a little food, and practical knowledge of the palace steps.

Rewards they can give

A folded paper bird carrying a clue to a person or place in the district.
A safe introduction to Branik, who knows the palace's night routines.
Delya's help delivering a message discreetly, if the request does not endanger a child.

Equipment

  • Walking stick (tool)A stout ash walking stick, worn smooth where her hand rests.
  • Paper pouch (supplies)A cloth pouch of colored scraps, blank slips, and a blunt pencil.
  • Bent bird pin (keepsake)A small brass pin shaped like a bird with one bent wing.
  • Bread bundle (rations)A wrapped heel of bread and a little salt, saved for whichever child arrives hungry.

Possessions

A walking stick with a hollow handle
A pouch of paper scraps and pencils
A brass bird pin
A small bundle of bread and salt
A private list of children's first-message dates

Background

Delya grew up in the low district of Drauvana, where floodwater once carried half the neighborhood's belongings into the river. Her mother taught her to fold scraps into birds to keep small children occupied while the adults salvaged what they could. As an adult, Delya became a palace stair-sweeper, then a message runner, learning which guards could be trusted and which doors opened only after a patient knock. Years ago, during a night of unrest, she found a terrified child hiding beneath the palace steps with a paper bird addressed to the ruler. Instead of sending the child away, Delya carried the bird inside. The ruler answered, and that small reply began the district's tradition of leaving paper birds on the palace steps. Delya now tends the custom, though it brings her into conflict with palace officials who dislike unsanctioned petitions. Her closest ally is Branik, an aging night porter who quietly warns her when guards plan to clear the steps. Her estranged daughter, Toma, works as a clerk in the palace registry and believes Delya's practice invites trouble. Delya is trying to reconcile with her while protecting the children's messages from political use.

Role in the story

A neighborhood fixture who can introduce characters to the ordinary people affected by palace decisions, offer a quiet route into local concerns, and test whether they respect small acts of trust.

“Her mother taught her to fold scraps into birds to keep small children occupied while the adults salvaged what they could.”
From their background
Faction
A trusted informal caretaker of the palace steps in Drauvana; no official palace rank or faction membership.

Known connections

Branik, the palace's aging night porter, warns Delya when the steps are due to be swept clear.
Toma, Delya's adult daughter, is a registry clerk who wants her mother to stop drawing political attention.
The children of the low district leave paper birds on the palace steps, convinced the ruler can carry their messages farther than anyone else.
Drauvana's ruler once answered the first bird Delya carried inside, though Delya has never told the children how frightened the ruler sounded.
Major secret · GM only
Minor secrets · GM only

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