The evolution of Moria's quarterstaff through the campaign

TW/Content warning: slavery and kidnapping

Diamante: When Moria first joined our DnD party, he was at one of the lowest point of his life. Kidnapped by slave traders as a kid, Moria had lived 35+ years a slave, "working" for various owners. After igniting a bloody revolt at the slave camp, Moria was free - figuratively, not yet legally. 

Building his own quarterstaff was an essential step of his journey.  Moria's first quarterstaff was meant to convey rage and a warning: do not cross my path, do not poke the bear. The pine tree branch he found laying on the forest floor was "just like me" as he'd put it, strong and crooked. 

The young deer was the first animal he'd hunt as a free person: he cleaned its skull and put in on top of the staff as another warning to strangers. 

The ferrous quartz was a link to its past - it was a nice rock he found in his miner days - and so were the dried-up forget-me-nots; a softer side of his, in the back of the staff... to symbolize (involountarily) how he's really inside. Not a blood-thirsty and threatening individual, but a deeply hurt  and emotional being. Moria was playing the lone wolf: he wanted to come off as scary when in reality he was scared. 

After a weeks of travelling, trauma sharing, newfound trust and opening up, Moria showed more and more his real face and felt no connection to the old quarterstaff anymore. It was time for a change.

By recalling memories of his father, versed in druidic culture, Moria searched for a cedar tree. Many sacred statues (in real life!) are sculpted from this wood, for this tree represents spiritual elevation and greatness of one's soul. 

With Eryn's help (she's a woodcarver) Moria cleaned and carved the wood in a spiral-like shape. Then, when we later reached a dragonborn village, Moria asked for the help of the local florist and grabbed a bunch of flowers: a dahlia (for gratefulness - of being alive and with people who care), thrushes (newfound happyness) and mauves (calm, gentleness). 

During our travels, Moria kept collecting tree resin in a jar, then when it was just enough, he poured it over the flowers, in the small carved canals. Using a modified version of Druidcraft, the resin turned into raw amber, sealing forever his wishes into his quarterstaff.

Moria's new staff is an ode to a new life, to hopes, to being reborn. He never could've crafted his new staff as a lone wolf. He's part of pack now, sort of. ♥