Esfir Vasilieva is one of the members of the Darklight Crusaders. She used to be a former member of the Black Skulls bandit party. After the events of the The Light of Lunaria, she became a Balancer and a champion of Elder Gigarion.

Biography

Early Life

Esfir was born in the harsh underground of the Underdark, but remembers little of that life. Whatever gnomish community she belonged to, it was ransacked by a cult when she was a child and she was taken by them. Somehow, she survived this, but with psychic powers that she did not have before. She has little memory of how she escaped the clutches of the cult, or how she gained her psionic powers. Maybe someone saved her, maybe she somehow killed her way out even as a child. Regardless, she escaped the Underdark and ended up on the surface.

Growing up on the Lunar surface near the city of Dobuka henceforth, she took on much of the Lunar culture that surrounds her, except for the law and all their authoritarian rules. Going from stealing from merchants to joining criminal gangs that lasted a grand total of one job each, she made her way through life barely scraping by. She started living in a tiny shack within the shady neighborhood of Greasebank and got to know the locals.

The Black Skulls

Her psionic powers were illegal without a magic license which she never acquired. All this is until some years ago, when she joined a new group that actually lasted. Consisting of just her alongside three other members: Luka, Zanasha, and Vadim. The four of them including Esfir became the Black Skulls, a highway bandit crew that targeted the Crimson and Lunar merchants in the mountain border crossings around the city of Dobuka. Evading both Lunar and Crimson authorities, the border meant little to them.

They were active and made a lot of money for a long time, although Luka basically became the de-facto leader of their crew as he came up with all plans. All this was until a fateful day in 3E498, when a robbery went horribly wrong. They were targeting a Crimson merchant wagon that held something of great value, but this time the Crimson guards fought to the death, unusually so. And that's when a Crimson airship showed up, ready to throw fire at them from high above. Luka took whatever treasure that wagon held, and then teleported himself and the other two away from the scene of the crime, but leaving her behind. The crimsons captured her, and sent her off to a snowy prison in the mountains named Oly's Keep.

The Light of Lunaria

Esfir met Ilya in Oly’s Keep, a notorious prison run by the Crimson Empire to hold lunar prisoners. They quickly met other prisoners such as Ront, Jimjar, and Muna, as well as guards like Ronnie and Gemben. Ilya and Esfir discovered the presence of a demon named Alisa, who materialized terrifying dolls and animatronics to torment the prisoners. Then, they met Favian Giranenko and Dmitri Zolotov who got put into the cells opposite them. With the arrival of Favian and Dmitri, the group planned an escape, eventually clashing with the prison’s warden and releasing the daemonfae Alisa in the process. Fleeing into the snowy wilderness, they made their way to Night's End, the headquarters of the Blackreyne Brotherhood, seeking help to defeat the demon they unwittingly freed. There, they met Headhunter Can Vanadiyin as well as Headscribe Otto Albiker, and learned more about Alisa’s past and reality as a Koshmorha, setting them on a quest to gather resources and allies to end her threat once and for all.

The party’s journey led them to the town of Voghnov, where they met the+ blackreyne slayer named Naigha, who led them to an ancient battleground that was considered to be a 'Wound in Divinity'. They eventually defeated the wyvern that she was hired to hunt down, and also found a cursed golden dagger there that Esfir took. With the necessary ingredients and allies in hand, they moved on to Dobuka via cargo train. Finally in Dobuka, they headed to Greasetown where Esfir lived. In the Rust Bucket, they met another blackreyne hunter, the warforged Viktor, who sought a 'child of the Shadowfell' that Ilya recognised as his brother Zhenya. Despite the mounting dangers, the group prepared for their final confrontation with Alisa in the sewers beneath Dobuka where a few children from the local orphanage had disappeared to. The party faced Alisa in her true form after taking the tea of insomnia and casting private sanctum. With the help of Naigha and Dmitri's divine smite, the party finally overcame the daemonfae, rescuing two surviving children from her grasp and securing a hard-won victory.

After their week of recovery in the Rust Bucket, the group found itself plunged into political and personal turmoil. Ilya’s midnight meeting with his brother Zhenya revealed that he worked with Luka to steal a piece of the 'Dark Scepter'. The next night, Blackreyne hunter Mash arrived alongside Viktor, who accused Ilya and his brother for the murder of Brush, the only witness to Luka's theft. Dmitri took Ilya to Neogathol Prison, where they had a discussion with Viktor. Favian and Esfir were forced by Gordon to work with Mash, and ended up relying on Lady Anwela Neonenko for help. Eventually, Viktor revealed the truth about the Dark Sceptre to the party, and how his secret client had bought the Dark Filial that Luka stole during its journey. He instructed the party to recover it from the Shadowfell, sending Mash alongside them.

As the group ventured toward the Shadowfell, they journeyed to Neosk and the darkening Alphwoods. The mayor of Neosk told the party of the corrupted Father Borys and how the Shadowfell gate opened within the town. The battle with Borys ended with them saving the town, but ending up on the other side of the gate within the Shadowfell. The shadowy realm tested their resolve and abilities, as they faced shadows, mimic creatures, cloud giants, and dangerous Shadar-Kai assassins while traveling to the city of Moonruin with two companions named Oshki and Zuria. The party's arrival at Moonruin introduced Luka, who had become the lord of the city. He and Esfir's former teammates had taken over the city using the Dark Filial. The party ended up capturing the orc Vadim, gaining some information from him before talking to the town's dark priest, Viziel. He was neutral in their fight against Luka, and introduced them to him where the party pretended to turn to Luka's side, especially after noticing the shadow dragon Mynvokun under his command.

He tested them first by sending them on a treasure hunt in an abandoned prison nearby, where they found a strong artifact that would prevent death. Favian decided to create a replica and present Luka with a fake version of the artifact, which somehow worked and they seemingly gained his trust. He had the party drink dark holy liquid that Ilya had ingested before as well. Luka and Viziel revealed that the Dark Hunt's invasion is going to happen within the next two years. The party then stole strong artifacts from Luka's treasury, using said artifacts to finally fight him and kill him for good. Esfir ended up killing both Zanasha and Luka in the fight, and Ilya claimed the Dark Filial from Luka. After an argument on what to do and where to take it, the party decided to make a dark pact to prevent betrayal among themselves. With Viziel's help, they bound their souls with that of Mynvokun, the Shadow-Dragon. The Dark Oath made sure that any decisions the party makes had to be voted on, and no one could betray the rest of the party without having Mynvokun consume their souls. They decided to make this pact until the apocalypse of the Dark Hunt is prevented. Ilya attuned to the Dark Filial.

They decided to contact Viera Blackreyne, the Archhuntress of the Blackreyne Brotherhood. They warned her of the impending Dark Hunt invasion as well as Viktor's involvement, and she told them to meet her at her mansion in Taltigo. They plane shifted to the Lunar Sea. Meeting Viera in her mansion there, she revealed to them Viktor's history and how she distrusted him. She wouldn't mind if he were to die, even. She told them to ask Lady Lyn for help in locating whoever ordered the Filial to be shipped to them, but warned them not to owe her a favor. Lady Lyn agreed to help the party, and in return they had to travel to Torishu and kill Pirate Waterlord Ozran for her. She sent her daughter Myranda with them on the small ship called The Disgraced Eel. As the party reached Torishu, they fought off a Shinobi ambush and hid at an onsen. The party then defeated the Waterlord Ozran in combat, and asked his corpse all the information he had about dark artifacts. They learned that whoever had ordered the Filial's shipment already owned one piece of the scepter that they had gotten from Skion. They also learned of a buried treasure Ozran hid away that he had stolen from Xaniv the Whisperer. They uncovered Xaniv's Book of Vile Darkness, and then decided to bury it again after only learning a few spells from the evil book. They said their goodbyes to Myranda at Taltigo, and Esfir named the party 'the Darklight Crusaders'.

Lyn revealed to them that the shipment was meant to be delivered to Akhlezh and was ordered by Ballista Libra of the Golden Church, who was in Kalkipol at the moment. The party discussed their options and decided to have Dmitri sneak into the church to gather intel. Upon making it to Kalkipol however, they were immediately caught and apprehended by Ballista Virgo, who took the Dark Filial from Ilya momentarily. Libra chastized Gemini, and then cut off Dmitri's right hand. Virgo then left, releasing the party from their bounds and dropping the Filial. The party then quickly escaped the Church by breaking a window and disappearing into the dark alleys, having picked the Filial back up. They took shelter in an abandoned warehouse, where they reflected on the true apocalyptic plans of both the light and the dark. The party went to the Sabatcieni warehouse in the city where Ilya met his sister Anya. Favian immediately recognised her as looking extremely similar to Dmitri and they realized that they are siblings. They were then ambushed by Gold Monks as well as a Gold Inquisitor, leading them to seek out an alliance with House Koporev.

They ended up meeting Bolt Matros Koporeva, and revealed everything to her including the Dark Filial. She hired them as official Kuprum Explorers, and promised to hide the Filial somewhere safe. She then sent them to Skion Labs in Gematirsk to steal information from Ballista Aquarius aka Dr. A under the guise of delivering the Soul-Sacrificial Dagger. She gave them one of her personal airships - the Sokol - as well as one of her personal trusted men, Zurikov. In Gematirsk, they infiltrated Dr A's office within Skion Labs with Esfir's help and uncovered information about important people of note as well as communication between him and Kol-Han that revealed the Ballistas' apocalyptic plan. After a fight with Dr. A and Vortex Viktoria Vier, they escaped Gematisk on the Sokol and made their way back to St. Arbalsburg.

The party had to explain and lie to Bolt Ithila Giranenko, convincing her that they're working for the church in addition to Matros. Dmitri convinced Ithila that Favian, if he saves the world, would only elevate House Giranenko. The party then discussed what to do, and ended up deciding to head to Terros through Dobuka to look for Baron Gideon Huxley, stopping over at the Sabatcieni near Dobuka first. The party departed with Zurikov and arrived at Boetsk for a short respite where they were attacked by Baba Nadira and then some Dark Hunt Bleed Killers. The party met Gordon and Anya in the Rust Bucket in Dobuka, and then convinced Anya to travel with them for a while for her safety. Over the next few days, they headed towards the terrosi city of Yawrôn to find Gideon after learning from Ingrid that Gideon was in his hometown. At the DoD they finally met Dame Ingrid Rennwald. As the Darklight Crusaders explained the situation to her and the guildmaster, they agreed to help them out in any way that they can.

The next morning, Ingrid led them towards the Mountainfey Ruins, where they finally met Baron Gideon Huxley. After he was briefed on the entire situation, he realized that Anya and Dmitri are linked to the fey in some way. He tried to unlock their memories, returning to them snippets of memories. They then also revealed that Viera was missing, leading to the party heading to Night's End to deal with Viktor once and for all. Esfir helped Mash and the other Blackreynes fight against Viktor and his supporters, and after they killed him, Can promised that Night's End is going to be a friendly base of operations for the Darklight Crusaders. Esfir had a nightmare of a potential future in which the Shadowfell and the Dark Hunt had taken over and destroyed Lunaria, and she walked across corpses of all the party members and allies including herself. A shadowy figure approached her from behind, but talked like a protective and caring figure. They offered Esfir a way to prevent this future, and she accepted the entity's help without even looking at it. She was then given a burnt book, serving as her pact of the tome. She woke up and shot an eldritch blast at a potted plant, and the party had a discussion with her about what this means.

After that, the Darklight Crusaders had a meeting with Can, Otto, Zhalimov, Zurikov, as well as a new diplomat- Raziel of Alsiorion, the Keeper of Secrets. As they told them mostly everything, Raziel asked the party about their plans and their convictions, before revealing that the oracles of Alsorion have determined that the Dark Hunt would attack two years from now, on the Varkosi Arcanos of 3E500. He then revealed to them the location of Markal Zuriel as well as his history, and told them that he awaits them in the heavenly plane of Qaydar. The party then spent many 'months' within the heavenly planes making their way to Markal. Esfir ended up gambling with a Peacock Spirit in Saturia, bluffing and winning against it. When they finally met Markal, they were attacked by Ballista Aries who they finally ended up killing for good. They then stepped back through her portal and appeared in Sergorod, realizing that 2 years had passed and that they only had one week until Varkosi Arcanos.

They met Zurikov and Bolt Matros who explained that a Lunar Council meeting was happening at the Table, and this would be the best time for them to make their case to the bolts that show up as well as Serebryanitsa Strela. The party revealed almost everything to the Bolts from the Church's plan to let the world end, Dr. A's letter, as well as what they did to Dmitri. Kol-Han almost convinced the room to be against the party, but Favian's pleas to Na-Bolt Anwela Neonenko worked and she ended up supporting them. Kol-Han attacked each of their characters, but in the end Serebryanitsa Strela ruled to be neutral in this affair. After the successful meeting, the party contacted Anya who told them that Libra and the Church were attacking the Sabatcieni at Rtutiv. They immediately teleported there and killed Ballista Capricorn. After killing Ballista Libra, Anya explained that the three Babas had locked themselves away for months conducting a ritual as well as that Zhenya was now much stronger and essentially leading the Sabatcieni into war.

Ilya and the party finally met Zhenya within the Sabbath, where Zhenya yelled at Ilya for joining the ‘light’. Ilya managed to convince most of the Sabbath that the Dark Hunt would be bad for everyone and that Zhenya is lost. After a decisive fight, Ilya managed to break Zhenya’s hexed strength and bring him down. There, in front of the entire Sabbath, he then executed his brother whose body fell into the ravine de-powered. Finally, Ilya was essentially the leader of the Sabbath at least while the Babas were locked away. Afterwards, Esfir and the entire party had a shared vision of the apocalyptic future. Esfir’s patron entity 'Gigarion' then asked each of them if they were willing to give up their lives to make things better, and sacrifice their futures beyond just killing the Babas and Kol-Han. They all vowed to do what they must. Finally, Gigarion revealed to Esfir that her destiny had led her here, and even her psionic origins in the underdark were due to the Baba’s interference. They asked her to become Gigarion’s champion of balance and void, and keep all in check who would threaten that balance. She accepted. Now that their bonds of trust were unbreakable, Mynvokun’s soul ended their soul-pact prematurely, now that it was no longer needed. 

The party had a fruitful discussion with Bolt Strakh in Rtutiv, but on their way out of the Merkuriyev Fortress, a magical trap tried to pull in Favian. Mash realized this in time and the party was able to follow Favian to the GIMA Bolt’s office, where Ithila and Demyan held Favian paralysed. Ithila refused to listen to reason, and even tried to kill Favian with Power Word Kill which was prevented by Dmitri. She let out their Giranium Golem on the rest of the party, and Favian and Dmitri together managed to convince Demyan to help them instead. The party neutralized Ithila to the best of their ability and took both her and the golem down. Favian made her listen to him, and she reluctantly named him Na-Bolt.

At midnight when Varkosi Arcanos began, the Dark Hunt invaded Abmarah. The barrier around Babaoga’s hut disappeared, and the party ventured into her demiplane where they finally faced off against Baba Ogafya, Baba Nadira, and Baba Imka. Despite killing the witches, their coven’s magic kept reviving them. Favian managed to disintegrate Baba Nadira before she could pull off Mash’s face, and then they managed to kill Baba Ogafya and Baba Imka together. Ilya had a touching farewell with Imka before she disappeared. The party immediately boarded the Sokol above in the Kosmosi Mountains, and rested while Zurikov piloted them to Sergorod. The crusaders reached Sergorod by sunrise, and rushed up towards the Golden Church as the Dark Hunt waged war against Lunaria and the world as a whole above them. Ballista Leo stopped them, but Markal immediately engaged the fight with the other angel. The party managed to get past Leo’s chronomancy and kill him, before rushing up to meet Kol-Han before his pipe organ. He took them high up into the sky above the city, to a cloudy altar. Chastising Gemini and vowing to destroy them, Kol-Han casted a meteor swarm and almost ended the party at the beginning of the fight. Favian’s simulacrum joined this final fight as well. The fight against the Patriarch was incredibly dire and the party almost did not make it as Kol-Han called the Lightclaw to him. Markal kept the lightclaw from reaching Kol-Han, when Dmitri finally ended him. Kol-Han died unable to reach Lightclaw, gasping for it until his final moment.

Dmitri then attuned to the Lightclaw while Ilya attuned to the now-complete Dark Sceptre. Together, the two resisted the calls to do evil and become gods. Ilya banished the Dark Hunt forever to the Shadowfell, and Dmitri let chaos into the world to end this era of order. However, outside their trance Favian, Mash, and Esfir realized that this was killing the two. They decided to let the two artifacts destroy each other, and using all their magic they forced the artifacts to touch and implode. Dmitri and Ilya were freed, as ripples in the fabric of reality brought the cosmos to a perfect balance. The party went on to all become leaders, as Favian got more responsibilities as Na-Bolt, Dmitri forced the rest of the Ballista and the Golden Church to reform as their new leader, Ilya settled the Sabbath onto a new surface town, Mash became the new Headhunter after Can’s retirement and reconciled with his family, and Esfir became a balance between all of them.

They encountered Jimjar again after the fight, and despite her annoyance with him, Esfir gave him his soul back and Favian gave him some money.

After the Campaign

Esfir traveled the continent for a few years, keeping in touch with her friends as the new 'balancer' between them. She stopped hearing the voice of Elder Gigarion, but felt their presence regardless on this new 'right' path.

Timeline

• 3E460 - Esfir is born in the Underdark.

• 3E498 - The events of the The Light of Lunaria begin, with Esfir getting arrested and sent to Oly's Keep.

• 3E500 - The Darklight Crusaders return to Lunaria after spending two years in the Heavens, leading into the ending of The Light of Lunaria.

Gallery

Esfir during Ch. 1 & 2 of TLoL (Credit: Aaron)

Esfir in Baldur's Gate 3 (Credit: BG3)

Esfir during Ch. 3 & 4 of TLoL (Credit: Aaron)

Esfir during Ch. 5 of TLoL (Credit: Aaron)

Pixel Esfir (Credit: Daibik)