The Eccentric Arcanist

Like Debra Nagast, Leila Bela's name is a permutation of a Hancockian term that originates from the book The Sign and the Seal. In Leila's case, the word from which I derived the name was "Lalibela," although I have no idea what it means today. Like most fantasy writers, I recognize the convention of using the name "Bela" (or, in another campaign, the name "Bel") when naming good guys. Leila Bela seemed like the right mix of Hancock, goodness, and late 1960s rock-'n'-roll mystery and, well...there you have it.

Originally, Leila Bela figured to play a much bigger role in the campaign. I conceived her as a big city mentor-contact for Dreyka, who was originally preparing to become a Candlecaster herself. When Dreyka switched career paths, Leila became more-or-less irrelevant to the story, except inasmuch as she was a harried good-guy NPC of Bahar Dar. Eventually, Leila allied herself with the Wildlanders and participated in encounters in the Battle of the Caverns of Azulerum and the battle atop the Five Fingers of Mengistu.

In the Big Red Book, no specific story page exists for Leila Bela. Instead, she receives co-mentions both on the "Evil Prospers While Good Suffers" page (posted in the Rainer Herzeloyde post) and here, on the "The Business with the Dragon" page. I have chosen to post "The Business with the Dragon" here, because at one point in the story the dragon, Scarlet, trashed Leila's candle shop. Also, Leila Bela is the final Bahar Dar NPC, and "The Business with the Dragon" is the final story page.

Thus, this phase of the blog is now concluded.