Linda

Linda is a co-founder of the Crows whose fierce scrutiny of Quinn's group turns into committed service in the Cursed faction. After Quinn saves her as a Draugr, she becomes a ship commander, communications leader, and frontline defender whose relationships with Blip and Wevil shape both her grief and her continued sense of duty. (Chapters 548, 576–591, 783–814, 1029, and 1287–1312)

Biography

From Crows Investigator to Draugr

Linda co-founds the Crows with Blip and enters Quinn's story as one of the Rank B travellers assigned to assess his party. She is direct, suspicious, and determined to expose what she believes are lies, but her investigation also shows tactical care: she withholds assumptions from an observer so that the report will not be biased. The mission turns disastrous when Kazz slits Linda's throat to preserve vampire secrecy. Quinn refuses to let her die and uses a blood ritual that turns her into a basic Draugr, forcing Linda to conceal both her survival and the loss of the transformation ability she once shared with Blip. (Chapters 548–576 and 603)

Her new body creates an immediate moral and physical crisis. Draugr healing and evolution require human flesh; Linda is horrified after feeding, yet the act feels disturbingly natural to her transformed instincts. She wants revenge on Kazz but promises Quinn that she will keep the vampires' existence secret. Rather than withdraw, she and Dennis persuade Blip to accept Quinn's plan, and Linda resumes field leadership while managing the fear that Blip or the Crows will discover what she has become. (Chapters 576–591 and 699)

Command in the Cursed Faction

Linda's responsibilities expand as the Crows merge into the Cursed faction. She leads dangerous beast hunts, takes command of the Cursed ship while senior members are absent, and develops a practical working partnership with Wevil. In battle she evolves into a Great Draugr, using a giant form, regeneration, and an indifference to pain to outlast Tulk; the victory also exposes her limitations, because severe damage leaves her needing human flesh and her normal armour cannot initially expand with her body. (Chapters 683, 783–784, and 811–814)

Blip's death changes the emotional centre of her life without ending her work. Linda remains close to Dennis through their shared loss and later becomes one of the faction's principal contacts with other human factions, working with Wevil to receive requests and coordinate responses. She also supports operations against the Marked and carries shadow power so Quinn can reach endangered teams, making her useful as both administrator and mobile anchor rather than only as a heavy fighter. (Chapters 947, 1029, 1060–1065, and 1215)

Wevil, Loss, and Continued Service

During the Dalki fighting, Linda protects Wevil beneath her enlarged body even as repeated attacks leave her unable to move. Believing that both may die, she admits that she originally approached him to seek revenge against the Parasites for Blip's death, but that resentment changed into love as she learned who Wevil was. He rejects the idea of letting her sacrifice herself and dies pushing her away from the fatal attack. The loss leaves Linda unable to fight, but it also proves that the relationship she began under false motives had become mutual and genuine. (Chapters 1287–1292)

Linda resumes the mission because Wevil spent his life to preserve hers. Chosen as a sensible shadow user, she travels with Fex, investigates threats around the Dragon and the vampire settlement, and later helps train Samantha in the same Draugr subclass. Her greater experience as Quinn's earlier convert makes her stronger than the newer Draugr even when both use enlarged bodies and fitted armour. (Chapters 1312–1347, 1436, and 1494–1509)

Death and Reunion

Linda survives the principal Dalki conflict and continues answering calls with the old Cursed faction, but the corpus does not establish when or how she dies during Quinn's long slumber. In the mist-filled realm connected to Quinn's dead, she is reunited with Wevil and appears beside Dennis and other former allies. Arthur uses shadow to keep the group alive while they defend Quinn, giving Linda one final continuation of the faction loyalty that defined her later life. (Chapters 1773, 2476, and 2481)

Appearance and personality

Linda is introduced with hair cut just below her ears and a short black jacket ending at her midriff. She is fierce, blunt, and difficult to mislead, qualities that can read as hostility during her first investigation but later make her an efficient commander and communicator. Beneath that severity she is protective and emotionally considerate: she spares Dennis from retelling trauma, hides fear to preserve the group, and continues working after the deaths of Blip and Wevil even when grief temporarily leaves her unable to fight. (Chapters 548, 565, 577–591, 947, and 1312)

Powers and abilities

Linda begins with a human family ability but loses it when Quinn turns her. Her later combat identity rests on Great Draugr physiology, a controllable giant form, and a limited command of Quinn's shadow power. (Chapters 576, 784, 814, and 1060)

Lost transformation ability

Before conversion, Linda and Blip possess the same family transformation ability, a connection reflected in the Crows' name. The blood ritual replaces Linda's human ability with her vampire subclass, and the corpus explicitly states that she cannot use the old transformation afterwards even though she was an original holder of it. She conceals that loss until her new condition can no longer be hidden. (Chapters 576, 603, and 814)

Great Draugr physiology and giant form

As a basic Draugr, Linda has no heartbeat, rapid regeneration, and strength comparable to her creator's at the time of conversion, while her other physical attributes begin at roughly half that standard. She does not need human flesh as routine food, but consuming it restores major damage and enables evolution; the same appetite sharpens her temper and creates a recurring ethical burden. After evolving into a Great Draugr, she can enlarge herself to Dalki-like scale without surrendering her movement, speed, or strength, allowing her to grapple large enemies and shield companions with her body. (Chapters 576–577, 784, and 1287)

The form does not remove exhaustion or equipment constraints. Linda's ordinary armour initially remains normal-sized when she grows, heavy punishment can leave her immobile, and regeneration after catastrophic wounds still requires flesh. Later armour is made to suit the transformation, and she teaches the same subclass applications to Samantha; Linda remains the stronger of the two because her earlier conversion gave her longer development. (Chapters 784, 814, 1287–1292, and 1494–1509)

Shadow power

Quinn grants Linda access to shadow as a member of the Cursed family. She can keep it active as a location anchor for Quinn, protect herself, and use it in missions, but her defensive spread is limited: when holding a doorway she cannot extend the shadow freely beyond her own position. The corpus does not show her mastering advanced techniques such as Shadow Travel, so her established use is defensive and logistical rather than comprehensive. (Chapters 1060–1065, 1215, and 1312)

Leadership and field judgment

Linda is an experienced Traveller, expedition leader, ship commander, and inter-faction communicator. She reads reports critically, controls the duration and risk of beast hunts, monitors multiple ship departments, and speaks for the faction when Sam falters. These skills do not prevent personal motives from clouding her judgment—her first approach to Wevil is driven by revenge—but she recognises that bias and ultimately chooses cooperation and responsibility. (Chapters 548, 565, 683, 783, 1029, and 1287)

Power progression

Relationships

• Quinn: Quinn saves Linda through a transformation she never requested, creating resentment toward vampire circumstances but also a bond of duty. She protects his secret, leads within his faction, and uses his shadow power on repeated missions. (Chapters 576–591, 783, 1029, and 1215)
• Blip: Blip is Linda's fellow Crows founder and brother. His fear when he thinks she may have died exposes their closeness; after his death, grief shapes Linda's relationships with Dennis and Wevil. (Chapters 548, 577, 591, 947, and 1287)
• Wevil: Linda initially seeks closeness to Wevil as revenge against the Parasites, then falls in love with him. Each tries to sacrifice themselves for the other, and they are eventually reunited among Quinn's dead allies. (Chapters 783, 1029, 1287–1312, and 2476)
• Dennis: Dennis shares Linda's history with Blip and helps her persuade him to join Quinn. Their friendship endures after Blip's death, expressed through mutual support rather than replacing the person they lost. (Chapters 591, 825, and 947)
• Kazz: Kazz mortally wounds Linda to protect vampire secrecy. Although Quinn saves her, Linda retains a grudge and initially remains reluctant to trust vampires because of the attack. (Chapters 574–576 and 826)

Items

• Size-compatible armour: Linda's first armour cannot expand with her Great Draugr body, leaving giant-form equipment as a practical weakness. Later fitted armour supports the transformation and is also used in training Samantha. (Chapters 784, 814, and 1494–1509)