Hurley

Hurley was a halfling monk woman. She is now, along with her girlfriend Sloane, a dryad. She is a lieutenant in the Goldcliff Militia under the command of Captain Captain Bane, and drives a Battle Wagon under the alias The Ram.

Description
When we first meet Hurley, she is wearing what looks like a karate gi. She is small in stature but incredibly fast and graceful. She is an officer of the law in Goldcliff and takes her job seriously.

Petals to the Metal
The boys first meet Hurley when she literally swoops in at the very last second to save Magnus, Taako, and Merle from The Raven, who has nearly killed them all. She hits a great karate pose (maybe Crane-style) and yells to Sloane that she isn’t a killer.

Relationship between Sloane and Hurley, AKA The Raven and The Ram
Hurley tells the trio about their backstory in Ep. 21, beginning under the influence of the Zone of Truth and continuing later (29:40) in her Battle Wagon garage.

Hurley was investigating The Raven and trying to apprehend her for petty crimes, when they became very close. Hurley was placed in charge of the investigation of the small-time criminal. Hurley didn’t know that she was a Battle Wagon racer, but once she found out, Hurley was seduced… by racing.

They began a romantic relationship based on a mutual love of racing.

Hurley took on the alias of The Ram, and the two of them began to work and race together, even though Hurley was still a cop. The two of them made a great team, and they “ran clean,” which is to say they didn’t harm any of the other racers unnecessarily.

It began to “break bad” about a month prior to the events of Petals to the Metal. Sloane began to develop superhuman, godlike powers. She started to change, becoming distant and violent on the track, even taking out another wagon in a race, and two of the people on that wagon died.

Hurley and Sloane stopped racing together after that.

In the month between that and Hurley getting involved with Magnus, Taako, and Merle, Sloane had been swallowed up by these powers, but Hurley insists she’s terrified. Last time they’d spoken, Sloane had told her how afraid she was to develop these powers she can’t control and that the only thing she wanted was proof that there was something more powerful than her. She wanted to know that she could someday be rid of the power, possibly.

Hurley has been working on her battle wagon ever since, trying to build something that could beat The Raven. With the help of Magnus, Taako, and Merle (or… perhaps despite their “help,”) Hurley thinks she can beat The Raven in Battle Wagon Racing. Can she? Tune in to the Petals to the Metal to find out! Or... just continue reading the character history.

Hurley, with the help of Taako, Merle, and Magnus, does defeat Sloane in racing, but that isn't enough. Sloane gives over to the power of the Gaia Sash, becomes consumed by vines, and becomes the final boss of the Petals to the Metal arc.

Hurley isn't ready to give up on her that easily, though. When nothing else works, she claps her hands, surrounds herself in glowing white light, and walks right into Sloane's poisonous vines. The vines are very poisonous, but it works: the belt loses its thrall on Sloane. The entire party is blown into the shallow pool at the center of Goldcliff, where Sloane uses her last action as the bearer of the Gaia Sash to transmute herself and Hurley in an everlasting cherry blossom tree.

[https://soundcloud.com/griffinmcelroy/discovery-and-recovery It's beautiful. ]

Story And Song
Much later, as the Hunger descends upon her plane, she emerges from the cherry blossom tree to defend Mavis, who is under attack by the Hunger nearby. Her and Sloane are, to everyone's surprise, still alive, though they've been transformed into dryads - fae forest spirits - presumably by the power of the Gaia Sash, despite the THB's assumption that they'd been straight-up turned into a tree.

Sloane and Hurley are later seen leading a faction of fighters to battle in the final stand against the Hunger. They do a perfect, synchronized Akira bike-slide and I love them.

Powers and Abilities

 * Hurley is a very accomplished Battle Wagon racer.
 * Her monk powers are great. She's, like, really good at stuff.

Spells

 * Clapping and blasting backwards (Likely Fist of Unbroken Air)
 * Clapping and healing others (Not actually a power known to monks [it is now. Way of Tranquility, baby!])
 * The power of love

Items

 * Super rad battle wagon.

Fanart
Check it out on Taako Tuesdays.