Description
Not particularly huge for a storm giant, before you stands a
beautiful young woman of the noble race. Her hair is a hue resting between
blue and green, perhaps more of a sea-green in nature. Oddly, her hair is
rolled up into two buns, one at each side in a style long since out of date.
Her eyes are caught between determination to her cause and compassion,
reflecting a startling blue gaze.
Her armnament is odd. While you see she wears remnants of platemail
fashioned with the likeness of dragons also in a style long since used, it
seems mostly ornamental in nature. Around it and covering many gaps is a
variety of armor pieces which no doubt are made up from far distant traveled
locations. You can see a rigid dedication to shining and polishing that
might speak more of this woman's character.
At her side is a tarnished weapon of a dull yellow, but unlike the
one she is ready to wield and use in battle, the yellow weapon also seems
ornamental in nature and the tarnish unremovable. Judging by the rigid
leather holding it in place, you doubt it has been removed in some time for
actual use.
Just when it is hard to decide whether she is dressed for a history
parade or actual battle, your eyes are drawn to the perfect reflection of
yourself in her shield, held masterfully. It breaks you from your
consideration of her appearance and you look on to notice the condition of
her physical well-being.
Role
A Knight's Quest
Added Sun May 28 13:06:04 2006 at level 1:
She stared across the rocky and barren expanse, gauging the distance to the
conjurers tower and using the time to consider all that had brought her to
this point. This was it, her first mission as a Knight! If successful, then
she would be appointed a squire by the elders as she herself once was. Taera
Truelight couldnt help but smile.
Quickly she shook her head and the thoughts from her mind. Remember
your Discipline! she thought to herself. With that in mind, and a frown
directed at her own momentary lapse in concentration, Taera turned her
attention ahead to the tower of the conjurer and his evil magic.
The elder Knights sent her forth on this mission with more and more
reports coming in from the neighboring villages of strange happenings. For
days now Taera had been watching the tower, and her scouting had proven the
worse fears true. At night strange creatures could be seen leaving the top
of the tower. Strange and misshapen beasts, their vileness and evil taint
could be sensed even from far below. Taera shook her head grimly and only
began to wonder at the dark deeds they were doing at their masters bidding.
The time was here. Taera tightened her grip on her golden weapon and
entered the tower, defended only with her faith and shield. Surprisingly,
the ascent through the tower was much easier than expected. She had expected
an alarm spell like the invokers used to surely give away her intrusion, but
it seemed this new conjuration magic spreading through the lands was vastly
different in its nature. Perhaps it had its weaknesses as well as strengths
she thought to herself.She could only hope. The thought of the evil
conjuration magic spreading throughout the guilds of Thera and with it the
demons and shadow beasts it brought, made Taera Truelight step even faster
into the highest reaches of the tower.
Too easily Taera came to the highest point in the tower and opened
the laboratory door that stood before her. With courage of the young and
determined, Taera charged through the door, golden weapon held high and
shield ready for anything. Braziers flared around her and she skidded to a
halt as the door slammed shut behind her and cruel and mocking laughter
filled the now bright laboratory. Confused, Taera spun around, looking for
the source of laughter and trying to make out what she had walked into amidst
the flickering light and shadows of the conjuration braziers. Soon there was
no need, for the conjurer stepped forth, its red aura unmistakable to Taera.
'How kind of you to come and deliver my promise of holy blood to the
Cculgra. Now you can be...part of...what no other soul in Thera can begin to
understand of the dark powers to come!'With a flick of his wrist and words
unnatural to Taera, the lights turned to the most horrid of light. Nearly as
dark as the Torch of Shadows, it was light and was not, and soon the room was
bathed in a living darkness.
Before Taera knew it, a dark creature was upon her and in full
assault. Desperately Taera Truelight fought with all the training she had
been given. Time and time again, her Dragonplate staved off what surely
would have been a fatal blow. Even still, smaller injuries were wrought and
Taera began to bleed. Yet with each strike against her, Taera relentlessly
brought
A Fall Into Darkness
Added Sun May 28 13:13:43 2006 at level 1:
Falling. Falling. Falling. Shadow unlike anything she had seen. Air she
could breathe, then suddenly shadow liquid unlike natural water she could
not. Suddenly she emerged again from the thick shadowy substance into open
shadowy air again. All too abruptly she crashed in a hard landing.
Laying there, she struggled to regain her breath, not even daring to
know if she could breathe in this place as dark as any moonless night. She
loosened the straps on her Dragonplate just enough that she could begin to
breathe easier.A sudden exclamation of hope dared to reach her as she slid
her weapon out from beneath her and its bright golden light came forth in
great juxposition to the unfathomable darkness around her.
For all the hope the golden light brought to her, so with it was a
grim understanding of the darkness that surrounded her.It revealed terrain
below her blacker than onyx and so short was its luminating reach into the
darkness, that she nearly despaired her light would then and there be
smothered by the overwhelming night. Struggling, she stood by force of will
and berated herself for her momentary despair. As she stood, the light of
her golden weapon revealed the dark visage of what Therans would come to know
as a Nightwalker crawling towards her. It pounced and Taera met it full on
with her shield and golden weapon bared. With each strike and bright flash
of the golden weapon, the creature seemed to recoil and diminish in the
presence of the bright light. Strike after strike it came, and as the golden
weapon burned brighter and brighter it was soon driven back into retreat.
Yet with the light so were drawn other creatures. The creatures descending
toward her were deafening in their chorus. There was a time to run and
retreat and this was it. She ran! Running as fast as she could, it became
clear that there would be no escape. The rationale of one who is about to
die, the need for survival, tempered by training began to resolve itself into
logic in her mind. A weapon of bright golden light might beat back one of
these creatures, but also would it draw hundreds if not thousands more!
Grimly, Taera Truelight sheathed her golden weapon, enveloping herself in
utter darkness and ran blindly.No sooner had she done so, than she stepped
into thin air and began to fall. Taera barely had time to groan before she
splashed into murky liquid amidst pitch-blackness. Few things were more
terrifying than to swim through black shadow, yet Taera struggled to survive
and did so, trusting only in her instincts to give her a sense of direction
in the sightless world around her. And so she did swim, past slimy
creatures, unseen and writhing around her.
Panic and desperation gave way to joy and relief as she crawled from the
murky depths onto what could only be felt as a rocky shore and there she
knelt, seeking to catch her breath. Great foreboding rose inside her and she
felt suddenly the vileness and hot breath of another creature on the back of
her neck. Resigned to die with her golden weapon in hand, Taera Truelight
spun around, drawing her weapon and plunging it into the Nightwalker. So
easily did the weapon sink into its shadowy body that her arm disgustingly
plunged and followed the weapon into what would be the heart on any normal
Good at Any Cost
Added Sun May 28 13:40:55 2006 at level 1:
A sense of falling. A sick lurching feeling. Trees. Light, real light of
dusk! Struggling to her feet, Taera Truelight pulled free her golden
weapon...which oddly shown with no light at all. She untangled herself from
the nightwalker, which if not dead, was already dissipating and fleeing back
to its Outer Plane with grave injuries. As she stood, Taera Truelight found
herself staring into the face of an apparently dumbfounded and jaw-gaping
Anti-Paladin.
Unknown to Taera, the Anti-Paladin standing before her was a Scion as it was
called in this age. Only moments before had he been outnumbered and
desperately seeking to call a Ccul'gra to even the odds, when this should
happen! No fierce nightwalker, but its useless remains with a girl dressed
like a knight standing over it. What kind of conjuration of the Ebony
Scepter was this? And worse, the young woman was dressed like she was a
knight in a stage play at the Eternal Star...and not a very realistic knight
actress at that...the armor being all wrong from anything he had read! The
Scion Anti-Paladin could only groan as he wondered what Dark God of the Scion
he had insulted enough to be given a Herald instead of a Ccul'gra!
Taera Truelight could not help but tilt her head in confusion. The red aura
was unmistakable before her, yet this Anti-Paladin acted like he was
befuddled. Suddenly Taera groaned in realization and spun about seeking out
the coming dispersal with which the hidden entropist would send her cascading
through the realms most likely to her random demise. Yet much to her
shock...and that of the Anti-Paladin returning to his senses, the only sight or
sound was the galloping hooves of the five Maran who reigned in and
surrounded the Scion Anti-Paladin.
The Scion Anti-Paladin stared down at his weapon grimly and oddly muttered a
curse at his own weapon that sounded like,'lack of souls.' With no more
time to waste he prepared to engage the first of the Maran striding towards
him whom appeared to be a warrior. Watching and awaiting retribution against
this evil soul, Taera patiently waited for the coming justice.
Suddenly, as the warrior swung his weapon in, a pebble dropped from the sky,
turning into a massive boulder that pummeled the Anti-Paladin into the
ground. No sooner had he stood, than the warrior gave him a cross and kick
maneuver to the head. As Taera watched on in confusion and horror at the
dishonor about her, a third member of the party, apparently a thief, circled
around and stabbed the Anti-Paladin into what surely was his spleen.
Impossibly, the Anti-Paladin managed to strike quickly and barely scratch the
warrior, drawing a thin line of blood. As paltry as it was compared to the
Scion's own gory wounds, suddenly the scratch on the warrior disappeared
beneath the healing words of a praying priest standing far behind the other
Maran. In his death struggle, the Anti-Paladin continued to fight until
suddenly the last and fifth member of the party stepped forth and with a
raised hand and spoken word, halted the Anti-Paladin into rigidness. No
sooner could Taera Truelight gasp than did the warrior bring his weapon
across the rigid and helpless Anti-Paladins mid-section, disemboweling him
in a single blow.
Nodding grimly to themselves, the Maran wasted
A Changed World
Added Sun May 28 14:56:39 2006 at level 5:
Taera Truelight sat alone on the side of the dusty eastern road so much
vaster, to accommodate the cities of Galadon and Hamsah that now sprawled
larger, than anything she remembered. As alone as she was, so matched her
feelings in a world where her ideals were long since forgotten.
It is not right! There had been so many who believed once as I did,
where did they go? Yet she had stopped at tavern after tavern and her
questions provided the same answers...laughter or confusion. She dared not ask
too many more questions less she be thought insane. It seemed in this age
with however many centuries had passed, there were no longer any other
Knights of Thera. She must see for herself, but grimly she stared down at
the dusty road wondering if she alone remembered that Goodness and Honor was
what raised a Knight beyond all others.
She again contemplated her no longer shining golden weapon and the
dragonplate that now seemed completely ornamental. Not even a thief or
brigand would find use in taking that and would likely pass over it. Was not
it connected to the Code of Honor? She must see for herself what had become!
Far Taera Truelight traveled and not easily. It was like being
amidst the randomization of the Entropists...whom she did not regret were also
said to be no more according to the talk of taverns. Everywhere she looked
the land seemed somehow different, and only by accepting a general heading of
direction could she travel without losing her sanity. The only other option
was to treat places as if she had never been there. But was that hill once
one she knew, yet somehow so very weathered and worn by nature? Where those
small roads were, were those not once forest trails? Despite all this, Taera
soon made it to the ruins of what was the last known stronghold of the
Knights of Thera.
There she stood, looking over the rubble and remnants, crying when
she knew she should be stronger and not cry. It was true, the Knights of
Thera were no more. There were no elders, no squire to call her own and
learn as she had. Dust and rock was all that remained. She shook her head
and fought off despair. The Code of Honor might not remain in physical form,
but there was one whom remained through which it lived on. She would see the
Code of Honor not lost in principle and that its teachings and example
continue, for it lived on inside her, in heart and memory.
Yet where would she turn to fight the encroaching darkness that
plagued this Age as worse as any? The Maran fought against evil at all
costs. Would they accept one of the old ways that knew the strength in the
Code of Honor? Could she exist among such when they mocked such ideals? If
so, could she not at least reach a few in her teachings and set herself as an
example, showing there was another way? Grimly Taera Truelight determined
her course and action.
There among the ruins of the brotherhood of Knights that was all she
had ever known, Taera Truelight lifted her voice to the Spirits of those
Knights long since past and the Code of Honor long since lost to all but one.
At the End of the Day
Added Mon May 29 19:33:43 2006 at level 16:
Taera walked down the hallway to her room in the Copeham Inn, shaking
her head at the ruckus of the rowdy dwarves she passed, but try as she might,
she could not keep the smile from lighting up her face. She had always had a
soft spot in her storm giant heart for the rough folk. Arriving at her room,
she uttered words of prayer to her newly found God Grurk and confirmed no
evil aura pouring forth from her room.
Shutting the door behind her, Taera Truelight let out a deep sigh and
a wry grin that showed a hint of frustration. She was off to a rough start
in this Age, having already fallen several times and evil continuously
eluding her grasp. Unbuckling the armor the Keep of the Righteous had
donated to her, she begin to set down her shield then changed her mind and
angrily threw it across the bed in frustration. She had thought herself good
with a shield, but its mastery continued to elude her and her blunders caused
no end of trouble. Narrowing her eyes, she muttered an oath to double her
efforts and training the coming morning.
Sitting down at the makeshift vanity across the room, Taera began to
unroll the buns in her hair as she pondered the whirlwind of events since her
arrival in this Age.
Grurk her Father, may he be praised. A God of this Age she had not
expected to meet, especially not in her prayers before the ruins of the
Knights Castle. But why shouldn't she be surprised? Not even the Knights
greatest bard would have spun a tale with the series of events that had
brought her to this point.
Grurk was a good God. Well, perhaps good was not the proper word,
but his power was undeniable and who else so resembled the honorable ways
Taera held in high esteem? She could and would hold the Father above all
else. When others shunned her, and her old Gods were dead and gone, Grurk
was there. With his power flowing through her, she would see her crusade
against the wicked carried through. Let the Maran see the there was a way to
oppose the darkness in the world without succumbing to the ways of dishonor!
Taera slammed her fist down on the vanity, then winced as her opal
rings scratched the wood. Sighing, Taera knew it was not the Maran alone
that made her angry, but the Knights who had lost their honor. How could
they have abandoned such?
Letting loose her hair, Taera walked across her room, ready for an
early night's rest when she paused to consider the tarnished-golden hilt with
dragonscale markings hanging from a peg on the wall. The hilt was all that
was left from the Age whence she had come and all that had survived the
Rebirth's fire. Taera shivered even now at the painful memories of the
Father's Fire of Rebirth. But even that only brought hope for the present
and future and what the rebirth represented.
Picking up the hilt, she began to consider the coming days. She
would need to be careful. Claiming she was from another age, or that she was
once a Knight would cause no end of grief...for her and others. Yet she
refused to lie outright either. Frowning, she decided she must do her best
to ward off any suspicions. Not if, but when she slipped...she would simply
let others know she knew much of the old ways as a student of history...which
was true and that...
Suddenly the chanting grew louder down t