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- Character Biography
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Zeri Rekani had been summoned by the Bhathairk Council of Elders.
Entrusted, after she vehemently volunteered, with a task that might help solve the riddle of Anima.
The woman Zeri herself had found inside the black heart of the Amalgamation.
The monster that had come close to destroying Bhathairk itself.
Her family was split when Zeri had come home and told them the news: that she would be journeying to the Spine to procure a reagent, a rare flower, that the Circle of Shamans needed to deduce where the Amalgamation had come from. What the woman named Anima's involvement with It was--unfortunate victim, or willing perpetrator. It was not the only method the Council and the Circle had at their disposal to enact appropriate justice for or against Anima and ensure the safety of the great Orcish stronghold, but it was a viable one.
Ma understood. Pa was very reluctant. And, like her parents, her brothers were likewise split. But, unlike before, when both Ma and Pa were against Zeri journeying out on her own like her elder sister, now at least Ma was supportive. Ma even talked Pa into it, citing that Zeri had done well enough on her short and solo expeditions outside of Bhathairk, that she was quite capable of hunting and traveling and surviving on her own. And, what really made Zeri's heart swell with pride and accomplishment, was the last thing Ma had said to Pa before he relented: "Zeri's not a little girl anymore. She is of age. She can do this."
And Pa did relent. Even gave his blessing that Zeri could go alone, as she wanted. This, on the one condition that he purchase and provide for her two Portal Stone keys, such that she could shorten the journey considerably. Zeri agreed, Ma and Pa nodded in shared consent, and Zeri accompanied her Pa to the Great Bazaar.
There, after seeking out a stall run by a mage schooled in Alliria, Pa traded for the two Portal Stone keys. Handed them to Zeri. Then placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "May the Spirits guide your journey, and your safe return."
Zeri knew that Pa, a full-blooded elf, did not believe in the Spirits as Ma did--not to the same degree. But he knew that Zeri took after Ma, that Zeri believed with all her heart that the Spirits pervaded Arethil and dwelt within every aspect of life. And despite this, he spoke the customary farewell of believers to her. He truly wanted nothing more than for her to be well and for her to be happy, even if those two desires often conflicted.
They embraced, father and daughter, there in the busy Great Bazaar of Bhathairk.
And that night Zeri cried the bittersweet tears of a parting before she slept.
She had set out from Bhathairk with a crossing of the Bystra river provided by one of the many fisherorcs who went into the river with their small boats. Trekked south first along the Bystra and the bountiful forests along its shores and then west into the Taagi Baara Steppes.
Zeri carried everything she would need in her traveling pack: hide lean-to tent, waterskins and salted rations, thick woolen blanket, firestarter kit, among many other necessities--even found a little room for the combs and styling implements for her hair. Her hunting spear, bow, and bedroll were strapped to the outside of her pack. All told, the pack was heavy, but she had grown more and more accustomed to its weight. Her ventures outside the walls of Bhathairk with her Ma or Pa or her elder sister or her brothers--or some combination thereof--helped build her endurance, this all done when she was younger. Her more recent solo expeditions helped even more so.
What Zeri wasn't used to was the cold. Or would be the cold, once she arrived in The Spine. Bhathairk and the surrounding environs stayed warm throughout most of the year; the winters could be biting, sure, and maybe those experiences would help.
Zeri, normally, wore little clothes: her moccasins, large loincloth, halter, fur bracers. Tribal, orcish, comfortable, good for air flow. But for this journey into the Spine she had to bring along her winter clothes: thick parka and pants and boots and gloves and cloak. Funny. She'd just recently heard the traveling tales of HotepseAken and thought about how much she preferred warmer climates, rather than bundling up like this to brave colder ones.
But bundle up she did.
Once she reached the Taagi Baara Steppes Portal Stone, Zeri took a moment to don all of her winter clothes (stored a bag also strapped to her pack) and then used the ancient device to teleport to The Spine.
The experience of using a Portal Stone, something she'd never done before, was...unpleasant. But it was over with.
The Spine's Portal Stone was to the west of Crobhear Lake, in the foothills of a branching range of mountains. These mountains lay to the east, stretching north and south as far as Zeri could even see. The flower she sought grew high in the mountains, so she set out east, climbing the slowly ascending foothills into the mountain proper over the course of two days.
Presently, shafts of sunlight filtered through the tangle of low, naked branches of the trees in the mountain forest, the green needles of these trees higher up. Zeri stepped carefully over collections of large rocks embedded in the soil and over fallen and broken logs and around the sparse blooms of bushes congregating at the base of the trees and occasionally elsewhere. Wind rustled gently among the trunks and the branches, and the sky above contained no hints of a coming storm. Birds unseen sang their songs to one another, and the sun had yet to reach its noontime apex.
And Zeri walked through this beautiful expanse in search of the flower which might aid her home.
But something had become aware of her presence in its territory.
Weylin Kyrel
Entrusted, after she vehemently volunteered, with a task that might help solve the riddle of Anima.
The woman Zeri herself had found inside the black heart of the Amalgamation.
The monster that had come close to destroying Bhathairk itself.
* * * * *
Her family was split when Zeri had come home and told them the news: that she would be journeying to the Spine to procure a reagent, a rare flower, that the Circle of Shamans needed to deduce where the Amalgamation had come from. What the woman named Anima's involvement with It was--unfortunate victim, or willing perpetrator. It was not the only method the Council and the Circle had at their disposal to enact appropriate justice for or against Anima and ensure the safety of the great Orcish stronghold, but it was a viable one.
Ma understood. Pa was very reluctant. And, like her parents, her brothers were likewise split. But, unlike before, when both Ma and Pa were against Zeri journeying out on her own like her elder sister, now at least Ma was supportive. Ma even talked Pa into it, citing that Zeri had done well enough on her short and solo expeditions outside of Bhathairk, that she was quite capable of hunting and traveling and surviving on her own. And, what really made Zeri's heart swell with pride and accomplishment, was the last thing Ma had said to Pa before he relented: "Zeri's not a little girl anymore. She is of age. She can do this."
And Pa did relent. Even gave his blessing that Zeri could go alone, as she wanted. This, on the one condition that he purchase and provide for her two Portal Stone keys, such that she could shorten the journey considerably. Zeri agreed, Ma and Pa nodded in shared consent, and Zeri accompanied her Pa to the Great Bazaar.
There, after seeking out a stall run by a mage schooled in Alliria, Pa traded for the two Portal Stone keys. Handed them to Zeri. Then placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "May the Spirits guide your journey, and your safe return."
Zeri knew that Pa, a full-blooded elf, did not believe in the Spirits as Ma did--not to the same degree. But he knew that Zeri took after Ma, that Zeri believed with all her heart that the Spirits pervaded Arethil and dwelt within every aspect of life. And despite this, he spoke the customary farewell of believers to her. He truly wanted nothing more than for her to be well and for her to be happy, even if those two desires often conflicted.
They embraced, father and daughter, there in the busy Great Bazaar of Bhathairk.
And that night Zeri cried the bittersweet tears of a parting before she slept.
* * * * *
She had set out from Bhathairk with a crossing of the Bystra river provided by one of the many fisherorcs who went into the river with their small boats. Trekked south first along the Bystra and the bountiful forests along its shores and then west into the Taagi Baara Steppes.
Zeri carried everything she would need in her traveling pack: hide lean-to tent, waterskins and salted rations, thick woolen blanket, firestarter kit, among many other necessities--even found a little room for the combs and styling implements for her hair. Her hunting spear, bow, and bedroll were strapped to the outside of her pack. All told, the pack was heavy, but she had grown more and more accustomed to its weight. Her ventures outside the walls of Bhathairk with her Ma or Pa or her elder sister or her brothers--or some combination thereof--helped build her endurance, this all done when she was younger. Her more recent solo expeditions helped even more so.
What Zeri wasn't used to was the cold. Or would be the cold, once she arrived in The Spine. Bhathairk and the surrounding environs stayed warm throughout most of the year; the winters could be biting, sure, and maybe those experiences would help.
Zeri, normally, wore little clothes: her moccasins, large loincloth, halter, fur bracers. Tribal, orcish, comfortable, good for air flow. But for this journey into the Spine she had to bring along her winter clothes: thick parka and pants and boots and gloves and cloak. Funny. She'd just recently heard the traveling tales of HotepseAken and thought about how much she preferred warmer climates, rather than bundling up like this to brave colder ones.
But bundle up she did.
Once she reached the Taagi Baara Steppes Portal Stone, Zeri took a moment to don all of her winter clothes (stored a bag also strapped to her pack) and then used the ancient device to teleport to The Spine.
The experience of using a Portal Stone, something she'd never done before, was...unpleasant. But it was over with.
The Spine's Portal Stone was to the west of Crobhear Lake, in the foothills of a branching range of mountains. These mountains lay to the east, stretching north and south as far as Zeri could even see. The flower she sought grew high in the mountains, so she set out east, climbing the slowly ascending foothills into the mountain proper over the course of two days.
Presently, shafts of sunlight filtered through the tangle of low, naked branches of the trees in the mountain forest, the green needles of these trees higher up. Zeri stepped carefully over collections of large rocks embedded in the soil and over fallen and broken logs and around the sparse blooms of bushes congregating at the base of the trees and occasionally elsewhere. Wind rustled gently among the trunks and the branches, and the sky above contained no hints of a coming storm. Birds unseen sang their songs to one another, and the sun had yet to reach its noontime apex.
And Zeri walked through this beautiful expanse in search of the flower which might aid her home.
But something had become aware of her presence in its territory.
Weylin Kyrel