Isi's Journal

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Anarkitty
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2020 7:59 pm

Isi's Journal

Unread post by Anarkitty »

Image

Name: Isi Natombe
Birthdate: DR 1326
Sex: Female
Age: 33
Ht: 5'10"
Wt: 130
Hair: Black
Eyes: Hazel Brown
Race: Human
Profession: Scholar
Languages: Common, Chultan, Elven, Undercommon, Abyssal, Infernal, Shadow Cant
Home: The hidden city of Mezro on the Chultan Peninsula
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Ability Stats:

Str: 14
Dex: 10
Con: 10
Wiz: 10
Int: 16
Chr: 26

Deity Worshipped: Obtao, Eshowdow, Fierna - Disciple of Darkness

Class/Classes: Sorcerer (LV 6), Eldritch Knight (LV 6), Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep (LV 10), Assassin (LV 8)

Physical Appearance: Isi is tall and has an athletic build. The sorceress usually keeps her hair in many fine braids and wears well-made, practical clothing fit for an explorer and arcanist. Isi's skin has a dark tan like many of her people in the Chultan Peninsula and she carries a magical staff made of teakwood with an emerald embedded at its head. On Isi's brow is a snake-shaped circlet colored green - Isi's armbands and belt are also green and she wears black leather trousers. Isi carries two daggers, one on each leg strap. The scholar has several pouches woven into her belt for holding spell components and carries an assortment of scrolls.

Phycological Description: Isi usually displays a calm easy-going personality making it easy for her to befriend even paladins. However, when provoked she can lash out with a terrible and vengeful passion. Having been an explorer of many of Chult's jungles and abandoned ruins, this sorcerer has no issues getting her hands dirty if it means finding some meaningful artifact or lost knowledge that could be useful. Isi is well-educated and charismatic, but ultimately she is only concerned with growing her knowledge of arcane secrets and securing a place of personal security for herself and anyone in her immediate orbit. Isi considers all forbidden knowledge useful and shuns those who do not understand its utility. However, Isi would rather keep her more nefarious plans secret and keep an outward appearance of propriety - order is preferred as long as it works in her and her allies' favor.

Religious Views: Isi is going through a religious existential crisis by the time she reaches the shores of Baldur's Gate. The Chultan soon abandons Obtao to embrace Eshowdow in a short-sighted rebellious spell but questions even this decision after nearly dying at the hands of Cyric cultists. Broken, battered, and feeling alone in lands far from her own, Isi starts to really question the futility of worship. The explorer's study of the planes has further opened her eyes to this revelation. Seeing the universe in a more nuanced light, Isi has long abandoned any "goodly" notions of morality in favor of a more utilitarian and contractual model for her own personal behavior. More recently Isi has become very interested in the Archduchess of the 6th layer, Fierna. Isi admires The Mistress of Phlegethos's lively spirit and rebellious nature despite herself having to face the nihilistic nature of the cosmos for untold millennia.

Pact: Devil line of sorcery known as Infernal Sorcery

Ancestor: Mzolu, The Dishonored made a pact for easy access to sorcery with Fierna many generations ago.

Family: Father is Alive - Yapa Natombe; Mother is Alive - Azuil Natombe

History and Origin: 

Isi was born in the Residential Quarter of the "mythical" city of Mezro, DR 1326, which is currently still hidden to most outsiders of the city. The young prodigy, at the age of fifteen, shocked her parents when she accidentally blasted open the door to her family's one-story adobe house with a magic missile. Although Isi's family feared their child's unnatural and untrained gifts were a curse, they decided to take her to the Scholar's Quarter of the city, where the famed Library of Mezro and the College of Mages were located. Isi was eventually accepted after a year from her initial meeting with the headmasters of the college, which was a great honor, but the young sorceress soon found out the academy wasn't for her. It wasn't a total loss; Isi learned many skills even though she eventually left after only two years at the academy. Isi always felt like her studies were being heavily monitored and restricted which didn't sit well with the young upstart. So Isi went rogue to conduct her own experiments and do her own studies, using her access to the great library to satiate her appetite for knowledge.

After a full decade of research and various fieldwork adventures diving into lost ruins for tomes of hidden knowledge, this Chultan sorceress had mastered the highest arcane spells, but she wasn't satisfied. Something nagged at Isi's consciousness, and she wanted to know why she was able to so easily and innately cast spells. Most of her research into sorcerer bloodlines revealed the usual origins of fey or draconic influences, but Isi felt like neither of these described her condition. Coming upon a rare Tabaxi tome, Isi found a blood strain of sorcery that described more closely what her arcane energies felt like when she engaged them, but it left the now more seasoned scholar with even more unease and questions. The Tabaxi tome described an Infernal Sorcerer bloodline and a familiar name, Mzolu the Dishonored, a long-dead descendant of Isi's family. Mzolu was almost never spoken of in Isi's household unless it was to frighten naughty children. Isi found that her parents only stubbornly engaged in the topic of Mzolu and even when information was forthcoming, it wasn't much to go on. Isi knew the Library of Mezro would have something archived there that might shed light on this long-dead predecessor of hers, but all she found was an empty shelf where the information should have been.

Isi poured her energies into this convoluted family research project and spared no expense in trying to dig up some of her several generations removed great grandfather's notes and journals. Finally, Isi came up with a lead that pointed to the strangest place: the collection of Mzolu's work was rumored to be locked up tight in some place called Candlekeep off the Swordcoast, which felt like another world away to Isi. A magical barrier surrounded her city that kept meddlesome adventurers and, more importantly, the Batiri out. If Isi were to leave the city of Mezro, it might be a trial to get back in, which weighed heavily on her. However, this mystery of her family's sorcery bloodline consumed Isi's attention, and she needed to know. Preparations were made to head to a northern port and set sail for Baldur's Gate. The voyage went smoothly until the final stretch when disaster struck as a storm sank the ship Isi was on. Much of the Chultan Explorer's belongings, a lifetime of accumulation, were left at the bottom of the sea but luckily much of the sorceress's coin and a personal bejeweled lockbox were secured and brought to shore with her. A rough start for sure, but this was just one more challenge that needed to be overcome on Isi's road to self-discovery.

Future Goals:

#1. Isi's primary goal is to locate Mzolu, the Dishonored's work which is locked up in Candlekeep and ultimately find the source of her family's sorcery blood.
#2. Study the dead magic zone located at Boarskry's Bridge.
#3. Seek vengeance on the Cyricists and Isi's attackers.
#4. Grow the power and influence of the Black Abbey with the purpose of creating order within Soubar that benefits her own goals and passions.
#5. Grow her connection with the Archduchess of Phlegethos, Fierna

Heirloom:

Mzolu's Ring of Defiance, Mzolu's Helm of Defiance, some artifact of sorts beyond rings, amulets, wands, etc.
Last edited by Anarkitty on Wed Apr 05, 2023 3:18 pm, edited 20 times in total.
Anarkitty
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2020 7:59 pm

Re: Isi's Journal

Unread post by Anarkitty »

And so goes the saying, "Soubar is a place for cutthroats and rouges."

The weather was pleasant the day Isi returned to the town of Soubar, that's all she could remember as she stepped through the gates heading toward the market before darkness overwhelmed her vision. A dim, narrow light now pierced the darkness as Isi stirred from a great slumber. No matter how much the sorcerer tried to open her eyelids wider, they wouldn't budge. Isi's body felt like it was on fire, she tried to get up but could only manage to sit up. The sorceress now noticed she was missing one of her teeth, her right canine tooth. "Great", she thought to herself. What did she get herself into this time? Looking around Isi noticed she was seated upon what seemed like a mountain of comfortable motley-colored pillows in a large tent and she was not alone. To the Chultan's amazement, a very familiar-looking gnome was looking back at her but Nobby wasn't displaying his usual cheery mood.

A Priest of Tyr attended Isi's severe injuries. Perhaps the only thing that kept the scholar of Mezro from bleeding out was a regeneration enchantment on a magical item she wore. Isi learned through witnesses what happened - she was attacked, robbed, abducted, and taken to a cave. Travelers who came to investigate a recent tremor found that the cave's floor was matted with small hills of dust and small rocks - signs of a cave-in of course. But then something else became apparent to the would-be rescuers, a boot was sticking out of a pile of dust and rock debris.

Isi felt around for her purse but it was empty - she had indeed been robbed and was missing several crowns worth of gold. Isi then learned what her attackers looked like and was given a description:

A man with a circle on his forehead
A woman wearing a skull mask
And a third man


Isi thanked the people of the merchant caravan that nursed her back to consciousness and limped off to find shelter. Isi had somehow made enemies and now her short-term goal was to find out why and how.
Anarkitty
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2020 7:59 pm

Re: Isi's Journal

Unread post by Anarkitty »

From faith to faith to faithlessness.

Isi stared at the iron symbol in her left palm that was in the shape of a square maize. The Chultan explorer abandoned The Great Maze father, Obtao shortly after leaving her homeland. Obtao always seemed like an impersonal god to Isi, dividing his divine aspect into many forms to answer prayers instead of directly engaging his followers. How could the sorceress ever find any purpose in such a distant celestial relationship she wondered?

Isi now turned her attention to another symbol in her right palm, a platinum piece of metal shaped into a humanoid shadow with long claws symbolizing Eshowdow, the Shadow Giant. Like a rebellious teen, Isi turned to Ubtao's shadow to find comfort, but now she sits here staring unemotionally at yet another petty deity. Divinity was driving the scholar into an existential crisis as she studied the various planes of existence. More and more Isi realized that nothing matters beyond survival and fulfilling one's happiness. No universal divine justice sought to right the wrongs and create fairness. How many innocent souls lived a good life and were caring people only to be condemned to rot inside a wall for years? All for the crime of not inflating the egos of the gods? How is this justice, truly?

No, the more Isi researched, the more she realized that none of the divines could appeal to her sensibilities. The path of heresy was for those brave enough to confront the truth of the divines - that the sky father and mothers were nothing more than overgrown petulant children not deserving of love and admiration. This day Isi abandoned the gods and became a heretic.
Anarkitty
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2020 7:59 pm

Re: Isi's Journal

Unread post by Anarkitty »

Making a deal with the Devil...

Muffled cries and whimpering can be heard in the cold gloomy stone room only lit up by an occasional small brazier placed on the wall and the red glow of two pairs of eyes belonging to animated suits of armor standing guard silently. Isi walks around in a circle and traces the delicate details of an inverted magical protection pattern using a hollowed-out ram horn filled with silvery dust. The pattern starts to glow indicating the completion of the first task as the Chultan summoner starts to chant arcane words of power,

"Facio, Voco, Fero, Baatazulari!" (I make, I call, I bring, Pit Fiend)

Image

A fiery circular portal opens up vertically as a twelve-foot tall 800lbs red devil with bat wings casually walks through. Standing in the middle of Isi's glowing pattern of runes, the fiend inspects the circle with a curious look in its intelligent, burning, haunting eyes before turning its other-worldly gaze toward the human woman that summoned her. Making a smacking sound with her wicked and massive maw as if in annoyance, the devil finally speaks,

"Is this necessary, fleshling? For what purpose have you brought me here?"

The Black Abbey researcher walks confidently toward the Pit Fiend before stopping just outside of the glowing runes still containing the infernal fury and replies,

"I call upon you to do several important tasks and I am ready to bargain. I wish to tread carefully when dealing with your kind. I need information and I also need my enemies brought to my feet to face punishment. Freshly plucked mortals are here for you to take back and do with as you wish. A starting bid if you will."

The huddled and tied-up group of five bandits could only produce muffled cries of desperation and teary eyes as they were unceremoniously shoved into the magic circle by a pair of Helmed Horrors to be taken back to the hottest plane of the Hells, Phlegothos.
Anarkitty
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2020 7:59 pm

Re: Isi's Journal

Unread post by Anarkitty »

Isi falls over and dies from unknown causes in the Black Abbey. It's the end of a unique character. No resurrections seem to work. Only the gods know why Isi is no longer alive.
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