Hailing from a small settlement of northerners in the Spine of the World Mountains, Irini's life was rather uneventful in her youth, besides the rough living in the mountains, and the constant dangers that lurk in the place.
When she was around 10, she got lost in a blizzard while out picking berries, and when she thought she would never return home alive, she cried out for the Icemaiden to aid her.
A huge winter wolf appeared from the snowstorm and approached Irini.
Frozen to the bone and half dead from the cold, Irini heard a luring and chilling voice coming from the wolf's throat, a woman's voice.
The voice told her that she was to become a preacher of the cold, and a Hand of Auril in return for her life.
The winter wolf aided the girl, bringing her food, and she suddenly found herself to be more comfortable in the cold than she had even been home at the hearth.
Irini grew older in the wildlands, and never returned to see her family again. She travelled southwards, bringing the message of Auril with her whereever she went, and went to see the magnificent Auril temples located in the lands. Her last exploration took her to the Winter Palace in Luskan, and here she recieved an epiphany.
Again, the chill but soothing voice told her that far south from there, the people of the Sword Coast had forgotten all about her, and that it was time for Icedawn to be feared again in the population.
Irini was sent on her way to bring the frostfright into the hearts of man once again, and remind them that Auril still commands the winter's touch.
Last edited by Carbondk on Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:42 am, edited 7 times in total.
Irini slowly regained consciousness and got up on an elbow again.
White, silver, blue and black patterns swirled in her mind's eye, and she rubbed her eyes to get rid of some of the confusion.
Ah, what an unleash of power, what a display of might, and what a wonderful night it had been, she thought as she recalled last night's events.
It had been the date of Ches 19, known to the Aurilites as Last Storm, and this year, she had really wanted the ceremony to be grand, marking her new life and mission here at the Sword Coast.
She had been preparing for at least a week, gathering materials and offerings and spent countless hours meditating and praying, and on the eve, she had mustered every bit of divine might she could, feverishly chanting prayers to Auril on the desolate area in the Cloud Peaks foothills she had found.
Ice storms hailed down from the skies, the skies themselves massive and grey, and the wind hollered in her ears like a rabid animal.
"Icemaiden", she screamed, "Grant me your wild powers, and I will make people tremble in your name, fear your Frosty wrath, and obey your every command!".
Then, a gigantic blizzard formed from the snow and wind, and enveloped Irini completely. The snowflakes pierced her skin and entered her body, and the frost crystals covered her entire skin, while the sensation of pain and the pleasure of pure power took over Irini.
It was then that she lost consciousness, and awoke several hours later, alone in the snow.
She wiped a tress of hair away from her eyes, and marveled at the fact that it had now turned from her regular blonde colour to complete white, as white as the newly fallen snow. Icedawn must have been pleased with my ritual, she thought as she smiled to herself, to have granted me such a boon of her favor.
Her power had been drained, yes, ever bit of it, and she felt weak and empty.
But she felt something else as well, a cold seed planted inside her, some new gained insights into the nature of frost, cold and ice, and an even deeper connection with her Goddess.
Eventually, she vowed, I will regain my former strength, and with Auril's blessings I will become even more powerful than before!
From now on then, she would call herself Irini Icehart in memory of the mark of Ice upon her.
It had indeed been a wonderful night.
Last edited by Carbondk on Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
With a heavy sigh, Irini submerged herself into the cold snow of Mount Speartop.
Lying covered in frost, she felt the comfortable coldness seep into her body as she closed her eyes and recalled the past day's many events.
Her arrival to Candlekeep had been less than welcome, thanks to some meddling preacher of Lathander from Beregost, who had spread rumors about her all along the Trade Way.
She grit her teeth and clenched her fists as she felt the anger rise inside her mind.
Well, he will be dealt with soon enough, he should know better than to offend an Icebreath of Auril, she thought to herself.
Especially now that she had once again returned to the summit of her former powers.
Waiting for the master scholar of Candlekeep to arrive, she had unwillingly drawn an entire crowd at the keep, everyone gawking and staring at her like she had just materialised from thin air.
She chuckled to herself, well, at least they knew about her now, and the power of the Frost she wielded. Even though their ignorant beliefs about her person could prove a slight difficulty in achieving her goals in the future.
Finally, she had conversed with the man she sought in the keep, and even though she did not like sharing the secret knowledge of Auril's faith with him, she had no choice, since the keep of tomes seemed like her only choice in finally laying her hands on the holy artifact she sought.
With a little luck, she thought, they will be able to unearth the Codicil of White, or at least some clue as to where it may be, that I can retrieve it once more. Icedawn, she prayed while lying in the snow, let me bring back our holy book, if you will it, and I will guard it well.
With the prayer, Irini found the large amount of gold that had been trusted in her, and threw it in the snow.
Well, at least some people here have not forgotten about your icy chill, she mused, as the gold seeped deep into the snow and the Goddess accepted her sacrifice.
Then she thought about another interesting meeting she had had earlier on. Though there seemed to be few Aurilites this far south, she had been in touch with more diciples of fury. She was still a little unsure as to what to make of the Talassan she had met with earlier, but if the Fist and that troublesome priest of Lathander were out to get her, maybe an alliance with the Storm Crows of Talos wasn't such a bad idea after all.
The Storm Lord was powerful, sure, and such mighty allies might prove useful in the future.
Snow soared down from the blue skies and landed on her body, and with a smirk on her face, thinking about future schemes and plotting, she fell asleep in the comfortable embrace of the Cold Goddess.
Last edited by Carbondk on Wed May 27, 2009 2:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Irini couldn't help but smirk as she walked away from her meeting with the elven girl. She sent a silent thanks to Auril for finally sending another Aurilite on her path, and she was most pleased with the elven girl's devotion for their Mistress.
At least, she thought to herself, I am not left alone to spread the Cold word, and together me and Calistra will pose a fitting flank in the unholy alliance with Talos and Umberlee that was forming, and perhaps then the Storm Crows would think twice before double-crossing them, now that their numbers had increased.
Yes, the meeting with the Talassans couldn't be far away now, she just hoped Storm had been able to gather more devotees of Talos, and they still hadn't received word from the followers of the Queen of the Deep Seas.
Speaking of Umberlee, she had run into some seafaring folk some days ago. They both sent their prayers to Umberlee, and not only out of fear either, and though they didn't seem to be clerics or preachers of the faith, they might still prove useful for other things.
One of those things would be leaving their child for the temple of Auril.
Irini chuckled to herself as she remembered her meeting with the two, the woman had been impregnated by the man, and now they didn't want the babe.
Irini had offered to get rid of it, but the woman would rather give it up for an orphanage.
Then an idea had formed in Irini's mind, and she had convinced the pair to follow her to the Winter Palace in Luskan once it was time, and then leave the babe for the Aurilites.
If it were a girl, Irini thought to herself, she could possibly be initiated as an acolyte of the temple, and if it were a boy, he could serve as an Ice Shard guardian of the Palace. Or, she grinningly thought, they could always sell him for a slave for a few gold coins, should he prove all useless.
Yes, she had met several interesting people, this last week, and they would prove useful allies for the future. Irini climbed up the Cloud Peaks once again, and upon reaching the spires, she found some gold coins from her satchel and tossed it out in the snow.
Some of it had been trusted in her by the little halfling, he was a funny fellow, she thought to herself, not like most of his kind, and he wasn't all he seemed, she was sure.
The rest of the coins were a gift from the sailor girl to Auril, for taking in her child, and as Irini threw it in the snow, she sent a prayer to the skies for both of them.
Once again Irini slipped into the freezing cold mountain lake in the Cloud Peaks, letting the icy waters cover all of her except her head.
She sighed deeply, as she let the chill of the water seep into her body, numbing its feelings, and almost numbing the thoughts that had haunted her for some time now as well.
She had spoken with the bard Arivain whom she had happened to run into again near the town of Beregost. She had taken a liking to the man, since he was one of the few who didn't immediately frown at her words.
Perhaps it was his northern heritage, she thought to herself, but at least he kept an open mind.
And perhaps it was due to his genuine approach to her, that she had suddenly found herself saying things aloud that she had barely dared to think of before. They had talked about Gods, Goddesses, and how they influence our destinies.
Irini had always loathed the way most Gods seemed to operate, that is, assembling a small group of followers, plea the authorities for a little shrine, and sell their petty favours for a copper to the commoners, like merchants or peddlers trying to sell goods.
She had always only had Auril in her life, and she knew that the vain and fickle Icedawn would hate to share her territory with any other God, which is why she rarely had mercy on the peasants and farmers that came crawling on their begging legs to her in winter time, while forgetting all about her wrath come summer.
Irini had always felt in her cold heart that Auril would spread her icy influence all over the world, if her followers worked hard enough to make it happen, but speaking with Arivain had made her doubt whether her ties with Auril were fate, or merely chance.
"What does bring one into the arms of one belief, and not another", she thought to herself, lying in the icy stream. "Could it be that it is merely chance, coincidence, that leads a person to believe in one God and not another?" The thought disturbed her, and she did not want to think it through. "My fate is tied to you, Auril, forgive me for doubting it could be any different" she said into the cold night, and her eyes narrowed.
The bard had also suggested that she took other measures in order to spread her word in the Sword Coast. He had warned her that many people would chase her out like an unwelcome stranger, if she didn't accept that the people here had other faiths too, and that she would have to teach the public of the Cold Goddess instead of raining fury and wrath on their heads.
"Well", she thought, "He may at least have a point in that". She was not afraid of dying, but she would do her Goddess no good dead. It was just so awful hard. She had come from a place where no faith but Auril's was allowed, where the mere whisper of Her name would send shudders and shivers down people's spines. And then she came to this place, where a multitude of Gods seemed to be worshipped, and where her Auril was nothing but one of many.
That Arivain was right in some ways, she had already found out herself.
Her threats and ill omens had almost yielded no benefit for the Icemaiden, people just ignored her warnings and laughed at her threats.
She bit her lip and clenched her fists at the thought of it.
But she had more than one time stumbled upon people in dire need of her divine powers, some times even people who were already on the brink of death, or beyond it. And she had helped them, yes, though not out of any sense of charity, but because she had felt compelled to.
When the grateful poor sods turned to her in thanks, she had told them to save their thanks and their offerings to Auril instead, and by Frost and Freeze, they had done it!
Perhaps there was wisdom in this after all, then. Showing people just how mighty she was with Auril on her side, and how useful she could become.
But would that not make her into one of the preacher-peddlers she had always hated? The ones that seemed to be nothing but bargainers of the divine? The thought nagged her.
"How dare they?!", the thought filled her head as she ran from the ceremony in the wilds towards the safety of the cloud Peaks' frozen wastes.
Her wrath and fury was almost palpaple, and the glare from her eyes pierced the air in front of her like icicles.
Irini had awaited her moment from a hiding place in some bushes, watching the gathering people and the druidess' prayers to the sun, biding her time.
And at the climax of the ceremony, she had revealed herself and warned them of their heathen ritual, conjuring up a chilling blizzard to remind them of winter's chill grasp, even at this warm time.
Her storm had been mostly a warning and a display of power, not anything that would have harmed the crowd, and yet they had assaulted her and they would probably even had tried to end her life if she hadn't escaped their clutches in the distraction of the storm.
Did they not know that she could have sent them all to a frozen death with a single gesture? Did they not see that she had held back her true power, and merely sent them a warning? And yet they had the gall to lay a hand on her! Oh just you wait, next time I'll not make that mistake, she bitterly swore to herself. She knew who they were, and she would make them feel her cold fury in due time, they would see that no one lays a hand on a priestess of Auril unpunished.
She felt her jaw where one of them had punched her. The one who she had found out to be a fallen one of the faith, a traitor.
She would start with him.
"I told you I would deal with you eventually" Irini softly said to Raymond, as she knelt down by his half-dead body, frost and rime still convering his skin.
She had wanted to start with him, yes, but Auril's fortune had brought yet another of those rangers into her cold reach not far outside the Gate, and she had given him the opportunity of repenting his crime, but he merely snarled at her, so she had struck him with a crippling freeze as well.
The satisfaction was felt deep inside her cold heart, but it had left her hungering for more, so she had left his frozen remains behind, looking for her real prey.
She had found him a little north of Beregost, and after a short and efficient struggle, he now lay there, helpless and defeated in front of her.
"I am not going to kill you, Raymond" she then said "even though it would be a fitting punishment for ever striking a High Hand of Ice. But should you ever make that mistake again, you will not live through your next winter".
Two of the barbarians had been dealth with, now, would more of them ever dare to cross her path, they too would fall to her icy grasp.
She smirked broadly as she headed towards the snow-covered mountain peaks.
Last edited by Carbondk on Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:00 am, edited 3 times in total.
With the last of the barbaric rangers, Dennis, laying frozen solid on the ground before her, all three of the brutes had been dealt with.
His elven friend tended to him, and cursed at her, but it mattered not. She had sworn a revenge on them all, and it had been brought to her, by Auril's grace.
Now she would turn her attention to other matters, they had learned that she was not to be trifled with, and she was satisfied.
Irini climbed up the mountainside towards her usual resting place in the Cloud Peaks. She gazed down on the foothills below her, the small houses of Nashkel looking like tiny dots in the far horizon. Yes, she had been gone for long, perhaps too long. But she was back again now, and Winter would lay its harsh, chilly touch upon the lands once more ...
Irini was standing in the Cloud Peaks again, enjoying the chilling wind that blew on her face, and breathing in the frigid air with much enjoyment, gazing down from the heights at the lowlands in the distant horizon.
She was content, yes, for this time she was not alone. She turned and looked to her side, regarding the familiar figure standing there, a white spear in hand and a wolf with snow-white fur close by.
The two women looked very much alike, dressed in the usual vestments and armour of the Icebreaths. Their cold, pale eyes shared the same eerie crystalline appearance, and their hair was the colour of the blue-white ice that covered the winter lakes.
Their similar appearance, however, was no mere coincidence. They were sisters, after all, both in blood and faith. They had always been much alike, but after the Cold Embrace, this became even more apparent.
Irini beamed a thin smile towards her sister, Jadis, and looked down to Jadis' companion, the white wolf Frostfang, always standing guard over the two sisters. It had been a long time since she had shared the company of her beloved sister, and she was grateful that their path had once more, by Auril's Grace, become one.
These were dire times, and their shared cause would need all the strenght they could muster up, but standing here in winter's domain, with Jadis by her side, she felt as if she could take on the world again.
Irini stood at her usual place in the Cloud Peaks, but this time she was not alone. To her right, the arcanist who had been sworn into the ranks of the faithful stood, leaning on his staff. And to her left, the young priestess, Cefra, stood in the soft, cold wind, though she already seemed older now than she had when Irini had first met her, not long ago.
"Can she take over my position while I am gone?", Irini thought to herself, "after all, she has only undergone the Embrace not long ago, and she is still young and inexperienced. Well, it is not as if I have a choice anyway. My business here is done, and I must immediately return to the House of Auril's Breath in Glister, and seek counsil of The High Hand there, Malakhar Rhenta."
She nodded at her own thoughts, then glanced to the mage and to Cefra, said her goodbyes, and begun to stride down the mountain again. The road to Glister was a long one, and it would take her many moons to get there.
But she had gotten what she had come to the Sword Coast for, she tugged the small, white book close to her body, shielding it with her very life, and revealed a faint smirk, her crystalline eyes gleaming eerily, as she trodded through the soft snow.
A woman, her hair the colour of newly fallen snow, her eyes the piercing white-blue of crystal-clear ice, and usually dressed in a garb of blue and white, is seen roaming the Sword Coast. Some might recall her from times past, but most do not. Whispers of a name long forgotten are carried by the winds. Winter has once more come to the Coast, it seems.
The priestess stood in the middle of the storm, the only calm eye in a fury of chaos unleashed by her own hand. Whereever she looked, lightning storms churned the air overhead, bolts of electricity was released from the dark clouds, striking buildings, trees, and everything else that came into their path. Blizzards, snow storms and mighty avalanches rised to her beckon, and she unleashed them relentless over the small town known as Ulgoth's Beard.
This was what she had been born to do! This was her fate! And she enjoyed every moment of it.
The storm inside her, as well as those outside, slowly subsided once more. "We should fall back and retreat fot he ship", she said, seeing the fast growing band of guardsmen and adventurers gathering on the outskirts of the village.
The pirates quickly made their way back to the small boats, and sailed for the Seawolf.
Back on the safety of the deck, Irini had time to look closely at one of their prisoners. This one was a mage, no doubt, and they would do best to keep guard over her. However, the prisoner also seemed to wear the sacred snowflake of Auril around her neck, how peculiar ..
The mage came to herself. "What have we here then. A faithful of Auril, perhaps?", the priestess asked, but immediately the wizardess flung herself at Irini, grasping for something under the priestess' cape, which could be no other thing than the Codicil of White, the book strapped tightly to the belt of the priestess.
"Grim, keep this one down, damn it!", Irini heard herself yell, before the fool of a wizard transported both her and Irini through magical means of teleportation.
Fury quickly rose in the Aurilite high priestess again, fury for having been transported against her will, fury at the foolish wizard for trying to steal the sacred book of Auril.
And fury must be unleashed.
Irini spat a long series of unholy syllables, and called on the most dire of her divine powers, smiting Azmodeth with a barrage of horrible spells, that quickly snuffed the life out of the mage.
Irini glanced about herself quickly, noticing the guards of the Friendly Arm Inn gathering in the courtyard, for that was where the mage had teleported the pair, and the white-haired woman quickle knelt down beside the lifeless body of Azmodeth, tore the snowflake pendant off her neck, and ran for the gates.
Back on the ship, the pirates gathered to cheer their victory at the town of Ulgoth's Beard. Yes, it had been a sweet day indeed, and the gods of fury were satisfied for now. The mage in blue intrigued Irini though. Perhaps the tale of the two Aurilites had not come to its end just yet, with the death of Azmodeth. The priestess felt a faint grin creeping onto her face, whatever was to come her way in the future, it was sure to be quite interesting ..
As she made her way back into the temple of Auril, Irini's heart was filled with as much joy as can be in the ice cold heart of an Aurilite priestess.
The Last Storm, the festival she had prepared to for a long time now, was a complete success. Not only did all the Aurilites and frost mages of the faith attend, they also made such a spectacle that the ancient old white wyrm of the Cloud Peaks woke from its slumber to give the Icemaiden's praise to the gathering faithful.
A true sign that Icedawn was pleased with the efforts of her priestess and her temple.
Yes, today would be a day that will be remembered for a very long time, and certainly all the peasants and citizens of Nashkel and northern Amn had quite a spectacle to see for the night.
Let spring and summer come, the Last Storm has been unleashed. The Aurilites would hide again, bide their time as winter does, until they are finally unleashed again in the fall.
The priestess curled her thin lips into a faint smile, she was already looking forward to the Coming Storm . .
Ah yes, she had almost forgot, she should send a letter of thanks to the elves of the Doron Amar for their most generous donation to her festival.
