Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

//The knowledge obtained through this post is not common knowledge and only those that were on the mission would know about the happenings, so please treat this as such. Big thanks to DM Flasmix and Lobo for the well thought through event.

The day had come, their big mission awaited K'yon had studied several new spells to compliment his still quiet limited selection.
They were to clear a temple of an army of Troglodoits lead by two skillful Yuan-ti and even more menacing, an elder red dragon.
The initially discussed plan was to teleport to the temple and slay all its inhabitants but soon the group was informed that this plan had been thwarted by a faerzress that was not only blocking all attempts to teleport within the vicinity of the temple but also stopped any kind of recon via scrying and so the small task force was to pretty much stumble onto hostile terrain without much intel possibly stumbling right into their deaths.

The very orderly part in K'yon that had grown during his studies in the school of necromancy was less than pleased with such unclear circumstances and the unknown dangers entailing them.
The wilder nature of his being was excited to show this army of Ilbith why the Illythiiri were rightfully the rulers of the Underdark and should also take the scepter in the surface world to rule them all.

So when they were teleported to a beach near the temple K'yon's emotions were very much ambiguous.
Having arrived at the beach their self-selected leader gave everyone their role on the team, Seriso was to be their stealthy scout, their hardy warriors took the frontline basically posing a living obstacle while the arcane and whatever this madman Arnon was destroyed there enemies from afar.
It was beautiful, the Illythiiri and their "allies" slaughtered countless of these brute beasts also slaying the in the mission briefing mentioned Kress, one of two Yuan-ti leaders in the process. The blood of the slain was pooling in the middle of this before insignificant and now eradicated settlement. The moonlight created a black shimmer where the blood and soil met a truly magnificent view that further inflamed his will to one day subdue the surface world by his very own might.

After a moment of victory they moved on with the plan and began their decent into the deep waters. The entrance to the temple lay way beneath the waves that were breaking in this oh so entrancing white light of the often shunned heavenly body.

Their way to the temple was hindered by many Troglodoits and a giant sea worm but it seemed the biggest obstacle to their combined efforts was really the inability to communicate beyond simple signs and the problems that brought for utilizing anything but rudimentary tactics.
At one point one of their group almost died, the weakling of a tiefling called Arnon Woe was almost shattered by a series of evoced ice storms but the soft hearted bard galawyn saved the Ilbith scum and thereby took a great pleasure from K'yon that day. He'd not forget.

Upon finally entering the temple things turned strange and went way off from their plan.
They were approached by a being that called itself Threll which apparently had had a vision of death and thought to intervene, so it offered the group an audience with the dragon they were supposed to smite.
Of course their leader being the negotiator, yet another title the Conjurer had gained over the past training sessions, the offer was not declined and the group stepped into the belly of the beast. Walking past shear hundreds of these Troglodoits putting them right on the spot between the dragon and his army.

Something was odd, the Troglodoits were zealous beyond fanatic while the dragon decided to negotiate in undercommon clearly a detail that hinted, besides the will to negotiate at all, at a much more liberal stance towards the infiltrators, us.
It seemed the negotiator had seen this as well and began to make promises to the dragon, his silver tongue would have planted a seed in the driest ground with success and with the dragon obviously already considering to rid himself of the annoyingly over zealous cult it was no surprise that an agreement was made.
To the shame of the Conjurer he made the unnecessary sacrifice of the gold that the Charnag had offered for the mission but K'yon decided not to interfere with the dealings of Vesche who clearly had his way to convince people of his doing. Not worth risking any troubles with someone who knew the game as well as he did.

Once the deal was made the small task force in combined effort with the mighty dragon made short work of even more Troglodoits and their Yuan-ti leader Ullash.
K'yon limited his efforts to a few disabling spells, soon gaseous clouds, spider webs and grease held large contingents of the reptilian army in place until his allies were ready to harvest them like pears from a tree.

Blood was pooling between their feet this time there was no light to shine upon it, there was no magic to this slaughter until a portal appeared and Sutrinos and a bunch more of the Charnag appeared through it.
The elder dragon changed his form to resemble that of Threll, a humanoid one. They revealed being brothers and soon Sutrinos would further the revelations explaining how everything that had happened had been the plan from the beginning.
To K'yon this was amusing, it revealed the negotiator as a pawn in the Charnag plans, the "king" had been used in someone else's ploy. That felt like a healing balm on his hurt ego.
Later everyone got to choose an item he wished to have improved by the Charnag's enchanter or one could have a new item crafted by a duergar who clearly was a master of his trade as much as the enchanter of his.
K'yon chose to go last, not out of courtesy of course but because he knew he wanted his family sword improved he had never gotten one of the legendary weapons of quellar Oblodra but the one he had was clearly noticeable as sword of his house and he had plans to use it in his strive for glory.
It took its good time until the enchanter was done the sword had an unholy glow to it, it almost seemed to seep magic and whatever it made contact with was burned by its acidic touch. The enchanter would call it the "Envy Edge" the two showed their respect for one another then they parted, K'yon with a new key component for his recipe of success.

//while this is publicly available to read I ask of everyone to consider fairness when it comes to using this knowledge ingame

The following cycles K'yon enjoyed the fresh wind his new blade brought to his love for killing, killing the monsters of the Underdark and Ilbith in the area surrounding Sshamath with this lovely sizzling melody the magically induced acid caused on hit.

During his ventures into the darker depths he'd meet an Illythiiri of unusually pale skin color. Her name was apparently Sabrae and she was a very capable fighter. K'yon expected her to have some impure blood but to something that might just be a high standing member in one of these Houses of Sshamath, who'd know, he tried to at least not to show a lack of respect.

The two ventured deep into the goblin infested caverns and Sabrae showed a precision in two-weapon fighting that was true to illythiiri traditions. He was enjoying to watch her move elegantly through the sheer helpless goblin masses, the rage combined with the sophistication she displayed severing limbs from bodies and heads from necks almost made him weep in joy.

Then a female Illythiiri appeared and the moment turned sour. Sabrae seemed to know her and did not display an overly large amount of respect to her, having been in Sshamath K'yon's fear and respect for the females of his race had shrunken to a point that he felt was still necessary but the inherent servitude towards them with which he had been brought up with had clearly crumbled.
And so he did not bow as he had done so many times before and it was apparent the female would not let that lack of obedience slip.
The threats of the follower of loth quickly brought this faern member of the Bureaucracy of Sshamath back to his young adult years in Menzoberranzan where he'd bow in fear in front of every and any Jalil (female) no matter how insignificant she might have been.
He didn't like it and the woman named Triel' Dev'lin ended up on his list.
Later during their hunt during which his suspicion about Sabrae being an Ilbith was confirmed to further dampen his mood, she stepped into a trap and was stunned for several moments. K'yon could not help but grin, as he so often does, quickly he was back-handed by the dreadful jalil he'd underline in his list at a later point in time.
They made their way towards the Illithid mines and fought there for a while until the Jalil who seemed to be a priestress decided she was no longer willing to share her little appraised company with them. She plainly teleported away leaving him and the Ilbith left behind forced to, how did Sabrae so nicely call it, "tactically push forward to the City".

On their way to Sshamath they met another member of House Dev'lin. Apparently the House had interest in recruiting him for their qu'ellar(house) however it seemed they were not very versed in conversing with possible allies and K'yon was practically forced into harshly declining their offer. During these talks which were done in secret and a save distance away from the city Sabrae showed that her lack of respect for the zealous Jalil was not limited to Triel' Dev'lin but was clearly inherent to her in general. She did talk down to K'yon which lost her nearly all of the respect she had gained beforehand.

K'yon left the two behind making clear he was only going to negotiate with their Illharess and only if she was going to treat him with due respect. He was a member of the School of Necromancy and their Silent Seat in Sshamath's Bureaucracy after all. In a foul mood he entered the city the sight and a short talk with A'statyaneel (Wirg Brunegar) only slightly improved it and so K'yon wrote a name in his list and underlined it, twice.

Several cycles had passed, K'yon had been busy with his school duties and classes, much to his discontent he'd not been able to examine the Illithid brains. After hours of study he did not feel up to the task anymore and decided to wander the streets of S'shamath, a habit that helped clear his thoughts, he went to Gloura's hoping to find interesting conversation with little success.

However as he stepped out there was a gorgeous female (jalil) in front of him. She was clearly looking him up and down, while imitating her carefully, he found an insignia of the house Zau'afin. They had an equally careful conversation about their respective homelands and soon K'yon found her to be a true follower of Loth, an acolyte even.

Some point into the conversation Xeyn appeared, the elite mercenary he got acquainted with during the missions for the Charnag.

The jalil, clearly a high standing noble, visibly so at first sight, turned out to be Vierdra Zau'afin, the very attractive niece of Lomith Zau'afin, the head (Ilharess) of the house he had met and talked to during the Bureaucracy meeting.

She'd be tested to become a Priestress of Loth in the near future and informally invited them to the festivities that would take place after her, no doubt successful ascension.

Only little later their topic shifted towards the Dev'lins and their upcoming execution. It was clear all three of them had little to object, quiet the contrary, they all held their grudges against them, a similarity that seemed to unite them.

Vierdra apparently felt it as well inviting them to the house's estate. An opportunity K'yon would have never passed, an invitation of one of the high standing members of one of the two most influential houses of S'shamath. *K'yon smiled thinking* "Splendid!".

The group left the city and it's magical protections, once they had stepped barely out of its reaches Kurna, Vierdra's Guard of sorts, would teleport them all to the door steps, figuratively speaking, of a large and imposing compound, well protected from all sides, only accessible through this one main gate. The soon to be Priestress had them had the gate opened and lead them into the impressive entry hall, guarded by dozens of the houses's finest.

Vierdra began with an introduction of the houses and its rather special position being located outside of S'shamath yet in the clear vicinity, allowed the house its own jurisdiction within its own walls and a myriad of trade possibilities. What might have been boring to those raised and born in S'shamath, was well received information for Xeyn and K'yon both coming from the far Menzoberranzan.

Having concluded with her initial speech Vierdra slowly walked backwards towards a large door behind her, luring her guests to follow her like a spider its prey into her net, an alluring and nubile spider in her case. Her guests more than willing to follow into her lair. Behind the door lay a long and steep spiral stair at which's end lay the incredible home of the Zau'afin.

At his first visit at the School of Necromancy with its impressively displayed craftsmanship of illythiiri architecture had left a deep impression on his artist soul. The house and home of the Zau'afin did so on another scale, the manifold of details and their sheer fineness was breath taking. Vierdra led them through a dining hall worthy of queens and several other premises equally imposing into their training room.
K'yon was no fighter, he knew how to fight and was more than a match for any non-illythiiri but anything in this room, the training dolls, the weapons, shields, armors, they all were clearly crafted by the most skillful hands even by menzoberranzanian standards.

The two more combat oriented Xeyn and Kurna could not resist the temptation to try and impress their guide with a display of their martial prowess in a duel, leaving Vierdra and K'yon with a chance to talk in more or less private, ignoring the bystanding Seriso.

The mistress' first question came almost instantly, she wondered why out of all schools of magic he had chosen to dedicate himself to the Necromancy. This gave him the chance to draw a circle to his more artistic side, explaining his passion of drawing his opponents dying moments. She was sceptical at first, which puzzled K'yon slightly considering how his morbid art was the very essence of illythiiri culture, combining their beauty with their merciless killing instincts. After a bit of explaining he had sparked her interest just enough to lighten a teeny flame, one that he was sure of, if nurtured would grow in intensity quickly.
He just offered her to draw her very self when they were rudely interrupted by the prematurely ending duel. She refused his offer with a small joke, him not going to draw her dying moments, clearly not his intention and she knew but she was playing a little game with him.
The fight had ended in a draw of the looks of it and their tour continued, K'yon in thoughts about art and a certain attractive female, he had stepped too far, a mistake caused by his lack of restraint when it came to art and tempting females, luckily mainly unnoticed by the others.

The rest of the tour K'yon's attention was unevenly split between the great architecture and their at least equally nicely built guide. It was only when Xeyn, Vierdra and him entered the house's temple when K'yon was able to shake off the charm. Only to be caught in the next, Vierdra was performing a ritual to Loth, her voice in a low festive tone once more enthralled K'yon but this time it wasn't a pleasing feeling. The way she spoke her incantation it made him feel small and insignificant before the very might of their goddess. He could not move, Vierdra made a sacrifice of her own blood to their all mother and smeared it over K'yon's and later Xeyn's face to form the holy symbol, a high honor, it was only then that he regained the ability to move again. She had offered her own blood to great spider, for a ritual of less importance one used lesser beings, having used her own blood clearly showed the weight Vierdra had put into her prayers and K'yon appreciated dearly thinking in slight jealousy of Xeyn who he'd have to share the blessings with.

Exiting the temple the mistress showed her displeasure in those who refused their queen. He could not but wonder if Vierdra would have chosen a different sacrifice had they all entered the temple.

The ritual was the climax of their tour everything that followed went by not gaining much of K'yon's attention, only a pool of blood fascinated him but the secret of how the Zau'afin kept the blood of their enemies fresh and flowing was of course not shared with him being an Outsider, still, he thought.

Once they had finished their round Vierdra withdrew herself, had it not been for the house's matron he would have more returned to the School, it had been a long cycle and he felt the need to get some rest. However Lomith wanted to talk to him on a matter and any matter a matron of such a significant house had was an important one. So he stayed and waited accompanied by the others, making the wait easier to endure. Lomith had had a visitor and apparently they had important things to discuss so he had to wait, the calm side of him had no issue with it, his more primal instinct driven part deep within him felt neglected and he had to suppress the anger that wanted to sprout from there.

Lomith returned and asked him to follow her, all of that was forgotten and excitement to be able to deal with such a significant figure found a way into his heart.
Lomith had found a ring that was supposedly able to shield her from the horrors of the abyss, these usually did not find a way into our world but capable wizards (faern) could conjure their horrid tentacles onto unsuspecting victims. Lomith was brave, she would have him conjure them right beneath her feet.

K'yon had little intend on forever merging his image with and name with the no doubt painful procedure she wanted to exert herself to. He made a suggestion he found to be a very clever one, why not give Kurna, the ill-mannered servant of the mistress test the ring. Without further ado Lomith went and got the unlucky Kurna that was now to utilize his very own body to see if the ring would leave him unharmed. K'yon prepared the squid tentacle that would function as focus and began to speak the formula, once finished black tentacles would sprout out of the ground as before K'yon's anger without much further notice and began to attack anything living within the area. Him and Lomith had made sure it would only be Kurna, so the tentacles attacked him in full force.

At the beginning of the assault he was quick to evade most of the tentacles but with every small bit taken her movements slowed allowing more and more tentacles to not only hit him but also hold him for further abuse through the numerous spawns. Kurna held himself well considering the pain he must have been going through, K'yon looked at him with a peculiar stare on one hand he was enjoying to see this scum that had so little etiquette getting exposed to such an immense amount of pain, on the other hand he feared his death and possible repercussions. He relieved a sigh when the spell had used up the squids tentacle, it had hung in mid-air slowly withering away until it had just completely vanished sending the black mass back to its origin.

Lomith was clearly not pleased, luckily less so with him than the ring, showing little interest in Kurna's well-being or rather the opposite of it, she left thanking K'yon for his assistance on the matter.

Thereafter he left the Zau'afin compound to return to his chambers at the School, hoping to get some rest before the next cycle's duties would await him.

K'yon had been talking to a female that had recently returned to S'shamath, him and Enchanter Ryld had informed her of the current situation within the city. It was a dangerous time, the town being a powder keg ready to explode if just one of the many different parties would drop the match into the spaciously layed out powder trail.

Ryld had been discussing the details of his planned expedition with K'yon, when the Mistress approached them interrupting their conversation in a rather rude fashion.
His lothlite upbringing kept K'yon's rage in check, he'd not openly attack a jalil (female), not even with words. Otherwise he surely would have showed his displeasure very clearly, very harshly.
He'd slowly calmed and given her some insight, Ryld had actually tried to confuse her with hinting at a dangerous Orc and his "servants", as he had called them, in the vicinity of the city. An allusion at Wirg and his Bregan mercenaries. K'yon was about to lift the veil over this when once again he was interrupted, this time by a rivvil Ilbith (human scum).

The ugly abomination of nature dared to interrupt two Illythiiri (drow) in mid conversation! But that was not the peak of its impertinences. It went on to offer K'yon gems for his services as guide! He was infuriated and sent them away, on a bad day he would have executed it and it's company on the spot but they were lucky. K'yon was excited about the expedition that lay infront of him if the Enchanter would be able to muster the necessary troups and equipment but his generous bounty offer from a while back hinted at a possibly large amount ressources at his disposal, so K'yon was not too worried about that.

The two surfacers left and he finished his talk with the jalil, he was intrigued to see the Ilbith stumble onto its death so he decided to follow them to the thayan trader.
There he witnessed a quiet significant part of their conversation, the brazen Ilbith achieved a price for an immensely powerful item the merchant offered, it was breathtaking. It was low enough that it was able to sell it to the genasi that accompanied it to a much lower price than the thayan usually asked for, while still clearly making huge profit.

This sparked K'yon's interest and he stood by for a while longer when suddenly the Ilbith teleported right in front of him telling him he'd have some interesting wares for him, a fact of which he seemed quiet sure. Rightfully so, there was a very interesting head piece K'yon wanted to aquire.
The Ilbith wanted fifty bags of gold, he offered him five bags instead, demoting the item as surface trash, after several long minutes of bartering K'yon had bought the item for fifteen and a half bags gaining a wand as additional "gift".


[The "Mad Merchant" showing off his wares]

What followed was just outrageous, the Ilbith wanted to establish a good trade relationship and asked how to achieve that. K'yon reluctantly explained the importance of a proper and deep bow and the respectful avoidance of eye-contact, when the Ilbith began talking about equality between the two trading parties.
He almost lost it then, asking this mad creature if it had not heard any of his spoken words, spit collecting in his mouth's corners almost to the point he began spitting.

The height of cheek he thought, but only for a moment, then the Ilbith took a handkerchief and began to dab away at the collected spit.
Saying K'yon was enraged would be an understatement. He hit the man's hand to drive it away, or better he tried to, as the assaultant just evaded his defensive maneuver with a clearly super human reaction, further spurring the Illythiiri's hatred.

Having at least interrupted this mad intrusion into his personal space, murderous intent in his eyes he observed the surroundings, there were no other Illythiiri around, only more of the Ilbith scum, most looking at the scene carefully almost to the point of being fearful.
So he decided to deescalate the situation, he'd not lose his face and not killing the Ilbith might indeed allow him to aquire some exotic items in the future, though he'd make sure to not meet this one in public ever again. So he warned him to never touch him again and then turned to leave steaming with rage while to a degree enthusiastic about his new acquisition.

The mad merchant had given his name, it was long and K'yon had not kept all of it, but he'd be able to reach him under the name Shekels via sending spell.

The tip of the blade pushed through his hand his trusted two-hander piercing it without much effort. It seemed like no blood was leaving the wound, maybe the acid had closed off the wound he thought. The pain he felt was only distant. Then the blade was swung and severed the left arm with the already wounded hand. Again there was a distant pain, had he lost his mind? Did the sword possess him?
He had felt a hunger emitting from the sword in these last cycles, he hadn't been able to go out of the school for several cycles and this had lead to the ever so slightly growing feeling coming from his Jealous Edge. Since his sword had been enchanted, he had always been able to go hunt Ilbith, the sword had been laying dormant for all this time.
A dozen cycles had passed since and what had begun as a hint of an inkling had grown to a clearly noticeably notion. Now he was wondering if the sword could control his thoughts or even his actions, the thought alone gave him the creeps. He looked down at the severed limb, only now he realized it wasn't his. He stood there complete numb.

Everything came back to him now, his sword, he had lent to Xeyn, asked him if he could feel "something", then nothing, until he felt blood running over, himself? He wasn't sure what he thought about that yet but one thing was very apparent. Xeyn had not only cut his hand but also dismembered himself, once again there had been little to no blood anywhere. The sword had hit the cavern floor and Xeyn and him apparently had found themselves in this messy situation.
Without much hesitation the mercenary had grabbed his severed limb and pressed it against the stump that was now adorning his left shoulder. K'yon was still confused but he clearly saw the edges of Xeyn's skin interconnecting with one another at an amazing speed, underneath it, there were clearly moving shades of the flesh following his skin's example. "What an astonishing feat!" , he thought but was pulled out of his thoughts by Xeyn saying: " Your sword's bloodlust should be sated for now." He carefully picked the thing up from the ground and indeed did not feel, anything, no hunger, no thrill for the kill, no nothing.


[ the "Jealous Edge" ]

K'yon began talking to Xeyn about his enormous regenerative abilities, he had something in mind and wanted to study them thoroughly asking him for a few samples of his blood and skin. Xeyn seemed to ponder for a while but his final suggestion was that of a mercenary.
K'yon was to pay him ten bags of gold for the samples. He played the disgusted faern (wizard), as he so often did, asking him if gold was really the only thing he'd want of him. The bait thrown out worked like a charm and he got his opposite thinking. "What would you want to offer me faern?" , his doubting question came. He had him, a wide grin snuck onto his face. Asking Xeyn what were his goals he found answers he'd known beforehand from observing the man for many a hour. He strove for the perfection of his body and K'yon was sure he could be helping him with this mundane task. Not out of charity of course, the ability to regenerate tissue was an ability that once emulated could help him with a manifold of things he had planned to research.

What a golden cycle, him and the mercenary came to an agreement, the faern would help him improve his already quiet unique features all the while having access to his " resources ". The only thing that slightly overshadowed this magnificent event was the menace his sword represented, not only had it possessed Xeyn, it had also shared the feelings of its host with K'yon. Displaying the very emotions of its victim to him, its "master"?

Things had been hectic for K'yon his duties for the School had expanded, his personal goals had taken up a large part of his time as well, rest was a rare good for the Necromancer.
It had become a habit for him to rush through the streets, of course he would not begin to run, like a mere Commoner, but often times he'd increase his walking speed through magical means. While moving like this he often gave little notice to details on the streets, his thoughts usually at the next step of an experiment or a task he was to fulfill, adding to his lack of awareness. His thoughts of experiments chased him so far that mid-conversation he'd sometimes think about the bodily reactions that must have been taking place in his opposite.

Once more rushing down the main road, the one that passes the market, it was a detail that caught his undivided attention. An all too well known brooch caught it and the moment his eyes had sent the visual stimulus to his occipital lobe K'yon stopped in his tracks.
What had once filled him with pride now raised an alarm in his vegetative nervous system.
He looked at the male drow, curious as to what he had planned for him, to his surprise he was saluted as it was common for drow in high ranks to be adressed by warriors of comparatively lower rank.
The male that turned out to be a house guard of Quavylene, his left behind Sister, had had not shown any sign of hostility and apparently had private matters to discuss, so he decided to relocate to the school to keep things away from prying ears.

At the School of Necromancy they went into one of the closed-off rooms used for discussions. It was then, that Istzar Vahadarr told him a wild story about how he had fled the families' compound during a change of guards to fulfill Quavylene's wish for him to assist K'yon.
He was looking for signs of sweat on his opposites face and was about to break into laughter about this so blatantly rediculous story, when Istzar handed him a pouch that was supposedly a "proof" of his loyalty, a gift that could only be from Quavylene.


[ a nightmare's mane ]

He opened the pouch and retrieved a tiny bit of night black hair, hair that at closer inspection proved to be mane, a teeny string, costly sure and no doubt of Quavylene, the one person that had ever stood close to him, the one he'd left behind and had tried to forget so many times before. She had not given up on him, for a short moment he felt ashamed, then a stroke of anger hit him.
Istzar had been her personal guard, he'd left her behind alone, this could mean a tremendous amount of pain for her and he had let her inflict this on herself. Furious he turned his emotions outward, his outburst just shy from complete loss of control. Istzar however had a very good reason for his doing, he explained how he had been close to discovery through K'yorl's psychic probing, she had called him to her more frequently obviously sensing a loyalty within the guard which was not towards his direct employer but his protégé.
He remembered his own situation from what felt like it was years away and decided to not bother his new personal guard any further.

He set himself a new goal, one that seemed impossible to accomplish at first, but with what he'd learned about the arcane, maybe there was a shimmer of hope after all and Istzar had revived his will to fight.

They had entered the Upperdark, it was the first time K'yon had gone there. A faern colleague had told him that there were gnomes paying well for certain services, he had looked at her with disgust. Working for Ilbith was clearly below him, the thought of it still angered him to the soul.

However his experiments had been getting more and more expensive and sometimes one had to make sacrifices to gain greatness. Of course he would not officially contract with these lesser beings, for that he had brought his brute, Daugonar had done all the bartering, dealt with the scum and had accepted their payment. Only far out of reach they had shared the gains and K'yon had told "the dog" to keep quiet on the matter, a breech of this agreement would be treated a breech of K'yon's contract with Bregan. He really did not want anyone to even have the slightest hint of an idea what shameful deal K'yon had struck to finance his goal, the goal that would put him above any and all necromancers that had dabbled with Undeath before.

Still in his thoughts he moved around a corner only to find Daugonar with his weapon unsheathed, opposed by a Dwarven in heavy armor with what looked to be a rivvil faern (human wizard) in the back.
It was them that made the first move asking if they might pass. The shock had left him and he was already preparing to attack them, his thoughts however racing.
Why would they even try to barter with them? The Illythiiri should be known to them as mortal enemies, had they met others of his kind before, others that had treated them differently than it was their duty to? This further fueled his rage.
He gave Daugonar the sign to attack and the mercenary, well versed in combat of all sorts as he was, prepared himself with a spell mantle to shield himself from the enemies faern's wrath. K'yon began to weave his first spell when the rivvil struck with his onto the Warrior Illythiiri, an orb of whirling noise flew towards the male fighting mercilessly with the much smaller but quiet sturdy dwarf. With a fizzling sound it vanished, the mercenaries' spellmantle swallowed it entirely and so it was K'yon's spell that would be the first to impact this grim fight to the death.
Once he had finished his weavings he made a simple but imperative gesture, the tip of his finger pointing at the rivvil. K'yon literally blinked for a moment, when he opened his eyes again his opponent lay on the floor silent, dead. There was a short majestic moment of silence within him. He had killed his opponent with a single decisive motion and it felt great. A grin snuck onto his face as he began bombarding the Dwarven with balls of acid, relentless as the dog that felt superior to his prey, it would not let go of it and so did the male he'd given this name to.
The dwarf withstood the assault for long moments but like a stone caught within the power of the tides, he was slowly withered down by the constant pummeling of the mercenary, having to use his shield to thwart the constantly incoming blows and magical attacks. And so he fell, the sturdy Warrior worthy of his race, yet no match for the superior Illythiiri.
A great happiness grew in K'yon as they quickly retreated back into their domain.

It was then K'yon expressed his proud of Daugonar for the first time. They had not only slain two surfacers, they had also restored the picture their race was supposed to display and even more significantly, they had shown Illythiiri Supremacy !

//I wanted to tell the two we fought that I really deeply hope they have no hard feelings. The decision to fight was mostly done out of IC reasons. The only OOC reason that was added was due to the fact that you guys went onto hostile, this was my first PvP in years so I have to admit I didn't know this was a common thing to do prior to deciding what way the confrontation was going to go. I tried to explain in the story what was a detrimental part of our win as I know you were confused as to why your spell just didn't do anything. I read the logs and found what I described in the story as only possible reason for it. So yea in a way the unsung hero of that battle was really Daugonar who probably saved K'yon's life with negating your maximized cacophonic blast. Again I want to emphasize that I really hope there are no hard feelings as I think we did have a decent fight that was in a way luckily won.

Little had been known about K'yon's whereabouts of the past years, few had noticed his absence at first as he had always been the type to venture for cycles over cycles be it for tasks for the school of Necromancy or his personal endeavours as gaining components for colours direly needed for his paintings or sculptures or his research on the many different topics he pursued.

It was only much later people realised that it was not just another expedition that had kept him away but some had finally caught up to the fact that he'd been gone for long possibly for good.

His return had shown that his mercenaries from Bregan D'earthe had had his contract run out it had been the first thing he'd made inquiries about as he knew he would need their assistance in the upcoming weeks, months even to get himself well established again.

Now he was wondering how things at the School of Necromancy would have progressed in his absence. Would his Chambers still be filled with his many goods and achievements or would they have given them to a newly ascending member. What had become of his experimentations, would they just have fallen to dust by now or might somebody have taken over what he had so carefully prepared, the very thought of that spiked his anger but only for short. There was just nothing he could do about it anyways.

It was time to meet with the high necromancer and find out.

//while this is publicly available to read I ask of everyone to consider fairness when it comes to using this knowledge ingame

K'yon had had a troublesome cycle, he still had not been able to reach his possessions in the School of Necromancy, apparrently the key to the chest to his personal belongings had gone lost and the removal of the wards that were to protect the Silent Seat of the School of Necromancy's "treasures" took its sweet time.

Leaving the school he had met the new, well for him at least, recruiter of the School, an impressive female Necromancer called Lyra and a newly enlisted called... Mmmh what was she called again... Ah he would just call her Petty... she had told him her name but all he remembered now was that it had been a name he would have given a pet, he would have given this type of name to a pet when he was still little and people would not have frowned upon him for chosing a very naive and childish name for a pet that he of course never had.

He had been showing the female that seemed quite capable despite a clear lack of discipline and respect what he was capable off and then had her show her of course limited abilities compared to his. Her rebelish nature had pestered him but she would be a useful tool in the tasks ahead. Tasks for her would most likely need to be less delicate but even these kind of chores needed to be done, all the better if he did not have to take care of them himself.

K'yon had still been in his thoughts when he returned from this excursion with his newly aquired enlisted when he discovered near the City entrance, Aunrae, a female drow who's acquaintance he had made the other day.
She was talking to a rivvil, illbith scum, what in Loth's name was going on with all these illithiry that would converse with kin way below their own?

A deep disappointed veiled K'yon's thoughts but not for long, Aunrae was explaining to him that the rivvil was a talented wizard, can you imagine? A rivvil, a human, illbith scum a faern and talented at that? Dissappointment slid into the background and amusement filled the short void in which K'yon had been puzzled about the ongoings.
Amused he asked the rivvil about the concept of the cirlces of the arcane and as it had to be the rivvil was completely confused by this surely complex topic. He began to explain that there are different schools of magic.
Poor little Aunrae really had thought she had found a rivvil that in some wonderous way had been the chosen amongst the rodent and would be a great faern some day. His ribcage was hurting as he was still laughing, he was aware that it was to some extend impolite to laugh about another illithiry especially a female one but he just hoped everyone would just believe he was exhausting himself about the rivvil, which of course was partially correct.

K'yon was still struggling to regain composure as the rivvil explained he had mistaken the terms and that he did know about the concept, later asked about his abilities and which circle he would be able to weave he replied and now please hold steadfast. He seriously replied he was capable of casting away spells of the eighth circle. Now to those who are not familiar with the art which faern devote their lifes to, the eighth circle is the second highest achievable. We are talking about weave, excuse me, magice of course as powerful it could summon an entire army of undead or demons or devils from the outer planes.
So it should be clear K'yon lost all the rest of his usually so firm self-composure, he laughed and laughed, chuckled then laughed again as Aunrae and the rivvil explained to him, that the rivvil was not able to cast a spell from the 8th circle today, of course not, K'yon was still caught in a bout of laughter.
He agreed to tutor the masterful faern, the rivvil clearly had to be if he would be able to cast the spell avasculate on a being summoned by K'yon himself.

So K'yon summoned a mighty Efreet of course not before warning the others that it would be under his complete and utter control. Then it struck him.
He looked at the efreet and saw this powerful and cunning creature's blood spill out of its pores, this could not be, he must have been dreaming. The surprise was so perfect K'yon just stood way too close to the efreet and was struck by a true surge of blood.

He stood there the world slowly began to turn again or so it felt, a miniscule stream of viscous fluid streaming down on the left side of his forehead touching his eyebrow then slowly dripping onto his robe. His robe was over and over splashed with this viscous red fluid, blood he realized the rivvil had avasculated his efreet. Now avasculate is a amongst the most violent spells there are, it forces magical currents to erupt from the center of the victim funneling them to the outside pressing any and all fluids in its way through the different layers of membranes straight out of the body.

Like in a state of trance K'yon used the cantrip rinse to clean his robes with a cold burst of water that he just retracted from the humidity within the air surrounding his garbs. The cold cleared his head but the consequences of the events he had not even began to comprehend. Almost automated he cast dry and removed the moisture from his fine clothes that now once more carresed his skin a comforting feel that would not reach his innermost.

//Added some more story to K'yon's background in the School of Necromancy thread: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5535&start=135

((Very big thanks to DM Dialectic who had a lot of patience with me making my first experience with the devils and even a player request event in general. Thank you for all your time, for helping me understand certain concepts and for giving me a great experience that felt like hard work to get to the goal. I suppose you really embodied these evil lurking beasts and gave me a great challenge and fun run. Huge kudos!!!)

K'yon looked to the side why was she here? His heart was racing and so was his head the many possibilities how this wondrous being could get hurt just kept coming and overwhelmed his thoughts.
He had told her to wait outside and under none and any circumstances to enter the crypt and yet she was here.

He should focus on the things he had set in motion rather than worry about her but even his head turned back to face the devil he had called for it did not come lightly to him to focus on this dangerous balancing act.

He had summoned a devil, two even but his first attempt to lure out a more frail one of their kind had miserably failed.
‌Not that he had not been able to call the imp, he had chosen this pathetic creature to have an easier "entrance" into their world. He had wanted to slowly get a grasp on their planes of existence and everything that encompassed their lives. But not only had this "thing", even the thought of this stubborn and overall just incredibly useless and time-wasting creature still instilled him with rage and disgust, not known a damn thing besides that Cania the eighth layer of hell was cold it had also refused to serve him. He had tried to convince him, had taken some of his blood but the stubborn thing would just not give in and so he had just let it fade back into the ice of Cania where it had been frozen for about 500 years prior to his calling up until now and now it would hopefully stay frozen there until eternity.



[ The pittyful Imp ]

In his second attempt he had been more ambitious or was it just desperation, no of course not as if he'd ever give in to desperation. It was all calculated risk after all there was much to gain. The conversation with this in a twisted way beautiful being had been almost as frustrating as with the dull imp.
The erinye would tell him about her low standing and reject his suggestions to aid her in her tasks to rise in the ranks of the devils, at first that was.

Now that Aunrae, his precious Aun, had arrived at the ritual side, much to his utter dismay. He got more bold, despite the warnings of his muse he told the this creature of keen evil his ambitious goal. K'yon wanted to create a perfect undead, not a brainless creation, no monster that would slowly wither away but a perfect undead with no faults, none of that disgusting smell many of the ghouls and ghasts brought along, not the blood thirst that vampires were driven by.
It was supposed to be grandeur a creature that was just like the original one but better... Undying and most important of all obeying to his will!
His enemies in a life of eternal servitude... but he was drifting away... he needed to focus.

To this brutally honest request that had left him feeling exposed the erinye suddenly reacted she offered him help in finding a necromancer of sorts that would allow for him to get a hold of his dreams. That at least was what she "promised". There talks had gone for long and his binding began to fade as she proclaimed to help him in return for a mighty demon's heart. To not lose contact to this mutually beneficial deal it seemed, she proclaimed he he could reach her by the name of Deznoonda of Dis apparently her true name.


[ The Erinye, twisted dangerous beauty ]

If she had spoken the truth he would need to find out soon but now he was beaten the strenuous procedure of preparing two separate rituals, making an offering, drawing the circles of protection perfectly with no error to avoid a sudden death to a freely amok running devil and anchoring the circle so the being could not just vanish back to its dimension had taken their toll and K'yon could not but teleport back to the vincinity of Sshamath, return to his chambers to rest and leave a slightly estranged Aunrae back at the crypt he had asked her to come to.

//while this is publicly available to read I ask of everyone to consider fairness when it comes to using this knowledge ingame