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Mystirio Snow
Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2016 7:03 pm
by AstralisAdept
Last Name: Snow
Appearance: Mystirio appears well groomed. Nails, skin, hair and shave seem to be frequently cared for. He has no major scars or tattoos. The chain mail he wears is what best can be described as piece mail of armors and garments he has previously owned. He wears glasses, and usually carries a backpack adorned with small minor arcane trinkets, gems, idols, other various glowing and strange items. His eyes normally have dark circles from lack of sleep.
Race: Human
Age: Unknown
Height: 6'
Weight: 180lbs
Eyes:Blue
Hair:Black
Facial Hair Style: Shadow, Rough Shave or Short beard. Depends on when.
Personality Profile:
General Health: Physically Fit, Wears Glasses
Deity: Has found Interest in Leira
Initial Alignment: Chaotic Good
Profession: Arcane Consultant, Merchant
Base Class & Proposed Development: Wizard
Habits/Hobbies: Constant Adjusting of his Glasses/Star gazing
Languages: Common and Elven
Weapon of Choice: Other People.
Background:
Mystrio suffers from amnesia. For two years now he has been on a quest to find his past or home.
In summary he knows or thinks;
-His name is Mystirio Snow.
-His fathers name was Mendle.
-His home was a wind swept spire built atop a snow covered mountain.
-He believes the name of his homeland was Rollinsdale.
-He believes perhaps he may have hailed from another plane.
-He remembers a simple tomb in a mountain side, but nothing of where or its contents.
He woke after unknown events and time, he was floating off the Sword Coast. He was rescued by sailors. His only possessions were crude clothing and a wand. Mystirio only remembered his first name at this point. The sailors called him Mystirio the Seeker.
The wand he possessed was able to speak to Mystirio. The wands name was Kaelus. It spoke elven and guided Mystirio in his quest to find himself and home. Eventually the wand seemed to have lost power. Mystirio continued to carry it until it was stolen from him.
Mystirio has traveled across Faerun for two years searching for his home or anyone who can help him on his quest. At this point he has returned to the Sword Coast, looking back at his place of arrival for more information.
Goals: Discover his past and to find his home.
Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts: There is A LOT to work with.
Mystirio's Past: Names, places, past unknown actions, false information, former enemies.
Kaelus the Wand: Any number of things could of happened to Kaelus.
The Arcane Brotherhood: Some lost links to the brotherhood could be restored.
*In order to not spoil the writings outright the details of his past will be submitted via private bio.
Re: Mystirio Snow
Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2016 7:11 pm
by AstralisAdept
Introduction
Stretching across a vast coastline overlooking the majestic celestial seas. A colonnade of ebony pillars rests on a steep plateau. Its function as a colonnade has long passed but its charm and serenity hold the company of two beings. One of them human in appearance. A tall slender man in white robes with a shaved head and a cherubic quality to his face. The other a small glowing ball of pale blue light with a cloud-like appearance.
The man speaks to the glowing ball in a friendly and patient manner "Well Elias, I'm sure you know why we're here?"
Elias the wisp quietly replies "Yes sir Tertimus. To help tutor me."
"Correct!" says Tertimus as he opens a large book adorned with celestial runes.
"It appears you have a magnificent talent for memory, and truly have a good heart. The issue appears to be your understanding of morals, and deriving what's to be learned of a story. Now it's not often one gets a Celestian Gain as a tutor, so I hope you make value of our time"
"Of course sir." says Elias.
Tertimus focuses for a moment and then exclaims with a single finger in the air " Oh yes this one!".
"Which one sir?" asks Elias.
Tertimus smiles and tilts his head to the side and says "Its a curious story. One of which I will vouch you onto your next milestone, IF! you can derive the moral within. It's the story of Mystirio Snow."
"I'm familiar sir" hums Elias as he wisps up to Tertimus's shoulder and reviews the first few lines on the page. Tertimus looks over to Elias and raises a brow.
"Well then child, illuminate with its profound moral point." Tertimus says doubtfuly.
Tertimus smiles and awaits Elias's words. Remembering his duties as a Gain, recording this very story in the book of ages.
"This is the one in which if any character at any time made the correct moral choice, the catastrophic events at the end could be avoided?" Elias asks and receives a firm shake of Tertimus's head.
"No child, which part stood out to you the most? Maybe we should begin there." Humors Tertimus.
The wisp floats about the pages causing them to turn rapidly past the first few pages and then says "Here!"
"I remember a few things. Not a lot. Mostly love, pain, fears, simple stuff. It not always easy. When I close my eyes and picture these memories. Everything appears like it's black and white. It's all covered in shadow, it, it's in slow motion almost. No sounds directly but sometimes echo. Sometimes it's like a voice is whispering what's going to happen next."A man says quietly with his raspy voice as he sits at a table in a dank and passed prime tavern.
Smoke drifts passed the man from a nearby patron behind him as he adjusts his glasses and tucks some of his hair behind his ear. He clears his throat and says "I don't even know how long its been. Could be a few months, maybe ten years." He gestures with ten fingers held out across the table.
"Well, we know a few facts. Mystirio is my name. I remember my home... a keep somewhere in mountains. Rollinsdale was the name. I just remember a map that was framed in the keep. It stands out in my mind focused on Rallinsdale, the rest of the map is in shadow."
The man coughs and continues "Family... family...as yes my father I remember. I can picture him but I don't know how old I was. His name was Mendle. He was kind, wise, fair, and insightful. I can't recall his words but I can feel it. I don't recall any brothers...sisters...mother... anyone ells."
The man waves a hand dismissively " Yeah the Tomb I know. I can't recall much about it. No names or figures come to mind." The man rubs his eyes and asks "What did you say your name was again?"
After opening his eyes he looks across the table and becomes very pale as he realizes no one is there. Smoke drifts out the empty bar, devoid of any patrons with the exception of two unemployed passed-out strumpets and the barkeep who exclaims "You better buy another round or get out stranger!".
Re: Mystirio Snow
Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2016 7:15 pm
by AstralisAdept
Part One: Life and Death
"Interesting, why start here?" Interjects Tertimus as he smiles at Elias.
"Um" Elias pauses and chooses his words carefully "Mostly I just have to ask.."
Tertimus looking not amused asks "Well?"
"Was he talking to you?"
"No Elias, I was the man pretending to smoke a pipe behind him. When I saw him pause and look up, I quickly exited the tavern unnoticed. You should know a Gains methods are to never directly interact unless forced to." says Tertimus
"Well then, who was he speaking to?" asks Elias
Tertimus looking rather disappointed says "Come now, value this time. You should choose a more important part."
Elias without a word wisps around several pages. "perhaps here sir?"
Unforgiving sun beats down from a cloudless blue sky on a large reptile with brown skin and a vibrantly colored tail. The reptile poses still awaiting its next meal on a rock that sits upon an arid sandy hill located in a desert. The silence is broken by a searing hot wind whipping across the plains. The reptile skitters quickly under the rock as a humanoid figure soars by a few lengths overhead blasting the terrain with sand from his wake.
The male human with long black hair, blue squinted eyes, and a regal beard holds his hands forward in his direction of flight. He wears noble purple clothes and a high collared black cloak that whips in the wind behind him. Pausing for a moment he says to himself "Well Mendle, you've gone this far. No turning back from here."
On the horizon, perched in the center of a several-mile scar of lava rock surrounded by a halo of glass is a triangular structure jutting out of the extirpated earth. As Mendle rapidly approaches the site he surveys small lava rock crusted and charred remains of small structures. "Well now, seems the tomes were accurate. This ancient civilization was destroyed by abnormal volcanic activities. Let's see if the rest was true." Says Mendle as he glides down to the craggy ground with a gentle landing and a soft crunch of lava rock.
Mendle approaches the small pyramid-like structure made from coastal marble and granite. The structure continues on under the sand and lava rock unfinished at the bottom, hinting that it posses many unearthed portions of it. A small hole on the south face shows evidence that it has been borrowed into. There are piles of rubble, broken mine tools, small chips in the granite, and several ropes tied to local objects draping into the hole. Mendle surveys the area cautiously and then levitates into the pitch-black hole.
A radiant beam of light is cast through the hole and animates Mendle's shadow on the sand scattered floor. The floor appears twenty feet down and the room is devoid of sound other than a howling wind echoing from the borrowed opening. Mendle turns to examine the entrance. He pauses for a moment and then gestures. Mendle utters a single word "Light". After the word is spoken he becomes the source of a brilliant purple light that emanates across the entire room. The wall around the hole now illuminated reveals a slightly disturbing feature. Someone or something also tried to borrow out of this room at one point.
Mendle turns around quickly and examines the rest of the room. It's about thirty by thirty and contains several storage containers such as wooden crates, barrels, vases, and baskets. These vessels have been smashed, rotted, and most likely plundered judging by the many footprints in the sand surrounding them. Several bones and skeletons lay about the room in no configuration that is significant. One skeleton in the piles of ruined vessels and human remains catches Mendle's keen eyes. It lays in the southeast corner and in its ridged bone grasp, it clutches a tome.
Mendle floats down to the skeleton landing on the floor on his feet with a soft plume of dust and sand. He then leans over and begins to wrestle the tome from the skeleton's lifeless hands. With a crunch, the grip is released and suddenly the bones begin to rattle and then dramatically crumble into a pile on the floor. A single scorpion crawls from the eye socket of the skull as it squishes down on the sandy floor. Carrion insects skitter about and desperately seek a new home. Mendle blows the dust off the tome and raises it to his nose. He inhales deeply smelling the binding. "Mmmmm the smell of antiquity" he mumbles to himself.
Examination of the tome reveals no title or author. Most of the pages are blank with an exception of the first dozen. The few pages with words are written in common and appear to be a log or journal of sorts. The author appears hurried in his writing of the first entry at an unknown time and date;
The will of the dark one has infected the temple patrons and the surrounding cities. We appear to be cursed or diseased. Some of us lose our health, growing large fist-sized lumps on our neck or back. The weak die quickly, but the others slowly appear to lose their minds. We're not sure why our Lord has forsaken us. We do only as he asks.
The second entry below it on the same page notes a time only six days after the first entry and it reads;
The disease and death have become a secondary concern to the rapid outbreaks of violence among those who've lost their minds. The citizens have become unwilling to reason with each other and themselves at this time of crisis. The guards themselves bicker and draw blood openly in front of citizens. I've yet to sleep for a few nights, worried Ill be throttled in my sleep.
The next entry is noted as six days after the prior and reads;
All but the most maddened of us have abandoned the city and perhaps even the faith of our lord. Those weakened by the disease also remain but are becoming sparse. The fortunate have left or died. The most deranged and mentally tortured have begun to feast on the gore and bodies of the fallen. Even worse, some have begun to feast on themselves while still alive. I saw a man today who had chewed off his own hand and had begun to continue onto his wrist and arm. The most healthy and sound of mind guards like myself have walled ourselves in the pyramid to protect the vessel of the dark one. We view the horrific events that unfold from an observation deck midway up the pyramid. Shortly after we walled ourselves in, giant fissures of lava had opened up all over the surrounding city. One cant help but feel the end is upon us. Perhaps our Lord will forgive us, my faith is becoming as shaken as the ground below us.
The next entry in the tome is written crudely and contains many misspelled words. Random words are repeatedly scribbled on random corners of the pages such as; Forgive, Repent, Death, and Darkness. Small spatters of brown appear all over the entry noted to be six days after the prior and reads;
All hope is lost. I am to die here, forever trapped in this hell. I believe we may have damned ourselves farther by being in such proximity to the dark one. No forgiveness, no peace, no repenting, only death.
The last entry notes no time or date and reads;
They're all dead. All but me. I've been trapped in the stores at the peak of the pyramid for, months, maybe a year I don't know. This remains to be the only location with breathable air. Portions of the pyramid below have been sealed by earthquakes and lava. I tried to barrow out the ventilation hole above, but the crates I was standing on have fallen and I now lay mortally wounded. My last words coming to my mind as I wake from time to time. I welcome death. I hope someone reads this and understands my final protests against the dark one. I don't fear... The words trail off into a solid line running to the corner of the page.
Mendle shivers slightly, drops the tome with a large plume of sand and dust filling the area around him. He adjusts his glasses and says to himself "It's all true then, a dark being did exist here. Trying to build a vessel to preserve himself if struck down. I wonder why he turned on his own people? Perhaps his work was complete. Or perhaps I'll still have to finish it. Hold on Kaelus just a little longer. I'll save you. I promise."
Soaring quickly into the middle of the room Mendle leaves a sand tempest behind in his wake as he enters an open passage down in the center of the floor. The hallway about ten by ten sharply descends down and is littered with skeletons and footprints. The end comes about one hundred feet down at an archway.
The archway leads into a small ten-by-twenty room with three exits, one on each wall in front of Mendle. A few skeletons and what look to be game pieces litter the floor. A central granite table stands erected in the center of the room and the walls are home to several empty armor and weapon racks. Painted on the table is the faint outline of what used to be a map of the pyramid and the surrounding cities. "Aaah a war room" says Mendle. He notes the three passages on each wall lead down to the center of a large square parameter corridor. This corridor has four exits, one in each corner of the pyramid that leads to the next floor which has a large central chamber. Each wall around the chamber appears to have a rune marked on the painting in an unknown language.
Nodding to himself Mendle chooses the passage to the right and slowly levitates down a stairwell. He comes to an abrupt stop as he reaches a dead end entombed in lava rock. Swiftly doubling back he passes through the war room and into the next passage only to find another dead end entombed in collapsed granite. Once more heading back through the war room he floats down the final passage. This passage ends at lava rock much like the first, but the area is littered with large piles of lava rock and some broken mining tools. A hole has been borrowed through the lava rock downward. Soft voices and a faint light can be observed below. "I have no time for this." Mendle says to himself squinting.
Mendle soars down the passage with terrifying speed and arrives at a corner on the final floor of the pyramid. A great sand tempest erupts and disperses in each direction as he dramatically enters. Three men dressed in ragged leather armor, earth-tone turbans, and black cloth face masks stand startled to Mendle's left about one hundred paces away. The men wield scimitars and carry with them large backpacks adorned with rope and mining equipment. "I'm in no mood for this!" Mendle states coldly to the men.
The three masked men with plumes of sand behind them begin to sprint at Mendle brandishing scimitars and releasing a battle cry. Mendle begins to focus and closes his two middle fingers on each hand leaving only his index, little and thumb fingers point out. He holds his hands out to each side and points one at the tomb raider in front of him. With a sharp gesture upward, the tomb raider in the front sprinting at Mendle finds his next step touching only the air. The tomb raider's terrified face turns and looks down as he is hurled upward thirty feet instantly impacting the ceiling with a low thumping noise. His lifeless body falls quickly like a rag doll into a lifeless heap on the sand. The second tomb raider leaps over the corpse of his fallen ally just in time to be spattered by blood raining from above. Mendle's hands gesture to the wall on one side of the bandit and then quickly to the other. As the gesture is made a massive granite stone dislodges from the wall and plows into the second tomb raider. Sand and a spray of blood mists through the air as the stone carries the raider into the opposing wall with a massive slam. A horrific spatter of gore splashes across the wall around the stone. The third raider stops in his tracks as he is painted red by blood dancing through the air.
The remaining raider looks terrified at a ragdoll corpse and then at the puddle of gore and pulp that were once his allies. "I've heard a mage's wrath can be a heavy burden. Leave here in peace and never speak a word of this or you shall be left in pieces and never speak again." says Mendle coldly. The raider quickly abandons all his belongings and edges by Mendle. Once passed Mendle the raider begins to sprint in fear of his life up the passage and out of detection.
The blood still dripping from the ceiling taps metronomically onto a glinting gold key clutched in the raider's dead hand in the center of the corridor. Mendle closes his eyes and focuses. A few moments pass and the key begins to glow. Other feint glows appear in various pockets, backpacks, and portions of the sand around the massacre. With a gesture of Mendle's hand, each one begins to levitate from their respective locations and float in Mendle's direction. Each one of these glowing objects appears to be a key. Four of them in total, each made of gold and adorned with a single rune matching those on the map in the war room. The keys gentle begin to orbit Mendle around his waist height as the glowing ceases.
Mendle floats calmly down the corridor and finds the first keyhole in the center of the first of four massive parameter corridors. Over the keyhole placed about four feet up the wall is scribe the words "The Dark One will rest here immortal for all eternity.". With a soft scraping noise, the key is inserted and turned. Mendle winces slightly expecting some dramatic event to take place. He is quickly disappointed. Mendle moves on and uses the next key. Over this keyhole is scribed "Struck down his power shall forever remain". With no dramatic event occurring he moves to the next. Over the third keyhole is scribed "He will be saved from the astral plight and held safe within".
Mendle swiftly levitates to the final keyhole and examines the inscription reading "Death awaits all who tamper with the Dark One's vessel."
"Well I'm glad he is dead then" Mendle whispers to himself as he inserts the key and tumbles the lock over. A massive vibration begins to echo throughout the pyramid and sand pours down from the ceiling as a large rift opens in the granite seam before him. The two massive walls slide to the sides and block out the passages in the corners to his right and left. "Excellent planning I must say" says Mendle quietly to himself as he adjusts his glasses and examines the now open chamber before him.
As the walls stop, and the sand in the air slowly clears. A faint scratching noise can be heard from the room in front of him. The plume of sand gently hisses down and reveals a walkway standing ten feet higher than the floors around the room. The walkway leads to the peak of a small pyramid structure. Adorned at the top of the peak an oblong octahedron wand floats upright slowly rotating in place inside a pillar of blue light projecting from a gem fastened to the ceiling.
Mendle's face becomes puzzled as he beholds the source of the faint scratching noise. Down below the walkway on the right face of the pyramid structure an animated skeletal torso writhes away in the sand. Both the arms of the skeleton have been eroded away beyond the hands and wrist bones as if its been trying to crawl up the steeply slanted pyramid face for ages.
With a brief shutter of disturbance, Mendle proceeds down the walkway to the gem-like wand but is halted by a soft crunch under his boot. After lifting his boot he squints and realizes he has stepped on a small scarab beetle. Squinting with a look of concern, he bends over and collects the unfortunate creature in a cloth and places it in his pocket. Concentrating for a moment he holds two fingers up to the bridge of his nose. Brilliant purple light begins to pulsate from his fingertips as he mutters words of power. Thrusting his fingers forward at the tiny gem in the ceiling, the purple light explodes forth into a dense ball hurling forward. When the ball reaches the gem it erupts into a ten-foot circle, pulsing with anti-magical potency. As a finale, the gem ceases to emit blue light and falls inertly down to the stone floors below.
A brief moment of pain washes through Mendle's body, and then, darkness.
Re: Mystirio Snow
Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 3:23 pm
by AstralisAdept
Part Two: An Eon Within
After reviewing memories five thousand sixteen, five thousand twenty-six, and five thousand seven hundred ninety-four, I have concluded good help is hard to find. Carl appears to be the most incompetent, dim-witted waste of material ever assembled in known history. The only positive thing I can say for his entire duration of employment is his reliability. He shows up every day, gives his all, and completes his destiny to be the most useless failure of a minion. Merging memories five thousand sixteen, five thousand twenty-six, and five thousand seven hundred ninety-four, and all current thoughts on Carl into memory thirty-six thousand forty-four. Pause, add thoughts to memory thirty-six thousand forty-four; I don't blame Carl, I blame his parents."
"I haven't seen Phil in a few days. This perhaps explains my foul mood. He continues to be my most valuable sounding board. Without his keen observations and dry humor, I would feel completely isolated. As noted in the prior day's memory thirty-six thousand twenty-three; Phil is more than just a mid-upper level minion, he is a true friend. After more thoughts on memory thirty-six thousand twenty-three, I have decided to edit memory fifteen thousand nine hundred seventy-eight from; I stared into his beady little eyes for three hours today. He is perhaps the most revolting, ugly, wicked little thing I've ever looked at. I feel like I should pluck those dull orbs out of his head and laugh at his squirming and discomfort for hours. Instead, it shall be remembered as; I stared into his beady little eyes for three hours today. While ugly, he is perhaps the best friend I've got."
"With no further thoughts on these matters, I shall proceed with today's agenda. The review of memories one thousand through two thousand for future plotting purposes. The agenda for the next day will still be as previously scheduled; Opening proceedings as normal, make light of Carl's misfortunes, wait for Phil to show up, and continue flushing out revenge plot number four."
Words continue to echo off the pale blue-lit sandstone and marble walls. The dull monotone voice echoing is combined with a sharp grinding noise creating a cacophony about the chamber. This madness continues on for hours, days, weeks, months, and year after year.
Re: Mystirio Snow
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:05 pm
by AstralisAdept
Part Three: Milestones and Benchmarks
"Alright Elias, tell me what you remember about Mendle's early life." Says Tertimus as he gently closes the book adorned with celestial runes.
"Do you want me to summarize? Asks Elias.
Tertimus nods and narrows his eyes focusing intently on the wisp.
The wisp settles onto a broken portion of a white stone pillar and says "Well he was the son of a blacksmith and a seamstress. Both these parents we employed by a wizard names Kaelus. Kaelus was the founder and headmaster of a school for noble and prodigious wizards."
"When Mendle was born his mother passed during childbirth. His father, unfortunately, expired during a harsh winter a few years later. A sad series of events, but noble Kaelus stepped forward and raised Mendle as his own." Hums Elias as he flashes from dull white to blue.
"Indeed noble, and almost unexpected from an Elf of such stature." Adds Tertimus.
"Oh yes sir, of course. If I'm not mistaking Kaelus lost his wife a year earlier, and was also left to raise his daughter Gweniv as well." Says Elias with a faint tone of doubt in his voice.
Tertimus nods and his face lightens up a bit as he says "Correct, such is the tragic love between an elf and a human. Continue with your summary."
Elias brightly begins to flash tones of purple and blue brilliantly in excitement as his approval is received and rattles on "Kaelus mentored his defacto son as if he was his own. Mendle acclimated to the arcane arts with savant-like ease in a short time. Gweniv found it difficult to keep pace with Mendle during the joint private tutored sessions their father provided. The young man displayed additional traits in which concerned his mentor."
Fading to a soft blue illumination Elias takes a softer more fascinated tone saying "Some form of sorcerous like anima which connected him to magical objects. It was almost like Mendle could empathize with antiquity, magical objects and texts like a mother does with her child. Both the objects and the boy seemed to imprint on each other."
Tertimus abruptly clearing his throat opens the Tome of Ages and professes " You may be on to something child. Perhaps here I may illuminate". Terimus turns his gaze to the whisp while tapping his fingers at the beginning of a paragraph with its first letter embellished with calligraphic flare.
Elias puttered up to the page settled between Tertimus's elbow and the tome then proceeded to read aloud "Kaelus asked the boy to bond with a power stone. A trivial task for most, yet the lesson of imprint and bond with the arcane creations at the most basic level provides a building block to more advanced practices. He was to carry the stone for twenty-four hours until the process was complete. Simple enough and the boy just as simply snatched the stone from his mentor's hand.
"And then?" Asked Tertimus suddenly taking a darker tone.
Elias continued "He returned to his master some twenty-four hours later and was asked how the process went by his master Kaelus. He replied 'The tetrahedra stone of power was lonely. The stone told me if we inserted a number of equilateral imbuements its power could exponentially increase, but most importantly if we reshaped it at one point it could become a dodecahedron imbuement. If we increased its original imbuement times five we could have made it an icosahedron and meta imbue the dodecahedron imbuement within it and the stone wouldn't be so lonely. Kaelus almost staggered asked 'The resulting effect would be?' Mendle without a pause explained 'Twelve imbuements modifying twenty imbuements would equate a magnifying power of two hundred and forty base imbuement. The resulting effect after applying the inanimate division factor of twenty would be an arcane equivalent of a baseline human intelligence. Creating a persona constructed of whatever raw magical inputs desired, which could intelligently interact with the world around it. Therefore, it would no longer be lonely. I explained to the tetrahedra stone of power such catabolism of raw arcane power and post focus is beyond my current abilities. Whilst I feel for its desire, I cannot complete this task. The stone instantly chose to bond to me. I would have returned to you immediately with the results, but I chose to spend the remaining twenty-three hours forty-five minutes keeping the stone company. Assuming you would have me return it after the lesson, I thought it polite to do so and take your wording of twenty-four hours literally.'
*WIP*
