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

First Name: Andune
Last Name: Lomion

Appearance: Andune has purple eyes that don't show any spark of life. His face is dark and has a mashed look, an old injury in his martial training. He is well dressed in a fine protective metal mesh that is little more than cloth. He has a dramatic head of long golden hair.

Race: Aasimar
Age: 31
Height: Slightly above average
Weight: Lithe
Eyes: Purple
Hair: Blonde


Personality Profile: Andune has presence, perhaps an indication of his strong soul. He is well spoken, and has a way with words, but often he does not understand the poetry or profundity of his own words. His charisma helps him hide his ignorance. He used to be rather haughty, but recent events has left him rather frightened. He still can stumble on his pride, and fancies himself destined for great deeds. He is deeply devoted to Savras, but particularly savors truth that is inconvenient, even harsh.

General Health: Andune is hearty and blessed with good fortitude
Deity: Savras
Initial Alignment: Lawful Evil, strong lean to lawful
Profession: None
Base Class & Proposed Development: Monk, sorcerer
Habits/Hobbies: Andune deals with most things with meditation, for him it is a way of life, but he also loves to do it
Weapon of Choice: quarterstaff

Background:
Andune has always lived with a community of monks dedicated to Savras, who live in a system of caves found deep in Cloakwood. He did not stray far, following their ways and learning the teachings of this community. As he grew his pride and haughtiness alienated him from the humble monks, and he did not appreciate their wisdom and learning. He learned what he could and followed out of his sense of law and duty. Not long after becoming fully ordained, he began dreaming about an old ash tree that he had seen in the area of the cave entrance. It was dead but did not decay, and after a powerful dream he saw the tree be destroyed by a bolt of lightning. When he woke a staff was in his hands made of black ash and carved in the shape of a twisting dragon. He felt its evil but enjoyed its power, and kept it hidden from the other monks. Eventually, because Andune refuses to lie, he had to reveal his staff to the others. The evil of the staff could be felt by the other monks and they told him he must destroy it or leave. Andune chose to leave, but only a couple days journey through cloakwood, Andune woke from sleep and the staff was gone. He seeks the staff, and longs to possess the power of it again. After a few days learning about Baldur's Gate and the surrounding area a bit, his meditation took a turn from the orthodox methods of his teachers. He began developing as a sorcerer as he explored his consciousness with a more intuitive approach. After a short time away from the monks, strange magical events began happening around him. He was sorely tested against some unknown evil that sought his soul. As a result of this test, Andune's personality has changed. He is humbled some, and still frightened. He is also become a servant of clan Krinkrak, and beholden to Candlekeep for his deliverance.

Goals:
Immortality through meditation
Fulfill his duties and obligations (particularly to clan Krinkrak)
Serve the truth, even the ugly truths
Find the Staff

Andune sat in meditation. He saw the sun with many rays of light, and he knew from his teachers that meant danger. He turned his focus to his body. He felt first his surface features, and then went deeper, eventually enumerating each bone of his body. "Dreams can live forever" came the thought, rippling through his mind, but he knew how to return to stillness. "Still... If only this body were less... impermanent" He felt the surge of the blood in his veins spread energy from his center to his extremities with each breath. "Life implies death... and death... implies life" He bent his will against his own life force. With his mind focused, he was able to slow the coursing energy, and then stop it.

He woke collapsed in the grass where he was meditating. "You are a fool" he thought as he stood up dizzily. "You cannot reach the goal that way." He sighed and moved on. "Lore is what I need" He thought "But not lore found in candlekeep or baldur's gate, or from any goodly wizard...."

***

He came out of the house in cloakwood panting, he had faced many undead, and was trying to find a place to rest. He clutched his side where he had been clawed with one hand, leaning on his staff with the other. No time to mend his wound now. He found something, scrolls of lore, and was eager to seclude himself so he could examine them. He saw a huge spider in the dark forest, and it saw him, with a gurgling sound it rushed towards him, and Andune gripped his staff and crouched, ready to meet the charge.

***

Andune sat by a peaceful pool in the forest and meditated on the zombie he had just raised using one of his scrolls. He felt the energy pulse through it, totally unlike his life force, and he tried to tap into a source of the same energy within his own body. He found a focal point of energy and allowed the energy to enter his body at his sternum. He felt his life processes fade and become weak, and he was wracked with pain as this new energy took hold in his body. He felt his veins dying, and the blood begin to still its pulse. The pain was excruciating, but at last, when he arose from his meditation two days later, his body was no longer living, and a new, immortal power was sustaining him, and he had begun to master it. He willed himself to smile coldly at his progress, and left the tranquil spot with the zombie now crumpled and inanimate on the grass.

Andune lay with his back on the cave floor groaning in pain and clawing at the air. "Malina... Malina..." His body seemed to flicker with a passing shadow, and each flicker became deeper and more frequent.

"Yes, husband" Malina took Andune's hands in hers and tried to make them relax.

"Malina, the shadow demon has almost claimed me... but before I depart I ask you to repay Cragnus and his clan, and Candlekeep... for the precious time I was given before this hour."

Malina's eyes welled up with tears. She did not know what claim this demon had on Andune, and she did not know the debt he owed to Krinkrak.

"In Savras' name I swear I will repay Cragnus" She said

Andune's brow relaxed and he gave a final gasp that had a hint of relief in it, as the shadows of the cave seemed to gather around him until he could no longer be seen.

Malina bent to kiss his hand, but his hand was gone, and the shadows sank into the cave floor. She was alone with her grief.

Elsewhere on the sword coast, Cragnus Krinkrak rails against both the human Andune and the shadows plaguing him. As he attempts to navigate the web of deception and chaos woven by the demons and their primordial patron, Cragnus reflected that were it not for an uncharacteristic moment of altruism, he could have merely left Andune to his fate and moved on.

Unbeknownst to the dwarf, Andune had already succumbed. It would become one more reason to rage against the treachery of the fiends and the deal that was broken.

Malina leaps and strikes the giant spider a final hack with her axe. She lands on the other side of the dying spider and begins looking over the hoard of bones it had collected. She lifts an Dwarven axe from a gory pile and examines it closely. "Cold Iron..." She thinks to herself, and briefly casts a spell over it. The axe emits a wave of evil necromancy to her magically enhanced senses. "And vampiric...surely Cragnus or one of his clan could use this..." She puts the axe in a bag she has set aside for things clan Krinkrak might use.

The close cavern glows faintly with fungus, through the strands of web reaching from floor to ceiling. Suddenly her ears pick up movement down the deep rock tunnel. "Another giant bug I suppose."

"I have sent a sending spell several times... I guess Andune's description is not enough to reach him.. I'll have to venture on to the surface." She thinks to herself as she casts invisibility and moves away, hugging the rock wall.