[Kryas] A Story from the past

[Mysticsage]

Kryas was sitting out on one of the guilds outer terraces with papers spread out along a table a small notebook in his hand as he scribbled things down methodically. The weather was harsh as rain poured down in buckets but the roof blocked most of it from getting at his work. The half elf always liked days like this it reminded him of a shower to clear his mind. Listening to the consistent melody and rhythm was soothing and helped with his thoughts. He was planning on writing a book of stories and songs to go along side an idea for a monster and battle manual that he had floating in his head.

With Serena currently away from the guild hall and having left him behind he took the moment at home to begin compiling thoughts. He began tapping out a small tune as lighting arced across the sky.

[Linwelin]

"The rain really is coming down, isn't it?"

Vladimir was looking out past the terrace on which Kryas was sitting. He'd been thinking of going out to train, but the heavy rain did not make that idea appealing in the least. The methuselan casually wandered up to the half-elf bard before him, sitting down across from him at the same table "What are you up to, my friend? Writing a new song? Or a story of some sort?" Vladimir avoided his last scenario, which was some sort of scheme in which Kryas was about to volunteer him into joining. Every time that happens, I always leave mortified...

[Mysticsage]

"A bit of both, I guess" Said the half elf stopping mid scribble "I've had this idea about writing a kind of Monster Manual to help the guild when out in the wilds. So I've been racking my brain for stories and songs that talk about such things. There is no fuller picture of the long forgotten past then the mind of a bard after all." Kryas chuckled at the last comment as he thought about some of the more far fetched stories he had gathered about the monsters who normally got the most story time.

"Though," The bard grew more contemplative, "this book even if it had every creature in it would do nothing to help adventurers against our greatest foe." The bard suddenly became more animated. "You know I've lived many different lives an acrobat, a court entertainer, a masked thief, even a gatekeeper, and its always people who surprise me for better.... and worse." That last thought in particular made him drift off slightly absorbed in whatever memory came to mind. Realizing where he was with a start, "But then I don't need to tell you about the complexity that is the heart do you Vlad. You perhaps are uniquely experienced in experiencing both sides of living with others and facing a looming shadow." said Kryas putting on his bardic mask of a smile.

[Linwelin]

"Interesting! A beastiary, is it?" Vladimir smirked noticing Kryas' wistful looks, but decided to leave inquiry toward that alone, "And, well, put it like that, and we are our greatest foe, my friend. Know ourselves and we can at least somewhat know our enemy, chaotic as it may be. And yes, I'm certainly well-versed in the fickle, yet somehow genuine nature of the heart; I've no need for those stories. So?" The methuselan nods in the direction of the book, "What sorts of things have you come up with thus far? Or are you intent on somehow adding "people" in there as an entry somehow? I don't think that's very feasible..." Vladimir shows his doubt on his face with his last trailing comment.

[Mysticsage]

"agreed," Said Kryas snapping back from his stupor, quickly shuffling through his papers "So far I've gone through the simple things large animals and packs. The kind of thing most people would run into if they live on the outskirts of society and would need this kind of things. From there I have the beginning of something on most of the goblinoid races since they are the most likely to attack merchants and traveling parties. From there things get stranger and more then a bit difficult to pin down with more provable fact then fiction." He began digging through his many pages he handed over one in particular.

He handed over a sketch of what looked to be a phantom screaming in pain, "Things like ghosts and phantoms can be particularly troublesome to pin down facts about since each culture and religion has their own way of dealing with lost souls. Beyond trying to explain the sheer emotional nature of spirits. I'm mostly asking Serena how best to deal with the root of the problem along with some traditional warding and barrier techniques for those that cannot be easily reasoned with," As he went to dig out another example of one of the more interesting creatures. Another sketch slid out of the pile when the bard wasn't paying attention it looked like a woman made almost completely out of crystal. With the charcole drawing it was hard to tell drawings but it looked as if energy would be moving over her entire body and with a confident grin

Based off the few sketches its apparent that Kryas must be paying out to an artist to get visual aids to help with his book. This one in particular had the inscription of Lichswritten beneath it. This was far from the usual depiction of Lichs who were once mages who lost themselves for the sake of power. The skeletal magus normally are heinous creatures who drive themselves to insanity due to the need for new magics. This one however seemed far kinder almost This drawing seemed to have a great deal more defined detail then the others. The half elf is to busy digging through papers to notice that this one in particular had escaped his grasp.

[Linwelin]

Vladimir picked up the sheet to examine it more closely. After a moment of observation, he spoke up. "Kryas, you dropped a page. It says 'Liches' as the subtitle, but this doesn't seem like any lich I've seen before. I know undead take all forms, but this one seems peculiar still. What's the story behind this one?" He waits for the bard to remove himself from the pile he dug through to hand it back.

"And you chose a good place to start. It will be a hit among newer and foreign merchants alike if we cover the behavior of local creatures. I think this is a fine venture." Vladimir affirms. And seeing how much work the bard had put into this, including hiring an artist, it was sure to have some success. "So who do you have doing the illustrations?"

[Mysticsage]

Kryas looked up and his mask dropped for a moment before his previous demeanor was back oh that," He took a moment to clear his throat "That one isn't meant for the book it was one I had done separately for my own peace of mind. Its been so long since I saw her face I had to see if I could recall what she looked like." He smiled smugly as he thought to himself, "Turned out I could remember quite a bit with a little help from the artist. The sketches are Grey's work that merchant has more then a few of his own tricks up his sleeve." The bard paused for a moment and then took the picture back and stared at it for a moment.

"Hey, do you remember that story I told you when we first entered the guild the one about the witch who fell in love with a death god? Well this is her." He said turning the drawing  back to face the vampire, "Meet the woman who my people call the Goddess of the Great Tree. She's the one I call mother." He went to pull up his crystal pendant from where it always lay next to his heart. In fact anyone who knew his personal  habits knew he never took the thing off no matter what he did. "The mark of our people-" he said now giving his roommate the chance to put some more of the pieces together. The crystal shard had an almost perfect structure with five perfecly flat sides that revealed the inner facets and warped the light into brilliant colors as if it stored some kind of power. This kind of crystal would be perfect for holding magic like a phylactery, or at least it would be if it was more then just a small shard.

[Linwelin]

Vladimir listen to the explanation with interest. He recalled seeing a 'Grey' around, but he never was acquainted with what he did or who he was personally. So he's an artist...and a merchant... Still, by far the most interesting information was that Kryas was endearingly acquainted to a lich. He was recalling the story of the woman falling in love with a god of death right as Kryas mentioned it. But then it was like Kryas set off a fireball in the room.

"...Mother? Your mother is a lich that is in love with the god of death?" And as Kryas removed the pendant he always wore, it was confirmed. Vladimir was well acquainted with the different types of immortality, especially those of undeath. And that pendant was, without a doubt, a phylactery for a lich. Or at least a shard of a former phylactery. "If that was hers, then...I'm sorry for your loss. If you have a shard of the phylactery, then you must have been near when it was destroyed." Vladimir turned a great deal more solemn. He hadn't expected this many big revelations; it was a lot to digest.

[Mysticsage]

Kryas mask broke then but it was not with pain or misery but shock that quickly turned to a full body bought of laughter. He couldn't believe what his friend had just said. Apologizing for the death of a women he just learned was a self professed lich. Normally when he told that people that were outside of his inner circle that he came from a people who worshiped that kind of person they  considered him some kind of child murdering demon spawn It was common myth and magic knowledge that to make oneself a lich a ritual was required involving but not limited to murdering and drinking the blood of infants. Few, cared to think there could be an alternative to the usual process beyond those who found their own answer to the magical puzzle.

He continued to laugh for a good few more moments before Kryas regained enough composure "She's far from dead my friend she ascended to the realm of the gods long ago. This pendant is simply a gift to all those who are born and bond to the couple both, a part of her former body. Its an old ritual from when she had a true body but now its more of a symbol then anything. I was one of the few with a true bond that had been born in the last few millennium." Kryas said the last part with a pride of a child who at one time may have been all too attached to his parents words. A youthful glimmer in his eyes before it was gone. "But, that doesn't mean much anymore I've had to clear my own paths through life. Though, my lineage is a large part of my talents I suppose,"

[Linwelin]

Vladimir was confused by the laughter, which he learned a while later was from apologizing for losing a lich-mother. But Vladimir knew that Kryas was not the sort to think fondly of anyone so evil. Thus it was only natural to think that this woman found a less devilish method of attaining lichdom. After all, Kryas gave him the same benefit of the doubt when he first arrived at the guild that one night. Why wouldn't Vladimir return the sentiment?

"Still, that means you have the blood of a demigod in your veins? That is quite a secret you've held onto." Seeing Kryas' childish pride in the matter was something new to Vladimir, so shortly after speaking, he broke out into a chuckle. But then he mentioned how this has influenced his life, which left Vladimir wondering. "What talents are those? I had assumed much of your skill was acquired through hard work and your intense curiosity."

[Mysticsage]

Kryas sat back and relaxed slightly it had been a long time since he had talked about his own story to someone like this. It felt good for a change to think about his past like this with someone new who did not seem like they wanted him dead. Responding to his first question however represented a pitfall so he had to explain properly if he wanted to not seem like some brainwashed cultist. "She and I don't share blood none of my people do. We are all soul bound with her, its the method that she used to get around the usual process of becoming a lich. Though now the process is simply tradition more then necessity. Creating a connection with yet unborn children allowed her to build a collective force of arcane magics to complete the process. As a result those who are bound were responsible with helping her maintain her humanity by keeping her connected to others and her loved ones. In return those children show connections to the arcane forces of this world that is a more intimate relationship, Though how these powers exactly manifest and the influence one who has on the bonded is unique to the individual."

He paused to tap his head and smile, My 'intense curiosity' as you put it was there in some form or another since I was a child. Though you are right that my exact skills are the result of my own efforts. I am who I am regardless of what my background demands. Though try explaining that to angry mothers who believed you were the cause of a miscarriage or other such circumstances. Though we never turned away from the world we would have become true monsters if we did. Stewing in ones own mind for to long without reaching out to the world can twist the heart after all."

[Linwelin]

"Ah!" Vladimir seemed to immediately understand the implications of soul binding versus killing others. "So all that mattered in that ascendancy to lichdom was the souls, not the loss of life. Though I still have difficulty agreeing with those that choose to be undead or immortal, that was a brilliant action to take." He was starting to have some admiration for this woman-gone-demigod.

As Kryas' explanation continued, Vladimir's face changed from smiling to serious. "I am well aware of that sentiment, as you well know. Had I done a similar withdrawal, I most likely would not be human, and would probably be dead. I have been kicked out of countless homes for similar unreasonable fears, even if they were well place ones. So with that I can say I feel your pain very well. I share it, in a way." His seriousness turned into more of a comforting expression by the end of his remark. "I would not have pegged us as so similar when we first met, my friend."