Ishavriel Isladar

Physical Characteristics:

Hair: silver

Eyes: light purple with elongated pupils (not quite slits)

Skin: fair-grey

Height: 3’1’’

Build: waifish

Scars: slash mark under left eye, claw marks on right arm (upper and lower) and lower left leg (near ankle) knife scars on both lower arms and left leg (under knee), gash on lower right leg (wraps around leg), and stab wound scars above left breast

Background:

Ishavriel was born in the town of Tridian, a mixed race town with human majority, to a pair of Gnome bards. The town was mostly self sufficient, and barely a blip on the map. Ishavriel’s parents were minstrels to Lord Bannon Kestrel, a minor noble (or glorified farmer depending on who was asked) who ruled over the town. Lord Kestrel was generally ill liked, and for good reason (he was an ass). Known to be arrogant, a heavy drinker, and a poor host, Lord Kestrel’s disposition led to the downfall of the town. After having slighted a passing sorcerer, Lord Kestrel and the town were subsequently cursed to die a violent death.

When she was 18 (approx. 7 for humans) the town was attacked by Orcs. Isha was the sole survivor, having been hidden away by her parents in a secret storage place in her house. She hid amidst her parents’ instruments while listening to the screams of the villagers as they were cut down by the Orc invaders. With all the townspeople dead, and the buildings ransacked, Isha was left to fend for herself. After several weeks, during which Isha had to survive alongside rats eating the moldy and spoiled scraps of food left in the town, a group a vagrants happened upon the ruined town. While scavenging the town for any valuables that might be left, one of the scavengers discovered Isha. The group decided to take her in, figuring they could sell her for a decent profit once they made it to the next town. Since its fall, Tridian has all but vanished from human memory.

Upon reaching a large town, the vagrant group sold Isha to a young human sorcerer named Vrumaghen. Isha was taught to cook, clean, and otherwise keep house to her new master, but was never allowed outside. At first, Vrumaghen was a normal enough master, chastising when Isha made mistakes and giving occasional beatings. However, as time passed, Vrumaghen grew weary of the limitations placed on him as a sorcerer and turned to necromancy through the deity Nerul. During this time, he grew more and more violent towards Isha, finding mistakes in nearly anything she did. He would bleed her through cuts in her lower arms or in her legs. One particular instance, Vrumaghen punished her by skinning some of the flesh off of her leg, leaving her with a wide scar wrapped around her lower right leg. All of this was done with the ceremonial dagger he used for necromantic rituals. As Vrumaghen reached middle age, he realized that he was also reaching the limits of his power (mid life crisis much?). In a bid for power, Vrumaghen sacrificed his eyesight in return for more power. Having to rely on the rest of his senses and spell craft, Vrumaghen forced Isha to assist him. The years of cruelty along with the horrors she had to witness and commit as Vrumaghen’s assistant took their toll and broke Isha’s mind completely. In her insanity, she began to confide in the rats Vrumaghen would use in some of his experiments. None of the rats lived very long, but Isha considered all rats to be connected, so their deaths didn’t hurt her already fragile mind. When unable to procure bodies for his use, Vrumaghen would experiment with alchemy and the effects of various potions and brews. It was through this that Isha learned to associate sickness and pain with bubbling liquids, leading to a strong fear of bubbles.

As Vrumaghen grew older, he chose to take on an apprentice in order to free more of his time for the pursuit of power. He met Vandra, and sensing her interest in knowledge and the secrets of magic, he offered his guidance in teaching her necromancy. Unknown to Vrumaghen, Vandra was a half-Orc, and had been turned away from other masters of spell craft due to her race. Vandra was taught necromancy and given charge to take care his scythe and necromantic tools, keeping them in prime condition.

Vandra was sometimes sent to retrieve important materials needed for Vrumaghen’s craft. It was during one of those times that Vrumaghen was attacked by a creature summoned by a rival sorcerer. The creature was a sadistic demon who took pleasure in breaking its victims. Vrumaghen was killed (being the target of the attack), but it soon lost interest in Isha (what fun is there to be had when the victim is already broken?). It cast Isha aside and returned to its master, leaving death and destruction in its wake. When Vandra returned, she salvaged what she could of Vrumaghen’s belongings and took care of Isha’s wounds. Isha survived the attack, but was left with many scars of claw marks. She recovered Vrumaghen’s ceremonial dagger from the ruined workshop and dubbed it “Stabby.” Vandra allowed her to keep the dagger given she only use it on Vandra’s enemies or in self defense.

Ishavriel has since traveled in Vandra’s care, playing with knives (fighting enemies), making friends (catching, keeping, killing, and still keeping, various rats), and finding pockets in the world (going into various buildings).