Maylayna Krakowski
​Human, LG,
​Chosen One | ​Tome-Smiter (PM me if you must)
Sheet eventually. tl;dr, 9 str, 16 dex, 15 con, 12 int, 12 wis, 18 cha ; Elven Curve Blade double smiting. Chance Encounter
​Background
Travel with your merchant uncle! See the world! Get a taste of culture before settling down someplace with a nice young man. What could go wrong?
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​Answer : Approximately 700 lbs of chimeric demon that even being cut to shreds by the knights of kenebres just meant it grew tentacles in place of its limbs.
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​Maylay had been 14 at the time, travelling with her uncle Nikolav. Her father tended the shop back in Port Ice by himself, her mother having passed in childbirth to Maylay's little sister Eva, moving and trading whatever Nikolav brought back from his journeys. After a few too many run-ins with the guards and the boys in the town, she'd been shoved off in his caravan to try and burn off all that youthful energy and wanderlust by travelling to Whitethrone and back. She learned to ride, talked the caravan guards into giving her a few sparring sessions which she never won, and even got her hands on a beautiful tome from a very pissed off and very drunk priest raving about how the wardstones were failing, the wardstones were failing. Nikolav bought the book for her for a few gold and a promise he would tell Kenebres that the frogs were mutating, being born with extra limbs and odd sexual behavior. They of course had ignored the priest.
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​Then Nikolav got lured north by the smell of gold. A band of hunter knights had been dispatched to the border between the worldwound and the realm of the mammoth lords, and would need supplies which their caravan was chocked full of. Following had been a mistake. The beast they were hunting escaped them, and went south, sniffing out the caravan with a hunger. It set upon them in the night, tearing through the guards quickly. What wounds they inflicted on it only shed blood to the ground that animated and attacked on its own. Nikolav rushed to her side, throwing his cloak around her and tossing her from the caravan before turning to face the beast with his elven blade.
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​Berst Jaegerdrachen found her. More specifically, his fox Maple found her and brought the burly hunter. He snatched her up in his arms, promising he would take care of her, that he would protect her. He never drew his bow that night, he was never able to let go of her. The knights caught up with it, Nikolav had been able to delay it quite a bit but ultimately had been no match for the demon. None of them knew what to make of a shell-shocked girl holding a fox in the early morning light. They'd already set about pilfering the caravan she Maylay showed up. They took most everything of value, saying they needed it for the war effort. It was by the tip of Berst's spear that she claimed Nikolav's weapon and a few of her other possessions.
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​Berst took her in at Maple's demand, the fox almost immediately forming a bond with her. It wasn't until years later that Maple explained he had been sent to save her. Berst taught her what he could; how to hunt, how to fight, and how to survive. Neither of them had any money after the brave knights had robbed the caravan, making a return to Brevoy a distant dream plagued by nightmares of that demon. He tried, but he wasn't very good at being a father, no matter how much Maple tried to help.
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​Without really meaning to, years passed for Maylay as she lived with Berst on the edge of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, always staring east. Near her 17th birthday, she spotted a familiar crest. She gave chase, not even telling Berst. down the foothills, down the rivers, past the wardstones, she chased the knights far too deep but they were the ones who had let her uncle die. Drawing her sword against them probably would have gotten her killed before her better judgement could catch up to her feet. She caught up with the knight, finding herself in the middle of twenty armed men that he had met up with deep in the wastes. A knot of fear sealed her voice as she grabbed for her sword uncertainly.
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​Once again she had to be saved, but this time it was by a woman who recognized the old tome on her hip. Somehow she knew exactly who the old priest had been and she talked so quickly Maylay couldn't get a word in edgewise, and Maple bit her ankle before she could contradict the woman. The fear turned to burning shame as the men turned their backs on her and walked off; not a thing she could do about it. The woman just smiled, led her out of the wastes, and told her to keep good care of the tome before Berst found them. That was how The Great Grimoire Auroris awoke, Arry for short.
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​Maylay's powers truly began manifesting after that. Maple had been sent to guide her down the divine path of righteousness, which meant about as much as being told an angel once pissed on her. Arry confessed he was little more than a symbiotic leech awoken by her latent strength, but more than eager to guide her down her path. She was destined for greatness apparently, and neither of them would shut the hell up about it once the call for aid reached their ears. Kenebres of all places, the home of the people that had gotten her life ruined.