DnD cerelia v1

The day the skies turned black. The day my once normal life turned into chaos. The day the core erupted.
Of course at the time I didn’t fully understand what had happened. Before the blast I’d lived in a prosperous town that thrived off its trade with the surrounding cities. I lived with my mother, aunt and older cousin Kaer. I had lived most if not all of my life in Kaer’s presence, he was practically my sibling. My father and was the head of the town with his brother acting as the head of the merchants guild. Living a well off life was all I’d ever known
Our trade partners and allies had been big cities and were located close to the core for ease of trade and communication. When the blast happened the surrounding cities were the first to go. Our trade routes had been cut off and so had our supplies; being a town that thrived off trade we produced very little of our own resources. All food, medicine and resources were bought from our allies.
We had been completely cut off.
Starvation and disease spread through the town like wildfire; naturally the poor were first to go. The lack of food resulted in bloodshed between once-fellow townsfolk, the weak were murdered then the strong starved to death after consuming everything they could find. It had only been a month until there were only a handful of us left. The more intelligent townsfolk had gathered all the food they could find and banded together; hiding in the guildhall and rationing out what little remained. We managed to survive for a short while like this, but it all ended when they came.

At first we thought they were bandits coming take what was left in the aftermath of the disaster. They searched the entire city until they found us; cowering in terror in the guildhall.  The leader spoke out but no-one could understand. He spoke in a tongue no-one had ever heard before, more complex than anything an idiotic group of bandits could even comprehend, let alone speak.  When none of us replied he switched to another language. Elven, Dwarven, Draconic. Every language I’d heard of and more until he reached the tongue I was familiar with: common.
He was asking a question
“Who is your leader?”
My father stood up and was immediately apprehended and marched outside by the invaders. Merely minutes after they’d left a bloodcurdling cry of pain rang out. It disappeared as suddenly as it appeared and left a deathly silence in its wake. One of the lackeys returned holding something in his hand; something round, red and dripping with fluid. A glance was all it took to confirm what it was; my father’s heart. I felt sick.

The leader took it in his hands and held it up to the sky
“Rejoice brethren, this sacrifice has pleased our lord Bane, be thankful for his mercy .You shall become the foundation of his holy army and lay waste to any who resist”
My body seemed to lose all strength and I fell to the ground, darkness engulfing me.

I awoke to a dripping on my forehead, getting up I slowly looked around as my eyes adjusted to the low light level, I was lying on the floor of a small stone room with no windows, and three of the four walls had small torches mounted. The fourth wall had a thick steel door with a barred hole too high up for me to look out of. I was a prisoner.

What seemed like hours passed until a guard opened my cell and escorted me to a large room with mounted weapons lining the walls. Inside the room there were a dozen or so other Teifling children around my age give or take 30 years. Amongst them was Kaer. I had so many questions in my head but before I had the chance to a loud screech resounded through the air. Looking up I saw him; the man who murdered my father in cold blood, their leader. He spoke
“you, who have demonic blood coursing through your veins, shall take up arms in the name of the god bane. To or against your will”
“YOU KILLED HER!”
A Teifling boy stood in the middle of the room, his face filled with anger and hatred; I could tell he’d witnessed what I had. He lunged at the leader.

A pile of dust and a metal ring fell to the floor.
“Anyone else care to act out?”
No-one answered
The next 195 years are hard to remember, all the events just seem to merge into one. Every day was the same. The followers of bane lived by two beliefs: ‘pain strengthens you’ and ‘strength is absolute'. These were used as the basis of our daily ‘activities’. Every day we would be woken up at the crack of dawn and tortured for hours on end; this composed of anything from skinning to having limbs shattered and ceremonial stabbings. The purpose was to get you to a state where pain no longer fazes you or you learn to enjoy it. Being Teiflings our bodies healed in a matter of hours so no lasting damage was ever caused.  Battle would then follow once fully regenerated, this was between us and a captive monster, increasingly stronger as we got older. The only way to lose was to die; that’s how they weeded out the ones they deemed ‘unworthy’.  Then we would be forced to mine in underground caverns until we passed out from exhaustion; this was our daily exercise and went towards expanding our territory. All meals would consist of whatever died that day. All whilst the followers chanted prayers to Bane. Some of us cracked under the mental strain of it all, started going on about how wonderful bane was and how he was our savior. They ended up dead
Once we reached the age they deemed ‘experienced enough’ to join the ranks of Bane we had one final test. To battle with your closest friend. This was overseen by the leader, each fighter was given a dagger and unless a substantial amount of blood was spilt the door would not open; locked by some sort of arcane force. Should we not cooperate then he would kill both of us and let himself out.


Kaer and I entered the room and the door shut behind us, the man who had killed my father had died long ago and in his place stood a new leader. A pathetic human; an embryo compared to us. We had heard the stories of this battle and how blood needed to be spilt to exit from some of the looser-mouthed followers. With a silent glance at each other we knew what we were to do. Before he could react I lunged at him, he was prepared for me and parried me with ease however he was not prepared for Kaer.
Kaer grabbed the leaders golden dagger and thrust it into his gut, bringing it across, slicing him open and drenching the walls and floor with blood. The door opened and we ran
After all our years in captivity we had grown accustomed to this place. We ran to the main gate, the guards were stretched thin as the majority of followers were in the temple; something I overheard about a sacrifice and summoning. That didn’t matter; all it meant was our escape was even easier. We managed to kill anyone who encountered us and escape through the front gate.
The brightness was blinding, looking back I realized why there was a lack of windows and why we were constantly forced to mine. The entire complex was dug into the side of a cliff with a camouflaged door as the only way on or out.
Only a few weeks of wandering passed before we found the nearest town, we managed to sell the gold dagger we had stolen and get by for a few months until Kaer fell sick. Boils appeared all over his body and his skin turned a ghastly pale. No doctors could diagnose what was wrong with him and concluded that it must be the result of some arcane force. Eventually he fell into a deep sleep and would not wake up
After days of waiting I took him to a wizard to see if he could be saved. I was given an option. I could either let him sleep and die or I could transfer his soul into an inanimate object; I would still be able to communicate with him however I would be the only one to hear him. He would live on until I died.
The wizard placed the emerald on Kaer’s head and recited an ancient incantation, the emerald shone and kaer’s eyes bolted open, a trail of what I can only describe as pure energy left his mouth and entered the Gem. Suddenly I heard Kaer’s voice in my head, asking me where he was and why he couldn’t feel anything. After I explained he calmed down and came to terms with his new form, he could see and hear but not interact with anything but me.
I embedded him within my halberd so he would always fight with me but he was lost in a surprise robbery. I’ve been traveling alone now searching for him.
Although I don’t know where he is, I can always hear Kaer calling for me.
I will find my cousin Kaer and together we will take down the followers of Bane and free our family

I am Cerelia