Caelisch Zudarra Taroq

I was born in a citadel in the wilderness of Riversmidst. My father was a high priest and being his daughter I was spoiled. My mother had died when I was a child, so I don’t remember her very well. My nursemaids were zombies along with everyone else in the castle, so I thought nothing of it. What I didn’t know what that my father was the high priest of Shulkor, a demon god. He practiced necromancy, and since it is accepted, if frowned upon in Riversmidst, he came here to set up shop.

I remember little of my childhood. I suppose I was happy. Father kept bringing me to sacrifices and such, but I didn’t really like the smell of blood…actually it gave me fits sometimes, so I stopped having to do that. And the taste of meat made me gag, so I ate a lot of grains and fruit. I know the reason now, but not then. I think when I stopped eating meat was when Father gave up on me.

One night he sent for me late at night. I knew he had been preparing for a great sacrifice…the altar had been smeared with blood and the moon was full. For some reason, when Father sent my nannies for me, I knew I shouldn’t go with them. I hid in my wardrobe, watching them through the crack, as they searched for me. I guess Father had given them instructions to return with or without me after a certain length of time, so they left. I gathered up my cloak and crept quietly down the stairs after the nannies and watched them report to Father. He said, "Well, go back up and find the brat. She has to be there somewhere. Shulkor will be most displeased if he doesn’t receive her blood tonight." I froze for a moment, and then as the zombies turned to go back upstairs, I panicked.

I flew up the stairs and outside. It was the middle of Coldblight and there I was without anything more than my clothes and my cloak. It was freezing, but all I could think of was that I had to get out of here. So I ran. I ran as fast as I could over the snow, not even caring that I was leaving a trail a baby could follow. I was too panicked. I ran until I fell.

Sometime during my flight I had lost one of my slippers and that foot was lacerated. I didn’t even realize it until I stopped, but then I couldn’t get up to continue on. I dragged myself over to a tree and hid in the shadows, while it got colder and colder. I stopped caring that I would die out here in the cold. It was better than dying, stretched on an altar. I started seeing things. I saw my mother coming towards me, her arms outstretched, but when I pulled myself into the light I couldn’t find her. The full moon shone down on me and was surrounded by a bright halo of light. All of a sudden a huge bear jumped in front of me. I shrieked and passed out.

The next thing I knew I was warm and surrounded by softness and light. I opened my eyes to find a large woman hovering over the bed. I blinked a few times, and took a deep breath. She smiled with relief and said, "You gave us a fright, you did. I was certain you weren’t going to make it." She offered me water, which I accepted gratefully, since my mouth tasted vile and was very sticky. I looked around at where I was.

My room was small, but the bed was plenty big and full of soft blankets and sheets. The woman…excuse me, priestess…was wearing a tabard with a large silver circle on the front with a dawn bloom inside it. She smiled at me again. "You’re in the temple of Tovanira. You have heard of her, Caelisch, right?" I nodded slowly. Father had always told me that Tovanira was evil and I should never go near her…but considering what Father had tried to do, I wasn’t sure I trusted his version any more. "Good. Well, Dornal found you out in the middle of the forest with hardly anything on. He picked you up and brought you here straight away. That was two days ago. You had a serious case of hypothermia and we almost lost three fingers to frostbite. Now that you know, would you like some broth?" I blinked at her several times and nodded. I was starving, and I didn’t really care where I was provided it wasn’t where my father was.

The priestess stood up and went out the door. I took stock of what I had. My clothes, such as they were, were folded neatly on the chair. I brought my arm up and felt around until I found my necklace. It was all I had left of Mother, and I didn’t want to lose it. I snuggled back down into the covers and waited. The woman came back in with a tray. It contained a bowl of broth, which smelled heavenly, and a few slices of warmed bread. She set the tray down on the table next to me, and began to help me sit up. It took a lot more effort than I expected. After slurping down my broth and bread, she helped me back down and I went to sleep.

Many days passed like this. I ate and slept, only to wake and eat again. Not very exciting, but I was alive. I began to walk around slowly and carefully. My foot was getting better, but after I saw what I had done to it, I was even more careful. I learned the names of the priests around the temple. My keeper, the lovely plump woman who I woke up to, was Ailsa, and the high priest of the temple was a kindly scarecrow of a man named Ciobhan. My rescuer, Dornal, came to visit me a few days later. He was a ranger and the first to ask me what I had been doing out in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night. I didn’t have an answer from him and he didn’t press. After that, no one asked any questions. I guess they could tell that I really didn’t want to talk about it.

My first public appearance was for Beltane. I was certain that I would see one of Father’s minions, and so I spent most of the day hiding among the priests. They took this as a sign of interest in the religion and asked if I wanted to stay with them. Grateful to not find my own way in the world, I accepted. I spent most of my days doing things I would never have dreamed of doing, as the pampered daughter of a high priest, but on the whole I was happier. I knew I would never have to worry about them trying to sacrifice me!

As the days grew warmer and my foot healed, Dornal spent more and more time with me. When it was finally possible for me to run again, he took me out into the forest and began to teach me the ways of it. And so I spent my life. Part of each day was out in the forest, and part in the temple. There weren’t very many other children, so I devised entertainment for myself. I had no siblings, and so never knew what it would be like to have a playmate.

One night, three years later when I was 9, Dornal and I planned an "escape." I sneaked out of the temple and met him on the edge of the forest. We went off to watch some of the animals that Dornal insisted only came out on Samhain. We walked quietly through the trees. He eventually left me, saying that I should stay here and he would drive the "snark" towards me. The forest was quiet, though the normal sounds of night were prevalent. All of a sudden they stopped. I froze and looked about, though I couldn’t see anything. I could hear footsteps coming through the trees. I whispered, "Dornal?" The sounds continued and were much louder. Usually you couldn’t here Dornal coming. I had just about made up my mind to climb the nearest tree, when a zombie stepped out in the clearing.

I screamed and started running in the opposite direction. A zombie stepped out in front of me, and I veered off to the left. I kept meeting more until I was back at the clearing, now surrounded by zombies. I shuddered and rearing up on my hind legs, I lashed out at the nearest with my forefeet. I clobbered it, and then coming down kicked with my hind legs. I could hear Dornal, shouting at the edge of the clearing and made my way towards him, shrieking and kicking as I went. Dornal fell back with a curse, and swung his sword wildly at a passing zombie. I whirled around, but the zombies were leaving…continuing on their way.

I hung my head, getting my breathing back to normal and looked at Dornal. He was looking at me in shock. "D-D-D-Darra?" I rolled my eyes and said, "Of course, who else?" But it didn’t come out that way. It came out as a series of whickers and a long neigh. I stared at myself in near terror. Somehow I had been turned into a horse. I stood there casually flipping my tail about, while I was a horse. I collapsed onto the ground. Dornal came up to me, and put a hand on my shoulder. "Uh…what happened?" I wanted to say, ‘I’ve been turned into a horse, dufus,’ but all that came out was another series of noises like the last one. I closed my eyes, and put my nose on the ground. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t even manage that. Dornal sat down next to me and was silent.

A few minutes later at his gasp, I opened my eyes, suddenly conscious that my body was changing. In a minute, I was back to my normal self. I looked at both my hands and burst into tears. Dornal patted me awkwardly, and gathered me into his arms, so I could cry on his shoulder. After several minutes, I stopped sobbing wholeheartedly, and was reduced to sniffles, though my eyes continued to leak tears.

"Well, now I know one more thing about you," Dornal commented, as my sobbing eased. I looked up at him. "Now you look completely pathetic, Lightfoot. Don’t you know what you are?" As I looked at him completely blankly, he sighed. "Obviously not. You’re a werehorse. Didn’t anyone ever tell you?" I shook my head. A werehorse? What’s that? "It means when you are under pressure, like I would imagine you were, you become a horse. You will also change on the full moons. I can’t think much of a parent who would let you discover that on your own." He snorted.

"But Father never mentioned that about Mother! How can I be a horse?" I was close to panic. If Father didn’t tell me about this, what else didn’t he tell me about? Is that why I never knew her? I pulled out the amulet from Mother, and looked at it closely. It was a picture of a horse, with my name engraved on the other side.

Dornal shrugged and looked down wryly at me. "Can’t say that I know. Now, what did those zombies have to do with you?" I shuddered. I really didn’t want to talk about it. "Now, lass. I’ll be having the truth from you. I let you get away with it three years ago, but not now. Why are you so afraid?"

I told him everything. About Father, and the zombies, and even the sacrifice. He didn’t move throughout my story, though he looked angry when I told him about the preparations for my death. I started crying again, though I felt much better, now that someone in the world knew what had happened. He comforted me again, though his thoughts seemed elsewhere.

"People like that shouldn’t be allowed to live." I was surprised at the venom in his voice, especially since I had thought he was a druid. I blinked at him. He looked down at me. "Lass, can you keep a secret? If I tell you something you can never, ever tell anyone else?" I nodded cautiously. "I can help you. And I will. My god won’t let me not help you." He told me he was a priest of Kuldor, though I had never heard of that particular god before. And that his "cult" was a secret one. And that he served for justice and revenge. My eyes lit up at that point. Revenge! He asked that I show him how to get to Father’s castle. I refused. I wanted to kill him myself. I asked for training. Tovanira’s priests used no edged weapons, and nothing less would help. I had to talk long and hard, but eventually he agreed.

For the next two years, I continued splitting my time between the forest and the temple, but now I was learning things the temple wouldn’t have approved of. Dornal taught me to use a broadsword and how to parry properly with a knife. He also taught the basics of a crossbow, though he didn’t use one well, and to use a garrote, which he used very well. He taught me how to detect lies, though body posture, amount of sweat and other details, and also a bit of how the laws work. He cautioned me on breaking the laws, and told me which ones I shouldn’t ever break, even if I felt I had to.

It was the 25^th day of Highsuntide, my birthday, when I finally felt ready to fight. Dornal and I were practicing and I managed to somehow disarm him. He said he couldn’t teach me any more. "On the border between Lis and Riversmidst there are guardposts. Many of the men who guard are priests as I am, and can teach you better. Go there, and see who can help you." That night I went to bed early. I had a lot to think about. Just after midnight, I gathered up a couple spare changes of clothing, and my few possessions, and climbed out the window. A long time ago I have asked Dornal to show me where he had found me. I followed his directions and began following my own path from five years ago. I hadn’t been paying attention as I ran before, but many landmarks were etched in my mind. I only wanted to kill my father. It was what was driving me along, making me run faster and faster. I slung the pack around my neck and changed forms so I could run faster.

I ran slower and slower as I approached, finally slowing to a walk, and then changing back to human form. I stood on a ridge and looked down at the castle. It was … empty … deserted. Clouds covered the moon. I was heartbroken. All I wanted to do was to avenge myself and now it was taken away from me.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I fell on my knees.

"Kuldor, I call upon you to help me avenge myself upon my father and his minions. He slew my mother and almost me. He has killed countless others to create his zombies and used them to attack. Justice needs to be called upon him and I ask that I may wreck my vengeance!"

To my shock and surprise I was answered. A cloaked figure suddenly rose out of the air directly in front of me. I gasped and fell backwards. I backed up until I reached a tree and couldn’t go any farther. The figure grew taller and taller and I kept shrinking back into the tree as far as I could. The figure reached up a pulled back his cowl revealing the head of a bull.

The figure dropped a pendant and a piece of parchment. My eyes caught on the parchment and when I looked up, the figure had disappeared, and the moon broke through the clouds overhead. I crawled slowly over to the dropped items and picked them up. The moon glinted off the pendant. I could just make out a scourge and fetters etched into the surface. I pulled it over my head and dropped in under my loose shirt. I closed my eyes and pressed the pendant to my heart, breathing a sigh of relief. I then picked up the piece of parchment. It was an old map with several marks on it, drawn in fresh red ink. Most appeared to be on the southern border near Lis. I rolled up the parchment and gathered the things I had dropped on the way. If Kuldor was going to help me out, I was going to take his advice.

I traveled for a few weeks, before I got to the area where the first mark was. I asked around for the nearest guard post and was directed there. The guard I found was old, but very alert. She asked me several question about why I had come, at which point I traced part of the symbol, almost absently on the tabletop. She gave me a hard look and pulled out a pendant, which looked like my own. I pulled mine out, and she smiled with relief. I trained with her for the next few months. I couldn’t believe anyone that old could move that fast. I never once got a touch on her that I hadn’t earned with every drop of sweat, but I learned more than I thought I would have been able to. Fasia hadn’t gotten to be as old as she was by being slow and stupid.

She also taught me how to be a bard. Fasia played a small harp taught me to do some basic drum patterns, but she discovered that while I couldn’t play very well, I did sing reasonably. So she played and I sang. We even got some money from it occasionally, though most of the time we made music for the enjoyment of the crowd. She also was the center of a rather impressive information gathering system.

I stayed with her until Coldblight, when she got information that a large party of zombies had demolished a small village in Visala. She urged me to stay and train a little longer, but I had to get going, if I was going to keep my god’s favor. I left with armor and a crossbow, which I had learned to use better by now. I still hadn’t managed to save up enough for my sword, which I had been drooling over for some time. I had also found a backpack with very large adjustable straps. I made them as loose as I could go and put it on. I then changed form and ran for a while. That night I changed back and ate my travel rations. I continued this until I got to Visala.

Since then, I have been hunting my father. I have wandered over most of Visala, Riversmidst, Krith and even Lis. I have visited about half of the marks put on the map. They weren’t always other Avengers, but they were always useful. This time I got information that he is now operating out of Westmarch in Krith. Every time I get information, I get it just a little bit too late. In any case, here I am now, in the Krithian Empire for the second time in my life, and just waiting to see what happens to me now.

Darra's Character Sheet
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This page last updated 02/16/2000. If you have any questions/problems/comments/help, write me