The Story of a Young Witch

[FayrisNyanNyan]

Sana's first seconds into the world were inside the warmth of her dying mother's arms as she breath her last moments. Laying on the cold ground of a filthy stable, the lone woman, pregnant from an unknown man, brought a nice life in the world by losing hers. Already in poor health, the stress of birth was too much for her frail body, now only a cold coprse on the hay. If it wasn't for luck, or some celestial will, Sana would have joined her mother in Death that day.

As the baby started to open her eyes, an old woman entered the stable to fetch the horses pulling her cozy merchant caravan. To her surprise, she left with both her animals and an adopted daughter, which she named Sana.

Deprived of a normal childhood, Sana however had the opportunity to see the world, for the caravan traveled a lot. Never did they stop at a single place for more than a month, rarely a week. Countless adventures and tales resulted from these travels, where the adopted mother, whose name is Caroline, did a numberous of brave deeds. How she did it, however, wasn't through physical strength, but through arcane arts. Caroline was a witch.

Sana discovered that quickly, for while her mother was off adventuring, she stayed safe inside the caravan, reading books about spells, far and mystical lands, planes, horrible creatures, etc. Her curiosity for the world and the arcane arts eventually led her to ask, "Teach me magic, mama."

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And so she happily did, for while she never wanted to force her into the arts, she was pleased to see that her interests brought her on the same path as she once took.

The traveling didn't stop however, for Caroline needed the gold for her potions. And food. However, now the journeys were different. Sana started her training as a wizard, passing countless hours reading books and practicing magic. She now even joined Caroline on her adventures, when it wasn't too dangerous. She didn't do anything, but witnessing a life of adventures and dangers did teach her several things. The young Witch loved her new lifestyle.

However, Caroline would not have her by her side when she thought it was too much dangerous. It was during one of these occasion that Sana discovered a book hidden at the bottom of a trunk, a book about dangerous and evil artifacts, monsters, Gods, etc. Unable to resist the dreadful power of curiosity, Sana started reading the book when her mother wasn't around. Fascinated, she however started to change. She was now much more serious about learning. She was... power-hungry. Too much information at the wrong time can change a person.

[FayrisNyanNyan]

As the years passed, and with Caroline failing to notice that her daughter was reading her most dangerous book, Sana, who was by that time a young woman, discovered that the world possessed powerful artifacts, artifacts, should she get them, that would make her dreadfully powerful.

She also learned about powerful beings, such as the Lord of Bones, Myrkul. She found it curious that a deity was capable of dying. She didn't believe it, instead thought that his essence must be somewhere else. Hidden or trapped. This brought her to look up information on the Crown of Horns. Despite not knowing its official location, she felt the need to find it. To touch it. To learn from it and gain power from it.

Finally, the Caravan reached Sundren.

[FayrisNyanNyan]

The passage through the Gates went smoothly and no questions were asked by the guards. After all, who would imagine that an old merchant and her frail daughter could present a danger?

Getting away from the mountains, the caravan rolled down on Pioneer's Way, slowly but surely. They even encountered a small group of bandit, but they were no matched for Caroline's magic missiles. "Let us rest." the woman said upon seeing dusk coming, "It is starting to get late." Sana only answered with a nod.

A simple gesture, because she wanted to hide her excitement. Inside the grimoire, the woman discovered a summon spell, with the instructions on how to bring the creature into this plane and how to maintain it under her control. Surely she could do it.

She was unsure what the creature was, however. There was no clear description, other than it being a minion of the forces of darkness. Some sort of magical being related, somehow, to necromancy. A distant cousins to liches? She had no idea, but she wanted to discover more about it.

After dusk, around midnight, Sana quietly exited the Caravan, making sure that Caroline was fast asleep. With the book in hand, she was ready to start the ceremony.