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The Banisher of the Damned
A small village. Children. Animals. Families. No violence. Very rural. You would think it was safe, that it had a sanctuary feel to it. While it did, and the people were safe, they would all be dead soon. Turned to undead or sacrificed to the dark wizard that engineered their certain doom by the life they created out of hope and love...
The day was like any other. Cricket noises, a stagnant smell of water and animals, everything seemed normal. A hooded man came in, from the north that night...however, he seemed nice. Offered the children small charms and pieces of jewelry, claiming that his heart commanded him to spoil their imaginations because he lost his own children...
All lies from hell itself.
Warped by a powerful charm person incantation, the children began learning the dark arts of magic, malicious, deceit, and damnation. Given new names, they aged, being normal around their parents, but in secrecy, they grouped, killed, stole, and acted as a legion of assassins. All girls, one of them stood out. Her name was Ashley Pauline...she was 5 at the time of the incident...the dark man simply referred to her as ''Scarlett''.
As they aged, the blood of children, animals, the elderly, priests, and other figures stained their souls, like a blanket of hatred and blood. Year by year, more incidents occurred. The parents and other adult figures of the community were excessively baffled by what was going on...who would suspect a teenage girl of being so evil?
By the tender age of 17, they had become blackguards, and were forced to kill their parents. By sword, disease, any means. Scarlett had developed a sinful liking to spells that split open or ripped apart ones skin...going home, she hugged both of her parents lovingly, before summoning a implosion of her mothers skin. Turning her body around, she punched the wound, gripped her mothers lifeless spine, and thrust it outward. Her father, horrified, reached for his sword with haste. Before he could make it, his body quickly decomposed, from a disease Scarlett gave to him when she embraced him just moments earlier...
A year after her parents brutal death, mysterious circumstances enveloped the dark wizard, causing him to simply vanish. His hold over the now young women was dissipated instantly, leaving lost souls with the power to kill at no breathe of sorrow or pity. Destroying the village until it was a cesspool of rot, they wandered off...their bodies and mind used to killing, their souls completely damned to the core.
By now, Scarlett had tried to resist the urges of the evilness that had manifested itself within her after more then a decade of abuse. Upon failing, it wasn't until she was near Neverwinter, in a tavern that she tried to kill someone who knew more about death then she did that she made some progress.
After her spells failed, she began to speak to him, in a chaotically demented fashion, saying,
''You...you do not die...why don't you DIE!!!!!!!''
''I empower the very thing you wish to do'' He answers in a reassuring tone.
Gasping to comprehend, she struggles and grows angry. Before her powers can erupt and destroy the tavern, he set her darkness at ease, with a wave of his hand. She grew a monstrous headache as she took in all the dark deeds that, while under the dark powers of the wizard, she had done...crying, sobbing, and laying in a dank tavern for three months with the man as he explained and comforted her to an extent of what happened.
''I'm eternally damned now...theres no going back...'' Her despair sinks in slowly but surely.
''There is another way. Are you familiar with the Lord of the Dead?'' He asks politely.
Looking confused at the inquiry, she responds, ''No...''
A brief silence settles in, but is interrupted by the man, who claimed to be the Lord of the Dead, Kelemvor...Judge of the Damned. Telling her this, she scoffs and says,
''No wonder you won't die.'' *her tone is jealous, but also fascinated.*
''You are a good person inside, Ashley...you can be saved. Do you want the power to regain a purpose in this world?''
Her eyes widen, clearly she is in deep thought. A 6 minute pause ensues.
''I do...I am a good person, but I can't break the evil within to start over...'' she says sorrowfully.
''I am Kelemvor. Every being you have killed has come through my realm, the City of Judgment. If you wish to regain your souls purity, I can open another path for you.'' He answers.
Scarlett, unsure of why he called her Ashley, begins to ponder...whether or not he's being honest. In the offhand chance that he is, she thinks, ''I would do anything to rise from being fallen.''
''If you are who you say you are...and I truly do believe you are, what exactly would someone like you need someone as damned as me for...?'' She stares him in his dark, empty eyes, awaiting an answer eagerly.
''You would study the powers of a cleric, bound to me. You would receive the gifts to do what is right - to banish the evils who try to avoid, escape, or otherwise deter the process of dying. In doing so, I will allow your soul to heal slowly as you serve me and stride to keep a balance between living and dying.'' His tone is of utmost seriousness.
Grasping to understand if such an exchange is possible, she can't help her curiosity to comprehend and asks,
''How...would you do this? How can you help me restore something that I am convinced is damaged beyond any form of saving..?''
Seeing her skepticism, he grabs a small amulet out of his pocket. Holding it, it glows a faint red, much like her hands do when she incurs immeasurable pain on her victims. The metal is silver, it appears to be mithril, or adamantine...a name is inscribed on the front of the circled piece at the heart of the amulet. Squinting her vision, she opens her mouth to read what it says, but the words won't come from her mouth...
''You can't say the name. The evil within will not allow you to say the name there, because it belongs to you. The evil inside you is Scarlett, brought forth from acts that are mostly unforgivable by most societies.'' He explains.
Looking down at her feet, she shakes her head, forcing herself to try and remember her name, her fathers name or her mothers name, but it's a blur.
''This Amulet is called the Savior of Pauline. I made it from a bit of my sympathy for you, and what's happened to you, mixed with fragments from the Great Walls of my city. As you wear it, and do what is right, do my requests, and remember parts of your past, your soul will be healed and rejuvenated, very slowly. Through this, a Celestial under my command will direct you. I will give you wondrous powers over life and death through it, as well. It also contains and rebukes the evil within your being, allowing you to be human to an extent...''
Taking this all in, she narrows her options down. Not feeling human in a decade and a half, she honestly thinks about this...''If I decline, I will remain damned, and kill more people...innocent or otherwise. If I accept, maybe he can do what he says...furthermore, I feel human...I can think for myself. Saving the innocent and deporting those who belong dead doesn't sound like something I would have trouble doing...'' she thinks to herself for several minutes.
Breaking the silence as best as she could, she began to speak,
''I will do it. I have no other choice. I will help you restore and balance the order...undead shall be banished by my judgment, a direct form of yours. Is that all you ask of me..?''
''Those who should not die, save them. Everyone dies at a certain point, but many of those who fall shouldn't. Save as many lives as you can. Aside from this, I may have smaller requests...only time will tell. You will be my Banisher of the Damned, Scarlett, who is henceforth a Kelemvorite of unique degree.''
He raises his hand, and speaks her name in silence. Immediately, her mind and body are put into a odd sensation of pain and healing. Her wounds heal, her scars seal up, and her mind is bound to her amulet, binding her further to Kelemvor. A bright flash of light envelopes her body. Struggling, grasping her head with pain, she receives knowledge and power of a cleric, the will of he himself who controls the dead, and many of her previously hidden memories as a result of the backlash.
''What is this...I see a giant white wall that stretches farther then I can see...in my mind...'' She screams softly.
''It is the wall where the faithless are placed...in my realm....those who are truly damned are merged with the wall. It houses a indescribable number of lost souls within itself. The souls you depart that do not pass judgment become one with that wall.''
''It hurts...but it also feels good...I remember more..my body feels better, it accepts this power, and this choice...thank you!'' She replies amiss the flashing of light and energy around her.
''We are connected now, Scarlett. I will not let you fall, for the way you think, feel and preform actions are much like my own. Now that you are invested with the divine powers to balance life and death, I must leave you. Be fearless when facing the damned.'' He waves, then slowly walks out of the tavern, his whole body covered in a tattered robe.
Nearly airless, her lungs inhale air faster then she can think and command her body to breathe. She looks at her hands, her feet, her chest. She can see the amulet, it feels light as a feather, and glows faintly white. She feels warm when she moves her hands near it..
Her first set of priorities included learning how to control divine magic, directing it with her lords judgment, among other things. After spending many months learning of the natural world and the people in it, she began her quest to banish whose who refuse to make amends on their souls. Her title puts fear into the unholy spirits and minions of the undead.
''I am the Banisher of the Damned.''
The day was like any other. Cricket noises, a stagnant smell of water and animals, everything seemed normal. A hooded man came in, from the north that night...however, he seemed nice. Offered the children small charms and pieces of jewelry, claiming that his heart commanded him to spoil their imaginations because he lost his own children...
All lies from hell itself.
Warped by a powerful charm person incantation, the children began learning the dark arts of magic, malicious, deceit, and damnation. Given new names, they aged, being normal around their parents, but in secrecy, they grouped, killed, stole, and acted as a legion of assassins. All girls, one of them stood out. Her name was Ashley Pauline...she was 5 at the time of the incident...the dark man simply referred to her as ''Scarlett''.
As they aged, the blood of children, animals, the elderly, priests, and other figures stained their souls, like a blanket of hatred and blood. Year by year, more incidents occurred. The parents and other adult figures of the community were excessively baffled by what was going on...who would suspect a teenage girl of being so evil?
By the tender age of 17, they had become blackguards, and were forced to kill their parents. By sword, disease, any means. Scarlett had developed a sinful liking to spells that split open or ripped apart ones skin...going home, she hugged both of her parents lovingly, before summoning a implosion of her mothers skin. Turning her body around, she punched the wound, gripped her mothers lifeless spine, and thrust it outward. Her father, horrified, reached for his sword with haste. Before he could make it, his body quickly decomposed, from a disease Scarlett gave to him when she embraced him just moments earlier...
A year after her parents brutal death, mysterious circumstances enveloped the dark wizard, causing him to simply vanish. His hold over the now young women was dissipated instantly, leaving lost souls with the power to kill at no breathe of sorrow or pity. Destroying the village until it was a cesspool of rot, they wandered off...their bodies and mind used to killing, their souls completely damned to the core.
By now, Scarlett had tried to resist the urges of the evilness that had manifested itself within her after more then a decade of abuse. Upon failing, it wasn't until she was near Neverwinter, in a tavern that she tried to kill someone who knew more about death then she did that she made some progress.
After her spells failed, she began to speak to him, in a chaotically demented fashion, saying,
''You...you do not die...why don't you DIE!!!!!!!''
''I empower the very thing you wish to do'' He answers in a reassuring tone.
Gasping to comprehend, she struggles and grows angry. Before her powers can erupt and destroy the tavern, he set her darkness at ease, with a wave of his hand. She grew a monstrous headache as she took in all the dark deeds that, while under the dark powers of the wizard, she had done...crying, sobbing, and laying in a dank tavern for three months with the man as he explained and comforted her to an extent of what happened.
''I'm eternally damned now...theres no going back...'' Her despair sinks in slowly but surely.
''There is another way. Are you familiar with the Lord of the Dead?'' He asks politely.
Looking confused at the inquiry, she responds, ''No...''
A brief silence settles in, but is interrupted by the man, who claimed to be the Lord of the Dead, Kelemvor...Judge of the Damned. Telling her this, she scoffs and says,
''No wonder you won't die.'' *her tone is jealous, but also fascinated.*
''You are a good person inside, Ashley...you can be saved. Do you want the power to regain a purpose in this world?''
Her eyes widen, clearly she is in deep thought. A 6 minute pause ensues.
''I do...I am a good person, but I can't break the evil within to start over...'' she says sorrowfully.
''I am Kelemvor. Every being you have killed has come through my realm, the City of Judgment. If you wish to regain your souls purity, I can open another path for you.'' He answers.
Scarlett, unsure of why he called her Ashley, begins to ponder...whether or not he's being honest. In the offhand chance that he is, she thinks, ''I would do anything to rise from being fallen.''
''If you are who you say you are...and I truly do believe you are, what exactly would someone like you need someone as damned as me for...?'' She stares him in his dark, empty eyes, awaiting an answer eagerly.
''You would study the powers of a cleric, bound to me. You would receive the gifts to do what is right - to banish the evils who try to avoid, escape, or otherwise deter the process of dying. In doing so, I will allow your soul to heal slowly as you serve me and stride to keep a balance between living and dying.'' His tone is of utmost seriousness.
Grasping to understand if such an exchange is possible, she can't help her curiosity to comprehend and asks,
''How...would you do this? How can you help me restore something that I am convinced is damaged beyond any form of saving..?''
Seeing her skepticism, he grabs a small amulet out of his pocket. Holding it, it glows a faint red, much like her hands do when she incurs immeasurable pain on her victims. The metal is silver, it appears to be mithril, or adamantine...a name is inscribed on the front of the circled piece at the heart of the amulet. Squinting her vision, she opens her mouth to read what it says, but the words won't come from her mouth...
''You can't say the name. The evil within will not allow you to say the name there, because it belongs to you. The evil inside you is Scarlett, brought forth from acts that are mostly unforgivable by most societies.'' He explains.
Looking down at her feet, she shakes her head, forcing herself to try and remember her name, her fathers name or her mothers name, but it's a blur.
''This Amulet is called the Savior of Pauline. I made it from a bit of my sympathy for you, and what's happened to you, mixed with fragments from the Great Walls of my city. As you wear it, and do what is right, do my requests, and remember parts of your past, your soul will be healed and rejuvenated, very slowly. Through this, a Celestial under my command will direct you. I will give you wondrous powers over life and death through it, as well. It also contains and rebukes the evil within your being, allowing you to be human to an extent...''
Taking this all in, she narrows her options down. Not feeling human in a decade and a half, she honestly thinks about this...''If I decline, I will remain damned, and kill more people...innocent or otherwise. If I accept, maybe he can do what he says...furthermore, I feel human...I can think for myself. Saving the innocent and deporting those who belong dead doesn't sound like something I would have trouble doing...'' she thinks to herself for several minutes.
Breaking the silence as best as she could, she began to speak,
''I will do it. I have no other choice. I will help you restore and balance the order...undead shall be banished by my judgment, a direct form of yours. Is that all you ask of me..?''
''Those who should not die, save them. Everyone dies at a certain point, but many of those who fall shouldn't. Save as many lives as you can. Aside from this, I may have smaller requests...only time will tell. You will be my Banisher of the Damned, Scarlett, who is henceforth a Kelemvorite of unique degree.''
He raises his hand, and speaks her name in silence. Immediately, her mind and body are put into a odd sensation of pain and healing. Her wounds heal, her scars seal up, and her mind is bound to her amulet, binding her further to Kelemvor. A bright flash of light envelopes her body. Struggling, grasping her head with pain, she receives knowledge and power of a cleric, the will of he himself who controls the dead, and many of her previously hidden memories as a result of the backlash.
''What is this...I see a giant white wall that stretches farther then I can see...in my mind...'' She screams softly.
''It is the wall where the faithless are placed...in my realm....those who are truly damned are merged with the wall. It houses a indescribable number of lost souls within itself. The souls you depart that do not pass judgment become one with that wall.''
''It hurts...but it also feels good...I remember more..my body feels better, it accepts this power, and this choice...thank you!'' She replies amiss the flashing of light and energy around her.
''We are connected now, Scarlett. I will not let you fall, for the way you think, feel and preform actions are much like my own. Now that you are invested with the divine powers to balance life and death, I must leave you. Be fearless when facing the damned.'' He waves, then slowly walks out of the tavern, his whole body covered in a tattered robe.
Nearly airless, her lungs inhale air faster then she can think and command her body to breathe. She looks at her hands, her feet, her chest. She can see the amulet, it feels light as a feather, and glows faintly white. She feels warm when she moves her hands near it..
Her first set of priorities included learning how to control divine magic, directing it with her lords judgment, among other things. After spending many months learning of the natural world and the people in it, she began her quest to banish whose who refuse to make amends on their souls. Her title puts fear into the unholy spirits and minions of the undead.
''I am the Banisher of the Damned.''
Oops, I was the one who suggested a celestial to Scarlett. I'll let Edge draft up the relevant substitution since he's our planar mechanics expert.
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