Lyralei Rilyntlar

Name	Lyralei
House	Rilyntlar
Race	Drow (Northern Confusa)
Alignment	Neutral Good
Paragon	None
Class	Bard 10 \ Sublime Chord 2
Feats	Daylight Adaption Song of the Heart Leadership Improved Cohort Melodic Casting
Magic Items	+1 Echoing Harmonizing Shatterspike (Longsword), Dove's Harp, Countersong Charm, Gauntlets of Ogre Strength +2, +2 Mithril Chain Shirt, Everlasting Rations, Pearl of Power (0), Ring of Translation (Goblin, Orc), Folding Boat, Bag of Tricks (Rust) Blackheart Sword of Kas
Spoken Languages	Egarian, Damorian, Elven, Sylvan, Undercommon, Drow Sign Language, Abyssal, Celestial. Draconic, Dwarvish, Orcish, Goblin, Druidic, Auquan, Terran, Ignan, Auran
Art commissioned by Xinaelle

Lyralei was born 130 years ago in the South Confusa underdark. The family she was born into was a wealthy and powerful one, her mother, Vexellatri, the matriarch of the house Aleanund, was a favoured one of Lolth, the drow’s dead goddess. She was part of a small cult of followers able to channel their goddess from the void beyond existence, gaining powerful abilities in the process, and using their power to secure their right as the leaders of the remaining loyal drow.

But to young Lyralei, all she remembers of her time there was the glee she felt when her mother showed her the true ways of the drow, taught her of the superiority of women over men, but most of all, of the drow above all others, and of all the different ways to inflict pain, suffering, and ultimately, death upon her enemies. These were the values her mother had instilled in her from birth, right up until the moment she was violently taken from her bed at the tender age of 5. She remembers only the masked figures grabbing her, the chilling fact that her screams emitted no sound at all, and then, as one of the kidnappers jabbed her with something sharp, blackness. The next thing she awoke to was a bed inside a wooden rocking room. She was on a ship in the midst of a thunderstorm, but to young Lyra, who, up until that point had never even left the city she was born in, let alone seen a body of water larger than a small cave-lake, was terrified. Thinking the storm was some kind of monster, she scrambled for a path to freedom, only to be accosted by a surface worlder nurse who found her wandering, panicked through the halls of the ship. Lyra, who up until that point had seen surface worlders as nothing but toys for drow, was horrified when the nurse tried to take her away, fighting back as much as she could, though the nurse was able to lock her back inside her room. Time passed, and Lyra gave up trying to escape her small room, instead barricading herself inside and hoping for rescue as the storm slowly died down. It wasn’t until she heard a female voice speaking in drow from behind the door that she relaxed slightly.

The drow woman behind the door was Ellenastra, handmaiden to Tellandra, Lyralei’s aunt, living in the northern underdark underneath the elven lands. She explained to Lyralei that her family had been attacked, and that she had managed to save her from being kidnapped, and made for the north, bringing her home to Tellandra in an attempt to keep Lyralei safe. The trip was a long one, and Lyralei’s first experience with the stars, moon, open skies, the ocean, and, of course, the sun. Lyralei was still very much influenced by her mother’s teachings at this point, and so Ellenastra was hard pressed to keep the young drow maiden from harassing the crew, which promptly resulted in them locking Lyralei’s door when Ellenastra was trancing, something Lyralei took very poorly.

A few weeks of sailing by sea later, land was sighted, a coastal mountain range to the east, and a day later, the ship was at docked at bay in a small pirate port city, hidden in a cove amongst the mountainous shore. Running the port was a drow woman named Vallana, who Lyralei stayed with for a week as transport was organised further into the underdark. Vallana had little patience for Lyralei, and decided that if she would not behave, she would go without food for the duration of her stay, and sure enough, stubborn young Lyralei refused to comply with Vallana’s desires. Ellenastra was kept from seeing her for the duration of the week, as a punishment for the handmaiden for allowing Lyralei so many concessions up until this point. It was not until the day of their departure, when Ellenastra told Lyralei tales of Vallana’s enemies disappearing in the middle of the night, unintentionally scaring the young girl, that Lyralei made reparations, apologising for her actions, though not through respect, but fear.

Outside of Vallana’s house was a carriage that led her deep into the underdark, to a drow city where Tellandra, Lyralei’s aunt, resided. Upon arrival, Lyralei was greeted by Illya, one of the drow servants of the house. As she showed Lyralei the house, the young girl was quick to point out how things were different, there were no spider or web motifs in the architecture or design, and more importantly, she had not seen any slaves since she had arrived. Illya explained that they did things very differently in this part of the world than from where she was born, and that there were a few changes she would have to get used to.
Once Tellandra arrived home Lyralei was quickly introduced. The similarity between Tellandra and Lyralei’s mother, Vexellatri, was striking, to the point where Lyralei thought for a moment that her mother had come to find her.
Once they had a moment to sit down together, Tellandra explained what had happened, and showed her a letter from her mother explaining that she would be staying with her aunt until the political situation had cooled down. Tellandra told Lyralei that for the duration of her stay, however long it might be, Illya would be her handmaiden, and the two quickly became close.

Over the years, Lyralei would write to her mother, and receive letters in response, the two staying close despite the distance between them. She would write to her mother of the things she learned, and the accomplishments she made, telling her of all the secrets she kept.

As she grew into a bright young teenager, Lyralei did what all children did when they get to that age: she broke the rules. At 15 years of age, Lyralei had begun to explore the nearby underdark on her own, enjoying herself as she rediscovered lost parts of the underground network. To her sadistic glee, she managed to discover an abandoned drow torture dungeon, complete with a dedicated sacrificial chamber to Lolth. Lyralei hid this discovery from everyone, slowly exploring the dungeon over time only to find, to her unbelievable excitement, that the dungeon led to the surface, near a small human village. She plotted and schemed what she could do to the unsuspecting villagers, and ultimately decided she would kidnap as many villagers as she could and bring them to the dungeon to experiment and toy with as she remembered her mother doing.

Being a smart, insidious young hunter, she knew her first target would have to be the local ranger, to prevent him from tracking her back to the dungeon, so she stalked the town until she managed to identify the town’s ranger, a strong looking man, something Lyralei wasn’t used to seeing back at home. She decided she’d snag a few extra doses of poison from the dungeon to kidnap him, just in case he managed to shake off the first few doses. Sneaking into his house in the middle of the night, she nicked his neck with her poisoned dagger, and to her surprise, he did not awaken. Gleefully assuming the poison had worked, she proceeded to pull the man out of bed, only to have him awaken, disoriented as he thudded on the wooden floor. Panicked, she pulled out another poisoned dagger and stabbed him through the shoulder this time, plunging the dagger deep into his flesh to apply the full dose of poison to his system. Letting out a cry of pain, he struggled with her, causing her to leap back to avoid his vice-like grip. As he slowly rose to his feet, Lyralei looked over to him, her heart racing as she feared for her safety all of a sudden, this wasn’t what she had planned.

But as soon as he managed to rise to his feet, his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed once more to the ground. Lyralei breathed a sigh of relief, sending a silent thanks to Lolth for the timely effects of her poisons. Setting to work, she dragged the body away through the woods, to the hidden entrance to the drow dungeon. There she locked the man in chains and set to work deciding how best to inflict the maximum amount of pain that she could upon this filthy surface worlder for the panic that he had instilled within her.

Over the coming days, Lyralei increased her slave count, 5, then 10, then 20 slaves, combinations of men and women as she gleefully filled the dungeon halls with their screams of pain and terror, even going so far as to re-enact the ritualistic sacrificed she had witnessed her mother perform as a child. It wasn’t until Lyralei collapsed at her morning meal with her aunt, waking up almost a month later, that she was found out. Tellandra explained that the dungeon she had found was abandoned for good reason, a poisonous fungi had grown into the architecture, and she had been exposed to it, causing her to fall into a short coma. Tellandra had sent her best rangers to trace Lyralei’s last few days, only to find the slaves she had captured, and subsequently, the fungal infestation. Lyralei was heavily reprimanded for her horrendous actions, but Tellandra, being as powerful as she was, kept the girl from any serious repercussions… this time. She was quick to impress upon Lyralei that she would not cover up her intentional misdeeds in the future ever again.

Scared straight, Lyralei doubled down on her focus for her studies, and quickly revealed a strong talent for music, singing in particular. Tellandra, knowing she needed to keep Lyralei on a busy schedule to stop the rambunctious young drow from pursuing more unseemly activities in her spare time, pushed Lyralei to explore her talents, and used her significant influence to help Lyralei become a renowned singer, to the point where her name was known throughout the drow city, and neighbouring underdark communities.

Lyralei set off away from her home in search of stories and to personally retreat from such a protected and sheltered life and to help others if they need help around Madius.

Upon setting out her Aunt gave her a set of conditions that needed to be met, she was told she needed to be escorted by a hired bodyguard and she was to write home as often as possible. This is when she hired Nero to accompany her in world travels of helping and singing.

The virtuoso met the conditions and left the Underdark, while they were traveling to one of the closer cities from the exit and terrific storm was coming over the horizon. They both sought shelter and found an abandoned old castle. Knowing all about stormpeace they both decided to head inside.

This is where Lyralei met Kali and Willard, where they all introduced themselves made small talk while all seeking shelter from the fearsome storm that was outside. Lyralei the Cantadora started to sing tales and stories for the entertainment of the fellow travelers.

Bored in waiting out the storm Kali took to the 3 doors that presented the adventurers in trying to open them. She was unsuccessful, but it all presented itself purposeless as the doors all burst open while the lightning stuck in time. A hoard of rats erupted from all three of the doors and attacked!

The 4 adventurers overcame the rats with ease; bolstered by Lyralei encouraging singing, each showing their skills in combat. Now with the doors open the four of them decided between each other they would explore the castle together. And this is where Lyralei's adventure began!

The took the door to east first, the pitch black room only lit up from the lightning that crackled outside, it was apparant that the human of the party could not see too well in the darkness and sparked a torch. Bringing life and colour to the cave for the first time in how many years they spotted a gloom looking sarcophagus. They all wet their lips in excitement as their story begin, but before they could even take in the whole site they were attacked by some vile creature bursting from the head of the sarcophagus, Lyralei recognising it as a Vargouille.

The Vargouille took advantage of the stunned adventurers and quickly flew over to Lyralei and Willard stunning them with its horrid scream. Lyralei unable to sing and keep spirits high was worried in her paralyzed state for her new friends as the effects were waning quickly. Nero, Kali and the water elemental took on an offense against the winged head. Quickly slaying it and it dropping to the ground Lyralei and Willard dropped from their stupor and congratulated them.

Continuing on their adventurer and moving to the west door they found a treasure chest just sitting there in the middle of the room. This all to tempted Kali and she took to jumping at the chest and ripping it open. Springing from the chest was some subtlety hidden darts shooting right at the daring barbarian. Dodging a few as they sprung out but getting nicked by another she quickly took the dart out of her hand and cared not about whatever had entered her blood stream as the first treasures were presented. Kali took her rewards and donned them with a triumphant smile. With her new headband and ring they set off down the corridor of the last door.

Moving quietly through the northern corridor they caught sight of two ruthless Hobgoblins, quick on the attack a fight broke out with Kali rampaging in and trading blows with one of them. Nero moving to flank with his elegant and proficient water elemental and Lyralei and Willard providing ranged cover. The fight continued on with the sound of metal clanging and arrows and bolts bouncing off amrour and walls until Willard pulled out a book and started to chant some arcane words striking fear into the souls of the hobgoblins. Using this to Nero's and Kali's advantage as they took flight from the battle, they both managed to strike them down bringing an end to the cacophony of echoing sounds down the corridor, returning the serene sound of the raging storm outside.

Moving further down the corridor they noticed something sitting eerily still on a stone bed. Moving closer to inspect what it was, Lyralei noticed it was something that irked her. A rotting corpse that she know doubt knew that is was once a man but the body binded by necromantic magic. Lyralei relayed this to her new friends and Kali tried to get a pre-emptive strike onto the unholy zombie but as her blade hit the zombie it hit it like a knife going though an iron beam. Alert to its attackers the zombie rose from its eternal slumber and took a swing at Kali, bludgeoning her with a heavy blow. Kali in her maddening and adrenaline filled rage took to hacking away at the zombie, but its tough magic infused body was very resistant providing another heavy hit to Kali bringing her down. The battle carried on as it's focus turned to Nero striking him with it's lumbering hits. Nero and his water elemental managed to start to tear away at the zombies flesh, but also going down not being able to take the next hit. Lyralei and Willard did a quick glance to one another, as Lyralei drew her sword and stepped forward on the defensive, dodging a blow while Willards bolt hit is square in the head. The zombie returning to its restful state and the magic leaving its body.

Lyralei and Willard, both never trained in first aid quickly took them both back to the warm fire, trying their best to patch up their wounds and cuts. Lyralei worried and unsure about the lives of Nero and Kali tried everything she could to bring them back out of their unconscious state. With Kali returning first and Nero not to long after that reconciled the events.

Time was getting on and storm still continued to rage on. They had already finished splitting up the gold they had found and Lyralei took to proving some relaxing music with her Lyra. They waited out the storm and shared small stories with one another to pass the time. Deciding to, after the storm had passed they would venture to next town together, all looking for the same exciting thing, an adventure!

Carrying on from the stormy night they came across the small town of Oakhurst. Excited to find the first tavern so they could get a warm bed and a pint of ale they settled into the Old Boar Inn. Lyralei didn't see a nice place to stay and cold ale, she saw an audience. Convincing the owner to let her sing some well known songs, she took to stage and enjoyed every moment of signing to fresh new faces. She even received enough tips for the rest of them to stay in the inn without dipping into their adventuring cash.

Entering a good nights trance she stepped out in the morning light only to find out that Kali had not returned for the night. She found out from the local guards that she has been detained. Moving to the prison to find out what happened to Kali, they would she had got into a scuffle with the blacksmith. Lyralei had heard some rumours the night before about some missing townspeople that went of on their own adventurer and had not returned in a while. Lyralei convinced the guards to set her free advising them that they needed Kali to find the missing people. They let her free on the condition of her to never enter the town again.

With this they went and talked to the mother of the missing townsfolk and she let the 3 of them inside to tell them the story. Interested in helping the missing children first and foremost Lyralei asked where they were last headed and where they were going. She told them that they headed up the Old Road to find some sunken temple, infused with helping them Lyralei turned to head straight down the Old Road, but Kerowyn Hurcrele announced she would reward the party if their whereabouts were found. This was enough for Nero and Willard to follow Lyralei down the Old Road. They stopped by the prison to collect Kali and they all head off down the abandoned road.

Traveling fast they found a ravine and the remnants of an old bridge. Searching around they found a knotted rope going down, climbing down and before they had ever reached the bottom they were attacked by hungry rats. This time much larger and menacing in size. Continuing to climb down, Kali held them off while the others dropped down and hit blows into the rats finishing them off.

Moving down a twisted path the Sunless Citidel finally came into sight. The ravine arching over living up to its darkened name. Coming up to one of the only ways into the broken citadel was to walk along the roof of something that had collapsed above. Treading carefully with Kali in front using her sure-footedness she moved slowly and carefully towards the door that was in front of them. To her surprise she down into a hole in the roof which seemed to have been made purposely. However inside the pit trap was another unlucky creature that was caught in it, another giant rat! A lone rat however could not stop the four adventures from easily overpowering it and helping Kali out of the trap.

Opening the door, without second though Kali burst in only to met with an unwelcome sight of four goblins impaled against the wall with spears. While investigating the room they came across a small hidden pocket room: “This pocket chamber is damp and cold. The skeletons of three long-dead archers slump against rubble-filled arrow slits along the east and south wall.” Gaining their curiosty they looked deeper into the room only to have the three Skeletons spring to life with evil fiery motes in their empty eye sockets.

Lyralei burst into song to help her allies not succumb to the fear of fighting the Undead. Laharra and Kali moving in to fight the Skeletons and in a quick bought quickly crushing their bones and leaving them to their eternal rest. Willard after the fight took some of the remains and the coin that was left in the old defensive outpost.

Moving along to the door to the right they entered a small corridor, moving up quickly with Kali's passion for adventure they move to the opposite corridor door. Opening it up to find: “Crudely executed symbols and glyphs, scribed in bright green dye, decorate this large and irregularly shaped crumbling chamber. A large pit in the chamber's center shows evidence of a recent bonfire. A metallic cage in the center of the southern wall contains a gaping hole and stands empty. A small wooden bench draped with green cloth stands before the cage, and upon it sits several small objects. A bedroll lies near the wooden bench, from which the sound of whimpering is plainly audible.” Kali hearing and seeing this strange creature for the first time 'squeed' with glee as she rushed over to pick up the small Kolbold and started to hug him. deerly. The Kobold fearing for his life as this monstrous woman takes a hold of told us his story of 'Meepo, Keeper of Dragons' and how he has now lost control of his Dragon to goblins that have also taken residence inside the citadel.

Kali showing the same amount of intelligence as the creature before her, vowed to return his Dragon and restore his title. Meepo told the adventures that if we needed more information it was best if we spoke to his leader “Yusdrayl”. Following Meepo though the dark halls he brought them to: “A short throne stands near the west wall, constructed of fallen bits of masonry stacked against an old altar. A small, horned figure in red-dyed robes sits in the throne, and a force of six similar creatures guards her. The altar's top contains a variety of small items, while the portion of the altar that serves as the throne's back features a carving of a rearing dragon. A metallic key is held firmly in the rearing dragon's open mouth.” As soon as Meepo appeared with the party Yusdrayl shouted at him for his insolence, most likely not for the last time, asking why he bought outsiders into her throne room. He explained that the adventures were hear to rid the citadel of the Goblins and return the Dragon back to Meepo. Yusdrayl was impressed and accepted the offer and told Meepo to accompany them, much to Meepo's disdain.

Moving through the next set of corridors in Kali's passionate hurry, they came across a room that showed: “Dust and odd bits of stony debris and rubble lie scattered on the floor. An ornate fountain is built into the eastern wall. Though cracked, stained, and dry, the fountain's carving of a diving dragon retains its beauty. A relief-carved stone door stands on the western wall.” Inspect the fountain first Lyralei found an inscription hidden away under the dust that read in Draconic, “Nainarya” (translation: Let there be fire). Not wanting to disturb any Undead she left it alone and helped Nero with the interesting door. Both moving closer to it, felt a palpable coldness as they moved in closer to read the Draconic inscriptions above the door “Tana Aman Heka Men” (translation: Channel good, open the way). Nero cast a Cure Minor Wounds and touched the door, causing it to glow blue and swing open silently. Inside the room showed: “Five dusty sarcophagi standing on end in this silent chamber; three stand on the north wall, and two stand on the south. The carved stone sarcophagi each resemble a noble Elflike humanoid in ceremonial robes. A shrine carved of obsidian is set in the center of the west wall, on which a single candle yet burns.”

Seeing the possibility for wealth and treasure Kali sprung into action grabbing the lit candle, the whistle and the flask, not soon after the 5 sarcophagi burst open and from inside the disturbed dead attacked!

All of the adventures sprung into a quick defense as they were out-numbered by the now five Skeletons. After a tiring battle and a few later the adventures managed to overcome the Undead and once again leave them to their rest.

Lyralei was quite opposed to taking the items left in the tomb, not wanting to rob the dead. But this did not stop Kali and Willard from taking them and moving on down the corridor. In their haste though, they awoke some sleeping rats that came pouring out of the corridor in from the jail cells that lined the wall. In quick succession though, proving again that mere rats cannot stop the adventurers, they quickly put a stop to them and carried up along the corridor only to see: “The cobblestone floor contains two trapdoors blocked open by iron spikes. It's obvious that if the tops of the trapdoors were flush with the floor, they would be difficult to spot. The north wall holds a dry fountain carved with the bas-relief of a dragon.” Investigating the room further A similarly hard-to-find inscription on the fountain reads, in Draconic, “Naihuine” (translation: Let there be death). Taking the inscription as a warning Lyralei told the others not to go near it, leaving on the door to the side of the fountain.

Dodging past one of the traps on the floor Kali opened the door to see: “The stench of rotting meat suffuses the air, rising from much-chewed carcasses of several cave rats, smaller vermin, and some suspiciously humanoid looking bodies. The cadavers lie upon a floor of filth, old bones, hair, and fur that combine to make a particularly large and vile nest. The northern wall is smashed, opening on rubble-strewn darkness.” Upon looking for any evidence of the missing children the adventures were attacked by once again rats, but this time they had stumbled across “Mama Rat!”

All of the adventures bursting into action with limited resources after the fighting off the Undead making this fight a struggle. But Nero and Lahara stepped up during this fight bringing forth his control over the elements, Nero got Lahara to split and split again duplicating into three different, but the same Laharas! Nero asked them all to fight and defend us, whittling down the rats at the door way and not allowing Mama Rat anywhere near them. Rats and the Laharas' fought evenly, but Nero comanded them to retreat and until there was only Mama Rat left inside the vile room. Kali getting quite emotional over missing out on the 'fun' charged into the room and went for the Mama Rat. Lyralei stepped in to help her but not before the Mama Rat got a good bite on her leg causing the wound to fester. Kali and Lyralei took care of the Mama Rat while Nero tended to Meepo who got caught up in the fray.

Wounded and exhausted the adventures decided to close that door and set up camp in the room next to it. Recovering and resting up for another dangerous and exciting day ahead of them tomorrow. Each taking turns keeping watch the night was uneventful, but the eeriness remained in the citadel.

Making a plan to explore some of the doors they missed they came up to one that had a small puddle of ice just outside the door. Lyralei and Willard noting that White Dragons are notorious for breathing out harsh icy winds. Listening at the door they heard some flapping and scratching, preparing their defenses and ready to confront the dragon, Kali got impatient and kicked open the door revealing: “Mounted and stuffed animal heads adorning the walls. The mounting job is sloppy, and the assortment of heads includes cattle, rats, and other not particularly impressive specimens. However, a few grisly trophies share the wall with the animals, including a couple of kobold visages. Smashed and broken cabinets and small tables litter the periphery of the room, mute victims of some sort of rampage. A rusted iron spike stands askew in the center of the room, trailing a broken chain. Thin patches of ice coat sections of the walls, floor, and debris.” The Dragon burst into action taking flight and breathing an icy breath on the adventures, chilling them to the bone. Lyralei burst into song to help inspire her allies. Willard took to assaulting the beast with ranged spells and crossbow attacks. Kali stumped by her first flying opponent stood there unsure as to what to do, as the dragon swooped down for another breath attack, causing icicles to appear on their noses. Nero banged his staff into the ground shouting lore from Conflux itself to bolster the strength of his attacks, he moved into the room trying to balance on the slippery ice readying to attack it as it swoops by. Kali learning quickly also stepped in and onto the ice waiting for it to swoop in again. And as the dragon did Nero and Kali both butted and cut the Dragon, bringing in tumbling out of the sky and slipping on the ice as it crashed into the side of the room. Kali remembering her vow quickly moved over to the Dragon and hit it with the blunt of her axe as Nero rushed over to tend the small creature. With the rush of adrenaline and the coolness of the Dragons icy breath clouding their minds, both trying to help the Kobolds and bring back their Dragon he unfortunately perished from too much handling and died in Nero's arms. Kali however did not see this as accident and quickly took to blaming Nero. The two of them arguing over whose fault it was. After a while they calmed down and saw the bigger picture. Searching the room they found a ancient Dwarvan tablet, some small gems and some gold. A small horde to claim from the Dragon. Lyralei kept the tablet as a clue to the citadels history, she'll en devour to decipher the tablet once this is over and the children are free.

Goblin Song

Goblins don't like to chew
put babies in their stew
The softer the meat
the better the treat
Don't bother with a bowl
they'll just eat it whole
Give it to them do not linger
or they might just eat your finger
Try to take the plate away
and it will be you they slay
Your weapons are tough
AND WE'LL WIN THIS SCUFF

Bugbear song

The other day, I met a Bugbear,
A big Bugbear, Oh way out there.
He looked at me, I looked at him,
He sized up me, I sized up him.
He said to me, “Why don't you run?
I see you ain't, Got any gun.”
We looked at him, he looked to us,
We said to him, strong words with cuss
We brawled with him, until he fleed,
He let out screams as loud as banshees
This is the end, There aint no more,
Unless I see, That Bugbear once more.