Bacellus Adrenti's page

Short for a Chelaxian, Bacellus has few noteworthy features. His most striking feature would be his steely grey eyes, constantly peering out from his furrowed brow. His dark hair is usually kept slicked back and short, and his face is clean-shaven. He's usually dressed in the reds and blacks favored by the Asmodean priesthood, and while his frock seems to have been once of fine tailoring, it's currently worn and patched, as though absconded by an opportunistic thief and worn by a pretender.

Born the fourth son of a minor lord in Cheliax, Bacellus realized early on that he stood little chance of inheriting anything from the family estate, and showed interest in the infernal priesthood of Asmodeus at an early age. Sent off to seminary, he spent years learning the faith of the Lawgiver. He learned of Aroden's abandonment of his chosen people, and how House Thrune's intercession with the aid of the Prince of Darkness was the only thing that held Cheliax together during the Civil War. He learned of Chelish supremacy and ascendancy, and their manifest destiny within the world. Most of all, he learned that power exists to be seized and used, a lesson he learned very well.

Unfortunately, one of his classmates, a young woman named Helena Grazione, learned this lesson faster than him. Both were promising candidates for a prestigious position within Egorian, and she realized first that if she wanted the position, she would need to cheat to get it. Asmodean redactors came to visit his cell one day, and found heretical writings in his hand hidden in a desk drawer. Helena was responsible, he knew, but could not prove her involvement. As a result, he was cast out from the infernal seminary, and disgraced.

To this day, he seethes with anger at her name - a character weakness, he observes, but one he allows for himself. He idly imagines the day he leaves Longacre to return to Egorian, filled with the power granted to him by Asmodeus himself, and can repay Helena for the injustice forced upon him. Until that day, however, he spends his time eking out an embarrassing existence in the backwoods of Cheliax, preaching the gospel of the Lord of the Ninth to those who will hear.

"How the mighty have fallen," she said, her voice waking Bacellus from his fitful sleep. "It's saddening to see you in such a state."

Bacellus started, rising from his pallet when he put a name to the voice. "Helena.", he growled, getting to his feet. "I was wondering when you'd show yourself. I assume you're responsible for this?" He gestured about the tight confines of his cell.

"Why, Bacellus, I was as surprised as you were to find that you were harboring a crisis of faith, how you struggled to reconcile your faith in the Lawgiver, and the fact that he seemed to be favoring a mere woman just as much as yourself. I had no idea that such things were making you question whether Asmodeus truly was deserving of worship." Her voice was honeyed and sounded concerned, but Bacellus rolled his eyes.

"Of course you were," he said, taking a seat on the edge of his pallet. "Just as I'm certain you were shocked to hear that I was going to be sent away from Egorian in disgrace, leaving you the only viable candidate for the position in the church that we were both angling to obtain. I knew this was your doing the moment they found those writings in my quarters, and as furious as I am at you right now, I'm even more upset with myself. We both knew this is where this was going - you just beat me to the punch."

"I suppose that is the end result of these proceedings, Bacellus, but I didn't -"

"Save your breath for someone who hasn't calculated these things, Helena," he interrupted, leaping to his feet again. "We both know that I'd be saying these very things if the roles were reversed, so at least spare me these empty pleas to innocence. Neither of us are innocent. I've heard their plan - I'm to be sent away in disgrace tomorrow, to some backwoods place called Longacre. I'm not to be stripped of my rank within the church - such as it is - but neither am I ever going to rise to prominence as it seemed likely. Congratulations, you've obtained that position, as well as relegated a potential rival to obscurity."

"Well, when you put it that way," Helena said, a satisfied smile spreading across her face. "It does sound like I orchestrated a masterstroke."

Finally, Bacellus chuckled. Helena's smile gave way to a frown as he did. "Oh, you foolish, foolish girl. You haven't won anything. You may have disgraced me, but I am still alive. Mark my words - this is not over between us. Not. By. Half."

A silence fell over the cells. Helena shook her head and retreated into the darkness. Bacellus returned to his pallet, and whiled away the moments before slumber took him by imagining new cruelties to subject Helena to once his revenge was complete.