About Valda Argead'CroiWHISPERING WAY RIVAL: Valda Argead’Croi
Combat Gear cold iron longsword, mw comp longbow (+3 Str), 20 durable sharpened cold iron arrows, mithral breastplate, potions of cure light wounds (2) and lesser restoration (1), The Couer Argente*, twice-blessed water** (4), holy oil*** (4); Other gear heavy warhorse, whetstone, footed tower shield on horse that can be placed into the ground as a full-round action to provide an archer with partial cover from a stationary position *The Couer Argente (silver heart within her chest, replacing her mortal heart)
**Twice-Blessed Water (requires that the holy water be blessed as it is being poured over a cold iron longsword or scimitar in the hands of a paladin who has cast bless weapon upon the blade, does normal damage as holy water, but if a target that has been damaged also has the Chaotic subtype, it takes the same damage the next round as well, was developed by the church of Iomedae, but has been shared with the church of Sarenrae, and possibly others). ***Holy Oil (this alchemical fire has been consecrated by a cleric of Sarenrae and also acts as holy water to eligible creatures, the technique has been shared with the church of Iomedae, and perhaps others) When a tale starts with an outsider stalking the field of a great battle between the forces of Mendev and the Abyss, snatching up a dying warrior and tearing out her heart as part of some pact, before experimenting upon her body, one could be forgiven for leaping to the assumption that the outsider was not an angel. Valda fell to undead creatures, raised up by some demon-worshipping cultist, and her body was ravaged by ghouls before it was recovered by the armored angel who carried her gently away, and when she awoke in some celestial smithy, there was the sound of hammering, and great pain, and fire burned through her veins. She rose to find that her body was restored, and a strange calmness filled her, as she turned to the steely-eyed clockwork angel who had brought her back to life, and learned that the sexless creature had worked other changes besides, replacing her riven heart with one of enchanted silver, that would give her new hope in the fight against the new menace rising to the west… She awoke again, as if from a dream, on the field of battle where she had fallen, the ghouls tearing at her flesh her last memory of this place, and rose unharmed, to stagger back to her unit, who feared that she had come back as one of the unliving, and doused her with holy water before accepting her fantastical story of death and rebirth. Still, the rumors were unsettling, and her superiors agreed heartily with the vision’s recommendation that she head west, to seek out this growing evil the smith-angel spoke of, not merely because it was a divine revelation, but because her presence so near the men who had watched her die would prove a dangerous point of contention… Her personal life also suffered greatly, having met and fallen in love with a fellow Crusader, a fiery and passionate Caydenite from Andoran, en route to Mendev, and married him on the eve of their first battle together. Now her silver heart beat cold, and she found him a strange and disquieting man, full of nonsensical passions and accusations that would have broken her heart, if it were still made of flesh. His grieving had been interrupted by her miraculous return, and now they had nothing in common, as his hopes and dreams and fears, his passions and love for her, meant nothing to her cold, mechanical heart. She remembers that his smile used to make her smile, but she felt only a burning drive to travel to the west, and leave this sad man she no longer knew far behind. In Ustalav, she wears the silver band he found for their marriage (gold being in short supply in their current circumstances) on a cord around her neck, no longer thinking that she has a right to wear it on her finger, having left her husband hundreds of miles away. Her own Taldan faith in Sarenrae had turned to the more locally-prominent faith of Iomedae, on the Crusade, and she wonders now if her mortal heart was too fickle, and led to her undoing. During her time of conversion, it had seemed a proper thing, as the churches were working together, and several other conversions occurred as individuals better suited to one faith or the other swore new oaths, and several church procedures and techniques were shared, to strengthen both faiths against the forces of the Worldwound, but now she wonders if this loose alliance of churches was a terrible idea, with clergy and paladins of Torag, Erastil, Iomedae, Shelyn and Sarenrae all united, at least on this one matter, in opposition to the forces of the Abyss. Were they weakening that which made them individually powerful and relevant? Were they merely aping the Hellknights of the ‘Godclaw,’ and as that order seems dominated by the chuch of Asmodeus, would the church of Iomedae end up drawing more and more faithful from the other four deities, leaving them the worse off for the bargain? With the fall of Aroden, Iomedae’s superior, the world had already seen the risk of placing too much on a single diety, and perhaps the gods of good would be better served focusing on their own strengths… Boons Valda’s battle against the undead flocking to Gallowspire seems without end, and those who assist her may be gifted with flasks of twice-blessed water or holy oil. Those with the craft may even learn the formula and rites necessary to create such theurgic concoctions, and she has been reassured that it is the will of the gods that these tools against evil and the undead be spread as far and wide as possible. Valda knows the name of the angel who changed her, body and soul, and will whisper it to someone who has done her a favor, if they wish to Call this worker of flesh and metal, at their own risk. She washes her hands of any responsibility for any bargains they make with this cold, alien entity, knowing too well how her life has changed, and not always for the better, because of its artifice. |
