Akurna Kenezor's page

Childhood
Akurna was raised in the city of Yled, in Geb, near the northern border. Yled stands guard over the northern frontier, and while the people of Geb no longer seriously feared an invasion from Nex, nonetheless periodic invasions of mutants and fell creatures from the Mana Wastes would come south to ravage Geb. Yled stands in their path and is the main defensive stronghold in the north.

Her parents were Zemed and Temessen Kenezor, who made a living as armorers and weaponcrafters. Though the defending army consisted mainly of skeletons and zombies, even these creatures fought better when equipped with armor and weapons. Zemed's trade was considered important enough that he and his family were exempt from any requirement to serve as an undead soldier or worker.

Though Zemed and Temessen cared deeply for their child, there was a certain oddity about her that created a distance between Akurna and her parents. Her strange eyes and hair made her stand out, and people in the neighborhood whispered that something was odd about her; that she had been cursed somehow, and a look from her could give you the 'evil eye.'

The Truth!
It was shortly before Akurna's fourteenth birthday that the nightmare began. While sleeping she was kidnapped and taken from her family. Her kidnapper was Ladduza, an Annis Hag, and when Akurna awoke Ladduza explained to Akurna that she was Akurna's nother, and that she had through guile kidnapped the true child of Zemed and Temessen and replaced that child with Akurna.

"Why would I want to mess about with nappies and milk and teaching a girl to go potty? Ha ha ha!" Ladduza would say. "That is the work for slaves. Humans can do it. Now that you are grown enough your real mother can teach you the way the world really works."

When Akurna asked what had become of the girl that she replaced, the hag cackled madly. "You want to know what happened to your poor step-sister? I saved her for you, dear! Come see!" Ladduza showed Akurna the corpse of a baby, stripped of flesh but still covered with blood and gore. Then it moved! It cried piteously and tried to crawl towards her. "I thought you might need a playmate!" Ladduza laughed. "She'll live forever this way, not a care in the world! She didn't need her flesh so I put that to good use. It was very tasty. I expect you will come to like it too! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

Plot Hook: if Ladduza has witch levels and the plague patron she could have access to animate dead at 8th level. As a cleric she could get it earler. This makes her a bit too much for us to take on just yet. But she is still out there! BTW if she is a witch I thought perhaps the undead baby could be her familiar. :)

Years of Horror
Ladduza was intent on henceforth raising Akurna as her own child in the caves where she made her lair. Akurna resisted for a time, refusing to believe that Ladduza could be her mother. Ladduza would sometimes try to buy Akurna's affection with treats stolen from the city (which Ladduza seemed to be able to penetrate at will), and other times would beat her for her disobedience and refusal to accept that Ladduza was Akurna's mother.

"Oh, you poor thing. You miss your parents, don't you?" Ladduza once asked Akurna. Akurna nodded, afraid to speak up. "Well, don't feel sad, little child, because I brought them here to help raise you! Look!" Ladduza pointed at the entrance. There were Zemed and Temessen, shambling forward, eyes empty and skin sagging and pale. "'Over my dead body,' he said. So I said, 'That's the idea, dearie!' Ha ha ha ha ha!" When Akurna asked, "What about my brother Kito?" Ladduza shouted, "Shut up you ungrateful brat!" Akurna never did find out what happened to her brother.

Plot Hook: What did happen to her brother Kito?

Ladduza set the zombies of Zemed and Temessen to watch over Akurna when she was absent from the cave. Though mindless, Zemed and Temessen never hurt Akurna, or certainly not deliberately, though their single-mindedness could cause problems. Once Ladduza ordered Temessen to brush Akurna's hair, and she did. For hours, and Temessen would not stop. When Ladduza returned, Temessen had brushed Akurna's scalp raw, pulling out all her hair. The zombie could not stop until ordered to do so.

Ladduza would rarely discuss Akurna's birth father, but at one point she let slip "My, he was a handsome one. He never knew what he was getting into, but he was willing enough. I wonder what became of him?" When Akurna pressed her on the issue, Ladduza flew into a rage. "Shut up, stupid girl! What do you want a father for? Men are useless. I'm the only parent you'll ever see!"

Plot Hook: Who is Akurna's birth father? And why did Ladduza leave him alive?

Rescue
Eventually Akurna came to accept that Ladduza must truly be her birth mother. The things Ladduza did frightened and revolted her, but over time she became inured to many of the horrors she saw; her mind became numb, and she nearly gave up hope.

That all changed when a group of adventurers invaded the cave. They cut down the undead guardians and killed two members of Ladduza's coven, a pair of Green Hags named Tannunja and Zerrizma. Akurna did not see Ladduza at the time and it turned out that she escaped.

When the adventurers saw the ragged and filthy teenage girl, they quickly decided to rescue her from the hag's den. Akurna never learned why the adventurers came that day; they were on some sort of quest that they did not explain to her.

But one of the adventurers, Berekris Eyasu decided to ensure that Akurna had the chance at a proper life. Seeing how scarred she was from her experience, he knew that fostering her to an ordinary family would not be enough.

But Berekris was a cleric of Anubis, and recognized that Akurna's familiarity with the undead and her lack of fear towards them made her an ideal candidate for the priesthood of Anubis.

"Child, there are right ways and wrong ways of dealing with the dead. What the hag did was wrong, very wrong, for what she did was done out not of necessity but out of the desire to inflict suffering. It is important that such things not go unpunished, for the dead are sacred. They must be protected from such things, and if they are not allowed to rest it must be for a very good cause."

"My order of priests is dedicated to this, and we serve Anubis, the guardian of the dead. If you wish I can take you to a convent where you could join other girls learning the ways of the priests of Anubis, and one day become a priestess yourself. What do you think?"

Akurna agreed, and Berekris brought her back to Osirion, where she entered a convent dedicated to Anubis.

Plot Hook: Akurna owes Berekris and his friends a debt. A big debt.

Training
Akurna greatly enjoyed her life at the convent. Her unique experiences gave her an edge in her studies and once again she was among not only humans but girls her own age. While she had a hard time relating to many of the things in her new friends' lives, she found that she loved Osirion greatly. Compared to the grim dreariness of Geb it seemed vibrant and full of life and color.

Akurna graduated from the convent as a priestess when she was 20. She began to minister in the temples and shrines of Anubis in Sothis. She took part in funerary rites and festivals. Life was as she imagined it might be.

But then acolytes in her temple started disappearing, only to reappear a few days later as mindless undead, killing randomly any they could get their hands on. At first the temple thought these to be random occurrences, perhaps done by an enemy of the temple. But the fourth time, a zombie appeared who spoke, repeating over and over, "Akurna, come home! Akurna, come home!"

The masters of the temple knew about Akurna's childhood experience, and understood what this onslaught meant. Determined not to give one of their own to the forces of chaos, the priests hunkered down, fortifying the temple and doubling the guard. Nevertheless, the attacks continued. After the sixth attack, Akurna felt she could no longer endanger her fellow priests, and determined to leave. She approached the High Priest and explained her intent. The Priest made sure she was equipped for her journey and sent her with his blessing.

Travels
Akurna left Sothis by ship, having heard that an Annis Hag could not pursue its prey across water. While this seemed like a fairy tale to Akurna, she had little better to offer, and a sea voyage would allow her to put a good distance between herself and Ladduza quickly. But she wanted to end up in a land where the rule of law was strong.

She landed in the port of Remesiana in Cheliax, and became intrigued with the order of hellknights. These knights were pledged to maintain order overall and fight the forces of chaos. She applied to become a Signifer and began her training, but she found the Hellknights to be corrupt, spending too much energy on oppressing the populace to give greater power to their wealthy favorites.

She made her way to Lastwall, and at Vigil inquired about joining the Knights of Ozem. But the knights took a dim view of her animating the dead, and cast her out. They ignored her explanation that such things were permitted if the undead were put to reasonable use.

So she left Vigil and headed for the small rural lands in the south of Lastwall. If neither the good nor the evil knights would have her then she would just disappear, tendeding to the funerary needs of some small settlements and perhaps spreading the word of Anubis to those who would hear.

And that's when disaster began to fall.

Akurna is a dusky woman with olive skin and green hair. Her nails are unusually long and painted black. Though pretty, she has a stern and mildly disapproving look about her, like the headmistress of a boarding school. When not adventuring she is dressed in flowing robes of gold and black; when called for she wears a breastplate and a shield painted gold with a black jackal seated upright. Hanging from around her neck is a small black figurine that looks like a dog with upright ears.

Changeling race grants +2 WIS & CHA, -2 CON. STR 09 (-1 points) 0 = 09
DEX 14 (5 points) 0 = 14
CON 12 (2 points) -2 = 10
INT 12 (2 points) 0 = 12
WIS 12 (2 points) +2 = 14
CHA 14 (5 points) +2 = 16

Changeling race grants +2 WIS & CHA, -2 CON.
Middle Age grants -1 STR, DEX, CON, +1 INT, WIS, CHA
Total Bonuses: -1 STR, -1 DEX, -3 CON, +1 INT, +3 WIS, +3 CHA
STR 09 (0 points) -1 = 09
DEX 13 (3 points) -1 = 12
CON 13 (3 points) -3 = 10
INT 13 (3 points) +1 = 14
WIS 14 (3 points) +3 = 16
CHA 15 (3 points) +3 = 16

(start with 3000 gp)

1370 gp Combat Gear (55 lbs)
_750 gp Wand of Cure Light Wounds 50 charges
__75 gp Vials of unholy water 3 (3 lbs)
_150 gp Cracked amethyst pyramid ioun stone
__75 gp Silver dust 3
_500 gp Onyx 20 units
__50 gp Masterwork backpack (4 lbs)
___5 gp Spell component pouch (2 lbs)
___5 gp Spring loaded wrist sheath (1 lbs)
___2 gp Scriveners' kit (1 lbs)
___2 gp Wooden holy symbol 2
___1 gp Scroll case (0.5 lbs)

2985 gp

___1 sp Bedroll (5 lbs)
___2 sp Mess Kit (1 lbs)

3 sp

___1 cp String 50' (0.5 lbs)
___1 cp Soap (0.5 lbs)
___3 cp Earplugs
___2 cp Chalk 2
___3 cp Candle 3
__60 cp Rice paper 12

free Cold weather clothing

70 cp

14 gp left

Total weight 74.5 (carrying capacity 76)

Granted Powers: You can cause the living to bleed at a touch, and find comfort in the presence of the dead.

Bleeding Touch (Sp): As a melee touch attack, you can cause a living creature to take 1d6 points of damage per round. This effect persists for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum 1) or until stopped with a DC 15 Heal check or any spell or effect that heals damage. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Death's Embrace (Ex): At 8th level, you heal damage instead of taking damage from channeled negative energy. If the channeled negative energy targets undead, you heal hit points just like undead in the area.

Domain Spells: 1st—cause fear, 2nd—death knell, 3rd—animate dead, 4th—death ward, 5th—slay living, 6th—create undead, 7th—destruction, 8th—create greater undead, 9th—wail of the banshee.

Granted Powers: You follow a strict and ordered code of laws, and in so doing, achieve enlightenment.

Command (Su): As a standard action, you can give a creature an emotionless yet undeniable order, as per the spell command. A Will save negates this effect. You cannot target a creature more than once per day with this ability. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Staff of Order (Su): At 8th level, you can give a weapon touched the axiomatic special weapon quality for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your cleric level. You can use this ability once per day at 8th level, and an additional time per day for every four levels beyond 8th.

Domain Spells: 1st—protection from chaos, 2nd—align weapon (law only), 3rd—command undead, 4th—order's wrath, 5th—command (greater), 6th—planar binding (inevitables only), 7th—dictum, 8th—shield of law, 9th—summon monster IX (law spell only).