Born and bred in Ustalav, Esalisa was raised not to outright fear the darkness that gripped the broken nation. On the contrary, her youth was filled with encounters with the undead and monsters. For you see, her family, the Leighas', were allies and followers of the near mythical Whispering Way and its philosophy. Of course, this was their greatest secret.
Esalisa grew up believing that becoming one of her father and mother's "rotting friends" would be the greatest thing to ever happen to her. She spent hours in the family library and secretly attending Urgathoan rituals, learning all she could about the "greater beings". However, she sought ascension through alchemical means; she wanted to impress her otherwise distant parents, who were both necromancers and her mother had already uncovered the arcane means of lichdom.
When she came of age she was sent to Caliphas to attend school, where she met Professor Lorrimor. The aged teacher took an immediate interest in the young woman, inviting her to lunches and private study sessions with either a couple other students or one-on-one. Petros seemed a kind old man to "Lisa", but he soon shattered her world.
One night, he invited her to accompany him on a "field trip" to witness a funeral. Esalisa saw the sadness of those assembled, and she wished to not allow death to separate loved ones. However, suddenly the departed rose from the coffin and attacked those assembled as a zombie.
Esalisa was stunned as the creature attacked not just Petros, but her too. The professor dispatched the abomination, and then took the shaking woman to a Pharasmin church to calm her. He explained that the undead are evil and seek only to corrupt life, not improve it.
The young Leighas was torn ever since that fateful day, everything she ever knew and believed in was in question. At first she blamed Petros, but then she came to realize that he simply sought her well-being. Perhaps it was misguided, she thought, but what if he was right? She only was giving his words any thought because he had not only been her guide in honing her mind, but a dear friend and almost the father-figure that her normally distant biological father failed to be.
She was finishing up her dissertation, a thesis about the relationships between life, death, and undeath, when she received two letters from the Lorrimors, one from her beloved mentor, the other from his daughter, Kendra. She was familiar with Kendra, the two had met a few times when Petros' daughter visited campus and they kept up the occasional letters back and forth.
For the second time in her life, Lisa was shaken. Dropping everything academic and packing and prepping for the journey to Ravengro from Caliphas, Esalisa knew that she owed her beloved mentor and friend a last visit.
