Ikethru's page

The Khet-sun's were not known for their gentleness towards their property, and most of their slaves were put to hard labor excavating and repairing their family tomb. The family had long fallen from what former grandeur they once had, and depended on their past glories to recapture what status they had.

As soon as she was able-bodied, Ikethru was put to work digging and moving blocks of stone alongside others who had either lost all their rights or had been born into such a life. She lost both of her parents early in life due to an excavation accident, and could barely remember their stories of what life had been like when they were free. Life was hard, and the lash of the slave-driver's whip was liberally given out to any suspected of dawdling. But still she was not bitter. It was the only life she had ever known, and then there was Roh-thep. The old man claimed to have been a servant of the sun goddess Sarenrae, that he had accepted life in slavery as punishment to spare another. At night, when the Khet-sun's hard laboring slaves were confined to their quarters, he would preach quietly to them, tell them stories, calm their fears, and beseech patience to those who were despairing or growing angry with their lot in life. He said they would be set free in time, many of them scoffed at that.

Eventually, once Ikethru had become a woman, she caught the eye of the eldest daughter of the Khet-sun house, Nephset. She was brought in and made to serve as Nephset's handmaiden. It was a far different life than anything she had known before. Life was so much easier serving in the house, and it was all too easy to forget about those still toiling in the sun everyday. Nephset was a worshipper of the foreign goddess Calistria, and Ikethru was essentially her acolyte, servant, and plaything all in one. She thought she was in love, she had never felt anything quite as close to it before.

A year later, they were found out by Nephset's father, the head of the household. Shocked and appalled at the truth of his daughter's choosing of Ikethru as her servant, he was quick to blame any corrupting influence on Ikethru. She was dragged out before the slave quarters that day and whipped within an inch of her life several times. She remembered Nephset taking the whip at her father's order to join in her punishment in order to completely denounce any "influence" the slave had had on her, and those lashes hurt the worst. She never knew that it was Nephset's pleading that had spared her life at all.

She was left bleeding and unconscious in the slave quarters, left to the care of those she had left behind a year before. They tended to her wounds, and she learned that things had changed. Roh-thep had died six months ago. She never could find out how. But now the slaves had a new soothsayer, and not one among their number. A woman from the desert would visit them every new moon under the dead of night. Excavation in the tombs near the slave quarters had made much progress in the past year, and it was there that the new faith amongst the slaves truly took root. This strange woman, always cloaked and hidden in shadows, led them in worship of a new goddess. They whispered of bloody rebellion, of revenge for their treatment.

This new goddess was call Aldinach, and her apparent servant promised that she would set them free unlike the uncaring gods to whom they had begged for salvation. Ikethru was angry, and felt betrayed, so she easily fell into the ranks of Aldinach's faithful. She eagerly joined in their nightly worship, participating in dark, frightening rituals that terrified her almost to the point of fleeing, but her pain and anger kept her on her wicked course. She commited blasphemy against her former gods, cursing their names. She reveled and cavorted with half-seen beings that came out of the desert at the behest of their strange priestess. She allowed herself to be marked with the symbol of thier new goddess, bearing the emblem of a scorpion upon her wrist. She looked down on those slaves who refused to follow the faithful. She saw them as cowards, as foolish and weak as she once was.

Six months passed before the night of reckoning came. Under the dead of night the cultists, led by the strange woman from the wastes, rebelled and overwhelmed the noble family's guards in a horrific rush of violence. The guards were put to death on their own swords, and the members of House Khet-sun were dragged out of their home. Ikethru remembered their screaming for mercy as they were taken down into the tombs. As she saw the other slaves fleeing into the night, Ikethru suddenly realized she had not thought this far ahead, but still she followed the others down. At the priestess' command, one by one the members of House Khet-sun were held down on the make-shift altar, the desecrated sarcophogus of on of the once great house's ancestors, and then sacrificed them in Aldinach's name.

When Nephset's time came, Ikethru was pushed forward, and a dagger placed in her hand. This was to be her consecration. Ikethru paused only a moment as Nephset wept and begged for mercy. She didn't know if it was hate or fear of the others turning on her that made her bring the blade down, or if it was simply that she was caught up in the madness of the night, but regardless of why she did it, she still drove the blade into her former owner and lover's heart. The rest of the night was like a fever dream. As the slaughter continued, Ikethru stombled among them as if she were the walking dead. As the revels began, she laughed and wept, half-mad at what she had done. The realization of just what she had done, what she had been a part of, came down on her like a hammer.

As the horror of that night went on, Ikethru found herself fleeing blindly into the night, well after the other slaves had escaped. She wandered aimlessly, not knowing where she was going, trying desperately to run away from what she had done and what she had become.

At the breaking of dawn, she came upon a group of traveling priests of Sarenrae, caretakers of the commoners in the area who defended them from the depredations of bandits and worse. She fell to her knees before him, weeping and confessing what had happened and her part in it. She begged for death, and she fully expected her head to be lopped from her shoulders by the horrified priests. It hurt so much, and she wanted nothing more then than the death she felt she deserved. It came as a shock that she was given water and sanctuary instead; she was taken in by the few who remained while the others investigated House Khet-sun. The cultists had disapppeared, leaving only the aftermath of their slaughter.

ikethru was taken to the local temple and given safe haven there. In truth, she was practically a prisoner, though for her own safety. She attempted to take her own life when it became clear the Sarenraen clergy would not do it for her. She eventually came to understand that it was her admission of guilt and her remorse that had stayed their hand when she first met them. She had never known such kindness since her time learning at Roh-thep's side. Though her shame never faded, they gave her genuine hope for the first time in years.

She eventually joined their priesthood, embracing fully the goddess she had once forsaken. Though she would always doubt her own worthiness of redemption, she found herself dedicated to keeping others from falling as far as she had, and to guide back into the light those who had.

Diplomacy +7 (1 rank, +3 CHA, +3 class skill)
Heal +7 (1 rank, +3 WIS, +3 class skill)
Intimidate +4 (+3 CHA, +1 trait bonus(Missionary))
Knowledge(religion) +4 (1 rank, +3 class skill)
Sense Motive +7 (1 rank, +3 WIS, +3 class skill)

Languages Common(Taldane), Osirioni, Katapeshi
SQ eschew materials, celestial resistances(Resist Cold 5, Resist Acid 5)
Gear
scimitar
studded leather armor
light steel shield
silver holy symbol
cleric's vestments

61 gp

NEED TO SUBTRACT
traveler's outfit
cloak
waterskin
backpack
journal
candles (4)
flint and steel

Spells Per Day

0 - can know 3
1st Level - 2

Favored Class: Cleric

Domains: Good, Fire
Domain Powers:
Touch of Good
Fire Bolt

Channel Energy per Day: 6

Traits:
Missionary (+1 to Intimidate, treat Intimidate as a class skill)
Blade of Mercy (no -4 penalty for nonlethal damage w/ bladed weapons)