Piety Taask's page

1 x Scroll of Cause fear
1 x Consecrate Scale - CL 19: consecrate 3 times daily.
1 x Potion of Cure Light Wounds
1 x Potiion of Lesser Resto

Esmerine Taask was born from the one fleeting romance of Jacinda Taask, a devoted paladin of Iomedae. Esmerine spent her formative years in the constant company of her Aasimar mother, travelling throughout Mendev to aid in the continued battles against the Worldwound. Although a gentle and loving mother, Jacinda’s time was not torn equally between parenthood and her devotion to the abolition of evil. Much to her mother’s dismay, this bred in Esmerine a boisterous and defiant personality; something often considered a mockery in the Inheritor’s church.

For Esmerine, the constant teaching of “justice” just didn’t seem to match up with the world around her. Where was the justice in her life, when other children her age could have homes, toys, pretty clothes and the most coveted of all: friends. Instead, Esmerine found that she was constantly moving on and moving away from anything she really treasured. It is little wonder then that one of Mendev’s most insidious threats found a warm welcome in Esmerine’s envy.

Whilst Jacinda had business in a small border village, an 11-year old Esmerine amused herself in a nearby forest. Suddenly, a pitch-black raven swooped down from a nearby bower and settled in front of her. The young girl tried to shoo it away, but to her surprise the bird just waddled closer as it rasped “now that’s not a nice way to greet a friend.” Although years of lectures should have made Esmerine wary, the demon’s words (for that is what it was) were like music to her ears! Not only a friend, but a truly special one at that, for who has ever seen a talking bird? The girl conversed with the bird for hours that evening, asking all kinds of questions about life in the forest. The bird answered freely, and in return asked some pointed questions about Esmerine’s deepest desires, and about her mother too. When she left that afternoon, the overjoyed child made the bird promise to meet her again the next day. And so he did…

----------------

Over the next few years, Jacinda noticed a distinct change in Esmerine. Whilst she thankfully complained far less, she seemed to grow colder and harder. She chalked it up as puberty, failing to notice the signs of corruption that were sinking into her own progeny.

The bird had gone from being a confidant to a mentor, promising Esmerine everything she wanted if she strayed from Iomedae’s teachings to the far more attainable standards of Pazuzu. It was not that hard to hide her worship either: both Iomedae and her new master shared a fondness for the longsword, and so her practice with the weapon raised no eyebrows. Other (mostly small) obediences were equally passed off as the mischief of youth. Slowly but surely however, these acts of worship grew more extreme.

Finally, as Esmerine neared her maturity, the bird presented it’s last condition. If Esmerine wished to gain her rightful satisfaction in life, she merely had to claim it. To wipe out the source of all her dissatisfaction. She had to kill her mother.

---------------------

The night was dark and still, as the woman (for you could no longer call her a child) stood over her sleeping mother. The faint moonlight from the window flashed against the sword, as it was gripped between sweat-stained but determined hands. Desires and convictions danced through Esmerine’s head, beating back the faint voice that told her this was wrong. She positioned the blade over her mother’s heart, and pressed the tip to her unprotected flesh. Though faint, the prick was enough to drag the battle-trained Jacinda from her slumber to the most harrowing sight of her life. She saw her daughter before her and in an instant realized what had wrought the change those last few years. Tears in her eyes, she choked out words she should have said so very long ago: “I’m sorry. I love you Rinny. I failed…”

The startled girl froze, her brutish anger diminishing in an instant. How could I have ever considered this? She started to move the sword away, but the fates are never so kind. From the rafters above, a black blur of feathers slammed into the hilt of the sword, the momentum carrying through Esmerine’s arms. The sword pierced straight through, and the light faded from Jacinda Taask eyes.

Though she doesn’t remember it, Esmerine Taask somehow made her way to the temple of Iomedae. The acolytes of the temple later told her that the found her on their doorstep - blood pouring from her wrists - babbling that ‘this was her justice’. Two women died that night, but for one, the fates again had something more in store.

--------

The dreams were at first unclear, just flashes of great battles between good and evil. As they grew more solid and real, Esmerine saw the visions focused on a thin Chelaxian woman in bright adamantine armour, carving her path effortlessly through monsters of the pits. The next moment, the monsters were replaced by ravenous versions of Esmerine, but as easily, the woman dispatched them. Then again, the perspective changed and Esmerine was watching herself in full combat armor banishing foul winged men-beasts. Then nothing.

--------
3 years later, and Piety Taask is in many ways a different woman. Driven by the crushing burden of her betrayal, Piety has trained and devoted her life to crusading against the very things that she once succumbed to. Wishing to forsake every aspect of her old life, she gave up her name and took on the name of the virtue that she believes she most lacks.

Note: I was thinking that the demon would be the minion of Pazuzu, a Demon Lord of Trickery particular known for enthralling people. Perhaps that particular demon was a Glabrezu? I’d love to confer with the GM about this to best tie it into the storyline of the campaign.

One-short term goal: Join the crusades in Mendev, and be discipled under a Sword Knight of some repute.
One-long term goal: Earn forgiveness for her mother’s death, and find/kill the demon with whom she contracted. To earn forgiveness, Piety believes that she must complete Eleven Acts of goodness to redeem her soul, the same way that Iomedae completed Eleven Acts to attain dietyhood. Piety is certain that justice against the demon is one of these acts.
One thing Piety fears: Piety’s biggest fear is that under pressure, she will fail to live up to her name and instead will again side with demonic forces and with her own selfish desires. To this end, she often over compensates in her religious fervor to try and hide her own past and present weaknesses.
One thing Piety loves: Her mother’s tabard. She keeps it with her, despite the bloodstains and tears it has from the day her mother died.

At the moment I’m mostly planning to play the cleric as a traditional support/buff build cleric. The Archetype is mostly for flavor purposes, and the loss of a domain hurts a little, but I think the mythic abilities and later feats may help balance it out.

I plan to particularly focus on boosting channeling a bit, and I greatly look forward to taking the “Protective Channeling feat at higher levels”. Additionally, my copy of Inner Sea Gods just arrived, and so I’m considering dipping into prestige as either the Evangelist or the sentinel. Both of them seem roleplay flavourful.