Tiann Ceriagh'u's page

About Tiann Ceriagh'u

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Tiann had not seen her tenth summer when the gnolls came for Solku in the Battle of Red Hail. All her parents would tell her at the time was that the gnolls were bad, and that they didn't listen to reason and didn't want to repent. Tiann wasn't sure what "repent" meant, and was further confused by the actions of these interlopers who looked like big, bipedal versions of her pet dog.

During the siege, Tiann's parents told her to stay in the temple, and not leave no matter what happened. Her parents each kissed her on the forehead and girded themselves for war after the order of Sarenrae: scimitars and armor bearing red-gold sunbursts. It was many hours before she would see them again.

The temple priests expressly forbade her to go out into the town to look for her parents until the siege broke and the battle was won. They assured Tiann that her parents would come back victorious, that Sarenrae would ensure it. Yet mere words are hardly sufficient to mollify such a young child's need to be with her parents, to know that they're safe. She slipped out of the temple while the priests were distracted tending to the injured.

Tiann had of course gone shopping with her parents on Fireday, and knew the hustle and bustle the town experienced during festivals like Merrymead and Burning Blades. But the tumult of the siege made those busy times seem like they occurred in a ghost town. Tiann could not see five feet in any direction with all the people and creatures she couldn't name and siege devices and magic flying around her. She quickly learned that if she kept quiet, to disguise her young distaff voice, most folk would mistake her for a halfling adult. She used this to her advantage when moving through the town. Everyone had things to do, but equally wanted to stay out of everyone else's way--even halflings.

After looking for her parents for what seemed like a hundred of her short lifetimes, she heard a hideous, unnerving sort of barking laughter. Tracing the sound to a street where the local farmers set up regional markets, she found her parents.

They lay on the ground, in full battle gear, eyes closed.

Her scream echoed throughout the entire city, and it carried to the foothills of the Brazen Peaks to the west. The gnolls stared at her curiously, trying to determine what the halfling would do next--and whether her scream was some form of failed magical spell. It was certainly not magical, but the paladins who seemed to appear out of nowhere carried the divine powers of Iomedae in their blades. As they fended off the gnolls, Tiann ran to her parents and wept over them. She shook her mother and father, begging them to wake up between sobs and the sort of choking that happens from hyperventilation when congested.

Tiann closed her eyes and begged them to wake up. A robed woman with hair of fire appeared in her mind, and she felt oddly warm inside. The woman spoke to her, and told Tiann that she could bring her parents back if she merely concentrated hard enough. Being too shaken to question, Tiann opened her eyes, stopped sobbing, and focused on all the happy memories she had of her family. She felt immensely warm and happy, and was blinded by a flash of light that she still sees every time she closes her eyes. When she could see again, her parents were holding her and telling her that everything would be okay.

Despite the heavy casualties of the Battle of Red Hail, Tiann redoubled her faith in Sarenrae, and took the initiation test when she was of age. Since then, she has served in the temple of Sarenrae in any way she can. Recently, the higher priesthood has asked that she go out into the wider world to try to learn of further threats to her homeland, and to report back with her findings.