Barzai the Wise

Barzai, nicknamed Wise, was a High Priest of the Elder Gods in Ulthar, and a teacher of Atal. Barzai was one of the Dreamlands' mightiest sorcerers, and knew many spells now lost to posterity. 
== Biography ==
Barzai was the son of an Ultharian aristocrat, which made him skeptical of commoners' superstitions. However, nothing enthralled him more than the ancient legends, especially the stories of how the Gods played upon the peaks of the mountains. He became deeply learned, reading such works as the Pnakotic Manuscripts and the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. Rumors state he even traveled to far-off Camelu to study the original copy of the Necronomicon.
Upon reaching the age of 56, he took his apprentice Atal, and went on a quest to behold the Gods himself. He believed that his great secret knowledge of Gods could shield him from their wrath, so resolved to go up to the summit of high and rocky Hatheg-Kla on a night when he knew the Earth Gods would be there. 
A single mountain rising north of the village of Hatheg (which itself is north of Ulthar), Hatheg-Kla is a forbidding peak, but to Barzai the Wise, it presented a challenge. Barzai and Atal climbed the mountain, facing chasms, cliffs, falling stones, cold, and snow. In time, the air grew thin, but they still continued, though Atal believed this was all folly. Barzai, however, saw thick clouds approaching the mountain, and so eagerly climbed higher. 
Here Atal felt a change, as if the laws which all things follow were changing, for though the path was steeper than ever, the climb was increasingly easy, and the light of the moon had failed. Barzai was still screaming how at last he would behold the Gods. But then there was an unearthly laughter, and Barzai screamed in fear, for he saw the Outer Gods. Atal managed to escape, but Barzai's body was never found.
Category:Characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Dreamlands natives
Category:Sorcerers