Mikhael Strand

> *"And what did she mean by 'The Detestable Exile', anyway?" ~ Mikhael, referring to the words of Mataria*
>
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**Sir Mikhael of House Strand** was an exile lord and a knight of the Union,a former member of the Brotherhood of the Nameless, once an ally of Lord Ilyan Iskaar, and in his final hours a penitent ally of the Brotherhood again. A cold, curt and gloomy man, curious and intelligent his life was a series of pitfalls, failures and misfortunes that ended in an ignoble and cruel end.

## **Appearance**

Mikhael was a gaunt man of average height and wiry but not slender build. His face was long, austere and sharp with a slightly upturned nose, harsh cheekbones and deep-set large blue eyes. His hair was a raven black and was usually kept in a tidy bowlcut,and his beard clean-shaven.

He was fond of fine clothing and carried around a few changes of them varying from more rugged traveller's clothes made of mostly linen and wool to a formal set with a fur-lined cloak and some embellishment. He enjoyed plain, but saturated colors. Unless the situation called for the opposite harshly Mikhael would wear a blade on his hip. After hunting down a bear he had its skin made into a cloak and often wore it.

In battle he wore an open-faced helmet with a tall blue plume and a surcoat with the sigil of his house - the spear Hrithspel planted down into a beach with the sea at its back at least when wearing mail. Later during the events of the story he managed to acquire a grey-white set of universal plate armor which he traded in his mail coat for.

In his final hours he donned the Armor of Vereeni and wore it unto his death.

## **Personality and Traits**

Mikhael was a serious and stern man whose personality was coloured by his bitterness to a great degree. He was cynical, acerbic and sometimes incredibly spiteful. Despite this, he had a strong sense of idealism and held onto his own interpretation of chivalric principles, mostly expressed in his preference for direct combat and his compassion towards those he saw as destitute. This code, however had little consideration for the fairer sex, past general courtesy, often given begrudgingly. Mikhael also held intense prejudice towards elves, seeing them as incompatible with humans and fit only for extermination, which often brought him at odds with Lithiel of Yandae. Ironically he was also quite well versed in Elven courtship. Over the course of the quest his hatred for elves subsided.

While not malicious or cruel he often came off as cold. He often drank and went into self-pitying or vitriolic rants about the current state of the Union and the injustices his house had suffered. He sought the restoration of his house and was willing to perform some amoral acts to reach that goal, yet usually later regretted doing those things. Mikhael had lofty ideas of the Union's unification and the creation of a pan-human identity, using Iskra instead of the Gods as a rallying point, but never had a practical way to pursue those goals.

Being the heir of an old and proud house made Mikhael comport himself with a certain sense of superiority regardless of his real position,seeing commoners and upstarts as owing him respect, yet upon receiving it he was genial ,kindly and compassionate. This disposition of his earned him few friends and many enemies.

   He was relatively generous and tried to nurture his companions and assist them with issues presented before him, feeling it his duty to do so. He was a very curious and studious man, enjoying learning new things and often pondering abstract ideas and positioning his own theories on arcane matters. Even while very cynical and pessimistic, expecting things to go the worst way they could ,he retained a childlike sense of wonder for the terrible and awe-inspiring sights his quest imposed on him. Mikhael was a cautious man, often backing out of conflicts he couldn't win and showing level-headedness and patience when dealing with authority figures. Yet was also paranoid and suspected most people around him of being part in intricate conspiracies and the more he was exposed to an actual overreaching conspiracy in the form of the Children of the Dawn Cult's activities the more insane his theories grew. His alcoholism waxed and waned through the length of the quest.

He often annoyed his companions with his constant gloominess and bluntness yet wasn't completely humorless ,making caustic remarks and spilling dry wit in dire predicaments. He was rather inept and awkward in social situations, having a rigid and rough disposition and being unfond of subtlety, with this not being helped by his dry, often moribund sense of humor, which meshed badly with Union high society. This did not mean he was incapable of diplomacy, his shrewd political upbringing coming into play at such moments, as despite his unpleasant personality, he often reasoned out solutions to problems. His sense of honor and loyalty was incredibly strong and it was him who initially created the Blood Oath for the Brotherhood ,as he firmly believed in the power of words laid down. Mikhael was steadfast and deliberate in the face of danger, often rushing in to save his downed companions.

## **Powers and Abilities**

Mikhael was a resillient and agile fighter using his quick wit, varying weapons,his magical abilities and sheer strength of will to great effect. He often used the surrouding terrain or the enemy's own foolishness or impulses against them, yet was not unwilling to suffer harm to allow himself a tactical advantage ,almost never losing his cool in the midst of battle and keeping a tactical mind.

### Martial Training

Years of warring and training had made Mikhael's body wiry and resillient. While not extraordinary he was in good fighting shape. He usually fought with a saber in the right and a rapier in the left, preferring to sacrifice his shield for more openings to strike. He was also an experienced rider and preferred to attack from horseback with a spear and a kite shield in the manner of chivalry he was trained in. Unfortunately his horses often died forcing him to fight on foot. Also equipped with a crossbow he often utilized it when he considered close-range engagements to be futile.

### Magical Ability

In the marshes of Greenflow on his 30th birthday Mikhael's magical potential truly awoke. With the help of his formal training received earlier in his life he mastered a limited group of mostly offensive elemental magics,allowing him to launch ice shards, beams of burning energy and lightinging from his hands, focusing his power of will to rip apart beings and structures that stood in his way, as well as empowering his blows by wreathing his blade in green fire. He could also call any two weapons he had bound to his will to his hand with a mere thought and dispel said weapon into nothingness just as easily. While powerful his spells took a harsh toll on Mikhael's concentration and endurance so he only used them when there was a clear advantage in doing so.

### Education

Mikhael had spent most of his life learning the histories of the civilized peoples,the mysteries of magic and the lore of animals and did so with lively interest. As so Mikhael was often able to provide crucial information about the places and things the Brotherhood encountered, such as outlining the plan to steal the artifacts back at Rekfork and bringing up useful information about the cursed city of Strifort Gart. He spoke Elven and Dwarven and was versed in the courtly manners of those cultures.

### Ruin

Ruin was a cursed blade first faced in the hands of the Doppler Assassin Dartonis at Rivetwixt, then lost, found by a cat-merchant and stolen back by Mikhael. It looked to be of elven make, glew a soft red and was of unnatural sharpness, durability and balance. Mikhael replaced his saber with it, and used it when the Brotherhood made their way across the Rotlands and Runelands and when confronting lord Iskaar. He bequeathed it on Opinor Corydon as he saw the weapon as ill-fated, having named it Ruin for his first death at its' tip.

### Mataria's Artifact

Upon falling in battle against the Dopple Assassins at Rivertwixt the artifact was drawn to him, when Senecius dribbled the goddess' cursed blood upon his lips and lodged itself in his chest bringing the knight back to life. It was seemingly incompatible with his personality and thus couldn't provide much in the way of power, merely keeping him alive. It also proved to be able to preserve Mikhael when he was dragged into the Plane Inbetwixt by the Approachers, where his squire Hammer was being consumed by the plane's curse.

### Hrithspel

After finally acquiring the enchanted spear of his forebears he had also acquired the will and aptitude to use it. Hrithspel was a powerful weapon that struck true with almost its own will and could also manipulate water to a fine degree, being used to form watery spears, to use water to grasp and to even pull creatures around with the very blood in their bodies and even drain said blood out of their bodies.

## **History**

### Early life

Mikhael was born the only male offspring of the great lord of the Union-Essaiah Strand of Loneport,with his mother dying shortly after delivering him, due to postnatal complications. As so Mikhael spent most of his early childhood alone. At some point he was fostered at Hillgrove with the friend of his father Kennyth Ashwood and became his eldest son- Godward's squire. Some time during this he returned to Loneport and at the age of 11 attempted to elapse his home, only to be convinced by an elven wanderer who called herself "Gladys" to return to his home. Later on he befriended most of the Ashwood household, including the reclusive Johnnyn Kart - the last child of a house destroyed and defiefed by the Empire which had been adopted into lord Ashwood's court. He recalls having dragged his severely wounded master through miles of hostile forest to rescue him as a squire and being part in raids on orcish villages and defenses against orcish raids. Upon receiving his knighthood he volunteered to be sent to Magistris to study magic, but dropped out two years later due to both his father calling him away and poor magical affinity.

### Droplets War

Having been called away from his studies his father wanted to use him to create an alliance between the elven house of Morell and the house of Strand to better get a grasp on the series of islands called the Droplets that lay in disputed sea coming into the zone of influence of both the Green Pearls, the Blutts of Bloodgate and the Strands of Loneport. With a marriage to the second eldest daughter of the house- Nethwyn Morell to the young Mikhael his father sought to unite two of the parties interested in the territory against the third.

Mikhael being fond of foreign lands and well-studied in elven and dwarven culture and history was quick to jump on the offer, seeing it as both his duty and his calling to marry and being glad that such a bride had been chosen for him. However upon arriving in Loneport Nethwyn found the entire affair unsatisfactory. Mikhael was unable to win her over, as he expected both him and his bride to do their duty for the greater good. Nethwyn finding his attitude both repulsive and pathetic rejected his advances ,effectively cancelling the alliance. Essaiah took this in stride and sought another way to claim the Droplets, but suffered a severe hunting accident when he ran his horse into a gorge, the fall killing him nigh-instantly.

Filled with the burning wrath of youth and with the resources of the house of Strand now fully in his hands Mikhael decided to avenge his father and bring his will and ambition to life. Using every penny in his coffers and more he borrowed, he assembled a great host of mercenaries, well-trained and standardly equipped levies and retainers ,sailed on the Droplets, took them, placed his cousin Ghebriel as steward and lord of the isles and advanced on Bloodgate. There he besieged the castle ready to storm it. Unfortunately the news of Nethwyn's new marriage reached his ears-she had wed the powers of Morrell and Blutt together through her union with the dashing ,bold and strapping Sanguor-the scion of the house. Having taken the Droplets the elven army encircled the Strand host and in grievous battle Mikhael and his closest retainers-his cousins Marc and Jekob Strand ,as well as his knights stormed the city of Bloodgate. Surrounded they fought bravely but saw themselves almost completely wiped out,with Mikhael captured and dragged around in a small cage for two months, where at least according to him he had been fed partially on his own excrement. His cousins did not share the same fate - all dying either by being deposed and executed during the retaking of the Droplets or killed in the Battle of Bloodgate.

### Downfall and mercenary years

After finally being ransomed and returning to his Loneport Mikhael faced crippling debt. Even after selling all his lands, the ancestral spear Hrithspel and even his fief of Loneport he still owed a million and a half golden pieces to the Bank of Magistris. Escaping to Hillgrove he joined the mercenary company known as the Keen Lances led in part by his longtime friend Johnnyn Kart and posed as Eimille Kart - a younger brother of his, deemed lost. Thusly he spent five years, growing to hate elvenkind and the very system that had pushed him into his dire predicament in the first place, and beginning to heavily drink when he had the time and spare gold. One day he was sent as an envoy to Dustwood to broker the hiring of the Lances by the younger heir of the Gale house in a dispute for inheritance. During his return when staying at the tavern at a small village, and drinking heavily he ran across a high elven traveller. After perceiving the elf to be looking down on him Mikhael flew into a rage and attacked him. The much stronger knight drove the elf out onto the street and after savagely beating him he drowned him in the nearby brook in an approximation of the traditional Loneport method of execution. He was captured,sentenced to death and shipped away to Plainne, to await his trading to the Empire as an arena slave, seeming to share his fate with a young elven girl and a suspicious wanderer as well as recidivist orc, thus accidentally setting himself on the path that would define the rest of his life.

### "Induction" Arc

Oddly enough luck turned around for him and Lord Poll of Plainne offered to him, the elven girl and the wanderer to do an odd job, retrieving a magical artifact from the nearby wilds for him. Mikhael reluctantly agreed, and along the others was placed under a tracking spell.

Later in the local tavern, glad to have his belongings and freedom restored he drunk himself senseless. Taking off at dawn the party forged towards the spot marked on the map and upon entering the cave discovered a giant goat-like humanoid laying dead alongside a knight with a vast hole in its' chest. Odd runes were written along the walls ,which Mikhael despite his best efforts could not read. After some lamenting that he could not steal the knight's plate armor,due to it being critically damaged the group left.

Having almost no leads the party decided to head out to another nearby cave in hopes they might find the artifact there. Along the way they fought off wolves and entered into an argument over a barrel of pepper they found in some roadside wreckage, which much to Mikhael's sorrow Lithiel burned to prevent bickering.

Mikhael was somewhat disgusted when Senecius murdered a few goblin captives after promising them freedom, if they led the group to their lair, which they did. After breaking into their base Mikhael was almost knocked out by a spell woven by one goblin shaman. After confronting many of the pet beasts the goblins kept and slaughtering most of the lair's inhabitants Mikhael and the others made it to the central chamber.

Inside was a ghastly creature that looked like a grotesque cross between a snake and a dragon that the group could surmise had used some eldritch power to enthrall the goblins to its service. Mikhael charged in and fought valiantly ,almost dying to give Lithiel and Senecius an opening to finish the beast. Cutting the creature open they discovered an odd-looking heart,which clearly did not belong to it. After the battle Mikhael found what he surmised to be the trader whose wrecked cart they discovered earlier's family and offered them safe passage back to the town of Plainne.

Along the way the party met a half-elven wizard that called himself Mirinin who asked them if they had spied any odd activity around. Everyone denied vehemently, especially Mikhael. Upon arriving in the town they immediately went to Lord Poll, which was glad to have them. His court wizard- Grindel took the spell off the group and took the artifact in.

In this moment hell broke loose. The court wizard somehow merged with the heart, grew into a monstrous form and killed Lord Poll. As the creature turned a few of the nearby guards into abominable thralls Mikhael realized this was not his battle and fled, urging the two others to do so as well.

Upon escaping into the town he saw silhouettes stretching into the sky, surrounding the entire town as the sky had turned black and the sun- a wan, ghastly purple. Тhis made the knight turn about and rush to help his companions, trying to wrestle a halberd out of a guard's arms and losing his horse in the process as the creature focused on him, leaving the paralyzed guard alone. As the battle raged Mirinin joined the scene and ordered the group to hold the being off while he sealed it.

After sealing the artifact the wizard gathered the group in a nearby tavern and asked them to assist him in fighting the Shadows of the Horizon which they had just seen, and instructed them to make their way to the Imperial city of Rivertwixt. Mikhael reluctantly agreed, seeing no real way around the importance of the task.

Later as he loitered around the town and purchased some additional weaponry for himself he ran into Lithiel which had seemingly commited a crime and was arrested by the town guards. He attempted to defend her by pointing out the role he and her had played in stopping the incident that had transpired earlier as well as berating them for not presenting Lithiel with a trial. This led to his arrest as well. In the cell he was almost beat unconscious by the orc still in there over a spat and was only saved by a one-armed guard who claimed that Mikhael had saved his life in the battle against the abomination.

After this rather embarassing spat the party headed out for Rivertwixt in full.

### "Greenflow" Arc

The group soon reached the village of Dragger that was mysteriously abandoned, expect for the inn where an old blind inkeeper still kept house. This confused Mikhael and he went out to scout the village. In the smithy he discovered a mute boy which at first attempted to attack him, but after some coercing and talking he managed to get out of him that his name was ''Hammer" and that he had been the village smith's son. He also found out that the village had been attacked by frogmen - a rare subspecies of orcoid creature, at least to common knowledge. Mikhael offered Hammer ,for the boy to become his squire, travel with him and learn from him the arts of chivalry and courtesy as well as lore and writing and reading. Hammer accepted and after the two salvaged whatever weapons they could from the smithy they returned to the inn.

After discovering that their food had been poisoned by some third party (for Senecius and Lithiel simply refused to believe that a thing like ''frogmen'' could even exist) the group holed themselves up in an upstairs room and waited for ambush. Suddenly then it came and battle broke out with the frogmen and their large ambystomus - a salamander-like, pale beast. Mikhael jumped down from the window and fought across the tavern, and lured half the frogmen away from it ,as he rode out. As the battle raged, he was the only one left standing, yet he managed to finish off the rest of the creatures and end the fight. The next morning the group rode out of Dragger, promising the old inkeeper to bring help soon.

The party continued on to Greenflow and was ambushed by another party of frogmen which Mikhael and Hammer assisted in defeating. Later they found a cursed spring, with the spirit of a woman trapped inside it. While Senecius and Lithiel seemed interested in assisting the spirit, Mikhael decided the whole affair to be foolish and the woman's curse to be deserved and instead opted to teach Hammer writing while the two separated off to perform the ritual to liberate the spirit. He was still pestered by Lithiel into helping and agreed to hunt a bear down, since one of the things needed for the exorcism was bear hair. He managed to find a bear lair and engaged in a lengthy fight using a spear and a shield to keep the animal's claws at bay. Unfortunately midway through he was ambushed by frogmen which while distracting the bear paralyzed him with a poison arrow. He managed to recover as the bear mauled its assailants, and after sordidly finishing both parties off returned with the bear's corpse. He did not mention the embarassing incident.

The party returned on the road, Mikhael having made himself a bear-tooth necklace and flayed the bear. After a few more days filled with bear meat and frogman ambushes they arrived at a tavern near Greenflow. There Mikhael began a friendly conversation with a household knight of house Grelen that introduced himself as Sir Spanner Igel. The interaction quickly turned sour as the knight could not remember Mikhael's house which led Strand into insulting Igel's pedigree, and challenging him to a duel. As the two prepared to fight Senecius loudly remarked that his group now had just enough money while juggling a coinpurse, which much to Mikhael's horror turned out to be Igel's.

Igel rushed out of the tavern to try and reclaim his gold from Senecius, while Mikhael chased him down , trying to get the duel he had challenged him to. Unfortunately for all Igel managed to viciously destroy both Mikhael and Senecius in combat and rode off with his reclaimed coinpurse.

Later on they reached the city of Greenflow and Mikhael signed up for the jousts in the upcoming tournament. On the next day he rode in said jousts against a Lord Plachter of the Droplets which he managed to unhorse, only to get beaten in the second tilt by Sir Igel. After this humiliating defeat he went off to drink, before the melee fights for which he had not signed up, seeing them as below him. Yet Lithiel had signed up for them and he was bored enough to watch her go at it. In the tavern he found he discovered a crestfallen Lord of Blackwood with which he spoke, discovering that his holdings, which lay near Hillgrove had been burned by a roving marauder band lead by one Gavin the Young. Mikhael swore to the man to avenge him and return his holdings to him, even as the man seemed to find his sympathy and confidence in adjudicating restitution grating.Then he went off to the melee fights.

He saw her defeat Sterra the Elfslayer - a homely woman known for her livid detestation of elves and Maroyan Sharper - the lord of Knifepoint, known for his obsession with knives of all kinds. After this Sanguor Blutt , the man who had in essence assisted in ruining Mikhael's life came onto the arena. As Lithiel almost fell to his warhammer Mikhael strongly considered joining the fray, but his respect for the law stopped him. Yet despite him not intervening Lithiel managed to pull a victory from the jaws of defeat and humiliate Blutt. He was so overjoyed at the sheer absurdity of Lithiel's victory that he bought her drinks.

Later at the congratulatory feast he and Igel entered into a violent spat that almost escalated, fueled on by Senetius who had snuck into the hall, disguised as a servant. Luckily with Lithiel's help the worst was avoided. Lithiel then introduced Mikhael to her new acquintance, the Lord Sharper and his companion Teena Iskaar - a free-going, lively woman whose presence rubbed Mikhael the wrong way, especially after Lithiel dropped his true name in front of the guests, instead of the pseudonym that he had insisted they use,and after Teena teasingly promised Mikhael to negotiate with the Bank of Magistris to annul part of his debt. At the end of the feast the Lord Grelen of Greenflow announced that he would host a great hunt for the frogmen that roamed the outskirts of the city. Mikhael talked Lithiel into convincing her new allies to join their group in hunting the frogmen down.

On the next day when he woke he discovered that his attempts at casting the incantations he had learned in Magistris began to work. It was his thirtieth birthday and finally his magical powers had awoken. On the first day of the hunt he, Lithiel and Senecius managed to with the elf's magic learn of the location of the frogmen's lair after watching a pair of the creatures converse in the swamps. On the next day he, his allies and the Sharper group with some men-at-arms rode in the direction of the lair, only to be ambushed by a horde of frogmen in a valley. Mikhael's squire was almost killed by an ambystomus, and the knight himself used his arcane abilities to lay waste to several of the foes. Unfortunately the new horse he had been lent by Lord Sharper once again died.

The group then made it into a large enclosure made of tangled roots that seemed to be some sort of small village of the monsters and descended into an underground grotto, fighting some oozes on their way. In the grotto's lake they were greeted by a vast monstrosity - half-woman and half-frog, which spoke familiarly to Mikhael and his allies, naming each with a cryptic name, Mikhael's being "The Detestable Exile", then inviting them all to join her brood. All denied and a battle broke out, with Mikhael almost being killed, and only with, ironically enough Teena's help managing to stay on his feet, climb on the abomination's back and pierce her spine, finishing the monster off. Scavenging into her corpse a suspiciously, still-beating heart was found and retrieved.

A congratulatory feast was held for the group and Mikhael and the rest's names were engraved on a plaque in the great hall of Lord Grelen. Afterwards the group rode out of the city, Mikhael managed to convince his companions to detour to the nearby town of Hillgrove, both due to an appointment he had made and due to his friend Johnnyn Kart, the captain of the Keen Lances residing there. Mikhael hoped to be able to retrieve his savings and recruit some men from the company to assist them in their quest.

### "Siege of Hillgrove" Arc

After parting with the Sharper group, and riding through the woods for a few days he and his allies ran into a were-squirrel chasing a man and fought it off. After rescuing and healing the man Mikhael got out of him that he was a member of the Keen Lances and that his entire patrol squad had been wiped out by the creature. The group made it to Hillgrove, only to be ambushed at the gate, Mikhael finding out to his sorrow that Gavin the Younger had taken over the town. He and his companions were ridden past the great ashen tree of the town, and saw many men and women of the populace (including the Lord Kennyth Ashwood, another ally Mikhael hoped to draw assistance from) dead and hanged from it.

He and his companions was presented before Gavin the Younger ,who informed him that he was now the leader of the Forest Boys - a splinter faction of the Keen Lances but kept his mouth shut during the confrontation. Regardless, Senecius' audacity landed the party in hot water, and they were due to be executed, with Hammer being held back by being left in a lead cage in the city square with a creature named by the rebels "the old man". The being looked indeed like an old man and warned Mikhael and the rest not to approach, as it was ravaged by a supernatural hunger, and said its name was Ilarion, and that he could kill them all with it. Mikhael, seeing that Ilarion was not truly hostile, grasped at the opportunity, convincing Lithiel and Senecius to cooperate in breaking the cage's lock, encouraging Ilarion to attack his captors, rushing out and materializing his rapier and saber into his hands.With this distraction's help the three fought their way out of the square, with Mikhael giving his rapier to Senecius as they split up. Chased across the streets by Gavin's men Mikhael ran into Lithiel again as she was about to be cut down by one of the guards, which forced him to call his rapier to himself to protect the elf. The two stuck together and hid in the basement of an abandoned house among wine barrels, but were discovered and arrested, then thrown into a dank cell, Mikhael being hung by his hands on iron manacles.

As the night came Senecius and Hammer were thrown into the cell too, both tortured and mutilated severely. At this point it was that Mikhael regained hope and put forward his plan to escape the dungeon, since Lithiel had discovered a secret passage out of the cell, having security of his squire being in his grasp. He materialized his rapier inbetween the manacles on his hands, breaking them open, while Lithiel distracted the guard and Senecius, who had kept some of his tools on him picked the lock. The party rushed out and retrieved their weaponry and armor, then being detected fled back into the dungeons, and into the passage, seemingly vanishing. Wandering into the dungeons they were all ambushed by odd floating heads, seemingly made of black rock that could obscure others' vision.

After making it through they came to face an even odder sight - a man with a geode for a face, that still could speak confronting the group in the tangled stony roots of what seemed to be the great ash tree in the center of the city. The man told them of his discovery of the Void and of the brutal siege that had some magical force starve everyone to death before they could even fight back. He told them of the way this had made him discover the great, universal truth. Before he could continue, however Senecius attacked him and with Mikhael's help killed the man, who unleashed powerful spells on the group. After crawling out of the secret passage the group hid in the forests nearby, only for Senecius to alert the guards on the walls of their location, and for the group to get chased again.

Mikhael and Hammer split off and were chased by hounds, which Mikhael tried to trick by pouring some of the frog-behemoth's cursed, glowing blood onto himself and his squire. Regardless the two were found and only escaped by diving into a nearby river. Mikhael had an all too easy time swimming through it, regardless of his heavy mail and shield on his back and managed to escape into the forest. With Hammer he made himself a fire, slowly realizing that the two of them had been turned into grotesque fish-like creatures, that made their home equally well both on land and in water. As the two huddled around the fire and lamented their fate they were discovered by Mikhael's friend Johnnyn Kart, who led the two into the camp of the Keen Lances ,deeper in the forest. He explained to Mikhael that the larger part of the company stood and that Gavin was a traitor who had discovered some mysterious thing deep in a vault to the north of Hillgrove and used it to wreak havoc on the city - with the thing apparently being the mysterious Ilarion. He also explained to Mikhael that the Keen Lances planned to take back the city. Mikhael being a member of the company and also seeing Hillgrove as his second home agreed vehemently to assist.

He then reunited with the rest of his companions and convinced them to assist the Lances in the siege. A war council was assembled and Senetius offered to use the secret passageway while Lithiel was assigned to the company's one mage tower, being a spellcaster, while Mikhael was to lead a cavalry charge into the town, while the main force of the company was to draw enemy attention to the poster wall, giving an opening for Senetius to open the gates. During that time he was approached by Lithiel to help her practice her linking to the mage tower, since she could not remember the incantation necessary. He patiently instructed the elf, regardless of his lingering distaste for her kind. Later during the day of preparations he discovered that Hammer was missing alongside some of his gold and bid to track him, discovering him near the camp followers' tents. He chewed him out on stealing from him and then offered the young squire money for the followers' services, which he denied. As the two bickered, Mikhael was approached by a bedraggled, awkward young woman who offered him her services, but was denied by the knight, and then berated for her choice in profession. Later as he practiced the linking spell with Lithiel he was approached by the young woman in his tent. Introducing herself as Matilda she asked him to assist her with gaining confidence, seeing him as a very confident person. With Lithiel's help the knight agreed to assist the young woman, only for her to overturn a chandelier and almost set the tent on fire. Before he or the elf could do anything to put the fire out, Matilda used some power of hers to control it and quench it. Amazed by this Mikhael asked her about what she truly was and she admitted to being a succubus. Later, with Senecius' help, the two convinced her to try out her newfound confidence on Gavin the Younger.

On the eve of the attack Mikhael and Hammer rode out with much of the Lances' cavalry out into the forest, waiting for the hour to strike at the open gates of Hillgrove. At the time of the attack he led the cavalry into the city and put any and all enemies he could to the sword, facing a giant, malformed being that barely passed for human, which Gavin the Younger. He and Hammer took down the creature and shortly after, with the rear wall collapsing, took the town. Rushing into the castle, Mikhael and Senecius found Gaving the Younger' s corpse horrifically deformed and drained of its very life energy in the lord's bedchamber. As the Keen Lances settled back into the castle Mikhael and Johnnyn Kart stopped Senecius from stealing the family heirloom of the Ashwoods - an enameled shield made of ashen wood.

At the celebratory feast Mikhael was gloomy due to the deformation of his face by the cursed blood of the frog behemoth. On the next day Mikhael tracked Senecius as he publically shamed a whore for infecting him with "the whore's buds", shaving her head and berating her. On the way back from the town outskirts where this happened Mikhael observed the large tree at the center of the settlement (currently bedecked with the corpses of many Forest Boys) and acquired and odd urge to hang more people. Dismissing the urge he headed back to the castle, to attend to the restoration of ruined sections and the reestablishment of lawful rule in the city. Yet,as night fell, Mikhael felt compelled to once again head out and look at the tree, rationalizing it to himself with the beauty of the tree at eve and the good memories he had of the city. Upon heading there he ran into Senecius and Lithiel which both seemed to have also been drawn to the square. As Mikhael and Senecius began arguing about the need to hang more people and if the knight would not hang the drifter and vice versa the tree came alive, its bark turning a sickly purple-black and a pair of eyes glowing purple opening.

With the tree turning out to had been hiding a demon, which looked like half a man, half a tree and half some tentacled monstrosity, all made out of stone, the three had to face it in combat. Only by sheer luck and Senecius blowing a horn he found, and summoning guards to the area was the monster defeated and pulled down and shattered on the ground. Mikhael and the rest spent the next week or so in the town. During that time he and Johnnyn sent out a letter to Teena Iskaar about the town's new sovereign, as the youngest of the Ashwoods had vanished recently and was presumed dead. Mikhael talked to Ilarion, who was taken into Keen Lances custody and who revealed to him that he was a False God, and that he was cursed by the gods with unceasing hunger which would destroy everything around him as an ironic punishment for his lust for power he did not deserve. Touched by his story, Mikhael refused his pleading for death and promised to assist him in any way he could. He also took Senecius and Lithiel hunting, before the trio left for Rivertwixt. Mikhael also collected all his salaries accrued from serving with the Keen Lances.

### "Finding Edith" Arc

Travelling towards the city of Rivertwixt, Mikhael and the rest passed through Rekfork, where they were forced to pay a bridge toll. Soon after a young elf approached their travelling group, claiming to be Artonis - Lithiel's brother. He agreed to follow the group even if he and Mikhael seemed at odds, with the knight finding another elf travelling with them repulsive. Approaching the Imperial border, Mikhael and Artonis once again came into disagreement, as the Imperials required a demonstration of faith for entry and the denouncement of Xi-the goddess of nature-a key part of the elven pantheon. Mikhael cared little for this, seeing it as a necessary ruse, while Artonis found this unacceptable and split off from the group.

At the border Mikhael and Hammer appealed to being cursed and seeking assistance and catechism inside the borders of the Holy Empire. The knight of the Four manning the border outpost seemed to be convinced and he and the rest were let past, slowly making their approach on the vast city of Rivertwixt. Soon after that the group set themselves up in a local tavern and Mikhael with Hammer went to look for a cure to their deforming curse that made them look pallid and piscine. Finding a healer they were scammed into paying extortant amounts of money for what would normally be a procedure that went for free or commanded a symbolic price. After that he met up with the others and began his search for the cleric known as Edith that had been named by Mirinin as a contact. The group managed to discover that a cleric known as Edith did indeed exist and even managed to meet a colleague of hers named Clara, who confided in them that Edith had not been seen for a while.

After that they split up, with Senecius and Lithiel heading inside the city to look for contacts there, while Mikhael chose to comb the outskirts for a possible secret hideout, where a secret society might gather. While looking he was ambushed by a mysterious female being of uncertain shape that managed to severely wound the knight as he gave chase to her. She managed to escape. After that, the group went to Edith's living quarters in the priory she was part of and discovered a mysterious note on her chamberpot that contained a poem, and with more searching found a gemstone ring that belonged to the priestess as well.

Later on, the group managed to learn that Edith had actually passed away, and thus disguised themselves as nuns in order to sneak into the temple crypt,alongside Clara ,where her corpse was held, seeking to gather any evidence about what caused her death. There they found something worrying-Edith's corpse wasn't present, and as they looked they were assaulted by creatures that changed their shapes, seemingly made of some sort of whitish stone that had taken the shapes of priestesses of Ve. The group managed to escape into the sewers, but were chased down by one of the humanoid creatures-now in the shape of a hooded elven assassin, who dragged Clara under the water. Considering the priestess dead already, Mikhael tried to kill the creature by releasing lightning from his fingers into the sewer, but this only served to kill Clara. Barely making it out, the group hid in their inn, only to be woken by a frantic young man in the night and rushed out, just as the entire tavern was consumed in a blazing explosion. Being led to a secret hideout, the young man introduced himself as Tain and explained to them that he was a close associate of Mirinin who was studying the False Gods and collecting their artifacts. His and Edith and Clara's activities had been interrupted by some mysterious assassins, and he suspected Edith had faked her death. With his help, Mikhael and the rest deciphered the poem which hinted at Edith having instead hidden away in the nearby marshes, close to a waterfall, thus "Sai's tears" as in the poem. After this, the group, now with Tain in tow headed towards the nearby waterfall, where by help of Edith's gemstone ring refracting the rays of the morningstar a secret passage was revealed.

Drawing the symbol of the Four on the wall behind the waterfall allowed Mikhael and the rest entry, passing through a darkened bridge, hanging over a rocky formation. As they passed, Mikhael saw another group of beings pass on a bridge directly opposite to theirs. As they made their way into the next room, the group caught up to them. Stepping forward, they revealed themselves to be three as well - a tall, muscled man bearing no weapons that named himself Darg, as the battle joined, a seemingly young elven sorceress named Arianne and the hooded assassin from earlier, named Dartonis that wielded what he called "The Deathblade"-a crimson single-edged elven sword. Fighting them proved difficult, as Mikhael was enchanted by the sorceress into not attacking her, while her companions dealt away with his allies. In a desperate bid he tried to push her into the pit that had led up to the room, only to fall in himself. Atop that, four decorative armors came alive in the hall and attacked all, being more a hindrance than a help to Mikhael's group. After coming out of the pit, Mikhael charged into the fray once more, only to be struck in the chest by Arianne's stony limb and fall to the ground, choking on his own blood and perishing.

### "Unravelling Conspiracy" Arc

As Mikhael's soul left his body, he saw a horrible sight of a fiery giant that chased him down and cut him in half, and then woke once more. On the floor of the chamber. Still alive, and gasping, it was explained to him that the assassins had been defeated and that he had in fact been dead for a while, and only the insertion of the artifact retrieved from the female abomination near Greenflow, known as the False Goddess Mataria, the Broodmother was what kept him alive. He also realized that Edith had been hiding out in the place they had raided, and introduced himself to her. The group counted their losses, and were introduced by Edith to a magical map that could track the locations of False Gods, and other manifestations of divine energy all across Thressos. After this, Mikhael opted to advise the party for heading back to Hillgrove, where they could regroup and seek for more artifacts, with the map's help. They could see a large concentration of artifacts near the Union capital-Magistris, as well which made Mikhael very suspicious.

Heading back towards the Union he and the group managed to get to Rekfork, only barely fighting off a ghoul and its small army of zombies in an abandoned house. Mikhael spent his time getting there reminiscing on his new state and what it implied. In Rekfork, Mikhael met a half-cat merchant of curiosities and learned that the ancestral spear of House Strand - Hrithspel had been in his possession, as well as seeing what could only be Dartonis' "Deathblade" in his possession. While resting at a tavern there, Senecius rushed in and soon after the town guards followed, trying to arrest the vagabond for murder. Barely getting away with their lives, it came to Mikhael, as Edith lamented, that they had forgotten the two False God artifacts and the map in the village. Mikhael had the idea for Lithiel to throw a performance in the middle of the town, while he and Senecius go in and retake the artifacts. With Lithiel agreeing, it was settled and Mikhael snuck inside Rekfork, choosing to close in on the cat-trader's wagon and steal what he deemed his-the "Deathblade". Snatching it, he dashed off and was chased down by the heavily built and menacing guard of the trader, with Artonis' pet owl-Twilight helping him out. Once the group had retrieved the artifacts, they fled. Mikhael kept the "Deathblade", but instead renamed it Ruin.

As they neared Hillgrove, a vast winged shadow descended from the sky into a nearby valley and soon confronted them. The mighty dragon claimed to be the last of its kind, and that it could sense the artifacts. Mikhael's fear overtook him and he barely managed to answer, realizing the dragon sought to destroy his very life, considering the relationship between the knight and the artifact. Regardless, by way of quick thinking by the rest of his companion, crisis was averted, and the dragon distracted for long enough for all to flee. Further down the road, Mikhael could notice a bald woman shamble along the road. Approaching her and taking her in his arms to inspect her injuries, he realized with horror that this was Betty the Barrel - but tortured into an unrecognizable state, emaciated and with mysterious suture marks on her side. Before Mikhael could aid her she expired. Searching her corpse yielded a mysterious letter that claimed both Senecius and Mikhael's deaths to be forthcoming. Soon, as Mikhael and the rest of the group entered Hillgrove he saw something off-the flag of a house that was neither Strand, Kart, nor Ashwood waved on the battlements-this was house Gale. Investigating yielded an invitation to the castle, where Mikhael conversed with the lord of the town - Martin Gale - his brother-in-law and his sister Sofia, who had been sent off to be married in an alliance with House Gale. He also found Johnnyn Kart and inquired after the letters, only to be told that he and Senecius had been targeted by the Crimson Wings - an order of elite elven hired assassins that killed people in public and never missed their mark.As Mikhael understood, the younger of the Gale twins had been given Hillgrove as compensation. This ill-suited Mikhael and later on he approached his sister alone, on the castle's ramparts, after the welcome feast and asked her after the location of Illarion, to which she gave incomplete answers. He explained to her the nature of his mission and his guesses to a conspiracy of the Great Houses of Magistris regarding the artifacts, only fueled by Sofia's admission that the artifact of Illarion had been sent away on orders from House Iskaar. Regardless, Mikhael's sister refused to entertain his insane-seeming theories and was even worried for his health. Mikhael broke down, demanding and then begging her to assist him, only for her to leave.

As he stood on the wall, lamenting his fate, an elf clad in crimson feathers and fabric stepped up from the wall and introduced himself as The Claws of the Cardinal and claimed that he was to kill Mikhael. Choosing not to die, Mikhael drew Ruin and charged the assassin, soon finding out that Lithiel had followed him up. With the young elf's help he managed to defeat the assassin, impaling him through the heart and tossing him off a wall. Realizing his folly, he jumped down after him as he realized he needed the corpse of the assassin as proof of the conspiracy. He later woke up in an infirmary, only to realize that the tent where the assassin's corpse had been kept had been set on fire. He later sent Senecius to find more about his sister's involvement with the Void cult that he was sure was behind it all, only to get informed that she indeed did nothing suspicious by the rogue, whom Mikhael began to trust less and less. On the night after he was approached by Lithiel and Senecius, whom claimed to have been attacked by another Crimson Wings Assassin - this one female and calling herself the Claws of the Jay, and wielding an enchanted glaive, the head of which was presented to Mikhael. He then had this head made into a new weapon for him, by the attachment of a collapsible handle. Before, however this weapon could be finished Edith came forward and said she had tracked a very nearby artifact on the map and that they had dallied enough in Hillgrove. Mikhael reluctantly agreed, and headed with the rest and his squire to the borders of the Rotlands where the map pointed. He acquired a small mercenary company from Johnnyn Kart, numbering in around 30 people with three captains.

### "Rotlands" Arc

The travel to the Rotlands would take Mikhael to Lichfort. The lands were grim and desolate, as the castle bordered on the Rotlands-the fifth goddess-Xi's domain. Arriving in the castle, Mikhael and the rest presented a story about being sent from Magistris after an important magical item in these lands, with the knight presenting himself as Julian Ater-a supposed city guard captain from Magistris. The young lord, however after explaining to them that indeed three of House Mort's retainers had escaped with a magical artifact to the Rotlands, ushered in Lord Cherner Weiss - an actual emmissary from Magistris, tall and cheerful-looking who cordially invited Mikhael and his entourage to follow them in their pursuit of the artifact thieves. Mikhael reluctantly agreed.

Entering the Rotlands through the route near Lichfort, Mikhael fraternized somewhat with Sterp Sellerfeld - another landless knight and Brown Tom - a dark-skinned mercenary, former slave from the Midsea Civilizations. Forging in, the group ran into an orcish raiding band that was persuaded to leave by Senecius, all the while Mikhael planned how to best dispose of Weiss. One morning, upon awakening, Mikhael and the rest found themselves in a forest of vast trees that obscured the sun with their giant crowns and measured tens upon tens of meters in height. With horror he ascertained that only Brown Tom and his squad had been left with them. Regardless of the seemingly cursed situation-being stuck in Xi's domain, magically teleported many hundreds of miles inland, Mikhael resolved to pursue the artifact, which the map pointed to be somewhere inside the Rotlands. A march was started further in, the column being attacked by dragon-wolves and giant spiders, that took their toll on the group.

As they forced their way in, Mikhael was alerted by Artonis that they were going in circles, and that the elf could, with his sister undo the curse. Mikhael was asked to not watch or listen and he complied, alongside the other mercenaries. As the ritual concluded and he opened his eyes, he saw a group of thorny abominations in half-human shape form and attack the group. Sword in hand he fought them off, when one of the mercenaries admitted that he had looked. Before he could do anything, Senecius muredered the man in cold blood, while his back was turned. The thorny monsters overwhelmed Artonis and beat him brutally. Even when the creatures dispersed and the elf was treated, his wounds were too grave. Artonis died in Mikhael's arms, claiming that he had sacrificed his life, as to placate Xi and let the group pass. After burning the elf, Mikhael vowed to honor his memory with a monument to his sacrifice, placed in Hillgrove. Mikhael and Tom fully intended to execute Senecius for his treachery, as he had killed an innocent man, but Mikhael decided that for now Senecius was more useful to them alive. After this, the group continued, this time unimpeded, further inland, led by the map to the cursed city of Strifort Gart, filled with block-like hulks of black-stone and many straight lines. In its streets and architecture.

The city, as remembered by Mikhael seemed to disobey the very laws of reality, its buildings twisting in unusual ways. Pushing his way in, he and the rest were pursued by half-snake people through the corridors of a abandoned building suspended over a gap, into which the knight's squire almost fell and fought a wyvern-like monster that spewed bile from its mouth. All the while he could observe that the center of the city had somehow sunken into the ground, forming a crater of sorts around it, steep and narrow, some buildings melting like butter into it, or being stretched to many times their original size. Going down, the group headed for a large humanoid, female sculpture that seemed to sit in the center of the city and was of truly gigantic proportion. Entering through an opening in its loins Mikhael and the rest were conveyed into the inside. After a fight with a hag that summoned thorny abominations the group pushed further up, only to realize they were going in circles. This was when Mikhael proposed, supposing that being able to only see in one direction when making a turn caused this, to have people looking in both directions as another held them. Brown Tom volunteered for the human bridge part, holding the knight by one shoulder and Edith by another. Moving to a turn, Mikhael felt the weight on his shoulder decrease and when he grabbed Brown Tom's hand he could pull it to him, as it had been severed. The knight, while shaken, did not despair and forged on, barely fighting off a giant clawed, furry monster that dragged him through the corridors to its lair and making it to a central shaft, where he met with Senecius again, and the two noticed a human-like corpse in its bottom, with many arms and breasts and dried up greatly. Mikhael went to investigate, but determined it to not be the artifact and after damaging it, left. Making their way upwards to the top of the shaft Mikhael and Senecius made it into a dark room, in which's end was a humanoid figure, also dessicated, attached to a tangle of roots. This was Crevan-Lord of Apathy, the False God that was being sought by the group. There they found Lithiel and Edith, which had made their way upwards too. As Lithiel finished her apparent conversation with the False God, three furred abominations, half-human and half-wolf flew at the group, and joined with them in harsh battle, using both tooth and claw mutated to grotesque efficacy by the goddess of nature as well as spells to try and bring down the party. Barely, they managed to defeat them, but as they ran to lay claim to the artifact, a black bolt spung from it and the False God shrivelled further.

Walking into the room was Cherner Weiss and his entourage, as well as the bound and unconscious forms of the rest of Mikhael's mercenary escort. Approaching them, the man began speaking, before Mikhael could even raise his voice in protest. He explained that his name was really Ilyan Iskaar - one of the Great Lords of the Union, and that he sought to unite the world with the Void. He told the group that they needed to hand their artifacts over and surrender, and that he did not intend to harm them. As Mikhael weighed his chances, looking over the more than ten men in heavy plate that had entered the room, Senecius took the initiative. He approached Lord Iskaar and offered the artifacts, as well as the map, only to try and stab the noble. Unfortunately the criminal's blade snagged on hidden mail and Iskaar retrieved both the map and the artifacts, then ordered two of his retainers - the Knotter brothers to clean things up and used a portal to disappear to somewhere else. Before Mikhael could truly lament the situation, the Knotters used some sort of Void magic to fuse all that were in the room into a floating humanoid figure made of crystalline shards. Choosing to flee, Mikhael urged everyone to do the same and jumped from the statue, which began to collapse and was followed by Hammer. Barely living through the fall, he tried to continue his escape, but soon the crystalline monster resumed pursuit and barraged the group with crystal shards and beams, as well as detaching parts of itself to better puruse and destroy all that stood in its wake. With Senecius distracting the smaller crystals and Edith and Hammer unconscious, it came to Mikhael to face the demon openly and with Ruin slay it. Afterwards, the sun shone on the cursed city, as if by divine providence and a safe way to them into less dangerous lands was opened. The group then discussed their next destination,it being Man's End with Mikhael believing in taking a detour through the Runelands via way of Ber Vokofri, while Senecius and Edith opted for the straighter way, through Union territory and near Dustwood. Mikhael was backed up by Lithiel and won the argument, thus sending the group west towards the Pearl Shore.

### "Voyage to Ber Vokofri" Arc

Making it to the Pearl Shore took little time for them, with only minor hurdles along the way, such as Senecius eating a poison fish and sea spirits assaulting them while they bathed. Mikhael was also coerced by Senecius, against his better judgement to spy on Lithiel and Edith as they bathed in a lagoon, during the travel. Soon enough an elven village was reached. Mikhael decided to travel under the guise of a mendicant scholar by the name of Homeless Dan, with Hammer posing as his apprentice, alongside with the rest of the group(but for Edith) assuming false names. They settled into a tavern in the village, and began searching for a ship to take them northwest to Ber Vokofri. Edith proposed that they look for a temporary job, while Mikhael opted to contact the village elder and (begrudgingly) ask them for help, feeling like owing his life to a wood elf meant he could try and show the despised creatures some respect.

Firstly he and the rest went to see the captain of a ship docked in the village port. Lithiel talked over him and alienated the man with her noble girl act, as the ship was already a trade ship and was not taking passengers to begin with. Later, going to the village elder alongside Edith ,Mikhael wove an elaborate story about a wrecked ship that didn't exist, while Edith patiently waited. Soon he tangled himself up in his own lies and only by Edith's timely intervention, proclaiming that he had been heavily traumatized by the wreck, did he manage to elapse suspicion. The elder informed them that a large two-headed, flying monster had been terrorizing the village and that there would be a monetary reward for its capture. Leaving on that note, they returned to the tavern and made preparations for perhaps hunting the beast, if another ship didn't come.

On the next day, as they woke up, a group of elven guards rushed into the tavern and sought Gavin Lovejoy (Senecius' alias), who they arrested,on charges of murder and robbery, Senecius assuring Mikhael and the rest to not try and help him resist as he had a plan. Mikhael, baffled did not interfere. Later, as the group recovered from the sheer surprise of the event, they began to consider their options. Lithiel opted for freeing Senecius, and Mikhael reluctantly agreed, with Edith being on the fence. Mikhael, trying to convice her, went into a rant about Senecius' powerful abilities in subterfuge and stealth, alongside with the fact that his guilt or innocence were irrelevant in the current circumstances. Edith was repulsed and left, crying. Lithiel purused after her, as Mikhael called forward Hammer, who had been wandering the village with some money Mikhael had given him and bid him make the teeth of the dragon-wolves slain by the group in the Rotlands into daggers.

Edith was returned by Lithiel and then Mikhael enacted his plan, pulling up a jug of wine and placing it on the table, then handing a knife to each of the other three. He explained that by cutting their hand and spilling their blood into the wine, which they would all share, after swearing to stop the Shadows of the Horizon from swallowing up the world and into eternal brotherhood with the others who shared the oath, they would be united. All in turn, beginning with Mikhael made their devotion to this new cause, then began planning for Senecius' jailbreak, agreeing that his plan could not be trusted. Mikhael and Edith agreed to break into the guardhouse where the thief was kept, while Lithiel would provide a distraction and then escape onto the ship, which's captain Lithiel agreed to negotiate to their side, while Hammer acted as backup. Mikhael and Edith spent their time in a disreputable tavern, while waiting for Lithiel to sway captain Ibliris. In there Mikhael approached a Midsea Civilizations man, attempting to eke out of him his people's funeral rites, only to almost enter a fight with him. A fistfight was arranged, but Mikhael was defeated and thrown out of the locale, someone also having shit in his helmet.

The plan began at nightfall, as Lithiel used her fire magic to set a fire in a central district, and Mikhael and Edith snuck onto the roof of the guardhouse. Mikhael, convinced that the damage cause by Lithiel's fire would not cause a big enough distraction used Senecius' bow, which had not been confiscated to shoot at a water tower, trying to set it on fire, but gave up and descended below. Regardless of the place being mostly empty, the knight and the healer faced multiple guards, Mikhael disabling, but not killing most, until they made it to the lowest floor, where they found Senecius. Mikhael snuck in, breaking the neck of a distracted elven guard. With the help of a ring that allowed the user to meld into a tree, that Lithiel possessed, the rogue managed to slide through the artificially thick, living wooden bars. Chiding them for "ruining his plan", Senecius begrudgingly followed. Outside, they were almost cornered, but Hammer rescued the knight and his two allies. Pushing through the village and to the port, they saw a blazing inferno and flood, apparently caused by Lithiel's magic. Mikhael and the rest were purused by elven druids, which almost paralyzed them in place and a towering elven captain, armed with a magical sword. At the port, Mikhael ran into the ship, only for Senecius to lag behind, forcing the knight to challenge the elven captain openly, as to buy the other time, only to be beaten unconscious. Mikhael later awoke as the ship had made it out into the open ocean. Later on, Mikhael had Senecius swear the blood oath as well.

After a short while, Edith shared her concerns, that the plant she used to make paper for her communication machine was running out, and the group agreed to look for this plant on a nearby island. Edith and Senecius went ahead, while Mikhael, his squire and the elven sorceress waited behind on the beach. Bored, Mikhael suggested they move in further. Making their way through the thick forest, they head noises of battle and rushed forward. There Mikhael observed a scantly-clad red-haired elven woman and a similarly red-haired elven man with a chain-scythe assault Senecius. Mikhael chose to attack the woman, who evaded his strikes and gained on him quickly, a series of whistles prefacing violent animal attacks. It came to Mikhael that this was the way this assassin - for the tattoos on her face showed her to be Crimson Wing killed her victims. Unfortunately she managed to escape into the jungle. Mikhael reunited with the rest, seeing that they had killed the other assassin and retrieved his weapon. The group went back to the boats, and began navigating back to the ship, when a loud whistle was heard and a pod of predatory whales neared. Mikhael's boat was overturned and he barely managed to swim away. Fortunately, Lithiel distracted them with loud, deep sounds for long enough so that Mikhael could use the chain-scythe to latch onto one of them and under the water gouge its eye out with rapier. Barely he made it ashore, and now vowed to disembowel the assassin and make her dying last long. Soon, he spotted her and Lithiel blasted her location with a fire storm. The group rushed to the assassin's location and fought off several panthers to get to her. Making sure she was still alive, Mikhael prepared to string her up by her intestines, when Lithiel proposed to him, they instead capture her and obtain information from her. Mikhael reluctantly agreed, returning with the boat the assassins used to get to the island.

Back on the ship, after dragging the assassin to their quarters and resuscitating her, Mikhael began posing questions to her, such as whom her allies were and whom she was sent by. He received a cryptic answer about the "Claws of the Hawk" and no answer about who sent her, her claiming that such information was not given her or her fellow assassins. The woman then offered her surrender and service to Mikhael in particular. The knight's pride and desire to acquire retainers swayed him, and he accepted her oath and her allegiance. Looking at the woman closer, she began to remind him of an elven stranger he had met in his youth, and which he hoped to meet again, but knew never would. He, in that vein began calling the woman "Gladys", as per how the elven woman those 19 years ago had called herself, ignoring any and all attempts by Lithiel to offer a different name for the captive, such as Tinosa. He offered Gladys a change of clothing and his copy of "Shadows Beyond Our Comprehension", trying to stress on her the importance of their mission. He also spent some time with her abovedeck, as Gladys became seasick and threw up overboard. He teased Senecius about his tendency towards womanizing, only to be chastized by Gladys, with her noting the drifter's infatuation with Edith.

The ship passed through a harbor in Elva where Mikhael bought a set of plates, which were of a size as to fit to his general dimensions with what money he had left. During his rest on one of the following days in the open sea, the ship was attacked by a sea monster - the Malavatan - a serpent-like being that could channel lightning. Mikhael rallied Gladys to fight with him, with her using her fallen comrade's chain-scythe. The fight went badly enough for the whole ship to be destroyed and for Mikhael to find himself clinging to a piece of driftwood. Bracing himself, he heard a distinctive whistle and then the Malavatan rushed up to swallow him. With newfound rage at Gladys' betrayal he fought his way out of the monster's gullet, using his forcewave spell to force its throat muscles to unclench, so he could be spit out. He then barely managed to drift ashore, as the Malavatan swam off in some other direction. With that he managed to drift on the calm sea to the nearby Rune Shore and reunite with the others.

### "Runelands" Arc

Distraught, Mikhael discovered that his squire had rescued a dwarven merchant that introduced himself as Haslan. Mikhael led the group through the Runeland desert, barely surviving encounters with sandstorms and giant scorpions. He was constantly assailed by anger and sorrow at Gladys' betrayal throughout the trip. Finally he and the rest made it to Ber Vokofri, where Haslan found them free lodging at his cousin's for their stay there.

Later, as the group headed to a public bath, an argument erupted, as some mysterious force robbed Senecius, while Mikhael insisted that he had simply lost his money. As that happened, Mikhael and the rest were approached by a young one-armed man and a decrepit geezer, the latter of which dropped his pouch, but warned them not to touch it. The young man introduced himself as Opinor Corydon and explained he had been sent by Mirinin to assist them, while the geezer explained that his name was Stillen and he was a False God that, however sought to prevent the Shadows' appearance. Mikhael accepted him into their ranks. Settling in again, Stillen warned them that he could sense demonic presence nearing, which made Mikhael opt to move out of the city. Mikhael then led the newly expanded group into the desert. As night fell, two columns of swirling sand began approaching, and as Stillen told him that those were the presences he had sensed, Mikhael prepared to fight. The creatures soon showed themselves to be large dog-like beasts with beaks and glowing eyes. One of them tackled Hammer to the ground and swallowed itself and his squire up into a dark portal. Another one assaulted the knight himself and pushed him down into the darkness.

Mikhael later awoke, staring up at a dark sky crisscrossed with grey stone paths, all leading into a black sphere in the center. Next to him, he could see his squire, half-unconscious, covered with some purple mold. Mikhael shook him awake, to which Hammer communicated that he was feeling sick. Mikhael reassured him and began heading towards seemingly the only destination in the accursed plane-the ball in the center. He and Hammer began moving forwards when one of the creatures showed itself and attacked. It assailed Mikhael with visions of his father's disappointment, his fiancee's disgust and his cousin's excruciating death at the hands of the Platchers. The knight barely fought through that and with Hammer's help managed to push the creature off one of the stone pathways, even though it proved very slippery, seemingly shifting its location. At this, the plane spit them back out, among the rest of the group, which had made their shelter in an abandoned village for the night. Soon after that, the dog-like monsters attacked again, and almost dragged Mikhael back into the depths of the plane inbetwixt, him being only rescued by Opinor decoding how their ability functioned, allowing him and Lithiel to deal a mortal blow to the other creature as well.

Proceeding further through the Runelands desert in an attempt to reach Man's End, only to run across a dwarven village, whose inhabitants seemed to be under some form of hypnosis, spending all their time building a monument to something, which upon further examination turned out to be some sort of sun god. As Mikhael pondered over the village's obsession with Oa, a winged creature flew down to the town square and summoned the knight and his companions to treat with its master-the great Sun. Confused, Mikhael and the rest followed, nightfall soon coming, only for the sun to appear in the sky and settle atop the top of a vast tower and turning night into day. Upon reaching the tower, Mikhael along with Senecius and Lithiel were conveyed inside to be tested, while Stillen and the rest, were prohibited from entering. Upon this, Stillen recognized the inhabitant of the tower as Vereeni -another False God. Inside the tower Mikhael and the rest were faced with riddles as they climbed, a trap that almost killed Lithiel by burning her from the inside and finally a confrontation with a two-headed sphynx-like abomination that turned on the group after guessing one of its riddles wrong, all the while Mikhael ruminated on Gladys' betrayal and his desire to find her, wanting to reclaim the feeling of comfort he had felt during his childhood, even if he was to create the being to provide it artificially. During the battle with it, Stillen, Opinor, Edith and Hammer broke into the tower as well and helped with the defeat of the creature.

Moving onto the next floor revealed a spiral staircase hanging above a spike pit, encircled by more of the flying messengers. Mikhael and the rest began climbing up, only to be repeated pushed down by the flying creatures, the knight almost dying by impalation on the spikes below. While Mikhael struggled to go up, he heard the creatures begin to praise Lithiel as their ruler, and upon exiting the spike pit was conveyed above. On the final floor of the tower they were presented with the shape of a chained sun atop vast stairway. It congratulated them on enduring the tests, only for Mikhael to go out and confront it for the False God it was, claiming that he as well was a possessor of an artifact of power and thus could speak to Vereeni as an equal. Vereeni was not amused by either him or Opinor's pining for a reward of gold and flung them both out of the tower. Surviving by some miracle, perhaps the soft sands he found the wizard and hit him, for provoking the god, but then agreed with him to try and ask for passage into the tower again, to claim revenge. Vereeni agreed to allow Mikhael and Opinor back into his tower, only to reveal to the whole group that he intended to have them fight an avatar of his to prove their worthiness of standing before him to begin with. They were summoned into an arena where a glowing being was called down. The battle was fierce with Mikhael losing his squire-Hammer's life in the process. After this Vereeni told the group that the world was indeed doomed and there was barely anything that could be done, considering the Shades would come again and again, each time they were to be pushed back. He let them know that there were other worlds in the Void and that they could perhaps be accessed. Mikhael inquired after the artefact stuck inside of him and how to unlock its power, but was only given vague instructions about "improving himself" by Vereeni, which the knight spurned. With Mikhael's help, the god was however convinced to give the group a chance to try and save the world, bequeathing them a gem which contained some of his divine power, which bolstered everyone's aptitude and abilities. Mikhael almost refused to touch the gem, considering Vereeni beneath contempt for killing his squire and the god's overall disdainful and prideful attitude. He however managed to convince himself to do it. Vereeni warned the group that if they had not completed their task in one year's time, he would come back to reclaim his power from them.

Upon exiting the tower, Mikhael tried to use Vereeni's artifact-the small gem that the False God had bequeathed on Lithiel to try and revive Hammer, only for it to work halfway, leaving his squire in constant pain. With Edith unable to heal him, he extracted the artifact and waited until the next day, when upon trying to reinsert it, it did not work. Mikhael broke down, cursing himself for his failure to protect his squire and Vereeni for his brutality. Senecius berated him for dragging his squire down with him, which almost prompted the knight to kill him. Burning Hammer's corpse, the group continued further on the road to Man's End.

### "Man's End" Arc

During their way through the desert, Mikhael drank heavily and kept away from the others, with the only notable event being the encounter with a group of earth elementals. Soon enough the group reached Man's End where Mikhael submitted his armor for repair and went to a local tavern to drown his sorrows, alongside Lithiel and Senecius. There they met a familiar face - Sir Spanner Igel, alongside a companion by the name of Sren Sellerfeld, whom claimed to be working for Lord Huung. Upon being questioned further, the two excused themselves and Mikhael was dragged along by his two companions into chasing them, only for Igel and his ally to get away, after wounding Lithiel with a crossbow. Senecius then split off.

Mikhael accompanied Lithiel in an attempt to have a piece of jewelry she discovered in Vereeni's tower evaluated, only for her to be accused of theft and for the two to have to flee, via Lithiel's teleportation magic. Returning to the tavern, feeling beaten, the two were chatted up by a local drunkard, whom claimed to be a trader's son, wasting his father's funds away. Mikhael was on edge and rightly so-for the drunkard soon revealed to be the Talons of the Hawk - the assassin that the woman he had named "Gladys" had warned him about. The assassin used an odd form of magic to infuse explosions into various sundry objects and forced Mikhael and Lithiel on the run, cornering them in a back street, where the knight's depression finally caught up with him and he went limp, accepting death. Before the Talons of the Hawk could strike the final blow a mysterious woman of flowing black hair appeared and killed the assassin with a knife she threw. Mikhael recognized her facial features as those of Gladys and tried to pursue her, only for her to disappear.

The knight then was reunited with his travelling companions, Edith claiming to have discovered the location of Mirinin's manse. Mikhael attended dinner there, where he was introduced to two new members of Mirinin's organization - one a blind nomad from the north named Shia and another - an elven ranger named Gladyeon. Gladyeon claimed to have found a copy of Shades Beyond Our Comprehension, which made Mikhael suspicious. After further inquiry by the knight, Gladyeon revealed to have actually been Gladys in disguise, who claimed to have been too ashamed by her treachery to be willing to show her face, yet sought to help the endeavour Mikhael had introduced her to. While Mirinin seemed to wish to have her leave, as she seemed untrustworthy, Mikhael claimed that as she was sworn to him, he would forgive her treachery to him, this once and be responsible for her behaviour. Gladys then re-swore her oath to the brotherhood, this time using the name Gladys. Shia and Opinor also swore in the same fashion. Mikhael then gifted Ruin to Opinor, claiming it would serve him better, as he would still be on the road. Afterwards Mirinin requested from Mikhael permission to do research on his artifact, and noted that he also had to seal said artifact. Mikhael agreed, letting himself rest and for now resigning from wandering. Over the next few days he was approached by Senecius, who brought him an urn made for Hammer's ashes, which Mikhael at first considered to be some form of insulting jest, only to be taken aback at the fact Senecius felt genuine grief over the boy's death. While Senecius, Gladys, Shia and Opinor prepared to leave to track down the artifact on Sacris, Mikhael let himself rest.

However, soon enough he was approached by Mirinin who told the knight that he had been sought for help by Opinor, who along with the others had been caught up in a battle in some other manor in the city, seemingly belonging to Ilyan Iskaar. Mikahel rode there and arrived just in time, alongside Lithiel to save his allies from certain doom. There he was notified by Gladys that Lord Iskaar had been in possession of a magical spear that could part water. Realizing where his house's ancestral relic had ended up reignited Mikhael's passion and he requested Opinor's new blade for only a bit, intending to use it to destroy Iskaar. Along with Senecius and Lithiel he rode out to where he assumed Iskaar could be, as told by Mirinin. In a day's ride he made it to a fishing hamlet overflowing with refugees from some crisis, and with some asking was made aware a horrible storm had wracked the shoreline, centered on Sacris. Riding further down he observed a large chunk of the Imperial fleet get destroyed by some enormous tidal wave. Nearing the village and entering it, Mikhael and his companions observed a confrontation between Iskaar ,two of his Void cultists and Mirinin and Edith. Before he could truly take it all in, he saw Senecius begin to take position to attack and he himself made to ride down Iskaar, only for a poison cloud released by the great lord's spells to kill his horse. Pandemonium broke out as he was then transformed by Lithiel into a dragon-wolf and savaged one of the cultists. As he regained human shape, he could see how badly things had went south - Edith had been disintegrated and Lithiel was nowhere to be seen. Mikhael then rushed down Iskaar, while Senecius seemingly tried to get his guard down by claiming to want to join him. Iskaar rejected him, while Mirinin seemed to be setting up some form of spell, screaming at the two to come near him. Mikhael made himself ready, but seeing Hrithspel hang on Iskaar's back-perfectly within reach incited him to try and retrieve it, only to be paralyzed in place, spear clutched in his hands. Just as this happened he watched Senecius stab Mirinin through the back-killing the wizard, their only chance of escape and his loyalty to their cause in one stroke. Senecius once again tried to pledge loyalty to Iskaar's cause, only for the lord to release his hold on Mikhael who attacked Senecius with Hrithspel and tried to strike him down, like the traitor the criminal had turned out to be in the end. As this happened, the knight broke and in began asking Lord Iskaar questions about his plan, and after realizing for himself that the Void would not strip him of his ability to appreciate life or be happy he swore loyalty to Iskaar, claiming that he had come to understand that Iskaar had always been working for the highest ideal of the Union. After this he and Iskaar chased Senecius down and killed him for his treachery. Following this Mikhael left the following note:

"I hope that Ruin will be more useful to you than it has ever been to me, Opinor.

Gladys, the garden has always been here, all we had to do was tend to it.

Do not follow me, for I care for you. That Day approaches."

,alongside Ruin and left with Iskaar.

### "Into the Night" Arc

Mikhael was sent to Harvest Keep alongside Zetheniela by Lord Iskaar to retrieve the Void Portal, Dlob had been working on. While waiting on the walls for the disassembly to be complete he noticed what seemed to him to be intruders and thus chased them down with his men, as they escaped. Upon nearing he saw Gladys claim with open arms - or rather with one open arm that she had finally found him, before teleporting away.

### "Shores of the Void" Arc

The knight had been assigned to guard the secret entryway into the castle at Bryaglee.