Daevalur Sunmeadow

Daevalur Sunmeadow wielding Cernunnos in the Feywilds

> "We've all done bad things Gokher, things we regret, things we wish we could take back. You are my friend, and I wont see any less of you for what you've done in the past."
>
> Deavalur Sunmeadow

## Description

Daevalur Sunmeadow is A High-Elf Ranger. He appears as a Tall Elf with Semi long blonde hair slicked backwards, on his back he wields a long bow of elven craft, on his belt there is just a hilt, seemingly trinket, however those who travel with him will know that this is the Sun-Sword once wielded by Sergei von Zarovich.

Daevalur is known to show prowess in the arts of the bow and blade easily able to swap between his weapons depending on what the situation requires, further he has shown feats in stealth, having hidden the party and himself with his magic to set up ambushes and gain information.

## Introduction

Daevalur first met The Lightbringers while travelling through Ibera, where he was caught off-guard and captured by goblins upon waking up he found himself in a travelling caravan of prisons, in the other cages he found the original members of the Lightbringers, Gokher Wraitharm, Samael Morningstar, Vulmar Ventris and Caius Sabatiel.

## Powers and Abilities

### Notable Items

* **Pouch of holding**: on many occasion this pouch has been a boon to the group storing items and weapons
* **Ring of warmth**: a ring that radiates warmth around its wielder, allowing the group to traverse harsh cold conditions
* **Boots of Elvenkind**: Boots that allow the wielder to move more silently, given to Daevalur post mortem by Orphior Thadali

* **Sunsword**: Once the blade of Sergei von Zarovich, now wielded by Daevalur, a sentient blade capable of radiating true sunlight around its wielder
* **Cernunnos**: A sentient bow, artifact of origination, probably crafted by Amvaros the blacksmith of Origin himself for the titan of the hunt: Dustukhia, as seen through Daevalurs visions when first wielding it, given to him after wishing from the Eefriti Lord Emir Shah for a weapon that could rival Clarent in strength

### Abilities

* **Deft Explorer**: Due to Daevalur having lived a longer time than most, and having been in the outside world for most of his time, he has become adept at navigating environments, traversing these environments for so long has made him an expert at traveling.
* **Fey Ancestry**: Daevalur's bloodline of the elves gives him the properties of being able to resist charms and being put to sleep against his will
* **Favored Foe**: Wielding the Bow once wielded by the titan of the hunt, Daevalur has slightly adapted to its personality and has gained a thrill for the hunt, allowing him tohunt it down.
* **Primal Awareness**: Daevalur can channel the magic he was trained in by the Fey to commune with nature, making the trees and animals themselves share their knowledge.
* **Detect Portal**: Due to his training with Faedrys, Daevalur has managed to harness the power of the universe, becoming able to sense if there is a portal to another plane
* **Planar Warrior**: Daevalur harnesses the magic of the universe to enhance his weapons giving the strikes a extra pack behind them seemingly as if being pushed by the universe itself
* **Land's Stride**: After many travels through many different terrains, Daevalur has become adept at travelling, even the hardest terrain won't faze him, allowing him to treck on, nothing short of magical difficulties will slow him down.
* **Summon Dustukhian Hound**: After Cernunnos' awakening by the hands of Thalassa, the experiences of past wielders are now shared to Daevalur, which allows him to summon hounds of the hunt

## The Story

### The Sunless Citadel

After escaping from the goblins along with the rest of his soon to be travelling companions for a long time, Daevalur travelled to the town of Lostspire. Upon arriving in the town the group decided to go to the tavern, taking a rest for the night before setting of on their own paths yet again.

During the night, the Small but fiercly strong dwarf, now known to Daevalur as Gokher Wraitharm decided to cause a ruckus in the tavern, going so far as to brawl with one of the patrons. Being awoken from his trance by the commotion outside cause by the brawl Daevalur went to go out and investigate, once arrived he saw the tavern patron wounded and offered to take him to a doctor in the village, to treat the mans wounds, however, that was just what he told the rest of the travellers. Instead he brought the barely conscious man to the outskirts of the village, where he proceeded to do the ritual to sacrifice this man to the God of blood, Khorne.

The night before the group had received a request from a man named Kerowyn, to find his children, Talgen and Sharwyn Hucrele, for they had gone missing, upon dawn the group decided to go to the town of Oakhurst to collect information, it was there that they learned of a place called "The Sunless Citadel" the place where the children of Kerowyn went off towards, and so the group followed in pursuit..

Upon arrival the the citadel the group cautiously went in, exploring the corridors and rooms as they moved along the twists and turns of this dark citadel, soon in their exploration they came across a corridor, here they heard noises coming from one of the siderooms, curious about this Daevalur and the group went to investige, it was here where they met their 6th companion in Philipè Nurug, a Paladin with the Oath of Conquest.

Further into the citadel the group came upon a room, in here was a small wooden bench, draped with cloth, together with Caius, Daevalur removed the cloth to find a small creature inside a Kobold, the group prevented the small creature from running and questioned it about the citadel, it was there that they learned about the fight for the citadel between the Kobolds and Goblins that reside in this building from the Kobold that identified itself as Meepo.

Meepo wanted to bring the group to his leader, however this was short lived as Samael, Philipe and Daevalur had found a small room with kobold sentries, and slaughtered them, Meepo being none the wiser untill Samael kicked the head of a beheaded kobold out of the room. Meepo instantly fled from the group as they gave chase to the small creature.

Giving chase to the small creature they came upon a crossroad where they were amushed by Kobolds, making quick work of the small creatures the group decided to retreat, unless a rumbling was heard, out of one of the corridors came a large Kobold, presumed to be the leader, it was here that Vulmar Ventris the Sorcerer showed the group his prowess in magic, with a single thunderous roar from his hands he slew the creature.

Having no more clues the group explored onwards finding rooms filled with traps and empty rooms, eventually after fighting through resistance by the goblins of the citadel, the group came upon a throne room with a hole in the floor, it was here that they fought and defeated what was presumed to be the leader of the goblin, a large and intimidating Hobgoblin.

Decending downwards into the hole the group encountered something they had not seen before, a bugbear, who indentified himself as the hunter, proclaiming he was here to hunt the group, after sustaining some damage the group defeated this creature, thinking they had a moment of rest.. However it was here that Khorne turned his head around the corner, appearing as a voice in Daevalur's mind, he voiced his displeasure with Daevalur, that the sacrifices were not enough and he wanted more, snapping back out of his mental state and collapsing on the floor, the walls started oozing with a black liquid, as seemlingly out of the wall, demons appeared proclaiming they were here for blood, specifically.. Daevalur's..

Even though not their fight, the group assisted Daevalur with the demons, but demanding answers for what came after them, knowing he couldnt say it was nothing he explained his situation with Khorne, some of the group didn't care, aslong as he only sacrificed their enemies, and never an innocent, an idea by Gokher, this felt agreeable by Daevalur and he went with it. shaking off the experience for now and moving on, deeper into the caves underneath the citadel.

After more travel and fighting, the group eventually reached a large opening in the cave, in the distance they saw a large tree, as they eventually reached the tree they noticed three humanoids near its roots, these individuals were Sir Braford and Sherwyn Hucrele, under the influence of the third, Belak the outcast, the one who had goblins take them, to become his servants. a Battle soon emerged which would the the group's toughest yet, however persisting and fighting on, eventually the group slew Balek, releasing his hold over the others, they rested on some ruins and soon after they moved towards the exit of this citadel, having heard from Sherwyn that her brother perished on their own journey.

The group climbed their way back to the top, not without casualties, as the old and injured warrior known as Sir Braford perished on their way up to a trap left in Balek's office as the group explored it.

upon return to the town of Oakhurst it was not what they left behind, they found nothing but flames and charred buildings.. the Conquerer army had passed by, and taken no prisoners.. They group found the barman from the local tavern in battle with one of these warriors and tried to assist him, they managed to defeat the black knight, however the barman did not survive long after, his wounds were to grievous, his last words sent the group off towards the city or order, with a letter in hand for the king..

### Curse of Strahd

#### Into the fog

The group was sent on a new quest by King Hillingam of the city of order, they travelled to Ruashoth in search of a place called Dalgenen, here they met with a group of travellers who called themselves vistani, they offered the group to take them to Dalgenen in return for helping their King, who was supposedly corrupted by a dark power.

Seeing no harm in this and being brought to their destination the group went, soon into their travels they entered a thick fog, limiting what they could see of their surroundings and washing an eerie feeling over the group, once the fog parted the group arrived at their destination.

#### The Reading

After arriving in Dalgenen the group was taken to one of the camps held by the Vistani, where they were taken to an old seer of theirs, called madam Eva. they were invited to have a tarot reading which would tell them their fortunes and where to look for allies and artifacts against the Devil of Dalgenen.

Once in the tent Daevalur was chosen by the old seer to sit at the table and draw cards from the deck, slightly wary of the situation but with his companions close by he started to pull the cards from the deck, one by one he pulled the following cards:

These cards had the following fortunes:

The Rouge : This card tells of history. Knowledge of the ancient will help you better understand your enemy. I see a nest of ravens. There you will find the prize.

The Guild Member: This card tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope. I see a dark room full of bottles. It is the tomb of a guild member.

The Paladin: This is a card of power and strength. It tells of a weapon of vengeance: a sword of sunlight. I see a sleeping prince, a servant of light and the brother of darkness. The treasure lies with him.

The Artifact (red): This card sheds light on one who will help you greatly in the battle against darkness Look for an entertaining man with a monkey. This man is more than he seems.

The Artifact (black): Your enemy is a creature of darkness, whose powers are beyond mortality. This card will lead you to him! He lurks in the darkness where the morning light once shone - a sacred place.

#### The priest and a creature of the night

After receiving their fortunes the party left the camp of the vistani, making their way to a village they passed on their way to the camp, from this town they heard wails, thus warranting an investigation.

on their travel to this village named the village of Dalgenen after the province they were in the group came across a split in the road, on this split there was an empty gallows to everyone in the group, everyone except Daevalur, for he saw a body hanging in the noose, looking closer this body was of himself, eyes hollowed out and rotting, notifying the group they said they saw nothing there, turning his eyes back on the gallows the body suddenly was gone, Daevalur although disturbed put the thought to the side of his mind, perhaps this land was playing tricks on them..

After some travel the group arrived at the aforementioned village, the wails still present they set out to find the cause. It led them to a house in the middle of the village, they went inside with Daevalur keeping guard outside the house, inside the group discovered a woman crying for her daughter who had been taken by the Devil, the group told her that if they ran across her daughter they would bring her back to her.

After having discovered the cause of these wails the group went towards the local temple, inside they met a priest called Father Donavich Moldovar talking to apparently no-one below the floors of the temple, however the group went with Donavich outside to discuss matters of this land, except for Samael and Daevalur who stayed inside the temple and searched for whatever the priest was conversing with, eventually finding a side-room with a trapdoor inside. silently opening the door and moving inside, Gokher however saw the two entering a room and snuck in behind them.

Below the floors of the temple the three encountered a humanlike skin pale as could be and seemingly starved from any food judging by his figure, they conversed with the human who only responded in hisses and was convinced "Father sent him food" threatening the creature the three backed him into a corner from where he attacked, this creature turned out to be a Vampire spawn, the battle ensured and it was not going in the advantage of the three downstairs untill Philipé smashed through the floor and with the help of his divine powers helped slay the creature. The group heading back upstairs except for Daevalur who tried to sacrifice this creature who had bit him and sucked his blood during the battle only felt his own blood boiling when the symbol of Khorne was complete. from the hole in the floor he heard this creature was Donavich's son, Doru, turned into this "Thing" by the Devil after failing an attack on his castle. Fueled with anger he kept a creature like this inside his temple Daevalur attempted an attack from below with his blood magic while Samael tried to attack the priest up above which was stopped by Philipé who swung his greataxe into him.

After the attacks on Donavich passed and he lived, the group heard clapping from outside the temple, outside in royal garbs was the Devil of Dalgenen himself, now introduced as Count Strahd von Zarovich, he asked the party if they would invite him into the temple, the group declined him entry and stayed within the temple, hoping a holy place would protect them from such a dark an vile creature. Having exchanged words with the Count the group rested in the temple, making sure to keep Samael and Daevalur away from the priest. The next morning father Donavich told the group he wanted to redeem himself and offered his services to the group, which to some surprise Samael and Daevalur excepted, although they spoke secretly to use him and later dispose of him afterwards they set out to the mayors house in Dalgenen, where they met Ireena Kolyana and Ismark Indirovich, the former being stalked by Count Strahd von Zarovich to become his bride, the group joined forces with them and moved to Vallaki, in hopes of safety.

#### The Surprises in Vallaki

Travelling to the Town of Vallaki was mostly uneventful the thick fog made it hard for the group to be on the lookout for anything that was following them, sometimes Daevalur thought he saw shadows in the forest but chalked it up to something playing tricks on his mind.

Having arrived at the gates of Vallaki the group had some trouble with the guards to get into the town, as though the guards were suspicious of the group, however due to the help of Donavich and his religion with the Morninglord they were eventually let in, the group found out about the town and the festivals the mayor held in hopes of fending of Count Strahd and his creatures of the night, their arrival was even times with one such festival the festival of the blazing sun, the group went into the town to look for the local tavern as those most often provided a good source of information, they ran into the Blue Water inn, which was run by a friendly woman called Danika Martikov and her husband Urwin Martikov. the group rented some rooms to rest later in the evening and set out to explore more of the town.

The group had ran into the local priest, father Lucian, who told them of the problem that the holy bones of saint marovia had been stolen, after interrogating the altar boy he confessed under a charm spell by samael he had sold them to the local coffinmaker, the group set out to find these bones

They ran into a barricaded house which was the house of the local coffin maker, which they gained entry to by threatening the owner Hendrik van der Voort, he was cowering when the group found him and he told them there were vampire's sleeping in his upstairs home, across the room from where he kept the bones hidden. Daevalur and Samael went upstairs to retrieve the bones as they were the most nible and stealthy members of the group. They found the bones of saint markovia Henrik's closet in a hidden compartment. On their way down their curiosity got the better of them and they looked into the room which supposedly contained vampires, however upon opening the door it was just a messy room filled with boxes, throwing in some items didnt trigger any vampires to attack, so in a burst of confidence Samael told Daevalur to shoot an arrow into one of the boxes, which he did, a mistake really, as instantly six vampires crawled out of the boxes and rushed towards them, the two ran downstairs to the rest of the group and they rushed outside preparing for a fight.

The following fight in the streets felt like a blessing from the gods themselves as they won the fight with only a guard and the coffinmaker losing their lives, during the fight they encountered what they had heard to be the burgomasters right hand man in Izaak Strazni, a large man with a crab claw for an arm who showed his battle prowess in single-handedly taking on vampire spawn without too much worry.

Izaak took the group to the burgomaster to explain what had happened in the town, where they explained (lied) about the situation and they were helping defend the town, having somewhat suspicion of the group the burgomaster told them they would be placed under house arrest during their time in Vallaki, Izaak took them back to the Blue Water inn where they had left Ireena and Ismark behind so they could explore, when Izaak was Ireena he went into a fit, he demanded Ireena come with him to the burgomaster, the group hastily stopped Izaak by pinning him down with the immovable rod Gokher had found in the Sunless Citadel, and Vulmar casting a cloud of fog over him to prevent him from seeing where the group fled.

Before the group ran away from Vallaki the Martikov's of the blue water inn had told the group they were "Were Ravens" and a member of the Keeper of the Feathers secret society and they had a relic of Strahd von Zarovich that was stolen long ago, seeing it fitting they gave it to the party that had singlehandedly slain six of the Count's vampire spawn, Daevalur quickly went upstairs into the attic with Danika where he received the *Tome of Strahd.*

While Daevalur was receiving this tome with Philipe who stayed behind to help Daevalur escape the rest of the group went to the temple to return the bones of St. Markovia before having Daevalur and Philipe regroup at the temple, from where they escaped the town by jumping over the walls that surrounded the town, having no more safety in Vallaki the group asked the Donavich, Ireena and Ismark if there were other towns they could go to for safety, Krezk a small town up north came to mind, thus the group set off to Krezk...

#### The road to Krezk

On the trip to Krezk up north the group was approached by Strahd, who taunted Philipé into single combat, which was short lived, Strahd simply grabbed Pillipé by the neck and dissapeared with him..

#### The town of Krezk, a heavy price paid

Once the group arrived at Krezk they went inside to speak with their burgomaster who had recently lost his son, they asked about refuge and the temple of markovia, which informed them of the abbot that lives there now, they also learned of the pool of holy water which they decided to visit, once they arrived at the small body of water a voice spoke out to them, the voice of Sergei von Zarovich, the deceased brother of strahd, it beckoned to Ireena but called her Tatyana, Ireena in a trance approached the water and got dragged in by Sergei despite the group's attempts to stop her.

The moment Ireena was dragged into the water the skies thundered and a swarm of bats blackened the sky. Out of the bats stepped a furious Strahd, screaming about losing the love of his life, in rage he attacked the group, saying that the time for games was over, the group stood no chance against Strahd, during the fight he controlled Daevalurs mind and commanded him to kill Samael, who was bleeding out on the ground after only a single strike from Strahd, and afterwards managed to fire an arrow at Donavich, who died from said arrow.

This seemed to calm down Strahd, seeing that these adventurers were no threat to him, and he left, but not before swearing that once he was done with them, they wished he had merely killed them.

Upon his leaving, a robed man appeared, Daevalur instantly went on high alert as this man was no a man, he could feel the energy of a celestial being radiating from him, his time as a hunter of the celestials setting every sense on edge. This man told the group he could ressurect the dead Donavich, but not Samael as he was struck down by Strahd, and he did not wish to oppose him, the group wanting him to resurrect Donavich they let the man who now identified himself as the abbot of saint markovia take the corpse and promised to bring him back, if the group in return, brought a wedding gown to him. Which they set out to retrieve from the house of the burgomaster of vallaki, where they had seen one.

#### The wedding dress and demons

The trip back to Vallaki was rather uneventful for the group, the only hitch was sneaking back into the village, which they did by going over its walls, and hiding in the local temple of father lucian, here they encountered a man who was sent here to kill Strahd, after some debate the man introduced himself and tagged along with the group, this man was Caedric Vindae, Paladin of Utreus.

the group had Daevalur sneak into the house of the burgomaster and grab the dress, only upon attempting to leave this house they ran into Izaak whom they ran away from, they fled towards the walls and jumped over, Izaak followed them for some time but after the group entered the forest Izaak gave the chase up.

Having gotten the dress the group made their way back to Krezk, which is when the control Strahd had over Daevalurs mind released, it was at this point he was flooded with regret over attacking Samael and Donavich and he screamed out in sorrow, the group reassuring him they did not blame him as they used Vulmars knowledge of the arcane and weave to realise he was under a charm spell and could not tell friend from foe in the situation.

Back in Krezk the group went to the abbey and delivered the dress to the abbot, who in turn revived Donavich, he thanked the group for bringing him back and they set out on their way, however Daevalur collapsed on the stairway down as he was once again approached by Khorne in his mind. demanding sacrifices. Daevalur refused him and stared into the void that was Khorne in his mind. It was this point, this threatening, that made Daevalur mentally sever the ties to this cult and in search of a different purpose in life.

Once out of his mind space Khorne, like before sent a demon to kill him, the group and the Abbot who showed his true colors as a celestial and slew the demon, upon which the abbot told them to leave wanting nothing to do with someone who had deals with demons.

#### A dinner invitation, politely declided, forcefully accepted

After leaving the abbey and krezk the group ran into a small halfling, named Balder "Stutterstock" Garrick, a life cleric of llira the Goddess of Joy, he was trapped in Dalgenen just like the group, after some debate he teamed up with them and they went towards Argynvostholt a place here Baldur mentioned allies against Strahd, as they arrived it seemed like an abandoned fortress, upon exploring it they found a revenant named Vladimir hoorngard who wished to keep Strahd in the eternal torment that was Dalgenen, the group managed to convince him to help them fight and "capture" Strahd, only for seconds later to encounter Ezmerelda D'Avenir a Vampire hunter Extraoidinaire, who wished to slay him, now faced with two choices in allies, the group turned on Vladimir and slew him, joining up with Ezmerelda they set out to defeat Generals of Strahd, the clostest one nearby being a woman named Baba Lysaga, the group had a small conversation with her finding out that she wetnurse when Strahd was born, and considered him her own son.

The battle against her that followed had a heavy price, as the Witch's hut came alive and flung rocks at the group, Gokher died on the battlefield and multiple members were unconscious on the ground, however they were victorious as the witch was slain.

The group decided to return to the Abbot, who they knew could bring back the dead, their travel there was uneventful, however that ended the moment they entered the abbey, the abbot himself was having a conversation with none other than Strahd himself, Strahd played a sick game with the group, he encouraged the abbot to bring back Gohker, in return for the life of another member of the party, here Balder stepped forward and offered himself up.

After the ressurection of Gokher, the group wanted to leave, however Strahd insisted that they would join him in castle Ravenloft for dinner, and he wouldnt take no for an answer, there was already a carriage outside to bring them to the castle, the group entered the carriage as it begun moving, down the mountain, pulled by two pitch black horses, which soon left the path and carried the group through the skies, towards castle Ravenloft..

#### Dinner, and a Chamberlain

When the group arrived at castle ravenloft, they ran into a lone traveler waiting outside the castle gated, Reed Tealeef a small halfling, who came to this realm to cleanse it for Aziel, he joined up with the group and they entered the castle, where they were greeted by a pale looking elf, who identified himself as Rahadin, the chamberlain for Count Strahd von Zarovich, he led the group a short distance through the main area of the castle towards the dining hall, where they saw Strahd playing on his organ, they had a small dinner and asked few question on why he kept them around while he could fight them any time they wanted, he was merely playing with them up until now, and declared that playtime was over, and he would be serious from now on. he gave them one small grace period, he would let them explore the upper floors of his castle freely, and wouldnt strat his hostillities until they left his castle.

The group went on to explore castle Ravenloft, and eventually came across a gruesome sight in what appeared to be Strahds bedroom, Strahd himself was feeding upon a young woman, the group tried to stop him, but Strahd called in his Chamberlain to forcefully remove them from his castle, the group fought Rahadin with Strahd nearby feasting on the young woman, Rahadin was a difficult foe, as the screams of his fallen victim wailed around him, seemingly in sorroy and agony as the screams themselves hurt the group, however they did prevail, and soon after slaying Rahadin the group ran to get out of the castle, where they were met with Strahd again right before the doors, he urged them to hurry onwards to Vallaki, as in 8 hours time, he would begin an assault on the town. Having their allies, the Martikovs there, the group rushed to Vallaki in hopes of bringing them to safety.

#### The siege of Vallaki

The Travel to Vallaki took a little less than the time given by Strahd, the group sneaked into the town by scaling the walls, they quickly made their way towards the blue water inn and explained the situation to Danika and Urwin, who explained they couldnt escape the town in time, as the sounds of alarm rung across town, the group sent them upstairs in their hidden attic and proceeded to barricade the windows and doors.

Waves of Strahds minions proceeded to flock towards the tavern, as Bats, Zombies, and Wolves slowly started to swarm the tavern, fighting off these creatures led to some of Strahds human allies arriving, the Vistani came next, together with a Ressurected Rahadin, being right hand to Strahd came with some perks after all, moments into the clash with the vistani the door broke down, Vladimir Hoorngaard had returned, this time minus the impressive armor and Greatsword which Caedric now wielded.

However the biggest surprise and Shock to the original members of the group was a now transformed Philipe, who broke down the backdoor. now surrounded in the tavern the group fought on multiple fronts, somewhere near the end of the battle Vulmar had multiple enemies lined up and shot a beam of lightning through them, disintegrating them all, however Daevalur was also in said line and fell to the Floor unconscious, Philipe managed to bite and kill Ezmerleda, who was thankfully resurrected by Reed after the battle.

The town however, was destroyed by Strahd and his minions, the group left a ruined Vallaki behind and set off towards the Wizard of the Wines where they encountered more Martikovs, on their way there they ran into a dusk elf, who wished to revive his sister, one of Strahds former brides, he told them Strahd got his power from a temple up in the mountains, but the weather was to cold and harsh for anyone to traverse without a way to stay warm, which the elf had, a ring of warmth. Thus they set off towards this temple, to hopefully find answers on how to fight Strahd.