Music

Yana

Katie Gladberry (Adoptive Daughter)

Bliss Gladberry (Daughter)

Music is the former Arlessa of the town of Yana in the Grey Valley. She has a history with Crieff Erhart and formerly served in the Whitestone Rifles before becoming the priestess of Sarenrae in Yana. She has a son named Opus, whom she had with Crieff before he left. Music was elected to become Arlessa to Yana following the suicide of the previous Arl, although she lost the position after murdering Acora. She later became romantically involved with Crieff again and took in his adoptive daughter Katie Gladberry. She later married Crieff and had another child with him, Bliss Gladberry.

## **Description**

### **Appearance**

Music is 5'5'' and has a slim physique. She has a kindly face and often smiles. She has long white hair that flows down her back to her waist. Her horns follow the shape of her head but have small offshoots just above her hairline. She has alabaster white skin and silver-white eyes. She has a long, wide scar across her face that stretches from her chin, across her nose and ends just below her brow that was dealt by Jarrett Dewborn during the Battle of Yana. This scar was later healed though part of it remained on her chin. Typically she wears light tunics and riding trousers. However, if needed she wears a set of Mithral Half-Plate armour for combat and other dangerous scenarios.

### **Personality**

To most people that she meets, Music is a charismatic and kindly person, offering them blessings from Sarenrae and acting in an almost motherly fashion to them. However, she has a hardened streak that comes from her time as a soldier. Music is difficult to anger but if she does become angry she is driven and often vengeful, believing that direct action is the most effective solution. Around Crieff, Music struggles with her emotions, becoming unsure and irritable easily, which culminated in her telling him to leave Yana to assist The Sterling Rams, although she later came to rekindle her relationship with him after overcoming her doubts about him. Music cares for her son, Opus, above all else and will risk anything to protect him. Her dedication her family is absolute, with her resorting to murdering the unarmed and imprisoned Acora in order to take revenge for Acora attacking and beating Opus and also to protect her newly adopted daughter, Katie Gladberry from the woman.

Music's alignment is Neutral Good. Her birthday is Unndilar 8th, also known as Deep Solace, the holy day of Moradin.

## **Biography**

### **Early Life**

Music grew up in Westruun as the child of two bards, named for the thing they loved most in the world. She found a calling in the service of Sarenrae, training to become a Paladin and eventually join the forces of the Prime Battalions. It was during this time that she first met Crieff Erhart, although he went by a different name at that time.

Eventually, the peace and quiet of growing up in Westruun was shattered by the attack of the Reaper during the Civilisation's Dawn festival. Music helped to fight the fires set by the Council of Echoes and soon afterwards, Crieff left her and Westruun behind, headed for Emon. Not long after this, Music discovered that she was pregnant with Crieff's child. Believing that Crieff would return from Emon before long, Music kept the baby, planning on making a life with Crieff and their new child.

Music struggled along in Westruun until the release of Tharizdun caused the Gatshadow Volcano to erupt, consuming half the city including Music's parents although she was spared, making it away with scarring from the burns she recieved. Stricken by grief she attempted to seek out Crieff in Emon following the Echoes Crisis but found only that the list of the dead bore his name. Believing she had nothing left, Music set out for Whitestone to build a new life.

There she joined the Whitestone Rifles. She soon gave birth to Opus. She remained a member of the Rifles for over a decade before being recruited by Rosalind Songsteel for the Grey Valley Project. She moved to Yana with Opus and began to serve as the town's priestess of Sarenrae, gaining friends and respect throughout the town for being kind and fair to all around her.

### **Grey Frontier**

Music's life in Yana was turned on its head during the summer of 843 P.D. when the town's new doctor moved in next door. Music went to greet the new arrival and was shocked to find Crieff, alive after nearly twenty years. Surprise quickly gave way to anger as she chastised him for not reaching out or finding her after he survived and she quickly came to realise that the man who had left her in Westruun was not the same one now standing before her. She warned Crieff to stay away from Opus and then left his house.

She later attended the Highsummer festivities alongside Opus and the rest of Yana and, with Crieff's assistance, she won the arm wrestling competition, defeating Oloric Silveraxe in the final round. She won a *Cloak of Billowing* as the prize and passed this to Crieff for his assistance during the competition. She danced with Crieff during the festivities, believing that she could potentially begin their relationship anew. As she hadn't drunk during the festivities, Music was one of the few sober enough to then travel to defend the walls when Dread Mother Zilla and her coven arrived to threaten the town and demand they hand over Shava Firahel. Music was present when Ahvain Firahel explained his story to The Sterling Rams, and she became very angry that he was willing to put the village's safety below that of one resident. She advised the group to hand over Shava and hunt down the hags, which they agreed to do.

Music was among the first to meet The Sterling Rams when they returned to Yana unsuccessful and she shared a drink with Crieff after he returned to his clinic, shaken from the experience. The next day, after it was announced that Ahvain Firahel was dead and that a new Arl would need to be voted in, Music was put forward by Karr. She agreed to run and was assisted in writing her speech by Opus. That night, she made her speech and was voted in as the town's new Arlessa, taking up residence in the Arl's Manse.

The next day, Music was going over the files of everyone in town and planning new upgrades when she received word of Opus being injured and taken to the clinic. She ran to the clinic and, after seeing that Opus was treated and thanking Crieff, she took the doctor aside. There she asked for clarification over what had happened to Crieff and when he failed to answer she requested that he go and travel with The Sterling Rams as she could no longer stand to be distracted and emotionally torn by Crieff's presence. She then reached out and hired Katie Shan to assist Crieff in the infirmary in his absence.

The Arlessa met with the Sterling Rams upon their return to Yana and explained to them the changes she had put in place through the town during their time away. She expressed her relief at seeing them all unharmed and well, a sentiment which took Crieff aback on account of the hostility she had displayed at their last meeting.

Music came to Crieff's clinic for her checkup on Fessuran 29th, the fifth day of his health checkups for the people of Yana. There he discovered that she had a bullet wound in her left shoulder and heavy burn scarring down her right torso, likely inflicted during the volcanic eruption of the Gatshadow that consumed Westruun. He also introduced Music to Salve and Alchemy, although he remained wary of her response. However, rather than concerned or horrified, Music was fascinated by the two skeletal alchemists, attempting to study how they could even function without muscles or tendons. Crieff then asked Music about a diamond worth 300 gold that Echthra had given to him claiming it could bring back the dead. He asked her if there was a way to use it to "Bring back Opus' father, or her parents" and Music, having seen such magic used at various temples, explained sadly that it was only limited to within a minute of death. She bade Crieff to keep the gem and use it well before leaving the clinic. From her home, Karr heard the Arlessa weeping as she walked away from the clinic.

Music was later encountered by the "Disaster Squad": Crieff, Echthra, Vulwin Zylric and Daeron Amrun, when Vulwin was convinced to attempt to reason with her to get Salve given a house of his own in town. She promptly ignored the request and sent the group away.

Music met with Portia and her drakes when they brought an ore delivery from Carran to Yana. She was seen lovingly conversing with Janus, which led to her discovering the strange name by which the drake referred to Crieff: "God Blood". That night she visited Crieff and explained that she had no wish to fight with him and that if he wanted to tell her what had happened to him he could do so in his own time. She expressed a wish to help him and examined his damaged eye, clearly saddened by what he had gone through.

Music again personally visited Crieff on Winter's Crest to thank him for the gift he had given Opus and to hand him his own personal gift from her, a symbol of Sarenrae. A few days later she met Crieff at her home in Yana where he informed her that the Sterling Rams were leaving Yana on a mission for Oloric Silveraxe. She wished them luck and reminded Crieff not to die as she had come to enjoy having a town doctor.

When Crieff and the other Sterling Rams worked out the threat that the Defiant Legion posed to Yana he used *Sending* to attempt to warn Music but recieved no response.

She met Crieff when he returned to Yana with a heavily wounded Opus, having been attacked by the Defiant Legion and the only survivor of a group kidnapped by the Legion, the other six all being crucified as markers between the Defiant Legion territory and Yana. She then stayed by her son's bedside when he was being treated by Crieff, Katie and Salve. She later accompanied Crieff to inform the families of those who were killed of their loved ones' deaths.

The next day she met with Oloric Silveraxe and asked him to gather several people from around Yana before she hosted a tactical meeting, planning the defences of the town for the inevitable attack from the Defiant Legion. Following the meeting, she was told by Katie Shan that Opus was awake and she spent the remainder of the day at her son's side.

That night, she sang a lullaby to Opus to soothe him to sleep. Leaving her son to rest, she met with Crieff and told him that he'd "already brought Opus' father back", confirming that Crieff was Opus' father. She then lamented that she had grown apart from Crieff before kissing him. Their relationship reaffirmed, Crieff and Music then parted for the night, with Music urging Crieff to rest.

Later on, she heard Crieff scream out in the night and rushed to his room, finding him with bony wings protruding from his back and black eyes. After a moment to recover from the shock of seeing him like this, she comforted him, reassuring him that Opus was fine and that Emon was still passed. She then soothed him to sleep again, singing the same lullaby as she had sung earlier to Opus. The next morning, she helped him clean up his shirt from the damage his wings had caused to his back before introducing him to his son. She was surprised to find that Opus had worked out that Crieff was his father and watched as Opus accepted Crieff. She spent the next few days with her family, also adopting Katie once she took Crieff's last name and was adopted by him, becoming Katie Gladberry.

Music also began to work on engineering battle plans for the upcoming war with the Defiant Legion. Music and her family then said goodbye to Crieff when he and the Sterling Rams went hunting for the Defiant Legion. Music communicated with Crieff through a *Sending* spell while the Rams were in the field.

When the Sterling Rams returned, having captured Acora, Music accompanied them to their interrogation of the woman, becoming enraged as the woman taunted them and eventually, due to a mistake on the part of Echthra, came to know about Katie and threaten her too. That night, Music and Crieff returned to the jail and there, Music executed Acora, emphasising each bullet she fired into the woman with another name from "The Six", finishing with destroyinh the ranger's head while saying Opus' full name: Opus Gladberry.

The next day, Music was placed under arrest by Kiara Snowbourne and Matrick Blackanvil for the murder of an unarmed prisoner and kept in the prison cells while a trial was conducted to decide her fate. The trial ended with Music being deposed from the position of Arlessa and a Town Council being set up instead, Music herself being freed before the upcoming battle and her punishment being postponed until after the Defiant Legion was dealt with. She spent that night with Crieff and Vulwin Zylric, using Vulwin's own spell *Zylric's Recollections* to observe what Crieff's past in Emon and prior was. Doing so showed the group that Crieff was in fact an Aasimar descended from Sarenrae but whom Tharizdun had driven mad and used as a "backup plan" in Emon. Crieff struggled to process this new information, especially his discovery of the prolonged lifespan of Aasimar, but Music remained at his side through the night, reassuring him as much as she could.

Music fought alongside the Sterling Rams and other defenders of Yana against the Defiant Legion in front of the gates of Yana in the initial stages of the Battle of Yana. She defended the gates at one side alongside Crieff, fighting off several soldiers before she encountered Jarrett Dewborn who wounded her heavily using his glaive, cutting a heavy chunk from her face and nose. The damage was reduced by a *Cure Wounds* spell that Crieff had stored in her new wrist brace which kept her from falling in battle. As the group began to retreat, Crieff proposed to Music with a dagger, which she quickly used to kill a Defiant Legion soldier, saving the life of Halstein Varlund. When Crieff asked her if that meant yes, she simply turned and kissed him to show her acceptance of his proposal.

Following the retreat through the gates, Music was taken to the field hospital by Crieff to recieve treatment for her wound. Following the battle, she recovered, though the injury left heavy scarring across her face which caused her to hide behind a veil during a funeral for the fallen. However, Crieff managed to brew a salve of regeneration with aid from Elwen Galanodel that Music was able to apply to her scars and heal them, though she left a part of the scar on her chin to remember her mistakes in the battle and make sure she didn't repeat them. Music later handed preparations for the wedding to her children and took on a role as one of Yana's guards. She also began composing a song for Crieff that she could sing at the wedding.

When the Sterling Rams set out on a mission from the Songsteel Trading Company, Music, Opus and Katie worked with Vulwin Zylric to create message cards to support Crieff over the month he was likely to be away on the mission. She later met Crieff when he teleported back to Yana with Echthra and she discovered the large amount of acid scarring that Marziros had left on her fiancee. She then joined Crieff while Opus told his parents about his intention to travel. Music also assisted Halstein Varlund in his relationship with Kaya Fernhand and began aiding him in the temple when needed.

When Music's birthday came around, Crieff had Echthra teleport the entire Gladberry family to the city of Port Damali. They spent the day touring around the city before Echthra took the children home and Crieff and Music remained behind for a couple of days to spend some time together as a couple. It was around this time that Music became pregnant with another child.

On the 15th of Brussendar, one year to the day since the Sterling Rams first met, Music and Crieff were married. Opus gave away his mother and her train was specially carried by Salve and Alchemy. Karr served as Flower Girl and Grace as a ringbearer. Crieff had Vulwin Zylric as his best man and Mission, Tred, Echthra and Lum as groomsmen. Music meanwhile, had Octavia Sunheart as her maid of honour while, Shearer Dravarol, Feng and Elwen Galanodel were her bridesmaids. Much like Opus, Katie Gladberry gave away one of her parents, bringing Crieff to the altar. Halstein Varlund conducted the ceremony and married the two to one another. After the wedding ceremony, Music and her new husband were approached by Gale, the family's chicken and she revealed herself to be a disguised Sarenrae. The Goddess granted her own wedding gift to the couple, taking Crieff's aasimar heritage from him and restoring his humanity and normal rate of aging to him, allowing him to grow old at the same rate as Music.

That night, the Sterling Rams were all attacked in their homes by a number of Boneclaws working for the Lord of Hunger. Music fought alongside her new husband and defeated the intruder before gathering the group at the Gladberry home. She wrote a letter to Tred explaining the pregnancy that she hadn't told Crieff about and asking him to keep her husband safe as the Sterling Rams hunted the Lord of Hunger. When they returned later that day successful, Music gave the letter she had given Tred to Crieff, revealing that they were due to have another child together.

Several months later, Music gave birth to her and Crieff's daughter, Bliss Gladberry.

## **Relationships**

### **Opus**

Music is Opus' mother and the two care for each other deeply. Since Opus grew up without his father, Music is his only family. Music was greatly concerned when Opus broke his leg and despite her strained relationship with Crieff, she thanked him profusely for his assistance in healing Opus. Music became greatly concerned and protective over Opus when he was wounded by the Defiant Legion, staying by his bedside and soothing him with lullabies. Music was shown to be extremely proud of her son when he took on a role in the new town council. She and Crieff argued with Opus about his role in the Battle of Yana, eventually convincing him to keep back and protect those who would not be fighting.

Music supported Opus in his decision to go travelling, though she trained him in defence for his journey. Opus gave Music away at her wedding to Crieff.

### **Crieff Gladberry**

> *"Crieff Gladberry, this is our family."*
>
>

Music and Crieff knew one another years ago and had once been in a relationship. However this ended during the Echoes Crisis when Crieff left and later appeared on a list of the dead from the Siege of Oblivion. Music was shocked to find him alive when he arrived in Yana. She then attempted to find a new ground but was unable to do so. This eventually resulted in her sending Crieff away from Yana for a time while she got settled into her new role as Arlessa. The two later seemed to reconnect during her health checkup, but all that came of this re-connection was that they both parted in tears, longing for the past.

> *"No matter what happens, if things go wrong and it comes down to the Rams or you. You live, you come back to me."*
>
>

Music came to rekindle her friendship with Crieff over the winter period in Yana, gifting him a new symbol of Sarenrae for Winter's Crest. Following the discovery of "The Six", Music revealed to Crieff that he was in fact Opus' father before restarting their relationship. She also discovered the depth of Crieff's trauma from Emon and came to witness his Fallen Aasimar nature for the first time. Over the following few days, she came to adopt Katie Gladberry as well. When the Sterling Rams left Yana to hunt the Defiant Legion, Music confessed that she loved Crieff.

Over the period leading up to the Battle of Yana, Music and Crieff stuck together, with Music supporting him when the truth about his Aasimar heritage was discovered. She began to show the same affection towards him that she had years before. When Sarenrae healed Crieff's eye to make him look as he had years ago, Music was so affected that it brought her to tears. Crieff also presented her with a wrist brace enchanted to help her in battle, one that saved her life during the Battle of Yana. During the battle, Crieff also proposed to Music using a dagger he had been carrying for her since Emon and she accepted.

> *"We’re here, we’re together, and nothing is ever going to take that away again. I love you, my Crieff Gladberry."*
>
>

Music and Crieff spent a lot of their engagement together, rekindling their relationship and healing old wounds. Music was upset when Crieff and the Sterling Rams went northwards on the mission to find the Metallic Dragon enclave, she prepared cards that contained messages of support from Crieff's family for him to take with him. When he returned wounded, Music was extremely worried and asked him not to leave again, a promise he would try hard to keep.

When Crieff took Music to Port Damali for her birthday she was overwhelmed and emotional, spending much of the days enjoying herself and dancing. She and Crieff spent several days together, almost becoming the same as they had been years before, resulting in Music becoming pregnant with their daughter, Bliss Gladberry. Music and Crieff were married a short time later, becoming the family they had dreamed of being years before.

### **Katie Gladberry**

Initially, Katie and Music held a very professional relationship, with Music bringing the girl to Yana to assist Crieff in the clinic. Once Crieff and Music reentered their relationship following the murder of "The Six", Music recognised the love Crieff held for Katie and accepted her into her family. Once Crieff adopted Kaite, Music hugged the girl tightly, accepting her entirely. Music was so protective over Katie that she committed a murder to stop the Defiant Legion from knowing about her.

## **Equipment**

Music carries two guns, one revolver style pistol and one double barrelled hand cannon. During times of combat and strife, she wore a suit of Mithral Half-Plate armour. She has a *Cloak of Protection* that she wore over her left shoulder. On her left wrist she wears a brace to counteract damage from her hand cannon, the brace is enhanced with glyphs made by Crieff for her containing a *Sending* spell and also a powerful *Cure Wounds* spell that saved her life when she was heavily wounded during the Battle of Yana.

## **Trivia**

* Music has hypermobility, which has led to an increased potential of arthritis in her joints, hence Crieff commissioning a brace for her left wrist to support the use of her hand cannon.
* Music has sung at multiple points during the Grey Frontier campaign. First with the song "*Hero"* by Elizaveta and second with *"The Trooper and the Maid"* by Charlotte Cumberbirch. The third was "*Song of the Sea"* by Nolwenn Leroy. The fourth was *"Fear Not This Night"* by Freya Catherine. The fifth was "*Wings"* by Jeff Williams, which Music wrote to refer to Crieff's damaged aasimar wings. All of these songs refer to specific parts of Music's life.
* The music box given to Crieff by Opus at Winter's Crest featured a recording of Music singing "*May it Be"* by Enya, a common blessing of Sarenrae.