Lyripel Hardfrost

## Before the Party

### Of Two Worlds

Born to a Moon Elf mother, **Porvera Hardfrost**, and a Human father, whose name was Gerrick, Lyripel, or Lear, was born an outcast. As a Half-Elf, Lear was not looked fondly upon by the other Moon Elves in the Daeryn Forest. Not only was she the product of a Human and Elf, which is always frowned upon, but she was also born out of wedlock, leaving her as a dark stain on the Hardfrost family name.

Being at least partially noble stock afforded her options, however, but the easiest was for her to find a place was with the church of Aubade. Within the Daeryn Forest there was a specific sect within the church devoted to **Cael Aibe**, a saint of the church. Their group was called **The Bright Star Vigil**, or simply **The Vigil**. Lear found a mentor in their ranks in the Moon Elf, **Karim Wolfeye**.

### Glass Ceiling

Lear proved to be quite valuable within the group and showed good skill with a blade. Despite her skill, she was not allowed to rise up through the ranks because of her mixed ancestry. Even with the help of **Karim**, **The Vigil** would not grant her higher status within the organization.

Her skill did attract the attention of a rival, **Esar Stormheart**, who wished to rise in the ranks like Lear. He found a sponsor and was allowed to obtain the rank as long as he fought and defeated a master swordsman within their ranks. **Esar** chose Lear, to his detriment. He was quickly defeated by her, and in his rage he lashed out at her, causing them both to be injured. His defeat and subsequent lashing out caused **Esar** to be kicked out of the group. As Lear recovered from her wounds, many members of **The Vigil** assumed her days were numbered.

### An Assignment

**Karim** had a different idea. One of the lesser known roles of their group was to assign one of their members as a defender and bodyguard of a noble house. They would be assigned to a particular member of the family and guard them with their life. **Karim** arranged for Lear to be assigned to the Gemfrost family and guard the druid daughter, Aurelia Gemfrost. Lear took to the assignment well, forming a bond with Aurelia. Lear was even gifted one of the **Blades of the Moon** as a token of Aurelia and the Gemfrost's trust.

However, the happiness quickly faded when Aurelia got into major trouble while engaging with a former lover. Together, the two women broke some magical laws, but Aurelia took the blame for it, along with her bodyguard, Lear, who couldn't keep her out of trouble. Resigned to their fate, the two were banished and began traveling the world as bounty hunters and adventurers.

## With the Party

### Adventurers For a Time

Lear and Aurelia took a bounty for an orc leading a group of bandits in the Rondat Mountains just northwest of Parma. Upon scouting the bandit camp, they realized they were over their head. By chance they ran into a trio of adventurers who seemed eager to help them with their bounty, for a share of the loot, of course.

The group moved through the bandit camp, taking out the orcs and defeating their quarry, Kurn the Red. When it was revealed that this orc used an artifact, the Gauntlets of Control, to lure all these bandits to serve him, it was also revealed at Aust and Wrax, two of the adventurers, only agreed to help so they could get their hands on the item. They were both knocked out and separated.

### Wrapping It Up

Along with Erevan, the only sensible adventurer of the trio, they decide to trick the other two into thinking they destroyed the Gauntlets so they can move on from this. The ruse works, and the group heads back to Parma to turn in their bounty. Upon getting paid by the cleric, Coin, he offers them another bounty to investigate the murders of several nobles in the city, which they take as a group.

They trace down the killer and discover it is an assassin that the adventurers had encountered before, Ulmare Varysin. They defeat the assassin and arrest him, getting their bounty. However, the assassin manages to escape with two other figures pretending to be guards and escorting him right out of prison. While they would normally part ways, Lear feels responsible for taking away the artifact from the adventurers and agrees to accompany the party to the Eres Wasteland to find a weapon that Wrax is looking for.

### Under the Sun, Underground

They travel east with the party. They come upon a strange incident of various caged animals being freed by a mechanical, golem-like construct made to look like a bear. It was faulty and broke, but it caused chaos and released some stampeding dinosaurs that the party had to stop. They continue east to the Eres Wasteland and begin searching for a underground building that may contain the item Wrax is looking for.

They find the remains of the Ithquandryic Society HQ and head underground to inspect. They get embroiled in the internal conflict of the survivors down there, but they manage to find the item Wrax is looking for, or at least the current location. They flee the complex just as the place begins to flood with water. They barely escape with their lives. Once they leave the Eres Wasteland, Lear and Aurelia part ways with the rest of the party and wish them luck.

## After the Party

### Go With What You Know

Lear and Aurelia return to Parma to visit with their old friend Coin, who has another job for them to the south. More of those constructs shaped like animals have been terrorizing some small communities to the south. The Emperor of the nation, who fancies himself a demi-god, very rarely hears of problems across his own nation, and their cries for help have gone on deaf ears. Several nearby villages have pooled their money and issued a bounty for someone to come and help them.

They head south, hoping to earn this bounty, as well as discover the source of these strange animal constructs. They reach some of the villages, meet with various people, and see some of the destruction and death that these constructs have wrought. They examine one that the villagers managed to destroy, mostly because it is faulty, and it looks like the one they previously saw cause chaos in a city further north. They manage to find a path and begin to track these constructs back to their source.

### A Sight For Sore Eyes

They find an encampment where a group of workers and bandits are living together. These workers are making these constructs by using some sort of blueprints and the bandits direct them towards the villages they want to plunder. They run into the encampment and defeat the bandits, capturing a few of the workers to interrogate. They take the blueprints and discover from a few of them that **Galvonna Blueshield** sold the bandits these blueprints but left soon after.

After returning to the villagers to let them know the danger has passed, they then return to Coin to collect their bounty. While in Parma, Lear is visited by **Esar Stormheart**, who approaches her about the **Blades of the Moon**. He also has one, and claims that with all four of them in one place, they can unlock a great power. He claims it is under the **Great Oak** in the Daeryn Forest and he wants to work with her to get this great power together. He leaves, saying he is currently tracking down the other two blades, but he will need an answer soon, or he will take the blade by force.

### An Exchange of Enemies

They travel north and head across The Channel. They meet and save a young acolyte of Khanos named Bobby as they move west towards the city of Kulnaur. They hear word that **Glavonna** might be looking for items on the Dark Exchange. They split up to follow up on several leads and end up finding more than they bargained for. Aurelia finds **Galvonna** buying some highly regulated items to make constructs. She confronts her, but **Galvonna** convinces her shes trying to do good, but she needed to sell those bandits something to get out alive and so she would have funds to finish her project she is working on. She convinces Aurelia its for the good of nature and asks her to join her.

Lear, meanwhile, finds no info, but is suddenly confronted by **Esar Stormheart**. In the weeks that Aurelia and Lear traveled, **Esar** has not only found the other two **Blades of the Moon**, but has recruited to men to fight alongside him with those blades. Lear is able to fend the three off for a little while, but soon she becomes overwhelmed. It is then that **Galvonna** and Aurelia show up with a couple animal constructs and fight them off. They defeat **Esar** and his two men, killing one of them. **Esar** and the other flee, leaving behind one man and one of the **Blades of the Moon**.

### A Good Sale Pitch

**Galvonna** explains what she has been doing. When she originally experimented on living animals in the Daeryn Forest, she was caught and it caused Aurelia and Lear's banishment. However, even if she hadn't been caught, she realized that the goal she had would never be reached: to give the forest the ability to defend itself. She then realized that she needed to find a way to give nature protection and came up with a concept of these animals constructs. The creation of such things and the items needed to make them are highly regulated, so she was forced to deal with some irreputable people to get a working model made.

With the item she just purchased, she can now make a working prototype as a proof of concept. She had garnered interest with an investor named Talis Hightower. She has heard he is ruthless in his business dealings, so she asks Aurelia and Lear to accompany her to display this proof of concept and make sure Talis doesn't steal the construct for himself. If this works, she will get the money she needs to build several of these animal constructs and bring them back to Daeryn. Then she could offer them in exchange for lifting her, Aurelia, and Lear's banishment. She then hopes then she can share the blueprints with Daeryn and give them the means to create an army of protectors for the Daeryn Forest.

### A Bad Sales Pitch

Aurelia and Lear agree to help **Galvonna**. They head east through the Falmar Desert to the city of Ramande. They arrange a meeting with Talis Hightower, who sets a meeting date to hear their pitch and demonstration. **Galvonna** finalizes the construct of a large lion which she calls **Rau** which is Elven for lion. They have several days to wait in the city, so they do some shopping and relaxing for a bit.

A few days later, **Esar** approaches Lear. He explains to her that he was eager to finish collecting all four blades and he acted rashly. Now that they each have two **Blades of the Moon**, they are on equal footing and they should really work together to find this great power hidden underneath the **Great Oak**. Lear rejects his offer, stating she knows what kind of person he is and what he would do with such power. She has no interest helping him and actually plans to take back the blades from **Esar** when she gets the chance. After a tense stand off, **Esar** leaves, stating he won't be so friendly the next time they meet.

### Everything Goes According to Plan

The day of the meeting finally arrives. **Galvonna**, Aurelia, and Lear all meet with Talis Hightower. He is not a very kind man and tries to pretend he is not interested. **Galvonna** gambles and orders **Rau** to attack Talis, taking out all of his guards before she orders **Rau** to stand down just as he is about finish Talis. Talis suddenly is impressed. He offers to help pay for a dozen of these creatures as long as he gets to keep one of them and they bear some logo of Tower Consortium. They agree to the deal and part ways.

The trio live in luxury, courtesy of Talis Hightower, for several weeks and months, as **Galvonna** works on the dozen constructs with a team of aids she hires to assist. **Galvonna** and Aurelia fall back into a romance and begin to sleep together again, despite Lear warning her that it might not be a good idea. Lear is the only one of them who seems to never let her guard down, worried about Talis, worried about **Galvonna**, and worried about **Esar**.

### The Big Reveal

The day finally comes for the trio to present the final product to Talis and give him one of the constructs of his choosing. There is a party, courtesy of Talis, who invites many wealthy people who might be interested in purchasing the items. Aurelia expresses doubt about this, hoping that these items wouldn't fall into just anyone's hands, but only the Elves. **Galvonna** assures her that Talis is posturing to impress people, but they are under no obligation to sell to any of them. Aurelia seems to buy that, but Lear is apprehensive.

They display the animal constructs, which they have dubbed **Dire Constructs**. They get much applause. They make a big display, and Talis Hightower make a dramatic choosing, picking a large wolf construct which he calls **D'Hiib**. Everything seems fine until Talis announces that he will be handing out order forms to all the guests who wish to order some of these creatures. Aurelia and Lear take **Galvonna** aside to discuss what they should do, but **Galvonna** reveals they are naïve and that she has planned to sell these to the highest bidder the entire time. But they shouldn't worry too much, because she plans on constructing them and never delivering, keeping the armies of **Dire Constructs** for herself.

**Galvonna** then betrays Aurelia again and yells for the guards, claiming that Aurelia and Lear have tried to attack her and kill her. Aurelia and Lear flee the city.

### Fugitives on the Run

Without any allies, without any chance of returning home to Daeryn, the two run away. They leave the Falmar Desert but with Talis Hightower issuing a bounty on their heads, they suddenly have quite a large target on their backs. They go into hiding, using aliases and disguises as they travel, hoping to find a safe place to lay their heads. They a quick learners, but a couple of missteps cause them to catch the attention of a few bounty hunters, but the two women are more powerful than most of them anticipated and they are able to handily defeat them.

They manage to hide in the Culdor Forest, despite the unrest that is currently happening the region. They use the chaos, infighting, and looming threat of civil war to hide from their hunters and for a while, they are hidden from them. However, **Esar** shows up, a much better hunter, with several bounty hunters. With some of the Green Elf allies they have made in the Culdor Forest, Aurelia and Lear manage to fight off the bounty hunters, and once again **Esar** is force to flee, leaving another **Blade of the Moon** behind.

### Facing the Music

After several weeks and months of hiding in the Culdor Forest, the civil war becomes to chaotic to stay there. Forces of Almonte surround the forest to try and stabilize the region. Amidst this chaos, Aurelia and Lear leave. As they travel, they try to find word about **Galvonna** and her deal with Talis Hightower. They actually discover that **Galvonna** has done as she promised, betraying all the nobles who ordered **Dire Constructs**, and betraying Talis himself, leaving the Falmar Desert and heading west with her army of **Dire Constructs**.

Realizing that she intends to attack the Daeryn Forest, they head west to warn them, despite the fact that they are still banished. On the road there, **Esar** confronts them one final time, challenging Lear to a dual for all the **Blades of the Moon**. Aurelia is upset when Lear agrees and the two face off, one on one. Despite Aurelia's fears, Lear manages to defeat **Esar**. Instead of killing him, she merely takes the final **Blade of the Moon** and leaves **Esar** there, a broken man.

The duo head west to warn the Daeryn Forest of the impending attack…