Morrigan Devlin

Information

 **Year of Death** | ---

## Summary

Morrigan Devlin is a self-taught necromancer who hails from the islands of Airlann. During the Year the Dead Walked (HE 3031), she joined the Pride of Avalon in an attempt to staunch the rising tide of undead and stop the dead god Ruedi from rising again and destroying life as we know it. When faced with the prospect of her own death, however - and the death of her lover, Hector Diversey - Morrigan used her powerful necromantic magic and the magical artifact the Orchid of Ruedi to transform herself and Hector into vampiric entities. She now haunts the region surrounding the Ikzidur Academy, preying upon unwary magic-users to feed her own arcane powers.

## Backstory

Morrigan Devlin was born Morrigan Lynch; her father was Conan Lynch, a physician, and her mother was Emer Devlin. The Devlin family were one of the older human noble families on Airlann; however centuries of bad luck - widely attributed to a curse from the death goddess Wynjess - had rendered the family quite poor, and Emer's marriage to a physician was, financially, a step up. Emer was a wizard who had briefly studied at White Bridge Academy (a daughter school of the prestigious Ikzidur Academy) before being expelled for her necromantic research; she continued her work, freelance, throughout her pregnancy.

Despite her own study of life and death, and Conan's expertise as a physician, Emer experienced fatal complications while giving birth to Morrigan; if it weren't for Conan's intervention, Morrigan may have died as well. Even so, the tragic circumstances of her birth still marked Morrigan for life - literally, as she was born with blue arcane runes inscribed into her skin. She later discovered the marks were in her mother's handwriting.

Morrigan was raised by her father on Inis Mor, the largest island in Airlann. He worried that her unusual appearance would only further spur the whispers and rumors that already swirled around her mother's family, so he taught her to keep them covered at all times. Unfortunately, when Morrigan was only twelve years old, Conan was thrown from his horse when riding from a patient's house; he broke his neck and died, and despite his efforts to shield his daughter from the Devlin curse, the Lynch family was unwilling to take in the strange, pale little girl. So Morrigan went to live with the Devlin family on Inis Oirthir, taking their name in the process.

At the Devlin family manor, Morrigan discovered that her mother's arcane library and laboratory were still intact, so she continued Emer's research on the nature of both life and death; she used her own body as her spellbook. As she grew into adulthood, however, she decided that her familial manor on a remote Airlanni island was not adequate for her needs. She needed more resources - more access to bodies. So she sailed for the Old Avalonian mainland.

## Campaign Events

Upon reaching the mainland, Morrigan responded to a recruitment by Sister Pallas of the Church of Pelor to help fight an outbreak of undead that had occurred in the area. In addition to (perhaps more so than) a general altruistic desire to help others, Morrigan determined that this would be the most ethical way to obtain undead bodies for her studies. So she joined the other recruits as they traveled the region, exterminating outbreaks of zombies as they appeared. However, reacting to outbreaks was not good enough; fortunately, a cleric of Pelor, Abbot Piers, had developed a method of detecting surges in negative energy that predicted the location of the next zombie outbreak. This allowed the Pride of Avalon, as Sister Pallas took to calling them, to travel to villages *before* they were attacked and evacuate those who were willing or protect those who weren't from whatever force was raising the dead.

It quickly became apparent, however, that these undead were being created in a very atypical manner. In fact, one did not even have to die before turning undead, which violated every known rule of necromancy! Further investigation uncovered evidence of a cult to the death god Ruedi, who had been slain in the Gods' War over a millennium ago. This cult, lead by a mysterious figure called the General of the Scythe, was turning people undead using a poison imbued with necrotic magic in the hopes of generating enough necrotic energies to reanimate Ruedi himself.

The Pride were not the only ones working to stop the General. They counted among their allies Sir Eric, paladin of Pelor, who saved them when they were accidentally flung into the realm of the Dead God; Windika of the Ikzidur Academy, leader of the Antinecromagum, who specialized in hunting down necromancers; Brasco Brant and the Gravers, all men who had lost their loved ones to necromancy; and Meister Weimar, a cleric of Nerull who advocated for the legalization of necromancy.

The Pride determined that the necrotic poison was created using a rare flower found only in the Horned Wood; in turn, they traced a large shipment of this flower to the dwarven city-state of Slüajj, where they disrupted an attempt by the General and his followers to turn the whole populace undead. In thanks for this service, King Brass of Slüajj granted the Pride access to their ancestor-deity, The King On The Mountain, who would provide them additional insight into their quest. It was thanks to The King On The Mountain that the Pride learned that the General of the Scythe and Meister Weimar used to be comrades; however, they had a theological schism years ago, and now Meister Weimar felt personally responsible to stop the General before he destroyed all life altogether. Unfortunately, the General killed him and continued to build an undead army.

Throughout this adventure, Morrigan began to develop a certain affection for one of her companions, the vampire hunter Hector Diversey. Though not as learned as she (and, to be frank, a bit dense at times), Hector continually surprised her with his flashes of insight and his facility with multiple languages; furthermore, he rescued her from peril multiple times and demonstrated a willingness to put himself in harm's way to protect her. Over time, their bond strengthened and blossomed into romance - or at least as near to romance as to be had when trying to save the world.

Eventually the Pride determined that the General was going to march on the cosmopolitan city of Guildheim. In addition to providing plenty of corpses to swell his ranks, Guildheim was the location of the Tear of Fishah, a powerful holy artifact that was forged during the Gods' War. Having previously formed an alliance with Slüajj, they called upon the support of the dwarven army and, together with the faithful of Pelor, the Antinecromagum, and the Gravers, fought to protect the city from the army of undead.