Isek

**Isek**, widely known as **Cloud Knight Isek**, is an owlin ranger and mercenary. He was also the leader of the Cloud Knights adventuring party prior to his capture by Dezriel. Born in the Feywild plane 39 years ago, he eventually had a run-in with four other mercenaries who became the founding members of the Cloud Knights. Since then, he has taken part in numerous adventures before being captured during the Seige of Kayar.

## Appearance

Isek appears as most Owlin do, an anthropomorphic owl with wings. He carries a bow and wears traveling clothes.

## Personality

Isek was initially reluctant to accept the position of leader of the party. However, he has taken charge of the party in multiple scenarios and was agreed upon by the majority of members as official leader.

## Abilities

Isek is a ranger and has numerous abilities granted to him by his class.

## Relationships

### Party

#### Kushala Daora

Isek considers Daora to be a close companion and friend, as well as trusting him enough to making Daora his right-hand man. Following Isek's capture, Kushala Daora was made the new leader of the Cloud Knights.

### Allies

Isek has numerous fans who are considered to be his allies. He was also an ally to the defending force of Kayar during the siege of Kayar.

### Enemies

His known enemies have included the Fey Lord who cursed him, Leon Razzione, and the city of Dezriel. Isek was able to defeat Razzione in combat, but has yet to return to the Feywild to face the Fey lord, and has been captured by Dezriel.

## History

### Past

Isek was born in the Feywild to a family of Owlin. From childhood, his dream was to become a knight and one of the Fey Nobles. He lived a relatively carefree life, learning to hunt and exploring the depths of the Feywild in his free time. Unfortunately, when he reached the age of maturity (thirty years old), Isek was noticed by a Fey lord as a good marriage candidate for his daughter. Isek did not want to marry the lord's daughter in an arranged marriage, refusing to agree to the deal. Furious, the Fey lord sent a pack of Fey Beasts after Isek and cursed him to be chased by them until he agreed to the marriage. Isek, however, refused to do so and began running away from them.

Isek wandered the Feywild for the next four years pursued by the beasts, searching for any allies, but found none. Eventually, though, he accidentally crossed over into the Material Plane. To his dismay, he was in the middle of a foreign and confusing area: the uncharted Southern Forests. After wandering for nearly five years through the forests of the world, he was able to escape the forests. He spent the next month attempting to find civilization, and finally, Isek ended up in the small town of Valheim in the Central Plains.

By this point, he had trained as a ranger, walking and flying through terrain and learning the ways of the wild. He stayed in the town's tavern for a few weeks to rest after his years of travel before a group of mercenaries, led by Schneider, arrived in the town guarding a caravan. Around this time, the town was under attack from a stirge, which was attacking one civilian each night.

### Mercenary Arc

After staying in Valheim for a few nights, a group of mercenaries arrived in the town guarding a caravan. They were led by the Wandering Knight Schneider, and included the bard Roscoe and a mysterious Warforged fighter named Kushala Daora. When the stirge attacked Roscoe that night, and the town's paranoia growing with every day, the mercenaries decided to go after the source of the attacks. Isek decided to team up with them, along with another mercenary, the dark elf Orion. The group of five was soon able to track down the source of the attacks, with Schneider destroying the stirge and becoming the leader of the newly-formed adventuring party.

Isek became a combatant of the group, and they next traveled to an alchemist's abandoned shack. Isek drank a few wild magic potions and suffered some unfortunate effects. After leaving, the group went to the town of Tollstep, where they would explore the town and its taverns. While at the Red Scroll tavern, the party would adopt their first official name, the Miscellaneous Mercenaries, after much debate. However, soon after they arrived in the town, the annual Egg Festival began, with other adventuring groups streaming into the town, notably including the Sword Demons and the Wave Raiders. At this point, Schneider began to move away from some of the responsibilities as leader, with Isek being a "secondary leader" whenever Schneider was gone.

On the first day of the festival, the Mercenaries set out to go kill the Water Serpent, which they successfully did with significant help from Isek flying above the waters to attack it. The Mercenaries first began to gain popularity around this time, but their fame was about to skyrocket. Isek, who had begun to be recognized as the party's official leader by other adventuring groups, went with some other party members and adventuring group leaders to the Wounded Rogue tavern. There, Golan Devar (captain of the Wave Raiders) went on a rant about how Isek must be a hero from the clouds, fighting against "the evil of gravity" and failing, losing loved ones along the way. Isek found this hilarious, and went to sleep on the tavern's roof.

The next morning, the rumor of him being the heroic "Cloud Knight" had spread throughout the tavern. Devar, the laughing pirate, had invented a fake backstory for Isek on a complete whim, leading to Isek becoming a popular figure amongst the town of Tollstep. The next day, when Isek and Kushala (who would go on to become the party's second-in-command) returned to the tavern, Isek was shocked by his new popularity and at first tried to avoid it, not wanting to be in the spotlight. However, when the party then killed a second monster that same day - the tree that killed 19 lumberjacks, with Isek taking down a dragon wyrmling all by himself - his popularity truly skyrocketed.

The tales of Cloud Knight Isek spread across the city of Tollstep. He and the party then went on various side quests including killing wolves. Isek later decided to accept a contract to kill the mobster Leon Razzione, which had been issued by a mysterious woman named Alyn Shaln.

### Razzione Family Arc

#### On the Road Again

Isek stayed in Tollstep for two days in order to gain a wild magic power allowing him to cast certain spells. He then led the party to Redcliff. On the way, they ran into some goblins working for Razzione and were able to defeat them. However, due to the fact that a murderous bladesinger (Vannesa) was with the party at the time, a conflict began. Vannesa attacked and killed an unarmed goblin who had surrendered to the party, much to the anger of Isek, and then attempted to do the same to another living goblin, Jimmy. Isek attempted to defend Jimmy and was then attacked by Vannesa, who had to be restrained by the rest of the party. In thanks, Jimmy gave Isek a genie bottle.

Soon afterwards, the Cloud Knights arrived in the cliffside fortress town of Redcliff and split up. Isek went to the town square and witnessed a doomsayer foretelling a "Storm from the East" which would lead to the fall of the city, which had not fallen for centuries. Then, Vannesa was arrested and sentenced to death for going against numerous laws of Redcliff, and Isek (along with the rest of the party) allowed this to happen due to Vannesa's actions against the party. The next day, Virtue Derin the executioner joined their party.

The Cloud Knights left Redcliff and their journey to Kayar was mostly uneventful other than an encounter with a party of sahuagin, which attacked the group but were defeated.

#### Arrival in Kayar, City of Freedom

On March 30, the party arrived in the city of Kayar, with Isek spending the night on the roof in the Entrance District. With the help of fellow party members Kushala, Roscoe, and Pax, he then robbed a store in search of magic items. Afterwards, he took down the Mob with the help of his party, knocking out Leon Razzione. He was carried away by fans following this event and ended up spending a week gambling in celebration.

### Kayar Invasion Arc

In April, Kayar was attacked by an invading army from Dezriel. Isek would play a major part in the ensuing battle which took place, managing to kill or eliminate nearly 1,000 enemy soldiers using Necklaces of Fireballs which he found in the city. At the end of the battle, Isek convinced two divisions of the army to abandon the invasion by disgusing himself and lying about a bomb. Unfortunately, he was then captured by Dezrieli troops, and his status has been unknown since.