Lyle Tealeaf

Lyle Tealeaf

Ghostwise Halfling

Cleric of Trickery

Lyle was the son of
a poor peasant family and never knew the pleasantries of modern
living. Tilling the fields and tending to the livestock were all he
knew, except the fanciful stories he fabricated to himself as he
toiled his days away.

One day a nobleman’s
carriage, on its way to the big city, broke down. This was his
chance, Lyle thought. He approached the nobleman and, putting on his
best noble persona that he had been rehearsing, struck up a
conversation. He convinced the distressed nobleman that he was the
mayor of his humble village and that he would help the nobleman
repair his carriage. He whistled for one of his servants (his younger
brother) and ordered that he repair the broken wheel. While his
brother begrudgingly made the repair, Lyle befriended the noble, and
was promptly invited to join him on the last leg of his journey; Lyle
of course agreed.

Once they reached
the city, Lyle was quickly introduced to many of the powers-at-be and
his wit and friendliness quickly earned some favor among the upper
echelons. After a few months in the city making more and more
powerful friends, an old woman approached him. She told him that she
was an emissary of the Goddess Sulla and that she had “paved his
way to this place.” Lyle was confused, but he went to brush past
the woman and continue on his way, his arm passed right through her.
“You owe our mistress a great debt, little one.” Lyle asked the
woman what her ‘mistress’ wanted to which the woman replied, “she
needs a favor. Your size makes you perfect for it.” Lyle tried to
pry more information from her, but all the woman said was, “You
will know what she wants when you see it.”

About a year went by
after this strange encounter and Lyle had taken up classes at the
university such as Ancient History, Natural Science, Public Speaking
and Linguistics. During this time he came across some interesting
writings about the phases of the moon and the old Lunar Calendar.
There seemed to be a pattern in some historical writ that
corresponded to some rarer lunar occurrences; a discovery he put
aside for his eventual dissertation.

In the summer after
his year at university he met a knight and his company on their way
to Alistair’s Stand. The Knight offered to take him with them
saying, “His size would find much use in the North-lands.” This
statement caught his attention. Upon greater inspection, the knight
bore a symbol on his pauldron of a crescent moon over a field of many
stars. Lyle, intrigued by this knight’s imagery and his familiar
statement, decided to go with him. He told the knight he needed the
evening to get his things in order, but that he would follow.

He withdrew from
university, wrote some farewell notes to his friends and set out the
next morning in the hopes of getting some answers. Along the way
their caravan was ambushed, and the knight was gravely wounded. Lyle
heard a voice like a crystal bell whisper in his ear, “Your first
miracle as my servant. Now begins your repayment...” Lyle felt a
surge of inexplicable desire to place his hand on the knight, and
when he did the wound began to close. The other knights and squires
were amazed and began murmuring about him being “Moon touched.”
The silvery voice whispered once again in Lyle’s ear, “this is
only the beginning, little one. Keep following my voice, and I will
lead you through the darkness with my light.” Lyle, confused,
looked up at the sky and saw that the moon that night had been
flaring red; a phenomena he had noticed in his history books in times
of great strife. All he could think to himself was, “what have I
gotten myself into?”