Darius Leopold

"*One of my favorite characters. Deliciously evil, but a good ally to have so as long as you're not on his dinner list. 'What did you expect him to do? It's like having a pet raptor and expecting it to not eat people'" - Dustin Sochacki, depicting the dilemma between Ghrolok and Darius killing the Children of Chrome.*

Darius is a vampire, formerly a human who was killed in his early 30’s by a purebred vampire from the *Shadowfell* and was turned into vampire spawn. Darius roamed the lands in his early vampirism for roughly 40 years before his master was slain by the *Luminara Witch Hunters*. Due to reasons unknown, Darius did not exfoliate when his master was slain and evolved into an enhanced vampire. He regained free will and overcame many of a vampire’s shortcomings. The same witch hunters who slayed his master hunted him as well and eventually managed to curse him with a holy tome that blackened upon incantation during an attempt to slay him. The tome would later be called the *Tome of Ten Thousand Deaths*. The witch hunter’s failed to kill Darius and he escaped with the tome in hand after discovering the means of the curse. Several years after escaping, he became a cohort of *The Scarlet State* and became a scholar while also being a bodyguard for *Marcus Scarlet*. However, Darius was defeated during the war with the Krothanian clan and was believed to be dead. He was bestowed the highest honor and had his corpse placed in the luxurious tomb of Marcus and Emberlyn Scarlet.

Darius remained in the tomb of the *Scarlet Crypt* for several centuries until *Arizu Valbis* and *Ghrolok Stonecrusher* explored the tomb in search for the Tome of Ten Thousand Deaths. Ghrolok picked up the tome and was overtaken by a mysterious infatuation to open and read it. Upon doing so, the blood red pages cut him and took a small amount of his blood which awoke Darius once more but in a weakened state. Ghrolok suffered the same infatuation once more before Darius regained complete consciousness. Darius explained to Arizu and Ghrolok the meaning behind the tome and some world lore regarding the Scarlet State. However, Darius suffers memory loss of his past due to his great slumber and was baffled at the advancement of time that has passed since his last memory. Darius joined the party and escorted them to the destroyed castle of the Scarlet State in order to find funds to purchase the *Razer Onyx* from *The Black Hand*.  Throughout their adventures, Arizu and Ghrolok occasionally would learn more lore about Darius by reading the Tome of Ten Thousand Deaths. Darius became infamous for a comical bit where he would always seek out the dungeons of towns the party strolls through after Ghrolok gave him permission to devour criminals within them. Darius’ life was threatened at one point during the party’s travel through *Kelthnir’s Crossing* due to being assaulted by a pack of witch hunters, but was saved by the party.

Ghrolok discovered the first excerpt of Darius’ tome during the *Assault on Mount Spire* after Darius fed off the injured of the battlefield. The new information depicted that he had been slain when he was human by a vampire lord in a clan named Lysander, thus making him vampire spawn.

Ghrolok discovered the second excerpt of Darius’ tome while traveling through *The Frosted Steppes* after Darius devoured a village of underdwellers. The new information depicted Darius’ clergy with Myvanywy and his worshipping of her. Her ways were that of self preservation, ambition and wisdom. Through her blessings, Darius felt as if she guided him to do whatever feels right for him and never be afraid to be himself. Ghrolock quickly met his demise afterwards since him and Darius came to a major dispute regarding Darius eating an entire village of people who called themselves the *Children of Chrome*. The dispute lead to Darius slaying Arizu and Ghrolock in their sleep after falsely departing from the party when they left the Frosted Steppes. Darius spared *Shelaighleh* and made a pact with *Lucian*.

Lucian and Darius quested for answers to their curses for a couple of weeks before learning of the rumors about the prophecy of *Mask*. This lead to them discovering that the cloak of Mask specializes in thwarting curses which the two actively sought the legendary item. This lead them to gain the company of *Yestow* who sought ownership of the cloak once they were done with it. The three weaved their way through *Bervaque*to hunt for information on the cloak's whereabouts and eventually discovered that it might be located in a forgotten ruin called *Nightkeep**.* The three overcame several puzzles and sentries before discovering the cloak for themselves. However right after, *Armament*, *Bwart*, Shelaighleh, *Talon*, *Thalnik Ulmrus* and *Zikore Raug* entered the location as well. Thalnik stated that Kaiden Armov desired to speak with Darius and that he sought the fealty of Darius in his *Blood Knight* order. Shelaighleh also emotionally demanded answers for their time with Arizu and Ghrolok which Darius confirmed the details she suspected. Darius agreed to join Thalnik's Blood Knights if he could stop him from leaving the cave which ensued a duel involving everyone. Most notably was the insane duel of strength between Bwart and Yestow who collapsed the floor beneath everyone. Once Darius was satisfied with the duel, he yielded and pledged fealty to Thalnik. Lucian placed a small curse on Thalnik so they could telepathically communicate and the parties went their separate ways.

Prolonged exposure to the cloak of Mask caused Lucian's mental state to deteriorate to the point that Trin was able to overtake his body completely. Due to Trin's innate mental instability, he became chaotic and attacked Darius and Yestow. Darius attempted to calm Lucian/Trin down, but failed and made the choice to kill him. Darius then set out with extreme caution when handling the cloak and began looking for others to bear the burden for him.

### Myvanwy

Darius occasionally speaks an incantation to a divine being named Myvanwy. The incantation bestows divine power upon his blade enabling his longsword to glow a bright, radiant light and deal an additional 1d10 Radiant damage, 1d10 Force damage and 1d10 Psychic damage. Darius worshipped Myvanwy during his human life as she encourages her followers to do whatever feels right for them and never be afraid to be themselves. Darius sheds caution upon asking for her help and only beckons for her blessing during desperate times.