Eppa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyQpP1zjEG8

## The Dragon's Passing

### The original reason for him being present in Skyhope.

Being a follower of Gelledon, the Forest's Heart, seeing the last breathing Dragon in the flesh was a religious experience he felt he had to experience. Knowing that He would pass over the landmass of Skyhope, he left Virizion and travelled to this unknown Isle by Skyship and began his adventure in Southmark. From there, he travelled north with a caravan that travelled the Fool's Road, but he and his fellow travelers became the targets of a group of marauders called the Bloodfeast Raiders. Left alive as a curiosity he was imprisoned in an enchanted cell in the band's hidden hideout in the abandoned town of Aery. The then party also found themselves there, having to experience their first Hiverock Passing in the only fortified position in the area, and luckily stumbled upon his cell. He followed after them to get revenge on the Bandits and due to learning that they came from a plane filled with dragons, one he would probably enjoy visiting.

### Foreboding Visions:

#### Prelude to ruination

During his travels towards Goldenview, Eppa experienced a seemingly Gelledon-induced vision. In it he found himself in a massive Skyhope city that could only compare itself to Southmark. Seeing magical obelisks and massive constructions that had previously been described to him during his travels, Eppa realized he was in First Landing. Still the majesty of the supposed capital seemed diminished. Depowered magically, with a concerningly small amount of people running around it's streets, it looked more like a ghost-town, yet, as time passed the reason for the quiet made itself heard. Two gargantuan wings beating, a distant rumble and magical energy suffusing the area were the only clues Eppa needed to realize he was somehow witnessing the Dragon's Passing.

As he tried to get a good vantage point to see the last still breathing dragon, his pendant, imbued with his God's magic subtly shifted his attention to a figure quickly climbing on an obelisk. The man, who he later knew to call Artevic, then proceeded to jump off the construction, destroying it in the process and propelling himself towards the Dragon as it flew over the land. Seemingly jumping on thin air, the man drew an enormous sword probably hidden in some kind of dimensional storage and zeroed in on the scaled calamity, slashing it's neck. This, of course, upset the Dragon.

The first roar flattened all wooden constructions in the city, forcing Eppa to huddle back as it took his hearing away. He felt the second only as a tremor, his vision going bloodshot as the blood vessels in his eyes popped and he the pressure forced him to the ground. Finally, with what remained of his vision, he witnessed a torrent of purple, boiling and magically potent blood wash away the city and him along with it.

#### A dream at hand

In front of Mycellium might, Eppa became enveloped in a vision once again. It seemingly picking off where he last fainted.

This vision is shorter, but no less foreboding. Drowned and blinded by the dust of demolished stone, Eppa's body felt different, unfathomably powerful and radically changed. A cursory exploration and flexing revealed the results of exposure to the Dragon's power. He could feel his neck becoming elongated, his shell receding and replaced by spines and newly sprouted wings shaking of a primordial molt. For all intents and purposes he seemed to have achieved his lifelong dream, attaining a Dragonic form.

Yet as the dust cleared further and he starts adjusting to his new senses, he begins to notice the fallout in the city around him as the vision ends.

#### A nightmare in the making

As Dragonspeaker Isandra begins to orate for a gaggle of Dragonborn faithful just before the party embark towards Fissival.

Aftermath is a mild word. There is no massive corpse, not even a wing. The city suffered and now lays half ruined. Roads have been flooded by glowing blood, neighborhoods torched by dragonfire and most buildings reduced to rubble, simply due to the Dragon's pained screams. Truesight, a legendary sense few creatures can boast of having, makes sure Eppa witnesses what happens under it all. His gigantic frame and seemingly stable disposition is not what form the blessing took for every resident. Malformed dragonic figures lurk in the rubble, mindlessly hunting and killing anything that moves yet Eppa spots what happens when a tragedy is much more distilled. What previously was a well-off home now lays in shambles. A crying mutated girl can be seen, her newly grown claws stained with blood and her sight mad. She impaled herself on a piece of masonry as she attempts to reach a young child begging her to stop, a slain male figure disembelowed and half eaten lying close to them.

As Eppa takes everything in he can hear voices as guards start to appear, but their goals do not seem to align with what he expects as they take aim at him and the other victims. It seems those that transformed are given no quarter and the why of it becomes apparent when Eppa tries to move to protect the destroyed family.

Horrid voices echo in his mind, calls to violence, madness as well as a feeling of insurmountable grief shatter any mental barrier he tries to put up. His vision cuts off, but his body does not stop moving, bowling over anything and anyone its wake. Even his magic is unstable, despite his attempts at regulation as the moment he tries to heal the girl, her body bursts at the seems.

Horrified, he flees, only to be chased down until he can run no longer, peppered by magic and arrows, but finding himself mostly unaffected. Suddenly that changes as, for the first time, he feels the sharp bite of steel into his flesh as something seems to have climbed on him and began stabbing him. Needing to shake them off, he takes flight and unleashes his breath attack on the creature, incinerating to the bone. yet it seems he has taken too much damage, but also that reinforcements have arrived as thick roots sprout from the earth and drag him to the ground. As he lies there, a newly sprouted tree chocking the life out of him, the druids approach the corpse and revive it, revealing a still-scorched Brigialir Reinheart. Cursory healing is applied as the man re-arms himself, cautiously approaching Eppa. Despite everything, Eppa notices a sliver of recognition in the man's silver eyes, but it is quickly replaced by a hurt expression. He feels the bite of steel one last time and re-awakens.

#### Closer to reality, yet furthest from the truth.

As Eppa's feet touch the muddy earth of the marshlands around Stillwater.

This time, it is all different. Gone are the auspicious spires of First Landing and the tragic fate of its citizens. Eppa finds himself in an empty expanse of dead, muddy earth, stretching forever and seemingly filled with nothing. Plunging himself in the mud, by using the Path of Grondmeer, he hears the sobbing cries of millions, and can even feel innumerable hands try to grasp his intangible body. Emerging from the muck, he notices a change in the scenery. Light.

Blinding at first, it mellows out to the shine of a cloudless afternoon, with a now familiar scenery becoming visible once more. The capital, still whole, as it was when he had his first vision. Yet details are off. He is given an observers perspective and from far enough away, it all looks off. The buildings seem fake, like overlarge theater setpieces. Laughing shadows coalesce into the young girl and old man from his first dream, dispersing into nothingness as they touch the darkness of the realm, exiting the stage after having said their lines. This looks fabricated, but for who's benefit?

Mulling is disturbed as a new sound puts any suspicions on the backburner. The steady cadence of massive wings, frantically flapping, carrying a massive shape towards the cleric. The rhythm is disturbed by a booming, rough voice:

"Beware her tricks Eppa, none of this is as it looks"

No sooner than it speaks, the figure falls to the muddy ground as the dead earth comes to life. Horrid root like silhouettes climb out of the earth and quickly cover the being, dragging it away from the light and cleric. Eppa gives chase, but he notices that the being is not only being dragged away, but also downwards, soon disappearing from view, the place it was dragged into sealing as if nothing ever disturbed it.

Silence falls once again in this dead place.

#### Rise, faithful, your journey does not end.

As Eppa falls into a defeated slumber. His prayers unanswered, his powers gone, his faith hanging in a precarious balance, more shaken than ever.

Once more, he finds himself in the dead marsh his previous dream took him in and this time, he seems to be truly alone. And stuck. He roams the dead wastes for who knows how long, progressively getting more tired from exposure. As time passes his only company seems to be the crying masses that lurk under the murk, but that abruptly changes when he hears the voices of the two people he least expected: his long gone parents Nakki and Wiru.

A scene from his past replays in front of him. His parents are about to leave for their final pilgrimage and he gets a chance to say his goodbyes again knowing the fate that awaits them. In his despair, he even asks to join them, yet they rebuff him, claiming he still has a Ring to destroy, before moving away. Unable to act he notices as root-like tendrils rise from the muck, someone visible despite everything and begin covering his parents. Once more he is unable to stop their death. He attempts to enter the bog himself, not wanting to live anymore. Yet someone stops him, just as he is about to give up again. A robust, furred hand draws him up and he sees the face of Yorrel Ironside, ruined by the fires of Esperia, yet still talking to him.

The dead man claims that he could not leave Eppa alone, at least not before he pays him what his services to Rhoden are worth. To Eppa's horror he quotes the bounty on Lynn's head and begins counting out toys. As Eppa attempts to rebuff him, the two dead Clansguard appear to force him to accept the gold, despite their nightmarishly ruined bodies. Unfortunately things get worse when he hears a voice he had only heard in his mind before.

Lynn, her silhouette in his periphery, as soldiers hunt her. The young woman cries for help, her pleas escalating in tandem with the despair. She starts with the guards, saying that there are no bandits here, to no avail, then Tune, apologizing for not being more careful and wishing they could save her again, then she moves on a darker track, begging Scias Vossen himself, the man who mutilated and tortured her, for help. Yet, as an arrow pierces her leg and she falls on the ground, nobody answers her pleas. The soldiers approach her, insulting her and wondering how they will split the money she is worth, before killing her, slowly, as Eppa watches, the dead Clansguards preventing him from intervening.

Once more silence falls in the swamp, the specters of the dead retreating in the ground, only for another to take their place. This one looks a lot like Artevic. yet his stay is short, as blinding light erupts from behind Eppa, scorching the being pretending to be Artevic from existence. Behind him, the cleric feels a thing he assumed lost, the presence of his God, this time closer than ever.

And his God, apologises.

Gelledon explains why he took Eppa's divine powers away. He claims that this nightmare realm is one Bellavierr has trapped him in, but also one she seldom visits, unless it is to trap someone else inside it. He asserts that their time is brief and that he is under a restrictive contract with the Witch, which puts a lot of things in perspective. The entire Lifegiver's faith has been corrupted by the Witch and whilst allies exist, those that refused her allure and managed to survive, but they are few and mostly found in Virizion. He apologises for the lack of satisfactory answers but gives Eppa his first and only decree: If he wants to find the truth of the founding of Virizion, the reason for the demise of the Dragons and the existence of the Great Mother, he would have to reach what nobody had reached before: the heart of the Swamp.

To help him in this journey, Gelledon grants Eppa and his comrades a boon to assist with his cleric's corruption as well as a gift for his enduring faith.

## Chosen of Goblinhome

After the party's misadventures in Goblinhome, during which they killed the Goblin-Vorthid Hybrid, with the help of some brave Goblins, the party were celebrated as heroes and invited to party with the villagers of Kiznack and to the burial of the Goblins that recently perished. During the Chiefs funeral, Eppa was invited onto the burial plinth and accepted a fragment of Grondmeer Pathbreaker.

As the shard was passed on to him, he experienced a vision of ages past and learned of a lurking presence, Az'kerash that seemed to exercise a minor influence over the late Goblin King. He now sports a tattoo of a turtle shell protecting a goblin and some additional minor magical abilities.