Rai

Rai was a Bear Druid/Adept from Water Street’s current Pathfinder campaign In the Shadow of Zon-Kuthon.  An ally to all who revered nature over society, he fought for the protection of his way of life along with his friends. Rai lost his life and returned to the Earth protecting his party from a Stone Golem deep in the ruins outside of East Haven.

 Level
 Player

## Before the Adventure

Rai, at a young age, was once apprenticed to the local
cleric, given a predisposition to the mystical gifts of nature. Being an Adept,
he found little enjoyment for book study and holy words, and longed to be
outside within the wilds instead. At sixteen, he left the church in mild
disgrace, but having taken no offensive action other than fleeing, was not
barred passage back into New Haven.

Within the woods, Rai learned how to get in touch with
nature itself, learning his own spells and finding abilities within himself
after a chance encounter with a grizzly bear. Emulating the traits of these
graceful giants, he gained various abilities from faster movement to increased
armor to fighting with claws and teeth as sharp as the real thing before
eventually learning how to take the form of a bear himself.

Befriending fellow ranger Loam as an outsider, they lived
within the neighboring forest, surviving off the land and bringing pelts and
meat to town when available. The rest of the time, they kept mostly to
themselves out in the wilderness. Upon hearing of Baron Merdon Srek’s attempt
to lay pressure upon his hometown in increased taxes and policing, he helped
form a rebel party against the Baron alongside Loam, Cale, Strax, and Rogue.

## The Party Sets Forth

From New Haven, the party made for Lumberham, meeting an old man
along the way. His cart was attacked outside of the Dark Forest by a pack of
Worgs, which Rai and company managed to fight off. The old man regretfully
returned to nature’s fold, and the party carried on, making use of the supply cart
and even caring for the injured Worg pup Loam acquired.

Reaching Lumberham, the town was in distress over the disappearance of many
of the town’s children. After Cale woefully undersold their cart of supplies,
they proceeded to search the town for signs of the kidnappers. Daelen Kraksis, a local brewer and cleric, agreed to join them in their search,
leading them from the edge of town to the bloody tavern to a secret passage
underground where a portal to Zon-Kuthon’s realm was harvesting the missing children.
Defeating their first cultists, they return the missing children, almost get
Daelen eaten by a mimic, and gain further assistance in their new party
member and one of the Fifth of the King.

## The Sandstorm Cometh

The next stop on the way to the capitol was Cliffhome, an
unfriendly town split amongst five different influences. The Fifth claimed influence
with a guild to get the party supplies for the trip, strong-arming the party into
supplying for his troop as well. After a very tense standoff, including the
possibility of the destruction of Cliffhome’s wheat fields, they agree to
leave in only a day’s rest to avoid further dealings with the guilds.

On the trek from Cliffhome to Aelmont, the journey
became bogged down with impeding sand, gaining in strength for three days. Upon
the fourth day, they awoke to great pyramids and a vast desert where a
temperate field once stood, and the path itself broke into catacombs awaiting
beneath them.

Inside the catacombs, the Fifth of the King, Rogue and
the worg pup remained behind while Rai and the party ventured forward. A mystic
portal brought Markus and Seldeles from distant Clarion to our current
dungeon, where we fell into a Snake Cult ritual exploring a set of locked
chests. The party defeated these cultists but not before Strax was pulled
into the open portal by a hooked chain and saved by Loam.

Returning to a previous sector, Rogue met his end
attempting to disarm a trap, ambushed by fungal ambusher.  Unable to revive him, Rai carried on down the
secret passage revealed by the trap into a cavern of mummies. Escaping their
enemies, the party escaped into a lone study, where a lich was revived by
Seldeles’ search of the desk. Within the closed sarcophagus, Anar Kay lain
trapped until Rai swapped the grappled Lich for him. With the Lich’s entrapment
and apparent destruction from exposure to focused sunlight, the pyramid began to crumble
as the party escaped back into the desert.

## Aelmont

After weeks of travel, the party had finally reached the capitol
city. With Anar Kay’s blunt proposal to enter to kill the Baron, the party had to
find another way into the city – through the sewers. Given the task of
eliminating slimes, they entered to find not only slimes but more cultists to
defeat. Evading falling explosives dropped by the towns guard, the party
scattered to find Strax missing, replaced by the mysterious Corvo West.
Looking to save everyone rather than ask questions, Rai led half the party out
of the sewer until the explosions stopped. Eventually, they regrouped above
ground and found an inn called A-Horse A-Course where they set up camp to
gather information about the Baron’s doings.

Exploring the districts, the party gained leads from [[Matron
Black Veil]] and her courtesans at the brothel, as well as from Keep’s
contact, a mysterious young woman willing to expose our involvement in the
death of one of the Fifth of the King if they didn’t help her. Between a rock
and a hard place again, Rai and the party went forth to infiltrate the
Fishermen’s Guild, a group working for the Baron as strong-arm thugs.

Anar and the brothel worked together to forge invitations
to a party for these guild members in the name of the missing Fifth of the
King, drawing their attentions away from the infiltrating party. Rai, as part
of the raiders, fought his way into the Guild house after a botched initiation,
placing one clerk to sleep while escaping with another as hostage. Unable to
return to A-Horse A-Course as it was on fire, he evaded guards and met with
Daelen to stay in a slum house for the night, planning to interrogate the
girl in the morning. After failing to gain anything useful, as he was bad at
this sort of thing, he left the girl to be found by the staff and left to
rejoin the party in town somewhere.

The reunion was interrupted by the announcement of Duke Mik-Mikale McDonovan. Challenging the standing Baron to
his right to the throne, the town was attacked by Death Worms summoned
by cultists, leading to destruction to much of the slum district. Fending off
these summoned worms, Duke McDonovan gained access to the city and
followed the party to the castle through the sewers, using a path tracked by
Rai and Loam straight to the courtyards.

With West running ahead to find the Royals, Rai and the
party helped defend against intruders from another plane opened in the courtyard,
brushing with death as he dropped unconscious. Upon reawakening, he learned
that Merdon Srek was missing, the King dead and Duke McDonovan’s regime in
place.

## The Princess in Another Castle

Having saved his hometown of [New Haven] from the Baron’s
evil plan, Rai was content in his aims of the original party. Having lost
Strax, Cale, and Rogue, the call to arms had come at a great cost to his
personal friendships, but with Loam’s help, he would be able to return safely
to his old ways with some form of comfort. It was only by the urging of the new
ruler and the party themselves to join in the rescue of the Princess that Rai
agreed to one last mission to return her safely to the castle.

Setting off after Baron Srek and Clarion, the party
traveled uneventfully for a few days until reaching the edge of a great forest.
Resting for a day before adventuring through, Rai assisted Loam in tracking
down an animal companion for his friend – a young bear cub. Using his Wild
Empathy, he helped convince the mother to let Loam mentor its young and join
on our path. Completing the ritual of bonding, they returned to the campsite to
find a prison cart pulled alongside our cart, a tied up slaver, a party of
naked women as well as Anar’s new gnome cohorts Tilli and Villi. With the girls
turning out to be glamoured thugs, the party fought these intruders out of
their midst. Those that escaped were found in a clearing inside the woods along
with an intimidating Black Knight. The Knight warned the party of further
involvement and walked off into the woods.

Further into the woods, the party came upon a desolate
village of East Haven, though not uninhabited. Anar’s insistence on talking to the refugees
gained them knowledge of the Black Knight’s stranglehold over them, including
killing of those who knew of his involvement. The scared villagers asked if the
party could help them, and against Rai and Loam’s wishes the party intervened
on the town’s behalf to investigate the nearby ruins.

## The Death of Rai

The ruins led into untouched catacombs full of traps and
confusion. Interparty tension and contingency spells led to a showdown in a
mirrored room puzzle, as well as a splitting up of the party behind force
walls.  Once into further chambers,
Markus found and subsequently activated a defense mechanism - Iron Golems
and Stone Golems. With unfavorable close quarter combat and impending
flanking of these golems, Rai used his powers to transform into a Dire Bear
and attempt to make time for the party to get out of the corridors and escape.
With everyone else into the previous hallways and the return of Anar’s fallen
shield, Rai was struck down by a two handed slam from one Stone Golem, and
never rose again.

Past Characters: Cale - **Rai** - Rogue - Seldeles - Strax - West