Narid Ashplantt

> *"Narid Ashplantt, you see darkness that others don't, but is it from without or* *within? You will do well, but will you do good?" -- Madam Eva*
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> *"The grave calls my name, but fear does not wash over me. I am not a chosen one, I am not unique, and nothing ends when I am gone. Hope will burn eternal." -- Narid Ashplantt to Count Strahd von Zarovich*
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Kavan **Narid Ashplantt** is a human adventurer from the Cosarchian Kingdom. He is a follower of the Morninglord and Kavan's successor as leader of the Mountainfolk of Kavanen, bearing his name as an honourary title.

Narid is the younger brother of adventurer Mocic Ashplantt and grandson of retired adventurer Zemli Dubovoye.

He was brought to Barovia by the powerful vampire wizard Count Strahd von Zarovich and was a leader of the force that defeated him at the Battle of Ravenloft.

## History

### Early life

The second son of Levo and Olga Ashplantt, Narid was born in 1472 DR in the village of Sedossa of the Cosarchian Kingdom. He is the middle child of three, with Mocic his older brother and Ekatia his younger sister.

Levo Ashplantt was a cobbler by trade, however when merchants from Cosarchia City moved into the village their cheap imported goods put Levo out of business and he was forced to take up work on a local farm. When Narid was 12 his father fell ill and could not work, so Narid's older brother, Mocic, left the Cosarchian cavalry without leave to support the family. Shortly afterwards he was falsely implicated into a plot against the ruling Ronamy dynasty and was deported into the Cosarchian wastelands to the notorious Kirkis labour camp.

When Narid was 14 he and his family left the Cosarchian Kingdom and fled to faraway Gerogeff town to start a new life away from the accusations and aspersions. Despite hoping for a quiet life, Narid and his family had unwittingly moved to a town besieged by nightly waves of undead attackers. Narid was forced to take up arms despite his young age and help the town try and rid itself of the infestation.

### Barovia

#### Into the mists

In 1492 DR whilst conducting scouting duties in the mountains outside Gerogeff Narid was swept away by a thick mist which transported him to the valley of Barovia. When he became aware of his surroundings again he met Hallgrimm Mikkenson and Sigismund "the Bold". Together they began trekking through the valley in search of answers and a way home.

After a brutal battle against a pack of wolves Narid fell unconscious and was awoken by Strahd himself. Following this encounter Narid noticed he had gained significantly more body hair and over time would notice several other physiological changes, believing Strahd to have infected him with lycanthropy. Jenny Greenteeth later told Narid that he was afflicted by a polymorph curse rather than lycanthropy, and after the encounter with Morgantha and the other night hags in the windmill Morgantha removed some of the physical aspects of this curse from Narid.

The wounded party spent an evening in Barovia Village and were asked by the new Burgomaster Ismark Kolyanovich to take his sister Ireena Kolyana to the safety of Vallaki to escape the clutches of Count von Zarovich, who had taken an interest in her.

The party made it to Vallaki and whilst Sigismund spent the night in the stocks Narid and Hallgrimm made merry at the Blue Water Inn, where Narid enjoyed an evening with a local girl named Marta Dilisnya. In Vallaki the party sought to assist Father Lucien of the Church of St Andral in retrieving the bones of St Andral and restoring the grounds' hallowed nature. Their attempts were in vain and they were unable to prevent the Feast, fighting alongside the town guard against Strahd and his superior forces.

#### Cleric of the Morninglord

After the devastation of the Feast Narid and his companions set off for Krezk, where they would visit the Abbey of St Markovia. Tragedy struck on the way there as the party encountered a group of giant snakes. The party dispatched of the snakes but not before Ireena was fatally wounded. They rushed her to Krezk to see if the Abbot would be able to heal her, however he handed her over to Strahd in an attempt to make Strahd happy. The party were unable to best him in the brief combat that ensued after he delivered this news.

Whilst at the consecrated grounds the party managed to locate the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, which along with the holy site on which they stood lead Narid to have a religious awakening. He began to worship the Morninglord, being bestowed with the power of light and gaining the ability to channel the Morninglord's divinity.

After Krezk the party travelled south to the Wizards of the Wine, where they were to find druids occupying the Martikovs' property. Two of the druids were killed but one escaped and appeared to head south to Yester Hill. Narid would go with Hallgrimm to investigate Yester Hill and see if they could locate any of the Martikovs' missing magical gems. On the route to Yester Hill Narid became paranoid that two ravens following them were druids in wildshaped form, and threw a silvered sword at one, getting a direct hit. The raven was one of the Martikov children - revealing the Martikovs to be wereravens. Ezmerelda d'Avenir was at hand to assist and used a spell scroll to revive the child.

As the three of them approached Yester Hill it was apparent that some kind of ceremony was taking place, with Ezmerelda noting that there appeared to be an unusually large gathering of druids, likely to be in order to gather power for some large summoning, which Narid suggested could be Wintersplinter. They were able to defeat the druids and prevent their ritual being completed, and as Hallgrimm and Narid turned to leave Yester Hill, Kavan's spirit called out to Narid and asked him to take his spear. Narid dug into one of the ceremonial cairns and located the Blood Spear of Kavan.

#### Heroes outcast

During the Festival of the Blazing Sun Narid, Hallgrimm, Sigismund, and Vassili van Holtz interfered with Baron Vargis Vallakovich's attempt to burn the Wachter family alive in front of a packed audience, and then, without Vassili, fled Vallaki to the South. During the commotion Sigismund was killed by Izek Strazni, and Narid was overcome by bloodlust and killed three guards that were trying to prevent them from escaping with the Wachters. Their deaths weigh heavily on him. After deep prayer during which Narid asked what he could do to prove his faith and win forgiveness from the Morninglord he saw a light shine down over the area Krezk lies, which he interpreted as meaning his duty is to reclaim the Abbey of St Markovia for the Church and remove the Abbot.

Before Narid and Hallgrimm set out to help find a missing girl they encountered a tiefling, Eklyre Temere, who appeared unable to control regular wild magic surges. As the three of them set out on their way they were attacked by a group of giant spiders. During the battle Eklyre accidentally opened a portal to the Nine Hells, from which five winged spine devils emerged, one of which returning to Hell, the other four flying off to the East in search of a demon.

The party were able to locate the missing Arabelle on Lake Zarovich and Hallgrimm recovered her from being thrown into the lake by Bluto Krogarov. The following morning they set out to Argynvostholt where they were able to locate and free the two dusk elves, Saveed and Camus, who had gotten trapped there whilst searching for Arabelle.

They were sent an invisible carriage to take them to Castle Ravenloft to dine with Strahd, where they gleaned that he had brought them here so that one of them could prove themselves worthy to take his place. He also confided that he believed one of his three brides was working against him and tasked the party with finding out who that was. After determining that the spy was the spellcaster Ludmilla, the party opted to lay the blame with Volenta, his most fervent ally, and managed to defeat her in battle atop one of the castle's spires after driving a stake through her heart. Before they could destroy the body for good Strahd arrived and removed her body, and then attempted to take the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. However, with help from the mephits summoned by Eklyre and with Hallgrimm's thunderwave knocking Strahd from the top of the spire, they managed to escape successfully.

#### Heroes armed

During the course of the day in Ravenloft the party discovered that Strahd is adept at scrying, which is one of the main ways he has been able to see so much throughout the valley, and he displayed this ability for the party by showing them what Morgantha's coven were putting into their pies - children. With this information the party elected to pay a second visit to the windmill. The battle started well as the party ambushed Bella, weakening her greatly, however as Morgantha and Ophelia joined the fray things turned against them. Narid was put to sleep, Hallgrimm was knocked unconscious, and Eklyre, although healthy, struggled to reach the hags with his attacks as a result of having polymorphed into a giant ape.

One of Eklyre's mephits was able to wake Narid. Before him he saw Hallgrimm slumped at the feet of Morgantha, and Ophelia in the process of treating Bella's wounds. Narid summoned the divinity to cast a guiding bolt worthy of the Morninglord himself, far exceeding anything Narid had cast before, and it proved fatal to Morgantha. As she fell Bella attempted to flee but she could not escape the giant ape Eklyre, and the party successfully cheated death once more to rescue the two children cowering upstairs and rid the land of the night hags.

The party's next gruelling encounter would come the following day, upon investigating the den of the Children of the Mother Night it became apparent they were a tribe of werewolves. Narid, Hallgrimm, and Eklyre successfully isolated the pack with extreme skill and were able to defeat them all, with Narid landing the killing blow on the leader Kiril Stoyanovich.

This same day after returning the captured Elvir Martikov to his home the Wizards of the Winery was attacked by Wintersplinter. The three of them, alongside Zrazire Caluhazan defeated the giant tree blight and its army. The following day the three of them made the treacherous ascent up Mount Gakis and reached the Amber Temple. On the journey they were able to rescue two mountainfolk children from yetis and a demonic shoosuva, before encountering a roc atop the mountain. After hitting the roc with a number of arrows the roc grasped Narid and dropped him from the top of the mountain. As he fell to the ground he loosed a blistering guiding bolt, striking with enough energy to force to Roc to flee, before being rescued by Eklyre and Khazan from falling to his doom.

Inside the Amber Temple the party managed to obtain Strahd's Tome and escaped with their lives after a ferocious battle with the temple's guardian, Nefaron. Whilst using Baratok Tower's anti-magic field to read the tome unmolested they were ambushed by Anastrasya Kerelova and three vampire spawns, and invoking the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind's power of sunlight the party were able to defeat the attackers. Anastrasya's body was not burned up by the sunlight like the other vampires, so her body was wrapped in chains and tossed to the bottom of the running Raven River to ensure her form could not recover without assistance.

Next the party headed for Berez where they were able to defeat and kill Baba Lysaga and reconsecrate the swamp fane, taking away some of the powers Strahd had granted himself. They travelled west to Yester Hill and encountered a wendigo underground, which they dispatched, before it was time for Strahd and Ireena's wedding.

At Ravenloft Ireena made it clear to Narid in private that she did not want the ceremony to take place and she would give anything to be free and Narid could not stand by and allow it to happen, and caused a commotion during the vows which lead to him being dragged away into the dungeons. He was forced into trial by combat against Escher, and as well as recovering the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind from one of the Martikovs he was able to hold his own against the vampire and escape using one of the heartstones of the hags, utiliting the ethereal plane.

#### Heroes of Ravenloft

See the Battle of Ravenloft.

Narid was one of the leaders of the force which assaulted Castle Ravenloft, and throughout the battle and pursuit of Strahd Narid's channelling of the Morninglord via the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind as well as his agility were key weapons throughout. His quick thinking to goad Strahd out of hiding using the Tome of Strahd was pivotal in preventing von Zarovich from resting and allowed him to be outnumbered, using up more and more energy to try to retreat.

Using his raw pace it was Narid that was able to recover the stolen Sword of Sunlight from Arrigal and Rahadin during the ambush at the spire bridge, and during the final showdown his quick thinking to pin Strahd to the ground using an immovable rod forced Strahd to transform into a vulnerable bat to escape, putting him on the backfoot for the final time as he was never able to gain the initiative again.

As Strahd eventually turned into mist to escape through the castle walls it was Khazan that created a magical door to allow pursuit of him, Cawran that hit him with a final blast to force a retreat to his coffin, Narid that paralysed him with the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, and Hallgrimm that blew him to smitherines with the Sword of Sunlight. Count Strahd von Zarovich was no more.

The day following the battle Narid arrived in Vallaki just in time for Marta to give birth to their son, Yakov Kavanovich Ashplantt-Dilisnya.

## Appearance

Narid is of above average height and has well-defined muscles. He has medium length dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Narid has deep scars running down across his chest and stomach following the first encounter with Morgantha's coven of night hags. His body and facial hair has grown thick since arriving in Barovia, and he has grown rabbit ears from the top of his head which he initially covered with a cloak but recently stopped hiding them.

## Personality

Generally a logical thinker, Narid can often be said to drift towards paranoia and will often spend too much time focusing on the significance of ultimately irrelevant details. He is protective of, and loyal to, his family, and has become devoted more deeply to the cause of championing good since his conversion to the Church of the Morninglord.

## Relationships

Narid is close to, and very protective of, his family risking his life at a young age in an attempt to help protect them from foes exceeding his abilities.

Narid has formed a friendship with Hallgrimm during their time in Barovia. His relationship with fellow adventurer Sigismund was less straightforward, as he often felt Sigismund's actions at times were reckless and ill-thought out, and often selfish.

Although he and Eklyre began on good terms, since Eklyre became corrupted by the Dark Powers and he attempted to take Narid's hair by force, Narid began to question whether he could trust Eklyre, his judgement, or his intentions.

He shows great reverence to His Holiness Father Lucien, and the prophecised greatest ally in the Barovian struggle Archwizard Khazan.

He is venerated as Kavan reborn by the mountainfolk of Kavanen and he values the ferocity and loyalty of the tribe, finding solace in their remote lifestyle.

## Abilities

Narid is primarily skilled as a ranger, and additionally has been bestowed abilities as a cleric since his adventures within Barovia.

His hearing has become improved since the polymorph curse was cast on him, and in addition he has become much quicker on his feet. He has however developed an innate fear of fire which he struggles to steel himself against during battle. He is vulnerable to fire damage, but resistant to cold, bludgeoning and necrotic damage.

He is adept at learning languages and speaks common, dwarvish, elvish, sylvan, and most recently learnt infernal from Eklyre.

## Goals

### Short term

* Determine Barovia's place in time and space
* Hunt down residual vampiric presence in the valley

### Long term

* Head out with Mocic, Marta, and Yakov to find family
* Establish the mountainfolk of the new defenders of the Amber Temple
* Learn terran
* Reconsecrate the Church of St Andral
* Defeat the Abbot