Nellothein

"I hope this works!"

## Intro

"Nellothien,

I know this may be stupid, as you are now...no longer with us, but maybe you can read this wherever your journey has led you. I stopped writing my journals, when we were taken to this cursed dungeon. You encouraged me to keep writing, however, and I practiced. On walls and bits of stone, I wrote when and where I could. The dungeon is now covered in the tales of our adventures. Maybe they will give
others hope. Maybe they will see how bravely we fought against doubt and despair. How we faced insurmountable odds and still prevailed. Maybe not. Maybe, when this is all over, this place will cease to exist, or that vile wyrm will simply erase our legacy. Either way, we have left our mark.

No one ever saw me write...well, maybe little Nerwyne did. You'd be proud of her. She has grown
very strong. I fear she may be feeding too much of the bad wolf in her heart, but I have not lost hope. Cami and Enis are doing their best with her. She and I have even come to something of an understanding. It's more like the comradery you feel when standing beside a sword sister in the midst of battle, but it is still there. I hope, if we break free of this damned place, that I can take her on a spirit quest, and show her there is still beauty in this world, in life and death.

It's strange. I have left your body where it lay, but you have not left me. I hear you, sometimes, in the quiet nights or even in the middle of our battles. You call to me, and give me hope. More than that, you give me courage and purpose. You remind me of my oaths, to my clan, to my people, and to you. I will not fail you. Even if I die here, I will have fought with honor and bellowed my rage in the face of that rotting wyrm. I never slipped into his traps of despair. I never gave in to the lurking doubt. Even though we face our deaths, tomorrow, I face them with head high and teeth sharp, a war cry on my lips. I never cowered. I never fled. I stood, and I fought. For the Band and for you.

Yes, we face the wyrm, soon. Zanarick...what a pitiful creature. For something so noble once to fall so far is...sad. I will face him, without remorse, however. He is an obstacle. A fallen tree along my path. I will overcome him, or I will stumble and fall into the abyss. Before the day is done, he will know the name "Zorubaash". He will either curse it with his dying breath, or it will haunt him in his endless nightmares. He will know my name. He will know our war cry. If we overcome, I will grant him one last mercy. I will end his captivity. I will free him of this un-life and send him home, to his ancestors. His shackled soul deserves that much, as do they all. Whether his ancestors choose to show him mercy is not for me to know, however. I will honor him as a worthy foe. I will take a trophy of the mask he now wears and adorn our gates with his skull. Thus will he be remembered as "the vanquished". Thus I will tell the story of the wyrm who rose, only to fall again.

There is still so much I wanted to see, with you...and to say. I wanted to see your home. I wanted to smell the salty air of the sea, with you. I wanted to sing the songs of my people and to learn the ways of yours. I wanted to tell you of the glories of our children and bask in the honor that their deeds would bring us. This, however, has passed along the way, but my promise will not. I carry you with me, and if we are victorious, I will carry you home. I will bind this letter with your hair, seal it with wax, and cast it adrift from the shores of Salihafa. Maybe then it will find its way to you. Be well, on your journey, my elven sea-lily.

Your brute,

Zorubaash "Goremash" Bloodfist"

## Character Information

Nellothein was a captive of the hobgoblin nation, Hoarghast, before Zorubaash and the Band of the Noble Rat slew her captors and rescued a number of other elven slaves. Unlike the other liberated captives, however, she stayed with the Band and fell in love with odd barbarian, Zorubaash, and he with her. A rare beauty, even among other sea elves, Nellothein had pale blue skin, with vibrant purple, crimson, and gold markings on her face and along her body that would change shades, depending on her mood. She had lustrous, magenta hair, and she wore simple, flowing gowns in complimentary colors, much like a Betta fish. She wielded the power of wild magic, with devastating, and sometimes comical, results. To Zorubaash, she was a fierce beauty of the sea, who could calm even his rage or stoke his fire into an inferno. She died, in the Tomb of Zanarick, fighting alongside the Band of the Noble Rat, but she has never been forgotten.