Arannis Blanch

Arannis Blanch was born to a farmer just outside of Ellenboro. His family did not have much wealth, but they managed to make ends meet. At a young age, Arannis attended a magical theatrical show from Nixrux, and he became obsessed with learning the arcane arts after that evening.

Though his family was not wealthy, they did manage to save up enough coin to send Arannis to The Arcanum to begin his learning of magical arts. Arannis found that he was not innately talented like many of the students at The Arcanum, but he had a sharper mind than many of the other students.

During his time at The Arcanum, Arannis made several friends, but none of them were as close to him as Varrick Noblehorn. Often, Varrick and he would spend hours in the library pouring over books or stay up until the early morning discussing matters of the arcane and adventures they would go on when they graduated from school. Varrick finished school a year before Arannis, and would often write to Arannis after that about the adventures he was having and was excited at the prospect of Arannis soon being able to roam the world with him.

When Arannis had completed his schooling at The Arcanum he met with Varrick and they traveled the world together for several years. They would often get themselves into dangerous situations but quickly found that these situations could prove to be quite lucrative. It was Varrick that believed they should expand their group of two into a larger group, and so for a time Arannis and Varrick split ways with the goal of finding other likeminded adventurers.

Arannis first came into contact with Bates in The Everlasting Mountains when he was trying to fight off some stone giants that he had a misunderstanding with. Bates proved to be quite useful in combat and had a vast knowledge of the world. Arannis convinced him to leave the Unarmed Soul and together they set out to travel throughout Espen.

Arannis and Bates eventually found their way to Ellenboro, where they met the Lord to be, Norman Proch. Norm clearly did not have a taste for leadership or want to rule Ellenboro, and when the time came for him to seize his lordship he instead renounced it and left with Bates and Arannis.

The three of them met up with Varrick, who had also made a couple of friends Radelia and Ayda Faris. The six of them became known as The Vengeful Harmony. For many years they traveled the world seeking bounties, adventures, and getting into trouble now and then. Their biggest employer was a gentleman that went by the name Morticus. Morticus provided the most lucrative jobs, but there was one job that went wrong. He wished to have a book that was said to contain ancient knowledge long forgotten. The Vengeful Harmony was set to retrieve this book, but there was a lich guarding the book. The fight with this lich cost Radelia her life, and in an attempt to save her, Norm used the book to resurrect her from the dead. The book drove Norm to a wickedness that was not like his character. The Vengeful Harmony made one desperate attempt to subdue Norm, and spread whatever vileness was within him to all six members of the group. The book was then hidden away, where none of them could reach it again.

After that day The Vengeful Harmony broke up. Arannis and Bates created a new home for themselves not far from Beggar's Hole. The evil within them often taunted at their hearts, but they maintained it. Over the years Arannis and Bates had acquired several powerful items, one of them being The Deck of Many Things. Arannis knew better than to use such an item, but a pair of young halflings from Beggar's Hole did attempt to steal this item from him. One of them, Flynn Thornwick, escaped while his friend Gerdo was not so lucky. Arannis had no desire to harm the halflings, and instead put Gerdo to work for his attempted burglary.

A couple of weeks later the party meets with Arannis, as he is friends with Captain Douglas Burhorn of Ellenboro and he had sent them to Arannis to have a couple of enchanted items created. Arannis immediately recognized Flynn but did not reveal it to him until the end of their conversations. Arannis let Flynn know that Gerdo was indeed alive and on a mission for him, which the party later helped Gerdo complete. On that mission, they managed to capture Radelia and brought her back to Arannis' tower.

Since then Arannis has proven to be a friend to the party and helps clean up some of the messes the party leaves behind, such as the social distress in Ellenboro and the tornado consuming The Shimmering Peaks. He is often in contact with Jack via Sending spells where he does his best to help the party in whatever situation they may be in. He accompanied the party when they closed the portal to the air elemental plane, where they were also attacked by Radelia who wanted Arannis' blood. Afterwards, he had Bates start scouting out Varrick, while he sent Norm somewhere safe, as he believed Radelia may want his blood next.