Kila Everyn Sagaris

Age
 Class

Born in Andalus to a family of artisans, Kila showed an aptitude for leatherworking at an early age, deftly stitching armor, luggage, and clothing with little effort. She worked closely with her older sister Adrie Sagaris, a blacksmith who was tragically killed in a fire when her forge ruptured. Kila put more effort into her work to honor her sister's memory, as Adrie was known as a perfectionist to her craft.

While seeking out quality hides for her leatherworking, Kila joined a hunting party that delved deep into the woods, knowing that if she could get hides as soon as possible, she could quickly begin the tanning process and have higher quality leather. The party's hunters had been tracking a large, magnificent bull elk for 3 days when they located it in a clearing. The lead hunter let fly an arrow, quickly felling the creature. Kila set upon the carcass, quickly and deftly removing the hide when the woods went quiet around them. A figure strode from the woods into the clearing, tall and imposing, his head adorned with large antlers. The Archfey Stag King seized the party, freezing them in place as they had been caught hunting in his lands. Though this was unknown to the party, the Stag King took it as no excuse for the grievous sin of killing the elk.

The tracker's punishment came first. His faithful hounds were turned on him. The Stag King gave him 30 seconds to flee before the hounds would be released. As the man fled into the woods, the Stag King changed the hunting dogs into hell hounds, and sent them off in pursuit. The party heard the ragged scream not far off shortly after the hounds had disappeared.

The hunter who had shot the creature was quickly polymorphed into a white tail deer and the hunter's apprentice raised a bow and quickly shot it through the heart. As the apprentice had not slain the elk, his mind was blanked and he was released with his prize. The young man walked off into the woods with the deer's corpse slung over his shoulders. He would get no more than a few miles before the polymorph spell dropped and he realized his terrible error.

Kila had not slain the elk, but it had not truly died before she set about her work. The Stag King telekinetically raised Kila's flaying knives and began performing on her what she had done to the elk before she had been halted. With the precision of her own skill, the knives quickly began slicing and removing her skin. She felt her arm and leg bones snap before they were removed from her body. She pleaded with the Stag King to kill her as quickly as he had the others. The archfey chastised the elf, stating that her intent to use the hide long after for clothing and adornments meant he would do her that same courtesy. She had butchered creatures many times before to obtain their hides. She knew every step of the process, and felt each step in grisly detail as the few inflicted it on her while the fey kept her alive.

The process would slowly begin to reverse itself, though simply started again once completed. Kila lost track of how many times they fey lord flayed her alive, shattering her mind and leaving the artisan scarred and a shadow of herself. She was allowed to black out after an indeterminate amount of time, but awoke still in the presence of the Stag King. The Maelstrom around the lands that would become New Avalon had been breached. The powerful magic there had kept out even the Archfey, and the Stag King was curious. Kila was given a choice. Endure her torture further until the fey tired of her and cast her into the 9 Hells, or sign a pact, pledging to serve the Archfey as an emissary to the new lands. She would serve their will there and in exchange, be freed from her torment. She did not hesitate.

Though freed, her body bore the heavy scars of her flaying knives, cutting maps into her skin. Her damaged psyche showed her hallucinations over and over of her body coming apart at these seams. She was sent back to her workshop. In a deranged panic, she began to tear apart and shred her previous work. Clothing that had been artfully stitched was torn to shreds, saddlebags, armor, and decorations were reduced to nothing. She took these scraps and frantically stitched, buckled, and nailed them together, crafting a patchwork suit of leather and steel. She stitched the suit closed over her body, leaving no flesh exposed up to her neck. A steel and leather mask covered the lower half of her face. The suit was sturdy, though no longer the triumph of form and function for which she was known. The patches were held tightly together with heavy straps and buckles, placed haphazardly in her manic state, for surely if the suit were removed, her body would fall to pieces. She felt herself compelled and returned to the woods, where the Stag King greeted his new emissary.

She found herself quickly transported through a vast network of plant life, tumbling out on a beach she knew nothing of. The topography was unfamiliar, though that became unimportant when she turned and found herself inches from the eyes of a great sapphire dragon. So she was taken into the service of the gem dragons, the once proud artisan now enslaved and without direction. All she had was her suit of panic and fear ridden armor, and a pair of steel flaying knives, with an inscription on the blades.

"May the fruits of my labor aid you in yours. Love, Adrie."