Mishal

## Mishal Agnimitra (Ranger)

Mishal is a Fire Genasi from the village of Zheah that sits at the base of a volcano. She was born a bright, reddish copper with fiery golden locks. Her parents are two village elders, Kalen and Ember. Kalen is highly respected for his years of dedicated work with the village. Ember is a highly respected healer of the village. She cares for all the disintegrating elders that are “too burnt” out to care for themselves.

As a child, Mishal was a very curious youngster that often found herself wondering in the woods around the volcano’s perimeter. Her father often forbade her from exploring outside the village walls and forced her to join the other kids in community centered activities. He forced her to be politically correct. His pushing and pulling started to put pressure on Mishal’s personality and her appearance. At a young age, her skin started to ashen and her hair darkened. This mostly occurs in the older fire Genasi, showing the aging look of a dying fire. Her suppressed personality often led to dramatic outbursts that would cause explosive fires. Her mother knew it was Kalen’s fault for her daughter’s tormented soul, but she could do nothing to heal her daughter. She tried for so long to console her heart, but nothing worked.

One day, while wondering the village perimeter, Mishal heard a quiet whisper from above her. There was a thin, rusty red boy with dark eyes. He smiled to her. Mishal felt something pull her toward him, toward his eyes. They spoke to her in a way she had never felt before. The boy’s name was Emere. He dragged her into the woods that day and they never looked back. Every day after that, Mishal and Emere were attached at the hip. They constantly played and explored together. Emere brought out the best in Mishal. Slowly, her hair started to show golden strands.

Kalen did not agree with Emere’s influence on Mishal which grew into a deep hatred for “forcing” Mishal to be wild and unruly. After many years of adventures and constant malcontent from Kalen, Emere and Mishal get married. Two-ish years later, they discover Mishal is pregnant. Some time later, their twins, Shula and Brenton. They are both lean, reddish bronze skinned with flame hair. The four of them lived in peace with the village. Mishal grew into the council scene with her father and Emere began blacksmithing.

Shula and Brenton quickly grew into toddlers and kept Mishal very busy, but happy. One day while they were returning from a council meeting, Mishal and Ember discovered Emere severely beaten and stabbed in their home. Mishal tried her best to keep him alive while Ember prepared a healing spell, but it was too late. Emere spoke his last words, “Be strong my firefly. We will see each other again.” His hand slid off her face, dragging his blood down her cheek. To keep Mishal from burning down the house, Ember dragged her out, screaming. Shula and Brenton wailed from outside as Mishal cried and screamed clutching her mother.

Mishal spent the next few days in a grieving almost comatose state. An investigation of Emere’s death began and ended in less than two days. The council agreed that the murderer could not be found, and his death was accidental. Mishal went into a fit of rage and demanded something more be done. The elders refused saying that they had wasted all their time and resources. Even her father, denied further investigation. Mishal believed this was her father's final blow to their relationship. Mishal was brokenhearted and in her anger, she accidentally set the meeting hall on fire. Her emotional outbursts have finally come back to bite her. As the fire grew, the elders were rushed out to safety. Mishal’s father had stayed to rescue two elders when a beam fell, trapping them in the fire. Her father rushed out to safety and stood with the others as the roof caved in, crushing the elders.

Mishal was arrested and put to trial two days later. She was found guilty of accidental manslaughter for provocation without reason. She was banished from Zheah and forbidden to see her children for their own safety.

Mishal fled her village with minimal supplies and traveled to the Bal Mountain Range. Deep in the forest, Mishal found a small wooden cabin that her mother had told her of as a child. An Earth Genasi Wizard that her mother had once known used to live there but died years before. She spent a while living in her grief, letting it consume her. One day, while she was observing a few fawns galloping in the trees, a broad horned owl swooped down to rest on the chimney. It seemed unbothered by Mishal’s presence but particularly interested in her bowl of snake soup. A few minutes later, the owl perched itself on the post next to Mishal, keeping its eyes forward but very close to her half empty bowl. Mishal watched as it slowly turned its head to look at her then snapped back towards the fawns. Mishal laughed and gave the bowl to him. He returned a few days later and had stayed since. Mishal named him Screech for how he calls right before attacking a mouse or snake. She uses him as a messenger owl and as a traveling companion.

After being in the mountains for three years, Mishal has developed a basic understanding of archery and small hand tools in order to survive by hunting and gathering. She visits the cities near the cabin to get supplies she can’t grow or collect in the forest. One day, Screech brings her a letter from her mother. It tells of how the village is doing and how Shula and Brenton have had their first sibling fight and almost burnt the house down.

The letter seems happy until her mother tells of how one of the elders had passed the weekend before. On his death bed, he apologized for withholding information on Emere’s murder case, claiming that he could not bear to hold someone he loved so dearly responsible for such a terrible crime, but that hopefully, one day, the suspect would come forward so that he may rest at peace. Mishal had concurred her overwhelming grief and dealt with night terrors every now and then, but hearing this news, especially from an elder that she trusted, sent her into a rage. She destroyed over half of her belongings and accidentally set part of the cabin on fire. She tried to put it out, but it quickly became out of control in the dry season. Half the cabin was made of wood and it all burned away. The remaining stone left the hearth, the bottom foundation, and two walls. It was enough for her to rebuild, but it was too much for her to handle. An old wound had been reopened and cut so much deeper. Screech has disappeared in the fire, leaving Mishal truly alone.

Screech returned late into the night to find Mishal curled up next to a makeshift gravestone in a dry, burnt patch of grass near the cabin. She was holding all that remained of her home. The letters from her children, a blanket, and her weapons. Screech landed beside her and softly cooed to wake her. Mishal lifted her head to meet the gravestone. After a few moments of Screech trying to get her up, Mishal decided it was time for them to move on, to experience new things, and have adventures. She told her makeshift resting place for Emere that she would return one day with the kids and rebuild this home for them. She would avenge his death and give him peace.

They left at sunrise, heading for Montmouth.

## Appearence

Mishal has a heart shaped face, with two scars along her nose and chin. Her lips are dark gray and her eyes are bright gold. Her eyebrows are thick, arched at the center of her eyes. Her hair is tied into a braid ponytail from the crown of her head and stopping at the center of her back. A small piece falls loose on the right side of her face. She is short, and lean with thick thighs and lightly muscular arms. She has thin gold jewelry on her ears and neck. Her clothes are black, leather layers with gold accents on the tips of her jacket collar and zipper. She has black, ripped leather pants and thick, chunky, black boots. She carries her daggers in loops on her thighs, her bow strung over her back and her hand-ax strapped to her back. Her quiver hangs from her right side belt loops. She holds herself with stoic confidence. Her face appears sultry and cunning, but her eyes scream from years of concealed pain.

## First Visit from "Volcano Goddess" (name unknown at this time)

*As you sleep a comfortable warmth begins to fill your body. The smell of a wood fire, ash, and drying herbs fills your lungs. Your eyes open slowly to the familiar sight of a hearth. The wood has burned down to coals which has warmed the interior of your home and casts a low orange glow across the room. Almost on instinct you let your arm slide off the side of the low bed you’re lying on. Your hand rests palm down on the ground and you feel the grumbling movement of the volcano beneath the stone floor. Your eyes lazily close again. The vision of your home lingers in your mind. You hear the laughter of children outside, Brenton and Shula. And a third laugh; a warm, deep, painfully beautiful laugh.*

*As your eyes open the laughter fades and the walls of your home shift and morph into craggy, rough rocks scared by heat. You find yourself laying on warm ground in a small enclosed chamber of stone. From the ceiling pours a stream of magma that flows across the chamber in a short stream before it dives deeper into the earth. Periodically magma splashes out of this stream and solidifies slowly into rock. All you hear now is the deafening growl of the volcano from all around you.*

*In that grumbling you begin to notice a whisper. After focusing for a moment that whisper grows into a hum. This sound is immediately comforting to you. As it should be, it is a song your mother would hum as she worked with her ash and herbs to heal the people of your village.*

*Subtly that hum dissipates. And you swear your eyes must be mistaken because the form of a woman steps out from the fall of magma. Though her form is steadily shifting as the magma that makes up her body cools and warms, hardens and softens you can still see a lithe figure with long hair past her waist, and a gentle looking face.*

*She walks over to you and places a hand gently beneath your chin and lifts your face to look into hers. Her touch is hot, almost unbearable even for your elemental blood but it is not painful. Her eyes look into yours as she speaks.*

*“I have been sealed beneath the Skjeld for a very long time.*

*You have felt pain, but you must feel more before you can give me what I want."*