Aynad

Aynad was a female human cleric of Brewmaster and an NPC in the Emeron campaign.

## Vital Statistics

### Eye Color

Grey

Aynad is a wandering cleric of the Brewmaster and one of the Joined of Yotia. She assisted the Joined of Vesper in freeing the Penderghast family from the dungeons of Castle Finarte.

## Background

Aynad's is the daughter of of a wealthy merchant from Sellingsburg. She grew up wealthy and spoiled by her indulgent father and in her teens fell into the worship of the Brewmaster, much to her family's chagrin.

In 1151 Aynad's father ordered her to renounce her new religion and begin acting in an appropriate manner so that they could arrange a marriage that would help their family. To their shock, Aynad refused, renounced her family named and left Sellingsburg immediately.

She spent the subsequent 8 years wandering the land praying to Brewmaster and drinking heavily. When she left home she had taken a great deal of gems that she has used to fund her life and drinking since then.

## The Joined of Yotia

On the 22nd of Griffon, 1159 Aynad had been awakened from her hungover sleep with a brief flash of light and inexplicably in the estate of Nuqwell. While it was not unusual for her to awake without knowing where she was, she didn't usually wake up hundreds of miles from where she passed out or inexplicably linked to six other individuals as she did this time.

They quickly assessed they were linked to one another and desired to figure out what could be done on the matter. Mantirandaubelle and Vigga Copperbrow suggested traveling to the Thorgain Kingdom to seek aid there but since Emeron City was far closer, at as good or superior magical resources and Walter Penderghast had a home there they made for the capital instead.

The Joined arrived in Emeron two days later as the city was awash in riots and crackdowns in light of the explosion at Strade Hall that occurred when Yotia's Avatar was destroyed and exacerbated by the recent death of King Koris Woodbridge.

They managed to reach the Penderghast home and Walter sent a message to Jon Sumnim and Jaymes Chickwood, both professors at the Emeron Wizard's College that he knew because his son Froderik was a student there. The professors examined the Joined, but advised they needed to further research their findings.

While Walter and the Joined waited for the professor's findings, they were attacked in the Penderghast home by mysterious agents seeking them. The Joined escaped, thanks in part to the brave actions of Mantirandaubelle and also to a group of Raven's Eye agents sent by Trista Ravenlark at the request of the Great White Wizard Dillman. The joined escaped and were secretly installed in a safehouse by Sumnim. Unexpectedly, a short time later the City Watch arrested Walter's entire family, installing them in the dungeons of Castle Finarte.

Trista made arrangements to smuggle the Joined of Yotia to the Thorgain Kingdom for their safety, but Walter refused to depart without his family and desired to free them immediately. Unfortunately many of the Joined of Yotia were commoners with minimal to no combat ability, and such a mission would be suicide.

During the intervening weeks Aynad, miserable at being cooped up in Sumnim's safehouse, no matter how spacious or well adorned, spent her time drinking herself into various stupors and complaining about being unable to leave.

Resolution to the problem came when the Joined of Vesper arrived in Emeron on the 22nd of Lion. Among the Joined of Vesper was Walter's son, Froderik, who was no less keen to free his family than Walter was. Better, the Joined of Vesper all had martial capability and had been working together as a team for months.

The arrival of the Joined of Vesper also represented a solution to Aynad's boredom and she quickly accepted the advances of Raskin Daggermaw, entering into a brief affair with the half-orc.

With the assistance of Trista and Dillman, they secured a through the sewers that would lead to the dungeons of Castle Finarte and had a layout of the cell block where the Penerghasts were being held. A strategy was put together, roles selected and a rescue planned. Aynad agreed to assist and ventured into the sewers with the rest of the would be rescuers.

## Jailbreak and Betrayal

On the 25th of Lion, 1159 Aynad, along with Mantirandaubelle and Pherey accompanied the Joined of Vesper, into the dungeons of Castle Finarte through the sewers.

Unfortunately the night of the 24th Joane, sneaked out of Sumnim's safehouse and went to the Crown, looking to turn in the Joined of Vesper, the rest of the Joined of Yotia, as well as those in the city who were helping them. She demanded a large reward for her efforts, as well as a way to be severed from Yotia and return to her life as normal. The Crown organized a raid on the safehouse as well as the arrest of Dillman, Sumnim, Chickwood, Trista Ravenlark and Klaron Shatterstone and then murdered Joane, destroying the portion of Yotia's avatar linked to her.

While in the sewers the party had been attacked by enormous insects the size of men and Aynad had nearly died. She was rescued by Pherey, Mantirandubelle and Raskin, but regretted agreeing to go in the first place, and making the decision when she was as drunk as she had been the night before. Still, her clerical skills in demand as the party recovered from the battle.

The plan called for Pherey, Aynad and Mantirandubelle to guard the secret entrance from the sewers to the dungeon to ensure no sewer dwelling monster cut off their escape. However, while they were guarding the escape, the trio began to experience the pain of the attacks that Mane, Walter and Vigga were suffering. Pherey went into the dungeon to warn the Joined of Vesper that the other Joined of Yotia were under attack, while Aynad and Mantie remained in the sewers, feeling the pain of their companions and worrying.

Soon, the other rescuers returned with the Penderghast family and a few stowaways, but a party of soldiers led by Dame Annill DeWard and Duke Geoffry Ravenut were in hot pursuit. While fleeing through the sewers , Aynad, Pherey, and Mantirandubelle all felt the pain of Joane being murdered and the piece of Yotia's avatar in her being destroyed.

## Fleeing Emeron

The group rendezvoused with the rest of the Joined of Yotia, as well as Chickwood, Trista Ravenlark and Klaron Shatterstone in the Hemlock Tops Forest. The Crown had organized raids on all of them, as well as Sumnim and the Great White Wizard Dillman, based on Joane's information. Thankfully none had been captured and Chickwood was able to save the rest of the Joined of Yotia.

The Joined of Yotia and the Penderghasts left Emeron with Trista, who had arranged sanctuary for them in the Dwarven Mountains and Aynad looked forward to the strong dwarven alcohol she would soon be drinking.

## In the Thorgain Kingdom

Aynad, along with the rest of the Joined of Yotia and the Penderghasts were smuggled to the Kingdom of Thorgain by Trista Ravenlark, who had arranged sanctuary in the capital with Martok Stonecutter, a high ranking priest of Clangeddin. Aynad still detested the forced confinement, but contented herself with the improved quality of alcohol.

While there, a pair of dwarven assassins attempted to attack the Joined in the middle of the night. Pherey Biggsby and Archibald Penderghast fought the attackers off while the others sounded the alarm. With the church roused, the priests of Clangeddin quickly found and killed the attackers before they were able to leave church grounds.

Martok launched an immediate investigation, which the Joined of Yotia assisted with. The assailants turned out to be lowlife thugs and criminals hired hastily by a go-between. It took several days of running down leads in the less savory parts of Thorgain City. The investigation revealed the true culprit: Dulmor Earthmantle, an adviser to Thane King Farim Ironbreaker himself.

Martok took the intelligence to the Crown and the king ordered Dulmor's immediate arrest, however the culprit manged to slip away before the authorities closed in on him, seeming to vanish overnight. It was only weeks later when the Joined of Vesper came to Thorgain City with the real Dulmor Earthmantle that it was realized the true culprit was a Spider Person impostor who had been serving in the Royal Court for decades.

## Escorting the Joined of Vesper

In Bear of 1159 the Joined of Vesper traveled to Thorgain City having found the real Dulmor Earthmantle and discovered the threat of the Spider people. Walter and Vigga attended a war council with the Joined of Vesper, Professor Chickwood, Ambassador Throt Goldaxe and Trista Ravenlark.

The Joined of Vesper had the *Gem of Galmar*, which they had taken from Mingolf the Soulcrusher. Chickwood revealed that the only way to destroy the gem was to acquire a trio of legendary weapons said to be found in White Plume Mountain.

Unfortunately the evil Starr appeared and informed Chickwood that the Council of Wyrms demanded that the gem be returned or the evil dragons would become involved in the war. The Joined of Vesper concocted a scheme where they would "steal" the gem from Chickwood and take it to White Plume Mountain to destroy it.

The only complication was that the souls of Edella Montfort's parents, Edwin and Elizabeth, were trapped within and would be obliterated if the gem was destroyed with them within. Chickwood advised that he could perform a ritual to put the Joined of Vesper's souls within the gem to try to free them, but it would leave them comatose so they would need someone to take the gem and their unconscious bodies west immediately.

Since the Joined could not be scried upon by Starr or their other enemies, the Joined of Vesper asked the Joined of Yotia to escort them. Aynad was of a mixed mind on the topic, on the one hand desire to remain in Thorgain and continue to sample dwarven brews was strong. On the other, another adventure sounded quite fun. Ultimately the Joined of Yotia agreed and on the 25th of Bear, left Thorgain City via the underground King's Highway with the gem and the unconscious Joined of Vesper within.

## Enslaved by Duergar

The Joined of Yotia carried the unconscious forms of the Joined of Vesper in a large horse drawn wagon towards Crysanth. However, they came upon a rockslide on the King's Highway, forcing them to detour to a deeper level of the caverns under the Dwarven Mountains. During this detour the caravan was ambushed by a Duergar slaving party. Pherey and the others fought as hard as they could, but were ultimately overwhelmed and captured. The Joined of Vesper, seemingly dead due to the magics involved in sending them into the *Gem of Galmar*, were left behind.

The Joined of Yotia were taken to a fortress that the Duergar had created and put to work in the mines alongside the other slaves. They did their best to stay alert and plot an escape, in spite of the opinion of the other slaves that escape was impossible. Aynad found her time enslaved particularly miserable as without her divine alcohol she grew quite ill. The divination powers granted to Mane through his connection to Yotia led them to believe that the Joined of Vesper would come to their rescue.

Indeed, after several days of slavery, the Joined of Vesper did arrive and, in a series of violent attacks upon the Duergar, was able to ultimately free all of the Joined of Yotia.

## Journey to Crysanth

The Joined of Yotia continued to travel with the Joined of Vesper to Crysanth. Together the two groups made their way through the lair of a beholder calling himself Lord Zavax and the haunted city of Thimyvr, where they eventually reached Crysanth. After a few days there to resupply the groups parted ways, with the Joined of Yotia stating they would secure a caravan back to Thorgain City as soon as they could, and the Joined of Vesper continuing their quest to White Plume Mountain to seek the weapons they needed.

Because the King’s Highway was blocked, the Joined of Yotia decided to linger in Crysanth for a time. While there they heard grumblings of tensions brewing between Crysanth and the Barony of Sellingsburg, the Emeronian city on the border that traded with Crysanth and the kingdom.

Walter and Mantie inquired with the Emeronian ambassador, Iorri Kibert, who proved to be irritable and frustrated but willing to vent to the duo. Ambassador Kibert explained that Sellingsburg (and Emeron in general) is badly in need of arms and armor for the War of Alliance and Emeronian Civil War, but that Thane’s treasurer Hammettvunderbling (Hammett for short) “seemed to not realize our kingdoms are allies and trade partners.” Kibert accused Hammett of throwing up roadblocks and stymying trade and felt he has had little choice but to threaten to embargo foodstuffs into Thorgain to try to force the issue past the stalemate.

The group next made an appointment to meet with Hammettvunderbling, but were forced to wait a few days for a break in the treasurer’s schedule. However on the way to the meeting they were attacked in the street by a group of dwarven assassins. They successfully defeated the attackers, taking two of them as prisoners. Under interrogation the one of the dwarves revealed that they were hired by a human man wearing a green and red cloak. As those colors were those of Sellingsburg and only Ambassador Kibert knew they were involving themselves in matters, suspicion began to focus on him.

The Joined of Yotia continued to the meeting where Hammettvunderbling told them that he was trying his best to work out a deal with Ambassador Kibert was being unreasonable and intractable, to the point of self sabotaging the possibility of a deal.

Given the mounting evidence against Ambassador Kibert the following day Walter and Mantie sneaked into his house in the city and recovered several documents about the difficulties of the negotiations. Given that this proved that Ambassador Kibert wanted a fair deal as much as Hammettvunderbling did, they provided copies to the treasurer. Hammettvunderbling stated they were highly illuminating and that he believed this would be a game changer.

Hammettvunderbling also arranged for the Joined of Yotia to travel back to Thorgain City with the caravan of Thane Obsidian Fireforge, as she’d been called to the capital for a Thane’s Moot called by King Farim.

## Journey Back to Thorgain

The Joined of Yotia traveled as part of the caravan of Thane Obsidian Fireforge back to Thorgain City. With such a well protected entourage, there was little danger and the journey was largely uneventful.

Thane King Farim Ironbreaker had called a Thane’s Moot at the behest of the Joined of Vesper to discuss what actions should be taken given the war in Emeron. Although the Joined of Yotia were not invited they did their best to advocate for Thorgain’s intervention in the war with anyone they could secure an appointment with.

## Personality and Abilities

Aynad is a hedonistic and indulgent woman. She is not maliciously cruel, but she does have a tendency to be self-centered. She views what is happening as a grand adventure put in her path by the Brewmaster and claims to keep the stress down by adhering to a strict alcohol regimen to keep her mind limber.

Aynad is a cleric of the Brewmaster and as such can perform minor divine magic up to the second circle of power. She wears the traditional toga of the Brewmaster and wears numerous rings. Her connection to Yotia grants her a small amount of additional healing magic.