Exspecta
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Abilities
DAY-WALKING: Thanks to his fae blood, the daylight sun does not sear his flesh as much as his other vampiric cousins. He is still susceptible to burning if he stays out too long in direct sunlight without proper protection, but it's no more than a painful sunburn like any mortal human would have. More of a nuisance than anything.
WING VANISHING/SUMMONING: What it says on the tin. His wings vanish and appear in a mist of black vapor.
WILDSPEAK: Able to converse with non-verbal animals, and even control them to a degree.
FLIGHT: With powerful wings and a light frame, flying is rather easy and he's even able to take a passenger up with him for short flights.
SENSE MAGIC/SUPERNATURAL: Able to sense magical beings and objects, as well as things distinctly not of natural origin (such as undead or the more familiar fae-blooded creatures) without the need to see or feel their effects. Comes in handy when hunting his prey.
FAE GLAMOUR: Able to appear human on a whim.
SHAPE-SHIFTING: Able to change his height up and down on a whim, as well as change the shape of animals and (willing) people to other forms (i.e. a crow into a bear, wolf, or even dragon).
CHLOROKINESIS: Able to control plant-life, erecting great barriers of thorny vines, entrapping his prey in tree roots, or just helping a garden flourish.
SUPERHUMAN TRAITS: Superhuman sense of smell, hearing, and sight. Superhuman endurance and healing rate. Superhuman strength and agility (able to leap 30 feet straight up, lift up to 500 lbs. with ease, and up to 1,000 with difficulty.
SENSE SIRE/PROGENY: Able to sense when his sire and vampyric progeny are near before he sees, hears, or smells them.
SHADOW-STEPPING: Able to cross large distances by entering the shadows in one place and popping up wherever he pleases.
UMBRAKINESIS: The creation and control of shadows/darkness, including the ability to manifest it as a physically tangible force, such as long tendrils of grasping darkness that can trap foes and prey in their midst.
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History
TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual assault.
TEAL: Events that were RPed
Childhood with his then-sister (now brother), Trico, was somewhat pleasant. They bickered, but were close. However, as Trico grew older, his self-hatred and anger forced the siblings apart. Along with this, Nox never quite felt like he belonged with the other fae boys either. At least, his desires didn't line up with theirs.
They always spoke about girls, and then when puberty erupted in his age group, women. It was discovered by Nox's parents that he was gay, and in an effort to correct this, they sent him to a human village near their forest home. There, a priest locked him in a room with a woman he thought to be an expert at turning homosexual men into proper heterosexuals.
The woman, however a temptress, was no normal woman. She was an elder vampire, capable of hiding amongst the mortals as easily as a wolf in sheep's wool. She pinned the young Nox down and... well, assaulted him against his will. His body reacted in tune to hers, and ashamedly he thought this meant he deserved or wanted this all to happen.
During the night, the vampiress lost her cool as the fae blood spoke to her in ways she was unused to. Thus, she drank deep of Nox, nearly killing him but for his magical strength to hold onto life. He fell unconscious, and when he awoke, the woman was gone, his wings had changed, and his pulse had slowed.
He was no longer just a fae, and he never would be again. Too weak to fly, he stumbled all the way back to the tree-line of woodland where his family and clan lived... but the forest had been burnt down (unbeknownst to him, by his brother, Trico, in a fit of anguish).
After leaving the cinders of his forest home behind, Nox vowed to hunt down creatures like that vampire - creatures that posed a threat to others (especially mortals, which Nox had taken a liking to in his youth). For a time, he honed his predator instincts, feeding only on animals despite the mental anguish it caused him. The alternative - feeding on sentient beings - would undoubtedly cause a psychotic break.
In the process of exploring the universe, Nox shadow-stepped onto a planet/realm of Furrae, inhabited entirely by anthropomorphic creatures. Specifically, he landed on an island nation called Costa Dorada and fell in love with an 18-year-old squire who would later become known as Ziv the Valorous. However, after Nox tried to convince Ziv to run away with him and become his husband, Ziv panicked and cast a Sunlight spell to blind him, only to discover that Nox was a vampire. Nox fled, leaving Furrae forever.
Entry to AlfheimHis life as a monster hunter was not to last, as after chancing upon the Northern Heavens (specifically Idavollr on Alfheim) he was caught assaulting a dragia named Taivir and was unable to pay the weregild (fee). Thus, he was sentenced at a þing/assembly (pronounced "thing") to be a thrall on the 11th of August, 2022. A magic-dampening mythril collar was placed around his neck, enchanted by Baal to siphon away any shadow magic he would attempt to use.
Ragnarok"On April 1st, 2023, I participated in the final battle of Ragnarok against Jormungandr, commanding crows I transformed into bears and horse-sized drakes to attack the world serpent and the Utangard forces. I'm told after I got knocked unconscious, Lady Brynhildur pulled me to safety. After Thor and Jormungandr dealt the finishing blows to each other, Surtr attacked and destroyed everything, and I woke up at base camp.
Everything in the Northern Heavens was gone except Idavollr, and even that was heavily damaged. I helped cultivate the farmland in the new city of Vidblainn, growing seedlings and withering weeds that cropped up. There was some business with a group of rebels called the Dissidents, lead by a guy named Decon, but I didn't take part in that."
Father to a Fae"On June 9th, 2023, I walked into Gimle just as a mysterious egg started hatching. The egg had been stolen(?) from Skathi during a raid on her hold, so no one really knows where it came from. I recognized the thrum of fae magic from within the egg, so I stepped forward just in time for Lumi to emerge. She imprinted on me instantly, and absorbed some magic from a pregnant goddess named Eshtar, who kindly offered her time and advice as a parent.
I took Lumi home and she grew like a wildfire fed on dry grass, becoming an adult in everything but common sense and knowledge in less than a month. Taivir and I bonded a little over raising her but he's set back into his books now, which is fine."
Entry to NascenseOn June 9th, 2024, Nox arrived alone without Taivir and Lumi via a portal after traveling through the void with his family for months. Immediately upon entry, he noticed they weren't there, but had other problems: his collar was on the fritz, zapping him with sparks of energy and sapping him of strength so quickly that his body reacted with violent bouts of nausea and vomiting.
Thankfully, Ecksel Llamadelos and Grandmother Val of the Waverider Kobolds stabilized the collar and placed a repair spell on it. -
The Story Continues
Demonic Possession, DeathThe Beginning For a few days, things seemed fine! Then the voices started. Soft, at first - mere whispers without meaning. After a week or so, though, the voices began strengthening, not long after an encounter with a jar demon from Feathertop's mother. The whispers could be heard by all nearby - speaking in Hebrew, Latin, and English/Common, among other languages.
The Research Party On October 8th, 2024, Nox gathered together a research session with snacks to lure in helpers. Lohi of the Waveriders, Raven Sithis, Torry, Kadassa, Harper Greenbush, Dergo Runehammer, and Inayah all attended. During the session, Kadassa angered a dark, demonic entity by revealing its existence, and it claimed it was intent on devouring energy to feed its master, Ba'al Zevuv (Beelzebub). Dergo offered to give the demon, once it was sealed, to an old 'friend' of his. Lohi discovered the demon's multiple names in a book: Eserientem, Ze Shra'av, The One Who Hungers. To polish off the night, Raven put a silencing spell on the demon, blessing everyone's ears with wonderful peace. Along with that, he offered up his Seal of Solomon ring to trap the demon within instead of Nox's collar.
Hunger Demon's Bane On October 19th, 2024, a single town guard was dispatched to keep record of the summoning and destruction of Ze Shra'av. Along with him were Nox himself, and the adventurers: Raven, Ecksel, and Kadassa. A bystander, Tomas Matthews, approached as well. After Ecksel began drumming, and Nox set up a protective circle with his ceremonial dagger, Nox began the ritual by calling out the demon's many names. Darkness fell within the circle. Basketball-sized house flies with chittering skull faces burst from the collar.
Suddenly, Nox went rigid as he was possessed by the demon lord. Ecksel was forced to switch spells, dropping the containment field, which allowed the unholy flies to attack and devour poor Tomas in an instant. Kadassa reached out to grab possessed-Nox by the face, perhaps in an effort to shunt the demon out of his body, but combined with the possession, Raven's blood magic bolts shattered what little humanity Nox still clung to. He exploded, raining down ash as Ze Shra'av took corporeal form.
Ecksel summoned a giant cephalopod (tentacle creature), which smote several flies and scared the rest off towards the woods. Kadassa clobbered the demon with his tail, Raven cast a geyser of blood to shoot up from the ground and entrap Ze Shra'av, then stabbed it with his blade, and Ecksel called forth a lava pit beneath it. Kadassa dunked the demon lord's head into the lava, and with all that against it, no wonder its form exploded as Nox did before it, this time showering the combatants in more viscous goo on top of the blood and lava already coating some of them. At long last, the surrounding area returned to its normal state.
All that remained of Nox was a pile of ash, the dragon-faced collar perched atop it - drained of all power. The town guard that had been standing by the tree-line sighed; the report he would have to make would be a doozy! Raven scooped up Nox's ashes into an urn, and picked up his now-inert collar. Though Nox had died, Tomas did, in fact, return to life shortly thereafter! Finally, Raven took out his ring and trapped the demon's essence within it, after which Dergo sent the cursed ring on its merry way to the gent in a pocket dimension, far from Nascense. Raven's parting words for Nox were: "I will find a way to revive you. . . Like a phoenix rising from the ashes again." If only he knew how prescient that was! [Lohi, Zaeti, and Dergo all arrived post-scene!]
Portal Potion-Making November 13th, 2024. Kalista was summoned a few days before this. After Ecksel sought out help and more information from any available dark fae, Prismatical the dark fae reluctantly answered. He was not a fan of undead, but after witnessing Nox's daughter Lumi and her anguished screams upon learning Nox had perished, Prism decided to help. At the brewing were Prism, Ecksel, BiggySama, Kadassa, Aemar, Kalista Phoenix, Ashe Loxeus, and Amelie Laveur. At length, Prism explained that the potions brewed that night would aid in finding the Phoenix Mother, creator and leader of the dark fae people. Ecksel's googly-eyed spirit catcher Roomba made an appearance, perhaps for the first time. After answering some questions about dark fae and the Phoenix Mother, Prism took a pinch of Nox's ashes from his urn and added it to the cauldron.
Alas, the potion could not be completed without a powerful magical catalyst, so Kalista offered her magic feathers (or one of them at least), but needed time and privacy to retrieve it. Prism asked the group to taste-test his potion after Amelie supplied her own brand of fresh dragon's tongue to get the cauldron's magic started. Aemar remained dubious of why people needed to test it, and for good reason. After the testers experienced some 'interesting' effects, Raven added some nice herbs to it, and offered Nox's collar as an item close to Nox's heart. The Potions of Seeking were in fact now Potions of Discovery, and would attune the imbiber's blood to the Phoenix Mother such that a portal to her domain would open upon being drunk! Edax landed on Amelie's shoulder, having been there the entire time, apparently!
The Phoenix's Feather Kalista, Kadassa, Amelie and Prism rode out into space to be able to retrieve Kalista's feather. It took some fantastical magic, but the enormous feather was 'plucked', shrunk down, and given to Prism to complete the potions.
Nest of Origin Part I On November 23, 2024, Prism met the initial group that would travel to the Nest of Origin via the portal potions. Islington/Angel, Ecksel, El Flan, Amelie, and Raven stepped through the portal and were confronted by guards outside the massive airborne mountain that contained the Nest's multiple biomes. Ecksel offered a gift, which the guards wished to inspect. A bodiless voice explained that the inspection wouldn't be necessary. El Flan was skewered by a guard's spear, but thankfully survived, and the group went on its way. Guided across a winding, floating stone walkway, Amelie, Ecksel, and Raven were poked, prodded, and gawked at by tinier fae creatures that flew up to meet them. Islington complimented the Nest, but the guards leading them did not reply. A couple fairies got stuck to El Flan for a second, but after prying themselves loose, started... licking each other. At length, they reached the heart of the Nest, which was a ballroom-sized chamber with high ceilings and magical windows that allowed light in without the use of glass. Upon entry, the tinier fae bothering the group departed, peals of laughter echoing behind them.
Finally, the group met Phee the Phoenix Mother. She asked them about Nox and why he needed to be revived, as usually, dark fae simply regenerate or resurrect entirely. She also accepted Ecksel, Amelie, and even Flan's offerings of jewelry and seeds, an unfertilized void dragon egg, and a slime budding respectively. The seeds were planted in her personal garden, the egg stored to be used later, the jewelry was put into her collection, and the budding. . . The budding became a new pet called Puddincup! Ecksel, Amelie, and Raven explained that Nox was killed by a demon that had been possessing his collar, and that they had his remains. Phee explained that she needed to commune with Nox's soul using his ashes, in order to find him in the spirit world. She requested that the group return to Nascense and prepare themselves for something called The Ritual of Reminding, and once both she and the adventurers were ready, another portal would bring them back to the Nest.
Nest of Origin Part II/Finale On December 4th, 2024, Phee called the heroes back to the Nest to perform the ritual. However, during her attunement, she had been displeased to discover that the ashes were tainted with not just demonic energy, but vampiric energy as well. Sharing her displeasure, she told the group that once Nox was summoned back from the spirit world, they would all be forced to leave the Nest immediately. It was only based on their tireless efforts, gifts, and her own forgiving nature that she agreed to go through with the ritual regardless. The final group included Kadassa, Raven, El Flan, Ecksel, and Amelie, perhaps along with "Schrodinger's Islington." Phee began chanting to summon forth Nox's spirit, but the spirit world would not be so forth giving: from deep within it, Nox's voice cried out, lost and confused, while the room took on an icy chill and became surrounded in a dense black mist. Multitudinous eyes blinked into existence around the room, and two shadow figures coalesced, shambling out of the mist. A chorus of overlapping voices raised an incredible din.
The shadows were manifestations of Nox's Dismay, and his Fury. Raven took the opportunity to absorb some of the shadow energy, while Ecksel and Amelie utilized their best heartstring tug, replying to Nox that Lumi missed him. This seemed to only increase the emotional instability of Nox's spirit, unfortunately. Fury let loose a terrible scream, and savagely clawed at Amelie, who bravely endured the attack while telling Nox that Lumi had been ill. Dismay's vines stretched out, attempting to envelop El Flan, Phee, and the rest of the group in its strangling confines. El Flan, of course, easily squooshed through the vines, and Ecksel drummed up a watery defense as Phee was targeted. Kadassa had had enough, wriggling free of the vines and departing. He was too old for this shit! Raven sent out a shadow bolt and struck Dismay in the back. However, Dismay was not to be beaten that easily. It grabbed hold of Ecksel with one thick tendril, but that tendril started to dematerialize when Ecksel's drumming focused on it, as well as a well-aimed dagger from Raven.
Fury's bite on Amelie failed when she shifted her size, and in its frustration, it screamed again, this time casting Fury's Vengeful Roar. All affected began to see their fellows as people who had wronged them. Poor Flan was stunned and turned rubbery, leaving it open to be splattered by an errant vine. Not to be out-done by Fury, Dismay's Vines of Weeping sprouted thorns that injected blinding poison into Ecksel, Phee, and any others in contact with them. Raven, having dodged the vines and resisted the roar, sprung into action and fired off arrows that struck Fury and caused it to slump to the ground, paralyzed. He injected Ecksel with a purifying solution and moved the half-elf to a safer spot in the chamber. In doing so, Ecksel's spirit catching Roomba was knocked out of his bag, sucking up Fury instantly.
Amelie's pleas to Nox were finally heard; as he called back to her, a sphere of light - Nox's soul - appeared in the distance. Dismay, now alone, desperately attacked the weary Phee. Raven and Ecksel's quick reflexes paid off, as the former sliced the offending vine, and the latter erected a barrier that disintegrated Dismay's form on contact. Amelie activated her gravity well, pulling Nox's spirit out of the gloom and toward her. It was safe and sound, but Phee's continued chanting still tugged it in her direction. The Roomba roved around the chamber, sucking up the rest of the mist and eyes (as well as spreading the goopy remains of El Flan everywhere. . .). The urn containing Nox's ashes burst open, the ashes swirling about the room in a tornado of dust and violet sparks. Amelie did a barrel-roll and sent Nox's soul toward Phee, where the whirlwind and soul combined to form a shadowflame phoenix with Nox's tell-tale glowing eyes.
Phee ceased her chanting as Phoenix-Nox, who was still chained by an obsidian mask and shackles, peered intently at Raven. Raven held Nox's now-purified collar aloft, and Phoenix-Nox lunged toward it. On contact, Nox's bindings shattered, and he was yanked into the collar. The day was won. While the heroes checked over each other's well-being and realized that El Flan had been obliterated, the exhausted Phee lowered herself to the ground and stroked Puddincup, who seemed genuinely upset by its parent's parting. Raven gave Nox's collar to Amelie, who would take it to Lumi while Nox's body was given time to reform.
After that, the heroes went on their way, hopefully content that they had saved a life.
RevivalThat night, when the collar was brought to the healing house, Lumi curled up on it. Upon her touching it, the violet, shadowflame phoenix materialized beneath her, with the collar securely about his neck.
There was a joyous reunion, and Nox met Edax (the 'child' of Lumi's created when Amelie separated her from a parasitic infection).
For a month or so, Nox remained in phoenix form while his true body reconstituted. He was speaking telepathically for most of it, but with the gift of an amulet from Thomas Matthews (the undead librarian), he was able to speak audibly as well.
Eventually, however, Nox regained his normal fae body, and all seemed well!
