Appearance

Mentality

Personal history

Barastyr Ravenblood was born in the kingdom of Renkirk in the city of Brazenden. He was the third son of Byrastyr the Merchant who peddled the wares of the local blacksmiths to the smaller villages.

Growing up in this family, Barastyr was taught to determine the type and quality of raw ore, smelted stock, and finished tools; skills that were crucial to the family business.

However, Barastyr had little interest in the merchant's life. At the age of 10, any chance he could get he would sneak out and explore the ruins and the forest outside of the city. After five years of exploring, he had collected his own private treasure trove: Two broken swords, An old book with words he could not read and a few pictures that looked like instructions, dozens of gem fragments, and a small stash of silver coins.

In the early spring of his 15th year, during their return from the annual family trip to the Ravenblood family home roughly halfway between Brazenden and Pikescot, the Ravenblood family was attacked by beasts. The only thing Barastyr remembers clearly of that night is the last words his father told him "Take your sister and ride as fast as you can. Don't look back." Barastyr did just as he was told and didn't stop until he had return to Brazenden.

He stayed long enough to grab a waterskin, a fresh horse, and the two broken swords. The reason Barastyr kept those swords in the first place is that the blade had not tarnished or dulled despite being broken in half and left for perhaps centuries in the ruins. They were also just the right size and weight for a teenage boy to use.

When Barastyr finally returned to where his family was attacked, he was met with a scene that he had only heard of in the darkest of stories. Blood flowed like a stream down the side of the road as it gushed from human and beast body alike. The gnawed and torn guards bodies lay beside the decapitated and dismembered corpses of strange wolf like beasts. The family servants were all missing, though tattered bloody clothing and the occasional hand or foot left little to the imagination on how they met their end. When Barastyr finally made it to his families carriage, his greatest fears were confirmed. Lying dead half inside the tattered carriage doorway was the largest of the dead beasts he had seen. Pierced through both sides of it's head, it had died to the efforts his older brothers. Inside the carried laid the bodies of Barastyrs brothers and mother. They were covered in so many claw and fang marks it's would be hard to tell how many beasts actually attacked them before they got inside the carriage. The dead beast blocking the carriage doorway is likely the only reason they were not eaten. Barastyrs father was no where to be found.

Racked with anguish and rage, Barastyr spent hours removing the corpse of the beast and the broken pieces from the carriage, loading what remained of the bodies into the carriage, and then took the remains to the family home they had all left earlier that day. Barastyr made funeral pyres for all of the remains except his brothers and mother. He could not bring himself to say goodbye.

In the midst of his mind trying to process all that had happened, pictures from the old book came flooding into conscious thought. Pictures of the dead coming back to life, pictures of great magics, and once again Barastyr raced back to Brazenden. When Barastyr arrived home in BLANK, his sister was quick to ask questions about what happened. Without saying a word he grabbed the book from his footlocker, and was back out with a fresh horse.

Barastyr leapt from his horse before it stopped when he had returned to the family home. When Barastyr pulled the book from his bag, he noticed it was strangely warm as if it were reacting to the death that surrounded it. Suddenly Barastyr's vision goes dark. He can still feel the table he's leaning against and the warmth of the book in his hand, but his other senses are blocked. In the back of his mind he hears "I can help you bring them back. You have the power to do it and I can show you how." If this were a normal day, Barastyrs good judgement would have told him to feel uneasy. However the emotional and mental toll that he had endured made him easily yield to the dark persuasion and without skipping a beat Barastyr replies "Show me".

Suddenly images flash through Barastyrs mind like memories of another life. He sees a person grinding bone to dust and making a circle around a body, then place a piece of flesh in the mouth of the body. Next, the person stands over the body and using a small knife, cuts their hand and trickles blood onto its forehead. While holding a familiar book in their hand, the person chants "A cage of bone to bind the spirit, a feast of flesh to bind the body, and a drop of my blood to bind us together. Return." The body on the table slowly sits up and the visions fade as Barastyr regains he senses. Barastyr knew what he had to do. The funeral pyres left baked bones perfect for grinding to dust. The dead beasts bodies had more than enough flesh to cut. Barastyr would give every last drop of his blood if he had to. Barastyr moved the bodies of his family to the root cellar beneath the home in the chance that someone showed up while he was making his preparations. After gathering and processing the reagents, Barastyr prepared each body with a circle of bone dust, a piece of fresh flesh in their mouth, and a few drops of his blood on their heads. Barastyr holds the old book and speaks "A cage of bone to bind the spirit, a feast of flesh to bind the body, and a drop of my blood to bind us together. Return." The instant the spell activates Barastyr blacks out and a dark creature enters his subconscious. "Oh WOW! You really did it! And three of them to boot! You're either stupidly lucky or you have a gift for this. Either way I'm glad the book bridged the connection. You will be entertaining to watch."

Barastyr is woken up to the sounds of low muffled moans and dragging feet. In the few seconds it takes Barastyr to regain himself, one thing had become perfectly clear Barastyr was capable of magic. However it wasn't the holy lifegiving magic he was expecting. Before him shambled three zombies, seemingly not doing much of anything but moving around the room slowly. Horrified by the sight in front of him, he leapt up the stairs and out of the cellar, closing and locking the doors behind him. However his body had not recovered from the strain of casting a spell beyond his abilities and he quickly blacked out again. Once again he hears the voice "Kid you got talent, you made three zombies in one go way before you were ready for it. I helped out a little so you won't die, but you're going to feel like you're dying for the next couple days as your body recovers." "This isn't what I wanted. I wanted to bring them back to life!" Barastyr shouted. "Kid, you never said what you wanted. I said I could help you bring them back, I never said back to life. But really, I didn't think you could pull it off! I thought the initial shock would kill you. You have a gift for necromancy, don't let it go to waste." "This is not a gift, it's a curse! These THINGS will rot away and I will have nothing of my family." "I'll tell you what" the dark voice sounded almost joyous as he made his preposition ***SPOILERS for Campaign Secret*** "Promise your soul to the Lord of Death in an eternity of servitude, and I will make sure these three never rot away." In what felt like an eternity of thought, Barastyr finally asked one question "If I were to agree, how would I serve the Lord of Death?". "You are gifted in dark magic, continuing to develop this will show you how to serve." the voice replied. After a little more thought, Barastyr agreed because he had a plan. He would indeed develop his magic, learn how to heal zombies, and find a way to return a zombie to a normal person.

Barastyr woke up, boarded up the root cellar and headed back to Brazenden where he told his sister of their families fate. Barastyr confided his secret of the zombies in two people because he knew that he could not risk taking them with him, nor could he risk them being discovered while he was away. Those people were his sister, and the eldest house maid that had stayed behind to tend to the home. Over the next few weeks Barastyr learned that his zombie family would not attack him, however he could not control them and the would try to attack any living thing that they came into contact with. He acquired lumber and built wooden cells in the cellar of the family home where he would keep the zombies so that his sister and the maid could safely maintain the property while he was away. *** END SPOILER *** Barastyr pondered different method of developing his dark magic, in the end he decided he should look for places where dark things are happening and go from there. Missing people in a town not far from Brazenden have been the talk of the town criers recently so Barastyr decided to start there.

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