Kiri was a founding member of
the Headhunters and the group's namesake, due to his tendency to decapitate monsters and turn in whole heads for bounties. The young
triton was from an ocean village and accompanied his cousin
Chigiri to the mainland in his quest to find the lost
7 Swords of their people's legends. He joined the Adventurer's Guild and used his monk training to rise through the ranks under the tutelage of
Iskierka Perscitia.
When an attack by a Fate Eater altered
his past and turned him into a buff barbarian, he began to realize fate had strange things in store for him. That fate came to its climax when
the Headhunters had a run-in with
Moltor, a Warlock of Orcus, at a harvest festival. The dark warlock used his magic to banish Kiri to
the Void, where the triton was forced to face
Levira and her
Void Beasts alone. He fought valiantly until the end, his death filling his friends with resolve that outweighed their sorrow even as
Levira scored another victory against
the Headhunters.
Table of Contents
History
Targeted by Evil
Like everyone else who joins the Adventurer's Guild, Kiri had to go through a training period before being given an independent membership. He and several others spent their first few years training under the Gold-ranked adventurer Iskierka before being allowed to set out on their own as Bronze-ranked adventurers. It was on their very first mission that he and the rest of the group met Levira. They tried their best to stop the murderous dark elf, but proved to be no match for her. Only Kiri and Hugh Morris managed to escape alive.
After a few more years of general adventuring, the Headhunters managed to pass the Trial of the Elements and became Silver-ranked. When they took a job to eliminate a group of raiding orcs, they had their second run-in with Levira. She ambushed them specifically targeting Kiri, viewing him as a rival due to his powers as a shadow monk. She was content to sit and watch while her minions fought the group until Kiri hit her with a crossbow bolt. Enraged, she gave chase and he led her away from his companions.
Unable to escape, Kiri tried to bargain for his life and Levira laughed in his face. She viewed him the same way she viewed all mortals: as a tool. She knocked Kiri unconscious and when he awoke, he was alone with nothing but the clothes on his back. A back that now sported a tattoo of a fiery red snake that he did not have before. Alone in the mountains, he met the giant Gorignak and helped him eliminate some wayward hill giants that were causing trouble. The two became fast friends as Gorignak helped Kiri get back on his feet and back home to his friends.
Monsters, Fate, & Gods
Kiri arrived back at the guildhall to the surprise and joy of friends who had thought he'd met a horrible demise. A quick examination by Leliana showed his new tattoo to be a unique curse and she promised to start looking for a way to remove it safely. In the meantime, the party decided to go back to the mountains to hunt wyvern eggs for a government bounty. Along the way, the group was attacked by a Fate Eater that critically injured Kiri and wrapped him in a strange purple cocoon. His companions managed to kill the creature, but his Threads of Fate were irreparably damaged.
When he emerged from the cocoon, the nimble monk had transformed into a beefy barbarian. Only Hugh remember that Kiri had been different thanks to protection from his aasimar powers and connection to Rhith, but the rest of the world now believed Kiri had always been a barbarian. This became a bit clearer to the Headhunters when they wandered into a nearby shrine of The Raven Queen. When Chigiri tried to steal an offering at the shrine, Skein, Priestess of the Raven Queen, appeared and put a cursed mark on him. Kiri humbled both himself and his cousin before her, saving Chigiri from running afowl of the goddess. Placated, Skein gave vague hints about the fate that had befallen Kiri.
Continuing up the mountain, the group found a shrine to the god Stronmaus, the Storm Lord. Kiri offered some old dragon bones he'd found on the way up, knowing the giant god was an enemy of dragons. The god rewarded him with a bag of holding for his offering and told him to come back with an offering of a dragon he killed himself if he wanted a real reward. After finally finding a wyvern egg, the group headed to a military base to turn it in for a reward. On their way out, Kiri saw a beautiful woman entering the base and decided to flirt. Badly. The mystery woman turned out to be Commander Truestrike, who was not amused and put Kiri on the ground effortlessly for his remarks. Chigiri had noticed Commander Truestrike was carrying one of the 7 Swords he was looking for and was, to say the least, not happy that Kiri's antics had robbed him of a chance to ask her about it.
Taking a new job to investigate disappearing wildlife, the group dispatched an ettercap and its flock of giant spiders before spending the night in a nearby village. They were unknowingly tracked there by Moltor, who tasked Gulto with converting the entire village into zombies with the Grave Orb. Kiri happened to catch them scheming and Hugh was incapacitated when he used three Gravestones at once to nullify Gulto's magic and save the village. That left just Kiri and his cousin to face Gulto, who Kiri managed to behead after a close fight.
Kiri's Last Stand
Returning home, the group noticed many other adventurers had started to acquire Gravestones. Kiri, for reasons no one else present was able to fathom, decided to try swallowing a Gravestone. This, unfortunately, greatly advanced the progress of his curse. Leliana was able to use her cleric magic to stop the progression from being fatal, but Kiri was now living on borrowed time. The next day, she brought the Headhunters to her church and summoned Kishin inside a magic circle to get a list of ingredients for removing Kiri's curse. It took a bit of bargaining, but the group managed to figure out what the spell would need to save Kiri's life. Unfortunately, the chance to act on this information never came.
Following up a lead on one of the 7 Swords, Kiri accompanied his friends to a town hosting a fall festival. They played several carnival games and Kiri recognized Nadira (whom he'd previously seen with Moltor and Gulto) wandering around the village. The group made a plan to capture her; while the others caused a distraction, Kiri would grab her and jump down the local well. The plan was executed perfectly, but Nadira simply slipped into the Ethereal Realm before she and Kiri hit the water. He tried to follow one of Nadira's jackalwere minions instead but was put to sleep by the creature's magic.
Nadira returned shortly thereafter to attack again and Kiri was forced to contend with Chigiri, who was under the effects of her enchantment magic. By the time Kiri had slapped his cousin 9 times to break the spell, Nadira had made her escape. Their enemy gone, the group decided to check out the local pumpkin patch before turning in for the night. There they found Moltor, in the middle of conducting a ritual to create a powerful monster.
Moltor began the fight by banishing Kiri to the Void with his magic. There he was forced to face off against Levira and three of her Void Beasts, alone. Though they tried their best, his friends were unable to break Moltor's spell and bring him home and Kiri himself was outnumbered and outmatched. Levira threw him into the depths of the Void, the necromantic energies of the plane sapping away his life. She made a point of beheading the triton before sending his decapitated body back to the Material Plane, crashing to the ground in front of his friends. Despairing over their loss, the party went their separate ways for a time while Chigiri returned Kiri's body to their home village. Though there was a time of mourning and sorrow, his death ultimately filled his friends with the resolve that Levira had to be stopped no matter what.
Post-Mortem
After his death, Kiri's soul found itself at the gates of Valhalla and made its way to their great feast hall. He made many friends with fellow dead warriors and the celestials there, including a mead angel. Keeping an eye on his friends from the afterlife, Kiri bet the drunk mead angel she couldn't best Hugh Morris in combat when he saw the group headed for the Seven Heavens. He won that bet when Hugh emerged victorious, much to his delight.
Several years later, a group of adventurers visited Valhalla seeking heavenly honey. The spirits of the hall decided to give the adventurers challenges to earn their prizes with Kiri wrestling Vinnie Vice, who pinned Kiri and won the prize. Kiri also participated in a drinking contest not long after, vomiting up some magical coins he'd previously eaten as a result.
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