Daughters of Zurektyl

The daughters of Zurektyl are a remote circle of witches practising dark and ritual magic. They set up their home in the dark lava tunnels of the dead volcano of Trivol in the gulf of the singing winds. While still following the teachings of Zurektyl, the witches practise mostly dark magic and its associated arts to become immortal and get different kinds of power like the abbility to see into the future, alter the living or defy aging. Because most of their magic consists of rituals they have a constant need for supplies that they gather from desperate souls that come to them for help after all hope is lost.

The island

Trivol is allways covered by dark clouds, slowly rotating around the caldera of the volcano, ocasional lightning striking the tops of the volcano. Even though the volcano is long dead and the island is covered in ash, there is still nothing growing there exept some lichens and halv dead shrubs. The only inhabitants apart from the cult and their associates are giant centipedes that like to hunt everything that shows up on the surface of the island.

The circle

There are allways thirteen witches, one so called "mother" and seven novices who stay in their role until one of the witches dies. Where do the novices come from you might ask. This shall be answered in a moment. Besides the circle they have a bunch of slaves, undead servants and creatures that serve them and keep up the settlement and small gardens and hatcheries they set up underneath the mountain.   But if their wicked ways werent enough to protect them, they also still command the kraken that their founder, the daughter of the highpriestress of Fjordayk used together with her husband to control the seas around the cape of the singing winds.

Their services

Without supplies from the outside world the witches wouldnt be able to continue living under the volcano. Therefore they offer their services to the world - for a price. One that is far to much for most to pay, but those who cant be helped might try their luck here. And sometimes they might recieve what they asked for, just most of the time in another way than expected. Over the course of the ages a lot of women and men suffering from infertility have come to the grim shores of Trivol, seeking a cure. And those able to pay recieved it. But the circle doesnt help for free. In order to cure infertility a price must be paid. The price in this case consists of a sacrifice of what shall be cured within yourself and something from yourself. So in order to cure infertility Zurektyl and her followers demand the sacrifice of a pregant woman and something of great value from the person seeking help.   One particular gruesome tale speaks of a woman, jealous of her fertile sister, kidnapping her in the midst of her seventh pregnancy, dragging her to Trivol with the aid of some pirates she hired. When asked for something valuable, she answered that she spend everything she owned on the pirates and the kidnapping. She had nothing left. Or so she thought. The witches demanded her heart. They were in an especially wicked mood this day and cut the still beating heart of the woman out of her chest. But they stood by their word and healed the womans infertility - and kept her alive, turning her into an undead.   Noone knows the name of said woman, but from then on she became known as "Lermina the ghoul". She was blessed (or cursed) with ethernal youth and together with her daughters, she had twins, they raised a kingdom in the south of Andaahr based on dark magic and necromancy. The three women were called the threefaced mother and ruled for nearly six centuries with fear and terror until they were slain by a cult of religious lunatics who in turn ruled with fear and terror and established a theocracy in the lands of former dark magic.   But back to the witches. Others of their desired services were ethernal youth, beauty, riches and curses aimed at the enemies of those knocking on their doors. The prices for these were equally gruesome, ranging from sacrifices over rare parts of men, elfs and monsters, crystals and so forth.  

Ritual magic supplies

Not only desperate souls appeared on the shores of Trivol. Besides their wicked magic, the circle also sells magic items and supplies for dark rituals that are needed by other necromancers, witches, fortune tellers and others that want to delve into the darker ways of magic.   Some of the most common items they sell are candles, made from the fat of their human sacrifices or slaves, tokens that carry curses or blessings that permanently cling to the wearer even after removing the token or undead animals that can be used as spies.   When doing business with the circle one must be careful. Even though they are a bunch of decievers, they do never lie. They might forget to mention something, but they never lie and stay true to their word. Something everyone who wants to buy their items must do as well. Once a price has been agreed uppon, one must pay up or shall never be seen again.