Nymmarth - F Ancient Sapphire Dragon

C3 IMPORTANT HISTORY

 

• Nymmarth (F)
• Ancient Sapphire Dragon (around 1200 years old)
• Also born on Tu'Narath, which in the present is much smaller and less grand than in the heyday of the War against the Mindflayers (people got too comfortable)
• Befriended Nirosian in caves near Tu'Narath (his home lair)
• built the memorial for Nirosian in Cresche
• BLACKSMITH disguise in TWIN FALLS (alter ego is a Dwarven F named Nythramm), used his skill and magics to make Lydalada's bracers
• is wary of Lyka even though he is helpful and gives him discounts, senses Illithid energy about him
• After hertime on Terus waiting for Lykalada'ath, and seeing (and meeting with) other dragons arriving to keep an eye on the stirring Great Old One, Nymmarth has vowed to join her Dragon brethren to ensure Cthulhu does not rise to power.
• She wonders what part Lykalada'ath and the Mindflayers have in the rise of the Great Old One, with both reappearing when Cthulhu's power is rising
• After saving Lyka and his friends in Twin Falls from Psurlons, knows she will soon have to tell Lyka everything, but she is still getting the measure of his person. He seems childish, greedy and warlike, and she is worried that he will be more like his mother than she and his father had planned. 

ALLYING WITH NIROSIAN

• Nymmarth was but a young dragon when she heard of the legendary war of the Gith against the Illithids. The more she learned about the warlike Githyanki in particular, the more she realized she could thrive being near these people. She made her way to Tu'Narath, and was repelled quite quickly by Githyanki riding red dragons, with Nymmarth realizing their love for Tiamait and the mono-colors making them unlikely allies.
• Still Nymmarth was stubborn, and she approached the city from below. Have seen the area, she was able to instantly teleport onto the surface when she had seen porous openings on the giant dead god's lower body, and she began to tunnel. Unfortunately, Tu'Narath the dead god's body had calcified into a very durable rock, and it was not as easy as the stone and dirt Nymmarth was used to. It took her a few years, but eventually she made her way to the northern part of the body, deep beneath the city proper, and began to prepare her lair. Her final touch was to make a small opening big enough to a single humanoid to enter and exit, as she planned on exploring Tu'Narath disguised as a Githyanki in time.
• Nymmarth had thought his Lair was far enough below the city for its regional affects not to be immediately noticed, but it just so happened that there was one in Tu'Narath who often wandered the paths outside of town searching for clarity, and guidance on his life goals. His name was Nirosian Stormcall, he had recently married a beautiful Githyanki named Si’riian Flametongue who looks had entranced him, and he was making plans to help the Githzerai. He had lost faith in the Githyanki ways long before, watching too many friends and family members die for their great cause, and not quite believing in the supposedly elevation that Vla'kalith promised (all of which he kept from his wife, a true zealot.) He felt the psychic connection as soon as he neared Nymmarth's secret exit, and felt the need to explore this strange new creature. SHORT VERSION - he managed to survive Nymmarth's traps and spiders, and soon found himself face to face with the Dragon.
• Nymmarth was content to speak with the outsider, wanting to learn news of Tu'Narath. She was intrigued by the gentler nature of the Githyanki, who did not charge in and immediately try to attack her. He told her he sensed a psychic connection, and she realized this must be practicing psionic and mental magics closer to those of the Githzerai, for the Githyanki's angry minds did not often detect her. He told her about his recent marriage, realizing too late he had married for looks alone, and that he was not content with such a viscious woman. Seeing the dragon interested, Nirosian went on to explain that his wife was pregnant, and after the birth his child would be sent to a Cresche on a world called Terus. He feared for the child. The Illithids were in retreat, the Gith forces and their allies overwhelming the Mindflayers, and Nirosian knew once that threat was contained, they would turn their attention to Githzerai, starting another war Nirosian was not certain they would survive. And he certainly did not want to see his son die fighting a fruitless war. Sensing a request, Nymmarth asked for terms for a bargain.
• Nirosian thought long and hard, having seen Nymmarth's collect of war artifacts and gems, and realized he had only one thing to trade. "Information," he gasped at last. Help me, protect my secret, protect my child if it comes to it, and I will be your servant, gathering information, artifacts, anything you want from the Tu'Narath. Nymmarth did not hesitate in saying yes, though he did want to speak with another sapphire dragon with more knowledge about Illithids in general, before giving his full agreement about potentially fighting Illithids to protect the child.

BLEUCORUNDUM

  Bleucorundum is an ancient sapphire dragon with an equally ancient hatred of beholders and their kin. After losing both parents to beholder attacks, he fled to the Lake of Steam in southern Faerûn. There, he discovered the resting place of a martial order known as the Knights of the Crescent Moon, who had fought beholders in an ancient war. Bleucorundum found the knights held in stasis, awaiting the day they would be called upon to fight their ancient enemies again, and he vowed to guard them until they awaken. He styles himself the Sapphire Sentinel, self-appointed guardian of the Sleeping Legion. But his vigil is lonely, and his servitor gargoyles provide little companionship.

• He is older than Nymmarth,
• When Nymmarth first met Nirosian, and heard his plead for aid, Nymmarth went to speak with Bleucorundum about the Githyanki and their war against the Illithid, and their savagery against the Githzerai. While Bleucorundum had no opinion about the Gith, he told Nymmarth his tale and explained his hatred for the Illithid, and why he awaited the Sleepion Legion
• Bleucorundum's vigil inspired her to take a stand and join with Nirosian

PARTNERS AND FRIENDS

Nirosian was Nymmarth's spy and informant for the next 42 years, over time the pair striking up a friendship of mutual respect. Nirosian admired the dragon staying true to his word and helping him in many tight situations, even in helping his establish contact with the Githzerai to learn more about their ways for when he brought it before the other Githyanki. It was there that Nirosian learned about connecting his child to Limbo, the plan being Lyka would be the first of many, to help tie together the two races once more. Nymmarth admired Nirosian's convictions and strength, knowing the dangerous and trying life he led.

• Nymmarth kept an eye on Lyka in the shadows, helping him through a number of adventures without his knowledge, while also keeping an eye on Nirosian and making sure his secret was kept
• Nirosian spoke to no one of Nymmarth's lair, and helped protect its secret for all those years.
• Together they worked to connect Lyka's mind to the plane of Limbo, Nymmarth's psionic powers enhancing Nirosians rituals.
• Together they began constructing a sapphire bracer that would help with linking Lyka to the plane of limbo. They knew he would already have a connection to the Astral Sea due to his time amongst the Githyanki, but they wanted him to know both sides of Gith culture. It includes many powers, but Nirosian was hesitant to give it to Lyka as he knew his son was heavily indoctrinated into Githyanki culture at this point, and would instantly sense the connection to Limbo and the Githyanki. Unbeknownst to Nirosian, Nymmarth enchanted the bracer to be almost indestructable and unable to remove once Lyka put it on, forcing him to accept the connection whether he wanted it or not.

Not long after the bracer was completed, Nirosian and Nymmarth sensed a powerful magic surge, with Nirosian seeing Lyka pulled into a strange vortex. He reported it to Nymmarth, who did not know what had happened. Not long after, reports began coming in that the Mindflayers had disappeared. Nirosian and Nymmarth barely took in the news, as they were hunting for Lyka. They found no trace of him anywhere near his last known location. They checked all around the Astral Sea for likely places, they checked the Cresche in Terus, but found nothing. Desperate, they went to Limbo, as Lyka's connection had already been formed, wondering if he had gone there without telling anyone. Sadly, he was not with the Githzerai, but they helped Nirosian focus on divining the location of his son using their psionic magic, and Nirosian had a vision of Lyka, along with a large woman, a Vedalken, a Aarakocra, and an Air Genasi looking at a grave marker at the Cresche in Terus.

THE OATH

They flew to Terus, and found the Githyanki were abandoning the cresche, no longer needing the strategic location without a war to fight with the Illithids. Nirosian vowed to stay and wait for Lykalada'ath, keeping the bracer with him, and Nymmarth agreed to check on Nirosian and bring supplies every couple of months. No longer in the Astral Sea, Nirosian began to age, and after a few decades of hard living and fighting off the beasts of Terus, Nirosian was growing older and weaker.

• On his final visit, Nymmarth found Nirosian barely able to leave his cot. She did not have much experience with loss, but knew it was going to be hard to lose Nirosian. She found she had a kind of love for him.
• Knowing his time was soon, he thanked Nymmarth for all her help over the years, and said he had one last request, though he had nothing to bargain with. Nymmarth bade him to make it, and Nirosian asked Nymmarth to continue the search for Lyka, and keep an eye on Terus for his return, granting him the bracer when he did. Nymmarth knew the request was coming, and accepted, though she said the debt would pass to Lykalada'ath. When Nirosian asked what the debt was, Nymmarth answered simply, "To Make his father's dreams come true."
• Nymmarth continued the search for hundreds of years. In that time, despite Nirosian's fear, full-scale war did not start between the Githyanki and Githzerai, and the Githyanki became somewhat stagnant, most of their warriors becoming pirates. Nymmarth abandoned her lair on Tu'Narath, and constructed a new lair on Terus, in the Continent now called Orcocid near the Cresche.
• She kept the bracer close and at the ready, feeling a connection to both Nirosian and Lykalada'ath when she held it. When the town of Twin Falls was established nearby, a bustling marketplace with a number of warlike beings and a gladitorial arena, Nymmarth set up a small shop and disguised herself a dwarf named Nythramm, specializing in bracers, gauntlets and gloves as a cover so she could continue to make improvements to the sapphire bracer. At this point almost a thousand years had passed since Lykalada'ath's disappearance, but she remained vigilante. She sensed approaching darkness, and wondered whether it was all connected.

LYKALADA'ATH

• Nymmarth thought a lot about her approach when Lyka eventually returned (she never doubted it), knowing she would have to slowly bring him along, as she did not have Nirosian there to help convince him. Luckily she knew the Githyanki were not what they once were, but there was still the issue of Lyka's mother still being alive out there
• One day, about 100 years ago, she sensed powerful magics on Terus, and energies similar to what she experienced the day Lyka disappeared. In time she learned about the Fiend invasion of Domunz, and the strange summoning circles throughout the lands. Eventually she learned the tale of the Death Joints, and their strange encounter with the Anachime Sudex creature, whose power seemed to have destabilized the walls between the planes on Terus
• Over the next 100 years she investigated a number of gateways, portals, that were randomly appearing across both Domunz and Oroccid. These gateways were different than summoning circles, they seemed permanent, and not even her strongest dispel magic spells could close them. It was like holes were appearing across the planet. There was the Feywild portal near Chalinos, the Positive Energy Plane in Miraxalim, the portals to the Elemental Planes in Oroccid, and a good number more. It worried her, and she wondered more than ever what it all meant.
• Then, a few months before C3 starts, she senses a new portal opening, closeby, and something familiar about it. She rushes over with the bracer, and immediately finds a chaotic portal flashing in and out of existence. Holding the bracer, she senses Lyka inside. Without a moment's hesitation she dashes inside. Her body is tossed and thrown through Limbo, her mind assaulted with psionic energy as she then appears in the Astral Sea, then Terus, and the Shadowfell, all of them frozen in time as she appears and disappears, the cycle repeating over and over again. She knows her power can pull her free, but senses this is likely what has been happening to Lyka. She musters her psionic energy, willing her form to stay in one plane (which ends up being the Shadowfell), and anchors herself there. In moments another form appears, a young Githyanki, unconscious (or comatose, his mind likely going dormant due to the psychic assault), and with all her might she slaps the bracer on his arm. She telepathically commands him to activate the bracer, and he is unresponsive. She gathers her energy, and puts all her will and might into the command. Her strength sapped, she falls back into the cycle of realms, then gathers enough strength to wrench herself free back on Terus. Looking behind her, she sees the gateway has stabilized, and through it she can see the Shadowfell. Lyka does not appear, but she sees footprints on the ground that are likely his. She knew time was warped inside that vortex, and guesses Lyka exited before her.
• She makes her way back to Twin Falls, and waits, pleased as she can sense the Bracer on Terus, and it is moving. Her plans are in action, though she senses the bracer was damaged during Lyka's escape, meaning she would have to fix it, or wait for its magic to fix itself. "All for the best" she thinks, knowing it is probably better for the bracer to come to its full power as Lyka comes around to her way of thinking. When she sensed Lyka trying to use it, she sends messages through the bracer, "Not yet."