Lyza Rein

Lyza Rein is a human paladin of Ilmater originally hailing from Morten.

History

Lyza is the youngest of three children, with her two older brothers being twins. Her father is a fisherman on Lake Thane, and her mother sold his catch at their market stall in Grimport. Lyza wasn’t very close with her two brothers, who were six years older than her, but she envied the freedom and love that her parents showed them but withheld from her. The coldness from her father was always something that puzzled her and was not something anyone would admit or explain to her. Left to entertain herself often in a small village without many other children or excitement, she frequently played in the dangerous areas of town (i.e., the swamp). She found herself making much closer friends with animals than people. As a child, she liked to put on frog races or charm the swarm snakes, and she has a few scars to show for those efforts. Her parents never let her have her own pets and didn’t appreciate her attempts to bring her “friends” home. All speak of adventure was ceased by her father, who wanted her to take over the market stall as her mother was becoming weaker with age. In her teenage years, Lyza slowly collected the armor and weapons sometimes left behind by unfortunate adventurers at the bottom of the swamp, and she kept them in a fort she assembled just outside the village. After several years, she had collected a full set of mismatched plate, a decent shield, and sharp longsword. One day, while practicing her swordsmanship with some vines, she heard in the distance a group of young children playing, daring each other to pick up a snake in an area she knew was fabled to be the home of a great swamp monster. As she watched the child pick up the snake, she saw the swamp monster rise with the child in its mouth, the snake being its tongue. With a brief moment of hesitation, she realized that this is what she was meant for and charged towards the beast. Though the beast was large, it was not as nimble as the snakes, lizards, and other swamp creatures she fought. It was a relatively long battle that brought her close to death, but the beast was taken down by a thousand cuts. During the last thrust of her sword up through his head, she felt something magical happen to her and could not understand it. In the distance behind the beast, she saw a man in robes looking at her, but she blinked and he disappeared. She brought the children and the head of the beast back to town and was hailed as a hero by all except her kin. Her father scorned her for acting as a man and an adventurer, but she felt he was mad about something deeper than that. Days later, feeling empowered by Ilmater, she informed her family that she was meant for more and took up with the nearest paladin guild to pursue greater meaning in life. They did not take her seriously because of her lack of formal training, and ironically asked her to maintain the swamp near Grimport. After a few years, she again saw the man in the swamp after a battle. She hastily pursued glimpses of him and eventually came to a clearing with a log in the middle. On the log was a letter with writing that was hard to read, but she recognized one word: Torquil. She ran back to the village and spoke to the half-elf, asking how to find the swamp man and pursue a life of adventure. He mentioned a strange group that had just passed through the village while on a quest. Excited, she packed her things in hunt for the adventurers to understand who she is and what she was meant to be.