Krayna Shaddarsson
Nation of Birth: Allandaral
Gender: Female
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Auburn
House: Commoner from the town of Kaerodan
Religion: Nominally Alluman, mostly Atheist
Gift: Unidentified
Physical Characteristics: Krayna is tall for a woman from Allandaral, standing at about 5'-10". She is considered to be one of the beauties of her home town.
Personality Traits: Krayna has been raised in two different worlds. Her aunt has taught Krayna the ways of medicine and herbalism, and Krayna will frequently react and respond to those in need of her skills, despite her desire to avoid that life. Krayna's uncle taught her the ways of shadow and thievery, and Krayna often finds herself tempted to commit crimes without every thinking of alternatives. Krayna tries to plan things out, but her plans often gloss over details due to an overconfidence in her own skills. While she has been trained to fight with knives, she has never been forced to kill anyone before, and is hesitant to start now. Krayna prefers the night, finding comfort and solace in the shadows. She sees the dilapidation of her hometown and recognizes that its time is limited, and wants out before the town takes her down with it.
Personality Quirks: Krayna finds the romantic notions of the girls she grew up silly. She believes that most of the women in Kaerodan spend their time spreading their legs for whatever man wants to mount them, and scorns them for it. Krayna hates children, and would prefer almost any fate other than giving birth. She hates her aunt and reveres her uncle.
Krayna has never known her father. She doesn't know whether he left before she was born or when she was too young to remember him, but either way her earliest years were spent with her mother. Krayna's mother and aunt were healers and medicine women operating in the town of Kaerodan in Allandaral. After Krayna's mother died when she was nine, Krayna was taken in by her aunt Alayna and uncle Raeridin at her uncle's assistance. Alayna harbored a belief that Krayna was somehow responsible for the wasting illness that claimed her sister's life and wanted nothing to do with her niece, but finally relented after Raeridin's insistence and began training Krayna in herbalism. Raeridin also began training Krayna at the same time, but his lessons involved skulking and burglary. Periodically, Raeridin would make Krayna undertake various tests to prove her mastery of the skills he was teaching her, rewarding her with a piece of equipment after each test.
Krayna's world was shattered when Alayna and Raeridin had a falling out. Alayna had discovered Raeridin's secret life as a thief and banished him from her household. Krayna was tending to a friend suffering from a malady called bonebreak fever at the time and so missed the fight, but she encountered Raeridin as he was leaving Kaerodan. Raeridin gave Krayna a final gift, a pair of daggers he'd had made for her, and pledged to return or her after he had joined the shadowy organization called the Shaddar Haakan.
Krayna is still waiting for her uncle's return after three years. A recent opportunity has presented itself to her, and Krayna believes that one last job will allow her to escape her aunt and Kaerodan forever, and set off in search for her uncle...
Laeryk's Proving - Chapter Two
The bitter taste of the sleeping potion was foul, but the
aftertaste was even worse. Krayna tried to ignore it as she lay in her bed,
head facing the wrong way so she could better listen through her door. Her aunt
had been giving her regular doses of the sleeping potions ever since catching
Krayna trying to sneak out of the house when she was younger. Over the years,
Krayna had developed a tolerance to the potions. As long as she had a few
guanaro beans to chew on, Krayna could overcome any sleeping potion, and her
aunt kept a large supply of the beans to brew coffees with.
Alayna Shaddarsson, Krayna's aunt, was easily the best
medicine woman in Kaerodan — not that she had any competition. Kaerodan was
practically a crumbling ruin these days. Thirty years ago it had been a
bustling city, receiving frequent visits from merchants eager to trade with the
Wyvern Knights who stopped to rest at the Kaerodan Waystation, one of the
fortresses that housed the Wyvern Knights when they were in foreign lands, but
the knights had stopped coming after the Waystation had been built at Ballen's
Bridge. The merchants had followed suit shortly after. A few still passed
through to purchase casks of Kaerodan's famous beer, but not enough to sustain
the city's commerce. Kaerodan had been practically abandoned, its population
shrinking until it was no larger than a small town. The remaining inhabitants
had pulled back to the center of the abandoned city, allowing the outskirts to
fall to ruin and disrepair, even scavenging materials from the old buildings
when necessary. Kaerodan had become a shambling corpse of its former self,
unaware that it had already died.
Krayna hated the town, and she hated the way its people put
on airs, as if they still mattered to the larger world. The wealthiest man in
Kaerodan was a banished disgrace from his family. The handsomest man in
Kaerodan had been treated for so many sexual diseases it was a wonder that any
woman would touch him, let alone actually allow him to impregnate them, and yet
they did. The only reason Alayna, a genius when it came to herbs and medicines,
stayed was because Krayna's mother, Alayna's sister, was buried nearby.
Krayna listened to the creak of floorboards outside of her
room. Alayna was still up, brewing potions. Master Kolbi had ordered a tonic to
help with his wife's aches during her pregnancy, and Alayna was probably
finishing the tonic so that it could be delivered in the morning. Alayna had a soft
spot for pregnant women — strange, considering she detested children as much as
Krayna. Tiny, filthy hands always grabbing at everything within reach, putting
everything into their mouths... Krayna shivered, despite herself. As far as she
was concerned, children were little more than trophies awarded for spending too
much time being groped in back alleys and forgetting to keep your legs closed.
Given the choice between children or lice... she'd probably pick the lice.
Krayna couldn't do anything until her aunt had gone to bed.
Alayna's ears were too sharp, and she'd purposefully avoided fixing any
floorboards to prevent Krayna from sneaking around. It hadn't worked, of
course. Krayna's uncle had trained her too well, but Krayna let her aunt have
her delusions.
Her uncle Raeridin had been the one who had shown Krayna
that Kaerodan was rotting from within. Raeridin had insisted that Krayna come
to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother had died nine years ago, which
had caused a fight between Alayna and Raeridin. For some reason, Alayna blamed
her sister's death on Krayna. Krayna had never figured out how a nine year old
girl could have had anything to do with her own mother's death. Raeridin had
overridden his wife's objections though, and insisted that Alayna take Krayna
as her apprentice.
If not for her uncle, Krayna's life would have been a
miserable one. She was an apt pupil, and had learned enough of her aunt's trade
that Krayna could have struck out on her own if she wanted, and likely would have
made a tidy living. Krayna hated the work, though she had to admit that being a
medicine woman did make an excellent cover story for her real passion.
Raeridin had been a thief, the greatest in Kaerodan — the
old city, not the crumbling town. He'd discovered Krayna's natural agility,
grace, and cunning, and had been delighted to have someone to pass his tricks
down to. Breaking into people's homes, making off with their valuables, and
then walking among them the next day, with no one the wiser — that was what
thrilled her. She felt no guilt for what she did. If her uncle hadn't taken her
in, Krayna would surely have become a begging urchin on the street, with
everyone in Kaerodan looking down on her. Still, she wasn't utterly heartless.
She tried to keep her targets limited to people who could afford the theft, and
even then she had avoided taking anything with heavy sentimental value, more
because of the risk of someone else identifying it than anything else. Krayna
was far more practical than sentimental.
She heard her aunt's door close. Finally! It was getting
close to midnight, and Krayna wanted as much time as possible for her scheme.
If she pulled this job off, she would finally have enough goods to fence in
Ballen's Bridge and strike out on her own, following in her uncle's footsteps.
Maybe she'd even find Raeridin, and reunite with him away from Alayna.
Alayna had discovered Raeridin's secret profession three
years ago. She'd been furious. Both of them had forbidden Krayna from hearing
the argument, and had sent Krayna to watch over her best friend Winna, who had
been suffering from bone ache fever. Had it been anyone else, Krayna would have
sneaked back, but she hadn't been able to ignore the sight of Winna in such
pain. She'd heard the screaming start as soon as she'd left for Winna's house,
but she hadn't realized just how badly the fight would turn out. She'd
encountered Raeridin on her way back home, and he'd told Krayna that he was
leaving. She'd cried herself to sleep each night for the rest of the week.
Alayna had been a bitch and said nothing. To this day, Alayna still hadn't said
a word to Krayna about Raeridin.
Remembering her uncle brought a tear to her eye, but Krayna
wiped it away. After tonight, she wouldn't have to put up with Alayna any more.
That thought brought a smile to her face.
She moved carefully to the hidden space in the floor of her
closet and retrieved her gear. Each piece of equipment had been a reward from
her uncle for passing one of his many tests. A kit with a set of lock picks and
probes, small mirrors, and a listening cone. A rope made from a silky material,
strong and fire retardant. Three hooks to go with the rope. A small medical kit
with common first aid items, bandages, ointments, alcohol, and the like.
Another kit containing a nastier set of herbs: poisons, most of them designed
to render people unconscious, and a few antidotes as well, in case someone
guarded their treasures with a poison needle or contact poison. She even had a
few vials that could be used as grenades, filling a room with noxious fumes.
Her uncle had been as much a genius with poisons as Alayna was with medicines,
and he'd passed that knowledge to Krayna.
Krayna checked over the equipment quickly, but with an eye
for detail. She didn't have much time, but she couldn't risk anything going
wrong with her gear while she was on the job. Satisfied that everything was in
proper repair and that nothing was missing, she set them aside and returned to
her hiding spot. She pulled out several neatly-folded bags and sacks, each a
mottled gray and black color. She'd never needed to use all of them at once,
but tonight's job might actually call for just that. Setting those aside, she
pulled out the outfit she called her "blacks." They were actually they
same mottled blacks and grays as her sacks and pouches, but she liked the term
better than "thief costume."
The blacks were formfitting, and more than a little
scandalous, but the idea was for people not to notice her, not to protect her
modesty. They were light enough that she could wear them under a dress without
betraying anything, assuming the dress was long enough to cover all of her
legs. She was as tall as most men, much of it leg, and had needed to alter the
blacks as she'd grown older, but her excellent manual dexterity had proven
useful for more than just picking locks and lifting purses. Needle work wasn't
that hard, and Krayna was a competent seamstress, if not an elegant one. She
pulled the blacks on, trousers first and then shirt. A few hair clips bound her
long auburn hair close to her head and neck. Finally, she pulled on the
soft-soled boots and gloves, both with rough grips to help aid her climbing.
She belted on the rest of her gear, and checked herself over in the mirror to
be certain everything was where it should be. Satisfied, she pulled the last of
her treasures from their hiding place.
They were a pair of daggers with black hilts. While the
rest of Krayna's equipment was utilitarian in appearance, these daggers were
exquisite. Their blades were sharpened on both edges, and the tips curved ever
so slightly. They were perfectly balanced, good for either throwing or for use
in hand to hand combat. Krayna had trained to fight with a dagger in each hand,
and their balance made them perfect for that style of combat. The daggers were
each inscribed with the same message, "Shadows Hide You," the same
words Raeridin had said as a farewell to Krayna the day he'd left, when he'd
given her the daggers.
Krayna understood the value of sentimental objects.
As she carefully placed the daggers in their boot sheathes,
Krayna couldn't help but remember that last meeting with her uncle. He'd
explained some of the argument he'd had with Alayna, but Krayna had known him
well enough to tell that he was still keeping something back. Then he'd told
Krayna that he was leaving, before Alayna exposed him to the town. He was going
first to Ballen's Bridge, and from there he would begin his search to make
contact with the Shaddar Haakan, the Shadow's Guild, a criminal organization
that loosely controlled the majority of crime in every nation. He'd promised to
come back for Krayna after he joined them, and help her also become a member,
freeing Krayna from both her aunt and from Kaerodan. Three years had been a
long time to wait, and she couldn't wait on Raeridin any longer. After tonight,
she wouldn't have to.
Krayna pulled her door open as gently as possible, and
peeked out to make sure Alayna actually had gone
to bed. The fire had been
damped down to where it was safe to leave it unattended. Alayna had placed a
kettle over the fire, and Krayna could smell the concoction brewing within.
Perfect. Everything was set up exactly the way Alayna preferred when she went
to bed with medicines still brewing.
Krayna moved quickly, but lightly, barely touching the
floor so she could avoid the creaky boards. When she reached the front door she
opened it carefully — Alayna didn't oil it and used the creak in place of a
bell like everyone else.
Once outside she darted for the nearest shadow, feeling
filled with exhilaration. She was most alive here in the dark, safe from
everything. Her eyes cut through the darkness, the starlight as bright as the
lanterns along the roads.
One last job and she would be free. The night rejoiced with
her as she raced through the streets, cloaked in shadow.
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