PLAYED BY: Hawk McClurg
CHARACTER NAME: Lucy Griffendail
GENDER: Female
CLASS: Mage
AGE: 22
RACE: Half human/Syndar
HAIR: Blonde
EYES: Blue
KNOWN SKILLS: Arcane Mage
BIRTHPLACE: Aldoria
APPEARANCE: Short in stature, broad shoulders, mostly wears green, muscular.
RELATIONSHIPS: Granddaughter of Vazra
Bio:
When I was a young girl my father would tell me great tales of my grandfather, “The man who traveled through time and space”. He was a grand mage looked up to by some and resented by many. A fond wizard of sorts really.
My father once told me the story as to how I was born. My mother went into labor much too early and was in great pain. My father said the amount of pain he witnessed his beloved wife and mother of his first unborn child go through made him nearly go mad with panic. He didn’t know what to do. The only thing he did know was that his mother would know what to do. He told me he went on a short journey into the dark forest to find her. You see, my grandmother was what you would call a hermit of sorts. She stayed in the woods for the most part, according to my father, never really venturing into the town. Some of the town’s folk were afraid of her but not my brave father. After he had drug my grandmother out of the house and out of the woods, he had to let her be alone with my mother. Unfortunately, after she did all she could, my mother died during childbirth. My grandmother held me and wept. This saddened my father, delving him into a depression that he couldn’t seem to shake. My mother had died and all he had was me and my grandmother.
Throughout my youth as I grew older, I could see the sadness my father held on his shoulders. He would occasionally go speak with grandmother, but told me I could never meet her. I never understood why and when I would ask, my father would always answer vaguely.
I remember the day my father disappeared though… My father left the house at the normal time that he did every other week on Wednesday afternoon for the market. It was mid fall, winter slowly making its way, but the sun still made its way to the earth with its motherly warmth. Then night fell and my father still had not come home. Being 6 years old, I didn’t know what to do so I panicked and left the house to search for him. It being nearly dark, I quickly realized that it was a bad idea to leave. I had nobody to help me look for my father either. First, I ventured into the village asking anyone I saw if they’d seen my father but nobody could say they had. I remembered my father talking about my grandmother sometimes. He had said she lived in the forest somewhere but it would take forever for me to find her house. It was the only option though because I needed my father. He was all I had. He was my teacher, my friend, and my father. So I had to get over my fear and go into the woods. I searched for a little shack till dawn break. Exhausted and hungry, I sat down at the base of a mighty oak.
That’s when I saw it. Deep into the forest between the trees, I swore I saw a roof reflecting the blue of the morning. I got up and started to run a shambling, tripping run, but I ran none the less. I tripped about half way there and fell, slicing my knees open on a big jagged rock buried in the dirt. I got up, tears filling my eyes, blood running down my legs, and dirt all over my pretty dress and hands. Walking up to the old shack, I saw candle light through a crack so when I got up to the door I tried to push it open but it was locked. I knocked… Nothing. I yelled… Nothing. I banged as hard as a six year old girl could smash her fists on a door. Giving up in the middle of the woods, the early rays of morning shining through the trees, I started to cry, sliding down the door panel. There is where I fell asleep…
Until I got woken up by falling inside the shack, looking up at a grizzly old woman. She looked at me like I had just fallen into her house or something. She asked what I was doing, I asked frantically where my dad was, she asked what I was doing, and I asked if she’d seen my father. Finally she looked at me, grabbed my shoulders and whispered in my ear that my father was dead. I slapped her right across the face, being feisty and six, not having that as an answer. I screamed where is he?! She grabbed me and brought me into her shack.
“First off. Why are you even here? These are awfully dangerous woods for a little girl. You must’ve walked all night.”
I replied, “I’m not afraid of anything. I want my father and I’m willing to do anything till I find him. I want to know if you saw him since yesterday.”
She looked at me with a somber look, turned around quietly and grabbed a letter on her table, handing it to me. “Read this.” I looked at her and blinked. “I can’t read.” Dumbfounded, she looked at me and said, “For goodness sake girl, your father didn’t teach you to read?” I replied, “I’m six.” Exasperated, she sighed at me. “Fine. Fine. I’ll read it to you.”
She unfolds it and proceeds to read:
I had to leave you Lucy. I know you’re my only daughter. I know I’m all you have but I see a great future in you. You’re beautiful, strong, and one day you will be powerful. I left because I will weigh you down with my sadness. I don’t want you to resent me, or hate me, but I know you will. There is one thing I must ask of you. I see in you the ability to follow in the footsteps of your grandfather, Vazra. Our family has long held that he did not fall in his fight with the Death Knight. I have personally heard accounts of a bright flash of blue light surrounding both of them as Vazra alone vanished from the field. If there was anyone who could have survived such a thing, it would have been Vazra. If you work hard at expanding your mind, you may be able to reach some of the great peaks of power Vazra tread on before he left us. You may be able to discover his fate… My mother, your grandmother Sheila, will help you. Do not shy away from her. She is an odd woman, frightening even, but listen to your grandmother. She will teach you and help prepare you for this quest. She will tell you when you are ready. You must be steadfast and smart. Never forget that I love you Lucy. You will not understand why I left you now, but one day you will.
I angrily wrinkled up the letter and threw it at the door. I started to uncontrollably sob, curling up on the floor. Sheila picked me up off the floor, stood me up and glared at me. “I didn’t necessarily agree to be a babysitter but your father asked me and I promised I’d raise you. Now stop crying and toughen up. You’re not going to get anywhere on the floor crying, you’re not a baby.”
Jumping forward seven years, I’m thirteen and grew up in the woods with my grandmother. I can, however, read fluently which is glorious. I found I love reading. I have my things packed for the quest I am about to go on. My grandmother tried to teach me how to wield a sword. Let me tell you, that woman does not do well as a teacher. But I took in her lessons nonetheless. She got mad at me once in a while, not that I didn’t deserve it most of the time, but I took it like an adult. Life is hard with a crazy woman, but here I am strong, smart, and most of all ready. I do not hate my father. He did what he did out of care, not spite or anger, and I still love him and know he’s watching over me.
My grandmother told me of the fond, secretive love between her and Vazra. Vazra vanished before my father was born. Oddly, she didn’t hate Vazra. She was just saddened by him, but loved my father anyways, in an odd, standoffish kind of way, but still love.
One day mid training my grandmother suddenly stiffened and informed me that we were taking a trip to the coast and that I should bring everything that I found valuable. While I found this odd, I packed my few prized possessions and followed her down the road. After a few days travel we came to a port city and my grandmother marched us straight to the docks. Once there she found a man selling passage on a ship to Mardrun and passed him a small bracelet I had never seen before. He looked at it dismissively until she placed it in his hand and it suddenly shone with mana. “This will do.” is all he said, then he pointed to the ship. My grandmother started shoving me towards the ship despite my protests as her plan dawned on me. “I need to find out what happened to Vazra.” I shouted. She slapped me across the face and forcefully whispered into my ear. “Things have changed on Faedrun, it has become a place of death. You won’t be able to find out what happened if you are dead. The time to search for his fate on Faedrun has passed. If you have any chance to find out what happened, it must be in the New World.” With that, my strength left me and I allowed myself to be lead to the gangway. Good bye Aldoria, let my search begin.