Race: Human
Age: 16
Class: Cleric of Ilmater (Fighting-Monk Kit)
Signature Weapon: Masterwork Cestus
Signature Spell: none cast yet
Signature Item: Boots and Cloak of Elvenkind
Power: Spellfire
Physical Description: Malachi Teres Obsidian sits on the soft grass by a tree. He is half a foot taller than most elves and stares off into space with sad but wistful eyes. For a moment, I think he’s weeping but under his right eye is a grey tear drop tattoo. He wears a loose, worn, robe with a satchel draped over his right side. A silver disc of Ilmater dangles from his sinewy neck as he slouches forward but his nearly weeping eyes continue staring elsewhere. With a sigh Malachi pulls back the hood of a fine elven cloak and absently scratches his long, black and somewhat messy hair. He is a young man, though his chiselled features retain the innocence of childhood, his eyes have seen sadness and pain. My heart goes out to this young man whose shoulders slouch under an unseen burden and whose eyes and stance speak of painful times. A strong breeze gusts and shakes the robe and cloak roughly, briefly exposing arms and legs devoid of softness. The wind whips wildly but Malachi sits like a statue made flesh.
He comes to his senses and gives a youthful shake of his head, as if to deny such sadness. He smiles to no one in particular and gracefully springs to a stand. He checks the satchel, which is nearly overflowing with healing supplies, clutches his holy symbol briefly and sets off, still smiling. The grey teardrop is no longer crying with pain, but happiness. And, after a moment, he is gone probably without even noticing my presence.
- A page of ruined travel log
Anonymous
Past: Malachi Teres Obsidian belonged to a merchant house in Waterdeep. The absolute authority of the Obsidian family line is the grandmother and matriarch Pearl who’s real age is lost to time.
Malachi had been handling books and numbers since he was old enough to form the proper letters in Common. His first decade of life was spent inside the Obsidian family house and its surrounding grounds. On the eve of his 10th birthday a group of idealistic young adventurers attacked the Obsidian family home after many accusations and loud claims that the Obsidians were involved in the Thayan slave trade. The group fought their way to the study and died trying to find evidence of their claims. The survivors abducted Malachi, hoping they could use him to ransom the information from the family.
Matriarch Pearl decried that the adventurers had butchered Malachi in the attack. Thus, dead to his family and useless to the adventurers he was left to the streets of Waterdeep where he saw and suffered alongside the poor and the diseased. It was in these filthy streets that he found Ilmater.
Malachi befriended an old begger, Tailem, who taught him how to live with the hunger, the sickness and the hopelessness but to keep heart because your cries do not go unheard and that there is a god who cries with you. Ilmater’s clerics are all that kept Malachi alive for the first few months and Tailem’s advice was the only thing that kept him going. On the first anniversary that marked his life on the street Malachi found Tailem broken and bleeding and nearly dead. He had saved a woman from being raped that night, but had given his life to do so. Tailem did not regret his sacrifice and began singing a quiet hymn to Ilmater though his lungs were near ruined. As Tailem’s swan song laboured on Malachi wept bitterly until a second voice joined in. Malachi saw Tailem stand up, still beaten but his old eyes joyful. His voice no longer weighed down by blood or pain soared as a man walked toward him from the shadows. The man’s broken body was crisscrossed with wounds and he walked despite the pain he must feel. They both sang and they both suffered and after the hymn was finished the stranger wiped away a tear on Malachi’s right cheek and they disappeared leaving Malachi to wipe away his tears except for one that would always remain.
Needless to say, Malachi approached and was accepted into Ilmater’s church. He completed the scholarly aspects of his education at a phenomenal pace. By the age of twelve, Malachi left Waterdeep after having numerous dreams which told him to explore the world.
A few days later, Malachi was ambushed by a man who called himself the Neuromancer. He was responsible for the dreams and he wished to abduct Malachi and “use his abilities to become more powerful”. As the villain explained his plot to the helpless wandering cleric a woman dressed in blue walked up behind the Neuromancer, gave him a rough boot to the rear and pushed him through a hole in space which had suddenly appeared. The woman identified herself as Miss Waters and formally informed him that he would be under her tutelage as of that moment. Malachi, shocked and in no position to argue found himself learning martial arts from this woman, eventually developing his own style which he dubbed “The Bleeding Hand”. After 2 years of training Miss Waters informed him that his training under her was complete, for now and that he should be aware that he had a powerful ability called “spellfire” which he’d have to develop on his own.
Adventures: Three years have passed since then and Malachi has found himself in the village of Goldspun looking for the rumoured goodly baron Arangor and Miss Waters. Somewhat disturbed by the unnatural activities of the village’s denizens Malachi hesitantly made his way toward the tower where villagers said he could find Miss Waters and the goodly baron. At the tower Malachi was introduced to the party and then the paladin, possessed by an evil artifact attacked miss waters. Malachi volunteered to drain the artifact of its power even though it would overload and cause a massive explosion thus killing Malachi and anyone in the area. So the party sent him to the manor of Titus Flauius Malwin and after gaining an audience with the elf-killer Malachi drained the artifact. Oddly enough Malachi survived the explosion though everything around him was reduced to a smouldering crater.