Saphyra was my first character in Carrion Fields. She was often lost, rarely led a party, and took a long time learning how to get from here to there. Still, she managed to make an impression on various people, and not a bad one.
Her first real friend who helped her along was Whisper the Bard. Bards were brand new in Thera in those days, and young Saphyra was not entirely certain she wanted to run around with someone who could not fight but who could sing. Whisper convinced her he would make a decent companion, so the two of them worked together to rise in the ranks, often just in a pair. After a while, however, Whisper did not run around with Saphyra, for while he wanted to be a bard to the evil ones, he had targeted the Anti-Paladins as his special group and wished to run around with them and sing of their accomplishments and adventures.
Saphyra found no real friends for a while, just running around with whoever was handy to help her gain ranks. When she ran into some real trouble getting ahead, Whisper suggested she look up a hard-on-his-luck Anti-Paladin named Darkwolfe. Saphyra found Darkwolfe, a fire-giant, and only because she mentioned Whisper's name did Darkwolfe have anything to do with her. During the time they were together, Darkwolfe ran afoul of a Battlerager named Relon, an assassin, and Saphyra, too young to deal with Relon in a more violent manner, merely stood by and watched as Relon guarded Darkwolfe's belongings until he came back for them. Relon lived for the fight, and he was honorbound. As Saphyra stood guard with him over Darkwolfe's things, Relon began teaching Saphyra about what it was to be honorbound. The lessons would continue throughout her life, and Saphyra would come to call Relon 'brother'.
Darkwolfe helped Saphyra to pay her debt to her guildmaster so that she could once again gain ranks in the guild. They parted friends, and she saw little of him after that. But Whisper told her that somehow she had managed to pull the Anti-Paladin out of his doldrums and had given him new life.
Yet another period of slowness followed. Saphyra's friend Tarrant (a Llothian cleric) told her to find an invoker to enchant her weapons to aid her, but no matter where she looked, she could not find the invokers he had recommended, and the others, he had said, charged much too much for the service. During this time, Saphyra made friends with fellow assassins Dalamar and Turnis, both of whom were as brothers to her as they adventured together. A third assassin, Anthrax, often joined them (Turnis, Anthrax, and Saphyra) adventuring, and Turnis asked Anthrax to marry him. While he was waiting for Anthrax's answer, Turnis helped Saphyra to re-equip after a particularly bad day and as payment asked her to convince Anthrax to say yes. Saphyra kept her end of the bargain, and eventually Turnis and Anthrax were engaged to marry. In the meantime, Turnis, who was honorbound also, joined the Knights of Thera. And Dalamar introduced Saphyra to Daeldron the Invoker.
It had seemed that Saphyra's quest for an invoker was over until Daeldron, after an adventure, turned her down for enchanting weapons, telling her that only members of Master Cabal and people who were worthy could receive enchantments from him (and she obviously was not worthy). She determined to renew her quest for an invoker, and was somewhat surprised when Daeldron contacted her for aid. Having nothing else better to do (and there being no other invokers in Thera at the time), Saphyra decided to give him the aid he requested. She spent a lot of time watching him enchant weapons for Masters. Then they went off, and a third person joined them, and they battled trolls. One of the trolls was too much for them. Daeldron and the other fellow escaped, but Saphyra died to the creature. She somehow found her way back and got her things, and Daeldron felt bad about getting her killed. She returned to her guild in Galadon to recover. Daeldron contacted her one more time, this time to tell her that she was indeed worthy to receive enchantments on her weapons if she asked.
A short time passed before Saphyra went to Daeldron to get an enchantment. Again she spent time watching him enchant weapons for Masters. Daeldron examined her weapons and told her that the chances of them exploding were too great, so he did not cast spells upon them. Meantime, he made it clear to her that he was attracted to her, and she found that she liked him, too. Several adventures together later, and after a short absence from each other, the two got back together. Daeldron received a visit from his adopted father Xarnoth, then an immortal, and Xarnoth instructed Saphyra to practice her social abilities (something she had been neglecting for a long time).
Before very long, Daeldron asked Saphyra to marry him, and they were married by the bard Balderic in the Kobold Caverns, with Xarnoth WindGust acting as maid of honor, Ravenlok as best man, and a host of Masters. Turnis was present as Saphyra's assassin 'brother', and an anti-paladin with whom Saphyra had made friends, Lokith, was also present. Balderic being chaotic, he sang visions of Xanadu for the reception. Saphyra could see nobody in the vision and felt very lost. When at last the vision wore off, she found herself alone with Daeldron and very relieved that it was all over. (She'd lost all her worldly possessions just before the ceremony and felt like a pauper marrying a prince, which made her very uncomfortable.)
Daeldron became a wanted criminal shortly after the wedding, for as they entered Galadon, he found himself stalked by someone. Expecting an attack, he attacked and killed first. After that, the two did not see each other for a short time, during which time an Anti-Paladin friend of Daeldron's made 'peace' with Saphyra during an adventure in Emerald Forest and then proceeded to attack her. She killed him for his insolence and for breaking treaty. Soon afterward, a Master Anti-Paladin summoned her into a room she could not escape from and proceeded to kill her. All her new clothes and wedding gifts were confiscated, including the wedding ring, and lost to her. Miserable, Saphyra roamed Galadon's streets in search of a few things so she could fend for herself.
Her assassin 'brother', Relon, saw her in town naked and asked her what had happened. Relon was a BattleRager (hater of magic) and also, though Saphyra did not know it, Avatar of Cador the Honourbound. Saphyra explained about her marriage to the Master and the death she was dealt by another Master. After a string of cursing, Relon took her to the Red Dragon for a new outfit, and was on his way to Arkham with her to get her a Nightwing Cloak when he learned of Rager brothers in trouble. Saphyra told him to go do his duty and shortly thereafter found Daeldron. She told Daeldron what had befallen, and he was scandalized, that his wife had gotten help from a Rager, and his worst enemy besides. He wrote the cabal a note about the activities of the one who had killed his wife and did not return the wedding ring, and they learned that this one had also killed an Anti-Paladin friend of theirs right in their guild and was thrown out of Legion as a result.
Saphyra left Daeldron to his mourning when he learned of Xarnoth's final death. He spent as long as he could with Xarnoth in the WindGust home in Ofcol. Xarnoth named Daeldron his heir and gave him the WindGust name. (It was learned by future generations that Xarnoth actually died alone, that Daeldron had left before the very end. Saphyra mourned Xarnoth's death alone, Xarnoth never knowing that he need not have died without at least one mourner.)
Troubles within Master Cabal came to a head, and Mimi, the Mortal Leader, stepped down. Twist, the Immortal Leader of Master Cabal, took Daeldron from Saphyra and Nero (a ranger who was adventuring with them in Emerald Forest at the time) and conferred Leadership upon him. Daeldron was Mortal Leader of Master Cabal until he stepped down later on because he had not the time to fully devote to the job. While he was Leader, however, he and Saphyra interviewed many would-be Masters, and the magical assassin who was Master only by marriage influenced the decisions regarding the inductions of new Masters. Famous Masters inducted by Daeldron include Dylan, an Anti-Paladin who later became immortal.
Daeldron and Saphyra gained the aid of the Master Necromancer Coprophagous Sacer. Often they gathered near Cepheus' Throne, Coprophagous summoning feared swordsmen and then large guardsmen for Daeldron and Saphyra to use as combat practice and to gain experience so their guildmasters would teach them more. At other times, Daeldron and Saphyra would grab a third companion from among the Rangers and Anti-Paladins who roamed Thera, and eventually Saphyra gained knowledge of how to assassinate, and how to hurl hellfire.
Sometime early in the marriage, while Daeldron was new at being Leader, the BattleRagers found the WindGusts' home in the Kobold Caverns and attempted to slaughter them there. Daeldron took Saphyra to a new place, and there, amidst a certain squalor nobody would expect them to live with, they remained safe for the rest of their lives. Their son, Xarnoth, who followed his father's footsteps and became an invoker and a Master of the Five Magics, was born in the house they had in their secret place, as was their invoker daughter Xaiphyronoth (also later a Master of the Five Magics). Daeldron interviewed his son for the cabal in their secret home, in fact, but stepped down from leadership before Xarnoth was inducted, leaving that to his successor Iswan, the Felar Anti-Paladin.
Among the people they knew were Thorn, a Dark-Elf Thief, and a warrior who had been kicked out of the Knights of Thera and wished to be a BattleRager, Krollos. This warrior chanced to loot the corpse of Thorn one day after Thorn had died in a duel, and called upon Saphyra to take some of the loot off his hands. Some of it was meant for Daeldron, some for her, he told her. As she riffled through the new-found riches, Thorn came upon them and demanded the loot from the warrior. He claimed ignorance of the belongings until Saphyra accidently called attention to herself, putting on one of the things. Thorn turned to her and had a close look at her. Krollos ran.
Thorn being a tattooed worshipper of Lloth, who was also Saphyra's goddess, and also being a friend of Daeldron's, received every stolen piece back without an argument. Saphyra even threw in a few of her own items which looked like Thorn's, because she knew Daeldron would replace any missing clothing for her if she couldn't do it herself. Thorn pledged to Saphyra that he would pay her back for her kindness, and Saphyra thought that all he meant was to give her a few nice things later on (which he did). The pledge, however, went beyond the Dark-Elf Thief, and beyond Saphyra besides. Her act of kindness had united Thorn and his line with Saphyra and hers in a sort of friendship/debt.
There were many times that Saphyra brought Daeldron to Lloth's Shrine. There she worshiped the Spider Queen, and then went off with Daeldron on adventures. Daeldron, himself, was a follower of Jullias. Once, Lloth caught the two of them in her Shrine, and angered, she removed the tattoo from Saphyra. Broken, Saphyra was afraid to face other followers of the Queen, but those who had known her either did not know of Lloth's displeasure with her, or did not care. Saphyra never attempted to regain the favor of her goddess, believing it to be impossible to do so. She often thought the Spider Queen unfair, for she had not known that bringing Daeldron to the Shrine was so terrible.
Shortly before the death of Daeldron, Saphyra instructed their daughter, who hardly knew her father, to seek him out and learn from him. But as luck would have it, Xaiphyronoth had to rely upon contact beyond the grave to learn from him. He asked Vyserok, a Rager Assassin, to deal out the second-to-last death, and then called upon Saphyra to accompany him to Battle Cabal, where the Destructor of Magic dealt the final blow. As Saphyra mourned over the body, Sastumonger, a Rager, slaughtered her. Suddenly back in Galadon, Saphyra let loose a keening that annoyed the city's populous until they would listen to her tell of the passing of Daeldron. The immortal Nepenthe asked confirmation of the death, and then she heard no more from the Masters. Ayse, a Rager who had witnessed Saphyra's slaughter by Sastumonger, offered condolences, which she, in her misery, threw back in his face.
Saphyra lived only a short time after that, giving away all her worldly goods, such as they were, and then dying of a broken heart. She just passed away into oblivion, without mourners, without fanfare, having come into this world in the same manner, so she passed from it. She left behind more friends than she thought she had.
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