Samantha Voidscythe
| Samantha Voidscythe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Creator | Blackscale the Wise |
| Information | |
| Title | Queen of Misfortune |
| Race | Cursed Pella (Prior human) |
| Gender | Female |
| Height | 187 cm |
| Age | 21 |
| Affiliation | Blackscale the Wise |
| Occupation | Explorer and Informator |
| Status | Alive |
| Relatives | Blackscale the Wise |
Background
Life in Saltsand Retreat
Samantha was born in Saltsand Retreat and raised by parents indoctrinated by Eclipse of Soul cult. Joshua and Katherine Voidscythe raised their daughter with a goal to sacrifice her towards Eclipse's ultimate goal, acquiring power of the Gods. That wasn't an initial idea for Samantha, yet when she was born her appearance and circumstances of arrival left little to imagine as the cult, and her parents, believed that she was the child mentioned in Shackles of Mortality and therefore this was their chance to change the future.
Due to Samantha being born in such circumstances she was indoctrinated since the very beginning of her life and her parents did everything to raise her to fulfill their cult's goal. That resulted in thwarting Samantha's individualism and way of thinking whenever it skewed from everyone's else. They haven't thought of her as a daughter but more of a key that needed to rise. Such approach swiftly made Samantha's parents cruel towards her, often resulting in starvation, physical beating and mental tortures to assure her absolute obedience when the time was nigh.
Without knowing better Samantha over time bent to her parents' will and stopped questioning, being constantly afraid of punishment and pain attached to it. However even when she was scared to bone she felt like she was in a trap and needed to do something. With that one night she stole supplies, her mother's clothes, and due to sheer luck escaped as she sneaked past guards and other villagers to the borders of the jungle, which she entered.
Samantha's disappearance brought a massive chaos to the village that resulted in massive scouting missions to find her. Often they were mere meters from finding her as she hid behind trees, stones and bushes while she fought with herself to not return to the family as her supplies were running lower over time. Also hearing the familiar voices of cultists calling out for her to return were draining her already low sanity.
At one point she was close to turning herself in, if not for overhearing the talk about a prophecy in Shackles of Mortality where they described her and her ultimate goal. That provided her with resolve she needed to continue hiding. Unfortunately for her she also knew she wasn't able to hide in the wilderness forever as she lacked tools and knowledge to survive. Once her supplies ran out and Samantha caught a high fever she felt she had no choice but to turn herself in to survive for a bit longer.
Once Samantha came back to the village in terrible condition she was taken away from her parents and put in care of different cultists that weren't good in any measure but at least were more careful with handling Samantha as they provided her with more sating meals and medication to buy her loyalty. However it was too late to get her under their influence as Samantha knew everything, yet had no plan to escape.
At age of 15 Samantha was taken by the cultists to an altar in the middle of a village that was prepared for her sacrifice. It was a similar storm to the one she was born at and she felt a dreadful feeling crawling underneath her skin. Adorned in her mother's clothes she was escorted by her parents and the leader towards the altar where she was tied with rope to face the sky. At that moment Samantha felt like it was over as everyone chanted, the sky got darker and lightnings struck around, as if unable to hit the village.
That feeling only intensified when the leader raised his dagger, ready to cut her chest open. However as that was about to happen Samantha felt she could move her right hand freely, even though she felt the ropes around her wrist. With a desperate swing she beat the dagger out of leader's hand while the hanging strings of rope lashed across leader's face, damaging his eye and losing his balance. As he stumbled down the stairs some of the cultists panicked as Samantha felt her limbs one by one being freed. She had no idea who did that but only saw unnaturally gray semi-transparent arrows that cut each rope. With that she stood on the ledge, trying to assess the situation and find a way to escape yet she's got completely blinded and then deafened by thunder before she lost consciousness.
Samantha woke up another day by a fierce sun while being completely soaked from yesterday's rain. Slowly she crawled to support herself on the altar before looking around. To her eyes was revealed a sight of destruction, with many people being brutally killed. Some of them were burned to bone, some somehow torn into pieces and her parents seemingly in one piece, yet with facial expressions that showed an utter terror and pain. As Samantha looked at her dead parents that were somehow very close to her she felt unnatural warm coursing through her hands. That warmth slowly emanated deep purple color that coalesced the whole altar she was laid on and made it flow. With that nearby rocks floated into the air before dropping. However the altar that looked like a coffin of Samantha's size floated around her till it stayed close to her back and remained here, unless reached for.
With the unexpected freedom that was paired with anger and pain fueled by most of her life Samantha reached for her ominous coffin and opened it. She wasn't able to explain her train of thoughts even to herself but she felt like this was meant to trap her from afterlife and reside inside of the coffin forever. That brought a bitter taste to her mouth before her eyes averted to the dead parents. With little thought she dragged the corpses into the coffin and reached for nearby hammer that was left from failed ritual. She broke their stiffened bones, that were poking out of the coffin, before shutting it tight with rope as she decided to carry them around with herself, making sure they will suffer eternally for what they did.
With only cinders being left Samantha gathered whatever supplies she could and boarded the small ship the village had, used to hunt for fishes. With a sigh she grabbed the paddles and swam away from the village, letting it be forsaken by time and people as she wanted to test if she was now truly free or not. During her lonely days of peaceful travel Samantha felt unnaturally at ease, as if something was taken off her shoulders and now, for the first time, she felt hope for a better future even if it was slim.
Life after being freed
Getting back to society wasn't as easy as expected. Being raised by cultists, followed by an ominous aura and a massive coffin on her back, Samantha easily scared off many people, some of them even being hostile while a very small fraction of them was polite, yet none really accepting. Samantha bounced from each village and town as she felt she wasn't being welcomed, and with little way to get food another starvation began as she swam somewhere, anywhere, where she wished to be welcomed or at least tolerated by others. That unfortunately wasn't the case at that moment in her life as she heavily starved on the boat. With recent storm most of her supplies were jettisoned and with lack of strength she just floated in a middle of nowhere.
It was a crushing test of her little flickering hope as she wondered if the cultists and parents were right all along and they all were meant to suffer and she damned everyone. However she couldn't allow herself to resign to these thoughts as it was too late to change the past and did everything she could in her mind to deny it being right. Fate seemed to help her as soon she heard loud flaps of wings and with cloudy eyes she noticed a dragon lowering itself closer to her. She felt it was the end and just resigned herself before falling asleep from exhaustion.
What Samantha woke up to was her body tucked under a thick fuzzy blanket with her head barely poking out. The coffin was next to her head on which rested food and barely warm tea in a mug. She looked towards the entrance and noticed a fireplace, realizing she was in a tent. With low groans she shifted around and sat, barely being able to even do that as she was completely drained. That caught attention of her savior that peeked through the entrance with a horned nmasculine human face that smiled brightly towards Samantha.
Whether Samantha wanted or not Blackie kept her around till she got better. At first completely distrustful to the dragon hybrid she had no choice but to stay around and hope that she got fine as soon as possible to leave. Samantha was unable to process what Blackie was doing, assuming that was another person that tried to get her under control and do whatever they wanted with her afterwards. However no matter how hard she wanted to believe that she felt this time it was different. It wasn't her cult that raised her but a complete stranger, perhaps this one was different than the rest.
With this the 15 years old girl stayed with Blackie for next few days, then weeks followed by months and years, learning about the world, how to interact with others and how the world is different than the cult she was born in. As much as it bothered Samantha she felt warmth emanating from Blackie that she never experienced before and over time believed that he was worth her trust. Their bond only strengthened once Samantha dropped her guard towards Blackie, letting herself be embraced by the ever-curious and knowledge-hungry dragon's fatherly affection.
To this day Samantha isn't fully able to comprehend how a dragon took care of her when nearly everyone dismissed her instantly or used her to their goals but she assumed that lack of exposure to such feelings before made her the way she is now and now she has to relearn many things that she thought she knew how they worked. It is a daunting task but not being left alone against the world rejuvenated her hopes and spark. To assure that her spark was burning bright Blackie gave her a medallion through which they can communicate for short periods of time a day.
Nowadays Samantha regularly travels with Blackie but also does it on her own, both sharing a passion for learning and gathering information in their journals that they exchange, often learning something new about one another. That only is supplemented by Samantha's wanton to be accepted by others as she believes the best way to achieve that is to understand them and their beliefs. However she knows that goal isn't easy when she and Blackie try to figure out the curse that is felt around herself and the coffin as it makes others uneasy. So far Samantha was told how to harvest some of the power to bring temporary pain and misfortune onto others. However Blackie hopes that Samantha won't ever use this power frivolously and only if it is necessary as it is something he had no real information about from any book read.
Ritual of Detachment
As years have passed Samantha and Blackie were learning many things together, whether something simple related to local stories to more elaborate magic practices. With that knowledge came also additional hints and ideas on how Samantha could try to cleanse herself from the cosmic influence. With that Samantha was starting to gain hope on how she could finally be free and accepted by others. Nonetheless, it wasn't an easy task and so over their long time they found an old relic called Penelope's Madness and the Garments of the Abyss that seemed to be a key ingredient to allow Samantha perform the ritual. They needed a conduit to channel the cosmos magic out of her body without harming her lethally and these tools allowed for that.
Nonetheless, even with tools provided the ritual wasn't close to being prepared and studied by Blackie and Samantha. As much as Samantha wanted to rush that and be done with it Blackie's meticulous and slow approach wasn't allowing her for that. He put a solid block to her reckless attempts and regularly kept her at bay. He did assist her with the armor and relic to slowly attune to them but Samantha was having an extraordinary hard time with getting them to work. That didn't help with Samantha's fierce wanton to be over it, to free herself. Her lack of patience slowed down her own progress and she was aware of it yet she wasn't able to control that primal need.
With that Samantha's bonding with the relics was exceptionally slow and very basic, making her an unfit candidate for the relics. It worried Blackie as he continued doing his research. He did collect more notes and ideas on how the Ritual of Detachment could be done, yet there were too many blanks to give Samantha this kind of hope, so he hid the knowledge in his notes, buried in the papers on his desk. Unfortunately for him Samantha was able to catch a glimpse of his work and when he was away she started studying his research, adding it to her own notes and working from there. With that she soon claimed she was ready and without letting Blackie know started to prepare herself.
It was hard to find a proper time for that kind of ritual as she required assistance from other people she could trust AND needed to make sure Blackie wasn't around as he would absolutely stop her from this. The opportunity showed up when Samantha and Blackie got involved into matters of Adventure Co. where they met Fayelin Auros, Lupendra Everblade, Beatrice Forestwolf and many more. With new people she could start searching for someone trustworthy that wouldn't chicken out on her. Not only that but as by that time Blackie got involved into matters of Sevia Featherstorm, a potential wannabe boyfriend of his, she knew the time was nearly perfect and so she just needed to form bond with people around and see who would be the most trustworthy and isn't afraid of doing very questionable things. Luckily for Samantha the answer came faster than expected - Lupendra, a cold-blooded woman that seemed to be hurt by war and internal old conflicts. With enough interacting and planning she was able to get Lupendra to assist her.
And so, once Blackie was away for few days it was time for Samantha to put her plan into motion. She stole relics and artifacts from Blackie's vault, including the research papers that were still being developed, to start preparing them and with sheer luck she and Lupendra were able to find a task that required purging a local threat - an occult that had many followers - a perfect target to collect corpses for her ritual as they subsided a lot of extremely rare and large amount of certain materials and energy. Samantha and Lupendra easily dealt with their task and so Samantha was free to prepare the cave they cleansed for their own ritual.
As everything was prepared Samantha started the ritual with Lupendra being Samantha's bodyguard during it. At first the ritual started without an issue, crystals glowing, magic humming and the energy condensing in correct ways. What wasn't taken into a count was Samantha's curse not being a dormant passive taint but instead an active being. Therefore the ritual started to fizzle and Samantha's curse took a form similar to her, forming in front of her. The ritual did remove the taint from Samantha's body but with the threat now being formed and exceptionally powerful she and Lupendra weren't able to fight it. Even as Beatrice Forestwolf showed up for Samantha's and Lupendra's assistance they were unable to beat it. Without the curse Samantha's power was massively reduced, making her unable to fight the corruption as it started to transform her body to fit better for the corruption's needs.
As much as Samantha wanted to remove the taint she was now being molded by it. This ritual was her only chance at removing that permanently yet as it was failing and the body continued to change Samantha cancelled the ritual as she crushed the control crystal, forcing the taint back into her body, leaving the re-created Samantha's body on the ground, cold and seemingly dead. With that, her body took form closer to a Pella, the same one that wore the relics Samantha now did. Defeated and mentally crushed by what happened Samantha wasn't able to process it properly, making her shut off from these thoughts as she assisted Lupendra and Beatrice to gather up and escort them to Adventure Co.
During their walk Blackie and Sevia caught up on Samantha and her friends. With Blackie's trust being significantly damaged Samantha knew she wasn't able to repair it at this moment. Cold words were exchanged, even a fight broke out between them yet at the end Blackie was not able to hold grudge to Samantha for he understood her needs, the desperation that drove her and was just glad to see her in one piece. Even if Samantha has hurt him Blackie still wanted to support her and so helped them to get to safe place and recuperate... And give Samantha even more lectures and lessons as she was now bound permanently to the cosmic taint within her body and the relics that formed much stronger bond to her new body and her mental.
With that Samantha is currently more care-free, slowly finding enjoyment in more trivial tasks and interactions with others as her mind wasn't being consumed by the need to separate from the taint. If she couldn't remove it anymore she ought to dominate it, just like she did during the ritual and take the control of her life fully, just as she wanted and Blackie will assist her with that.
Physical Appearance
Samantha Voidscythe has unnatural red eyes, nearly pale skin and white lush hair. Rest of her attire is usually her deceased mother's robes, gauntlets and boots to spite her and every cultist that would like to drag her into their ranks as she constantly uses that fact to abuse their trust and then bring justice in various means, not being afraid of bringing death if needed. The clothing itself is mainly in dark shades of purple with golden and deep blue accents that provide moderate amount of warmth that is just enough when she doesn't travel through snowy regions.
Samantha also wears a dark small crown as a dark joke between her and Blackie that she is a "Queen of Misfortune" due to what they achieved with her curse so far. Also to lower the uneasiness of others the coffin that is bound to Samantha is covered in cloth similar in color to the rest of the outfit and attached with straps to her shoulders. The coffin itself doesn't have to be close to Samantha but it will show itself next to her if she heads too far from it for a prolonged period of time.
