Barak Thal-Zud, High Priest of Nefarious

Name: Barak Thal-Zud

Alias(es): The Black Elf, The Dark One, The Nightdragon’s Fury, The Demon Who Waits, and the Prince of Nightmares

Species: Half-Elf

Age: 46

Appearance:

5ft. 10in. in height, 190 lbs. in weight.

Personality: Notoriously single-minded, Barak owes loyalty only to his master and to his own blind ambition. Often described as cold, calculating, and ruthlessly efficient, there is no limit to the lengths he will go to achieve his goals.      

History: Many men fear dragons, and some few go out of their way to exterminate them wherever they are found, but for some fewer still, the old fear is transformed into religious reverence, as they fall on their knees to worship the beasts. A Dracomancer is a mage who has bound his life force to that of a dragon and in return is granted a portion of the creature’s power. This union is usually born out of a bargain struck between the dragon and the mage, a bargain that always tends to lean in the dragon’s favor.

Barak Thal-Zud was such a man. An orphaned Half-Elf raised by a seemingly uncaring foster father in village filled with humans, Barak Thal-Zud was always something of an outcast, boasting a higher than usual talent for magic when compared to his many of his more pureblooded peers. Always the target of scorn and derision, not only because of his heightened ability, but also due to his slight stature and pointed ears, Barak become more and more introverted and dedicated most of his time to academic pursuits and the study of the arcane.

Though his years of arcane research eventually afforded him some modest skill in the art of Common Magic, Barak always dreamed of possessing power like the wizards in old tales; taking to the open road with staff in hand, offering wise counsel to kings and lords, eventually founding his own tower and training a few apprentices of his own.

To this end, he delved into darker forbidden mysteries, taking upon himself the mantel of a necromancer and the study of Soul Magic. When he was finally discovered, the retribution of the villagers fell full upon him and he was driven from his home under a black cloud of anger and despair, vowing to one-day return and punish the humans for their cruelty and insolence.

Alone, he wandered the wilderness of Iota, hatred his only companion, his thirst for vengeance the only thing keeping him going. All until that fateful day when he wandered into the ruins of a long abandoned temple and there discovered the creature who would one-day be his master, a colossal black dragon by name of Nefarious the Dread, once known to all as the Nightdragon.

Once worshiped by a cult extinguished ages ago by the narrow-minded knights of a kingdom who’s name had long been forgotten by the annuls of history, Nefarious harbored a deep resentment towards any born of the blood of humans. Only by pledging fealty to the wyrm could he convince the Nightdragon to spare his life and grant him the power he so desired.

In the service of the Nightdragon, Barak has discovered new purpose. Casting aside all other forms of sorcery, the onetime necromancer now boasts incredible mastery over Divine Magic granted to him by his master.

With the Temple of Nefarious restored and the newly remade Cult of the Nightdragon growing larger with each passing day, the cunning Dragonpriest plans to begin infiltrating the courts of the various kingdoms of men. Never having forgotten the cruelty of those in his old village, he knows the time for his vengeance will soon be at hand. His only hope now is that he lives long enough to see it through.  
 
Abilities and Skills:

Divine Magic – Once a powerful wizard and necromancer, Barak Thal-Zud possesses some small knowledge concerning both Common and Soul Magic, though he is loathe to use it. He finds he much prefers to call upon the Divine Magic granted him by the Nightdragon.

Alchemy – Barak has studied the ways of the alchemist and as such, possesses knowledge in crafting many potions and poisons, both magical and mundane.

Dark Miasma – An ability unique to the High Priest of the Nightdragon, Barak can emit a black fog of fell energies, which lulls victims into a mindless stupor and rendering them far more receptive his suggestions.

Dreamstride – Nefarious is revered as the God of Nightmares by his followers, and as such, grants them the ability to infiltrate the dreams of others.

Greater Dreamstride – An ability afforded only to the High Priest of the Nightdragon, Barak cannot only infiltrate the dreams of others, but may also shape them as he wills.

Anaxes, the Pseudodragon – Pseudodragons resemble miniature red dragons, but are red-brown in color rather than deep red. They have fine scales and sharp horns and teeth. Their barbed, venomous tails are their favored weapons. Like all Dracomancers, Barak is afforded a limited authority over the lesser dragons of his master’s brood, and as such, has taken a young pseudodragon, named Anaxes, as his familiar. A proud creature, fiercely loyal to its master, Anaxes often travels in Barak’s pack, happily sticking his head out and frightening passersby with his fire breath.  

Weaknesses:

Soulrot – During Barak’s formative years as a young mage, he found cause to dabble a bit in the arts of Earth Magic, learning to harness the raw magic of the world around him. Though he never pursued this course too strongly, he did have the misfortune to contract Soulrot, an incurable disease of magical origins which slowly transforms its host into a mindless corpse-creature with an insatiable appetite for living flesh, usually killing the victim not long after. Though his master has granted him magic which keeps the symptoms in check for the time being, it is only a matter of time before he succumbs to the illness completely and is forever lost to the madness it brings.