NancyDeimos - A mother's sacrifice.

Apparent age 21
Real Age: ???
Birthplace: Kherdaar, Stygia

Nancydeimos never wanted to become an adventurer. She was neither very quick or very strong. She lived a simple life as a mother and a wife in the vilage of Kherdaar in SE Stygia. Her husband Baltek is a good man who works hard in the fields to support his family. Her 6 year old daughter Nina is the joy of her life. Nancy did not want for much, she gathered branches and twigs for the fire, water by the river. She cooked and cleaned and tried to teach her daughter what she knew of life. It seemed that nothing much was going to happen. She would not know wealth or jewels or conflict but she was content.
Her village however had a sinister tradition. The village was long ago cursed by a fearsome demon known as Xotli. Xotli was extremely powerful, it could manifest as a giant like demon that breathed flames and spoke directly to your mind. It had subjugated the village many years ago and demanded blood sacrifice every four years to appease its deviant lusts. The time of year was drawing close and Nancy found to her horror that her daughter Nina was chosen by the priest of Xotli as the sacrifice. Her husband Baltek dared to question the priest and was beaten to an inch of his life by the priests guards and Nancy was violated as a warning to others what happens when you defy the will of Xotli. Nancy cried and had nightmares. She tended to her broken husband as best she could while trying to think of a way to help her daughter. The sacrificial rites were two weeks away and her nearest relatives were in the town of Malkeem, about 3 weeks travel to the north through the desert. The priest's guards had abducted Nina and locked her away in their jail to await the day of appeasement to Xotli.
Nancy prayed to her goddess Bast, the goddess of motherhood, protector of children and cats. She prayed for a way to save her child even if it would cost her her life. She received a sign after several days of fasting and praying when a jet black cat appeared at her doorstep. Nancy gave the cat food and petted it and started to go about her day but the feline meowed several times to get her attention. Nancy turned and found the cat staring at her. It turned to walk away but stopped and gazed at her, as if beckoning her to follow. Nancy, after some hesitation followed the cat to the village until she came upon the old shrine of Bast on the outskirts of the village. Once a popular goddess of worship, the followers of Bast were hounded by the thugs of Xotli and most villagers were afraid to worship there. A few of the old faith such as Nancy, did still visit the shrine and support the faith even at their own peril. Nancy followed the cat into the shrine.
Inside, Nancy met Sabine, a priestess of Bast. Sabine had informed Nancy that she had received a vision from the goddess on how she could save both her daughter and the whole village, but at a terrible price. The priestess offered to teach Nancy a ritual that would bind the demon to her. So bound, she could control it and stop the evil rites plaguing the village. Nancy questioned Sabine on why if this worked, no one else had done this before. Sabine replied after some hesitation that everyone was too afraid to try it because the cost seemed too great. Demonic possession and the possible loss of the soul were too much of a burden for anyone to risk. Nancy thought back on her life and all the joy she has had. Living with her husband, loving him, bearing a child and raising her. She wanted her daughter to have these same experiences, to find someone to love and raise a family with and grow old with. Nancy had done all of this and experienced the good and the bad. The highs and the lows. To think that her daughter was going to have this cruelly taken from her at so young an age was too much to bear. Nancy agreed to have the priestess teach her the incantation so she could defy this evil demon and end his menace.
The day of sacrifce came and Nancy was forced to lead her daughter up the steps of the pyramid to the altar. There the priest began his incantation as the crowd watched on. The fire on the altar blazed forth and Nancy could see eyes appear in the flames. She began her incantation and timed seemed to slow down to a crawl and stopped completely. The demon Xotli stepped forth from the flames and towered over the woman. His appearance horrified her and her mind was telling her to run screaming from this abomination even as her heart pushed her to hold on for her daughter's sake. Xotli turned and gazed at Nancy and a voice entered into her mind demanding to know why she dared interrupt the rites! Nancy pleaded with the demon and offered herself up instead soul and body. It could use her as it saw fit and discard her. She just begged for the demon to leave her daughter alone.
Xotli laughed at this and agreed. It had no intention of honoring its bargain and entered Nancy's body. Nancy then completed the ritual and locked the demon in. The demon roared in her mind and threatened her with a litany of horrific punishments it was going to inflict. Time seemed to again speed up at this point and the priest brought his dagger down. Nancy screamed and kicked him square in the chest and knocked him off his feet. She glanced down and saw a sword on the altar and instinct guided her to grasp the blade. She turned and swung it at the nearest guard. The blow was poorly aimed but the speed and strength of it caught the guard off guard and the blade cut deeply into his neck almost severing his head from his shoulders. He grasped his throat and gurgled out a death rattle as he collapsed. The second guard drew two scimitars but Nancy now enraged started battering his blades aside. The guard panicked. The blows were unskilled but struck like a hammer on an anvil. The guard could do nothing but parry and the sheer strength of the blows broke through his defenses as Nancy crushed his chest with her sword.
Nina screamed and cried for her mother as Nancy turned and cut the ropes binding her daughter. She bent down to pick Nina up when she was pounced on from behind. The priest wrestled with her and knocked her to the ground. Nancy struggled to her feat and pushed him backwards and the priest tripped on his ornate robes and fell. Nancy looked at him with seething hatred and stuck out her hand towards him. She screamed and a cone of flames poured out from her fingertips and engulfed the man burning him alive. He collapsed in a fit of screams and slowly burned to death.
The village was in chaos and people were running for their lives. Nancy picked up Nina and fled into the desert with Xotli laughing in her mind. The demon had enjoyed the carnage and was pleased at the bloodshed. It mattered not to Xotli who suffered at all as long as someone suffered.
Nancy fled for weeks and made it to the village of her sister. The flight was traumatic and she tried to soothe Nina of her nightmares as the poor child could not sleep and hardly ate. Xotli proved to be very adept at survival and fighting as it guided her to find food and shelter for them. The demon realized that it was imprisoned in this women and her death just meant a rotting cage for it to rail in. This caused Xotli to alternated between flattering and threatening Nancy as it looked for a means to escape. Nancy fled to her sister Claudia's village and left her daughter in her sister's care. Then she fled into the darkness.
Years passed and much has happened since. Nancy was captured and taken to Tortage. There she participated in the resistance that overthrew Strom and later she foiled the machinations of many evil men such as Thoth Amon and received the burden of immortality. Xotli helped her in these escapades because wherever she went there was slaughter and pain and fear. These emotions are the food and drink to the demon's black soul and he delights in the pain visited upon others. Nancy, however is very weary and hates her condition. She longs to be free of the curse and banish the demon but she fears what may happen again if he is let loose in the world. She fights a grim battle to hold on to her fragile humanity with this beast railing inside her. She questions her own thoughts with all of the violence and suffering she has encountered. She tells herself that she has done good deeds but Xotli constantly whispers in her ear that her motives are not so pure and that she enjoys the pain she inflicts upon others because it makes her feel self-righteous. Nancy despairs and hopes that her action have been her own and not the efforts of some lunatic demon run amok in her mind.
Nancy's biggest regret was leaving her husband and daughter behind. She mourns that she cannot be there to help her daughter in that difficult transition from girl to woman, of being there when she married and had children. Of not being there to comfort her when sick or provide guidance to keep Nina on the good path. She misses the cooking and cleaning and all the other little simple things that she was so annoyed with before. Now those memories mean so much. Nancy has gold and jewels and great wealth but she would trade it all away to be normal again. The demon has caused her numerous problems and doubts so Nancy sleeps alone and unloved. She resents that the demon has cut her off from being what she regards as the true nature of woman. Being part of the life cycle. Creating, nurturing and guiding life on its course. Nancy does none of that now. Now all she brings is death.
Nancy;s one ray of hope is that she has met other adventurers in a fellowship called Sealladh. Nancy has come to help a companionship with those there as she fights to make the world a better place and ease the pain in her soul. She has heard that this word Sealladh may mean a dream or dreaming or some such. If so, then this is where she belongs as she dreams that maybe somehow, some day she may be able to go home again.