The Guide
E S M E R A Y , t h e D A R K M O O N
Knight of the Beacon, Warden of the Ashen Realm
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Ht: 6' / Wt: 110 / Hair: white / Eyes: black / Skin: grey
Age: ~1000 / Creed: Moonfae / Status: Ashen Realm
Esmeray the Dark Moon is of the Moonfae race, and a member of the Knights of the Beacon who were charged long ago with the task of protecting the domain of the White-Gold King.
When the plague of the Spite bled into the plane of the Moonfae, their world was plunged into everlasting gloam, and its people consumed by its curse. Since that time, Esmeray has acted as the last warden of the Ashen Realm -- patrolling its dead lands, slaying aberrations, and seeking out lost souls by the light of her magic Beacon.
When the plague of the Spite bled into the plane of the Moonfae, their world was plunged into everlasting gloam, and its people consumed by its curse. Since that time, Esmeray has acted as the last warden of the Ashen Realm -- patrolling its dead lands, slaying aberrations, and seeking out lost souls by the light of her magic Beacon.
Even as she fulfills her duty, she is haunted by the knowledge that she can never return to the White-Gold Palace herself due to the corruption that has nested in her flesh during her long vigil.
Profile
As a Knight of the Beacon, Esmeray's actions are guided by her oath to serve the realm, and the rigid (and sometimes seemingly-arbitrary) laws that govern her kind. By the conventions of Moonfae hospitality, those who arrive by the Moon Gate (even after it has been sundered) are honoured guests to be escorted to the palace.
While it is obvious that the heroes from the mortal world have come this way by accident, she insists on guiding their path. While showing some interest in the party's cause, it was initially unclear whether this was due to concern, curiosity, or even simple loneliness. In time, her aloofness faded, changing to gratitude, respect, and even loyalty to her human charges. Her seniors, the Beacon Knights Prior, noted her unorthodox sympathies with no small displeasure and scorn.
Esmeray conducts herself with a detached, unhurried calm, treating matters of both great and small import with relative indifference. Even so, during her journey with her human charges, she has became increasingly distressed at the apparent reach of the Spite, and by the potential ramifications of the Dusk Prince's survival.
When the heroes crossed the gate of the Dew-Kissed Tower into the palace of the Moonfae, Esmeray stayed behind, obligated to stand guard over the Ashen Realm until released from her eternal mission.
Description
Esmeray resembles a willowy Elvish being with ghostly white hair and faded grey skin. Her eyes are almond-shaped and inky black. She is clad in coal-black plate armour, and carries an obsidian sword in one hand and a mystical lantern in the other. This lantern emits a pale gold light from the swirling wisps contained within.
She possesses an unsettling, inhuman beauty, which until recently was marred by a cluster of additional dark eyes that had grown over the right side of her face - a symptom of the warping power of the Bleeding Lands of the Red Spite.
This mutation was cured by the purifying magics of the druid Korvuus. Although he succeeded in restoring her to her natural form, her colour did not regain the radiant silver tone that is normal among her folk. It is possible that since the fall of their realm, the Moonfae can never fully return to what they once were.
