Geomancer Nixie of the Rock
Nixie always lived in the rock. The rock being one of the unnamed caves that littered the near-deserted graveyard between the Cave of the Platonic Shadow and the Valley of the Void Disciple. Shortly after Nixie participated in his adolescent Sacred Snake Dance, he showed a profound proficiency in the magic of geomancy, taught to him by Uncle Matthias, who himself learned it from a scraggly Skylord in the Western Rookery during his youthful journeys, who learned it from a Kobold in the marsh, who learned it from a Corvid who frequented the marshes in search of worms. The Corvid would drop outsized rocks on outsized worms (easily the size of a case of Kobold Juice can laid on the ground) it would spy from the branches which entangled the canopy of the marsh.
Back to the Sacred Snake Dance. This event was a coming-of-age custom amongst Nixie's tribe conducted in the language of Aspeth that acted as a ritual signifying a male's entrance into Anuran adulthood. Nixie's clan had the ability to speak this tongue known as Aspeth, which allowed a serpent's hiss to be something with which one could converse. Aspeth was considered something primeval, mystical, but also with the potential for grave danger should it be misused or abused.
From this ceremony he adopted an asp as a companion. Uncle Matthias said this would help him on his travels if he so chose to follow in his footsteps for it had the power to enhance his fledgling powers of geomancy. The Asp, Matthias emphasized, should be consulted, and used with prudence according to his teachings, lest he be consumed with something he referred to as "Duggery-Asp-Skull".
Nixie went to Alessar's Keep for he heard it was a place of magic, of phantom alleyways and rays bleaching the parapets. He fell in love with a female Anuran at Alessar's Keep, named Ana. She showed Nixie love from their room in a tower as the dolphins played in the waves under a flaming sky. Looking into her marine eyes, Nixie promised her he would teach her the ways of geomancy, so they could continue their travels together, united in the powers they held between them. Nixie told Ana they would go to the marshes, where geomancy first arose, from the Corvid that would drop rocks on large worms' heads. Nixie knew that he wanted so spend the rest of his life with Ana, and if he taught her geomancy, he could protect her and never lose her. She was unsure about the asp Nixie kept with him, but she decided it could stay if it was necessary for his magic.
When they finally reached the marshes after a fortnight of travel, Nixie was ready to initiate the training he had promised Ana. They were being watched carefully, however, by a murder of thieving Corvid (not the jolly ones), These birds were mangled, with glowing red and orange eyes, and smelled like death. From the fog they watched Nixie and Ana as they slept in their tent on an embankment in the marsh, as the flames of their campfire lapped the burlap of the temporary abode.
The Corvid soon struck and Nixie fought valiantly, using his powers to summon rocks from the marshes' depths and from the fire he had built to fling at the beaks of his enemies, forming a union with snake, and shielding Ana behind his small Anuran frame. Nixie, however, was being consumed by the asp as he mustered the last of his reserves to defeat the Corvids. In his growing Asp-induced frenzy he lost consciousness and fell into the campfire...
To be continued...
Entered by: 0x828e…C9Fd and preserved on chain (see transaction)
