Storm
was born at sea during a typhoon, kicking and screaming her way into the
world as the waves crashed into the battered ship that creaked around her.
Her
mother, Sherice was a gold elf who was fleeing her village and the death
that awaited her and her unborn human child, in hopes of making a life for
her and her baby on the other side of the sea.
However, weakened from a sickness that had spread rampant aboard the
tiny rat-infested vessel, died alone in her cabin before the baby even
crowned. Her screams of pain
had not gone unnoticed, however, even in the rage of the storm.
A sailor came to her cries, only to find Sherice already dead.
Thinking he was too late, he turned to leave, but then saw movement
in her belly, and realizing the baby was still alive, he called for help.
His calls gained the attention of a weaponsmith and his wife who were
traveling as well. Using a
dagger rinsed in salt water, the woman cut the baby from the elven maiden's
womb. As the young sailor
watched the female child take her first breath and wail her dissention at
being plucked from her mother's warm belly, he said, "She is stormy,
like the sea."
The
couple, who had been trying to have children of their own for many years to
no avail, named her Storm, and took her as their own.
As soon as she was old enough, she began working in her adopted
father's smith shop, learning the fine art of his trade. She learned quickly and was very diligent in her work.
When
she wasn't working herself, Storm often entertained customers waiting for
their weapons: playing cards or dice, and often relieving them of some of
their hard earned coppers. It
was one of those times that she managed to empty the pouch of Nylen Starbow,
an elven swordmaster who had commissioned her father to create a unique
sword for him. Unfortunately,
when it came time to pay for the work done, he was forced to admit that
Storm had left him rather penniless. Instead,
he offered to train the girl in exchange for the work done.
Storm and her father both readily agreed.
Nylen
tutored her for three years, teaching her his own two-handed fighting style,
adapting it to her left-handed lead. In
the process, she also learned to speak the elven tongue, a skill that proved
harder for her than swordplay.
On
the eve of her 16th birthday, Storm's father called her to the shop, and
presented her with a lump of unforged steel.
"You are a grown woman now, Storm, and I am an old man.
Make your weapon, and your life."
Storm cried as she hugged him, and then he left, leaving her to her
to her creation.
Working
throughout the night, Storm labored over her sword lovingly and tirelessly.
As dawn broke over the horizon, and sunlight spilled onto the earthen
floor, Storm held the sword aloft, and the light glanced off of it, almost
as if the sun itself was voicing its approval.
Storm
stayed with her adoptive parents, working the forge, and continuing her
training with Nylen until she turned 20.
They had become the closest of friends – much like brother and
sister. Despite her love of her
family and her town, Storm had become restless.
It was Nylen’s suggestion that Storm search for her roots – to
see the land she had come from, and who knew?
Though the chances were very small, the young warrior might even find
her father.
So
with those thoughts in her head, Storm once again crossed the raging sea
that had claimed her mother, and headed toward the Sword Coast, in search of
adventure… and knowledge.
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