Ilssrah Embermead
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Ilssrah Embermead is a dwarven cleric of Droskar and the Scarlet Triad's second-in-command.1 She has light-colored skin and dark hair, often wearing her hair in a knot with a pair of pig-tails. She most commonly wears a blackened breastplate emblazoned with the symbol of the Dark Smith and wields a spiked hammer that looks as cruel as her personality, as well as a fiery chain covered in spikes she refers to as "Fleshroaster". While she was born to the Hrisvild family, she abandoned the name long ago and is known today only as Ilssrah Embermead.2
Background
Born to a pair of thieves, Ilssrah Hrisvild-slagdam was an exile from the moment she was born. Her parents had been kicked out of the dwarven settlement of Tar Dorgin after killing a homeowner during a burglary gone wrong, thereby staining their family name and earning the surname suffix "slag" as a sign of their dishonor. Living on the surface, Ilssrah's birth was met with stony silence from the rest of the Hrisvild family, and her parents quickly gained a disdain for the dwarven society from whence they came. While an act of heroism might have restored the family's honor, Ilssrah was instead taught to manipulate, lie, steal, and cheat to get what she wanted. She excelled at learning manipulation, and even used her skills on her parents, threatening to run away or turn informant on her parents' crimes. At the age of 15, Ilssrah's mother responded to her threats with violence, beating her into unconsciousness. Ilssrah awoke from the beating and—realizing that she was no longer welcome amongst her parents—ran away from home.2
Still less than halfway to adulthood for a dwarf, Ilssrah spent the next decade drifting from the houses of families with good intentions to living on the streets and back again, never settling in any one place for long. It was during this time that she found gratification in the teachings of Droskar, who embraced the darkest of her inclinations and granted her the magical ability to control and manipulate. Utilizing her newfound power, Ilssrah spent the subsequent years traveling from city to city on the surface, manipulating those she met and accumulating wealth and status.2
In recent years, she has worked her way up the chain of command in the Scarlet Triad, earning a reputation of ruthlessness as a talented slaver. She has excelled at spotting potential slaves that have particularly useful skills or the physique necessary for hard labor. Meanwhile, those within the organization have learned to fear her and respect both her strength and cruelty, extracting maximum value from all those around her and denying the enslaved even the mercy of death.2
References
- ↑ . “Fires of the Haunted City” in Fires of the Haunted City, 6. Paizo Inc., 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 . “Adventure Toolbox” in Fires of the Haunted City, 88. Paizo Inc., 2019