Narma the Returned

Narma the Returned is a senior Knight Revenant and one of the most feared not only among the Knights' enemies, but also among their own ranks. A long-standing member of the Cult of K’Leth, Narma quickly found rivalry in Sheleth, another well-established Knight Revenant who singled Narma out as a foe. For her part, Narma thought Sheleth flagrant in her mocking abuse of her fellow K’Leth acolytes. Though Knights Revenant rarely have much regard for the lives of the cultists, Narma saw how Sheleth’s brazen distaste for her underlings caused discord in the lower ranks. As Narma saw it, there was a danger that the truth about the Cult of K’Leth – that no acolyte’s soul would ever be transferred into a new body – would be exposed, creating the very real possibility that the main body of cultists would rise up against their masters. It was on this count that Narma challenged Sheleth and the two fought a well-matched duel through the catacombs of Narbuk. It was to be Sheleth’s victory. A talented practitioner of dark magics, she tore open a portal to the Crag of Despair, a far-flung rocky outcrop infested by Demonspawn in the Lost Isles. Narma was flung through the portal and Sheleth sealed it behind her, leaving Narma to be slain on the accursed isle. Decades passed, and Sheleth’s arrogance continued to damage the reputation of the Knights Revenant, with fewer petitioning to join the Cult. Senior members considered how they might constrain Sheleth but were too divided to conclude and take action. In the end though, they need not have concerned themselves. One storm-wracked night at a sitting of the Revenant Council in the ruins of Narbuk, a figure arrived demanding entry. Sheleth was the name the stranger asked for, and the Knights who saw her knew her to be Narma, though she had changed. Her appearance had grown deathly pallid and wicked and her voice was as cold and cutting as the two poison-coated, razor-edged sickles she carried as weapons. The council looked on as Sheleth came forward and Narma demanded they duel once more. Sheleth accepted, but had barely raised her blade when Narma cut her apart in a lithe assault. The score, Narma declared, had been settled. From that night onward Narma has been known as ‘The Returned’. She has never spoken of her time on the Crag of Despair, but its effect on her is clear – not only in her countenance but in her craving for pain and agony. Not only does she inflict pain on herself but she delights in inflicting it on others, including lesser K’Leth cultists. Theories to explain her pain-lust circulate among the Knights and their acolytes. If their constant transmutations leave Knights Revenant with dulling senses, perhaps Narma’s banishment has let her feel again, and she now craves the sensation of physical pain above all else? Others say that her freedom was bought at a cost and she must pay a demonic entity in errands of agony. Whatever the reason, a sub-faction of pain-worshipers has grown around Narma the Returned, and follows her acts of agony with twisted delight. Narma the Returned is also seen as an enforcer. Her deadly presence has been known to quell the excesses of some of those Knights who show too much arrogance or too great a disregard for the wider wellbeing of the Cult of K’Leth. Furthermore she intimidates and, where necessary, removes supposed allies of the movement who outgrow their usefulness, or begin spreading spurious accusations about what is really done with most soul gems. In battle, Narma the Returned is a whirlwind of razor-sharp agony. With her dance-like fighting style she dodges and leaps around the blows of more cumbersome opponents, while she strikes with a speed most find impossible to follow, let alone defend against. She delights in torturing her foes before killing them, cutting hamstrings and tendons, lopping off fingers, severing arms and legs, mutilating faces, and slashing a thousand agonizing, toxin-laced gashes before delivering the final, killing blow. Most of those who know her choose to flee rather than face her on the battlefield, and those with the courage to face her know that should they plea for mercy they will be met only with cruel, mocking laughter.