Rhea Erinnia, Shield of Vitem

Greetings, reader. I was recounting the tale of the Legend of the Dragons' Lair, join me as I continue the tale, with the story of Rhea Erinnia, Shield of Vitem. You can find the start of the tale here and the tale of Donshu Sarco here.

Rhea Erinnia spent most of her life as a paladin of the Monastery of Sanaret, in the realm of Solum; serving as one of the Shields of Vitem, the guards of the monastery. Bandits attacked the monastery for its riches, while politicians wanted the Order of Sanaret to be eredicated for their vocal opinions on their way of ruling over Solum. Rhea's payment came from defending the monastery and attacking hideouts, camps and fortresses of the Order's enemies.

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However, she could not keep up this life forever. She had been working for the Order, surviving countless battles, for over fifteen years when she was exiled. The Order wanted the Shields to attack an innocent village under the pretense that they were part of the Army of Mendax, the lord who ruled over the East of Solum. Rhea and five other members of the Shields of Vitem protested that this was not how the Order or the Shields operated, and that they would not have any part in the slaughter of innocent villagers. For this, they were exiled, and threatened that they would be hunted down by the rest of the Shields should they ever interfere with the work of the Order.

So the group left, and made their way to the North, were they found work as mercenaries, protecting caravans as they travelled from one city to another. They kept up this up until one day they were attacked by undead warriors clad in the unmistakable black armour of the Ferrani Dwarves, when they were travelling close to Ferran Mountain. They survived the attack, but the caravan was destroyed and the merchants slain. Although they beat the attackers, they felt defeated for having failed to defend their employers. The way they felt they could redeem themselves was by destroying the source of these monsters; inside the Dragons' Lair.

As they entered, they were immediately attacked by waves of undead warriors. Countless in numbers, these skeletons were too much for the paladins, one by one, they were struck down until only Rhea was left, her abilities in magical spells combined with her skill with sword and shield kept her alive for days on end. However, she was eventually severely wounded and surrounded by undead warriors on all sides. Ready to die, she laid there waiting for the killing strike, or to bleed out. However, before closing her eyes, she saw the skeletons surrounding her fall to pieces.

Next thing she knew, Rhea was guarding the Ferrani king, Donshu Sarco, who had taken over the mountain from the Dragons with the help of the undead horde of Ferrani warriors at his command. Although she tried to attack him, Rhea couldn't, she felt bound to protect Donshu, bound to protect her king. Although she was cursed to do his bidding, she knew what had happened, and was constantly trying to break the curse.