The present-day Qipetor Mildforge is quite a daunting individual. He's a crossbreed of High Elf & Human who stands at an impressive 6feet 6inches tall, featuring flowing reddish-brown hair reaching just past his shoulders with pointy elongated ears piercing through the densely-packed strands. He commands respect as a Paladin firmly allied with many righteous deities. His facial structure is strong & masculine yet maintains a sense of child-like youth despite his age of 153 years. This would not be very old for High Elves however as they routinely live for 700 years and beyond, though it is not entirely understood how cross-breeding with a Human would affect this lifespan. Humans & Elves rarely procreate for a multitude of reasons, but chief among them being Elvenkind concern for tainting their precious genetic dynasties.

Looking again at Qipetor's face it's readily apparent he is blind in the left eye which has adopted the stereotypical milky white hue, due to an injury suffered in battle. A hard-to-ignore scar crosses over it & spans much of his appearance in a straight diagonal line ending at the mouth. This would provide obvious context for the specifics of how this injury came about. Conversely his right eye portrays a piercing red color which is quite unusual for most mortal beings, let alone an Elf-Human hybrid. His physicality is quite brutish at a hefty 267 pounds, and his figure is sure to be greatly exaggerated by his chosen equipment.

Qipetor often dawns sturdy chain-mail armor with a few protective plates over his forearms & shoulders, and a beautifully crafted helm featuring a central ridge dividing the halves & leading down to a protective nose bridge cover a bit shorter than the metal which protects his cheeks. It somewhat resembles Spartan characteristics. An ornate amulet is worn around his neck which portrays a shining sun in reference to the god Pelor, who is primarily considered the god of sun, agriculture, healing and time. Qipetor is quite adept in combat & carries a couple options for weaponry. His standard kit consists of a sturdy mace & metal shield but clasped onto his back is a glaive polearm stretching an extraordinary 10 feet, allowing him to deal devastating slashes with the curved metal blade from a safe distance.

In addition to all this, he can be seen using a typical brown backpack containing various adventuring supplies. Water, food, torches, tinderboxes, a few metal stakes, 50ft of rope, candles, a dagger, and a bedroll along with some other useful tools / materials an adventurer might be able to make use of. If Qipetor is ever seen he is usually in the pursuit of, currently involved in, or concluding a quest given to dispatch evil forces wherever they may be found. These quests are usually handed down from the various deities who place their trust in him as a champion of good, but it's not uncommon for him to also help townsfolk with various deeds if there is no greater evil demanding his attention.

Much is unknown regarding Qipetor's early life, not because he's simply a mysterious figure but rather he was an obscure one like most & thus did not attract much attention. As a child he did reside in a village called Relend with his High Elf father & Human mother - Aehorn & Elizabeth. His father left his people several centuries before Qipetor's birth for an unknown reason & stopped traveling once he found the first settlement composed of Humans who had no desire to attack him on sight. Relations between the races are... tumultuous at times.

In his other life Aehorn must've been a craftsman of some variation because soon after residing in Relend he found himself working the local forge, befriending the blacksmith in the process. He helped manufacture the village's tools, nails, fittings, and maybe the occasional mace or even less common sword. The blacksmith was a lonely fellow without a family to speak of so when his mortality bell rang, Aehorn readily took over the business.

His work ethic was astounding but after spending over 350 years of his life learning the Elvish way of metalworking, now lacking the tools & technology to replicate, he found himself struggling to adapt to Human methods. Because of this the village folk coined "Mildforge" as his surname, to which he begrudgingly abided by. Challenges aside, Aehorn would continue to fulfill the obligations of a village blacksmith to the best of his ability. Interestingly, nails produced by him were unique & overly-intricate featuring a spiral leading to a small lion figurehead which when hammered into place would result in a perfect portrait of the animal wedged into whatever material is being used for construction. At a glance you could tell whether or not Aehorn's metal was used in any of the village's structures. Most of the time, it was.

Courtship between Aehorn & Elizabeth was brief but it was said they were very much in love. They met when she visited the forge on her father's behalf to request repairs for various sets of horseshoes. As this kindled a friendship which blossomed into romance, Elizabeth's father became enraged at the idea of his daughter marrying an Elvish man who was nearly 400yrs old, but the heart wants what it wants as some would say. Aehorn & Elizabeth were wed only months after & she made it clear very early on that she wanted to start a family. Aehorn was hesitant as he appeared to be very concerned about what kind of life a half-elf child would live in a Human society. Even though Relend's residents weren't enraged at the mere sight of a slender figure with pointy ears, they were still not the most welcoming. Through some convincing they agreed to bring children into the world, but it would take several years to welcome Qipetor.

Aehorn & Elizabeth would continue trying but could never conceive another child, possibly due to Aehorn's midlife age by Elven standards. Qipetor would be their only child, and just a couple years following his birth is where the historical record essentially goes dark. Elizabeth's family have close to zero stories passed down covering her life beyond this point, indicating that she no longer kept contact with them. This would've been strange as she was always very close with her parents & siblings. Similarly, archaeological findings from around the Relend site, which today is nothing more than a wide & shallow crater, do show that nails dated to this period became very simple & quaint - not the Aehorn trademark featuring the spiral & lion figurehead. This would indeed suggest that Aehorn underwent significant changes in behavior of his own by no longer taking pride in crafting elegant tools he still had the means to produce. It's mostly a mystery which remains but one thing is certain - shortly after Qipetor turned 2 years old, an undocumented event took place which forever changed the lives of this three-strong family.

An off-site graveyard a short walk from the Relend crater is still maintained & one can look there today to find the graves of one Aehorn & Elizabeth Mildforge. It's known that they passed away just days apart when Qipetor was 22, and it's said he was witnessed leaving the village with nothing more than a few belongings just after their burials. It's unknown whether anybody from Relend ever heard from him again.

It takes 113 years for anything to be known about him with certainty, but looking back from today he would not be immediately recognizable. He's much more slender & stands at just 5feet, 7inches tall. His eyes mirror one another with a hazel complexion. But on this day it's known he's visiting a 'Temple to Pelor' offering prayers & seeking meditation. These temples often housed the sick & injured, fitting for the Deity Pelor. Qipetor is clearly adept when it comes to the subject of primitive medicines as he would assist in the care of these afflicted persons, so one could safely assume he spent a lot of time researching various topics over the last century. Temple's to Pelor & establishments of other religious denominations usually contained libraries of varying sizes which he could've possibly taken advantage of, assuming a position of trust was earned with the priests or equivalent religious officials.

Something else of note occurred in this temple, and that is his sudden friendship with Jozan, Human Cleric of Pelor. Jozan needs no introduction himself as he is a widely-known adventurer but it is curious that these two, of all people, would wind up intertwined. Qipetor & Jozan spent much time together over the next several months. These months are, at least with accuracy, it can be said that Qipetor began his foray into martial education under the mentorship of Jozan. They would go on adventures together, help townsfolk residing in surrounding communities, and dispatch any fiends threatening the peaceful population. It should not be assumed Qipetor was considered even an adequate fighter by this point, but rather the well-seasoned Jozan guaranteed Qipetor's safety due to his extensive experience, and that he was using these adventures / encounters as a means of training Qipetor.

Then early one morning, Qipetor & Jozan set out for the usual adventure. Local tavern keepers shared reports of a dangerous fiend in a nearby swamp so naturally they took on the job. It's hard to turn down a bounty & the men clearly shared an interest in killing evil beings as often as possible. The two are walking through the forest surrounding the small city which houses their temple and they're joking with one another, clearly at ease for they had no reason to doubt the incoming defeat which would befall their enemy. Fiends in this area were not an uncommon occurrence, and nearly every time they didn't amount to much more than what a couple of well-bodied men, wielding nothing but sharpened farming tools, would be capable of killing. As the grand trees overhead shrunk down to something more resembling grey sticks barely taller than themselves & the ground became much more saturated with less organic material covering it, they reached the swamp.

They promptly unsheathed their weapons & set about finding this unspecified fiend. Shock would befall them when, suddenly & with great dramatic affect, a Wastrilith would burst from the bog. These ten foot long Demons similar in appearance to a Raptor head atop a Wyvern body are supposed to only inhabit the lower planes but based on the deep blue & slimy material these two men were splashed by, it became clear that this Demon either opened a wormhole connecting separate planes or traveled through one which had already existed. Either way, this was no usual fiend & both men knew they had a fight on their hands.

The Wastrilith struck at Jozan first, knocking him to the ground but leaving him uninjured. Qipetor promptly rushed at the Demon, mace in hand, ready to deal a devastating blow to the back of its head. Then without warning, as if the Demon suddenly realized this charging man is exactly who he was expecting to see, the Wastrilith lunged forward waving its two scythe-tipped arms in a relentless fury attempting to slice Qipetor into many unrecognizable pieces. Noticing he was now in way over his head, Qipetor lunged into the water to avoid the onslaught. It worked briefly, and while gathering his bearings underwater he heard the conflict raging on. Upon breaking the surface he witnessed Jozan combatting this terrifying beast & fighting in a manner that Qipetor could not even recognize. His mentor must've realized that this was a true battle for their lives, so teaching would have to wait and this Wastrilith must be defeated by any means necessary.

Jozan is an experienced fighter after all. He got in close with the Demon & successfully dodged its many strikes, landing his own with rapid succession. He landed a lucky blow when, after ducking beneath an incoming scythe slash, he heaved his heavy mace upwards with great strength & destroyed the opposing arm's bone structure. Seizing the moment, he proceeded to spin backwards just out of range of the Demon and upon wielding his belt-attached crossbow, delivered a devastating bolt to the underside of the Demon's fragile chest. The towering foe stood still for a few moments appearing greatly weakened, but this triumph would not last long.

The Demon suddenly disappeared inside a collapsing Blue sphere, and mere moments after reappeared from the same just behind Jozan's back. Before even the most experienced fighters would have a moment to react, the Demon heaved its one healthy arm and struck Jozan's lower back, piercing the scythe tip through his sturdy armor like paper & bulging the metal covering his stomach. Qipetor was out of the bog by this time & was terrified by what he was witnessing. Losing himself in the moment due to the nearly unimaginable horror unfolding before his very eyes, instincts took over and a palpable rage overwhelmed him. Qipetor wasted no time to respond in kind.

He again rushed the Demon, who now had one broken arm & the other firmly wedged inside the flesh of what might be the only friend he's ever known. With this realization Qipetor lashed out with all the fighting prowess he could muster, bashing the Demon in its exposed chest & occupied healthy limb, attempting to break it too thus removing its main means of attack. He struck with all his strength & seemed to be hurting the Demon, but failed to do any significant damage before it detached itself from the two compromised arms & began to rapidly generate new healthy ones, albeit a little more slender.

Qipetor dropped his mace & slumped to his hands & knees with great exhaustion. His friend is lying motionless beside him & he knows his death is staring down at him, snarling with a deep & raspy growl, from 10 feet up. Qipetor is familiar enough with Demon behavior to understand their sadistic nature, and rather than submitting himself to everlasting torment at the hands of this being he decides to accept death. He accepts demise. He accepts these are his last moments and he's determined to make them worthwhile, or die trying.

Qipetor rises to his feet re-energized with resolve, but curiously does not pick up his mace. Instead, he reaches over & rips out the scythe-tipped Demon arm stuck inside his friend's corpse. Its bones are still rigid after all, and could make for a great improvised weapon. Jozan lets out an audible gasp for he is far from dead. Not understanding how this is possible but without even a second to ponder it, Qipetor is faced with the equally re-energized Demon brandishing healthy limbs. "Time for me to die" he mutters to himself, before advancing on the Demon & engaging it with this new improvised weapon. The reach it provides gives him some confidence as he won't need to get as close to his foe to deal damage which is a welcome change because the Demon's arms are, obviously, just as long.

The pace quickens & both begin attacking one another with rapid speed. Qipetor manages a few good strikes on the Demon but this seems to only aggravate it rather than cause any legitimate harm. The Demon takes to bashing him with blunt elbows, repeatedly dazing & knocking him aside. Qipetor never waivers however & continues facing his enemy. "Divine beings, support me amidst this impossible hour" he says to himself, swinging the scythe-arm at the Demon. It's knocked aside, and he's met with an even more furious elbow slamming into his chest & breaking a few ribs.

"Gods above I implore you to assist me in dispatching this evil!" he now cries out while swinging his weapon down upon the Demon in a wide arch. The Demon simply evades the strike & plunges a scythe inches into Qipetor's left shoulder, clearly toying with him but causing great pain nonetheless.

"I can be an unstoppable force for good if you stand with me now Pelor!" he bellows out, now wildly swinging away with his one capable arm in nothing more than the general direction of his foe. The Demon effortlessly deflects this attack & whips its massive tail around stabbing it into Qipetor's right thigh, still toying with him but clearly unbothered at the possibility of severing the Half-Elf's leg.

"With righteous fury I command you to obscurity!" He now yells with all his strength. Crippled & on his knees, Qipetor looks up to see what looks like a final blow coming in from above his head. On mere instinct, he painstakingly uses both arms to raise the scythe-arm weapon above him bracing for the incoming attack, but the Demon smashes through its own anatomical structure with ease & just grazes Qipetor's face, slicing his skin nearly in two from his left temple to right corner of his mouth.

"Ambition compels me to eviscerate your family ---!!!" proclaims Qipetor barely clinging to life, just before speaking aloud the Demon's birth-name. Feet away, Jozan rolls over amidst packing his wounds to witness Qipetor ripping out two bones from what used to be his improvised demon-limb weapon & wielding them hand in hand. He slowly advances toward the Demon with little regard for his injuries, his rapid breaths bubbling through the seeping blood covering his face. Jozan notices the first glimmer of fear on the Demon's face - "How does this decrepit Half-Elf know my name?" it must be thinking.

This Demon is no longer toying & instead wishes to cleave Qipetor in two for its own sake, but things are different now. As much as his hindered body would allow, Qipetor charges forward with unrelenting confidence, systematically stabbing into the Demon with its own bones amid incoming scythe slashes. The rally continues until the towering beast suffers what must've been nearly a dozen stabs, so it's at this moment the Demon decides to slash sideways with both arms, hoping to catch Qipetor off guard with an attack he cannot dodge. Seemingly acting through rehearsed choreography he drops the bone weapons, crouches beneath the two crossing scythes and takes a small step forward before reaching above to place a hand on back of the Demon's elbows.

In precisely the right instant, Qipetor stands up & pushes outward into each elbow with all his might whilst crying out with a great roar "ASMODEUS HIMSELF WILL CLEAVE YOU IN HALF!".

This sudden force is difficult to make corrections for, and the Demon's scythes are firmly punctured into its own torso doing significant damage and indeed nearly cutting the wyvern body in two. From where he lay Jozan now locks eyes with Qipetor but he does not recognize the man, and not due to any sustained injuries. Qipetor's one visible eye is glowing bright red, his stature seems to have increased by a significant amount, and he's speaking in a jagged voice while muttering some indiscernible language directly to the Demon.

Qipetor turns to face his foe who's desperately fighting to rip the scythes from its own flesh, picks up the two bones from the muddy soil, and plunges one deep into the Demon's chest followed by the other up & through the neck as the defeated Demon slumps over into perpetual stillness. It slowly dissolves into a toxic goop composed of the otherworldly materials that make up the Demon's physical structure. But what now stands in place of his Half-Elf friend, Jozan thinks to himself, crumples to the floor unconscious. Through great agony, Jozan does what he can for their wounds & carries his friend out of the forest. To his dismay he also realizes that along with the significant stature change, Qipetor is now much heavier than the average-sized Half-Elf he was at the beginning of this day.

After several hours of desperately trudging through the thick forest, Jozan breaks through the tree-line & feels some small relief as he feels the shining sun upon his skin & smells the sprawling wheatfields surrounding the town. Though, today's events took their toll & the Cleric has no more strength to offer. He collapses just beside a main road, the pair now appearing dead to any potential passersby.

Some nearby townsfolk are traveling on this main road atop their wagon carrying various goods, when a woman recognizes Jozan & thus implores her companions to help the two men. Their seemingly lifeless bodies are lifted into the cart, surely soiling the various goods / grains with leaking bodily fluids. This woman & her group tighten the reins on their horses & hastily make their way to the Temple. They know these men don't have much time to spare if they aren't dead already. This good deed undoubtedly saved their lives & the pair would eventually recover with the help of the temple's priests, though Jozan would never be the same. A few weeks after their terrifying Demon encounter, the men share their first moments of being awake at the same time & capable of holding conversation. So, they share some words. Qipetor recounts remembering almost nothing beyond witnessing Jozan being felled.

"He has no idea what he did or what he's capable of. He must have no clue he was possessed by Asmodeus himself just before killing that Demon." Jozan ponders in his mind.

In a shocking moment of vulnerability, Qipetor tells his friend "For nearly 80 years I suffered through questioning why my parents hated me. Despite all our neighbors telling me of the love they had for their child, I never felt it & instead faced neglect as a child into my early 20s. My mother & father repeatedly told me how I was the harbinger of their suffering. I've never even known what my origins are beyond them. 35 years ago, it all became even more confusing."

In confidence with his friend, Qipetor then shares the story covering all that took place following his departure from Relend over a century ago. He was lost, alone & distraught. In a society where he was outcast & a childhood granted upon him which would've scarred anyone, he took to churches & deities for anything resembling solace.

Some of his father's final words to him rang inside his mind ever since leaving home: "Our lives have been only suffering since you came. A half-blood like you can only rely on the heavens for any meaningful purpose." His mother was vindictive & cruel to him most of the time, so it isn't likely she offered little which would've been any better.

He then mentions how 35 years ago on his 100th birthday, sitting in a dark alley behind a local pub one night, he pulled out a little wooden box he's carried on him since leaving Relend. It was handed to him during his father's final moments, with no accompanying words other than "Coming of age" in the form of a faint whisper in the Elvish tongue. His father rarely spoke of his past but he lived as an Elf for centuries, so sharing a household would mean Qipetor could manage to learn at least a few things about a culture to which he half belongs yet has never witnessed. Because of this, he was able to understand his father's words in his dying breath as he used a common expression & Qipetor was similarly familiar with the concept of Elvish citizens being considered adults at the age of 100.

Sitting by himself on this night, he finally opens the box. It burns his skin & causes great discomfort, but the lid pops open with a bright flash. The pain quickly subsides. But upon feeling these effects, Qipetor recognizes it as a form of royal Elvish protection magic to shield objects from evil forces. It's very difficult to detect. He has spent many long years browsing through various libraries in search of anything of Elvish descent, so he can recall reading about this type of magic & its signatures. Strangely though, it's never been reported to have caused pain, but can be lethal if exposed to an Elf who is not fully mature. With these factors, on this night, Qipetor rather quickly deduces that he is likely of Royal Elvish descent through his father, and the magic caused some pain due to him not being a pure-blood descendent.

Inside this small box is an ornate silver nail. It's immediately recognizable as one indicative of his father's earlier-manufactured nails Qipetor never saw being made, yet heard stories about from many in the village. It was also easy to see the nails themselves growing up, embedded in many of Relend's structures. Lion portrait and all. This silver nail also featured a golden inlay spiral leading to a crescent figurehead. After all this time, Qipetor is self-taught with the Elvish language so he has no trouble making out the words in the included note his father left for him:

"During every moment over my last two decades of life where I managed to muster the necessary courage, I used protected techniques to imbue my lifeforce along with your mother's into this nail. May it serve you well, just once, in your ultimate time of need. With you came great suffering, but the Gods above know the rest of the story. Never relent."

One of his father's final acts as a dying man was to insult him but the sentiment in this note is of a stark contrast to that. Couple this with the note being written in Elvish which is something his father was never known to do in this new life he led among Humans, and it's understandable how dumbfounded Qipetor would've been upon learning of these things & how desperate he was to make sense of it all with his friend he's now confiding in.

Jozan then takes a moment to impulsively yell out: "Why didn't you use this magic nail the very moment we were faced with a blasted Demon?!"

Qipetor calmly responds, likely with some regret: "I didn't mean to leave the damn thing here."

He then proceeds to explain this as the reason for his drive to find divine connection & purpose over the last three decades & change. His father told him there's more to learn about the condition of his upbringing & it wasn't just malice or hatred directed towards him. This final note instructed him to be unrelenting in his search, which is what drove him to churches & temples for Cyric, Beshaba, Eldath, Helm, Ilmater, Lathander, Lliira, Oghma, along with many others including this very 'Temple to Pelor' where the two would meet.

It's at this moment Jozan learns a great deal about the friend he made not even a year ago. But most pressing, above all, is why he would've been possessed by the ruler of all Devilkind, Asmodeus, during an encounter with a random demon? Devils & Demons have been at war for as long as anyone can remember after all, so it might be that Asmodeus plans to use him to further Devilkind's standing in the everlasting conflict of evil versus evil which is sure to destroy the civilized world. Thankfully it's readily apparent Qipetor is no longer under this manner of influence, at least for the moment, but his physicality remains in its changed state & thus Jozan is greatly concerned about the possibility of there still being a tethered connection between his friend & the most powerful devil in existence. Grander than them both - Jozan understands he can't idly sit by & watch Qipetor become an instrument for evil. He's already witnessed what his Half-Elf friend is capable of when under an evil influence.

As Qipetor drifts back to sleep with the help of numerous herbs to aid in recovery, Jozan says a prayer for his friend & vouches for his earnestness in wanting to be a devoted force for vanquishing evil. Not helping it. There's no mistaking a man's cries to a power above to help him defeat his foe amidst a life-or-death struggle, and it's possible Asmodeus formed a connection to him where the Gods he called out to were not able, or willing, to do the same. Jozan is a reputable Cleric in the Pelor faith & as such has a notable station. His prayers carry weight, so he bows his head & closes his eyes.

Upon opening them, Jozan sees Qipetor violently convulsing in his cot, to the surprise of the attending priests looking over the sick & injured. A few rush over to lend aid, but there's nothing to be done. The prayer has been answered & the god Pelor has visited the wounded Half-Elf in a vision, which is no small endeavor to withstand for even the healthiest mortal beings. In this vision, Qipetor will receive answers for nearly every question he's ever had.

133 years ago, his family home was infiltrated in the early hours one morning by an Archdevil, a ruler of Baator or "the Nine Hells" & just a couple ranks below Asmodeus himself, when Qipetor was just 2 years old. This evil being clearly had some form of tie to his father Aehorn, but even all-knowing Pelor wouldn't speak to these specifics and, sensing the incoming question, simply told Qipetor: "It matters not. This destiny is now your task nonetheless."

The Archdevil wasted no time torturing his parents & began by goring into their bodies so as to not cause them physical harm, but to make the pair infertile. The being then taunted his father proclaiming how grand it is that they'll never have the ability to reproduce again. The Archdevil said he would happily kill their baby "were it not a worthless half-human hardly worth the hunt."

The being then inflicted just about as much torment on them as the bounds of reality would allow, and this came in the form of a 'Curse of Relentless Agony'. This curse causes as much pain as physically possible on the afflicted, and in this case it even came with additional constraints. Neither of them were permitted to scream out in pain, less they watch their village burn & their child gutted in front of them. The Archdevil told his father "My boundless gratitude for believing you were safe & bringing this mutt into the world. By expanding your nearly-extinct bloodline & casting a signature for us to sniff out, you're firmly in our grasp now. This will be far more enjoyable than your quick death", before promptly vanishing from their home without a trace.

The god Pelor shows Qipetor how, for 20 years, his parents withstood the torment of this curse for the sake of their son. But Aehorn & Elizabeth were mortal beings so they could not stomach it with complete grace. They instinctively hated their child most often, because they both knew his conception is what led to their suffering. Yet still, his father managed to find rare moments of strength to carry out crafting the most powerful tool he's ever produced, all the while undergoing the worst pain he's ever felt because of the person he's making this tool to protect. In doing this Aehorn took advantage of closely-guarded Elvish techniques passed down to his royal ancestors for countless generations. He never before dared to practice these in Relend due to the risk of Devils on the hunt locating him, but as that time has come & gone he had no choice but to trust luck.

This process required him to pour his own & his wife's life essence into the metal, requiring great energy & even greater wisdom so as to not alert the ever-watching Archdevil who's eager to realize that promise made the very moment Aehorn or Elizabeth tell anyone what happened to them, let alone even cry out in pain. The nail began to take shape after 10 years, and every year following it became more ornate. But as this tool's prowess grew, so did Qipetor's parents waste away from inside their souls. They were slowly killing themselves so his father could craft something to be used only once to defend their son in his most desperate moment, because that's how much love they had for him. But there was purpose too as Aehorn never doubted his son was destined for great things and he now saw it as a duty to help him in that endeavor however possible.

What's more - his father orchestrated a great deal of the entire situation to ensure his son would be able to leave the village without attracting the wrath of the Archdevil. As much as these evil beings love to kill mercilessly, they still prefer to maintain anonymity so lacking any reason they wouldn't blatantly attack an innocent. Devilkind care about their own ambitions above all, and those higher in the hierarchy often delegate tasks to their inferiors. With this specific Archdevil, he was instructed by his superior to eliminate Aehorn's bloodline. With Pelor's all-knowing status as a divine god, this vision details how this order was passed down the ladder from a few ranks above the Archdevil, in one Asmodeus himself. Along with destroying Aehorn's lineage, countless other similar missions are being carried out on other families for the purpose of inflicting wrath on mortalkind. But through showing initiative, a devil given a task can go above & beyond by inflicting additional suffering or torment. If this succeeds & is recording, the devil can make a good case for their own promotion up the hierarchy. And thus this was the Archdevil's plan - to prevent Aehorn's bloodline from continuing by making him infertile & creating a parental environment so destructive his only child would never realize anything close to his ultimate potential. The Archdevil saw this as a massive improvement over simply killing them, but as fate would show this would be a costly mistake.

Aehorn's great gambit was to convince the Archdevil he was complicit & simply waiting to die. He hid the nail within the box enveloped in protection magic to escape detection, passed it off to Qipetor in secret just before his death, spoke to him in a hushed Elvish whisper so his son knew to only open it when he was of age which is notable due to Devilkind's proclivity towards not understanding Elvish, and he wrote the note in the same tongue so its meaning would remain undiscovered in the unlikely event the looming Archdevil or his subordinates got their hands on it.

Lastly, Aehorn insulted his son with some of his last words by telling him the only way a half-blood such as himself would find purpose is by being granted it from the heavens out of pity. To the Archdevil, this seemed to be the moment Aehorn gave in & accepted it - he hates his son. The truth is, this was advice & a caring ploy. By seeking guidance from religious deities & spending his years after leaving Relend visiting churches & temples searching for little beyond comfort, he would be of less interest to Devilkind & harder to reach due to his proximity to righteous deities.

After 70 years at the age of 92, Qipetor no longer captured the attention of the Archdevil. He seemed to be nothing more than a grieving, lost, & profoundly neglected nobody. This is because he was, which is exactly what his father intended. No longer under their watch, Qipetor could at least have an opportunity to realize a destiny which was forced upon him, and after opening the box on his 100th birthday it inherently became clear in his subconscious - Qipetor would need to ally himself with & earn the trust of deities for the force of good.

Upon witnessing this context, Qipetor became committed to the sole goal of eliminating all Devilkind whatever the cost, but the wise god Pelor kindly reminded him of the reality that Devils are the only force preventing Demons from taking over the multiverse & destroying all he's ever known or learned about. The world hangs in the balance & the evil must be destroyed in one fell swoop - not piecemealed leading to vulnerabilities for the other evil entities to exploit.

In the final moments of this vision, Pelor instructs Qipetor to become a champion for righteousness in his name, while also offering the somber reminder that his recent prowess in battle & physical changes only came to him at the hands of the ruler of Devilkind & the possession of his body. This connection was luckily severed due to his fragile physical state following the battle with the Demon, but also because of his proximity to a great force for good in one Jozan the Cleric who pleaded for this very intervention to save Qipetor's soul. Pelor made it clear that without this evil possession he'll yet again need to earn his strength & abilities by passing trials set by various gods, along with earning their support. Pelor also said, coldly: "Stare into a water's reflection & you'll see your eye still shining a deep red. Many doorways, you'll need to duck under for the rest of your life. Asmodeus has forever altered your body & thus it is possible for him to regain control over you. I & the other gods can keep these attempts of his at bay, but only while you remain on the path of righteousness."

Qipetor now has no greater earthly desire than to eliminate devilkind to avenge his parents, but he understands his task & resolves himself to seeing it through. The divine images dissipate from his mind & he awakens in the cot to find concerned priests looking on & his friend Jozan battered & disfigured, but otherwise happy to see him. Qipetor takes some time to rise from the cot, wiping the profuse sweat from his forehead, and finds he's very much in the same physical state as he was before the vision. Just as Pelor said. Qipetor must adapt to being much taller & larger than he's always been, as well as blind in the left eye. His face is currently hanging together by nothing more than twine stitched through the slash wound and with a nearly useless shoulder & thigh to match, but these three would heal with time. What is markedly different is something he feels inside for the first time in his life - a strength of spirit. Pelor is with him, and he knows this strength will grow as he earns the trust of additional righteous gods.

He limps over to his friend Jozan & hugs the Cleric as brothers would. He spends a few brief minutes to bluntly recount the events of Pelor's vision without regard for how believable any of it might be, possibly as a way to thank him for the prayer made not even three minutes previously which very well could've saved his soul. Without saying much more, he gathers what remains of his belongings & leaves the temple. Through divine intervention facilitated by his father & best friend, Qipetor is determined to learn, to train, to fight, to foster relationships with righteous gods, and to succeed in the war of good versus evil which rages on every passing day. He takes on this duty not just because he ultimately values the forces of good, but because of the admiration he has for his parents, his friend Jozan, and the selfish, carnal desire he feels to see evil fail above all else.

This is the last I saw of my great friend & savior Qipetor Mildforge. He had the clothes on his back, a rucksack with some supplies, a few valuables, and of course that trusty nail. As he was walking away I heard him muttering to himself about the potential vulnerabilities of a Wastrilith & the viability of using a long bladed polearm versus a blunt weapon & shield. I have no doubt Qipetor is driven to his destiny & will stop at nothing to achieve it. Those rare moments of vulnerability I shared with him as we lie in agony amid accompanying temple cots felt like a situation which is never to be repeated in his life. The look on his face after his vision told me he's no longer interested in talking about himself or wrestling with the past. Though, he's always kept a journal to record his most private thoughts & the few times I happened to glance at it I was met with scorn. I wouldn't be surprised if he maintained this habit so only he & his gods would know the details of his internal struggles.

If I know the man well I'll say this - there is now nothing which matters to him aside from this quest laid upon him to rid the world of evil. I can't fathom how that would be possible for anybody, divine support or not, but I do know one thing - wherever Qipetor Mildforge ends up, evil forces are not long for this world.