River

River
Character information
Introduced	Might and Magic: The Sea of Mist
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Warder's Promise
Occupation	Ranger
Appearances
Background
Native world	Axeoth
Status	Dead

River is a character that appears in Might and Magic: The Sea of Mist. She's a six-foot-tall ranger with shoulder-length red hair. She has gold-flecked eyes and tanned skin, and is described as "absolutely gorgeous from head to toe, molded of generous rounded curves."

She wears ranger's leathers, a fringed hooded jacket, knee-high moccasins, and a leather shirt. All of it is mottled green and brown, allowing her to move in the forest without being seen. She also wears a quiver, and is armed with a bow and knives.

Biography

Ranger

River grew up in a harsh forest along Goblin Marsh. Both her parents were rangers, and River traveled to Soronne to study at Warder's Promise, so she could become a ranger as well. After her rough childhood, she considered the exercises the instructors gave her little more than child's play, as no one ever died.

She was a good friend of Telop Vine and Praz-El. She was in love with Praz and never tried to hide it, but he didn't feel the same way about her, as he felt there was nothing dark or mysterious about her.

Sage's Rebuttal

Praz-El and Telop ran into River at the Sage's Rebuttal shortly after they slew the thieves at the Hanged Man's Inn. She told them she'd been out with a group of students in Burning Ash Forest, but a large storm had approached, and the other students had decided to return to Soronne. She invited Praz to go back to the forest with her, telling him that he'd be back before class the next morning, and that "Sleep is somewhat overrated, anyway." Praz realized what she was offering, but he declined, wanting to avoid any rumors that might get back to Lissella Morely, the girl he was trying to seduce.

While the three friends were chatting, Lissella entered the tavern. She felt jealous by River's presence at Praz-El's table, and accused her of trying to wheedle her way to his side. River pointed out that she didn't need to wheedle her way anywhere - she was welcome at a lot more tables in the room than Lissella was. A sudden chorus of cheers proved her words. Enraged by this, Lissella used her magic to pull down the wagon wheel of lanterns hanging from the ceiling, splattering burning oil across the floor.

Extinguishing the flames and telling the bartender to send her the bill for the damages, she turned back to River and told her that "You'll never be what I am or what I will be." One of River's hands had disappeared below the table, which worried Praz, as he'd seen how good she could be with her knives. Then, to prove her dominance, Lissella grabbed Praz's hair and pulled him in for a kiss.

Before their lips met, someone shouted out that Magistrate Bo was approaching the building. Wanting to avoid being found by a Magistrate in this den, most of the students left, including River, Lissella, and Telop. However, River decided to lurk just outside the alehouse, listening in as Bo talked to his foster son Praz. She learned Praz was going to leave the Magistracy early the next morning and head to Murlank. While she was sad that he was about to leave, she hoped he would allow her to travel with him - this would allow her to charm her way into his sleeping bag while they were far away from Lissella's claws.

Sendark's attack

Later in the evening, River headed up to Praz's quarters in Eldrar's Tower to offer to accompany him. She found him talking to Telop, and as groups of guards began sprinting through the halls, they learned that Lissella was missing, as was her father Devlin. Believing that this was connected to an ancient fountain Devlin had recently found in the tunnels beneath Soronne, Praz ran off to investigate, when the town was suddenly attacked by the zombie hordes of the demon Sendark. River and Telop followed Praz as he cut his way through the attackers. In the tunnels, Praz learned that his foster father had attempted to stop Fahd Mandel and Lenik, the two traitors who betrayed the town to Sendark, from draining the fountain's power. He was unsuccessful, and had been critically wounded. When Bo died in his arms, Praz reached for his weapons and charged the zombies, mad with fury and grief. Unable to face this assault, the zombies drew back to their base, the floating city-island known as the Demero.

The next morning, Telop and River were approached by Captain Jarrell, the commander of the Six Shards' fleet. The druid Alagar and the witch Noleta Mareldi had asked for his help to reach the Isle of the Dead. The two traitors were headed there now, planning on draining a second fountain and becoming even more powerful, and the heroes wanted Praz's help in stopping them. Since he was now grieving for his dead father, they hoped River and Telop could help them approach him. When the group went to see him, Praz told them he wanted to be left alone, but Alagar offered him a chance to get revenge on the traitors that killed his father. Praz agreed to travel with them, and River and Telop told him they'd come as well.

The ship

The group boarded Jarrell's ship, the Crimson Raptor. There, they were also joined by Xarfax, a holy warrior who was an old friend of Jarrell. Xarfax and his warriors glared at Praz from the moment they set foot aboard, though Praz didn't know why. One of Xarfax's warriors swaggered over to Praz, attempting to start a fight, but as he walked across the deck, a sudden wave threw him to the floor. The other warriors laughed, and Xarfax told them that the Old One was responsible. River asked him who the Old One was, and Xarfax was shocked that she didn't know the story. He began to tell them the legend, and the strange tension between them and Praz immediately broke.

As the group sailed into the Sea of Mist, they were suddenly attacked by a swarm of undead ospreys, sent by Sendark to stop them from reaching their goal. It was a long and bloody fight, and many of Jarrell's sailors lost their lives, but Praz and Xarfax stood fighting side by side, and were eventually able to slay the last of the creatures.

Soon afterwards, they were attacked by one of Sendark's zombie ships. Telop was wounded in the fight, and bled to death in Praz's arms. In a rage caused by his friend's death, and by the realization of the darkness that the young warrior possessed inside, Praz used his magic to destroy the zombies and tear their ship apart.

The Isle of the Dead

When the group stepped ashore on the Isle of the Dead, they were met by Clavis, one of Sendark's death knights. He told them that the two traitors had also betrayed Sendark, and he wanted the heroes to deal with him - Clavis would show them the way if they promised to do the work, which meant Sendark would get revenge on the traitors without risking his own soldiers. They didn't really trust Clavis or his master, but fearing that they might not find the traitors in time, the heroes reluctantly agreed.

Clavis showed them a secret tunnel entrance in a nearby mountain, and the group entered a great chamber, where the fountain was floating over a vast abyss. The two traitors were already in the fountain, draining its power, while Lenik's mercenaries and guards were standing on the edge of the chasm, guarding Lissella. The heroes charged into battle against Lenik's forces. During the fight, they discovered that they should avoid using magic in the cave, as any spell they cast would clash with the fountain's power, causing the chamber to break up.

Lissella was angry when she realized that River had been traveling with Praz, and waited until the ranger was fighting with a goblin near the edge of the abyss. She then cast a spell at the goblin, and the shudder of the cave threw River of the edge. The ranger clung to the rocks, pleading with Lissella to help her up. "So you can steal my man again?" Lisselle said coldly. "I don't think so." She pounded her hands against River's fingers, and the ranger fell screaming into the abyss below. When Praz approached to see what had happened, Lissella turned to him with tears in her eyes, telling him that she'd tried to rescue River, but just wasn't strong enough.

Praz eventually managed to destroy the fountain and defeat the traitors, and the group fled from the collapsing cave. They returned to the ship, and Praz grieved for his friends and father. With nothing left for him in Soronne, he decided to finally travel to Murlank and learn more about his past.