Leylach, the Half-Elf Shadow Knight

(By Uget Bell, polyvalent researcher at the Free University of Ganareth)

Talking about "Proud to be free" women, let me tell you about Leylach, who never gave up fulfilling her dreams, no matter the obstacles. Her career is even more exceptional, considering the fact that very few men have been recognized as true adepts of this Art, which is the darkest, the most terrible and the scariest of all for its adepts (and of course, even more terrible for the victim of its effects). Who dares to call women "chickens" after that?

When she was a little girl, Leylach already displayed a strong temper and her elder brothers, ordinary simpletons who could just manage to pull girls’ braids and pick their own noses for feeding purposes, soon learned to be cautious around her. When someone played a trick on her, she would seek revenge, as all sisters do. But instead of just making them an apple pie bed or throwing their marble collection in the nearest swamp (which makes a funny noise during the process and afterwards), she used to hang a black sword over the culprits’ bed, or open a basket full of bats, centipedes or sucking Glargnubs from Boukan, in the bedroom for instance.

Word spread about her deeds. Deeds of which required great courage and rather good knowledge of spells in order to capture these creatures (the sucking Glargnub, for instance, sleeps with one eye open, and it has eight of them), reached Shakaar’s ear. The Dark Immortal hesitated for a bit because of ordinary prejudices concerning the opposite sex but after an interesting interview with Circéliane the bard who he had more or less tried to set up house with, finally opened his eyes (although she had given him a black eye recently), and he decided to give Leylach her chance.

He came to see her where her parents were unsuccessfully trying to raise her, introduced himself, and immediately got hit by a magic sword bolt that burnt all the hair on the right side of his body. He decided this pupil was a promising one.

They trained for a long time, and those who had enough courage to come and watch them, often wondered if this was a love or hate relationship, because blood was spilled on many occasions. Besides, the place where they fought is called Leylach Mear, which means: Leylach’s Blood.

It was obvious that a lot more blood would be spilled. As, once she had learned all the secrets of her Dark Art, Leylach fought the most numerous and powerful enemies, from the Orcs and their axes to the Troll warriors and their halberds, from the Zmorglub’s claws to the spurs of the Gobers of L’o, she was wounded a hundred times, and a hundred times she stood back again. Her body was eventually as scarred as a table in the Dwarven Inn in Starkok Daud. Despite this, she eventually found a husband, which is the proof that inner quality matters as much as appearance for the harmony of a couple. And if you have other theories about how she got her husband, come and say it to my face.

She used to leave the house quite often (after giving the most frightful advice to her husband) in order to fight against the adepts of Elliak, since she obviously belonged to the Dark faction. When she came back home she had a few more scars, but she was so happy to have gutted, grilled and sometimes eaten her enemies a bit. Shadow Knights sometimes cook strange meals...

Since that time, her secrets rest in places protected by the most powerful spells. Adventurers from both factions are relentlessly looking for them. But if you are one of them, think carefully: being a Shadow Knight is not for weaklings, and many thought they were stronger than they actually were, and ended in a pile of ashes.