Zehira Deryan

Zehira Deryan ( was a merchant class woman from Alaghôn in Turmish who dreamed of fighting for her home aboard a vessel at sea. She became a privateer captain in the Turmish navy, and took on the life of an adventurer in the campaign to thwart the malevolent machinations of the Red Wizards of neighboring Thay.

Description
She had penetrating eyes, olive skin, and dark hair that she wore in a single braid. She wore the captain's uniform of the Turmish navy: a navy blue coat decorated with bejeweled buttons.

Personality
Zehira was an intelligent, earnest, and industrious woman that believed she had a greater role to serve in the betterment of her homeland beyond a successful life as a merchant. While Zehira was sincere in her desire to protect Turmish from foes abroad, she was a bit foolhardy with how she took on that charge.

She was rather skilled at diplomacy, having learned much from her parents' mercantile prowess.

Abilities
She was a skilled martial combatant and spellcaster, with access to a number of divine spells typically employed by rangers.

Possessions
Zehira wore a suit of mariner's studded leather armor, decorated with a motif featuring aquatic sea life. This armor allowed her to swim much more effectively than most.

Among Zehira's personal effects were a golden coin featuring the Deryan family symbol of an albatross, her sketchbook, and a gold hair pin.

While captive on a lone island, Zehira acquired a barnacle-covered club that she used as a bludgeoning weapon, and continued wielding it even after joining the Turmish navy. This club was in fact the Iltkazar Scepter, a dwarven artifact associated with Clangeddin Silverbeard.

Activities
Zehira had a distinguished career as a sea-faring adventurer, having fought against pirates in the Sea of Fallen Stars, endured capture by terrible monstrosities, investigated murders in underwater cities, and even rescued fellow sailors that had been taken captive into slavery. Her adventures led her across the breadth of Faerûn and beyond, from ancient ruins set deep within foreboding jungles, all the way to the Nine Hells.

She enjoyed a second career as a diplomat and agent of Maelstrom, the storm giant kingdom that lay fathoms deep beneath the Trackless Sea. In service to her queen, Zehira helped forge new bonds between the giants and who they referred to as the "small folk". This role saw Zehira organize and dispatch other groups of adventurers, who dispatched threats from Realmspace and the horrific Far Realm

Relationships
Zehira was born to a merchant family of Turmish.

She developed two strong friendships during her life: that with Queen Serissa of the storm giants, and another with Lady Remallia Haventree. She worked with Lady Haventree and the Harpers on numerous occasions and the two accomplished much in the name of good and order in the Realms.

Early Adventures
Some time during the late 15 century DR, Zehira left her home and joined with a band of privateers to fight against the forces of Thay. Zehira's family assumed she ran off to the Pirate Isles and dispatched djinn named Mezhar to bring her back safely to Alaghôn. In truth, her vessel was attacked by the pirates and Zehira was taken captive aboard Umberlee's Resolve. The ship subsequently ran aground on Hawk's Isle, and Zehira was taken captive by a morkoth called Axar Xyrl. After suffering these ordeals, Zehira was eventually rescued by a band of adventurers that were employed by Mezhar.

Upon returning home, Zehira officially joined the privateers of Turmish as a captain, and commissioned Umberlee's Resolve to be repaired as her own ship. She soon reunited with her new adventurer freinds and joined them on a mission to meet with a being known as the Librarian in the underwater city of Myth Nantar. After journeying into the depths of Inner Sea and gaining admittance into the city, they met with the half-sea elf Thessalia and learned of a series of murders that terrorized the Nantarn guards. Zehira and her fellows were framed for the murders by the real culprit, a malenti, a sahuagin that held the likeness of a sea elf. While the group did not catch the murderous malenti, they managed to clear their name and leave Myth Nantar relatively unharmed.

As Zehira and her allies sailed away from the sea elf city, a Thayan ship led by a spellcaster named Rune intercepted Umberlee's Resolve, raided the vessel, and once again abducted Zehira. They took her to the Thayan hideaway within the Infernal Maw, a volcano on Dragon Isle, with the goal of recovering a mysterious barnacle-covered club that had come into her possession. Zehira's adventuring companions came to her rescue once again, freeing her from the Red Wizards and accompanying her to Ayakar. They parted ways as friends.

Search For the Storm King
Some time later, Zehira's presence was requested at court of King Hekaton, king of the storm giants and ruler of Maelstrom. The Storm King sought to utilize the Iltkazar Scepter for their own ends. Accompanied by adventurers once again, Zehira arrived at Maelstrom only to discover King Hekaton and the Wyrmskull Throne had gone missing. The king's daughter, Princess Serissa implored Zehira and her party to find the whereabouts of King Hekaton and bring back both he and the throne to the storm giant city.

The search for King Hekaton took Zehira and her group to the Mere of Dead Men and Dragonhorn Manor in the city of Waterdeep, where they became aware of Cult of the Dragon's involvement in the abduction. After being contacted by the zulkir of enchantment Dar'lon Ma, they continued their search in the Thayan city of Eltabbar. The group discovered King Hekaton had been taken to the dungeons of the dark Citadel in Thaymount, and infiltrated the fortress with the hopes of rescuing him. Unfortunately they were too late; Hekaton had been slain and raised as a death knight in service to Thay's lich-king, Szass Tam. While Zehira and her allies managed to escape the Citadel with their lives, they could not avoid detection by Szass Tam's powerful magics.

Turning their focus towards the Wyrmskull Throne, Zehira and her group accompanied the storm giant Tellan to the Shadowed Tower, in the Cloak Wood forest of the Western Heartlands, an outpost of the Cult of the Dragon. A hint of specific magic discovered within took them to nearby Candlekeep, where it was revealed an sage named Alsbith could perform a ritual to locate the throne. Alsbith did require a specific tome entitled The Death of the Mind, which could only be found in the Tomb of the Nine Gods in the far-southern land of Chult. Zehira and the others recovered the tome for the sage, but encountered agents of Thay in the Chultan tomb. They then retrieved a shadow magic duplicate of the throne from within Wyvernfang in the Thunder Peaks, the final piece required for the ritual.

Alsbith's ritual revealed the real Wyrmskull Throne was in the possession of the blue dracolich Iymrith, at her tower in the Plains of Purple Dust. Zehira and the adventurers defeated Iymrith―temporarily destroying her corporeal form―and recovered the throne, learning that it had been repurposed as her phylactery. They entrusted the Wyrmskull Throne with Kelemvorite devotees at the Tower of Skulls in Ormath while they sought out the necessary magics to extract Iymrith's soul from within. Unfortunately, while away on that last quest, the raised-as-undead King Hekaton stole the throne and began the journey to bring it to Szass Tam in Thay. After Zehira's adventurer allies defeated the undead king, she joined them on the quest to recover his soul from the depths of the Nine Hells.

Protector of the Seas
In recognition of her accomplishments, the newly-crowned Queen Serissa of Maelstrom named Zehira the kingdom's Protector of the Seas. She was to serve the realm as a liaison between the storm giants and the small folk of Faerûn. Her first mission in her new role involved ships that went missing along the Sword Coast, and Thayan-backed pirates operating from the isle of Isolation. Her investigation led to an association and working relationship with Remallia Haventree, an agent of the Harpers and noblewoman of Waterdeep. Together they uncovered a Red Wizards plot to capture sailors as slave labor, and excavate ancient ruins underneath the frozen wastes of Icewind Dale.

Working together, Zehira, Remallia, and the adventures followed the trail of the Red Wizards to the Moonsea and gathered additional information in Candlekeep. Through their diligent efforts, they came to learn that both the Red Wizards and a group called the Tenebrous Creed each sought the ruined Abeiran city of Xorvintroth, which held numerous sinister connections to the Far Realm. Moving swiftly, Zehira and Remallia set up a Harper safe house within the ruins of the city. Unfortunately, Zehira was attacked by an entity known as the Shadow in the Ice, and all the Harpers were stricken with terror by some mysterious artifact.

Defiance of the Red Wizards
After rallying from the attack, Zehira joined Remallia and the adventurers for a final mission to stop the Red Wizards from harnessing the unstable powers of Xorvintroth. They infiltrated the Red Wizard encampments and contacted Jaan'vald Llanou, the leader of a faction of rebellious slaves that sought to overthrow their Thayan oppressors. Together they sabotaged the Red Wizards' operations, granting the slaves an opportunity to escape with their lives. Jaan'vald led the adventures through the city and into the Supreme Forge. Within, they were able to gather enough Aberian artifacts, and Zehira crafted a portal disruptor, which when used, could put an end to the Red Wizards' schemes. The adventurers were successful in their mission, and managed to destroy the Thayan-controlled manufactory.

Following their shared success, the allies regrouped to coordinate their next move. An unexpected earthquake made apparent their work was not done ― the excavation had unleashed some power far more dangerous they had encountered previously. Zehira's stalwart adventurer allies explored the depths of Xorvintroth and discovered the elder evil known as Father Llymic had opened a series of rifts that let loose star spawns and his own brood spawn upon Toril. They managed to close the portal and prevented Father Llymic from gaining admittance to the Realms.

Finally, Zehira and Remallia regrouped with their ally Damita Uthros, to face one final threat in Xorvintroth: Szass Tam. The lich king of Thay arrived at Xorvintroth and was ambushed by the forces of Dar'lon Ma, the zulkir of Thay that aided in Zehira's efforts to seek out King Hekaton. Zehira and the adventurers joined together once again to defeat Szass Tam and stopped the Red Wizards' malign plans for the Realms once again.

Looking to the Stars
Some time later, Zehira and Remallia planned yet another mission to help others in dire need, albeit one far beyond Toril's crystal sphere. They rallied the Harpers and other allies at their newly-founded base in Xorvintroth, and set out to uncover the whereabouts of the errant asteroid Journey's Legg, one of the Tears of Selûne. The daring group ventured into the Astral Plane, put an end to a neogi slaving operation, and discovered two mysterious artifacts used in conjunction with one another: the Engine and the Anomaly.

Appearances

 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Dreams of Red Wizards (Frozen Whispers • Uprising • Expedition to the Supreme Forge • Against the Machine • The Death of Szass Tam)
 * Unsafe Harborage • Shadows in the Stacks • To Walk the Cold Dark • Night Thieves • The City That Should Not Be
 * Unsafe Harborage • Shadows in the Stacks • To Walk the Cold Dark • Night Thieves • The City That Should Not Be