Stories Of Adyssia

Taria

The Sirens - mythical creatures with songs so sweet, many an adventurer have fallen prey to their whiles and guiles. They defend the waters of the Haunted Sea which surround not only the island home to the much feared and infamous Sirag prison (Adyssia's prison for magical fiends), but they also roam within the waters stretching up to Mount Eia. The tale of how they came to be, starts with a rather needless need to ensure that prisoners from Sirag, if they somehow escaped from the confines of their enchanted cells, could not flee the island itself.

At first, the Sirag Council (which oversees the running of the prison), thought to lure hordes of sea creatures that roam our oceans such as the menacing Helgai or the monstrous Yatrops. But upon securing the convictions of dreaded fiends like Zaron "the tormentor", Angus "the brutal" and Freya "the destroyer", they realized that these monstrosities alone may not be enough. Although a thin veil hangs over the entire Haunted Sea, stripping all of their magic, Council members were not willing to take any chances. They voted to add yet another fiendish creature to the fray, by allowing the Sorcerers to do what they do best- dabbling in the Dark Arts; A way was discovered to curse otherwise ordinary Adyssians with a thirst for flesh and the body of a marine creature. What resulted was the half-Adyssian, half-fish being known as the Siren, able to lure its victims with melodic songs, all-the-while concealing its true hideous nature.

Though the Sirag Council decided that it would be expedient to use those convicted of high crimes, hundreds of unfortunate witches, sorcerers, druids and even seers who had committed even the smallest of crimes found themselves entangled with the rest. The first such unfortunate case, was that of Taria Sorez, the first witch to be tried and sentenced to the ghastly fate. Although many from her coven protested and proffered her innocence, Taria's trial was somewhat rushed and within a matter of moments, she found herself bound in chains despite an overwhelming lack of evidence. Many have speculated as to the reason for the first Siren's fate- that she must have committed a crime truly unspeakable, while others maintain that Taria had seen or heard something she was not supposed to (And she was abruptly turned into the first Siren, in order to silence her).

Her reign of terror would last for severaldecades and none can be sure how she was able to achieve it, but Taria was theonly siren to leave the Haunted Sea and walk upon dry land, albeit for a fewdays at a time. The waters would soon call to her after days of preying onhapless villagers; her elegant face morphing back into a mask of terror, withrows of serrated teeth and decaying hair as she quickly ran back to the shore,and slithered into her true form