Marcello

In his countryside village, Marcello was always well liked by the residents. He was always strumming his lyre and singing some ancient Elven tale or another, which lifted everyone's spirits while they worked. He wasn't too bad to look at, either ;) Besides, the villagers were too afraid to treat Marcy unkindly, for fear of gaining the ire of his mother Rigunth, a terrifying witch who lived within the nearby woods.

Some local ruffian boys were not so fortunate, and remained unpopular nearly all of their lives. They became deeply jealous of Marcello, and often tried to ruin his life (which usually ended in failure)

When Marcy was performing a lovely poem for his childhood friend Valeria, the three ruffian boys confronted him, tossing his beloved lyre into the river. While Marcello fell to his knees to frantically study the impossibly fast current for his instrument, one of the boys kicked him into the river.

The boys did not plan to truly hurt Marcello from the start, but it was out of their hands by that point. The nearby rapids seemed to swallow his body, and they did not see him resurface. Valeria, the girl who had witnessed the entire thing, traveled deep into the forbidden Wilds to tell his mother Rigunth of the tragic incident.

Rigunth was so distraught with grief, she demanded Valeria take her to the scene of the accident. When the Witch inquired how it all happened, Valeria reluctantly confessed it was three boys from the village. Rigunth kindly thanked her for the help and sent the girl on their way, then got to work.

She retrieved her son's body from the river at midnight, the moon was red and full. Offering the lives of three guilty village boys, she performed a forbidden miracle and reversed Marcello's crossover to the other side. Marcy recalled little of his afterlife, but he wasn't too keen on going back anytime soon. However, too many had seen him die, and Rigunth knew what had to be done. With a sharp white dagger and a new lyre, Rigunth sent away her beloved son to the unforgiving world which had killed him once already. The lonely witch prayed he would be more careful this time around.

When the village woke that morning, a wave of confusion quickly spread. The only person to know the truth was the hunter's daughter, Valeria Forrester, but she dared not tell a soul. Even though she found him to be a shallow annoying brat, Valeria realized a small part of her missed him too. Without Marcello's sweet songs and the ruffian's cartoonish antics, the village became colorless and cold. Without her son to care for, Rigunth became restless and bored, which is a dangerous state for a powerful witch to be in.

Marcello didn't really mind being all alone in the world. It was peaceful, to him. He hunted game, sang whichever songs he pleased day or night, and was independent for once. He wandered freely, afraid to stay anywhere human beings lingered for too long. Marcy considered himself very different from people, after all, he was dead, something inhuman.

In his wanderings, he came across a young man bleeding out caught in a hunter's trap. Of course, Marcy knew how to avoid those traps easily. Reluctantly, he helped the guy out and hastily bandaged his ankle. The man quietly thanked him, and stood to leave. Unfortunately, this man was an idiot who put all his weight on a wounded ankle. Entirely against his better judgement, Marcello helped the young man back to his camp. They had minimal conversation, which suited Marcy just fine. When they returned, the people at the camp were distraught. They thought the man (who Marcy learned was called Tanner) had died and were frantically searching for him. Marcello was about to be on his way when a redheaded girl stopped him, and insisted he stay for a meal as thanks. He was about to decline when he truly looked at the group. Two demons stood out very starkly amongst powerful mages and warriors, monsters and elves. All sorts seemed welcome here, so he figured it was safe enough and decided to stay. Just for one meal.

He's been travelling with this group for a few months at this point, because he never really found a good enough reason to go. Marcy discovered these people were fighting to reach the Capital city and fight the evil King to the death, which sounded quite an adventure honestly. Why not, I mean he's already dead, right?