Aurek Nuikin

Aurek Nuikin is a character from Scholar of Decay. In universe, he is a Borcan nobleman. He is the brother of Dmitri Nuikin by almost 15 years and the husband of the now late Natalia Nuikin. Once an intellectual who values knowledge only for knowledge, that changed when an accident during a robbery left his wife trapped in the form of a small statuette. Following this development, he ventured to Richemulot, where he and Dmitri fell afoul of Louise Renier's machinations to take down Jacqueline Renier. The plot failed, but it ended disastrously for everyone.

Biography

Prior to the accident, Aurek was a scholar who cared only for knowledge and theory, not actually applying it to the betterment of the world despite Natalia's objections. He compiled a spellbook of a hundred spells, even combat ones despite being an academic. He lived in the Nuikin Family Estate in the Borcan countryside with his wife and his loyal servant, Edik. Back in the city, his four sisters spoke highly of his work, to the point of Dmitri's chagrin. To Aurek, Dmitri represented an undisciplined, uneducated fool. The two brothers did not get along together. One night a thief attempted to steal Aurek's spellbook, only to cause an explosion of magical energy in the scuffle. The thief was vaporized but so was the spellbook. Worse, Aurek's wife was transformed into a small porcelain figurine, and Aurek was continually haunted by the spirit of the intruder.

Pretending to be only a scholar, Aurek visited Richemulot and was granted permission to explore the many old wrecked houses of that land. In truth, he hoped to find some long lost magical spell or bauble there to free Natalia. He told nobody about this secret, even Edik. As far as what everyone else knew, Aurek made sure only he and the persistent haunt dogging him in every reflection knew.

Because of Dmitri's offense of Ivana Boritsi, his sisters insisted Aurek take Dmitri with him. In Richemulot, their estrangement grew, fueled by Eurek's arrogance and secretiveness on the one hand and Dmitri's angry naivety on the other. Dmitri also fell in with the wrong crowd: Louise Renier pretended to love him and a small clique of the Renier family pretended to be his friends. Ultimately, Louise used Dmitri to discover the nature of Aurek in the hopes of using him as a weapon against Jacqueline. Louise even manipulated Dmitri into stealing Natalia's statuette and delivering it to her. From there, Louise extorted Aurek into helping her kill Jacqueline.

Louise' plot failed, but things ended up disastrously for everyone. Natalia's statuette was shattered, and Dmitri learned both of how he had been deceived and the weighty implications of his actions. Jacqueline exiled them both from Richemulot and provided them transport to the border.

Aurek's Spells

Aurek spells are known to include:

• Burning Hands
• Dispel Magic (to which he destroyed a bone golem
• Fireball
• Sleep (Spell)
• A tracking spell of unknown name that can deliver a person to the doorstep of the creator of a magical object or creature, provided the object is in hand.
• An unknown spell which he used to incapacitate a giant spider, causing the spider to feel immensely heavy and unable to support it's own weight
• Another spell which he had to relearn to paralyze a wererat, likely hold monster