Ric had a sworn brother in arms. His brother was Jerome Whitehaven – the bastard son of the Exilion Sir Egaen Moonbridge. They squired together under Sir James Braedmare ( a minor landowner of Kaald in the south) for 6 years. Two years ago he was betrothed to Britta Vauxhall – a beautiful maiden of an up and coming family. Six months ago they both took the Pledge of the Frost Born (an ancient oath of the north, something similar taken by Pine Tribes Spirit Warriors called “Sacred First of the Pines”) in preparation of becoming knights. The sworn brothers were inseparable, a pair of musketeers that worked flawlessly together in battle and caroused to legendary proportions (in their own minds). The last 2 years they had spent running messages for Thane Logoss of Kaald, to the west of the older Kaaldian lands. The edges of Kalascor, Even a message once to a human habitation on the edges of elven Ilyndria. They and served the Exilion, and even fought off the High king’s Black Gorgons as they attacked some of the northern nobility! The enemies of the Thane were many, political factions among the north are violent and passionate.
> Politics of the north; protected Exilion, hunted out spies of the High King for them.
His sworn brother was killed when the full moon shone in Ilyndria a few months ago and ferocious spirits of the woods stir and come south every so often… lycanthropes. Armed with silvered weapons they hunted and slew 2 of them – defending homesteds for the 3 core nights of the full moon! As they celebrated, setting off south, they became the hunted. For a week they lead a struggle across the tundra, gaining altitude and snow falling in the late summer as some blue skinned frog-like creature of the outer planes hunted the knight and his retinue from out of nowhere. From the first night of attack, they knew the creature was toying with them. First the groom, then one by one the retinue shrunk – horses, dogs, servants all gone, 9 living beings in all. Their master was killed in a honorless one-on-one battle on the fresh snow, his guts dragged dozens of feet, him alive and screaming. The fiend taunted them mercilessly. Every hour it would attack, and seemed to heal and come at them faster and faster until it was just the 2 of them fighting every time back to back, their supplies dwindling – a lone flame in the vastness of the tundra. His sword brother was struck down, sacrificing himself to hold the fell creature while Ric struck with their masters sword, breaking it off in the creature’s chest. As his sword brother lay dying, infected with some death dealing disease, he cursed Ric.. he coveted his wife to be and his family, his sword, the favoritism of their master and hated him for it. He swore he did not deserve and would never have such a bride. In the remains of the creature, there was a twinkling as if a dazzling light had shone upon a faceted blue crystal. He raved for a day, it tore up Ric so bad that he lost his humanity in his anger. He forsook religion, magic, and the fake ministrations of every charlatan and carpetbagger from the north to the deserts of the south. He cursed his inability to save his best friend’s soul. Finally at death’s door his eyes cleared. Jerome said “You must kill me! My sister, promise me you will take her as a ward. Swear! Swear!” Screaming he died in pain as the blade sank in. He began to change, his body feeding upon itself – something the creature had planted inside him coming out. He buried his friends and mentor on the plains, their cart serving as their pyre to carry the souls skyward.
Sensing some danger, he by chance encountered a merchant and commandeered a horse – making his way to the Thane’s hall where his wife to be was a lady in waiting to the Thanes family. He pushed hard and arrived too late, his premonition was horribly true. A Green Hag had made its way into the Thane’s castle. His wife to be had thrown herself in the way of the Hags slashing claws to save the Thane’s daughter. The Hag tried to take Celine, the sister of Jerome and ward he was about to take on. Wizards and clerics were summoned and portents cast and divinations made. It turns out that his sworn brother’s sister was a hag-child herself! She must have been close to turning and the hag had come to collect her and take her back to the fold. Celine demanded that she not die a hag, before the moon rose she demanded a clean death. Ric and she wept for her brother, for herself, and the life she lost. Ric had known her well, for many years. She wrote both of them letters when they were squires for years. She demanded that he kiss her, she did not want to die without at least knowing the kiss of a man who loved her. In the shadows of the setting sun, as he kissed her fiercely, he slipped a dagger into her heart. The blood welled up and she coughed a dark cloud of evil and blood. The blood on his chin, his arm and hands would never come off – a red stain to remind him of her forever… but she died a human, the kind loving one he had known his life instead of the evil she was set to transform into. Ric buried her and the next day his father passed away. Never had anyone seen a man so unlucky. By then the word of what had happened to him had spread far. Thane Logoss heard about it and took great pity on him. He raised him to knight and made him a member of his bodyguard. He appointed him a servant and groomsman. Ric was unflagging in his support of his lord.
Inside he was devastated, but his spirits never flagged. The Thane has continued to set him free, but Ric refuses. Over the last months he has been given charge of 2 pages – young men aspiring to be knights. He finds purpose in guarding his lord and liege and his charges. He has sworn to never let down the ones he guards ever again. He hears the mutterings though, of the other guards – he’s too intense, too serious, too determined. Some of them call him an ill omen. He know his Thane only wants the best for him, but he cannot seem to let go. All his fear and dread has piled up. He fought for his Thane against the knee-benders lap dogs… The Black Gorgons. Their meddling nearly ruined what his Thane had spent years working on – true peace in the north and an alliance against the Lich Lords. And for the sake of politics and the squabble with the “empire” of Gwinn. The Gallants intervened and took his Thane’s side, securing Ric’s admiration. Ric was wounded in the battle but heard afterward they entered the Shattered City and had discovered the Black Gorgons had a cursed lair – that the one they fought may even be a rogue. So much for the loyalty to the ‘high king’! On the eve of the Battle of Emerald Falls, as he sits pondering the skies above, a chill wind blows from the north. He hears his friends who have fallen, and his loved one. His hair is frosted a deep white as the sleet and wind pass over him and he is afflicted with a great melancholy. At the battle of Emerald Falls he fought against what he could swear were hobgoblins – long thought extinct in the realms. There were dozens of the creatures, he and his companions were warned that the magic of the falls opened long closed gateways… in this case to thousands of years ago before the orcs had destroyed the hobgoblins. The Gallants had taken the center, and the worst of the damage during the attack on the falls. The Thane wanted to make sure The Gallants did not steel too much of the thunder, and the left flank was driven into the collapsed center. Ric lead his boys to protect the back of his lord – his lords orders were to ‘keep them out of trouble’ and he did. Ric got to see the Gallants fight and he was impressed; there was good use of cover and shield, archery work and close in, and an appropriate “hail mary” charge by the woman officer among them. Afterwards it was rumored that there were deep caverns they explored, strange gods and a pit from the abyss. Fortunately his lord chose not to follow too closely and his mind was spared from such things. He cornered Temeri of House Mataff at the town gathering and asked him about the creature that had slain his master and best friend. “That is a Blue Slaad if i ever heard of one! Never have the creatures appeared much here – they are sometimes used as mercenaries by the Lich Lords, but never one of the blue. It is also strange, is it not, that a Sea Hag was the marshall of the forces of evil at Emerald Falls when your Thane has a Green Hag attempt to take a creature from his own court. There are strange events connecting you to this time and place. Ask Harahd of The Gallants, he can tell you of the Red Slaad he encountered in his own travels that brought on a vile disease.” They talk more and finally its obvious Temeri is getting to ask a question he has held back… “How long has our hair been frosted as such?” When you tell him about it being merely a strange effect of the weather, he laughs. “Hardly friend. Your tale is well known, it makes perfect sense. Have you ever heard of the Great Sadness of the North? You Sir Sunbridge, have been marked. I am honored to have made your acquaintance sir, your tale, i am sure, is just beginning. I will spare you the celebrity sir, i sense it is not your way, but know that if the great spirit of the north is with you, I and House Mataff am at your service. Not only myself, but if legends are true you will find you can command The Mist Mounts of the north into service.” He bids you good evening, leaving you to contemplate what you have learned.
Ric was summoned by his lord afterwards and told a strange tale. Apparently his master had uncovered the reason for The Gallants to be in the north. The strange woman in their midst, a senior officer apparently, had some sort of tragic happenstance. They were seeking a cure for her, and it meant going all the way into the ancient lands of the fallen kingdom. Never had he heard of such loyalty before, unheard of even in ancient tales. Thane Logoss said to him that he could never bring back his sworn brother, but if he were to take up the cause of this Lady Jaq Blackwell, that surely he could finally forgive himself for so great would the accomplishment be it would make up for in the cosmic balance with all the good that the Gallants are likely to do.