Silver Shield

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Type Shield
Discovered By Karith Da Hadez
Discovery Date 31 March 2008
Discovery Location Upasael, Far East
Abilities Prestige +1
Current Owner (unknown)


Origin

Karith Da Hadez had been hunting in the woodlands of Upasael for hours. Perhaps he had been hunting for too long for he was exhausted and irate, kicking through the brambles that grabbed at his legs and thighs rather than clearing them with his axes.

By the time he emerged with his bale of wolf pelts and bear hides the moon was high in the sky and the storm that had been threatening all day was breaking so he set camp at the edge of the woodland. Settling into his tent with a humble but much needed meal of soup and jerky he tended to the minor wounds he had accumulated through the day and lay down to sleep.

He was roused by the sounds of music not far off. Metallic, course and pounding; it invaded his sleep and grated against his nerves in such a way as could not be ignored.

Karith slung his bow and axes and followed the sounds into the edges of the woods. The pale light of the moon and the sharp flashes of lighting helped his progress only as much as the driving rain and howling wind hindered it.

Soaked and scratched he finally came upon a clearing bathed in firelight. He fell silently to a crouch and observed the huge shapes silhouetted against the flames. There were a dozen or so of these.. well, men was not the right word.. they were too big to be mere men; some eight feet tall and near the same in width. Dressed in scraps of leather, fur and shoddy chain mail they roared with laughter as they shoved and shouldered each other in time with the pounding of wood and metal produced by two of their number. As he edged closer Karith could see the group were kicking something around on the ground as if engaged in some rough ball game. He could not see the object of their attention clearly but from the sound it made as they kicked at it it was obviously heavy and metallic.

Later Karith would wonder how beings so large and ungainly could move so quietly. He was propelled through the air and crashed into a mossy trunk with bone-breaking force. A pair of the creatures, sentries most likely, loomed over him as he tried to regain his breath. They leered in the shadows, moving closer and rumbling in a guttural language he did not understand. His hands found the grip of his axes and he lay silent at the foot of the tree. These were no wolves or bears but above all else Karith was a hunter and a good hunter lets his prey come to him.

When asked later Karith would shrug and admit that he remembered little of the fight in detail; having acting from second to second, from blow to blow on instinct and cold, determined fury. Karith had spent much of his life fighting wild animals and he had learned much about survival from them. After some time, however, the seconds between blows had grown longer, the fury had waned and exhaustion had overwhelmed him. The poor light of the moon had faded and he had fallen to the wet and musty woodland floor.

When Karith rose from the darkness of unconsciousness the first light of dawn was warming the tops of the trees and weak fingers of light were playing across his eyelids. He rose gingerly, testing his wounds. A broken rib. Maybe two. A badly cut thigh. A lump the size of a orange on the back of his head. A face cracking with dried blood. Could be worse. He would live.

Death had not been resting that morning, though. Karith counted ten huge corpses in and around the clearing. Maybe the remaining few had fled or had crawled off to die. It didn't matter. They were not here, that was for sure. The birds and a few stray deer that Karith observed testified to that.

He moved to the firepit in the center of the clearing and crouched by it, savoring the warmth of the dying embers and washing the worst of the blood from his face. At the far side of the firepit he spied a metallic object, likely the beasts' plaything of the night before. He rose and circled the ring of charred stones to investigate.

Clad in impossibly dented and broken plate-mail, the corpse of a grand knight lay curled like an infant on the ground, it's wrists and ankles bound. Karith winced. He was no stranger to violence but he fought alone against feral creatures and the inhuman things that dwelt in crypts and barrows so the suffering of another man still held fresh disgust for him. To see that a man of honor - a noble warrior - had suffered such a fate made his stomach churn. As he knelt beside the beaten form and cut the ropes that bound it his heart froze as a whispering gasp indicated that this was not yet a corpse but still a man.

Karith gently removed the knight's helmet, revealing a face obviously not long for the world. He took his water-skin and let some of the precious liquid fall on the man's lips. The swollen eyelids flickered and a grim smile spread across the split and bloodied lips. A few more drips of water and the eyes opened and fixed Karith with a gaze that was impossibly tired and hauntingly desperate.

With great effort the knight spoke in a weak, breathless whisper.

"Son?"
"No, Sir." Karith replied softly.
The knight sighed deeply, "He is here with me?"
"No, Sir."

The swollen eyes closed and a blood-threaded tear crept down the old man's cheek. Karith let some more water fall on his lips.

"Then he died quickly," the old man managed, "that is something at least."
"I guess so, Sir." It was all Karith could offer.
"The beasts are gone?" the knight whispered.
"Yes, Sir, they are dead."
"There were just too many, too many for us."
"Yes, Sir."
"Your army is here?" the old man asked.
"No, Sir, there is just me."

The old man's eyes opened again, his pupils flicking as he took in Karith's weary and bloodied face.

"Just you?"
"Yes, Sir."

A steel-clad hand found Karith's and squeezed it weakly.

"Find him. Bury him here by me and mark this place."
"Yes, Sir."

There were a few more words from the old man.
There was an address and a message.
There was a description and an offer.
There was a bargain.
There was a final request.

Karith fulfilled the broken knight's last request with pity in his eyes and cold shadows in his heart. As he wiped his dagger clean on the grass he surveyed the other corpses littering the clearing and wished with all his heart he could kill them over again.

Instead he limped in the direction the old man had indicated. He searched the brambles between the trees for a long time; seeking a lost son and the reward the old man had offered in exchange for a gift that anyone with a merciful soul would have given freely.

He found them together. A young knight lying dead; impaled from back to front by a thick, crude spear that had passed through both body and thick plate steel with ease. The old man was right about that, at least; the boy probably didn't even know he was fighting before he fell. Still grasped in his hand was a small silver shield; plain and functional but carefully engraved with the crest of the family that had died along with this boy. He wondered what it was made of to be in such pristine condition; surely not soft, malleable silver however much it looked like it? Karith shrugged and slung the mysterious shield over his back. He had little use for it but respected the old man's request that he keep it. He sighed and shook his head as he pulled the boy's body from the thorns and started to drag it towards the clearing.

Shields, longswords and plate armour? In the woods?

Soldiers should only ever be sent to fight other soldiers, he thought.


Type Shield
Discovered By Ghislayn
Discovery Date 1 April 2010
Discovery Location Atamara
Abilities Prestige +1
Current Owner Unknown


History

Little is known of the fate of the Silver Shield after the execution of Karith Da Hadez but years later it somehow made it's way to Atamarra where it was discovered by the adventurer Ghislayn Havershim. After much investigation Ghislayn identified Karith's crest embossed upon the straps shield and began a dangerous quest; travelling far from his home in Barony of Makar to the realm of Eurotan in Darka to present the shield to Karith's adoptive father, Count Severn Da Hadez, whom he considered to be it's rightful owner.

Count Severn lauded this act as an example of the nobility of the spirit of man and declared Ghislayn an eternal friend of Eurotan to be honoured and welcomed whenever he visited the region.