by Floyd Fiftynames,
Licensed Bard
A time after Lothar's first combat, his uncle Elfred returned to town and invited him along on a trip with him to the Keep, where Sir Bardin, the local lord, lived. Accompanying Lothar would be his friends Riordan, Salem, Ajanni, and Neris, and the group would be keeping watch over the collected tax.
Outside of Lothar's trip to the Stein and Shield, he had been outside of Oakshadow exactly once, to attend the wedding of his father Valdemar to his second wife, Ingrid. Lothar liked traveling, and he enjoyed the trip to the Keep. He was impressed by it's size, and in particular by the scale of the tannery there. While at the Keep, he was introduced to Sir Bardin, and given the opportunity to audition for his military. The head officer of the Keep, a dwarf named Akor, knocked him down a few times, teaching Lothar to channel his frustration into a useful well of strength, and the boy soon put the experienced soldier on the ground.
That evening, at dinner, the party was introduced to a variety of important people from the area, not the least of whom was Bartok, the priest of the Keep. Bartok, unfortunately, shot down Riordan's request to the minstrel providing the entertainment that he play a song about the dark powers, but other than that, nothing else important happened that night.
What's that, you say? You recognized the sarcasm? Okay, well, Sir Bardin gets called away on an overnight ride to one of the neighboring villages on account of a suspicion of a spreading plague (always a good sign), and then the Keep went on high alert (which was very comforting, really) for the night and much of the next day, until Bardin returned to dispel the notion that the person who was sick suffered from the plague, but instead, had some sniffles.
The party then returned to Oakshadow to help prepare for the Becoming, a large, annual fall festival and feast that lasted for three days. Lothar had a very nice, and in hindsight, exceptionally meaningful conversation with his father, who expressed his blessings to his younger son that he strike out on his own very soon.
So, tragedy. It's part of every hero's journey, you know? Lothar's no different. And the Becoming of Lothar's 17th year is where it all happened for him. Sir Bardin, who was set to join the citizens of Oakshadow for their festival, suddenly cancelled as he was feeling under the weather. And even though our heroes collectively failed to say "Uh-oh," the universe heard it anyway, and sent a legion of beak-masked, robed figures to set Oakshadow on fire and kill its citizens on suspicion of carrying... you guessed it... the plague.
Lothar and his friends put up as much of a fight as they possibly could, but they were no match for their skill, and they had no choice but to flee (at Father Fhaerris' urging) from the town as it went up in flames. Despite their best efforts, most, if not all of the other Oakshadow-ians were killed in the fray, including Lothar and Ajanni's families. All that remained of their hometown were our four heroes, Ajanni's dog, Gahiji, and the two dire wolf pups.
Lothar's grief was deep. His family had been his life, and now they were gone, and he blamed himself. He felt so helpless, having to run while his town and practically everyone he knew or loved burned. In the bottom of his soul, a thirst for vengeance began to form. It always starts this way, and there are two endings - hero, or villain. The middle part? Well, that's where I have the potential to surprise you.
FF
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