At the end of the Trader (Traitor) Saga, Deirik and Eirik had met their end at the hands of a pack of goblin worg-riders. However, after some time had passed, both the players (and the GM, honestly) expressed desire to play that game again along with a couple other friends who were interested in joining the adventure. So… we decided to apply the concept of a Fate Worse Than Death.
So, rather than die, Deirik and Eirik faced a turn of events so dreadful that they may have been better off staying dead:
Deirik and Eirik were, instead, captured by the goblin worg-riders and taken to the nearby city of Steel Hill. This city is the forge of the Shadow, where most of the vardatches (orcish swords) and plate are made to arm and armor Izrador’s legions. To supply this never-ending effort, massive slave camps are sent into the iron mines of the nearby mountains. Deirik and Eirik were enslaved and put to work for the next 4 years.
During this time in the camp, Deirik and Eirik met up with their kin, Ygvard and Boldulf. Both of whom explained that Torvald the Younger had swept through their homelands with a Shadow army and killed many of their relatives, and enslaved others. If any of them ever make it home, it won’t be the same.
Their moment arose when the snow elves attacked the slavers of Steel Hill to free one of their own, which provided the opportunity the four Men of Mjarn needed to make their own escape and trek South along the Be’neeya river, desparately trying to get home to the family they’d worked so hard, and sacrificed so much, to keep safe ever since they took over for their father.
When they arrived at the Cave of Mjarn, Ygvard and Boldulf waited outside out of respect while Deirik and Eirik went in. There they found the scorched skeletons of their immediate family, all burnt beyond recognition. Deirik and Eirik slowly took in the macabre scene until they heard something further back in the caves. Perhaps someone made it through?! The noise was in the direction of their beloved grandmother’s chamber.
They race back there to discover the body of their grandmother tied to her chair. Torvald the Younger, whom they now call Torvald the Betrayer, had tied their Grandma Rhiann to her chair and allowed her to not only die, but return as Fell. Her undead body was thrashing and flailing to get and eat the living flesh she now had before her.
This scene would burn into the memories of both Deirik and Eirik, as they then had to destroy her body themselves to release whatever was left of her in there.
They then returned to Ygvard and Boldulf outside the cave and decided the two of them, at least, needed to take on new names as they are not only fugitives of Steel Hill, but hated by the Legate who is now in power in their homeland: Torvald the Betrayer. Deirik adopted the name “Heming,” and Eirik became “Stigr.” All four then went to the only person they know is not only still alive, but still has the power and capacity to take them in. Their old “friend” and Legate of Alucard, Lord Krogan.
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