Teron Ashfiend
| Teron Ashfiend | |
|---|---|
| Information |
Inception
Hate never dies
Appearance
Teron Ashfiend (or The Ashfiend as he is often called) stands between six and seven feet tall. He is easily identified by both his height and his armor, the latter being an ancient, scarred and blackened suit of heavy plate. The countless scratches and burns almost hide the symbol decorating the breastplate - a vertical sword crossed at the hilt by a pair of weeping, wilting roses - a symbol that has earned him the sobriquet "The Knight of the Wilted Rose." Ancient, black gloves and boots hide away both hands and feet. A tattered cloak, hemmed in faded gold thread, hangs past armored knees. A faded gray scarf masks the lower half of his visage while a low hood seals it within a shadow from which flare his brilliant, unblinking eyes alive with a livid crimson flame. His presence is occasionally felt before he is seen as a great chill follows him about that leeches the warmth from all living things; a chill that becomes quite unbearable should one venture to touch, or have the misfortune of being touched, by him.
Sobriquets
The Scourge of Myrken, The Wilted Rose, Arak's Ruin
History
It is said that, long ago, the Ashfiend was a mortal warrior, named Trevellyan Penroll, who stood for the cause of peace and justice, in service to the god of a defunct religion known simply as Cedrick the White. His armor, and personal symbol, was that of a sword crossed at the hilt by a pair of weeping, wilting roses and it is the armor he yet wears to this day. The same symbol earned him the name "The Wilted Rose," in reference to both his armor and his fallen stature from mortal hero to undead scourge. While the stories concerning The Wilted Rose are indeed ancient enough to be considered, if at all, as only legend and myth, there is no denying that such a figure was a hero to the defenseless and defender of justice.
One such tale, the most popular concerning the memory of the Wilted Rose, concerns his fighting an ancient demon named Valkadesh in the belly of a live volcano for three days and three nights. At the end of that conflict he defeated the demon and took from him an item referred to only as "the Signet Ring." Ancient history being the mist-shrouded thing that it is, there is a small gap in the time line before the Wilted Rose watches his home, betrothed, and people all die in a terrible battle also waged against demons.
Quiller's and Burnie's research has also revealed that the Wilted Rose was slain soon thereafter. And somehow, though no knowledge has been forthcoming to clear up the confusion, he indeed perished twice before finding himself enslaved to someone that the Ashfiend identifies as Sin'Vraal. In his alleged service to Vraal, the Ashfiend led armies out of dark nightmares to lay waste to kingdoms and wipe empires from the memory of mankind. One such man was named Arak, a powerful Demigod whom the Ashfiend forged a special weapon to slay known as Arak's Ruin - a moniker that has been applied to him as well.
Penroll's rose was not always wilted. It came to be that on the day before he was to be betrothed to Elysia, and after striking a major defeat against the Fallen One Sin'Vraal, Vraal's forces crushed Penroll's homeland and eradicated his people. The holy warrior's love perished in his arms and, beset by fury, he tracked Vraal to his temple in the name of blood and vengeance. In the dark temple that Penroll wagered to be the site of their final battle, he found both: his own blood and vengeance that yet clung to him even as he died. Even as he rose again. Even as he wandered the world for another means of seeing Vraal undone.
Cursed with endless rage, the Wilted Rose endured through a second attempt upon Vraal that also ended in failure. After such, and upon recognizing Penroll for who he was, Vraal beheld the once-man's undying hatred and the power it gave him. With a flare for the poetic, Sin'Vraal went on to restore what he could of the ruined holy warrior and bound him into slavery: to his hatred and to himself. Thus was Penroll made to serve the monster that had taken everything from him and slain him twice over. Thus was Teron Ashfiend born.
Current Sketch
Since his arrival, Teron has done little but wreak destruction and make enemies of the people of Myrken Wood. He is known to be responsible for the disappearances of a librarian at the Library of Mudd as well as Teddi, a serving girl at the Broken Dagger Tavern. He is said by some to strike against enemies with a confidence that borders on arrogance though such overweening pride is not entirely without some merit. He has demonstrated a great, tireless strength as well as an alleged immunity to either heat or cold. He is also a known practitioner of sorcery, specifically necromancy, as a great deal of his sorcerous power deals with inflicting pain, robbing people of their strength and raising undead to serve him.
The Ashfiend's days as the Scourge of Myrken are at an end. He was responsible for the kidnapping of the barmaid Teddi, of damaging the Library of Mudd, vandalizing some of its books, and murdering a librarian. He was furthermore shown to be responsible for The Great Maddness of [Foggy Bottom]], for numerous assaults upon Myrkenfolk, the destruction of the Chapterhouse of the Shepherd Knights of the Silver Staff and was the primary antagonist of the Battle of Snowstill.
The last conflict between the Ashfiend and Myrken Wood was waged in the narrow passes of the Silver Mountains. The end result being that the creature was sorcerously bound to shards of his own armor as the means of destroying him forever have not been discovered. Whatever he might wish to wreak upon the world will remain thankfully unknown due to his current status of being entombed by magical means. What was known was this: that he desired to burn all that lived in the world and bring his betrothed back to true life - so that he might finally fulfill his vows to her and that nothing might separate them again. He is known to have confessed that, should his plan have failed, then he would incinerate the world regardless until he was all that was left in it: so that, in time, he might finally forget all.
During his reign of terror he is known to have taken the lives of well over three hundred Myrkenfolk.
