Jylan Kynslayer's page

Jylan hails from the distant village of Thorncroft, in the foothills of the Stoneheart Mountains, close to the pass leading to the Valley of the Shrines. His childhood was a happy one, where he and his brother Dokklar were the only sons of Wolfenden and Tetheril Calaunt.(Apparently, some distant relation to the noble Lord Calaunt of Bards Gate.) Jylan was often bullied by other children in the village due to his weedy stature, and his elder brother often stuck up for him. Wolfenden made his living as a guide and trapper and would often take his two sons hunting with him into the vast Forest of Hope, many days travel to the South East, along the Coast Road. Jylan was five years younger than Dokklar and he saw his elder brother as something of a hero and role model.

It was whilst near the Forest of Hope, that they came upon a cave along the coast. As it was getting dark, Wolfenden approached the cave, seeking shelter. But the cave was the home to an evil covy of Sea Hags. They bewitched the three of them and made a game of torturing them through the night, seeing who was the weakest and would be first to break and beg for mercy.

The weakest was Jylan. For his sins, the eldest of the Hags,Rylshhna, gave the young man a sword that was enchanted and though he tried to fight it, he was to weak willed.

There in that secluded cave, Jylan butchered his own father and brother, against his will. His screams whilst he carried out the act seemed to last forever but sent the Hags into raptures of delight. Come morning the evil trio let him go and as a parting 'gift', gave him the killing sword.

Through a veil of tears, Jylan ran back to his home. Delirious with grief, he confessed all to his mother, sobbing upon her knees until he had nothing left. Eventually sleep took him.

Upon waking, Jylan found that he was now alone in the world, as was evident by his mothers broken body, hanging from the willow tree outside.

Something snapped in Jylan then. He became hardened, vowing never to speak his family name again, until the trio who had done this to him were punished.

He could never find the shack again, and after months of looking, set off for the only place he had ever heard his father talk of...Bards Gate, where he new he had family, in Lord Callaunt. . Taking his fathers old armor and weapons as well as the sword, now showing no trace of enchantment, but which he had named Griefgiver, he set off to the city, planning to act as a sword for hire and hoping to one day have his revenge. Once at the city, he found that he was rejected by Lord Callaunt, who, having heard what had occured, could not bring himself to take in a person who was basically a kynslayer. It was then that Jylan took on that name.

Jylan has dwelled within Bards Gate now for several years and made many forays out into the wilds, both as a member of an adventuring band and alone. It was whilst adventuring with the Victors of Abysthor, (with whom he had succesfully plumbed the depths of the Stonheart dungeon, and where he came to gain the enchantment of 'Griefgiver') that he first entered the fabled Dungeon of Graves; Rappan Athuk. On his first visit, his party lost three of their members to the death trap that was the mausoleum. It was over a year later, when the group had recruited more members that he returned, and this time he managed to delve deep.

It was on this foray that Jylan made a startling discovery. On the body of a fallen adventurer from many years past, he found a journal. The journal was the diary of a member of a group of warriors who had entered the place long ago. Reading on, he found that, to his astonishment, his father had been a member of this group, and that he had also been a priest of Muir.

Jylan knew none of this. It was a shock to him as his father had never shown any signs of religion. Had he turned away from his God? Reading on, he discovered more, especially about the reason for his fathers presence within the dungeon. They had been hunting for details about someone named Zelekor. Who or what this was, Jylan did not know, only that it seemed to both terrify and fascinate the members of his fathers old band. Contained within the journal was a fragment of parchment, possibly from an old history book that read as follows...

"Many hundreds of years ago, the forces of good
allied to destroy the main Temple of Orcus in the
ancient city of Tsar. With their temple in ruins, the
surviving high priests of this accursed demon-god
fled the city with an army of enemies on their trail
- an army of heroic fighters, clerics and paladins - led
by Zelkor, a powerful wizard. The exact fate of these
evil priests was then unknown, for not only did the
remnants of the followers of Orcus disappear from
all human reckoning, but so did the army of light
that followed after them disappear as well. Some
said that in the eternal scales the loss of so many
good men was a fair price to pay to rid the world of
so much evil.
The evil cult, however, had not been destroyed. The
surviving priests and their followers instead settled
on a hill near the Forest of Hope, a sylvan woodland
near the Coast Road. There found a vast underground
complex of caverns and mazes, carving out a volcanic
intrusion beneath the hill. There, the priests of Orcus
found the perfect lair to continue their vile rituals. For
many years, they carried on in secret, hidden from the
light and from the knowledge of men.
Many years later, their underground delving completed,
the evil priests erected a hideous mausoleum
and a sunken graveyard atop the hill. It is believed
that these graves are in fact the final resting place of
the pursuing army of heroes that had been destroyed
to a man. Soon after the mausoleum was erected the
peaceful creatures of the wood began to disappear.
Though many rangers and druids investigated these
happenings, the cause of the creatures’ disappearance
was not immediately determined. Some years later, a
powerful group of adventurers, led by Bofred, a high
priest of Cuthbert, investigated the evil happenings
and found the sunken graveyard leading to a labyrinthine
complex. Bofred and his companions found
great hordes of evil creatures in the complex. Though
some of his companions returned from their expedition,
telling tales of fantastic treasure and ferocious
monsters, Bofred was never seen again—lost in the
catacombs beneath the cursed mausoleum.
For the last one hundred years, ranks of adventurers
swarmed to the newfound dungeon. Many fell prey to
bandits and monsters in the surrounding wilderness.
Of those who survived to reach the mausoleum and
the sunken graveyard, rumors suggest that most were
slain by guardians of green stone before they even
entered the dungeon or perished on the very first
level. Those rare few who return from deeper treks
speak of horrible undead and creatures that cannot
be slain. ”

Footnotes lead Jylan to believe that his father meant to try and locate this ancient city called Tsar. The only clues to its location were minimal but there was enough to give him a start.

Jylan returned safely to Bards Gate and spent many weeks hunting out information on Tsar, finally locating an aged tramp who swore he knew its location. All he would tell Jylan though was that to find it he must make his way to 'the Camp'.

And so, following his meager lead, he set off, to continue his journey and take up his fathers legacy.