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By Cherrn
This is the tale of Dalabrac Shadowfoot. The author of this work is Cherrn, please email him with any queries. The material contained here is the property of Cherrn and is used with permission by Candlekeep. Candlekeep claim no rights of ownership to Dalabrac Shadowfoot and associated material.
Dalabrac "Dale" Shadowfoot
Dalabrac "Dale" Shadowfoot was born in a
tiny Halfling hamlet known as Wintertop in the Year of the Lion 1340. Wintertop
was situated in between The Serpent's Tail Stream and The Winding Water just
south of The Serpent Hills, south-east of The High Moor, and north of The Forest
of Wyrms. The closest larger settlement to Wintertop was Soubar which lies along
the Trade Way. Using close about Soubar can be somewhat misleading since lack of
roads and treacherous terrain lay between Wintertop and Soubar so a trip on foot
took nearly 15 days. Wintertop was a series of rolling hills with a sturdy
stockade around it. In the middle of the hamlet on tallest hill was the Council
hall where the ruling council sat.
Dale's father was named Dalamac and his mother was named Haniah. Dale's father
was held in high esteem by the Hin of Wintertop due to his skills as a cleric of
Yondalla. He was also 1 of the 6 halflings sitting on the ruling council of
Wintertop. Haniah gave birth to Dalabrac first, 2 years later Dalabrac's brother
Dalakan, and finally 2 years after Dalakan, his sister Daliah.
As the years passed and Dalabrac grew up and as reached the age of maturity at
15 he joined the Company of the Silent Feet. A tiny group of halflings tasked
with scouting the area around Wintertop as far as 2 days journey out of
Wintertop. Dalabrac showed remarkable skill at his work, both scouting, leading
and directing the company and showing rare, in one so young, wisdom in his
decisions. He was also extremely well-liked amongst the people in the band due
to his humor, and his generally happy and easy nature. Thus he quickly rose
amongst the ranks of the company. At the tender age of 18 he became leader of
the company due to the fact that the former leader died by accident from a spell
going awry during the Time of Troubles.
1 year later during the summer, Daliah left Wintertop. Having showed remarkable
skill as a sorceress even at the age of 15, she informed the family that
Wintertop was holding her back, she would never amount to anything if she were
to stay out here in the wilderness. She needed to see the world and be gone from
this boring place. She left the following day not to be seen or heard from
since. This was indeed sad news for Dalabrac, he had always seen his family as a
closely knit one. One that would endure any hardships it came up against. Thanks
to his brother Dalakan, who by then had become an initiate in the church of
Yondalla, he managed to get past this experience. Dalabrac and his brother grew
even closer after their sister had left. Always spending time together when
Dalabrac wasn't out scouting.
2 years later Dalabrac fell in love with his wife-to-be Deldiira. Deldiira was
the daughter of the only Inn-keeper in Wintertop. Dalabrac had known Deldiira,
who was around the same age as him, for many years. But they hadn't been
involved with each other romantically until now. Deldiira was extremely
beautiful. She was the stuff of dreams. Long soft brown hair, blue eyes that
were like deep ponds. The kind of eyes that could topple kingdoms. A slender
face with a smile and delicate red lips that could light up the entire room when
she entered it. She had a graceful lithe form. Deldiira was what many imagined
Sheela Peryroyl, the halfling goddess of beauty would look like. In spring of
the Year of the Helm 1362 Deldiira and Dalabrac got married, and by the end of
the year the result of their marriage came to be. Deldiira gave birth to their
daughter Delihra. 2 years later she gave birth to their son Dalatan.
Life was good. It almost seemed as if Yondalla herself was looking over this
young family. That is, until the winter of the Year of the Banner 1368. One
night when Dalabrac and the company were out scouting they encountered a wolf
that even though it was nearly rotten, was still alive. It attacked the company
on sight, despite loosing one halfling the company still managed to kill it.
They carried the dead halfling Wilimac back to Wintertop for a proper burial.
Dalabrac informed the council of what had happened who then discussed the matter
amongst themselves. Dalabrac went to bed. During the middle of the night the
alarm bell rang. Every able-bodied man and woman gathered at the hamlet's only
entrance. Looking out a dark figure could be seen walking through the snow
followed by 4 wolves, rotting wolves, at his side. He walked up to the gate and
looked up at the 20 halfling archers with their bows trained on him. He put one
end of the glaive he was carrying into the snow and spoke in a low growl: "I
demand satisfaction... You killed one of my pets the other day and I demand
satisfaction!" He removed his hood and revealed a wickedly scarred face with
many sores on it to the halflings. The wolves bared their fangs and snarled at
the halflings. The man almost had a tangible aura of evil around him. Dalabrac
moved to the front and said: "I was the one who killed your wolf, but only after
it attacked our company first. We did it in self defense!" "Silence you fool!"
the man roared. "Let me spend the night in your city and I will let the matter
pass," he said with a wicked smile. Dalabrac looked to the council who were all
shaking their heads in unison. Dalabrac then looked back to the stranger. "I'm
afraid we can't do that, please take your wolves and begone from here. I'm sorry
but we can't have you inside Wintertop." "Curse you!" the man shouted as he
waved his glaive threateningly at the halflings. The halflings raised their bows
in alarm and aimed at the man again. "Please leave, we don't want any
unnecessary bloodshed." Dalabrac said. The man lowered his glaive but continued
with his shouting: "Curse you all! But especially you little halfling!" He said
pointing at Dalabrac. "Curse you!" At that, he turned around and walked slowly
away from Wintertop taking his wolves with him. Dalabrac was glad he had left.
He didn't enjoy killing like any of the other halflings. In fact he had never
killed anyone in his life apart from animals. He went to bed with his loving
wife and slept uneasily until the morning.
When the morning came 2 families were dead from what could best be described as
plague. The Hin Plague, as it was later known, spread like wildfire throughout
Wintertop. Dalabrac's father Dalamac died early on, being the highest ranking
cleric of the city, he came into contact with the victims right at the beginning
as he tried to cure the hin of their affliction. Dalakan died right after his
father. As did Dalabrac's mother. They were burned and buried together. Dalabrac
watched the ordeal with eyes red from mourning. The hamlet was in panic.
Dalabrac was offered his fathers place in the council and took it. The council
with 4 new members including Dalabrac, due to the Hin Plague, discussed the next
course of action. 5 Halflings who hadn't caught the plague was sent out towards
Soubar requesting immediate aid at the end of the day. In 1 week Wintertop's
population had halved. Around 250 halflings had lost their life so far. After
another week about 1/4th of the population remained. Without word from Soubar
(the expedition died of the Hin Plague 4 days out of Wintertop), and the council
down to 4 halflings, the panic was widespread. They discussed what had to be
done. The council decided on trying to contain the disease as best as they
could. This involved a great sacrifice. Since the clerical magic they had at
their disposal hadn't worked, the council came up with this:
In order to contain the terrible Hin Plague, we, the council, put this great
burden on ourselves. To take away the life of anyone stricken with the plague
and burning the dead. This is what we must do as leaders of our village in order
to increase the chance of anyone surviving this.
Signed: Tilimac (Wilimac's father), Talandar, Roberan, and Dalabrac.
It was done. The council did their work. But soon they fell victim to the plague
themselves. All except Dalabrac.
Then on the 24th of Nightal it happened. Dalatan was struck by the plague.
Dalabrac did what had to be done with hands trembling and tears rolling down his
cheeks. 2 days later Delihra got the plague. Dalabrac did what had to be done
again with trembling hands and tears rolling down his cheeks. His beloved wife
was with him and whispered words of comfort to him after the deed was done with
tears rolling down her slender beautiful cheeks, her deep blue amazing eyes red
from crying for several days. With her I can handle anything Dalabrac thought to
himself as he embraced Deldiira.
The 4th of Hammer, Year of the Gauntlet, Deldiira was struck by the Hin Plague.
She lay in her bed looking at Dalabrac, croaked a silent "I love you Dale, now
and forever" through her lips that used to be so full and luscious. Lips that
were now shredded and bleeding because of the sores covering her entire body.
"Promise me to live on Dale... Leave this terrible place and create a new life
for yourself... Promise me..." With that she took off her wedding ring and put
it in Dalabrac's hand. Dalabrac took her hand and pulled her close to hug her
tightly not wanting to let go. She tried to smile at him as their eyes met. She
took Dalabrac's dagger out of its sheath and put it into his other hand, then
whilst holding the dagger firm in Dalabrac's hand she slid it into her chest.
"Promise me..." She whispered and closed her eyes.
Her body went limb as she slowly passed away. Dalabrac held her tightly whilst
whispering "I promise..." into her ear and cried until he thought he wouldn't be
able to cry anymore. Then he cried even more. After several hours of holding his
beloved wife, Dalabrac put her down gently on the bed. With his entire body
shaking he went into the living room and took out a small metal box. He took the
key he was wearing around his neck and opened the box and put Deldiira's ring in
it. He looked at the 3 things inside the box. A beautiful flower Delihra had
plucked for him one summer. A delicate tiny wooden horse carved out of Blackwood
Dalatan had made for him. And finally the wedding ring he had given Deldiira on
one of the happiest days of his life. The day they had gotten married. Dalabrac
closed the box gently, locked it, and put it into his pocket. He crumbled to the
floor crying. He cried all night.
Two days later everyone in Wintertop were dead. All except Dalabrac. That's when
he realized that he had been the one who had the greatest curse put on him. The
curse of being the only one to live through the Hin Plague. He went to the
tallest hilltop in Wintertop and shouted to the heavens. "Yondalla how could
have let this happen to us?! You are supposed to protect us from things like
this! Thanks to your absence everyone I know and love are dead! Good people!
Good people who deserve way more than this! If this is how you treat your
faithful then I don't want to pay my respects to you anymore! You don't deserve
my respect! You don't deserve the respect a coward goblin could offer you!
Dalabrac tried to kill himself but remembered Deldiira's last words to him. In
the evening he gathered some things that he would need for traveling and left
Wintertop for Soubar.
Dalabrac slept horribly several days. Nightmares plagued him. Dreams about the
one's he loved. He decided the best course of action would be to stay awake, he
didn't want to remember how his wife had looked like when the Hin Plague was
raging through her body. After 4 days of staying awake Dalabrac finally
collapsed from exhaustion. He had a strange dream that night. He was seeing the
faces of his loved one's at their moment of their passing. He tried to close his
eyes but discovered that he couldn't. The faces stared at him and moaned: "Why
didn't you save us Dale? Why...?" Then suddenly darkness fell over them, covered
their faces and muffling their voices. Out of the darkness he could see a pale
white skin of a woman's face floating towards him. her eyes had a look of
sadness about them. She was beautiful, almost as beautiful as Deldiira. She had
long mane of black hair. He looked at her hair, trying to see how long it really
was, but it just went on forever and ever. It was her hair that had covered the
faces of his loved one's and had removed their voices. Her hair was all around
him. It was the darkness itself. It wrapped itself around his back gently
caressing him. It pulled him closer to her. As he was pulled face to face with
the beautiful woman a pair of slender pale hands appeared. She smiled as they
reached for him and cupped his cheek stroking gently. She had such a warm
comforting touch. She leaned for and kissed him on his forehead, then whispered
to him, her voice flowing and soothing. "Im here for you Dale... I will take
care of you. No one will know that you killed the one's you love." Dalabrac
started sobbing, she pulled him closer and embraced him. Her warmth shooting
through his body. "It's alright," she whispered, "I will help you get past
this... Trust in me Dale... With me you will never be alone anymore... I love
you Dale..." She kissed him again and wiped away his tears. Her soothing voice
said to Dalabrac. "Hold me Dale, together we are strong..." Dalabrac held her
tightly. Then closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Dalabrac awoke the following morning fully rejuvenated. He gathered his things
and proceeded on his way to Soubar. The mysterious woman appeared each and every
night in his dreams comforting him, helping him with his sorrow. After 12 days
in the wilds Dalabrac reached Soubar. He easily got a job as a scout for a
caravan heading for Waterdeep. Thus Dalabrac set out into the world.
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