Origins of Roxton D’Tharashk

Theses are the words spoken by Roxton, a male Half-orc Barbarian of the Shadow Marshes, describing himself to the Five-fingers crew and the circumstances that led to his arrival on the Golden Dragon.

“I had the typical childhood of any half-orc living in the Shadow Marshes, which is to say I didn’t have a typical childhood at all; the Shadow Marshes are a wild place where only the strong survive. I lived in a nomadic tribe that wandered the countryside in a perpetual search of nothing. My tribe was a mix of humans and orcs living in harmony with each other and the wilderness. My mother was beautiful woman, and I was fortunate enough to inherit mostly her looks too except for the obviously abnormal size for a human. When I was child, my mother gave me a curved dagger that had belonged to my father before he died.”

“My adventure began when my tribe became the target of a ferocious black wolf; a man eater as they say. The beast stalked the nomads wherever they traveled sometimes brazenly watching from a far terrifying as if to mock us. His coat was black as night, and his eyes were red with the blood of my people. No matter how hard they tried, the tribe’s greatest hunters could not catch the evil creature for he was cunning beyond any normal wolf. I was still in my adolescence then, and one stormy night; he came for me. He snuck into my tent, and dragged me away into the night. I awoke much latter in a cave with the scattered remains of human bones everywhere. I escaped the creature’s lair, but I was completely lost without the faintest clue of how to return to my tribe. It was not long before I realized I had not escaped at all; I was being toyed with, hunted for sadistic sport.”

“I ran night and day terrified to sleep even for a moment. At all times I could feel the black wolf watching me. When I was at last too exhausted to run any further, the beast moved in for the kill. The wolf lunged at my throat, and I felt my blood spill out over the earth. I looked up into the stars, and at the very moment that I felt sure that I would die, I reached for the curved blade of my father. With a might cry, I slashed the black devil across the face cutting his eyeball. The creature ran off into the night as I collapsed onto the ground.”

“I awoke to find myself back amongst my people. The black wolf hunted my people no more, and was heralded as a hero. When the wounds on my throat finally healed, I was shocked to find that rather than a scar, a mystical mark, like a tattoo, had been branded on my flesh. From that day forth I was an expert tracker, and I was soon indoctrinated into the House Tharashk who told me that I was blessed with a dragonmark of finding. I entered the prospecting business of finding and locating dragonshards for sale to the eastern lands. I quickly had a small fortune for myself that led me to be selected by the house for a very special mission.”

“House Tharashk was trying to establish itself in the far off continent of Xen’drik, and was commanded to head there to help establish the prospecting business there. My abilities as a warrior were instrumental to my selection due to the prevalent danger I would find at Xen’drik. They told me to head for the city of Sharn, and to board the Golden Dragon, which they had provided me with a ticket. I boarded a ship carrying dragonshards bound for the city.”

“Throughout the voyage, I had the uneasy feeling that I was being watched. On board with me was strange man wearing antlers upon his head and a scar across his eye. He never approached me, but at all times seemed almost obsessed with me. The night before we reached the city, I found myself face to face with the grim man.”

“What do you want with me? Should I know you?” I said to him frankly.

“You might not remember me, but I’ve been waiting a long time for this very moment.”

“He smiled an evil smile as he began to grow fur about his face, and hunched over onto all fours. Before me stood the black wolf that had tormented me so many years before. Unprepared and deeply terrified, he mauled me. I began to gain the upper hand, but the foul shapeshifter became a giant eagle flying off into the night. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized the bastard had flown off with my ticket to Golden Dragon!”
“The skyship guards of the Golden Dragon refused me entrance without my ticket, and I was divested that I has failed my guild. I watched the ship from afar when I say an eagle circling the skyship, and I was fumed with anger. Luck turned my way however as I heard screaming on board the ship. I saw men fighting monsters, and I did not waste the opportunity to sneak aboard. Among the corpses slung about the ship, I saw the shapeshifter dead. I quickly took back my ticket. After that I heard from one of the crew that a bomb was on board and I rushed downstairs to offer my assistance, and that is where I met you, the five-finger crew.”