From the Imperial record of the Dous military, penned by the fourth scribe league, overseen and approved by master astronomer Talin Sotis on the subject of Sarco Idous:
Sarco Idous was the first birthed of the 27th spawning of the ninth pool in the fortress city of Dous. He broke the surface at 23:45 on the seventh day of deep winter in the 573rd year and managing to reach the shore at 4:15 the following day. His physique was obviously suitable for the warrior class and the astrological signs reigning over his birth declared him to have the potential for a high station. Thus it was decided that he was to join the Knights of Dous. After being taught the basics of speech and motor control at the spawning academy he was sent to train with the other selected knights under the Knight Master Galiax Cotis.
Sarco spent the next several years learning the various skills that he would need to serve as a knight. Along with his fellow cadets he learned how to survive in the wilderness, how to care for and ride both the raptors used by the knight elite and the horses used by indigenous tribes, and of course how to fight. He achieved a high level of proficiency in his studies, and after surviving his fifth year graduation ceremony he was instated in full as a squire in the Dous Military.
Sarcos unit patrolled along the Helvian Coast for a number of years, fighting back the occasional raid from the sea and keeping the natives in check. When the sea dwellers united and upped their raids into a full invasion the empire during the fall of 581st year, the forces of Dous were the first to respond. With the Knights as the backbone of the lizardmen forces Sarcos was in the fighting deeply. His unit spent six months on the front line, holding off the sea dweller offensive with the rest of the Dous forces. They distinguished themselves in the battles, and when the enemy was finally driven back into the sea on by the arrival of the main lizardman army in spring many of the squires in the unit, including Sarcos, were graduated to full knights.
Sarcos continued to protect the empire in his capacity as a knight, paroling amongst the southern expanses. When the Huntsman assaulted the capital of Tis Sarco, along with most of the other forces of Dous, were recalled to come to the defense. It is believed that the force of soldiers and knights that Sarco was traveling with headed though the jade forest when they were intercepted by a troop of fey. It's unclear what exactly happened in the woods, relatively few bodies were found. With the war with the Huntsman ongoing resources for further investigation into the matter are unavailable, and the whole unit is to be presumed dead until further investigative actions can be taken.
From the field journal of Sarco Idous, documenting his journey for the Imperial records after the events of the battle of the jade forest: I shall be keeping a record of my trials and travels after my... displacement. In hopes that the imperial astronomers shall be able use it to divine exactly what was done to my unit and how to prevent this trick from effecting us in the future. To give my impressions of the night... It was pure chaos. We were marching for Tis, taking the jade forest path in hopes of arriving a few weeks sooner. We knew that it was possible for the Huntsmens forces to be in the forest, but we didn't expect such a force to have penetrated so deeply into the empire. They were on us almost before we knew what was going on, hoards of the beastmen came out the trees and smashed into our formation, we held them back as our astrologers worked on their spells. We thought that we might have a chance of victory at first, until the fey casters appeared.
From behind the beastmen they came out of the trees, fire rained from the skies and the earth and plants rose up against us. Our astrologers did what they could, but there wasn't a fully fledged battle caster amongst them. The worst part though was that it was clearly a distraction of some sort, the main body of the fey were all concentrated together, getting together some dozy of a spell to sling at us. We knew that if they got that spell off it would be the end of the battle. So the all of us Knights, we gathered together at the front of the formation and charged forward, trying to punch a hole though the beastmen and get to the fey. Our flanks started to collapse immediately without our support, but it worked, the rabble was not ready for all our force concentrated in one attack, and they broke before us.
We pushed towards the fey, I thought for sure that at any moment they would turn and start flinging spells at us, slow us down enough for the beastmen to surround us, and that would have been the end. But the majority of them were caught up in their spell still, didn't even seem to notice us coming at them, until we hit that was. They sure noticed then. We cut down a dozen right away, and that seemed to really disrupt whatever they were doing. Their shouts were terrible, but worse were the looks of horror on their faces as the energy collected by their spell was released wildly. The explosion was immense.
The first thought I had on regaining consciousness was shock that I had survived. The second was fear that soon the hoard would be upon me and my companions. But a look around the area dispelled that fear soon enough. Whatever had happened, the majority of the beastmen had disappeared, along with the men of my unit who were furthest from the center of the explosion, it seemed that only those of us within a few hundred yards of the epicenter were still here, or, as I later theorized, we were the only ones who were moved. The fey were all dead, apparently the backlash of the spell effecting them far more then it did us, the remaining beastmen, without superior numbers and leadership of the fey, fled when they regained their senses. Soon it was just the remainders of my unit in the area. We regrouped, and at a loss for what had happened we resumed our trek.
It soon became clear that something had gone terribly wrong, the familiar flora of the jade forest faded around us as we trekked, the trees giving way to other species, the seasonals into evergreens, the air chilling around us. Within days, instead of finding the end of the forest as we should have we found ourselves in a winter forest that was totally alien to the region. Worse still then our being lost though, we noticed that our numbers were decreasing, soldiers and knights were disappearing, they would walk behind a tree, out of sight of anyone else, and never walk back out. We tried to stay together, keep each other in sight, but it didn't seem to help, even with watches every morning we were a few less. We were whittled down over time and one day I found myself alone in the forest the few soldiers left with me gone, or me gone from them.
At that point I wandered. From snow swept taiga forests to sweltering jungle and deep swamps. The forest changed around me in a illogical manner, I was giving up, feeling like I would be lost forever, when ((I found the gate. An ancient stone portal, it was the first unnatural structure I'd seen in weeks. I investigated it of course, and after passing though it I suddenly found myself somewhere else entirely. A strange land, suddenly a island instead of the endless forests. The natives call it the Hidden Isle. Finally I'm free of the infinite forest, but just as lost as ever.)) ((slowly the forest faded out around me whatever spell had me in it's grasp finally loosening it's hold. I found myself standing in a windswept plains, a small copse of trees behind me. I was in a strange new land, and although I had escaped from the endless forest I was still just as lost as ever.)) Edit: I just realized that we've not actually made i to the hidden island maybe? So here is a secondary ending to the backstory, where I am in some other random place. Ready to meet up with others for adventure.
I left the part of my backstory where we hook up into a team up in the air, unless anyone had any particular ideas, would it be appropriate to write that after the players are picked?
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Topic: D&D 5e: Adventurers of the Lost Isle OOC (Full up!) (Read 112877 times)