A lone figure
walked out of the mists, a simple brown hooded robe help tightly around
the waist with a single, tightly woven hemp rope. Her bare feet
shuffled along in the dirt as the ocean water dripped from the hem of
her robe.
There had been a shipwreck. The flotilla of slave ships captained by
Erasmus the Fell was beset by a huge storm. For days it raged fiercely.
The stout ships were nothing more than toys... tiny specks on an angry
sea. Eventually, the sea won the battle and all the ships dashes upon
rocks hidden beneath the dark, frothing waves. As the ships began to
fill with water, the slaves poured out of the holds while the crew
jumped overboard, knowing that where there were rocks, there would be
land not far away.
Three monastic priests and two priestesses had set out to establish a
missionary on the other side of the continent and had paid Erasmus a
great deal of gold for safe transport. As the ships broke apart, only
one priestess was on deck, the others were sleeping below... they were
killed. She prayed calmly as she swam to shore, the slaves flailing
wildly around her. She knew that this was the will of her god.
As she slowly walked from the beach, she heard the bellowing voice of
Erasmus barking the orders to retrieve his "cargo" as it was running
off in every direction. Moments later, a tall, rough looking troll
grabbed her by the arm. With an icy stare she spoke the words "Slave I
am not, I have now become your end", with that, a single spin kick to
the throat and the filthy troll lay, gasping, bleeding and dying. As
she departed her only words were, "Thou should know better than to
handle a priestess".
The intervening years saw the binding together, out of purpose, of the
unrecovered slaves into a cohesive society. A half-ogre named Karn had
assumed leadership of the new community and had requested the lone
priestess to make her visits to the roving camps in an effort to quell
any spiritual neediness from his group. She did so, happily. She had
built a small, stone structure for herself just out of the sight of
where Erasmus had built his fortress. She prayed endlessly for her god
to hide her hovel from the eyes of passing brigands, and her god had
done so.
She heard the fighting the night Karn and his band made their move on
the fortress of Erasmus, and prayed as she heard the wails of the dead
and dying.
The next afternoon the figure of a half ogre rode in the vicinity of
the priestess' stone hovel. She recognized the face of Karn and allowed
the cloak on her hovel to drop. They spoke of many things, the past two
years, what had happened the night before and what would happen in the
months to come. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Karn gave her an order,
"You will lead the monastic of our community. They will come to live
here and you will build a place for them." The priestess smiled, took
Karn's hand, placed her thumb on the back of his wrist and nearly broke
his hand off as she bent it back, sending him to his knees. She spoke
"I do as I please. I take orders only from my goddess. Is that clear
Karn?" Karn looked up, "You do as I say, now let go of my hand!" The
priestess smiled a kind gentle smile as she applied pressure to Karn's
wrist, "I do as I please. The priests of your horde are welcome to come
stay with me if they choose proper training in the ways of a monk. Most
importantly though, I want the orphans." Karn looked up, helpless and
in severe pain, "Very well, as you wish."
Thus are the beginnings of the Monk's guild. Shaped by a lone
priestess, served by a loyal house of those who would learn her arts of
meditation, combat, teamwork and humility.
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