The Legend of Barradin

[Cpt_Noobman 1954]

-==(The Legend of Barradin)==-

 

As Retold by Fili Grandaxe, Temple of Az'adar

 

 

 

Long ago when the world was still young and Yemekar’s creation was new, Khorvad sought to corrupt Yemekar’s creation and bend it in his own image. Though he could not sway the other gods to his cause, he was able to grip lesser beings. And so he chose to corrupt the Aengul Wyvrun, one of Yemekar’s most treasured children amongst the celestials. Wyvrun embodied many admirable qualities such as righteousness and purity.

 

However, Wyvrun was not beyond Khorvad’s grasp. Khorvard corrupted him, filling his mind and heart with vicious thoughts and burning desire. Unable to resist these temptations Wyvrun found himself vulnerable, exposed, and complacent. Khorvad’s chiefmost servant, Iblees, came to Wyvrun and corrupted him with his power. The Wyvrun that the gods once cherished was lost and in his place was Odnarch, wicked, greedy, and filled with hate and disdain for the gods and those who worshipped them. And so his sights were set upon Urguan…

 

Odnarch’s power and thirst for death were immense. Villages and cities were wiped out by his hordes of ice-monsters and corrupted beings. The Dwarven defenders found their weapons wrought of steel and iron useless against Odnarch’s greatest creations and so they fell in droves to his onslaught and were then added to his ranks. Desperate, Dwarven scholars turned to the Runelords of yore for a solution.

 

The runesmiths produced weapons and armor bound with the holy magic of Ogradhad and gave them to three champions from amongst their rank to confront Odnarch. Along with these weapons the champions were provided with one of their greatest creations, the Kal’Varak. The Kal’Varak was a magical prison capable of separating the mind and soul from the body and leaving them trapped within. And so the champions led by Barradin, the most skillful amongst them, set out to lay a trap for Odnarch.

 

They climbed upon the sloping, snow-covered hills along the border of Odnarch’s destruction. In the caves beneath the hill they laid the Kal’Varak and awaited the arrival of Odnarch’s armies. Finally, they arrived. Three Dwarves stood against a magnitude of corrupted soldiers and did battle with them. Their hammers and axes utterly destroyed those they fell upon, ripping apart their corrupted bodies and allowing the souls to pass to Khaz’a’Dentrumm. The weapons the enemy used glanced off the runic armor and shattered. Against these hordes the triumvirate was unstoppable.

 

The battle began to subside. The hordes of monsters and wraiths under Odnarch’s command backed away from the field and disappeared from sight. The three champions were exhausted, confused, and distraught. Had their efforts been in vain, would Odnarch not accept their challenge? A blood-curdling screech echoed across the valley, the wind became stinging and bitterly cold against their faces and a blizzard set in. Before them, a great mass emerged from the clouds and landed. It was Odnarch in the form of a terrible, blue dragon. It turned it’s head to the sky and released a sickening roar before setting upon the champions.

 

They fought Odnarch, fending off his blows with their runic armor, and dealing damage with their hammers. However, they were not indestructible. Odnarch caught one of the champions with his tail and sent him flying across the valley where we was never heard from again. Barradin and his final companion began retreating to their trap, making the beast believe it had the upper hand. Once they reached the spot, Barradin’s friend stood upon it and bid Odnarch to approach.

 

Odnarch took the challenge and charged him, where he spoke the sacred word that caused the ground to erupt beneath the two. They both fell down to the Kal’Varak below where the dwarf was consumed by the prison. However, when Odnarch came in contact with the contraption, he struggled against it. He was being pulled into the trap but was starting to break free of it, wailing in agony as he did so. Barradin saw this and knew Odnarch had the power to escape. He threw himself into the hole, with his hammer raised. He slammed the hammer upon Odnarch’s neck and dealt a blow that forced him to collapse, being pulled into the crystal. Barradin fell past, narrowly missing his own trap and landed on the ground next to it, saved by his armor.

 

Barradin arose, and looked to his hammer. It had been transformed as some of Odnarch’s power was trapped within it. However, the battle was over. Odnarch was defeated and his armies were dispelled. Barradin returned to his kingdom with the Kal’Varak and his hammer. He was hailed as a hero, and he mourned the loss of his friends. The Kal’Varak was hidden away from those who might release Odnarch, and the hammer remained with Barradin and was passed to his next of kin upon his death but then was lost. It would be many hundreds of years before again, Odnarch threatened this world.

 

[Dreek 1633]

"B-, could do better" says the ever critical Benjamin W. Goldhand