The Great Ogre Footstones

The Great Ogre Footstones

When the curse of the gods reached from the ground and touched all of Rallos Zek's creations -- ogres, giants, goblins, and orcs -- it was not apparent at first. The curse was gradual which made it all the more devastating.

At first it seemed as though the elders were developing dementia at early ages, something that most dismissed as a failure with age. Then, like a wave through all generations of Rallosian they began to forget words, spells, history and eventually could only manage the simplest of sentences and expressions. Many younger Rallosians, particularly those who would have likely become ogre magi or giant loreseekers, took to drooling and their eyes became dull. Even their skin took on a strange pallor and their foreheads seemed to get broad and thick.

Fearing that Bertoxxulous unleashed a disease upon the lands around the Serpent Spine Mountains, the ogres, giants, goblins, and orcs fled the Fortress of Krithgor. The great ogre footstones that were laid down to lead the legions to the portal to the Plane of Earth some years ago were now used to guide the stupefied and blundering Rallosian legions down through the mountains and into adjacent lands in Tunaria.

One ogre, the chief of Nokk, Gekkdar, was much slower to catch the affects of the curse because of the Amulet of Chieftains he wore around his neck -- a gift of his god. He went up to the Great Ogre Footstones path and attempted to stop the flow of Rallosians streaming down from the hills. He stomped his great foot into the path and bade them to halt -- that he would find a way to cure them. That is when he lost his boot to the ground, the soul of it preserved in the mud.

But none listened as Gekkdar commanded them to stay. They stared at him blankly and continued on, no longer having enough intellect to recognize one ogre's will to change their fate.

It was then, perhaps with an inkling of the power of the amulet he wore, that Gekkdar resolved he would end his life by way of drinking poison and allow his spirit to inhabit Nokk forever. Gekkdar hoped to preserve the knowledge of the greatness of his ogres and the tragedy that befell them.