Ykesha

In the darkness of night, secluded from the eyes of many of his fellow trolls, a troll shaman named Zraxth had a vision. The trolls of Guk were no match for the Rallosian Empire, and the trolls believed it was a matter of time before the mighty ogres would march into the troll city of Guk. Zraxth was among the first of the trolls to turn from the teachings of Cazic-Thule and follow the doctrine of Hate, becoming a follower of Innoruuk. He beseeched his new lord for guidance, looking for a way to defeat the ogres, to protect the city of Gulc from the Rallosian war machine. The Prince of Hate came to him in a dream, and said he would provide the information, but to perform the necessary ritual Zraxth would need the blood of the high priests of Cazic-Thule. Zraxth gathered his followers and carried out the grim deed, slaughtering the high priests as they slept. The followers of Zraxth set up the ritual as Innoruuk

For days, Zraxth simply sat, neither sleeping nor eating. His acolytes watched over him, waiting for him to awaken and deliver the message from Innoruuk on their salvation. Finally, on the eighth day, the shaman’s eyes snapped open, sunken and glaring in their sockets. Without flinching or looking away, the shaman began to speak in slow, resounding tones. The disciples began to feverishly copy the words of Zraxth, but found that the ink simply ran like blood off any parchment on which they attempted to write the words the shaman spoke. Exasperated, the disciples tried to have Zraxth repeat his statements to them, but he would not acknowledge their presence at all, and simply continued speaking. When all seemed lost, the shaman rose to his feet, and turned to the large stone they had set in the center of their camp. Even as he continued to speak, he gathered a bowl of the blood of the elders the disciples had used days ago in preparation

Zraxth then took to chiseling out the vision he had seen on the surface of the stone itself. This he did with precision and meticulousness, in sharp contract to his apparent unresponsive state. No movement was wasted, and even the smallest chip in the stone was done with the utmost care and purpose. Each of the symbols he crafted would flare with a purplish flame, leaving the carving glowing with radiant heat. Burns were apparent on Zraxth’s hands and arms, but he did not appear to notice — he continued to speak and chisel at the stone, pausing neither as he worked tirelessly. When the carving was completed, the shaman, bloodied and burned over his body, spoke his last words, and fell lifeless to the ground. The disciples burned the body of the prophetic shaman, and scattered the ashes throughout the area of the ritual. The disciples then deciphered the inscription left behind by their spiritual leader.

Over the course of many years after the Stone’s creation, strong warriors began to contend that they were, in fact, the hero mentioned in the Grozmok Stone’s prophecy. Many bloody battles were fought over the claim, as each strove to prove that they were the true hero of the Grozmok. The clans began to rally behind their strongest warriors, and minor skirmishes began to collapse into full scale blood feuds, as each group looked to be the ruling clan of the Innothule trolls. Nothing seemed able to stem the tide of violence, and none seemed interested in stopping it the rule of Grobb was all that mattered. For years, chaos reigned unchecked. During this time, the Rallosian Empire began to hear rumors of the existence of the Grozmok Stone and the prophecy of the legendary troll hero. Although the trolls themselves were organized and not likely to prove a threat on their own, the ogres began to fear

It was during this time of strife and war that Warlord Ykesha rose to power. He was unmatched among his people in skill, cunning, and ferocity, and he quickly earned the respect of all who fought with him. He quickly rose to lead his clan, ruthlessly dispatching any who tried to challenge his rule. His clan, which he renamed Clan Ykesha in his own honor, had taken to raiding the swamps outside the city of Guk, looking for new artifacts and treasures that might give them an advantage over their rival clans. The scouts of Ykesha came upon a lost Rallosian stronghold, which sat undisturbed and hidden by the overgrowth in the swamp. As they gathered what items of worth they could find, they happened upon the Grozmok Stone deep within the stronghold’s lower chambers. They hauled it back to their clan, where it was recognized as an artifact from the troll’s past. Warlord Ykesha ordered his shaman

Legacy of Guk or What History Remains Kruuk Glugop PAGE 2 BLANK

Our people are a strong people. With Mithaniel Marr behind us, we have endured many catastrophes in our history, and have always managed to come back stronger than before. Recently, we were able to rise against the vile trolls, and took the city for our own, as Gukta, the outpost of Marr. The trolls have been unsuccessful in reclaiming the city, and Mithaniel willing, they never shall.

The ancient home of our people, Guk, was not so lucky. It was consumed by a curse unleashed by Innoruuk and the troll villain known as Ykesha. Many of our brave warriors were trapped there, either taken by surprise due to the attacks, or they stayed behind to fend off the undead hordes long enough to allow the rest of our people to escape. Now, in a dark twist that makes me shudder, they have joined the ranks of the walking dead.

Many of us have wondered if there is a chance to study who from our history might be still wandering the depths of Lower Guk, and what might be learned by discovering this information. I am to accompany a group of adventurers who are currently resting here within Gukta, and I will see if I can learn this information. We leave at dawn.

It took some time, but we were able to make it to a small chamber near a few precarious walkways. It was here that we found the first interesting member of the cursed frogloks. As we rested, we began to hear a sound off in the distance. It first sounded as if it came from above us, then it seemed to circle around to the sides of our small camp. It seemed like it was looking for a weaknes in our defense. Then, suddenly, it was silent - we heard nothing more. When we were ready to leave, we began to look for the source of the sound, but could not locate it. Just when we had given up, a black-colored froglok ghoul leapt at us from the shadows, and directly at our warrior. He was just fast enough to deflect the attack, and together we were able to beat the creature back. However, I always had the feeling it was there … watching us, just out of sight.

Further in, we found another strange room, where it seemed like the ghouls themselves would not even enter. We could hear a strange sound coming from it – something like a breathing, but more like a constant hiss, and the sound of rushing wind, almost as if something inside could not remain still, and moved incredibly fast. We approached cautiously, but it became evident that whatever we had heard, had heard us as well. We were instantly set upon by a creature of tremendous speed. It was a ghoul like the others, but was blindingly fast. It seemed chaotic in its attacks as well – one of us would be hit, then suddenly another would feel the sting of the creature’s unrelelnting attacks. We were able to land a magical shackle on the beast, which caused it to howl in anger. Immediately we fled the area – this creature proved to be too mighty for our group, and we hoped to leave it behind us.