In the 564th year of the Age of Strife, Niko Stargazer, the mayor of Brinard's Hold, and his wife, Vanna, brought twin children into the world, a girl and a boy. The event brought great sadness to both their town and household, as it had been foreseen that Ardrik and Kiera Stargazer would die and break the family line forever. Fearing the worst, the Stargazers tried their best to insulate their children from any possible harm while they sought a solution. The policies of Brinard's Hold became very conservative as Niko attempted to remove all risk to his offspring and the townspeople supported him for some time, sympathetic to his plight. After almost eight years with no progress, though, Niko's strict laws had crippled trade and isolated the once-popular settlement. His people's patience was running thin.
Stargazer Fort
A close friend of the Stargazers, a man by the name of Dadderik, broached the subject late one night while visiting them at their home. Niko knew he had been expecting too much of the Hold for too long and realized that he could no longer neglect his duties as mayor while searching for a possibly non-existent way to thwart the prophecy. When his children reached their eighth year, he reluctantly lifted the restrictions he had instated the day they had been born. It was with bittersweet happiness that he and Vanna watched their beloved children venture forth from the protective cocoon that had sheltered them all their lives. The children's faces lit up with wonder and excitement as they joyfully ran and jumped and climbed trees with the other children of the Hold. The Stargazers could only hope that their years of vigilance had foiled the prophecy and that their children could live full, healthy lives.
Over the next ten years, Brinard's Hold regained much of its former strength as fresh trade poured in and settlers from the coastal areas and Naul's Dig increased. As the Hold prospered, the Stargazer twins also prospered. Ardrik and Kiera had grown into fine and accomplished young people who were highly respected by the townspeople. Drawing on their shared love of the wilderness, Ardrik had taken up the study of nature magic, while Kiera had become quite a talented tracker and scout. It seemed that the prophecy of their untimely demise had been avoided.
The success of Brinard's Hold began to attract increasing numbers of petty scoundrels. Raiders had taken to harassing inbound tradesmen as they sailed upriver to the bustling community, laden with goods. The Brinard's Hold guard couldn't mobilize fast enough to defend the traders. By the time they assembled and reached their destination, the bandits would already have finished their work and disappeared into the wilderness. The people of Brinard's Hold were forced to endure, although the robberies were fortunately never severe enough to cause much more than an annoyance.
In AS 585, things changed. While Niko was away on business in Talus, an important and expensive shipment of goods was scheduled to arrive in the Hold. Guards had been assembled and Dadderik drilled them on defensive procedures that would help ensure the incoming trade ship's safety. Days before the shipment was expected to arrive, reports came in that it had been scuttled and stripped clean by a ruthless group known as the Graywolves. Puzzled and dismayed, Ardrik and Kiera headed an expedition out to find the wreckage and see if the stories were true. No raiders had ever destroyed the ships they attacked, knowing full well the people of Brinard's Hold would never allow such an act to go unpunished. The Stargazer twins expected to find the reports to be exaggerated and the traders shaken, but none the worse for wear. What they found was unimaginably worse.
Fresh from successful dealings in Talus, Niko Stargazer had caught passage on a small trade vessel bound for Brinard's Hold with the plan of returning early and surprising his family. The Graywolves saw the vessel and mistakenly attacked it, thinking it was the trade ship they had been waiting for, only to discover that the supplies it carried where merely sundries and of little marketable value. The mistake had exposed them and their plans and they stood little chance of recovering the element of surprise for an attack on their true target. In an act of desperation, they lashed the passengers to the ship and sank it to the bottom of the river. When the Stargazers found the wreckage, they also found the drowned corpses of their father and every member of the ship's crew. |
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Angered and hurt, the twins made a personal vow to see the Graywolves brought to justice. The Blue Order was situated too far away and would no doubt waste too much time offering honorable alternatives to men who clearly had no honor. If the Stargazers wanted satisfaction, they would have to handle the matter themselves. With single-minded determination, the twins set out to discover the location of the Graywolves hideout. Ardrik brought the power of the forest to bear, while Kiera and a handful of trusted allies hit the more unsavory urban areas looking for answers.
Young and driven as they were, the Stargazer twins were direct and not very careful with their inquiries. They found the location of the Graywolves camp south of Merriton in less than two days, but ended up alerting every scoundrel for miles in doing so. The leader of the Graywolves, a proud and cunning man named Pearson, knew the Stargazer twins were after him long before they arrived and laid plans to teach them a cruel lesson.
Ardrik and Kiera stormed the Graywolves camp with a small army of supporters, fully prepared to wipe them out completely, only to find the place nearly empty. Interrogation of a captured Graywolf lookout revealed Pearson's terrible plan. Leaving only a small force at the main camp, he had taken the rest of his men and stealthily circled around Mount Isholm. He had gone to ransack Brinard's Hold itself.
The twins flew into action, charging up the Saber River for home. By the time they arrived, it was again too late. Half the buildings were in flames and many citizens were wounded or dead. Among the dead was the twins' mother, Vanna. The Stargazers were struck dumb with shock and grief. Both their parents had been slain and their home had been devastated within a matter of days. All because of one bloodthirsty cur and his pack of mongrels.
Pearson's plan had been to teach the Stargazers a lesson when he sacked Brinard's Hold and indeed he had. Striking out on their own, Ardrik and Kiera tracked the object of their vengeance with care and determination. This time, when they came for him, Pearson hadn't even the barest whisper of warning. He merely awoke one morning to find himself to be the last man standing in a camp full of still-warm corpses. The Stargazers are said to have given Pearson just enough time to grasp his situation before they allowed their righteous fury to end his miserable life.
Greywolf Bandit
Once their vengeance had been sated, the twins returned home to help rebuild. Out of reverence for their departed parents and for what they'd done to protect the town, the new mayor gave them access to town funds to help them with an undertaking that would consume them for the rest of their lives. Between Mount Isholm and the dwarven settlement of Stonewatch, the twins built a great double fort that straddles the Saber River where it approaches Brinard's Hold. Stargazer Fort, as it has been called, is an engineering masterpiece which required decades of highly-skilled work to complete. Ardrik and Kiera sought out the most talented craftsmen in the land and spent the majority of their adult years hunting down branded criminals and turning whatever booty or reward money they received toward the construction of their fort.
It took fifty-four years to finish and, once it was complete, a sharp-eyed guard could see half way to Merriton to the west and all the way to Brinard's Hold to the east. Brigands would never again be able to attack travelers on the Saber River and escape unnoticed. With their task complete, the twins, who were inseparable in life, died of old age within less than a week of one another. After seventy-five years, their prophecy had been fulfilled. Neither twin had any children to carry on the Stargazer name and the bloodline died with them, but Stargazer Fort, nonetheless, remains as a monumental legacy to their existence.
- Kitterwen, Chief Historian of Ignilly University |
