Continued from S3: Rynard Adae, the red rogue of Raschil. “Your attention!” Roland stood in the great hall before the feasting group of warriors. “Your attention please! You all know the task that lies before us. We must venture where few men would dare… into the Marshes of the Mist… seek out what evil stirs there… and end it!” He paused and surveyed the assembly of mercenaries and adventurers who would risk their lives for his gold. “We’ll take the day tomorrow to prepare, and leave at first light on the following morning. So tonight… feast and enjoy!” His last comment drew a roar of approval from the crowd, but Rynard leaned toward Syn and added sarcastically; “For the day after tomorrow we all die!” The Melnibonean glared back at him disapprovingly, so he corrected himself; “Okay… The day after tomorrow we may all die!” Then he noticed Roland standing behind them. “May I have a word with you, lord Syn,” the Shazaarian knight asked in a formal tone, then turned and walked off with out waiting for a reply. Syn and Rynard both rose and followed him from the great hall, with Blade falling in behind them. They found Roland waiting in the library, which would have done justice to a university. “There is something more to tell of what faces us in the Marshes,” he confessed. “I’m not trying to hide it from the others… But they are only warriors. Brave men to be sure,” he added with a nod toward the uninvited Dharjiorian swordswoman. “But they wouldn’t care about what is behind all of this, only that they get rewarded in fair measure for their risk.” Then he turned his attention toward Syn. “A week before the disappearances began a woman arrived… A half-Melnibonean, who claimed to be a scholar doing research for the house that once ruled this area for the Ruby Throne, she called herself Ny’essa, and said that she had heard in Aflitain that our library held histories and records from before the founding of Shazaar. She asked to use them, and I saw no reason to deny her.” Then his head sank in regret, as if he was about to confess to some terrible crime… To be continued on S3: Ny'essa, of the cathedral of Chaos. A nobleman and lord-protector of a region that fronts the Marshes of the Mists, Roland stood as a shining example of Shazaarian knighthood. True, steady and loyal, he lived to serve those under his protection, and the crown, in that order. But Roland’s virtues lead to tragedy for the people he swore to protect, when his younger brother, Orlan, tried to escape his shadow and awoke an evil that lie imprisoned in the Marshes for thousands of years. Leading a band of mercenaries and adventurers into the Marshes of the Mist to end a series of unexplained disappearance, and find his brother, who had ventured there with a half-Melnibonean sorceress, Roland survived the adventure. But, the loss of his brother, and the realization that it was his impossible standards that drove Orlan to such foolhardiness, left him a broken man. The continuation of the storyline I started on my three Stormbringer player character images. Thanks for looking... Hope you enjoy! Comments and suggestions always welcome and appreciated!