The Violinist and the Horde

"There he was, stood- hawk-like, above the rush- as calm as if he were against a mere morning breeze. Battered violin by his side- then to his cheek, its strings tuned tight and bow in hand- the melody begins above the roar..."

In days now long past to the crooked hands of legend, there was a great stampede of giant boar across the Kataraki Country's northern-most reaches. The crashing footfalls sent tremors through the earth, which groaned under the sheer weight of the onslaught, and hundreds were sent running from their camps and farmsteads. Soon it became clear that the Ogres of the mountains to the west were whipping the boar into a frenzy. As hordes of crazed beasts cascaded down the rivers banks- through villages, quarries and fields of crops, there stood a lonely mage on an outcrop of rock above the wild mass- violin in hand. The Ogres were intent on raiding the large farms that has become too populated for them to pick off themselves, so they, and a handful of exiled Rhös had gone about torching the grazing-grounds for the boar, and then loosely guided the herds towards the settlements. The Mage himself was the apprentice of the recently killed Halath III, Claw of the North Reach. It had been the duty of the two to police the Ogres and Rhös of the region, but a year earlier Halath had been killed in a stampede when he was trapped in a gorge. The news reached his apprentice, and with that he took up the mantle- becoming Halath IV, Claw of the North Reach.