The Tale of Grim HafDal

Tale of the Demon King

Grim HafDal XI reigned for less than twelve years, the last Tharian king this side of Ironwood Lake. His ghost is all that remains, save for the legends that persist to this day of the demons his magic called forth.

Beware the watcher in the ruins
dancing among the crumbling stone
For hidden dangers befall the man
who dares dance among the graves of Grim

— Song for Grim's Boneyard

Overview

History

The old king spent the last years on his throne a waste of a human. No one remained of the Cortair line save a bastard half-cousin. Tharia had split during King HafDal IVs time in 3420. The only thing that remained of old Tharia was the land surrounding the castle for two miles.
Grim takes the throne after Hafdal X dies, and styles himself as HafDal XI. He's younger than the last two kings, and for a time there's hope that, despite his nickname, he will bring new blood to the kingdom. Grim's Court was tiresome, boring, and dark and soon enough the hangers-on drifted away to join the proper court near Ravenfort.
Alone, save for the few who stayed to drink his booze and hunt his deer, Grim walked the castle in search of the glory of old. He found ancient texts and travelled deep into the dungeons and dug deep into the earth. He found something deep in the castle, found power, and used it to fix his kingdom.
Soon the castle was alive with parties, drinking and fun once more. Grim sat his throne and entertained. For a time it was what he wanted. But the years passed and he desired more. The power gnawed at him and he needed more to keep his kingdom growing.
He found more texts that offered more power. But they required a small sacrifice. So he used travellers to his castle and dragged them down the steps to the dungeons. And there he killed them and spilt their blood into the pit and fed the magic. The village that surrounded the keep fled and abandoned their homes and Grim to whatever had taken hold of him.
Without people to keep the magic working, grim fell to the pull of the magic. He dug deeper trying to syphon as much as he could from the ground and used the bones from the victims to craft a new and dark throne. Thunderstorms were common those days and during a night of very bad storms lightning struck the castle. The lightning arched off the wet stone and found ground through the metal and bone throne igniting the magic.
Grim felt the magic change him, as lightning arched about in his heart he could feel the castle and the evil beneath it seek him out. He could hear a presence inside the castle and became aware of the evil he fed. Part of him not afflicted by the magic rebelled against the demon one last time.

Death

Grim knew what the demon would do if left unchallenged. He took hold of his swords and crawled his way over to the edge of the yawning maw he had opened. There, with the last bit of himself that he held onto, he used the very magic the demon gave him to bind them to stones of the castle.
A contingent of Loraisan forces besieged the castle. News of Grim's depravity had spread and they dispatched to deal with the murderous king. They arrived as the magic took over Grim's form and split him asunder. Stones and vines grew into Grim's skin but not fast enough to close to the way he'd unwittingly opened.
The Loraisans watched paralyzed in fear until one heard Grim under the caocophany of demonic screams. He ran toward the king and with all his strength took up the sword Grim carried now made of the very stone of the castle and plunged it into Grim's chest.
The magic exploded and threw the captain back, but the curse took shape and creatures became stuck and made of stone once more.
With the death of the king, the castle crumbled around them. The Loraisans fled as the keep fell apart and told no one of what they saw.

Legend

For many years Grim was forgotten, not even a bedtime story for those who sought power. But rumours spread of something in the ruins where the castle once stood. No matter the storms that beset the area, the castle grounds lay undisturbed. Wildlife avoided it, beast no longer travelled there, and wolves never hunted among the stones. Nothing grows atop the ruins save for thorny vines. A foulness sunk into the bones of the old castle and many who'd been alive when Grim had reigned were long dead. But something survived. A whisper, a rumour, and soon bedtime stories circulated of beware of the Grim man who haunts the old ruins. Dressed in the style of a king he's not what he appears to be.
It's said the old king is trapped, his spirit haunts the castle grounds reliving his glory days and killing those unwary enough to stay near the castle when night falls.
Other stories speak of a dread king who stalks the night. You know it's him by the sound of his swords as they scrape against stone. He steals children to feed his castle and the demons who dwell within.
In recent years the bardic troupes have put on plays and sung songs of an ancient king who dug too deep and was born of a witches pact with a demon. Grim still haunts the old ruins and many a traveller would do well to avoid him.
For all the stories very few have come close to the truth. Many who witnessed the death of old Grim refused to speak of it. It wasn't until the young captain, an Eltus named Afairien, in his waning years took to sitting in a tavern of an evening, drinking away the nightmares of that night.
Lost in the drink as he was, he spoke of that night, excising the demons and terror that haunted his memories until the stories were all that remained.

Remembrance

Grim is remembered on dark nights when lightning and storms rage. When the sounds outside your window speak of creatures foul upon the air. The king is remembered in the plays that speak his name and the ruins that yet remain. His body is still there, made of stone and vines, bound to the very grounds of the keep. Those who have tried to climb and stay within the castle, have found his corpse and believe it's a statue in remembrance of his cruel deeds. Never knowing it's not a statue, but Grim himself forever trapped within the stone, still alive, the demons feasting on the dregs of his soul and the magic he usurped from them.
He's become a cautionary tale, the grounds of his ancestral home considered haunted and left to rot.
Children speak his name in hushed tones and use him to prank each other.
His kingship is forgotten, his name a nursery rhyme. Grim is known for a boneyard, an old ghost, a children's bedtime story to keep young ones in bed after the moons have risen.

Date of First Recording

4165

Date of Setting

3866

Related Ethnicities

• Humans

Related Locations

• Grim's Boneyard