Lord Soth
Born Loren Soth on the 22nd of Last Tempests in the year 11.346 E.S., Loren was born in a high born family from Keltasta. Originally from the land of Solamniry, many generations of Soths had been loyal knights of the Solamnic order. It was actually an ancestor of Loren that was involved in the foundation of the Order of the Gauntlet some 1200 years earlier. It should not come as a surprise to anyone then that Loren was raised from a young age to follow in the footsteps of his forefathers and become a knight of the order.
When the young knight Loren was only 20 years old he had already gained such reputation and glory that he started appearing in the history books. For decades he fought many glorious battles against evil and foul monsters and protected the innocence and honor of the people of Colonia. All this renown granted him the blessing of the father of his young girlfriend Galadria Korinth to take her hand in marriage when he was 43 years old. He was granted the rule over the Dark Island, at this time still known as the Silver Island.
The retirement of Lord Soth started off real well. He and his young wife were very happy together and their lands were truly lovely and fertile. Not for nothing the nearby city had gained the name Greenvale. Soon however, the lord started to miss the excitement and glory of adventure and he started to become restless.
When finally Lord Soth had a reason to travel the roads again with his loyal companions, he came upon a group of elves attacked by Orcs. Soth and his knights quickly killed the Orcs, his companions chasing the remaining Orcs into the surrounding woods, as Soth turned his attention to the clerical maiden that headed the group of elves, named Isolda Denitha. He was stricken by her amazing beauty and took her to his castle to have her healed by his own personal healer.
Before long Lord Soth was cheating on his wife with the beautiful elven maiden he had fallen for, even after his wife became pregnant with their son. Only a month before his wife would give birth to his first son, the elven maiden became pregnant too. Due to some curse of magic or the gods his first son became born malformed, enraging the proud Lord Soth. Surely it would not stand to have the next in line of the royal Soth line be a freak. Lord Soth blamed his wife for the state of their son, and in his rage killed both her and their son.
Immediately after the expected six month period of mourning, Lord Soth married a second time, this time to the elven maiden Isolda, noticeably pregnant at the time. When some time later his second son was born he proudly named him after his famous ancestor that was instrumental in the founding of the Order of the Gauntlet Parnath Soth II. The joy Lord Soth gained at having a beautiful and healthy son from his lovely wife does not stay for long however.
Only about a month after the birth of his son, Lord Soth is summoned to Neverwinter where he is charged with the murder of his first wife. None other than his personal healer has been brought forth to testify against him under the influence of a zone of truth. Lord Soth is found quilty and sentenced to death. On the way from the court to the prison however, Lord Soth is freed by his loyal knights, and together they gallop to the ship that will take them back to the island.
Unable to defeat Lord Soth safely defended behind his keep's walls, guarded by his loyal knights, the Neverwinter soldiers lay siege around the keep. Trapped in his castle Lord Soth quickly turns downcast and depressed. Isolda, worrying about her husband, prays for help to Pelor. Pelor is willing to help only if the Lord will atone for his sins by travelling to Lavantonon to stop the emperor from calling upon the denizens of the Nine Hells to aid him in the Great War. Pelor will guide him safely past the siege on his castle to succeed in this mission, but he will surely fall after the completion, albeit cleansed of his sins and his honor restored.
Lord Soth agrees to the mission and sets of for Lavantonon. However, along the Triboar Trail he runs into the elven ladies that originally escorted his new wife Isolda when he first met her. They use their wiles and deceit to convince the lord that his wife Isolda has been cheating on him and that he is not the real father of her son. Tricked by the treacherous women Lord Soth burns with wrath and cleaves through these women with his sword, leaving none alive. Next he charges back to Dargaard Keep and finds his wife standing with their son in her arms as he confronts her with the lies that were whispered to him.
At this point a tremendous earthquake shakes the entirety of Colonia, as the emperor in Lavantonon has opened a portal to the Nine Hells and a prince of Hell breaks through to the Prime Material plane. Torches crash from their sconces, stone crumble from the walls, oil lamps are knocked over and support beams crack and break and fall from the ceiling. Isolda's body is crushed beneath one of those heavy oaken beams and dying from internal bleeding she begs Lord Soth to take their son to safety, as flames creep up the walls of the keep.
Still incensed Lord Soth stubbornly refuses to help either his wife, nor their son, and turns his back on them furiously. With her last breath as the burning oil envelops her and the oak beam in flames, she curses Lord Soth to pay for all the lives lost due to all his failures, by living their pain and suffering one life at a time. Lord Soth still raging and throwing over tables, chests and cupboards, only adding more fuel to the already rapidly expanding fire, soon finds himself surrounded and unable to flee. As the fire rages out of control and the entire keep blazes in deadly heat, all the servants and knights of his household die along with Lord Soth and his family, and the glorious line of Soths is ended.
After the fire has died down and the smoke has been blown away on the winds, from under the rubble and ashes the burned and charred Lord Soth rises again. As his dry and brittle skin breaks away from his white bones with eternal horrifying pain, the unlife that has taken hold of him blazes in orange flame from his empty eye sockets. Next his loyal followers all rise up after him, bound to follow him eternally as his servants and knights. From over the blackened hills and fields around the keep some ethereal female forms come floating in. They are the condemned souls of the elven women that deceived Lord Soth, now turned into banshees, forced to lament and wail for ever over all the misery that ended the line of Soth.
Lord Soth now travels the world always cold, always in pain and hating all that is alive. No one has yet found a way to destroy him once and for all, even if capable of besting him in the first place. Many decades of military and knightly training had made him a dangerous foe to begin with. No longer being alive and infused with necromantic power has made him even more powerful in his present state. Anyone may tell you there is only one way to deal with Lord Soth. Don't ever come close to him, and if you see him none the less, run away. Still, there remains something of his knightly code of honor and he will not fight dishonorably or unfairly.
Comments