Captain Xilaskar

> "For the Glory and Honor of Torm!" -Cpt. Xilaskar
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### His name? Xilaskar.

There once was a woman named Coletta Vuthuvu. A rather petite woman with silky straight blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and a smile that made even the fiercest of warriors blush. She was truly the most beautiful woman in the Gaelon River Valley, all the eligible bachelors locally and in the surrounding villages heard of her beauty and traveled in attempts to take her hand in marriage. Visit after visit, attractive man after attractive man, dowry and dowry she declined the advances. She felt no attraction toward any man who sought her out, years passed and she was nearing the end of her child rearing days. Many types of suitors came to her, elves, dwarves, halflings, even a dragonborn, but all to no avail. She was now 27 and beginning to lose her appeal, men were coming less and less often but she did not care for the incessant attention, she was merely searching for love. She fell ill from a strange disease one fateful night; she was covered in hives and welches and threw up strange liquids multiple times a day. The town doctor did not know what it was that plagued her and wrote her off as likely to pass within a week or two. Her family felt terrible and did all they could reaching out to the closest towns trying to find a possible cure. Her mother, father, and two of her brothers all left to find a doctor willing to help. She was left home alone with her youngest brother Hom.

One day at the height of a great war between rivaling orc tribes, a legion of orcs traversed through Coletta's small village. They were seeking lodging through the night as the sun had begun to set and there was no shelter for another 40 kilometers. The town's oligarchy told the members of the town that it was in their best interest to allow the good orcish people into their homes. He was not specific in what the possible repercussions would be to those who opposed allowing them into their homes. The orcish soldiers filled up the inns, taverns, shops, and homes. The legion commander asserted his presence throughout the town. He was a quite burly, green skinned orc with two razor sharp tusks protruding from his lower lip. He was not the tallest nor the strongest orc, but anyone could tell he was a leader by the way he carried himself. He was making sure that each of his soldiers was well fed and well rested, he saw that one house had been untouched and nearly vacant. He inquired with the town oligarchy as to why his soldiers were forbidden from entering one of the largest residences of the town. They explained to him that an unknown sickness befell the resident of the home and the entire family had left in search of a cure. The commander took his leave from the town hall and took toward the house. Two thunderous knocks came from the door startling Hom and Coletta. Hom ran to the door and opened it with a timid, "Sir you c-cannot be here... my s-sister, she's very ill..." With no regard for the small boy before him, the legion commander pushed right past toward the room with a sleeping Coletta. "Just what I thought, Kallkuny disease is what is plaguing her. The only cure is a the Shakeelee flower. They only grow by the Eastern cliffs, it's a days travel from here." "Oh! Umm uhh but h-how can I get it?" Hom stammers whilst looking for ink and parchment. "Ha a child as small as you? Not a chance, you would need a large group of men to carry on the journey." The commander stepped closer to Coletta, he reached his hairy, grotesque hand toward Coletta's ungroomed hair and pushed it back, revealing her beautiful features. Even when fatally ill, her looks were unparalleled. The commander took a step back in shock, visibly stunned by her beauty. He paused for but a moment, then said, "I'm sorry boy, but it's unlikely your sister will survive. I must go." He began to head for the door when Hom grabbed onto his boot. "Please sir, don't let my sister die. Please, you must help. Our family can pay you please!" The commander stood in the doorway, back to the child and his gaze down at his feet. With eyes glued shut and lips puckered, he looked as if he were in a state of total zen. After a few moments more, he turned around. "I will make the journey and fetch the flower for your sister." Before Hom could say anything, the commander turned around and head toward his horse. He then rode off into the setting sun.

The sun shone through tan colored drapes along the sides of Coletta's bedroom, reflecting off a small mirror atop her nightstand. Coletta's crusty eyes began to open as she lifted a sea of wool off her once near lifeless body. Both arms reached behind her as she pushed with all her might to sit herself up in bed. Strength that was once missing had now returned. She reached out to the mirror on her nightstand and saw her reflection. What was once a pallid and tired face, was replaced by rosy cheeks, two bright and beautiful blue eyes, and what looked to be the beginning of a smile that had not been smiled in a long time. "She's awake!" she heard yelled from just outside her doorway. In what seemed like just a moment, Coletta's entire family had run into the room surrounding her bed. She was attacked with a volley of questions, praises, and embrace; it was as if she had just awoken from a long dream and was still trying to detect what was real and what was fantasy. "What happened? Am.. Am I still sick?" Her head shifted from person to person in search of an answer until Hom began to speak. Coletta, there was a man, he came into the house while everyone was out looking for a way to cure you, and he said that he knew how to cure you, and so he left to go get a cure, and he came back with a flower, and he made some strange juice, and he gave it to you while you were sleeping, and then he left, and and he didn't even ask for any money! Oh! And the craziest part, he was an Orc!" Coletta stared at Hom the way a deer looks at a wary traveler. "He was in here?... I remember the touch of a hand so warm and so soothing... but.. I can't remember if it was real, or just a dream... What was his name Hom?" Hom stood for a moment then realized all of a sudden, "Oh! His name was Commander Xilaskar!"