Raylan

## "The Butcher"

Raylan never had a good and happy life. He lived alone with his father who abused him up until the day Raylan killed him. That was but the beginning of his strange and twisted life. Raylan was a psychopath and a sadist. He lived for the pitiful screams of his victims as they begged for their worthless lives.

Beneath the mania and the bloodlust, however, was a sad and lonely soul. I will never say you should feel bad for Raylan, he was a monster, but deep down all he ever wanted was to be loved. He tried to make friends, but in the end they would always betray him. At least he had Teresana...

He lived for Teresana and would have done anything for her. He even sold his soul to the demon Corioleus simply because she asked. He felt that if anyone could understand him it was her. He loved her, be it romantically or as his only friend, it never really mattered. She was the last little spark of humanity left in him. She was his happiness...Teresana, however, never cared about Raylan. He was a useful tool and nothing more...

Raylan, his heart broken and his soul crushed went to Castle Zann so he could finally die. He goaded the half-orc 'Nock into attacking him and it was by his hands that Raylan was felled.

## Diary

On our way to Knifesbridge we found a wagon that had been assaulted by some creature, turns out it was a Fomorian. While investigating the wagon a creature of many faces, pendulous tits, and two long, clawed arms, that it used to walk, accosted us. This creature emits an aura of fear and seems to become more resilient to damage derived from familiar sources, like hitting it too much with a sword will stop hurting the stupid thing. We only managed to scare it away when Jorg accidentally summoned a blue dragon out of his kidnapping sack. The dragon flew away, but it might still linger in that area. Also the Tit Monster bleeds black blood. We didn't really explore the woods at all, but it does seem to live up to its name. In the wagon there was a keg of what seemed like beer. When our resident college student, Alice, drank from it she tripped balls. Among other things she heard angry, vengeful voices coming from the direction of the woods. We can also confirm that the bandits are located somewhere within the Ghostwood. Knifesbridge is known for its lumber and beer trade. The mayor, King Cole, hires mercenaries on a regular basis to solve problems that his guards wouldn't be suited for. The mercenaries he hires hang out at the Black Dragon, a local pub. King Cole frequents the Wellington, a prissy bar with a dress code; they wouldn’t even let Krampus in...idiots. It is illegal to drink outside brew in Knifesbridge, idiots! Also there is a theater where angsty teenage girls like to hang out, including the mayor's daughter Teresana.

-Raylan

Teresana's "boyfriend" hired bodyguards for her after the riots a week ago. Asking around revealed that those bodyguards were Fomorians. Fomorians are large, about 8ft tall I believe, humanoid mutants who primarily live underground. They are very strong, but they aren't mindless, they do have a social hierarchy, a king and queen or something stupid like that. Turns out they also use poisoned weapons! A single wound can cause paralysis. These particular Fomorians claimed to be working for King Cole, not Teresana's boyfriend. They claimed that the King knew stuff and that if we knew they might serve us. Corbin Grey is a Witch Hunter of the Imperial Church of the Gods of Law. He came from the mainland and is investigating the rumors regarding witches in the Knifesbridge area. He went to the school of Mournhaven, a mage college, to the north of Knifesbridge to inquire as to the supposed witches. He ordered the school be shut down until his investigation was completed. Alice, the witch, flew her broom up to Mournhaven to ask the sister of the sheriff of Knifesbridge if she knew where her brother was. The druid, Dunstan decided to accompany her due to my supposed mental imbalance. Once there Alice found out about Corbin and tricked him into accompanying her out of Mournhaven so she could force a charm potion down his throat and make him her's. Unfortunately things did not go as smoothly as she expected and when Corbin realized Alice was a witch he sprung into action. He killed Alice on the road between Mournhaven and Knifesbridge. Dunstan tried to kill Corbin, but when it became obvious that he wasn't strong enough to do so he fled. I made my way to the Knife Grinder, a dockside bar where I was told Teresana was. She was hanging out with her "boyfriend" and her two Fomorian bodyguards. Old Man, a dwarf bard, accompanied me there partly to keep me, relatively, calm and partly to help complete the mission at hand. I mouthed off to Teresana's "boyfriend" who, as a result, ordered the Fomorians to take me outside and get rid of me. I wasn't about to back down and neither were the Fomorians, so the battle ensued. I managed to kill the first, bigger Fomorian quickly, but not before his poison took hold and paralyzed me. Poison is stupid. Had it not been for Old Man's courageous display to buy me time to overcome the poison I would have surely died. Thankfully, at the last moment, as the last Fomorian was about to batter my brains in, I managed to land the killing blow. Alice is dead, Dunstan fucked off to safety, Old Man and I were forced to flee Knifesbridge without Teresana.  Failed!  I will be returning here at some point to finish what I started...hopefully.

-Raylan

We ran into a bunch of Carnies on Blue Dragon Road. They tried to put on a show for us which Dax, the Paladin, was pretty interested in. When I tried to walk away the carnies held our hirling hostage. I tried to talk our way out of a fight, but unfortunately one of the carnies had beef with me and insisted on fighting. Dax and I murdered most of them, turns out they employ satyrs. The leader and two satyrs managed to escape the bloodbath. Upon further inspection it turned out that the troupe was really famous, the Troup du Satyr. The troupe and the satyrs come from a valley to the south east; fun fact: Satyr's HATE werewolves! After we handled them we stole their caravan which came with a great number of clown outfits. This helped me get into Knifesbridge. We went to the Knife Grinder to ask where Willis lives, the "boyfriend". Dax tried to order the information out of them and it resulted in a brawl. We killed a bunch of the thugs and managed to get Willis's address out of him, a house on Harlowe Street. Before leaving an old woman yelled at me and told me this was her bar and she wanted me out of Knifesbridge, she gave me 24 hours...fuck that, I'll be back...unfortunately. We went to the street the thug told us about and found the house that had to be where Willis was. Dax attacked the front of the house while I went for the back door. Unfortunately Willis was able to avoid me with Teresana in toe and fled the scene before we even entered the building. Dax managed to kill pretty much everyone in the building and found a huge stash of drugs. A strange black leaf substance in crates with labels from Melek Farm. Meanwhile I was in the basement because I heard Teresana calling...turns out that was some sort of spirit fucking with me...I burned the building down before we left. I guess I'll be returning to Knifesbridge at least one more time...

-Raylan

Polliver, the, the halfling not-thief, hired two simple folk to help us fight...things. Ruriath, the elf...pacifist wizard, hired some ex-cleric of the God's of Law to help us kill ghosts. We murdered the ex-cleric immediately because he was a liar, he couldn't make holy water, Polliver got to do the honors. Then these three ghost monk...brothers appeared. They told us to leave, but then came to kill us anyway. I don't like ghosts, I can't kill them, I can't, I can't, I can't...thankfully we had Dax, his piety made them flee; not before they ripped out the soul of that charlatan though, serves him right. After that we, we made our way to the tower where that FUCK Willis was supposed to be. We ran into some gross looking white wolves on our way there. They never made any noise and seemed to be able to give you some...disease. Oh, also they were made from demon magic, or something. Anyway, after Old Man poisoned himself with the stuff Polliver trusted him with we attacked the wolves. I killed two of them, it was easy, the other took out the third, but the fourth got away. We spotted an Ogre that entered this barn that was built into the tower, it seemed to serve as a front door. Polliver did some scouting, but got spotted and the Ogre charged us. I hit him real good, really, really good, but then he hit me. It didn't seem to hurt all that much, but then I saw that my arm was knocked out of its socket and my machete was thrown a few feet from me. Polliver put an arrow in the Ogre's brain before he could swing at me again, Polliver is pretty good at murder, I like that about him. After Polliver bandaged me, Ruriath gave me a health potion to fix my arm and we looted the Ogre. I took his teeth, Dax took his dick. We entered the tower and made our way a bit slowly around, Polliver wanted to be cautious. Eventually Old Man spoke up and said we were being too slow and he was right! If Teresana was in trouble we needed to hurry so me and him hurried to the basement to look for her. Once down there we didn't know whether to keep exploring or to turn back. "W" in the tower could have been a reference to the "Witch King" who used to own the tower. Old Man remembered one of his old stories about three monk brothers who used to live there, then witches, and the Witch King...blah, blah, blah. I almost did turn back, but I heard a woman scream coming from behind a crack in the wall just big enough for me to squeeze threw. When I got to the other side I saw Teresana, my angel, stab Willis while some...spirit snapped his neck. I don't think I've ever felt happier than in that moment. I talked with her a bit, she had this really cool magic book now, and she was so pretty...Dax knocked the cracked wall down and I ran off with Teresana when we heard footsteps. The others followed after they saw really big, grey people come down the hallway...Fomorians probably. Once out of the tower I asked Teresana to come with me. I was going to help her run away...she didn't want to come with me, in fact,she...didn't want anything to do with me. After making some green ghost woman swirl around me from her book, she walked off back to Knifesbridge with Polliver, Ruriath, and Old Man to go claim their reward. I left with Dax after he said some...things about...stuff. I don't remember much of that moment, I was in a daze. I think he wants me to join some murder cult or something...that might make me feel better.

-Raylan

Polliver hired Gieter and Umlaut to assist us with the tower. Ruriath teleported us to right outside the tower via a corridor of darkness. Raylan and Ruriath were informed that the Witch King and his witches are servants of Corioleus. We sat in the barn attached to the tower for about an hour so Ruriath could prepare his spells. In that time we were attacked by 5 plague puppies. We made quick work of them, although our paladin, Henry, did get a bit banged up. After that we entered the tower proper and ran into two ghosts. They were huddling over their own dead bodies unaware of their condition, plague puppies got 'em. They wouldn't speak to us, maybe couldn't see or hear us, but the shaman was able to communicate with them. Our shaman tried to get them to accept that they were dead...they didn't like that and kicked up a bit of wind and horrible stench as they ran away. The paladin and shaman contracted the plague. We entered the room where Willis died quite some time ago. The shaman spotted a spirit in the corner of the room. Her name is Larissa and it seems that Teresana's book is this ghost's diary. Larissa is a servant of Corioleus, so most likely a witch. She told the shaman that if we could deal with Norine, another spirit of the tower, she'd help us out. Norine is most likely another witch and therefore a servant of Corioleus. Further in the tower we spotted lantern light so Polliver went to investigate. He found Calgodaro, his men, and the Black Hole Wizard playing cards. Polliver devised a plan to murder them and we set about doing just that. Polliver poisoned the wizard and Calgodaro and put them to sleep, but as he did Fomorians came out of a crack in the wall. The bandit goons gave chase and Ruriath put them to sleep. The Fomorians understand poison so they woke up Calgodaro and the wizard before giving chase. Umlaut got paralyzed and I killed one of the giants after Corioleus made him kill his friend. The wizard fired a black hole into the corridor where I stood, I avoided it, but it killed the sleeping bandits...and the paralyzed Umlaut. Ruriath dispelled the black hole which allowed me to rush in to take care of the wizard. I struck at the wizard, but he managed to fire off a bolt of energy which burned Gieter to a crisp. Polliver got the finishing blow on the wizard so I went after Calgodaro. We were both nearly dead when Polliver took his shot, stealing yet another of my kills. We looted the room as I took Calgodaro's face. We left the tower shortly after. Gieter and Umlaut, Rest in Peace, Never Forget...

-Raylan

We were forced to surrender our weapons at the gate to enter Knifesbridge. As we made our way to Harlow House, where Teresana meant for me to meet her, we saw a great many Templars policing the streets. Teresana told me that she made a deal with someone for power and wanted me to make the deal as well. I agreed immediately and she proceeded to cut open my hand and told me to repeat some phrase as I bled into her book. My supposed friends with me tried to stop Teresana, but I wouldn't allow it. She did complete her ritual and a demon entered my body. The demon's name is Corioleus. I managed to talk him into letting me take control for a bit, he was putting too many people off.  I went with Teresana to her home where, after I choked her father to unconsciousness, we sat and spoke about our future plans together...I've never been happier than I was in that moment. Unfortunately my "friends" had to ruin it. They arrived with Corbin Grey and an assortment of templars. I wasn't surprised really, but I figured Old Man would have stood up for me at least...The battle didn't last long, when it's fifteen against one, that tends to be the case. Corbin drove his sword through my spine and my world went black.: I spoke with Corioleus in a black void. He told me that he could train me, teach me to be better, more controlled, more efficient, but he demanded that I find him another host. He was disappointed in my abilities and no longer wants to live inside me. He told me that Teresana was still alive, but she was in the hands of Corbin Grey and his templars. I agreed to his deal. When I awoke I saw Corbin reading Teresana's book, page by page, as if mesmerized. I took that opportunity to escape.

-Raylan

Polliver spent two hundred coins total to hire Gieter, Umlaut, and Louise, most useful hireling. Some super nice party members lent me money so I can buy some gear...because Corbin took all my shit, fuck that guy. We stopped by the Monster Market in the Ghost Wood to do some window shopping. We met a bunch of cool ass people, like a zombie woman, a horrifying face-wolf, dog-friends who hunt fairies, and a purple, alien time traveler who trades genitals for memories. After looking around and talking to the memory-dick salesman for a bit we journeyed onward toward our destination. We made careful progress up the mountain following Malkith's lead. He quickly spotted the lost parties tracks and warned us of a possible ambush. He, unfortunately, fell prey to said ambush, but, thankfully, was not slain. We were attacked by gargoyles, winged creatures of stone, with poisoned fangs and fire breath. On top of that we ran into an owl-bear...with Ruriath's head attached to its chest...that could turn invisible. We slew the Ruriath-bear with ease and the gargoyles decided to fuck off for a bit. Once past the Ruriath-bear we were a short distance from a manor house with an "M" affixed to the front of it. We attempted to storm the manor, but were rebuffed by 12 slimy, armored, goblin...things. They threw big metal spears, hit like trucks, and seemed to be fairly intelligent (using tools and what not). We decided it was best to run like hell...so we did. 'Nock was nearly murdered in the attempt and Dr. Krayvar was murdered in the attempt. Luckily(?) for him the mad-scientist woman, Maggie Marlanspike, didn't mutate him and instead decided to employ him. We didn't run into any half-poney, half-monkey monsters, so that was a bit dissapointing...but probably a good thing. Ruriath awoke in field with hazy memories of his time as a bear-thing. He met a fairly fanciful man in this field reading a black book and holding some sort of invisible chain that was affixed to Ruriath in some fashion. The man offered Ruriath the book and when he took it he awoke, naked, in the Ghost Wood. Ruriath is now an Infernalist bound to Corioleus...you're welcome! Mission Accomplished! The rest of the captured party are...alive?. Jorg is now the Jorgipede, Galliver is now Frogiver, and Austri is a...Burning Ankh-Zombie. The only way I know to save them is to kill them, but whether the death is enough to revert the change is unknown...you might need to make a pact with Corioleus. It's also possible that the mad scientist woman can revert the changes...but she's scary and evil, so...yeah.

-Raylan

I made my way back to Skull Mountain with Dominus, Verite, Dendi, and a dwarf named Blucre to rescue a dwarf cleric of...Svarthum or whatever. We were attacked in our sleep one night by a bunch of color coated morons with a catapult, it seems Bluchre betrayed us. We fought them for a bit and Dominus almost died, maybe dragons aren't as cool as I thought. Anyway, Bluchre burned to death and we ran off towards the mountain. Once at Skull Mountain Verite teleported us to Marlanspike's front gate and we had some words. She traded us the cleric, Austri, and the few other captured idiots in exchange for our promise to get her bits and pieces of powerful monsters. She took Dominus as collateral. For any of you adventuring sorts, if your short on food try to get your hands on a satyr. They taste great, I highly recommend them!

-Raylan

Austri, Ruriath, Chuck, and I went out looking for monsters to kill so we could collect their bits and trade them to Marlanspike for Dominus. We found out this was easier said than done when Chuck picked up the scent of a dragon that we all agreed we should kill. Unfortunately when we arrived at our destination all we found was a big stupid bear. We decided to use the bear carcass as dragon bait and wait out in its cave. Instead of attracting a dragon all we got was a man, a woman, and a dog. Turns out the dog wasn't really a dog though, it was a druid chick who looked like she wanted to kill me...which was kind of hot, I guess. We spoke with them for a bit, turns out they are part of a coven of witches or something that didn't want strangers hanging out in their mountains. Esmerelda, the hot druid, told us where we could find a monster in a temple down near the river. So I told them that I might be back to hang out and we went to the temple. The temple was old and had these gross Fomorian statues outside it. We went inside and looked around a bit and found another statue and a fountain, but then the doors shut and Fomorians started throwing statue debris against the doors to trap us in. Before we could do anything about that we were attacked by two giant, flying snakes that spat acid gas. We fought them for a bit, Chuck and Austri jumped into a hole beneath the fountain into a cave, Ruriath teleported away, and I passed out. When I woke up I was with Chuck and Austri, lost down in the cave. Turns out the snakes weren't real, we were just breathing a poison gas that made us see stuff. We walked around in the caves for a bit and found an old coffin. Inside was a talking skull that I named Yorick and we became best friends.Austri didn't think Yorick was real, but I knew better, the gas was clearly messing with her head. Anyway, we kept walking a found an old throne with a big egg made of gems and stuff. Chuck grabbed it which made this big shadowy thing climb out of the ground and attack us. Chuck managed to disarm it which made it disappear; it was only an illusion...stupid gas. After that we ran into Ruriath, he teleported back to help me...and the others, maybe, but mostly me. We followed Austri's lead at that point, apparently Svarthum, or whoever was helping her find the exit. Eventually we ran into a big zombie-alligator thing that bit me and gave me some disease before we scared it off...but then heavy gas filled the room and we couldn't see much of anything. I heard Austri screaming about something with Snakes for Eyes and then Chuck screamed...Chuck sounded closer so I went to help him. Chuck was on the floor foaming at the mouth and babbling about demons with a weird looking, old book beside him. I took the book before seeing to Chuck; hopefully, Teresana will like this book even better than that other one. Shortly, after grabbing the book there was this magical surge and I was back in Xallevyrx all by myself...Ruriath must have gotten us out of there somehow, what a cool guy. Anyway, now that I have a magic thing, thanks to Austri, I can complete my Ritual and finally save Teresana!

- Raylan

I Finally Did It! It's taken me a very, very long time, but I finally rescued Teresana. I did my magical ritual and summoned her to Xallevyrx and she was SO happy about that. I mean she was still her angry self, I would be too and that's why I love her, she just gets me, ya'know?! I also had a gift for her and I think she really likes it. It's a new book and she's been reading it a LOT since I gave it to her. Anyway, we went on our first date! I took her on a walk north with Chuck, some weird dumb guy, and a loud sales bull. I don't remember the other two all that well, because they were dumb and ran off in the wrong direction. Enough about them! I wanted to take Teresana to Chrysophasia which is some kingdom to the north. Teresana mentioned seeing castles once, so I figured they'd have some, plus I thought it would be kinda romantic to see new things together. Unfortunately we never got to Chrysophasia. Instead we saw a giant floating head thing and got chased by some weird gas and shadow things up in the mountains at the Valley of the Killing Fear. Chuck, Teresana, and I stuck together and wound up in some forest. We found a fort and got attacked by these weird masked things that were full of acid. After getting Teresana and me matching masks we had to start heading back. We'll get to Chrysophasia next time! Also, I think my cough is getting worse, I should really get it checked out...

- Raylan

I took Teresana to the City of Pit so she could meet Dormir, or Verite, or whatever the hell he...she's calling him...herself now. Dominus was there too and some other weirdo named Garret. Anyway, Dormir told us a guy named Gustave was coming and she wanted to teach him a lesson...a violent lesson. So we waited for them to show up and when they did we attacked. Garret didn't help much and wound up dead. Dominus died too, but I knew that would happen; he's not a very good dragon. Anyway, Dormir and I managed to kill Gustave and his ten knights and it was amazing! Dormir was nearly dead and I was a bit banged up, but I got to show off in front of Teresana, so it was all worth it! Oh and Garret became an Infernalist and so did Gustave and his men. Dominus got better too, but he wasn't an Infernalist. Eh, who needs him; he's a shitty dragon!...Oh yeah, and Dormir found out Duke Calloman's thousand man army are Corioleus' mind slaves! How great is that?!

-Raylan

I took Teresana out to meet Austri, ya'know that priest of Svarthum, or whatever. With her was this goblin guy named Grovel who rode a cool spider and a wizard kid named Baron Punchy who wasn't a baron and wasn't very strong, but he had a cute dog. Anyway, Austri wanted to go to the Monster Market so she could get a new hammer, so I tagged along hoping to buy Teresana something nice. On the way we stopped at a farm house to avoid the weird blight stuff. We met a guy named Arture and his stupid family who let us sleep on his land. While the others ate and stuff Teresana and I ran off to find a magic fey circle. We found it and I helped Teresana do some magic to clean it up and then we tried to summon fairies and turn them into demons. Unfortunately it didn't work and Teresana almost got pulled into the fey world. It wasn't her fault, she's a good witch! It was my fault, I didn't say the right things and I nearly lost her again...I'm SO STUPID! It's okay though because Corioleus fixed it and sent that dog fucker Carl to the fey land instead. After that we got to the Monster Market and I went to look for a nice gift. While I was doing that, Austri snuck up behind me and put this big bug on my head that tried to eat me or something! I killed it and attacked Austri. I would have killed her too if Corioleus didn't tell me not to. Something about Svarthum being mad about it or something...Whatever! I'll get her some day, once Svarthum doesn't care about her anymore.

P.S. I did get Teresana a gift! It was a singing plant and she thought it was neat! I win!

P.P.S. I heard the name Starthorn when we opened the fey portal. It's a stupid name, but I think it's royal or something.

-Raylan

I took Teresana on a date to this really nice inn...I told her that I had to go kill 'Nock and I wanted to know how she really felt about me...in case I didn't make it back. She...she doesn't care about me, she never did...I went to Castle Zann, but not to kill 'Nock. I went there so he would kill me. Verite went off to do her own thing when we got there, Nozin, Ruriath, and I went to the church. I talked to 'Nock, asked him about his god, he said his god probably likes me...ha! I told him why I was there, I challenged him, goaded him into attacking me...and he did. I don't remember much, but I do remember him holding me by the throat, his sword through my gut. My world went black... I woke in a field under a grey sky as I was dragged towards a gate with Corioleus sat in front of it. Before he could speak a burning white light cascaded down and trapped him. He clawed at the light, tried to reach for me, screamed words that never came. His skin melted, became red, his eyes boiled and became black pits...Then the light blinded me and I was home...with my dad... It was the day I killed him and I would have done it again, but something was different. I heard shouting, smelled death. I saw a tower in a large open field, some people fighting a cloaked figure with porcelain skin; it held a man covered in blood, clothes torn apart...it was going to kill him. Eggert, one of the priests that Corioleus wanted me to kill, stepped out of the bushes and he told me that God was giving me a choice, I could carry on, kill my father, stay on this path...or...I could do something good and sacrifice myself to save another. My father wasn't worth it...he was never worth it...I did something good, I sacrificed myself, trading places with the man and the cloaked figure killed me instead. I stood, dressed as the other man in a sea of white light. There was a golden gate in the distance and a blinding light in the sky. Seven angels flew down from the light and took me away...

-Raylan

## Eulogy for "The Butcher"

"Shoulda had better taste in women." - Ruriath Reontha'ar

"Raylan, I've never met him. But i heard he was horrible. I've also hears that he was in league with that bastard so serves him right." - Cacame

"Mean mother fucker who was a little misguided." - Dyre Danes

"Change your evil ways while you yet have time on earth." - Corbin the Grey

"Ain't nobody gonn be able to fill the void in mah soul. It's like when dey ain't no mo' crawdads in pot, an' you only got to eat one." - Kareltje "Chuck" Biggabow

"He was Mad, Suicidal and Murderous, A heretic and pool of Wasted potential, A danger for himself and for all around him, He caused Chaos and Pain to the innocent, For pity sake He brought a Demon to the World!!

"He lived and Died for his one true love, No matter how self destructive it was, how much it hurt he kept going, he kept fighting. He finally have found peace in the Black Sleep, lets not forget him or the lessons he taught us all, and let's not forgive Corioleus" - Dax

"He reminded me of my kid.....he had shit taste in women too." - Do'Rinas

"Who!?" - Thurg of House Kash