Goddard Brandik

Goddard Brandik was a male human fighter NPC  in the Om campaign.

Goddard Brandik was a Gildornian military officer who went rogue, deserting and taking most of his men with him. They operated as a mercenary company before ultimately becoming a bandit organization. He allied with the Orleseans against Gildorn but was ultimately slain by the Royal Explorers.

## History

### As a Soldier

Brandik joined the Gildornian army at an early age and eventually rose to the rank of Captain. He was stationed near Newcastle, on the border between the Gildornian colony and the Orlesian one. He had participated in an operation to stop raids crossing the border and was accused of mishandling the funds recovered from the raiders. He was exonerated, but the stain of the accusation stuck with him among his superiors, and caused him to be passed over for promotion to Colonel.

Disgruntled, he gained further reprimands for insubordination. In early 465, while Brandik’s regiment was on patrol, he ordered a raid of a caravan and the execution of all prisoners taken. Evidently his superiors dispatched another unit to arrest him and his men at that point and the two forces clashed north of Waymere. Many of Brandik's men were captured or surrendered, Goddard himself and a few dozen men escaped.

### As an Outlaw

Brandik and his force, now outlaws, started operating as a mercenary company in the Plains of Dust for a brief period before he was approached by an agent of Deputy Ambassador Henri Neuville. They proposed a deal where Brandik would use his men to disrupt Gildornian commerce by attacking caravans, and raise an army of fighting men in exchange for which he would be paid and, if successful, granted the noble title of marquis in Orlesea. Brandik accepted and took up residence in the abandoned Stonewatch Abbey.

### As an Orlesean Agent

Aided with intelligence reports from Orlesean spies in Waymere, Brandik and his men began raiding Gildornian caravans. He especially targeted shipments of gems and precious metals from the Silvercliff Mines.

Per his instructions, Brandik also began recruiting as many fighting men as possible. His task was made easier by the amount of farmers forced off their land by the rich and laborers out of work due to elven laborers willing to work for less money. He found his fair share of desperate men who needed work in order to survive and feed their families. Per his instructions from Neuville, any of his recruits that had any sailing or nautical experience were to be singled out and sent north to Headwater to be recruited or pressed into the service of the Brotherhood of the Coast. He also began drawing up plans to attack Waymere once his army was built and trained.

As tensions between Gildorn and Orlesea heated up Neuville also sent a force of Orlesean soldiers and officers to help train Brandik’s recruits. Neuville also sent a wizard named Balamer “the Blue” and orders that he was to be left alone to pursue his own mission and assisted with whatever he asked for. The Orleseans and Balamer treated Brandik and his men as underlings and were dismissive, an attitude that created no small amount of dissension in the ranks. Brandik complained to Neuville, and was offered coin for he and his men as a means of restitution.

### The Battle for Stonewatch Abbey

On the 1st of Twins, 465, the Royal Explorers attacked Stonewatch Abbey. The Gildornian agents sneaked into the Abbey from the top of the tower and made their way halfway down before they were detected and holed up in the tower.

Brandik gathered with five of his best men and, together with Balamer “the Blue”, tried to batter down the door to the tower. At that moment Noel Gorehammer and Jasper Conroy teleported in behind them and engaged them, cutting down several of Brandik’s men in no time. They were soon joined by Fynnhanar and Opal as well.

Balamer not only raised Brandik’s dead men as zombies to help fight the Royal Explorers, but he also erected a wall of fire around them, scorching all, which included Brandik himself. By this time the fight had degenerated to Brandik on the ground, physically grappling with Jasper Conroy. Brandik had the advantage on the cleric, and was strangling him and punching him with this spiked gauntlets. Still, he offered a compromise. Brandik stated he would help the Royal Explorers kill Balamer if they would let him go free afterwards. In spite of his situation, Jasper refused and moments later Bandik was slain by Noel and Opal.

### After Death

To intimidate the Orlesean and bandit soldiers who marched on the Abbey after it was taken, Noel Gorehammer threw Balamer and Brandik's heads at their feet to intimidate them into negotiating instead of talking. The ploy worked and most of the men negotiated a secession to hostilities.

Among the keepsakes and paperwork the Royal Explorers found in Brandik’s effects was the letter from the Gildornian Army granting him his commission, which Brandik had clearly held on to even after going rogue.