The Slayer's Oath

_{(Pictured left to right: Terry, Gwyneth, Arthur and Freylana)}

Commission for Riaden234 of our RPG group.  The campaign has been running for 2 years, originally played with two different homebrew rulesets before turning over to D&D 5e.

The Slayer’s Oath

The darkest of rumors within the Empire of Man always came from the distant march, Steinholm. It was said that the land was ruled by a sleeping, immortal baron, whose agents enforced his will with terror and dark magic. The agents themselves, they said, were creatures of the night.

For centuries it remained this way, even the sight of the sun itself was a distant, fading memory to the people of Steinholm. However, whether by destiny or mere coincidence, three peculiar heroes banded together for a common cause: Money. But also, of course, to rescue a nobleman's daughter kidnapped by a monstrous beast. Little did they know that by pursuing the abductor, they would soon find the source of those terrible rumors… Esembard Steinbach.

Two hundred years prior, the baron was a gallant ruler, thrust into a war against the southern kingdoms to protect his northern neighbors. His own people became the shields in which his enemies crashed upon, bearing the brunt of the campaign. When the Ostovian reinforcements finally came, it was far too late. Despite achieving victory, the land had been ravaged and his children lay dead at his feet.

Driven by grief, he struck a bargain with the dark powers that lurked in Steinholm, and turned his back on the rest of the empire. The demonic pact gave him the power to bring back his dead children and raise his fallen warriors, establishing order in his war-torn home.  Alas, this pact came with a price: The sinister will of the demons was forced upon them, corrupting their human forms into vampires to do their bidding.  They had become slaves.

Horrified upon learning the truth, the three heroes swore an oath to end this horrible atrocity: the slumbering Baron Steinbach must be slain before he awakens again. This promise came to be their namesake: The Slayer’s Oath.

Though the Steinbachs attempted to SLAY the Slayers, they persisted, until finally striking down Baron Steinbach and bringing the foul shroud of darkness across the land to a end. The sun finally shined upon Steinholm once more.

Even after his final death, the legacy of that demonic pact still remains. It rests upon the Slayers to bring an end to the remaining demonic influences once and for all.

Gwyneth: Born into a clan famed for battling the undead, Gwyneth Brennan could not bear to sit around the Adrelani court as a lady. As soon as she was big enough to lift her trusted mace, she began her training to become a holy warrior. At the age of 19, she arrived in Steinholm armed with her spells and her presumptions, ready to smite evil with impunity.

Her adventures in Steinholm changed her: from helping reaffirm the faith of a lost, undead paladin to falling in love with a vampire, Gwyneth learned that the world is not as black and white as she was taught to believe.

In addition to hunting down the remaining demonic forces, her next great challenge is to teach her clan that even those who are no longer human are capable of repentance… while trying to find out if her clan is pure Adrelandi, or if they descend from the Steinbachs.

Freylana: Daughter of a High Elf Noble and Dark Elf Witch; which spawned an adventurous outlook on life. But the adventurous noble life only lasted 100 years until a pack of Werewolves killed her family when she was on a nightly hunt. This started her quest of revenge; to hunt the hunters that killed her family.

Time passed as Freylana traveled the lands; hunting the beasts of the night and learning their ways as she searched for the Werewolf pack. This search also led to her finding and adopting the Owlbear,Terry, as her animal companion on her travels. Eventually her search lead to Steinholm and the infamous hunter; Captain Slayde.

Captain Slayde eventually met his demise at Castle Steinhelm; Freylana putting him down with her silvered spikes on her gauntlet. Now Freylana searches for the ones that hired Slayde and his band of Werewolves; hoping to get answers as to why they were sent.
     
Terry: The amazing, the fluffy, the easily distracted and the DM Insert, Terrance (or Terry for short). Known for his ravenous appetite of Apple Pies and Smoked Ham; Terry has followed the group (reluctantly) into the dangerous areas of Steinholm as moral support.

Arthur: The rough and tumble wanderer without a home, Arthur was brought to Stienholm searching for a female vampire named Adrella who had the massacred the dwarven clan that adopted him after his abandonment by his barbarian tribe.

Taking up a profession as a monster hunter since then, Arthur has pushed himself physically and mentally to be strong enough to be able to face Adrella again. However his quest of revenge brought him through much pain and hardship, resulting in broken bones, his right arm being badly mana burned, ending with him snapping Ardella's neck at the cost of his left eye.

Struggling to come to terms with his feelings of emptiness and loneliness after her death, as well as his physical pains, he has continued to stand with Gwyneth, Freylanna, and Terry to continue to fight the forces of evil. He hopes that perhaps he can come to some kind serenity within himself.