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[Guild Rules] [Master Decalin's Story] [Apprentice Rhubian's Story] [Student Aeowyn's Story]
[Other Master Jesters] [Pictures] [Trials of Jesterhood]
To
understand Master Decalin, you must first understand his past. You see, Decalin
was orphaned at a young age when his cabin home in the woods was attacked by
a clan of Trolls. He has very few memories of his parents, but he often recalls
the image of their faces as they were brutally slain in their own home. When
the Trolls had laid siege to the cabin, his parents had hid him away behind
a false board in the wall and poor little Decalin witnessed the whole thing
through a crack in the board. Luckily though, he went unnoticed by the trolls
and was able to escape the next morning. He ran and he ran, with no direction
or purpose, until he passed out in a field not far away. There he lay for 2
days and 3 nights until on the third night he was seen by a carnival that was
traveling down the road. He was picked up and cared for by a Jester known as
Psanson, (who was a Jester under the direction of Master Pendafi, of Pendafi's
Poop fame). After about a week Decalin was well enough to walk around again
and his grief was tucked away, but deep down his greatest desire was always
to avenge the murder of his parents. For the moment he had a lot of growing
up to do, and Psanson took it upon himself to raise Decalin, because he had
nowhere else to go. A few years later, Psanson underwent his final trial and
became a Master Jester and took Decalin as his first student. Decalin was starting
to come of age and had already learned quite a bit about Jesters and had gotten
used to the traveling lifestyle. He learned quickly and took on juggling as
his top skill. As he grew stronger Psanson allowed him the use of a sword, and
trained him in the ways of defense. Following in his Master's footsteps, Decalin
trained very hard and desired to be a powerful fighter. He constructed his own
armor and shield and sparred with Pendafi everyday. Psanson's Master Pendafi
often joined with the group and tried to teach Decalin the ways of Magic, but
magic did not come easy to Decalin and eventually Pendafi and Psanson abandoned
that idea. Instead, Decalin became amazingly efficient at making things and
repairing things. He made weapons and armor for nearly everyone in the traveling
carney, and enjoyed fixing up old stuff too. By the time Decalin was ready to
move up in standing to a full Jester, Psanson took on another student known
as Serin. (The account of how he came to join the guild can be found in another
chapter) I will just tell you that unlike Decalin, Serin was very capable in
the ways of magic and very rarely trained with weapons, but they managed to
get along well.
Shortly after his acquisition of the title of Jester, Decalin set out alone
on an adventure to a land unknown to him, the land of Drachmar. You see, to
become a Master Jester you must prove to be self-sufficient and to be able to
learn on your own, so Psanson sent him out and told him to return in no less
than 1 year and no more than two years and to acquire many stories and much
wealth in that time. In this time, Decalin met many interesting people, and
was learning his skills at an alarming rate. First, he met a crafty fellow named
Thurik and they traveled together for a while. He also became friendly with
the people of Shantarii, particularly one known as Sir Loki Badpoor mostly because
of his wonderful ale (Badpoor-brew), but also because they shared the same heated
feelings towards the Trolls.
Early in his days in Drachmar, Decalin acquired a very unique little doll. This
doll was in the form of a Jester and was called Flip. At first Dec thought that
Flip was just another neat item to keep in his bag of tricks, but he found himself
carrying Flip around everywhere with him. As time went on it seemed as if Flip
would talk to him and understand what Dec was saying back. Surely this was a
special doll that possessed magical power, but Dec would never say.
After about a year and a half, Decalin stole away from Drachmar to return to
his Master, who was very pleased at the developments of his student. The next
spring, Decalin took the long grueling trial to become a Master Jester (and
passed it of course). The details of these tests are kept secret and only other
Master Jesters know exactly what is required, so we cannot give a record of
his accomplishments. At the conclusion of his test, all the Jesters of the Guild
had gathered in celebration, as is customary. They gathered just outside of
a farming town known as Butterfield and set up a spectacular carnival that was
to last for 2 weeks. Most likely Decalin's fate would have been much different
if what happened next did not occur.
It was the eighth day of the Festival when the ambush happened. Some Orcs had
caught wind of the gathering and knew about the wealth of the Guild. They gathered
a few miles outside Butterfield, concealed in the forest. When they came, they
came fast and without much warning. The Jesters scrambled for their weapons
and quickly formed a formidable battle line. At the same time, the residents
of Butterfield ran to town to get help from the militia. Although outnumbered
at least 6 to 1, the discipline and skill of the Jesters proved to be enough
to hold off the attackers until the militia arrived to bring the odds to near
even. However, in the ensuing battle there were many fallen Jesters, including
2 Master Jesters. One of the fallen Masters was Master Kirkon the Klumsy, and
the other was Master Psanson. Decalin had seen that his master was separated
from the fray when the militia arrived and the battle line broke. Psanson had
been forced to the side near a steep cliff by a handful of enemies that had
cornered him. Decalin charged across the field, slaying everything that lay
in the path between him and his master, but he arrived just in time to see a
Troll close in for the kill. His master was dead. Slain by the same kind that
had murdered his family. The Rage inside him was fully released and not one
of the attackers by the cliff escaped the wrath of Decalin's axe. Soon the battle
was over and Decalin and the Guild would be forever changed.
To distract him from his grief, Decalin decided to leave the west and return
to the land of Drachmar. As he traveled, he came across a small castle in which
it appeared that there were many slaves working for their lord. He thought this
strange since very rarely has he seen slavery and did not approve at all. However,
there was nothing that could be done at the present time. He continued on to
Drachmar and when he arrived, he walked right into a place that seemed to be
busy with evil. There were many adventurers around and few that he recognized
from his past visit. It became clear that a large black obelisk certainly had
something to do with the evil presence. Decalin and the rest of the heros decided
to destroy the obelisk, and enlisted the help of a shady blacksmith. With some
very valuable Mithril, and almost all of the wealth he possessed, Decalin hired
the blacksmith to build an axe out of the Mithril. To this day Decalin says
that he should have built it himself, for the cost was dear and the quality
low. Regardless, with his newly acquired axe of Mithril, Decalin struck the
obelisk and destroyed it. It is unclear what effect this had on the evil that
was about, it's possible that by destroying the obelisk, a greater evil was
released. It should also be noted that there were many evil, yet seducing, creatures
guarding the obelisk and that care should be taken when dealing with these things.
With the day apparently won, Decalin had new found strength and decided to return
to the castle that appeared to have slaves. He called for an audience with the
Lord and it was granted immediately since the Lord loved the entertainment of
Jesters. After a brief juggling performance, Decalin addressed the Lord about
the slavery. He said,
"This Jester finds it odd that you,
Keep so many slaves in this land.
Is there something we can do,
To relieve them of your heavy hand?"
Quite
taken at Decalin's straightforwardness the Lord declared that if the Jester
would entertain the court for a week, he would release one of his slaves into
his care, but if at anytime during that week the court grew weary of his antics,
Decalin would be forced to relinquish the only thing of value on him, the Mithril
axe. Decalin agreed to the challenge and the week of Jestering began. Of course,
the court was impressed all week long and on the last day Decalin appeared before
the lord and asked for a slave to be relased into his care. At first the Lord
refused, but in the end he had to keep his word or lose the respect of his court.
The youngest of the Otrok brothers, Rhubian, was chosen as the slave to be released.
Reluctant to leave his brothers, Rhubian followed Decalin. It was clear to Dec
that Rhubian would not rest until his brothers were freed and that Rhubian did
not yet possess the skills necessary to do it himself. Decalin proposed a solution.
Since he needed a student, he would help Rhubian break in to the castle and
free his brothers if Rhubian would consider becoming a student of the Jester
guild under him. Before the break in, Rhubian needed a little training and Decalin
brought him to Deroth's feast of thanks and trained him on the way. They then
returned to rescue Rhubian's brothers (An account of the rescue of the Otrok
brothers can be found in the chapter about Rhubian).
So it was that Decalin suddenly had 3 students, quite unheard of in the Guild,
but things seemed to be going better. After a few more adventures in Drachmar,
Decalin decided it was time to return west and introduce his students to some
of the other Masters in the Guild. The journey was swift and things were going
well, until tragedy struck once again. Again the tragedy was due to the hands
of Trolls. The details of the death of Rhubians brothers are discussed in Rhubian's
chapter.
Greivingly, Decalin and his student briefly joined with a traveling show led
by none other than Master Pendafi. He thought it may be good for Rhubian to
channel his anger into performance. Shortly into the tour, they began to hear
rumors about Drachmar and how the evil was returning.
It was at this time that they met a spectacular girl called Aeowyn. Rhubian was intrigued by the girl and introduced her to Decalin. She appeared to possess some raw skill and since she was orphaned, Decalin asked if she would like to travel with them. She agreed, and Rhubian was sent ahead to Drachmar and told that his Master and his new student would soon meet him, but first Aeowyn must be taught some powerful magic by Pendafi, for she had little means of defending herself. She learned what was necessary alarmingly fast, and soon they were on the trail of Rhubian. They met up with him at a feast in the honor of a man known as Rygor, and there much Jestering was done and many meetings occurred (including Thurik, an old friend of Decalins!). After the feast of Rygor, Decalin decided to commit the Guild to the aid of the Sprit Wood. He had received threats from the "cultists of Jubilon" and "the Speaker". This he did not like at all, plus it gave him the chance to test Rhubian. You see, long ago Master Sorien the Great had an adventure in the Spirit Wood resulting in the loss of his magical juggling balls. The recovery of these balls was to be Rhubians task. In addition, Aeowyn was to be closely watched and given a test on the history and facts of the regioin. Of course, both passed their tests with flying colors and the "Balls of Sorien" were now once in the guild again. During the day, Decalin entered and won a tournament given by a beastmaster. Winning this tournament allowed him to fight a most heinous beast for the right of obtaining a special sword. This sword turned out to be the sword of Rukh, an ancient warrior of Rockwood. It turned out to be very influential in the destruction of the Speaker. When the Speaker was desroyed, his Magical Shield was laid down before Decalin and he immediately picked it up. Things were going well in the guild this day. One troublesome thing though was the appearance of many obelisks in the wood. Decalin, with his Mithril Axe decided to try and knock them down, really for no other reason than because the Speaker did not want them destroyed. The Speaker then made a deal with Decalin, if he did not destroy the oblelisks, then he would give one of the Balls of Sorien to the guild. When Decalin found out that the Speaker had lied to him, he started destroying the obelisks. He was successful in destroying two out of four and almost got the third, before it was really time to leave. As a reward for his hard work and success in bringing the Balls of Sorien to him, Decalin gave Rhubian the Ancient Sword and bestowed the title of Full Apprentice to the Jesters Guild. Next,the guild travelled to the land of Ishtar for another feast. The food was good and the meatballs were spicy. At the bardic, Decalin played his guitar while his new friend Winnowill sang. Later on, Decalin also juggled for the crowd, as he usually does. The bardic led to a discussion about some propehcy of Ishtar and the general problems of the land. It appeared that there were two sides to this story, but the details did not concern Decalin much. He did decide to venture further into Ishtar to find out more though. After sending Aeowyn on a special training mission, he and Rhubian ventured to Ishtar. Immediately things seemed amiss in this land. First of all, it was raining, which is a rarity in Ishtar. Not sure what side to choose, Decalin and Rhubian decided to have fun. They had brought plenty of supplies for pies and intended to use them. Decalin succeded in putting pie on some kind of strange monster's head. The monster didn't appreciate it, but Dec was able to escape. Later on while talking to Sir Galdrin of the order of Rockwood, Dec contracted some kind of strange illness. Leave it to the knights to find a terrible disease. After wandering around aimlessly for a while, Dec made a pie party and proceeded to be quite defensive of his pies. He did give his sidekick flip a nice big pie though. At the end of the day, people had succeeded in their goal to free some Zyrinthiean guy and apparently he wasn't so nice. It didn't matter though because Decalin and Rhubian succeeded in some good fun jestering.
At this point, Decalin decided it was time to send Rhubian off to study hard. He had to learn how to use a greater variety of weapons if he was to try to defeat trolls and avenge the deaths of his brothers. Rhubian was sent to the mountains and Decalin went to seek his other student Aeowyn. On his way to Aeowyns hometown of Zinder, Decalin met up with a travelling carnival. Unfortunately there were no Jesters travelling with this particular carney, but he did know a few of the men. The head of the carnival, Ed, told him that they were on their way to Millbrook for a great festival. Since Decalin was travelling towards the mountains anyway, he decided to join them for part of their journey. The carney stopped at some small villages along the way and Decalin was able to make a bit of travelling money by performing there. Eventually he parted ways with the carnival and headed towards Zinder. It was at this time that he learned about the release of Jubilon. It was unfortunate that he did not know of this meeting, but he may have been lucky since he did carry a shield that was taken from one of Jubilon's followers. Finally, he reached Zinder and found Aeowyn. Her skills were certainly improving and he decided to bring her with him to Shantaarii to aid the call of his old friend Loki.
Loki had asked Decalin to come and help with his brother, Catharsis, who had seemingly gone mad. Upon his arrival, Loki was being chased down by what appeared to be some undead form of his brother. Decalin stepped to the forefront and took some mighty swings, but was unable to incapacitate the evil form. Interestingly, at this point, Aeowyn had learned how to throw some kind of enfeebling ray and surprised Catharsis, unfortunately his armor was too strong even for her most powerful strike of magic. What surprised Decalin the most was that when he was struck down by Catharsis, he was not hurt. He got right back up. Then suddenly Flip dissapeared! It turned out that Flip had come to life! When Decalin saw a full size flip standing in the distance, he ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Flip helped Decalin for a while, but Flip kept antagonizing his friend Clash. Decalin tried to separate the two but they wouldn't let up. Eventually Clash struck Flip and he was transformed back into his little old self. This left some bad blood between Dec and Clash, but Flip was being a bit too disruptive. While all of this was going on, everybody else was busy trying to deal with the evil toymaker and free Catharsis from his undead state. Eventually a magical bag of Holy Bolt was recovered and Decalin took it upon himself to bury one of those there Holy Bolts right in Catharsis' chest. Unfortunately, Decalin is not too good when it comes to magic and spells and such. He neglected to learn how to use it first and did not say the proper incantation. The power that surged through him caused his soul to instantly weaken. On the positive side, Catharsis was taken down and eventually brought back to his normal self.
After Decalin and Aeowyn left that day, (and after drinking some Badpoor Brew with Sir Loki and Catharsis) they began to hear stories of a problem within the plane of time. Requests by Pendulum, the time elemental for help starte to come through on magic message. This seemed quite important and also a good chance to monitor the skills of his student. He sent word to Rhubian, for he desired to meet with the whole guild. Rhubian was apparently injured in his training exercises, hopefully learning a valuable lesson in the process. But still he ventured into the woods and into the plane of time. Believed to have left the region, Rhubian has not been seen since. While Decalin has confidence in his Apprentice, he is still greatly concerned about his whereabouts and well being. As the day continued, Decalin was able to best many trolls in battle and outwit some goblins (not a tough accomplishment). He was able to quickly obtain a magic stick for pendulum and was rewarded with a helpful enchantment. Upon killing one of the wretched Trolls, Decalin recovered a strange page that looked as if it was ripped from the middle of some kind of Journal. He deduced that it may be the key to finding what Pendulum was looking for. Aeowyn and He took the risk of venturing into the dangerous Plane of Blood. There they were unable to find what they were looking for, but did identify the spot that the thing may have laid in in the past. Instantly the answer came to them, they would enter the Plane of Blood from the Plane of Time, and the item may still be there. It was there and they dug it up. It was in some kind of strange box. With the help of Aeowyn, Decalin was able to laboriously decode the key to opening the box. Inside lay a magical stone, the same stone that was Desired by Pendulum. It was clear that this stone was very powerful, but since Decalin had promsed to give her the stone, and she had kept her word all day, he gave her the stone in return for her magical dagger. Armed now with a magical shield and a magical dagger, Decalin decided it was probably time to leave. Rhubian was still nowhere to be found, and this concerned Decalin.
At this point, Aeowyn was sent home to Zinder once again. Her skills have improved greatly and she is almost ready to test to become a full Apprentice. Rhubian is also ready to begin his Jester trials, which should last about 6 months. Concerned about Rhubian, Decalin has been travelling the small towns and villages hoping for a sign of his apprentice. Only once has he come across the brave warriors that also answer the calls for help, but none of them have seen his apprentice. Too preocupied with his thoughts and personal training, he decided to skip the festival in Millbrook, as he would be the only one from the guild there. Upon hearing of the capture of some of his friends he immediately turned northward to Millbrook, but by the time he got there, the conflict with the evil demon Azazel had subsided and his friends had already been rescued. Decalin will not rest as the search for Rhubian continues. He only hopes his friend and apprentice is ok.
Update:
Rhubian turned up at the Millbrook Cavern Quests, unfortunately he was greatly disfigured for some unknown reason. Presumably it has something to do with being trapped between our dimension and the time dimension. He was unable to quest that night, but was able to meet with Aeowyn who was then able to direct him to their master, Decalin.
After meeting up with Rhubian outside the city of Shantaarii, Decalin decided that more research needs to be done to discover a way to return Rhubian to his former self. This research will require a trip back west of the mountains. Of course, a trip that far will require money to buy provisions. To help raise some of this money, Decalin will be holding a Juggle-a-thon at the upcoming meeting at the Last Chance Pub. He will be attempting to break the guild record for longest time juggling without a drop. The guild will be taking pledges up until the event. Either a per-minute donation or a flat donation will be welcome. Remember, all the money will be put towards returning Rhubian to his old self.