Ruel the Huntmaster

The black boughs of Durham Forest hide many terrible things from the world. Few are more terrible than that most enigmatic of beings, Ruel the Huntmaster. His origins are unknown; physically, he resembles one of the Dark Elves who make their home in the forest, but in manner he is more akin to the monstrous insects which lair in its deepest recesses. These creatures are the most powerful and dangerous inhabitants of the forest, whatever the Dark Elves tell themselves. Even the strongest of Demonspawn would hesitate to attract their predatory attention, and Ruel is their servant. Ruel is a freakish caricature of the Dark Elves who inhabit the forest. While he moves with grace, it is not the grace of an Elf but something insectoid and alien. His voice lacks the Elvish mellifluousness, and is instead a gurgling croak. Beneath his curious armor, his body is hardened like an insect’s carapace, and his gaze is unsettling, even to the most hardened Ranger. In his hands, he carries a bow resembling the husk of an insect, twisted into the shape of a weapon. He first appeared not long after the Dark Elves decided to make Durham Forest their home. The Elves had begun to encroach upon the forest’s heart and Ruel emerged to greet one party with a message from the things that lurked there: cease, or be punished. The Elves laughed; they were not intimidated by this gangly stranger, with his curious way of speaking. They had seen worse things, they claimed. The forest was theirs, they declared. Whatever its original inhabitants thought of that was immaterial. Ruel swiftly punished those Elves for their temerity. Some fell to the arrows he fired from his strange, insect-shaped bow, while others perished to the claws and mandibles of the horrid insects that flowed from the forest at Ruel’s gesture. Nor were these the last Dark Elves to meet such a fate. Ruel’s attacks continued until the Dark Elves retreated from the heart of the forest, abandoning their settlements there. These places were quickly retaken by the forest, swallowed up by weeds, vines, and moss, or else shrouded in vast swathes of spiderweb. If they exist now, it is only as spider-haunted ruins. After that, Ruel vanished. Dark Elf Rangers reported seeing him on occasion, as they scouted the farthest edges of explored territory, though he made no move to interact with them, a fact that most viewed with relief. But sightings of him became more common as the bloody events of his initial appearance faded from common memory and the Dark Elves sought to expand the limits of their new domain once more. More than one unlucky Ranger vanished into the gloom, taken, it was said, by the Huntmaster. Settlements, too, disappeared; some were devoured by swarms of ravenous insects, while others were suffocated beneath thick blankets of clinging webbing. Again, the Dark Elves retreated, but not for long. Ambition, hubris, and the need to expand drove them back into the wild places again and again. And with every expedition, Ruel was there waiting for them. This state of events has continued to the present day. The Dark Elves are ever pushing the boundaries of their realm deeper into the forest, and Ruel is always there to counter them in brutal fashion. He rarely speaks, save to deliver a warning that is almost never heeded. More than once, the Dark Elves have attempted to waylay or capture Ruel, but never with any success. The forest itself seems to protect him, and he is always accompanied by swarms of great insects. This constant back and forth has led to much debate among the Dark Elves on the origins of their foe. Some maintain that Ruel was once a child of their race, stolen away by the things living in the deep forest, the ancient creatures ensnaring the boy in a fell cocoon and tending him after the fashion of their own hideous offspring. What emerged was something that was neither completely insect nor Elf, but a horrific amalgamation of the two. Others claim that Ruel was never an Elf at all. That he was and is nothing more than an insect, twisted into a somewhat familiar shape, in order to better communicate the wishes of his dread masters. Regardless, Ruel’s purpose is clear to even the dimmest mind. He is an emissary and mouthpiece for the horrors lurking in the deep forest; a tool shaped and designed by the insects. Through him, their will is made known to those who they regard as tenants at best and trespassers at worst. And failure to heed him leads only to death and despair.