Belletar Mage-slayer

The Ogryn known as Belletar Mage-Slayer was born in the slave markets of Velyzar, destined for a short and savage life. Intended as fodder for the arenas, Belletar learned to fight, but little else. He might well have ended his days injured and discarded on a midden heap had his owner not been in need of money, and a notorious merchant in need of a caravan guard. Belletar was sold to the merchant and chained inside a wagon, with barely enough room to heft his war-club. The young Ogryn was assigned to watch over a delivery of fine silks, bound for lreth. But the caravan never reached its destination. Instead, it was attacked by Nomad raiders; among them was a towering Ogryn warrior… the infamous Cagebreaker Gruzl Steelbelly. Gruzl discovered Belletar and shattered Belletar’s chains. Confused by this unexpected turn of events, Belletar allowed Gruzl to guide him away from the plundered caravan and into the desert. In the months that followed, Belletar learned a new trade: that of Cagebreaker. Under Gruzl’s stern tutelage, the previously unprepossessing Ogryn became a warrior second only to his mentor. On one raid against a caravan of slaves bound for lreth, Belletar bit the head off a mage-overseer. As the magically-infused lifeblood of his victim filled his belly, Belletar felt something other than satisfaction. In the weeks that followed, Belletar found that he had imbued some of the dead mage’s magical ability, including a gift for healing. But as his skill with this stolen magic grew, his desire to spend his days fighting waned. In time, Belletar took his leave of Gruzl, and the life of a Cagebreaker. While he’d found much satisfaction in freeing others from Velyzar’s cruelty, something told him that his fate lay elsewhere; not as a warrior, but as a shaman. Wishing to fully explore his magical skill undisturbed, Belletar traveled deep into the desert, where even Nomads feared to go. There, in a dying oasis, Belletar spoke with the spirits of the desert and the wastes. As the years passed, he learned how to strengthen a warrior’s flesh and sinew, or drain them of strength, as well as how to draw upon the blessings of the wind and the sand. He took the broken remnants of armor and weapons left behind by fallen travelers and hammered them into a panoply befitting an Ogryn, using his blunt fingers to shape symbols representing the spirits who spoke to him. He did the rest of the forging with his magic, honing and shaping the old metal into something ornate and elaborate even as he worked it with his bare hands. In time, word of his presence at the oasis spread, through the few Nomad tribes who dared trade with him for food and healing. Others sought him out, including sages from Velyzar and lreth, seeking the Ogryn hermit who dwelt in the dead oasis. Some came to seek his wisdom; others, to slay him. He spoke freely to the former, and killed the latter. On occasion, he attempted to learn why someone might seek his death, but the answers were rarely satisfactory; mostly it was confusing talk of portents and prophecies. The spirits showed Belletar that the thread of his fate lay tangled with the skein of another, when he brought his learnings to them. They whispered a name… Gharol Bloodmaul… and showed him a horde of dark shadows loping in pursuit of the warrior in question. He heard the rattle of chains, and the laughter of dead men, and knew that her pursuers were far more dangerous than a patrol of slave-takers. He could not allow the warrior to perish. His enemies were her enemies, and they were fated to fight them together. Belletar set off at once, following the whispers of the spirits. Many days of travel later, the wind brought the sounds of a conflict to him; he followed the noise and found himself on a ridge overlooking a bloody battlefield, where the necromancers and their Undead minions of the vision were locked in a struggle with a small band of Orcs. Leading the latter was a gigantic, reptilian-tailed figure wielding an enormous hammer that appeared to be cased in molten rock. Belletar knew instantly that the towering warrior was Gharol, the one he’d come to find. He joined the battle, calling upon the spirits to bolster his new allies as he did so. The Orcs were momentarily taken aback by the thundering new arrival, but soon saw that he was on their side, when he reinvigorated their tired muscles and healed their injuries. Belletar’s timely arrival helped the Orcs to scatter the enemy. As Gharol Bloodmaul pushed through the cheering Orcs to greet him, Belletar wondered what the future held in store for them.