The Tale of Greyback

[ironheart]

Okay, this is a story (unfinished) that I started this summer and never got back to until now. I'll post it as well as the two character outlines that I got around to writing.
I appreciate any input, both for the story (plot suggestions etc.) names (I am terrible with those things)
and ideas for more characters, or changes to current ones.

[ironheart]

The inside of the wolf's den tavern was about as inviting and cheery as the rest of Blackwood. Dark, dreary and a thick fog wherever you look, Blackwood was a place full of tough people and fierce animals. The Wolf's Den was the worst dive in any of the towns scattered through Blackwood. On this particular night however The Wolf's Den was relatively calm, several Dwarves sat at one table muttering about days long gone when the gold was pure and the Ale strong, the serving girls were wandering about flirting with some patrons, cleaning table or refilling empty tankards and at the bar a most unusual trio sat motioning for yet another round.
"I'm telling ya Karric she was crazy for me" said the largest of the three an ox of a man with two broad axes on his back and a war-hammer leaning on the stool next to him.
"Please, Burk, Obviously she couldn't stop fantasizing about me" the second a mercenary by the look, and quite a bit more attractive, laughed at his friends boasting. "Besides even if she could get past your over-whelming stench she would have run screaming because of the chopping block you call a face!"
"She was a forest nymph and would have had no problem in laying with both of you" the third finally spoke, from the look of him he appeared to be a shaman, sporting light bear and wolfskin armor and with a deadly set of tiger claws attached to his wrists. "They're not too picky in who they chose...man or beast"
The shaman smiled at the disgusted but aroused looks on his friend’s faces.
"That just ain't right Alexander!" Burk the large one said almost choking on his ale.
"I'll remember that the next time I'm lonely near a sacred grove" Karric chuckled before turning his attention to a passing barmaid.
"Uhh Alex just a thought but don't yah think you've had too many?" Burk said looking at the two barrels of Dwarven beer that the shaman had downed in the last hour or so.
"No I can still see and speak straight when I pass out I've had just enough" as he answered this Alexander downed another pint threw a few coins on the table and held out his tankard again.
"Suit yourself, so Karric any idea when the Guild will give us our next job? I'm dying for another fight"
"We'll swing by the guild hall tomorrow when Alex gets over his hang over." Karric answered still not taking his eyes off of the barmaid.
"So basically once he's awake...at sunrise?"
"Yeah now if you will excuse me" Karric got up and after a few poetic lines was on his way upstairs.
"Damn I wanted that one" Burk growled.
"Karric always gets Rayla and you know it, if you rally want a night of fun go to Rose's Petals near the center of town here take the rest of my money ask for Lady Sophia and don't mention me" As he said this Alexander handed Burk his coin-sack.
"Well I guess I owe ya Greyback!"
"Only if you don't bathe"
"Ha Good one little man" and with that Burk staggered out the doors.
After a bit Alexander wandered upstairs to the small room he called home. He carefully removed his wolf-skins and placed them at the foot of his bed, he did this slowly deliberately as if to make sure he missed nothing he did this till all he was wearing was a dark blue kilt fastened by a wolf's head pendent. He extinguished the lantern beside his bed and opened the window allowing the warm summer breeze to caress his heavily scarred skin. For one barely old enough to grow a beard Alexander had seen more combat and death than Torgren the Merciless. But battle leaves more than just physical scars but that's a story for another time.

Pain lanced through Alexander's body as he fell to his knees in his small room.
"You can't hide from me, little one." A voice full of both affection and malice echoed through the room. "No matter how much you try to destroy you mind with that filthy drink"
"You...have...no...Right" Alexander growled through the pain
"Oh really? I beg to differ my little pet." The speaker began to materialize from the shadows. "Who was it that saved you from the raid that destroyed your village?"
Alexander simply writhed on the floor obviously in too much pain to answer, he simply glared at his tormentor, a woman with beauty beyond description, she seemed to be clothed in shadows almost as black as her hair that swayed in an unworldly breeze.
"Oh silly me you can't answer, but the moment I release your bonds you'll be at my throat, its a full moon tonight, remember boy?"
"A Greyback never forgets the night of a full moon, witch." He said managing to bring himself to a fighting stance. "And you can't control me once I, no please!"
As Alexander said this, the shadow woman motioned with her hands and he began to walk back towards the open window, and the rising moon.
"Once again you forget the terms of the contract that your father signed you would be spared, so long as you were my loyal servant whenever I needed you, and since it was signed in your blood you cannot go back on it." She explained while reaching out to pet his head like a queen favoring a hunting hound.
"I.... was...dead.... it....aggh" with a final struggle he was finally forced into the moonlight and immediately began to warp." I swear I'll kill you someday"
"Not tonight now hurry up and change so I can give your orders"
It began slowly as always first Alexander’s hair began to change color then lengthen, then spread across his body. The came the tail and the bone crunching shifts in his legs and arms. The final and most painful change was always the face as it lengthened and the jaws morphed so Alexander stood more beast than man the worst thing was now he could not control this form even though most members of the Wolf clans could the witch had seen to it that a demon possessed his body when he was a wolf.
"There you are Zhalltin took you long enough." the woman sounded bored.
"His will is strong Mistress Renaka even through the ocean of alcohol he could fight off a legion of my brethren" The voice coming out of the maw of the wolf creature was part growl part snarl and part speech" Now what do you need me to do?"
"Simple find Ki'Lorn's tomb and, put him down he's causing trouble for my sisters." Renaka shifted as she said this "And remember do not damage his body, I have found inexplicable wounds do not sit well with his friends, and death is not his only purpose" As She said this she stroked Zhalltin's face
"Very well" he snarled" But I believe pain would crush his will faster"
"Of course it would Zhalltin, but I wish to have that pleasure for my self although I believe Daemonhood would suit him well"
"You think too much with your body Mistress he is not worthy to walk among us" Zhalltin Howled after saying this and loped out the window and deep into Blackwood.
"We shall see brother we shall see"

[ironheart]

Outlines
Alexander Greyback
A mercenary, one of the few surviving members of his clan, the Grey Wolves descendents of Fenrir Greyback, he is a shaman and fights using his attack claws, shamanistic magic and affinity with nature combining them into a unique self taught style. However he is not above using other weapons to gain an edge in combat, although he is self taught in several weapons types, he has learned from many masters from his and other clans and lands. Being a member of the wolf clan Alexander’s natural abilities are greater than that of a normal human, including heightened senses (most notably his sense of smell and hearing), he has greater stamina and strength, a natural ability to communicate with animals (mostly wolves through howling), he moves much faster than any human when under duress and most importantly he has the ability to go berserk and allow his wolf guardian spirit to take over thus transforming him into something like a werewolf, while he can use this ability at any time it is more powerful at night, most notably at the full moon. The war that took the lives of nearly his entire clan was started by a she-daemon named Renaka with the goal of enslaving the Greybacks the most powerful wolf clan in terms of gifts. Her servants were and are the Wolves of the New Moon, a clan of demons who had once been wolf clan members. Alexander’s father (also Fenrir Greyback) promised the servitude of the entire clan (after convening with the council). The deal was assumed by the clan to be a simple vassalage, but Renaka had some of her servants possess select member of the clan, including Alexander, and binding the entire clan to her will. The demon possessing Alexander, Zhalltin, is extremely ancient, admitting that he knew Fenrir Greyback before his ascension, and actually despises Renaka due to the fact that she is female and many millennia younger than he. Zhalltin can only possess Alexander when his will is sufficiently weakened, normally by Renaka’s presence, and even then only at night, Zhalltin admires and yet hates his host for his strength of will and intelligence. Because of his possession Alexander drinks heavily in an attempt to hide his mind from Renaka, however he never shows any signs of becoming drunk, even after drinking an entire brewery dry, this is either from extensive training, meditation, or a side-effect of Zhalltin’s possession of Alexander. He has saved both Burk and Karric on numerous occasions, but expects no debt from the due to his pack loyalty, he sometime absent mindedly refers to their mercenary guild as his pack due to his long separation from his biological one. Alexander seeks a way to fight a way out of Renaka’s control and free his clan, he feels extremely guilty for the whole thing because his blood was used in the signing of the pact even though he had been killed by Renaka.

Karric Lichtbladt
Karric is a mercenary and a close friend of Alexander. He is the un-favored son of a corrupt noble and was exiled after foiling an assassination attempt on him, ordered by his own brother in an attempt to move him out of the inheritance and hereditary land and social position. Unfortunately the assassin was a close friend of his brothers and another prominent noble, and with no way to prove he had simply defended himself Karric fled and became a mercenary. Being the son of a noble Karric was taught in languages, the way of the sword and the way of the dance. This often leads to Karric womanizing when he should be working or focusing on a plan being laid out by Alexander or another fellow merc. Due to his noble birth Karric has a habit of being moderately arrogant and condescending in word and deed. However this in no way diminishes the love for those he considers friends, most notably the cynical Alexander and psychotic Burk. Karric’s swordplay is a mixture of dueling skills taught to nobles, with more emphasis on flair and style than lethality, and styles he has gleaned from his days as a mercenary often consisting of strikes mean to kill immediately rather than simple injure. Karric is the only one, outside of Alexander’s clan, to know of his possession (unknown to Renaka), and promises to help him be rid of Renaka’s yoke. After his banishment Karric traveled across the known world often alone but most commonly in the company of bandits and mercenaries whom he could blend in with fairly easily due to his extensive training in linguistics. While guarding a large plantation on the border of the jungles of Zonia Karric met Alexander for the first time, after fighting off the savages who had been attacking the plantation. They quickly became friends, due to Karric’s penchant for getting into trouble in the local tavern and Alexander getting him out of it. While at the plantation they uncover the reason the savages attack, a stolen relic the owner possesses and uses to bend his servants to his will, Karric convinces Alexander to help him return the relic and kill the owner. After which both received a much larger price on their heads, which persists to this day.

Burk
Pending.