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Who were the Band of Broken Blades? "A question with many answers!" is what my friend Uleric would say, and would then tell the tale of how they arrived in the Stairs of the Giants, seemingly from nowhere, carrying the claw of a Dire Bear they'd slain as a gift for the powers of that city. Or perhaps he'd tell the story of how they were captured by the Slavers of Cave Cove and wound up angering almost every power in that place before being led off into captivity by Ogres. Both stories are true, but they seem to be about different people altogether.
It is relatively easy to name the members of that group. There were five who figured prominently: Arendt, the elvish wizard and healer, Galen Stone-fist, the dwarven warrior, Arek Anchorhaven, human warrior, adept with the bow and rapier especially, Kilsten of the White Stag Clan, Danic warrior, and The Griffin, sorcerer and thief, irrepressable rogue and occasional leader of the group. There were others who appeared for a time, some more significant than others, but these are the ones who actually used the name.
It is much harder to describe them. Were they heroes or villains? I believe they are much closer to heroes than villains, but you'll find people in this land who disagree with that. Certainly, there are many here who call them "friend," and I count myself as one of them—but there is a tendency among their friends to wince and cough apologetically when they do so, just as there is a tendency among their enemies to raise a glass in admiration while simultaneously petitioning the gods for their immediate destruction.
They were a perfect example of why the common folk prefer to keep adventurers at arm's length: they jumped into situations with an enthusiasm that many found unnerving, paying little heed to the complexities of what was going on behind the scenes, and when they'd reached their goal they left just as quickly. Everywhere they went they wrought change, not all for the best. Were they saviors, sent by the Lady to prepare us for something we could not have foreseen on our own? Or were they a band of Holy Fools, stumbling through the lands like drunken carousers, leaving the brand of the Mad One on every bridge they burned to the ground? An equal measure of both, I think; while no-one can deny the good they brought to these mountains, it would be equally difficult to deny the ill...
There are many stories about that group, but what is the truth behind them? I have labored to record the activities of the Band of Broken Blades, contained within these pages, in the hopes that time and this work will allow us to place their deeds into some kind of perspective. I am indebted to Uleric, the inestimable Loremaster of the Stairs of the Giants, for his assistance with this work, and must also acknowledge the help of The Griffin... for though he is a notoriously subtle liar and braggart, he was unusually forthcoming in this matter..
As this work is a collaboration between an Uhruhrian Scholar and a Danic Bard, I'm afraid the result will be unsatisfactory to devotees of either craft. A proper history is dry in tone and objective in report... but an epic worthy of recital by a master skald must be both evocative and grandiose, while at the same creating a very personal bond between the audience and the hero. This document is neither, but is intended to be a template of sorts for both, so compromises have been made.
Uleric has suggested that I attempt to tell this story in a style known in this region as the Middle Cant, an informal storytelling style that allows for interruptions and explanations of events that students of history and culture will find invaluable. Much of this work focuses on the perspective of The Griffin, which will more than likely raise the eyebrows of everyone reading it. While I admit it is a questionable choice, the truth of the matter is that The Griffin proved far more willing to talk about the minutiae of the events than anyone else in the band. While his veracity can only be described as "inconsistent," he is an enthusiastic storyteller, and we have gone to great lengths to confirm the accuracy of his stories. We even went so far as to procure the services of a travelling priest of the Hawk who specialized in truth and compulsion spells. This was done with The Griffin's permission, of course, and other than a minor incident (where The Griffin accidentally called the priest "Arek," provoking a brief but memorable altercation in the dining hall) the questioning went smoothly.
So here we have it: the tale of the Band of Broken Blades, who they were, and what they did. We start at the beginning, before they arrived in an unremarkable little town on the very edge of the civilized world...