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There are numerous conflicting theories to explain the origin of the nomadic drifter named Tenzan. One popular one tells the story of a child born into a noble family of Tier'dal which was massacred by a band of orcs bent on thievery. After the parents were slain, the orcs apprehended the boy with the intention of burning him in their fires, only to be discovered by hunters of a lighter skin tone in the Commonlands. The story tells that those hunters shot the orcs down one by one with arrows from elven bows and rescued the boy from the terrible torture that awaited him. They attempted to raise him as their own but were persecuted by friends and neighbors for bringing a dark elf to live among them. The boy was taken across the Ocean of Tears by one of his new parents who was unable to face the ill will of his brothers. The boy was left with few rations and disappeared into the Butcherblock Mountains for many years... There is another story of a young Tier'dal man who sailed the Ocean of Tears on a stolen ship with a large compliment consisting of many different races. Ships carrying exports from Freeport to Kaladim began to mysteriously disappear, only to be found a decade later sunken to the ocean floor and completely stripped of their freight. Only those who turned their ships around at first sight of the rogue ship would live to tell others of their sighting. The government of Freeport became exhausted with the pirate whose name they'd heard was Lanzen and launched two ships to eliminate the annoyance. Lanzen's ship joined many others in the graveyard at the bottom of the ocean, many of which he'd driven down himself. The pirate was thought to have gone down with it... Not many years later two elven hunters were found slain in Qeynos Hills a mile south of the home of Marton Sayer. The first, a female, was found with her throat cut cleanly from ear to ear. The second, a man, was found with a rusty rapier driven through his torso from back to front. Sightings of a blue skinned drifter in Qeynos Hills and West Karana caused further anxiety among the people of the region. When Hager Trueshot of Surefall Glade identified the corpses of the elves as the former parents of the Tier'dal boy...it seemed almost certain that the boy had returned with a lust for vengeance. But had that lust been fulfilled or was this double murder only his first taste? Rangers from Surefall Glade and Qeynos set out to track the Tier'dal. A high price was set on his head for any of those that could capture him. Bandits from the Karanas began to spread tales of the fabled pirate of the Ocean of Tears, Lanzen. One approached a ranger and claimed that he had information on the whereabouts of Lanzen in exchange for the promised reward. The trap was sprung as the Tier'dal himself rushed into the room and took the ranger's life. Another ranger met a similar fate when he tracked Lanzen to a guard tower in North Karana and found himself run through by Lanzen himself dressed in the armor of one of the slain guards. Of the original four hunters who set out to track down the killer, two had been murdered by Lanzen and one had fallen mysteriously by the wayside. The Tier'dal waited in the house of a farmer in North Karana, claiming that he was Tenzan the son of Lanzen. He waited for the fifth ranger for two days before finally they met. Two bags full of platinum from Freeport was passed from the Tier'dal to the human. The human returned to Surefall Glade and informed Hager Trueshot that Lanzen had been tracked and killed to pay for his crimes, but at the cost of three rangers. What the human didn't tell Hager was that he had killed one of them himself, was payed two bags of platinum to tell the story of Lanzen's death, and that he had once sailed the Ocean of Tears as Lanzen's first mate. The human became famous as the man who eliminated the rogue Lanzen, and the pirate was thought to be dead. But still there were sightings in the Karanas of a drifter of a darker skin tone. A man named Tenzan buying supplies for a trip to Highpass Hold. Items that had once been a part of exports to Freeport, and were thought to have been somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, were being sold by merchants between North Karana and Nektulos Forest. For a while the tracks of Tenzan could be easily traced. All you had to do was follow the rotting corpses of orcs and an occasional elf or human. But when his anger was ebbed he disappeared again. The Tier'dal is still spotted regularly by residents of the Commonlands and the Butcherblock Mountains. He is called Tenzan by some, Nomad by others. But he is trusted by none. |
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