History of Icemule Trace

Miriweather smiles and leans back against the smooth leather of the booth,
her rum held firmly in her pudgy hand.

"Yes, yes, tis an ole story me mather tole me... an' here be how it starts.
Ever wonder why there are no evil halflings? No grumbly, evil, sneering
horrible halflings? An' ifs there are, well, they be few, VERY few. Well,
here be why..."

The ancient little lady shifts, her staff leaned against her knees and
tells the following tale.

A long time ago, shortly after Talbot Dabbings gave his life to save the
Landing, his wife and family moved north with a large number of halflings,
and they founded Icemule Trace. All sorts of halflings came with them, a
lot of them families that had fought alongside Talbot. They journeyed in
search of a new start, away from the bad memories. Eventually, they came
upon the frozen yet beautiful plains that would become Icemule Trace and
they set about making a new life for themselves, as halflings will. They
built comfortable dwellings and found ways of supplying their abodes with
bountiful provisions.

They started building the town in quadrants, same as it is today.
Northwest was dedicated to magic, southwest was entertainment, and
southeast was the merchant quadrant. Northeast was sanctified as holy, and
they went about building the nicest, biggest temple they could. But the
temple was only to be dedicated to Liabo deities. The reason all the
streets today are named after Liabo deities, with no streets named after
Lornon gods, is a reflection of that.

So when the temple was being planned, a group of ten halflings stepped
forward, mages and sorcerers all. They said that it was a halfling's right
to choose a deity...and all halflings are free to worship as they choose.
And thus, they thought it was only proper that the Lornon deities be
represented in the temple, too.

Ma Dabbings, wife of the hero Talbot, stepped forward and spoke, saying:

"My love gave his life for the freedom of all halflings, and though I feel
that my choice is clear, all halflings should have a choice as well. It is
theirs to make. All halflings are free to choose."

And with that, the town agreed, and added the Lornon Pantheon to the
temple.

Shortly after the temple was built, a horrible invasion came, leveling the
entire southern half of the town. Although the halflings were tough, and
fought hard, they were outnumbered, and lost many. The northwest and
northeast quadrants were strangely untouched. The halflings rebuilt the
town, working as diligently as they had the first time around. Halflings
are a tough breed, and don't give up easily.

After a few years, a scaled man with a sibilant lisp came to town, went to
Town Central and spoke, saying:

"We came and killed you before. Now we come again for your town. Leave
now, or all -- your children, your families - all will perish."

With that, the man departed.

The town was in an uproar. Some preached fleeing, some fighting... all
were frightened, remembering the hordes of vicious assailants and horrible
beasts who had razed the town, led by scaled folk such as this one. Again,
Ma Dabbings stepped forward, urged by her neighbors and kinsmen to speak.

"My love died for the freedom of halflings, and how can I but do the same?
I will not run, as my love did not. I will stand here, and die here, if I
must. I will run nowhere."

The townsfolk, many of them families who had fought alongside Talbot,
nodded in silent agreement. If they ran, all their loss -- brethren who
had died in past conflicts and those who had died along the road on the
great migration - would be for nothing. They would stay... and, if
necessary, they would fight.

Grimly, the halflings took their armor and weapons from storage, and
prepared to do battle.

Once again, the group of ten stepped forward, now calling themselves the
Council of Ten.

"Flee!" they cried. "Don't be foolish! How can you withstand another
assault such as the last? We'll all perish."

All but a few of the halflings shook their heads quietly in refusal, and
continued to make ready for war."

Finally, on a freezing day of blizzards and sleet, the scaled man returned
to town, and proceeded immediately to Town Central. He spoke, saying:

"We have come for your town. If you yield, you may be spared. What say
you?"

And with that, Talvon Dabbings, Ma Dabbings' eldest son, leapt from behind
the statue in Town Central, and took the man's head, just as his father had
done against the leader of the forces arrayed against them many years
before.

Talvon spoke proudly:

"We do not give in so easily. Like my father before me, I stand ready. If
it's war they wish, let it begin here. Now."

As the brave young halfling's words were carried away in the wind, the
leader of the Council of Ten turned suddenly and, without a word, launched
a lightning bolt at Dabbings, rending a fatal hole in the halfling's chest.

"Fools! Do you not understand the power of those such as he? Do you not
know who he serves?" he cried, pointing at the body of the strange, scaled
man lying dead in the snow.

"We could have joined with them! Perhaps we still can! We'll be downtrodden
never again! We can RULE Elanthia!"

Aghast, the halflings stared at the Council, glancing silently from them to
the body of Talvon Dabbings, to the form of the scaled visitor, and back
again.

The council member continued, sensing the crowd's confusion, "If you will
not join us, then you oppose us!"

And with that, the Council fell upon the crowd, gradually gaining support
from among them. The halflings began to flee in horror and confusion as
they found themselves unexpectedly fighting each other in the streets.
Friends and neighbors, who had stood together through all the hardships of
the past, now opposed each other.

A band of halfling warriors finally regrouped a short distance away from
Town Central. Regaining their courage, they hefted their claids, tightened
the straps on their plate, and made ready to take their town and their
kinsfolk back.

Charging in at full force, the halflings were blasted by bolts, singed by
boiling earth, mana disrupted... But still, they came. At the last moment,
in unison, they hurled their claids at the casters, using that as a brief
distraction. As the Council members tried desperately to mount a
protective shield of power between themselves and the rain of weaponry, the
warriors tackled and pinned them, overwhelming every one of the ten.

With dead and dying halflings all around them, the bleeding and battered
warriors tied up the Council. With the casters captured, the rest of the
halflings who had been lured to their cause quickly surrendered. All were
rounded up and dragged to Town Central, where they were silenced and bound.

A discussion quickly arose regarding what to do with the traitors. Once
again, Ma Dabbings stepped forward. Tears filled her eyes as she glanced
at the body of her fallen son, lying in the bloody snow with the other
victims of the struggle. She paused a moment in silence, then spoke,
addressing the group of bound halflings and the Council of Ten in a voice
quavering with emotion.

"Have you not learned from the elves? Do you not see what happens when kin
fight kin? It is YOU who are foolish! How dare you take from me my eldest
son, beloved of both me and Talbot?"

As she sobbed in the midst of the crowd of halflings in the square, only
the wind dared make a sound, its sigh mingling with the old woman's
heart-rending cries. Finally, she pulled her composure together and spoke,
again addressing the group that had allied with the stranger and Council of
Ten.

As the misguided townsfolk sobbed in sorrow at their terrible punishment,
Ma Leaftoe stepped forward and queried Ma Dabbings, asking:

"How can we risk releasing these villains on the rest of Elanthia? They
are a treacherous lot, and will do to others what they have done here."

This met with a quick murmur of agreement from the citizens gathered there.

A young halfling stepped forward, saying:

"Talbot Dabbings watches over us. He will protect us from them."

And there was another murmur of agreement and nodding. Ma Dabbings
pondered for a moment, then nodded and spoke:

"Yes, I believe this is a good plan. My love died to deliver us from the
likes of these murderers. He will guard us in death as he did in life."

They dragged the evil halflings into the Pioneer's graveyard where Talbot
Dabbings' mausoleum lies and reverently opened the tomb, forcing the evil
halflings inside. They sealed it tightly and warded it strongly, such that
none may enter. Or exit.

To this day, Talbot watches over the halfling traitors.

Uxbri says, "Long time ago...'bout the time of the first invasion..."

Uxbri says, "There was a family of elves."

Uxbri says, "When the hobbits come up here, they travelled with th' 
hobbits, lookin' t'make a new start."

Uxbri says, "Was common back then."

Uxbri says, "When a whole mess o' people picked up and went..."

Uxbri says, "Some stragglers came too...looking fer a new place t'live, 
more land, whatever."

Uxbri says, "So anyway, these elves, they were a fambly of butchers."

Uxbri says, "Not the horrible kind."

Uxbri says, "Just y'know..."

Uxbri says, "Cut up meat."

Uxbri says, "They were VERY useful to the hobbits in the early days..."

Uxbri says, "As they were runnin' into new critters..."

Uxbri says, "And it was hard to figger out how to dress the meat."

Uxbri says, "But these butchers..."

Uxbri says, "They sorted it all out, nice as ya please."

Uxbri says, "So the hobbits, they founded their town..."

Uxbri says, "But the elves, bein' a big ol' fambly..."

Uxbri says, "Decided that they needed some more space."

Uxbri says, "So they set out, and found a nice plot o' land sorta 
south-east of town..."

Uxbri says, "Mebbe a li'l north of the farm."

Uxbri says, "Set themselves up a nice farm of their own, and they raised 
leapers there fer eatin'."

Uxbri says, "Leapers is good eatin'."

Uxbri nods.

Uxbri says, "So they built a farm house, and a big ol' charnelhouse."

Uxbri says, "Charnelhouse is where ya bop and cut up meat."

Uxbri says, "And they sold lots and lots of meat to the new hobbits, who 
were gettin' a little tired of berries."

Uxbri says, "Yeah...I know...most elves don't like killin' critters fer 
food."

Uxbri nods.

Uxbri says, "But heck, some folks do."

Uxbri says, "Anyway, th' invasion came."

Uxbri says, "Bad one."

Uxbri says, "The farm, the charnelhouse..."

Uxbri says, "Well...it was outside the walls of the town."

Uxbri says, "After the first invasion, no one saw any of those elves 
again..."

Uxbri says, "Save one."

Uxbri says, "An elf was found sitting just outside the barn in the 
garden..."

Uxbri says, "Leaning against the barn and shaking his head..."

Uxbri says, "Muttering something about claws."

Uxbri says, "Teeth."

Uxbri says, "When the hobbits took him back to town, dragged him, 
really..."

Uxbri says, "And was asked about the charnelhouse...meat..."

Uxbri exclaims, "He shrieked!"

Uxbri says, "And ran out of town wailing, and was never seen again."

Uxbri says, "There was a family of 22 elves in that farm."

Uxbri says, "No one ever saw 'em again."

Uxbri says, "Some folks say that the wraiths what inhabit the barn are the 
spirits of those elves..."

Uxbri says, "But I know better."

Uxbri says, "Wraiths...they just the ghosts of folks kilt."

Uxbri says, "Somethin' bad happened to those elves, folks."

Uxbri says, "And horrible things come from folks what die horrible deaths."

Uxbri nods.

Uxbri says, "Ain't no one been over to that charnelhouse since way 'fore I 
was born."

Uxbri says, "I 'magine that the way there is long blocked."

Uxbri says, "Maybe..."

Uxbri says, "Maybe someday..."

Uxbri says, "We could go have a look."

Uxbri says, "Sure. You go right ahead."

Uxbri says, "I know the way's blocked."

Uxbri says, "But maybe a thaw will come."

Uxbri says, "And maybe..."

Uxbri says, "We can find the way."

(Someone) asks, "Yea..what invaded?"

Uxbri says, "Th' first invasion? Horrible undead. Scaled things."

Uxbri says, "Welp. That's my story."


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