Askel Crowsinger

In the annals of Kalamar's rich history, among the ancient legends and tales passed down through generations, the name Askel Crowsinger looms like a shadowy enigma, a figure whose origins and deeds are shrouded in layers of myth and folklore. This elusive character has earned his place in the hearts and minds of Kalamar's people, with countless interpretations and stories spinning a web of intrigue around his name. Some say he was a deposed king, while others believe he was a formidable scholar of forgotten knowledge. There are even whispers that he was the most powerful sorcerer to tread the highlands of Kalamar. In truth, elements of each belief contain fragments of reality, but the full story remains as elusive as the mist that blankets the northern woods.

The Hagspawn:

The beginnings of Askel's tale are knotted in the twisted roots of a most unlikely family tree. He was born the son of a powerful hag, a being of darkness and malevolence whose twisted motives are still a matter of conjecture. The hag had a sinister plan, to infiltrate the court of the King of Kalamar, but fate intervened, and she bore a son instead of the daughter she had anticipated. It was this unfortunate accident that ultimately led to the birth of Askel Crowsinger.

From the very moment of his first cry, Askel's life was inextricably tied to the hag's sinister designs. She raised him in the dark arts of sorcery, molding him into a cunning practitioner of the arcane. His teenage years saw the first hint of the immense power he would one day wield, but also a deepening isolation. In a chance encounter with two outsiders who had ventured into the woods, Askel's innate talents were revealed. Initially, he treated the two humans as animals, which they found strange and amusing. However, their mockery soon turned to horror as Askel's incantations cursed them, transforming them into mindless dryads. The malevolent hag captured Askel, erasing any compassion he might have had for these unfortunate souls and deepening his isolation.

Askel's isolation continued as the hag relentlessly groomed him to serve her insidious purposes. He became a master of the arcane and was forced into extensive study of the ways to court the nobles of Kalamar's human society. His skills and knowledge grew, and as he reached his twentieth year, he was sent on a mission to infiltrate the court of the King of Kalamar.

A Twisted Dance:

With his extensive knowledge of the land and arcane insight, Askel easily swindled his way into the king's court. He was an indispensable advisor to the king, though his true motives were dark and hidden. In secret, he led the king's forces away from the hag's woods, luring the ruler away from her territory while sending unsuspecting lowborn into the heart of the hag's domain. It was a macabre pact between mother and son, one that involved luring innocent people into the hag's snares. During this time, Askel's knowledge of Kalamar's culture grew, and he reveled in his role as a forceful ally in the king's campaign against the witches of the north.

However, Askel's insatiable ambition knew no bounds. He soon came to see the king as an obstacle rather than an ally. He openly countermanded the king's orders and decisions. His newfound power and status had given him a taste of domination, an ambition the hag had once tried to beat out of him. Furious, she tortured his mind, attempting to bend him to her malevolent will.

Betrayal and Sorcery:

The climax of his treacherous journey came when he decided to lure the king and his forces into the heart of the hag's woods, convincing the king that it was home to a coven of malevolent witches. Blinded by hatred, the king rallied his men, and they marched into the woods. As they penetrated the shadows, horrors rose to meet them, all under the hag's dark command. But the king was no ordinary man; his courage and skill led him straight to the heart of the hag's lair.

The exact details of what transpired within the lair remain a subject of speculation. However, it is commonly believed that the king confronted the hag, who, in a surprising twist, told him a hidden truth that would forever alter the course of his rule. The king, in the end, chose to return to his kingdom, leaving Askel to his devices. When the king returned to his castle, Askel found a broken king who had been made aware of a stark truth. The nature of this revelation remains shrouded in legend, but the king, in a weakened state, sought to have Askel arrested and executed. In a moment of defiance, Askel unleashed his potent sorcery, with a snap of his fingers, he disintegrated the king upon his very throne. As the castle's guards and inhabitants descended upon him, Askel fled with his life.

The Hag's Gluttony:

Askel's desperate escape from the pursuing soldiers of the fallen king had brought him full circle, back to the foreboding woods that were once his childhood home. With every step, he could feel the oppressive weight of memories crashing upon him like relentless waves. As he ventured deeper into the heart of the woods, Askel was filled with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. His plan to lead the king's forces into the witch's lair had succeeded, but it had also stripped him of allies and rendered him isolated once more.

What he found in the shadowy depths of his mother's territory was a shocking and grotesque revelation. The hag, driven by gluttony in the aftermath of her victory over the king's army, had undergone a monstrous transformation. Her body had swelled grotesquely, bloated from the consumption of soldiers and their spirits. She had become immovable, a pitiful but repulsive sight, trapped by her own avarice. A surge of anger and realization coursed through Askel as he beheld her pitiful state.

He knew this was the moment, a moment of clarity, when he must seize the opportunity to break free from the hag's control once and for all. Using his dwindling powers, Askel engaged in a vicious battle against the hag, culminating in a climactic confrontation, a cataclysmic clash between mother and son that echoed through the woods. The precise details of their encounter varied in the myriad retellings of the legend, leaving a mystique that only deepened his legacy as the enigmatic figure known as Askel Crowsinger.

An Ascension of Darkness:

Regardless of the tale, a common thread emerges — Askel's ascension into a force unlike any other. Some accounts describe him as devouring the hag, absorbing her powers, while others allude to him casting a potent spell that transformed him into something more, a being of pure arcane and shadows. From that day forth, he was no longer just a hagspawn or a cunning sorcerer; he became a natural phenomena, a being that subsisted on the arcane, a force to be reckoned with, and a creature of shadowy legend.

The stories of Askel Crowsinger have transcended time and culture. Before the Silver Dominion and its Church arrived in Kalamar, Askel was already a feared and infamous figure. To some, he is a Witch King, while to witches, he is known as the Bane of their kind. The very mention of his name sends shivers down the spines of those who know his stories. As a result, many locals steer clear of the northern woods, fearful of Askel and the arcane powers he wields.