Sharcu Isengard’s father Corcu protected the Tuchean King as a member of the Twenty-Four. While serving Altene in Tuchea Corcu took a wife Mari, and cherished her. Mari bore two sons and a daughter Kercu, Sharcu, and Marise. On the day Sharcu was to complete his childhood lessons and become a man, he awoke at his father’s shout.
Corcu bellows, “I will hold them! To the roof!”, as he meets two hooded men in battle. Motioning for silence, Mari whispers, “Kercu, watch the door, Marice, Sharcu, up the ladder, we will follow.” Grabbing his newly hardened fangstave, Sharcu climbs the ladder and pushes the canvas covering out of the way. Marice follows, carrying a lantern and a knife. A loop of rope drops onto the roof, and closes around their legs. “Trap!”, Sharcu cries as his feet are pulled from under him. Two hooded men leap to the low roof, and draw highly polished gladii from their scabbards. Dropping the rope, the shorter one moves towards their victims. Sharcu rises, kicking the entangling loop from his legs as he wields his fangstave. The taller man charges and thrusts at Sharcu with his sword, striking him in the face and mouth. As the force of the blow drives him backwards off the roof, Sharcu glimpses the face of his attacker, a face that will forever haunt him. Sharcu gurgles, the blood filling his mouth, as darkness enfolds him.
Sharcu was cared for by the Tuchean king’s personal physicians, as his father had commanded the twenty-four men of Altene who guard the king. Once healed, Sharcu wrote down all that he had seen, and presented it to the king’s men. He was then told of his family, how his father had been tortured for information, and how they had been murdered. He learned that not all men were willing to live by the words of thier leaders, and would seek any advantage in order to gain in power. From that day his Oath was set, his thoughts, actions, and life placed inexorably in a path building, training, and preparing for one dark purpose.
VENGEANCE