Aegous Oirous

Aegous Oirous (?-887 MR)

Aegous Oirous was the leader of the Elvish faction "The Silver Errant" and is considered directly responsible for the Errant War as well as the complete eradication of the Halfling race. He had no descendants, and was killed at the Battle of Castle Grayblade. He is one of the few elves who have ever been publicly disowned by a King (Dishe Vough) and also is one of the even fewer who have wielded the Labyrinth.

Biography
Aegous was born to Elia and Donce Oirous, in an unrecorded year. Both his parents were farmers, and they all lived on the outskirts of Avian. He had a happy childhood, until the day a band of raiders attacked his farmlands.

A group known as the Brownrot Raiders attacked his families' farm and murdered both his parents. The raider band was made up of primarily halflings, with a few lizardfolk and human amongst them. Both of Aegous' parents were killed, and one of the raiders thought taking the boy as a slave would be a good idea.

Aegous was stolen away by the raiders and forcefully dragged as they ravaged through a number of other farms. He would spend 5 years under their control until he managed to escape with a number of other slaves. Aegous was the only one to survive when one of the members of the Brownrot chased down the runaways. The Lizardfolk followed them into a small town called Grimsby, and hunted each slave down. The Lizardfolk hung their bodies from pikes in an attempt to make the townsfolk out the hiding slaves. Aegous realized he would not escape unless he did something, so he sprung a trap of the Lizardfolk. Gathering a number of the slaves at night, he hid amongst the rooftops of the houses and watched for when the assassin revealed himself. When he did, Aegous jumped from the roof and drove a spear straight through the creature's heart. Aegous was revered among the townsfolk, and even adopted by a merchant.

The woman who took Aegous in was an older elf named Ricchia. She taught his many skills, and among them was the ability to use his voice. She could see the charisma and passion held within Aegous, and taught him to hone his skills. Aegous would come to join her on her travels, convincing folk that the wares his mother sold were the best in the east. Travling back from Avian to Grimsby, the duo saw flames and smoke pouring from the town's center. Aegous instructed his horse forward even when Ricchia attempted to stop him.

As he arrived within the town's walls, he found the settlement had been pillaged. The townsfolk had been horribly mutilated, and the raiders had saw to it that every building was set ablaze. Aegous raced back for Ricchia, only to find her neck at the blade of a halfling's sword. The Brownrot had finally found where their assassin had been killed, and learned it was their lost slave Aegous who had done it. Before he could even move to save her, the halfling's steel sword rippled through her neck, and her body dropped lifeless to the dirt road.

Aegous attempted to chase after the raiders, but his horse was shot out from under him. He crawled to Ricchia's body and wept, blaming himself for the tremendous loss.

Taking what supplies he could salvage from the town, he returned to Avian and sold everything he had. With the money he acquired, Aegous purchased a small apartment and began working as an apprentice to a smith. The skill of his voice had been lost, now forced to clang hammers against blackened anvils and endure the raging heat for three quarters of a day. Aegous pooled his money, until he was able to purchase a set of armor of his own, and eventually a sword. When he was not working, every hour he had was spent training his body. He studied countless books on the strategies of war and would sneak into soldier's practice yards. Aegous was determined to hunt down the raiders that had taken everything from him, but he knew he would need help.

Using his natural charisma, Aegous began telling his tale and finding mercenaries who would join his cause. Eventually, even some soldiers and warriors had decided to follow him against the raiders. When Aegous was convinced he had amassed a large enough number of warriors, he brought his forces out to the hills west of Grimsby. He had hired a scout to search for the raiding party, and had come to learn that the Brownrot was traveling towards a small farm land not far from the place he had once called home.

Aegous and his followers surprised the Brownrot raiders in the night and launched an ambush on them. While they managed to kill many, a portion of the raiders managed to escape. Aegous checked every dead body to ensure that the halfling who murdered Ricchia was among them, but he was not. Aegous asked his followers to join him on his quest to see the end of the Brownrot raiders for good. A few of the mercenaries declined, but those who stayed loyal would come to be known as the Silver Errant.

Aegous and the Silver Errant would follow the trail of the Brownrot, amassing other followers and killing raiders as they went. They viewed themselves as bringers of justice, and to his follower Aegous could do no wrong. As fate would have it, the only members of the Brownrot who the Silver Errant could not find were the one who had held Ricchia's body, and the one who slid the blade across her throat.

Upon their travels, the Silver Errant would begin to harbor a number of powerful magical artifacts that they had gathered from fallen foes. Aegous was a seeker of knowledge, and spent much time learning the powers of each of the items. Each of his most loyal soldiers wielded one of the items, and the Errant believed themselves unstoppable. One of these items was known as the Eye of Andar, and its powers allowed the user to gain a small bit of knowledge about the future. The Eye had chaotic powers though, and slowly began to sink into its users mind and corrupt them.

Aegous used it to search for the last of the raiders, and was told that they had hidden in the halfling town of Ripplestone. The Silver Errant ventured their rapidly, and arrived to find that the local milita would not turn over the raiders. Unaware of why the halflings would harbor criminals (and slowly falling to the madness of the eye), Aegous was spat upon by one of the halflings. "We'll never out our own to you elvish scum" said that same man. This sentence would change Aegous forever. He ordered his soldiers to decimate the town, but their search for the raiders came up empty.

Aegous would return with the Errant to Avian, and preach of the wickedness and loathing of the halflings. He told the commonfolk that they saw all elves as scum, when in actuality the ancient texts of the gods said that halflings were made from the scraps of humans, elves, and dwarves. Aegous began to sway the commonfolk opinion, and soon thousands were flooding to join the Errant.

With a grand army at his back, Aegous now sought the advice of the Eye of Andar. Through this he was given a flashback to the day he learned of the "most powerful magical item in the world." The raiders had commonly discussed the Labyrinth when Aegous was a child, but he never truly believed in its powers. The Eye told him that the halflings possessed it. Legends said that the halflings hid the Labyrinth from the other races, for protection. Aegous came to believe that they were actually doing this out of pure selfishness, completely content that the rest of the world had to suffer while the halfling kingdoms lived in abundance.

Aegous brought this message to the Silver Errant and convinced his army the only thing to do was to take the Labyrinth and lend its power to the world. Only his closest and most loyal soldiers knew his true plan. Aegous had grown to see the halflings as the scum of the world, a race that was in dire need of eradication. The Labyrinth was a magical means of accomplishing that goal.

The Silver Errant declared war against the halfling race, beginning the Errant War. King Dishe Vough publicly declared that Aegous and his followers were enemies of the nation, but did nothing to stop them. The Silver Errant slaughtered city after city of halflings, convinced each and every one of them was hiding the truth to where the Labyrinth was hidden. Aegous continued to consult the Eye of Andar and fell further to the evil that possessed him. He and his soldiers began to use their powerful magical weapons to utterly obliterate the halfling settlements.

Aegous' end would come in the final battle of the Errant War, at Castle Grayblade. Having finally discovered the location of the Labyrinth, the Silver Errant slaughtered the halfling defenses. Aegous unlocked the hidden chasm which held the magical book, and rejoiced. His any wish was just at his fingertips. He could return life to how it had been before the raiders attacked. He could reverse all of the death and destruction that had come ultimately from the savageness of the Brownrot. Sadly, none of this had occurred to him, as his mind had already fallen deep into darkness. Aegous summoned the strength of the book, and wished for the complete destruction of the halfling race. There were a few things he did not know.

The Lord Commander of Castle Grayblade was a sorcerer-knight named Riddlepip Tealeaf. Riddlepip knew of the destruction that Aegous would bring, and so just moments before the battle began, conjured a great ritual. Using the magic of the Labyrinth Riddlepip teleported the surviving halflings that hid behind the walls of Castle Grayblade into the Forgotten Plane. Here they were safe and untraceable from the evil of the Silver Errant. The spell unfortunately cost Riddlepip his life, and so his son Ziggy would go onto lead the halflings.

The other knowledge unknown to Aegous was that the Labyrinth was able to bend reality as willed, but at a price. The more powerful the spell, the more dangerous it would be to the user. When Aegous summoned the Labyrinth's power, the magical book turned him to dust, along with all of those who stood in the chasm with him.

The Silver Errant would be disbanded and dealt with ultimately by King Dishe Vough of the Elvish provinces, but it was too late.

Aegous Oirous' became a cautionary tale, of the danger of dark magic and the terror that can happen when determined forces go unchecked.