Hero of Dulnàra
There are numerous tales surrounding the exploits of the rogue Yrn Shàlyð of Oð. His stories mark him as a native of the Oðàri Kreyard (i.e., harbor ward). Though there are a great many stories of his deeds, few natives of Dulnàra care to separate the likely from the likely fictional. Yrn Shàlyð is believed to have been a contemporary of another notorious Oðyn named Gerrìt Kaln, from whom the Derékaln derives its name. No surviving stories however detail a crossing of the men’s paths.
- Birth: Unknown
- Death: Unknown
- First Appearance: NA
Yrn Shàlyð operated within the City of Oð during the time of the Eylfāe Occupation. He is credited with causing all manner of mischief and being a general (and deadly) nuisance for the Occupying forces. His nemesis was the Eylfāe governor Valsahdylarayhn the Red. Some stories tell that Yrn Shàlyð was eventually killed by the governor (after exchanging himself for prisoners). Other tales explain that he escaped into the northern woods and retired to a hermit’s cave. There he would accept and train any young pupils that might find him. He accepted apprentices until he was very old. Finally these stories tell that a young woman named Erése, the last to discover the cave, found it abandoned with a note and dagger explaining that he’d left to find greater adventures.
The hero is probably best remembered for his clockwork spider-grapnels. Stories describe his “spiders” as small metal winches with eight retractable legs. The spiders could be thrown or allowed to crawl up a sheer surface, unwinding a length of thread behind them. When the devices reached a desired location, they would anchor themselves, and wind the thread back onto the spool. This would allow Yrn to scale high walls, cross between roof-tops, and even use the spiders as weapons (e.g., to clothesline riders, entangle foes). It is not clear whether the spiders were real. There were no contemporary stories detailing where the devices came from, how they were constructed, et al. Whatever the truth might be, Yrn is believed to have been a skilled climber and second-story thief, with a preference for garroting his enemies.
Tales
A Bird in the Snow
As a young man, Yrn wandered through the winter streets of Oð, looking to channel his restless spirit. One night, while he was being turned away at the Ðawlhan checkpoint, he spied a lone set of lady’s footprints leading away in the white snow (not seen since 27 DR). Collecting his papers, he left the gate, and once out of sight, climbed to the roof of a nearby building. From that vantage he could see across the pitched white roofs that lined the shadowy gulf of the Kre Dùlnar. Carefully crossing the building-tops, Yrn stopped suddenly at the sight of large tracks in the roof-top snow. He’d seen hill-cat prints like these before in the western foothills, but never in the city! Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, he proceeded into Ðawlh, still looking for the lady’s tracks while crossing the wandering path of the strange roof-cat. As jumped across the gap of a narrow alley he stopped, hearing the sound of growling nearby. Looking across the moon-lit snow, he saw a small rising cloud like warm breath on a cold night. The snow beneath the breathy vapors had four paw prints. The “cat” was in front of him and invisible!
Yrn turned and raced across the rooftops, leaping alleys and vaulting the edges of mismatched roof lines. More than once when the roofs came to an end, he would toss a spider-grapnel to a nearby chimney, and swing from one building to the next. All the time, he could hear the soft padding of giant paws closing behind him as it leapt from one snow-covered rooftop to the next. To make matters worse, the rooftop chase was soon noticed by Eylfāe guards below who ran through the streets making bow shots when they could see Yrn clearly. Horns sounded throughout the neighborhood, calling the guards to the block he had just leapt or swung toward. As arrows whistled past him, and the unseen cat drew closer behind, Yrn dove off the final roof. As the cat followed, it realized too late that it jumped into the dark gulf of the Kre Dùlnar. The cat yowled past him as it plummeted to the jagged rocks below, while Yrn swung back to the cliff-side at the end of one of his grapnel lines. Climbing down the cliff-side, he found an entrance…