Life Story
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"If you don't get to sleep, they bogyman will get you..." A child fusses, wanting only to keep playing. In the distance, the sound of minecarts carrying the mine's minerals can be heard.
Such was the peaceful dwarven settlement Rhego was born into. He was a sensitive and gentile boy who tried to sense the breath of God in the mysteries of nature.
As he grew older and developed a dwarf-like physique, Rhego began to help out with the settlement's problems. With this best Tang, he spent his days in hard work on behalf of the people. For their fine work, the foreman personally presented each of them with weapons. A greatsword with a broad stroke and a mace that enhanced the power of healing. Rhego immediately took up the mace and became a priest, listening to the voice of God and healing friends.
Rhego and Tang continued their work for the settlement. But it was only the foreman's beautiful daughter who showed concern for them...for Rhego's wellbeing.
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It was then that Rhego and his friend received a request from the foreman. "We're mining for a rare ore, but monsters stand in our way." "The two of you will safeguard the mining crew I have put together." With these words, Rhego was handed a strange ore--a palm-sized orb that glowed faintly in the dark. Indeed, if production could be made of this unusual stone, it would no doubt bring prosperity to the settlement.
The morning they were to set out, the foreman's daughter came running up to Rhego. She handed him a talisman she had made herself. Rhego took it with a reddened face, and the group headed for the mountain with several miners in tow.
The pair eventually reached the mine with the crew of miners. The designated location was little more than a desolate mountain, like a deserted shaft. Within the dark mine shaft, the miners all began speaking to Rhego. "That ore of yours, it's glowin' a little, isn't it?" "Say, that stone glows in the dark." "If it gives light in the dark, let's put the torches out."
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The very next moment, a searing pain shot through Rhego's body. He screamed and strained his eyes to see a miner's mattock embedded deeply into his body. The assassin was once again reading to levy another blow on the snarling Rhego.
What're you doing?! shouted his friend Tang. But he too was blindsided and fell to the ground. Again and again, the dull, heavy, glistening blade swung down on the still-living Rhego.
The smell of iron and blood filled the tunnel, and the sound of rending flesh continued. The relentless violence finally stopped and one of the miners spoke.
"He must be dead by now." "Grab that ore and we'll report back to--"
As he spoke, the torch he lit revealed Rhego, bathed in blood and gore belonging to Tang. Tang had used the faint illumination of the ore in the dark to drag himself over and shield Rego's body with his own.
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Rhego, covered in the blood of his best friend, lumbered to his feet. The intimidated miners were struck motionless, as if by a curse. An enraged blow from Rhego smashed their heads.
In the moonless twilight, Rhego returned to the settlement, dragging the bloodstained pieces of his friend with him.
He went to the hall and stood before the foreman who was savoring his brew. "Rhego?! How is it you still live...?" At these words spat by the now ashen-faced foreman, Rhego was sure that the foreman was behind the atrocity. At the foreman's cries, his retainers gathered, sensing something amis. "Rhego has gone mad. Seize him and kill him!" the foreman shouted. Rhego pursued the fleeing foreman, but the retainers and townspeople who came running tried to stop him. Rhego shook them off with a bellow. "Why do you stop me, why?!" Shoving, punching, pounding, shattering... Before long, Rhego's voice became nothing more than pleas to stop.
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By the morning, Rhego's rampage finally came to an end. It was only because there was no one left to stop him...For Rhego had killed them all. When Rhego opened the door, his face lifeless, he found the two of them lying atop each other, dead by their own hands. Upon seeing this, he gave another throat-rending scream and gouged out his own eyes so as not to see.
"O, God! What ordeal is this?!" "Why did they all have to die?! Why did you not stop me?! Why, why...!?"
"If you've no answer..." "I will confront you until I get my answer!" Rhego then stuffed his empty eye sockets with that ore, steeped in the foreman's murderous intent.
From then on, temples and harkens, anything related to a god was destroyed by Rhego's hand. And thus, having abandoned his name, Rhego, with his blood-stained beard, came to be known as 'Redbard,' a myth to be feared among many races.