Rhys

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Rhys was an elvish hunter of the Gilt-Leaf tribe. He held the rank of daen, commander of the Hemlock pack of hunters. In his youth, he was sent to the Murmuring Bosk like many promising young elves, who displayed the potential to become a shaman. Despite his desires, he ended up as an apprentice of the red yew sage Colfenor. Colfenor taught Rhys the secrets of yew poison magic and the wisdom of the yew. After some time, their ways parted again and Rhys lived the life of a hunter, though he was still in a kind of telepathic contact with his mentor. His past as a treefolk's pupil was often the subject of contempt and disagreement from both his superiors and his friends.

Rhys was tasked with eliminating a boggart party that raided in elvish territory. A carefully laid trap was ruined by a young archer, who loosed before the word came. In the fight that broke, Rhys had to initiate the backup plan, two giant brothers, Brion and Kiel, to ensure that few of the boggarts escaped. However, using giants was strongly disapproved and criticized by his later arrived superior, taercenn Nath. Nath also killed the young archer who blew up the ambush, overriding Rhys's authority. Rhys was degraded and from that point he shared a command of his pack with his friend Gryffid.

Later, Nath ordered an elimination of a boggart gathering in the Porringer Valley. This turned out to be a peaceful gathering of boggarts to share stories, the Feast of Footbottom. Rhys informed Nath that these boggarts are not what they seek, pointing out the presence of Auntie Thumb, one of the boggart matrons and leaders of calm, peaceful tribes. Nath, with a cold smile, ordered to attack anyway, revealing that he planned from the very beginning to abuse the boggart annual gathering for their obliteration.

Reluctantly, Rhys obeyed and fought, despite the disapproval of his mentor Colfenor. Then something went wrong, and the boggarts fell into a state of feral frenzy, starting to killing and eating fallen elves. The numbers of boggarts were larger, and the elves were losing terribly. Battle-mad and beaten Gryffid found Rhys in the middle of the field. He called for Rhys using his treefolk magic, and when Rhys hesitated, he cursed him. In the darkest hour, Rhys called upon Colfenor's magic. The result was a poisonous blast that killed everything except Rhys, Gryffid and Nath, and defiled a huge portion of the forest.

When Rhys awoke, he found himself in a middle of wasteland. Shortly after, an elvish woman appeared, claiming to be Maralen of the Mornsong tribe. Rhys realized that the blast destroyed his horns, making him an eyeblight. Then he faced a greater elemental, who came to heal the forest and ordered him and Maralen to leave immediately or face his wrath.

Unknowingly to him, Gryffid swore allegiance to Nath and they both declared Rhys a "kin-slayer", traitor and outlaw. As the sole other survivor of the incident, Rhys was also the only one who could talk about Nath's mistake in judgment, that cost the lives of everyone but three elves.

After meeting the elemental, Rhys and Maralen was found by a strange party consisting of female flamekin Ashling, kithkin archer Brigid Baeli and a trio of fae, the Vendilion Clique. Surprised, he found that the flamekin carries a message for him, from no other than Colfenor, who was waiting for him in Kinsbaile.

When Rhys arrived to Kinsbaile, he met Colfenor after a long time. The red yew asked him for a service, for the old times' sake, and Rhys agreed, in exchange of answers for his questions upon his return. Colfenor asked him to go to Murmuring Bosk and plant his cone there, to ensure that the yew line will not die out. Rhys and his companions set up for the journey. A merrow ferryman named Sygg, an old acquaintance of Ashling, brought them to Bosk through the Dark Meanders. During the journey, Maralen and the fae vanished.

Upon arrival, Rhys found the Bosk destroyed. Trees were systematically uprooted, hacked and burned. The sacred treefolk grove was no more. Despite the desolation, some black poplar seedlings were slowly growing, symbolizing that the damage could be regrown in some decades. Anyway, Rhys decided to plant the cone and perform rituals to ensure its growth.

When he returned to the ferry, he found Brigid wounded, and no sign of Ashling or Sygg. The kithkin claimed that Ashling went mad, killed Sygg and she managed to douse her in the water at the price of her own injuries. Rhys knew she was lying, but helped her to heal anyway. After she was healed, Brigid hit him with a stone. Sygg rose up from the water with Ashling's quenched body. The kithkin took Ashling, trapped the two in a net, and flew away to Kinsbaile with the help of her wing-bow. Thanks to Sygg's ability to produce acid, the pair freed from the net and reunited with Maralen and the strangely silent fae. The fae then provided them with a way of transport to Kinsbaile - their young kin who will carry them.

When the party descended on Kinsbaile, the carrier fae were vaporized by battle-druids' elvish magic. Nath and Gryffid ambushed Rhys in Kinsbaile and after a short hunt, Nath offered him a sword and challenged him to a duel, when Rhys taunted him, doubting his ability to hunt by himself. Shortly after the beginning, Rhys tossed the borrowed sword towards Nath and escaped to the river. However, Nath found him and the taercenn and the outlaw battled. Nath wounded Rhys very seriously, but in the end, Rhys grabbed the taercenn's horns and twisted his head until his neck snapped. The rest of the elves did not attempt to stop him when he was leaving.

When Rhys returned to Kinsbaile, he witnessed the rekindling of Ashling by the greater elemental and the fiery demise of Colfenor. The red yew burned bright, his madly-spoken prophecy of world that is going to change and that he will ensure to be a part of the new world being the last that rang in Rhys' ears.

Rhys and the party wandered once more to Murmuring Bosk, to check the progress of Colfenor's offspring. Surprisingly, they found a young but mature treefolk, who freshly rose from the ground and spoke to them (a process that would normally take decades), greeting them in the name of her seedfather.

The story would continue in Morningtide.