Syrus the Cursed and the Return of Bone Knife

Syrus was the last goblyn and lore keeper of Bone Knife. The other monsters of Horse Grave Horde killed or driven off. He was captured by the grik of Dun Abhon and slated for execution. Awaiting the axe, Syrus muttered one last ritual to Sifu. On the last walk, he took what he knew of majik and offered himself to Clohaka. When the axe fell, a noxious green cloud gushed from the neck. It spread across the land and the land turned brown and desolate. For ten years the crops would not grow and the trees would not fruit. The grik did not thrive and their numbers dwindled. After the years passed, the land slowly healed. As the land recovered, the grik plague returned. No matter how long, the grotto where Syrus's bones lie remained choked and ruined. His soul bound to his bones, and the curse of Clohaka bound to his soul.

With no monsters keeping it in check, Dun Abhon started to regain its strength. This taint did not go unnoticed. Clohaka no longer worked against the hands of the grik, and monsters had long ago been driven from the land. Sifu needed a disciple through which to work against the growing plague of grik, and the body and soul of Syrus were tied to this land. Sifu carried to the Witchdoktor Galya Grikhunter the torment of Syrus, and through whispers and dreams came to know the unending silent screams of Syrus the Cursed.

Goblyns do not do soul majik since the time of the True Goblyns, so Galya tried to summon the soul to her. Nothing arrived, and the spell ended in darkness. Galya thought that goblyns were too far from the old majik and it had failed. However, Sifu had tied the forgotten threads on Galya's majik and those threads were being pulled.

Under a night with no moon, she heard a faint noise from the east, and to the east she watched. What emerged from the dark was a shambling, clacking skeletal marionette that only spoke in the droning of the locusts. It moved closer enough to touch her, and as it did it collapsed into a motionless mummy, the head rolling a few feet away.

Over the next half-moon, Galya stuffed the leathery skin with mud, shit and whatever vermin she could kill. She carved Sifu's runes into the skull and balanced it on top of the corpse. When she tried to summon the soul again, there was a great green cloud gush forth from the holes in the desiccated skin, and the runes lifted from the skull and hovered in the air. In that moment, the silent screams were given voice and Syrus the Cursed again breathed air.

The soul was still bound to the bones, but was no longer drawn to the afterlife, and the body began to reform as the vermin became muscle, the mud became guts, and the shit became brains. But as Syrus was touched by two gods, he could no longer touch Skribbit's Rage, and so was only half a goblyn. Syrus took the long walk back to the grotto where the curse was freed. His club was there in the undergrowth, and the axe was still lodged in the stump. He took these in hand, and through these he felt the faintest flickering of Skribbit. He menaced the shadows of Dun Abhon, killing those who had forgotten what foul things lurk in the wilderness and with every kill, Clohaka's grip grew weaker.

When the time grew ripe, Syrus made himself known to Dun Abhon. Within sight of the fortress walls, he slew a grik and clothed himself for the first time since his death. The shiny-skin grik poured out of the fortress, but Syrus was gone. With every kill, Syrus grows with Skribbit's Rage, and the rumor of the green-skinned devil of the woods reaches more grik ears. And now, Syrus the Cursed, last Goblyn of the Bone Knife tribe again awaits the prophecy of a chieftain from the west to raise a great Horde that will wash away the Grik.