User:Cathcham

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This page describes a character who is dead or retired from Hollow.

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The lives of Rangers often bypass whose of their fellows in Hollow and so it was with Armatah and Lillian. Living deep in the heart of Sage Forest the two humans rarely encountered others but one day met under the leafy boughs of the great wood. As soon as their eyes met their fate was sealed and they chose to spend their lives together.

Life and love grew in richness and the couple were soon blessed with a daughter, whom they named Liarama. Although they were surrounded by happiness Armatah and Lillian knew there was great danger in the outside world and often one of them would leave to fight it while the other remained home caring for their young child.

On one such occasion Armatah went to fight the forces of the Gnome known only as Vuryal. Soon after terrible news was brought to Lillian. Armatah had been slain but not before performing great deeds against the forces of evil. Despite her grief Lillian knew that evil would seek revenge for her husband's brave exploits and prepared to leave her blessed home.

Alas, she was too late. Shadowy figures descended upon her home. Realising she was condemned to death or damnation Lillian covered the young Liarama with blankets in the hope the child would not be seen. The shadows descended on Lillian and such was her agony in death that it is said that you still can hear the echoes of her screams today.

Screams were heard on that day and days to come but they were not those of Lillian, but of the baby Liarama. Who would hear the cries of the defenceless child deep in the heart of the forest? The only person who lived close was Esme, half human and half elf with a son named Parthk. A kind hearted soul, Esme had, nevertheless, been driven insane by an Undead attack years before and her lack of contact with the outside world.

It was Esme, while gathering wood and muttering strange words under her breath that heard the pitiful cries of the baby. She entered the seemimngly idyllic cottage and saw a terrible sight, the dismembered body of Lillian. About to flee the horror she again heard the cries that had drawn her to this cursed place. Pulling a pile of blankets aside she saw a young child. Esme added the baby to her wood and it was only Parthk's questions when she returned home that reminded her of the child.

And so young Liarama had a new home, the hovel belonging to Esme. Frustrated by his mother's madness Parthk often went away but always showed the child love on his return so that she looked upon him as an older brother. He had shining pale eyes that would glint in the sun and always made the little girl laugh.

Esme kept pigs, a rarity in Hollow, and after slaughter there would be a great feast. It would become a joke that the mad woman would throw a joint to the child and say “Catch the ham, catch the ham!” and thus it was that Liarama gained the name Cathcham.

For Liarama/Cathcham the most precious times of her childhood were when Esme took her into the Forest. When this happened the woman seemed to regain her sanity and imparted a great deal of knowledge to the young girl, most of which she did not understand.

One day in the Forest an Elven Ranger appeared with dire news. Parthk had been captured by an army from Vailkrin and it was believed that, while still alive, he was being sold into slavery. Esme collapsed on the ground with shock and it was only with the help of the Ranger that Cathcham managed to get her back to the hovel that they called home.

For days Cathcham tended the feverish and incoherent Esme. After three days the woman suddenly relaxed, smiled and was still. Cathcham knew her spirit was gone and hoped in death she would find the peace that had eluded her in life.

Parthk had told Cathcham that Esme always wished to pass to a higher plane in the manner of her ancestors. With tears running down her cheeks and Esme's axe in her hands Cathcham cut wood until she had built a pyre taller than herself.As the sun set Cathcham dragged the woman up the pyre and kissed her gently. Climbing down she thrust a torch into the pyre and,crying, watched as the flames licked the sky.

Cathcham knew she could no longer remain at the hovel. Releasing the pigs and the other animals that Esme kept she put together a small bag containing her few belongings. Afraid, but with a steel of resolve in her heart she set off into the Forest, leaving the only home she had ever known. She had two goals, to find her true identity and to rescue Parthk.

Entering Hollow.

Dressed in her only clothes, some tattered rags, Cathcham made her way through the forest and found the town of Kelay. A kindly stranger, who called himself Marcellus, gave her decent clothes and when she looked in a mirror for the first time she was astonished at the beauty before her.

Cathcham was nearly deluded by her beauty and the effect it could have on males but remembered her goals and resolved to achieve them before taking part of any earthly pleasures. Cathcham now wanders Hollow, hoping to find her destiny.

She has achieved one goal, though it broke her heart. Entering the Vailkrin Slave Market and appalled that people could be sold like animals she caught the glint of sunlight on pale eyes. It had to be Parthk and while she hates slavery Cathcham bid for and bought him. Sadly the man she thought of as a brother is just a shadow of his former self. He will not speak and only takes food if it is placed in front of him. Yet he follows Cathcham everywhere with a look of trust in his eyes. She quietly vows to restore him to the person she once looked up to and loved.

So now Cathcham travels with Parthk at her side. At night they return to the shelter she has made in the Forest, having remembered some of the skills Esme taught her. But after washing, feeding and getting Parthk to sleep Cathcham sits with an empty hollowness inside her. Is it an illusion or a memory of a happy, laughing young man and woman bouncing a smiling baby? Will Cathcham, or whoever she may be, ever have that kind of happiness? Only time will tell.