Armand of the Axe
Armand of the Axe was a warrior priest of the King in Splendor and came from the south to the City of Shuttered Windows to win glory for himself and his god at the Wedding Band (30.15). He soon rose to fame and earned the enmity of Bogarus Bolger for running down and hacking one of his prized blink dogs to pieces even after it had fled across the Wedding Band and had thus forfeited the match.
In the next match, Bogarus released a great pack of spider monkeys drugged with the juice of the heart fruit against Armand and they clung to his body biting and worrying him as he cleaved them off one by one. Finally Armand emerged victorious but at great cost, one of the monkeys had been infected with a strange affliction and had passed it on to Armand.
That night Armand had a terrible dream in which his powerful limbs wasted away to gaunt sticks upon which he swung barking across the rooftops of Shuttered. The next day he learned that it had been no dream and that he was now a were-spider monkey. In shame and horror he fled to the White Road where he lives with his axe and his few other possessions in an old tomb (29.13).
Each night Armand fights off the coming of sleep, chanting prayers to the god who neither listens nor grants him spells, for he knows that when sleep comes his other self will wake. When in spider monkey form, Armand coats himself in bone dust and climbs amidst the forest of tombs that line the White Road barking madly and harassing any people he finds. His mad bark functions causes supernatural terror to come over the weak minded and he enjoys pretending to be a ghost, causing mayhem and attempting to terrorize people into giving him offerings.
The next day, Armand awakens later remembering all that he did the previous night and until night comes again he either tries to make reparations for what he did or lies sobbing in the tomb where he now lives. His attempts to return to Shuttered have met in failure for the priests turn him away at the gate.
Connection:
- One of the regular at the Mud Platter thinks that Armand is an angel of Alberon.
Hooks:
- What is heart fruit?
- How did Bogarus Bolger get the infected monkey?
- Will Armand ever be able to cast clerical spells again?
- Why does he crave offerings in spider monkey form? What does he do with them? What else is the spider monkey up to?
- Is there any way to cure Armand?