Connects to: 29.14.13, 38.28, 40.06 and 43.01.
In days long past, there lived in the City of Many Windows (29.14) a priest named Jarmond of the Knife. In those days the God of the City still walked its streets, always in the guise of a local city-dweller, sometimes with his wife on his arm; but it was given to the faithful to see his true form during moments of enlightenment. Jarmond was blessed to be visited in this manner not once, or twice, but eleven times, more than any other man in history. The last time was the most famous: Alberon appeared as a blacksmith, and he said unto Jarmond: “Go you to Bergolast, in the land of eternal ice, and tell the people there to repent their wickedness; for a day of shattered bonds is coming, and if they do not give themselves over to me they are lost.” And he gave Jarmond a knife he had forged himself, and bid him keep it always.
So Jarmond came to the City on the Tarrasque, and preached to the wicked there, but they ridiculed him and bound his limbs, and made him a jester for the Nine Immortals. To abase him and his religion, they forced between his lips the blood of the Tarrasque, and thus made him like them.
The rest is already known. When the Shrouded Lands shook and Tiamat was slain (40.06), the Tarrasque broke free and razed the city to the ground. The men of Bergolast went into a frenzy, striking and stabbing each other to get free, but none could harm any other for the blood of the Tarrasque flowed in their veins. And Jarmond was dealt eleven mortal wounds with eleven spears, and eleven times he survived. And he saw the Tarrasque coming toward him, with the city all aflame. And he knew that Alberon his god was merciful, and he took the knife and plunged it into his own heart, and so died.
Long was the journey to return the body of that saint to his homeland. When he arrived, he was interred in the greatest tomb that the city had ever seen, and his eleven prophecies were inscribed upon the walls of the tomb. Of those eleven, it is said that three had already come true, including the fall of Bergolast; the other eight passed into obscurity, and none can say if they have yet been fulfilled.
The Tomb lies now at the very lowest depths of the Shuttered City, as it was built before the time of sinking began. The original streets are cold and silent, though some whisper that they are not entirely uninhabited…
Hooks:
- Wait a minute! Bergolast was in the land of eternal ice? What happened since then to make it into the Burning Lands?
- Who were the Nine Immortals? Are any of them still alive? Is Master Var (43.03) one of them?
- What happened to the Knife of Jarmond? Was it taken back to his tomb or left in Bergolast? And what exactly are its properties?
- Who carried Jarmond’s body back to the City, and how?
- What are the other eight prophecies of Jarmond?
- What else can be found on the lowest levels of the Shuttered City?