A gnollish legend

By Keylara

Gnolls. They are among Norrath's finest creatures; their race stands out from all the others who span the vast diversified forests, swamps, deserts and mountains. They are champions, elite guards, commanders and chiefs! They hold great power, and stand together as a force to be reckoned with. However long ago, they weren't quite so many in numbers. This is a story of a young female growing up in a tribe of these respectable warriors and elite guardsmen; her struggles to grow, flourish! Her name was.... Well, you see when her mother gave birth to her and the litter of her brothers and sisters, their town was shortly thereafter rushed and attacked by a group of wretched humans. They claimed they were ridding the lands of a horrible plague of foul beasts. This tribe of gnolls, save for her and one elderly chief, were completely wiped out. Before she could even be given a name, her mother, father, brothers and sisters were slain, and their village burnt to the ground.

Growing up, she also had to overcome somewhat of a disability, as well (Doesn't that just tug at your heartstrings?) She was short ... VERY SHORT. More so than her wild, crazy, elderly grandfather had ever seen. She triumphed, and was made stronger because of her challenged stature. Still without a name, her grandfather started to call her Stout, because of her height. It was an encouragement for her! She was strong, brave, heroic... a champion!

Her elderly grandfather took care of the strong, brave, champion, heroic, heroine of our story from then on. He was weak, a little crazy and wild, but he knew they had to find others and keep their race from being wiped out. They set out to find others of their kind, surviving as best they could.

Our strong, brave, champion, heroic, heroine of the story and her grandfather began to hunt outside Qeynos and Halas, picking up on little bits of fruits and vegetables, listening to the humans talk. It was here that they learned to speak common tongue. Now they could communicate with one another rather than barking and growling. That only gave them away to the nearby people, and they were forced to flee and find a new place to eat and sleep.

After learning to speak, they traveled across more of Qeynos and the glades nearby. It was there that they discovered a wonderful freshwater stream, caves, shelter and something they could call home that was rarely visited by others! It was perfect! Well, almost perfect. It was completely black -- The rocks, the grass, the walls, everything! The only thing that wasn't completely black was the freshwater stream. But they called it home anyway. Outcast by others insensitiveness, heartless humans, and ... (well it fits into the story, ok?)

Days passed into months and months passed into... more months. Soon (bear with me here), after growing a bit older and wiser, our strong, brave, champion, heroic heroine of the story was able to travel outside their home and find other gnolls. They were more primitive than she, but she welcomed them into their new home.

Then something amazing started happening to their cave. With the increased number of gnolls passing through the caves, living sleeping eating and hunting there, the walls began to come clean! The darkness and blackness of the burrow (get the connection now?) was looking more like a real cave! Of course this was at the expense of their beautiful freshwater stream, and the poor gnoll's feet! Walking around on black sooty rocks, sure does give you dark paws! (har har har)

These gnolls would go out into the glade and hills, filling bottles they would find with fresh water to bring into the burrow to drink. The stream, once so beautiful and so thirst quenching, was now mucky, dirty and ridden with blackness. Our strong, brave, champion, heroic, heroine of the story knew there was someway that they could replenish the stream, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Her wise grandfather saw the containers of fresh water the other gnolls were bringing in, and thought, "Why can't we just take out the bad water and bring in fresh?" So all the gnolls started to gather as many bottles, cans and buckets as possible to gather the dark, mucky, tainted water from the stream, and pour it out into the hills where no one would see.

Meanwhile, (here's the twist to the story, are you ready?) a young, bright faced entrepreneur was traveling through to Halas and spied the pile of bottles near the stream. Tired and thirsty he sat down at the makeshift table the gnolls had set up to stack the bottles on, and picked one up, drinking it down!!

His thirst quenched and slightly tipsy, he was amazed at how refreshing and tasty the beverage was! Our strong, brave, champion, heroic, heroine of the story was surprised and disgusted, but knew that if she were to tell the man what he'd been drinking, he'd surely call the guards to clear out their little operation and family.

She knew that she had to strike some deal with him, seeing the gleam of bright entrepreneurship in his eyes. "You know, you could sell this stuff in Qeynos for us, keep half the profit and not tell anyone where it came from..." The bright faced entrepreneur said, "You know what? I'll do just that! What's it called?" She turned to her grandfather for advice. His dark paw clapped against her short back, and he smiled at the man. "Blackburrow Stout, and I'm Gnasher. You can find me for any shipments you need." The bright faced entrepreneur looked back at him, shaking his paw, "McNeal Jocub! A pleasure to meet you..." He paused, stared at the toothy grin of Gnasher, and tilted his head. "You and your Sabertoothed clan! It will be wonderful doing business with you!"

And that is the story of Blackburrow Stout!

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