Portrait: The Scarecrow

The Scarecrow

The Scarecrow is Cadwallon's most famous jester, an assassin in the service of the Usurers Guild. Former actor of the Comedy Garden, this individual has crossed the boundaries of madness and totally identifies with the role he played in the troupe: that of a cruel and masked criminal. The Usurers themselves fear this extravagant and megalomaniac character, who kills by whim and always with a good word.

The Scarecrow, in truth, is only a puppet subject to the will of the Mask of Scares, an artifact conceived centuries before by a demented playwright. The mask was bewitched by Darkness and feeds from the fear it inspires and protects its wearer whenever it feels like it.

The story of the Scarecrow began in 834 in Manilia, one of the baronies of the kingdom of Alahan. Armond, Baron of Manilia and patron of brilliant Barhan artists, had commissioned a play by Martier of Ansar.

Barely twenty years old, this playwright was a rising figure in the Barhan scene. His poems and plays were distinguished by a style that clearly separated them from the classics of courtly love. His characters, far from the stereotypical knights serving their lady and their homeland, were endowed with complex personalities and motivations. The author wanted to modernize the staging of virtue by making it easier for his audience to identify with the protagonists. Thanks to him, the morality of the Barhans tales gradually moved from the mythical age to enter a more modern era.

Ansar was honored with the trust of the Baron of Manilia and decided, with his agreement, to create a bold work: a play where vice would triumph. In The Mask of Scares, Leod, king of an imaginary land, languished in the days when knights slayed monsters, dragons, gargoyles and gorgons. The king enlisted the services of the Scarecrow, a grim-looking jester, who brought these heroic times to life in his stories. The Scarecrow was actually the descendant of the monsters of yesteryear. In revenge for those who had killed his own, he manipulated the monarch to plunge his kingdom into Darkness. After repudiating his wife and disinheriting his children, the king eventually turned his sword against his own subjects. Leod did not sink into dementia or fall victim to an evil spell: his decay was simply the fruit of his blind attachment to chivalrous ideals.

Martier of Ansar's project would have been rejected by less avant-garde patrons. Baron Armond, however, shared the playwright's vision: Evil had a new face, that of conspiracy. A century and a half earlier, a conspiracy against the crown of Alahan had plunged the barony of Acheron into Darkness. A pure heart was no longer enough to repel the creatures of the night. Alas, many Barhan nobles still cradled the legends of yesteryear and, like Leod, did not measure the insidious danger that threatened the kingdom.

After some acclaimed performances, The Mask of Scares was performed at Kallienne's court; King Irwyn congratulated Ansar, who played the role of the Scarecrow himself, and entrusted him with the direction of the Royal Theatre so that he could perform his play throughout the kingdom.

However, The Mask of Scares was not liked by everyone. The schemers who haunted the courts of the baronies took offense at being denounced and ridiculed by a jester. Using their influence, a cult infiltrated Ansar's entourage and prompted them to alter the dialogues in his play. The Scarecrow, inspired by the true servants of Darkness, became crueler and more incisive. Ansar, intoxicated by success and flattery, was caught in the same trap as King Leod.

The Mask of Scares

In 827, Ansar was invited to the very young court of Cadwallon for the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the city. Aided by the conspirators, Ansar's detractors locked a demon in a cadwe jester mask and gave it to the playwright.

The last performance of The Mask of Scares was by far the most memorable. Under the influence of the demonic artifact, Martier of Ansar became insane and improvised radical changes in the narrative. Fascinated by his sinister pranks and vitriolic criticism of society at the time, viewers were left to wander between fiction and reality. Faithful and magicians realized what was happening, but could not prevent what was happening: by the combined powers of the demon and the conviction of Martier of Ansar, the Scarecrow came to life and incarnated on the stages of the theater.

The demonic jester immediately suddenly left the stage after taunting mocking Vanius and accusing several members of the assembly, including the cultists who had given birth to him, of Dark worship. When the militia came for him, the Scarecrow was gone. He was free and Aarklash was now his new stage.

The Scarecrow's revelations caused discord in Cadwallon, Alahan and other places. His denunciations helped dismantle the sect that had bewitched the Mask of Scares, but also caused regrettable miscarriages of justice. Among the notable denounces denounced were innocent people whose suicide or execution led to other cascading tragedies.

The Scarecrow, a monster with a human face and bold gall tongue, began a criminal career. Although at first he was content to hunt down strangers to make them die of fear, he soon switched to more sophisticated "games" fueling suspicion and paranoia in his victims before killing them.

His methods became more and more elaborate as he got to know Cadwallon. Rising from the shadows, he murdered by leaving false evidence at the crime scene. He whispered in the ear of the ambitious, carrying them to the firmament to better precipitate them into the abyss. He is seen as a gang leader in the Kraken, a personal advisor to notables in Den Azhir, a conspirator in Drakaer...

His enemies multiplied with each of his brilliant misdeeds. Many avengers tried to eliminate him, without realizing that he had become immortal: the actor could be killed, but the character now belonged to the stage of Aarklash.

Among those who were brave enough and strong enough to defeat him, some abandoned the Scarecrow's corpse behind them. Let a poor wretch then search over the corpose and pick up the Mask of Scares, and the sinister jester was back, more alive than ever. Others, more proud or a little better informed, kept the artifact as a trophy. None long resists the unstoppable urge to wear the mask...

The Scarecrow has devoured dozens, even hundreds of souls over the centuries. It even happened that he changed hosts on his own to satisfy his interests and his thirst for cruelty.

The Jester of Darkness

A hero of his own universe, the Scarecrow had little interest in Cadwallon's intrigues and was less chronicled than the Harlequin or the Boogeyman. His repeated misdeeds nevertheless caught the attention of another champion of evil: Sophet Drahas, the King of Ashes, secret master of the Guild of Usurers. The necromancer, impressed by the Scarecrow's meticulousness in staging his crimes, decided to make him his personal assassin and launched the Usurers in pursuit.

Despite their best efforts, they were unable to find flush out the Scarecrow. Sophet Drahas, enchanted by the abilities of his future partner, decided to conduct this exciting hunt himself. After three years of investigation and the loss of many agents, he discovered the soul of an ancient conspirator and went back to the track.

He reached the old chapel, where everything had begun in the Trophy, and learned the name of the demon who inhabited the Mask of fear: Metemtec, Executioner of the usurpers.

With this information, it was easy for the King of Ashes to use his dark powers to find the Scarecrow. The assassin changed carrier four times on the night that this chase ended: Metemtec, transfigured by his fusion with the soul of Martier of Ansar and his incarnation, once again refused to submit to the forces of Darkness. Sophet Drahas succeeded in capturing him by putting the mask on a stage extra, captured the day before in the Comedy Garden.

More astute than his predecessors, the King of Ashes offered a deal to the Scarecrow. He would provide him with souls and crimes to commit in quantity, he would offer him a cohort of servants. Provided the Scarecrow joins his cause. The theatrical assassin agreed and became the first Jester of the Usurers. A few months later, he was the confidant of the King of Ashes.

At the time of Rag'Narok, the Scarecrow continues to wreak chaos and death on the streets of Cadwallon. Thanks to the support of Usurers, he kills his victims with impunity. His name became synonymous with terror for the enemies of the guild, starting with the deadbeats and the Guild of Thieves. His misdeeds are now illustrated by theatrical staging; his name begins to appear in the gazettes of Cadwallon and inspires murderous vocations throughout Aarklash.

Sophet Drahas, however, has not found the devoted servant he once thought that he believes. If the Scarecrow has accepted his deal, it was not to find a generous patron but to stage once again his favorite play. It begins when a proud king takes a jester to his service...