Rotting Man

The Rotting Man, also known as the Talontyr and Talona's Consort  was a half-fiend druid, Talontar blightlord, and Chosen of Talona. He was the Circle of Leth's most dangerous enemy during the late 14 century DR, and overran their citadel in The Close in.

Appearance
The man oozed droplets of blood from his pores constantly; his appearance was wasted, rotten, and maddened. His fingers were bone-white, and very thin, always shaking in some amount of chronic pain and palsy. He was most often cloaked, and he had a most unpleasant laugh; his cloak was made of rotting tatters.

Personality
He relished the opportunity to turn beautiful things to rot, and joy to loss. When enraged or frustrated, he was feared even by the undying amongst his closest servants, yet he felt combat with mortals was beneath him.

Relationships
He was the Circle of Leth's most powerful enemy. He also had four blightlords serving directly under him after capturing The Close, but he sacrificed one of them while corrupting the light of Araluen. Another of his lieutenants had been slain in a fit of anger.

Abilities
The Rotting Man was incapable of dying to disease, gaining strength from them instead. He could also implant a compulsion through his underling's communication spells; this compulsion was strong enough to destroy anyone's mind if they tried to do anything other than what he demanded. He also knew a number of curse words capable of binding his own soul, which he used almost casually, most likely spoken in the Dark Speech.

When in combat, he could lauch overwhelming waves of rot; their exact effects were unknown, but they could be blocked by other divine beings, such as the aspect Araluen. On those occassions he deigned engage personally, he employed shapeshifting as the capstone of his strategy.

He had also performed rites to capture the power of the aspect of Lurue sent after him, Araluen, employing a vile tree, the Thieving Ash, which he had personally created through malevolent rites. The trees of Rawlinswood had given him their allegiance by 1373 DR, per the Nentyarch, allowing him to see all that happened in the forest.

Possessions
Close to his throne, he kept a flower made of bone-white material, linked to the lives of his blightlords, which immediately warned him of their deaths and also allowed him to slay them outright with a touch to the flower. He had also been the one to grant Gloomgate to Gameliel.

History
He was first recorded in the Rawlinswood in the Year of the Helm, 1362 DR. He led an army of Talontar blightlords and various blightspawned creatures.

He diverted almost all of the light of Araluen, an aspect of Lurue, in when it was sent to drive him out; a minimal sliver incarnated itself as a baby, that the farmer Hemish would name Ash. In the Year of the Unstrung Harp, 1371 DR, he led his army to seize Dun-Tharos from the Circle of Leth. The Nentyarch and other druids retreated to Yeshelmaar. While in the Close, he grew the Thieving Ash to turn Araluen into the Step-Daughter of Talona.

In the, he came close to retrieving the missing fragment of Araluen: his servant Gameliel sent blighted volodni after finally finding her in Fullpoint, only to be thwarted by Elowen, Marrec and Gunggari Ulmarra. After that group slew the servant and conferred with the Nentyarch, the Talontyr learned they were coming after him from a spy in the meeting, Fallon.

Fallon decided to kidnap Araluen and head directly to Anammelech; Elowen's party came in his pursuit. After meeting with Anammelech, Fallon was sent ahead to deliver Araluen, while Anammelech stayed behind to set a trap for Fallon's pursuers; the trap backfired, and the blightlord was slain. The Rotting Man contacted Fallon directly afterwards, and planted a compulsion on him to have him follow a set path underground. He also sent his last blightlord, Damanda, to meet Fallon at a certain underground location.

On Mirtul 7, Damanda, after catching up with Fallon, was nearly slain by the adventurers pursuing him, ultimately being forced to escape into The Close with her master, and leaving Araluen behind. The party confronted the Talontyr soon after; he explained that he wanted Araluen to come to him one way or the other. He unleashed her greater part, Talona's Step-Daughter, on them. It made quick work of the party and then absorbed her other fragment. This backfired: he was driven out of Dun-Tharos by the aspect Araluen reborn, once more a servant of Lurue. However, he left a legacy: hundreds of demons under Dun-Tharos awakened by the conflict.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Lady of Poison