The Times of Captain de Olid by Sky

[Nihm]

I first met de Olid at an auction in the gobsquat arena. He was selling the belongings of Falco Thrakritiz and a few other people he’d "been forced to kill despite his wishes for peace with them". As always, he was surrounded by adoring toadies who hung on his every word as he announced that he had come to the island to take whatever he wished from it before moving on. One of these portrayed Olid as a self made man who championed true equality among men ; he then rushed to obey whichever orders Olid issued. Such strange paradoxes characterize more than one aspect of this man.

"I seek able men to pledge allegience to myself, Captain Francisco de Olid. Men who have come here with nothing will leave with everything if they follow me! Leave me a note at the Hanged Goblin with your skills and why you are worth my time.

Ruthless, loyal men of worth are sought to serve alongside myself and my brother soldiers in our search for the riches, artifacts and glory that are so plentiful on this isle. Should you be capable of swearing an oath of loyalty and service, and capable of obeying all orders given, you will be considered for admission into the company.

All soldiers who march with us and swear to serve will be cared for and supplied, as well as be granted protection of the full force of the company. Already countless artifacts have been collected, tens of thousands of gold has been taken and spent, and many savage inhabitants of this isle have been conquered by myself and my soldiers.

Glory and riches await all capable men who have the courage to take what is theirs."

These were the days before Ortred and Sharboneth. Various people waged campaigns for the public to accept them as rulers of the settlement. The Amaunatori with their gold armor and rumored chests of coins to match, and later Albedos. But none had the strength that the soldiers of Sharboneth bring to Ortred’s side. I see Olid as a man who represented the lawless opportunities that such times allowed; a man, gilded in a thin veneer of heroism, did as he wished in a land where Law was weak.

He was a man who portrayed himself as the moral right, a tactic that often causes people to be halfhearted in their opposition. Everyone who attacked was portrayed as having done so unjustly, forcing him to defend himself ; everyone he robbed had committed some transgression and Olid was merciful in taking only their things as just restitution. When he and his comrade Hussar (self-styled commander of the ziggurat militia) killed most of the Amaunatori and destroyed their temple in a demand for their gold, they were loud in condemning them for striking first against innocent men and for necromancy. No such declarative excuses marked the death of Khazan Rhodes, perhaps because they did not know there were witnesses who would spread word, but for the most part Olid presented himself as a moral and honorable man making his way in a harsh land despite evil foes who slandered him.

Old posters gathered from forgotten corners carry Olid’s version of events, as well as those of his enemies. They mingle threats with his customary insistence that it was not just to have any quarrel with him, the way his everyday speech did.

"Unfortunately, I thought events of the past had shown my neutrality to all who lived on the isle. There is little I want or need from the people of the Ziggurat, and I have shown no aggression to any that were not deserving of my wrath. However, in light of recent events it seems I must once again make an example of those who would bring violence to myself, my property, or most importantly, my fellow Stygians and Soldiers. To the gnomes who slew my servant, Melchior, and to Sunlord Andros Lanceart: You have one day to reach me with word of your surrender to myself or you will be hunted down like the cowardly dogs you are. If you truly wish me dead, then see it done by your own hand, and target me, not some pitiful beastial servant of mine. Unfortunately, I will not be buried under mounds of paper, and will await you in person. Regardless of the situation, be assured we will meet soon."

"Inhabitants of Ymph, I am weary. I am weary and I am angry. Despite the fact that many of you still cling to your plots leading to my death, or my dishonor, I know in my heart that none of you are fit to deliver such things. If the Gods above penned true testament of my deeds, it would surely be stated that no man that has fallen to my blade from this fledgling settlement has not invited it. It seems that the freedom this isle offers has been lost to many of you. It is here that any man may do as he pleases, his only barrier being the potential within him. I wish no harm to this settlement or the peoples that make their homes here, on the contrary- I believe that if this place was to once again become a true city as it once was would be the grandest of fates. Many of you see me as a barrier for this, but it is truly the opposite of that. Myself and my soldiers have consistently remained the greatest warriors that have came to this settlement, and unlike many who are content to sit here idly, we have done much for ourselves, and filled our pockets with gold and our books with tales of glory. The Stygian Armada has a legacy that is grander still. Were you to pull your heads above this filthy rim of misguided self-righteousness that you cling to so vehemently without examining things in the light of truth, you would consider what it is we can offer. Many of you curse and spit at my name or my alleged deeds, and I pen this now as a final warning. My soldiers are sworn to me by oath to the Gods and myself. They are good men, they are loyal men. To make them the targets of your aggression is something I will not stand for, and to kill one of my soldiers is the most grave of crimes. Before any action that may lead to these things is taken, it is DEMANDED that you take up the matter with myself. We are honorable men, but we are not men that will be impeded in our tasks, disrespected or falsely accused. The coddling of fools at the expense of my honor and sanity ends now."

A few were verbal in their dislike of Olid, but most were anonymous about it, not wanting to dissapear.

"Do not heed the lies of Hassar or De Olid! The Amaunatorians are not - were not - and have never been anything other than law-abiding protectors of justice.

We saw with our own eyes as De Olid and Hassar animated the corpse of Kazan Rodes - the man they had just murdered.

We know that De Olid is a slaver. We know that he has in the past assassinated and attacked those who sook to make our life on this island good and just and fair.

Do not listen to these cyricist necromancers and slaving thugs. Side with the side of justice and courage, not that of chaos and corruption! Side with truth! Side with the Amaunatorians - against Hassar!"

Galleous Albedos was an exception, but even he did not openly mention Olid’s name, though the inferences seem clear. The reasons I believe he meant Olid are these: mentioned al-Hassar, who was Olid’s ally if not subordinate, and mentioned the trial of John Black, in which Olid was personally interrupted in the act of taking Black away in chains for a "private" trial. On this occasion Albedos prevailed in having Black taking into Militia custody, yet even as this was agreed to goblin corpses were sent to kill Black in his chains from Olid’s invisible wizard. "Groups involved in the slave trade" also may refer to Olid, as it was said that he dealt in kobold slaving, and assuredly sold at least one person, Otula Tauvivi, that we know of for certain. Yet such was the menace of this man that he was not openly called a slaver.

"Let us not forget many who have died in pursuit of building this. Bastiaan Vandermark, Hrothgar, our first Senator of Defense, and Orik Ironhammer who all died only days after accepting their charges. Struck down by a cowardly assassins who still walk amongst you. This is the greatest loss of our nascent settlement. There are forces on this island who covet power by feigning disinterest in its accumulation. Al-Hassar was only the first tyrant to rise, and will not be the last.

In these three weeks that I have served you, I have blocked several attempts to gain power over this settlement. The most public was the trial of John Black, widely believed to be the Black Arrow. The Black Arrow in truth is was a group of vigilantes who rose against the tyrant Al-Hassar, and incurred the wrath of groups involved in the slave trade and the animation of our own dead as mindless servants."

The ways of men such as Olid cannot persist in a society of law and order. His mutilation and murdur of Hersilia Malatesta (an officer of Ortred’s government) was a step that everyone would have turned a deaf ear to in the days when might did not back the law. He was probably surprised that Ortred did not share the fear that Olid had wielded so long over Ymph’s inhabitants.

"Let it be known that for his cowardice and treachery, Veteran De Olid is hereby challenged to a mortal duel of honor. Beneath the eyes of Gods and in the sight of Men, this cretin will answer for his crimes.

When you read this, Francisco, forward the terms to me. The sooner the better."

"As I instructed the crowd who gathered at my defeat of the would-be usurper Francisco de Olid, every person who is unwilling to show their loyalty to Lord Alemander and myself, every person who believes they could do better in my place, every person who questions my authority and every person who belittles what the leaders of this place have achieved in such a short time without having a single accomplishment to their own name may simply go."

Thus ended the symbol of a time when a man could be a law unto himself, struck down before a colony of people who’d feared him too much to want to disbelieve his whitewashed image, his final looks ones of surprise, as if something he had never thought could come to pass just had. I postulate that it was not merely shattered confidence in his superior arsenal of wands and potions, but that the way of life he had built could fail in such swift, final, and public defeat in the eyes of those who’d feared him.

Much of this work is extrapolation, guesswork, and inferences. They are what I believe was probably true of bygone days, pieced together from old posters and my own memories. I’m going to conclude with what we do know for sure :

1. Olid did seek the Targus warblades. His exact intent was unclear, but he intended to use them to somehow enrich himself.
2. Olid had a conflict with the druid Faceless, which was resolved in a battle in which Faceless was either slain or sold into slavery. He took the earliest known Rot Spores from Faceless on this occasion, amongst various treasures Faceless had brought up from the Underdark.
3. Olid did sell Otula Tauvivi, a member of the Archaeological Society, into slavery.
4. Olid and his soldiers killed the Lady of Coin.

These were known facts, yet such was the fear this man inspired that there was no public outcry against them, and certainly no reduction in the amount of toadies (though some of them, who joined the Archaeological Society for no other purpose than to pass him information, were a little more circumspect) that clustered about him.
Versus what was perhaps true (stated to me by individual secondhand sources) :

1. Olid killed Vandermark, the first prominent government figure, as well as many other Underdark escapees, for it was they who had more desirable treasures than the largely impoverished people that came through the portal.
2. Olid dealt in kobold slaving.
3. Olid had a vested interest in overturning governments before they became too established so that his way of life would not die.
4. Olid destroyed the Sated Shark inn (presumably killing or enslaving its inhabitants, possibly in seeking the Seeker bounty or vengeance against Seeker Calley)

 
Here are some quotes from those who encountered the man :

 
"De Olid, always wanted 'payment'. Almost any slight against him could be wiped with the appropriate payment to him."

This brings me back a memory of the time I observed Olid with a survivor of the undark, Nilraghar, in the Hanging Goblin. Olid was telling Nilraghar that he owed him arcane healing wands in payment for the harm caused by an attack of a different Underdark survivor, the Seeker Calley (who resided at the Sated Shark). It was remarkable that de Olid actually seemed to believe that Nilraghar had to make reparations just because Calley had come from the same place he did. I will sum up Olid's attitude with one term : sense of entitlement.


"One small tibit of trivia I knew about the man was that he revered Mask, the Lord of Thieves.

This was revealed to me during a scuffle at the approach to the Gobsquat that I and my brothers, along with lawful individuals of the ziggurat was involved in against Oild and his men. We were beaten and brought to the ground, he stood upon my neck and was clearly enjoying the moment.

His loyal lapdogs were then ordered to strip us of everything we owned, before he walked to the far side to gather his ill earned treasures however, I heard his mutterings to Mask.

'Master of Shadows, May your teachings and cunning bring me untold wealth in these lawless lands'."

And so they did.