Arallyn, also known in the common tongue as Hawthorne, was born to Shandeira and Mestellyn Ar’Asstellier in the High Forest, some 117 turns ago. The second of three children, Arallyn was not as happy a youngling as other wood elves his age. Always with a serious demeanor, he was loathed to dance and sing and find joy in life, preferring the solace of the deep woods to the company of others. It was as if he heard the trees calling him, beckoning him beneath their boughs.

His parents were part of a group of elves seeking to rekindle the elven nation in what was once Cormathyr. They and a few other families were pioneers, seeking a new home. It was in this sort of wandering lifestyle in which Arallyn grew up. At an early age, he developed a more than passing fascination with the elven art of archery and took fiercely to it. All aspects of the art called to him, and he sought tutelage with a Master Archer, learning not only the use of bow and arrow as weapons, but also the art of the Bowyer, and of the Fletcher. By the time he attained his 100th turn, he was quite the archer, often leaving the group for days only to return with fresh meat and game. He soon became an accomplished hunter by his own right, preferring to hunt alone rather than as part of a larger party.

Often his group would come across the remains of a goblin raid, sometimes on humans, sometimes on elves or gnomes or other peoples of the land. He began to see goblins as a plague on the world, and a blight in the High Forest itself. He would often volunteer to join war parties as they sortied against any goblins they found and had racked up a not insignificant number of kills to his name. Goblins soon learned to fear the woods and the whispering death that would come from the trees to smite them with all too frequent occasion.

One local goblin leader united three smaller clans together, in hopes of defending themselves, and gaining land of their own within the lush woodlands. On a damp summer night, 200 goblins found the small elven encampment and struck without mercy. Arallyn was out hunting that particular night, many leagues away to the west. The goblins left no survivors, even slaying the children. The swiftness and sheer numbers of the goblins surprised the elves, and the attack was a success for the goblins. When Arallyn returned from his hunting trip three days later, it was to a scene of ruin, death, and destruction. Animals and vermin had gotten to the remains the goblins had left, leaving the corpses rotting in the summer heat. Goblin tracks, discarded broken weapons, and a few goblin bodies told the tragic tale. Arallyn buried the remains of the 43 elves of the pioneering party, marking their final resting place with moonflowers, before setting off in search of the goblins. Arallyn was 110 turns old at the time.

Over the span of the next five turns, Arallyn hunted goblins in that part of the High Forest with single-minded determination. Not for him the reckless head-long charge into battle, but the steady, relentless tracking and shooting from cover. No goblin was safe. Lone scouts went out to search and went missing. Small hunting parties vanished into thin air. When bodies were recovered, most often it was with an arrow or two lodged into it, all bearing the same elven design. Matters grew more fearful for the goblins when in the middle of a gathering of great religious import, their shaman was struck down by one of those self-same arrows, while surrounded by dozens of goblins. Panic erupted, and they spread out to find the culprit and bring him to justice. Their search was fruitless, and five of their best warriors also were found dead, each of a single shot from a well-placed arrow. The remaining goblins fled into the mountains, running from the implacable death that hunted them in the darkness.

The next two turns saw Arallyn ally himself with various mercenary parties and adventurers, never staying overlong with any one group. He spent a few rides with a band of humans and half-orcs as their scout, as they trailed a band of hobgoblins. Mission accomplished, Arallyn returned once again to the High Forest, to continue hunting goblins when he met with Serillian, a moon elf warrior and spell-caster. Together they went in search of a small band of goblins rumored to be nearby…..

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