Way back when, in the sleepy little farming village of Trer Revien, lived a simple farm boy, as average as average could be, named Uxley, and Uxley loved to go fishing. It was this love of fishing that led Uxley on the path to sainthood.
One late spring the gently flowing river that made its way thru Trer Revien, always teeming with fish, seemed mostly barren – mostly just minnows and a few larger fish here and there. This had never happened before and at the time the people of the village were very superstitious and thought that perhaps the gods were punishing them for some wrong they had committed. Some thought that this was an omen that there would be hardship ahead, perhaps a bad harvest. Uxley, not being the most scholarly fellow, just thought, “I need to find a new spot to fish.”
So everyday for the next few days Uxley went upstream and tried his luck, each day going about a mile or so more than the day before. After about five days into this little experiment he found the cause of the river’s lack of fish. Lying in the river were the upper boughs of a maple tree that had been split, more than likely during the recent, heavy storm. The smaller, upper branches of the tree, small like little fingers, acted like something of a netting that let most of the water thru but not most of the fish. Uxley also saw that up on the bank was a small hut and one of the boughs of the tree had come down and crashed thru the hut’s roof. Next to the hut was a small tent and Uxley could see an old woman inside. Uxley went over to the old woman and said, “Grandmother, what can I do?” The old woman answered, “This big branch, came down in the storm and damaged the roof and I can’t move it, it’s too heavy, so I must stay out here in the tent.” So Uxley, being the kind and gentle individual he was said he would fix the hut for the old woman. The bough was too heavy for an older, frail person to move, but not so heavy for a young man like Uxley. He moved the bough off the hut and fixed the roof. Uxley caught them a few fish and cooked a little dinner and then left for the evening. The next day Uxley came back with the family donkey and a little wagon filled with some supplies for the old woman and some tools to deal with the tree. He cut the tree boughs and got them out of the river, gave the old woman some firewood and the supplies, and planted her a little garden. Now, with the boughs and little branches out of the river all the fish that had been trapped behind came flooding down thru. Uxley saw that the old woman was all alone in this place and said to her, “Grandmother, why don’t you come home with me. You can live with my family and you won’t be by yourself and you’ll have all the food and comfort you need.” But the old woman said, “No, this is where my family has always lived,” and she pointed over to some gravestones a ways away, “and this is where I will die,” but she thanked Uxley just the same. From time-to-time after meeting the old woman Uxley would go and visit her and bring her supplies to make sure she was well and he would always ask her to come back home with him and she would always refuse.
Sometime after hearing about how Uxley had made the river thru Trer Revien flow with fish again people from another little town a ways away called upon Uxley to help them with their problem. The people told Uxley that this terrible man that lived upstream from their town, this giant of a man, who hated the people of this town, had damned up their river which had now dried up to a small trickle. The people of this town needed Uxley to go and deal with this giant as he had dealt with the giant tree and the old woman, who was something of a witch, they had heard. Uxley tried to tell them that the old woman wasn’t a witch and that it was just part of a tree, and not a giant tree. But the people of this other town wouldn’t hear of it, they said, “Oh, no. You’re being too modest. Oh please help us with this terrible man.” Uxley replied, “Well I’ve never talked to a giant, but I’ll see if I can talk to this man.”
So Uxley went a mile or so upriver from this other town and came upon this giant – who was just a tall, old man that was bent over with age, and was thin, and weak. When Uxley looked at the river hesaw no damn but instead a meandering river that was running thru and around the old man’s small home. Uxley went over to the old man and asked, “Grandfather, what can I do? The people of the town said you’re some mean, old giant that has damned up the river from them, but that’s not what I see.” The old man told Uxley that when he was a young man he had been a soldier that had come from the city several days away, married one of the daughters from the town downriver, and he and his bride built their home here. A short while after being wed he was called back to war. While the soldier was away fighting his wife had a child and not long after she and the child died of illness. Her family and the people of the town blamed the soldier for his wife and child dying, that he should have been there to take care of them and not away having adventures in some foreign land. The people of the town shunned the soldier and it remained that way ever since. The old man said that he had wanted to restore the river’s course as it had been years ago before all the twisting around, but he wasn’t young and strong as he use to be. Due to the heavy rains this spring the river cut a new course and ended up flooding his home and lands. Those people downstream wouldn’t help him, “They don’t dare come here.” Uxley said he would restore the river’s course and so over the next few days he dug the river a new path, helped the old man with his flooded home, and planted the old fellow a new garden. When he was all done with these tasks Uxley asked the old man, “Grandfather, why don’t you come home and live with me and my family, and you won’t be alone and you’ll have all the food and comfort you need.” But the old man said, “No, my wife and child are buried here and here I will stay.” And just like with the old woman from time-to-time after meeting the old man Uxley would go and visit him and bring him supplies to make sure he was well and Uxley would always ask the old man to come back home with him and the old man would always refuse.
So those are the two rivers, what about the third? Well, the third wasn’t a river at all. It was a little duck pond. As Uxley was mowing a field one afternoon, a little brother and sister, the boy about five, the girl about seven, were chasing each other around this shallow, little pond beside the field. The girl tagged the boy and the boy turned around and pushed his sister into the pond, she goes in, and lands on her derrière, only ending up in a couple inches of water. Uxley sees this, and as anyone would, laughs. The sister tries to get out of the duck pond, she gets up, and as she tries to step out one of her feet gets stuck in the mud and the more she tries to pull it out the more it stays stuck and she can’t get out. Her little brother tries to pull her out, but he can’t pull her out and he gets stuck in the mud. So Uxley, laughing the whole way over, walks over to the children, scoops them both up out of the mud, puts them on dry ground, sends them on their way, they go chasing after each other again, and Uxley goes back to mowing the field.
Now these are three simple deeds, but over time in this very small place, where there’s lots of superstition, the stories became exaggerated.
And so in the first story it’s not Uxley moving some tree boughs and helping some old woman, it’s Uxley fighting some evil treant that has damned up the river, the treant being controlled by this hag, this evil hag who wants to put a curse upon the town and has conjured up this treant to do her bidding. So Uxley fights for days with the treant, destroying it, and forces the hag to bless the town and bless the river. That’s his first miracle.
The second miracle is that Uxley is called to this other town where there’s another problem with another river and it’s a giant, not a giant of a man, but a giant, an evil giant, who hates the town, and is selfish, and has used his great steeds and oxen to damn up the river for himself. And so Uxley battles with the giant, slays him, and uses the giant’s steeds and oxen to take down the damn and let the water flow to the people who are nearly dying of thirst.
And the last story, where there’s no river at all and it’s just a pond, that one is a combination of a misuse of Uxley’s hometown’s name Trer Revien – which means three ravines, but instead people began to say, “Oh, Trer Revien, well that’s the old way of saying three rivers.” And it wasn’t a boy and a girl in a little duck pond, it was a boy and a girl in a pond, a deep pond, and the girl fell in and she nearly drowned and Uxley saved her. And then it wasn’t a girl who nearly drowned in a big pond, it was a maiden, a beautiful maiden who was pushed by her evil brother into the pond, and Uxley saved her and defeated the evil brother. And then it wasn’t a pond at all it was a river, a raging river with a high bridge over it. Atop the bridge the evil brother, who was an heir to the throne and wanted his sister out of the way so he could be king, pushed his princess sister off the bridge into the river below and Uxley jumped off the bridge into the river and saved the princess, brought her to safety, climbed back up onto the bridge, and defeated the brother in a sword duel and saved the kingdom. And so there is the third river.
And so what were very simple deeds of plain and simple kindness, over time, because people love to tell stories and exaggerate things, become more and more and more. So simple Uxley of Trer Revien, over hundreds of years, became Saint Uxley of Three Rivers. And like all myth and legends in this world they end up residing at some point or another in the Demi Plane. And so if you ever find yourself in the Demi Plane you may happen upon an average-looking farm boy fishing in a slow moving river, perhaps having a pleasant conversation with an old woman or old man, or simply fishing as a little boy and girl run around chasing each other.
How to incorporate aspects of the story into your gameplay:
Uxley’s fishing rod always catches fish. Uxley can lead you out of the Demi Plane. Being around him has some healing effect and morale booster, maybe luck as well.
Uxley is average and pleasant.
Trer Revien is a safe place for players – sleepy, little farming village.
The old woman can teach players how to heal themselves and others; she has knowledge of medicinal herbs, useful plants from the forest, poisonous plants to stay away from, etc.
The old man can teach some skills from his days as a soldier.
The little girl and boy can boost morale and/or luck if you play with them/are kind and patient with them.
Uxley, the old woman, the old man, and the children will not tolerate unkind individuals, will leave those individuals, and may call upon the people of Trer Revien for assistance.
Uxley will defend the old woman, the old man, children, and Trer Revien if he has to. He is strong and fast and tough. He seems to have very good luck. Other beings and creatures may come to his assistant if he needs. Uxley also has a very disarming, charismatic nature with his gentleness/kindness – high diplomacy and persuasion.
