Blistertongue Jill, formerly Brimstone Jill, was a legendary Unseelie Nocker.
Overview[]
One of the Lords of the Mythic Age, perhaps the proudest and richest, was Duke Nalath Owlsbane, Lord of the Brass Tor and he, after seeing the war machines owned by lesser lordling, wanted the greatest war-machine of all. And so he went looking for the greatest Unseelie artisan in the land, and everyone sent him to Brimstone Jill.
Brimstone Jill's temper was as hot as a hell-furnace and her creations so sharp they seemed the Devil's own work. She was making battle armor for the dragons of Foulrook when Owlsbane found her. he promised her fine Gold and pure Steel if she built him the greatest war-machine ever. Out of pride she agreed, and spat inter palm to shake his hand, enjoying how it made him squirm.
He gave her a workshop in Brass Tor. She managed to work for two months before her ill-temper got too hot and asked leave to go for a short time, not telling Owlsbane the nature of her need, which was to visit Kayver Cliff and the Basilisk Stone. The Haughty Sidhe refused her, telling her he would only allow her time when she completed her task. And so she stayed. And two months later she asked again, and was again refused. For 5 years this went on, her foulness stewing and deepening as the Machine was built. And when it was down, she called it the Great Jaganath.
Finally released, Brimstone Jill ran to Kayver Cliff... her footsteps leaving smoldering patches on the ground. Travelers fought to get out of her way. Only a foolish Manticore dared cross her path and Jill killed it with the tiniest hiss from her clenched teeth. When she reached the Stone at Sunset, no one else was there, which was good, because Jill pressed her lips close to it and began to swear.
Seelie or Unseelie, Nocker, Goblin, or Redcap, no one has ever uttered a curse like the one Brimstone Jill uttered that night. Even the first breaths or sentences of that curse wold have done huge damage, but that wasn't enough. For HOURS she spoke her hate into the stone, not noticing how its color deepened until it was almost black. She finished her curse as the sun rose and when the first rays touched the Basilisk Stone... it cracked, the seam lengthening. A wind arose, carrying voices from where it touched the stone. The voices grew louder as the crack grew... until the Basilisk Stone exploded! It created a storm of every curse ever uttered by the Nockers and that storm was a storm of destruction.
That storm didn't destroy everything it touched... maybe a few living things got caught up in it, but mostly it targeted all the creations of the nockers created since the Stone was made and the darkest, foulest wind targeted the Great Jaganath. When it exploded, Owlsbane was destroyed by it as well.
In the aftermath of the storm, all the fae demanded answers and the nockers gathered at Kayver Cliff, looking for those answers and to vent their spleen. Of course they found the Stone destroyed and their answers weren't forthcoming. Finally, the inventor of the Stone, Byzamedas, got up, and told them to speak their minds.
Jill, who had been sitting silently by the remains of the Stone, had uttered such a curse that she had blistered her own tongue. When the nockers finished their storm of profanity, she stood up and carefully told the tale, admitting to breaking the Basilisk Stone. And when she finished, Byzamedas got up to speak again, and, naming her Blistertongue, spoke that he would not rebuild the Stone and that the nockers would be better off just speaking their minds.
No curse like that has been spoken since, but the remains of Blistertongue Jill's curse still linger in the minds of all nockers. But that, too, is another tale. (See Figgerfurbingurbinburbibmurbinmitzermurbin!)
References[]
- CTD: Kithbook: Nockers, p. 6-9