Jasper

Jasper is the man who holds power in the small town of Osterhn in the Sürgün Günlükleri ("Exile Chronicles") campaign. The townsfolk call him the governor. A farmer named Olmund said he led a gang whose men collected protection money, and the innkeeper Exalon explained that the town had nominally been ruled by a baron who died leaving no one in his place. By Exalon's account Jasper had some forty armed men, young men wanted to join them, and his racket did not kill people but did not let them leave either.¹²³⁴

His men wear red sashes. Alistar keeps his hounds, and Kerbor, his second-in-command, says he once saved Jasper's life in the war. Exalon also said Jasper kept an expensive hired mage able to fight, Cassius Varum.⁵⁶⁷⁸

The newcomers

Jasper first appeared at the Golden Ladle with Kerbor and a mage leaning on a staff. He praised Sarah Lia Galanodel's performance, said the horse outside was his gift to her, and announced to the room that the Yellow Eye (Sarıgöz) goblin tribe had done unacceptable things and that his men would answer them; he offered the newcomers fifty gold for help against the goblins. He said he had not fought underground in the war, only in its battles above ground, and that he might be called a survivor rather than a hero. He invited Sarah to play at a more private gathering in the castle.^91011121314

He told them that they would answer to him, as he answered to His Majesty. Ephorus, listening to the guards at night, heard that Jasper had plans for the newly arrived nobleman and the woman with him.¹⁵¹⁶

He took Kemp Corvus on a two-day hunt with his hounds and horses, leaving most of his men in town; in his absence they grew rougher, and some shops closed. On the hunt the hounds sensed followers, and goblins attacked; Jasper's party killed them all, and one wore leather armour with an eye burned into it, the mark of the Yellow Eye. Jasper beheaded him and wanted to ride back with bloody swords to reassure the people.^17181920

The hostages

When one of his men was killed by two woodcutters, Jasper had two farmers, Arne and Mund, chained to a post in the square. He admitted they were innocent, but said they were the woodcutters' close friends, and threatened to kill one at midnight and the other the next night until the killers were handed over. When Kemp and Sarah brought him the pleas of the farmers' families and the priestess, he accepted, on condition that they unlock the chains themselves in recognition of his authority. The farmers were not to leave town, and a bounty of thirteen gold was put on each woodcutter.^2122232425

He told them that he had thirty-six men, the cook included, not enough to fight a whole goblin tribe, and that he would cut back distant hunts and patrols and secure the land as far as the farms. He wanted to work with the townsfolk who knew the country even if they did not trust him, but would not give up his authority.²⁶²⁷

The goblin bargain

Exalon claimed that Jasper had a deal with the goblins, and Ephorus suspected the two sides were staging their fight, while Finart could not tell whether the goblins or Jasper's men were to blame for what happened to those who left.²⁸²⁹³⁰

Goblin notes the companions captured said the Yellow Eye meant to break their existing agreement with Jasper, kill him, and prove their strength with a massacre in Osterhn to win a place in the hobgoblin horde called the Eastern Torment. A letter signed in Jasper's name, taken from a goblin camp, cursed the Yellow Eye leader Borgar for breaking their arrangement: Jasper had tolerated them on condition that no one from the town died, and gave them word of strangers in return for their leaving alone those who came and went. He demanded that Borgar come in person the next week to apologise, or the agreement was over.³¹³²³³

When Kemp and Sarah were captured by the goblins, Jasper bought them back, handing over Moluk and other bound goblins with two mules laden with weapons; it was then seen that he had lost an arm. He said he had bought them for what they knew of the goblin camp. He admitted the old bargain, saying he had made it to protect Osterhn even at the cost of some strangers' lives, and warned that a larger, organised hobgoblin force stood behind the goblins.^34353637

The war with the goblins

The townsfolk began to greet Jasper as a military protector. With Kemp he planned simultaneous raids on the goblin outposts while the companions ambushed the hobgoblin envoys, aiming to break the alliance and weaken the Yellow Eye by taking their leaders. In private he worried that if he left the castle to Exalon and rode out with all his trusted men, it might not be given back. He had Kemp fitted out with mail and weapons and introduced the witch hunters Gordon and Varis.^383940414243

Exalon held the castle while he was away and opened the gate on his return; Jasper thanked him and went back in. He gave Kemp an enchanted sword taken from an outpost commander, and allowed a modest celebration in the castle to honour the dead and lift his men's spirits.⁴⁴⁴⁵⁴⁶

When Kerbor was taken in a raid, Jasper asked the companions, as a personal favour they were free to refuse, to rescue the friend he valued so highly, since if he or Alistar went the enemy would have what it wanted.⁴⁷⁴⁸

For the great goblin assault he made his headquarters a house near the square where he had once been attacked, and had his belongings carried there openly, so that the enemy's spies would know where to strike. After the victory he had Borgar's head displayed. He told Kemp he did not think he had made great mistakes in his rule; he doubted the Empire would leave him the castle when it came and expected a pension at best, and said he had come from a village as an ordinary soldier and wanted his ageing men to have families.^49505152

The denunciation

Jasper then denounced Exalon to the witch hunters as an unlawful wizard, saying he had seen traces of powerful magic in the castle, and laid on the table a dark dagger he admitted to having kept. Gordon, after questioning him, said he was telling the truth, but punished him with forty blows and penance for having hidden what he knew of magic. Confronted by Kemp, who found it dishonourable to hand a rival to the hunters, Jasper said he had kept silent before to protect his position, and that a man born common had to take his chances.^53545556

Spoiler: The risingRevealSpoils: Sürgün Günlükleri #15; Sürgün Günlükleri #16; Sürgün Günlükleri #17; Sürgün Günlükleri #19 · Say what you have read

When Exalon and the companions rose against him, Jasper refused to surrender to a people's court, offering instead to leave with his men or to settle it in single combat. In the fight he struck Kemp down, then told Ephorus and Sarah he could kill them all and was sparing them out of professional courtesy. He brought Sarah down, held back from a last blow, called them fools and left; Sarah died where she fell.^5758596061

He fled to a horse hidden at a tree. A surrendered officer revealed that he kept a hideout stocked with provisions; Cassius drew a map of it in one of the old iron mines eight or nine hours to the north, its entrance hidden by a great willow, mines he said had been worked out in the time of Emperor Konrad. Gordon declared Jasper condemned to death.^6263646566

In the mine, once the lair of the wizard Zehir Asa, the companions found him. He asked whether Sarah lived, said he had not wanted to kill her, and on the promise of a fair trial threw down his sword and shield. Kemp struck him with his sword's hilt but did not kill him. He wore half plate and a shield bearing the imperial arms, and carried a sword called Buz Kenar ("Ice Edge"), an enchanted blade of cold that Kemp later carried into battle.^676869707172

Held in a locked cell of the temple, he said there was no point in defending himself, since even his supporters would want his head, and asked to be beheaded as a soldier rather than hanged; Kemp and Ephorus agreed. At the town's trial he gave his name as simply Jasper, as it had been since birth. Complainants came forward for each charge, from murder and smuggling to kidnapping, torture and collaboration with the enemy; he offered no defence and then fell silent. His last words were that he regretted Sarah's death, and, second, having saved the people from the goblins. The judges found him guilty and Kemp pronounced the sentence.^73747576

Ephorus beheaded him with a single blow of a borrowed woodcutter's axe. The crowd did not cheer, but stood in silence and slowly dispersed. Jasper had begun as the child of a poor family, seemed a hero as an officer in the imperial army, and in Osterhn turned from protector to tyrant.⁷⁷⁷⁸