Trapped in Despair

It's one thing to be trapped in prison to languish until a punishment is meted out or ransomed off, it's another to be left to rot in a prison. The latter happens in rare cases, but a notorious group for such a thing is the Black Elves. A cruel species by nature they are not above using it as an extreme punishment in it's own right.
The prisoner known as the One has been imprisoned by the Black Elves of The Valley of the Black Ones for a number of years. It is whispered that he was a family man, and a trader. Once from Heidelburg to the north in Old Saxony, he had made the trip down to the Valley. Camping out at the building used for trading at the north end, he was rushed due to his wife beiung 7 months pregnant.
There he made his fatal mistake. One thing is known locally and that is never to enter the valley. The Black Ones are notoriously private, barely even tolerating their deeper dwelling kin from the Underdark when they rise up to trade or share stories or food. As soon as he had made it over the threshold he was spotted. Around many such nooks & crannies were the bowmen of the Black Ones, alerted by hidden magical traps that sent silent alarms on down in.
Within 10 feet of the entrance the man was seized and took to the elders of the valley. Seeing that he did not bear any real ill will they knew they couldn't kill him off hand. Instead they let him live. Taking him into the caves that fot the sides of the valley they had pens & prisons where they held captives of many races. They threw him in thinking that he will either die or even be released in some distant time, they keep him there still.
Years have passed and no-one knows waht happened to him in the outside world. Most suspect but can't prove it.
Now he prowls the prison cell, or sits in a corner, eating the basic food that he's given and drinking the brackish water he's supplied. Bedraggled, hunched over and frail, he never speaks. Most who have tried to speak to him can tell that something has been broken long ago in him. It seems the despair of not seeing his family and now growing child ate away at his mind. Sorrowful eyes stare out almost pleading to be put out of his misery so he can finally find some peace. Or let go, so he can find redemption back home with his family who must surely despair as much at what happened to him.

"I've heard of that person, the man the Black Ones call The One. Most think its a morality tale. A tale to scare off any who break the trust of those in the valley. I can't tell for sure myself. I did hear of a family in Heidelburg who lost a husband there. Never met them so I can't even tell for sure about that part."
Raph the Goth, mercenary in Nuremburg before he was dragged off to sleep of the alcohol by the authorities.