Author Topic: The Swordsman's Tale:  (Read 15461 times)

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #50 on: October 09, 2017, 03:19:14 PM »
Updated my Journal.

Oh Morninglord,
Dawnbringer, how I hate the Vroloks.
I wish that by your guidance I may become an adept slayer of these creatures of the night who mock the living, destroy families and shatter relationships.

People mock my being a virgin. They tell me the solution to that is visit a brothel. I don't... Feel like that is the answer.
I think love might help. There is that empty feeling... The one that says no matter what you do people will never 'like' you.
The one that says you will always be an outsider.
The one that says aside from helping people with their problems when they have run out of other options you will never be able to serve any use for them and that you are not, can never be their friend.

It is hard at times to be good when it feels, you can almost sense the evil there being sympathetic to your cause. It preys on our insecurities and tells us what we want to hear with its honeyed, deceitful tongue. It promises us the things we desire most but yanks them away at the last moment when they are tantalizingly close yet just outside our grasp. Then it mocks us for wanting them and being foolish enough it reasons, to have felt they were ever anywhere near within our reach.

Those who are allegedly good will look their noses down upon you for not being, matching their preordained idea of good.
This lack of unity... The darkness thrives on sewing fear and confusion.

The new dawn brings with it fresh hope and the promise, one often realized of new opportunities which were not available the day before. Its providence allows us second chances to do right those actions we neglected to perform adequately before, too.

Laywoman Kaliara told me I should reflect upon what the Morninglord is about, look often upon the icons and when in the sanctuary to examine the statue. That I need to have almost conversational prayers with Him in order to discover my own source of faith. A connection to the Morninglordian way.

Thus far I have not felt the stirrings of much anything divine seeming but I like the ML church. There are many things about their outlook with which I feel I can identify.

Maybe He chooses to guide my mind, heart and arms in other ways that are subtler than those employed by a priest or paladin.
Perhaps I do not *need* divine or otherwise extraordinary power to do things in His name.

Someone asked to see my Morninglord amulet outside during the day and as I was about to hand it to him it felt as though all of time stopped and I faded from existence. I know not where or when I am. Instead of all being dark there is blinding light all around.

Maybe this is a test of my devotion.
I can write in my journal but that is about it.
Inexplicably there is just me with a quil, the journal and the amulet among my other effects. I cannot see more than a scant few inches ahead of me.

Morninglord, I want to prove myself.
I want to show these Barovians there *is* hope.
Even without the love of Reveka or the friendship of the Matron I can still be a force for good.

I have had a few blackouts before but never a whiteout.
Not like this.

Perhaps I am suffering from a fever induced delerium. That would explain a few of the oddities.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2017, 07:17:40 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #51 on: October 09, 2017, 04:17:34 PM »
Updated my journal.
I do not know how many days have passed.
It seems quite impossible to determine the passage or flow of time around me while in this state.

I wonder if He has taken me for some observation. This definitely feels like some form of a test.

In the scant few months I have been in the core I have obtained a working understanding of conversational Balok which is quicker than it typically takes outlanders to learn the tricky language. I will not pretend to be fluent but I learn new words every day and even the natives had been telling me I consistently improve.
I am not as dumb as people make me out to be.

There is hope. With hope you can take on the horrors of the night and the uncertainties of the day. Hope allows us to perform feats of bravery.
Even if you yourself are damned to suffer quite a bit and things are doomed for you, you can still inspire a bystander to take up arms and to challenge some of his or her own adversity in this and other ways.

I think that is my important takeaway.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2017, 04:20:00 PM by Berek »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #52 on: October 09, 2017, 06:11:53 PM »
Updated my journal.
Despair.

I despair that no one will ever like me and I am only as useful to people as my last bounty performed in their service. Nothing more. Just a paid or swayed extra sword arm.

One to be taken advantage of with empty said and unsaid promises of companionship.

They think of me as a killing tool. I am not an assassin.
There is a proud military tradition of mercenaries and professional adventurers all over in many of the countries on my home continent of Khorvaire. Brelend was no exception.

They say we are honorless. Some sellswords are but you should not make such overly hasty generalizations.

The dwarves do not mock me for being a fighter the way my other fellow humans and the elves often do. I wear my dwarven forged armor, shield and blade I wield rather proudly.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2017, 06:17:16 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #53 on: October 09, 2017, 07:27:16 PM »
Updated my journal.
I don't mean anything to anyone.
I am expendable. I should be used to that.
It comes part and parcel to being a sellsword but it's that lack of attachment that gets to me sometimes.

I'm not so much in it for the coin or the fame.
I just feel like sometimes people can't defend themselves adequately on their own by themselves. I use my martial proficiency to attempt protecting them.

Perhaps I am regarded as a potential meal ticket or assurance of a successful mission when contracted out as hired muscle.
That is not friendship.

Sharing a campfire and meal, is.

Morninglord, how am I to inspire confidence and instill hope in others when my own life is simply performing rote duties and narrowly missing uncanny demise on a repeat basis?
« Last Edit: October 09, 2017, 07:31:41 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #54 on: October 09, 2017, 07:42:56 PM »
Updated my journal.
Those who would manipulate me into serving darkness are going at it entirely wrong.
Power is something I feel there is no use rushing into. Ambition and blind drive can spur us on toward attaining greater prowess, knowledge and levels of ability when coupled with discipline.

Fame is stupid. If someone or thing were to promise me a wife, a friend or a lover though... Now that might be tempting. I'd be willing to practically forgo adventuring altogether if such "stability" seemed in my reach as attainable.

There is something far scarier in that than in encounters both violent and of a magical or supernatural nature perhaps?
« Last Edit: October 09, 2017, 08:47:54 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #55 on: October 10, 2017, 03:07:02 PM »
Updated my journal.
My offensive techniques have improved slightly and my defensive ones remain solid but there is still that emptiness inside. Lack of having a greater purpose to serve or even just a person to care about gives me a malaise I try to push to the back of my mind but it comes out when I am by myself. Sometimes I drink to try and make it go away but that only works for a little while.

The mists and memories of the scolding, mocking voices or others, the dying images of those I was unable to help like Zoltan, Arebeth and even Tali bother me even though Zoltan was resurrected and I'm sure Tali's spirit must have returned to her body by now (that's what the priests assured me)... These all haunt me in my sleep.

Monsters don't scare me so much as what people can be capable of.
Look at how these churches will push away perfectly good members based off hearsay and unsubstantiated feelings in the guts.
Miss Hebert I do not believe deserved excommunication from the Fifth Light Chapel and I'm not sure what must have been running through Inquisitor Martel's head at the time. She *is* a good person.

« Last Edit: October 10, 2017, 03:10:41 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #56 on: October 11, 2017, 03:42:00 PM »
Updated my journal.
Miss Annabelle despises me too. A half drow made an executive decision during a terg run to have me thrown off their team because I went and slaughtered a handful of vroloks by myself.

I'm still quite angry at all of vampire-kind for what that one coven did to Tali.
With vampires, they are very arrogant. Imagine the most full of themselves human or elf and then increase that level of smugness a few orders of magnitude even higher.

I have fought at least two kinds of vroloks before and it seems that the older they are, the more powerful. Most of the ones in the antechambers of the terg ruin are relatively young.

When it comes to groups I don't mind the being ordered around but do mind the steady stream of belittling.

The search for a cause to serve or someone to care about continues.
Neither church wants me.

Honestly, I'm used to being treated as expendable. My parents were fairly hands off and I got sent to military school at an early age.
I did not have friends growing up.

I'd be less reckless I think if I found a higher cause to serve or had someone to care for. It's a vicious cycle.

Also you cannot prove yourself to people once they have made up their minds about you. They treat me as a misbehaving child.

Perhaps I shall resume studying medicine. Then I could be "Dr. Meathead."

Denied the opportunity to prove myself that I can be of value to a team. That... Sucked.

If you stripped away my identity as that of a fighter I do not think there would be much anything else for me to turn to.
I can readily identify strange items and will read a lot of books but that and a bit of skill in healing don't make for much, either.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2017, 04:13:12 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #57 on: October 11, 2017, 06:34:16 PM »
Updated my journal.
When fighting a bone golem there are some things to consider:
They tend to blunt hits from anything that isn't enchanted or alchemically enhanced so either get a caster to imbue your weapon or have some varnish handy because  full on enchanted items proper are very hard to come by.

They hit pretty hard so knock them down and take advantage of the momentary incapacitated state to get some hits in.

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #58 on: October 11, 2017, 07:59:22 PM »
Updated my journal.

Emmy Willowtoes is a halfling monk who is my friend.
The Osiris Priestess from Har'Akir, Nephthys is also among those I would consider my friends. She is a half elf usually clad in a hood and wraps but I saw her face for the first time the other day. She has the most reddish red hair I have ever seen which is highly unusual, I think.

The priestess saved my life again the other evening. I owe her, big time.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2017, 01:57:10 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #59 on: October 12, 2017, 02:00:32 PM »
Updated my journal.
I do feel that my own life is rather expendable.
Lady Vicarra is incorrect though in her assumption that I likewise care little about the lives of others.
Annabelle treats me as a child and denies me my identity as that of a fighter.

Nephthys and Emmy get I can have value as a part of a team.
I understand why Annabelle and Vicarra kicked me out on that mission though.
I was emotionally compromised. Still furious at the vroloks for having killed Miss Tali and then the coven matriarch having mocked me while I carried her body back to the temple. Perhaps without such an intervention I would have kept on slaughtering the damnable creatures to my very last breath. Then in the sickest and most twisted of ironies to perhaps find myself turned into one of those things which I so hate...?

I did not care that it was a different coven than the one which had killed my dear friend the elf sorceress. I was more immersed in being concerned with punching their fangs out and making the arrogant undead drink holy water, get staked and gutting them with platinum edged weapons.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2017, 02:05:30 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #60 on: October 17, 2017, 04:27:08 PM »
Updated my journal.
Rurik is not so bad as I had initially thought he was. We went camping and he taught me some more strategy.

I love Solví. She is a tiefling of Infernal heritage. The Ezrites call her Legion and this bothers me. I have been inducted into the Morninglords but as an initiate am required to keep a vow of silence for one week.

Solví is *not* evil, just mischievous. And she's a person, not a monster. Those green snotballs could use some Morninglord in their lives, maybe. A dose of POSITIVITY.

When she is out scouting ahead of me in our party, her tail tickles me.

Note to self: You still owe Thessa Moreal 4,000 fangs. Raise funds to repay her. She said there was no big hurry and she trusted I'd pay her loan back *when* I can but being in debt is not fun.

The cause I have found to serve is the Morninglord. A person to care about is Miss Solví Dusk... Dusk something. I don't even know her full last name. Wow, nice job Kaine! When that vow of silence is up I should ask her.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 04:37:23 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #61 on: October 17, 2017, 07:52:19 PM »
Updated my journal.
Met a half orc priestess named Bha'Kel. Her deity is the Orc goddess of family, fertility and motherhood I think?
I managed to in writing (she can read common okay) explain that I wasn't a Barovian and understood that an Orc is not the same thing as a Caliban.

She and Solví seem to get along alright... So that's good.

I am tired of having to bury friends and of monsters carrying women off. I will help train Solví to get stronger so that it does not happen to her.

Morvayn despite his initial hostility has softened a bit and we have resumed trading. Sometimes in alchemical materials and other times in advice, information.
He said (prior to my having taken the one week vow of silence for the ML church) that the best sneaking armor I could get for a rogue such as Solví is leathers that are lined with ebon tiger fur. That would cost 2,000 fangs. He also said he would include a hole for her tail in the back but that it would take him some tries to fashion as his leatherworking skills are not as great as his alchemy and other crafting pursuits.

There is the problem of obtaining the pelts too. Ebon tigers live in that cavern at the bottom of the mountain where the shadow dragon dwells.
It will be quite dangerous and we will need a number of pelts regardless. I think Solví and I should bring Borval on that trip.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 08:09:12 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #62 on: October 18, 2017, 01:00:00 PM »
Updated my journal.
Day two of my week's vow of silence.
Sister Kaliara has been promoted by Father Asu and is now considered Dawnmother of the temple in the outskirts. Now we call her "Mother Kali".  The light carriers follow her commands.

That Garda recruit Vadim was complaining about Neuri. I saw Petre had some silver weapons for sale in his vardo and brought him back a silver rapier. He was grateful; I know the Garda aren't paid a lot.

Shared breakfast with Private Stirbei and Lance Corporal Hubchev when they were doing their early morning patrol of the outskirts trade road. They find my converting to the "sun cult" unusual but understand I am under a vow of silence and did not mock me about that.

Agents of the Matron still speak to me though I still have not seen her in some time. They encourage me to visit Lady Selyth's lair but I do not feel up to showing my face again, yet.

Not without perhaps a decent sized stack of scrolls of the sixth spell circle and above; I must keep an eye out especially for the one called "shape change" or possibly "shape shift", a spell the Matron is particularly desiring to obtain.

The Morninglord espouses hope.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2017, 01:38:52 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #63 on: October 19, 2017, 03:17:15 PM »
Updated my journal.
Black puddings ate my best gear!
Borval made me a new helmet and shield and has loaned me a steel sword in the meantime but my worg fur plated boots and platinum sword were completely dissolved!

The cause I have found to serve is the Morninglord.
That means instill hope in folks.
Show them it's okay to be positive.
The new dawn means new opportunities.

Even if you completely screwed up everything the day before, that you are still alive today is a testament to His forgiving and benevolent nature.
YOU CAN TRY TO BE A BETTER PERSON THAN YOU WERE THE PREVIOUS DAY.

There are different kinds of hope.
There is the hope things will get better.
There is the hope you can if not help yourself then put changes into motion to affect positive outcomes you might either see within your lifetime or if not something you will live to see may still make things better for those who come after you.
There is also the hope (taking the form of positive energy) you use to combat negative energy creatures and the undead.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2017, 03:51:14 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #64 on: October 19, 2017, 04:08:35 PM »
Updated my journal.
The dawn vanquishes the night. It's part of a cycle.
Many monsters seem stronger at dusk and weaker toward sun up.

Initiate Alina Curis was having some doubts, she had received a botched resurrection and was troubled. Without breaking my vow of silence I managed to console her and she says she thinks I'll make quite a good light carrier. A weaponsmith showed up at the temple and I drew up a picture of a mace on a piece of paper. With gestures and jangling a bag of coins I indicated I wanted him to make a steel mace for Sister Alina so that she might have something with which to physically defend herself and he understood. He is crafting it.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2017, 03:56:19 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #65 on: October 20, 2017, 03:24:11 PM »
Updated my journal.
Have not seen Solví in some days, I hope she is alright.
Father Asu gave me a new sword. He says I remind him of himself when he was younger and has on some occasions past revealed to me he was a warrior before he became a priest. The sword is for if/when I pass my trials following my vow of silence being up.

I believe the next series of tests involves performing a set of martial tasks.

Borval with some fuss but only charging me a minimum for the materials and templates has replaced the majority of my gear the black puddings had consumed.
In place of my worg fur plate boots I had before I am now sporting gargoyle hide ones. They are said to be resistant to acid, which will be good. I felt... So naked and vulnerable when set upon by those puddings and they dissolved my equipment!

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #66 on: October 20, 2017, 04:14:34 PM »
Update.
Three days remain toward completing my week's vow of silence.

In Sharn there was the Sovereign Host, a pantheon of 12 (or so) major deities whose portfolios encompassed many aspects of civilization: Both daily life and civilizing force.
My family was a strong proponent of Onatar. Onatar is a god who typically is said to appear in the chosen mortal forms of a master dwarven smith and at times a brass dragon.
He is the brother of the God of law and knowledge. Onat's portfolio includes fire, good and crafting.
In some ways there is a bit of overlap between this and that which is associated with the Morninglord.

The favored weapon of the Morninglord is a spear which represents a ray of light piercing through the darkness while for Onatar it was a warhammer.
« Last Edit: October 20, 2017, 06:24:09 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #67 on: October 21, 2017, 02:48:14 PM »
Updated my journal.
Still haven't seen Solví around.
Met a Caliban woman named Florica. She was remarkably well-spoken despite being hulking and brutish in physique. Her eyes are nice too at least from what I could see of them from the visor of her helmet.
I wonder... Perhaps we could exercise down in the drain sometime or kill wererats.
She's fluent in Balok too, probably an ethnic Barovian. Calibans are outcasts because the superstitious backwater rustics think they are bad luck. Essentially they get cursed by witches while in the womb which alters their physical development drastically from their non "twisted" cohorts. Other times it's just being exposed to stray transmutation magic. Some aren't alright in the head, a few are cannibals and some like Bogdan, Urshnak and Florica retain their personalities. I wonder if they were not affected by such magics if they would still be the same kinds of people on the inside or no?
« Last Edit: October 21, 2017, 03:55:03 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #68 on: October 22, 2017, 09:37:04 AM »
Updated my journal.
I believe there might be two days left of my week long vow of silence.
Odd how loneliness intensifies. Is it the lack of female companionship or is it the not being allowed to speak that bothers me?
If I foul up and break the vow, would the Morninglord forgive me?
I mean even if He did, I'd still know I screwed up.

Mother Kali and Father Ilu are counting on me to uphold this vow. Hrmm...
Could I talk in an area where the Dawnbringer's light hasn't been felt in centuries such as deep within the bowels of a cavern system or at the bottom of ancient catacombs?  Feels like an iffy loophole, honestly.

Would anybody even *want* to talk to me?
« Last Edit: October 22, 2017, 09:39:48 AM by Kaine »

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #69 on: October 22, 2017, 11:24:54 AM »
Updated my journal.
Have enough golden wolf fangs now to pay Thessa back the money she'd loaned me.
I wonder where that Imhariel priestess went.
She'd also at one point offered to relieve me of my "virginity problem"; I guess that means she likes me?

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #70 on: October 22, 2017, 04:42:17 PM »
Updated my journal.
Come on Kaine, you can do this!

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #71 on: October 24, 2017, 01:10:49 AM »
Updated my journal.
One day remains.
Solví returns! Her last name is Duskgate.

Oh, I am in a bit of a bind.
Both Solví and Florica are such wonderful and unusual women... I think I like both.
Although typically Solvi's schemes involve one or the both of us unintentionally ending up dead... Or both of us having to play dead to fool large groups of monsters that have just finished kicking our arses to crawl away... I find her company, her companionship most enjoyable. Enough so that for the week I had not seen her I had generally started to become worried something unfortunate may have befallen her (This is one of the times I am glad to have been wrong).

Florica I have seen her face without her helmet on. One side is very pretty and the other is marred by a growth. With her cunning and large muscles she is... You know, the upturned nose is kind of cute. Definitely not like the other women I know. I mean... Dawnbringer's sake her arms are as big around as my legs! I helped her move today. She was tired of dwelling in the Drain and wanted to set up a camp in the woods.

Wait, she's physically far stronger than I am. I doubt she would have *needed* the help in moving. I wonder what might have been up there with asking me for help then?
« Last Edit: October 24, 2017, 12:56:00 PM by Kaine »

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #72 on: October 24, 2017, 12:52:23 PM »
Updated my journal.
My week long vow of silence has ended!
I gave the wonderful Miss Duskgate a book by a Darkonese gnomish trapmaker which should help her out some the next time we go dungeon delving.
I complained to Warden Hyde about Sir Balitor and Inquisitor Martel's treatment of womenfolk.
I even discussed possibility of a trip to Har'Akir with my friends Nephthys and Nolir the planar dwarf.

Such a grand day so far!

Solví is working on a human disguise but unfortunately for her she gives off just enough of a lower planes aura (I suppose might be what's up with that?) that her physical presence still spooks some animals and certain simple minded peasant folk. I don't mind seeing her in full as she is including her tiefling features but I'm not those peasants. She's not the wisest but she's definitely uncannily clever. I admire her nimbleness of hands too. She's good at careful delicate work like tricky puzzles, opening stubborn locks and disarming traps.

Some people call folks like Hellena, Solví and Florica evil but I don't care. They aren't *all* bad and have certainly been kind towards me.
The Morninglord faith teaches us that even those with dark hearts may sometimes be redeemed and that nearly all are capable of such changes save for the undead. The undead are wicked creatures usually as a whole without remorse whom you can feel quite alright destroying.

Solví and Florica are *not* monsters. They were born differently from other people, yes, but to me they are extraordinary women. Women whom I hold dear and I am very glad to have them both in my life. Things feel a lot less lonely now than they did before I met them.

Hellena might have a checkered past, sure but she's like that tough older sister a bloke never had and helped me navigate the criminal underworld with all my parts remaining intact. I can thank her for why my head is still attached to my shoulders.

I am strongly considering letting Solví and Florica into the mercenary company Commander Dennith and I are planning to put together. Their knowledge of how criminals operate and gangs work could prove quite invaluable. Also, as a form of legitimate employment it might even help smooth over some of the heat they are given. Let's not get too carried away though Kaine.

Vallaki is not and will never be as cosmopolitan as Sharn. It is not culturally advanced. It is a backwards and superstitious lakeside city where people are openly discriminated against for being outlanders and obviously physically aberrant folk are assumed to be malevolent creatures by default.

To be fair there are many problems with overabundant werecreatures and vampires in the region and from time to time there *are* rogue hedge wizards and small-time witches who get carried away which causes a tad bit of mayhem...

Still though, that doesn't excuse so much poor treatment of folks for looking different. I think it doesn't.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2017, 02:11:38 PM by Kaine »

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #73 on: October 24, 2017, 01:26:44 PM »
Updated my journal.
Complicated.
I like and respect the Garda but am attracted to two women whom might be classified academically as "monstrous humanoids." The lawmen and women would sooner burn such unusual folk at the stake or chase them from the city than allow them to walk on the surface during the day unharried as regular people.
This discrimination is quite ingrained into the Barovian culture.

I do not see it as changing within the next few centuries but should ask somebody very long lived such as a gnome or an elf about it.

I bet Andralynn or Serilda would have some thoughts in regards to the subject.

My family worshipped a god back home whose chosen mortal representations were typically either a venerable ancient dwarven master smith or a wizened brass dragon. Perhaps that would explain my affinity towards the deep folk? I get along pretty well with dwarves. Admire their work ethic, stubbornness and love of a good fight.  Perhaps the next language I should take on studying ought to be dwarven.

There are other languages such as orcish and I believe also gnomish that use the same alphabet for their script. Most Barovians have no idea what an orc is and tend to confound them with calibans. Evidently orc kind is not endemic to the core and they are terrifically rare although goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears are not. No those are quite common and tend towards being incredibly savage.

No an orc is probably the most intelligent of the larger goblinoid races. They love to eat meat, fighting, dancing and I think have a well-developed tradition of oral storytelling.
In many places from what I am told of realms oftentimes elves and orcs do not get along so well.

I like elves just fine but there's just something about when you make an orc or a half orc your friend where you know you have a big strong buddy who will always have your back in a fight when the odds are looking bad. They are absolutely fantastic brawlers typically.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2017, 02:05:25 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #74 on: October 24, 2017, 01:46:30 PM »
Updated my journal.
Elves.
Like them or loathe them they are very long lived and here to stay.
Some are tricky but rumors stemming from backwoods folktales of malicious feyfolk stealing into homes during the middle of the night to hex farmers and switch babies with changelings (a type of insidious doppelgänger) to the best of my knowledge, at least in regards to elfkind seem to be not based in any sort of fact.

Many elves are vegetarian. They do not care for meat. I wonder if perhaps that may play a role in that race's members being so long lived.

There are many different types of elves. Some refer to themselves as Tel'quessir. I am probably mangling the spelling of that something horrible.  You should admire the artwork, dance and storytelling of elven people. They take pride in it.
Though a tad more physically frail than humans do not mistake this for being weak. There are plenty of elven warriors who would make you take that back... If you weren't so peppered with arrows as to be thoroughly dead and unable to speak.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2017, 06:00:58 PM by Kaine »