Ravenloft: Prisoners of the Mist

Within the swirling Mist (IC) => Biographies => Topic started by: Silas Rotleaf on September 13, 2017, 03:12:07 PM

Title: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 13, 2017, 03:12:07 PM

Yes I'm an outlander. I come from a realm where we believe dragons were responsible for creating our world as we know it. I won't trouble you with too much of my background as chances are if you stumble upon this the here and the now will be much more relevant or possibly helpful to you than my childhood.

My name is Kaine Morrus. Originally I'm of Brelend but chances are unless you are Eberronese you won't have heard of it nor Sharn.

I'm a bit of a flirt with the ladies. It doesn't matter their creed, morals, color or station too much because to me a woman is a woman and being kindly towards her is part of demonstrating you have the proper breeding and had decent upbringing.

Sometimes I serve Lady Dennith. She's Eberronese like me but from a different place, FlameKeep rather than my home city of Sharn. She's very inspiring and a master of tactics. I always learn new things when I travel with her.

I'm not the most experienced soldier. I will admit that. I am easily whammied by attacks on the mind. I do have discipline though and am likely not to drop my weapon unless slain.

Lady Dennith serves Ezra but I met a red woman who somewhat resembled the dragons of our world and might like to start a goodly cult around her. I've decorated my shield in her image and named my secondary weapon, a spear of cold forged iron after this smart Selyth.

It is good to have friends in both high and low places. I like the Garda (especially privates Reveka and Yondran (sp.?)) who try to keep the roads safe but also have some friends in the sewer who when I was down on my luck helped patch up my wounds. The Boravians don't know this but not everyone down there who looks feral is a mutant. Some are what people from my and Lady Dennith's home plane would call "Swamp people" or those from Toril would refer to as "Orcs." When they have the flat noses and the protruding lower teeth that isn't the effect of sorcery exposure while in the womb I think. Well, on the other extreme of the spectrum I am happy to associate with Sir Havenshire and Lord Blaise though I am not part of any organizations or factions.

I will gladly share some or most of the loot if you brave terrifying adverse situations with me and the rest of my companions. Otherwise we could perhaps share a meal or I could possibly buy you a drink? I like hearing from other outlanders what their homelands are like or when it is the locals about their family history and trade.

- Lt. Kaine Morrus of Brelish King Boranel's 67th Battalion.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 13, 2017, 03:44:25 PM

Updated my journal:
The smith, Borval, a stout dwarven man of great talent and artistry when it comes to metalcraft revealed to me he is also a master-at-arms and gave me a crash course on dwarven swordfighting in exchange for carrying out a number of difficult chores in his service. These included hauling loads of ore, sweeping the foundry and gathering the durable shells of fire beetles Northwest of Vallaki.

I was called on to bear witness to a crime I had well, witnessed. I think the Lance Corporal understands I don't mean to go around causing trouble for him and his militia.

An old man, one Darius S. taught me a few words in Balok and corrected my mispronunciations. Also I should go back to my earlier entries and change the spelling of his countrymen. The land is called Barovia not Boravia. I was a tad hurried before when I had last written in my journal.

The red haired private who was nice to me is named Reveka! When she was in the infirmary from stab wounds I left some cakes and flowers outside the guardhouse for her and the other one Yondran I think his name is? He and I had a chat and he says he might need some mercenaries to pick up the slack in the event their militia is short staffed. I told him about how before I was misted I was in a militia as well and so I understood how it can be a very difficult job where usually the community you serve and protect might not always appreciate your duties. I know most guards don't get into that profession because they want to get paid to bully people, it's typically because you want to do the right thing and uphold a community as the arm of its officials.

There is a local young bard who is very talented named Merna whom when I told her  I liked hearing her songs and complimented her outfit she very quickly came up with a tale about an enigmatic husband who traveled a lot. Perhaps that was fabricated and perhaps I was too friendly toward her.

Something to think about: A woman, even one who is evil is still a woman and I would never willingly harm the fairer sex. I do suppose monstrous and undead would be an exception but humans and what the wizard and scholarly types refer to as "demihumans" are all people.

Would it then be unchivalric to defend myself if the attacker is female? I should ask some knights like Sir Havenshire, the Green Knight Varian in service to the Ezra Church, Sir Matthew or even that one black knight for their thoughts on this subject.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 13, 2017, 04:25:17 PM

Updated my journal:

It is now winter.
Master Borval says my defensive techniques have markedly improved but my attacks still leave room to be desired.

Lady Dennith is disappointed in the "dirty fighting" I had recently picked up and insists I no longer coat my weapons in monster venom. She says that is for thieves and bad men and I should be better than that. It isn't being the right type of paragon of the goodly swordsman to engage in such tactics. Our "drow" archer offered up a different opinion and says every advantage the unforgiving land can offer should be made use of if you wish to survive and that he was surprised I'd not picked up on it much sooner as it is a very common tactic in the land he is from. I shall dispose of the remaining vials. I do want to be a good example.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 14, 2017, 03:22:19 PM

Updated my journal.
I have learned of something very troubling.
Remember earlier when I indicated the people those from the realm Lady Dennith and I were misted from refer to as "swamp folk" and mages and scholars call orcs and half orcs get confounded with mutants whom the Barovians refer to as calibans? I have a friend, a sort of a sewer doctor known as Drez who says he is from a nation named Thay which is also in a different realm not of this "core". He is not a sewer mutant but resides in a hovel down there because most of the locals having no frame of reference for what a half orc is assume he is some sort of "womb freak" or had been tainted by malevolent witchcraft while still a swaddled babe in his mother's cradle. He tends to try to avoid too much attention and is very careful to obey the curfew placed upon outcasts which is that they should not gather in public during the day and when we are required to travel on our adventures he considerately dons a face covering disguise and full body robes, extensive bandage coverings, a thick cloak and so on, so as not to cause too much panic by his unusual appearance. ...Indeed, it seems that the human half of his heritage is dominant over the orc blood coursing through his veins for he is quite intelligent and practices all manner of medicine and bits of alchemy.

Well what bothers me is on one of our journeys after a successful ridding the crypt below the Vallaki outskirts church of its restless dead and having mapped out some new tunnels he and I never noticed before a one-eyed woman with a prosthetic leg assaulted him, unmasked him in public, rubbed his face in the dirt and cracked his head to humiliate him. She said the Garda paid her to and later I talked to her about it and she showed me her hit contract. The person who authorized it was Private Reveka!?!!

That certainly changes a bit how I feel about her. I do believe the mercenary woman is telling the truth because though she might not be of sound mind she is proud of her craft, that is... Of assassinations and bounty hunting and had no reason to lie.  I was mad at her before for humiliating my friend but she said it was not personal and simply a job on her list of contracts. She showed me the page in her hit book and there was the Private's name under the client, right there, plain as day.

Drez has mostly recovered from the ordeal but is saddened one of his tusks was broken and now they are uneven. I have heard of this new science called "den-tis-try" that is being worked on in Lamordia and Dmontlieu and it sounds like they could repair his damaged tooth but how would we smuggle such a large and unusual individual into polite society? There's the rub.

As an alternative, perhaps a druid or cleric could cast a regeneration spell upon him to regrow the tusk back?

The mercenary's name is Hellena. She has a rather fearsome reputation too and people say she is insane.  Why would...? As far as I can tell the only reason I can fathom she would do that job for Private Reveka is perhaps Hellena was offered a pardon for some previously convicted offense she had committed as part of the conditions surrounding it?

I asked Drez if he'd ever to his memory at any point deliberately caused trouble for the garda, perhaps raided supplies in their fort or vandalized a guard house and he says he has not. He's very honest, bluntly so, so I have little idea what sort of vendetta exists between the pretty officer who struck me as kind and my friend the undercity doctor.

I needed some time to figure things out so I accepted an invitation from Lord Blaise who was looking for escorts to help him while he is conducting an excavation of tombs in Har'Akiri. The road to the desert itself was fraught with many perils, the desert itself was also very treacherous, and the intense heat is a stark contrast to the bone chilling cold of Barovian winter. Currently I am without money or weapons because it seems I had passed out partway through during the expedition of the second tomb. ...The first one had been going so well! Almost too easily.

Lord Blaise is a dandy and interested in well, people and academical things but does not like getting his hands dirty. That is why we are the hired muscle, as it were.  I am okay with this.  In this party there is a distrusting knight named Sir Roland, a Barovian swashbuckling adventurer named Luka (No relation to the Vallaki town drunk), and a dark skinned tracker chap named Mumbata who likely hails from some tropical region I have little hope of ever accurately pronouncing.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 14, 2017, 03:45:57 PM

Updated my journal.
Monsters like chewing on me and so I have gained something of an aggravating reputation as a reckless idiot. The legend of my apparent idiocy so far seems to be confined to Vallaki mostly but I don't like the way that Erebeth woman was very insulting towards me and Drez the other night. She wanted me to leave him behind to catch up alone when there were worgs on the road and kept chiming in every time Lady Dennith who militarily on our usual travels acts as my commanding officer reprimanded or instructed me and I do not appreciate that. I am on the front line doing close quarters melee combat to keep the monsters and ruffians from laying waste to our casters, healers and archers who are more vulnerable in direct physical combat. She should be grateful she can sit there behind us at a safe distance to read books and interpret arcane sites, artifacts and the like. I am not a thorough idiot. Lady Dennith and I have a code that nobody should be left behind while we are in a unit so I insisted on waiting for Drez so he wouldn't be set upon by the worg packs roaming the rural crossroads alone with just a crossbow or a dagger to fend them off with.

Does this haughty mage Erebeth not understand the value of a well disciplined unit?!
I know were she and Drez's situations reversed she would not like to be abandoned by the rest of the group hurtling on ahead. That angered me.

Drez thinks maybe she comes from a magocracy and that since it can be assumed half orcs who possess a talent for the art are evidently rather uncommon that would explain her incredulity towards that he could be a doctor of sorts and also her demeaning behavior towards me for being a noncaster.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 15, 2017, 03:23:58 PM

Updated my journal.

I came to the next day in a Muhar resting house. Lord Blaise had held onto my weapons, coin bag and shield the whole time which was certainly very kind of him. As a high class gentleman of a more delicate constitution that had to have been probably not so easy on him. I apologized for things being backward because nobles should not have to be a squire and this seemed to amuse him.

Making my way back to Vallaki town was rather uneventful, which was surprising considering how frought with danger the trip to Har'Akir was.

The Akiri are even less friendly than the Barovians. The nobles and merchants are right, traveling does help improve your perspective.

I talked to Private Reveka to hear her side of the story on the altercation between the mercenary Hellena and Drez. Now I feel pretty certain that Hellena wasn't lying because I do tend to believe Private Reveka. Why would Drez want to though? Hmm, I suppose it was not so much lying on his part as it was withholding a part of the truth from me.

I also met an, I think you call them Gundakarite? It's a different ethnicity of person than the other Barovians. They look much the same and both speak Balok but after some sort of long bitter civil war which the Gundakarites lost against the Barovians there was a law passed that Gundas aren't allowed to use any large weapons, only the small ones such as daggers or clubs. He was a friendly enough young man, a bit starved though. Lady Dennith and I took him and a peasant woman from Kroftburg with us up Mt. Balinok to the mines for a bit of an adventure.  On the way back to town Lance Corporal was setting up some stocks to put troublemakers in and I guess it must have been a surprise inspection from the Corporal, a harsh woman who is his boss (if you thought Lance Corporal Nicolas was mean, by comparison the Corporal makes him look inviting like Miss Anca at the Weeping Lady Inn). Tivádar (my Gundakarite traveling companion) and I were strip searched which was a little embarrassing but Privates Yordan and Reveka know I am not a troublemaker and so I did my best to comply so they would look good for the "top brass." Lance corporal still calls me stupid and such.

Barris was very angry with me. I worry about how he and the priestess Ferren and their friends keep having these small conflicts with the Garda. They were muttering about a friend of theirs being unjustly held by the Garda and how some of their friends had been killed but when he mentioned Sir Roland, I volunteered the information that he was among the other sell swords I was in the company of when we escorted Lord Blaise's expedition to the Har'Akir tombs. Also, Sir Havenshire and I were there in the citadel the night Andros was detained and I don't speak Balok but heard he is to be jailed for just a few days. You think they would be happy their one friend was *not dead* and the other was only being imprisoned for a short time!

I was wrong about the mage scholar. When lady Dennith and I spoke of our home plane Erebeth got very animated. The machines and constructs of Eberron are often of keen interest to academics in this "core" as it seems that of the surrounding regions only Lamordia is of comparable technological sophistication. Erebeth is actually not so bad. It was amusing to see her attitude shift from that I was a big muttonhead with a sword to a swordsman who is at least a bit less mutton headed.

I wonder if Private Reveka knows I like her. During the search she remarked I had to be very strong to carry the amount of heavy equipment I had on my person. I offered to show Lance Corporal my tattoo. He and the Corporal were not amused. Later at the Inn when she was off duty I told her I'd never desire to lay my sword against women or the law and she said she knew that and wouldn't hold me; I should have taken that opportunity to make a snappy suave remark she could hold me any time she wanted! Oh well... Perhaps some other time.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 15, 2017, 03:40:56 PM

Updated my journal.

Anca and Private Reveka seem good friends. I wonder... Ugh, as an outlander I probably wouldn't have much of a shot with the lady Garda but she is kind to me and I do like helping her and Private Yordan out when the militia is short staffed or during an emergency. ... I wonder if Anca could help me do something to impress Reveka.  Lately I have been rather short of funds. The trip to Har'Akir and back was rather costly. I will have to take on more work to replenish provisions as well as gifts for the domnas.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 16, 2017, 05:11:18 AM

Updated my journal.
 I had a good long conversation with the green knight Sir Balitor at the Vallaki inn today. He told me about some of the crusades the Ezra church has had his order go on and a little of the history and I guess some of their beliefs. Turns out he's as much a fan of the bastard or hand-and-a-half sword as I am!

Lady Dennith is yelling at me a lot more. I don't like it much but she *is* my commander and usually most of her combat advice is quite sound.

Kyorlin, our elf archer talks of plans to open up a merchant house. I'm not sure where in the core he intends to put it but he travels a lot and has been procuring increasingly exotic things lately.

I have engaged myself in industry for this winter! Both the locals and the other outlanders say the Barovian winter is tough due to how less food crops grow but the forest is teaming with animals and wood so fur trapping and lumber thrive. I helped two merchants who needed hardwood (50 cord) for some project they wanted to have built and got paid the generous sum of 5000 golden wolf fang (that's the local currency... There's a wolf on one side and portrait of the grim-visaged Count on the reverse). I am no longer destitute.

 I wonder what to do with this new small fortune. Perhaps I could invest it in some better gear or eventually if the windfall were to continue consider a piece of real estate? I will have to ask Sir Havenshire or perhaps Sir Audric the Red for some advice on this financial matter.

I also managed to turn in the head of a notorious bandit leader named Cosmin with a price on him for 700 fangs to the bounty office Commisar today. I hope Privates Reveka and Yordan find out it was me who put an end to that villain.
I'd also routed several members of his gang sending their criminal den into chaos. It was a hard battle but by carefully opening and shutting the doors and laying little traps in the way while luring the ruffians out a few at a time I actually got the upper hand on them. I was pretty badly wounded during it though and feel weak as though I definitely need to toughen myself. The question is how though to best go about it.

To celebrate bringing down Cosmin I had tsuika with the Barovian swashbuckler Grigore Novac.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 20, 2017, 12:43:51 PM

Updated my journal.
I know Rurik doesn't like me but I don't think Domna Vulpe cares much for me either.
The locals tend to find my foreign mannerisms obnoxious.
I'd donated 1,800 fang to the Lady's Rest only to find myself kicked out for two weeks for having forgotten to shut a door.

Private Hubchev has agreed to tutor me in how to speak Balok and I am starting to feel my suspicions I have been being insulted a whole lot of the time may be correct.  Still... if for no other reason than Mariska's pies I will defend this city to my dying breath.

I don't hate the Barovians. I think they are a good very hardworking people and I hate seeing folks be oppressed.
The peasants, being peasants, are terrible at defending themselves.
That's why the Garda goes on patrols and that's why even if some people don't like admitting it foreign mercenaries do serve a role in this community.

I think I may have solved Jean Renaud's riddle. Not sure if I'm ready to try taking another *stab* at it just yet though.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 20, 2017, 01:03:30 PM

Updated my journal.

Private Hubchev, Commander Dennith and I have begun drafting plans for how to best try defending the city against the Revenant and the anarchists.

I made city evacuation maps of several of the district sewers for Privates Hubchev and Stirbei so that if worst comes to worst noncombatants may quickly reach the outskirts, farmlands and forest.  It kind of hurt she questioned if it was a trap because honestly I kind of like her. She has a very strong commitment to justice which is admirable.

Miss Hebert says it is pretty much hopeless because I am an outlander so I think the best I can do is just keep taking bounties and killing monsters so that the Garda can see I am not a bad outlander. Then we can be friends perhaps.

Even if I were to become a swordsman of enough renown to receive a commendation from the burgomaster or Count himself there would still be negative rumors spread amongst the peasantry of Reveka and I seeing one another. I wouldn't want to hurt her chances of receiving promotion so this "Garda Lover" as some people have started referring to me as should move very slowly and carefully if at all.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 20, 2017, 04:06:21 PM

Updated my journal.
Private Hubchev explained to me the reason why outlander mercenaries in particular seem to be looked down upon by the locals in Vallaki and certain establishments refuse to service us is due to events which transpired under the term of the last burgomaster. Apparently there did used to be an outlander militia of mercenaries who worked with the Garda to keep Vallaki safe but it was not well organized... Corruption and infighting led to it being disbanded and a lot of them behaved as well paid thugs. No wonder the peasants don't much care for us!

I hope Domna Vulpe realizes I gave her and Bianca that sack of gold not to show off being rich but because I genuinely felt it a good, decent establishment with great service. The gesture seems to have been lost. Probably people are happier now that I don't frequent the Lady's Rest anymore.

Sometimes I wonder if it would be better if I just had let the mists take me or left and just didn't come back.

No, stop thinking that way.  Even if the town, village, city doesn't like you very much they need help. You aren't doing it for the recognition or pretty girls or money.... Those certainly are nice incentives but they can't adequately defend themselves and Yordan says the Garda have only very recently implemented silver-edged halberds for dealing with the were-rat problems.

No, you tell people it is for the money or to attract the attentions of women and aristocrats so they don't think you are out of touch with the reality around you. People mock idealism.
Certainly, the recognition is nice for when a job is well done. I hope that if I take on enough bounties and slay enough monsters the people of Vallaki may come to despise me a bit less.

Miss Hebert of the Ezra sect's third revelation has begun trying to instruct me in ways of being and sounding a proper gentleman. I'm trying!

When Radu sees me outside he tries chasing me away. I explained to him I wasn't trying to sneak in and was just closing the outside door which had been carelessly left open but honestly I think he enjoys waving his big maul around and yelling; being a bouncer is the most boring type of guard work in my opinion. At least with being a merchant caravan escort or watching the payroll to a ship there is travel.  Even being the retainer of some bratty noble is more interesting because you are afforded the opportunity to get to meet many diverse people from different social circles than you would ordinarily associate with.

I'm not sure how he stands being assigned to the same station every day. He's patient, that's for sure.
...Perhaps he has well made boots to not mind so much being on his feet for most of the day and night?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 20, 2017, 05:20:37 PM

Updated my journal.
Again, my defensive attacks are improving, my parrying remains terrible and my offensive attacks still need work.

Briefly entertained the notion of calling the corporal a great cow with no manners but dismissed the thought as idly wondering whether the punishment for doing so would be public flogging, an execution or perhaps something somehow even worse of her own devising is only mildly entertaining at best.

Also, I really don't want to be making the jobs of Reveka, Yordan and Lance Corporal Nicolas any harder. She'd probably take it out on them since I'm often trying to help them with problems in the outskirts.

You want to know the truth of why I'm outgoing and friendly? I get lonely. I came to this land with just the clothes on my back, no family, no friends, everything trying to kill me and not even being able to speak the language of its people.

When I was in the military academy of my homeland it was all lecturing and drills. I didn't have much time for friends. Certainly didn't have any relationships.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 21, 2017, 12:34:54 PM

Updated my journal.
I think my friend Warden Garrett has designs on Private Stirbei too.
At first I worried how I might possibly compete with a suave and sophisticated priest from Mordent but when I talked to Reveka about my taking etiquette lessons from a Dmontlieuese society dame she seemed not particularly enthused. Also, I told her how I felt about her and asked if one of these days when she is off duty we could go get a book. She said yes!

As I am not an Xth generation Barovian the peasants would probably give her grief about us being together but maybe if I become a great enough swordsman to receive commendation from the burgomaster or Count people will mind my being an outlander a bit less.

Vincenzo, that bard from Borca is chronicling her biography and I bought a copy of one of his stories about her. It was the first edition and I will ask him and Private Stirbei to sign it.

He offered to write a story about me too later. I'm thinking something like: "The foreigner who tried really hard to help a city that didn't like him." That is wordy though.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 21, 2017, 02:11:31 PM

Updated my journal.
Found the body of a woman a little older than me tossed outside near the cemetery as though she were compost. That's just rude.
Carried her to the church and had the priestess resurrect her. Offered her some coffee. She says she is still quite new to the mists and doesn't have any friends yet. She seemed grateful and told me her name is Ingrum.
That is a fairly unusual name so I think she might be from one of those other realms which is not part of the core. Told her I'd be willing to be at least one such friend and that this land is too dangerous not to have any.

Unsure what her story is but sometimes it is good to do random good deeds, no?

She does seem Barovian though. Odd. Mist based amnesia perhaps?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 21, 2017, 03:06:12 PM

Updated my journal.

Do you think an adventurer like me and a Garda like her...?
Hmm, what sort of activities to go on. I know she has a very strong commitment to justice so maybe we could take on a bounty together?

Reveka is hardly a damsel in distress. As a lawman (or rather, law-woman in this case) she is quite capable of defending herself and would not require any man to do that for her.

I told her a large part of why I did not wish to see the city fall to the anarchists and revenant is then I'd never again get to see her smile.

My answer to Jean Renaud's riddle where he wants me to give him a reason for why I took up the sword "I would not like to admit or don't know" is that there *is* no right answer because the reason I took it up and the reason he took it up are not the same. That is to say the answer does not matter.

He said I have two more tries to come up with an answer he likes if I would like to receive instruction from him. Though I am often quite eager to prove myself I feel like he may be looking for me to say I have nothing to prove to him. Morvayn feels this may not be the right answer either but Jean Renaud is brutal and quite nihilistic so I am thinking that may appeal to his particular philosophy.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 22, 2017, 04:12:53 PM

Updated my journal.
A newly transferred Garda, Private Androvich has posted a bounty on wolves. It is on behalf of the Vallaki farmers since those lupine pests have gotten too numerous and now that the winter has started to thaw they are behaving bolder.  The pay is a bit less per pelt than Petre gives out but if I bring in a lot of them, and then worg pelts and maybe some crag cat skins, that is sure to make a nice impression on Private Stirbei, I hope.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 24, 2017, 05:17:58 PM

Updated my Journal.
Many more things happened. I will have to detail it at an inn in Port Au Lucine though. I am going there with Miss Rav and Hellena to cash in the claim for an item I purchased from snooty Baron Laurier.

My sword skills are improving despite what people say. Most of the ones who disparage it aren't even duelists, so what do they know?
I am bothered by how much I tend to soak up the arrows and other heavy attacks while in the front line but I'd rather it was me than say the casters or healers. My parrying is not so good but I have progressed to a new level of defensive attack which is more advanced than the more basic style I had practiced before.

If only the same could be said of my Balok.
I cannot shake my Brelish accent.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 26, 2017, 04:28:37 PM

Updated my journal.
Serindra of the Ezra sect's fourth revelation is troublesome. She attempted to start a witch hunt against Lady Selyth's magical talking cat. She and Leon Ballamy tell me it is a "midnight cat" which apparently eats souls. The cat talks but does not seem malevolent. Perhaps she only subsists on evil souls?

Reveka and I have grown a bit closer, for which I am very grateful. She is much more open minded than your typical guard. She would prefer if mages kept their magical talking animals outside the city, thank you,- as it makes for less paperwork for her to have to deal with.

I despise Baron Laurier and Melina. They speak ill of the Matron whom is one of the smartest people I know in the core.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 27, 2017, 09:54:52 PM

Updated my journal:

I had a very interesting excursion with the Inquisitor's brother Edgard wherein he confirmed what I had suspected of his having a mercenary or military background once again and we explored the Luna ruins in the southern woods and a surrounding nearby cave. The young man is bored and being not nearly so religious as his brother does not have so much else to do but drink wine, gamble and wonder about things. He is humble about his abilities but is a fantastic swordsman. We were looking for a Darkonese overseer cup. Instead we found cookies... Oddly fresh. Do undead sometimes remember being galley kitchen workers and out of habit bake?

Well there was more than cookies down there.
We never did find the sought after artifact worth 500 fangs but through selling most of the other things we came across and recovered from the ruins came very close to making 1000 fangs instead. That was a most amusing turn of events.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 28, 2017, 01:19:56 PM

Updated My Journal.
I am not good at holding grudges.
I decided to be the bigger man and both forgive and apologize to the Baron.
I realized that keeping such a petty rivalry going of socially snubbing one another was being little better than that Revenant that keeps slaughtering the guards.
I thought he belittled my abilities just because he was stuck up but he and I dueled and he showed me some battle spells I had never even seen before. So, he is very superior to me at combat.

Ugh, was found dead at the bottom of the crypts. Leon Ballamy tells me Reveka came down there and found my carcass with skeletons dancing on top of it and was pretty upset.  I'm touched she was concerned but I wish she hadn't found me in such a state. Hmm, that means she does care! I wish my Balok was better.  It's still a pretty tough language.

I push myself past my physical limits which Morvayn and Laurier tell me is foolish and yes, okay they are right that it can be. How else though am I to get stronger?
There has got to be a more intelligent way to train.

Tonight I met what has got to have been either a tiefling or a cambion.  He was a tad morbid, explaining to me his enchanted mace was made from his brother's skull. I didn't want to seem the gullible, easily frightened human though, particularly after he'd been screeched at and called devil and oni by some traveler from Rokuma Taiyoo so I was polite toward him. Apparently he is a friend of the Matron.  He talked of the Abyss so one might assume he is not of Infernal heritage.  Those are two very different types of hells. It is a good thing Serildra (Sp.?) was not present. She'd have panicked for sure. Actual part demons walking around, conducting business and talking to people! Oh my!*

She is not a bad gnome and I don't mind that she is an Ezrite really, just the fourth sect feels it is their job to smite and warn people about all these many varied forms of evils and evil things.

*One may note he was not having people sign soul contracts and did not seem to be actively recruiting petitioners. Still, people in this land are very superstitious and it makes sense why he would not freely travel or interact with people during the daytime.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 28, 2017, 04:07:27 PM

Updated my journal.
Serilda pointed out to me that given my parents were merchants and paid for me to go to military academy I could have chosen any of a number of other professions.
She asked why I picked being a guard and the sword.  I just... I'm not a spellcaster. I don't have "The Art". I'm also not a particularly holy person. I don't channel celestial or infernal wells of divine power either so being a priest is out.  I wanted to do something a bit different from the others [in my family] so I chose being a fighter.

I'm a swordsman.
People mock that I am a front-line fighter. Yes, when I was weaker I'd die a lot and need a priest or priestess to resurrect me. I'm tougher now but still take a lot of injuries, more than one would expect. There has to be a way of doing this smarter and I know there are tricks to it. There is stuff like forcing the group of your enemies into a narrow passage so you only have to fight them a few at a time, teasing and luring some foes on the outer edges close to where the entire group of adventurers you are with can pick them off altogether taking it one or two monsters at a time.  Yes. Now, when a big powerful monster is mad at you though, then you are pretty much screwed.
People will say run but by that point it is usually too late.
Hope that you have at least enough money on you to pay for your resurrection when they drag your body to a temple. That's called preparing in advance.
You are a burden on the rest of your party if you deplete their potion reserves too. I hate that part.

I favor a defensive fighting style that is designed to help you last longer in a fight and to an extent it does. You take full advantage of body armor and having a shield which for protecting others would be good.  I don't try to run ahead anymore and I hate it when a weaker member in the team gets singled out by fast enemies. I haven't quite mastered matching the others' pace but am understanding why that is important.

Also, I tend to let the others take most or all of the gold and loot when we raid things. Funds are alright for now but I need to do something to earn more fangs.
I love Reveka. I am a tad inept at expressing it though, which is frustrating since she does speak common too so there isn't a language barrier.
When I was younger I spent most of the time in lecture halls and doing physical drills all day long so I didn't exactly learn the fine art of relationships and socializing.
I try, people say too hard.

Dallensbane and Barris... They are wanted men for being chaotic and I suppose flaunting the law. They aren't... don't strike me as evil though. Ugh, well I know that Zachary told me he wants to kill the Revenant. I think he is aiming to receive some sort of a pardon from the city for previous crimes he committed by being a big hero.
That's fine with me. That thing is way too powerful for me to deal with and even too powerful for Sir Balitor to defeat. It nearly killed him both times he fought it and he's way tougher than me and wears full plate rather than the half-plate I do.

Even though I have gotten stronger it still isn't good enough. I'm not... Strong enough yet.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 28, 2017, 05:03:35 PM

Updated my journal.

Things which were left hanging in other entries to this point which have since been resolved: Never made it to Port-Au-Lucine. Fell asleep on the caravan and missed the entire trip.

The rest of my mercenary companions organized a surprise party for me in Degannwy and talked Private Stirbei into coming as well which made for an even better surprise, you see, as they knew I liked her.
I can't imagine she felt too comfortable in the fey resort but eventually she let her hair down and drank with us. We told stories around the fire and gave toasts and I found out she can play the lute.
Sometimes now when she is on patrol she will pause to warm her hands at my fire along the side of the road or check to see how I'm doing. We say good morning to each other and I wish I could figure out the right thing to get for her. Since she already has a masterwork lute a trip to Mr. Apwallace's music shop in residential is out. Hmm.

There seems to have been some sort of a clue to Jean Renaud's riddle in the story he told me as to what kind of answer he is looking for. One that though painfully obvious i have not quite grasped. There was a recurring motif of going from being weak to being stronger and the hating of being weak. This: Going from weak to becoming strong has to be important.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: booksarefun666 on September 29, 2017, 03:44:09 AM

[Another entry was penciled in although instead of an entry about Kaine's heroic exploits it was simply a pencill-drawn comical caricature of an armored knight armed with a sword and shield defending a big-breasted, terrified, wide-eyed maiden in a gray dress against a couple of dark, but strangely cute dogs. The third dog was only half-finished in the drawing.]

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 29, 2017, 07:45:02 AM

Updated my journal.
Reveka is also quite funny!

I know her heart is in the right place and she tries to do right by the law and she is a good guard.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 30, 2017, 02:44:22 PM

Updated my journal.
A most depressing turn of events. I have simultaneously lost the favor of both Matron and Reveka.
Worst of all in the case of the latter I may have jeopardized her chances at promotion. She claims to have only pretended to like me back and that hurts but perhaps she said that to save face.
I don't think I said *where* it was we had our picnic so I am not sure how it was leaked out.

I still like her but I do not think she likes me anymore.
Vincenzo says do not be so sure.

A vampire woman in the crypts told me: You are mine!
I replied to her: You do not know me undead lady. If you did you would not want me, now die!
Then our priest prayed a searing light to scald her coffin and I poured holy water on her.

I would not make a very good vampire I think. The first thing I'd want to do would be this: Let's get some sun into this crypt. Oops.

Originally my plan though stupid was this: 1. Become fluent in Balok. 2. Do enough good deeds. 3. Get the girl.

I was going to march right up to the count's castle and demand I receive citizenship so I could marry Reveka. Yes like this: Hello Mr. Puts-Heads-On-Pikes, I know you would rather be left alone but I have fought many terrible things in your lands and will gladly keep doing so all for the love of a woman in the town guard.

Then he'd probably have me executed or far worse. "Blah! That is within my power but I am upset to have been disturbed. Now face a slow agonizing death!"

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 30, 2017, 02:57:18 PM

Updated my journal.
The feeling from having the life force ebbed out of me by a group of hueveca (a particularly belligerent form of undead priest) is preferable to this one of having both my friend and the woman I love mad at me.

I wish the mists would take me but alas, they spit me back out. I am stuck in this core. What now?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on September 30, 2017, 08:26:50 PM

I think I shall devote a section of my journal to discussing of monstrous anatomy with two of my other mercenary friends.

I also feel that I may as well be dead to Reveka. So convinced was she of the fiendish nature of the matron...
I doubt I could ever redeem myself in her eyes.

Lady Selyth says in time that she may forgive me, provided I keep my human butt out of trouble and still gives me advice and gifts, access to rare goods I would have a hard time obtaining otherwise and at fair prices.

I don't think the Ezra sect is right for me. The way they treated Miss Hebert was terrible. Warden Garrett says he recognizes I am a good person though and hopes in time perhaps Reveka may see past how I am an outlander who is not superstitious of magics and monsters the way Barovians are. I have my doubts though.

A curious thing happened to me after fifth day service. I went with Sir Christian, Zephyr and Vincent and Reveka was there, didn't say hi or anything - I'm still pretty much dead to her. Also they excommunicated Miss Hebert. Inquisitor called her a hussy and I think the church hates women.  That seems harsh.
Well, the thing is during confession I told the Warden about what happened between me and Reveka and the Matron and he suggested I perform an "act of contrition". So I fought a greater aberrative wererat in little more than the Ezrite humble cloak.
I nearly died but didn't bleed out. Warden Garrett says that counts.

I think I figured out what my true calling is. ... It's to be a sword Saint.
It's very much not a holy man in the traditional sense. Monks speak of them sometimes. It is a fellow so devoted to the discipline of wielding his or her weapon in an expert fashion they are said to be artful fighters. Ones who are as one with their armament.

Warden Garrett says that there is a grander plan and the part it has in store for me might not be so gloomy and bleak as things feel right now. I think he was trying to be kindly optimistic.

I will help the church even though I am displeased with the Inquisitor excommunicating Miss Hebert. Warden Garrett and Sir Balitor are still very knowledgeable people and the Inquisitor is an expert at smiting many evil people and things.

A demon cult? Of all the ridiculous... Honestly, if Reveka did know of such things then she'd realize I couldn't be a part of one and still be a virgin at 21 winters. By the gods...

That's just a joke the matron and I have because of how I mistook her for one of my realm's gods on first meeting her. I'm certain the monk Syras snitched that to the Garda as he avoids me now and scowls, disappointed that though detained and made to pay a fine I was not hung.

 ...As though losing those two key relationships was not punishment enough...

I am not a blackguard! I do not manipulate a fear aura on those around me to dominate them! I've no fiendish rats nor succubi nor undead hell knights under my beck and call. I don't corrupt what I touch. I don't own skeletal servants and try to pervert all that falls under my influence! That's preposterous.

In my homeland dragons hold a special significance. There dragonshards, meteoric crystallized bits of primeval dragon creator gods named Eberron, Siberrys and Kyber locked in an epic combat hold tremendous evocative and transmutative energy. People fight over control of these as they power fantastical devices.

The dragonmarked houses have people with symbols they are born with which look like tattoos but are in reality birthmarks showing they are the favored of our dragon gods. They have above average uncanny aptitude and talents in some fields far beyond levels attainable by those who lack such marks.

Dragonkin, as in half dragons like what Lady Selyth is are proud, and vain but largely honorable folk. That is so not the same thing as a treacherous demon. By the Kyber...

I wish I could make Reveka understand somehow, to be able to know what I know. Perhaps she does?

Hmm. I need to find purpose. That much is clear to me.
If Ezra can help me toward becoming a master swordsman I'll give it a try. Currently exploring religions.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 01, 2017, 03:55:19 AM

Monstrous anatomy lesson #1: Fiends:

Okay, I will attempt to explain the difference between demons and Devils. I am not a planar scholar like Miss Tali so perhaps she may fill in some of the gaps and places I may have minorly erred but as I understand it... There are different types of hells and more lawful, orderly hells are the home of Devils while the chaotic hells are the dwelling and spawn point of demons.

A dragon is *NOT* a demon. A dragon if they like you that is great they shower you in gifts and advice but if they hate you you are dead.

Physiologically all may have horns. The leathery wings and claws are not a good enough tell. There are some organs you can use for things like enchanted composite bows made from fiend horns. I am certain a dragon's horn would not hold the same fiendish energies of the abyss or infernos. A dragon is a long lived reptilian creature. A sort of a great horned and winged lizard that hoards treasure and sometimes knowledge. A dragon is often a font of magical but not necessarily malific power. Demons and Devils it is near always malific.

The key difference is in behavior:
A demon may promise you power and wealth, popularity and so on but then snap up your soul as a snack.

A devil will bind you in a very deeply convoluted contract where for some money now in exchange for much damnation later you can be "helped" out of a particular problem. Then you are forced to toil in a conscripted army of other damned souls for near eternity... I think.
He is referring to the Blood War.

With dragons it is more honest. Either you are favored or dead.
With Devils and demons even if you are "favored" temporarily then you will wish you were dead. The ultimate fate when dealing with them can be worse than death.

Demons and Devils, by the way, I do not think like each other, due to these fundamental differences in moral outlook. They are opposed in mentality and differ in their methods from what I have heard.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 01, 2017, 03:29:32 PM

Updated my journal.
While on the old Svalich road tonight fighting weres or Neuri as the locals call them, I encountered the husband or perhaps lover, life partner? of Corporal Stolojan.
He explained to me in Balok and common what it was I had been doing and interpreting wrong with Reveka and that the Barovians actually *love* secrets as much as they love drink. I'd thought she'd done that because she was ashamed we were together but turns out that's when they really like someone or something and don't want it or them to be taken away!

He said I had better find her and speak to her again with drinks to show I did understand properly before some other chap possibly a Barovian steals her away. Gah, I have been such a damned fool.

Domn Ursu also told me though there is no way to become a Barovian citizen Barovian-outlander marriages are actually quite common and not illegal and that the right thing to do is just keep it to yourself in a small setting.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 02, 2017, 02:57:21 PM

Updated my Journal.
Well I found out my answer now.
Reveka hates me. Matron no longer wishes to be my friend.
Corporal Stolojan publicly humiliated me and asserted a claim that I was always "harassing" the womenfolk.

Miss Serilda of the Ezra's fourth Relevation was giving me a physical examination to ascertain if I had contracted lycanthropy from too much fighting with too many Neuri as of late when that happened.

The good news is I am not a wereperson. The bad news is the Garda are mad at me and no one likes me. It hurts more to have lost the Matron as a friend than that Reveka coldly rejected me. In truth, the whole wishy-washy will she, won't she bollocks was a touch maddening. I did not like the uncertainty.

I did not have much friends growing up. I was sent to the military academy at an early age and picked up learning to fight rather quickly. I was hoping in this land I had been sent to I could perhaps as an adult finally get to make some friends, perhaps even start a family of my own. No says Vallaki and the Barovians.
You are bad Kaine for being an outlander, bad for being a fighter, and especially bad for not being superstitious.
How dare you. Know your place as worse than used garbage.
The only thing a mercenary is good for is handling threats which we as locals are ill-equipped or too afraid to deal with ourselves.

We will pay you well for it but then fine and punish you over not kowing to our odd customs which we will assume you to already know since we ourselves have been instructed in these since following our births. Jerks.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 02, 2017, 03:08:58 PM

Updated my journal.
Hellena and Rav call me their little brother and are a bit affectionate.
Some say Hellena is an evil madwoman but to me she is not all bad, or that is to say I can see some good in her.
She and Rav understood my frustrations and took me out drinking and smoking, treated me with some respect. I am sure they want something that extra hired muscle could assure procuring but it was still quite enjoyable.

I hope they don't want me to assist in killing someone or anything too highly illegal.
Kyorlin is my friend too.

They are real friends. Not fake ones like Reveka turned out to be or most of the Ezrites or indeed most of this stupid city.

Hmm. I have been crying a lot. There are rust spots in the visor of my helmet that I have a hard time polishing away.

That was a new punishment the corporal devised as I somewhat enjoy being strip searched, which was never so humiliating to me because of how I exercise daily and have well defined muscles as the result of rigorous and extensive training plus a careful diet. I flex them and people tell me I am physically attractive.

If I had a new tattoo for every time I have offended a local I think my skin would be even darker than Kyorlin's.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 02, 2017, 05:12:56 PM

Updated my journal.
Went back to Vallaki. The old Svalich road was full of ghosts and the trip was especially grueling.
Had a final showdown with Jean Renaud. He throunced me again, predictably and taught me that the trick to becoming tougher is it doesn't matter if you win, what matters is surviving.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 03, 2017, 07:44:37 PM

Updated my journal.
People are incredulous that I chopped down a tree with my bare hands. They seem to take a certain delight in pretending I can't possibly know or be competent at anything which is rather insulting.

 A nice old woman who is a baker, "Big Sasha" let me practice my conversational Balok and told me a story of how she fought a great big snake to defend her youngest daughter. Impressive.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 04, 2017, 07:19:12 PM

Updated my journal.
I hope Reveka and I can be friends again some day.
I think I have figured out the reason why she rejected me... It seems she and Yordan have been seeing each other, which would also explain why he was so cranky.

What people don't understand is I was a child soldier but during a period in which there was no war. It was on my first real major assignment as an adult officer that I got misted. I didn't have friends growing up. A lot of this social stuff is new to me. I spent my formative years for most of my life thus far in training for a war that never happened. Barovia and the core make for excellent training and practice at improving one's survival skills!

I thought she hated me but she seemed concerned when I was out camping near the tree outside the inn. I told her I had been banned. She offered to talk Anca into lifting it early and I explained don't bother, it will be up in a few days anyway.

I very bitterly at the time had said to her though: "What's one more dead outlander, why do you care?" The next day she and Yordan took me aside, said they did appreciate my being a mercenary and helping them and the city but could I please for the love of Ezra stop leaving monster heads on the guardhouse sign. It was scaring the children.

I felt bad so I got a mop, cleaned it up and left toys behind instead this time.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 05, 2017, 12:58:35 PM

Updated my journal.
Morvayn is not my friend. He hates me. Figures.

Helped a newly misted dwarven priest named Laudric recover his gear in the kobold caves. He was quite grateful.
I think he might be the devotee to a deity of wealth or commerce. Told me his primary motivation was treasure hunting. I gave him some tips about what sort of work was available in the region and the customs as far as I have been able to work them out so far. He should try to get in touch with Borval.

Dwarves get me. They don't think it is stupid for a fighter to want to fight things because that's what we do.

Father Asu of the Morninglord temple says with a little more training I'd probably make a good light carrier. Those are a type of temple guard they have. He is kind to me. The Ezrites tend toward being snotty and disdainful. I will consider his offer.

Recreationally I have taken up wrestling and boxing with the monks. Not only is this a great exercise but it additionally teaches you a wholly different way of fighting.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 05, 2017, 03:29:42 PM

Updated my journal.
A life lived in constant fear is not one much worth living.
I feel this to be true.
People think I'm fearless but that's not it. I just try to swallow down being afraid to do what needs to be done.

They say I'm a reckless fighter. I feel that I don't have much to lose so if I take the worst hits and damage for the rest of the team if that gives them more time to prepare spells, heal or formulate a plan of escape, then I can say I am performing my combat role properly.

I try not to run off ahead so much anymore as I used to.
That doesn't matter though, the ill reputation sticks.

They claim I am a stupid oaf but I have conversations with wizards and priests about things that would make their heads hurt. Stuff like the best way to kill a particular monster or the planar nature of energy. The latter is something that I confess I don't know a whole lot about as I am not a caster myself but find to be an incredibly interesting subject. One that ties to the oftentimes malevolent and mind boggling properties of these accursed mists.

I don't have much to lose. If I die, what's one more dead outlander,  beyond the edge of the city? The roads could and can be littered with them. There are always more coming in.
Do I have friends or any sort of family who would be saddened by my passing? Well there's Dryjka... He and I have fought together so many times he is almost like something of an older battle brother or an uncle to me.  He has developed something of a crush on the old woman baker, kind Miss Sasha (the widow of Razikov), and is doing his best to be courtly towards her. It's cute.

Father Asu's message of hope is a simple albeit inspiring one that I feel jives well with my own philosophy. It is a lower church than the Ezrite cathedral but these Morninglordians readily demonstrate having an adverse effect on the undead. They must be radiating a positive energy of a sort to counteract the negative. I will ask a mage friend like Miss Erebeth if she can verify my theory or perhaps corroborate on it with some of her own observations.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 06, 2017, 04:10:51 PM

Updated my journal.
Corporal Stolojan is missing. There is a reward for information given about where she was last seen.
I wonder if someone or thing is attacking Garda again.
Have not seen Yordan or Reveka in awhile, hope they are alright.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 07, 2017, 04:08:50 AM

Updated my journal
I think I like Miss Tali. We're going to have breakfast later.
I kill the monsters and she makes alchemical stuff from their bits.

A thought: If you marry an elf, to her it would be considered a short term commitment.

Nobody hurts my sorceress friend! NOBODY!
And if it is something that is bodiless I will fight it, too.

I believe Miss Tali is what is referred to as a moon elf. She has light blue skin and white hair and is very intelligent.

I do believe that Lady Selyth will throw me away in the draconian elven equivalent of what Reveka did although the circumstances there are different. I did not try to romance the matron. People often ditch you when they feel you are either: a. Too big a liability or b. No longer of much use.

The last I had heard from her she said we could speak again after I had collected myself/settled my wits but that was days or perhaps even weeks ago.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 07, 2017, 05:24:56 AM

Updated my journal.
Read both the Abridged History of Barovia and the Abridged History of Gundarak.
Spent most of the day cross referencing both.
Miss Rozsa is a Gundarakite but is very nice. Her friend Zoltan is very not.
I wonder sometimes if they are up to something. I hope they do not get caught speaking Luktar too close to the Garda.

He was freaking out like a ninny when a tiefling showed up on the night road and worried even more when I talked to her, and told me he wanted to tell the Garda I was "consorting with a devil." And I said to him while pointing back and mocking his superstition: "Hey look, a rustic who has never had an extra planar encounter before." He was furious but ducked back inside the church.
The poor dear had a devil or a demon of some sort for a grandparent. She appears to be of abyssal rather than infernal heritage though due to the bestial antler-like appearance of her horns and her spade-tipped tail.
Rozsa was nice to her like she is to anyone else. I feel like that little Gundarakite lady might be destined for things greater than the confines of Barovia/Former East Gundarak have to offer in terms of opportunity.
Also I hate when people call her a woman of ill-repute. She is yes, somewhat promiscuous and much friendlier than many of the other locals but she is sweet and kind and they are the ones who are dirty for being too repressed and therefore assuming the worst.
I feel like they give her a hard time for breaking the mold so to speak.

Anyway as a Gundarakite wizard who knows Luktar I really don't think Zoltan is in a position much to cause trouble for me.
The Garda already know I am an outlander mercenary from a country that isn't afraid of magic and hopefully that I'm not out to invite ruin on the city. I've caught bandit chiefs and slain countless Neuri and undead to make their lives easier and taken on many, many bounties. What's he done but complain and cause trouble?

Miss Rozsa agreed with me Zoltan does not seem like much fun.

Andros was executed today.
I did not really know him personally but Barris and Sir Havenshire say he was a good man. That's a pity.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 07, 2017, 05:45:06 AM

Updated My Journal.
Monsters are just supernatural bullies who need the right smack on the head with the correct weapon and/or arcane or divine spell.

Good job Kaine. Become a gods damned folk hero to people who hate you in a country where the national pastime seems to be being terrified of most things both innocuous and otherwise. It still won't fix your lady and friend problems...

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 07, 2017, 10:51:37 AM

Updated my journal.
Well most of them are. I met a cursed fellow who despite being recognized as formerly a man named Savaar prefers being referred to as Slits. Unlike the revenant though he seems sadder than angry. I listened to his tale and gave him a jack 'o lantern. He might have been cursed from love to a woman who was evil perhaps but also said he was felled by six Ezrites? His narrative is fractured in places though. I wonder how much of that was trying to form a new identity  to get over the trauma of his curse, undeath or what have you. He handed me a potion in exchange for the cheerful lantern and said I should visit him in the drain some time. The fellow was encased in heavy plate armor from head to toe and what little bit of flesh you could see between his altered eyes in his helmet visor appeared discolored.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 08, 2017, 07:15:51 PM

Updated My Journal.
A great many terrible things have happened.
Hmm, I am considering becoming a light carrier (type of temple guard) for the Morninglord church.
However, it is difficult to espouse hope when you are and feel hopeless.
Miss Tali and I were collecting plants and ghoul tongues in the moonlight when there was a wrong turn taken and we stumbled into a coven of vampires. We were prepared for ghouls but not those.

I mentioned how smart and nice she is, right?
She was so happy she was skipping when all of a sudden... Things went very macabre.
As I shouldered her lifeless body on my back and carried her back toward civilization the "mother" of the coven taunted me and demanded I should help her in revenge against the Ezrites who slaughtered "her children". My health was sapped and I bled profusely. In hindsight if I had not been wearing equipment resistant to negative energy damage I'd have likely died there.

Like an elf sized sack of potatoes I carried her out of the forest continuing to be mocked by the vampiress until daybreak.
I paid for her resurrection but her spirit has not yet returned to her body, which is sad.
I am grateful to the dawn.
Ugh, then I had a run in with a pack of greater worgs and dire wolves which relentlessly stalked me over a great distance and came to with wolf urine all over my clothes later in the churchyard. While I was out of commission some enterprising thief liberated me of my gold and armaments which was terrible.  I worked very hard for the money for them and had been saving for some new armor.

Eventually Lance Corporal Drago found my shield and sword in the merchandise of a slum dealer's pawn shop but of the money there is no trace.

Next time we are in the Eastern part of the Sullen Woods, we will bring much garlic.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 08, 2017, 10:50:26 PM

Updated my journal.
Little Martyn Pelkar was saved by the Morninglord or at least his chosen avatar which as the statues tend to depict was a Sylvan looking fellow who bit a bunch of vampires back.

They weren't even friends at the time but strangers. Now some people think this avatar of the Morninglord was an elf but I think He might have been a different type of fey. In depictions He looks sturdier of body than your typical elf. Hmm...
Martyn was just a boy but this incident influenced him very heavily into founding the church of the Morninglord. The Morninglord is similar to but distinct from the Faerunian deity Lathander who confusingly is also called a Morninglord and Dawnbringer.

There is blood on the Morninglord's face and He is smiling. I think He is smiling because He is getting to fight "the good fight".

There is at least one instance I have seen mentioned of Martyn Pelkar's thighbone being a holy mace. A powerful and macabre reliquary believed to have been destroyed some time during the Great Upheaval.

Private Hubchev has received promotion and is now Lance Corporal Hubchev. I found this out when I asked him about his new helmet and he showed me the fancier armor. That's good. He is a good Garda. I congratulated him on his officership.

The tiefling's name is Solví. She likes to solve puzzles and pick locks. As stated earlier I believe her to be of Abyssal and not Infernal heritage. Zoltan considers himself a wizard and yet he mistook her for a full on fiend. What an amateur mistake to make.

I clutch a Morninglord amulet which has the rosy fingered dawn in cameo. As I read what literature on the faith I can get my hands on, I still cannot help but feel a tad silly praying. I have not directly communed with gods before unless you count the Matron those times.

I don't know that I'll ever be a font of divine power. Perhaps that is not The Morninglord's plan for me.  Miss Kaliara a laywoman of the church tells me it takes time for faith to develop and that rather than just seeing our sins that the Dawnbringer accepts our flaws, that He seeks to strengthen us either eliminating some of them or making them become strengths... Sort of.

What I deeply fear is not monsters or violence but of not having any friends and of never being loved by anyone. That is why I am "the crying swordsman."

Renewal. To me it is about getting up again after you fall. I have taken so many arrows, cuts, bites, burns, scrapes, bruises and even had to pry small grimishkas off of me... Staggered into Vallaki from the wilderness all bloodied and with cracked ribs on so many occasions that people have made a game out of trying to guess which kind of creature might kick my ass or gnaw on me next.

For some reason it is never maidens.

I go back from the brink of death, even though I know nobody really likes me much. It isn't to inflict myself upon the local populace though they may think so. I also suspect that on the day I truly die, there will be a holiday declared in Vallaki. Break out the tsuika and folk dancing. The outlander Kaine has passed on. Everybody and their babushka do a merry Tarantela!

Physical pain is easier to deal with than emotional pain. Okay Morninglord, are you there? It's me, Kaine.
You know me.  You know what I'm capable of and you know why I fight. You get me the way few others could.

You know it is because I never had any friends growing up and set out to, hoped to have some or perhaps even start a family as an adult. You get that I do mercenary work because I'm better at fighting than I am at being a craftsman.

I have taken to selling novelty lanterns that I make as a hobby to try and get my mind off the Matron and Reveka's rejection.

Dawnbringer, you know that I'm not actually fearless and that I'm more afraid of losing people I care about or could care about than of any monster or threat challenge in front of me.  They call us heavily armored and muscled fighters "meat shields" and meat heads but we do have feelings too.

It's that being more afraid of losing someone than of immediate harm to your own self that spurs a defender on toward action.
You get between your group's archers or their healers and casters and the horde of monsters in front of you, set up a deep stance and hold your shield firmly. You hack and cleave with a sword or an axe in your other hand or jab with a spear. You take the worst hits and collect the most injuries so that others who are of more delicate physical constitutions do not suffer more lasting grievous harm.

You keep going past when other people would have fallen in order to buy the others time to formulate their plans or devise an escape.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 09, 2017, 12:31:58 AM

Updated my Journal.
Garrett Darkstrider of Mordent asked me how I am able to identify familiars so I will in this entry demonstrate my rule of thumb: If it is a creature that seemingly appears out of nowhere and is fighting at your side against monsters, it is probably a familiar.

If there is a more physically frail member of your team issuing it commands, you are probably dealing with a familiar.

If the animal seems much more intelligent than most of its kind or in some instances can even actually speak, then you are probably dealing with a familiar.

Note: In Brelend we would sometimes work alongside war wizard corps. The fighters in the front with mages for support in the back formation was I thought a fairly well-known maneuver in most realms?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 09, 2017, 01:11:48 AM

Updated my journal.
Hey Dawnbringer,
It's ya boi...
No, that doesn't feel like it is quite right for the way to address and supplicate toward a god either.
I still don't have the hang of it.

Between mercenary jobs and on long caravan or ferry trips I'll read books to learn more.
I don't like how people have this tendency to assume the frontline fighter ought to be dumb as a waddle and daub ox-dung clay brick. I've actually a pretty good grasp on identifying magical items, which is something the other people whom I travel with can actually appreciate.

Why does everybody think if you are a fighter then you must be practically an illiterate barbarian savage?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 09, 2017, 02:59:07 AM

Updated my journal.
I am not an expert on monsters. I simply enjoy fighting them.

Most peasants will think you are insane for that but to me, not fighting them is the daft choice.

Somebody has to do it. It's not to be a hero necessarily either.  I think most people and probably even many fiends like to think of themselves as the main character in their own personal narratives: What few vroloks I have met (or perhaps more accurately shall we say encountered) so far have all struck me as incredibly arrogant and even more full of themselves than the living!
No, it is because it is the right thing to do, I think and I feel.

What still gets to me is both people and sentient creatures warn me often to go inside at night but to me indoors doesn't feel too much safer or less dangerous than being outdoors.
Neuri and beasts at least are honestly trying to kill you rather than whittle your reputation away with cutting words or backhanded compliments. Social sniping occurs. That I am not terribly so sure how to defend against.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 09, 2017, 03:10:30 AM

Updated my journal.
Tali'allara Dawnembers.
She is my friend and I like her. I think you could even say she is a dear friend.
She is an elf. A moon elf to be precise. They come from Faerun which is in a realm called Toril. She isn't as stuffy as some of the other ones I have encountered.
I thought maybe I liked her as more than a friend but I am a young man and as a male human that happens kind of often with female companions.
I wish some would feel that way toward me in return I guess.
The priests call it lust but to me it doesn't... That is to say, what does wanting to have a child have anything to do with it?
Maybe I just enjoy the touch of the fairer sex a bit and like it when they feel my scars or trace out the patterns of my tattoos and have a kind word. Also when we exchange jokes.
That doesn't seem so terrible, honestly. One should eschew comforts of the flesh! Go the clergy, oftentimes.

Maybe it is the old who hate the young for this reason because they do not have people doing such things for them as they once did while younger or in their prime!

Do I like Tali? I carried her dead body back from that vampire coven and paid to have it raised while the "mother" sapped my health and mocked, tormented me in an attempt to waylay my trek back to civilization.
I turned down the Vampiress's I suppose request or demand I be her "tool for vengeance" against the Ezrites who slew "her children". I prefer my women to be live and breathing, thank you!
I hope Tali is alright. It makes me sad the way she was slain. Sure is taking her spirit a long time to return to her body. I wonder if she being ever the curious sorceress got distracted by some sort of planar phenomena on the way back from whatever between plane exists for souls before they return to the prime materia.

Yeah that sounds like Miss Tali. I bet she tried talking to some of the other ghosts or seeing if while as ectoplasm if alchemy still worked as it does when we are in corporeal forms.

Pale little blue smart one, your skin is not supposed to be gray. That pallor to your cheeks is not right. You'd learned a new spell to imbue our weapons with flame and were excited to field test it out. Things were going so well in the ghoul cave. Morninglord please bring her back.

I know that being an elf she is likely far older than me despite looking younger than me and that adds a wrinkle to the relationship. Hmm, I also have heard that part of the troubles in Sithicus were the result of failed relations between humans and elves back in the beginning, whenever that was.

When I missed her breakfast date because I had spent too long in the crypts by way of apology I gave her a magistrar ring Petre had happened to have among his usual kitsch and katchkas. Something that might be a tad useful for a caster. She liked it. I wish he had had something a little more powerful (such as that Nomad's ring I saw one time) but the supplies were particularly limited seeming that day. Perhaps a trip to the mist camp would have offered better selection that day?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 09, 2017, 03:39:29 AM

Updated my journal.
People and creatures know that I'm not especially superstitious.
Lately more monstrous seeming folk have been talking to me at night. Not all are sinister.  This frightens the locals. The especially wary ones freak out and claim I "consort with fiends" but that isn't true. They call me monster friend even though I regularly kill monsters for their benefit. It isn't very nice.

People are people and some are more exotic than others. If you lived in a major trade city you'd know that. Vallaki is not such a place. Their primary export, plum brandy, it is nice but not very noteworthy compared to other liquors in the core I am told.

They stupidly call Miss Thessa the gold witch because she is priestess to an alien god they are unfamiliar with. She primarily uses her divine gifts to heal. I can't say I'm familiar with the pantheon where she hails from but it's powerful stuff. She gave me a shield and some coin to get re-equipped when I was robbed while dead in a ditch. I am not sure how I can ever repay her for that kindness. Imhariel?
Something like that. Thessa is a high priestess to a goddess by that name.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 09, 2017, 01:54:24 PM

Updated my journal.
Miss Kaliara says when I am a member of the church the things I do will reflect in its name. She suggested I may no longer be a mercenary at that point.
I asked Father Asu if I could still go on adventures and he seemed of the opinion that I could. They confer and debate with each other about the suitability of my candidacy.

I believe I will need to try and puzzle out the intricacies of this faith a bit more.
Miss Kali, I am not simply a lunkheaded fighter. I will try to get the hang of praying to the Morninglord.

Morninglord, Mr. Dawnbringer, I know you are fine with fighting monsters. That is part of the greater good. Monsters are just supernatural bullies who prey on our fears and try to winnow away our hopes. What they often typically need is a sound thrashing to have a bit of the fear put back in them.

The Morninglord accepts all, meaning that even sometimes evil folks and certain monsters may be redeemed. Like Slits. He isn't evil but the curse he is afflicted with makes him seem monstrous.

A light carrier fights in the Morninglord's name to inspire and instill hope. While disparaged for being considered a reckless fighter there are people who tell me they feel safer when I am around.

Father Asu tells me in his younger days he was a warrior. He noted my defense oriented protective fighting style while we were in the crypts where I pushed back the skeletal troops.

My favored weapon is a bastard sword but a light carrier is supposed to be focused in use of a short spear.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 09, 2017, 02:55:23 PM

Monstrous Anatomy Lesson #2: Neuri.
Ah yes the Neuri or were creature.
These are most interesting in that they come in many different kinds.
It is caused by a disease called lycanthropy or therianthropy. This involves both natural causes and a magical agent of some sort.
Werecreatures come in many varieties but in Barovia the most common types are werewolves and wererats.

Most shapechangers are obviously affected by silver.

More exotic forms of were creatures include werebears, werebats, wereboars, weresquirrels and even wereminks!

Now the phases of the moon are of to be taken careful note of when you wish to hunt after such things. Neuri typically are to be encountered in dark places underground or deep within forests as well as outdoors in more open spaces at night.
They are obviously more numerous and aggressive during the full moon. During the waxing phase of the moon Neuri increase in power and they are found to be weaker during the waning phase.

They are a clever opponent and very cunning. Probably smarter than your average undead.

Werewolves are spry but have a physical weakness in that they suffer from having a poor center of gravity. I cannot stress enough the importance of bashing them on the snout. They are quite prone to falling over since they rely on leaping and lunging attacks to slash with their claws and bite with their mouths.

A person infected has their senses increased to beyond natural levels and an increased strength, their reflexes sharpened. The action of some sort having to do with influence of the moon and the night influences their beast change and the intermediate form between that of man and beast is the classic were creature image most people associate with one.

That is only half the story though. There are also such things are wolf weres. A wolf were is a creature infected which can shift to an intermediate form of a manbeast or beastman hybrid. Wolfweres have access to magics arcane, divine and in the case of greater Wolfweres, sometimes both. Some have a howling song that can induce temporary shapechange in otherwise normal noninfected animals. Suddenly that pack of wolves gets up on two legs at the beckoning of a greater wolfwere, meaning you'd best beware!

I am not sure if a wolfwere could also be categorized as a Neuri bard.

The etymology is strange but appears to have little to do with the historical horseman invaders repelled by Barovians of old whom were called Neureni.
As far as I can tell from local legends and folklore taught to me by the peasantry after the invasion of the Neureni was repelled by their ancient heroes and soldiers some of the Neureni were cursed to become ghosts and shapechangers and the maddened descendants of the latter might be mixed into the general were-population of Barovia. That's fascinating.

You have to kill a Neuri quickly.
Even when petrified by the Matron's spells or set on fire they still regenerate with uncanny healing speed. Beating a Neuri to near-death is not good enough. They recover very rapidly from physical injury.

There appears to be no current cure to lycanthropy.
Some of the infected individuals have been documented to retain more of their pre-infected state intelligence while transformed than others for reasons no one is exactly sure of.

It's a terrible life to at dusk be set upon by a ravenous hunger and insane rage, a lust for the consumption of flesh of one's fellows.
Of the new sciences perhaps mesmerism with its hypnosis could offer some insights into the mind of one afflicted by lycanthropy but finding a willing lycanthropy would be problematic and experimental controls would be... Difficult. It would not be a safe experiment.

Likewise there is no magical cure for the disease and it would seem both sciences and magic could at present with further advances only hope to offer procedures of treatment to those afflicted.

I have fought many wolf and rat Neuri during my time in Barovia. I feel it is with some authority I can speak on combatting those.
Aside from their weakness to silver there is an herb they detest called Belladonna. You can rub it on your body or smoke the curled leaves rolled into a cigarillo when you know you are to be dealing with Neuri. They loathe it so that it throws off their concentration somewhat so that their attacks are not quite so devastating nor accurate. It must smell terrible to their keenly heightened noses.

Varieties:
Loup Garous are a faster and more dangerous form of werewolf you encounter in mountains and further away from civilization such as at the edges of the Old Svalich road.

Werebats typically aren't particularly devastating in my opinion but due to their freakish appearance may put the novice Neuri slayer off guard. Just remember no matter what it looks like it is still mortal and has weaknesses! Don't be afraid to break out your silvered weapons and defend yourself!
Note: There is also a giant werebat which is much more dangerous than the "normal" roughly man or child-sized variety.

There are brutish were creatures which are hulking more muscular versions of their more common kin.
There are aberrant were creatures which bear bony patches and plates on their skin as a natural armor.

Greater were creatures are more intelligent and cunning than their lesser cousins.
Again note: A greater were can inspire a shapechange in both the conventional and dire versions of the creature it resembles. I suspect this to be either inherently supernatural or a spell like effect as you don't see it happening when the greater Neuri is not present other than during a full moon.

I have heard rumors of such things as wereravens and weredeer.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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!

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 22, 2017, 04:42:17 PM

Updated my journal.
Come on Kaine, you can do this!

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf 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.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 24, 2017, 01:56:46 PM

Updated my journal.
I think the best way to show my love towards Solví and Florica is to continue helping these two women obtain much power and wealth.
Maybe we can find a region in the core or a small part of Barovia with an enclave of more enlightened folk who won't give them grief over their exotic/unusual appearances. That would be very nice.

I am growing rather sick of these rustics freaking out every time they see someone actually quite civilized whom they assume to be a monster and calling for the guard. You go for a walk in the park and somebody screams for help. We went to the orphanage and this little brat was shrieking the city militia should be called in. That's just rude! They aren't doing a thing to bother you but existing, you parentless whelp!

Well, that might explain the lack of manners if the snotnose didn't have any parents to teach him better ways to behave.

Still though, a lady is a lady and it is unseemly to react in fear or terror simply because a person is much taller than average or happens to have a tail, horns or tusks.

There is more to these women than most of these simple folk could hope to begin to comprehend. If you get so very fixated on physical appearance then there is little hope for you advancing your station much past that of a dirtfarmer or other illiterate poor bastard tenant sharecropper. To be a serf must be miserably dull.

It takes monumental effort to change the stars but the New Dawn brings with it opportunities each day to advance yourself and to advance others.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 25, 2017, 05:41:26 PM

Updated my journal.
I believe why tales of my idiocy have grown and been exaggerated in spread and scope throughout Barovia valley lies in the fault of an angry love priestess. I do not appreciate her exaggerating my ineptitudes so greatly. Yes when weaker I was felled many times but I am getting stronger and to say I simply don't care for the lives of other people in my party is not true.  She treats me as a child and no matter what I do it is never: Kaine who slew 17 vampires, nor: Kaine who disarmed a sword wraith. Always it is: Kaine the big reckless idiot who needs to get resurrected fairly often.

I learned conversational Balok in two months when it is said the average learning curve for that language is six. I am not a complete meathead.
I told her to stop worrying about me and that I did not wish for her help. She seemed upset at that too. My companions who were present at the time wondered if perhaps the aspect of the Sharess which Annabelle worships might be the one responsible for "tough love."
Enough about her...

Solví Duskgate. I like her very much. She is as I have mentioned in earlier entries yes, a tiefling treasure hunter. Very, very infernally clever, that one. With nimble fingers. Good with a bow and great at picking locks. I searched up and down the core for the best thief leathers (lined in ebon tiger hide) I could find and she loved it.

I asked Solví what she wants in life and she says the life of an adventurer and eventually to have enough of a fortune to be a merchant with a shop. She likes magical artifacts too. I promise you Solví, I will do what I can to make you very wealthy and powerful.

Maybe when I am a tougher warrior I will get some cold forged iron weapons, go down to the hells and beat up her fiendish distant kin in order to demand her hand in marriage.

A thought: Perhaps I can get a tattoo on my back in infernal script that says Solví's human.

She's not a monster but people in Barovia largely seem too idiotic to understand that. Nearly everything to these people which is difficult to explain must be the result of demons and witchcraft. That's the folk "wisdom"; they confuse technologies at times with dark magic and confound all plane touched folk with demons.
Nevermind trying to explain the difference between a devil and a demon.
Nevermind that a dragon is not a demon either. Ugh, these rustics are ludicrous. So very ignorant.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 25, 2017, 06:06:35 PM

Updated my journal.
Taught a young fighter named Scarvald a basic crash course in the different types of undead monsters and some of their more typical combat tactics. I'm sure Annabelle would hold that I am in no position to properly teach anyone about anything as to her I am "not a fighter", cannot possibly know what I do of medicine and am too lousy of a protector to defend anybody EVER! By the Morninglord, please give me the strength not to tell her off during these belittlings.

Then she pretended to not understand why I was cross with her. Alright Kaine, calm yourself. Focus. What would the Dawnfather and Dawnmother of the temple tell you? Oh, right that persistent continued rumors of my great recklessness make them hesitant in considering my candidacy towards becoming a light carrier! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH YOU TROUBLEMAKING SHARESS DEVOTEE.

May the new dawn grant me the strength and forethought to forgive Miss Talindra who argues very fervently I am "Worse than Leon". Ugh, that girl... Well Serilda told me she thinks she is a bit of a fool and that I shouldn't listen to her too much.

Every single time I fall in battle or have to heal someone else that gets held against me. It is a part of living by the sword though. Not everything is going to be sunshine and unicorns. In fact in the core, I suspect the sunshine might burn as in Har'Akir and were there any unicorns, they'd likely be man-eating!

If I wish to shower gifts upon Solví that is my own business. She knows how to put them to practical use. It is to help her be better equipped to deal with these hostile lands. Must that silly Sharess priestess look down her nose at my every choice in action, argue with every statement I make that she hears or manages to hear of? Ugh.

I am an adult, not a child. Do not deny me my experiences of which you know not, you foolish... Right, forgiveness. One must seek to better both themselves and others. That's what the dogma of the Morninglord is about. Inspire hope. Have courage. Know that each new day presents new opportunities. Know that as the daybreak vanquishes the horrors of the night so too can we use the new dawn as chance to be better people than we were the previous day. To not repeat our same old mistakes. To be stronger and closer towards our ideal selves. To help others as well.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 25, 2017, 06:30:21 PM

Updated my journal.
I consulted with Barris about this issue I am having with the Sharess priestess and he says it seems I have taken the right steps towards a path of growth and progress as I have further embraced the Morninglord faith. Annabelle does not see that and chooses to hold my each (nae seemingly every) past mistake against me.

Mother Kali told me I am to carefully consider my actions while I am in service of the ML church as my reputation reflects upon the clerics.

The mistakes I made when I was weaker... I am sure that to Annabelle she believes that  in imagining there to be hundreds to die at the hands of such an incompetent and cretinous baby that she is doing the right thing to persist in warning strangers whom I have not even met of my up played fallings so they believe it but this certainly does make my life much more difficult than it needs to be!

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 26, 2017, 03:44:00 PM

Updated my journal.
What's been done has been done and continuing to hold it against Miss Annabelle she acts the way she does will probably not help her to grow the same as her always scolding me every time I or someone else gets injured when that is a regular part of fighting did not do much to help me grow.

As I mentioned in the earlier entry I am considering getting a tattoo made by one of the wizards in Infernal on my back that is not any actual spell or incantation but which whimsically states: This human is mine. NOT YOURS. It will be a little joke between me and Solví.

I have been told by Father Asu to obtain 12 sets of vampire fangs to receive hints about where to obtain the second lost key to the old temple's basement.
Thus far I have obtained 4. I have 8 left to go.

Also as I had mentioned before in the earlier entry Solví loved the ebon tiger hide lined thief leathers I got her. The pads are sturdy boiled leather and the ebon tiger hide offers additional protection most other light armor materials do not.

Even those who are "born tainted" are capable of some goodness.
Those who are typified as evil are not necessarily absolutely so.
Those who have fallen can at times in some extraordinary cases be redeemed.

You can too Kaine. Your hardship is not so great as that of someone born a Caliban in Barovia or one who is planetouched such as Solví or the matron. You pass as a human because you are fully human.
Those born with obvious physical differences face much discrimination in backwards lands such as these.

I don't fool myself into thinking I could get Solví to not be mischievous or to not enjoy violence, stealing and so on because it is similar to how I as a fighter cannot go around well not fighting. The spirit languishes when we are not true to ourselves. Trying too hard to be something which we are not can kill us. That point was proven to me quite literally those times I had tested out setting aside the blade.

No what I can do for her is encourage the more human side I think. I need to appreciate both parts of this woman though since Solví is of two cultures, yes?

Well devils are a lawful bunch so organization is good. Efficient gains in power and wealth can be appreciated. I will do what I can to help her get better, stronger, faster, etc.

When I was rendered moniless for a time she gave me back most of the money I had given her and said use it to buy decent equipment. That means she does care.. About me. I made sure to repay her back double and explained it away as "a return on your investment my dear."

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 27, 2017, 10:25:51 PM

Updated my journal.
It would seem the fickle mists have closed off the way to Vallaki in Barovia to me and to several others.
Prior to this I made up with Miss Annabelle though and grating as I find her "babying me" to be I asked for some guidance in a subject which I knew she was much more proficient in than I and the Sharess priestess seemed very amiable to explain the fundamentals of arrow fletching, something Solví has been wanting to get into for some time.

Apologies are important to make!

I have obtained seven of the required twelve sets of vampire teeth now. Five remain.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 29, 2017, 04:08:30 AM

Updated my journal.
Trapped in Dementlieu!
Eventually Sir Audric Lacroix rescued me but not before I'd made and lost several small fortunes, sampled almost every restaurant and spent an inordinate though interesting amount of time at the museum of the macabre wax exhibits.

Found a lesser ring of silence and volume 2 of the translated gnomish trap making book for Solví. She rather liked volume 1 and I hear volume 2 is even better than the original.
Ran into Emmy and we checked out what strange things Djiordi was selling at the mist camp travelers had brought in. Got her some oil of fiery burning, a vial of winter's frost, a bag of sharp sand and a bag of "The Sand of Set." I got all that, the pastries, the drinks, to see the museum and some travel in all for under a few thousand golden wolf fangs and still have about five and a half left.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 29, 2017, 05:15:17 AM

Updated my journal.
I think I should like to take Solví Duskgate to be my wife some day.
In the meantime though there is much adventuring to be had, treasures to be hunted and with it an ever growing arsenal of interesting armaments and gadgetry in our collections of adventuring gear.

I do wonder... Would our children be humans or would some be tieflings like her? Would they have magical aptitudes? Oh Morninglord, how would an aging fighter and swashbuckler couple hope to deal with youngling mages? That's a potentially terrifying thought. Well let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

When I see her again I'll ask how she is doing on lock picks and see about getting her some more and better ones.

One good thing came of being trapped in Dementlieu when the mists closed off Barovia's border to Vallaki from me... I discovered they had proper black tea. Not like the swill I've experienced in some of these other regions of the core! It's rather similar to the kind we had back home in Sharn and would do a Brelender proud. Or at least be considered tolerable in our Ir'Clan King Boranel Ir'Wynarn's court.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 29, 2017, 07:20:13 AM

Updated my journal.
There's a good chance Solví and I may never escape the core to return to our home planes. From what I am to understand she faced persecution in hers for being of fiendish heritage. For me in mine, most of life was planned out ahead for me and nearly all decisions were made by someone else. She told me she doesn't want to go back to Toril, to Faerun.

I suppose carving a life for ourselves in the core, that isn't so bad. It's a different life, one with new opportunities. That much is certain.

When we are old and gray, her horns gnarled and my bones creaking... Perhaps we'd have built a little retirement cottage somewhere like Perfidus or the edge of Dementlieu?

This realm is horrific but we don't have to brave the whole of it all alone.

Here there is a bit of a disorganized idea web with retirement plans on it. Two general categories involve putting together a mercenary company and finding a "major haul". There are notes about various rumored locations of treasure. Some of the latter are crossed out, others have mentions of terrible monsters added in on the margins. A few are circled for emphasis.

//Perhaps the thing Kaine dreads is being a parent!//

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 29, 2017, 05:15:00 PM

Updated my journal.
Neph and I had an idea which I am exploring as a third retirement option. When she, Solvi and I are too old to continue adventuring perhaps we could start and run an academy of sorts in the core (assuming we are still alive decades from now) for instructing novice adventurers. I like this concept although the idea of being a parent is yes... admittedly still terrifying to me. A middle aged fighter and swashbuckler trying to keep after a brood of tieflings and latent prospective mages all with golden hair and some having little nub horns on their foreheads sounds... like the most challenging adventure of all. Hopefully as half-elves age slower than humans and tieflings "Auntie Neph" could visit in order to provide Solvi and I with a bit of babysitting relief on some days. Hmm!

On a more serious note: My funds hold steady. The mists continue to leave Vallaki closed off to me as well as several other adventurers from what the consensus seems to be amongst us at the visitor section of the Vistani Mist Camp.
Hmm, Har'Akir appears to have been all touristed out so perhaps Barovia Village itself or one of the more exotic locales such as Ghastria may provide me and my companions with better opportunities.

Hard as it is to imagine the scorching desert over-frequented by travelers it appears the region has been "discovered" by all of the popular mercenary groups and several of the lesser adventuring companies. Perhaps eventually this trend may die as attentions turn to a new target destination in the consciousness of the masses, eh?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 30, 2017, 05:28:35 AM

Updated my journal.
After a completely meaningless standoff where the Baron demanded I apologize to the Ezrites for my negative views towards them I found out Miss Tinu the elf kind of likes me. We were slaying thugs in Dementlieu to raise some funds. I spent it on some guns and am low on money again. Hmm, good thing Vallaki is closed off to us and they aren't illegal in the mist camp.

Tinu even went so far as to tell me that should things not work out between me and Solví or if I changed my mind, she did not mind being the longer lived between us and had actually had a few human mates before. It is as I had suspected. Lady elves who do believe in that sort of thing see it as a short term commitment. Meaning there is no real pressure exactly in the pacing of these relationships, perhaps?

She is an effective scout.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on October 30, 2017, 05:45:20 PM

Updated my journal.
Again I am trapped in Dementlieu and again I am left wondering, firearms obtained now in tow, if perhaps I like Solví more than she likes me. She can't seem to be troubled to meet me at the mist camp and I somewhat resent hauling all these gifts for her that are cluttering my inventory when she isn't even there to receive them. They are thoughtful well picked out gifts too of useful special equipment suited to her particular talents.

People say I try too hard and they're right.
I feel like unless I am giving a task my all and then some that isn't a true... Measure of what I can utmost do; Maybe part of that is my soldier's training.

I apply it toward everything in life though. The idea of not setting up hunting down the perfect gift for a friend or a woman you like as though it were a mission seems a tad preposterous to me.

It's true I've never lain with one. I should like to try that some day. It isn't... Against my religion or anything of the sort.

I don't care too much I think what race the woman is either.
Tinu is a rather dainty elf (though she is by no means weak, merely her form as an archer wielding a composite bow is wiry and compact belying her true strength) and she did express potential interest in us becoming more than friends.
There was that barbarian woman Florica, and then there is Solví. Each are interesting women in their own right. Hmm...

My standards?
She has to be living. No undeads, thank you.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 01, 2017, 03:31:54 PM

Updated my journal.
It isn't like Solví and I were betrothed or anything like that. I just like her a great deal.
So I suppose she might not mind were I to have dalliances with a few other women... perhaps?
Hmm. I also need to tend to my ministrations as an initiate in the Morninglord faith and should probably concern myself more with that and swordplay than these relations with the fairer sex.

I definitely am running short on funds and could use an adventure or two to refill my coffers again.

Does Solví even *really* care for me though? She could at least have somebody forward a message to me while we are all stuck in the mist camp and these different domains. Haven't heard a thing from her aside indirectly through Dante and Fearghas and Audric who took her with them to Har'Akir while I was trapped in Dementlieu that she is indeed alive and well. Hmm...

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 02, 2017, 01:11:22 PM

Updated my journal.
Gave the lesser ring of silence to the ranger, Tinu. She and I raised a few thousand fang traveling through Har'Akir with my mysterious benefactor who it turns out is named Lazula.

I like both Tinu and Solví. Supposing for my end game I will have to choose one of them to spend my retirement with. Both ladies are quite... Clever, are decent scouts and make for effective ranged support with their composite bows. Decisions, decisions!

Do I pick the tiefling or the elf to be Mrs. Morrus? This is a tough one!
Damn.

There are two things I like. I like women and I like beating up the undead.

As to my own progress I've been training hard to resist fear effects and illusions, as well as general enchantments that mess with your mind for some time now. The results finally paid off while we were in the tombs this time, towards the end.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 05, 2017, 03:15:51 AM

Updated my journal.
Oddly though the gates to Vallaki remain closed Old Barovia village is reachable though through the mists.
I find this quite peculiar but denizens of the core particularly the more traveled natives assure me this is perfectly normal bizarre evil mist behavior and happens from time to time but not quite seasonally... I guess?

There has also been palpable seismic activity as though some of the land itself may have changed in a drastic and not gradual manner. Barovia isn't Vechor though... I'm not sure what gives.  Supposing when the mists let people through again we will find out.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 07, 2017, 05:35:12 PM

Updated my journal.
The mists are again allowing passage through to Vallaki and the rest of Western Barovia.
The Drain is flooded. An evil vampire tried to kill everyone in Vallaki with a terrible device whose pieces are said to reside somewhere deep within the sewers. This is concerning.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 08, 2017, 04:37:24 PM

Updated my journal.
Father Allek Mars promoted me from initiate to layman.
I must still continue my light carrier training however.

Baron Laurier is holding a sort of a recreational martial tournament in his home country of Dementlieu that is said to have fabulous prizes.
A young lady named Shira asked me to fight in it for her under her colors and fancies one of the magic rings Laurier is offering for the purse.

I congratulated Reveka on her long overdue promotion to lance corporal. She thanked me and said though she did not understand my converting to Morninglord faith hoped I do well in their order to which I thanked her and again tried to succinctly explain it was a religion of hope, mostly. I think she and I remain friends which is a good thing. She is a fine city Garda and I hope someday she makes corporal because she would be an excellent one.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 09, 2017, 01:58:31 PM

Updated my journal.
You sell a gun or two to one elf in the drain ONE TIME and you get branded for life as a smuggler. Wow.
I have a 2.045 thousand fang remaining fine to pay off (paid the Garda 4.955 thousand of the initial fine which was 7000) as a debt to society within a week as the deadline and they branded my cheek with an S using a hot iron.
I wonder if Plum snitched on me or if somebody else who was down there in the Drain ratted us out.
Not that it matters now.

Also people say the giant werebat is back. I told them before it has to be one of the people living in the slums or residential district. Why has no one looked into this? You could nab them during the daytime and avoid the bloody hassle of trying to stop a rampaging dangerous beast person larger than a wagon.

Yordan is the new corporal. He received promotion as well. It felt off congratulating him while I was in jail for the night and he could have I suppose chosen to have me executed but opted for the heavy fine instead, which is actually pretty lenient. It's also I think to have me be a living example that the laws apply to everyone.
It would be easy enough to conceal this scar with makeup, a high collar or to have a mage remove it but that would be not in the spirit of serving out my punishment.

Also the door to my cell at the time, I checked and it looked like I could have, I definitely felt like breaking it with a good bashing would have been possible but I did not wish to hurt Reveka and Yordan's trust any further.

Hmm. Drain,... Ratted. Now there is an amusing pun.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 09, 2017, 02:14:22 PM

Other things I can tell people the S is for:
Stupid
Stubborn
Swashbuckler (Hello ladies)
Slayer (I do kill an awful hecking lot of monsters).

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 15, 2017, 04:18:44 PM

Updated my journal.
The relationship I have with Tinu Naur has gotten more serious.
She's this delightful elf ranger who is in addition to being an excellent tracker is a superb archer as I have stated before.

I am considering learning elvish as my next language.

Warden Gauthier had an idea that the giant bat hated noise. We tried ringing the church bell to drive it mad and it worked. The beast smashed its head against the stone roof several times but unfortunately such a loud din also earned the ire of the entire city. The Garda were not pleased. Nor was the peasant mob with their scythes and pitchforks, plus torches the following morning.

A certain obnoxious Darkonese elf was eager and quick to tell everyone she could she thought my ringing the bell was making the giant bat kill more people and that it was I who stupidly rang the church bell repeatedly to mess with the bat... Ignoring that it had not been my idea but the Warden's instead.

Jean Renaud is stumped about how to kill the giant bat/great black beast too. We're starting to think it might not be a werebeast at all or at least not in the traditional sense because it has strong immunities to magic and alchemy and nor does it seem to be bothered by the usual things most werebeasts are such as silver, copper and so on.

What's curious though is the old woman with the cane who was warning people of the beast has never been seen at the same time as it. If it was a werecreature of prodigious size and fantastic, terrible strength there is a chance I am starting to suspect of that being its human form. She certainly is unpleasant. Blames the outlanders and tolerant Garda who haven't chased out the outlanders for the bat rearing its head again. Every so many decades it reigns its terror on Vallaki, evidently.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 15, 2017, 04:57:33 PM

Updated my journal.
Friar Sand from Krezk and I get along  alright  which is good.
I have one trial remaining to complete my training now.
Annabelle tried complaining to the senior light carrier about my actions she found distasteful or even dangerous and though it did not fall on deaf ears Sister Anya said it was pretty much in the spirit of everything a light carrier *should* do. Frustrated, Annabelle I think is going to take her complaints to the Garda next. Hmm, with friends like this, who needs enemies?

I'm also growing very tired of these folks who in emergencies lose their head and start screeching orders at me when they don't really know what it is they are doing. The Darkonese elf seemed to ignore the fact I was a guard in that temple and technically outranked her. It's important things remain organized during a crisis and slamming the gate shut on the faces of those carrying in the fallen because you want to save your own skin is selfish and stupid.

I already had finished explaining the giant bat was too large to fit through the doors, apparently to no avail.

Some people tend to react very emotionally to the things around them and do not listen to reason!

Father Ilu had been slain by an abomination in the lower catacombs. That I think makes Father Allek the new Dawnfather. We at the church are pained by his loss but must still espouse hope. We know Ilu Asu wouldn't  want us to give in to despair. Not when there are still good deeds to be done and the Morninglord's message to be spread.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 15, 2017, 05:03:44 PM

Hmm, if Tinu wishes to be my wife, I know the Garda perform a notary service as a side business.
I could probably ask the Corporal to issue us a marriage license or at least stamp the document with an official seal. I wonder how much it would cost.

Poor Rurik! An overzealous garda recruit tore up his business license because she thought he was being lippy. He has a new infant daughter to feed and a family to support. That's his livelihood.
I talked to Private Dimitru about it and he says he would be fine with me buying Rurik a new license and that no that wouldn't break any laws as far as he is concerned. Father Allek feels this would be the right thing to do as well.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 16, 2017, 12:02:16 PM

Updated my journal.
Vigo saved my life in the underground river near Dvergheim. Man-eating puddings had surrounded me and he distracted them long enough for me to pick my gold up off the cavern floor. To repay him I split the bounty on the Neureni artifact I had uncovered when we got to the Vallaki bounty office. The Commisar probably is not used to seeing clothing of the loud clashing colors Vigo prefers but he thankfully kept his fashion opinions to himself and simply gave us the gold.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 16, 2017, 12:06:16 PM

Private Dimitru felt bad about Rurik's license being torn up by the overzealous recruit too. I saw him buying some of Rurik's finest bows for himself and the Garda who man the ramparts + gate houses of the Gray City's walls. This is good.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 18, 2017, 04:31:05 AM

Tinu and I bonded some more.
Evidently over mutual dislike toward the Darkonese elf who was as is typical for her apparently, being rather obnoxious. She knows a thing or two but exaggerates up her own abilities while downplaying those of her other teammates which did not endear her to the rest of the party.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 20, 2017, 05:15:42 PM

Updated my journal.
Passed my trials and completed my training. All that remains is my baptism and to be given the light carrier spear.

Tinu and I have grown even closer.
Also, paid off my resurrection debt to Jaedon.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 25, 2017, 04:17:08 AM

Updated my journal.
Tinu agreed to be my wife and we are to be married soon.
She is a star elf. They lived in a sort of a demiplane or pocket reality I guess... She told me which got destroyed by nihilistic wizards who love destruction because they want to reduce all that is to nothing one dimension at a time? Seems a stupid great waste of effort in manpower and resources to conquer and subjugate a place just to completely wipe it out if you ask me.
That means even before getting misted she was already displaced via a type of planeshifting.

She is 120 which I am told is relatively young for an elf. I do not mind being the younger person in our relationship. We seem to be at about the same level of physical development in any event.*

I wonder what the other elves with think that she has decided to go with a human.
She says if they don't like us they'll hiss.
Hmm, sometimes elves remind me of cats.
I wonder if you rub their stomachs if they will want to disembowel you the way a cat does.

*Also, I know there's ways of extending the human lifespan with magics and medicine. Not that I would want to become an undead and lose my sense of touch but there are wizards and people who are known to have lived well beyond what is considered the average maximum age for members of their races. Sometimes those blessed by gods can too. Just think, if I take the right potions and elixirs (or make the right prayers if they were to be answered by the Morninglord perhaps) I could spend an extra century with her so she'd be less lonely.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on November 25, 2017, 05:25:45 AM

With my various swords for different situations and magical light carrier spear, clad in my orange and gold armor, I am become a juggernaut of the Morninglord church.

I am Kaine the undead killing machine (a killing machine of the undead not a particularly violent and restless undead. Perhaps I should reconsider the phrasing of such a concept a little more carefully?).

My wife (to be) is Tinu one of the rare dying breed of star elves. She is an excellent shot with a bow and capable of blending in with the leaves and shadows.

Trades and crafting:
It's slower progress than I'd like but I'm gradually getting better at potion brewing.

My carpentry is okay but woodworking remains woefully inadequate. Both need much more work.
Tinu and I are together puzzling out the art of fletching, that is creating arrows and bolts.

Sir Havenshire expressed concern that he believes Tinu and I are being reckless to move so fast but life in the core and lands of mists is fleeting. She was orphaned and I was raised in a military academy. To be honest neither of us has much of an idea about how this "family" thing is supposed to work but we are going to give it a try, our best one at that.

We want to give it a shot and the Morninglord church is willing to sanctify or officiate our union for us so it is formally recognized... When Tinu and I feel ready, mind you.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 03, 2017, 05:14:15 PM

More missions for the church.
Details to follow.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 06, 2017, 10:26:52 PM

Updated my journal
Mother Kali, the halfling trap and lockspringer Dara and I raided the Alhoon's Lair, a foul place full of twisted necromantic and alchemical abominations which should not exist.
They were devised by the Alhoon, a mindflayer considered even alien and deranged among his own kind because he is an undead one.

A normal mindflayer is a bizarre squid faced psionic person or thing that consumes the brains of others.
We didn't face Alhoon him or itself but going against his "broken ones" and the zombie golems proved to be too much. All was not in vain though... We came back with much treasure liberated from the lair and are using it to buy toys, food, clothing and medicine for the orphans.

 Something quite dreadful happened afterwards though which I do not feel comfortable going into much detail on yet. It is still painfully fresh in my mind and was a living nightmare.

Let's just say it took Mishandra and me hours to clean up the gore from the Degannwy resort building and that there are much worse things than a botched resurrection. You can have a double botched resurrection where the fallen gets raised as an even more powerful and terrible form of zombie called a "tyrant fog" zombie. That is something no matter how much I would like to I can't forget.

I am tired of always being scapegoated and of Mother Kali expecting me to be a paladin.
I am not a knight. I never considered myself a hero. I am a fighter. If you take away the fighting that leaves just an Er. An Er is a mistake.

When I do carpentry I am a carpentEr.
When I teach I am being a teachEr.
When I translate that is a translate-... Okay the last one does not work but we (you, or I for whoever is reading this) can assume it fits the overall pattern.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 07, 2017, 11:58:33 AM

Updated my journal.
Have been off as of late in the company of two Krynn elves Sarathalanas and Elres. They are newly misted. If these two are indicative of the average Krynn person they seem to have come from a remarkably polite world. Also great opportunity in traveling with them to practice my Elven! Most fortuitous and practical!

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 08, 2017, 10:40:26 PM

Kaine's Prison Letter:
My dearest Tinu,
I am sorry but think I will be late to our wedding.
To the Morninglord Church I also apologize; I know I was to be the carpenter to assemble stalls for the festival (that's why I practiced those many hours of day and night in the woods and outskirts gaining knowledge of the carpentry trade).
The Garda have an iadul idea I must somehow be hiding or protecting the real culprit but I don't know who that is, truly.
To keep my own sanity, I am writing my thoughts down on this since I may not make it to see the Dawn's coming, at this rate.
I love my fey bride and though Barovia is not my homeland have come to love her, too.

I cannot make up a name for a person I only have a dim suspicion is the one to blame. I do not know them.

They (Garda, Ezrites, Cyricists and whomever else) cannot *Make* me stop believing in the Morninglord.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 10, 2017, 07:17:57 PM

Updated my journal.
Father Allek offered me the position of being his squire. He explained to me that since the world on the realm he is from itself is dead he is the last remaining knight of his order as far as he knows.
He stated that knightly discipline he felt would be good for my growth.
I think he will attempt to adapt these traditions and the Morninglord faith syncretically.
I have not received much in the way of training from Sister Anya and indeed to date only been on two missions with her directing me. One went well and the other was unsatisfactory.
The majority of my instruction and tutelage has come from Mother Kali.
She means well but at times berates me for not seeming divinely inspired enough.

I don't have a font of holy magic to draw from the way a cleric or paladin does.
I have just my body and mind. I fight and provide aid in the name of the Morninglord faith.
I do worry sometimes that having had less experience than previous light carriers to come before me I may screw up horribly.  There is though the new dawn's hope.
You may have screwed up yesterday but you learn from it to do better today.
Indeed with every challenge met one gains experience.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 13, 2017, 01:37:02 PM

Updated my journal.
Spent time in quiet contemplation of the Dawn and the Morninglord's promises with Father Ile and the Vicars these past few days.

It isn't true that I fear nothing I simply have greater fear of not doing anything when I could have than of dealing with things and failing.

The Barovians think we Morninglordians are naive and unaware of the grim realities of day to day life living in so harsh a land with monster choked nights. That isn't the case.
We consciously defy it. Positivity is a weapon. When you completely give in to despair that is letting the old night ("Old Noapte") win.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 13, 2017, 02:54:48 PM

People often fuss about Tinu and I being together.

Apparently it is of concern to them that with my being a human and her being an elf the differences in our upward limits of lifespan would be a bad thing.
Tinu and I are not overly concerned about it.
We feel we have time to allow things to develop or not as they happen on their own.
We also will look into alleged "elixirs of life" and longevity rituals... Carefully. Lichdom would not be desirable. There are ways of adding a century or two to your lifespan which I know that mages often do. I don't want Tinu to be left to raise our half elf children by herself.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 13, 2017, 02:58:30 PM

Updated my journal.
People seem incredulous that Tinu and I are a couple but they don't *really* know us.
They will insultingly and boldly suggest quite stupidly that they feel no one could possibly want to get close to me, that there must be something mentally off about Tinu to be attracted, and other quite not nice things.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 14, 2017, 02:59:13 AM

Updated my journal.
Hmm it seems Lumi has been charged with witchcraft of the worst sort and banished.
Who'd have thought, eh?

Tinu and I are still editing our guest list for the wedding.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 14, 2017, 01:08:22 PM

Updated my journal.
I met an incredible star elf sorcerer named Qyral.
He was less than pleased about my and Tinu's upcoming union going so far as to express being one of those "the races ought not intermix" purists but I guess begrudgingly understands Tinu and I are unlikely to back down. Ended up giving me some tactical training. He's quite witty albeit somewhat well, smug. I suppose that's typical of "naturally gifted" mages.

He did have quite a bit to say in way of a fast and loose primer for me going over basic types of sorcerer and sorcery. Without having observed Tinu directly it is difficult for him to determine which type of sorcerer (they aren't exactly traditions the way wizard schools of magic are) it is she draws from or closest resembles but we speculated a few guesses.

He was also unsettled I knew a bit what an elven arcane archer is. When I explained to Qyral I was a student of military history and did not actually know too much on the mechanical aspects of how an arcane archer worked that seemed to allay some of his er, unsettled-ness for want of a better word.
I mean, look, those are a very famous special infantry unit that even other races are awed by. Did he think all elven things are super secret? Sometimes sorcerers are silly.
We also discussed among other things Baelnorns... Ancient undead elven family crypt guardians and lore keepers.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 16, 2017, 03:28:40 AM

Tensions still swirl in the Vallaki parish. Ugh.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 16, 2017, 05:29:49 AM

I think I will invite Brother Barris and Corporal Hubchev.
Borval says he will come, probably. From Urk the half Orc monk I got a maybe.

I wonder who the guests Tinu wants to bring might be...

Wizards and sorcerers, monks and even some priests tell me there *are* ways to extend your life without resorting to undeath, by the way.

Tinu and I knew there were. There had to be.

I'm not pursuing immortality either I just want to keep my bride and any children we might have a decent length amount time of company, to assist her in raising them and so on. That's *really* NOT such a horrible thing.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 18, 2017, 06:12:33 PM

Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated!
Tinu is mad at me.
Varian and Jadin lied at the Wayfarer kinship conference with the other churches and guilds and said we Morninglordians were in league with the Banite Lawgiver church. They're so petty and childish!

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 21, 2017, 11:56:34 AM

The day before Kaine's disappearance:
I worry.
I have built Tinu the lovely indoors outdoor house she had told me she has always wanted and Lumi came over asking if she could stay with us tonight and if there was anything which could be done to have her banishment lifted. I figured there couldn't be too much harm in putting her up for a single day and said I would talk to the Garda about it the following day.
Since the Harbinger has decided it some sort of personal affront I have defied his wishes by not staying dead he had a few days back sent a caliban messenger to me while I was training some initiates in the crypts. The message he carried was to the effect of he (Harbinger) very much wants to hunt me down and kill me over again as many times as it takes until I am too weak to ever draw a sword again.

People still make up bad things about me to the priests and to the Garda and I am expected to be held responsible for every single wild tale of my supposed exploits, deeds and misdeeds.

All I really want is to kill monsters and spend time with my bride.
We are to be married soon.

Other people don't understand what that is like to have a deranged serial killer decide you are an especial target he would seek to go after. I frustrated him by not following whatever warped and cracked predetermined script he had in mind for his enemies to follow... Is how things would seem.

Strange that I would find myself yearning for the iron bars of a Garda cell and the stone walls of the citadel. I'd likely be safer in there than out here at this little camp I have built for myself and Tinu near Lex's chapel. Tinu was so happy though to have a place she could call "our house." She has had a hard life and I feel she deserves to have some of the finer things in life she had been previously denied when younger.

Lumi and I made her some nice warm wool dresses as a surprise for when she gets back from night hunting. I put them in the armoire. My tailoring skills with needle and thread aren't the greatest but the thick wool will be good for keeping the chill off and away. She is such a small and skinny elf sometimes I worry she will catch cold.

I love my elf wife, I love Barovia and I love the Morninglord.

Spoiler: show

 What happened to Kaine is the Garda detained him for finding Lumi in his camp, he was punished for her running away, Yordan decided the appropriate yet still as lenient as he could comfortably allow punishment would be a temporary banishment from Vallaki and all of its surrounding associated lands, and then, Kaine found himself marched out of town at the crack of the next dawn naked and in irons. As soon as he was uncuffed at the border and dressed himself he found some water as the Garda left,drank it and was brutally murdered by the Harbinger who was less than pleased his foe was still living.  His wife was as powerless to do anything about it as he was. Kaine's body was severely mutilated and as is the Harbinger's usual procedure, stripped of gold and weapons then hidden in a very hard to find place.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 21, 2017, 02:10:54 PM

Spoiler: show

 There are no large clues. The only person who fully witnessed what transpired was Tinu. Sure Kaine told a few of his friends and fellow martial duelists he respected about how the Harbinger was after him, he told the Garda and Lumi too. It didn't do anyone much good though. He *was* a lot safer in his cell than he was at the border. Tinu being the loving and supportive wife she was urged him not to travel alone while the Harbinger was at large and had his socketed helm visage set on Kaine and she was understandably rather upset that the banishment would more than likely spell his doom. It very literally and predictably did.

Both the Garda and the ML Church had recently told Kaine this is the last straw with his behavior and they are sick of receiving such numerous reports from various people, yes even though several tended to be highly exaggerated and even fictitious.
It gravely wounded him psychologically to be whittled down day after day by the peasants, the priests, the Garda and pilgrims. He took it personally that they whined and whinged very hard at his every action and inaction in order to cause him more problems as though life was already not hard enough and probably only Tinu and Father Allek much understood he went through that.

Through it all Kaine struggled to maintain a positive outlook and his most often received reward was being treated as a common criminal more often than not.

When the Harbinger told the Widowed Tinu who was still too shocked to even properly grieve that the hope Kaine as a light carrier tried to espouse died with him in a way he wasn't totally wrong. It was in hindsight a tad unusual that only Father Allek and he recognized it for that though.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 29, 2017, 03:57:30 PM

Somehow I have returned to the land of the living. I don't know how or who but was told someone found my body either in the sewers or the river and a group of warriors chipped in together to pay the resurrection fee.
My beloved says it has not been a whole week yet. Since my banishment from Vallaki is to be for two weeks I should just lay low for awhile longer.  Money is tight and our resources scant.

I worry this journal might be scryed by a diviner so I will not write the location of where I have chosen to hide, what our aliases are or anything like that.  It isn't safe to.

To think if it were not for Lumi and Private Savu's meddling Tinu and I might be still experiencing a domestic bliss at our lakeside campground across from where Sir Havenshire had set up his Creator Goddess shrine and memorial dedicated to Mother Kali.  Or the Harbinger could have found it (our secluded campsite) and slaughtered us both in which case our bodies would have been food for the minks and wolves.  Knowing our typical run of luck the latter case seems quite likely.

I do hope Corporal Hubchev sleeps well at night. Knowing he is fine with condemning a friend over abstract principle makes me wonder how he treats his actual true enemies.
He probably doesn't even feel like he did anything wrong in banishing me despite that Tinu and I had both explained to him there was a deranged serial killer after us. I don't know for certain how he feels but I'd be at least a little conflicted about knowing I'd had an unwitting part in it had our positions been reversed... Well, maybe.
Who can say?

I'm not a citizen. I don't have rights. What protections we are granted as outlanders are privileges relying on the charity and goodwill of the native Barovians around us.  These privileges can be easily taken away on a whim.  It was a mistake to ever think I could take any of it for granted.

Someday I think I should like to interview and talk with the Count. I know he is a great and terrible man and that it could cost me my life or worse but the more I hear about Von Zaroviches the more interesting this family sounds. Surely he would have some insights or advice about leadership? The question is whether he would be willing to share any tips with a small pissant foreigner such as myself.  It is unlikely I would be able to ever have anything he should want and also I know he is one to prefer keeping to himself in his castle and being left alone, to count his gold the Burgomasters of the towns and cities collect as tax.  This is a silly thought and I should cease such folly.

I should start smaller and when my banishment is over perhaps try to get to be acquainted with one of the burgomasters. Perhaps some of my friends in the city watch could help arrange this? It's something to think about at least albeit not terribly realistic.

Lance Corporal Stirbei did not have to allow Tinu to visit me in the Citadel jail during what we all including myself believed to be my last night among the living. That she did demonstrated a remarkable compassion.  She is... a true friend.  She tried to do what she could to reduce my sentence and would have been able to if Yordan had not caught wind of it.  I don't... go out of my way to cause trouble for the garda and have been mostly a victim of some seriously unfortunate circumstances which rapidly got out of my control.

Yordan told me he felt that I got in and out of trouble so often reflected badly on his regiment.
I honestly can't control what people make up and exaggerate about me. I can only control what comes out of my mouth not that of others. 
If I last through to the end of my banishment I must be ever so very careful in treading Vallaki lands because should one more tall tale, malicious rumor or bit of lying gossip concerning me be spread and I will surely be executed.

Perhaps some mean peasant will like starting a campfire story I am an outlander with two heads on his shoulders and that my rear end is fluent in draconic? Honestly some people these days...
Tsk, tsk.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 29, 2017, 05:58:52 PM

I was always swift to pay off my fines accrued no matter how high and with a minimum of fuss.
I did not protest my sentences no matter how barbaric and backwards the punishments might seem and accepted my penalties willingly.

I hope some day Corporal Hubchev might be able to look at that part of my record and realize a significant portion of the charges brought against me being overturned is not through inefficiencies in Barovian Law but because lack of sufficient evidence or later contradicting evidence becoming made available caused people in the citadel to reconsider.  That is how justice in more civilized countries operates sometimes. It isn't about flexibly allowing some people to violate more things than others, no.
It is about making sure you have the right person convicted. At least that's what I think. I know nobody asked me and I probably won't ever be asked to give an opinion about legal systems but that would be my two copper pieces, golden wolf fangs, my lesser solare, etc. on such matters. Just so it's in my journal at least.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 30, 2017, 12:30:04 AM

Life on the lam is rather miserable.
Money is scant, resources run low.

Again I find myself treated as though I were a criminal while others who commit real actual serious abominable acts get away scott free! How frustrating.

I have to pretend not to be involved with my dear bride now to go into even deeper cover? Why can't we just get eloped?
This puts such a damper on our lives.
Being hounded by the Cyricists and Garda alike, seemingly. Ugh.

I do wonder if we could get Dementlieuese nobles to sponsor a play given in the opera house that is a satire of my and her treatment by the Barovians. The story has some merit and aristocrats do love satire!

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 30, 2017, 12:44:50 AM

It is always work very hard to obtain things that some jackass feels you do not deserve and sets themselves to dedicatedly undermine, isn't it? That somehow they irrationally feel they themselves deserve your achievements more.

Being punished both when you do right and the wrong thing is quite messed up.

I should be more grateful that Tinu and I are both alive and together and also that I still retain three of my five swords. The two the Harbinger robbed me of were my silver gilt one and the one given to me by Father Ilu. I have had my remaining blades, my armor and much else of my effects drastically altered so as to fashion a rather thorough disguise.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 12:02:58 AM

Though I do hold Savu and Lumia partially to blame for what happened to me I recognize they cannot help being who they are any more than I can help being an adventurer.

I look forward to the day when I may come out of hiding and Tinu and I can finally be married. This is ludicrous being treated like a criminal when far more murderous wretches are allowed to stalk the nights freely. I'm trying to help these stupid people. Don't they...? They can't be entirely oblivious to that. Some of it has to be intentionally feigned ignorance of a malicious sort.

That at any time anyone can make something up and I will be first arrested and beaten before the veracity of such statements is checked is highly demoralizing and I recognize it is meant to be so.
However, taking it out of my hide does *NOTHING* to control what other people choose to say about me.
I can't control what they spread. I can only hope that as I continue trying my damnedest to do the right thing eventually some of this deadly gossip might die down.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 01:12:51 AM

I don't consider myself a hero. I'm no knight either.
My skills and gifts are mundane not of an arcane nor divine nature but gained through hard training, rigorous practice and nae endless repetition. There is analysis before and after each fight I participate in. Not so much during.  During battle there are other things to consider.
I should work on that to be always scanning, always seeking a vantage point. Look for flaws and weaknesses to become apparent in foes. Figure out the way to best take them out with least collateral damage. The fewest civilians and allies being put into harm's way when I am fighting, that is the right way to go about things.

What do I consider evil?
Harming others for your own enjoyment, engaging in slaughter of those who cannot possibly defend themselves. Those are arguably amongst the most evil acts man can commit against his fellow man.

It isn't something as simple as that certain spells or use of poisons are inherently evil. Certainly some are but what if you resorted to use of such things to a good and noble end? Conversely, what if one were to use acts of on the surface goodwill to infiltrate deeply into a community and then like some dormant infection left untreated spread, requiring a severe amputation that the rest of the sufferer afflicted might have a chance to live?

Perhaps Yordan felt like I was such a gangrene on his beautifully ordered ideal of a Barovian society and community.

You can't simply never trust anyone as that's no way to live. You might live longer but the quality (or lack thereof) of that life, eh? It's a calculated risk but without some bonds and relationships the isolation will destroy your mind I think. More completely than any physical enemy could ever attempt to.

I have read some translated Lamordian and Dementlieuse books and papers on madness afflictions, the psyche, that new science of mesmerism and even a few popular current erudite theories on criminality during this period of my exile.

Also more of medicine. I probably won't be in a position to obtain a degree any time soon but some of the eugenic theories that perhaps humans and demihumans are not altogether different species but simply differing races, hence their ability to interbreed struck with me. I do not know that the differences between the races are magical in origin or truly the result of differing proportion to the humoral balance. The raging academic debate about this seems interesting but what do I know? I'm just a former soldier skilled to an extent in basic and intermediate herbalism as well as the rudimentary treatment of wounds and infection. I would enjoy listening to scholars and chirurgions wax on about their trade and fields of study but perhaps that is not for this life.

I'm a fighter not a practitioner of the dark arts. My reasons for hoping there to be a method of prolonging my life a bit longer than is average for my race are to be there for my family. Our family. It has nothing to do with diabolism or necromancy in the slightest and those avenues are strictly off the table. In other words, I reject them.

Must people always assume the very worst conclusions after only partially listening and not gathering the proper context?

So far the most direct methods available to me seem proper nutrition, regular exercise and when possible using medicine to avoid becoming too seriously ill.
I never at any point suggested I was interested in pursuing immortality.

Indeed there are certain enchanted amulets which are said to drastically slow the process of physical aging for their wearer but the cost associated with those is if you should ever take them off you will crumble into dust!

Trying to extend the lifespan in measured increments is not in itself a terrible thing. Imagine how much more discovery and refinement of technique in a discipline one could get to levels of with more time on his or her hands. Such is the honey tongued promise of advances in these "sciences" to do greater good. As a man who has been raised from the dead many times from fatal injuries and recovered from what should have seemed entirely fated demises at least a handful of times, I do know that I am not immortal but wonder if that is the sort of thing these physicians attempt to tease out the secrets of in  advancing their studies.

Is it unnatural? Certainly but something about death in these lands I am coming to think strikes as rather unnatural as well. Arcanists have shown me and explained to me things leaning toward this notion. The body of evidence continues growing.

Also note that as a Morninglordian and light carrier I regularly battle against undead abominations given a mocking semblance of life through curses, necromancy and the like.  I cannot emphasize enough the importance of drawing a distinction between undeath and extending the upper limits of our time on this mortal coil. However, quality of life certainly is an issue of concern. Should one transcend too far you would stop being human or demihuman altogether. It's not about trying to become gods. Not for me.
Nor is the alternative outcome of becoming a mummy or the closest still living thing to a zombie much desirable either.

It has to be within limits. The question of these boundaries though is not one for me to discern or experiment with. It is... Merely a subject I find morbidly fascinating.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 01:24:15 AM

Though this is my own journal I can already anticipate being decried as some type of thing antithetical to what is deemed right and good for having thoughts one should pretend not to have for sake of propriety.
Fah! A pox on your ideas of "decency" which get so many people unwittingly killed. Good men and women who might still be with us were they not held back by such backwards and harmful ideas!
For example when the Barovians would rather suffer through an illness or injury than accept medicine or any divine healing. It has been witnessed during periods of plague.
People could be living fuller, better lives and yet this is apparently not what many wish to have for themselves.

Perhaps it is my near feverish induced paranoia at being exiled from our home combined with knowing it was never a safe haven that is pushing my mind in such a direction even further as of late.

In my mind I can already hear the voices of my detractors telling me I am mad and bad for wanting things to be better rather than convincing myself to be satisfied with the current bad state of affairs.

In private behind locked doors Tinu and I exchange a kiss here, a friendly yet forbidden kind and reassuring word there and express the hope things will get better should we see through the current situation and manage to survive. Since when is it considered evil for two betrothed to do so much as hold hands? The passions of hatred and villainy are allowed free reign while love is unjustly scrutinized.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 01:33:30 AM

Yes Kaine, everything you do and any word you utter is bad and wrong at all times!
You cannot *possibly* do anything right! To ever conclude otherwise would be sheer lunacy.
This is the thing people would often express to me in no uncertain terms seemingly although among the more polite folk we would associate with it would tend to be danced around more than directly stated.

Am I mad for this? Are other people mad for denying it?
I'm not a philosopher.

Why do I choose to cling to hope in spite of things oftentimes by all accounts on the surface appearing quite hopeless? Well, perhaps it is a stubborn defiance of the circumstances which we are subjected to. The "powers" that be seem rather cruel and not entirely necessarily even deserving of respect. Fear and respect are two very different things except when you are an idiot peasant or a despotic tyrant!

Just keep a low profile Kaine. Try not to arouse more suspicion. Wait out the term of your banishment like a good little subject although it's clear from the way we are treated authorities do not think we are the type of good which they would prefer!

People like me we are not downtrodden enough. Our refusal to be utterly and completely broken bothers those who would assume our complete subjugation. Perhaps these authorities know that though I obey their laws outwardly I spit in the eye of anyone who would assume to be in complete control of me. That is a dangerous thought for an outlander to have. My my... If it ever spread to the locals they might... Oh I don't know, the Garda could demand better wages, firstly.

I'm not an anarchist but on the surface such lines of reasoning make authority figures think things like "He will propose a tax revolt and that causes a pickle for me."

Nono, if anything I am a proponent of a civil society where people try to conduct regular commerce.

Had the Morninglord decided it was not just to save young Martyn Pelkar from the coven of vampires standing him down back in I think it was either 425 or 475 BC, there would be no foundation for the cult of the Morninglord. Certainly there are some who would argue jeopardizing his own safety to save a young boy whom he did not even know was unwise. I don't know it for certain but I think probably our Morninglord knew the risks and still felt like fighting "the good fight" against those foul undead anyway regardless.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 02:07:22 AM

The elf says she loves me. I would like to be her husband.
Sometimes "traditions" can be oppressive and not for our best or own safety.

With no risk there is never any reward.
Most promises of reward at no risk tend to be lies.
Pleasant, comforting lies to those who cannot stomach dealing with any degree of peril in the slightest. Which can and do often get them killed with a false sense of security.

I've learned that traditions themselves we all take for granted and at times quite stupidly rely on everyone else also following to carry out our day to day lives never could have started without at least a founder at the beginning defying earlier practices he or she had disagreed with.

Example two: Ezra. While she was a mortal human she could have chosen though she saw what was wrong and changeable about the environment around her continuing cause suffering for her companions to have done nothing and she never would have gone on to be the figure of such an enduring core wide religion.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 02:20:26 AM

I feel that despair is an enemy of hope.

Not giving into it is certainly at times very challenging.

Light carrier, you must continue to try and have a positive impact on other people's lives.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 04:22:06 PM

I feel a darkness welling inside me.

That I kept being punished again and again while actual murderers are allowed free reign is infuriating.
There were a few times I have found myself entertaining flights of fantasy which involve feeding Private Savu one of his dogs, and worst of all imprisoning and fining Yordan somehow for all manner of trivial offenses as he and Savu have done to me in the past.

Fantasies of aggression are not a good thing but I shall dismiss these feelings as best I can.  There is not much to be done about my mistreatment at the hands of the garda.
I love my bride. No doubts trying to enact any sort of revenge would have intense repercussions for her and I know she has already had a pretty rough life.   We do not *need* more misfortune at this point in time to be invited upon us.

The air itself has an almost palpable malice to it.
At any moment some horrible human fiend may take it upon him or herself to make your life and those of others around you take a turn for the worse, for their own twisted amusement!
Those you care about by extension become also at risk in such an environment.

Monsters on the other hand are more honest.  They eat or kill you because that is what they do.
A person by contrast will convince themselves that all manner of atrocities against their fellow man are excusable and alright due to some misguided sense of morality.
Is it absolute inflexibles values which cause this or the perspective being so formless and shapeless that it becomes too murky to distinguish between right and wrong?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 04:41:33 PM

Isolation has been setting in, I think.
I can't... I try to interact with people albeit minimally under this false persona. It is very trying though.
I think I will just work on some crafts.

Pretending to be not so fluent in common by stilting my speech and arbitrarily pausing as though searching for words when conversing does fool some people.
I'm lucky I took so readily to learning elven.  It's amazing what the right motivations can do to spur someone through tricky and complicated things; While I would not say that I'm properly fluent in all of its dialects I do have a gift for certain languages.

I like the elves. I think even if it weren't for my beloved being among their number I'd still feel a certain affinity towards them.
I tend to get along better with elves and dwarves than my fellow humans.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on December 31, 2017, 11:44:40 PM

Both my old commander and Qyral understood my need to lay low.
Barovians I think I have come to realize only pretend to be very fearful at all times. A good sized chunk of them are actually quite malevolent.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 01, 2018, 08:05:29 AM

Miserably wandered the beaches of Baie de Sable today in Dementlieu.
Somehow I'm not entirely sure exactly myself how it happened but I wound up in the private section. The sign said no trespassing but I felt compelled to explore. I was lost wandering for I don't know how long in D'honaire's hedge maze. When I got through to the other side I saw his quasi palacial estate, Maison de la Vue. It's a magnificent manor and his butler assumed that I in my disguise had to be one of the master of the house's many noble guests just in a masquerade because nobles and exotic people all tend to seem incredibly bored in this country.  I don't know what kind of man this member of the Council of Brilliance is but his lethargic relative in one of the dens could barely keep his eyes open. Likely he had a bit too much fun the night before, was intensely hungover or in an opiated stupor.

My compliments to the architects and gardeners. D'honaire seems a very intelligent clever man. In the study I saw a hidden door but it required a specific key to open. I wonder if he keeps cigars in there. I took nothing as I am not a thief.

Many of the doors to the mansion were left unlocked. I couldn't escape the feeling the master of the house expected a constant stream of visitors most hours of the day and might be secretly observing all of us. Hours later I staggered my way back out and down the beach.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 01, 2018, 12:09:50 PM

I feel a bit less unbalanced now.
Still off though.

The best revenge is to live well.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 01, 2018, 02:35:00 PM

Discipline.
I am not an evil person dammit.
People... some people want me to be.
I know I'm not the best person but I'm not the worst either.

Commander told me, she said: Kaine, you do have the potential to be a leader.
People will look up to how a person with no extraordinary special powers rose up through hard training and gaining experience.  It's probably what makes the mages and clerics get upset.
I mean she's a paladin and I didn't always believe her before when she pressured me to grab more responsibility by the horns. I thought I couldn't because I'm not a hero. I'm not a knight and I don't have arcane or divine gifts. I have often been told by people it is bad to engage in conflict and that I should not be a warrior when that is what I am.  I shouldn't have to apologize for knowing bladecraft rather than spell craft.

The few times I tried to not fight at all I got beaten within an inch of my life and by third party accounts corroborating such many, many times to death. It's worse than not having the right weapons or decent tactics.  The trick is to fight smarter.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 03, 2018, 11:47:41 PM

I am sick and tired of being treated as a criminal while actual murderers get given free reign.
Also, I feel as though in training by myself I may have recently reached a plateau. It feels worse because I'm weaker than I was prior to my last fight with the Harbinger, so I do have a taste of what having more power feels like there in the back of my mind as an annoying reminder.

I love my bride. She and I can adventure together and like treasure hunting.
I am mentally done with getting arrested and tortured, beaten and threatened over little tiny insignificant things which do not really matter simply in the line of carrying out my temple duties and am rather annoyed with having always been under such unreal levels of scrutiny.  Yes yes, threaten to execute me but that will not stop people who are determined to from making up and spreading rumors about me. Torture and banishment don't stop this stuff from happening to me it just makes it less an issue for the garda to have to deal with.  Yordan *could* have listened to me or Tinu when we said there was a serial killer after us. He really seems to care more about the letter than the spirit of the law.

It serves me right for every single little tiny time I got in and out of trouble. Apparently sentences being overturned on technicalities is something some of the garda are not very comfortable with. They probably feel it isn't being tough enough on crime but also, it's easier to go after adventuring outlanders than hardened killers and other more dangerous sorts of criminals.

Am I mad at him? I can't be truly angry at somebody for simply being who and what they are.
Finances dwindle. Replacement equipment was not cheap. Supply provisions remain steady.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 04, 2018, 02:06:17 PM

Ran into Private Savu near the fishing lodge this night and we fought some werewolves together.
Though it was good to have some human contact, he asked me how I got to the western part of Barovia when I had been exiled at the Eastern border. I sure hope that I took the ferry from Midway Haven to the Fishing lodge across what I will assume was northern Lake Zarovich doesn't count as violating the terms of my temporary banishment. A term which technically would I think have been over at the time we encountered each other. Again he was off duty.
Again I worry. Usually whenever the private is involved I will wind up arrested, detained, punished and beaten.

Being forever banished from Vallaki on a mere technicality like that would really make it quite difficult to be with my bride in Degannwy not to mention downright impossible to do my job at the Vallaki outskirts temple.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 05, 2018, 05:09:25 PM

Hmm, he didn't say to me that I would immediately be forever banished. He said there were just a few days left to my banishment and to not screw it up. I'm worried though.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 05, 2018, 05:17:18 PM

Lady Selyth recently told me I had long ago been banished from her lair but that she was pleased with my gift and forgave me I guess?
I want to invite her to my wedding. I wonder if she would come as a guest.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 10, 2018, 09:20:38 PM

A mysterious man sent me on a journey across the core to some of its most remote locations all for a single stupid raven feather.
Tinu and I are puzzling out if this was just meant as a mean and obscure joke or if it held some deeper meaning.

I was approached and corrupted in the mind a bit by Urzica the Deceiver, turns out.
Fought and survived an encounter with Claude Maluet the Storytelling vampire.

Got demoted from light carrier to layman.
Am asked by Tinu and Sir Michael why I have not quit the church.
I am/was consistently treated pretty badly.
Savu has received a promotion to lance corporal.
I know no one takes me seriously. Which sometimes they will go so far as to insist since I am the person suggesting something that it has to and must on that basis be bad and wrong or a stupid idea. Rather annoying and childish, that.

At least my bride loves me and I'm still helping people though they don't seem as ready to return the favor when fortunes turn and I'm the one in need of help... That's not nearly so often as the amount they are willing to receive help from me.

Hellena has given me some ideas to financially get back on my feet as I was quite recently robbed. Still need to pull together funds for the wedding.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 10, 2018, 09:28:21 PM

Am I a glutton for punishment?
Observations would indicate yes.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 10, 2018, 09:31:57 PM

If presented the opportunity to leave the lands of mists I don't think that I would.
Eberron, more specifically my life in Brelend didn't offer me very much. There's nothing for me there. Nothing special to make me miss it.
Here I get to make more of my own choices rather than having them all mostly decided for me by superior officers. I get to form relationships. I'm getting married!
I never would meet people just obeying my orders as a royal guard. Barely got to explore places. Mostly we'd just march around and listen to lectures in the military academy.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 14, 2018, 03:32:10 AM

I feel strangely.
Having been stripped of rank in the church and told I am not to train as a light carrier anymore and made to give back my orange robe felt off. I do feel a relief from that overwhelming burden the Dawnbringers and other light carriers kept putting me under though.

For the first time like my every word and action isn't being picked apart to be used against me. Although when I am in Vallaki tends to always feel like that.

The Bishop said I do belong in the faith and have a home in the church.
That means Urzica was wrong, although I think she may have obtusely hit the nail on the head when she fed me the notion my superiors did not respect me any. That can't be true though. Sir Michael, Sister Anya and Father Allek still teach me.
It's Brother Barris I have the hard time getting along with.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 14, 2018, 03:34:19 AM

The idea of being a layman forever with no opportunity for advancing after having had light carrier dangled in front of me should be intensely frustrating yet I find myself too mentally and emotionally fatigued to care.

The church politics are no longer my problem to worry about.
My supposed terrible comportment at all times is no longer something for my brothers and sisters of the cloth and spear to have to trouble themselves with.

No more reports to fill out. I'll kind of miss that part though.
Well, they've succeeded in shutting me up. Too tired to laugh or weep.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 14, 2018, 03:41:23 AM

The bishop did say he expects me to keep fighting undead with the priests and light carriers though.
Difficult to find hope.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 14, 2018, 03:38:41 PM

I feel oddly cut off from everyone more so than ever before which is odd because I've grown closer to Sister Anya and Sir Michael. I'll help them and Father Allek with anything. Everybody else though... They can all suck lemons. Except Sister Simona and Brother Lee. Those kids are alright.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 07:46:30 PM

I told the Harbinger of my plans to retire from "the heroing business."
A horrible serial killing rapist of a vampire is mad at me for foiling a few of his abduction attempts and told me he wants to target Tinu to get even with me. Ugh.


Like I told Harby... I never even considered myself a hero. There's just too many bad guys who are way stronger than me.

Horatiu finally talked to me. I was hoping it would be something inspirational but it was just to issue me my mop and bucket.
I'm the temple janitor now. There is no hope of ever advancing past layman. This stinks.

I know I somewhat voluntarily stepped down on the basis of I was tired of being perpetually told my best was never good enough and minutely cross examined with suspicions of my having sinister intent always on the table. That was very irksome and was mentally and emotionally wearing me down.

I couldn't shake my negative reputation so it's for the best I be not a light carrier. *Sigh*

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 08:15:14 PM

Lee and Simona still call me their brother.
When I was a light carrier I tried to always do the right thing.
Even though most of the time people would get mad and twist it into being the wrong thing because it was me.
That I *could* be that guy, that actually didn't bring shame to the church.
I could still be that person just you know, not as a part of the church formally.
Was Horatiu a paladin? The old temple in Barovia village had old mercenary housing dormitories built into the building as part of it. I know the priests weren't always against employing and relying on mundane fighters for help. I wonder what changed.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 08:20:39 PM

Without proper training to deal with elder vampires I have withstood the assaults of Claude Maluet the storyteller and foiled a few of his abduction attempts. He is not a lich but a lech.

Have mixed holy water and some garlic in with my cleaning supplies.
I sharpened the back end of my janitorial mop to fashion a wooden stake too but have no idea how you are meant to stake a vampire. Sir Michael during my probably last lesson when the bishop had dismissed me told me you go for the heart when they are already down and that this paralyzes them but does not kill them. Barring positive energy disintegration the only way you can destroy a vampire is to remove its head from its body. So they aren't truly immortal afterall!

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 08:24:59 PM

You will never be worthy Kaine.
You were born of merchants instead of nobles. You are not a knight nor a paladin. You aren't a cleric.
People from other realms look down on mercenaries because they didn't all have mercenary noble houses the way Khorvaire does.

Gods I love my bride. That the Storyteller wanted to take her from me shook me deeply.
I can't just retire from adventuring and be a simple janitor. There will always be some evil arsehole trying to harass me and Tinu or if not us, then our friends and other people around us.
What to do though?
I could use a sign, anything.

Any sort of a sign from somebody powerful or a god maybe would do.
I need some guidance. There is no one to provide such guidance.
I am worried the priests of the church will be nigh useless in this regard. As will my mercenary contacts, so what to do?

I'll have to decide for myself. I'm used to not relying on gods for much.  It isn't like I'm a priest or holy fighter who depends on maintaining a relationship with their patron deity to empower me.

I use my own muscles and wits.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 08:38:43 PM

Am I bitter? Yes.
I left a  letter in the Sanctuary of the Eternal Dawn for Father Ilie our bishop briefly summing up my worries about The Storyteller having expressely told me he will target my bride.
I haven't lain with her yet so it feels like if he had her way with her even if he did not turn her in a way ever after, on her honeymoon being denied getting to consummate your union because a foul creature violated your wife first?
Also what if he did turn her?
A Morninglordian, even a "fallen" light carrier who is a shitty one cannot have a vampire for a wife.
Such a wanton creature as Claude does not deserve to call itself male.
We formed a small posse, a knight, brother Lee, a rogue and I to take things down to the tergs and try to defend our womenfolk that no one else might get raped by that monster.
That was why when victims were recovered they would rock themselves back and forth and not want to speak to anyone!

Unfortunately the vampire sorceress and her empowered bone golems proved a little too much for us. I am told Beatrice and the last of the Stolojans heroically recovered our bodies and belongings and that Beatrice had a showdown with Claude! I hope he felt in full the humiliation of a woman soundly besting him because he really got off on treating the fairer sex as objects to be used.

He's been doing that for centuries apparently. It's about time somebody said no to him and reminded the spoiled brat you can't always just take what you want from everyone all the time.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 08:51:29 PM

It's not a test of dedication, show of penance or act of humility.
The church really feels I did not deserve the title of light carrier and that Father Allek and Father Ilu before him must have made some terrible mistake to consider me for baptism.
They say I cannot be unbaptized but I did have to give back my orange robe and official temple guard armor. I still wear the colors on my lay armor though. Brother Barris was wrong to scream at me I did not deserve to. Holding my mop in one hand and bucket in another it certainly feels as though I have been unbaptized.

Mother Kali would wonder sometimes if perhaps light carrier was the wrong path for me. She foretold me back then I might never advance past lay person. She said Kaine you might spend your whole life doing good deeds and still be judged unworthy. I won't give up my spear though. I went through too much to pretend I never held the position.
Some people say being the temple janitor seems a terrible misapplication of a fine young warrior.
They should tell that to the Bishop. Or perhaps to Brother Barris who thinks me little better than an unprincipled thug, told me I was hopeless and well, the rest of what had happened between us.

My best *was not* good enough.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 11:28:20 PM

I don't want to wear the white robe of an initiate over again.
I already went through incredibly grueling mental conditioning that felt unlike anything I had even received during Bootcamp at the military academy.
The actual combat training which there was going to be got dangled in front of me then taken away.
Hmm. Try not to be bitter Kaine.
Like Simona said coming to hate the people you are trying to help is no good.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 11:34:33 PM

Should I wear different armor colors? Hmm. Perhaps replacing the bright red with a darker shade. For the lighter one I've considered Mithril dye. I do like that sort of peachy amber color for leather though but need to consider cloth colors.
Maybe Tinu can help me in that regard.

Miss DuPont says she is fond of me as a friend as far as humans go. Perhaps she might have some insights. I'm sure going back to looking like a beginner and then never advancing would please some of my elder/superiors in the church but have I not *earned* the right to at least somewhat wear the colors and wield the spear from the things I have endured and passing my trials?
What in the nine hells, 22 layers of the Abyss and the Khyber is this meant to prove?
You work incredibly hard just to beaten down and have people try to take everything and one away from you???
That's a messed up lesson. I'd like very much to continue rejecting it and resist that.
Bad things happen to me but I was not going to let Claude take my bride from me.
You can torture me, humiliate me, drag my reputation through the mud, tell me to go do only the most brainless of menial tasks if that pleases you. Am I stubborn? Yes. It's not arrogance though I think but determination.

Lately that drive has felt rather flat.
It's not... Being utilized properly.
Taking on mercenary work again just felt sort of right.
It's measurable and concrete. You bring in the sought after artifact or the bandit chief's head and people thank you for it in the form of pay.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 15, 2018, 11:42:18 PM

These people they don't like you for it, no. The exchange of goods and services for commerce is simpler and less misinterpretable than this nebulous divine and arcane stuff.
I'd hold more respect towards the priests if they'd actually help like how Mother Kali did.
Spent time talking to Mishandra, she and I realized I had a lot of anger about these things and the vampire. Maybe punching down 2-3 yew trees barehanded again was the first clue...

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 04:49:01 AM

Tinu dumped me.
I am a broken man and feel that I have truly nothing left.
Without her and without the church I've...
What the hells is the gods damned point to anything!?
Nobody likes or wants me.

This is the second time somebody said they played along with loving me back but didn't want to go deeper. She was what kept me coming back from the brink of death. I didn't want to leave her to have to deal with all this horrible shit alone.

Nobody needs me. I've got nothing left.
With nobody to care about and no higher cause to serve it feels worse.
Those were what kept me from being more reckless.
I wonder if she thinks dumping me will make Claude leave us alone.
It won't.
I'm hurting and have nobody to turn to, as usual.
Beatrice suggested to me it was bad I kept coming to Degannwy too.
If I was truly evil I would have let Claude into the settlement right then.
I feel so... Just used and thrown away.
She (Tinu) said there would be more freedom this way.
I feel way more cut off from everyone.
This is like when the bishop said it would be a good thing for me to become the temple janitor.
Nothing... No hope left.

Who can I talk to about it?
Things are still as dangerous as ever.
She doesn't want me anymore.
I don't think anyone ever really did.

If I die this time there's nothing to make me want to keep from crossing over this time around.
No warm smile, no cutting remark to throw you off balance followed by a wink or a kiss to show she doesn't really mean it.
[Also] No warm dawn's embrace for me.
Just harsh coldness and everybody distancing themselves from you then muttering, spreading nasty rumors.
That's how it always is and I hate it.

I should sell my groom's outfit. There isn't going to be any wedding.
Not sure how we're going to break that one to the guests.
I wish I could just crawl into a hole and die.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 04:59:38 AM

Crawled into a beetle pit and found a dead Brother Lee and Newell the swashbuckler.
Damn... That wasn't quite what I had in mind.
What I'd wanted to do was sit there and let the fire beetles slowly munch me to death.

What's the point to anything?
Legos is the name of that guy. Mishandra said he was this famous elven smith who used to reside in Degannwy.
God I hate having all the things you work so hard for to advance yourself and others ripped away from you in an instant.

Yeah I'm sure to Tinu and Beatrice they think this will make me go relate to my fellow humans better and is for my own good but what they don't get is *nobody* likes me.
Searching for some f*cks to give. Nope.
No f*cks found.

When I see him I think I'll confront him about ruining my life.
It probably isn't even his fault though.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 05:09:14 AM

I'm having flashbacks of the reptile war and of when Reveka dumped me.
There is no succor. Not for me nope. I've got the bodies of Lee and his friend Newell. The unnatural heat of the cave seems to have them preserved. Odd considering the moisture. One can't live in a giant fire beetle nest though.
I'd better get them to the temple.
Each sure had a lot of money on them.
Hmm, that or I'm just poor and stuff.

I gave Tinu 20,000 fangs and some very nice equipment over the course of our excuse for a relationship which stupidly felt real, very real, more real than anything else I had experienced up to that point to me.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 05:11:33 AM

Hey dead Lee? Hey dead Newell? SHE DOESNT WANT TO MARRY ME ANYMORE. HOO HOO HAHAHAHAHAHA... *Sob.*
Tear stains have drenched the rest of the entry along with something red. It appears to be blood from scraping knuckles against the page and repeatedly punching the table.

CANT BE TOGETHER BECAUSE THEY CARE ABOUT YOU?! What sort of stupid bollocks is that?

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 05:33:14 AM

I wish something *would* kill me in such a way as to make all this hurting on the inside stop.
It won't though.

Why do I care about people?
All they ever do is blunderingly confuse themselves into thinking that hurting you is the right thing.
With antagonists at least it's a tad more honest.
They want to hurt you because you have something they like and want or a relationship they believe you to have with which they are jealous.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 05:42:36 AM

I filled a hole she thought no man could fill Dead Lee and Dead Newell!
What the bloody f*ck is that supposed to mean?
She said she couldn't love me the way I loved her.
I asked her what the devil that was supposed to mean and she said giving me her soul because I give mine to her. I found very much flawed and inaccurate with this way of thinking.
Tinu you stupid elf, that isn't what it's about at all.
I just wanted somebody to spend some time with and to be able to make happy.
Go find some human woman to do that with? That doesn't sound like you dear confuséd girl.
That sounds like some thing somebody else told you to say and you rehearsed. She kept crying the whole time too.

Also nobody wants me my own race or any other. You were this strange miraculous exception seemingly. Thanks for throwing that down the privy in the sewer with the rat feces.

Stench? Lee and Newell are starting to get a bit ripe. I'd better haul them to the temple. How long is it? I've lost track of time. How many days has it been?
Everything feels meaningless with no church to serve and no lady love.

Also it's hard to denote the passage of time down here.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 05:49:04 AM

I must be hallucinating in the cave.
Begun affectionately nicknaming the fire beetle grubs.
They nip at my heels, perhaps playfully.
The hell am I saying... This is aggression.
First foresaken by the church and then by the elves.
This really hurts.
Not the stinging burns from the bites. I'm talking about emotional pain.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 05:50:56 AM

I wonder if Tinu was a figment of my imagination.
If she never really existed then this pushing me away was a you should snap back to reality by my own mind.
No, that's too simple and the fumes from these chambers and all the bug guts are starting to get to me.

I feel like Mishandra would tell me to pick myself up and stop feeling sorry for myself. Possibly in elven.

What's the use though?
Beatrice was mad at me for making Tinu cry.
Perhaps they love each other.  Glad she could find happiness somehow. Sorry I couldn't provide it to her.

My mind and heart are destroyed.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 01:54:23 PM

I have nothing else left to lose.
Now Banites seem mad at me.
I'll show them, I'll show them what happens when you decide to pick on a guy without his church, without his bride, with no friends left. I'll duck into the woods and go to the foot of Mt. Baratak to piss off an ancient dire bear. Then I'll let it chase me back. Merde!
They can see through invisibility. I'll have to work quickly!

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 16, 2018, 06:06:17 PM

Lance corporal Savu tamed the ancient dire bear before it could lay a finger on the Banites and had it attack me instead. When he caught and cuffed me I came willingly. I did run for a bit because having a giant bear attack you is very scary.
I'm going to be executed.
I asked him to please kill me.

I'm losing what little bit of my mind I had left, it feels like.
Nobody got hurt by the bear except me.

What Tinu did really hurt me.
Some people said they think it was so Claude Maluette the storyteller would go away but I think it had been building for awhile anyway. My female friends said she was crying because I was an idiot and she did still love me but it sure didn't feel that way.
It does not matter. My only friend now is a rat in the corner of the cell*. I am in

Spoiler: show

 Cell XI

. Sister Simona came and asked me to tell her my story and about what had happened to me I guess so at least if someone asks at the church (not sure anyone would but in the off chance the topic does come up!) they'd be able to find out about it.

I feel foresaken by everyone and like I haven't any friends left.
Things were already at a very low point and I made the mistake of assuming they could not possibly get worse.

*Charlie the rat was a hallucination Broken Kaine was having because he was lonely.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 27, 2018, 05:36:35 PM

Epilogue:
Pain, anguish and torment swirl.
I have no succor. I do not get surcrease.

Consistent punishment is no way to train a mercenary.
For both doing the right and the wrong thing.
The idea when you are a drill master is supposed to be punish the recruit less when he does the right thing, not punish him even more than when he is doing the wrong thing.

Mine is a lonely path but was ever thus.
I have been hunted, criminalized, shunned in Vallaki and all for what?
The number of people who ever actually got hurt from any of my actions is quite small.
The number of people who were offended or as we say in Brelend, chuffed, however, is quite large.

Title: Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
Post by: Silas Rotleaf on January 30, 2018, 10:27:25 AM

Conclusion:

Spoiler: show

 Kaine wanted badly to be loved by someone and to have some sort of a cause to serve. That he was shunned to death and hounded shows that even those of stout heart can be consumed by the mists.
In the end he was maddened by grief and loneliness.