A Tale of the Forlorn

[zodiacspear]

Name: Garbhan Ross.
Nationality: Forfarian.
Age: 32
Appearance: Fair complexion, green eyes, long red hair, short, equally-red beard.  Is often seen wearing a heavy breastplate, with a kilt made of leather and crag cat fur.  His arms and legs both are also wrapped up in crag cat fur coverings.  He is almost always seen carrying a battle axe, great axe and a shield, though he seems to favor the greataxe.

Approachable, Garbhan has made many friends among the Barovian outsiders and even a few of the local Barovians.  To each of them, he is fiercely loyal and will do his best to protect them.  Unlike many other natives of the Mist realms, Garbhan does not discriminate based upon a persons appearance—claiming that being from Forlorn, his people don't have the luxury to be discriminatory. 

Many will notice that Garbhan often appears tired and worn out, as if he hasn't slept or slept well.  When not in active conversation, he often sits quietly his gaze distant.  An observer that his gaze has a haunted look to them, and a look of sorrow or shame will cross his face.

Origin story to come later.

[zodiacspear]

Those who have come to know Garbhan, will know that he arrived within Barovia a few months ago when his clanhold was overrun by the goblyns of Forlorn.  He  professes of being a warrior of his clan, and those who have seen him fight knows he fights with a berserker's zeal.  Often trading defense for offensive strikes that crumple even some of the tougher neuri.

When he speaks of his homeland, a wistful (yet sorrowful) expression crosses his features.  He claims to have once had a wife and daughter, but no longer.  The exact details of what happened he only shares if he feels close enough to the individual to share that tale that brings tears to his eyes still.  Some pains are not easily, or ever, forgotten.

When not in his armor, he still wears his kilt, pants, and crag cat covered boots.  Over his heart is a nasty looking scar, one might notice that it appears like a ragged bite wound—the diameter of which is roughly that of a human's bite.

[zodiacspear]

To trusted friends, Garbhan has shared to tale of what had truly happened at his clan hold before his arrival in Barovia. 

One day, when his wife, Moria, had gone to the lowlands of Forlorn to gather herbs for her brewing, she went missing.  Any search by the clan members proved fruitless, and without a body or a bloody remains left, it was unsure if she had been killed by goblyns or anything else.  For a week, Garbhan was left to care for his daughter Celia with the help of his sister and fellow clan members—all the while fearing the fate of his wife.  One night, when his sister had gone home and he had seen his daughter to her crib for the night, Garbhan was awoken by a strange sound coming from his daughters room.  Groggily, he grabbed his axe and went to check on her and saw his wife, standing over Celia. His shock at her arrival was quickly replaced by horror when he saw the blood across her face.  When the goblyn that was once Moria turned to him, he saw that she had been eating little Celia.  His wife then turned after him and all he could easily recall was a red haze.  When he came too, he found himself being restrained by four warriors of the clan, and the slashed remains of his wife laying nearby—a jagged bite wound over his heart.

Seeing what had happened, all the fight had left him.  He pulled himself free of the restraining warriors and held his wife as the loss weighed down on him like the stone halls of the clan hold.  No sooner had he done so, did the sound of a horn echo through the halls.  Soon the screams began and the fearful shouts of "Goblyns!" reverberated through the halls.  The warriors grabbed their weapons and rushed out, but Garbhan remained behind, unable to see more than the corpses of his wife and his daughter.  When his sister burst in, demanding that they flee, he gathered the remains of Celia, but before they could run the goblyns arrived and pulled his sister down.  Unable to stand and fight, he grabbed his axe and fled with the remains of his daughter.

As he managed to flee the clan hold, he could hear the goblyns growling and muttering in the distance as he fled through the Mists.  He ran as fast and as far as his legs could carry him.  When exhaustion finally caught up to him, he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.  No sounds of the goblyns followed him, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before they found him.  This deep in the Mists he feared that anything could attack him at any moment.  He looked to the bloody bundle in his hands and her took the time to dig a grave for Celia with his own hands.  Once the grave was finished, he only had time to utter a prayer for her before he fled further into the Mists.

To this day, he still goes quiet after telling this story, his eyes still holding the sorrow of that night.  Lamenting that he didn't have time to say goodbye to his wife and to give his daughter better than an unmarked grave in the Mists.  When asked what he thought had happened, he believes that Salleydar had found Moria the day she went missing.  Rather than kill her, he turned her into a goblyn and went through her memories.  Using that, he lead his goblyns to the clan hold and tormented what remained of Moria by killing her own daughter with the intention of killing her husband as well.  With his family and home gone, Garbhan still pushes himself everyday to return to Forlorn one day and do all that he can to take back his homeland.

[zodiacspear]

With more recent events, Garbhan is carrying himself with pride and a smile often covers his face.  The once grim warrior now holds his head high, as the wounds of his heart have begun to heal.  A new love has blossomed and, while they will never truly heal, he has a new purpose in life that is not about revenge.

He is rarely ever seen without Sulue Aris by his side.