Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Atar 11-06-05, 04:54 PM	Hi there, this is a history I made up for my character in the campaign I currently play in. We play 3.0, I'll be taking Devoted Defender levels in a couple of levels (level 5 now). The first two stories are written before I joined the campaign at level 5, the third I did two nights ago or sumsuch. I'm Dutch, but I hope my English 's good 'nuff fer ya :D Please reply if you've read it all, if you dare :P My character is basicly not your average run of the mill fighter. I rolled insanely high for him (18, 16, 16, 13, 13, 13. No cheating) and started out with a level of rogue, with that many skillpoints I took something around 6 or 7 languages. ------------------------ Part One: ------------------------ Eyes covered by leather coverd by damp cloth. Sador lay still, trying to sleep in what he had called home for the last score of years. One hand on his ear and one folded under his chest, he lay on his side on a layer of burlap about a feet high. He had put on his leather day-cap backwards, as to not be disturbed by the light while he tried to sleep in this common area. It wasn't the light that kept him awake though, it was the two lads playing tie-toe not 10 feet away. It annoyed him that eventhough he needed so little sleep nowadays, he still could find no rest, especially not in the morning hours. It was about 5 or 6 o'clock and he knew the two danglers could not be doing their game elsewhere at this time. With their 'proffesion' they would only show their faces out of the Pinder's Rest when the market had all been set up and the actual buyers were out on the streets. With the big prizeshanging from their hips, mostly silver and copper reals, but on a lucky day they might catch some gold aswell. He remembered his days as a youngster trying to pick a pocket or cut a purse, he'd been one of the worst apprentices around. And still, eventhough he was certain that he had tought at least one of the boys the rather violent game of tie-toe and he had covered his ears as best he could, he was getting frustrated. Tie-toe was a game to pass the time, he knew that from his days as an urchin himself, he'd learned it from one of the older members of his guild. But it also served a purpose, it build you some wits and cunning in a brawl and also made you quick on your feet. The idea being that one person would try to stomp the toes of his opponent, and the other would try and hit the 'tie' spot. The spot where a nobleman's leather tie would stop, just under where the last ribs touched eachother. These two kids would never wear a tie though, unless it was made out of hemp rope. They'd prolly wear it only once, to their own funeral. Hence their nickname, danglers, outlaws, those that were to be hanged without trial. The noise they were making playing this game kept him awake and Sador couldn't quite use that. It had been three weeks now, since he'd bought his ring. His whole fortune had gone into this one small piece of metal he was now wearing at his left hand. It had been a weird three weeks, the hunger and sleep were all but gone away now. At times he thought it was the habbit of eating, drinking and sleeping eight hours a night that were the hardest to break. He was planning to get some mage to make it invisible to all but him, when he got the cash. Yes, this ring of Sustenance had been the best thing ever in the twenty-five or so years he'd walked this planet. Years of standing guard near the three-foot high entrance to the thievesguild had payed him well enough. The entrance was build that low to force whoever wanted to come through, to crawl. It made sure whoever came through was at a disatvantage to the guy standing guard, perfect for lopping heads off. Three options: get recognized, speak the code-word or die. In the couple of years he'd been standing guard he'd had three buggers nosing in while he was on shift. He'd lopped their heads clean off. Thats three heads in... roughly a thousand nights. Quite the boring job he figured, as he lay still, trying to sleep. But since a year or two he had moved up in the ranks. These days Sador had been promoted to go with one of the *****s on housecalls. He'd come along, check out the person hiring her 'skills' and would stand guard to prevent the customer roughening her up. Afterwards he'd make sure the gold was payed to the last cent, the he'd escort the girl he was protecting back to the safehouse and deliver the cash. Being able to stay awake was a great asset to that kind of life, so his waking hours used to be from around eight in the afternoon 'till whenever he needed to get some sleep. But now that had changed, with two hours of sleep a night -or day- he'd earned his coin standing guard in front of a door where a perfectly legal business transaction was taking place. And he didn't mind it one bit.. Then, in the morning hours he slept. During the day he'd stand guard at the same spot he'd spent those other years, but during daystimes there was much more traffic and thus it was more interesting. Most of the males calling upon the girls he protected were hidious, and most of their wives -heck, if they had any- were either worse or rather beautiful in a noble kind of way. The client Maria had an appointment with for tonight was one of those bastards that had the luck of marrying one of the most beautiful women in all of his city, noble too. So the merchant must've thought it had been a double investment. Only problem was, the women wouldn't bed him. Well, that much could be gathered by the way she was always out of town and he was always buying his warmth in bed from the girls Sador worked with. If someone would ask him he'd say the man's lady was no punnishment to look upon, but as always, noone was asking him. And he was perfectly fine with that. Sador had a nack for languages, even for a human he was extremely well-tought in their many misteries. Knowing that many languages also made sure he didn't miss any gossip or scheme's brewing behind his back. It was also a nice timeconsuming business, trying to learn a new language, and time was one thing he had enough of while on guard. By now the two lads had given up the game of tie-toe and were rolling all over the floor, grappling eachother. Just about every eye in the large basement was pointing towards the two boys rolling over the cobbles, straw and burlap. Then, in the blink of an eye Sador was standing up, looking enraged. After cursing violently in Infernal he continued; "WILL YOU KEEP IT QUIET?! I AM TRYING TO CATCH SOME SHUTEYE HERE!" And with that the two boys got to their feet and shuffled off to the far corner of the guildroom. With a sigh of contempt Sador layed back on his side, closed his eyes and slept. A deep, dreamless sleep. ------------------------ Part Two: ------------------------ Leaning on his bastardsword, Sador wondered how long this night would be, and if the dwarven guard that served here would join him as his shift began at a couple hours before dawn. The dwarf had taken him on as a friend since he was able to speak dwarven, something which not many folk could. Not in Nemis anyway, not much. So, he'd have to stand there for a few hours before he could find some distraction. It gave the dwarf a chance to speak his father's tongue and Sador a chance to simply speak the language, and maybe learn a bit. After a few hours filled with pondering, he was starting to recite some of the draconic poems he knew, trying to improve on his pronouncement. Getting into it, after about an hour since he had left the girl with this squire's son he heard the screams. "Help! SADOR!! HEL--" and a thud. Without a second thought he burst open the door, ready to give the man a good kicking. He found the man hanging slighty on the bedpole, the girl he was escorting was scrambling up on the other side of the bed, gathering her clothes. "He hit me and is too ****** to try anything with." She said, giving a nod which was aimed at the man's privates. Sador had been in situations like this before, you usually gave the troublemaker a intimidating speech and maybe whack him out of his sences. Just enough he'd feel it the next day. Ofcourse, after an incident like this he'd be put on every blacklist the guild had access to. The man was drunk, and about in his late thirties. Not high enough of a figure to really be threating Sador, but not low enough to be missed. He could take the girl and just leave, but that'd leave the man without a good lesson. He also could try and clobber him a bit, it would probaly take not an ounce of Sadors strength, seeing as the man was now clinging onto his bedpole as if that same bedpole hung above a sixhundred feet cliff. Either way, Sador was in trouble, since this man was no lowrank soldier exchanging his silvers for a ***** and a skin of wine. He'd have to answer to his boss if he trashed the man up, but he'd also have to answer if he didn't, seeing as the man agreed to the rules Sador'd explained before the girl entered. Only a second after Sador stepped into the door and had taken a full notion of the situation he decided to go for the first choice and gave the man a hard kick against his outter knee. He knew words would be lost on the man, he barely had the sense to break his fall to the floor. The man landed on his side and started to crawl back up onto the bed. Sador took a big step over him and pulled him up to the side of the bed. As a sort of a last message he gave the man a hard punch, precisly at the middle of his chest, which knocked the wind out of him. The man fell to the floor, puking. Sador stood up and went for his protegee, to help her don herself fast. He was doing her backlaces as he heard the sound of a sword being drawn. As he turned to look he saw the man lunge forward, using a nobleman's rapier as a longsword. No finnesse was in the strike at all, and being drunk, the man was slow. In one movement Sador pushed the girl away and swung his bastardsword from his back and started a dance with the man. Now that blades were drawn Sador had a problem. At any other time he would've loved to fight a drunken, naked fool using his weapon in totaly the wrong fashion. He'd have remembered every last bit of the fight so he would be able to tell the man's clumsiness in every detail at the guildhall. But this was not such a time. Before him was a man, rapier drawn, intend on putting the hurt on him. The man was of enough nobility to make Sadors life seriously difficult. He crossed blades with the man, and time after time tried to kick him from under his feet, or in the privates, or anything else that would keep him from really cutting the man up. The man's head had cleared somewhat by now, and he let his drunken rage take over by the training he obviously must've had. Sador decided to try and end it quickly, in a fast but badly aimed forward thrust, Sador stepped into the man's reach and strikes. Sador hits him half a foot behind the wrist, cutting in deep, possibly breaking bones. Instantly the mans attitude changes. Dropping the rapier, he grasps for his arm, blood poring between his fingers. "Bah! You really had to be this way?!" Sador half-screamed. Cursing all the way to the frontgate of the large brick house. The girl followed him, not a few feet behind. At the front gate he told the man holding guard "Your *lord* is in dire need of a healer's touch! Speed away!" Trying with all his effort not to look too hasty, angry or guilty Sador sets off to the streets. When a good few blocks away from the house, Sador sends off the girl to the *****house she belonged to. He heads off to the one part of the city he knows he can find help, an plan forming in his head already. Nearly 7 hours after the incident, a few minutes before dawn. A man is sitting in a roadside tavern, close to the city walls. The ale is cheap, but still its overpriced. Sador wonders why he is the one paying to empty this clay mug. The problem is that you can't drink the water from the only small river running through Nemis, since people **** in it and wash their clothes there. Boiled water which can be bought for half a copper might not give you a case of the runs, but it sure tasted like someone'd emptied their bowels in it. No, ale and wine were the only two things you could trust not to go stale and the alcohol helpt him get through the night. He'd have to leave.... In just a few hours half the cities guard was ruffled up from their straw-filled bunks and was now looking for the man trying to ''assasinate' one of the Nemis' nobles. Sador had gone from a tight cut, brown curly hair and unkept beard to short hair, dyed black and no beard. Under his earthcoloured linnen shirt he wore a breastplate, part of a full plate of armor he'd bought not a month back. Ensurance against hidden knives trying to get the reward that was no doubt on his head right now. Over that he was wearing his double cloak. Double because it had two sides, one linnen to keep the wind out and one wool, to keep him wam. It was called a double cloak also because it could function as a road blanket. He asked the bartender to fill up his wine skin with the best wine he had and payed his tab for tonight. The faint orange light of pre-dawn was slowly crawling her way over the roofs of Nemis. He realized he'd be missing them, but at the same time he'd be glad to be on the road again. Although, his first experience outside the city had been on a job. He was 'free' now, not to mention older and better trained. While contemplating what laid before him he started to jog towards the edge of the town. From where he stood he could see the city gates being lit up by the sun's radiant colours. The guards were obviously at their highest attention level possible. He looked down and said to a somewhat old halfling "So, do you have it ready?" "Yes, do you have my two gold coins?" the halfling replied. He held up two hands with a mocking smile, trying to imitate a beggar and failing misserably. "You're still too darned steep and you will get your gold after you summon it." Sador says, with a short nod towards a few feet to the side of them. The halfling nods and sits down on his knees, starting to chant and unpacking several small items. Sador looks at the gate again, he'll have to hurry, or it will be crouding with cityfolk going off to the market placed outside the gate. About ten minutes later in real time, but half a century in Sadors mind the halfling finnishes his chanting and stands. With a flick of his fingers a black horse apears, its manes and tail seemingly made out of a grey, unearthly fabric, its hooves no more that puffs off smoke, trembling with excitement. It looks straight at Sador, doing nothing but stare with two greyish eyes. Sador fastens a backpack to the beasts back and mounts. "Now you can have your gold, master halfling." says Sador in the halfling tongue, "And lets see if this animal can take me out of here! Keep out of trouble, you!" Throwing down the gold, he spurs the horse in the sides and heads straight for the gate. Full golden rays of sunshine now beckoning him to what lays outside. ------------------------ Part Three: ------------------------ Sador sat on the wagon, in the stables, in the dark. It'd been a long day, with many a thing at hand and there was much to think about. Outside there were two skins stretched out and all clean, hammered onto the wooden walls of the temple's stable. As he sat on the wagon, he pondered the things he saw the last week or so. This new group he had been hired into, or joined, had been good to him. At first he had a hard time getting a feel of his rank in this group. Was he to be a hireling or an equal? But after showing his skill and interest in their cause he felt they treated him like they were 'on his side' and not disregarding him socially as soon as his role was no longer needed. The situation that Elven village was in had intrigued him, their lifestyle of almost constant battle and preperation was astonishing. Sador found that, as he listened to the horses bristle in the night's cold, fighting any manner of animal was far easier than fighting a humanoid. And these Elves had been doing so for years, training for it in battle and after the battle was over aswell. An ongoing lifestyle of besiegement. The hardest part was not the actual killing itself, you could train yourself to be swift and strong, using your armor and sword to gain the upperhand. No, when fighting and killing humanoids the hardest part was to not let the images of their deaths get to you. The facial expressions of one dying were the same with any creature that had an intelligence. No thing that knew which end of a sword went where was so vile that it could kill without a feeling. Even the Orcs reaction when you stuck a sword in them would be a sign of fear at first, then anger. If they lived that long. Sador decided that perhaps being brought up in such an envirement as a Hobgoblin city would give you an almost physical hatred for your enemy. But he could not envision an Orc or Hobgoblin sitting at a watchfire at night and not think in disgust about how their enemy had soiled himself when they had been the one to strike the final blow. Or how they had clasped at their bellies while trying to hold in their... "UGH!" Sador explaimed as he stood up, shook his head and struck the railings of the wagon with his fists. The horses startled and were all looking at him. He went over to his Amber and started chanting an Elvish rhyme to her. Tonight he would not let the images of battle come back to him. He would force himself to think about other things, as he had done so many times before. His new companions were a good start for tonight. First there was John, the only other human male in the party. He also seemed the one person to be most like himself in ways of fighting. Though not as militaristic as himself, John certainly knew how to hold his own. The healing and other magics he could perform in the name of his deity Kord were a welcome bonus. Then there was Mara, for some reason she stood out more compared to the rest, he liked her freespirited way of doing things. And ofcourse her music was more than a little pleasing on the ears. He'd ofcourse noticed her glances as she was almost constantly seeking his attention, but seeing as she was a halfling and he was a human.... Speaking of humans, there were Elana and Kitara. Now, he found both of them interesting women. Kitara had almost bested him in a wrestling contest, which he thought to be quite good at. The fact she was a woman was ofcourse weird at first, but as soon as she'd engaged some punches and they had started wrestling that was out of the picture. He could not envision himself stepping into a real battle without the protection from a good few inches of steel and wood between him and his enemy though. Her training had obviously paid off well, and that for such a young woman. In his hometown he had seen displays of monks, perhaps even of her order, but few had shown the bravery she had in the battle with those Displacer Beasts for instance. Elana was a more delicate matter alltogether, though strikingly beautiful with the red curls she was a priest and he apreciated her skills as such. And eventhough he would never admit it, he was astonished when she had called upon the powers of her deity the first time and flown into the air. He had seen flying animals all his life. Birds and even winged animals one could get used to. But actually speaking a few words and taking to the air? Sador shook his head and wondered how that would feel, and if he would be able to fight while airborn. This Lizardman named Wash was quite the character too, apperently a Druid and actually one of the few Sador ever saw and the first he ever talked with. Seeing as he spoke Draconic as he mother's tongue he should soon cease the oppertunity and talk to the 'creature'. If he could call him that, it was difficult to figure out seeing as he kind of kept himself secluded a bit. And ofcourse the Elf named Mere-Istar, now this is a man he could relate to, and he knew a language Sador had been dieing to learn! This Gnomish was a pretty darned tricky language, and he enjoyed the feeling of 'wriggling in his head' as he tried to comprehend the grammar rules and unique quallity it held. The man also had just turned a walking, talking and fighting TREASURE CHEST into a non-combatant fool. The ways of the arcane were not clear to him at all, eventhough he had been involved with mages a couple of times. As Mere-Istar was obiously the most intelligent man of the whole group, he seemed to be the one regarded as their leader. But he never seemed to give orders? In fact, unlike his other employees of the past, he had not recieved a single order since joining. Everything seemed to go either by gut-feeling or ruling of the majority and dangit, he even felt part of that majority. Or at least, he felt like he could cast a vote on issues. The pay promised to be good aswell! He took the bucket of water at Ambers feet and went to replenish it, taking care not to make too much noise. It was still hours before the sun would rise, but he decided to go and find that Black Rose he heard so much about and see if he could find some beer and laughter on this cold night. edit: Oh, right, I just remembered I can't use the common words for disposing of faeces and urine here. :D
Atar 11-08-05, 06:02 AM	Oh common, isn't there anyone thats willing to read it and tell met what they think? :)
SpaceRat 11-26-05, 09:24 AM	Nice background, ever thought about writing a book?
Atar 11-28-05, 11:53 AM	Heya, thanks! Yes I have thought about that, but I don't have the discipline to stick to one thing for very long :D I write these stories when I get inspired, I can't turn it on as some authors obviously can. I also work full-time, play DnD, go out, play some other PC games, mod my PC a bit here and there. I'm a spur of the moment kinda guy.