A Paladin's Heart

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei smiles at that. "That I can believe, Sir Samson. I can think of no one with an ounce of sense who'd want to antagonize you needlessly."

He takes another swig of his cider-which, though not so fine as that at home, was quite acceptable-and waited for the strange foreigner to respond.

Who is this Osiris he speaks of, anyway? I've not heard anything of what he talks of, or the language he speaks...he must be nearly as far from home as I am, and in a very different direction. Maybe I'll ask him about it later..."

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

Not wanting to be left out of the discussion, Malfrin speaks up.

I'm, uh, kind of new to this, but I'm quiet, and careful. And, well-

He colours slightly, but then raises his head high.

Well, I guess I'm pretty good at picking locks and getting into places. Only got caught the once. Paid 'em back now, of course, before I left. Sort of a "journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" thing, only I had a few more steps to go through.

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon smiled at the youth and winked, "Getting out is the more important lesson Mal. It's always easy to get into things, not quite so easy to get out."

Reminds me of my first days. I wonder if he'll use the skills he's learned for good, or just bury them.

[Glikker]

Amun sits at the table with a small bowl of porridge and some bread. *Before eating, he turns to Samson to answer his question, "I serve the Lord of the Dead by destroying those who would defy Him. I slay the sylmach, the undead, and their creators."

Amun bows his head for a brief prayer, then begins to eat.

[storybookknight]

"I have been a crusader and courier in the name of Torm for over thirty years." Before half of you were out of swaddling clothes, thought Owyn wryly. "A long while ago, I made a vow to, as His herald, visit every household shrine, village temple, or church dedicated to Him that I could find, and I pledged myself to spreading His messages both spiritual and mundane. Since then, I've been involved in everything from major wars to disputes between noble houses to assisting in childbirth; there's very little that I haven't learned how to do. Often my job requires secrecy, speed, or silence; that's why Owyn is my squire in particular. I personally have a few of his talents, though I never learned how to pick locks, or pockets." Owyn smiled at his squire with approval; making it plain that he considered the usefulness of the talents and what he was doing with them now far more important than what he had used them for in the past.

[Ravyn]

Manar ticks the group off on her fingers. "Warrior, talker, combination of above. Finder, quiet type--" (and the way she says that is with a sort of knowing amusement, as if she's used that euphemism describing friends of hers before and knows it's just a wink to expectations) "-- subtle crusader--heh, good to know there's places other than my order where that isn't an oxymoron--and hunter of undead.... hm. The good news is, between us we've got someone for almost any situation thrown at us.... which isn't too good for puzzling out what kinds of situations we're to expect, but hey, we'll be told when the time's right, hm? The bad news is that describing the lot of us sounds more like the beginning of one of those 'diverse group of people walks into a bar' jokes by the minute." She chuckles. "Makes me wonder what the punchline is."

So many stories here.... how long is it going to take to sift through them, I wonder? And we really do need to perform an exchange of languages; I think by the time we'd finish we'd probably be able to talk to just about anyone from anywhere. Splendid....

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon lighted his pipe and took several puffs studying the group. Definately going to be an interesting experience. "Well, I think speculation on our task is pretty useless, as we'll be told in time anyway. Since we're all here with little else to do, perhaps we should take this time to get to know each other better?"

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

Good point, Manar. I always figured that I was just asked along because I was with Owyn, but maybe there is something...more specific for us.

Now, I don't put much stock by fate, but I sure feel like HERE is the place I'm supposed to be. I sure don't feel like it's all an accident. I'm here to help these people, if they need it.

Embarrassed at the length of his speech, Malfrin glances around.

Meantime, maybe I'll help myself to some more toast. Anyone else want anything?

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei finishes his cider and passes it to the squire.

"Well, since you're offering..."

After Malfrin leaves, he turns to Owyn, eyes serious.

"How long has young Malfrin been your squire, Sir Owyn? Have you been teaching him long?"


I know I'll have to train a squire someday, and I think this veteran knight could show me a few things...both on and off the field of battle.

[storybookknight]

Owyn waved off the offer for more food by Malfrin, and looked at Aleksei when spoken to. "Malfrin and I have only been traveling together since Suzail, and we've since traveled in this general direction, though in an indirect manner - no more than a month or two, regardless. In any case, it's by no means a traditional squirehood, though that is his rank within our order. It's closer to an apprenticeship than anything else... Heralds aren't nearly as common as other knights within the order, and have very specialized duties." The lines around his eyes tightened slightly, as if something had sobered his mood.

[Ryshan Ynrith]

"Heralds? Forgive me if this is a difficult subject, but I have not seen any orders of paladins, or indeed knights, outside of my homeland. 'Least, not on the right end of a sword. What makes a Herald different?"

Aleksei ***** his head and listens intently to the older knight's answer.

[storybookknight]

Owyn cocked his head, thinking. "I believe that it varies for many orders. My own personal duties include the memorization of the coats of arms of the various knights of the order, carrying messages between churches in times of peace and between the commander and troops during time of war, and to spread the Word of Torm and his messages. In addition, I'm on a pilgrimage to every shrine to Torm in the world, but that's a more spiritual duty, and less clearly delineated. Basically, I - and Malfrin - are holy messengers." He grins a wry half-smile, one side of his face twisting up much farther than the other, which has a faded scar on its cheek. "It's not the most glamorous Duty, but it is a vital one, and more importantly, it is my Duty. Er, ours."

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei nods, making mental notes on the matter. "I serve the Order of the Zenith Sun, or the Zenith Order in less-than-formal parlance. As I mentioned, my duties tend to lie in battle, for that is where I spent much of my life before I was called...I was permitted into Lord Lyam's Royal Hussars, once I motivated myself sufficiently. We were the sword and shield of the Tsar-King, that would be here, I think-and I fought fiercely for many years, fending off bandits, savage creatures-no offense intended, Sir Samson-and, worst of all, the renegade soldiers and nobles who would depose the King. They were worst because they were skilled, and could put down an ambush to shame the most cunning of kobolds..."

For a moment, he is silent, and looks at the gold ring on his left hand before continuing.

"But enough of me. Tell me, Sir Owyn, what did you do before you were called?"

[storybookknight]

Owyn raises an eyebrow. "What did I do? It's an interesting answer. I didn't really have time for much else - before I was a Herald-in-training, I was a runaway and a vagabond, an apprentice musician to an old friend - a gnome. How he worked magic into his music, I'll never know...." His smile turns wistful for a second, then he shrugs. "I abandoned a noble rank and title for Duty's sake; that's part of why I'm a Herald rather than a Knight. Knighthood is for nobles; it's part of the rules of our order. Most commoners chosen to His service become Templars; Heralds may be ordinary Heralds or Heraldic Knights, with little distinction except for technical rank. I'm Herald Owyn, not Sir Owyn. I don't miss the honorific, really." He shrugs again, this time with a more uncaring feel to it. "Many of Torm's servants win a noble rank; I have no need for it, and indeed my Duties forbid me from accepting it. It is my Duty to travel in Torm's name. I cannot accept responsibility for any one piece of land; thus, I remain a common Herald."

[Ryshan Ynrith]

"...for one piece of..I see. Knights in Venyesh are, how do you say, more like knights-errant. We do not hold land until we decide to settle down, and with the lives most of us live, the King needs not parcel out much of his territory at all. I suppose we're more common than knights here."

Aleksei scratches at the stubble that is already threatening to form on his chin before continuing.

"Few knights in Venyesh garner enough attention and favor from the King to earn lands before they have served their term, and as I mentioned, the term is long and the life hard. Knights of an order, like my own, however, can be very different...some orders parcel out land that they have tamed through force of arms, while others merely save space for retired knights in their headquarters. The Zenith Order is a paladinic order, however, and we tend not to retire at all-the reaper gets us before we are willing to cease our work."

[storybookknight]

Owyn's face returned to its more serious demeanor. "Indeed," he said while looking at Malfrin, still across the room getting food. "All of us must lay down our Duties some day."

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon smiled as he smoked his pipe and listened to the conversation, "Or in some of our cases, one of our duties is set aside our duties and settle down. Yondalla is the goddess of family. I'm not quite ready though, there's still too much to see."

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

Malfrin returns with a mug of cider.

Sir Aleksei.

He settles near Sir Rayvon, and seems excited by his comment.

A family? I just thought that all paladins were like Herald Owyn - dedicated to a life of service, and service alone. You're saying that many of your order raise families and do this?

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon looked at the youth, "Some of our more sedentary members do both. Yondalla doesn't have a whole lot of what are called paladins, so we don't really have a set of rules to follow. Some are like me, wandering the world, exploring. Some are merchants. Others bring justice to wrongdoers, and yet others are guardians, staying in one place. Each paladin decides how best to fill his own role, but at some point we need to start a family of our own. Guardians can do this while fulfilling their duties. I can't right now, it wouldn't be fair to be gone so long from a wife, but some day..."

[storybookknight]

Owyn laughed quietly. "A family. Wouldn't that be nice... Some of our knights do raise families, typically those who also maintain noble rank. For a herald like me, though, my duties towards my Lord are mutually exclusive to the duties I would have as a husband or a father. The order requires no oath of chastity, only that we do our duties and conduct ourselves in an honorable fashion." His cheeks pinked slightly, and he looked to the side, leaving the thought hanging, half-finished.

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon grinned widely, "I think I detect an interesting story there. You'll have to share it sometime," he said and took a puff of his pipe. *He leaned back and watched the rest of the assembled group for a bit, studying them.

[storybookknight]

Owyn turned slightly pinker, but just coughed and said "Oh, ehm, no, not really." He quickly looked at everyone else, as if searching for a distraction, and came up with "Of course, in a company such as this, I'd wager we all have our tales of heroics and derring-do, no?"

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei thanks Malfrin quietly before rejoining the conversation.

"Indeed we do, Herald Owyn. I recall an incident before I was Chosen. I had recently, through some daring (and foolhardy) actions, obtained a spot in Lord Lyov's Hussars. This was one of my first missions, and the first of the sorties against the deserter army, led by Jalkyr the Fox."

Aleksei leans forward, becoming more animated and a trifle less stiff as he gets into his tale.

"I was in a small squad, led by a fine lady and leader, Captain Galina Sashava. She was a Chosen of Tyr, from my own order, though I knew next to naught about paladins at the time. Dame Galina was the soul of a paladin-generous, fair, and the very model of competance. She was my mentor, you know...she gave me something to look for when I reached what I thought was the top..."

He sighs, and looks slightly downcast as he continues.

"Perhaps another time, I shall tell you the tale of her death, but that is not for today. Today, we speak of acts of valor and glory. So it was we headed out, myself a veteran made little more than a raw recruit in the company of the experienced Hussars. We were to eliminate a camp of deserters who had be preying on farmers near the eastern border, and we made all speed to destroy these men-turned-wolves.

When we arrived, we found many more than we had been told waiting. Dame Galina bid us stay hidden, and at night, we attacked. The deserters swiftly made ready to defend themselves, and the fight reached its height. I was over my head-I had fought mostly in smaller skirmishes and hit-and-runs, not this mass of confusion in the darkness. I lost my horse to a soldier's pike, and down I went into the chaos."

Carefully, Aleksei traces a line from his right shoulder to his left thigh. "The man that slew my horse nearly did the same to me. When he saw that I was down, he dropped his pike and drew his saber. Disoriented as I was, I could not block the blow. He all but cut me down where I stood, and for some time, I knew, knew that I was dead."

"And then Galina arrived. She had seen me be pulled down, and though the enemy was thick and strong forced her way to me. Such was her prowess and righteous fury that those she did not slay fled before her into the night. She kept the wound from killing me, and offered me her own steed to get to safety.

Angry and in shock, I declined-with some vigor-and together we forced our way to the center of the deserter's camp, where Captain Ivan-who had once been a great warrior and hero to our land-and his personal guard waited.

Such a fight it was! I had skill with the sword, there is no doubt, and Galina both great skill and holy power, but against so many we had little hope. Still, we pressed on, Dame Galina with the steadfastness of duty, and myself with the courage that only a paladin can give to those who fight by their side.

Captain Ivan was fearsome, and his guard doubly so, but when the dust of battle settled and the sun rose, we were victorious. Dame Galina and I had cut a swarth through the center of the camp and forced Captain Ivan to surrender. We managed to capture about a third of the camp; the rest were slain or fled. However, Captain Ivan's testimony at his court-martial proved invaluable in locating the other deserter cells, as well as the foreign man who instigated this uprising.

Were it not for Galina, I would be dead or crippled now, and certainly I would not have found my way to Tyr's service. Such is the will of the gods..."

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

Standing by Aleksei, Malfrin is drawn into his story. At the end, he murmurs a quiet, "Blessed be their names." before continuing.

I'm afraid that most of my best stories are actually Owyn's, but if he'll permit me, I'll share with you a story of a...quieter valour, that of Sir Emryld and Miss Farnir.

Taking a sip of his own cider, he warms to the attention.

As a Herald, of course, Owyn is often called upon to deliver important letters through all sorts of impossible conditions. Of course, when it's a matter of war and peace, dozens of lives hanging in the balance, you expect acts of great courage and wit in getting the messages through. And he does, of course. But the mission that I most admired him for helped only two people, but he still -

Malfrin's voice breaks slightly at the memory, and he ducks his head for a moment, embarrassed. Then he's back.

While in Mintar completing another task, we were introduced to a young Amnian doctor, one Omar Emryld, who was doing wonderful work in dealing with illnesses from a spate of tainted foodstuffs. He had planned to go home to Athkatla that month to marry a young girl, a Miss Weldi Farnir, if I recall. From the doctor's description of her, it was plain to see that this was a love-match, and an arrangement much to his liking.

Still the doctor felt that his work and his patients needed him there, and he was unable to make the long journey back to Amn at this time. Miss Farnir had already stated that it was her devoutest wish to be married in her family's home, so even if she could have been enticed to make the journey to the Lake of Steam, it would have been in contravention -

Malfrin glances up quickly at Owyn to confirm that he'd pronounced the word correctly. A deep breath, and back into the story.

- of her deepest wishes. Plus, the dear doctor feared that if he failed to make the arranged date of his nuptuals, Miss Farnir and her family might take it as a slight, and make other arrangements.

So, the doctor swore out an oath of his marriage vows, he and Owyn signed the document, and Herald and squire were off like crossbow bolts.

Well, I've got to tell you that the travelling we did, the bandits we slipped past, the ettin he outsmarted...well, Owyn doesn't like me to brag about him. But he was just as determined to get through, just as careful with that message, as he was with any.

And when I saw the look on Miss Farnir's face...once she got over the shock that Doctor Emryld would not be there in person...well, I guess I understood the power that the right words, at the right time, can have. And that it might be a good way to spend a life.

He grins at Owyn.

Plus, we got invited to the wedding feast, and it was a GREAT party.

[storybookknight]

Owyn smiles and nods at his squire. "No job too big nor too small; no honorable message that will not be delivered in time. It's our motto, if not our actual success rate." He looks back at Malfrin, smiling. "I suppose I should tell a heroic tale of Sir Malfrin, then. It was soon after we had begun traveling together that we had the misfortune to run into an ambush on the road. We'd had little if any time to train together - worse, what we ran into was above and beyond the normal frame of what could conceivably be run into. He had just enough presence of mind to leap off his horse onto a low-hanging branch and avoided the scourging blast of acid from a green-scaled bipedal beast of some sort which had decided to waylay travelers on the road for treasure. Lady and I charged underneath the spray, but this beast's strength was more prodigious than even our good Samson's might." Owyn illustrated a line from his left collarbone to his gut, his mouth twisting ruefully. "I regret that it caught me with a particularly good swing and knocked me flying out of my saddle into a tree, against which I laid dazed, trying to regain my bearings enough to heal my wounds. I was about to be spitted when Malfrin jumped out of the tree screaming, grabbed it by its scraggly hair and put a knife to its neck glowing with Torm's own light. That was the second time Malfrin saved my life."

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei raises his mug. "To the gods, and the health of all assembled here!"

He nods at Malfrin. "Not so flashy a tale as mine, but a good deed all the same, and it seems you are not wanting in courage either. You have a good squire, Herald Owyn."

Noting the silence of some, Aleksei turns and gestures at Samson.

"Come, Sir Samson. Tell us a tale, of valor or of good deeds, or perhaps how you came to be called to serve? It is not often we see minotaurs who come in friendship instead of war."

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

Embarrassment and pride fight for control of Malfrin's face. The results resemble a mild stroke.

Well. The thing's breath was really bad. Behind it seemed like the safest place at the time.

He sits down next to Aleksei, beaming a bit.

[mdsoze]

Samson shakes his head.

Telling stories has never been my strength. That is why I focus on listening.

He closes his lips, waiting to see if that's enough. When it's not, he reaches up, and grabs hold of his left horn.

Very well. This story takes place shortly after I finished my training with the order. Some hill giants had moved lower in the mountains following a particularly cold winter, and were getting close to a town, and were starting to conflict with humans over hunting grounds. Our order was asked to resolve the situation, peacefully if possible.

I was selected to travel with a more senior paladin, Sir Nathan.

When we arrived, I was wearing my armor, new from the forge. It still shined brightly in the sun. When I approached, the giants stared at me. I introduced myself in their language, and asked to speak to their leader. One of the giants charged me at that point, but I was able to wrestle him to the ground. Impressed, the giants led me to their leader.

After that, it was just a matter of convincing them they would be better off in the mountains. Work done mostly by Sir Nathan.

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei nods appreciatively. "A most peaceful outcome, Sir Samson, and one I think we can all agree would be best if it could be so in every case."

Aleksei takes another swig of his cider and turns towards Rayvon. "What of you, valiant halfling? Tell us a tale of yourself."

Impressive...I didn't think that such a warrior would take well to negotiations, but-of course he would. He's a paladin, Aleksei, no matter how much he may look like a raider...

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon sat forward and thought for a moment, the smoke from his pipe rising through the air. "It was about twenty years ago, I'd just finished my tutelage the previous year and was set loose on the world. I'd just finished a mission in Thay recovering a relic from the wizard who'd stolen it. I hadn't been given a new mission yet so I decided to head south and visit Luiren, the ancestral home of halflings. I'd just left Mulhorand and decided to cut cross country south instead of following the road. Stupid mistake as it turns out," he took a puff from his pipe and continued his story, "This was years before Buddy was even born; speaking of which, I wonder where he's at? Anyway, I'd picked up a pony in Mulhorand, but it was still slow going. I was new to cross country travel and kept wandering in circles without any landmarks. About six days out I was captured by some plainsmen. They took me back to their camp and decided to have me for dinner, literally. Here's a word of advice to you all, if you ever capture a halfling, don't let them out of your sight, we're fairly adept at wriggling out of bindings," he grinned broadly, "Things got a bit confusing after that, a couple of fires miraculously popped up and all their horses somehow got free. I'm not sure they even tried to follow me after that, I know I didn't see any sign of them for the rest of my trek."