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Eliezra Baldwin's File

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Fiverine:
SpoilerOstian was an Imperial Archivist before he came to us, and this story is entirely his idea.  He asked me and a few of the others to write down where we came from and how we got here and ultimately what we do.  Supposedly it will help bring us some "closure" (whatever that means) as well as allow him to compile a written record of our members and movement (which I doubt anybody will ever read).  I don't think my experiences were any better or worse or even any more interesting than anyone else's here, whatever Mylene will tell you.  But Ostian was good to me when I first arrived, so I will humour him. 

I was born in Lyrkos, the third of five children.  My parents owned a textile business there and their only dreams for me were to work in it until I married a man in the same line of work.  It wasn't an unhappy upbringing by any means but I decided a future in rugs and curtains wasn't for me.  In a fit of pique I stole some money from the family safe and ran away from home in my late teens.  My glorious dreams of adventures and wealth came to nothing and a few years later I found myself scraping by working as a barmaid in a Fenwick tavern.  I was barely making enough coin to get by and it seemed I would have to return to my family.  But just as I was mulling over what apologies I could possibly come up with for that reunion, a wonderful opportunity appeared.

An elegant tiefling lady by the name of Tylna came to the tavern one night and was quite taken by me.  Accompanying her was a little retinue of attractive young men and women.  Tylna said I was pretty, charming and resourceful and just needed the right opportunity.  She was starting a "classy escort business" in Conch with her friends and offered to take me there to work for her as a courtesan.  Oh, the trip wasn't free, but she assured me I could quickly repay it through my work for her.  She and her friends plied me with drinks and glamorous stories, and I decided I could do this for a while and then return triumphantly to Lyrkos a wealthy young woman.

It seems so foolish now.  I am sure thousands of young men and women through the years have fallen for this trick.  The only completely true part of Tylna's proposition was that we were going to Conch.  But instead of flitting around a mansion entertaining wealthy ladies and gentlemen, I was to work in a shabby brothel in the slums.  We were not free to leave unescorted and our pay was pitiful.  If we ever did start to save some money, Tylna just added interest to our "loan".  Most of the clients were as horrid as you can imagine.  Surprisingly there was a kind man, a battle-scarred brute from the Knots gang named Trewin.  He had been an adventurer, and for months when he visited he taught a few of us some of what he knew.  Skills like how to handle a weapon, how to force a lock, and how to spot booby traps.  I imagine he had some grand plan for us, but unfortunately he was tortured to death after being captured by Diiri's Boys and our training ended.

Tyche, the patron goddess of Conch, intervened in my predicament rather cruelly.  A particularly grotesque client in greenish khaki robes came in to the Lamb one night.  We drew straws for who would take him.  One of the newer girls got the short straw and sobbed in distress.  Fatefully I offered to take her place to spare her this client.  A few hours after "entertaining" this vile man, I came down with a fever.  By the next day I was seriously ill.  I don't need to describe the symptoms.  Anyone reading this knows what I look like.  Tylna had me wrapped in sheets and taken to the temple to see Kardeen.  He was horrified by my condition, but Tylna was even more horrified by the price he put on a cure.  Deciding I wasn't "economically viable" anymore, Tylna fired me and hired one of Diiri's thugs to take me away.  I wouldn't be surprised if he was supposed to mercy kill me, but in his haste to avoid being infected he just dumped me and ran from the alley. 

In a dark corner of the slums I drifted in and out of consciousness for what I think were days.  A few people walked past but other than gasping in horror none of them offered any response to my whispered pleas.  I knew I was dying, and made peace with that.  I felt that if nothing else I had spared another person this horrid death, and that was a burden I could accept.  The only thing I couldn't let go of was the realisation that the man who had made me sick would continue spreading his ghastly pestilence.  This sordid part of Conch was utterly without mercy.  So lacking in that humble virtue in fact that not even Tylna's hired goon had been willing to give me release. 

That was what I was thinking about when I heard footsteps.  My clouded vision looked to the sound and saw a pitiful sight.  There was a man dressed only in a loincloth and his exposed skin was covered in a multitude of welts from what must have been a hellish whipping.  His fingers were bent back and broken and he limped upon burned and blistered feet.  His face, though plastered with blood, reminded me of Trewin. 

"Follow me, child" he said softly.  "You, who would spare another a horrific fate and take on that heavy burden yourself, shall not die here."
The crippled man beckoned to me with a crooked finger, and somehow I managed to dredge up just enough strength to crawl to his familiar face as he led me.  He stopped occasionally and smiled at me warmly with his gashed lips while I caught my breath, and beckoned again.  I kept crawling, not even knowing why I bothered when I was surely beyond any recovery.

Finally feeling that I could not even crawl anymore, I looked up to plead for the man to have mercy on me.  Instead I let out a moan of anguish when I realised he was gone.  But I was not alone.  I heard the familiar sounds of footsteps followed by gasps of horror, but this time they were accompanied by many strong arms lifting me from the ground.  I was carried to a ruined but warm building.  Though my eyesight was hazy then, I remember seeing the faces of little Ostian and old Mylene amongst my saviours.  They had no money, and Sister Mylene at that point possessed only limited healing magic.  But they knew more basic cures and they treated me with those and did so with remarkable persistence and care.  Though they never spoke of any doubt as I convalesced I could tell they were shocked when some weeks later, I rose to my feet once again and looked at them with clear eyes.   

My strength recovered though of course some other things never have or will.  It only took a single look in a mirror to resign myself to wearing a veil for the rest of my life.  Within a few more days I was well enough to leave, but I refused to.  I explained that my old family would never take me back as I am now.  They would never forgive me for stealing from them and then doing what they would see as shameful work nor could they still love or even stand the sight of what I had become now.  Furthermore I felt I had to do something, however pitifully small, about the appalling things going on in this district.  And physically, I figured I would be more accepted in a district of shunned monsters than anywhere else in Conch. 

Mylene smiled when I told them all this, then she told me the truth of their little group here and what their purpose is in West Conch.  I would be their newest family member she said, and they would take me as I am and welcome my presence.  Mylene said they were fearful of many things here in the slums and for a long time they had waited and prayed for someone like me to come to them.  I didn't know quite what she meant by that.  I still don't.  I can feel the call of my saviour, but I am struggling to find the path he is calling me to. 

Fiverine:
My health has improved enough that I can make some tentative journeys outside our camp.  I ran a few errands for the needy as best I could.  My muscles are still weak and my reactions slow, and it was not long before I was seriously injured.  But these are wounds that can be easily healed, unlike the scars left by my illness.  It did me some good and I can feel my vigour returning.  My equipment is rather shabby but adequate.  One of the Knots sold it to me cheap because he knew Trewin, the man who trained me.  The Knots seem less obnoxious than most of the other gangs and are probably the only one we are likely to find much common ground with. 

Ostian warned me of a few things before I ventured out.  He said the Boys have been shaking down strangers for protection money.  But they didn't bother me.  The brutes on duty just waved me through, so I suppose this means I am considered a local now or they just felt sorry for me.  Ostian also advised me to stay out of Uptown because "it's whip territory", whatever that means.  But I had no reason to go there anyway. 

Mylene wants me to find an ordained cleric of the Broken God.  Conch does not seem a likely place for such a person to be, even in passing.  All the same I promised I will search for one, though I am not entirely sure why she is so eager for me to meet one.  She's a lay healer and preacher and does a great job.  We seem to be doing all right on our own so far. 

Fiverine:
I was feeling much better today so went for a longer outing on the streets and outskirts of Conch.  The slums do not have a monopoly on suffering, I found, though naturally we have it much worse in most respects.  I sent a message out for a mentor. Ostian insisted I make it as cryptic as possible.  That seems rather pointless but I followed his advice for now. 

More importantly I won my first real victory.  Last time I ventured out from our camp I was grievously wounded by a mutant which was seemingly the priest of some chiropteran god.  The first time we crossed paths he ambushed me from the shadows, which were too murky for my still blurry eyesight to penetrate.  He wielded two blades and I had not been trained against such an opponent.  He took fiendish glee in the injuries he inflicted upon me.  I could not even hold my ground, let alone strike him back.  Only by the Broken God's mercy did I escape that time.

But this time was different.  I had scraped together enough money to improve my equipment somewhat.  My keen eyesight has returned and I instantly spotted the villain hiding in a corner and charged him.  I found my reactions had now recovered enough not only to parry his attacks but to counterattack.  He fell to my blade and I could tell by the fear in his eyes as he died that he did not find the experience of feeling pain as joyous as that of inflicting it. 

Fiverine:
Another successful exploration of the city completed.  I am still avoiding Upper Conch because of Ostian's warnings.  However I have had my first glimpses of the plagues of crows and rats which I have heard about.  There seems to be some malign intelligence driving these events which was obvious even in my first encounters.  Apparently the Nebular University is investigating both matters.  In any case, we have other problems.

Something happened recently that has made Diiri's Boys even more paranoid and brutish than usual.  Some of our group have heard an attempt was made on the life of the Boys' derro leader, others that their infamous stimulants and soul-gems are becoming dangerously unreliable.  Whatever the truth is the Boys have increased their security (if you can call more patrolling thugs "security") and are calling in debts.  Arlow had an old debt to them and when he couldn't pay they broke his leg in several places.  There were splinters of bone poking through the skin when we found him.  We've reset the leg and rigged up a brace for it but unless we can take him to Kardeen, Arlow will be recuperating a long time. 

I've made a few contacts in my explorations at least.  The local herbalist, Pallat, is a cheerful lass and has been supplying us with medicinal herbs.  Over in the Market District I found an apprentice smith named Dorindra who can supply us with affordable equipment for self-defence.  I think we're going to need it. 

Fiverine:
We've moved Mylene to a safer but still close location.  She's elderly and never backs down from a bully.  With Diiri's Boys on edge I've been worried about her because I know they wouldn't hesitate to cripple her if she stood up to them.  I thought she would be furious with us but she was actually pleased that she can focus more on healing and preaching now.  She is the closest thing we have to a spiritual leader and true healer and we would be lost without her. 

Today whilst at a stall I met one of the small folk, an adventurer named Pearl.  She was quite resplendent in magenta armour and also very kind.  She was in a hurry and mentioned she had to go meet "the captain".  A sailor perhaps, then.  I haven't been on a boat since I made the trip to Conch and the idea of sailing by choice rather than by trickery sounds interesting.  I think I'd be too worried about the ocean breeze blowing my veil off though. 
 

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