Character Name: Aethelwulf Var Sulyvene
Played By: Jared Helgestad
Gender: Male
Class: Rogue
Race: Serous Syndar
(Excerpt from the journal of Aethelwulf Var Sulyvene)
When I looked out from the small window below the deck of the ship I was on, I saw the smoke rising in the distance and could barely hear shouting on the shore in that small village. I had rose from my bed to get a better look I saw men in armor running around shouting orders.
Although I couldn’t hear them, I could tell what was happening; I knew it far too well. Orders for the soldiers, being shouted at by their superiors. I would be there with them if it wasn’t for the archer.
That damn archer…
If it wasn’t for him I’d be out there on that shore with my brothers and sisters and I wouldn’t have this damn breathing problem. Protecting the civilians as they were loaded onto ships, but instead I was wounded and deemed incapable of assisting in any capacity. So I was loaded onto a ship myself…
They wouldn’t survive…
There were not enough to fend off the numbers that were reported. They knew it too and yet they stayed to fight as I should have been. But I was left wounded and could not. I have always resented the fact that I was not there when they fell to the undead. I should have been there with my brothers and sisters fighting with them in the final moments of their lives.
I would not have made any difference. I know that…
But I would not have this guilt on my conscience. That is why I took the Rahd Noc.
I will NEVER let anything like that happen ever again. In the name of the Galendhidur and all those who gave their lives in defense of the innocents of Faedrun I won’t let it. I dedicate the life that was spared from death on that now forsaken land to this cause…
RETIREMENT:
In the Fall of 270 Aethelwulf hung up their adventuring sword and retired from the road, accepting their role as the Captain of the Guard of Key’s Crossing where they could be the most useful. This is their story:
Aethelwulf looked at the sword on their desk. The small burs on the blade caught the flickering of the candlelight making it almost sparkle. It was an old ornate sword, one that had seen much combat against many foes.
Aethelwulf remembered the first time they held this sword, when she had handed it to them, clearly trying to show off. She was beaming with pride for the family heirloom that had just been inherited.
Aethelwulf remembered the second time they held the sword. Her body lying on the ground, bloody and broken against a horde of corpses and traitors.
Aethelwulf looked to their right towards a small mirror, eyes fixed on the Rahd Noc. A hand slowly gripped the sword as their gaze slowly turned back towards their inheritance. They stood up and walked over to the wall and placed the old sword into it’s new rest mounted on the wall.
They moved to the desk again and picked up the paper that lay on it. A letter addressed to Cordyn, the new Magistrate of the Ravens. The contents of the letter were scratched out and the ink smudged. Aethelwulf crumpled the paper and threw it across the room. They started walking to the door, stopping just before exiting to strap on the basic side sword kept at the entrance to the office.
As Aethelwulf made their way towards Cordyn’s office, they remember the last time they were out in the field. They remembered the Undead that nearly killed them and Alestear. Aethelwulf stopped for a moment to stretch their leg, the same leg that had been broken and infected from that fight. It still ached sometimes just like their neck from the injury that forced them onto the boat to Mardrun.
After a while of resting against the walls of the corridor, they continued walking. Eventually they made it to the door of Cordyn’s office. Aethelwulf hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath. They were certain in their decision. It would be more effective if they just organized things. If one of their guards was not fit for active field duty they would not send them out. And so Aethelwulf, guard captain of the Ravens of Keys Crossing knocked on the door to tell Cordyn the news…