Character Sheets and backgrounds

[Reion Hallowbrook]

A Spark in the Darkness

Me gran says she's not sure when our people came here. She says it was when the Vistani showed up as we Halflings also have a tendency for Caravan's. That's why some of us are so good with protective glyphs and wards.  It's old magic that again Gran says we picked up from the Vistani, and thank the powers above because it usually keeps our caravan's safe.  Otherwise I think we halfling would have been eaten a long time ago. Still, we like to roam a bit though we have a few little communities or Halfling towns as the Humans like to call them, doted all over.  I grew up in a particularly small community of Halflings that live in a relatively decent sized town of Vallaki.  It was actually pretty big by most standards, but it wasn't a full on city by any means. 

Still, this place wasn't so bad as most people made it out.  Humans and Elves are always so damn depressing.  I always said if they weren't so freaking sensitive they would get so depressed.  Monsters are monsters and as long as you put out the right protections, you can usually keep em away.  Granted most of the elves have been whipped out, at least most of those in Barovia. That's kinda sad. But, my gran always said, that if you don't go looking for trouble and don't go causing your neighbors a lot of grief, you'll make out alright. So that was the first rule. Keep your head down, enjoy a good meal and solid mug of beer and life is usually pretty damn good. 

Unfortunately, good food and better ale isn't free.  So here it was that me and my best friend Eloric, decided head out with Szo and Yev to go exploring some old moldy ruins to find some trinkets to sell.  We almost got ourselves very dead the first few times, but after a bit we learned from our mistakes and started finding some pretty fancy stuff.  Granted, Eloric always seemed a bit depressed on account of his family being eaten by monsters when he was a boy and Szo and Yev were the most taciturn humans I ever met, but they turned out to be fantastic friends. 

We worked those old dungeons for years, clearing out all the goodies we could find.  Finally we made a tidy little sum.  So much so that the others decided it was time to retire for other things. I don't know if I was really ready to get a decent job myself, but me mum was ready for me to get on with some honest work and find me a wife.  That whole prospect terrified me a little, I'm not gonna lie. But I figured if I jumped on with guarding my families caravans, it'd be harder for her to pin me down with some totalitarian lass who wanted to control my life.  

Szo and Yev had the right idea, they wandered out in the woods to hunt and stay out of any lasses eye. Though those two looked like they would scare off most women. Don't tell em I said that. But poor Eloric was just too pretty for his own good. Had a lass snatch up his wits and he was married in no time.  I took that as my que and bounced out of town on the next Caravan after a night of drinking to his health when    he got hitched. 

Life was pretty good. Guarding the caravans wasn't terrible hard work. I only had to fight off bandits most of the time, though we did get chased by werewolves twice in the time I was working with my family. That was relatively terrifying. I killed two of them... I think.  Used some silver tipped arrows. They stopped chasing us, so they are either dead or just super pissed.  Either way we got clear of em.  The second time werewolves showed up, it was just one.  Caught us on the roadside while we were camping. This damn thing was strong as it strolled right passed our wards. Thing killed my cousin Tim and my uncle Ory. Me and my dad, along with two more cousins filled the thing with silver arrows but it still kept coming. I managed to get close and put my short sword in it's gut and my dagger in it's eye.  The thing went mad. It chased me around the wagons for a full ten minutes while my family kept on with arrows.  Holy shit, it can surprise a halfling with how fast he can run when he has too.  Finally they brought the thing down, but by the gods I never want to have to run like that again. 

Couple of years passed and luckily we didn't have any more serious encounters. And I have to say I got to see a lot of this world. Well …at least the several country's surrounding Barovia. That seemed a lot to me, though Forlorn was the main country we usually traded with. They had some oddly interesting goods that Barovia for whatever reason seemed to lack. 

But, as nice as stable work was, it wasn't really going to make me rich enough to stop working.  And that has been my dream since I was a kid. To be able to buy a nice little house somewhere and relax with my beer and books. And here it was that I had been thinking of putting together another crew to do some real treasure hunting, when I came home to find Eloric drinking himself to death in the Blue Water. At first I thought his woman put him out, but I soon found out it was way worse than that.  How could one human have so much bad luck as to have monsters kill of his family twice! I decided that the gods must really hate him. Or he was cursed.  Both were viable options. So, I decided right then and there that I had to share my luck with my best friend or find him some fancy treasure that would actually protect him from that sort of thing. I just felt horrible for him, so I did the only thing we halflings know how to do when things get bad. I drank myself silly with him. Then after about a week or two we sobered up, I got him up off his duff and put him to work. I convinced him, that if he was going to be miserable, he should be trying to get rich with me. At least that might make thing more tolerable if not better.  Thankfully he seemed agreeable to this, so off we went. I'll find something to protect my friend from his curse or something to break it. And hey, if we get rich along the way, that isn't a bad side effect either. 

The first job was a resounding success, but the two mercenaries we hired died pretty spectacularly in the dungeon. I don't think Eloric really noticed as they died to the wraith in the treasure room. But at least they made it to the end! Still, I burned the bodies while Eloric drank and we made it to the closest village before the sun set.  See!  A resounding success.  Unfortunately, that's when it dawned on me where we were. 

Eloric set down his pen, though it was more that it just fell out of his grasp. He glanced over at Reion. "What was this moldy little town again?"

Reion cursed as he paced. "You're going to need to sober up a bit more mate. I think this place is Barovia." 

Eloric snorted, "Of course it is. I thought you didn't get drunk."

Reion rolled his eyes, "Not the country you jackass! The village! You know the one that sits right below the bloody Castle Ravenloft, home to our illustrious ruler."

With a deep groan, Eloric rolled his eyes. "You mean to tell me, you brought us right under the nose of Strahd?" 
Looking aghast, Reion held up his hands, "It's not my fault! Those ruins took twice as long as I thought they would! We're lucky to have made it to this inn before sunset, much less the next town."
Eloric let his head fall into his hands. "I honestly hate you Reion."

The Halfling laughed, "No you don't.  Now shut up and get some of those spells readied up. We might be needing them before the nights up."

NOT the End.