Unnamed

Birth of a Hero/Monster

It is said that Mirik was not born with the strength he would possess but was actually born very sickly and weak. From the day he was born to his parents in the village of Mordin's Valley, the would-be hero was on the cusp of death. Barely strong enough to drink and so weak, he hardly had the strength to cry. It seemed apparent that his parents would lose their son, if nothing was done. But there were not many options for what could save their infant when he was already so weak. There was rumor of a witch who lived in the forest not far from the village. She was said to have amazing powers but also often times wicked. But they saw that they had very little choice and were desperate to save their son.

Venturing into the witch's grove, they fearfully approached her hut and begged for her aid. To their surprise, the witch agreed but on the condition that they leave their son with her and come and get him the following day. While they were terrified of the witch using him as a sacrifice or eating him, but what choice did they have? Hesitantly, they left their son in the care of the witch with the promise that they would come for him the next morning.

The witch took that time she was given to set up a ritual to bind an aspect of her goddess to the soul of the infant. Yes, the infant would not die of sickness of weakness, but there would be a catch. There was always a catch when dealing with witches. But, all seemed normal when his father arrived the next day. Actually, better than normal since the first thing he heard was a baby crying. Overjoyed, he thanked the witch and left with his son to return with the great news to his wife. The two could not be happier to have their son back safe, and healthy.

Years passed and their son grew. And grew. And grew. It became obvious that the lad was not quite normal but, as he appeared normal save for his height and muscle, his parents simply thought nothing of it. That was until the first full moon after his eighteenth summer. Under the light of the moon, his blood began to boil. A vision of a woman appeared to him, beautiful save for the sneering face of a wolf that stood out strikingly from the rest of her. She calmly stalked closer to him. Fear shown in the young man's eyes as the strange, beastly woman crept closer and closer while he was unable to move through the pain. The woman stopped beside the vulnerable man and crouched down. Then, in a strange twist, simply pressed her snout to his forehead in what resembled a kiss before simply vanishing.

Mirik blacked out immediately after that. Only to wake up the next morning with shredded clothes, blood on his hands and mouth, and is village in ruins. There was no one left in the village. No one alive, at least. The witch's curse had finally taken effect and the price of saving his life was made known. It would take him time to learn how to control his curse and learn to live with it.

The Savoir of Varincia: Dukes and Vampires

Four years onward, Mirik had learned how to cope with his curse. Mental fortitude, having silver always on his person, and isolating himself during nights with a full moon. While it allowed him to live without having to constantly isolate himself to prevent himself from harming people. The beast would be kept at bay and, honestly, he had gotten used to his own enhanced senses even if they had been rather painful at first. However, he would not forgive the one who had turned him into such a beast in the first place. Having heard of the "kind witch" who lives in the forests outside of the village from his parents, the man had decided to go there first for answers. But, when he found the dilapidated hut, it was all but abandoned. Upon searching the shack, he found some letters and correspondences between the witch who lived in the hut and what he assumed was another witch. Within the letters was mention of a coven located in a city called Varincia. So, that was exactly where he would go.

Varincia is a rather large, coastal city that grew from a merchant presence given its ideal location for a trading hub for goods coming from overseas. Thanks to this, the city became a sprawling collection of homes, businesses, and various other buildings which range from extravagant mansions to slums. The streets are a chaotic sea of people. Overwhelming for those who have only lived in a small village all their life. Enough that Mirik ended up in a fight with a less-than-stellar guard not long after arriving in the city. During the scuffle, the cloak he had been using to make sure his more wolfish features were hidden had been knocked back. Fighting with a guard would have been bad enough but a werewolf as well? That was a quick trip to the dungeons. Not exactly a good start in his journey to find the coven of witches.

The Baron of Varincia had a very limited and harsh view of creatures like witches and werewolves. So, much to Mirik's surprise, the Baron himself came to visit him in the dungeon. The Baron demanded to know why his daughter had fallen ill and why she wouldn't wake up. As if Mirik would magically know the answer simply by being a werewolf. Mainly, this had to partially with the Baron's limited knowledge of creatures as well as his overpowering wish to save his daughter from whatever was afflicting her. Even though Mirik had no clue what was causing the Baron's daughter to be comatose, it was likely the only chance he would get to be free of the dungeon. So, the werewolf lied his tail off. Managing to make the Baron believe he could solve everything, in exchange for his freedom and aid finding the coven of witches. To which, the Baron readily agreed.

Which left Mirik free, but stuck in a seemingly impossible situation. Honestly, he wanted to help the Baron and, with the aid, he could probably find the coven more easily. Not to mention, if he simply ran away, the guards would catch him if he ever returned to the city. Which would make his pursuit of the coven even more difficult. It looked as though his quest would have to be put on hold for the time being.

The next few days he spent trying to learn of something, anything that could be helpful. With some help from a local scribe, he happened upon a tome which spoke of a charm made from the ashes of a powerful vampire's heart that could cure any illness. It was a promising lead, especially since there was no telling exactly what was wrong with the Baron's daughter. Better to be prepared for anything. In addition to this, he was able to find out that there was a village of Esos that apparently worshiped a god who was said to have been a very old, very powerful vampire.

As such, his next destination was Esos, a small village set next to some ancient ruins. The people hold the ruins sacred and never let outsiders venture close, let alone enter. The ruins are said to be the home of their god and they regularly leave offerings at an alter within the ruins. Distrustful of outsiders, Mirik was immediately denied entry to the ruins. Even though he kept the whole 'I want to kill your god' thing a secret. So, under the cover of night, he managed to sneak into the ruins. Immediately, he was hit with the stench of death, almost overpowering to his heightened sense of smell. As the foul miasma grew worse, there was a light visible in the winding tunnels. Drawing close, he entered into a large room with what looked to be an alter in the middle. But that wasn't what caught his attention. Rather the sheer number of skeletons and rotting corpses which littered the floor. All of them human. Shocked by the horror before him, Mirik did not notice a large shape moving along the ceiling until it landed right behind him. Barely able to turn before the monster slashed him across his side, he flew forward from the blow and crashed into the pile of old bones.

Looking on, his eyes wide with fear, what stood before him was unlike anything he had ever seen. A revolting, grey creature, back arced forward so that the creature was hunched over upon itself. Its torso looked as if all organs it might have had were removed, leaving disturbingly sunken in appearance that made it look as if the being was starving. The limbs were far too long for its body, both ending in appendages tipped with wicked claws. Ragged, leathery wings rose from its back. But its face was the worst. A nose that could only be described as caved in, a grotesquely large mouth packed to the brim with razor sharp teeth, and the eyes, red and burning with a merciless hunger.

For a moment, Mirik could do nothing but lay where he had landed, the wound on his back burning. Awful sounds came from the monster's direction. Pushing himself up enough to look, his gaze was met with the monster ravenously devouring the blood off of its claws. His blood. The realization hit him that this thing was planning on killing him and it was standing between him and the exit. There was no way he was getting out without a fight. Reaching for the sword at his back, his blood turned to ice as he realized it wasn't there. His eyes darted around the room frantically searching for his weapon. It lay near the monster, having been knocked off his back from the impact of the first strike. As if things couldn't get any worse, the vampire seemed to have finished with the blood on its claws and wanted the main course. It stalked towards him, the monster's movements slow and deliberate.

Mirik knew he could never get to his weapon before the monster got to him, nor did he believe that he would have time to even use the weapon before the monster killed him. So, he thought of a plan. not a good plan but the best he had. Pooling a bit of the blood from the wound on his side in one of his hands, he flung it towards the face of the vampire. Overtaken by the scent of blood, it began to try and devour the blood. This provided Mirik a chance to make a tactical retreat. Away from the entrance but also away from the monster that would surely be chancing him soon. He doubted that he would be able to hide. His scent would lead the monster right to him. But he had to think of something!

Fleeing deeper and deeper into the ruins, Mirik could hear the vampire's movements echo from behind him. He needed to put something very solid between himself and the monster. Fast! Just in time, he found what looked to be a functional door made a some sort of metal. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, he pushed the door open and quickly flung it closed behind him. At the moment it shut, an intense force from the other side hitting the door. Not a moment too soon. But before he could breath a sigh of relief, there was another impact and then another. The door began to creak and bend. In an attempt to save himself from the monster, he had trapped himself. Looking around the room for anything he could use to defend himself, Mirik noticed a halberd seeming to be displayed on a rack in the room. If he was going to die, then he was going to go down fighting.

Darting to where the halberd rest, he grabbed the handle. Imagines began running through his mind. People, places, experiences. All of them he knew he had no way of knowing them but the memories felt like his. He felt as though the experiences were his, they were his. It was impossible for him to explain but it was as if he had lived through hundreds of lives and suddenly regained the memories of them all. Just as simply as you might remember the name of an old friend. Suddenly, he was not afraid of the monster. He'd fought much worse than an elderly vampire before. Calm and poised, he held the halberd as if he had wielded it a thousand times, which he felt as though he had. As the vampire burst through the door, Mirik was ready. With an experience far beyond his years, slayed the monster with relative ease. Beheading it as soon as it entered the much smaller doorway to the room. A puny god in the end. He cut the vampire's heart out and put it in a nearby ceramic container before leaving the so-called god to rot like all the people it had killed over the years. In the coming weeks, the villagers will discover the body and figure out what the newcomer to the village had done, naming him "The Defiler".

Returning to Varincia, he consulted with the scribe to learn how to exactly create the charm. The heart was burned to ashes, then mixed with the metal used to make a pendant formed in a certain design. Then a charm had to be cast with a monster's blood, which Mirik was willing to provide. At the end of it all, they had an amulet which was supposed to cure any ailment. Which they presented to the Duke and it was placed around the neck of his daughter.

Nothing happened for a long moment but then something rose from the woman, a shadowy figure with horns like a deer. A spirit who had latched on to the woman, feeding off of her life energy it had deemed as what it was owed. A fight ensued between Mirik and the Walichu, finally banishing it for good with the aid of the court mage. With the parasite gone, the Duke's daughter woke up. She was weak but alive. The Duke was overjoyed and Mirik had held up his part of the bargain.

Savior of Varincia: The Coven

- Help from Duke
- Coven in city
- Searching
- Lead
- confrontation
- Choice to be cured but leave the coven be or not be cured and kill the coven
- Coven wants to unleash a force onto Varincia and then the world
- Stops them after injury to his eye
- Named Savior of Varincia
- Receives Ring of Status

After Mirik's help with saving the Duke's daughter, the nobleman was more than willing to aid Mirik in his own search. However, there hadn't been any need to rush into the next quest. The Duke had called for a celebration feast and, after going through everything he had when trying to find the cure, he was more than willing for a bit of fun and downtime. Bards would later create songs of his exploits during the festivities.

The Hero of the Battle of Mire's Edge

- Simple exploring gets Mirik caught up in a power struggle between a King's son and the King'd brother. Mirik ends up supporting the king's brother and aids him in the battle of Mire's Edge. Though outnumbered, Mirik manages to create a ghost army, simply a ruse but it manages to sow enough confusion in the enemy's ranks that they were able to win the decisive victory over the son of the king.

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