Description
Ithel MacCarrick is the youngest son of the Earl of Kierney. He is tall, about 6 feet, with brown eyes, and dark brown hair that he keeps cut short. He can usually be found in an inn drinking, dicing, laughing, and hoping to hear about a chance at treasure and glory.
While he might be drinking with the commoners in the inn, it is quite obvious that he views them as beneath him. He is always quick to accept a free drink, but can rarely be found buying drinks for others.
He always has his trident by his side, and when it is in his hand it is almost like it is an extension of him.
Background
Ithel is the sixth child, fourth son, of the Brion MacCarrick, Earl of Kierney. Due to his noble upbringing, he was trained in weapons from a very early age. He sat in on discussions on running the earldom, even though he knew he would never inherit it. Because of this knowledge, Ithel rarely paid attention, and did little to learn these skills. He would much rather be in the practice yard fighting.
Ithel was trained in all manner of weapons, but did not excel with any of them. He would practice just as hard as anyone else, but just did not become proficient with them. It wasn't until he started to work with pole-arms that his talent began to show. In particular, he loved the trident. He began to work with it exclusively, and soon he was able to master the use of it. He was able to hold his own against three others wielding long swords.
In addition to his formal weapons training, Ithel could be found spending time with the court bard. It was not music or stories that he was interested in though. He discovered that not only was the bard a talented musician, he was quite adept with a dagger. Ithel wished to learn those same skills, as they could be quite useful if he ever found himself without a larger weapon. The bard taught him how to throw a dagger with deadly accuracy.
After mastering the dagger training, Ithel could be found with any number of daggers on him at any point in time. Everyone noticed the dagger at his belt, but only the more perceptive noticed the dagger handle sticking out of his boot sheath. However, anyone that thought those were his only weapons were sorely mistaken. With a flourish of his hand, he could make a deadly dagger appear in his hand. Another flourish and is was gone, back up his sleeve. This was true of both arms. In a flash these could be thrown with, and quite accurately.
As he got older, Ithel became tired of sitting in meetings all day and discussing business of the household. Wheat and hay just did not hold his attention. He decided to join the king's army. His father was proud of him, though saddened to see him leave. Ithel left home and made his way to Specularum. Once there he went to the barracks and inquired about joining the army. He me with some men there, and after a long discussion with them, plus a demonstration of his skills, he was in the army. Due to his noble birth, they made him a corporal.
After a couple of years in the army, and a few successful campaigns, he had attained the rank of captain. He had even been praised by the king for his deeds. His men followed him willingly and without question.
Then one one day, everything changed. His company was out in the countryside practicing, and in general keeping the land clean of brigands. Late one day his men brought a band of brigands before him in his tent. What happened next is a matter of speculation, as everyone involved is either dead or refuses to speak of the incident. The only thing that is known is that there was some yelling, then everything got quiet. When Ithel's Lieutenant and several of his Corporals entered his tent they found Ithel hunched over the dead bodies of the brigands wiping the blade of a dagger clean. When questioned, Ithel refused to say what happened. His Lieutenant, took him into custody, and the company began the long march back to the city.
Ithel was brought before the general, and when he refused to tell what happened, was court-marshaled and told to leave the city. Ithel, found an inn for the night and drowned all of his sorrows in ale. The next morning he struck off into the countryside to find glory and treasure on his own.
Excellent background, welcome to the game! 150 XP awarded.
ReplyDeleteOne of the nice things about older edition gaming is that there is no reason your fighter can't *be* a bard. You might not get any abilities or mechanical advantages for calling yourself such, but it adds layers of depth to your character, and thus to the game. Just throwing that out there.
Anyone familiar with Keep on the Borderlands may recognize the city of Specularum. I don't plan on dragging action into the capital city at any point, but this name was borrowed unapologetically from that module (and the Greyhawk setting).