Introduction:
So I’m really bad at being consistent with blogs, posts, etc. However, in an attempt to maintain some sort of consistency, I’ve decided (with some urging from my wife) to create a schedule of weekly posts that are easy and more interesting to me than forcing myself to write a book review that I feel uninspired to write.
Not that I won’t continue to post book reviews at all, but by maintaining this schedule of posts, I can provide consistent content that I feel will be interesting to everyone, including myself, while also sprinkling the blog with other blog posts, like book reviews, when I feel moved to do so.
Hence, I present to you this list:
- D&D Monday: Every week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I meet with some friends and/or our family members to play tabletop roleplaying games. I will share the highlights of the previous week’s adventures here on Mondays.
- Wordless Wednesday: Every Wednesday, I’ll post an interesting picture or multiple interesting pictures.
- Fun Friday: I’m a crafter and like to spend time in my woodshop creating or building something, and I will share that on these days.
Today’s post will include a little more than most so that I can give some background on the adventures and characters, and bring you up to date with what we are doing in each campaign.
Monday’s Campaign, Adventures in Wildemount:
When this campaign began, I was taking a long hiatus from Dungeons and Dragons. However, when my friends told me about it, it sounded fun, so I joined.
If you’ve watched or listened to Critical Role on Youtube or Twitch you’re probably already familiar with Wildemount. I ,on the other hand, had never heard of it except for seeing the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount on the shelf at my step-son’s game shop.
When I joined, I intended to keep it light and silly, and so I present . . . Elohel Arohefel! What I didn’t expect was that Elohel would become one of my favorite characters.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elohel Arohefel, and I am an air genasi. I grew up in the sleepy town of Trostenwald with my darling human mother, Fetia. My good-for-nothing father, Ihel Arohefel, left before I was born and the only thing I know about him is that he never comes around, and the fantastical tales my mother tells me about him. You see, he is a Djinn, and I suppose he is too busy to give his son the time of day, or to visit the woman he knocked up, and ditched to raise a child by herself.
Anyway, my mother had a booth that she would set up in downtown Trostenwald to sell her crafts and wares, so when I wasn’t schooling, I had free rein of the streets. Some might call me a friendly guy, quick to make friends. I suppose I can’t argue, befriending people has always come easy to me. This meant that I made friends with most of the urchins in Trostenwald, and we got into all kinds of mischief. I couldn’t tell you how much candy we pinched, but I always paid the vendor back later . . . well, if they deserved it. I was much less sympathetic if they treated my friends poorly.
When I saw my 14th summer, my mother finally remarried. His name was Wendel Tervaround, and he treated me very well. However, he didn’t like that I ran around with the troublemakers in town, and he got me involved in all kinds of sports and games. My favorites, however, were swimming, archery, and acrobatics.
At the age of 16, I met my good friend Lucien Baumbauch while playing Game Ball (A game where you kick a ball around and try to get it into the opposing team’s goal). Lucien was wonderful, and he introduced me to all the wealthy families in Trostenwald.
I suppose it’s at this point that I must admit that I’m a sucker for a pretty face. Already, I have had a few flings with some of my peers in the working class, for I found that girls really like athletes, especially friendly athletes. Although my step-father joked it was my blue skin.
After Lucien and I started hanging out, I went to many dinner parties, wine-tasting events (although I don’t drink), and other events only the wealthy were privy to, and I found that my charm attracted these people too. I learned quickly that the wealthy did not like their daughters participating in “flings.” So obviously, I had to be more careful. My friend, Dorymorn, the owner of The Leaky Tap Inn, started covering for me while I brought my lovers there in the evenings.
However, Trostenwald is not a large town, and these things have a way of spreading on the rumor mill. Fortunately, Lucian always covered for me, and I had the favor of the Baumbauch family, so even though I had a lot of angry fathers and mothers out there, they would only complain about it.
When I was 20, Lucien asked me to stop running around with every girl that smiled at me. I didn’t understand at the time why he suddenly became uptight about it. In fact, it felt to me that he was jealous. I couldn’t understand. I mean it’s not like I neglected our friendship, and he never seemed to be interested in any of the girls I dated, so what was the problem?
I was angry, so I stayed home for a few days and helped my mother and step-father out with their work.
Then one night, I was at the tavern with my family when Lucien came in and asked to talk to me outside. It was strange, because he was flustered and looked terrible, like he was on the verge of crying. I went outside with him, and stepped into the alley so we could talk. That was when he professed his love for me.
This floored me. I mean, we had been friends for four years at this point and I had no idea. Of course, after he said it, certain pieces of the puzzle started to fit, and I felt foolish for not recognizing it sooner. As he continued with his stammered (obviously prepared) speech, I could only stare at him with my jaw dropped. As I stood there staring while he stuttered his way through this confession, his resolve started to peter off, and he was about to go. Let me say, I surprised myself when I grabbed him and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. After that, he and I were inseparable once again, but discreet about our dalliance, at least with his family.
This continued for a couple years before his mother Gryselda discovered our relationship, and that is when trouble really started coming my way. All the others who were angry with me had renewed their grudge, and life started getting hard for me and my family. Lucien’s family forbade him to see me, and I was not allowed in places I had once been welcome. One night, someone tossed a burning bottle of liquor into my bedroom window.
I decided that I no longer had a choice. I had to leave. So, in the dead of night, I grabbed a few personal items and went south to the Menagerie Coast.
To get to the Coast, I had to travel through Yuyun Gorge, and that is where I came across a small group of adventurers sitting around a campfire. There was a dwarf named Grimdol, a very large Tabaxi named Jerry, and a bard named Fred. Fred invited me to sit with them at the fire, and in a friendly gesture, even gave me some gold. They explained to me that they were hired by the guards in Nicodranas to rid the Gorge of a band of goblins that were harassing travelers through the Yuyun Gorge.
I helped them dispatch the goblins and then I basically became a member of their team.
So this post is much longer than I intended, even after I cut it down shorter than it had been. This is Elohel’s backstory, and I have many little adventures I can add from game play. so I will continue posting more of Elohel’s stories and my other characters’ tales as soon as I polish them up, and I won’t wait until next Monday to publish them.
~Michael C. Sahd, author of The Unfettered Child and Assassin Marked