Venford Aelfgar {Eris Albrecht 1st alt}
Mar 8, 2016 16:04:08 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2016 16:04:08 GMT -6
Name: Venford Aelfgar
Class: Griffon Rider
Age: 26
Born in: Nabata
Appearance:
Ven is 5'10 and built strong, weighing around 185 lbs. His skin is tan, but it does pale out during colder months or extended time without sunlight. His deep red hair is usually kept at a medium-short length and Venford does his absolute damnedest to keep it styled and nice, but it's often blown about whenever he's been flying or fighting. He has sharp amber eyes that almost light up like a sunrise when he grins, a quality he's almost certainly aware of given how often he grins.
His usual attire varies, though he always tends to wear a heavy cloak of some kind. Either whitish-beige or a fancier, hooded black one, and these cloaks determine his attire. With the white cloak he will don a short-sleeved black tunic, matching black and gold gloves, and dark brown pants. With the black cloak he will wear a long-sleeved white tunic, though he will roll the sleeves up depending on the weather, a single black and red glove on his right hand with a matching wrist band on the left, with black pants.
Regardless of his attire he always wears the same leather chest armour, thigh guards, dark brown boots, and sword belt across his chest.
Prince is a majestic griffon with primarily brown and black plumage, few black specks around the browner areas, and sharp golden eyes. His underbelly is lighter brown and white, however. He is a bit larger than the average male griff and seems to carry himself in an almost regal manner, which is what earned him his name.
Personality: Venford is a free-spirited adventurer through and through. He never truly feels lost so long as he keeps moving forward, and he tries his best to stay optimistic through thick and thin. He loves to eat, mingle with strangers, laugh and make others laugh. Venford is often cracking jokes or even doing silly things in order to get the desired reaction. He can be a hoot at taverns, though when he's had a bit too much he can also find himself on the receiving end of a well-deserved punch.
And that's just the thing with Venford, he always tries to keep on smiling and grinning, regardless of what gets thrown at him. Of course he's not always successful, he can be discouraged when faced with serious criticisms, overwhelming negativity, or overall rejection as a human being. Ven also hates having to compromise his beliefs and values, only doing so when necessary to his survival and even then it's a massive struggle for him. No matter what his mood is you can be almost certain Venford will wear his emotions on his face and carry them through his demeanour. He's a very expressive man.
On the other hand, it's when he feels his beliefs are threatened that his more fiery nature comes out. Ven can be quite the hothead and adamant when it comes to how he feels about something, sometimes to the point of being illogical. However he is usually able to talk himself down from these emotional moments, and settle down to his calmer, more easy going self.
While he does love to explore Elibe, travel with different groups or even on his own, and settle for a few weeks or months at a new town once he's found one he likes, Ven will start to feel restless if he isn't DOING something. Travelling and flying and training are all fine, but he wants to make use of his experiences to leave some sort of a mark on the world. Because of this drive Ven will occasionally find himself in the middle of conflicts he could easily avoided, aiding the side he believes in. He won't always do this for free but if the cause is just enough than he might feel so generous.
When it comes to relationships Ven is fairly experienced yet ultimately still immature. The young man has yet to feel the urge to settle down and is still enjoying the different thrills and qualities a new partner can bring. He jokes a lot and flirts forwardly but is very respectful of what the object of his affections would want, never getting crossing a line once it's set.
His relationship with Prince is another interesting one. While at first they merely co-operated due to mutual need and Venford's willingness to feed the griffon, Prince has grown to respect Ven and obey him for the most part. While not nearly as expressive and honestly more dignified than Ven is, Prince can still act out indignantly for a variety of reasons and will occasionally ignore orders from Ven, even in the heat of battle!
They're working on that.
Story: Venford Aelfgar was born to Kadajh and Monica Aelfgar. His mother, Monica, had been a trader's daughter from Pherae and met Kadajh when her family's caravan made a stop in a small town in Nabata. The two hit it off rather quickly and fell in love, and there were mutual benefits to their relationship. Monica's family would bring more Lycian trade to the town while Kadajh and his family bred and trained the coveted and semi-rare Nabatan Chargers, but lacked the means to sell them outside of their town let alone Nabata.
The two families struck up some lucrative business together and, of course, Venford was born from the union with three younger siblings to follow: all boys. They were Ronald, Elric, and Kaz in order of youngest to eldest. While Venford grew up close with his younger siblings and his parents, and he certainly enjoyed working with the horses, he often expressed desires of travelling on his own.
With three other sons to continue the Nabatan end of the family business Kadajh and Monica saw little harm to Venford's desire. As Ven grew up numerous wars and battles began to bathe Elibe, though, so Kadjah went out of his way to teach Ven how to fight on horseback. Having grown up riding his whole life Venford had little trouble picking the skill up, practising and training fairly regularly all the way up to his 16th summer, when he finally decided he was ready to strike it out on his own.
His parents gave him a fair sized amount of gold to start off with, but they under the condition that he would begin his travels alongside the joint family's caravan for at least a year. Venford was fine with this and, the next time the caravan made it's way into town, Venford left with them, riding his chosen horse: Berial.
Ven was rather disappointed with what he saw of Nabata during his travels. While his extended family with the caravan told him that the desert was home to a lucrative trade city and a lovely port to the south, those were not on their chosen path that run. As such Ven mostly saw little else but sand, sand, and more sand. Granted he always knew that there was mostly sand beyond the borders of his hometown, but to actually SEE it was disheartening. He kept his spirits up, though, and hoped that Lycia had more sights to offer.
And he was not disappointed there. The vast majority of his year with the caravan took him across much of Lycia. From Laus to Santaruz, and of course to his mother's home of Pherae. He saw lovely forests and meadows, lively cities, and even the snowy mountains of Bern on the Pheraen horizon. The year flew by for Ven, and even he even got to see some combat a few times when the caravan came under attack from brigands in Santaruz.
However the year did soon come to it's end and Ven was eager to use his new knowledge and experience to explore Elibe on his own. The caravan's next major stop was Badon, which was where Ven decided to part ways with his Pheraen family. The first goal for Ven was to find some sort of work for himself so he didn't run out of money. Figuring he was a skilled rider and well-trained enough with his sword and lance on horseback, Ven ultimately decided the best line of work for him was a mercenary.
Specifically: a caravan guard. Performing assassinations, being hired as a ship hand, or serving official battalions and armies as as a hired sword didn't exactly suit his style. Later in life he'd take up the odd job here and there, but for the most part Ven did stick to caravans.
Over the years Ven sure as hell had his adventures, but not all of them were wonderful. It took him about a month to initially get hired, meaning he blew through most of his money before he could earn enough to make up for it. After his first job, which was simply enough as he merely had to help guard a caravan from Badon to Laus and from Laus to southern Etruria, he did earn quite a good bit of money and took some time to explore Etruria.
It was there that he got an interesting and shockingly high paying job to guard a caravan to some small town in Nabata and back to Etruria. Venford was happy to accept and got hired along with several other guards. Nabatan bandits weren't exactly common, as their typical ambush tactics didn't work so well in the desert, so the job was easy enough. They arrived at their destination and Venford and the other guards were given a day to relax and enjoy themselves.
Of course, hitting the tavern was the obvious choice, and Ven even met a lady-friend to entertain him for a few hours beyond that.
The next day, however, Ven decided to take it upon himself to inspect the caravan's new cargo. Turned out this cargo was four...children? Four Nabatan children, bound, gagged, and caged. Ven had been hired by a slaver's caravan. Furious with himself and the merchants he freed the children and angrily confronted his clients.
The clients were equally furious and stated that none of the guards would be paid for the job. At first this went well for Venford, as his fellow guards were quick to turn their weapons on the clients and kill them right then and there. Ven would have preferred they be arrested, but he then had to worry about the guards turning their weapons towards him. Sure, they could still loot the corpses of their clients and raid the caravan, but their trip out of the desert was now going to be a bit trickier without the caravan to guide them.
Ven held off the other guards, Berial's furious kicking and whinnying helping more than he would have expected, but it wouldn't have been long before he wound up overwhelmed. Thankfully karma came back to assist him his time, as the captured children had grabbed some village authorities who came to Ven's aid. Not willing to throw their lives away over the issue they were quick to back down and leave the village. Venford was thankful, but was given an hour to leave as well.
Ven managed to make it out of Nabata just fine, but he did learn two key details. One was to find some way of running background checks on potential clients. Getting in good with bartenders and information dealers was his best bet, but both would cost him money. The second thing he learned was to try and not screw-over his fellow mercenaries in the future. It could hamper his reputation and affect how often he got hired...not to mention it could easily get him killed.
A few years later there was an instance in Ilia where Ven signed on as an extra alongside a particularly large mercenary crew. The mercs themselves weren't Ilian but seemed jovial and honest enough. Venford had little issue getting along with them and their skittish client simply wanted to ensure he'd be safe during his travels through Bern.
Shame that, halfway through, the mercenaries turned on the caravan driver and any extras outside of their group. Ven was lucky enough to kill two of the turn-coats before being ushered into fleeing with the other surviving extras. Venford was furious at the betrayal, and later absolutely depressed at the death of the merchant and his employees, but there were only 5 extras and at least 12 of the core mercenary group remained. It was Venford's first true failure, and was an eye-opener on the slowly sinking state Elibe was in.
As the years went by Venford saw more and more of Elibe, with Berial remaining an ever loyal steed and companion, but with more recent events like the Siege of the City of Heroes and Hargus' war before that, ever growing paranoia surrounded travelling merchants. They either stopped travelling completely, did mass hirings for guards that ended too often like that horrible incident in Bern, or became extremely selective in who they hired so they DIDN'T wind up being killed and robbed by the men and women they hired.
However, as the need for caravan guards rose up the spots for these jobs didn't actually open as much as they closed. So many mercenaries were aware of this need and made the quick switch to focusing on caravan work. Hell even ex-brigands and deserted soldiers started to join in on the work. This made things difficult for Venford, who was but one man, as he found himself competing with more and more companies.
Money became tighter and tighter for poor Venford, which was when he had to start branching out to other jobs to keep making end's meat. By 1295 the mulatto redhead was rather desperate. It was by pure luck that he managed to catch the eye of some sailors in Badon. Ven got chatting with them and it turned out they were in need of another hired hand on a rather dangerous voyage. Apparently they intended to sail to some recently discovered or re-discovered island to pick up some rare materials for trade, and could use another sword for protection.
Ven didn't have the time or money to pay around for background checks and reliable intel on these guys. He needed the job and he needed it badly. So he was eager to accept, and soon he and Berial found themselves on a ship. Their voyage was rather rough but the ship managed to survive the trip unscathed. As did Ven, Berial, and the rest of the crew.
In time Ven walked onto the deck and was stunned to a large, heavily forested island on the horizon. It sure as hell wasn't the cursed Valor, so when Venford asked he was told that the island had been dubbed “Vinland”, and was their destination for picking up their trade exports, as what they sought was unique to the island. Venford had never heard of the island and so he was excited to actually set foot on it.
By dawn the next day the ship had reached a solid spot to anchor up and finally set foot on land. Venford was advised to be cautious, extremely cautious, due to rumours of the island natives. They could vicious and dangerous, so it was best to stay alert until they were safely off the island again.
For the most part the journey was fairly quiet, but Ven soon got a taste of what his employers meant by “dangerous natives”. A large wild-cat like creature emerged from the bushes and gave a fearsome swipe at Berial, catching the poor house across the throat. Venford cried out in shock and fear as he fell off his horse, stunned when Berial fell limp beside him. Dead...just like that. For the better part of 9 years Berial had been his trusted steed, hell the horse had been his closest friend. The only one to be there for each of his adventures.
While the other crewman scrambled to try and fend off this creature, Venford rose to his feet, drew his sword, and charged it like a madman. The feline predator lunged at him and knocked Ven hard onto his back, but it gave itself a nasty gash from brushing along the edge of Venford's blade in the process. Though wounded the creature got to it's feet with jarring swiftness, and seeing the crewman around it ready their weapons it wasted little time in retreating back into the bushes, gone before anyone else could strike a blow.
Venford was still enraged at the loss of his horse, and it took the stern warnings from his crew-mates that they needed to take what they came for and leave immediately. Holding back tears he took as much of the gear he kept on Berial as he could safely carry before leaving the horse's corpse behind. He was upset, but the trip was only going to get worse.
Eventually his crew leader held up a hand and quieted the crew. Slowly they crept through the bush to see quite the sight at the bottom of a hill. Two majestic creatures that looked half bird-half beast, and several significantly smaller ones rough housing in front of them. The crew leader called them “Griffons”...and told his two arches to prepare to shoot the adults while the rest of them readied nets.
Wait, they were going to be poaching them? Venford quickly but quietly asked about the young ones, to which his crew leader said “They're the biggest prize here. Can be tamed young and sold off to the highest bidder”.
Venford was suddenly reminded of that incident way back in Nabata. Desperation had made him take a reckless job with little to no information, and not only that but he had lost his horse too. Anger surged through him and he suddenly blurted out how he refused to be part of it. A bit too loudly at that, as the griffons evidently heard him and turned their sharp eyes to the bushes.
The crew leader cursed out Venford and tried to salvage the situation, but while the young ones fled with one of the larger griffons, the LARGEST one of the family took the sky and dive bombed the group, taking out both archers with it's sharp talons. Infuriated the crew leader drew his axe and went to bring it down on the beast's head, but Venford ran his sword through the man's chest. The rest of the crew was quick to try and turn on Ven, but when the griffon gave out a blood-curdling shriek half of them ran back towards their ship.
The other half, apparently, just didn't care anymore. Ven clashed blades with one while the other two were bull-dozed by the enraged griffon. Ven suffered a slash across his right thigh but managed to get the victory by stabbing his opponent in the chest. The larger man fell onto Ven and pinned the wounded mercenary on the ground, leaving him rather helpless as the griffon approached him, beak and feaths covered in blood.
Ven thought for sure that he was going to die there, pecked apart and eaten by this creature. He was angry and sorrowful, but he wasn't ready to give up without a fight. Ven struggled and tried with all his might to move the dead poacher off of him, but was stunned when the griffon nudged the corpse off of him instead.
The two made eye contact for a moment and before Ven could even think of a prayer to say the griffon slouched onto it's stomach, breathing a bit harder. Ven could see blood oozing from a wound near it's side, and it likely had suffered other injuries from the melee as well. The two of them were both too injured to move well, but at least Ven had some vulnerary in his pack.
Slowly and carefully the wounded mercenary grabbed his vulnerary and applied it to his injuries, while the griffon merely watched. Within an hour's time he felt he could move his leg...so he tried to stand and succeeded. There was pain, yes, but he could stand and walk. However the griffon was still injured and Ven still felt remorse over Berial's death.
And guilt towards the griffon's condition. He had been part of the hunting party, whether he was aware or not. So Ven took what vulnerary he had left and carefully moved towards the griffon. It snapped it's beak at him and squawked, even trying to swipe it's talons at him once, but it didn't yet have the proper strength to move. So Ven took advantage of his and gently applied the vulnerary to the wound on it's side, and stayed there with the beast until the medicine had “worked it's magic”.
Ven was relieved when the griffon stood up, but soon felt fear return. After all this creature was fully capable of tearing him to shreds. To his immense surprise, though, the griffon just took to the sky and flew off. Well...that was something, but Ven was still trapped on this island, and if he encountered another beast he'd likely fall to it. Still he slowly made his way back towards where they had docked the ship. Hopefully it was still there?
It wasn't, and Ven sank to his knees. What the hell was he going to do? Adventure was one thing, but he was in no position to try and survive the island alone. Yet Vinland had one more surprise in store for him.
The griffon returned. It landed behind Ven and squawked loudly, as if to get his attention. Venford met it's gaze and it simply looked down at him expectantly. So Ven...talked to it. Explained himself and his situation, as if the creature could understand him like a human. He gestured towards the ocean...and cried out in shock when the beast nudged his torso firmly. It did so twice more before finally flipping Ven's body over it's head and down it's neck.
Ven clung onto the griffon for dear life as it flapped it's mighty wings and took to the sky. Thankfully he did have riding experience, and had been damn good on horseback, but flying was a rather unfamiliar experience to him. A pegasi was at least just a winged horse, and wyverns were known and understood, but a griffon?! Ven nearly hurled in shock and panic once they hit a solid altitude.
But the griffon never dropped him, nor did he fall off. Instead it flew him far across the ocean until, eventually, the two saw a ship in the horizon. The griffon had been slowing down by this point, no doubt tired and in need of a quick rest, so it descended onto the boat...utterly shocking the crew. Venford tried his absolute hardest to calm the shocked crew into lowering their weapons and, thankfully, the griffon merely sat down and gazed at them all with a cool expression.
Had it acted violently the duo would likely have died that day. Instead Venford offered to lend his service to the ship and promised that the griffon would bring them no harm in exchange for some brief hospitality on their journey. The ship's captain gazed at the beast, who continued to sit and observe the happenings of the ship in silence, before reluctantly agreeing. He didn't want to know what the beast was or where it came from: he was a captain of a simple Etrurian courier ship.
In time both Ven and the griffon arrived on solid ground...though with many shocked and confused looks. Not many people had ever seen a griffon...period, so seeing one step off a ship had been utterly perplexing. It was port Badon that Venford had arrived at and, once he took the griffon out of the city area, he tried to explain to it that he didn't need it's help anymore and that he was thankful. It could go home now.
The griffon just stared at him in silence, and didn't move. Despite how regal and wise the creature seemed it apparently it didn't understand what Ven was saying at all. It must have just...aided him, because he aided it. But now it was in a foreign land and seemed to have little to no intention of returning.
Venford really didn't understand the griffon, but he eventually accepted that he would have to treat it as a new companion. Someone to take Berial's place. Of course learning to fly the creature properly would be important, along with learning how to properly care for it. Gathering that information, as well as safe work, has currently been his top priority for the past few months. Since then he has formally named the griffon, Prince, and has steadily come to understand it's diet.
Prince was awfully fond of fish. At least that's a start.
Class: Griffon Rider
Age: 26
Born in: Nabata
Appearance:
Ven is 5'10 and built strong, weighing around 185 lbs. His skin is tan, but it does pale out during colder months or extended time without sunlight. His deep red hair is usually kept at a medium-short length and Venford does his absolute damnedest to keep it styled and nice, but it's often blown about whenever he's been flying or fighting. He has sharp amber eyes that almost light up like a sunrise when he grins, a quality he's almost certainly aware of given how often he grins.
His usual attire varies, though he always tends to wear a heavy cloak of some kind. Either whitish-beige or a fancier, hooded black one, and these cloaks determine his attire. With the white cloak he will don a short-sleeved black tunic, matching black and gold gloves, and dark brown pants. With the black cloak he will wear a long-sleeved white tunic, though he will roll the sleeves up depending on the weather, a single black and red glove on his right hand with a matching wrist band on the left, with black pants.
Regardless of his attire he always wears the same leather chest armour, thigh guards, dark brown boots, and sword belt across his chest.
Prince is a majestic griffon with primarily brown and black plumage, few black specks around the browner areas, and sharp golden eyes. His underbelly is lighter brown and white, however. He is a bit larger than the average male griff and seems to carry himself in an almost regal manner, which is what earned him his name.
Personality: Venford is a free-spirited adventurer through and through. He never truly feels lost so long as he keeps moving forward, and he tries his best to stay optimistic through thick and thin. He loves to eat, mingle with strangers, laugh and make others laugh. Venford is often cracking jokes or even doing silly things in order to get the desired reaction. He can be a hoot at taverns, though when he's had a bit too much he can also find himself on the receiving end of a well-deserved punch.
And that's just the thing with Venford, he always tries to keep on smiling and grinning, regardless of what gets thrown at him. Of course he's not always successful, he can be discouraged when faced with serious criticisms, overwhelming negativity, or overall rejection as a human being. Ven also hates having to compromise his beliefs and values, only doing so when necessary to his survival and even then it's a massive struggle for him. No matter what his mood is you can be almost certain Venford will wear his emotions on his face and carry them through his demeanour. He's a very expressive man.
On the other hand, it's when he feels his beliefs are threatened that his more fiery nature comes out. Ven can be quite the hothead and adamant when it comes to how he feels about something, sometimes to the point of being illogical. However he is usually able to talk himself down from these emotional moments, and settle down to his calmer, more easy going self.
While he does love to explore Elibe, travel with different groups or even on his own, and settle for a few weeks or months at a new town once he's found one he likes, Ven will start to feel restless if he isn't DOING something. Travelling and flying and training are all fine, but he wants to make use of his experiences to leave some sort of a mark on the world. Because of this drive Ven will occasionally find himself in the middle of conflicts he could easily avoided, aiding the side he believes in. He won't always do this for free but if the cause is just enough than he might feel so generous.
When it comes to relationships Ven is fairly experienced yet ultimately still immature. The young man has yet to feel the urge to settle down and is still enjoying the different thrills and qualities a new partner can bring. He jokes a lot and flirts forwardly but is very respectful of what the object of his affections would want, never getting crossing a line once it's set.
His relationship with Prince is another interesting one. While at first they merely co-operated due to mutual need and Venford's willingness to feed the griffon, Prince has grown to respect Ven and obey him for the most part. While not nearly as expressive and honestly more dignified than Ven is, Prince can still act out indignantly for a variety of reasons and will occasionally ignore orders from Ven, even in the heat of battle!
They're working on that.
Story: Venford Aelfgar was born to Kadajh and Monica Aelfgar. His mother, Monica, had been a trader's daughter from Pherae and met Kadajh when her family's caravan made a stop in a small town in Nabata. The two hit it off rather quickly and fell in love, and there were mutual benefits to their relationship. Monica's family would bring more Lycian trade to the town while Kadajh and his family bred and trained the coveted and semi-rare Nabatan Chargers, but lacked the means to sell them outside of their town let alone Nabata.
The two families struck up some lucrative business together and, of course, Venford was born from the union with three younger siblings to follow: all boys. They were Ronald, Elric, and Kaz in order of youngest to eldest. While Venford grew up close with his younger siblings and his parents, and he certainly enjoyed working with the horses, he often expressed desires of travelling on his own.
With three other sons to continue the Nabatan end of the family business Kadajh and Monica saw little harm to Venford's desire. As Ven grew up numerous wars and battles began to bathe Elibe, though, so Kadjah went out of his way to teach Ven how to fight on horseback. Having grown up riding his whole life Venford had little trouble picking the skill up, practising and training fairly regularly all the way up to his 16th summer, when he finally decided he was ready to strike it out on his own.
His parents gave him a fair sized amount of gold to start off with, but they under the condition that he would begin his travels alongside the joint family's caravan for at least a year. Venford was fine with this and, the next time the caravan made it's way into town, Venford left with them, riding his chosen horse: Berial.
Ven was rather disappointed with what he saw of Nabata during his travels. While his extended family with the caravan told him that the desert was home to a lucrative trade city and a lovely port to the south, those were not on their chosen path that run. As such Ven mostly saw little else but sand, sand, and more sand. Granted he always knew that there was mostly sand beyond the borders of his hometown, but to actually SEE it was disheartening. He kept his spirits up, though, and hoped that Lycia had more sights to offer.
And he was not disappointed there. The vast majority of his year with the caravan took him across much of Lycia. From Laus to Santaruz, and of course to his mother's home of Pherae. He saw lovely forests and meadows, lively cities, and even the snowy mountains of Bern on the Pheraen horizon. The year flew by for Ven, and even he even got to see some combat a few times when the caravan came under attack from brigands in Santaruz.
However the year did soon come to it's end and Ven was eager to use his new knowledge and experience to explore Elibe on his own. The caravan's next major stop was Badon, which was where Ven decided to part ways with his Pheraen family. The first goal for Ven was to find some sort of work for himself so he didn't run out of money. Figuring he was a skilled rider and well-trained enough with his sword and lance on horseback, Ven ultimately decided the best line of work for him was a mercenary.
Specifically: a caravan guard. Performing assassinations, being hired as a ship hand, or serving official battalions and armies as as a hired sword didn't exactly suit his style. Later in life he'd take up the odd job here and there, but for the most part Ven did stick to caravans.
Over the years Ven sure as hell had his adventures, but not all of them were wonderful. It took him about a month to initially get hired, meaning he blew through most of his money before he could earn enough to make up for it. After his first job, which was simply enough as he merely had to help guard a caravan from Badon to Laus and from Laus to southern Etruria, he did earn quite a good bit of money and took some time to explore Etruria.
It was there that he got an interesting and shockingly high paying job to guard a caravan to some small town in Nabata and back to Etruria. Venford was happy to accept and got hired along with several other guards. Nabatan bandits weren't exactly common, as their typical ambush tactics didn't work so well in the desert, so the job was easy enough. They arrived at their destination and Venford and the other guards were given a day to relax and enjoy themselves.
Of course, hitting the tavern was the obvious choice, and Ven even met a lady-friend to entertain him for a few hours beyond that.
The next day, however, Ven decided to take it upon himself to inspect the caravan's new cargo. Turned out this cargo was four...children? Four Nabatan children, bound, gagged, and caged. Ven had been hired by a slaver's caravan. Furious with himself and the merchants he freed the children and angrily confronted his clients.
The clients were equally furious and stated that none of the guards would be paid for the job. At first this went well for Venford, as his fellow guards were quick to turn their weapons on the clients and kill them right then and there. Ven would have preferred they be arrested, but he then had to worry about the guards turning their weapons towards him. Sure, they could still loot the corpses of their clients and raid the caravan, but their trip out of the desert was now going to be a bit trickier without the caravan to guide them.
Ven held off the other guards, Berial's furious kicking and whinnying helping more than he would have expected, but it wouldn't have been long before he wound up overwhelmed. Thankfully karma came back to assist him his time, as the captured children had grabbed some village authorities who came to Ven's aid. Not willing to throw their lives away over the issue they were quick to back down and leave the village. Venford was thankful, but was given an hour to leave as well.
Ven managed to make it out of Nabata just fine, but he did learn two key details. One was to find some way of running background checks on potential clients. Getting in good with bartenders and information dealers was his best bet, but both would cost him money. The second thing he learned was to try and not screw-over his fellow mercenaries in the future. It could hamper his reputation and affect how often he got hired...not to mention it could easily get him killed.
A few years later there was an instance in Ilia where Ven signed on as an extra alongside a particularly large mercenary crew. The mercs themselves weren't Ilian but seemed jovial and honest enough. Venford had little issue getting along with them and their skittish client simply wanted to ensure he'd be safe during his travels through Bern.
Shame that, halfway through, the mercenaries turned on the caravan driver and any extras outside of their group. Ven was lucky enough to kill two of the turn-coats before being ushered into fleeing with the other surviving extras. Venford was furious at the betrayal, and later absolutely depressed at the death of the merchant and his employees, but there were only 5 extras and at least 12 of the core mercenary group remained. It was Venford's first true failure, and was an eye-opener on the slowly sinking state Elibe was in.
As the years went by Venford saw more and more of Elibe, with Berial remaining an ever loyal steed and companion, but with more recent events like the Siege of the City of Heroes and Hargus' war before that, ever growing paranoia surrounded travelling merchants. They either stopped travelling completely, did mass hirings for guards that ended too often like that horrible incident in Bern, or became extremely selective in who they hired so they DIDN'T wind up being killed and robbed by the men and women they hired.
However, as the need for caravan guards rose up the spots for these jobs didn't actually open as much as they closed. So many mercenaries were aware of this need and made the quick switch to focusing on caravan work. Hell even ex-brigands and deserted soldiers started to join in on the work. This made things difficult for Venford, who was but one man, as he found himself competing with more and more companies.
Money became tighter and tighter for poor Venford, which was when he had to start branching out to other jobs to keep making end's meat. By 1295 the mulatto redhead was rather desperate. It was by pure luck that he managed to catch the eye of some sailors in Badon. Ven got chatting with them and it turned out they were in need of another hired hand on a rather dangerous voyage. Apparently they intended to sail to some recently discovered or re-discovered island to pick up some rare materials for trade, and could use another sword for protection.
Ven didn't have the time or money to pay around for background checks and reliable intel on these guys. He needed the job and he needed it badly. So he was eager to accept, and soon he and Berial found themselves on a ship. Their voyage was rather rough but the ship managed to survive the trip unscathed. As did Ven, Berial, and the rest of the crew.
In time Ven walked onto the deck and was stunned to a large, heavily forested island on the horizon. It sure as hell wasn't the cursed Valor, so when Venford asked he was told that the island had been dubbed “Vinland”, and was their destination for picking up their trade exports, as what they sought was unique to the island. Venford had never heard of the island and so he was excited to actually set foot on it.
By dawn the next day the ship had reached a solid spot to anchor up and finally set foot on land. Venford was advised to be cautious, extremely cautious, due to rumours of the island natives. They could vicious and dangerous, so it was best to stay alert until they were safely off the island again.
For the most part the journey was fairly quiet, but Ven soon got a taste of what his employers meant by “dangerous natives”. A large wild-cat like creature emerged from the bushes and gave a fearsome swipe at Berial, catching the poor house across the throat. Venford cried out in shock and fear as he fell off his horse, stunned when Berial fell limp beside him. Dead...just like that. For the better part of 9 years Berial had been his trusted steed, hell the horse had been his closest friend. The only one to be there for each of his adventures.
While the other crewman scrambled to try and fend off this creature, Venford rose to his feet, drew his sword, and charged it like a madman. The feline predator lunged at him and knocked Ven hard onto his back, but it gave itself a nasty gash from brushing along the edge of Venford's blade in the process. Though wounded the creature got to it's feet with jarring swiftness, and seeing the crewman around it ready their weapons it wasted little time in retreating back into the bushes, gone before anyone else could strike a blow.
Venford was still enraged at the loss of his horse, and it took the stern warnings from his crew-mates that they needed to take what they came for and leave immediately. Holding back tears he took as much of the gear he kept on Berial as he could safely carry before leaving the horse's corpse behind. He was upset, but the trip was only going to get worse.
Eventually his crew leader held up a hand and quieted the crew. Slowly they crept through the bush to see quite the sight at the bottom of a hill. Two majestic creatures that looked half bird-half beast, and several significantly smaller ones rough housing in front of them. The crew leader called them “Griffons”...and told his two arches to prepare to shoot the adults while the rest of them readied nets.
Wait, they were going to be poaching them? Venford quickly but quietly asked about the young ones, to which his crew leader said “They're the biggest prize here. Can be tamed young and sold off to the highest bidder”.
Venford was suddenly reminded of that incident way back in Nabata. Desperation had made him take a reckless job with little to no information, and not only that but he had lost his horse too. Anger surged through him and he suddenly blurted out how he refused to be part of it. A bit too loudly at that, as the griffons evidently heard him and turned their sharp eyes to the bushes.
The crew leader cursed out Venford and tried to salvage the situation, but while the young ones fled with one of the larger griffons, the LARGEST one of the family took the sky and dive bombed the group, taking out both archers with it's sharp talons. Infuriated the crew leader drew his axe and went to bring it down on the beast's head, but Venford ran his sword through the man's chest. The rest of the crew was quick to try and turn on Ven, but when the griffon gave out a blood-curdling shriek half of them ran back towards their ship.
The other half, apparently, just didn't care anymore. Ven clashed blades with one while the other two were bull-dozed by the enraged griffon. Ven suffered a slash across his right thigh but managed to get the victory by stabbing his opponent in the chest. The larger man fell onto Ven and pinned the wounded mercenary on the ground, leaving him rather helpless as the griffon approached him, beak and feaths covered in blood.
Ven thought for sure that he was going to die there, pecked apart and eaten by this creature. He was angry and sorrowful, but he wasn't ready to give up without a fight. Ven struggled and tried with all his might to move the dead poacher off of him, but was stunned when the griffon nudged the corpse off of him instead.
The two made eye contact for a moment and before Ven could even think of a prayer to say the griffon slouched onto it's stomach, breathing a bit harder. Ven could see blood oozing from a wound near it's side, and it likely had suffered other injuries from the melee as well. The two of them were both too injured to move well, but at least Ven had some vulnerary in his pack.
Slowly and carefully the wounded mercenary grabbed his vulnerary and applied it to his injuries, while the griffon merely watched. Within an hour's time he felt he could move his leg...so he tried to stand and succeeded. There was pain, yes, but he could stand and walk. However the griffon was still injured and Ven still felt remorse over Berial's death.
And guilt towards the griffon's condition. He had been part of the hunting party, whether he was aware or not. So Ven took what vulnerary he had left and carefully moved towards the griffon. It snapped it's beak at him and squawked, even trying to swipe it's talons at him once, but it didn't yet have the proper strength to move. So Ven took advantage of his and gently applied the vulnerary to the wound on it's side, and stayed there with the beast until the medicine had “worked it's magic”.
Ven was relieved when the griffon stood up, but soon felt fear return. After all this creature was fully capable of tearing him to shreds. To his immense surprise, though, the griffon just took to the sky and flew off. Well...that was something, but Ven was still trapped on this island, and if he encountered another beast he'd likely fall to it. Still he slowly made his way back towards where they had docked the ship. Hopefully it was still there?
It wasn't, and Ven sank to his knees. What the hell was he going to do? Adventure was one thing, but he was in no position to try and survive the island alone. Yet Vinland had one more surprise in store for him.
The griffon returned. It landed behind Ven and squawked loudly, as if to get his attention. Venford met it's gaze and it simply looked down at him expectantly. So Ven...talked to it. Explained himself and his situation, as if the creature could understand him like a human. He gestured towards the ocean...and cried out in shock when the beast nudged his torso firmly. It did so twice more before finally flipping Ven's body over it's head and down it's neck.
Ven clung onto the griffon for dear life as it flapped it's mighty wings and took to the sky. Thankfully he did have riding experience, and had been damn good on horseback, but flying was a rather unfamiliar experience to him. A pegasi was at least just a winged horse, and wyverns were known and understood, but a griffon?! Ven nearly hurled in shock and panic once they hit a solid altitude.
But the griffon never dropped him, nor did he fall off. Instead it flew him far across the ocean until, eventually, the two saw a ship in the horizon. The griffon had been slowing down by this point, no doubt tired and in need of a quick rest, so it descended onto the boat...utterly shocking the crew. Venford tried his absolute hardest to calm the shocked crew into lowering their weapons and, thankfully, the griffon merely sat down and gazed at them all with a cool expression.
Had it acted violently the duo would likely have died that day. Instead Venford offered to lend his service to the ship and promised that the griffon would bring them no harm in exchange for some brief hospitality on their journey. The ship's captain gazed at the beast, who continued to sit and observe the happenings of the ship in silence, before reluctantly agreeing. He didn't want to know what the beast was or where it came from: he was a captain of a simple Etrurian courier ship.
In time both Ven and the griffon arrived on solid ground...though with many shocked and confused looks. Not many people had ever seen a griffon...period, so seeing one step off a ship had been utterly perplexing. It was port Badon that Venford had arrived at and, once he took the griffon out of the city area, he tried to explain to it that he didn't need it's help anymore and that he was thankful. It could go home now.
The griffon just stared at him in silence, and didn't move. Despite how regal and wise the creature seemed it apparently it didn't understand what Ven was saying at all. It must have just...aided him, because he aided it. But now it was in a foreign land and seemed to have little to no intention of returning.
Venford really didn't understand the griffon, but he eventually accepted that he would have to treat it as a new companion. Someone to take Berial's place. Of course learning to fly the creature properly would be important, along with learning how to properly care for it. Gathering that information, as well as safe work, has currently been his top priority for the past few months. Since then he has formally named the griffon, Prince, and has steadily come to understand it's diet.
Prince was awfully fond of fish. At least that's a start.
{Prince}
