Jordas Brandywen's page

Jordas was a Human raised among Halflings. His birth mother abandoned him on the step of a Halfling burrow never to be seen again. The family that took him in most certainly struggled as he grew more and more, larger than any Halfling home could support. The small community of Sevenarches banded together and offered whatever help they could for the strange child. Even going so far as to enlist the help of a group of miner Dwarves headed for home to ask for help in building a Human-sized home for Jordas. The community pulled together to provide enough gold and trade goods to pay for the materials and labor, and soon, just at the age of 10, when Jordas was already taller than everyone else in Sevenarches, had a home. A single story affair with simple furniture, but it was sturdy and well-made.

As he grew older, Jordas was given home schooling by his Aunt and Uncle. His Aunt, Luvelia, was very skilled in arts, music, and literature. His Uncle, Moras, taught him history, math, and geography. Being around Halflings, he acquired their curiosity for the new and exciting, siphoning this knowledge as fast as he could retain it. When he became of age at 16, he started looking into traveling the world. Seeing what all could be offered and what he could gain by leaving his home. He started training himself, starting with learning to swing a large tree branch that he used like a club, and the lid of a barrel as a shield. No one could really train with him, so he practiced on stones and large trees to build up his strength and resistance to having to smack more solid targets.
It was during one training session when a cloaked figure emerged from some portal appearing out of nothing. He couldn't see his face, but greeted him all the same. The figure said nothing, and instead immediately launched into an attack. The figure was relentless, using some form of magic and crushing attacks to smash his way into Jordas' softer bits. The barrel lid didn't last very long, and he had to learn to dodge and parry on the fly. The fight wore on, and it was pretty clear that Jordas was going to lose. In an act of desperation, he said a mental prayer to the gods above to grant him anything, power, knowledge, speed, courage, to get him through this fight. And it was in that moment, when Jordas felt his wounds become healed, and his tree branch bathed in a soft light. At this moment, the figure backed off and fled through another portal, leaving Jordas confused, exhausted, but utterly relieved. He retold his tale of the encounter at dinner with his family that night, and soon had told it to everyone in the village, warning them of the figure.

At the age of 22, Jordas encountered a woman he would eventually fall for. Chenepel Rillgren. A Halfling who arrived in Sevenarches with her Mother, Telna, having fled their home country to escape the war that had broken out between Humans and other non-Human races. Because Jordas' house had space to spare, everyone decided to help set up Chenepel and her mother at his home. Jordas did object at first, unsure if two females would want to be living in the home of a lone Human guy, and Chenepel had a similar objection. Wishing instead to request a room her and her mother could both share, possibly around other Halflings. Since the whole war with Humans and all, she didn't trust Jordas. Ultimately, it was decided that the space that was Jordas' bedroom would be taken up by Chenepel and Telna, and that he would have to set himself up somewhere else in his home in order to give the two the privacy they wanted. He continued to object, but it looked like, at this point, he wasn't going to win the argument.
He would make breakfast, show them around Sevenarches, introduce them to everyone, and share what he knew about the surrounding areas and the larger kingdom they were in. Both Telna and Chenepel were initially guarded and reserved around him, mainly acting polite as needed so as not to appear rude or ungrateful towards their hosts. But not much in the way of genuine conversation happened with him, but the rest of the Sevenarches community. Jordas couldn't really be mad. He was used to being aware that he was a Human among Halflings, and the fact that these two came from a nation where Halflings, Dwarves, Elves, and the like were at war with Humans. It actually took a full year before the mother/daughter pair started conversing with Jordas instead of always keeping on guard with him after seeing enough of him that he was a genuinely good person raised by this community of Halflings.

It was in that time, nearly 19 months after their arrival, that tragedy struck.

Chenepel and Telna were woken up by a delivery man giving them a sealed letter from their homeland. The more they read however, the closer they both got to breaking out into tears. After they read it, they shared with Jordas that they had lost, that too many non-Humans had been routed, killed, or gone into hiding, and that the Human kingdom had taken over the region. The letter was to inform them that their father, Kordain, had died in the line of duty.

Jordas left the two to grief and mourn such a heavy loss, and left to go explore the woods by the village to give them privacy. This time, he came across a cellar that was sticking out the ground. Curious, he pulled the doors open and descended.Inside he found an intact space filled with various kinds of wine and liquor, as well as, strangely, a chest of books. All flowing with knowledge of the world at large. He started flipping through one when his head started pounding for seemingly no reason. In the basement the cloaked figure emerged again, immediately launching into an attack. Jordas didn't bring his weapons with him, thinking he wouldn't need to defend himself in the fairly peaceful forest, and he had worn himself out the last couple days with his training. He sluggishly moved out of the way of attacks, using whateve rhe could get his hands on to defend himself. Throwing books and bottle of wine and chucking barrels at his assailant. There was one book that Jordas grabbed and held up to defend himself, when his assailant stopped in his tracks. He paused for a moment and quickly pulled open another portal, fleeing into it. Looking at the cover, he saw the title 'A Traveler's Tale: Traversing the Planes'.

He quickly darted out of the ruined cellar running headlong back to the village. Where he breathlessly recounted what had happened, having several of the villagers, armed with various simple tools, to go with him to investigate things further. But when he headed back to the cellar, it was gone. He helped scour the area, but they couldn't find the earth-set cellar again after hours of scouring. Afterwords, the folks he brought with him were relieved that this figure was nowhere to be seen, but were also mad at Jordas for crying wolf.

That night, while Jordas was laying in bed reading the book he acquired, he felt a presence enter his room. He sat up and thought it was Chenepel or Telna, but didn't seem them through his open door. And their room was closed. He even knocked and checked on the mother/daughter pair, and saw that they hadn't noticed anything strange. He checked outside of the house, just ot be sure. Nothing. Was his mind starting to play tricks on him? He headed back inside and laid down, and felt that presence again. This time more clearly, standing beside him. It didn't... appear hostile, from what he could tell. But he felt a lot of anger beside him.
His mind suddenly flashed with a brief image of what looked like the view from the ground, as if he was laying on his back looking up. HE watched an armored figure stride over him and seem to sneer down at him, the figure's sword covered in blood and viscera. His armor was a brilliant silver splattered with blood. His face having the looks of a royal or one of nobility, with brown hair and a unique set of purple eyes. He brought the blade down through his chest, wrenched it free, and turned to leave him there dying.
Jordas was jerked back to reality, panting heavily and clutching at where the sword should have been. The presence was gone. He only heard the whisper of "Watch them. Telna. Chen..." before fading completely. He wasn't sure if that, somehow, was the ghost of Chenepel's Father, but surely there had been a reason he was shown that scene.