Fyrtor Smithson's page

- Father was a human nation solder deserter
- Father fell in love with a half elf quit army got married
- Father feels guilty about his previous life devotly follow Sarenrae hoping for redemption
- Parents moved to nation of Helm
- Parents homestead in rough remote country in the North of Helm near untamed lands
- Half Elf mother get's pregnant dies during childbirth
- Father turns to local druids for help with infant Frytor
- Frytor grows up herding goats with father in mountain valley
- Family is friendly with the local druids, but has a more "practical" philolosophy
- Father teaches Frytor swordplay because of the threat of orc/goblins and other dangers
- One day father falls and hurts head, unconscious
- Frytor takes father to druids, but it is too late, after several weeks of tending father passes away.
- Frytor stays with the druids, wants to learn how to help people, but not so naturey as the usual druid, more "practical"
- Frytor learns to make concoctions and nature magic
- Learns to quaff concotions quickly (horrible taste)
- Frytor helps to defend the druids from orcs/goblins
- Frytor acts and intermediary between druids and settlers
- Frytor continues to worship Sarenrae, tries to convert the druids, they don't convert, but still accept him even if he isn't a "normal" druid.
- Joining the party because the threat to Helm is a threat to the duids his lives with and the community nearby.
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Woodsdale is a small community nestled into a valley in the Southern Hills. It is home to about 90 people most of whom make their living herding mountain goats, trapping, and farming. The area is rough and difficult to access and so few people come to visit Woodsdale. The village would not exist were if not for a dwarf mine deeper into the hills. Each year early in the fall the dwarves come and trade some of the copper they mine for food and other supplies they will need for the winter. Following the winter, the villagers trade needlework, cloth, furs and such with the dwarves. After doing so in the spring the villagers send a party to trade the dwarves copper and the furs gathered during the winter for new seed and supplies they will need for the coming year.

Daryl was a typical Lustian, proud of his country and sure the elven threat needed to be dealt with. So he joined the army. There he was assigned to a light cavalry unit that worked the border. Daryl was a good soldier and soon was assigned to a special team. Daryl didn’t realize what he would be doing as it was secret. His first mission with this special team changed everything. The team went into elven territory in the dead of night and attacked a small village. Officially the attack was carried out by “bandits.” Daryl's team razed a farmhouse, killing an elf man, his wife and their two small children. Daryl, who had been full of enthusiasm, was stunned. He just watched as the attck was carried out. After the attack was done his commanding officer told him not to worry, what they were doing was for the good of the empire, he'd get used to it. Daryl asked for leave and was granted a month. He holed up in a tavern in the border town they were near and tried to drink away the memory.

There drowning his shame he met Helen. She was a half elf and previously Daryl would have despised her because of that, but the shock of the attack caused him so see elves in a new light, not so different from himself. Helen took pity on this young soldier. The spoke with him of forgivness and reception. When he became interested she took him to the local cleric of Sarenrae. Dayl found hope in their dogma. He swore to himself that he would change. He and Helen spent most of the month together. They fell for each other and when Daryl's leave was ending he made a desperate decision. He made up his mind that if Helen would go with him he would desert the army and run to the Bishopbric of Helm. Helen had little to keep her in the small town and agreed. So it was that after a quick marriage by the Sarenrae cleric the newly weds took flight searching for a place that Daryl could forget his past and begin anew.

It was by chance that Daryl and his new wife Helen met one of the yearly. Woodsdale excursions. The couple yearned to find a simpler life and upon hearing of the small community Daryl offered to guard the small party in exchange for a place in Woodsdale. The village is accustomed to goblins lost in the mountains finding their way into the valley and Daryl looked very capable with the sword he carried. The small company agreed and after completing their business added the Smithson couple to their number and returned home. The Smithson’s given a few mountain goats, and other supplies and shown a place where they could build a homestead. They threw themselves into the work and after a few years were working and living as if they’d lived in Woodsdale all their lives.

Also living in the mountains near Woodsdale is a small number of druids. The grove consists about twelve individuals who keep mostly to themselves. Occasionally they will visit the village when they have a need for metal items they don’t make themselves. Sometimes they are sought out for their ability to heal things Mother Tallow the village healer cannot. The villagers are wary of the druids, but generally a live and let live attitude prevails. Daryl and Helen being somewhat outsiders themselves and living further from the village than most grew to be friends with an old druid named Birch. Birch would visit the couple and help them with the kidding, or help them when they were having difficulty with the crop. In return they would talk with him and share a meal or two. He would also warn them if there were goblins afoot and sometimes Daryl would go to help Birch deal with them before they could do any damage.

When Helen became pregnant Birth told them it would be a boy. The couple was overjoyed. Tragically Helen’s labor did not go as planned. She began labor to early and so the couple was alone on the farm. Daryl did what he could, but his wife would not stop bleeding and passed away soon after their son was born. Daryl was devastated by the death of his wife. To this day despite the protestations of Mother Tallow and the other village women he has not taken another wife.

But life goes on, and so after a few months of having the infant Frytor nursed by a woman in the village Daryl brought him back to the farm. There Frytor grew to be a strong young man. He spent most of his time tending to the goats, watching them and keeping a lookout for trouble. Yet despite being further from the village than most Frytor was not isolated. He would play with the other Woodsdale children when he and his father visited the village proper. Also, Frytor enjoyed Birch’s visits and would pester him with so many questions that the usually patient man would send him away to look for some rare plant just to have a moments peace.

When Frytor became old enough Daryl began to train him in swordplay. It was something that Frytor took to easily and his father was often proud his skills. At the same time, he would caution him to have a care not to use a blade without reason. It wasn’t long before Daryl agreed to let Frytor accompany him and Birch when a small band of goblins threatened the area. Watching the way his father and Birch derived no pleasure from killing the goblins changed the way Frytor viewed the affair. Previously he’d thought of it as a grand battle, being a champion for the village. That was how the other children had presented it. Instead it was simply another thing that needed to be done. Like culling the herd, it was distasteful but necessary. Still there was joy in doing a thing well and swordplay was a pastime that Frytor spent many an evening together enjoying the contest.

Fytor’s simple life would probably have continued, eventually taking a wife and living in Woodsdale were it not for a fateful day. One day as Frytor and his father were searching for a stray mountain goat his father fell down the steep side of the valley and struck his head. When Frytor got to him he was bleeding and unconscious. Frytor carried him and searched out Birch. Birch look at and him and put a poultice on his wound, and cast a spell on him. Daryl still didn’t wake up. Concerned Birch helped Frytor carry his back to the farmhouse and stayed the night with them. When Daryl still didn’t wake Birch told Frytor they needed to take him to the druid grove.

None of the villagers had ever been to the druid grove. While the druids were not hostile to the villagers they barred entrance to this place they believed to be sacred. Desperate to help his father Frytor agreed to go with Birch. They carried the unconscious man to the edge of the grove. Frytor watched nervously as Birch began to speak with a stern looking druid in a language he didn’t understand.

When it seemed that the druid would bar their way Frytor pleaded to allow them in. The druid turned to him and in the language of his birth told him, “there is nothing to be done, he will not wake” “Please!” Frytor cried, “If there is any chance please help him!” “It may be weeks before he recovers, IF he recovers. We will not waste our effort; all men die in time.” “Please! I… I will serve here as payment,” stammered. At this point Birch pulled the druid aside and spoke to him in hushed tones. Turning back to the young man the druid spoke, “very well, but if we do this you will serve here among us for at least one year, while you are here you will obey our customs and you must swear to keep our secrets.” Immediately Frytor responded, “I swear it.” “So be it, I am Hickory. Follow me.”

So began Frytor’s time in the druid grove. Frytor was tasked with many chores. In many ways this life was not unlike his own prior. He would search for specific plants, cut herbs, gather nuts and berries and many other such activities. His free time he’d spend with his father tending him and hoping he would wake. Often Birch would join him, asking him what he’d been doing and teaching him to speak the druids’ strange language. Several weeks passed and Daryl never did recover. Eventually he passed awake and Frytor was given permission to carry him back to the farm and bury him next to his mother. During this time the farm had fallen into disrepair and the flock of goats was gone. Frytor took his father’s blade, and returned to the grove to finish the time he sworn to serve. He did so knowing that he likely would never return to the farm except to see his parents’ graves.

Frytor’s time among the druids helped to shape him into the man he has become. At first he was only there because of the concern for his father, but after Daryl’s passing Frytor still had most of a year before his pledge of service would end. Though he disagreed with the naturalistic philosophy many of the druids like Hickory followed he found that they were not without compassion. In time he grew to love them. An old gnome named Ivy became particular close to him. She shared his worship of Saranrae and showed him how the worship of the sun goddess and the natural world could be one in the same. When Frytor’s year was done he found that he didn’t want to go back to his old life. He couldn’t be a farmer anymore; he had outgrown that life. At the same time, he was not the same as the druids of his grove, he would not be content to stay and let life pass him by. The loss of his father had hurt him badly and he wanted to do everything he could to protect people. He had learned to heal people, and how to make concoctions that he could share. When Frytor spoke with Birch and Ivy, the two people he was closest to they encouraged him to go and help those he could.

Frytor left the grove to help people and to share the things that he had learned, though he did keep his promise to not reveal the druid’s secrets. He made his way selling concoctions and working as a field hand. Still Frytor didn’t forget his roots, he visited Woodsdale and the druids frequently. They are as close to family as he has left and he cares for them deeply. Lately the frequency of attacks from goblins in the southern hills has been increasing. Because of this the druids of the Woodsdale grove asked Frytor to carry a message from them seeking the aid of the grove on the Serpent Isles.

Frytor traveled to the coast, and sought passage to the isles. At first no one was willing to take him there because of the constant threat of pirates. After he healed the daughter of a fisherman who was on the verge of death however the man offered to take Frytor where he needed to go.