Paval Fagyaszt's page

This kit includes a backpack, a bedroll, a belt pouch, caltrops, chalk (10), a flint and steel, a grappling hook, an iron pot, a mess kit, a mirror, pitons (10), rope, soap, thieves’ tools, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), and a waterskin.

This soft leather case contains a vial for holding ink, an ink pen, spare pen nibs, a small container of pigment for making ink, a tiny knife for cutting quills into pens, a blotter, and a small ruler.

A shaving kit contains a straight razor, a whetstone, a small mirror, a brush, a cup, and enough shaving powder to last a Medium humanoid 50 shaves.

Born in Port Ice in northern Brevoy, Paval had a very easy and luxurious childhood. He was the son of nanny responsible for taking care of Domani Surtova's youngest daughter, Elena, who was roughly a year older than he was. As such he grew up next to her, learning together and playing together. He had no idea who his father was but it didn't really matter. Life was good.
Things went south pretty quickly when the both of them hit puberty. Paval was about 15 years old when he and Elena fell in love. They had been close for a very long time and the closeness turned to clumsy, teenage romance before they, and those around them, realised. It was Paval's mother who broke the spell. Paval and Elena had the same father, Domani Surtova. They were brother and sister and what they were doing was wrong. What was more, he wasn't allowed to tell anyone that he knew.

Paval, a heartbroken teenage boy, of course could not keep it to himself. It wasn't long before the supposed rumours were suppressed and both Paval and his mother were moved out of the keep and into a house far away in New Stetven. Everything was paid for, house, food and Paval's education, but they were never to show their faces in Port Ice again.

Unbeknownst to his mother, their father or anyone else, Paval and Elena kept writing letters to each other. While the situation was rather awkward they had been friends since forever and were siblings as well. Elena would write about the situation in Port Ice while Paval wrote about his life in the big city.

Then, about a year after Paval left, the Vanishing happened. Cousin Noleski became king of Brevoy and Domani became lord of Port Ice. Paval's mother received a letter from Domani that now more than ever they had to keep their heads down. The new king wouldn't want a family scandal on his hands and he might just make their existence very painful if things got out. Shortly after letters from Elena seized coming for almost a year. When they did resume not the wording was different, more careful. Domani had discovered they were still in touch and had forbidden it so sending letters was riskier and Paval could no longer simply send them to the keep's kitchen, as he had done so far. Instead he had to send them to an inn within the city and he also had to find another place she could send her letters to. Things continued to go like that till the present day, though they switched addresses a few times since.

While all of that was going on Paval did not sit still. His education continued and while he missed Port Ice he did find the teachers in New Stetven better and friendlier. He learned a lot about the land he lived in and was particlarly intrigued by the stories of Rostland and it's sword lords. Through he discovered that he, through his mother's line, was a descendant of Rostland's swordlords. In fact, his grandfather had still been a renowned swordsman.

When Paval asked his mother about him she initially wouldn't say much. Her father had indeed been a great swordsman and a minor noble but that was it. When his mother wouldn't tell any more Paval found himself digging through archives. His grandfather had been a noble, even if minor, so his life and death would be recorded. He proved easy to find, Haval Aldaar, descendant of an impoverished branch of the Aldori clan that had found it's way back to nobility under the rule of Choral the Conqueror by betraying the clan. He had married young and had had four children. The entire family, except for the youngest daughter, had perished in what the record claimed was an accidental fire. The odd thing was that in the entire death record theirs were the only cases where the fire was specifically said to be accidental. When Paval confronted his mother with this she simply broke down and cried for hours.

Paval then travelled to Rostland, both to see the ruin of their small estate and to see if he could find more there. The ruin still stood there, blackened by flames and now colonized by plants and vermin. Looking for information in the closest town didn't yield much either. People ether didn't want to talk or were afraid to, only mumbling things under their breath. Eventually Paval found a single person willing to talk about his family. She was old and drunk and claimed to have lost a daughter in the fire, the estate's cook. According to her the fire had been set by a disgruntled student of Haval who had been angry after being kicked out he tried something with one of Haval's daughters and against her wishes. She didn't know who he was other than "some noble brat from up north". She also claimed the ruin was haunted by Haval's disgruntled spirit.

To Paval it all made sense now. The noble brat was a Surtova and his mother got her job as a nanny so far from home as compensation for her loss. She had taken it because she had nowhere else to go.Only the timeline of the "noble brat from up north" and his own birth didn't make sense, he couldn't be the brat's son. Besides, his mother claimed he was Domani's and he wouldn't have been a brat, not even back then. He simply was too old for that.

It was at that point that Paval decided he'd go to the ruin at night to see if he could contact this supposed ghost of his grandfather. It was his only hope of figuring out more.

Initially his trip into the ruin was quite unsuccessful. The rats wren't happy to see him, nor was the one homeless squatter that called it home, but none gave Paval any real trouble. The ghost did not appear though. Paval spend his entire night searching through the wreckage without any success, at least not where ghosts were concerned. What he did find was a sword. It was an old blade but it had kept quite well, protected by the piles of charred wood that laid on top of it.
Only when Paval tried to leave the ruins with the blade in his pack did the spirit show itself. Initially it lurched for Paval but then it stopped, mere inches away from him. It cocked it's head and give him a long, hard look before floating around him while making approving noises. Then, to Paval's shock, it hugged him, or at least attempted to, before introducing itself as Haval Aldaar, or gramps.

The two talked for hours on end. Paval asking his grandfather question about what had happened and about the past and his grandfather inquiring about the well being of his last surviving daughter. When dawn started pressing onto the horizon Paval expressed his dismay at having to leave for New Stetven, wishing he could bring his grandfather along. It was then the ghost offered him a deal. He could come along, bound to someone of his own blood, and offer his knowledge and help Paval with his sword training, which was abysmal according to the spirit. In return his grandfather simply wanted to see his daughter, see his line continued and to, if possible, reattain glory for the family. When asked whether he wanted vengeance for his family's death his dismissed it, leaving would be the best revenge. The culprit had also perished in the fire and his soul was still tied to the rubble. Paval agreed to the deal, without much hesitation, and the ghost launched itself into Paval, settling within his sword hand.

Since then his grandfather's ghost has provided Paval with stories about the past by writing them out. It would also correct him when he argued with his mother, slapping him in the face once she was out of sight and refusing to tell more before he apologized.