Ramos the Herald's page

“Repent! Repent for your sins! The End is Nigh!” Screamed a half mad preacher, as Ramos crossed though Dog Town and into Katapesh. Shaking his head Ramos moved on. It had been a long journey and he suspected longer still yet. Glancing back towards the lunatic, Ramos sighed. “Fools with their false prophecies. No man will know the day of the worlds ending. If the Azalant couldn’t predict their doom, then what chance do we have?” Moving on down the street paused for a moment to collect his bearings. It had been a few months, but the Nightstalls were still easy to locate. Finding the right stall, now that was the difficult part. As Ramos wandered though the rows of stalls and tents he meditated on the events that led up to this point.

It had been two years ago and he was a priest of Sarenrae, he had a wife, and a child and his faith was strong. Class: Cleric 1 Then came the night of nighmares and madness... Ramos could still remember the dusty travelers as they entered into monastery, archeologists, sponsored by the church to investigate a newly uncovered pyramid. Trait: Tomb Raider The leader of the expedition was excited, he claimed to have found a great artifict from the age of the God-Kings. Sigh... Some things are ment be left in the darkness and locked away. As night set, so too did the blessings of Sarenrae. Then the screams began. Darkness thicker than oil settled around the monastery while cold winds sharper then jagged ice whipped though the hallways and corridors; all the while Ramos was subjected to whispers of madness, trapped in a nightmare he never thought would end. When the sun rose the next day, it hung low in the air, as if mourning for the terrible events of the past evening. Everyone and everything in the monastery was dead. Everything except for Ramos. When Ramos finally awoke from the primordial nightmare, his faith in Sarenrae was shattered and he had a strange mark across his chest in the shape of a Rounded Skull. Trait: Birthmark At that moment, Ramos knew two inescapable facts; Everything will end one day. And Ramos he would be herald of that end.

Groetus had claimed a new devotee.

“Black Lotus? Virgins Tears? Something else perhaps?” Inquired the gap toothed merchant. Snapping out of his recollection Ramos looked up. There! The blue tent with white stripes and banner, that’s what the voice told to look for. Moving though the filthy unwashed crowds Ramos made his way towards the tent. "Can I help you?" Sneered an immaculacy dressed man as he looked at Ramos. Easy read thought Ramos bedraggled man, three days overdue for a shave, with lanky brown hair and tired eyes, clearly no coin for my type of business. "Yes, ah, believe I have an appointment, it’s under the name Ramos, I think your expecting me."

Standing up from his desk the man looked up. "Ramos, your Ra? Ah I mean of course sir, this way. I have the parchment already laid out. We were ah expecting you. You must understand, these scrolls, they are quite rare, quite rare indeed! A find such as this, why it’s incredible!"

"Scrolls? Uh, yes scrolls, you have read them? Good, let me see it." Studying the papyrus paper, Ramos’s eyes widen and his hands begin to shake. Then carefully placing the scroll back on the table, Ramos silently leaves the tent. Casmaron Ramos, it seems you are going to Casmaron. Everything may end, but the important thing is how we spend our last few years.

1) Before you is a huge web. In it are a priest of Iomedae and a beautiful maiden. You have time to rescue one of them, which one and why?

Ramos would save the maiden. The priest of Iornedae should be willing to lay down his own life to protect the weak and defenseless. As a crusader for law and order, he willingly chose to put himself at harm, the woman was not given that choice.

2) You are traveling through the forest and you suddenly see three goblins poking at a bound prisoner on the ground. What do you do?

Save the prisoner and drive the beasts off. The end may be near, but it is how we face our end that defines us. Live each moment to the fullest so that we do not go into the black with regret in our hearts.

3) You just returned from successfully defeating a dragon which had been terrorizing the local villages. An orphanage requested that the brave heroes come so that the children can meet them. You accept, but then receive an invitation from the King to join him at a banquet in your honor. You cannot do both, what do you do?

The King invites us to increase his own stature, being seen with “brave hero’s” can only Improve his standing with the nobles. I have no time for such things. The here and now are what are important, give the children their happiness while you still can.

4) How do you expect your character to develop by level 5? Level 10?

I see Ramos as a support caster, focusing on touch attack debuffs to aid the party. He’s not afraid to move in and out of combat to assist the fighters, but his primary strength is by slowly bleeding his foes down, by forcing them to take massive negatives on their rolls and saves. I play to play Cleric the whole way, without dips.

5) Who is your favorite villain and your favorite hero from a medieval story and why? Can be historic, from a book, or from a movie.

My favorite hero from a medieval story is probably Boromir from Lord of the Rings. I feel like he got a bad rap. He saw his people falling under the weight of the shadow and tried to use anything at his disposal to fight back. In the end when he redeems himself and defended Merry and Pippen, *shrug* I am a sucker for last stands.

For a Villain, I would have to go with Asmodean from Wheel of Time. My favorite quote from him is:

“I once saw a man hanging from a cliff. The brink was crumbling under his fingers, and the only thing near enough to grasp was a tuft of grass, a few long blades with roots barely clinging to the rock. The only chance he had of climbing back up on the cliff. So he grabbed it." His abrupt chuckle held no mirth. "He had to know it would pull free." Asmodean is the evil that is the plain, everyday; no one says a word about.

6) Let me know if/how much you have played/read the ToEE - any version including AD&D, 3rd Ed., Return to ToEE, or any video games or novels.

I have I have not played the first Temple of Elemental Evil, but I played half-way though the game, and I ran a Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil years ago in 3.0

7) You are sitting in a tavern when a distraught father runs in and announces that his daughter has been kidnapped by brigands and now they are demanding a ransom or will kill her. He says he has no money to reward the party but hears that the brigands have had much success. What do you do?

Assist the father, rescue the woman.