Alas, over 2 months have passed, and no update... my apologies to my [respecting but hopefully not adoring] fans...
Seeing as I am at 999 posts at the time I am writing this, what better way to commemorate my 1,000th post (and the accompanying bump in level to 2nd) than to UPDATE MY FREAKIN' STORY HOUR?!
Note: spoilers ahead! For those receiving message notifications by email, as well as those downloading the thread from the website, it is recommended you come to the forum itself to read this post if you don’t want too many things to be revealed too early, as I’m not entirely certain if my method of placing the text in quote tags within spoiler tags really works.. I have included several pieces of conversation for the sake of completeness which reveal a great deal about these two important NPCs, and some (such as my player) should not be reading these things until a later point in the campaign.
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Not a hundred feet out from the gate leading out of the inn compound, Evendur stopped and turned toward the inn’s main door. After a few moments, the door opened slightly and Shirl slipped hesitantly out into the street. Seeing that he was standing only a short distance away and looking right at her, she shrugged uncomfortably and lowered her gaze, avoiding his own as she walked toward him at a brisk pace. He remained motionless until she stopped a scant two feet at his side. “I see you chose to come with me,” he commented dryly, swiveling his head in her direction ever so slightly.
She nodded slightly. “Yes, I did…” The requisite moment of awkward silence came and went, and then she forced herself to continue, “I just felt the need to talk to you. We’re going to be adventuring together soon, right? I thought we should get to know each other a little better.” She looked up for a moment, smiling shyly.
“I would appreciate the company,” Evendur replied with a slight smile of his own. “Besides, it’s always best to wander the back alleyways in the presence of someone with the know-how to watch one’s back.” He started moving forward, and Shirl found keeping up with his swift pace difficult, but managed to match him stride for stride nonetheless.
The streets of Waterdeep were mucky from prevailing weather, and progress among the majority of Waterdhavians was slower than usual as a result. The two of them pierced through the crowd like a spear through a gelatinous cube. Evendur’s eyes shifted about constantly, keeping an eye on everything around him. Shirl noticed and attributed it to some sort of paranoia, but said nothing.
As they passed by a cart whose owner was stubbornly refusing to accept that it was stuck in the mud, Shirl finally asked the question which was her reason for following him. “So…” She paused for a few seconds before continuing. “I’ll tell you about my past and why I became an adventurer if you’ll share some of your story with me. All right?”
(Spoilers follow, put into quote tags within spoiler tags, so you have to be on the board to read them. My player should not read this, and anyone who wants to keep from knowing more than the PC did about these two characters at first should just skip this part.)
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Evendur frowned. His aim was not to reveal his past to her so early in their travels. “You first,” he muttered with blasé bearing.
Shirl jumped slightly at that, clearly not expecting to be called out in such a manner. “Well, I, uh…” She swallowed heavily, forcing resolve to reach her gut. “I became an adventurer when I was sixteen years old. At the time before I met Lander, I lived with my parents in Peldan’s Helm. I helped father out with the farming and leatherworking, and had a few friends, though I’ve always been sort of shy…” She lowered her gaze for a moment, acting true to how she had just described herself. “Well, anyway, it was about this time that I happened to encounter a local knight passing through the area. His name is Dallen Greenwood, and he is a long-standing and well-respected member of the militia in Mistledale. When he looked upon me, he was instantly smitten, and not in a chaste way…” She had to swallow again. Evendur could see where this topic was going by the way she was speaking of it.
“Of course, even the common folk of Mistledale have enough rights that they cannot be married off without their consent. And so he turned to an alternate form of persuasion…” There was nothing more to be said of the subject, and indeed mentioning the matter as much as she did was enough to cause her to begin shaking with rage and all manner of other undesirable emotions.
Evendur frowned slightly. “No need to speak further on the subject–that was enough for me to figure out what happened. After that… incident, however, you trained under Lander. How did you meet him?”
Shirl was grateful for the change in topic, though she was still tense and starting to have difficulty focusing on anything else. “After… after that night, I was confused and frightened. I fled from my home of so many years, and found myself in Ashabenford a few days later.” She sighed tiredly, this topic was wearing on her more than she had anticipated. “I was an absolute wreck at the time. I found my way to a tavern and was ready to drink myself to death’s door when I met Lander. He could tell something was very wrong, and, well… Lander is a very kind soul. He talked me out of a lot of crazy ideas that were running around in my head the entire time; he allowed himself to be subjected to all manner of verbal abuse… in the end, he even took me in as a student and taught be the bardic way.” She smiled slightly at Evendur, as much as she could while speaking of a troubled past. “And then when my training was almost at an end, he led me here to find others to adventure with. And that led to meeting you.” She glanced Evendur’s way. “I’ve told you more than I wanted to say. Your turn.”
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(Even worse spoiler follows… only the most inquisitive of souls should venture!)
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Evendur chuckled. “Fair enough. Just don’t expect a story anything near the level of what you told me.” He stopped for a moment, leaning heavily on his staff. “Hmm… you were so honest with me that I feel I must tell you everything or I shall be doing you a disservice. Lend your ear, then, for a moment, to what there is of my tale…”
He then recounted what little there was to tell her, in the elven language which he was more comfortable using when speaking of such. ”It is a very simple story, really, though I don’t know whether or not I expect you to believe I’m telling the truth. Approximately one month ago, I awakened in an alleyway near the inn at which you are staying, with nothing but tattered rags, the amulet I showed you, and fragments of memories which began to fade in the first few minutes after I awakened… By now, I can remember almost nothing of my past, except that when I awoke the amount I remembered was much greater than what I remember now. I occasionally have fleeting glimpses of a spendid city, with great magic and many, many marvelous devices. Yet the city is dark, and there is great evil all around me. Even this vision is fading from me… I may remember nothing of it in a week’s time.” He chuckled. ”Probably a bit hard to swallow, so I understand if you don’t believe a word of it. I will tell you that I have spent the last month working in that establishment.”
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(End spoilers… for those who didn’t read, the conversation ended with Evendur telling Shirl that he didn’t expect her to believe the story he told.)
Shirl smiled warmly.
“No, I believe you… what reason do you have to lie to me? Besides… I like you.” She blushed slightly after reflecting on her quickly-voiced statement.
“Well, you know what I mean,” she quickly added.
Evendur chuckled, and turned to face her full on.
”No, actually, I don’t. What did you mean?” He reached out to poke her upper arm slightly.
”A mere slip of the tongue, or something more?
Shirl slapped his arm back rather forcefully.
”DO NOT TEASE ME SO!” she shouted, much louder than she had intended. Much more demurely, she said,
”Well, let us be on our way. We will not reach our destination without walking there.”