Vaddon

Vaddon Whorlo
Status	Active
Race	Kaldar
Gender	Male
Guild	Paladin
Instance	Prime

Early Life and Education

From what the monks told him, Vaddon was born on a farm in a year of great drought. As the farms around the Whorlo family’s dwindled, dried up, and were abandoned, his parents decided to abandon theirs as well. Sending their children to relatives and friends abroad, they were left with the youngest, now not even a year old. They ended up leaving him with the church and a generous tithe, hoping to establish a new farm and return soon to retrieve him.

Months passed, and then years. Vaddon grew up among monks, priests, traveling friars, and the other orphans. While many of the children gravitated toward the scholarly learning, some part of him believed the story that he was told about his parents eventually returning to claim him. Vaddon desperately yearned for that day and wanted to be ready to work the farm. He took on physically demanding jobs to prepare for the hard life of a farmer. Initially he worked in the temple gardens helping the Gardener Eaadrich. His work ethic and strength was quickly noticed and eventually he began working with the Undertaker Khurek to bury the bodies of the recently deceased.

Khurek, took to him and began mentoring him. He began telling Vaddon stories of his great inquisition against the Necromancers, battles of good versus evil, and the might of holy paladins and clerics. Khurek had been a fierce warrior himself before injustice brought on his retirement to the temple cemetery. So while the other children read and studied, Vaddon began to yearn how to hold a blade. With his head full of stories about the glory of battle and fighting to rid the lands of the evil brought forth by the dark ones his path became clear.

Thus, he eventually joined the Paladin guild and has been walking the paladin’s path. Vaddon has been learning and growing, picking up what he can and practicing tirelessly to prepare to carry on the work of Khurek and others.

Reflections

Sharing of stories of battles fought, lessons learned and other musings.

Crossing's Sewers

Spend the past andu and a half, engaged in rooting out the ruffians hiding in Crossing’s sewers. They are a sorted lot of petty thugs, cutthroats and footpads. They were easily dispatched by the guiding hand of Chadtru on my blade though. As we battled, the lawless kept calling out to Idon for support. It made me hesitate as they reminded me how do we end up on these paths of life. Contrasting my work with what these criminals have chosen as their work. As we clashed, I came to the awareness that evil isn’t necessarily a thing. Things are not evil in themselves. For instance, a sword is not evil. Even the stroke of a sword that chops off your head is not evil in its being. In fact, unless it is a good stroke, it will not chop off your head. Where is the evil? Its in the will and the choice, which puts a wrong order into the physical world. How did these criminals start down the path away from what is good to evil? How do we help others avoid a similar fate? There is still so much to learn. I only hope that my work continues to help me understand this world. One final thought to share is the sewers are much to be avoided. The rank smell and sludge got into every crevice of my amor and soaked my pores. It took hours to properly clean my equipment and several hours in the bathhouse to rid me of the taint of that place. Though admittedly, the bathhouses were a hospitable respite from the many hours of work. I now plan to head towards the wilderness north of Arthe Dale. I hope that fresh air will return my sense of smell to normal. The plan is to spend some time in quite study reading and reflecting on my chosen path. End of report.

Blueberry Fields

During the past andu and a half, I have taken to the helping the monastery in their blueberry fields. After coming upon a Brother on my patrols that mentioned problems with skunks and granite gargoyles. I leant my sword into their service. As I spent many taxing days slaying the infestation, I began to reflect on my motives. Specifically, the question about what is good? Finally, after several days thinking about the question, I saw a tabby cat cornered by a fox along a fence row and an answer was revealed to me. Remembering the code, I intervened and scared the fox away, freeing the cornered cat. I then recalled eavesdropping on a priest lecturing a young cleric, about how the gods teach wisdom through suffering. He quoted an ancient text that said; Day by day, hour by hour Pain drips upon the heart As, against our will and even in our own despite Comes wisdom It was at that time, I recognized that freeing the cat was a kind act but not necessarily a good act. My actions ran the fox off but cheated the cat of learning how to get out the situation on its own merit. Then I realized, kindness is wanting to free others from pain. But without pain, such as hunger, illness, ignorance, or weakness what would drive me. The more deeply we love, the more we go beyond kindness. I see parents that are kind to other children, but are more demanding of their own. Thus my realization it is more noble to do good, then simply be kind. So coming to that understanding, I have left the monks to solve their own problems. While my efforts were kind, they were not necessarily good. The infestation of their fields is not fleeting. They should make the effort to improve the stone walls to keep their enemies away. My efforts only delay their own realization of the problems they have. So I have moved on and seek out more opportunities to do good. Rumors of thugs, ruffians and cutthroats in Crossing have peaked my interest and I plan to investigate. End of report.

Goblins at the Gate

My training continues as I answered a call to arms when I heard the voices yelling about Goblins at Crossing’s northeast gate. Grabbed my sword and shield and raced to answer. Inadvertently, I may have bumped a poor traveler to the ground in my haste running through the streets. As I went through the gates going blindly into the mayhem, there were all kinds of goblins that I have never seen before. It was so overwhelming I froze as I gathered my wits. It’s as if Rutilor himself spoke to me on the whisper of the wind reminding me of the code. A paladin is a protector. Then as I saw, Alaxndr engaged with four goblins and knew what I must do. I advanced to the front into the unknown. Then upon arriving was immediately surrounded by goblins. Ashamed to admit though, I considering fleeing. Then as if the same whispers filled my head with the code, I was reminded of the code. When it is necessary to fight, I will take a forward position in the battle, facing the foe boldly. This cleared my head of the doubts and I committed to the fight before me. Knowing that the empaths Kethrai, Kaelie and Koryn, were fully engaged did strengthen my resolve. Ultimately after reconciling myself to retreating not being an option the rest was a blur. Memories etched into my mind do include valiant acts of bravery and skillful work of some of the defenders. Like seeing a goblin marauder moving like a goshawk, slice at Salvitoriel’s stomach slicing it open. But there was no stopping him. He recovered and driving in like the overwhelming force of a hurricane, swinging has maul landing an awesome strike killing the vile creature. Another sight etched in my mind was that of Alaxndr as graceful as a mongoose. He is definitely a master combatant using his maul. He landed an earth-shaking strike completely destroying a goblin’s shoulders and back. Briefly there were glimpse of Mol fighting with his bare hands. Hitting them with precision strikes and deft moves that reminded me of what I could hope to achieve one day. If a display such of that doesn’t give one confidence, I don’t know what would. It was quite a sight to see. One day, I hope I will be occupying the battleground as adeptly as those warriors. Fortunately Kaelie, Kethrai and Korya were there tending the wounded and casting their spells to calm the attackers. Honestly, without their help it would have been a different ending likely resulting in the deaths of the defenders. I could go on. But having finally cleared the gate and surrounding trails the vanquished Goblins were gone. The carnage on the battlefield was stunning. That is the end of report I suppose. The lesson learned is follow the code. Rutilor shines his light on those that live to the code.