You decide to humor the boy and agree. Chances are, he’s not going to get permission from his parents anyway and when that happens he’ll be less likely to bother you again. If he does get permission, well it’s not that far to Kenneth’s Rest and you were going there anyway. Plus you’ll have given him the chance he wants and again he’ll be less likely to bother you.

“Alright Ulivik, you go ask your parents, but I’m taking you to Kenneth’s Rest and no further. And when we get there, you’re on your own, don’t think that you’re going to be tagging along with me anywhere else.”
“Okay! That’s great! I’ll be right be back…uh could you come with me, so they know I’m telling the truth?”
“Oh fer…fine.”

You follow Ulivik back to his parent’s store which smells heavily of leather. The pair of them are working on some sort of the hide when you both walk in.

“Mom! Dad! Mr. Bane said he’d take me to Kenneth’s Rest and teach me to be a mercenary! So can I go now?”
“Hey wait I never said I’d teach…” you start to say before Ulivik’s dad interjects his own comments.
“Oh is that right? And how do you know that? How do you know he won’t just rob and kill you along some lonely road?”
“Or worse!” his mother says.
“Hey wait a minute now…”
“But this isn’t fair! You said if I could find somebody to teach me, that you’d allow me to go!” Ulivik whines.
“Yeah, well we didn’t think you’d actually be successful, let alone get a cold hearted killer like Bane here to agree. Which makes me wonder why he did…”
“Trust me, at this point I’m wondering the same thing.” You reply.
“Ulivik, why can’t you just be interested in the family business? It’s a more honorable profession than being a mercenary. It’s honest work.”
“Yeah and the workin’ man is a sucker! Look at where we live!”
“Hey! We get by just fine, and this business has put food in your belly, clothes on your back and a roof over your head! So don’t you dare bad mouth this proud family tradition!”
“Yeah, well I’m not really your son anyway! And you’re not my real parents! I hate this place and every here hates me!” Ulivik screams and leaves slamming the door.

You’re left in an awkward situation with his parents.

“Okay, so I guess that settles that, I’ll just be going now…” you say.
“No, you get back here you sonofabitch.” Ulivik’s dad says.
“Excuse me?”
“I called you a sonofabitch, now if you want to kill me for that you can do it after hearing what I’ve got to say first.”
“Heh, okay. It’s been a weird sort of day today anyway, I’ll play.” You say with a smile.
“Yeah, well I ain’t playing. Look, I know all about you, and you probably don’t know me at all but I remember your ruthless reputation when you were still in service of the Empire. There was a family that lived down the block from me and my wife. We we’re friends and they even had a couple of children. Children that we would sometimes love to entertain because we couldn’t have any of our own. But this family wasn’t happy with the Empire’s rules so they along with several others protested…”

You stop the tanner right there.

“Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re going to say, I had them all killed for treason and had their heads put on pikes. Well I was trying to maintain order and I did what I had to do to get the job done. I’m sure this story pales in comparison to others have screamed at me in the past and you don’t even need to make your point about hating me, because I’m used to it anyway. Besides you don’t want your son going to Kenneth’s Rest and I’m certainly not going to drag him along. If anything I’d wish he’d stop looking up to me as some sort of hero and following me around. I was hoping by doing this for him I’d finally be rid of him. So if you don’t mind, I’ll be going now and I’ll also be disappointing you again, by not killing you before I leave.”

You turn to leave and that’s when you get another unusual request.

“If you take him to Kenneth’s Rest, will you also look after him?” Ulivik’s mother asks.
“What?!”
“If you want money to do so, we can pay. Just can you look after him for a while at least?”
“Okay…now I’m confused. I thought not only did you not want him to go, but that I was also a ruthless bastard that would probably rob and kill him along a lonely road?”
“Yeah, we don’t want him to go, and yeah you are a ruthless bastard…but I also know you actually do have some sort of code of honor. You might’ve left the Empire behind, but the regimented way of thinking you have is still there. You wouldn’t bother killing my boy unless you felt he was a direct danger to you, and I think we both know that isn’t the case.” Ulivik’s dad says.
“Well that’s the truth.”
“The other thing is…we’re not going to be able to stop him. He’s been getting more and more restless about this, and he’s going to want to pursue this career path whether we want him to or not. At this point he’s just going to run away from home and who knows what trouble he’ll get into. (sigh) Maybe it’s just his nature, bein’ a dark elf and all, but for good or ill, me and my wife have taken on the responsibility of raising him. And part of that is making sure he has the survival skills that he’ll need to make it in this world. We can’t teach him that, but you could. Look, like my wife said, we can pay you a good sum just for you teach him the basics, or whatever else is involved, if you need more, I dunno we’ll try to figure out something.”

You’re speechless for a moment. Just when you think you’ve seen the worst in people, something like this happens and surprises you.

“I’m not sure what you expect me to do. I mean this job isn’t something I can teach like from a book. Most of what he’s going to have to learn is going to be from direct experience. I mean I suppose I could teach him some combat skills, but the rest is going to mainly be up to him.”
“Well do what you can, and take this in the meantime.”

Uliviki’s mother hands you a small bag. When you look inside, it’s nothing but gold coins. This has to be some of their savings, possibly all of their savings. They must really trust you, if they’ve given you this much.

“I’ll do my best. You have my word as an Eternal.” You say and pocket the bag of coins. With those last words you exit the tanner’s store intending to find Ulivik. Fortunately you know he isn’t far.

“Ulivik, I know you’re around the corner. Stop sulking, or pouting or whatever teenage angst you’re doing and let’s go.”

Ulivik slowly comes out from behind the corner.

“You’re taking me with you?”
“Yeah, I scared your parents into letting you come with me. Now grab whatever gear you want to take and let’s go before all the good jobs are taken.”

Ulivik is completely giddy at this turn of events and runs back into the store to get his stuff. You on the other hand are wondering how the hell you got yourself into this. Then you feel the bag of coins again and remember.

On your journey to Kenneth’s Rest, you explain to Ulivik some of the things he should know such as haggling for better prices on jobs and the art of intimidation. You also teach him a few combat moves. He’s a rookie to be sure, but his agility allows him from getting hurt too badly.

When you get to Kenneth’s Rest, the place is as busy as always. Ulivik is more than a little distracted by the surroundings, and you have to keep reminding him to stay alert.

“Hey stop staring at the harlots and pay attention! Just because fighting isn’t supposed to be allowed here, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. In fact people around here love to start trouble. Don’t stare at anyone in the eye for too long and make sure you don’t bump into anybody. You could either get into a fight, or someone might even try to pick your pocket.”
“Okay. Here isn’t the job board that way?”
“Job board? Hah. I never use those things. I go straight to the source. Trust me, if you want to get a job that pays well; get to know and make contact with the owners or government officials. Fortunately Kenneth used to work for me at one time, so it was quite easy for me to make contact with him. And when we find him, just keep your mouth shut, and let me do all the talking.”

Eventually you find Kennth, he’s as jumpy as ever whenever you first see him.

“Sir! I didn’t expect you to be down this way so soon? What can I do for you today?”
“Kenneth, will you relax? It’s been what, like ten years now? I’m not your superior officer anymore; you don’t have to keep calling me sir and getting all nervous and shit.”
“I know sir, just old habits you know? Who’s this with you?”
“This here is Ulivik, and he’s going to be my apprentice for a while.”
“Apprentice? Seriously? Never pegged you as the teaching type.”
“Right, Kenneth, like all those years of training soldiers in this very fort count for nothing at all.”
“No, that’s not what I mean…I just oh I dunno. It’s just odd I guess. He’s a svelk, how come he’s not with his own people?”
“That’s a long and unusual story, and one I don’t have time to go into. Besides we’re not here to satisfy your curiosity, we’re here for jobs, but seeing as this is Ulivik’s first time and all, can we get something maybe a little less…lethal?”
“Hmm, usually that sort of stuff is on the boards, but I think I got something. Oh! There’s a nest of auravraxes a few miles from here.”
“Ugh, more of those furry things? I just wiped out a nest of them a week ago!”
“Well that’s all I got that’s on the easy side. I mean I’ve got some other jobs too, but you said this was more for training your apprentice than anything else.”
“I can take on a harder task Mr. Bane. I mean I have to learn from experience right?” Ulivik pipes up forgetting that he was supposed to keep his mouth shut.

Still, he might have a point.
> You take a harder job
Nothing like trial by fire, if Ulivik thinks he can handle it, he’ll learn soon enough.

“Kenneth just give us whatever job pays the most currently right now.” You say.
“Oh okay then, that’s easy. There’s a troll somewhere south of here near the old Empire border. Dunno exactly where he’s making his home, I’m guess there’s a hole in the ground somewhere though, anyway it’s been eating a lot of travelers and merchants on the roads whenever it’s feeling a little hungry. It’s only just arrived, but it’s hurting business and for some reason none of these fucking cowards will go and kill it!” Kenneth shouts so everyone in the bar can hear him.

“A troll? Where the hell did he come from? They’re rare enough as it is, and even less likely to wander around above ground.” You remark.
“I have no idea, but it’s ruining business. So are you going to take the job?”
“Yeah sure, should be interesting.” You say.

You and Ulivik get up and leave who looks less enthusiastic now.

“What’s wrong with you?”
“Oh uh, nothing. Just didn’t expect it would be a troll. You only hear about them in stories.”
“Yeah, well this ain’t no story and they’re quite real. I should know I’ve fought one before when I was serving as a soldier here. Damn thing blended in the darkness of the cave and took out three men before we even knew what was going on. Now it’s a common misconception that you can only kill them with fire, but that’s probably the best way to kill ‘em anyway given how tough their skin is, let alone their regenerative abilities…”

At this point Ulivik begins to look pale, an amazing feat for a dark elf. You address the situation before continuing.

“Okay and I can tell by your look, you’re having second thoughts about all this. If you want to back out, there’s still time you know. Do you want to back out?”

Ulivik’s silence isn’t an answer.

“Look, you better tell me now because when we’re facing nine feet of green and black horror I don’t want to be having to pull your fat out of the fire because you’re freezing up in terror.”
“I’m not backing out and I won’t freeze up!” he exclaims.
“Okay then, come on we need to get a few extra supplies.”

Ulivik’s answer doesn’t exactly convince you that he still isn’t scared about all this, but sometimes fear can be a good thing. Keeps you on your toes. Besides one would have to be a complete moron to not be a little worried about facing a troll. The only time you faced one, wasn’t exactly a picnic and you had the advantage of numbers on your side. Normally you don’t waste your money on things like explosives, but you make an exception and buy a couple of firebombs along with some oil flasks, torches and a whetstone to make sure your sword is extra sharp.

Along the way to your destination, you tell Ulivik how he should approach fighting the thing and whatever he does to not let it corner him or get the drop on him. If either one happens he’s dead. You also tell him that unlike an ogre or a giant, trolls are a lot faster and sneakier than their size would indicate.

You travel for about a good portion of the day on your way towards the southern Rask border. You stick to the road since you figure if the troll has been ambushing merchants and travelers, he’s got to be stalking the road. When night comes you make a camp along side of it, but there still is no sign of any troll yet.

“Hey you said these things don’t usually come out from underground?” Ulivik asks.
“Well the one I encountered was living in a cave that was being mined, and all the other stories I’ve heard and you’ve probably heard is that they’re completely subterranean. Whatever the truth is, this one has been lurking above ground and out in the open, so maybe they just don’t like sunlight. Probably has a home somewhere nearby, but there aren’t any hills or mountains in this part of Rask, just forest. Could be living in there I suppose, but I’m betting he’s probably got a hidden entrance in the ground somewhere and he’s living right underneath us.”

This of course causes Ulivik to start looking at the ground around him.

“How do we know it’ll even show up?”
“We don’t, but if it’s been attacking people like Kenneth says it has, then us lingering around the road will probably draw its attention. Of course there’s no point in sitting around and using up all our energy by staying up all night. We’ll be taking shifts. You seem to be alert already so you’re taking first watch while I get a little rest.”

When you close your eyes you begin to slowly drift off, though you’ve always been sort of a light sleeper, so you never really fall into a deep sleep. What wakes you up completely is a sickening cracking sound and heavy breathing.

You stand up with your sword in hand and you’re just in time to see a large gangly figure with its hands around Ulivik’s head which is now completely backwards. He didn’t even have a chance. Seeing you, the troll emits a low growl and drops Ulivik’s body. The troll lurches and leaps about in a chaotic manner. It tries to circle you in such a way that it’ll be behind you, but you don’t allow that to happen. Eventually it gets frustrated and attacks you head on.

Fighting the troll is harder than the last time you fought one before and not just due to the fact that you had back up. The open space of the outside world is actually more beneficial for the troll’s fighting style which is jerky and involves a lot of leaping around. Many times the creature manages to smash you with its hardened fists due to its extended reach alone. Feels like getting hit by fucking battering ram.

Your own hits against it don’t seem to do anything, except the one time when you actually manage to cleave one of the troll’s legs off just below the knee. This doesn’t deter its attack though. It merely backs off long enough for it to change its fighting style. It comes at you on all fours (or rather threes in this case). During this time you’ve taken the opportunity to light up one of the firebombs to throw at the thing, but by the time you light it, it’s already upon you and knocked you down. Pinnining you to the ground as best it can, the troll punches you in the face, breaking your nose to a point where it practically explodes into a mess of blood. You gasps for air as it follows up by sinking its teeth deep into your sword arm. The sound of bone cracking is a sure sign that it won’t be long before the troll chews it off completely.

In the meantime the firebomb you lit fell close by and its fuse is still burning down. Somehow between your eyes covered in blood, the difficulty breathing and the pain wracking your entire body while a troll is eating you alive, you manage to grab the firebomb with your good arm and hold it right near the troll’s head.

You get a minor satisfaction at the troll’s expression when he sees the bomb just before it goes off, blowing the pair of you up.


Chapter 3A1: Bane of Rask

Year 45

“Bastard!” you say landing a killing blow on the last auravrax.

You do a double check of the cave just to make sure you’ve got all the beasts. It’s times like this you’re reminded of your kobold hunting days. Of course auravraxes are a lot furrier and stupider. Doesn’t make them any less dangerous though considering they’re basically balls of hair with lots of teeth and a vicious streak a mile wide. You wonder how it was you never encountered them before when you were posted up here. You can only assume that the larger creatures like ogres and wendigos kept them in check. Thanks to your depletion of such creatures other predators managed to gain better dominance. Nature is wonderful at balancing things out that way.

After making a check you pile up the bodies and start skinning. You figure between the payment for this job and the sale you’ll make on the pelts you’ll have enough money for at least of week’s worth of wine, women and song.

“Nah, to hell with the song. More women.” You chuckle to yourself.

Thoughts about such “common” pleasures would’ve never entered your head decades ago. Makes you realize how much you’re changed since then, but it’s a good change you think. For the first time, you’ve actually been enjoying life rather than just going through the motions of it like a golem. Life is so much simpler and easier when you don’t have anyone to answer to; especially when that “someone” doesn’t even know what the fuck they’re doing half of the time. Life of course still has its bad moments, but compared to your time serving the Empire, it’s like a non-stop party.

The Empire, now just another government resigned to the trash heap of history. All of its years of power and whatever glory it claimed it had completely gone. And of course much like Mother Nature, the smaller predators get to take their chance in the sun now that the big one is extinct. One of those smaller predators being one your old fellow Eternals, Edgar.

You don’t know all the details, but from the rumors you’ve heard he’s declared himself a general and is calling the territory in his control, The Eternal Dominion. He apparently managed to get some of those chaotic eternal wannabes in some semblance of order to help him as well. When you first heard about this you could only shake your head in disappointment. Not even so much for what he’s doing, but more with how he’s doing it. It’s almost like he’s going down the same path that Kane did, but with even less planning and followers that are probably more duplicitous than Shadow Guards. You’d think that he would’ve learned something from that mess.

Still, it’s his life and you have yours. You stop reminiscing about the past and concentrate on skinning the auravraxes. When you’re finished you cook up one of them to eat and then get some sleep. The next day you set off to Keplavisk with your furs.

When you get to Keplavisk, the usual people acknowledge you. Some are friendly, some aren’t, and others with longer memories hate your guts for your action when you were trying to maintain order here a long time ago. Just one of the things you have to put up with, after all you still have your reputation of being…

“Bane of Rask! Bane of Rask! Hey wait up!” Ulivik yells.
“(Sigh) Boy, I told you to stop calling me by that ridiculous name. In fact I told you to stop following me period!”
“Sorry, Mr. Bane. Hey are those auravrax furs? Did you kill all of them? I bet you just went in and totally destroyed them without fear!” Ulivik says while making sword whooshing sounds.

You roll your eyes at the teenager’s over enthusiasm and resign yourself to him following you while you head to the town hall. For whatever reason he sees you as some sort of brave “hero” though you wish he wouldn’t. You can’t get too mad at him though, not his fault he’s a dark elf brought up by humans. There’s got to be a lot of confusion going on there.

You mostly ignore Ulivik’s incessant questioning until you get to the town hall where upon his guard run him off with racial slurs and threats. You enter the building and see the mayor. Mayor Stundle is sitting his fat ass at his desk doing nothing of any importance as usual.

“Ah Mr. Bane, I can see by the numerous pelts you’re carrying that you’ve taken care of the problem, I knew you would. That’s why you’re the best merc in the Confederation. Your payment is on the desk there.”
“Good, and my name isn’t Bane you know. I keep telling people that.”
“Indeed it may not be, but that’s what everyone knows you as. Can’t fight fame or maybe in your case infamy. Heh heh.”
“Yeah, anyway I showed you the proof, I’ve got some furs to sell.”
“Got a special job for you if you want.”
“Maybe later, I’m going to enjoy myself.”
“Okay, but I can’t promise you it’ll be available when you get back.”

As you leave Mayor Stundle’s office, Flog is just entering with several ogre scalps. He displays his obvious dislike of you as usual. As thorough as you were when you destroyed Fort Defiance, Flog survived because he did the smart thing of running away and hiding as soon as he saw your army approaching.

“Outta da way Bane, Flog has to see fat mayor!”
“He’s all yours.” You remark not really wanting to deal with his attitude today, of course in typical orc fashion, Flog feels the need to press the issue. He sees the auravrax furs and makes his move.
“Gruh. You kill little furry things. Flog kill big ogres! More proof that Flog better merc than you!”
“Sure Flog, whatever.” You say dismissively which of course annoys Flog even more.
“Flog gonna kill you one day Bane!” he shouts as you walk away.
“Sure Flog, whenever you’re ready.” You say almost yawning. Another time and place you would’ve killed him for speaking to you in such a manner, but over the years you’ve mellowed with age. Besides he’s been threatening to kill you for the last eight years. The first few times you took him seriously. Now it’s just boring. If he really ever wants to try he knows where to find you, not like you’re hiding.

After selling your furs you make you take your money to the closest tavern where you proceed to make good on your claim of relaxing. After a couple days of carousing you’re lying in bed with a couple of serving wenches and you decide that you should probably get back to work. No point in waiting around until all your coin is gone, you’ve had your fun now its time to get back to what you’re really good at, killing stuff. You tell the girls in your room to leave and get prepared to go find some more work.

You’ve barely stepped out of the inn and Ulivik has already found you and nearly gets himself stabbed for sneaking up on you.

“Hey Mr. Bane, it’s just me!” he says with a worried tone.
“Boy, didn’t I tell you to never sneak up on me like that? I could’ve killed you and I doubt if anyone would’ve blamed me for it!” you shout
“Sorry, Mr. Bane. Hey are you going on another mission?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you are! But Mayor Stundle already gave out all of the jobs, you’ll probably have to go to another town.”
“And how do you know this?”
“Because I tried to sign up, but I got thrown out of the town hall and called names.”
“Sounds about right, but how did you get in there in the first place?”
“I snuck in. I think I’m getting really good at it!”
“Hmm, sounds like your svelk heritage is finally paying off.” You say.
“Svelk?” Ulivik asks as if you’ve spoken a made up word.
“Svelk, you know it’s the proper name for you dark elves, you mean you’ve never heard the term?”
“No, I’ve been called a dark elf before, but I mostly get called a lot of other names.”
“Well life’s tough kid, now you go run along…”
“Hey why don’t I come with you on your next mission!?”

And there it is. You knew the day was coming where he’d start asking you to bring him with you.

“Yeah, no. I work alone.”
“Aw come on! I need the experience! I try to sign up for even the easy jobs and I get thrown out! I’ve even tried going door to door asking if there are any monsters they need killing and they usually just say, yeah the one standing front of me! Then they slam the door in my face! It’s not fair!”
“Why do you want to be a merc anyway? I mean I know you’ve got a family that takes care of you. They must, if they were willing to take on the ostracizing that would come in raising a dark elf baby.”
“They do and I know they love me, but working as a hide tanner is boring! I want to be a mercenary and live a life of adventure! I mean I’ve heard stories of how my race is composed of nothing but mercenaries! Just think, a long proud line of brave ancestors that lived a glorious life of excitement! I should be as noble as them!”

You almost laugh when hearing how Ulivik has spoken of his race. He truly is out of touch as there is absolutely nothing glorious, proud or noble about them. Even brave is debatable most of the time.

“Ulivik, if you really want to be a merc, why not just go to Kenneth’s Rest? He doesn’t give a shit who he hires. Hell, he hires dark elves on a regular basis.”
“I would, but uh, I’m not allowed to leave the town…but I know if you were with me, my parents would let me go! So can I please come with you?!”

This scenario is just so bizarre; you hardly believe that it’s happening, a dark elf practically begging you to teach him to be a mercenary. The crazy thing about all this is you’re actually considering it. You must finally be suffering from some of the blows you’ve taken to the head in the past. It’s the only explanation.
> You don't take Ulivik
While it’s an interesting possibility, you’re not training soldiers anymore; you’re done with that mess and quite frankly, you doubt if Ulivik would make a good warrior of any kind.

“Look kid, I’ve put up with you for quite some time now, but enough is enough. I told you, go down to Kenneth’s Rest and get a job. If you’re too much of a sissy to disobey your parents, then you ain’t gonna have what it takes to be a merc in the first place. Now leave me the hell alone, or I’m gonna hurt you very very badly and you don’t want that.”

Ulivik tries to beg some more, but after a few menacing glares and threatening steps towards him, he backs off, saddened by your hostility. Having gotten rid of Ulivik, you set off for a different town further north, they’re always having problems up there.

A few months later when you’re back in Keplavisk, you fully expect Ulivik to be bothering you again, but you see no sign of him which is odd since he always seems to know exactly when you come into town. While getting a drink at the tavern you ask the barkeep in passing where he is.

“Oh that dark elven boy? Ran off and got himself killed a couple months ago. Damn fool was trying to be a mercenary and I guess some bandits finally taught him that he wasn’t. Good riddance I say. Don’t need any of their kind around, didn’t like ‘em when they were doing thug work for the Empire…erm, no offence Mr. Bane…”
“Hmm, just gimme my drink.” You say.

While Ulivik’s death doesn’t affect you on any emotional level, you are a little surprised to hear about it. You didn’t think he actually would have the heart to try to strike out on his own. Oh well, that’s how it is in this business though, one moment you’re here the next you aren’t. Everything is fleeting and you can’t worry about tomorrow, you just have to live for today.

Life for you continues on as usual.

Year 50

You wake up from another night of debauchery and predictably you feel pretty terrible from it. Your head hurts and your body aches all over, of course your body would ache anyway. The years have been taking a toll on how you push yourself physically and the battles you fight. The excessive parties in between really don’t help though.

You just lay in bed for a while dreading the fact that you’ll be running out of coin soon again and have to go to work again. It’s an endless cycle, and while the freedom you’ve enjoyed since leaving the Empire has been nice, the past couple of years you’ve started feel like something is missing. Namely purpose and direction. The Empire had numerous faults, but in the beginning it did give you such things and part of you misses it.

You begin to wonder if you shouldn’t go join Edgar in his Eternal Dominion or maybe offer to serve the Felkan Kingdom to give yourself some sort of goal larger than yourself. You quickly dismiss such thoughts though for several reasons, one of the biggest ones being that you now you’ve had your taste of freedom, you don’t really want to be following orders from a large government again. (Let alone Edgar)

Of course maybe you just need a change of scenery and just leave this area entirely. There certainly nothing really tying you down except perhaps your own comfort of familiarity. You’ve spent more than half of your life in Rask, hell it’s actually been more of your “home” than the Empire ever was so despite your emotional disconnect with people, you ‘re a little attached to the area.
> You leave Rask
You’ve lived in Rask as an “occupier” and as a “citizen” and neither one have really fulfilled you. You decide that it might very well be time to leave. You have no idea where you’re going to go or what you’re going to do, but you guess you’ll figure it out eventually.

You pack up what belongings you can carry and do a little shopping for other necessities before you set off on your journey. When you eventually get to the Rask border, you take a look back, wondering if you’ll ever return one day…

You don’t.

You spend your remaining years traveling far from Rask, far from old Empire territory and far from any land you’ve ever known. While some of it is interesting, you still never feel “content.” You mostly support yourself just by living off the land and doing some occasional mercenary work when passing through towns and villages. You never do settle down in one area for long though.

You might be an Eternal and your fighting spirit is always willing, but that doesn’t stop the ravages of time from taking their toll on your body. Between the constant traveling and the combat, your body is aching all the time. You aren’t as fast or as strong as you used to be and you often forget you aren’t young anymore, or more likely you have full knowledge of it and are just too stubborn to change.

Your unwillingness to settle down and die peacefully in your bed eventually catches up with you during a mercenary job you take in some small town in a far away land. Bandits are raiding the town on a regular basis and you take part in defending it. You do well enough for a man your age, but ultimately you are brought down by several of them who manage to surround and gain the advantage over you.

You fall to several sword blows to your body and collapse in a bloody heap in the streets of the town.


While it’s an interesting possibility, you’re not training soldiers anymore; you’re done with that mess and quite frankly, you doubt if Ulivik would make a good warrior of any kind.

“Look kid, I’ve put up with you for quite some time now, but enough is enough. I told you, go down to Kenneth’s Rest and get a job. If you’re too much of a sissy to disobey your parents, then you ain’t gonna have what it takes to be a merc in the first place. Now leave me the hell alone, or I’m gonna hurt you very very badly and you don’t want that.”

Ulivik tries to beg some more, but after a few menacing glares and threatening steps towards him, he backs off, saddened by your hostility. Having gotten rid of Ulivik, you set off for a different town further north, they’re always having problems up there.

A few months later when you’re back in Keplavisk, you fully expect Ulivik to be bothering you again, but you see no sign of him which is odd since he always seems to know exactly when you come into town. While getting a drink at the tavern you ask the barkeep in passing where he is.

“Oh that dark elven boy? Ran off and got himself killed a couple months ago. Damn fool was trying to be a mercenary and I guess some bandits finally taught him that he wasn’t. Good riddance I say. Don’t need any of their kind around, didn’t like ‘em when they were doing thug work for the Empire…erm, no offence Mr. Bane…”
“Hmm, just gimme my drink.” You say.

While Ulivik’s death doesn’t affect you on any emotional level, you are a little surprised to hear about it. You didn’t think he actually would have the heart to try to strike out on his own. Oh well, that’s how it is in this business though, one moment you’re here the next you aren’t. Everything is fleeting and you can’t worry about tomorrow, you just have to live for today.

Life for you continues on as usual.

Year 50

You wake up from another night of debauchery and predictably you feel pretty terrible from it. Your head hurts and your body aches all over, of course your body would ache anyway. The years have been taking a toll on how you push yourself physically and the battles you fight. The excessive parties in between really don’t help though.

You just lay in bed for a while dreading the fact that you’ll be running out of coin soon again and have to go to work again. It’s an endless cycle, and while the freedom you’ve enjoyed since leaving the Empire has been nice, the past couple of years you’ve started feel like something is missing. Namely purpose and direction. The Empire had numerous faults, but in the beginning it did give you such things and part of you misses it.

You begin to wonder if you shouldn’t go join Edgar in his Eternal Dominion or maybe offer to serve the Felkan Kingdom to give yourself some sort of goal larger than yourself. You quickly dismiss such thoughts though for several reasons, one of the biggest ones being that you now you’ve had your taste of freedom, you don’t really want to be following orders from a large government again. (Let alone Edgar)

Of course maybe you just need a change of scenery and just leave this area entirely. There certainly nothing really tying you down except perhaps your own comfort of familiarity. You’ve spent more than half of your life in Rask, hell it’s actually been more of your “home” than the Empire ever was so despite your emotional disconnect with people, you ‘re a little attached to the area.
> You stick around
You may be in a “rut” but you realize you’re too old to just start all over again, somewhere else and quite frankly you don’t really want to. Rask is your home now, and while life might not be perfect here, it’s a lot better than how your life was during the Empire. You just need to push that lingering Empire indoctrination from your mind that you thought was gone.

You roll out of bed and get yourself in the frame of mind to go to work again…

Year 54

“And that’s how I killed the last giant in Rask! Another round!” you exclaim as everyone in the tavern hangs on your every word. Later you continue your tradition of bedding whatever wench that is pretty enough and willing that night.

The past four years have been relatively good for you, or at least you’ve been trying to make the best of them. Since your last self reflection you’ve funneled your energy in not only your mercenary work, but to be the best one in Rask by deliberately taking on the most dangerous jobs as well as blatantly stealing jobs from other mercs. While this has made you a lot more famous with the average citizens who appreciate your monster and bandit slaying, it’s also made you quite unpopular with all the rest of the mercs.

Naturally this unpopularity puts a target on your back and while most of the mercs are far too scared to actually to confront you face to face they do eventually build up a coalition to take you out once and for all.

One day on your way to take out what you believe to be a bandit hideout, you’re traveling into a wooded area and get the impression that something is amiss, like you’re walking into an ambush.

At first you think it might be the bandits who caught on to you, but you’ve dealt with too many of those types to know that they’re either too stupid to lay an ambush or they’re smart enough to have already run away.

That’s when you draw your sword…

“Alright, I know you’re all out there! I guess this has been a long time coming, so let’s get this shit over. The merc population needs a little thinning out anyway.” You shout.

Predictably Flog comes out hiding with a motley group of humans and even a couple of ogres he must’ve intimidated into joining him.

“Flog told you he’d kill you one day! Today is da day!”
“Took you long enough and you still need a group to help you…” you hear the crunch of a twig behind you and you instinctively duck and roll to your left as several bolts go flying into trees narrowly missing you.

“Reload!” you hear a female svelk voice shout while you run for cover behind some rocks.
“Hey! This is Flog’s kill! Told you not to try to kill him, just prevent his escape!”
“Hah! You got Eldolith to help you? You working for orcs now Eldy? My how far you’ve come from once working for the Empire!” you mock.
“You won’t be laughing for too much longer Eternal. You’ve stolen your last job from us!” Eldolith shouts back.

While you hide behind the rocks, Flog orders some of the other mercs to go after you, doesn’t take any time for you at all to kill several of them. Eldolith orders another volley of bolts from her men, but you use a merc you grabbed as a shield and run deeper in the forest.

Flog’s ogres run after you and thanks to their great stamina, they manage to catch up to you before long, you stop your running, spin around and with as much force as you can you chop at one of the ogre’s legs. He doesn’t stop in time and you nearly chop it completely off, unfortunately he crashes into you bellowing in pain the whole time. You crawl out from under the one leg ogre and finish him off, only to have his buddy nearly cave your head in with his club.

You shove your dagger upwards into the ogre’s balls and his low growls and snarls become high-pitched squeaks as his manhood is now shredded. He falls to his knees and before you can finish him off, the svelks arrive with their blasted repeating crossbows again. A couple take aim immediately while two others attempt to run around behind you. Having little in the way of options you run to the nearest tree for cover and try to get close enough to cut one of them down.

You succeed in dodging and reaching the first two, who put up a poor showing of swordsmanship, but the other two that ran around in back of you fire their own volleys and you feel the piercing pain of two bolts going into your left leg and another going into your back. You collapse on top of one of the other dead svelk. The pain is coursing throughout your body, but you’re in a vulnerable position, and in order to survive you can only hope you’re fast enough to get the drop on them.

Playing dead you rely on your hearing to sense how close the svelk are stepping through the snow to check on you. This is harder than in sounds with a severely wounded ogre moaning about his wounds the whole time. You also see two other images running towards you, it’s Flog and Eldolith. You can’t wait any longer.

You grab one of the dead svelk’s crossbows and with all your strength you roll on your back (Biting your lip at the pain due to the bolt there) and fire at the surprised svelks moving towards you. You were never an expert on ranged weapons, but you don’t miss at your range and the two svelk go down. You then point it at the balless ogre and put him out of his misery with a single bolt to his head.

“Shit! He’s got one of the crossbows!” Eldolith shouts and pulls out her own with taking cover. Flog on the other hand doesn’t seem particularly worried.

“No more hiding! Flog put an end to Bane once and for all!” he yells and charged at you with his axe. You shoot your remaining bolts at him, but only succeed in hitting Flog in the arm, which barely stops his stride. You scramble to get up and throw the crossbow at Flog who bats away the oncoming object.

Flog swings his axe and catches you with a glancing blow to your chest, ripping your armor and breaking the skin. You stagger backwards trying not to fall again.

“Yooze gonna die today Bane! Ha ha ha ha ha!” Flog laughs followed by a sudden yell of pain as he feels several bolts go into his own back. He immediately stops his advance on you and falls to one knee coughing up blood.

“Traitorous dark elven bitch!” he shouts.

This gives you enough time to stagger away again and grab another one of the dead svelk crossbows and hide again. You aren’t feeling so great yourself; you know the svelk bolts probably were dipped in some sort of poison. In fact you’re surprised it hasn’t incapacitated you yet. You just hope you can get through this quick enough to drag yourself back to the closest town.

You look out from behind your cover just in time to see Flog attempting to advance on Eldolith and her firing another volley into his body. She ends up having to step back quite a bit and reload again before finally finishing him off. He falls backwards into the snow looking like a pin cushion.

“Bad move Eldy. Should’ve let Flog wear me down a lot more and then killed him.” You shout.
“Wear you down? Hah, he would’ve killed you, in your current condition. No, I want the pleasure of killing you myself.”

While she pontificates you attempt to shoot at her from behind your cover, but you miss.

“Nice try. How are you feeling over there Bane? Not too good I imagine. Had to make sure the poison was really strong, I know how you Eternals got that annoying resistance to the stuff.”

At this point, you are indeed starting to feel quite unwell. You begin to feel nauseous and you’re having a hard time standing up. When you begin retching, you hear Eldolith speak again.

“You know Bane, this is near the same area where I helped your old captain kill all those elves. That was a good day too. You’re starting to sound pretty bad over there Bane, how about you just give yourself up and let me finish you off? Wouldn’t you rather be killed by a worthy foe rather than just succumb to the poison? There’s no shame in being beaten by your betters.”

You’re running out of time and you know it.

“Alright…you got a point damn you. I’m coming out, here I’ll throw out the crossbow just to reassure you!” you shout and throw your crossbow from behind your cover.
“Good, good, glad to see you submitting to the inevitable. Now come out slowly.”

The way you’re feeling right now, you doubt if you could come out any other way. You see Eldolith pointing her crossbow at you while stepping out from her own cover and moving closer towards you. She smirks and in typical svelk fashion can’t help but gloat.

“I must say I am surprised that you decided to surrender, I would’ve thought your eternal pride would’ve prevented such a thing. But I guess those days are long gone just like the Empire you once served eh?”
“Just get this over with.” You say and then fall to your hands and knees in the snow vomiting up blood.
“Mmm, perhaps I’ll enjoy watching you squirm some more. The once great Bane of Rask finally…”

You knew you could count on Eldolith being a typical svelk. While she’s taunting you, she doesn’t pay attention that your hands are doing something rather simple such as balling up the hardened snow. With all your strength you throw the snowball at her. Being caught off guard she dodges it and shoots wildly at you. You manage to roll out of the way and grab the crossbow you threw away. You unload the entire thing at her and as luck would have it, the bolts land true for the most part. Three of them go into her side and another into her neck.

She falls into the snow coughing up blood and holding on to her side. You hear her cursing you with her dying breaths as you attempt to leave the area. While you have won, you know you aren’t going to survive too much longer.

You manage to crawl a few more meters before the poison finally takes it toll. Your last thoughts are nostalgic ones. You allow yourself to smile at the times you got to enjoy life and your past victories, even this one. Yes this is a good death you think and then you pass on.


Chapter 3A1: Bane of Rask

Year 45

“Bastard!” you say landing a killing blow on the last auravrax.

You do a double check of the cave just to make sure you’ve got all the beasts. It’s times like this you’re reminded of your kobold hunting days. Of course auravraxes are a lot furrier and stupider. Doesn’t make them any less dangerous though considering they’re basically balls of hair with lots of teeth and a vicious streak a mile wide. You wonder how it was you never encountered them before when you were posted up here. You can only assume that the larger creatures like ogres and wendigos kept them in check. Thanks to your depletion of such creatures other predators managed to gain better dominance. Nature is wonderful at balancing things out that way.

After making a check you pile up the bodies and start skinning. You figure between the payment for this job and the sale you’ll make on the pelts you’ll have enough money for at least of week’s worth of wine, women and song.

“Nah, to hell with the song. More women.” You chuckle to yourself.

Thoughts about such “common” pleasures would’ve never entered your head decades ago. Makes you realize how much you’re changed since then, but it’s a good change you think. For the first time, you’ve actually been enjoying life rather than just going through the motions of it like a golem. Life is so much simpler and easier when you don’t have anyone to answer to; especially when that “someone” doesn’t even know what the fuck they’re doing half of the time. Life of course still has its bad moments, but compared to your time serving the Empire, it’s like a non-stop party.

The Empire, now just another government resigned to the trash heap of history. All of its years of power and whatever glory it claimed it had completely gone. And of course much like Mother Nature, the smaller predators get to take their chance in the sun now that the big one is extinct. One of those smaller predators being one your old fellow Eternals, Edgar.

You don’t know all the details, but from the rumors you’ve heard he’s declared himself a general and is calling the territory in his control, The Eternal Dominion. He apparently managed to get some of those chaotic eternal wannabes in some semblance of order to help him as well. When you first heard about this you could only shake your head in disappointment. Not even so much for what he’s doing, but more with how he’s doing it. It’s almost like he’s going down the same path that Kane did, but with even less planning and followers that are probably more duplicitous than Shadow Guards. You’d think that he would’ve learned something from that mess.

Still, it’s his life and you have yours. You stop reminiscing about the past and concentrate on skinning the auravraxes. When you’re finished you cook up one of them to eat and then get some sleep. The next day you set off to Keplavisk with your furs.

When you get to Keplavisk, the usual people acknowledge you. Some are friendly, some aren’t, and others with longer memories hate your guts for your action when you were trying to maintain order here a long time ago. Just one of the things you have to put up with, after all you still have your reputation of being…

“Bane of Rask! Bane of Rask! Hey wait up!” Ulivik yells.
“(Sigh) Boy, I told you to stop calling me by that ridiculous name. In fact I told you to stop following me period!”
“Sorry, Mr. Bane. Hey are those auravrax furs? Did you kill all of them? I bet you just went in and totally destroyed them without fear!” Ulivik says while making sword whooshing sounds.

You roll your eyes at the teenager’s over enthusiasm and resign yourself to him following you while you head to the town hall. For whatever reason he sees you as some sort of brave “hero” though you wish he wouldn’t. You can’t get too mad at him though, not his fault he’s a dark elf brought up by humans. There’s got to be a lot of confusion going on there.

You mostly ignore Ulivik’s incessant questioning until you get to the town hall where upon his guard run him off with racial slurs and threats. You enter the building and see the mayor. Mayor Stundle is sitting his fat ass at his desk doing nothing of any importance as usual.

“Ah Mr. Bane, I can see by the numerous pelts you’re carrying that you’ve taken care of the problem, I knew you would. That’s why you’re the best merc in the Confederation. Your payment is on the desk there.”
“Good, and my name isn’t Bane you know. I keep telling people that.”
“Indeed it may not be, but that’s what everyone knows you as. Can’t fight fame or maybe in your case infamy. Heh heh.”
“Yeah, anyway I showed you the proof, I’ve got some furs to sell.”
“Got a special job for you if you want.”
“Maybe later, I’m going to enjoy myself.”
“Okay, but I can’t promise you it’ll be available when you get back.”

As you leave Mayor Stundle’s office, Flog is just entering with several ogre scalps. He displays his obvious dislike of you as usual. As thorough as you were when you destroyed Fort Defiance, Flog survived because he did the smart thing of running away and hiding as soon as he saw your army approaching.

“Outta da way Bane, Flog has to see fat mayor!”
“He’s all yours.” You remark not really wanting to deal with his attitude today, of course in typical orc fashion, Flog feels the need to press the issue. He sees the auravrax furs and makes his move.
“Gruh. You kill little furry things. Flog kill big ogres! More proof that Flog better merc than you!”
“Sure Flog, whatever.” You say dismissively which of course annoys Flog even more.
“Flog gonna kill you one day Bane!” he shouts as you walk away.
“Sure Flog, whenever you’re ready.” You say almost yawning. Another time and place you would’ve killed him for speaking to you in such a manner, but over the years you’ve mellowed with age. Besides he’s been threatening to kill you for the last eight years. The first few times you took him seriously. Now it’s just boring. If he really ever wants to try he knows where to find you, not like you’re hiding.

After selling your furs you make you take your money to the closest tavern where you proceed to make good on your claim of relaxing. After a couple days of carousing you’re lying in bed with a couple of serving wenches and you decide that you should probably get back to work. No point in waiting around until all your coin is gone, you’ve had your fun now its time to get back to what you’re really good at, killing stuff. You tell the girls in your room to leave and get prepared to go find some more work.

You’ve barely stepped out of the inn and Ulivik has already found you and nearly gets himself stabbed for sneaking up on you.

“Hey Mr. Bane, it’s just me!” he says with a worried tone.
“Boy, didn’t I tell you to never sneak up on me like that? I could’ve killed you and I doubt if anyone would’ve blamed me for it!” you shout
“Sorry, Mr. Bane. Hey are you going on another mission?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you are! But Mayor Stundle already gave out all of the jobs, you’ll probably have to go to another town.”
“And how do you know this?”
“Because I tried to sign up, but I got thrown out of the town hall and called names.”
“Sounds about right, but how did you get in there in the first place?”
“I snuck in. I think I’m getting really good at it!”
“Hmm, sounds like your svelk heritage is finally paying off.” You say.
“Svelk?” Ulivik asks as if you’ve spoken a made up word.
“Svelk, you know it’s the proper name for you dark elves, you mean you’ve never heard the term?”
“No, I’ve been called a dark elf before, but I mostly get called a lot of other names.”
“Well life’s tough kid, now you go run along…”
“Hey why don’t I come with you on your next mission!?”

And there it is. You knew the day was coming where he’d start asking you to bring him with you.

“Yeah, no. I work alone.”
“Aw come on! I need the experience! I try to sign up for even the easy jobs and I get thrown out! I’ve even tried going door to door asking if there are any monsters they need killing and they usually just say, yeah the one standing front of me! Then they slam the door in my face! It’s not fair!”
“Why do you want to be a merc anyway? I mean I know you’ve got a family that takes care of you. They must, if they were willing to take on the ostracizing that would come in raising a dark elf baby.”
“They do and I know they love me, but working as a hide tanner is boring! I want to be a mercenary and live a life of adventure! I mean I’ve heard stories of how my race is composed of nothing but mercenaries! Just think, a long proud line of brave ancestors that lived a glorious life of excitement! I should be as noble as them!”

You almost laugh when hearing how Ulivik has spoken of his race. He truly is out of touch as there is absolutely nothing glorious, proud or noble about them. Even brave is debatable most of the time.

“Ulivik, if you really want to be a merc, why not just go to Kenneth’s Rest? He doesn’t give a shit who he hires. Hell, he hires dark elves on a regular basis.”
“I would, but uh, I’m not allowed to leave the town…but I know if you were with me, my parents would let me go! So can I please come with you?!”

This scenario is just so bizarre; you hardly believe that it’s happening, a dark elf practically begging you to teach him to be a mercenary. The crazy thing about all this is you’re actually considering it. You must finally be suffering from some of the blows you’ve taken to the head in the past. It’s the only explanation.
> You ulivik (Outcast)
Ulivik is a strange young man. First of all he’s a svelk that had been abandoned as a baby, presumably by one of the many mercenaries that travel through the area. It’s not uncommon for dark elf mothers to abandon their young if they are an “inconvenience”, it is however less common for these babies to survive, let alone taken care of by others. Ulivik was that lucky rarity that a human couple that couldn’t have any children of their own literally stumbled upon him in the woods.

Other than that, he hasn’t exactly been all that lucky. Given the reputation of his kind, it’s hardly surprising that he’s practically run off or insulted everywhere he goes. How his adopted parent’s business hasn’t suffered is amazing, but it’s a small enough town that people understand that the couple was trying for a child for a very long time and keep their dislike for the svelk youth to a minimum. Doesn’t stop other youths from being complete bastards to him though.

Perhaps due to his outcast nature he’s latched on to the idea of a mercenary life of being a glorious life of excitement and adventure. Naturally when he found out that you were one of the best mercenaries in the region, he attached himself to you almost immediately and whenever you’re in town, he asks you a bunch of questions. Even getting hostile with him doesn’t drive him away since he’s so used to it, so nowadays you just resign yourself to the temporary annoyance.

He’s sort of a good example of the whole nature vs. nurture nonsense you overheard some drunk philosopher babbling about in a local tavern once. You have to admit, sometimes you feel a little sorry for him, never thought you’d feel that way towards anyone, let alone a svelk.