What is your name?: Ferrin. Some call me Blackblade, and the Druids of Lagdau called me Kihlbahar which means "silver-hair."
How old are you? When I asked the Druids when I was born they said "in the winter." But I have counted eighty winters wandering Riverlend.



Background:

I was an orphan in Lagdau. When the druids would tell stories, I would slip away to stare into the woods at night. I had powers some of the oldest druids didn't have, I could talk to the animals. Not a unique ability, but rare enough in one so young and especially without the casting of spells.
Vitarri was an ancient sword from the time of Tarek the Fallen that was kept as relic among the druids. Ancestor Blades select their wielders and Vitarri had not accepted a wielder in 100 years, the druids told me at their knee.
I don't recall what happened before I picked up Vitarri, the druids say I was alone in the room when it happen. When they found me I was unconscious and holding the hilt in one hand, the blade flat against my chest and my other arm around it. One druid said it looked like we were hugging, but another said that it looks as though we'd been wrestling. From then on I carried the blackblade with me always.


Of the stories of the gods I heard from the druids Celestian had always appealed to me. I always ached to leave Ladgau. The druids had a kindness about them, but to me it felt cold and disconnected, as if we were not really here, as if they did not feel the same cold that we did. Some of them did not feel cold. To me especially their dispassionate kindness was at odds with the frustration and fury I felt. I did not want calm understanding, I wanted to run and to scream. And although the gods were just stories to me, at night at the edge of the woods I would stare up at the stars and pray to Celestian, praying for the strength to leave.

I was getting too old for the orphanage. The druids did not try to take Vitarri from me. For a few years I worked with the younger druids collecting wood - they would ask the dryad's permission, and for a customary offering and for the respect the dryads usually accepted. Out of respect the logs would be hauled away and chopped in Lagdau. It was hard work, but I hardened from it.. There was sometimes trouble in the woods and I was often glad for Vitarri's sharp edge against those who would harm the druids or the dryads.

Eventually I left the druids to travel on my own for a while. When I did return to Lagdau, I joined a mercenary company, bound for Vallichia.

The Mercenary Company's banners were red and black with no heraldry. Yet, they favored Nobanion, some of the officers had winged-lions on their shields and surcoats. But then I knew Nobanion was the King of Beasts, at first I saw no reason to pray to a King of Beasts, I was not a beast. But over time I learned that it was the combination of strength and control I admired. And from them I learned to focus the fury I felt into the holy fire.

Although we had occasion to travel far and wide, the company's most steady work was from the city of Vallichia itself. There were always caravans to protect or outlaws to find..

At the beginning of the civil war Vallichia had tried to remain neutral. But their Bann Abharth Tepes had been friends with King Anvard before the war, and he made attempts surreptitiously to hamper the rebels, vicious flank attack and interference with the supply lines. Eventually Vallichia joined the war in force, unable to allow the rebels to operate in their territory any longer.

Just before the rebels sacked the city our mercenary captain told us the company was switching sides and we would be helping the rebels enter the city. The rebels sacked the city. Vallichia had been disturbing their supply lines too long, and the rebels were ravenous and bitter.

In the end the rebels' victory in Vallichia didn't make a difference. King Anvard won the war anyway.

I worked as a lone mercenary after that, hunting and wandering the countryside. I had occasion to practice alchemy, both among the druids and with the mercenary company. In my travels a made I point to continue that practice, and I often kept an ear out for news of rare ingredients or recipes.

In search of a peculiar alchemy I found Markos Ward. I had been searching for one like him. And he was in need of a second set of hands. I liked his ambition, and I liked it better that he was clever. We struck an accord and I have been in his service ever since.

We traveled together, I have little use for sleep so I often drove the wagon when long hours eventually required Markos rest.

On the roads near the ruins of Tithering we were beset by skilled and well armed bandits who used magic to sure up their force of arms. The wagon was taken, and Markos convinced the bandits to take us for ransom.

We were prisoners of the bandits for nearly 20 days before the bandit fortress was seized by a group of travelers and a one armed giant. During the melee that ensued I managed to free Markos and I. We soon joined the travelers. The company was in need of a name and when one of the captured Bandits called us Angels in jest, it seemed like the perfect name.

As a new company we agreed to escort a wizard and fellow prisoner of the bandits to Renwall. The wizard was the High Inquisitor Talbot, and with that recomendation and the recommendation of a well connected merchant whom our new companions had saved, we were swiftly endeared to the Bann of Renwall. The Bann asked our help in a wyvern hunt.