The monster?

Mire

A young man and his friends entered the swamp surrounding the eyelet of Ayr, looking for a rumored treasure, or some adventure. He couldn’t quite remember. But he remembered the pain and the fear, he remembered confusion, and the cold, murky waters mixing with his blood as his friends left him to die…

He couldn’t recall how long he lay in the water, or when the gently floating, glowing spores started to appear, when his pain started to mellow and his wounds close. He heard a voice in the back of his mind telling him it would be alright…

He learned to live in the swamp, live off the land and the unfortunate travelers who had fallen to it - their possessions became his, their bodies nutrients to the swamp. He made a home for himself, all alone in the swamp. He tried to stave off travelers from straying from the roads, he made signs and markers. They started to talk about a mysterious figure in the swamp, soon enough, there was a rumor about a monster living there…

Maybe that was the reason why they took him, after nearly 10 years alone, he was caught and taken from his new home, put into a “cell” in a faraway town. There he met an eclectic group of people who let him out, only to be met with the sun staring back at them on the outside. Something was wrong, very wrong, and all he wanted to do was to make it back to the swamp. His swamp. He was safe there before…

He couldn’t make it alone, when the moon’s staring back at you and there are abominations all around the city, there’s safety in numbers. They didn’t hurt him either, even if they looked at him with curious eyes, even if he was scared of them, like he was frightened of everything going on, he went with the new company, because they also went towards his swamp.


On the road, new things came up, new horrors, and new questions. He learned about the corruption still sweeping through the land, he learned that the gods were silent for quite some time now. He learned that there was more wrong with him than he dared to admit, that maybe his swamp didn’t save him like he thought, maybe it corrupted him…

He followed the party into the swamp, but soon he had to lead the way - the land seemed different (or was it always this wrong?), but their goal lay ahead: what remains of a god, and a king who corrupted the power within. They crossed the murky waters, followed winding paths, and he narrowly avoided a former childhood friend and killer. Staving off the corruption, they found their destination - a cave, a god’s remains.

Inside, a series of visions revealed much of Mire’s past - much of what he’s forgotten. He remembered his name. His mother... A sickly child, living in a land stricken by the corruption. A generous promise made by the King, a gift of land, Ayr, for the tieflings to escape the corruption, start anew, to rebuild, and to heal… But it was all a lie. He was taken to be healed, but instead, they changed him somehow, they put something inside, now he carried the corruption itself, and he was sent home, to Ayr, to bring ruin to whatever the tieflings built… A cog in a greater, evil plan. He was none the wiser, a kid happy to be home again, happy to see his mother and friends…

That was the reason they tried to kill him, wasn't it?

The campaign is still ongoing, so the story is still developing. As Mire’s and the party’s stories grow, I’ll add more.

Gallery

Stories & writings

• How does your character speak? My answer to a writing prompt.

Fun facts & extras

Fun facts

• He talks with a stutter and has been since childhood. It gets a bit better or worse, depending on the situation he’s in.
• His original name, Avar means “fallen leaves” in Hungarian.
• He has a familiar, a snake called Morel. It's the same snake whose skeleton he carries around on his staff.
• He's around 29-31 years old, he's not quite sure.
• His spells are flawored around the swamp. (Sinking sands becomes Sinking Swamp, etc.)
• He just wants to go back to the swamp.
• His campaign takes place in a homebrew world, one that a friend's campaign already ended in, and another campaign takes place concurrently in.