Saralas Alderheart
| Saralas Alderheart | |
|---|---|
 A portrait of Saralas | |
| Basic Information | |
| Race | High Elf |
| Class | Ranger |
| Age | 170 |
| Sex | Male |
| Weight | 160 lb |
| Height | 6'2" |
| Alignment | Neutral Good |
| Organizations | |
| No known associations | |
Background
Saralas, born as Ara Alderleaf, grew up in a small town on in Sword Coast region near Neverwinter. He had a happy childhood, for an elf, and studied crafts including carpentry and clockmaking. At adulthood he took the name Saralas, and at 112 decided it was time to see the world and traveled to Neverwinter to see the city for himself. While exploring neverwinter he decided to visit a local college library to study more carpentry history, particularly historical styles and methods, as he had a mind to set up a shop to sell bespoke furniture to wealthy locals. While exploring the library, he met a young human woman, Eleanor. She was training to be a librarian at the college. They quickly became close, spending as much time together as their pursuits would allow, and within 2 years they were married.
Saralas set up a small carpentry workshop and began to make a small name for himself with some discerning customers. Eleanor continued with school, and after she finished her studies she was hired full time as a librarian for one of the wealthier private societies. They were happy together, and eventually had two children, a son Aestos, born when he was 122 and Eleanor was 35, and two years later a daughter, Elodie. Their life was ordinary but happy, and eventually Aestos and Elodie grew up and started their own lives away from home.
His children, though half-elves, had few difficulties assimilating into the human world they both chose to live in. They both stayed in Neverwinter, and both met and married humans. He had three small grandchildren out in the world, Elodie's young girls Mari (5) and Willow (7) and Aestos's son Aenar (8).
Eleanor passed when Saralas was 160. Though in his heart and eyes she was still young, she had grown frailer and weaker through the years and one winter she took to bed with illness and soon was gone. Though he knew it was nearly inevitable he would outlive her, he was heartbroken and thought he would never love another. Though he loves his children and grandchildren deeply and visits often, his grief still feels endless years after Eleanor died.
After a few years, at 168, he decided he must do something new. He was still young. He had hundreds of years of life left and could not spend it all in grief. He sold his home, took the name Alderheart, stopped again to see his children and grandchildren, gave them his love and split almost all the money he had between Elodie and Aestos. He hugged them goodbye, took the sword and bow he recently bought, and trekked out to the wilds. The realm needed rangers to protect its people, and he would take up the responsibility. So what the solitude and wilderness and danger? He was strong and clever. He was willing.
He carries a small locket with a portrait of his family, his weapons and gear, and little else. He keeps a journal, and writes home to Elodie when he can. He tries to make it back to visit at least once a year.
Icewind Dale Adventure
Why Go?
After a few years in the wilds, learning the wilderness and survival and how to fight, he started hearing rumors of strange occurrences from fellow rangers. Campfire talk included strange weather in Icewind Dale, and strange creatures wandering into more civilized lands. Every story was third or fourthhand, but clearly something was up. Intrigued, and concerned, he sent letters to his children telling them it might be a while before he could visit again, and starting preparing for a journey.
Key Accomplishments
Adventure Log
One of Saralas's journals was recovered from the north. A table of contents and translations can be found at Saralas' Journal: Icewind Dale. A summary of his adventure is presented below.
The White Moose and the Druid
Saralas met the rest of the party at the tavern in Lonelywood and agreed to join them in looking into the problem of the White Moose, as it seemed direct evidence of the rumors he had heard. The party eventually tracked the moose to an Elven tomb north of town where they found the moose in a cave under the tomb, and killed it[1]. Shortly after this, the party discovered the frost druid Ravison, who was awakening animals and was responsible for the Moose. Saralas and the rest of the party nearly died in this fight[2]. The real danger of this land started to sink in.
After this the party explored the Elven tomb some more and awakened the mummy Sahas, then headed back to town. Saralas asked around about Ravison and found out that some hunters from Bryn Shandar had murdered her sister[3]. He also learned more about the logging contract the town had engaged in with Wodna.
To the Mines
Shortly after, the party traveled to Termalaine where they were contracted to clear the mine the town relies on of Kobolds, who had crept into the mine and pushed the miners out[4]. While exploring the mine the party found rats and kobolds, and a massive seemingly bottomless pit. Saralas was traveling at the rear of the party, and was abducted by a grell and dragged off towards the pit[5]. The rest of the party managed to free him and eventually kill the grell. They were hesitant to kill the baby grell that came up later but Saralas insisted it had to die. This was the start of his somewhat paranoid nature and general problem with tentacled monsters of any kind. Later, when leaving the mine he was artificially aged 40 years by the ghost that was possessing the kobold leader, Trex[6]. As he is an elf and still relatively young, he shrugged off this increase from 170 to 210 years in age and moved on.
After a long night ride to Bryn Shandar to get help for Resda, who was similarly afflicted but also human, he joined the party in searching for the bodies of a group of dwarves who were killed by a yeti out in the snows, in the direction of Kelvin's Cairn, along with the sled they were escorting. He helped the party find the bodies, track and kill the goblins who had stolen it, and get it back to town[7], but he failed to properly bury the bodies and carried that regret with him.
After this, the party headed back to Termalaine to explore the mine again now that Trex was gone. Saralas was looking around in every direction the whole time as he looked for lingering kobolds or grell, but he found nothing. This was the point where Karthos found the psi crystal[8], though Saralas didn't realize the threat it represented at the time. This was also where Saralas first found himself looking at women again, though the young innkeeper that caught his eye was far too young for him to be doing so[9].
Journey to Easthaven
From here the party headed to Targos where Saralas bought his scrimshaw pipe and a supply of tobacco[10]. This was also where Saralas, angered by the town's practice of sacrificing people to Auril and finding his name in the book for the lottery draw for victims, insulted and angered the town speaker[11]. This is also where he meet Keagan, who asked the party to look for his husband Garrett, a mountain guide (and future source of regret).
From Targos, the party headed back to Bryn Shandar, where they first learned of people hearing voices and met the gnome Copper Knobberknocker who told them about the Black Cabin and her friend Macradaeus[12]. The party agreed to look into it, but for the moment was still headed for Easthaven. In Easthaven he saw the death of a Red Wizard of Thay, met the guard captain Imdra, and agreed to search for some missing fishermen[13]. This is also where he participated in a seance where he first learned about the cultists at Caer-Dineval and the presence of the deurgar in the Ten Towns[14]. This was also when he first began having disturbingly vivid dreams of home and family[15].
After running errands in town the party headed up the coast of Lac Dinneshere and followed the tracks of the missing fishermen to a set of cave entrances. In the caves they found a frost giant tomb and a sea hag who killed the missing fishermen. The sea hag wanted them to bring her the body of a girl child, which was how sea hags reproduce. Disgusted, the party decided to fight, but before they could attack the sea hag in earnest she summoned a frost giant skeleton and the party, feeling outclassed, ran back to town to report what happened[16]. This was another source of regret for the elf. They reported their findings to Imdra and Saralas obtained his gray bag of tricks[17].
Encounter with Auril, Saga of the Child
This was the point where other members of the party saved a child who was being sacrificed to Auril. Though he wanted to stop the sacrifices, he warned against this action because of the danger of bringing attention to ourselves from the god and the people doing the sacrificing. Rudra insisted on adopting her, however, which did bring the attention of Auril[18]. From here the party headed towards Good Mead, child in tow, as Karthos wanted to head south to try to find the comet[19]. In Good Mead they were tasked with tracking down a Verbeeg that had stolen their mead and killed the town speaker. Along the way the party ran into Wodna again, and Saralas was still very wary of her. Saralas and the rat he pulled from the bag of tricks kill the Verbeeg and its Ogre friend in their cave[20]. This is also where Min and Karthos robbed a tomb and found a statue of Sylvanus.
From Good Mead the party headed south to Dougan's Hole on the way to the distress call in Karthos' head. Here they met some awakened wolves who were preventing people from leaving the town demanding food and gold. The wolves tried to lure them into a trap which they saw through, and kept heading towards the distress call. Along the way the party found a body tied to a chair, which turned out to be a dead person on the back of a white dragon. They angered the dragon, were separated from each other in a blizzard, and lost their sled dogs[21].
They eventually found the crashed Mind Flayer ship that was sending out the distress call. Karthos handed over the psi crystal he had been holding and the ship took off[22].
After this they circled back to rescue the children kidnapped from Dougan's Hole. Karthos snuck into the frost giant structure to look around, while Min found the children and opened their cage. This alerted a mammoth, which the party successfully defeated. Unfortunately Rudra had strapped the child to her armor and when the mammoth stomped her it crushed the child, which Auril brought back as a coldlight walker[23]. Auril took the opportunity to turn the dead child into a coldlight walker, which we later discovered was what she did with all the human sacrifices. Saralas, who had never wanted to save the child in the first place (rather, he wanted to end the need to sacrifice people at all), felt bad but this death did not appear to deeply affect him.
The Cult, Sunblight's Plot, and Black Ice
Shortly after, the party traveled to Caer-Dineval where they killed some invisible grey dwarves, duergar, followers of Xardarak Sunblight. This caught the attention of the Levistus-worshipping cult, the Knights of the Black Sword. They informed us about Sunblight's plan to attack the Ten Towns[24]. They learned that the cultists had taken over the town and the Caer and imprisoned the speaker in a magical sleep, with a chunk of Black Ice which can absorb a spell and release it over time[25].
The Duergar Fortress
From Caer-Dineval the party headed to Caer-Konig to search for the mountain guide Garrett. At the outfitter's shop they learned that he had recently stopped in with the group he was guiding to purchase supplies. At the tavern, they learned that Garrett's group was planning to hike up to the peak.
References
- ↑ I hit it with another arrow but it won't go down... Min comes out of nowhere and stabs the moose right in the neck with a dagger. The moose falls over dead. Saralas: Session 2
- ↑ I wake up, it's clear the entire party is in very rough shape, but it appears we're all here. But everyone appears nearly dead. Saralas: Session 2
- ↑ They came in shaken one night, thought they may have accidentally killed someone, but couldn't find the body. Saralas: Session 4
- ↑ Group of kobolds has crept into the mine. Miners had to abandon their jobs for now, though thankfully no one has been killed. Shortly before the kobolds showed up though another miner went missing, so they are concerned something bigger than just kobolds showed up. He is offering 50 gold to anyone who clears out the mine. Saralas: Session 5
- ↑ I've been abducted by a tentacle monster, paralyzed. It is a grell. Saralas: Session 7
- ↑ The ghost attacks. I'm so scared that I age 40 years. Saralas: Session 8
- ↑ We manage to distract the bears enough to get away, and drag the sled back to town. Saralas: Session 9
- ↑ When we come back, Karthos is holding a crystal, and he seems lost in thought. He says it was a psi crystal. Saralas: Session 10
- ↑ I make my way over to The Eastside, the inn. The inkeeper is Marta, a willowy teenager. Saralas: Session 10
- ↑ Triglio is the general store. Jestin Hunrae, a scarecrow-like fellow, runs the store. He fished the lake until his hand was crushed. He doesn't like people from Termalaine. I purchase a scrimshaw pipe and some tobacco from him for 3 gold. Saralas: Session 11
- ↑ We insult the Speaker who is clearly an asshole. When we get back we can't find the book. Doesn't matter. I'll set the town on fire if I have to. Saralas: Session 11
- ↑ A friend of hers has been conducting research at an old cabin in the wilderness. Macradaeus. She hasn't hear from him in some time. Saralas: Session 12
- ↑ A woman, Imdra, introduces herself. Captain of Easthaven militia. She's heard of us and thinks we might be the right people for a job. Saralas: Session 13
- ↑ Rinaldo, a self styled bard who sings the story of the White Lady, invites us to join a seance this evening. He is obsessed with the story of the White Lady and wants to call her. Saralas: Session 13
- ↑ I have an oddly vivid and poignant dream about my wife and family that fills me with good tidings. Saralas: Session 13
- ↑ Because she brought a frost giant skeleton to bear we talked for a while and made a retreat. Saralas: Session 16
- ↑ She seems skeptical, but accepts Resda's story, and offers us a gray bag of tricks or a scroll of fireball. Saralas: Session 16
- ↑ Rudra describes the lady and is pretty sure it is Auril. I ask her what happened, did she use the door, did she come through the window? Rudra does not know. Saralas: Session 17
- ↑ Karthos brain thing is getting worse and he asks us somewhat urgently if we can try to track down the comet We head towards good mead. Saralas: Session 17
- ↑ We win the fight over both of them. Saralas has the killing blow on the verbeeg. The rat, Bill, gets the killing blow on the Ogre. Saralas: Session 17
- ↑ We fall and bow, the dragon seems upset. It clearly wants to attack. It does and we run. We are scattered, and dig in to wait out the blizzard, which lasts 3 more hours. 3 hours later we manage to find each other, and keep heading south. Saralas: Session 17
- ↑ Karthos hands over the crystal and the mind flayer goes back upstairs. We leave, and the ship starts to lift out of the snow. Saralas: Session 17
- ↑ A mammoth attacks. It's a big guy and it hits like a freight train... it stomps on Rudra, hurting her and killing the child she had tied to her front. Saralas: Session 18
- ↑ They think the duergar are planning a major attack on the 10 towns. They think something is already going on in Easthaven. Saralas: Session 21
- ↑ Karthos was investigating the Speaker while we were talking and found a chunk of magical obsidian under the bed of the Speaker, who was not awake and would not wake. Saralas: Session 22