Abelhelm Reichert
Human Gambler, age 15
Birthplace: Talabheim, capital city of Talabecland
Distinguished by: Bloodshot eyes
Star Sign: Mummit the Fool (Sign of Instinct)
Starting talents: Streetwise, Luck, 6th sense, Alley Cat
Dooming: A blunt knife will be thy end
Religion: Ulric
Background: Criminal
Human Gambler, age 15
Birthplace: Talabheim, capital city of Talabecland
Distinguished by: Bloodshot eyes
Star Sign: Mummit the Fool (Sign of Instinct)
Starting talents: Streetwise, Luck, 6th sense, Alley Cat
Dooming: A blunt knife will be thy end
Religion: Ulric
Background: Criminal
One of the 4 city-states of The Empire, Talabheim is the capital of Talabecland and the home of its Elector Count.
The city lies in the centre of the Great Forest and is sometimes nicknamed the Eye of the Forest, reminding everyone that it is a place of safety surrounded by danger and darkness.
Located at the southern bank of the river Talabec, the city is a very important trade centre, being a major ferry point used by the traffic of the Old Forest Road. The deep port of Talagaad receives goods transported upon the river.
The city was built upon a very large crater, the result of a meteor impact. The city isn't large enough to cover the whole crater; this enables the existence of farms which in case of a siege produce enough food to sustain the city's population. The rim of the crater has been fortified and the only entry is a tunnel which connects to a narrow road which leads to Talagaad. The tunnel is guarded by two fortresses, one at each end. Due all these formidable defensive characteristics the city is considered all but impregnable
The city lies in the centre of the Great Forest and is sometimes nicknamed the Eye of the Forest, reminding everyone that it is a place of safety surrounded by danger and darkness.
Located at the southern bank of the river Talabec, the city is a very important trade centre, being a major ferry point used by the traffic of the Old Forest Road. The deep port of Talagaad receives goods transported upon the river.
The city was built upon a very large crater, the result of a meteor impact. The city isn't large enough to cover the whole crater; this enables the existence of farms which in case of a siege produce enough food to sustain the city's population. The rim of the crater has been fortified and the only entry is a tunnel which connects to a narrow road which leads to Talagaad. The tunnel is guarded by two fortresses, one at each end. Due all these formidable defensive characteristics the city is considered all but impregnable
Background:
Until the age of 10 I had what you would call a standard childhood. My parents had a small shop and we lived a quiet life. We were not rich but not poor either. I was a clever and likeable kid and I was set out to become a merchant just like my dad.
A little over 5 year ago however, disaster struck. Both my parents and 2 sisters died in a fire that burn down most of the neighbourhood we lived in. I managed to get out alive. Since my entire family died, I was left alone, without a place to live. This is when I met Siegfried, a street kid who was only 15 himself but already had a small ring of thieves and pickpockers working for him, all of them children.
We instantly connected and he became my best friend. The next 4 years, he learned me the way of the street, thought me how to gamble and I lived with him and the entire gang. We lived of small harmless crime, ripping of wealthy merchants, taking some coin from drunks through some rigged bets,… 5 fun years went by but then things went south. Siegfried had a run in with the city guard. It turned out that we had ripped of the wrong merchant, a nephew of the mayor of this town. We had caught the eye of the city guard and our sweet life was over. A witch hunt began and Siegfried was forced to leave town and our little ring disbanded.
With my newfound family gone, nothing tied me to the city anymore so I packed all my stuff and left. I’ve been wandering the kingdom for about 6 months now, moving from one place to another.
Until the age of 10 I had what you would call a standard childhood. My parents had a small shop and we lived a quiet life. We were not rich but not poor either. I was a clever and likeable kid and I was set out to become a merchant just like my dad.
A little over 5 year ago however, disaster struck. Both my parents and 2 sisters died in a fire that burn down most of the neighbourhood we lived in. I managed to get out alive. Since my entire family died, I was left alone, without a place to live. This is when I met Siegfried, a street kid who was only 15 himself but already had a small ring of thieves and pickpockers working for him, all of them children.
We instantly connected and he became my best friend. The next 4 years, he learned me the way of the street, thought me how to gamble and I lived with him and the entire gang. We lived of small harmless crime, ripping of wealthy merchants, taking some coin from drunks through some rigged bets,… 5 fun years went by but then things went south. Siegfried had a run in with the city guard. It turned out that we had ripped of the wrong merchant, a nephew of the mayor of this town. We had caught the eye of the city guard and our sweet life was over. A witch hunt began and Siegfried was forced to leave town and our little ring disbanded.
With my newfound family gone, nothing tied me to the city anymore so I packed all my stuff and left. I’ve been wandering the kingdom for about 6 months now, moving from one place to another.
The chronicles of Abel, the child gambler: Part 1.
After leaving Talabheim I started making my way to the capital.
I can tell you one thing, the roads of the Empire are not suited for kids travelling alone. Forget about the idea of a young brash man, whistling a happy tune and living the good life. It was autumn, days were short, the weather was wet and I didn’t exactly had a lot of savings so my means of transport were limited to two skinny legs.
I walked during daytime and at night, instead of making a campfire, I crawled up the best tree I could find, trying to find a place where I was safe from wolves and where no one noticed me. I have to admit that I was scared. Highwaymen roam the forests and at night and I swear that I heard noises that no animal is supposed to make.
This went on for a couple of weeks until one evening, I noticed some light in the distance of what appeared to be some kind of mansion. When I approached, I noticed that it was an old house, in a bit of a rundown shape. There were 4 horses outside and inside I heard laughter so I decided to sneak in and check it out. I got into the attic and looked down through the cracks in the ceiling.
This was the first time I saw Gottfried. There he was, sitting at a table, a real mountain of a man. At least 2 meters tall, bald and as fat as a pig. He sat there, laughing, drinking and eating and telling jokes to the other men at the table. The other men were silent and then I noticed something. When I had a better look, it was clear that these men had been gambling. And losing. Big time! The fat guy had a pile of coins while the other ones had nothing left.
So as you could predict, It didn't take long before the first guy accused the fat guy of cheating. Knives were drawn and the atmosphere changed. The fat guy wasn't joking anymore. He looked scared, he even started crying, begging for the other ones not to hurt him.
The other guys started laughing now and just as things started to look grim for the fat one something very strange happened. Just like that, all lights went out. People were yelling, you could hear plates and cups falling over and I heard a lot of movement. Maybe one or two minutes later, the lights went on again and what not exactly what I expected.
Three men had their throat slit and the fat guy had changed from a crying and helpless fat pig into a hulking ogre that was holding the remaining guy down. Also, as out of nowhere, the room was filled with half a dozen of dwarves. I didn't have a clue where they could have come from unless they had been hiding there all along.
I decided it was time to skip but I stumbled and threw some stuff on the floor. I tried to make a run for it but some of the dwarves grabbed me before I could get out.
They bound me and I was thrown at the feet of the fat guy. Although he was covered in blood and looked like he was going the slit my throat as well, he suddenly addressed me in a friendly voice:
“Hello little fellow, my name is Gottfried. What’s your name?”
“Abel”… I mumbled
“And what brings you here?”
I explained how I got here and a huge smile came all over his face.
He ordered the dwarves to cut my ropes and said: “Little Abel, would you care to join our little group. Even though I enjoy the company of my dwarven friends, I wouldn't mind having a little helper so to say. We are a travelling band of, how should I put his, con artists. We take the money from the dumb, the greedy and the wealthy and put it to better use. We will be leaving this place in the morning for the next city. There we will sell the horses and see where the roads lead us. You are welcome to join us.”
So from that day on, I became the apprentice of Gottfried, a man who turned out to be a master of deceit. Charming and repulsive, harmless and menacing and all of that at the same time.
After leaving Talabheim I started making my way to the capital.
I can tell you one thing, the roads of the Empire are not suited for kids travelling alone. Forget about the idea of a young brash man, whistling a happy tune and living the good life. It was autumn, days were short, the weather was wet and I didn’t exactly had a lot of savings so my means of transport were limited to two skinny legs.
I walked during daytime and at night, instead of making a campfire, I crawled up the best tree I could find, trying to find a place where I was safe from wolves and where no one noticed me. I have to admit that I was scared. Highwaymen roam the forests and at night and I swear that I heard noises that no animal is supposed to make.
This went on for a couple of weeks until one evening, I noticed some light in the distance of what appeared to be some kind of mansion. When I approached, I noticed that it was an old house, in a bit of a rundown shape. There were 4 horses outside and inside I heard laughter so I decided to sneak in and check it out. I got into the attic and looked down through the cracks in the ceiling.
This was the first time I saw Gottfried. There he was, sitting at a table, a real mountain of a man. At least 2 meters tall, bald and as fat as a pig. He sat there, laughing, drinking and eating and telling jokes to the other men at the table. The other men were silent and then I noticed something. When I had a better look, it was clear that these men had been gambling. And losing. Big time! The fat guy had a pile of coins while the other ones had nothing left.
So as you could predict, It didn't take long before the first guy accused the fat guy of cheating. Knives were drawn and the atmosphere changed. The fat guy wasn't joking anymore. He looked scared, he even started crying, begging for the other ones not to hurt him.
The other guys started laughing now and just as things started to look grim for the fat one something very strange happened. Just like that, all lights went out. People were yelling, you could hear plates and cups falling over and I heard a lot of movement. Maybe one or two minutes later, the lights went on again and what not exactly what I expected.
Three men had their throat slit and the fat guy had changed from a crying and helpless fat pig into a hulking ogre that was holding the remaining guy down. Also, as out of nowhere, the room was filled with half a dozen of dwarves. I didn't have a clue where they could have come from unless they had been hiding there all along.
I decided it was time to skip but I stumbled and threw some stuff on the floor. I tried to make a run for it but some of the dwarves grabbed me before I could get out.
They bound me and I was thrown at the feet of the fat guy. Although he was covered in blood and looked like he was going the slit my throat as well, he suddenly addressed me in a friendly voice:
“Hello little fellow, my name is Gottfried. What’s your name?”
“Abel”… I mumbled
“And what brings you here?”
I explained how I got here and a huge smile came all over his face.
He ordered the dwarves to cut my ropes and said: “Little Abel, would you care to join our little group. Even though I enjoy the company of my dwarven friends, I wouldn't mind having a little helper so to say. We are a travelling band of, how should I put his, con artists. We take the money from the dumb, the greedy and the wealthy and put it to better use. We will be leaving this place in the morning for the next city. There we will sell the horses and see where the roads lead us. You are welcome to join us.”
So from that day on, I became the apprentice of Gottfried, a man who turned out to be a master of deceit. Charming and repulsive, harmless and menacing and all of that at the same time.
The first months after I joined the ranks of Gottfried and his crew, were quite fun to be honest. It turned out that Gottfried had the habit of presenting himself and his gang as a band of travelling entertainers. They travelled from town to town, making stops at inn’s where they entertained people for a bit of silvers. The dwarves acted as singers, jugglers, clowns,…
Once people got in the mood, they would end the evening with a bit of gambling. Gottfried himself was, and still is, the best gambler I’ve ever met in my life. He would lure people in and just when they thought they had him, he would take them for everything they got. At first , my role was limited, mostly acting as his sidekick to get things going, but by watching him I learned a lot. He was quite fond of me and treated me very well. I had to earn my living by doing chores but all in all, it life was peachy. He even showed me some great tricks as he told me that I had great potential.
What pleased me most, was the fact that he hardly ever resorted to violence like the first night I met him. He told me that the scene I witnessed was a retribution for a former dispute with the same men who had almost killed one of the Dwarves. I believed him of course. Why wouldn’t I? He was my friend and if he was really a bad guy, he wouldn’t have taken me in.
One night, after setting up camp next to a popular inn, we ended up gambling with a couple of travelling adventurers and took them for almost everything. Gottfried was about to call it a night until one of the adventurers made him an offer. They took out an old map and proposed to Gottfried that he was willing to bet this map in order to get their money back.
The map was supposedly a famous treasure map and to my surprise, Gottfried accepted.
So the game started and our luck turned. The adventurers were still lousy players but you can’t beat Lady Luck. I noticed that Gottfried was getting more and more frustrated as his their streak of luck continued. He tried every trick in the book but it was impossible to get anything out of that game without blatantly cheating so one hour later, they had won everything back and Gottfried
was clearly not in a good mood. I noticed that something had changed about him.
The darkness I saw that first night returned.
A couple of hours later after I had gone to bed, I was suddenly awoken. Gottfried was covered in blood and told me to get up as we were leaving. In a matter of minutes, his Dwarves had broken up camp and we left under the cover of night. I noticed that Gottfried had the map so at that point, It was quite clear where all that blood came from.
We didn’t stop for 3 days and headed deep into the forest until we arrived at an abandoned tower. Gottfried told me that this was one of their safe houses in case the needed to lay low for a while. When I asked him what happened, he said that he needed to get that map as he recognized the seal. He had heard rumors about this treasure but the map was supposedly lost. I could see the greed in his eyes. That night I made my decision. I would leave this gang. Sure, I’m a gambler. Some might even say that I’m a thief. But I’m no stone cold murderer.
That same night I sneaked out and made my way to a nearby inn from where I would take a coach to a nearby town. Gottfried wouldn’t be able to come after me as road Wardens were probably still looking for him and he isn’t exactly low profile. Leaving like that would surely give me a couple of days head start.
I knew it was the right thing to do but still, I felt kinda bad for Gottfried as he had always treated me well. But he would understand, right?
Although I don’t think he would be very pleased to notice that I also took the map. But hey, he knew what I was when he took me in.
Once people got in the mood, they would end the evening with a bit of gambling. Gottfried himself was, and still is, the best gambler I’ve ever met in my life. He would lure people in and just when they thought they had him, he would take them for everything they got. At first , my role was limited, mostly acting as his sidekick to get things going, but by watching him I learned a lot. He was quite fond of me and treated me very well. I had to earn my living by doing chores but all in all, it life was peachy. He even showed me some great tricks as he told me that I had great potential.
What pleased me most, was the fact that he hardly ever resorted to violence like the first night I met him. He told me that the scene I witnessed was a retribution for a former dispute with the same men who had almost killed one of the Dwarves. I believed him of course. Why wouldn’t I? He was my friend and if he was really a bad guy, he wouldn’t have taken me in.
One night, after setting up camp next to a popular inn, we ended up gambling with a couple of travelling adventurers and took them for almost everything. Gottfried was about to call it a night until one of the adventurers made him an offer. They took out an old map and proposed to Gottfried that he was willing to bet this map in order to get their money back.
The map was supposedly a famous treasure map and to my surprise, Gottfried accepted.
So the game started and our luck turned. The adventurers were still lousy players but you can’t beat Lady Luck. I noticed that Gottfried was getting more and more frustrated as his their streak of luck continued. He tried every trick in the book but it was impossible to get anything out of that game without blatantly cheating so one hour later, they had won everything back and Gottfried
was clearly not in a good mood. I noticed that something had changed about him.
The darkness I saw that first night returned.
A couple of hours later after I had gone to bed, I was suddenly awoken. Gottfried was covered in blood and told me to get up as we were leaving. In a matter of minutes, his Dwarves had broken up camp and we left under the cover of night. I noticed that Gottfried had the map so at that point, It was quite clear where all that blood came from.
We didn’t stop for 3 days and headed deep into the forest until we arrived at an abandoned tower. Gottfried told me that this was one of their safe houses in case the needed to lay low for a while. When I asked him what happened, he said that he needed to get that map as he recognized the seal. He had heard rumors about this treasure but the map was supposedly lost. I could see the greed in his eyes. That night I made my decision. I would leave this gang. Sure, I’m a gambler. Some might even say that I’m a thief. But I’m no stone cold murderer.
That same night I sneaked out and made my way to a nearby inn from where I would take a coach to a nearby town. Gottfried wouldn’t be able to come after me as road Wardens were probably still looking for him and he isn’t exactly low profile. Leaving like that would surely give me a couple of days head start.
I knew it was the right thing to do but still, I felt kinda bad for Gottfried as he had always treated me well. But he would understand, right?
Although I don’t think he would be very pleased to notice that I also took the map. But hey, he knew what I was when he took me in.