Hart Sterr - Backstory

[oobilytoob]

[Alright, as requested I would post Hart's History if asked. Sadly I have lost much of the middle ground (the stories before he arrived at and during Hydlaa and the trips away to find his brother) But what I do have to offer is what a select few had told to them by Hart, The following are a first person recollection of his own past, the first being his beginning and the second leading more into detail about the events before he arrived. I am working on re-writing the story of Ruby(mentioned breifly in his end story) as it holds the key to a lot of explinations to Hart. Anyway, hope you enjoy what I have to offer tonight, there will be more to come.]

Hart begins “I was born in a small village far east of Hydlaa, even Oja. There were two orders in the village. The order of the Shadow and the Order of the tree, the order of the shadow consisted of assassins, spies and mainly combat related individuals with a twist. The Order of the Tree was made up of those who were religious, those who would pray to the gods and were mainly healers or priests of some kind. My village was set at the base of a large mountain, that of which had a great lake in its side. Once a year during the heavy rains the lake would often swell, those in the order of the tree would prey every year to the gods asking for protection and safety during this time. Getting to me... I had a loving mother and a strict but caring father, also a brother. My father was high up in the Order of the Shadow and my mother the same in the order of the tree... they met at one of the bi-annual festivals when the two orders would come together.”

Hart smiles slightly “In my childhood, my brother and I studied under our father, oft competing with one another. I was always slightly better then him being the older of us two, but he was more of a dreamer, would often watch the clouds or trace pictures in the dirt with a kunai...”

Hart chuckles slightly "but he could always surprise me."

Hart’s expression darkens "anyway... on my seventeenth cycle... something happened.
My brother and I were training in the woods when someone came rushing to tell us that one of our friends was in trouble, her house was ablaze. we both rushed to her house to see a large group gathering outside, we were told that she and her little sister were trapped and that the most of the others were all out on missions or too far away to get there on time.”

Hart’s pace quickens "We both burst in and found them upstairs in a corner praying for help. I grabbed our friend, my brother Muot grabbed her smaller sister. We turned to run back the way we came but the roof collapsed outside the room as we approached. We had no other way out so we jumped out of the window as the beams collapsed and the house fell to a burning mass. We all got out with minor injuries, my brother sprained an ankle on landing and there was some singed fur but we were alright.”

Hart sighs “But that wasn’t what I was talking about. As we got out, with our friends still on our backs and people starting to run towards us and congratulate us... there was an almighty rumble and the sound of scraping. We turned around to see that the banks of the lake had burst. It was just a mass of trees, rocks, water and anything in its path running down the mountain side to meet us. I signaled to my brother and we ran in the opposite direction, as did everyone else that was there.”

Hart continues morbidly "We realized there was no way that we could have outrun it, so the four of us hid behind a large statue. The one thing that I remember that day was not the fear, was not the noise, it was the waiting... waiting for the impact, waiting for what could happen, waiting with three others, all of us looking at each other with pure white fear in our eyes. We all grouped together and then... all I remember is black... nothing else, just black, not me being thrown hundreds of meters away, not being pounded with tons of water, just black. When I came to I was far away from the village, soaking wet and dazed. There was no one around though... I looked everywhere for my brother and our friends. I could not find them, so after my voice grew coarse and my legs grew weary from searching, I headed back to what was left of our village. As I walked back in I remember all the rubble. Nothing was left undestroyed or unturned.

Hart continues slowly "I made my way to where my house was... I...found my parents; they were in each others arms, cold and lifeless but with an almost happy look on their faces...”

Hart chocks the words "I cleared the rubble off them and buried them in a grave together, how they were when I found them, giving them the one grave. I sat there all night after I had finished, with tears in my eyes and thorns in my throat, crying and cursing until I fell asleep by them. When I woke up I searched through the rubble of my house, I found my fathers two swords and his suit of armored Gi.”

Hart looks at himself

Hart sighs "After that I took supplies that I would need, not finding many others, I buried those I could. Then set off to try and find anyone that could have survived, as I left town I saw one man, a businessmen, a kind of trader that would often come to our town, his name was Alpha...but I shall tell you about him some other time.”

“..A year and a half later I arrived in Hydlaa”

[oobilytoob]

Hart slowly starts "Do you remember the one person I saw that survived? He wasn’t really a merchant... he would often come to our town to hire the men to work for him... we did not know what he did or what jobs he wished us to do until we were working for him. And... I am an assassin, so… I’m sure you can guess what the jobs were... bluffs to scare those who owed him money, sabotage, and... elimination of competitors or those he saw fit. The reason I started working with him is that I ran in to him that time and he told me after I questioned him that he had seen my brother Muot. He told me that he had connections and that if I worked for him he would use them to find him, every fortnight I worked for him, he would give me information about where he had been but not enough to give me a precise spot or conclusion, I did this for over 6 months and he would still not tell me anything solid, then... there was an incident.. “

Hart frowns slightly “Until now I had dealt with mainly crooked people who we by no means innocent. This time I was sent to someone who was late on payments; I figured that he was borrowing money from such a bad person; he could not have been so innocent either. Alpha told me that I was to give him the message that he was rather displeased with the person. That night I set off to where I was told to go, I arrived at his house and knocked on the door, seeing as I wasn’t on any type of elimination assignment, at this time I was not wearing my current clothes, but a suit, as was instructed by Alpha. He figured who I was working for and let me in shaking, as I walked in I noticed a wife cooking dinner and two girls playing in the front room, it was all mainly open in the house. I didn’t want to make a fuss so I simply told him in a low voice that Alpha was angry at him for missing payments, then… he fell to his knees in front of me, and he said that he had children and a wife, begging to spare his life.”

Hart shakes his head “I told him I was not here to kill him but to simply tell him what I had. He stood up and shook my hand vigorously, he ran off into a room telling me to wait where I was, I was cautious at what he brought back in his hands, when he held it up to me it was a scroll. It had the symbol of peace written on it, with embroided silk around the symbol. He told me it was a present to him for saving a man from drowning and he was awarded it for saving a life, he wished to give it to me, for he saw that that was what I was doing so I left, thinking of the man… and what had just happened, in a sense of confusion”

Hart continues, the words grinding out “I returned to Alpha that morning and told him of what occurred, leaving out the scroll and... he was furious at me; he had said that I had been killing people so far, why shouldn’t I do the same with this, if not, at least beat him so that he would remember. I had misunderstood his orders as he actually wished for me to harm the man. He told me to go back the next night and “relay the message” properly or he would never tell me where my brother was, he also said he would send two others with me incase I did not do it. During the day we were made to wear the suits when we roamed the small village city and as I did during that day, going over what I had to do in my head, I bumped into the man from the night before, he saw me, smiled, bowed and kept walking, which made things even worse...”

Hart’s face drops slightly “That night I was getting ready for what I had to do when Alpha's thugs arrived and told me to wear the suit "To send out the message that no one can trifle with him and receive sympathy". We went to the house and I told the other two to wait at the door when we got inside. We burst through the door, and quickly walked in; all four of them were eating dinner at a table and talking. I walked over to him quickly and grabbed him, throwing him to the next room, I didn’t want the others to have to witness it... the wife ran to the children, pulling them to a corner and they sat there crying. I jumped over the small wall that separated the rooms and stood above him... I reached for my blades... it wasn’t my arms that stop themselves, nor my mind; it was the cries of the two children. Yet I knew that if I did not do it they would die anyway, as my hands closened to my blades, the stopped and made a fist... I struck him... and then again... and again. I don’t really remember my fist covered in blood, or the man under me, just the children, as I struck him over and over they cried out for him... I stopped, and before he lost consciousness I whispered in his ear "I’m sorry, there was no other way" I stood up and started to walk out, as I was walking one of the children threw their knife at me. I caught it and spun around, that image will be burned in my mind forever. That child, with such fury in their eyes, such anger and rage, that they would try to fight someone when there are no odds to win against, to try and protect their family. I blinked for a second and then... I threw the knife ...but not at the child. It hit one of the men that were with me in the head, between the eyes, I knew that they were going to kill his family to make the man suffer, I had worked with these two before and they reveled their sadistic ways. I drew my blades and then the other man who was with me ran. I turned back to the wife and children, I threw them more than twice the amount of money that they needed to pay back Alpha and told them, they would not be harmed, Alpha would come after me now and they can pay him back.”

Hart’s eyes glint “The last thing I remember of that place is looking back at the child, throwing a kunai at her feet and telling her to learn how to use it, the kid had some skill or was just damn lucky, and after that I rushed back to where I had been staying, I grabbed my usual outfit and the rest of the money I had saved and acquired, from there I ran and never looked back, heading to the last area that Alpha hinted at...Hydlaa...”

“I found out later on that the money that the man had borrowed was used for sending his children to school and because one of his children was ill. There... now...you know... of Alpha, the reason why I wear this mask and why I am here.”

[Mathy Stockington]

Sir Hart thank you for telling me your story. I really understand you much better due to your wonderfully told tale. I do hope you return to Hydlaa soon.
Mathy could always use some protection from the bad men that wish to hurt people rather then be kind. Look for me so we can become friends.

A small female dwarf bows in respect to Sir Hart because I understand the horrible loss of family.