Samuel Dukes, Le guérisseur
Tandis que les autres continuaient à marcher vers leur destination, tout le parti ayant des vitesses différentes à laquelle ils se sont déplacés, Samuel a continué à maintenir son rythme lent et régulier. Le paysage était encore aussi beau qu'avant, l'étendue bleue n'étant bloquée que par les arbres qui couvraient parfois la vue de Samuel. Finalement, l'étude du ciel a été abandonnée - Samuel avait presque trébuché en faisant cela, et blesser sa jambe ne ferait que rendre le voyage plus difficile. Au lieu de cela, Samuel observa les environs - la forêt couvrait la terre, et le sol devenait de plus en plus inégal. Le terrain difficile semblait ne poser aucun problème à Syfa et Ninty, ce qui poussait Samuel à se demander si les deux avaient remarqué la difficulté croissante. Cependant, Samuel n'était pas du genre à se plaindre - loin de là! C'est lui qui devrait motiver les autres s'ils ont des problèmes! Avec un nouveau pep dans son pas, Samuel a lentement rattrapé le groupe, ayant décidé que le temps de se rendre sur place était terminé.
Timothy grandissait lentement devant le parti, qui inquiétait Samuel. Après tout, et s'ils rencontraient des bandits ou des animaux sauvages? Une fois de plus, Timothy et ses hommes avaient blessé un homme dans le village de Samuel il y a des années, si certainement Timothée a pu se défendre... Bran et Syfa étaient dans une petite conversation, que Samuel a choisi de ne pas écouter. Ce serait malpoli. Cela ne l'empêcha pas de remarquer que Ninty se promène accidentellement dans une branche basse, lui blessant les yeux et suscitant une série de profanations qui faisaient facilement rougir Samuel. Une femme ne devrait pas jurer comme ça! Mais surtout, est-ce qu'elle allait bien? Un regard rapide a montré que Ninty ne lui a pas percé l'œil, et que la piqûre qu'elle sentait le plus probablement tomberait dans quelques minutes. Samuel lâcha le souffle qu'il tenait, soulagé qu'elle ne se blesse pas sérieusement. Samuel savait que même les plus petites blessures oculaires pouvaient entraîner des dommages permanents, voire la cécité. Il ne voulait utiliser aucune de ses forces pour la guérir, surtout quand le groupe pourrait souffrir de blessures plus graves. Ninty peu de temps après avoir blessé son œil a appelé à Timothée pour ralentir, mais l'elfe semblait être dans une ferveur, continuant sur le chemin à une vitesse aucun des autres ne pouvait rivaliser. Samuel, en aucun cas le plus sportif, avait des difficultés à suivre, et était presque tenté de se bénir d'avoir plus d'endurance. Mais vite, l'idée lui a laissé l'esprit. Ce serait très égoïste de se bénir de sa magie, alors qu'il n'offrait même pas de guérir Ninty. Ainsi, avec un grognement, Samuel continua avec les autres.
Le sentier a commencé à se développer plus griffonné et robuste, en fin de compte, comme s'il avait été complètement consommé par la nature. Les pierres sur le sol étaient mal à l'aise contre les pieds de Samuel, même avec les bottes en cuir dur fournissant une défense contre leur agression. Le sol a grandi raide et plat à intervalles aléatoires, et a été jonché avec une combinaison de racines et de pierre. Malgré cela, Samuel a persisté - après tout, la diligence est une vertu, et abandonner quand les choses sont devenues difficiles était tout simplement enfantine. Cela ne voulait pas dire qu'il avait moins peur quand un enroulé "CRAWK" résonnait d'en haut. Samuel n'a pas eu le temps de tourner avant que le battement des ailes révèle l'origine du son - Un corbeau, probablement multiple si le nombre d'ailes était quelque chose à être sûr. Certains d'entre eux se tournèrent vers le bruit, et ne montrèrent aucune grande réponse, permettant à Samuel de se détendre davantage. Si c'était un monstre, ils chercheraient leurs armes. Samuel lui-même n'avait pas l'air - il avait vu assez d'oiseaux dans sa vie, et il ne voulait pas sembler comme le genre de gars qui avait peur de tout. Suivant le chemin difficile avec un nouveau sens de la vigueur, Samuel continua à suivre le groupe, à peine derrière eux.
Name: Samuel Dukes
Title: The Healer
Gender: Male
Age: 38, but looks older
Personality: Samuel is an extremely caring individual, and will do his best to make everyone happy. Hell, the entire reason he became an adventurer was because he wanted to travel around the world, helping the people he finds along the way. Life is an experience, after all, and you should do your best to be experience all you can and find the thing you want to do. Despite these beliefs, however, Samuel never drank, smoked, and he doesn't eat animals for ethical reasons. He is strictly vegetarian, but will not try to restrict others in the same fashion. He never swears, with the strongest words in his vocabulary being "Dang it". He has never hated another person, and loves hearing about their stories - he will very often befriend people and paint pictures of the two of them together, but most of these paintings are given to the other individual since Samuel doesn't have the room to carry around dozens of paintings.
Samuel is very accepting of others, and does his best to be interested in other people's hobbies - if it makes them happy, then they can do it as much as they want. However, Samuel will try to get people interested into his own hobbies - painting, praying, and carpentry. And, while Samuel could be described as loyal, he is kind to nearly everyone he meets, so this is fairly hard to tell.
However, despite the kindness he attempts to spread, Samuel possesses numerous personality faults. He is pacifistic to an extreme, refusing to harm a living creature unless his life is directly threatened. While he won't stop his allies from defending themselves, he will do everything in his power to stop them from killing sentient creatures... Unless they're demonic or undead. Samuel has a deep seeded fear of the undead and demons, which has only been nurtured in his time in the church. Should he encounter someone like this, he will be far different from his usual self, staying as far from them as possible and not protesting against their death. Additionally, he is an extreme traditionalist, believing in rigid gender roles and more outdated ideologies. However, he will be nowhere near as aggressive towards a female adventure as he would to an undead or demonic one. Despite these views, it would be possible to win over Samuel if someone were to try hard enough and remind him that kindness should be given to everyone.
Abilities:
Healing Prayers: Samuel can close minor wounds in seconds, medium sized ones in a minute, large wounds in an hour, and broken bones/fatal wounds in 3-6 hour long prayer sessions. While being healed, a person won't feel any pain and the wound will be considered stabilized, allowing them to continue fighting, but the prayer needs to be completed for the wound to close. Healing leaves no scars and replenishes lost blood, but relies on concentration and time before the wound is closed. Additionally, if Samuel doesn't pray an hour daily, he temporarily loses his power. Additionally, healing fatal wounds require copious amounts of holy objects, and goes along faster if done on holy land. Without any holy objects (Holy water, crosses, silver, etc.), healing magic is far less effective.
While less effective, the prayer can be used to lessen the effects of major illnesses, and can cure minor ones. Nowhere near biblical "cure the lepers" power though.
Bless: Samuel can temporarily bless a person, raising one of their physical attributes significantly, such as making the average man as strong as a college-level wrestler. Blessing a person can be done instantly, but only three people can be blessed at one time.
Skills:
-Persuasion
-Carpentry/woodcarving
-Painting
Gear:
- Robes
- A Holy Book
- Carpentry tools
- Painting tools
- Adult horse (Pericles/"Percy")
- Small wagon
- A Crosier that appears as a simple staff with a golden cross on top
Bio: Samuel was born to an extremely poor family on the outskirts of a large city, where he would spend the next 12 years of life. His mother, a seamstress, died in childbirth, leaving Samuel to be raised by his father, a carpenter. The two were extremely close and, despite their horrible living conditions, Samuel managed to grow fairly well. He was always soft spoken, eve as a child, and this trait was only encouraged from his kindly father. Living in the dregs of society, you had to help each other to survive. Life, while difficult, was an enjoyable experience, and Samuel was never in need of anything. He lived his life plainly, and planned on becoming a carpenter in order to help his father pay the growing bills. That all changed when he turned 11.
Samuel, having only turned 11 a month prior, commenced his day as he normally did; he went to buy the groceries. His father worked very hard, and while he was not particularly good at them, Samuel took over the woman's work. Samuel's father always apologized, and told him that he was sorry for forcing his son to do something his mother or sister should do, and this clear distinction between the expectations of men and women that his father presented later manifested in Samuel as his light sexism. Despite this, Samuel was glad to do the more feminine jobs - He couldn't help his father any other way, and his father already worked hard to support Samuel. Even on the days he didn't have work, every Sunday, he still taught the boy the trade secrets in order to prepare him for his future career. But back to the groceries - Every day, before going to school, Samuel always went to the local butchers to buy meat - the family didn't have any way to keep meat fresh, and couldn't afford a chicken coup, so this was their only option. It was the same as it was any other day - buying from the cheaper, "aged" meats with the money his father left on the counter, and making his way towards the door after the owner stopped doting over him. This time, however it was different - before he managed to leave the small meat shop, explosions that sounded like they were only a few blocks away resonated throughout the store. The explosions continued for what felt like an eternity, but were actually only 30 seconds.
Finally, after the constant sounding of explosives stopped, Samuel stayed in the store for nearly an hour, the owner giving him dried meat for free to calm the crying child. Finally, when all seemed safe, Samuel left the shop, quickly making his way to his home. He planned to hide in the basement for the rest of the day, skipping school entirely. When he arrived to several smoking craters, he realized where the explosions were. His house, several other homes in the area, and a small government building. Later, Samuel would find out that the explosions were caused by a demonologist, attempting to gather souls to summon demons. The terrorist was captured soon after the event, and Samuel was sent to an orphanage, the place he would spend the next year of life.
The orphanage had a higher standard of living then his old home, but that didn't matter. The man who had raised Samuel the past 11 years of his life was gone. Samuel was a hopeless wreck the next year - he rarely ate, spending most of his time in his room making sculptures and paintings of his father and him, or sleeping to ignore the loss. The other children admired his artistic skill. and several became friends with him. Despite this, he never really spent much time with them, only pretending to be happy when they were around. Days passed without difference, the only thing telling them apart being the weather outside and the work of art he was making. Even with this depression, he never wanted to kill himself. His father always told him to never give up, so he was going to keep on living. For his father's sake. That was until 3 robed men arrived to the school, little over one year since Samuel first came to the orphanage.
None of the children knew the purpose for why the men were there - some believed they were going to adopt someone, others thought they would kill them. Neither was true - the men systematically met with each child, placed their hand against a crystal ball, and moved on to the next. They never showed any expression with the children, and they did the same with Samuel. As suddenly as they arrived, they left, having went through the process with each child. 3 weeks later, more robed men appeared - although, their were far more of them. Some wore the robes of the mages, some were dressed in furs like the druids of the west. Several children were adopted. Samuel was one of them, being picked by a priestly man in white and gold robes. They then left the city that Samuel spent the last 12 years in, to parts unknown. The journey took little over 2 weeks by wagon, but they finally arrived - a small, ordinary village far to the east of the city that Samuel grew up in. Job, the man that had adopted Samuel, talked with him the whole way there, telling him of their new life and the way of god. Samuel was special - the robed men that first appeared in the orphanage were testing the magical affinities of the orphans, looking for new members of the magical orders. Apparently, Samuel was the most pious of the orphans, despite never touching the holy book in his life. He was to be trained by the church, and use his powers in gods just name. Despite the despair that clouded his heart, Samuel was happy. He would finally be useful, if not to his dad, then to the people.
Samuel was quickly given a high level of education, being taught multiplication and comprehending the holy book. Hours a day were spent in prayer, and Samuel, after a year long study, was finally taught basic holy magic. Samuel's affinity for other magics were nonexistent, making things like fireballs an impossibility, but he was tutored heavily in the art of healing, spending the first few years of his new life dissecting and healing small animals. His first human subject was the villages hunter, whom was accidentally shot by a group of elves passing the area. The wound was minor, but the elves were apologetic and did not want to leave without helping the man they shot. A few tense hours later, the wound was closed, and the elves were offered a night in the village to rest. Samuel, slowly but surely, was growing out of his depression.
Job was an interesting man - he never spoke violently, always careful with his words and planning what he says. He spoke eloquently, and it would be difficult to think he ever disliked someone in his life. He always assisted the other villagers, and spoke highly of the lord, preaching that everyone deserved a second chance. While Samuel took his sayings to heart, he always kept the hidden hatred inside of him. He despised demons. The holy book clearly said that every problem was caused, directly or indirectly, by them. The undead were the same - products of the dark arts that sought to corrupt the world. Of course, Samuel never told a soul of his hidden beliefs. He even was repulsed with himself for having them. The church, the people who saved and gave him a new life, taught their children to respect and love everyone. But Samuel couldn't help but despise the unholy. He couldn't tell anyone, he couldn't risk someone finding out he had sin in his heart. So, he kept it hidden, not even mentioning it when he was praying for forgiveness.
Samuel proved his helpfulness by the time he was 20 - he had finished all his studies, was a strong young man, and was proficient not only with carpentry, but also the holy book. Samuel was able to heal small wounds in minutes, and moderate ones in only a few hours of reciting verses from the book. He repaired damage that occurred to buildings and vehicles, and had even been given the honor of painting famous scenes from the holy book on the walls of the church. Samuel was finally over the death of his father and, while Samuel misses him dearly, he understands that his father would not want him to wallow in self pity for the rest of his life. Samuel was a man. He continued his practice of the holy book, and took over preaching from the old Job. Job proceeded to spend his days relaxing, until he died 5 years later, at the age of 74. Samuel continued to remain in the village, doing the same things until he eventually reached the age of 38. That was when he had a dream - a realization, a prophecy. He was just like he was in the orphanage - sure, he was happier, but he did the same thing every single day, without any difference between the days that passed. His life was passing him by like a bolt of lighting, and he wasn't doing anything to stop it. He needed the thing that changed his life 26 years ago. He neded a change of scenery.
Barely a week later, his bags all packed and the villagers alerted, Samuel left the small village he spent the most of his life in. The entire population of 103 people came to see him off, and visiting Job's grave before he left, Samuel departed the village. The wagon was pulled by his favorite horse in the village, Pericles, whom the stable master had given to Samuel as a departing gift. The fact that the villagers cared for him deeply moved his heart, and he was sure to alert the church that a new priest was needed at the village. After three weeks of travel, he had finally arrived to his destination. The city he had grown up in. The next few days were spent getting his papers in order, and deciding his new, exciting career; adventurer. Finally, 5 days after entering the city, he made his way to the local tavern to find companions, which he did. But there was a familiar face among them - the elf, whom had stayed at his village over 2 decades ago, was there. After some thoughtful reminiscing, Samuel was told the elf had become a merchant, and was in search of people to undergo a... secret mission to the nearby ruins. Ignorant of the suspicious request, Samuel quickly agreed to help Timothy, his new companions joining in to make a few quick coins.
Other: Theme song