Jothal was born in the rolling hills outside Foabur Town. His family lived a very rural life, surviving off what they could grow or hunt. He learned much of the wild through this, from what wild herbs were edible to how to fletch his own arrows. Once he was of age, Jothal helped his father hunt; often times this would lead them into the Endless Woods.
On one particular trip, they came across a mortally wounded wolf mother, just given birth. From the looks of the scene, whatever attacked most likely had her litter for lunch. However, much to Jothal's surprise, soft barks and whines could be heard. Underneath some nearby brush, a young wolf pup lay strewn with several clawmarks across his side.
With the approval of his father, they quickly wrapped the wounded pup up in spare bandage they brought with them on the hunting trip and carried him back to their cabin. Nursing the wolf pup back to health cautiously over the next weeks, Jothal slowly gained its trust in absence of its mother.
Years later, Jothal lives on his own, still on the border to the Endless Woods. Ash, his wolf, has followed him this far in life. Living on the border, Jothal understands the balance that nature requires and takes only what he needs. While his life is quiet on the outskirts of the Endless Woods, he is hoping one day that an adventure will come to him...
It was time for a trip to town. Certain supplies Jothal needed couldn't be foraged for, and while he could fletch arrows and and chip arrowheads from stones, steel arrowheads were far superior and reliable, and he was in need of more.
He gathered his stuff and brought a pack with him. Ash, his trusted companion and closest friend, was by his side always. They had been through much together and trusted each other completely.
He headed down the rough path from his home toward the main road. Reaching farmland soon, and after that came the road. It was the same route he always took, and the center of town was only a few miles south now.
A few more minutes of walking, and Jothal turned around, hearing a bit of a ruckus coming from a wagon the was speeding down the road. They were going much faster than was safe, and he could hear the two men up front yelling for people to get out of the way. From what he could hear, they were headed for the town's cleric.
Jothal pulled Ash and moved to the edge of the road to give them space, figuring it was probably someone from a farm that fell and broke a leg or something. Paying little attention to it, he continued walking toward town. His first stop was the blacksmith's forge.
Entering the forge and approaching the man whose body was fully that of a blacksmith. Over 6 feet tall and heavily muscled, he reminded Jothal of some of the bears in the woods, just not quite as hairy.
Speaking with the man, Jothal ordered 20 steel arrowheads. During the conversation, he realized that in the back room was a younger looking apprentice, who seemed to be looking at him every chance he got.
He wasn't very comfortable being looked at so curiously like that, but simply gives the boy a short nod and makes a mental note that the apprentice was being a tad queer toward him.
The blacksmith informed him that the arrowheads could be finished later today, but would take several hours to complete. Expecting this, Jothal left and headed toward the market to get a variety of meats and other foods. He hunted often, but never killed more than he needed to, and as such Ash was quite lean, more than most wolves.
His next stop was the apothecary. Healing salves and bandages were essential for someone living alone in the woods. If he or Ash injured themselves, he had to be able to deal with it himself or the smallest scratch could get infected and kill him. He picked up the supplies he needed, loaded everything into his pack, and returned to the blacksmith's forge.
The next few hours until the arrowheads were completed, he whittled some sticks he had brought with him into arrowshafts. Eventually, the blacksmith came into the forge and helped the apprentice finish the remaining arrowheads.
A few minutes later, the blacksmith gathers the completed arrowheads into a bag and hands it to Jothal, who begins to inspect them. Several of them are quite well-made, likely the few the blacksmith made himself. Most are decent but not impressive, but a few are quite poorly made. Jothal suspects that the apprentice needed a bit of practice to learn the process of making them, and these were the first he tried.
He takes out the six poorly made ones, handing the back to the blacksmith and speaks, "I am sorry, but I use my arrows for a living. Without proper equipment, I cannot make my living. Also, these arrowheads may not puncture an animal properly, leaving them to suffer, which I am against. I will pay for the rest full price though."
The blacksmith takes a look at the arrowheads handed back to him. His brow furrows as he inspects them, and he then turns and apologizes to Jothal, blaming it fully on his lackluster apprentice whom is still learning the trade. Jothal notices that the apprentice boy is nowhere to be seen, likely aware that he'll be scolded for his bad workmanship.
Completing the transaction, Jothal says "It's no problem; we all have to learn our trade at one point or another. It's part of life." Jothal leaves the forge, whistling for Ash to follow him, and heads toward the central square of the town, hoping to find some job offerings on the message board. He'll need a bit of extra money before winter.
Finding a large variety as always, he ignores most of them. He has little interest in bounties and farmwork, but notices that the cleric is looking for someone to get him some herbs from the Endless Forest.
Grabbing the paper advertising it, he recognizes the names of the herbs requested, and decides to get started immediately. He had no more business in town and heads west, the shortest route toward the edge of the Endless Woods. Quickly crossing the farmland and the sparse forest, he sees the boundary.
The sparse forest suddenly becomes extremely dense. The foliage blocks out the sky, and even in daytime it appears to be twilight. Jothal know it's very easy to get lost and disoriented in the Endless Forest, but he has spent years in it and has learned some ways to figure out where he is heading.
The boundary between the Endless Woods and the regular forests is very distinct. In nearly a straight line, from north to south, is a row of large deciduous trees, the same trees that make up the entirety of the Endless Woods. The regular forests have much smaller trees in comparison, and they are more spread out. It's always been a mystery why it is like that, but Jothal learned to accept it as reality long ago.
Heading barely a hundred yards past the edge, the dense forest already blocks out the boundary completely. Every direction looks the same to most people, but Jothal begins heading west, regularly used the skills he has learned to ensure he continues in the direction he wants to head in. He keeps an eye out for the necessary herbs, planning to find some today, head home, and finish the rest tomorrow.
Suddenly, a roar erupts from Jothal's right, toward the edge. Being an experienced hunter, Jothal recognized it to be a wild boar that was roaring, likely preparing to charge. Ash begins growling.
Jothal knew that wild boars were not meant to be toyed with. The thickness of the forest made visibiltiy poor, so Jothal ran toward the sound. Nearing the edge ahead of him, a terrified scream came to his ears, and moments later he saw the boar attacking someone, pinning the person to the ground and biting viciously into the person's arm, shaking harshly.
Immediately pulling out an arrow, Jothal fires toward the boar. He decides to keep Ash back, not wanting to risk Ash getting injured himself. The arrow flies, but in his haste and trying to prevent Ash from charging ahead, the arrow embeds itself into a tree.
Yelling at the boar to get it's attention, Jothal readies another arrow. The boar seems to completely ignore him, so this time Jothal lets Ash charge ahead and aims carefully, firing the arrow and sinking it deep toward the board heart. Stunned and in pain, the boar releases the boy and tries to turn toward Ash.
Too slow, the boar cannot turn before Ash collides into its side, digging his fangs into the boar's throat. Jothal rushes forward to check the victim, and Ash quickly finishes off the boar. He realizes that this was the blacksmith's apprentice, although he couldn't figure out why the boy would be out here at this time of day.
Noticing the severely injuried arm, he quickly removes some of the healing salve he bought and covers the wound with it and then wraps it in bandages. Jothal does not know enough about treating this serious an injury, so he takes up the apprentice in his arms, although a bit awkwardly as the apprentice is as large as him, and begins to carry him back to the town.
Panting as he finally reaches the cleric's home, he bangs on the door. Darkness has now fallen and it is night, but in just a few moments the door opens. The cleric is accustomed to being needed at all hours, so this was not too unexpected. He immediately sees the apprentice and his eyes widen, "Trailo!?"
The cleric takes him from your arms, which is a welcome relief to Jothal's wornout body. As the man rushes inside and lays him on a bed, he explains about the boar attack. The cleric carefully removes the bandages and salves to get a look at the injury. He gasps at the torn flesh and gets to work immediately, paying little attention to the ranger.
Jothal looks around a bit, noticing that this room has numerous beds for patients, mostly empty except for one on the far side of the room. It's too dark to see anything, except that it's occupied.
After a few minutes, the cleric stepped back a little bit and turned to the ranger, "Thank you for saving my son, stranger. He was a fool to have been looking for herbs so close to the Endless Woods near dusk, but he will live. If you ever need anything, I am in your debt sir."
After a moment, the man continued, "You should be able to find a room at the inn for the night. I can reimburse you for the cost as thanks. I am truly grateful, friend. My name is Vicril, and this is my son Trailo."
Jothal smiles and bows his head. "I am Jothal, of the Wilds. I am glad I could help, Vicril. You save people every day, this is the least I could do."
Exchanging a few pleasantries before leaving, he begins to head toward the inn. The innkeeper wakes from a light slumber, and Jothal informs him that he needs a room. The innkeeper is surprised by the wolf, but Jothal calms him down and assuring him that Ash won't cause any trouble.
After a moment, the innkeeper responds, "You're in luck, there's a single room still available. A large caravan came in today and took nearly every room I had. It's 12 copper for a night, includes breakfast, here's the key. Breakfast is served shortly after dawn." After a moment, "Food for your friend there is gonna be an extra 2 copper."
Jothal blinked in surprise for a moment. Foabur was not the smallest town, but that was a pretty large caravan coming in. He wondered what they were doing here. Jothal gave the man 12 coppers only, as he planned on giving Ash the food he had bought earlier today.
Nodding towards the man to bid him goodnight, Jothal pulled his cloak tightly around himself as he excused himself to his room...
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