(Archive) Henrik

*"The Way of the Blade will guide you to victory this day." - Henrik Helmirr*

## History

Henrik was born in a small, distant village, far from the clutches of the Reach. His parents were about as good as can be expected, if a little demanding of their son to get into the fields to help them work. Henrik had little to complain about all the same, at least until "Old" Grek came into the village one day with news of 'monsters.'

   As Henrik had recently attained the age of sixteen, he felt a certain calling to adventure. So when most ignored the man's words of warning, he decided to answer them. Henrik, along with a few others from the village, followed Grek's advice to a seemingly abandoned farmstead. With some investigation, they discovered the animals had been slaughtered and the owners dragged off in the night.

Henrik led the way into the forest, following the tracks as best he could as his friends came behind him. They faced all manner of woodland beasts, including one memorable moment where Henrik was briefly consumed by a swarm of diminutive spiders! To this day, Henrik maintains a "rational" hatred of swarms as a result. After a day's worth of tracking, they found an ancient cave where the trails ended. Grek, tired from the journey, agreed to guard the entrance while the younger adventurers continued inside to rescue the kidnapped farmers.

What they found inside appeared to be some sort of ancient temple. Foul guardians, including undead and outsiders from unknown planes, attempted to halt their progress. Henrik and company bled plenty that day, but the stalwart farmer-boy refused to fall in battle, providing a bulwark for his friends to rally behind. After fighting past a small platoon of undead, the group discovered the awful truth of their adventure: Those kidnapped had long since been sacrificed, sacrificed in the name of opening a strange portal by a half-mad half-orc wizard. The wizard summoned all manner of beasts to defend himself, even drawing a blade of his own to join the fray, and the pitched battle lasted almost a full three minutes. The ensuing fight to control the portal nearly claimed Henrik's life, but even falling to the floor with his life's blood leaving him did little to deter the man's resolve.

When the wizard finally fell, Henrik still drew breath. The portal, however, was still very much active. Unable to discern how to disable such an arcane contraption, the friends agreed to seal the temple until such a time that they could solve the problem they had been too slow to prevent. Grek agreed this was sensible, and when Henrik asked how he could better himself so that he did not fall in battle again, Grek also told him of someone who could help.

Henrik was taken by Grek to a distant castle, before a man only known as the Lord of Battle. Said ruler asked only one thing of Henrik: To become the strongest he could, that one day he might even be able to fight the Lord himself. Henrik swore his loyalty that day, vowing to spread the Lord of Battle's teachings of order and martial might in exchange for the ability to safeguard the order of places just like his home village.

At the tender age of sixteen, Henrik became an apprentice swordsman in the service of the Lord of Battle. For years he trained in the ways of dueling and fighting, eventually taking to calling his style of fighting "The Way of the Blade." He graduated quickly from being an apprentice to being a full soldier in the Lord of Battle's army of knights and cavaliers. He took on the humble duty of instructing new apprentices in swordsmanship, relishing the chance to teach others in their time of need.

When he was not busy instructing, Henrik also served in routine patrols with other knights, and on many occasions he helped to drive back the encroaching hordes of monsters and outsiders from places unknown. Henrik privately wagered that there were more of those portals beyond the one he had discovered when he was young, and those not heavily guarded must be the reason so many demons and creatures of the night were becoming prevalent.

On one day, Henrik took a group of fellow knights out to patrol in an area that as of late had become very inundated with minor demons. There, in the forest, they discovered at last another of those portals, this one the size of a massive building instead of just a small room. He and his knights worked quickly to dispatch the guardians of this portal, and though they were many in number and strength, Henrik's resolve was greater still. He would not let himself fall before ensuring his hometown was kept safe from the horrors he had witnessed.

As the last demon fell, Henrik gathered the remaining knights and quickly determined that they again had little to no idea on how to seal this now active portal. Happening upon a brilliant idea, Henrik figured that while they could not magically disable the gate, they could still physically disable such a massive thing by destabilizing it. Henrik himself drove his sword through the keystone that formed the arch of the portal and looped a rope around it. As one, Henrik and the knights heaved and pulled on the keystone while the portal crackled ominously. Seeing little alternative, Henrik pressed on, and as the keystone fell free, the portal's energy collapsed into a large bright light.

When he came to, he was being hauled out of the waters near Fiend's Reach. His companions were nowhere to be found and his memory of what had occurred was hazy and distant. Seeing little recourse, Henrik answered the cries for help of this new city. He continued to train, continued to instruct, and eventually built his own school of training in the name of the Lord of the Battle, the Academy of the Blade. It is here that he teaches the wisdom of Irori and the guidance of his old instructors, hoping to ingrain in these new people the same sense of purpose he gained himself.

## Appearance

Henrik is a somewhat short, muscular young man. He has chestnut brown hair with equally brown eyes, and most importantly a fully grown mustache that he takes care of meticulously. His skin has the rough hewn appearance of a man used to life toiling in the fields, and beneath his clothes are signs of previous wounds and thick calluses from a life spent in struggle. His face is somewhat haggard looking, but while some might find it a little intimidating in its austerity, others find it an easy face to trust, like that of a wise elder brother.

## Personality

Henrik is a serious man who does not often laugh. He tends to have a tough time being tactful in regards to anything, preferring to be blunt rather than to tiptoe around sensitive issues. When it comes to strategy, he favors aggressive, bold maneuvers that are simple to perform and understand. While his tactics are simple, he is not an unintelligent man, and is always willing to offer spiritual guidance to those in need. He has no particular inclinations to perform acts of heroism, instead seeing it as his duty to ensure that laws are followed and stability guaranteed, no matter his position.

## Friends

Henrik considers all his students his "friends" in the distant way you'd call a co-worker that you regularly talk with a friend. He tends to prefer the company of those steadfast in their beliefs like himself, and doesn't like to associate with those too unwieldy and riotous to appreciate calm meditation.

Still, this has not stopped him from making friends with an odd catfolk named Ezrael, whom he has personally helped train in an effort to avoid said catfolk from becoming cat*food.*

## Enemies

Demons and hostile outsiders are Henrik's sworn enemies. He also still maintains a grudge against swarms, and when asked how to deal with them he advocates for mass launching of alchemist's fire from siege catapults.

## Aspirations

Henrik most desires to find a way to reestablish the order he was once a part of. Though he no longer has a way to return to his old Lord, founding a new order in his name would go a long way to appeasing the troubles in Henrik's heart. He also wouldn't mind getting locating a few of his old friends from his village, but not even the greatest wizard could make that a reality.