Winston Errie

Winston Errie is a cleric in the adventure "Dirge of the Mournful Queen." Brother to Winifred Errie, Winston was employed as an accountant for the travelling circus known as Sheik Balderdash’s Surreal Adventuring Display and Compatible Calamity Fantasy.

## Character Introduction

Winston Errie, the second youngest of his 9 brothers and sisters, grew up on a large potato farm near a temple of Pelor.  While he was still young, he was sent to the temple to learn the rites necessary to become a practicing priest.  It was always his mother’s wish to have a priest in the family.

Barely halfway through his schooling, the youngest of the Errie clan came down with a terrible fever.  Winston abandoned his studies to stay at her bedside night and day praying for Pelor’s mercy.  The sickness lasted for two weeks, but eventually she started to get better.  When he felt she was strong enough, Winston returned to the temple to continue his work.  He was reprimanded for his recklessness, but was allowed to return to his duties.

Months later, news reached Winston that his sister had contracted another sickness and again he rushed home.  However, this time, the Head Priest insisted on seeing this sickly girl himself.  They arrived in the midst of a mob.  It seemed the whole town was camped outside of the Errie farm screaming for blood.  Winston’s younger sister was being kept in an old, dilapidated barn.  Her skin had turned a reddish brown and boney growths were protruding from her head.  Her eyes were solid black with streaks of silver and gold.

The High Priest proclaimed that the youngest Errie girl was possessed by a demon and that her soul was being tortured by its presence.  To give the girl piece, the creature must be beheaded when the sun was at it’s highest point the following day so that Pelor’s light might shine upon the evil force that was consuming the poor girl.  The mob began to chant in praise of the High Priest’s wisdom, include Winston’s own parents.

Though her skin was red and her eyes black, Winston could still see a frightened girl that was his sister.

That night, Winston pried loose a board in the back of the old barn, cut his sister’s bonds and made their escape.  They ran for days, eventually getting lost in a forest and barely surviving on what little Winston could bring with him from the farm.  When they emerged on the other side of the woods, they came upon a traveling circus.  At least it was going in the right direction; away from the farm.

Winston became the Ring Master’s accountant.  His sister was a side act to scare little children.  The circus folk accepted them without question.  It wasn’t a great life but it was a life and Winston never stopped thinking about their next step.  Hiding a few coins here and there while keeping the books allowed him to save enough for him and his sister to one day leave.

Winston never thought about the gods again since that day at the farm.  What god that tells his followers to behead children is worth worshiping?  During an afternoon meal, Winston suddenly felt drawn, pulled really, like a line was lassoed around his chest tugging towards the city of Highport.  He tried to ignore the feeling, but things only got stranger.  Recently, he’s been remembering rites and rituals that he never learned in the first place, he left the temple long before any of this divine knowledge would be taught to him.  He abandoned the gods, but it seems some force or god has chosen him.  But for what purpose?

## Adventure #1

Winston was used to not understanding the world he found himself in, but he knew right from wrong.
Highport was wrong from the start.

A simple act of kindness and community was the source of comedy.  It was surprising that his sister would openly scorn his kindness.  “She must be trying to fit into city life, “ he surmised.  It was always a dream of hers to move to the city, at least before her affliction.

Highport just got worse from there: Children begging in the streets, slaves forced to break rocks in the hot sun, people spat upon for the crime of not being human. His friends were un-welcomed everywhere they went. This was an old story and the ones in charge were usually the cause of all the misery.  This time, the ones in charge just happened to be gnolls.

Walking into the slaves’ section of the city, Winston felt the tarnished block of bronze, a curiously magical holy symbol, grow heavy around his neck.  He cursed the day he found the thing, but a prayer left his mouth instead.  “And the faithful spoke, ‘Lo, with the scepter of righteousness has justice been forged.  If thou wilt hearken to the design He has made and keep His statutes, thou will share in His triumphs.’"

The battle that ensued was as much about freeing the slaves as it was about punishing the slavers.  Dalton seemed to share the sentiment.  Indeed, Dalton’s battle acumen was only matched by his dedication to the safety of people he barely knew.  Watching Dalton leave the hovel with a dying Bota in his arms, Winston thought he might have found a kindred spirit.

In the basement of the temple of Pelor, Winston was quick to side with the Apexus rebels.  Resurrection of a soul so long departed was nearly impossible, but if this Penelope was as beneficial to Highport’s citizens as much as Dalton believed, then she could do more on earth than she could in the afterlife to heal this once great city.  Of course, it helped that Winnie held her prized gem so closely and wrenching it away would be a small revenge.

That night, after the raucous party and as relative safety settled in, Winston was able to fully realize his sister’s betrayal.  “How could I have been so naive for so long,” Winston wondered as he drank and kept to himself that night.  Played for a fool for years, he vowed not to make any more excuses for his selfish sister.  “I should’ve let the Reverend Father burn her."

## Adventure #2 and 3

Winston never trusted his church, but always secretly trusted his god, whoever that was. Upon reaching the crypt, Winston never once hesitated in deciphering the well laid traps. A more cautious person would deem that foolish behavior, but not so the faithful person.

Winston's valor, rather than his faith, became his undoing. The imprisoned lich awoke and began to advance on Winston's friends, and his sister. Something instinctual grabbed hold of Winston then: He must destroy the Gem. As he threw the evil rock down and raised his holy mace, Winston thought he could feel his god's power coursing through him. Shattering the gem, however, seemed to have no affect.

Still screaming for his friends to run, the lich burned his skin from his bones. Perhaps his soul had already left before he became a servant to that ancient evil.