Trials of Aaragorn
aaragorn, was the son of a shoemaker in a little hamlet called barovia. he was tall & lean and possesed keen vision. he had a close friend who was the son of a blacksmith, his name was dishan.
the two were insepriable as a pair. declairing the ties of blood (a common rite of passage for many young men of the time) where a wound is made & blood is shared.
they used to play & wander the woods during the day's, for traveling at night was to put it mildly - lethal for ones continued existance, mostly due to the packs of very large wolves that abounded in the mountains that tended to hunt at night for some reason.
ghosts were rumored to live in the dark woods too, but neither boy had ever seen one. the town was generally quite, with superstitions that are so very common with the common folk who fear all things that can not be seen. the noble family in the castle on the mountain harbored an ancient noble family, house zarovich. this legendary & once great lineage was often ridiculed & rumored to not even exist at all. only the tax collectors (cruel men to the family's who would not pay) would be seen, & then only at night.
the boy's during the summer would spend their time playing swords & magicians, or vampires & hunters as thje case may be. always having a most wonderful time. dishan would practice his archery & try to teach aaragorn how to shoot. but unfourtunetly aaragorn could see be only poorly & so made a bad marksmen. aaragorn was more inclined toward pretending he was a brave knight & would practice like most boy's his age on the use of fantasy sword fighting & chivalry.
one day the latest tax collector (helga the terrible) declared that all boy's of age must serve a term as a protector of the land, & that all must learn to use the bow sufficiantly well or they would be sent to the dungeons for trying to escape service. (this also served many other functions besides - but that is another story)
many of the family's met in the town square. worry was present. were they going to war? with who? what if mour son does not qualify? then they began to argue.
dishan was very confident & so was his father, both thought he would do so well that he was sure to become a hero of the kingdom. aaragon was not so sure, in fact he was sure of one thing - the dungeons probably would limit his life in many profound way's he could not possibly anticipate fully at this time. he knew his eyes were bad & his father likewise knew for his son was a hard worker & sincerly tried & still could not make shoes well, & was instead sent to learn how to tan leather. (they did not have glasses in those day's)
aaragon was sent away with a sum of gold his wise father had saved & after bribeing a semi-permenent roaving gypsy band (they seemed to alway's have just arrived or were just about to leave, but whenever you went to find them they were always by the water at the base of the waterfall - kind of gypsy's in reverse - strange i know, but that is what they did) he left barovia to find his path.
the young aaragorn went & studied under an uncle - who happend to have invented a strange magik device called specticles that helped young aaragorn to see. he gave him many things to study. he was taught in the ways of what the superstitious people of his village called magik. really all it was, this magik - it was the study of things that the people of his village were never taught or were to afraid to observe. to look at such things would mark you as wierd or crazy amoung your people, besides it serves no practicle perpose anyway.
aaragorn returned after many years to his homeland. he knew after trial & error that to give an explanation to one who is already deluded simply includes you futher into thier delusions and futher hides objective awareness from the person you tried to help. more often than not you were attempting at that moment to impress them & your real concern was secondary. so he resolved to speak to the people of his land as they speak on things.
he was walking down the street & saw an old man. the old man stopped him & asked if he (aaragorn) was a ghost. for no one but ghosts & gypsies come from the woods. also the young man looked just like a boy that went yonder to the dungeons of the accursed vampire strahd von zarovich.
at this aaragorn said no, he is indeed that very same young man who has simply left and has now returned to see his homeland and to see how his family & friends fare and that he is no ghost. at this the old man grew excited and left.
aaragorn found that since many young boy's went to the dungeons & never returned the lords of the castle have been called vampires & worse by the villagers, rumored to drink the blood for eternal youth and all that.
aaragorn found his family had disappeared & a niehbor said that many strange things have happend as of late, including the disappearance of whole families. also that ghosts of many of these same people have been seen occasionally roaming the streets at night.
at this aaragorn grew concerned & traveled to the burgomasters house. on the way there he saw many eyes looking at him through dark windows. he reached the burgomasters house and found the older genleman. the genleman went through the custom of hospitality (which must be observed by all in any real position of power) amiable in both drink and converstation. finally, aaragorn asked for he was desperate to find out what had happened to his family & what all this vampire buisness is about.
the old man said that yes he would like to help and there are only two things he may assist him with, for he serves both the count & the people and so his actions are limited, even if he does want to assist in his mission.
the old man gave him a letter containing a note from his father, given to the old man for safe keeping until his return. since that time the old man inadvertantly let slip that aaragorn would return & somehow the superstitious people of the town began to imagine some sort of savior who was not a ghost would one day return & save them from their terrible fate. also he said that vampires may be destroyed by an arrow through the heart.
the note said: dear aaragorn, we miss you. if you get this letter, we have had to leave. all the little boy's that were taken away were sold into slavery by the terrible tax collectors & your friens all of whom qualified in marksmanship now serve as enforcers for the same said tax collectors. well the shoe buisness is not doing so well because no one has any money. there is a reward for all those who work against the needs of the crown and taxes are too high. so we have to leave in the dead of the night. others who have done so also leave letters for loved ones who may yet return & when they are seen in the streets at night are usually taken as ghosts by their one time nieghbors. - ps: tell your uncle hello....
at this aaragorn left the mansion, and began marching to the castle. many of the villagers began to chant well wishes to the young hero and some called him the hero, great savior and gave him a bow and arrow - even though he claimed he had no use for it - they then thought he must truely be great & must surely possess some sort of terrible magiks if he has no use for a bow. they began to call himm aaragorn the magician and all sorts of rumors were spread, depending on what was most frightful or most interesting or most entertaining to the teller of the story or the immeadiate listeners & their current fixations.
aaragorn went up to the castle and after a long series of ordeals involving wit and the might of objective thinking he was able to make his way into the castle to have an audiance with the count.
he found the count, he observed all the forms of hospitality and after these observances, mutual pleasantries were exchanged. the count appeared not as a terrible vampire lord, he didn't even appear to be a corpse trying to pretend to be alive. the count asked why he was here? aaragorn related his story. the count was visably disturbed and told the young man that he was never allowed to leave the castle and that his health was long ago entrusted to the care of his tax collector, helga. he had no knowledge of these happenings and thought that everyone in the kingdom was happy for surely he was a good king.
he said he would do all that he could and that he would have the tax collector replaced.
at that a commotion burst into the room and the tax collector and disan, aaragorns long time friend burst into the room. the tax collector told dishan that she finally found out that the old king was an illusionist and a vampire and that the young hero must make his shot to the heart sure, or they would all be killed.
aaragorn stood up in front of his friend and shouted, no don't shoot, this is a good but misguided king who has yet to be given an opportunity for chanmge.
dishan did not recognize his old friend, and fired anyway. the king was dead. aaragorn was visably upset. the tax collector then told dishan to kill his old friendn obviously a collaborator in some sort of scheme. dishan drew his bow and began to take careful aim. aaragorn simply stood, awaiting an arrow through the heart.
the arrow was never fired. dishan recognized his old friend and knew him to be a ghost. and even as a ghost he would never fire upon his friend. the tax collector was disappointed and would have sent men to follow aaragorn when he left and then had him killed, but he had more important things at this time to worry about. such as now that the king is dead what will he do now?
aaragorn left in sorrow. he was leaving town when he heard all sorts of fantastic stories. that the old vampire lord was slain by the great hero dishan and that the neromancer aaragorn returned to take the counts soul. and many more things besides. as he left he heard the people shout in joy at this news, they watched him in terror, awe, and various other emotions of various grades of a similar nature.
the tax collector was pleased with his situation, but always wonderd what could he have gotten from the necromancer had he been given the chance. dishan, his old friend was certain that his old friend in anger had thrown a curse upon him, for even now as a hero, the land seemed still dark and full of lies, but he could not explain it to his best friend the tax collector, and he had not the means to truly understand. he himself was now king and the people still suffered, yet they did not know it.
the tax collector lived happily ever after - almost.