The return of spring is a glorious thing. Any part of it is worth reveling in. The soft rain, the first few frogs venturing out to sing, the brave bulbs forcing themselves out. Even the mud.
The ride to Chimeron, Griffindor specifically, was really a delight. What I really enjoyed was time to sit and chat with someone I am very fond of, Kovaks. She is a hard worker who asks for little in return. She will give you the shirt from her back, and laugh while she does it. Here are a few things for you to learn about how she sees the world. Some of you would do well to learn a new perspective.
Tell me a funny story about your fellow members of Griffindor.
It is so infrequent that we are all in the same place actually questing together, partly because we have such different interests and schedules, and partly because people keep wandering off and getting distracted by shiny objects.Quinn is notorious for this. I kept threatening to put him on a leash on quests so he couldn't wander off, but people started giggling about tying him up, and I had to explain the humor to Lord Tara. It was just awkward all around.
The ride to Chimeron, Griffindor specifically, was really a delight. What I really enjoyed was time to sit and chat with someone I am very fond of, Kovaks. She is a hard worker who asks for little in return. She will give you the shirt from her back, and laugh while she does it. Here are a few things for you to learn about how she sees the world. Some of you would do well to learn a new perspective.
Tell me a funny story about your fellow members of Griffindor.
It is so infrequent that we are all in the same place actually questing together, partly because we have such different interests and schedules, and partly because people keep wandering off and getting distracted by shiny objects.Quinn is notorious for this. I kept threatening to put him on a leash on quests so he couldn't wander off, but people started giggling about tying him up, and I had to explain the humor to Lord Tara. It was just awkward all around.
Kovaks, what do you do on a normal, non adventuring day?
All of my free time in the past year was spent rebuilding Chimeron. Before I was an adventurer, I was trained as a stonemason so I've been using that skillset to rebuild the city, roads, and walls of the nation. Now that's about done, I've been rebuilding my own house. I make armor and do other odd jobs to pay the bills. When all that's done, I spend my free time reading, writing, and hanging around taverns collecting and sharing stories. Some of this is for work since I'm Chimeron's Court Chronicler, but some is just for my own amusement and relaxation. A cup of tea, a warm fire, and sharing stories until everyone falls asleep in their chair. That's my idea of a perfect evening.
What is your favorite dish at feasts?
Chimeron Beef. Eaten off the end of a knife. (here I chided her about propriety, as I personally prefer to eat with my hands.)
Look, I have short arms. I need the knife to get the meat off the plate in the middle of the table.
Besides. If someone tries to take the meat, I'm already armed,
All of my free time in the past year was spent rebuilding Chimeron. Before I was an adventurer, I was trained as a stonemason so I've been using that skillset to rebuild the city, roads, and walls of the nation. Now that's about done, I've been rebuilding my own house. I make armor and do other odd jobs to pay the bills. When all that's done, I spend my free time reading, writing, and hanging around taverns collecting and sharing stories. Some of this is for work since I'm Chimeron's Court Chronicler, but some is just for my own amusement and relaxation. A cup of tea, a warm fire, and sharing stories until everyone falls asleep in their chair. That's my idea of a perfect evening.
What is your favorite dish at feasts?
Chimeron Beef. Eaten off the end of a knife. (here I chided her about propriety, as I personally prefer to eat with my hands.)
Look, I have short arms. I need the knife to get the meat off the plate in the middle of the table.
(And this is when I learned a new perspective on Feasting. If nothing else, Kovaks is incredibly pragmatic.)
Tell me who you are squired to and in what order.
I'm squired to Sir Baron Diamond of Banecroft, Knight of the Sable Dragon. I take tasks and direction from all of the knights of the order.
Tell the Realms about the tenants of that Order.
Tenets of the order are: Protect the Realms, Serve as an exemplar of honor, Maintain diversity within the order, and Train inexperienced adventurers.
I'm squired to Sir Baron Diamond of Banecroft, Knight of the Sable Dragon. I take tasks and direction from all of the knights of the order.
Tell the Realms about the tenants of that Order.
Tenets of the order are: Protect the Realms, Serve as an exemplar of honor, Maintain diversity within the order, and Train inexperienced adventurers.
In your mind, what does it mean to be a squire?
For me, being a squire is all about learning. Learning from my knight, learning from other knights, learning what I need to learn, learning about myself and learning from myself; guided self-discovery might be a good way to describe it. I've learned some from the tasks I was given, but also from the tasks I assigned myself. Of course there was also learning from my mistakes. I remember I wrote a whole article about learning from my mistakes as part of my squireship. I think I have a copy of it around here... somewhere.
What types of tasks have you had to tackle?
My first assigned tasks were very academic. I had to read a few books and then write book reports about them. My favorite of these was The Armored Rose by Tobi Beck. A fantastic book for any female fighters or people who work with them. Since then my tasks were more hands-on. I had to learn how to make weapons using different techniques, repair armor.
The hardest task I completed was being a general for a war tournament. I did it by being general for Team Tara at Queen of Hearts, and I learned that I didn't like it.
I'm much more suited as a senechal or castilian. Recently, as part of a task, I led a group of adventurers against a man who was stealing magical capability from babies, rendering them incapable of ever learning magic in the future. He's now dead, and I checked two tasks of my list: figure out what was going on with the magic in these babies, and destroy a threat to the Realms.
The task I'm currently working on is to gather a large sum of gold to show. Donations gladly accepted.
You find the magic lamp that gives you one wish. No demon speaking, no terrible repercussions. Just a simple, happy inducing wish. What is yours?
Wow. This question's really hard. Can I give it to someone else? (No, it is only for you. You can make a wish benefiting someone else, if you like)
I wish for Darkvale to be returned to Chimeron control with the souls of the innocents that were lost in the war against the Disciple either returned or at eternal peace.
The hardest task I completed was being a general for a war tournament. I did it by being general for Team Tara at Queen of Hearts, and I learned that I didn't like it.
I'm much more suited as a senechal or castilian. Recently, as part of a task, I led a group of adventurers against a man who was stealing magical capability from babies, rendering them incapable of ever learning magic in the future. He's now dead, and I checked two tasks of my list: figure out what was going on with the magic in these babies, and destroy a threat to the Realms.
The task I'm currently working on is to gather a large sum of gold to show. Donations gladly accepted.
You find the magic lamp that gives you one wish. No demon speaking, no terrible repercussions. Just a simple, happy inducing wish. What is yours?
Wow. This question's really hard. Can I give it to someone else? (No, it is only for you. You can make a wish benefiting someone else, if you like)
I wish for Darkvale to be returned to Chimeron control with the souls of the innocents that were lost in the war against the Disciple either returned or at eternal peace.
Im not going to take you step by step as I saw Kovaks weigh everything through her head. One thing I am certain of, though, is that at no point did she consider doing something for herself. She didn't think about what she could do with a million gold, (unless it was to spend on others). She didn't think about an object of power to rule the world (but seriously, that sounds hard, and very tiring) The answers Kovaks gave are all true to herself.