A Beggar's Tale
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: A Beggar's Tale
Author: Talrith
I was not always an old drunken beggar, you know.
Not always did I hang around the banks and bakeries, groveling for gold and doing small chores for bread.
No, not always was I Talrith the Beggar. Many years ago, they called me Talrith the wise.
"Talrith the wise." I can hear the old voices of the long-lost past whisper that name as I beg, my dirty hands outstretched to recieve some small kindness from a virtuous soul. It pains me.
My village is long gone, under a score of ill-placed homes in the Britannian sprawl. There I counciled the troubled, healed the sick, and worked small wonders of the arcane to help these kind people, these farming and fishing folk.
Now I fish but for food, selling a few cuts of fish here and there to get a few coins. I spend the money on reagents, always reagents.
Oh I wish that were true. More often than not, it is liquor I trade for gold. Clear liquor, black liquor, whatever corn, potato or wheat and barley mixture that the sweet young lass at the tavern will sell an old drunkard like me.
"What did this to you, Talrith?" People ask from time to time. "You are not so old as to be useless. You have some skill yet as a mage, as a traveler and a potential source of wisdom for a young adventuring party.
Truth be told I will not take up arms again. Violence has done this to me, and I survived it. I will always remember the words of a sage, told to me by a man named Garrett Granth;
"Do your work, then step back. It is the only path to serenity."
I have done my work. Now I step back.
Talrith the wise.
Talrith the beggar.