Sterksain Family/Trystrem

Trystrem Sterksain

The oldest and the troublemaker of the Sterksain family, he wasn't just a bully, he did down right wrong things, and he did them often. He was surprised by his parents that they didn't get rid of him sooner. All of his actions revolved around the arts of the shadows, even though he wasn't professional... it was good enough to make trouble around the town.

The Influence

Growing up, Trystrem was always the type that would steal the cookies from the cookie jar, although that was never one of the tricks he played. In the earlier years, he was actually a good kid, but watching some events in town happening first hand had swayed his decisions. When he was 6 he had crept out of the house and had wandered the streets. He was amazed that there was still so much activity in the late hours of the night. Yet, it wasn't the same kind of activities. Instead of the cheery hustle and bustle of merchants and commoners, now the grunge of the night walked the streets. Drunkards toppling over as they slowly made their ways home, women dressed in scant clothing, others hung about in alleyways smoking their troubles away. As he walked he saw a guy force himself upon a woman. She was crying and was trying to scream, but the man had stuffed a cloth in her mouth. He turned another corner, and he was nearly trampled as woman was running from some police. He didn't know what the woman had done, but obviously it was bad enough for the police to notice. He walked halfway down the street, when he had come up to a bank. He looked at it, and noticed the door was open. He decided to creep in, and he saw an infiltrator. He was breaking into the safe of the bank, and when Trystrem had gotten closer, the infiltrator had succeeded. He grabbed about 40 gold, and Trystrem wanted to attack the man, but he decided against it as it would only get him killed. So he hid away under a desk and waited until he had watched the infiltrator leave. He did so, and then ran out after him. He watched the infiltrator turn, then his eyes widened. The guards had come back, and began chasing after him. The man, had started to climb up the side of the building to get away. He was successful in his attempt, for as soon as he hit the rooftops, he bolted off. The guards had no choice but to let him go. They turned and began to walk away. Trystrem had stayed there, and noticed that the infiltrator had not left yet. He looked at Trystrem, and put his finger to his lips indicating to Trystrem to be quiet. He did so, and watched the infiltrator lower himself down behind the last guard, and snapped his neck before he could make a noise. The other guards kept walking on, so he killed another, then another, until all 6 guards were on the ground dead. Then he walked over to Trystrem, as he stood there, a look of awe over his face. The infiltrator came over and spoke to him. "Don't you ever tell anyone about this. If you do I will personally come and get you." With that, he jumped into the shadow of a nearby alley and disappeared. Trystrem walked home, and went straight to bed. He didn't care if his parents had found out what he did, he thought his trip was worth it.

Personal Change

Ever since that day, he had been wondering how hard the life of an infiltrator was, and what it would take to become one someday. Also, once or twice every week, he snuck out again in hopes he would find that infiltrator again. He would walk around, visting the bank and other buildings that would be profitable for someone like him to pillage to see if he was there. Yet, no matter where he looked he had never seen him again. This went on for about a year. One day he looked at a bulletin board and found out that an infiltrator had been captured, and was slated for the guillotine in an hour. The message had said the man's name was Dargun, but he didn't know if he was the same guy or not. This swayed him to go and see if it was. So he went to the town square, and watched as some men were clearing up the area for the upcoming event. Some people had already gathered to get a good view of the beheading. He walked up to the side of the stage, and he waited. Five minutes passed, and the crowds had grown tenfold as they all stared at the incoming cart. The cart had the infiltrator standing up, chained as he was being brought to the stage. The guards had pulled him off the cart, and pushed him up the stairs, then tied him to the plank that would become his death bed. They placed him underneath the guillotine, and then everything stopped. The executioner had walked up the stairs, and started his speech. He was holding a small axe in his hand, and walked over to the guillotine, where some rope was tied to a stake in the stage. This rope held up the giant knife, hoisted above Dargun's head. Dargun then looked up, and Trystrem was given a good look at his face, and sure enough, it was the same infiltrator that he had seen that day. Dargun had spotted him in the crowd and gave him a wink. The executioner had screamed aloud, "NOW GO BACK TO THE PITS OF HELL FROM WHICH YOU WERE SPAWNED FROM, DEMON!" and with that, he cut the rope with the axe, and the guillotine fell, splicing Dargun's head from his shoulders. His body lay on the plank, squirting blood all over the place, as it spasmed. While this was happening, the executioner had taken up Dargun's head from the basket, also squirting blood as it drained from his brain, held it up high, and then set it upon the spike of a pike. He and the guards then began to march down the street back to the prison with the head and body so that he may be buried or whatever it was that they did with the bodies of dead infiltrators. Trystrem walked home, never to see Dargun again, but one thing was for sure, he knew he wanted to become an infiltrator, and decided to seek out someone who could teach him some of the basics of this new found art.

Finding a Teacher

Since the day of Dargun's executions, he thought we would start small, and just go to a local library to find something that could teach him some of the basics of infiltration. He got there, and began to look around. He looked at several different books that looked promising, but nothing told him of infiltration. So he looked some more. Nothing was found, so he asked the librarian, and her response was one he was hoping not to hear, "Are you mad! Of course we're not going to carry any books on that matter. That would be ridiculous. If anybody could get their hands on those kinds of books, then everyone would become one. You'll just have to go somewhere else." With that he looked around in stores, and in the market. He found nothing there either. Except for this one strange merchant dressed in all black. He was selling strange and rare artifacts. Among these was a book. This was the book he was looking for. When he asked the man for the cost, "The cost of that book of infiltration, is too much for you to even dream of at such an age as yours. But, if you really must know, the price is 10,000 gold." This disappointed Trystrem just a little bit. So he stomped off home, and decided that was not the best course of action right now. He had though of stealing the book from the merchant, but with no knowledge of the shadow arts, that would end up in a big mess. That night, he had snuck out of the house again, visiting all of the usual places to find another infiltrator. He found one lurking the streets, but wasn't doing anything. So he decided to talk to him. He ran over and tapped his arm.

"Are you an infiltrator?"

"Yes, yes I am. What do you want with me?"

"I would like to know if you could teach me the arts of the shadows. I would like to become an infiltrator myself when I grow older."

"I could teach you, but I'm not going to."

"Awww... Why not?"

"Because you are too young."

"When will I be old enough?"

"Come back when your 13. I can train you then. I will still be here. I'm actually a Taran infiltrator, on duty to attack enemy infiltrators."

"Awesome! Don't forget now!"

"OK, OK. When your old enough just come to see me. My name is Hunter. Don't forget."

Trystrem was so eccentric that he couldn't sleep for the next week. The only thing he didn't want to do was wait until he was 13. That meant waiting for four years, as he was only 9. Nonetheless, he would learn how to become an infiltrator.

The Later Years

Trystrem waited out for a few years, trying to stay out of trouble as much as possible as not to make his parents angry at him for future things. Anyways not much really happened in those last couple of years. Once when he was 12, he tried to see if he could take down his brother Aethelmaer and put him into submission to show that he was the best child in the family. He tried hard yet, he failed and to the shock of his father, was grounded for the next year. He was so enraged, he decided he would take it out on him later, after he was trained well enough. Over the next year, everything that Trystrem did was supervised and he was hindered from starting his training with Hunter. So one night, he snuck out of the house, found Hunter and told him about what happened. Hunter saw the problem and decided to sneak into the house to teach him. This worked out quite well, he only taught him the basics, nothing to important just yet so that his parents wouldn't find out. Once the basics were learned, he was able to sneak out of the house efficiently and was taught the more important things. This included weapons, how to use them, stealth techniques, among other things, and generally the way an infiltrator is supposed to think and act in certain situations. Trystrem was learning well, and learning fast. Hunter had said that he would be a decent infiltrator one day, and was well on his way. He would be able to do any stealthy action, and well enough to do it.

The Test

Hunter had set up a test for Trystrem, he first left a note stuck to a tree that they met near for training. The note had said:

"Trystrem,

You have learned much, yet there is still so much more you need to be taught. I am unable to teach you anything else, as everything else you need to learn is from experience. To see if you really have learned well, I have set up a test. I have stolen a special box from a neighborhood house. The house was about six houses down the street. Yes, I was able to get into the mansion. Now, to test you, I have placed the box back into the mansion, and now you must steal it. Be careful as some surprises await you. When and if you finish I will meet up with you in the town square. Good luck, and Happy Sneaking!

Hunter"