1/ Gaspare was awesome. Took a out-of-the left field character and provided just the right amount of guidance to make it work. If he allows (need to seek his permission first), I may post my empowerment log - it was great.

2/ I don't think I can play depressive / lean toward evil / serious characters... I think I'm a happy-go-lucky type and like to do goofy roles, but it's hard to come up with something that doesn't feel repetitive.

3/ This time around, CF did not "hit the vein". It felt tedious. Not sure why. I simply could not get into it. I may be back, I may not be. It's been a year since Zidiri and I thought I could enjoy CF again, but it wasn't the same. Back to Eve Online, with a pinch of Blops 4. Not easy to find time for anything else with work + family time.

4/ Here's the desc:

You've got your typical whalers, who are all burly and stocky. Then you've got Norlak, who is tall, skinny and arguably even frail looking. 'Skin and bones' he was once called. He has shoulder length, dirty blond hair, gathered into a braid interwoven with mithril strings. He has two small scars, one through his right eyebrow, no more than a half of an inch long, and another about the same length that is on his right cheekbone. Besides the two scars, not a wrinkle blemishes his face making it impossible to tell his age.

His entire body is covered with tattoos - all of nautical nature. A careful onlooker is likely to spot a siren, a sea dragon and, of course, a prominent whale. As to his clothes:

5/ Here's the role:

123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345

Chapter I: Synopsis

Past: Wood-elven child adopted by dwarven fishermen (which explains his dwarven name despite the elven blood). Boards a whaling ship at a young age and becomes a passionate (but not-very-good) whaler. One fateful night, a vivid image of a five-headed dragon visits him in a dream. He wakes up frightened and jumps off the boat right before it smashes against the rocks. Everyone dies, Norlak survives and enters current Thera in a bit of a daze.

Tiamat: The dragon continues to visit him in his dreams and (just like it did on the night of the shipwreck) often paints scenarios of death and destruction. Norlak becomes obssessed with the image (who he subsequently learns is Tiamat). Driven by his dreams, he becomes an amateur doomsayer. Norlak is unsure whether he is blessed or cursed with these dreams and fluctuates between love and hate for Tiamat. Norlak wants to be close to this image, wants to see the real lady-dragon (who he is not certain is real), but is unsure of how to achieve it.

Gaspare: Through stories at the Inn, Norlak learns of Gaspare - a once mortal, tortured by an obsession of his lover (unclear to Norlak whether real or imaginary). Norlak wishes to approach Gaspare (a terrifying undead immortal being) to help guide Norlak vis-a-vis his own "muse".

Artistic Ability/Heralds: Norlak wants to hold onto his dreams of Tiamat and seeks to obtain the tools to capture the vivid images on canvas. He wishes to share his paintings with others, hoping (through their emotional reaction - whether positive or negative - to the paintings) to become closer to his obsession. To this effect, he seeks to become a Herald.

Other Aspects: Norlak speaks with a dwarvish 'twang' mixed with traditional sailing dialect. In no way is his speech reflective of his wood-elven heritage. Despite his doomsaying tendencies, Norlak is friendly and curious about others around him.

***

Chapter II: Early Years

It's not entirely clear how a wood-elven child ended up being raised by dwarven parents, but needless to say it happened. The Silverfoots (despite their name) were poor fisherfolk, living on Aryth coastline. Norlak's mother was mostly of Aldevari peasant stock. Norlak's father, a native Akanian, was a sailor, whose ship had sunk and who had ended up washed ashore in Hamsah.

Unlike his adoptive parents (who were burly and stocky folk), Norlak was a sickly and frail kid. As a youth he was taught to sail on the small fishing boats, but his father - a good ol' dwarf, frustrated with the lack of Norlak's physical prowess and fishing ability said 'No damn son of mine is staying a fisherman. He'll be a proper damn sailor, on a proper damn ship. That's a proper man's life, that is.'

It wasn't long after such statement that he took Norlak down on a trip to Hamsah docks and offloaded Norlak by way of informal apprenticeship on his friend's ship. Thus began Norlak's life on the ocean proper, as petty deckhand on 'Rusty Harpoon', a whaling ship.

***

Chapter III: Whaling

Norlak could tell you a hundred tales about these years, probably more, with the right liquid encouragement. There was a lot of hardship and excitement when learning the art of sailing the larger vessels, and Norlak genuinely enjoyed it. But truth be told, Norlak was not a good sailor and spent most of his time mending the cuts and wounds of his stockier mates. In fact, in any other circumstances, Norlak's whaling career would have been cut quite short - but, boy oh boy, was he good at tending to the injured sailors and was lucky enough to land an odd harpoon into an old whale from time to time.

The trick to whaling, and the bit that separated the experienced ships from the wreckages, was the ability to tell the difference between a genuine whale and the sea monsters which resemble them. The former harvested easy-like. You waited 'til they surfaced, then darted them with harpoons, like putting the hook and line in a fish. Thing with honest whales is they can't dive again 'til they've had their spoutings. So they run. The whaleboat would give chase, and when the beastie tired somewhat the head whaler would lance them, pushing the long spear deep into the reservoir of blood near the lungs to prevent it from diving again. Rough work, to be sure, and dangerous.

But get it wrong, mistake a sea dragon for a whale, and you could lose your ship and everyone aboard it. Experienced whalers wait for the first spouting, to confirm they've got a whale. Amateurs and the hurried are liable to stick a harpoon into more than they can handle. Get it right and profit. Get it wrong and die. What a life!

***

Chapter IV: The Dream and the Demise of 'Rusty Harpoon'

So, where were we? Ah yes, like I said, get it wrong and die! It is a 'Good morning, we are going to die horribly today' kind of a story.

One fateful night, when Aryth was particularly choppy, Norlak had a dream, a vision really. It started with the smears of blue, red, green, white and black, which slowly morphed into a terrifying figure. It was hard to tell whether it was a woman or a beast, whether it had skin or scales, whether the colors were heads or clothes. While amorphous, the image was so vivid, lifelike and powerful that Norlak awoke in cold sweat. As he headed toward the deck, a loud creaking noise came from the hull. Thinking no further, Norlak jumped off the ship as the 'Rusty Harpoon' smashed against the rocks. It was only weeks later that Norlak learned that he was the sole survivor of the wreck.