Vek-Amber Mush
Road to Amber Mush
Vek is a strong man with the look of one who has known heavy toil or hard living, yet he nearly always has a tiny bit of a smile on his face.
He wears heavy denim work pants and sturdy boots, a dark brown shirt and a loose dark purple denim shirt on top. The cuffs and sleeves show signs of ongoing embroidering in dark purples, blues and black, work by no means completed. The clothes look worn, perhaps second-hand, but show signs of careful mending. He sports a brown felt hat with a dark purple embroidered band, through which is stuck a wooden spoon on one side, and a meerschaum pipe on the other.
He wears a thick leather belt in brown that has seen better days. It mounts a short-sword on one side and a dagger on the other, both carefully cleaned and maintained. Beside and behind the dagger is a holster of well-crafted leather holding some kind of firearm. A tankard hangs from a strap, a cover carefully and tightly tied in place.
His hands show the wear of a labor on the docks. Worn, cracked, and callused, used to long days of toil. But they are clean, with tended nails. He smiles easily, and jokes often, mostly ignoring the lack of his memory. If asked he’ll explain that whatever his past was, it will come to him someday, and till then it can’t change the present.
During the off-hours he wanders the city, sees the sights, visits taverns, and indulges in ale and mead. He also sits in at the card tables, mostly Pokers and Tonk. He seems to remember card games very well, though not where he learned them.
He is wary of fire, as one who has been badly burned often is.
Log One
It all starts in fire. The dream is the same every time. Fire, like a wall, and i run through it, bare foot, in dark brown clothes, scorched, hair singed and slightly smoking, i fall forward into a small creek in amongst the trees.
That's how i arrived in Arden, and i dream it often. I knew very little else but fire.
I knew my name was Vek. At first that was enough. I staggered from the creek that first time and found a tavern in what i had thought was impenetrable woods. The Gilded Steel Lodge was the first place i saw other people in this new land. I was shown fair kindness there, and i shant forget that no matter what i learn anon. A small pouch of coins may be of no matter to one so well outfitted, but to a barefooted man in singed trousers it is a fortune.
The city is vast, and i have no sense of being here before. I have been told to visit a charity hospital but i seem unharmed from my arrival in fire, though tender in spots. Avoiding the medical care i am directed to the Crown and Rose, an inn where people such as I frequent.
Family Tree of Amber. From Vek's notebooks.
