The bastard child of Mateusz Marcin, Ladzik Marcin was brought up in the slum district of Aldersberg. He was never legitimized and never knew his father or siblings, he grew up as a peasant raised by his mother. As he came of age he began to resent his abandonment by his noble, wealthy family; Spitefully rejecting the corrupted nature of nobility, though this may be more out of jealously than pure contempt. Ladzik, as a young teenager, met a knight who took him im and taught him to be a man. Ladzik was taught hunting, fishing, and the basics of sword and pike. At the time Ladzik believed this knight took him in purely out of empathy or some kind of knightly honor he scarecly could understand, but later came to find this knight was told to do this by his father, who wanted to help his son Ladzik but only from a distance. When Ladzik discovered this, he was spiteful; that the knight he looked up to as a father figure was only following orders, and that his father clearly knew and cared about his existance but wouldn't muddle his family's reputation by letting a bastard live and eat amongst them. Ladzik left home shortly after this discovery, with vague hopes of one day entering a lord's service and pledging his sword, which he barely knew how to use.
The traveler has just arrived in a small town. As they look around, their gaze is met with run down houses and shops. They duck into one of the shacks, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the small room, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town?" She begins, then pauses to study their face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a chair, “Where do you come from? What do you hope to make of yourself?”
The traveler looks up at the woman with a blank stare before giving a scoff- "Do you expect everyone who walks in here?". The traveler's stare trails off towards the floor, his face showing a look of reflection. "Excuse me- I've had a rough go of it these last few days, I suppose now I only hope to make it from one day to the next." The traveler winces slightly as his stomach cries out. "I stopped by here looking for an inn, and something to eat...". The woman watches him intently before smiling- "A man of your status should be traveling with a team of cooks, no?" The traveler studies her back wearing a look of shock of his face before sitting down into the chair. The woman repeats the question "What do you hope to make of yourself?" The traveler blankly stares at the table, deep in thought- "I, uh.. I suppose I want to make a name for myself. I don't want anything handed to me, I want to earn my keep. Mayhaps one of these days a lord will take me into their service as a knight, not because of my name but because of my ability-". The traveler stops himself, embarrassed momentarily at his own fantasizing. "Wishful thinking- I know. I've hardly been able to catch a hare these last few days, that's what brought me here." The traveler's stomach once again chimes in on the conversation with a loud cry.
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