A while back, in 2020, my friends and I recorded a storytelling podcast while playing Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus.
What I love about playing D&D is that, in essence, I’m creating my own entertainment. So many times, I have sat down to watch my favorite show if only to remorse that it didn’t go the way I wanted, or I thought I could do better. I’m not a movie producer, but I can sit around a table and tell stories with my friends and that’s more rewarding, because we made it ourselves.
So, when playing through the Blood War Listen to the First Episode Here, we decided to play through these lovable characters and plotline while telling a story of redemption, forgiveness and ultimate heroism. We learned many things such as sometimes being a hero doesn’t mean sacrificing oneself, but sticking around with the group to deal with the fallout of a decision.
With all that being said, let me introduce Garindan. Played by Patrick who had only played D&D 1 other time, Garindan was a young dwarf who appeared very old. You see, in his youth, he joined the Blood War - a futile and endless war between two evils of devils vs demons. In short, the only good thing about this war was that at least these fiends weren’t terrorizing our home - only each other’s.
But then Garindan got himself out of the infernal legion, got himself cleaned up, met good dwarves like Felthran and his friends Bramble and Hey (Hey was a strange, yet endearing character played by Rhett at Stack of Dice Podcast. However, Garindan then was called along with the other sojourners to journey back to hell and settle the Blood War once and for all. Only this time, they wouldn’t fight to defeat armies, but to personally select the new leader of Avernus, the first level of hell.
What a responsibility.
In truth, our actions are those of heroes. When we make a decision, we are choosing to drive reality towards an outcome. Maybe we aren’t choosing the next world leader (or maybe we are), but we are making the world for the future generations even as we speak.
And that’s what we saw realized in this most recent episode of the Bookish and the Brave. Von and Hawkins travelled (unwillingly) into the abyss, another hellish landscape and found themselves in the fortunate company of Valenya, a young apprentice of Garindan.
1455 - The Battle for Avernus
1455 - 1601 The Time of the Fey Renaissance
1531 - the Bookish and the Brave
You can see that some time has past; Garindan is old, wise and guiding the young artists of the next generation. And they listen to him, because he is a hero. I think it’s interesting to note that Garindan who was once lost to service within an endless war devoted to devils now employs young and ambitious dwarves to seek out lost souls in hell. Valenya is learning from the best. And now, in the year 1531, Von and Hawkins reap the rewards of a legacy of redemption from heroes long ago.
We can learn much from the older generation, learning from both their wisdom and their mistakes. What I see in the young generation, as well as Valenya, is ambition to learn from the ancient ways and lead many souls from bondage to demons back into the fold of faith, family and friends.
May your story continue.
Old Heroes guide Young Artists