Albert

Albert is a character played by Nick. He is a humanoid raccoon and is a rogue.

History
When Albert was a child, he lived in a forest with other raccoons. Over time though, deforestation and encroachment by humans made living less hospitable. Albert became aware of this very suddenly when his parents were killed by men. His father was shot by a hunter and his mother was captured in a trap and then killed for her fur.

Albert's fear as a child turned into anger and distrust of people as an adult. He learned the ways of man, himself taking up archery. Though he doesn't immediately hate every single person, he does not trust any human immediately.

Learning about elves and their skill at archery, he sought to travel to the Kingdom of Westronil to study under them. After a long trek, he arrived at Galadhrin. Though turned down for being a raccoon as well as being unskilled, he lived in those woods and continued to practice archery. Eventually he made his way north as he grew more confident and wished to do good.

One day, he arrived in Dervin's Pass. After learning that the well was poisoned, he took this as a sign from the deity Pan that he was meant to become a hero. In the town, he met the Player Characters and his quest began.

Quest
Through Albert's quests, he became more confident and arrogant to a point. His skill as a rogue led him to become an invaluable member of the party, and that arrogance continued outside of the group. This appeared to be most poignant in Haufinger Village.

Albert accepted a quest from another rogue. The goal was to steal a precious item from a rich merchant in town. The item was unknown. Albert believed this to be easy and snuck in with ease. However, another thief broke into the house as well. Albert grabbed the chest first and threw it out the window. This was recovered by guards who were on alert.

Albert, after a short scuffle which quickly went south, jumped out the window. When the other thief followed, he was quickly slaughtered. The guards found the dead body, with Albert in hiding. They also discovered a note on the person. Albert had to obtain that note, and so pulled it out of the guard's pocket back at the tower. In the inn, Albert was able to read the brief contents the note contained: Remember the trigger -H.V. Don't fail me again

Albert connected this with the chest and realized he had to get it back. He tried to break into the tower's cellar, but fell through instead. He struggled to get up the stairs to the lobby but was too loud. That went south. Guards stopped him and threw him out.

Yet they didn't patch that cellar door. So Albert climbed down again, more precociously. He managed to grab the chest, but made too much noise and was heard by all the guards. Trapped, he mistakenly decided to open it. The trap stabbed Albert and poisoned him. As Albert lay in a pseudo-dead state, with Estoria healing him soon after, he woke up hollow inside. With little idea of why he was killed and whose idea it was, he is a little more reluctant and more pessimistic than before.

After grabbing a ceremonial blade, the contents, he returned to get what sleep he could. Soon after however, the Slaughter of Haufinger destroyed the town. Albert, watching people die right in front of him, along with his issues in obtaining this apparently valuable dagger, caused him to blame himself for the events transpiring. This added on to his pessimism. Even when he learned that the slaughter was not his fault, the heaviness of these events compared to the relative joviality of quests has put a lot of pressure on him.