Vijil Oriak

A human paladin of the Order of the Watching Eye, part of Tempus Machina.

Joined the coastal defense militia/guard once out of school at 18. Spent a few years doing the usual on ships, islands, occasional skirmishes with smugglers and monsters.  Became a scout/spy due to a certain natural talent for it.  Came up river and met old friends from school based on a recommendation to my superiors by my mentor, Nestorious ...

Married Jenna (who he helped rescue from an alternate timeline) and became Lord of Morton's Thumb and booze dealer.

Personality

I would rather make a new friend than a new enemy. I now always have a plan for what to do when things go wrong.

Ideals: People. I’m loyal to my friends, not to any ideals, and everyone else can take a trip down the Styx for all I care.

Bonds: Someone I loved died because of a mistake I made - I trusted a fool. That will never happen again.

Flaw: I sat silent while someone was tried and imprisoned for something I know he did not do. My silence was my form of payback for the decision they made that got a friend  of ours killed, and me badly injured, during a scouting  mission...even though I also made a judgment error, I blamed him.

Koans

Vijil is known for his cryptic pronouncements relating to their adventures.

• How far into a song will you go to bring back a concept?
• If an evil one betrays evil allies, is that a good or a double evil?
• When you give someone named Mordred their parole, how long will it be before they turn foul again?
• When the verdict is known before the court convenes, must the kangaroo leap to conclusions, or simply laugh?
• If you can become immortal, should you?
• If it has a face that only a mother of monsters could love, can you kill it?
• When opposing chaotic corruption with an army of monsters, how does one tell the difference?
• When tempus machina rush in where angels fear to tread, are they fools or heroes? (Editor: Yes).
• By destroying despair, what happens to hope, the other side of the eternal coin?
• "If you fight with yourself and win, is that victory or defeat?"  
• Does doing the dirty deed define a deal with a devil?
• If you kill the evil shadow of a loved one, should you tell them how it made you feel?
• If a fiend offers to help deal against the ultimate being of destructive chaos, should you accept his offer?
• The druids' wildwood weed: must one fly to get high, or must one get high to fly?
• Is it more important to know where you are or when you are?
• "If the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and dragons, when is the right time to be afraid?"
• If fiends' mortal agents are allowed to act, how can fiends be foiled?
• How much reflection is needed for a Watcher to watch the Watchers?
• When the wytch storm comes, where's your refuge when magic is your essence?
• If you give a dragon an egg, when should you give her bacon?  
• When a birth evokes prophecy, how do you discern its true meaning?
• If celestials, fiends and deities toy with mortals, should mortals speak out or submit to manipulation?
• If you hate what you have become, are you noble?

Haiku

He's also known for his haikus based on his adventures.

Wedding Crashers

Disrupt fiend conspiracy

On the road Again

Radiant egg tomb

Tempus Machina fells fiends

Cabal's brooch in hand

Wytch storm warning flags

Fai's ward busting couch session

Jo'Raani still dotes

Silver dragon saved

Two Moon cataclysm foiled

Haughty elves bicker

Drowning trap despoiled

Flaming, Stinking attacks foiled

Cult betrayed, then slain

Trust betrayed by two

Ambush in Varanasi

Lysander eats fire

Offers of escape

Warned to duck when feline leaps

Imperial court farce

Court intrigues and guile

Emperor calls down firestorm

Gleaner reaps his soul

Angel's commission

Korv'al'zagan offers tips

Corruption down south

Gibberer falls far

We meet the monster mother

Magic airship ride

A stealthy approach

Mother of Battles Descends

Aberrants, begone!

Angels fall, mud slides

Fai floats up, chain skull thrown down

Into the portal

Three dark mirrors break

Charn's towers erupt, node destroyed

Awakened knights ascend

Adversary's dream

Dark words bind hope with despair

To the moon, Nameless!

Mommy dearest's shade

Jo'Vasha stunned in a maze

Awakened brand chutney

Knights of Solitude

By words enchained in crystal

Freed by blade and claw

In a nightmare the Nameless one made Tempus Machina fought beloved shades Crystal prison shells shatter

Charn's white towers now flatter

The accepted knights laid down their blades

Zandolit fear change

Vile touch of aberration

With gran's stick, lance boil

Lycanthropes wreck bars

Ghosts laugh, Sandoval's son pays

Forest ambush foiled

Sibling betrays Raj

Assassins failed style and brawl

Secrets set up win

Bad barnacle Bills

Befouled pure river water

Cleansed by blades and claws

Shredded Silversmith

Husks and mutated gwerin

Spicy fiend cellar

Mizrapur's vile heir

Wyrm assassination plot

Momento mori

Vij Kong threw fastballs

Protect artifact ritual

Earn dragons' blessings

Flying and drinking

Fiend cult corrupting Watchers

Treachery earns death

Heal with a devil

Dream travel, cat guardians

Bug hunts and spying

Arcanomentals

Save M'Phenna's caravan

Titan runes the rocks

Golems burn and break

Two Moons expedition met

Dragon's egg returned

A wyrmling is born

Cats and witch lights in the rain

Steel Wind disaster

Drama Drama and

More Drama - three love sick souls

Watcher gets whisky

Disrupt ritual

Awakener's minions slaughtered

Slay black and white masks

Kangaroo Court

Slaad blood soaks arena sands

Celestials humbled

Devil-enslaved mage

Enemies abound for her

Flees fire, cries in beer

--For Jenna

Tempus Machina

Through dangerous deeds achieve

Respectability

Limericks

In a tactic both risky and bold

Airborne assault of cult's hold

Aberrations  disguise

Could not prevent demise,

Of masks black, white, silver, and gold

Fair Lessa the lecherous fiend

Met protean, sensually unweened

In embraces delish

She turned Fai (her fish)

Front to back, inside out and between

There was a young noble named Beechum

Who thought that no violence could reach him

Until at Cat's Meow

Silvered blade evoked "Ow!"

From him - so Fai quipped "That'll teach 'em!"

In Ikela the wedding bells rang

For adventure, four souls felt a pang

They heard dear newborn's cries

Bound in family ties

Future hope into four brave hearts sprang