Journal of a Wandering Mage

[Crunch]

*Written in an elegant hand on loose bound hickory scrolls*

Dear diary, where shall I begin?  I have been in this world for a fair time now and have seen many strange and often terrifying things.  However, I have made no progress in tracking down my family.  I think that the day arrived here is symbolic of the way my life has trended since I arrived.

It began with a meeting of a dragon of awesome size and power.  He asked that I help fight the blood, which I gladly agreed to.  From there it was a short but memorable walk to Hlint.  Shortly after I arrived I met a group including Yar, Rawkwin, Rodlin, and Kavil.  They were much mightier than I, but I have since realized that we were all weak as kittens at that point.  No sooner had I arrived than a huge battle broke out outside the goblin caves.  Large numbers of goblins kept pouring out and the entrance was bathed in fire.  During the battle I took wounds that I thought surely would send me to the heavens.  I was amazed to find myself back in Hlint and relatively whole.  I was weakened for a short bit but quickly recovered.  

*hears a knock at the door*

My life has continued at a similar pace ever since.  Today I finally gained access to the advanced craft house which seems a major milestone.  I will continue this soon, but must go now.

[Crunch]

Many weeks have passed since last I opened this book.  It got stuck between some badger hides in one of my chests.  Still doesn't smell too bad, so I guess I should update it.

So many things have happened that have distracted me from my original purpose of finding my family.  I have found that traveling through this world is more dangerous than I could possibly have imagined.  I have adapted and do almost all my traveling invisible now.  My friends seem to find this a bit eccentric, especially when I forget I'm invisible and strike up a conversation with no notice.  I believe these adrenalin surges help them adapt to a dangerous world, but they have differing opinions.

The greatest difficulty I have found in battling evil in this world, has been keeping creatures from getting in my face while I cast my spells.  When I travel with my friends, they have been very helpful in keeping me safe.  Particularly Yar and Emerald, but when I am alone I find myself vulnerable from creatures at which my friends scoff.  Although my familiar helps when called, she is quickly slain in these situations.  I can't bear doing this to her and have refrained from calling her, sometimes even at the cost of my own life.

As I watch Kavil pursuing his own weft of the weave, I can't help but notice how much more effective his summons make him.  Even the lesser summons he has called have been quite influential in helping the party.  Now Rodlin has been summoning some powerful animals including the amazing ancient dire wolves.  These creatures have often turned the tide of battle.  As much as I love my evocations, I feel I must find someone who can teach me how to summon.

In crafting I have found much better progress than in more active adventuring.  My strengths as a stealthy scout have come in handy in acquiring the needed ingredients to make various items.  I have become fairly accomplished as a scribe if I may say so myself.  I find that many other mages are seeking sources to expand their spell books and have been able to work out a number of trades and even sales.  It has saddened me when when others have asked for summoning spells and I've had to turn them down.  Someday, I want a spellbook with all the known spells in at least the lower circles.

Sadly some of my friends have been called away to other pursuits.  Emerald bid us a fond farewell and left for parts unknown.  She did not believe she would ever return.  Without Emerald, Rawkwin seems to be lost to us as well.  I harbor some hopes that he may someday return, but I supect he won't.  

Yar is still around but the sould mother has ravaged him.  Although the magic of the bindstone seems all powerful at first.  We are starting to realize that it has it's limits.  If Yar should ever fall again, it is an open question whether the bindstone will be able to bring him back.  If the soul mother gets her claws into him again, we shall never see him again in this world.

Yar's young apprentice, Riley, has been adventuring with us in recent time, but we are still getting accustomed to him.  He is a strong fighter and a good friend, but things just aren't the same without Yar and Emerald holding the front line and Rawkin tossing about healing and hammer of the gods spells as appropriate.  We all must adapt or die.  I hope to adapt, but without summons it will be hard.

[Crunch]

So that is where this journal went.  Stuck in with my old hickory scrolls.  No wonder I haven't seen it in a while.  It's been years since I last wrote here and so much has happened.  

I have achieved successes in tailoring that I could only dream of when I started this journal.  Lion bags have become tedious to make.  I still remember when I started tailoring.  I made the decision while soaking in a warm tub to ease my aching shoulders.  My pack always seemed so terribly heavy and scribing required so many different little components.  Someone mentioned that if I had cougar bags my pack would be lighter.  I half heartedly started collecting cotton.  Then, when someone showed me a lion bag, I got serious.  Hundreds of dire badgers and dire boar later I finally made my first lion bag.  A few months ago I tried something really new, a malar bag.  I knew I was stretching myself a bit, but I decided to try.  At first I thought I had suceeded, but as soon as I tried to fill it a rip developed.  Somehow I missed coating one stretch of a seam with enchanting oil.  That was all it took to ruin the whole thing.  Kavil tells me we have enough hides now to try again.  So far I haven't worked up the courage to try again.   So much effort collecting the hides, not to mention curing them, and such small mistakes result in an expensive pile of garbage.

I have discovered that the paths in my brain are too firmly set to ever learn how to conjure.  As I have watched Kavil's summons hold back hordes of nasty creatures while he incenerates them, I often reflect on the errors of my youth.  If only I could tell my younger self, don't give up conjuration, it is vital to your safety.  I have learned how to bring forth a helmed horror for a short time.  It is an impressive tool, but doesn't last long enough to do what Kavil's summons do for him.  I have discovered the incantation to bring unlife to a corpse, but I still find that too distasteful and disrespectful of life to use.  I will not foreswear all necromancy, it is part of the weave after all, but bringing the dead back to unlife is repulsive to me.

[Crunch]

The past year has flown by, but my powers have grown greatly during that time.  I have found how to force my body part way into the ethereal plane.  By doing this only the mightiest creatures can hurt me.  It is too bad it doesn't last so long as stoneskin, but while it does last I can unleash my spells without fearing the axes of most giants.  I am finally learning how to walk the land without fear.

Of course feeling safe can be dangerous.  Not long ago I was gathering silk in Sielwood while invisible.  I have been there so many times before that I stopped being careful and let my mind wander.  I was holding my bow and found myself aiming at a dire spider whispering, "you don't know I'm here and I could skewer you with this arrow before you even knew it was coming."  I was startled by a sudden gust of wind and my finger slipped.  To my horror, the arrow was on it's way.  The horde of spiders was on me before I even got a spell off.  I tried to concentrate on my casting and raise my wards, but I really was only prepared for crafting.  I felt the poison burning my blood and then saw only darkness.  I awoke at the bindstone in Hlint and returned to where I fell feeling very small and very humbled.  Forever I must remember that pride and ego can easily be the death of me.  I lack the heavy armor which keeps Riley and Addison safe from all but the toughest creatures.  Without preparation, I become prey rather than the predator.

I sense that things are getting ready to come to head between Rodlin and Fisterion.  The entire situation is so unjust.  I wasn't there for the beginning of this fiasco, when the Blue Dragon ambushed my friends in the silver cave in the dessert, but I do know this all stems from the chromatic dragons' love of coercion.  I understand how Blood concluded they all should die.  I must say I agree with him.  I am sorely tempted when next we see his minions to tell him that if he doesn't leave us alone I will send word to Blood of where he has hidden the Black.  I have never seen any gain from this treaty with the dragons.  A good goddess was brought low and a rather nasty chaotic one was empowered to facilitate the protection of these dragons.  Why was this ever needed?  I must find someone who can explain this to me. I can't believe that these dragons will ever be anything but the worst kind of trouble in the aftermath of Blood's defeat, assuming that we can defeat him.  I just don't see anything the dragons have ever done to keep Blood in check.

[Crunch]

I guess this is why I am a mage not a historian.  I never really put anything but spells on paper.  It has been over a decade since I picked this journal up and the world has changed.  Bloodstone is dead!   Kavil was there at the end and I have the story from him.  An amazing adventure, but it has left the world nearly shattered.  The skies are black and the crops don't grow.  People are starving and our skills of adventuring do little to fill children's bellies.  It is incredible that a win looks this ugly.  I don't think most of the world appreciates how much uglier a loss would have been.

As for my friends and I, only Rodlin and sometimes Kavil are really adventuring anymore.  Yar, Riley, and Addison have all gone to the soul mother.  She has scared Dorax and  Sniverous into virtual retirement.  I can't say that I don't have a healthy fear of her myself these days.  I still put my life on the line from time to time, but these days I mostly seem to craft.  I have tried to broaden my horizons.  I've even taken up baking!  If I were a woodsman and knew how to cut a tree, I could probably even make my own scrolls these days.

One of these days I really should get together with my old friends and my new friends and go back to the far east again.  Face my fears and explore the world again.  Maybe we could even start coming up with ways to slowly put the world right if we all concentrated our talents on it.  I don't know how many millions of tons of ash are blackening the sky, but I know my magic is strong enough to pull a bit of it back to earth.  Maybe if we all worked together for a long time we could start making a real difference.   Never underestimate the power of magic!