Journal of Jack Sheppard

[Faldred]

// Random excerpts from the last 15 years

Mama gave me this book to write in!  It looks like fun, but I don't really know what to say.  One day is pretty much like another on the farm.

...

The sun went away today.  Papa said it will be back soon, but he looked worried.  I hope it doesn't affect the harvest too much, I'd love to get some new boots before winter.

...

The harvest was a disaster.  With the dust cloud overhead, the plants just... withered away.  And it's soooo cold...  Rumors say the cloud is the result of a giant battle far away.

...

I heard that Rory was caught stealing food from the Jamison family.  No trial, no nothing, they just up and hanged him.

...

I thought it might have missed our family, but the sickness came upon Bill today.  Papa don't look so good either.

...

I buried Mama next to Billy and Papa today.  Davey and Tommy won't last much longer, and I barely have the strength to write this.

...

I think this might be my last entry... I feel real bad, and I can barely move to get away from the bodies.

...

Less than a dozen of us.  That's all that survived the sickness out of the town of Whynne.  There's nothing here to keep us, and nothing left to keep us together.  Fort of Kings isn't that far away, maybe there's work in the city.

...

At least there's no sickness here.  No work, either, though.  At least nothing honest, but I've been approached by someone who's at least offering me some kind of chance, even if he seems dodgy.  It's not like honest work has been paying off too well in my life so far.

...

Try as I might, I just can't get the hang of being sneaky.  Maybe I'm just too direct in my approach.  Still, I'm pretty good at dealing with simple locks and other safeguards.  And I'm getting fed.  Who says crime doesn't pay?

...

I couldn't exactly say "no" when they ordered me to do it, but I still felt really bad.  That family is barely getting by, why take their gold?  Isn't there a nice merchant or politician who needs some imposed charity?

...

No more.  I'm strictly freelance now.  I can't keep robbing folks who barely have two trues to rub together.  When the runner came, I told him to scram.

...

Well, the bosses don't seem to like my new attitude.  Maybe it was the fact that I threatened Slim with a cudgel to get him to back off.  I think the ship docked in the harbor is just about to get a new deckhand, for a little while at least.

[Faldred]

I arrived in Fort Vehl yesterday.  Normally, I'd say "what a dump", but it's not like the last few ports were much better.  I finally finished working off my passage, and even added a few trues to my meager savings, and this is as good a place as any to start a new life.

Again.

For a man of only twenty years, I've had more than my fair share of "lives" -- from farmer's son to orphan.  From orphan to thief.  From thief to guild renegade.  From renegade to sailor.  From sailor to... well, I'm not exactly sure what, just yet.  Adventurer?  Yeah, I like the sound of that.

So, here I am getting my bearings, and a striking lady by the name of Clarissa passes my way, and offers to show me around a bit.  Well, I'm not going to say "no" to that kind of company, especially not having spent the last few weeks at sea, even if she is one of those holy paladin types.  Over near the docks, we meet up with her friend Clover -- and what a nice piece of work this gal is!  The scenery in this mud hole was certainly better than I had hoped when I left the ship.

Still... both the ladies were a bit, intimidating -- even to me -- in the raw power they displayed.  As they cast their magics on me, I could feel myself becoming stronger and even a feeling like my skin was turning to hardened tree bark.  Odd... but powerful.  After that, we had some good fun smashing some of the corpses in the local crypts that were acting far too lively for their decomposed states.

It was an excellent learning experience for me... watching them at work and actually using my own talents, augmented as they were, to help smash the abominations.  I feel far more ready to take on the dangers that seem to lurk everywhere around here.  Who knows... maybe I'll be able to impress that Clover one of these day... a man could do much, much worse...

[Faldred]

I needed a better weapon than the simple cudgel I was packing, so I took my small savings and went weapon shopping.  I wanted to find something... distinctive, possibly even terrifying.  I've seen a lot of folks with swords, and the occasional axe, but I wanted to be different.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the humble scythe -- a farming implement, though much sturdier than those I'm used to -- in the shop.  It's different, all right.  And big.  And in the right hands -- my hands -- it could be quite scary.  To make it even better, I'm already used to holding it, though using it as an effective weapon will take some practice.

My brief experience with the bony corpses in the crypts leads me to think a backup weapon isn't a bad idea, as they didn't seem too likely to be bothered by sharp things, but my cudgel made a nice-sounding "crunch".  I found an oversized flail, another farming tool turned into a weapon, that should do the job nicely.

[Faldred]

Been off exploring for a bit... basically made it around the Silkwood forest towards Hlint via Fort Llast.  Oh yeah... that reminds me... I still need to find a couple of weapons for that militia guy.  All I can say is that there better be a suitable reward for this errand-running when it's done -- so far I'm out some trues on this ordeal.  It's no wonder he can't get the right weapons if he expects to pay so little for them.

Anyway... where was I?  Oh yeah, Hlint, "Town of Heroes."  Looks like this place has seen better days.  Typical, though.  It no longer suits whatever purposes they had for it, and so they no longer care what happens to the place.  Still, it has a decent pub.

So I backtrack to Hempstead to do some weapon shopping, and I run into Clover, who was just leaving on an expedition.  She actually seemed genuinely happy to see me.  Perhaps I made a better first impression that I had thought... A pity that I was too road-weary to go along; but I didn't really have enough coins to pay for ship's passage anyway, not right now at least.  In that sense, I'm glad I had the excuse of needing a rest so that I didn't have to admit to being so poor to Clover.  On the other hand, the lost opportunity for her company...

[Faldred]

Ugh... rats.  I hate 'em with a passion now.  Filthy obnoxious critters that always seem to show up in large packs.  Still, I managed to get through them and took care of that little "problem" in the sewers, for which I get a decent, if not overwhelming reward.

Of course, I burned through all my medical supplies in doing so... nearly died a death of a thousand small cuts due to those rats, even though the poisonous spiders really caused me the most trouble.  After getting bitten, I felt so weak I could barely swing my scythe.

While I'm trying to save every true I can to get better equipment, I've decided to treat myself to a stay at the Scamp so I could clean the filth off of me and get a good night's sleep.  As long as I don't dream about rats, that is...

[Faldred]

As I was leaving Fort Vehl some time ago, I ran into a very strange sight -- a giant spider running around not far from the entrance.  Well, naturally, my hands flew immediately to my scythe to defend myself.

Only... the thing didn't attack.  It simply scurried around, chittering and clicking.  There was a man nearby who didn't seemed concerned in the slightest about it, so I assumed it was his pet, an odd choice to be sure, but one sees many strange things in Vehl.  Well, it turns out the spider wasn't a pet at all, but another man who had changed forms.

The first man, however, mocked me and my weapon, calling it a "wheat cutter".  His attitude and insults set my blood boiling, but I maintained my composure.  I let him know that my scythe was not for cutting wheat, but rather things and people that I don't like... making it very clear by my tone that he was included in that description.

A practical demonstration might have been in order, but it was a trivial enough thing to end someone's life over, and besides, while the Vehl gate guards are not exactly paragons of efficiency, killing someone in front of them probably would lead to a poor outcome.

[Faldred]

As I flip through my journal, I realize that I've been lax in keeping it up to date.  Perhaps all of this newness of being an adventurer has made me forgetful.

Not that much exciting has happened.  So far, it's mostly been work-like for me, just with rather unusual work.  One trip, though, a while back was a little different.

I met up with a group going into the Gloom Woods.  Apparently this is a haven for the walking dead, and a paladin and some of her companions were going in to cleanse the area a bit before it got too bad.  I managed to get myself invited into their group, figuring I could use the hands-on training and maybe score a few trues while I was at it.

Well, it was tough -- there were a lot of the deaders, and they just seemed to keep coming, over and over.  Still, we were successful, and I even managed to secure a trophy to convince the folks back at the mercenary camp that their troubles moving goods were over, at least for now.  I got some coin and a fancy new cloak -- that seems to have some aura about it -- out of the deal.

Turns out, this new cloak seems to help me slip out of danger more easily.  We got ambushed by bandits as we neared Fort Vehl, and those cursed spell-slingers they have with them cast balls of fire at me, but I managed to avoid them more easily than I would have thought.

Now, back to this paladin lady.  Not the same as the gal I first met when arriving in Fort Vehl, that's for sure.  She had no sense of humor, and a rather peculiar aversion to take her share of the spoils. I mean, I get it that she's living to some kind of crazy code and all, but why refuse the spoils? Why not give it to her temple or to the poor?  It's not that I mind the extra cut in my own pocket... far from it!  But what drives a person to be so single-mindedly stupid in this regard?