-Alythralundar Shadowander-

[Arcanist]

[SIZE=16]Juniman Sulluphin -Alythralundar Shadowander- [/SIZE]
[SIZE=16]Finally… after two years in that cess pit… I am free. After being thrown out of Fort Forewarn with nothing but a loin cloth, I managed to force myself along the road to Pasel… where The Black Hound masked my actions with darkness so I could steal bread for survival. The next morning, I rid a noble of his belt pouch and this book. The first thing I did after that was use the gold to buy cloths, then use most of what was left on a fare to Hlint… where I am now, writing this. Not a bad town, I bought a rapier and some armor, though of only average quality, they will do for now. I definitely need to get some gold for a rapier made of iron… copper is nothing special. As for my fencing skills, hitting an unexpected enemy where it hurts the most is the best tactic. Stealth is still my speciality, and I’m developing it to perfection. [/SIZE][SIZE=16]I pray that wealth belong to the greedy and careless, so that I may take from them what is rightfully mine. [/SIZE]  
 
 

[Arcanist]

So much towrite about... so little time.
  Lots of interesting things have happened in my time in Hlint so far. One of my most recent trips was to the Kobold caves with a man named Dervish. He, like me, knows how to hit where it hurts, quite impressive for a guy with one eye. It was a travel hidden by The Hound's darkness, and on that topic, i'm quite certain Dervish himself follows The Hound, so perhaps i'm not the only one... he also mentioned something about a guild for us stealth experts, which is of much interest to me. It feels right when i am hidden within the shadows... as if it is meant to be. I feel much more comfortable and controlled within their protection. My experiances have taught me that head on fighting is not the right situation for me. The way to sucess is the way of stealth, and waiting for the opportunity to arise - then strike with precision and force.
  I have been offered a large amount of gold if i manage to find the Goblins within the red light caverns and gut their leader... and you can never have enough gold.
  Writing this really brings back memories of Forewarn, when i used to read books on adventurers... seems funny now that i am writing oneof myown adventure...

[Arcanist]

  Lots of interesting things happened to me lately... one of particular interest was a journy into the crypts of krandor, with the Loom brothers and a few others who'snames i have forgotten. They were set on getting the ashes of a grandfather back to some child, and as the dead possess gold they wont need, which i do need, i offered to help. The crypts were dark, perfect for hiding within the shadows... then striking at the right oppotunity. Sadly, i got a bit too confident, and a skeleton almost spilt my insides. I was left wounded, as many others were - the difference was, that Voon healed others and ignored me... bugger.
  The skeleton that held the ashes was adept at wielding magic, and seemed to coat himself with acid. I stayed in the welcoming shadows, firering bolts at him. All went well, and we retrieved the ashes. On the way out however, we were very close to being defeated; it was a constant struggle, and with Voon refusing to heal me, i stayed hidden and let the others do the fighting. At one point, a ghoul noticed me, and with a claw to the chest he left me bleeding severely -i would have died, if it were not for Jamesan the bard, who had some skill in healing. It was not his speciality, but without Voon to do it, he was the best chance i had of survival. I desired to survive the trip, and not Voon, nor anyone else was going to prevent me from doing so.
  After handing in the ashes, we split the loot. A fare amount of gold, blessings from The Weary Shadow i must say. Then, i discovered another opportunity of achieving gold; Dulan the cleric was taking Karana the Barbarian lass to the Broken Forest... they thought it best to keep their expedition small, just the two of them, but i persuaded them to let me come... i dont turn down the chance to get gold!
  The broken forest is a grand place, although swarmed with undead, it is shady and dark; perfect for slipping into the shadows when neccesary. Karana made a great front-liner, breaking the knees of our zombie foes with her mighty maul, giving me the opportunity to sneak up behind and deliver fatal blows. Although the undead seem not to feel specific pain, its best just to hit them continually till they are felled. The true opportunities came when we reached some ruins, occupied by ogre tribes, and while ingaged in battle with Dulan and Karana, they never expected me to leap from the shadows placing fatal blows to their calfs! it is much easier to slip into the shade when the foe is distracted by someone else...
  The end result was a pleasing pile of gold, and going with them on that trip was a grand idea. On the way back to Hlint, i met with Dervish once again. He was in a hurry, as was i, but he mentioned he had some traps i might be interested in; i must remember to speak with him later.
  I truly am blessed by The Hound. He has helped me out of so many situations with his masking shadows and darkness, and opened endless oppotunities to me.
 

[Arcanist]

I have discovered alot of new things recently, and been on several trips that provided an interesting experiance.
  I met two new people on my travels; a dark looking man named Czukay, and a priest named Father Logan - a toranite... yet another toranite.Quite a strange pair, but nevertheless opened an opportunity of great adventure to me (and Dervish, who was there also). They were to go on a trip tothe cavenear Direwood, which is ogre infested, but rich withgems. Czukay and Logan were both experianced travellers, and hadventured into these caves many times before. Czukay particularly liked fighting ogres, and he had obviously fought with them manytimes before, since heknew all their weaknesses.Logan was an expert at healing, andwas quick to patch us up if we were ever injured. I was rarely injured though, since i preferred to stay back in the shadows with my trusty crossbow, planting bolts inbetween their eyes when they least expected it. Occasionally i went up close with my rapier,but it was not worth it. The front liners, Czukay and Dervish, cut the ogres down before i had a chance. But on that trip i learned howtodelivermore deadly attacks on unexpecting enemies, and became a greater asset to the party.
  Around the middle of the cave, wefound the gems. Czukay and Logan quickly got to mining, butsuddenly we were ambushed by ogres!We were all seperated, and with there being an overwhelming amount of ogres, i stayed hiddenand crept to a safer part of the cave. I found Dervish there as well, but neither he ori had any idea where Logan and Czukay were. We decided to sneak out the cave, butogres blocked our way. We striked them swiftly, Dervish slashing at them with his two blades, and me shooting with my crossbow. Unfortunately, wewere not as successful as we had hoped. Dervish was struggling to parry the ogres' clubs, and eventually he took a nasty blow to the head anddied. The remainingtwo ogres ran at me with their clubsswinging, and i drew my rapier.I managed to avoid most of their blows, but after i managed to kill one of them, the remaining one ran at me and knocked me back against the wall, and continually wacked me in the chest. The last thing i felt was my blood gushing out of me, and my ribs being pounded out my back.
  And with one flashof light, i was back in hlint,buti was not whole. My soul had suffered from my death,and i needed to go back tothe site of my death. Luckily,Dervish's lady friend (i think) Kali came to help. Shewasan experiancedmage, and could cast spellsto aid us. There was also a Wemic who helped us,who was also a mage. The names of others that helped us escape my memory... but with the new party assembled webegan on the long trip back to the ogre cave.
  Once there,we reflected upon our deaths and became whole again. Dervish was eager to get revenge, and so was i, sowith the new party we rampaged through the caves and slayed as many ogres as we could. The ogres, however, proved to be a powerful force even against our now larger party. We cut through large amounts of them, but they just kept coming. We were allwounded andtired, so we hastilyheaded towards the exit of the cave... with ogres on our tail. We got to a narrow passage, and turned to face them.It was a hard battle, but withsome effort we defeated the ogres.
  Ihave learned lots from my experiances, and the Black Hounds shadows have helped me along the way. I still wonder where Father Logan and Czukay went, butif i find them i will be sure to try and adventure with them again.
  Let my acts be hidden in the shadows of the night, so that I may gain that which is rightfully mine.

[Arcanist]

Mysterious... i received an anonnymous letter. I will not write about its contents here... as it stated if i was to tell anyone of it they would find out, and the results would not be pleasant. Just to make sure no one else got hold of it, i burned it shortly after reading it.
  Anyway, to my adventures. A lot has happened recantly, and i will note the most interesting of adventures i have had. I recently travelled back to the ogre cave in velensk with Dulan, Jamesan, Karana, and a few others who's names i have forgotten. I was much more useful in this trip... my stealthing abilities had become much more effective, and i scouted ahead, finding out how many ogres were waiting for us. It was a magnificent feeling, when i was crouched silently in the shadows, and the mindless ogres just walked by without even noticing me. It was like i was a shadow, and the ogres had no clue i was there. With my information on the amounts of ogres and their positionings, our party easily defeated the hordes of ogres and took all their gold. The trip was an amazing success, and i am pleased that the shadows of The Hound surround me, and keep me from harm.
  After venturing into the caves with great success, we all headed to Velensk arena for some sparring. Firstly, Karana and Dulan duelled each other, which was an interesting fight indeed. Karana had the advantage on the strength side, with her mighty maul, however Dulan had thick armor and a blade which had some kind of electrical enhancement. It won Dulan the duel, even though it was very close. A later eddition to the party, Ketil the Dwarf, decided to duel me. It was a very tireing fight, and although i parried most of his hits, when he hit me, it was hard. I was sometimes knocked down, which was a disadvantage, since it left me open to attacks of all kind. In the end, I failed to avoid a swing from his blade and was defeated. I need to learn to be able touse the shadows more effectively, so that i may evade enemies and then take them by suprise. I also duelled another new addition to the party; Mizu. I succeeded on this one, he even summoned a mephit to aid him, but it retreated half way through the battle and it was one on one. We both had rapiers, and i managed to parry most of his attacks, he also parried most of mine, but i hit him in several pressure points and weakened him greatly. Eventually, i got a hit on his chest and won.
  I then duelled Karana... which did not turn out well for me. As soon as it started, she ran in and thumped me everywhere with her maul, and i was knocked over and defeated in a short time. I am now bruised and tired, and i am laying down my weapons for a bit. The letter i recieved interests me greatly... as it could give me a great opportunity that i would not want to miss... i will make sure i look into it further.

[Arcanist]

A mystery solved.
  I recieved yet another annoymous letter, telling me to go to Hlint sewers within 4 hours of recieving it, alone. Could i trust i would not have my throught slit open?! I decided to take the chance. I crept through the sewers and found a note lying next to a crack in the wall with an arrow on it - in the direction of the wall. It was a tight squeeze, but i got through, through into the secret roomof the Hlint sewers. And that was when it happened; as i brushed the dust from my clothes, a knife was placed to my neck. I thought for a second i was going to get my throught slit open, but i guess i was lucky. i was asked if i had come alone, and i truthfully answered that i had. The knife was removed from my neck. I turned to see an exotic woman, and who else? Dervish. As for the woman... i have only ever seen her wandering around, never met her. She was actually very attractive... apart from her teeth... which were numerous and pointy. I suspect she must have something strange in her family line, but i didn't ask. Everyone has bad features.
  They both went on to talk about the Shadow Theives; a guild that, according to them, neglects it's members, giving them jobs that are boring and offer poor pay. They wanted more, and more is good. Dervish explained how after travelling with me, he could see i was the kind of person that wanted more then just left overs... and he was correct, i don't settle for left overs, and among these people i felt i could openly admit it. So then they spoke of a new guild... one which didn't settle for left overs -and i was invited to join it. I knew if i was with them, i would be with them till i died, or till i retired. But this was a huge opportunity for me, and i had made my decision: i was with them. Thewoman introduced herself, name of Key, and then came the painful part... Dervishtook his blade and told me to hold out his hand, and as i shook Key's hand with my other, i noticed she had a long, nasty looking scar across her palm. I let go of her slender hand, and Dervish sliced across my palm with his blade. It hurt... but now it was definate. I had a place in the guild... and i am happy about it.
  Key had to leave, so Dervish filled me in on the plans of the guild... i won't go into details. But i am in, and a world of opportunity and riches awaits.I think this is probably one of the best decisions i have made in my life...
  I am truly blessed byTheBlack Hound.

[Arcanist]

  I finally got the head of that stupid goblin lately... with the help of Karana and Jamesan. In honesty, Karana killed the goblin... i sneaked along behind with my rapier, and struck only when i needed to, i tend to find that karana can handle things on her own. Anyway, once i had the blasted gobbo's head i handed it to Ronus and received my reward, which was a reasonable amount of wealth.
  And speaking of wealth, i found gold!!!
  I was walking back to hlint from fort llast, only to encounter dervish and kali... seem to be bloody tied together at the hip, those two, anyway, they were heading to dregar with the loom brothers and a few others... including an elf called glenn - pretty sure he was a ranger, vellucia - who has a deep hatred for everything it seems... especially me, some lass named rhynn - who looks likeshe hascelestial blood... i don't like celestials, but she didn't seem to be a goody-two-shoes paladin so i suppose i am alright, for now. Anyway, after sailing to hurm, we ventured into the outskirts where there lurked pirates... but i was fine as long as i stayed stealthy and took the enemy by suprise. Most of us just left the fighting to boon, he takes foes down pretty quickly. On this trip, voon didn't ignore my wounds and i was healed by himwhen hurt, quite useful, since as we got further into the outskirts we encountered a horde of half-ogres and ogres. I avoided their line of sight, and when they least expected, i jumped out and struck them hard, where it hurt, and fast.
  The interesting part of the trip was when we came to a cave full of ogres, and that was when we found it. We came to a vein of ore, and dervish claimed it was gold. I just cursed myselfbecause i didn't bring a mining pick. Glenn just took it all... but i was lucky; when we had got back to the entrance to the cave, glenn said he didn't want the gold! HA!! what a mindless fool!!! he gave it all to me and dervish... it would have been better if i had got all of it, but at least it was not a filthy noble who go the rest. And so, we headed back out the cave, and the gold was heavy, but worth it.
  At the exit of the cave, there were more ogres waiting to ambush us! It was quite a large horde, but like i always do, i just hid and waited for the opportunity to arise... but it was hard to fight, when weighed down with all that gold, so i mostly crept around in the shadows. It was a long and hard trip, back to hurm, but it was worth it... i have my golden nuggets in a safe place and just need to find a smelter to turn them into gold ingots. And i need to take a boat back to mistone...
  It was my first trip to dregar, and i don't like hurm much... the water is unclean, and the air has a foul smell on it, but i am sure there are more enjoyable places, i just need to explore a bit more.
  May The Wary Shadow hide my actions within darkness, as itakethat whichis rightfully mine.

[Arcanist]

Recent times have been hard... but rewarding. recently i travelled to dregar for the second time, with Dulan, Karana, Jamesan, Tegan, Shanda, and Quilis, but this time to Pranzis... where i found a temple to The Black Hound. I bound my soul to it's bindstone, and prayed that the shadows would hide me.
  We were eager to explore,and set out into the wilderness. The first group of foes we encounteredwas atribe of bugbears, and Karana suggested i scout out the area,which i did. I sneaked past thebugbears with such ease itwas amusing. They didn't notice me at all, and ifound a safe path through their territory right under their noses.But Dulan wanted to fight the bugbears, and to be honest, so did i. A group of them that large must have plundered an awful lot of gold, andi need gold...
  It was abattle won with relative ease; and i used my crossbowincredibly effectively. In fact, throughout the battle, i don't think thefools noticed me once. My prayer had payed off, i was shielded by shadows and safe from harm completely... untill wefound the next group of enemies...
  Giants. And huge giants. They took us by suprise, Tegan and Karana ran ahead and got ambushed. They came running back, bleedingterribly, andonce the giants caught up with them... they were dead. One by one,our party members were slain, after Karana and Tegan,Dulan was thrown aside, andafterDulan, Quilisfell. The front lines were gone... and i was standing on my own face to face with the giants. I had nowhere to go... i am a stealth expert, but how was i supposed to hide in the plain sight of the giant?!! I was filled with fear as the huge figure charged towards me, axe held up in the air. And with one deadly swing whichtore through meagonizingly, it was all over. I awoke from death next to The Hound's bindstone, and i cursed myself androared in rage. Whydid he let this happen?! How is it possible to evade the eyes of those that stare straight at me!!!?!I fell to the ground and wept... and that was when i realized what had happened.Branderback had let me die for a reason, and that reason was; that i cannot pray for protection and trust i will be protected. The only person i can trust is myself... and i cannot rely on others to protect me. The shadows are my place, and i have always felt something whenlurking within their welcoming darkness. Perhaps this feeling is them calling to me, and trying to give me guidance. I realize now that i must listen to them... andi will learn to use them to evade people's very sight, their verysenses.With thatability... there is no stopping me from taking what is rightfully mine.