Taric Calahan - The Beige Book

[XBlade]

The first steps away from home

*Comfortably sat by the local pond near Port Hempstead, he gets out a quill, some ink and ponders on some thoughts, before he starts writing*

I feel independent now. Away from my parents I decided to go to the local square and socialise with other people I thought were to be adventurers. With no one being there I decided to head over to the local Inns and place up a poster.

After a few hours, someone had responded, a woman covered in black named Kinai, I was delighted to read such things and began to search around town for her. I visted the square and sat down for a moment, then I noticed a woman in black gracefully walking over to the drinking fountain.

"Excuse me, but are you Kinai?"

She was, she seemed such a warm person and we chatted for a while, I asked about a job she offered. She suggested I do "Trenty's quest", in which I had to recover a magical stick from one of the kobalts. We headed out, she weilded a red odd-shaped blade and a shield, I felt a bit embarrased just weilding my dagger alone. I was nervous and excited at the same time.

When we got to the camp, there were kobalts everywhere, I tried to approach them quietly, but I don't think weilding a torch helped or wearing bright clothes. Kinai mainly did the killing, but I did a few attacks which was the finishing blow. We managed to find the stick, returned back to the city and part ways, Kinai had some other things to do, but I had learnt so much. Upon giving the stick to the captain, I headed back outside the city and noticed a blue elf, and a male human talking to one another. I approached them, but mainly fasinated by the blue elf. She seemed to like water, a very kind woman, I believe her name was Aurora. The male man I found out later to be called Ron. I questioned what she was, but I felt rude, I thought some sort of festival was on. Ron then explained to me, when Aurora left that she was a sea elf, water-living elves! How interesting...

I had another quest to do, I had to enter the sewers and find a pipe clogger, I asked if Ron would like to come with me, he agreed and we headed back into the city for some supplies. We walked inside the Deliar temple, withdrew some trues and entered the shop. Only to be welcomed by the occasional pie being thrown about and halflings urging to sell their goods. Ron suggested I should buy a shield and light leather armour. I bought the shield, a small copper one, and placed the light leather in my bag, I thought I'll try it on later.

Wow the smell was overwhealming, we got to the sewers and headed inside. Ron pulled out a longsword and a large shield, I just equipped my dagger and shield, I felt comfortable with that for the moment. We battled our way in easily, found the pipe clogger and slayed it. I grabbed it's necklace, gave back to the sewer keeper (Who then told me to bugger off) and then Ron left.

Great, I was on my own again. I headed to the Inn, had a warm bath and a rest, then headed back into the city to look for another, hopefully, friend. I met an elf who's name escapes me (Began with A, A'war...something). He told me he only arrived to the city, so I gave him a tour of the areas I knew. We encountered the sewers and the elf wanted to head into the sewers to fight off another pipe clogger. Confident in my abilities with my small shield and dagger, we headed in. He was strong with his bow, I was quick with my dagger, but we failed our task, and one of the fish men slashed me across the face, then stabbed me in the stomach and I fell, I was bleeding everywhere. My blurred vision slowly watched the elf die as well, I began to feel cold and light headed. I slipped out of consciousness.

After a time of darkness, I regained my consciousness and I was still where I fell, I got up and tried to run for it, only to slip on some muck. Falling with a thud rats began to bite at me next thing I knew I felt I was departing from my body.

I appeared in the city once again, next to some sort of soul stone. I noticed the elf nearby, but he looked fine, I guess death doesn't affect us that easily...strange how we revived like that.

I approached him and we discussed how we should wait for more people, we sat and talked, I found out a bit about him then I suggested he should teach me something about duel weilding, and I shall teach him something about defending. We headed outside to the local pond, he taught me how to attack with two weapons!

"Place your left blade forward, in a defensive stance. Lean forward, a bit more...then thrust with your right blade, whilst moving your right foot, and bring your body weight forward onto your right foot, that gives more power"

I felt like a path had opened up for me, interesting, I think I'll experiment with two daggers and see how it goes...But I may have to get rid of my shield...

My true path lies with something greater, I'll try out a short sword, a larger shield and duel weild two daggers...I'll see where that takes me...

[XBlade]

The -Offical- first adventure

*A light stream dribbles by, his book is brought out once again with some ink and quill. Sat with the grass and an apple tree on his back, he begins to scribble.*

I've met quite a few folks, Hotaru was the first, a halfling with a good sense of humor. I sometimes ventured into the crypts with him to collect boxes of knuckles to sell. We then wandered back to Port Hempstead, and found two other people who was probably round our skill level. They were two gentlemen named Dardo and Wrythe. Dardo is a nice man whilst Wrythe I feel is a tad on the ruder side, but I don't know him that well. Together we went to see if the kobolds were at home, upon discovering none were there, we attacked some bandits and took their purses for our good use. I decided at this point to try out a new sword, the rapier. By the Gods it feels right in my hand, I shall practice with it some, but I feel this is most probably my true blade.
Hotaru and Wrythe had to leave, so Dardo and myself headed back to the city, to encounter a group of friendly people by the local pond. I offered if anyone wanted to purchase some skeleton knuckles - They all declined it unfortiantly, but a nice young elf suggested that I should see a young priest or priestess in Hlint, and see if I can exchange them for coins.
Our group traveled to Hlint, to find an empty sweet little village, but the priestess wasn't there. It was a tiring journey and I decided to head in for some rest.

The next day was most exciting.
I traveled to storm crest, were some people were sitting on logs. I sat with them for a while, to catch my breath, I felt it had been a long walk from Hlint and I was heading to Vehl. Other people approached, and became quite a gathering. Then a merchant appeared, he called for a group of heros (myself and others of course) to help him slaughter some orcs that had infected an underground cavern. We accepted this quest, with some suspicians, and a promise of a reward of 6,000 trues. We headed to Farmer Part's house, we were told it was opposite over the river. We interviewed farmer Part with out much success, he didn't know alot about what was happening across the river. So we ventured across the bridge with caution and eyes peeled for orcs, none thankfully came. We approached the next farm to find a large tunnel had been dug, wide enough for a human to fit through easily. Kinai and Brian set down the hole, each with a cats grace. After some discussion I entered the farm with Hotaru to search for any clues, we only found various boxes being packed up, as if to suggest the inhabitants are moving away.

I then decided to head down into the human-sized-hole myself, I tried to mimic what the other two had done entering the whole, only to slip and tumble deeper into the hole with a thud, I only managed to damage my knee slightly but was fine. The others joined me and I dared not to move, Kinai and Brain where no where in sight. We cautiously set forward, two orcs were taken down, the suggestion of talking to them was told, a trap was sprung. We grabbed an orc and pinned it down before it could get away. Many complicated questions were asked with long words, the orc looked confused. I became the translator and "dumbed it down" a bit, this conversation went on for some time...until I asked...

"Yoo gots boss?"
"Yes, Big boss!"
"Orc?"
"Yes big orc! I gos gets him!"

The orc leader appeared before us, a large humanoid with a threatening aura about him. We asked about farmer Crage, who owned the farm on the surface, we offered the orc "yum yums" in exchange of peace for not entering the surface again, we all assumed they had raided the farm upstairs, but the orc explained how he got "yum yums" from Mrs Crage.
Up the whole we went, then Sarsha discovered something, she suggested how could large orcs get through this hole? It then hit us, it felt like a set up and instantly rushed back to the person who gave us the quest in the first place. Before anyone could speak, I lied and told him the orcs were slain, he seemed happy and suprised, and gave us the reward money. I wanted some sort of compensation for the hassle my group went through!
The merchant explained everything, he said that he set us up (through tears of sadness and fear) so the orcs could be killed off. He bought the Crage's farm cheaply, hearing that gold could be mined there. I then headed back to Port Hempstead for a well deserved rest.

My true path does lie with a rapier...I'll try out an even bigger shield (Tower maybe?) and explore this duelwielding buisness, I feel something is there for me in duel weilding...

[XBlade]

BANG!

*He chuckles to himself as he writes the title, and looks down at an orange bottle that glowed. Alchemist's fire. He chuckes it up and catches it in his hands, then places it on the bench he's sat on.*

Finally found an alchemist! Gohlin or what's his name. I was sat around the Stormcrest crossroads near the campfire, I had to rest after a long journey. The red beared, matching clothed dwarf was there too. We chatted for a short time and I found out he was an alchemist. He took me to the Fort Vehl wizard's tower!
I began to poor my beetle bellies inside a bowl I thought you should mix it in. I later discovered it was an enchanting bowl, with great embarrasment and excitement I went over to the alchemy table to prepare my ingredients. I put the glass under a thingy and put the fire beetle belly in a large pot. Gohlin instructed me to head it up gently, but impatient I am set the flame onto full blast. I noticed the red dwarf take a few steps back of caution, he was right...

BANG!

Beetle insides flew everywhere, getting all over my near coat, all over the floor and on the ceiling. The dwarf behind me chuckled, I grinned to myself, but then quickly got rid of some juice that was about to enter my mouth, urgh. I attempted several more times, with the fire beetle bellies and the acid ones too. Then came the stink glands...I did the foolish thing of squeesing them, a green gas cloud appeared from it and polluted the room. I had to cough and cover my mouth. Gohlin taught me how to take it's essance and place it in a bag, but I failed this sadly.
With some new skills in hand, Gohlin and I ventured, by boat, to Port Marinia. We headed outside to find a group of beetles waiting to be slain. We took them all out, Luna was with us too (She met us in the port). I took out the bellies with my cutting knife, thanked Gohlin and he took his leave. I excitedly ran to the wizard tower near Farmer Part with Luna, and attempted to make some alchemist's fire.

BANG!
BANG!
BA- Oh wait no, success this time! A perfect small bottle of orange liquid! Fantastic!

I decided to take a rest at the port.

Next day, I headed to Fort Vehl. I was alone so I decided to head to the crypts to raise some coins, I was with Luna again, and Ron this time. Luna had fallen and became all see-through, she wanted her grave back. Luna sensed someone head into the crypts before we entered, I just assumed it was a spirit.
Everything went well and cool, before we approached the mummy in the deepest part of the crypt, Randi appeared before us, with Yolan - A man I met the other day. They helped us defeat the mummy. We then ventured to Gloom woods for a bit more adventuring.

The day after that, I did some more alchemy, gathered more mushrooms and walnuts. I'm starting to really get the hang of how to make Alchemist's fire. But I should seek out Omer to be shown how to make other things, such as healing potions...Light healing potions would be best to start with.
I went to Stormcrest for a rest, and to see if anyone was there. A nice young elvan lady by the name of Beil was there. She told me she was a horrible person, with an additional giggle. I didn't really sense that she was a horrible person. I tended to my wounds and we chatted for a while. Brian came along too some time later on. They displayed intamacy and seemed to be a couple. We talked about the black skies, good, evil and my farmer boy clothes. Then we saw some people approach in the distance, including a good friend of mine, Ron along with lady red robe and some sort of holy men. They were going to the Dragon isles to hunt dragons, well that's what they said. So I headed along and followed them. We took a boat from vehl, fought treants, bears, small ogre-men, large beasts, a baby dragon and some minotaurs (Strange cow-like beasts). It went quite fast, I only could really shoot with my longbow, I felt too afraid to really run into combat and use my true skills. Whilst in some caves, I managed to talk to Omer for a while. He was a quite elf covered in white, I couldn't make out his face because it was covered by a large plate-type-hat. I wanted to ask him to teach me how to make light healing potions...he told me to look for Jako and Ferrit...my next task to become an better alchemist!

With the use of a shortbow I changed to a longbow, I will only use that when I need to shoot from long distances. I'm practicing to use my rapier and a short sword in duel wielding combat...but I need to be truely shown how to use two rapiers in combat, maybe purple will show me. A shield will only be used when underattack by many forces, but do not try to sneak with it...Test further with duel weilding -- that is where my true path lies...find someone Taric.

[XBlade]

Two at a time

*Boots squelch on wet mud, whirling, rapier and short sword back in their homes, quill whipped out, scribbes*

Been a while since I updated this, I'll try and remember what I can...

I think the furthest back is the trip I organised, the Exploration beyond Port Hempstead group...Yes that's it.
A large group assembled at Storm Crest, a little too big for my liking, it really tested my leadership skills. We headed to the Gloom woods and the swamps, people were in all sorts of directions, it was hard to keep compact. It all went wrong at the swamps, Brain went ahead to scout but the fool failed to spot weird swamp riders so we were ambushed from behind, someone fell. People started to place the blame on me for not having a guard at the back...something I never really thought about...I'm not exactly infalliable but I believe it was all of Brain's fault. The fool.

I ventured around quite alot with Purple, Luna and Shinrei...though I don't like Shinrei's dog really, the helldog called Kain, tend to mark alot. I've practiced more alchemy and dabbled in some tinkering too.

Oh, I've been hunting down some sort of beast too, it terrified me but I just kept telling myself to be calm and in control. Darkness flooded everywhere, our group followed this beast to a hole where we decided to head in. I heard there were three of them. Spiders flooded the cave, I was poisoned by strength was drained so I struggled to carry my stuff. The beast chased us, so I tried to run to the rope and almost fell, I took two blows from the beast...Two blows and it nearly killed me...
We covered up the hole after a second trip, clerics and mages cast spells into the holes, in which it sealed up. Then a strange creature appeared with a string of monster heads, which looked like the beast's head. He didn't understand us so we resorted to sign language. The group thought that we need to use some sort of divine magic to banish them, and only ambush them in the day light as it is their weakness.

The Smash 'n' Bash contest didn't go to well, I got the times mixed up, I best sort that out. But Purple managed to teach me some duel weilding moves...Like to counter with your offhand and mainly attack with your main hand. Also to take more of a side stance to your enemy then face head on. i want him to teach me some more.

I hope that's everything, I'll add more if I've forgotten anything.

Continue using the short sword and rapier as duel wielding, only really change to two rapiers when you feel truely ready. Try and land some perfect finishing strikes on your enemies!

[XBlade]

New things

*With his hood up, he huddles under a tree near Fort Vehl, rain drips everywhere, he tries his best to write whilst fighting the elements*

Cursed weather!
Raining never really made me feel happy.
I've been progressing well in alchemy, I have lots of alchemist's fire and become quite competent in the creation of them, maybe I should teach someone who wants to learn alchemy. Moraken stopped me before I left the wizard tower near Hlint, he handed me a scroll and two pieces of paper, he suggests I should start making bark skin potions! How exciting! I don't even know what it does but still...it's exciting!
The scroll explained I need essance of a bark and a flask. The pieces of paper had text describing the ingredients I needed.
I have to collect several things from several areas.
*He lists them below with locations, the word "Hazelnut" has a tick next to it*
I've got the hazelnuts so far, I now have to head to the desert to find the other materials. I've had the assistance of Luna, Ron and Purple.
Oh Luna, I've done such a stupid thing. I got a bit annoyed with her and got my rage the better of me, she always casts her flame spells everywhere, someone could get hurt. She cast a flame cone towards Ron, I uncontrolablly (I think) got my rapier out and had her at the throat, she looked terrified, I must have been very intimidating. I should apologise for my stupid actions, she is a good person after all.

During my battles I have been doing what seems to be perfect finishing strikes on my enemies, I should try and continue with that. Still practice duel wielding and practice trying to knock down your enemies so you can get a few sneaky attacks in. Unfair but it makes you live at the end of the day.