Ramblings of a gnome

[Nyralotep]

Well I made it to Vehl....It's much smaller than Mariner's port so I set out to Port Hempstead.  Big city but a little to strict on the

rules to be much fun.

Anyway I got my first scimitar..made out of copper there.  The balance on this is incredible.  When I swing it feels like part of me.  I

need to practice doing hits on the more sensitive areas of my opponents, I think by doing this I may be able to end a battle before it

truly begins.  More practice...

I was able to kill a bunch of rats to find something that was clogging the pipes in Hempstead, but rats are just not good enough for more

than one hit.

Well, got to keep at it then.

[Nyralotep]

Well I've met a few other Gnomes, one of which didnt seem able to speak common.  I almost lost my patience with him but gave him a break since he's a Gnome.
 
 I managed to defeat some kobolds outside Hempstead and get a stick for that guard guy walking around Hempstead.  What a sucker, he actually gave me a bag that's useful for the stick I took from that winged thing the kobolds had in their camp.

 Anyway I was able to get some good hits in on the lizards...they are good at least for refining my technique with the scimitar and try new cuts on the vile lizards.  But fun can't last forever and the rest had ran away like most cowardly kobolds.

[Nyralotep]

Well....I have now learned a new skill...now I can hit all my opponents at once!  And my ability to target the necks of gobbos is working well!

Got some help and went into a cavern near Hlint and got a head from a big gobbo from there.  The fellow was a hooded one who used a sword but also appeared to use magic to enhance his abilities.  He was strong but not very adept at using the sword...maybe the price of magic is moving away from mastery of a sword and relying on magic to make the difference.

Well on to more practice on gobbos and lizards.....I think I'm getting close to a breakthrough!

[Nyralotep]

Killed some scarecrows earlier...those things seem to have no weakness to exploit with a scimitar.  Need to remember that.  Saved enough to get an Iron scimitar, funded by the cursed lizards and gobbies.  The balance is the same but it has a little more bite than the copper scimitar I had before.

I don't like birds....helped some guy find something from a cow of his that a big bird ate.  They have weak spots but you have to time it just right when they are close to the ground....

Back to practice....

[Nyralotep]

Was with Soigo looking around in the woods and we were able to help out a human named Mard.  He was sorely pressed by a maurading dwarf who was easily dispatched with my scimitar.

We then went together to practice on some kobolds.  Even surrounded by lizards I can spin and use the scimitar in a fashion where I hold it just slightly different and I was able to dispatch many of the lizards and not get hit myself.

Then we went after some kobolds and I was able to watch some of his sword work and saw how unrefined his attacks were...nothing more than just hacking at what he's hitting, occasionally getting in a lucky hit.  With my control I am able to score more hits that are devastating to my enemies.  All in all a good opportunity to compare styles and keep myself focused on my mastery of the scimitar!

[Nyralotep]

Not much time today so I spent it a room at the inn working on combination moves with the scimitar.  Not an easy task, I'll need to work at it, it involves quick cuts of the scimitar then reversing the path.  Accuracy here is the key to remember so I start out slow and bring up the pace as I move further into the routine.

Now it's time for some ale...

[Nyralotep]

Deadders......I dont like those things.  Traveling into the crypts in Vehl battling those deadders shows a waekness with the scimitar...one I shall keep in mind.  I tried many things with these but it just seems you have to hack the bodies or bones apart and that seems to break whatever magic seems to animate them.
 
 Good idea to bring one of those worshippers into places like this in the future.  Plus they seem rather easy to hit and fairly easily blocked, at least the ones I found there....
 
 Off to the inn I think for some drink....

[Nyralotep]

Helped out a fellow Gnome today.  There was someone named Riam who needed something from a beast in the nearby forest.  We took the quest and went forward.  At first....ugh...deaders.   I hate these things, there was even one the size of an ogre and hitting with a scimitar is hard.  The bones turn the blade at the last moment.  SO I changed tactics and went for the joints, beating them until they broke and the bones fell out.  A slow process to be certain.  Finally we fought through and found more deaders and a not deader creature.  About the size of an ogre.  He tried to cast spells but found it difficult as I used the same techniques I did on the ogres...go for the joints on the creature...this time it produced results far quicker and the beast laid at my feet in no time.  Then on the way out we were ambushed by more deaders........time for some ale........

[Nyralotep]

Up around Hlint this time..getting something from a creature that sounds like a floating light from the description of it.  He said it had something he needed and would pay if I could return it.  Talk about vague.

Looked around in the areas up by Hlint and found a swamp....infested with lizards who are begging to be laid to rest.  The ones are good amount larger than the ones near hempstead but seem to fall just as easy with no head left atop their body.  Fairly easy to do if you start low and bring them down to your level.

But the floating lights....dancing out of the path of the blade easily enough.  Took a while to time it just right with a few feints and then with a well planned upward swing.  Nobody said anything about there being more than one here.  Took quite some time to find enough of one to put in a bag.  Back now for the reward and some true...

[Nyralotep]

Today I spend my time in the arena, watching for those who want to prove themselves to others.  I would watch their techniques and compare it against  mine and find which one is the better and concentrate on that and forget the other.  Plus there some practice dummies there as I remember so I can keep busy and sober between matches.

Now just to stay away from the bar....

[Nyralotep]

Exploring the areas more and tried my skill against some of the mercenary camps near Vehl.  The Dwarves with their clumsy axes and the halflings with their clumsy attempts to try and flank me and stick a knife in my back.  These ones are easy enough to deal with.  With the Dwarves I find it easiest to simply time my attack to hit them as they are swinging the axe and bring the scimitar in on the inside of the swing and go for the hands or arms.  This way they cannot easily backswing the axe and the momentum of the swing is lost when they have a hard time holding the axe.  The halflings are easy enough to simply block with the blade and then attack straight into the holder of the blade they carry in one motion.  In any case the attack must be brought quickly and aggresively.  Some of them can even be brought off guard with screaming while attacking them.  Not much but every little thing will work.

The human and elf mercenaries in the camps are another matter.  I cannot allow them to even begin casting their cursed magics on me so I find myself having to rush them right away.  What would be nice to learn a way to knock them to the ground, they don't seem very well trained for combat anyway.   Something to investigate later.  

Also went deeper with a friend and we found trolls.   A cursed beast those things are, their wounds close very fast!  But they have many weak areas too!  They feel pain when you hit their weak areas and it seems to enrage them even more making other attacks more likely to succeed against the knees especially.  Against ones that are as tall as these it helps to go low and continue to go low becuase of their height they have to eventually stoop over to hit me and then hitting their vitals like their necks is so much easier.  Defensive techniques with these ones just don't work well so offensive techniques must be the rule.

We also found more lizards, these ones seemed to be the type that are smarter than most of the other lizards but fell just as easy as the other lizards did in the past.  And snakes too!  I dont like those....defensive technique is needed because they carry a potent venom that can lower my strength with each bite, I just have to time my hits to when they lunge to bite and then strike at the head, hopefully severing it.  By this time I had was bloodied well and needed to retreat to town again and lick my wounds before further explorations of the area.

[Nyralotep]

Met some new people earlier on near Hlint.  One was named Regidor...looked to be a goody two shoes palidan, or at least that's what the others said he was.  He used a big sword, looked bigger than I am.  It definitely looked like an unwieldy sword and as I would have expected he could appear to do little more than hack with it but he did it with such force it would force itself through armor.

Another one we met was Flynn who swung a sword but also could hold a tune in battle.  Nice one to have around...the songs make you feel better before a battle.  I could more better in a fight and could find the weak spots on enemies easier.  Need to see more of this one.

Also met two others Taric and Kenelm.  Taric himself used a sword while Kenelm used a crossbow.  Both appeared to be good in a battle and I would not mind being along with them again if fortune finds us together.

Together with Soigo all of us ventured into the Silkwood forest.  First we cleared out the insect life then ventured into the cave in the forest.  Inside we battled a good many stupid lizards who fell to my increased skill with the scimitar.  With them being the same height it's so much easier to find the weak spot of the lizard....it's head, and eliminate the problem.

Then we ventured deeper and found some sort of chicken that can literally freeze you in place and in fact did just that to me.  There were some ogres as well but they easily fell to the blade.  Eventually we came upon a giant forest dweller of some kind..someone said it was a renderer.  Very big but comes with knee caps!  Hit those just right a few times with my blade and they quickly come down to your level and we were able to quickly overcome it.  Deeper still we went and found an ogre dwelling.  Soigo was able to take the mage out of action and the beasts seemed to look for me for I was quickly surrounded.  Throwing caution to the wind I used the spinning attack I learned, jumped and spun and aimed for exposed throats of the ogres and found a few.  They nearly got me but we were able to defeat the lot of them.

Well off to the inn for some well deserved rest....

[Nyralotep]

Went looking into the swamps in Dapplegreen the other day with Soigo.  We were doing well taking on lizards and defeating them handily.  Then we found a larger group and I foolishly rushed in to the lot of them.  I thought I could hold them off using defensive blocks with the scimitar but I was instead handily defeated by the cursed lizards...enough to feel an actual tug on my very being and then woke up in Hempstead.

I need to concentrate more effort into bringing the attack to the enemy and defeating them quickly rather than fighting a defensive battle.  If I had taken the fight with all my ability rather than fighting defensively I might have overcome.  What I need is a move with the scimitar that is both offensive and defensive such as moving inside the swing of the opponent, preventing them slashing at me while using my blade inside of their guard.  Need to do some training with this and some testing on kobolds to verify it works.

[Nyralotep]

It does work!  At least amongst lizards so far.  Using an offensive strike as a defense move as well.  Now I will need to spend some time in the Valensk arena on the dummies and on other opponents to finesse it to working with other creatures of other sizes.  But I'm confident that it will help me in overcoming the rush of foes upon me.  Time now however for the inn and some rest....

[Nyralotep]

Been doing more training at the Valensk arena and I have been concentrating on blade control, keeping the blade steady and even throughout the entire attack routine and it is producing good results.  If the target is too tall I will aim for knees to bring the target down to a more normal level and continue with exact strokes designed to end the battle quickly and keep me alive.  The blade is becoming an extension of my hands and even during exhaustion I have been striving for accuracy and control rather than simply wild attacks and hoping to hit like many I have seen do when tired.  That I think is key to survival in a protracted battle.  Back to practice..

[Nyralotep]

Against the kobolds I think I have learned the most I can as to mastering my abilities against them.  The goblins I will need to continue to practice against.  Some of them in the cave near Hlint are well trained and are able to inflict good amounts of damage against those they are fighting.  I will strive to apply my techniques against them, I know I can defeat them but I need to defeat them more quickly then now....so I need to try different areas on them to find their weak area where I can easily maximize damage to them and put them on their backs all the faster.  Well then out to see how my studies have progressed since last I saw them.

[Nyralotep]

Had a chance to join a party of adventurers recently in the forest near Corax lake.  Lots of people there....I remember Shiff, Starr, Kalin and some others I cant recall just now.  We actually fought off what seemed to be a giant army coming into the forest.  We fought so long and hard that all of our arms were tired and shiff eventually fell to the onslaught.  It was a challenging time to be sure but much was learned in the use of the scimitar with giants!  I will need to keep my eyes open for these people again!