Tales of the Widowmaker

[Ellis]

Arrival

The Fort Hope guard has been my life for the past 4 years.  Loyal service in the guard was rewarded with a small chain of gold and a pat on the behind on your way out the door.  My friends still serve proudly on the guard but I needed something more exciting.  Then the dragon called upon me to help defeat Bloodstone's army.  Apparently it takes a dragon to identify the best archer in all the land because the chief of the guard in Fort Hope never made that distinction.  I'll show that guy.  The town guard didn't call me the widowmaker for nothing you know.

The meeting of Rell and the Fur Trader

Met some new people right after my arrival.  The best person I met by far is my "brother of the bow", Rell Tholt.  He's an archer too and even though his aim is not quite as perfect as mine he is a great person to travel with around the lands.  We hunted quite a few creatures and collected pelts for Johan the fur man.  We bagged some easy rats, bats, and badgers.  Then that nutty fur man wanted boar.  I asked an evil looking bard with a red spear named Ozymandias where to find boar and he pointed me to the forests West of Hlint.  Grabbing Rell, we headed out in search of boar and instead found spiders, beetles, and gnolls.  Remembering that Ozymandias said boar could be found by ogres we continued South into the forest until we found these chickens that turned me into stone.  Turns out, the ogres must keep these wild chickens as pets, because they were all over the place by the ogres.  After slaying some rather hard ogre brutes we entered a clearing and spied the object for which we came, a nice fat boar.  Unfortunately, we miscalculated the difficulty of these men that look like walking bushes and were quickly banished by them and their little dogs which also looked like walking bushes.  Rell ran around like a turn-you-to-stone chicken with his head cut off being chased by the bushes while I killed and skinned a couple of boar.  When I had the pelts, I told him to run like all-get-out and we high tailed it back into the ogres playground.  Fortunately for us someone that could actually hurt the bushes helped us out and killed them as we were hanging on to life by a mere thread and still bleeding.  I do not think that arrows could hurt the bush men, so next time I will just bring some flint and tinder and watch them burn.

Rell and I hunt for brown bear

When searching for brown bear to no avail, we rested at a campfire with a druid and a young lad.  Normally, she just ignores me so I quickly use her fire and leave but this time she spoke to me and told me to enjoy my nap.  I was in shock and wound up talking to her and a man named Barret Ashaley.  His father is called the bird lord and he has wings and can fly and everything.  After talking with Barret and Legodia the Druid Lady, me and Rell convinced them to sell us some brown bear pelts for 150 coin each and they did!  After offering the services of the two best archers in Hlint to them, we quickly returned to Hlint to give the pelts to Johan.  Spying the high quality of our pelts, he was greedy and wanted two more.  What an outrage.  Why couldn't he just tell us to bring two with us?  He gets some obscure pleasure from watching people hike all the way up to that forest past the griffons just to collect pelts for his sick wife.  I doubt he even has a wife.  In an uneventful trip, we found the next two bears and brought the pelts to Johan.  He made a nice cloak out of the original two, so I can't really complain all that much.

On the way back we met a paladin who was a real jerk.  I don't even want to write about it since it made me so angry.

Treana and Addison, my smelting slaves

When I visited that fur trader in the craft hall I was intrigued by all of the fancy machinery and people working on crafts.  Since I had 2 nuggets of copper on me and they weigh a ton I decided to get them melted down into ingots.  Nervously walking over to the forge, I placed the nuggets on the tray to slide them into the device and a dwarf yelled at me that I needed a license to melt metal.  Outraged, I spotted the blue haired woman sewing some boots on a nearby table.  It turns out that I need a badge from the craft vendor in order to use the craft hall.  She refused to lend me hers for a few minutes and then she had the nerve to ask for coin in order to melt it for me into ingots.  The blue haired lady is named Treana and I delivered my speech about the widowmaker and my bow symphony.  Unfortunately, she did not recognize the power I weild with the bow, even though I recalled that she witnessed it's incredible display of power just days earlier in the Moors East of Hlint.

Later, I found a woman named Addison melting some weird metal I have never heard of called platty and she melted the copper for me for free.  I brought her more later and she did it again for free!  I will never need one of those badges as long as I keep them around.  They are too expensive anyway.

Triba tells me to get decent clothes

One nice lady I met was named Triba and she was a halfling.  She must be real convincing, because she persuaded the pawn broker to buy my old hickory bow for a lot more coin than he offered me initially.  Mocking my beautiful brown armor, she told me to get some decent clothes with the money she gave me, so I bought some clothes from the tailor vendor in Hlint and had them made into a beautiful black and red outfit to make me look like a black widow spider.  A black widow spider kind of has the same effect as being a widowmaker since they both use the word widow in them!  I also met a girl named Tilda, AnnaLee, and Eld.  Eld is some sort of magic weaver and Anna sings and tells tales.  Tilda is a paladin.  Anyway, they were nice and sat around and talked with me for a little while, even interested in my Fort Hope stories.

Kyle teaches me how to make arrows

Kyle looks like a paladin but isn't.  He carries a curved sword called a Katana.  Personally, a lot more people should carry swords because they do not have the skills required to weild such a powerful weapon as symphony, my longbow.  Some elf was making fun of symphony because it was not a bow of the hunter.  I corrected him and told him it was a bow of the hunter - ME.  I hunt things all the time.  Then he went on to yammer about how mahogany is better than oak and yew is better than mahogany.  Such nonsense.

Anyway, Kyle took me to the cave in Seilwood where me and Rell found that bard's necklace to collect some feathers from red bats and copper for arrowheads.  He then pointed me towards the clay deposits East of the city and made me dig some big clumps.  I caved in and bought that badge finally but I still plan to use my smelting slave so I don't waste any of the metal in the forge.  Finally, he took me North of Hlint and we gathered some hickory for wood shafts.  With my carpentry tools, I cut the wood into shafts for arrows and baked the clay into molds for arrowheads.  More metal is required and when I collect that he will teach me how to make the arrowheads in the furnace and assemble the arrows.

Buying things to make me even better than I already am

Kyle sold me a nice copper chain shirt and said he could make an iron one for me when I am ready.  This should be a bit more pricey than the copper one, so I have already started saving up the coin needed.  Lia sold me a nice ring too which drained my bank account but made me even more graceful than I already am in battle.  Soon even more people and critters shall hear symphony's oak song of death.

[Ellis]

Namesakes

I met a former arch bard named Ozymandias, the same fellow which pointed out where to find boar, in Hlint the other day.  He was standing around coughing up blood and really did not look so well.  When I reintroduced myself as the widowmaker, he mentioned that several other people with my name would not appreciate calling myself that without the statistics to back it up.  Apparently there are a few assassin organizations that use my nickname as an important status title to show all of their accomplishments.  Whatever.

Fairy Tales, Demons, and Devils

The underdark is a myth.  It is a place that parents tell their children they will be sent to if they don't behave.  That's what my father did anyway.  Master Ozymandias told me he'd drop me off there to prove it's real.  I have a better chance of growing wings like the Bird Lord then ever seeing the underdark.

Demons and devils don't like each other and if you call a devil a demon it will get mad and most likely kill you.  Maybe they exist and Ozy said he's married or engaged to one, I can't remember.  She is supposed to have wings of black feathers and radiate evil.  Sounds like a real charmer.

Arrow Making and my New Tinker

Today I made some of the finest arrows that were ever created.  They have copper tips, hickory shafts, and tails made of stirge feathers.  They are a much better than those ones they sell at the shops here and quite possibly the best arrows that anyone owns in all of Hlint.  I will soon be a master fletcher.

I had Treana make me some arrowhead molds.  She must be a terrible mold maker and tinker because when I went to make arrowheads all I got was some mangled copper.  I am going to demand a refund for the exorbinant amount of gold I had to pay her for the molds.  And to think I was going to let her make molds for me all the time.  I am way better off making them myself.

[Ellis]

New Friends

I met a nice gal named Ellena.  I almost had to kill her, but instead was stopped by a group of people with whom I was travelling.  It was the right thing to do after the werewolf bit her and the party instead chose to bring her along and leave me behind with the mage.  I finally apologized to her for nearly ending her life and I think she has accepted it as what I thought needed to be done.  I like spending time with her and helped her buy a nice set of armor to protect herself a bit more than the scraps of leather she was wearing when we first met that day in Hempstead.

Arrowmaking is Boring
I hate making arrows.  It takes forever and I wind up breaking most of them anyway on the bench.  I'm not wasting my time with that anymore unless I find a tinker to make me arrowheads.  Maybe I will go find my old smelting and tinkering slaves Treana and Addison.  I am so sick of digging the clay, plucking the feathers, chopping the wood, mining the ore, shaping the wood, baking the clay, smelting the ore, molding the arrowheads, and putting all that junk together.  Noone else has to work this hard so I won't either.

New Bow
I finally can use the new bow I bought about 10 years ago.  She is made of the finest oak and has beautiful platinum cams on each end.  I put Symphony safely in my bank vault.  My new bow's name is Samnya and was given to her by Ellena.  It means something in elven, I am not sure of the direct translation, but who cares, it sounds nice.

[Ellis]

The Shadows

The shadows have been calling to me for the past few months.  I feel a strange pull to be a part of them when I am out adventuring.  When I mentioned it to Lance and Randi, they said that sometimes the shadows choose people to call.  Then a guy named Brian told me that shadows were evil but I don't believe it since my shadow is so friendly and is always sweet when it speaks to me.

The Cure

I can't wait for those healers to finally get together and cure Ellena.  Since I posted that notice months ago, I have yet to get any confirmation from when they are available.  It isn't like someone is dying here.  Oh wait, yes she is dying.  Our room at the arms is kept dark to allow her to rest all the time and remain calm.  It may get bad when the full moon comes back.

[Ellis]

Ellena is Dead and I Have Been Evicted

One day when I returned to the arms Ellena wasn't there.  The bed was made nicely and her small amount of belongings were taken away.  After not seeing her for several weeks I can only assume the worst... she is off killing innocent people in her werewolf form.  Oh well.  If I come across her I will put a silver arrow into her heart and end her pain.

Following that, I allowed Jaelle to move in with me.  What a mistake that was... I lost her as a friend, one of the few I had to begin with...  Anyway, after giving her a key, Kali found out, realized I was behind on rent and sent her little pet attack dog Hardragh to collect.  With a few choice words at Corax, I reported seeing him with Jaelle at the lake (an event I did not realize was so sensitive at the time) and moved out.

I received a letter from Kali (which was much nicer than the venomous speech Hardragh gave when trying to collect back rent) and it made me feel sad.  I returned to the arms during normal business hours, apologized to Kali, and won their lottery.  I guess I got my back rent returned!

To Hell with the Shadows

I now ignore the shadows, as they seem to bother lots of people in the lands and call to them.  It makes me feel less special.  It still amuses me to watch these called ones 'duck into shadows' in the middle of open fields at noon under the blazing sun.  Ever since I found the ring that gives me true seeing all the time, the shadows leave me alone anyway.

Seeking New Improved Friends

I was killed by a giant blue dragon behind a locked door in a cave due to the actions of others.  I shall not return to that place again.  So, seeking riches and nicer gemstones, I dragged a few people to the Great Rift.  They ran at the first sign of giants after Malkor died.  I need to find some new friends.

The Skills of a Rogue

I have been fortunate to find some training in the skills required to be a shadier sort of character.  Apparently just being the finest female archer in Greater Mistone is not good enough, so I am broadening my horizons.  I already practice sneaking about and attacking from the shadows with my longbow and shortswords, now it is time to learn some lockpicking skills so I can stop relying on Syton, the boy wonder, to open doors and remove traps.  My extreme catlike reflexes already do wonders while rolling about in combat!

[Ellis]

The Golden Archer of Ilsare

I have finally decided to dedicate myself towards a religion.  Since none of my relationships have ever worked out, I figure a divine relationship cannot fail.  After months of research and deciding I would never worship the same goddess as Syton, I found one that is perfect for me.

Ilsare is an Archer.  I am an archer.
Ilsare likes nice stuff.  I like nice stuff.
Ilsare is full of love.  I have a lot of love to give.
Ilsare appreciates beauty.  I am beautiful.

It's perfect.

[Ellis]

Top 5 Reasons I Hate Syton, but have to Love him because Ilsare says so

1.  He follows Beryl.  Beryl is alright and all, and Ilsare thinks Beryl is alright too since they are friendly with one another, but their relationship could be better.  Just like mine and Syton's.  I am friendly, but certainly not allied.

2.  He doesn't use a bow.  Ilsare would want Syton to use a bow.  Beryl lets him use a ridiculous ball on a stick.  Save the hand to hand combat for Voraxians.  I'll be picking off my targets at range and hopefully missing Syton.  If one or two arrows stray, he can just heal himself anyway, so who really cares actually.

3.  He wears purple clothing.  It looks horrible on me.

4.  He is a two-timing womanizer.  He looks at other women way too much when he should only be looking at me.  Ilsare tells us all to appreciate beauty, but I don't appreciate his eyes wandering to things other than my beauty.  I think I may have to poke his eyes out.

5.   He doesn't give me enough nice stuff.  Ilsare tells me to acquire beautiful items of all sorts, and encourage, sponsor, and protect those who create them.  I need a new bow and some rings.  And a new dress or some supple armor wouldn't be too bad either.