Journal: Dryxalis Mistdancer

[Vincent]

This marks my first week completely on my own.  I arrived in Hlint today.  The first order of business has been to find work and a place to sleep.  At the town's inn, I met upon the town's undertaker, named Erag.  Seeing as I had little other applicable skills at the moment, I took up his request to seek a 'Darksoul's Essence', and made my way to the crypts.

I was surprised to see so many undead once inside.  So many skeletons!  I had just expected silent rooms filled with dust and graves.  It makes the stomach churn to see rot reanimated like that.  On my first trip in, I managed to return five of them to rest, before escaping from the sixth.  Thank goodness for the footwork principles mother taught me, or I'd have met my maker by now.  They seem especially useful when facing multiple foes, as these skeletons are apt to do.

It appeared that I was not strong enough to face all of these undead, but I noticed that they are all very slow.  And, the desire not to starve is a powerful one.  So, in a stroke of genius (or perhaps insanity), I sprinted the entirety of the crypts, seeking this Darksoul Erag mentioned.  I was equipped with several vials of Holy Water, and had planned to perhaps challenge this Darksoul alone or at the very least get the lay of the crypts for later.  It went according to plan for the first few minutes.  There were simply too many of them, and I had to run right back out.

The experience was tiring, not to mention stressful, so I rested a bit by fishing (and thus also earning my meals for the next several days).  I was ready to give up on Erag's job just as an odd dwarf stumbled upon me and enchanted me with several beneficial magics, and told me to "go bash now".

Well I'd be a fool to waste this opportunity, so I ran over to the crypts again.  In a fight with one of the skeletons, I accidentally dropped my rapier, and in desperation I ended up bashing the thing with my fishing rod... it actually worked much better.

The enchantments were working well for me, so I made my way from memory down to the second level, where I stumbled upon a cleric woman being chased by a ghoul.  I smote it with my fishing rod, enhanced as I was with the dwarf's magic.  She revealed her name to be Vivian Elishan, and had managed to recover this essence that I was on my way to retrieve, and having saved her, she offered that we should return the essence to Erag together.

I'd have been a fool not to accept.  My enchantments had begun to wear off, as well, and I knew that without the magic I would not stand a chance.  So I accepted.  I had run by several skeletons on the first level, and so I warned her of this, preparing to fight our way back out.  But she assured me there was no problem.  We went up, and she uttered a prayer.  All of the skeletons that surrounded us were annihiliated instantly.  I didn't know clerics had such power!  She took care of them much more efficiently than I ever could have.

We were moving out when we met Kane de Bohun.  He seemed a strong warrior, and helped escort us out of the crypts, although I daresay Vivian with her divine magic probably could have taken care of everything.  Nevertheless, we were grateful.

We talked with Erag a bit, and he rewarded me with 200 gold coins, then Vivian and I parted ways.  I'm sure I'll see her again.

Afterwards, I went fishing.

There's gotta be an easier way to earn a living than this.

[Vincent]

Well, with no money, I had to sleep under the stars last night.  Luckily there was a pond in which I could bathe, and the townspeople don't say much about me sleeping on the grass.  I did see an interesting inscription on a small rock in town while I slept.  It said, "Two arrows pierce the dead man's back."  That would be a really catchy name for a weapon, I think.

Today, I met Florah, an accountant.  She asked me to trudge through the sewers to recover some tax records for her.  Should be pretty easy, I thought.  I was bolstered from my experience in the crypts, and I figured a few rats here and there shouldn't be too hard to handle.

There weren't merely 'a few'.  There was a veritable horde.  Florah had mentioned a 'rat man' who had the records.  I had assumed she meant some crazy person who lived with the rats, and I was yet wrong again.  This 'rat man' was literally a giant talking rat.  And he attacked.  Again I thank mother's swordplay lessions.  She taught me to bide my time and look for an opening, to always seek to defend myself first and then attack second.  It only takes one or two critical strikes to take down an opponent.  Her techniques, coupled with a curative draught that I purchased from Clarise, I believe her name was, helped me to defeat this rat thing and his horde of rats.  I really would rather have talked with him, but he simply attacked me.  I was never given the chance to negotiate.

I slipped out of the sewers through a hole in one of the walls, and ended up again in the Wild Surge Inn.  All the money I'd accrued up to this point had been spent on defending myself with armor and weaponry and curing myself with healing draughts, so needless to say I was having more money troubles.

I used the reward money from Florah in an attempt to learn how to become a tailor.  I had so many rat hides from the excursion, and I seem to have something of a knack for it.  I didn't realize tailoring was so expensive!  With my money, I could barely afford the salt and the acid I needed to cure but two of the hides I had skinned.  Perhaps there is a cheaper way while I stumble through my learning curve.

Ah well.  I think tomorrow I'll try to find those goblin ears for the Quartermaster.  I went out a little bit in the afternoon and accidentally stumbled upon a camp, with several of the scouts the quartermaster mentioned.  In what seems to be a trend, they overwhelmed me with numbers.  I barely escaped with my life, though I did take down a good three or four of them before having to run away.  Thank Lucinda and Ilsare for healing draughts.

[Vincent]

Things were a little different this week.  I was aimlessly milling about Hlint, and came upon that dwarf again.  He turned out to be a cleric named Gloin, and asked me if I wanted to take a short trip.  I thought why not, and agreed.  We were to head to the Sielwod Forest to collect certain materials of his.  It was... interesting.

The way there was fraught with danger.  We battled ogres, spiders, and cockatrices... rather, he did and I mostly watched, though I was able to contribute in a small part a few times, thanks to opportunism and several magics he had enchanted me with.  Oh, but he was powerful.  Not once, but thrice, he uttered something divine and a horde of ogres were stunned or were annihilated immediately.  I was awestruck.

We went further on, into the Broken Forest, where he showed me a grave (cursed, he said), and where we had to defend ourselves from a score of zombie-like things.  It was quite amazing to watch him, the 4-foot or so cuisinart ripping everything in sight to shreds.  In the forest, he called upon a dwarf by the name of 'Pete'.  I tried to have a conversation with the fellow but he wasn't much for words.

We continued to Fort Hope, and I was introduced to two more dwarves, Dorax and Berdin, who joined with us.  Berdin said something I didn't quite understand, "Pohurk'ah Knurar", whatever that means.  The man Berdin also implied that Gloin told me where to find him... I'm not sure what he's talking about, though.  We also found some of Gloin's regular traveling companions (I assume) there.  A man named Kaizer, who traveled along with several others including a man with a neat glowing staff and white hair, talked about his wedding eight days hence.

We tarried a while, then traveled to the outskirts.  Dorax stayed behind to gather a few things.  At the outskirts, we battled a hive of giant ants.  Watching the way those dwarves brisquely evaded and danced about in their short, clipped way made me realize that I have a thing or two to learn about body movement.  As for me, all I could do was hide behind a shield and throw axes.  I shall have to practice a little bit of what I saw tomorrow, after my legs feel a bit better.

Shortly after an ogre wielding a gargantuan maul came running up to us.  I prepared to defend ourselves, just as we had previously, but surprisingly, he simply asked where he might find a good maul.  It appears he knew of Gloin and his (unbeknownst to me) reputation as a master smith.  And he was... nonviolent.  We later found that his name was Dargo.  He was with a ranger named Lushen, who had a Boar for a pet.

We made camp then.  After we woke, I decided I had to return back to Hlint.  Seeing the countryside was nice, but I'm not quite ready for the vagrant lifestyle just yet.  Gloin understood, and we parted ways.

But then I had to get back, alone.  There was much running and fleeing.  Nevertheless, I made it, and I feel a bit stronger and more knowledgeable for it.

[Vincent]

This week.  A mage by the name of Vindel offered to help me with the Hlint Wagonmaster's request to remove the area of the Red Light Goblins.  I accepted, and we completed the task.  Man, did he like those fireballs.  Can't say I blame him, though.  The wagonmaster gave me some nice boots as a reward.  Afterwards, he helped me again, seeking a Wisp's Essence for the wizard in Llast.  Afterwards, we parted ways, as I decided to rummage through my scrolls again and study up on some magic (which I haven't done for a while.)

--- (This is written several days later.)

Well, I just had another interesting few days.  I tried to deliver a letter to some farmer in Fort Himland, on Rilara.  It seems I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up heading east... really far.  To this place, "Milara's Throne", I believe it was.  So what happened was that I figured Himland was east from Point Harbor.  Of course with no map I had no idea just how far east I was, and I kept going (mainly running for my life)... past an enclave of these tiger-men called Rakshashas (one of them hit me with a fireball before I could get away), then past a golem made out of some sort of demonic flesh, then past a horde of very pugnatious ant-people, and up to a castle.  I was sprinting at this point, since the ant-people gave chase and had poisoned me.  I saw that castle and thought, 'oh, salvation!  A safe haven!'

Well I thought wrong.  Once I got in the castle, a huge cloud giant came and pummeled me into the ground without so much as a word.  How I ended up back in Hlint several hours later, I don't really know.  Lucinda may be protecting me.  I found out later that I had traveled far past Himland, past the Belgaer Hills, through the Wolfswood, even as far as the Iriand Mountains.

Afterwards, while I was thinking about how I'd gotten myself in such a colossal mess, I met upon a cleric known as Daren.  He was a kind fellow, and his eyes widened to the size of walnuts (okay, maybe not quite that large) when I mentioned that I'd reached 'Milara's Throne'.  He didn't think it existed.  We chatted a while, and went outside, and there I relayed the story to someone named Talan.  He had the same reaction.

Is there something about that place that I didn't know about?  I can't help but think I was in some way in deeply over my head.  I'm lucky to have been brought back, given their reactions.  Daren then asked what in the world possessed me to go out there, and I confessed that I was trying to deliver a letter and had simply gotten lost.

He took mercy on my plight and offered to escort me to Himland, since he was on his way to Rilara anyway.  We met a character Rugo, who also needed to deliver such a letter.  He joined with us, and we set for Port Hampshire.  At Hampshire, we met a sorceror JoeAsh (I've forgotten his last name), who went with us.  It was kind of anticlimactic getting to the Fort, since Daren knew the way.  I had honestly expected to encounter more of the same from my first trip.

At Himland, we all helped the farmer there to find out what happened to his cow (turned out to be an obese griffon who gave us all a terrible scare and nearly even killed Daren), and then we traveled to Fort Valesk, to head towards Berhagen Mountains.  We met a large group of people there, including a rather attractive dark elf named Alantha, I believe, some other characters Rell (a warrior?) and Cray (an elven cleric).

There were some golems made of strange rocks there which scattered our party, and I fell quickly for the second time.  I was apparently lucky again, as I woke up in Point Harbor.  I had sensed that this group of people was much stronger that I was, on the individual basis, and not wanting to be a hindrance, I told Daren (who I think brought me back) to tell them to go on without me and to thank them for having me.  Perhaps in the future I'll be strong enough to travel with them.  I felt a bit out of place being the only one who needed to be protected.

The thing that I've taken away from these recent journeys is that my shield is starting to get in the way.  My repetoire is not great, being a few evocations and several conjurations, but more and more I find myself dropping the shield in the heat of combat so that I might fire a missile or protect a friend with magical armor.  If I could, I would drop my armor entirely.  It's hot, and chafes sometimes and restricts me.  I prefer the airy comfort of silk or cotton, especially in the tropical climes of places like Port Hampshire.   Besides, that's how mother taught me how to fight, by dodging and weaving rather than getting hit and hoping that my hide was thick enough to absorb the impact.  I daresay I'm a better fighter outside of my armor than in it.  But mortality is a strong concern, and my magical and martial talents are not strong enough at this point for me to eschew my armor completely, since even though I don't get hit as much without armor, when I actually do get hit, it hurts a lot more.  It's a shame the world we live in is so dangerous.  I wish I didn't have to worry about these things.

[Vincent]

Not much going on this week.  A few days ago, I got to know JoeAsh the sorceror better, and we went pelt hunting for Joran together.  We gathered a bat pelt, badger pelt, boar pelt, and deer pelt.  We stumbled over a few difficulties.  For most of them, I distracted our enemies with flashy (if ineffectual) swordplay while JoeAsh hurled magic missiles at them.  We actually managed to take down an ogre or two that way.  I was proud, and I think now I can call JoeAsh a friend.

I posted an apprenticeship notice at the Wild Surge Inn today, hopefully someone will take interest and be willing to teach me.  Maybe I should ask around to see if there are any Soldier's Guild's... but joining the military doesn't appeal to me all that much.  I'd rather just be someone's gopher for a while... Well, we'll see.

[Vincent]

I bought myself a shiny new chain shirt today.  The movement's a little more restrictive, but really not significantly different from my old studded leather.  The new armor seems to deflect blows a bit better, and it looks a lot snazzier, too.  That's really all that happened to me today, aside from JoeAsh suggesting that we form an adventuring party.  I didn't get enough time to get into the details with him, but from what I understand it's a group we form where each person has a specific role and a specialized craft, and we all feed off of each other.  I think it's a good idea.  Other than that, I spent the day gathering skeletal knuckles and elderberries for resale.  It was all fairly uneventful.

[Vincent]

So I was gathering Elderberries today, and I stumbled on Glokk the relentlessly merchant half-giant again.  I thought better of buying that shield of his, since I didn't feel like it was worth the money.  Well, Glokk and I were talking and then we met Menidar (an archer), Faile (a shapeshifter), and Ry (a cleric).  They wanted to go to Haven to gather some supplies and must've thought we were a pair.  We sort of joined and became an armed merchant mission.  I'd actually left my shield in the bank (since it's really heavy), and went on without it.  It was a lot easier to cast my spells that way, anyway.

So we traveled, and had to get past several ambushes (okay, maybe we sort of hunted them out...) of gnolls and ogres.  I basically played a supporting role, using my mother's fighting techniques (Expertise) to harass and distract various enemies while the main offense, Faile and Glokk, took them out.  Ry kept us all alive, though Menidar had a very close call in the Haven mines.

Afterwards, Menidar and I hadn't yet felt the day was complete, so while the rest of the crew returned to Hlint we detoured through the swamp and eliminated several Lizardmen.  Then we explored the Seilwood a bit, trying to find a certain necklace (but with no luck).  So that's basically what happened.  Oh, and there was this cute dark-haired woman wearing red in Hlint today.  She had really nice eyes, and I kind of stared a little as I passed by.  (I didn't do or say anything inappropriate, of course.)

[Vincent]

Glokk helped me to obtain a cougar's pelt today.  I was very grateful and gave him a bit of gold afterwards, though he was willing to give it to me for free.  Afterwards, I went to the Leilon festival.  There were many people there, and the entire atmosphere was in good spirits.  I saw some goods there that were nice, but too expensive for me.

After my bout of shopping I bumped into Menidar, and we sat next to a gnome named Nerue to watch the bard perform... he wasn't very good.  The one thing I remember taking out of the performance was that he called his own mother a slut... I don't even know if he realized that was what he was doing.

Ah well.  It was a good day.

[Vincent]

So... it turns out I joined the military after all.  I saw a notice in the Wild Surge Inn regarding the Dread Blades.  Nothing else has really worked for me so far, so I figured, "why not", and went ahead to the recruiting session.

The leader is a man by the name of Cole.  To be honest I didn't really respect him at first.  I was with two other recruits, Tomir and a drow named Tannath.  Our training mission was to obtain 40 gold from an ogre tribe out in the woods.  We took turns being the file leader, and I went first... and failed.  So did Tannath.  Tomir was the only one who managed to succeed, though he brought the entire tribe down on us in the process.  Cole bailed us out each time.

An interesting thing happened... we saw some sort of ghost where we were training.  I was pretty scared, but Cole managed to keep authority and got us out of there safely.  He has definitely earned my respect, and the unit offers some pretty fair compensation, too.

I'm apparently now a regular for the Dread Blades, and Tomir made the minor rank of a file leader.  Honestly, I'm a bit jealous, but given my mission results it's understandable.  Also, I'm going to be given a new rapier and shield.  I'm now in the Support Cohort, also, since during the missions I was mostly using my magical talents rather than my martial ones.  Tannath and Tomir ended up in the Shield Cohort instead.

I've got to go shopping soon.  Gotta pick up a snazzy new red and black suit for my new uniform.