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tetracanth

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    The Journal of Sol Harrier
    « on: January 21, 2007, 02:58:06 pm »
    The first few pages of this neat but worn leather-bound book are blank, and the parchment is of varying quality, as though pages have been added over time.

    The first entry is written in a shaky hand, which steadies as the writer goes on, as if he is recovering his composure.

    Day 15

      Words fail to describe the blackness.  I have seen dark before.  Or is it not seen?  I have been drawn back to the bindstone before, but never like that.  Eyes fail, and you don't see, but form imagery out of base thought, for your eyes are but a memory.  I don't like dying, or almost dying, or whatever those cursed (but blessed) magics do when they pull you back.  I've heard it's supposed to feel like falling, or drowning or something like that.  Not for me.  My mind is a point from which my body dangles, like your legs when someone carries you.  And in death that body is absent, and I am there, unshelled in the dark.  It is disquieting.  The day it is not, I will assume I am truly dead, for if death ever becomes familiar, I will have ceased to be something I like.

      The Swamp of Lost Souls - Obviously not literally, for here I am, back in Karthy, soul intact (apparently).  I followed Kell, Arynne, and their companions Galan and Mirrim across the sea to deliver a letter.  This is the longest courier run I've ever done.  To be honest, I think I'll go back to Hlint.  So far Karthy has given me more than ample reason to leave it well enough alone.  We hunted panther and tigers, which went well, and I observed both Kell and Arynne's walkskills.  Arynne is particularly skilled in the wild.  The very ground seems to cover her tracks in her wake.

      The sea voyage was truly awful.  Ships are so uncivilised, with their constant heaving and the total lack of walkspace.  I'm glad I brought my own bread, as it was difficult enough to keep that down, much less the swill the crew were eating.

      Karthy itself proved no more palatable.  There were slavers.  Legal slavers.  One day there will be a reckoning for such scum, and I hope I'm there to see it.  And for the "government" that allows it.  Galan and I were about ready to spill some blood, but Kell, Arynne and Mirrim talked some sense into me, and Galan too.  Reckoning will come, but were were not ready to bring it that day.  Perhaps Galan and I will see those slavers dead someday.  Perhaps I am a fool.

      We left Karthy to go troll hunting.  It went well at first.  Arynne would draw a troll into an ambush, and the five of us would swiftly slay it.  This worked until they managed to attract five trolls at once.  At first we stood, but the beasts were too much, even for Galan, Kell, and Arynne.  We turned to run for the gates, and the trolls came after.  The swamp slowed us and they set upon us at the gates, while we were trying to get the heavy wood doors open.  That's when everything went dark.  This was not night, nor blindness.  It was as though the air had turned to ink, or a great cover had been drawn over the world, stopping the sun's rays in their tracks.  The dark of night is friendly, like an updraft that carries one's scent away.  This darkness was imposing, insidious and cold.  It took me a moment to orient myself, so sudden was it, and clearly the trolls were caught unawares too.  I made it through the doors unscathed, though I do not know if the tall folk could have.

      Once upon the other side. the darkness was cleared.  I could see no one, and I could hear their shouts from without.  I wanted to run.  I wanted to get as far away from those trolls as i could get.  Perhaps I should have, for all the good I did, but I went back.  Partially it was for Kell and Arynne, and the help they have given me. But really I wanted to feel that darkness again.  I must know what that was.  How can the absence of something be so seductive?  Where did it come from?  And why then?  Was it a spell?  Something thrown up by a member of the group?  Maybe Mirrim did it.  She wields the magics of her God.  I want to wield such power over sight.  I want to be able to banish the light and walk in the darkness.  I want to be able to pierce such darkness with my own eyes, and see the invisible.  I wanted that enough to risk death for another taste.

      But a master of that dark I was not.  A sling was obviously useless, and I went in with my blade raised.  It was not so much a fight as a confused melee.  I hacked at any leg that felt large or warty.  (I hope that was a sufficient discriminant in this case)  Clearly it was not enough, for I felt a crushing weight on my back, and then heard and felt no more.

      The blackness of death is different.  Empty, devoid of sensation.  It is a blackness of nothingness, rather than a blackness of concealment.  I was alone, a singular point in the nothing.  And then, I was lying beside the bindstone, not a hundred yards from the door I had made it though before.  Arynne was there, and Galan.  Mirrim was nearby.  Kell was not.

      We gathered at the gate, staggering, dazed.  I could not fight, and I knew it, I could barely stand.  Galan asked me if I could make a distraction by running.  I am surer of foot than he in his armour, but outrunning five trolls?  It turned out to be in vain.  Kell was ripped back to the bindstone before we could begin.  Unfortunate, but it spared us another death venturing out to get him.

      I can't sleep.  Food tastes awful.  Mirrim was the most visibly upset by it all.  She said she retreated and "failed" somehow.  Frankly, if she wasn't killed, she was flat out lucky.  And if she made it though that gate, then I don't blame her for not going back.  I went back, and accomplished nothing.  I tried talking to her, but I wield words like a bludgeon.  I don't think I helped much.

      I want to go back to Hlint.  Hells, I want to go home.  And I'll be glad if I never see a troll again. Not that I "saw" them for very long today.
     

    tetracanth

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      RE: The Journal of Sol Harrier
      « Reply #1 on: January 23, 2007, 12:22:31 am »
      Day 16

      I can wait no longer.  I am leaving this accursed city now and to hells with the consequences.  I don't know the names of all the places we passed through, but I recall the sights, the sounds and the landmarks.  I can make it back to Hlint on my own.  The others had business in Karthy, and we went our separate ways.  I shall have to seek them out once I get back, our dealings have been profitable, despite the unpleasantness here.

      * * *

      Passed the lake outside Karthy, and followed the Delwin River.  I recall these places, so my steps are sure.  I will attempt the hill tonight, in the darkness, for fear of what lies at its top.  Both Arynne and Kell warned strongly against even approaching the hilltop, so I will heed their words.

      Day 17

      Made it.  I don't know what's on that hill. Kell mentioned mercenaries or some such, but I saw far up the hill what looked like a massive spider.  It did not move, perhaps it was a statue or some such, but I was not in the least inclined to investigate.  Tallfolk or no, my companions are mightier than I, and they kept well away.  I have reached another lake, and the environs seem calm enough.  We camped around here on the trip in, so this is the closest semblance of safety I know of around here.  Wise or no, I was not disturbed during the morning hours while I slept.

      Day 18

      There were some lions, hidden in the grass of the field.  I saw them from a knoll as I walked in, sitting in the tall grass.  Praise be that I did, for I might have blundered on them in the grasses without the foreknowledge.  I gave them a wide berth, and circled downwind of them.  Passing the rest of that plain was a sweating, silent nightmare, but there were no more lions in the grass, or at least I never saw them.

      Day 20

      Point Harbour at last!  I swear this continent goes on forever.  Spent an entire day wandering over hill and dale.  Must have gone in circles, it was not this far on the way in.  Still, the lands are either deserted, or their inhabitants are as loth to be seen as I.  Not that I am complaining, better no one than more lions or their ilk, but someone to ask directions of would have helped.  Payment or no, this long courier run was not worth the toil and danger.  Days in the wilderness, for a few True?  Not until I have the skills to make a profit along the way, I daresay.

      Day 21

      Damn ships.  Damn ocean.  Damn seagulls and their taste for my food.  Damn sailors.  The ocean is terrifying, so vast and featureless, just waiting for you to make a mistake.  And surely there is more beneath that tossed grey surface than just undrinkable, vile-tasting water.  How can water, which is colourless, be grey or green or blue at any time?  How is it that one can only see into the water on a grey day, and only if one looks straight down?  At an angle the water is as opaque as a stone, but face-on it permits one's sight.  I shall ask mother about water.  Perhaps it behaves like glass?  She will know one way or the other.  Transparent or opaque, depending on one's point of view.  Something within the water could hide or reveal itself simply by moving.  Something can be plain to one, and hidden to another.  I wonder what the world above looks like from under the water.  I shall have to push someone in sometime and question them about it.

      Day 23

      Mistone!  Leilon to be specific.  Now this is better, no more ships, no more paying for travel.  Just me and my feet and the road, the way it should be.

       

      tetracanth

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        RE: The Journal of Sol Harrier
        « Reply #2 on: January 30, 2007, 11:39:15 pm »
        Day 35 - Long has it been since i put quill to parchment.  Times have been busy - and less perilous, thankfully.  Kell, helpful as always, introduced me to the game of Creatures.  One would think the time spent on a card game would be wasteful when there's real work to be done outside, but it's the most profitable venture i'm capable of right now.

        Day 37 - The profits from my time in the game room have paid for a Crafter's Badge!  I can now use the various crafter's facilities in Hlint.  I've had some minor success in preparing barley for brewing, but I'm no brewmaster yet.  Most of my barley goes up in smoke.  The ovens are tempermental, and roasting is basically controlled immolation.  Still, barley is not hard to acquire, so this is a good way to improve my skills.

        Day 38 - I encountered an Enchanter, Sala, who made me some healing potions for a minimal fee.  Apparently the skeleton's knuckles that one can... part from their owners in the Crypts are useful in brewing of all kinds of potions and elixirs.  She mentioned that she could also enchant a weapon to do elemental damage.  Such a procedure is expensive, not unexpectedly, and she quoted a reasonable price for such things.  She went off, prepared her spells, and returned that afternoon.  There was much waving and chanting and warping of space-time or whatever's really going on when magic users start kneading the world.  The actual enchanting took just a minute, and now my Katana zaps anything it hits.  Only after completing the process did Sala tell me it was her first ever attempt to do such a thing.  There can be no question the result is first-rate, so clearly she knows her craft.  The glow on the weapon makes it somewhat ill-suited to sneak attacks, so I must keep it sheathed if I wish to be unseen.  I wonder if all such enchantments are so visible.  I shall ask Sala if i see here again.  A good bit of business for all involved.  I am always surprised by the kindness and openly fair practices here in Hlint.  More often than not, I've found out that the prices I've been quoted have been at or below expected market value.  Given the number of adventurers in Hlint it can't be a lack of demand.  It is heartening to see that in dark times people display such solidarity.  This has nothing to do with charity.  It's an open acceptance that adventurers stay alive longer if they have friends.  Gold can't keep you alive.  Fellowship can.  Adventurers can be volatile.  It's important that these people regard each other well.  If we can't trust each other, we don't stand a chance against the outside world.

         

        tetracanth

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          RE: The Journal of Sol Harrier
          « Reply #3 on: January 31, 2007, 12:03:52 am »
          Day 42 - Time and time again I am amazed by the help I receive around here.  In this case, Galan Iraes, paladin of Toran, helped me complete some of my tasks, simply to be helpful.  I originally met Galan while adventuring with Kell, and while I'm somewhat uncomfortable with someone so overwhelmingly devout, he lacks the fanaticism that one expects from a paladin.  He shares my dislike (nay, hatred) of slavers, and nearly attacked some when we were in Karthy together.

          Anyway, today, we faced rats and goblins.  In the lower sewers, we fought through the rats, which couldn't even dent his plate armour.  The man is a vertiable walking fortress.  Of course, he makes as much noise as a marching band when he walks, so the protection is necessary.  His swordsmanship is remarkable.  I stood back and supported with my bow, but he didn't really need my help all that much.  Still, when the goblins turn to attack him, they expose their backs, and if I'm close I can place my shots to deadly effect.  At one point I got surrounded by goblins, and had to jump, duck and roll away.  I used the last of the potions I bought from Sala.  I could get addicted to those.  The sheer feeling of wholesomeness from consuming it is elating.

          We defeated the rat man in the sewers, and recovered the Tax Log for the local accountant.  Galan complimented me on my archery, as I believe it was my arrow that finally finished the rat.  He was an odd beast, like a grotesque parody of a man with an oversized rat head.  Perhaps that's what happens if rats grow too fast.  I wanted to collect some of the venom sacks from the spiders we slew, but I thought that might be unwise while travelling with a paladin.

          In the goblin caves, Galan mined some greenstone, but we had no time nor tools to collect copper, which was also in abundance.  I was looking for a bat pelt, but we only found goblins at first.  I'm used to fighting larger creatures.  The goblins are challenging, because I can't duck about their knees to confuse them.  They don't have the clumsiness of their tallfolk kin.

          We had all but given up on finding a bat when five descended on us.  I got five pelts.  I'm not sure what the hide merchant wanted it for, but I'll sell the rest.  They're too bulky to hoard in case I find use for them.

          I also found two scrolls in the goblin caves.  I believe they are summoning spells.  The text does not make sense to me. There is power in the words, but I cannot fathom it.  One scroll is clearer than the other.  Perhaps I could cast the spell if I could read all of the words.  Or is there more to it than that?  I am no mage, but if I could cast spells from these scrolls, I would be powerful indeed.
           

          tetracanth

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            RE: The Journal of Sol Harrier
            « Reply #4 on: January 31, 2007, 12:25:08 am »
            For a small fortune I purchased a pair of spell scrolls.  The first is the simplest incantation the vendor had.  It produces a small light source.  Light and illumination fascinate me.  Light and darkness are malleable, with power such as is on this piece of parchment.  But this scroll pales in comparison to the second.  The second is a spell of invisibility.  The incantation itself is so complex I cannot begin to fathom it.  I shall study this scroll.  I wonder if I can find a mage who would be willing to explain it to me.

            I wonder how it works.  Invisibility means that the light doesn't carry your image to another's eyes.  Hiding means avoiding the light.  The shadows mark where the light cannot find you.  But invisibilty is something else entirely.  Invisibility means that the light is unaware of you, even if it falls upon your form.  Glass is partially capable of this.  The light is barely perturbed by glass.  Mother knows everything there is to know about the delicate dance of light and glass.  I never paid so much attention before.  I never imagined the family trade could lend itself to my own pursuits.  The light ignores the air we breathe, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see anything at all.  If I could get the light to ignore me, I would be invisible.  This spell does exactly that.  If I could duplicate the effect, stealth would take on a whole new meaning.
             

            tetracanth

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              RE: The Journal of Sol Harrier
              « Reply #5 on: January 31, 2007, 12:38:21 am »
              Day 43 - It was Kell.  The Darkness in Karthy was Kell's doing.  He did it again today, thankfully in less dire conditions.    How, I do not know.  He brought it down to make a "dramatic" exit (Galan's term).  He conjures this smothering blackness, apparently at will.  It is remarkable.  It's as though light simply fails for a while.  It clearly has a limited extent, for I questioned the town crier and the postmaster, and neither had seen anything of the kind.  I must question him about it.  He did not speak an incantation.  (At least none I could hear).

              Perhaps he has some item that calls the darkness down.  I wonder where he got it.  I doubt he would sell it if it is hard to acquire, but who knows?  So many questions.  I need to do some research.  I also need to return to Fort Hope, to discuss my ideas with Mother and Father.  Do nonmagical optics form the basis for magical effects, or are the rules different?  Does magic simply expand on what is possible though conventional craft?  Has anyone even tried to draw the two together?  Are there researchers who pursue in this topic?  I think I'm going to have to start accosting mages and asking them questions.  At least they're easy to spot.  Strange that the secrets of stealth could be carried by people who walk around dressed in circus tents, and seem to spend most of their time studying new ways to be as conspicuous as possible.
               

              tetracanth

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                RE: The Journal of Sol Harrier
                « Reply #6 on: February 13, 2007, 12:18:40 am »
                *tucked between the pages is a slightly worn piece of paper.  It is marked with a letterhead: "Harrier, Harrier & Harrier Lenses, Masters of Light.  Fort Hope."  Upon it, a flowing script in black ink traces neat scholarly lines across the page*

                Sol,

                  It was so good to receive your letter.  You should deliver these yourself, it would probably be quicker, and then we would all get to see you.  And then you could have your favourite blueberry pie (recipe is attached, at your request)  Your father is surprised you're not asking for money, but he shouldn't be.  I had little doubt you'd fend for yourself out there, you always did well here in Fort Hope.  Your job for the postmaster sounds promising.  I hope he doesn't give you anything too dangerous.  The tallfolk have no sense of practicality.  They rarely have any sense at all.

                  As you will notice from the letterhead, we've made Jolan a partner.  He's making telescopes now, and was babbling the other day about making targeting scopes for crossbows.  I won't have crossbows in this house.  I'm so glad that you've found a respectable profession away from all that weaponry the World seems so preoccupied with right now.

                  Your Uncle Nichols is doing well.  His arm is nearly healed, and he has a new job in wholesale grocery.  I pray he'll keep this one.  At least the cabbages don't rough him up (usually).

                  While I'm delighted that you're suddenly interested in optics, I'm surprised at your timing.  24 years to learn it all and you start asking questions a month or so after you go gallivanting out the door.  Well, I've included a copy of Gilden & Tomasi's Optics for you to read.  The chapter on transparency and refraction should answer most of your questions, and also look at the chapter on reflectance.  It is possible for substance to be nearly invisible, for example the very air, but this is a rare property for solids.  A material with a high transmittance allows light to pass through.  Transmittance varies by wavelength, and can sometimes be altered by electricity, and in certain cases magical means.  Materials with naturally high transmittance include some crystals, glass, (pure) water, and many gases.

                  Well, enough shop talk for now.  Keep warm, read your new book, and SEND MORE LETTERS.  Are you writing now?  You should be writing me another letter.  Go on, get on with it.

                Love
                  Mom

                *the rest of letter is a minutely detailed recipe for blueberry pie*
                 

                tetracanth

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                  RE: The Journal of Sol Harrier
                  « Reply #7 on: February 13, 2007, 12:30:24 am »
                  Day 60
                     *The page is a mass of scribbled notes, mostly calculations and diagrams of crystal structures.  At the bottom, the script becomes more coherent*

                     "In the case of crystals the transmittance varies by the alignment of the internal structures." - p 230
                     "Crystals in liquid suspension can be aligned by electric current or magical lattice patterns to change their reflectance and transmittance." - p 241
                     "Imbuing the lattice permanently can create a bi-stable structure, which can be switched back and forth between two levels of reflectance." - p 242
                   

                  tetracanth

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                    RE: The Journal of Sol Harrier
                    « Reply #8 on: February 13, 2007, 12:51:36 am »
                    Day 62
                      Today I met some very interesting people.  Outside the craft hall, I met two elven women.  One was a sorceress, named Ami.  She cast a spell of invisibility to aid a traveler who had recently done the bindstone two-step.  I thought her a mage, but she had a certain... unscholarlyness to her.  She explained that her magic was innate.  it was a part of her, and she gained greater power though practice.  I must assume that this is a rare gift, or everyone would be floating about and cooking their meals with incantations.  Still, that fact that she conjures magic without study or divine influence is curious to me.  I don't need to be a sorceror, I just need a little bit of magic.  Just a touch.

                      Her companion was a druid who claimed not to have a name (nature doesn't have names, apparently).  The druid spoke very little common, but was able to piece enough together to imply that halflings (by which she assumedly included me) were "made of" magic.  I wasn't sure if that was exactly her meaning, but it was clear enough that she was trying to refute my statement that I had no magic in me.  While I would love to be able to wield magic, I don't think that broken musings of a nameless druid are enough to send me down the mage's path.  I would have forogtten her words if not for my next encounter.

                       A hunter, (another elf, must be some quirk of population dynamics) introduced himself as Coyote, though apparently he was another druid.  (He seemed not to have any problem with the Name Principle)  We were talking about stealth and I was making fun of his size, being all tallfolkish and gangly.  He said he could be small "if he wanted".  He then said he would show me, and before my eyes he transformed into a badger.  yes, a badger.  He got all short and slumpy and hair grew on his body and over his clothing.  I don't even what to think about where his spear went.  Once he had finished having his Badger Moment, he (rather grotesquely) resumed elven form.  He said the spirit of the hunt gave him the ability to shift forms.  This is where I perked up (even more than I had due to the whole badgerness issue).  Apparently, the spirit empowers him, allowing him to perform these feats of transformative magic.   Here again was a person who could alter himself at will, assuming a form that suited him.  I spoke with him about my desires to transform myself to be less visible, and he made some cryptic remarks about how such things were possible, and how people usually could find a way to make a trick like that happen.  It was encouraging, depsite the fact that the remark was coming from someone who had recently been a small, rather bad-tempered hairy mammal.
                     

                     

                    anything