Tyra Dragonheart - Daughter of Swords

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Tyra takes a break from cleaning up after the Demon Party at the arms, particularly the blood mess that became of Steel's room a few days before to write in her journal.  Tyra didn't ask what happen, she was pretty sure she didn't want to know.  The fact Steel semi limped out the door that next morning, wearing a full robe might have been enough of a clue if Tyra hadn't seen one 'disappear' in the hall way when she opened the door that morning, and the stumbling that followed as 'the invisible man' left the building.  All Tyra could guess is that there was one hell of a fight in that room, and Tyra guessed Steel won...  this time...

Remind me why I work here...  Sometimes I feel like Steel's slave but...  anyway.

Fate seems to have once again thrown me into the service of the people.  Not that I mind, but tracking down one of those fabled Blood Wells in Storan's crypt was not on my 'to do' list...  And neither was visiting that cranky old wizard....  Moraken...  But...  I learned something...  don't mess with a wizard's wards...
She rubs the back of her head.
Anyway, seems that other old mage, Storold the Protector, has pledged us to help Storan by lifting some curse that keeps him 'alive' in return for information about a Blood Well, that is rumored to dwell in his crypt.  Only problem is this involves going to the Pits, and killing some Demon Lord.  I am just -so- excited...  -SO- excited...  Can't wait...





How the hell do I get mixed up in this stuff?

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Freas, Decilar 27, 1447
 
Ms. Tyra Dragonheart,
 
Word has reached me that you are seeking the history of your family name. The Aragenites passed your query onto me, as I am currently dealing with some obscure records, and I believe I have found something that may be of interest to you.
 
If you would like to discuss the matter further, please contact me at the Great Library on Voltrex at your earliest convenience. My research assistant should be present to aid you if I am unavailable.
 
Most sincerely,
Eleanora Magastri

Well, I finally heard news from someone about my family history, but not from who I expected.  I'm off to the Great Library now.  Just hope this isn't a total waste of my time.

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

After all this time, I found what I was looking for.  I found out where my family name came from, but now that I know, I wonder if it was really worth the time spent searching.  Turns out that a man, that I can only assume is the first 'Dragonheart,' earned that name by killing a Dragon and eating it's heart.  That is not a legacy that will earn me the trust of a Dragon.  And yet, it led me to a man who would have otherwise died alone...

Jonas was on his death bed when I found him, and at first I thought I had spent to much time in the library.  What was a 'dead' man going to be able, or willing, to tell a complete stranger about his family history.  Lying and saying I was a distant cousin got me to see him, but when I saw him, and finally got him talking, I was very sad.  His mind was already failing him, and he forgot who I was and why I was there a few times, but as I talked to him about things, mostly his life and his only relative, I felt an attachment to him.  Maybe his having a rather cute and playful cat around helped, but I was moved just by being with him.  I was sad that such a nice man would die the day I met him, but any doubts I had about this Vladamir Osmont being my ancestor vanished when he said that I had the look of a Dragonheart.

I dressed him in a suit of armor I found in his house, and an old sword and shield when he died, then him helped dig and bury the poor sod...  I left a few of my own things with him.

So now...  I donno what...  I could investigate Jonas's nephew, and see what I could learn from that, or start looking for a Dragon...

Decisions decisions...
   
Register of Soldiers, Volume XIV

*A partial list of soldiers enrolled in an army, this record lists (among others) one Captain Vladimir "Dragonheart" Osmont. Captain Dragonheart, as he came to be known, appeared to be in command of a small force of about sixty men. Unfortunately, the record provides few details of Captain Dragonheart*



Soldier's Journal

*This appears to be a copy of a diary of a soldier who fought in the Dragon War. An excerpt from the journal ...*

"We did it! We killed one of those scaly buggers today. Maybe the boys will stop teasing me about being greener than a moon elf's eyes now. Almost everyone else had killed a wyrm or two before, but this was my first. I don't think I'll soon forget.

We were marching to join another group of soldiers when we came across the beast in a clearing. The boys said it was just a wee one compared to some of the monsters they've seen at a distance, but to me it looked the size of Pa's fishing boat or bigger! We must have surprised it, because when we burst into the clearing it gave this startled roar. Captain Osmont gave the order and everyone started shouting. The dragon started tearing into men with tooth and claw. I see now why we were losing before Bloodstone stepped into command. I don't know how many men fell. I can still hear them groaning and yelling now as they get stitched up and healed.

I think it would have been very bad if it had lasted much longer. I didn't even see exactly how it ended. I was on the far side of the dragon, near the tail, but I heard its death cry. By the time I got to the head, Captain Vlad had cut out the heart. Gods, he looked fierce, sheathed to the elbows in blood. He was like a wild rager. He ate a morsel of the heart raw, and saved a piece. He says he's going to wear it in a pouch around his neck, to bring him luck in battle. The boys are calling him "Dragonheart" now.



Accounts of the Dragon War

*This book appears to be a collection of anecdotal accounts of the Dragon War. Their authenticity is somewhat questionable, as they seem to be mostly told by relatives many times removed.

One of the accounts mentions a Captain Dragonheart.*

"The story goes that my great, great ... well, however many times great grandfather, Vladimir Dragonheart, earned his name by striking the death blow to a small dragon some time during the Dragon Wars. Vladimir was a Captain in Sinthar's army, and one day his company surprised a young dragon. Although many of the men were gravely wounded, they managed to slay the dragon. Vladimir cut out a bit of the dragon's heart and ate it then and there, and as my grandfather told it to me he also carried a bit of the heart in a leather pouch he wore around his neck. He claimed this token of his victory brought him luck in battle ... though ironically, he was killed by a dragon less than a year later, leaving his wife a widow and his four children fatherless.

Note: Scribed on behalf of one Jonas Dragonheart of Glenhaven, who was not literate enough to write these words himself."

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Well...  Not gonna write much about this one...  don't really wanna remember too many of these details...  The Church of Toran seemed to had made a rather bizarre 'torch' that reflected the evils of a man's soul back at him, and helped him turn to 'the light,' but it seems to have done the opposite to those of a 'pure heart' as well...  because when we got there, all the prisoners where dead, and all the Toranites were trying to kill us...  I had to keep cracking jokes...  or I would've probably started crying...  but the Torch is gone now...  Daniella pleaded with Toran, and he seems to have done away with it...  Pour souls...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

You won't believe what happened in Fort Llast the other night. The dark elf that was sentenced to servititude in the Temple of Toran  tried to escape...  and he almost did, too.  I donno how he got the Toranites so confused inside, but I found him trying to break out of the stables with a war horse...

But I wasn't gonna let him get far...  I snuck up on him and we started fighting...  Son of a wench stabbed me with a nail...  twice!  One in the neck and one in the foot..  then jumped on the horse.  I tried to stop the horse but it was too tough, and just ran over the caltrops I threw down...  That's when Tod showed up, and Tod and I chased him outside.  Son of a wench almost got over the wall, but his horse threw him into it instead...  I threw my dagger at him then, stuck him in the back and then punched him out...

Good Night, Sion...  Have fun in chains...

Dark Elf Cature by ~Minerva2001 on deviantART

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Call them what you want, but those ant-people that live in the Great Desert are two things, smart and mean.

I had heard a rumor that a merchant caravan would be leaving from the port city in the middle of the desert, Audira, and it was in need of guards.  With my investigations on hold, I caught a ship heading out that way, and got there around the time the merchant was heading out.

And that's where it stopped being normal.  Someone said they knew a shortcut through the desert, and I knew that would mean trouble, but no one would listen to me, as usual.  So I rode in the back of one of the wagons for most of the way.  We ran into a few of those ant things along the way, but then things turned from nice to nasty.

We feel into pits set along the path we were taking, and found ourselves cages.  My attempt at escape was foiled though, and I was knocked out.  When I woke up, all my things were gone, and I had a collar around my neck, and one of those ant things were telling us why they caught us.  They needed us to work...

From that moment I started trying to figure out how to escape but...  once I saw what was going on, and where I really was, I knew it was not possible, not without getting killed and losing everything I own.  That didn't help the fact I was angrier then a [strike]red ant[/strike] red ant...  donno how else to describe it...

Apparently those earthquakes that have been felt everywhere affected them too, and their ...  whatever...  was falling apart...  but also it seemed like spiders...  GIANT spiders...  where attacking them too...

In the end, we killed a bunch of huge freaking spiders, got our stuff back, had our heads messed with by what I guess was their leader...  Queen...  something...

All I know is I don't wanna see those things for a long time...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Rage
Indulgence
Deception
Despair
Obsession
Fear
Apathy
Charm
Intimidation
Cruelty

The strangest thing happened in Hurm recently...  I went there to stick my nose into some rumors about some strange murders...  and ended up learning something stranger, not to mention having my head messed with...  I have NEVER spent that much time trying to clean ANYTHING before...

Turns out some....  thing...  has been hiding in Hurm, trying to research something while protect some sort of token that emanates some sort of magic that makes people obsess over cleaning things...  and it seems that's just one of ten other ones.  (See list above)

I don't want to be around most of them, though charm doesn't seem so bad...  But the others...  Sheesh...  Only reason I know what these are is because the creepo who we found rattled them off out of no where...  Clearly his token is driving him mad...  I just hope the other ones are better...  err... sealed?

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

I hate mushrooms...  I hate ooze...  I hate pudding...  I hate zombies!

At first I thought we were going to a festival on a rural island, next time I know someone gets melted by acid, and I'm following a trail of goo into the middle of acid slime and mushroom hell!  What a mess!  Ugh!  Then we go into this forsaken cave filled that had spores floating in the air everywhere, and even had zombies covered in mushrooms...

Ugh...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

I've known this man named Zahid for a while now, and I don't think I've met anyone wiser then him recently...  I'm sure I know someone wiser, but...  He's different, since his focus is on perception and nature.  We don't always agree on things, and sometimes I think he'd kill some of the people we'd come across, but...  He's probably someone who's advice I'd trust more then my own even.

Just got to get him to stop talking in the third person...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

"You're alive?!" said a shocked Tyra as she walked into her old home, catching her Dad shuffling down the hall.

"Hello, Tyra," responded Shiff calmly, but sadly.  The look in his eyes clearly showed he wasn't looking forward to this moment, but even worse, is that his daughter was now a grown woman, not the little girl he left behind.  "It's nice to see you..."

"That's all you have to say, 'Nice to see you?!'" Tyra yelled angrily, drawing her mother out from where she was resting.  "Fifteen years!  FIFTEEN!  Where the hell were you!" Angry now, approaches her father with clenched fists.  "Why did you leave us!?"  The closer she got, the more the tears pushed at the corners of her eyes.  "Why did you leave me?!  Why!?"  As she got to him she struck him on the chest, but feeling the reality of her father's return made her break open, and she feel to her knees crying.  "Why...  I missed you soo much...."

Shiff frowned.  "It's hard to explain, Tyra...  and some of it I don't remember...  Come on...  lets go sit down...  I'll tell you what I remember...  and then I'd love to hear about what you've been up to..."  He smiled encouragingly.  "You mother tells me you've been causing a lot of trouble," he says as he helps her back to her feet, before hugging her tight and whispering in her ears, "good job."  He then steps back and winks at her, while her mother rolls her eyes.

For a few hours, Tyra and her father sat and talked, Tyra telling her father about her adventures, successes, and failures, while Shiff talked about where he had been, and his time with the Aeridinites.  Meanwhile

"Why didn't you send us word, Dad?"

Shiff frowned.  "For the longest time I forgot who I was, Tyra, and when I learned, I figured I would return in person...  Did you really think I thought you would believe a letter saying 'Oh hi guys, I'm not dead...'"  Tyra chuckled a bit, smiling.

After a while, Tyra stood up, looking like a lot of weight was taken off her shoulders.  "Dad, you have no idea how good it feels to see you..."

"I can imagine, but just cause I'm back doesn't mean I'm going to trying to save the world again...  I'm getting old, and I've lost some of my touch with my sword.  Don't you stop what you're doing...  I'm proud of what you're attempting...  Oh!  And finding out about our family name was interesting..."

"By the time I'm done Dad, Dragonheart is going to much more famous...  I promised an old man that..."  She smirked at her father.  "I mean another old man, not you Dad."

Shiff just smirked back.  "Now go do something...  I need a nap..."  With that Shiff got up and looked for his wife.

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Tyra sits at her desk reading over a scroll she found in the Arms' limited library, copying what it says into her journal at the same time...
[LIST=1]

• Your livelihood rests on two things: knowledge and reputation.
• Know your enemies.
• No one is innocent.
• Everything dies.
• Do not kill unless you are facing your enemies.
• Protect those who are not your enemies.
• A child is never your enemy.
• Retreat in the face of defeat is wise, if not noble.
• No job is too small.
• Pay comes in many forms, some of which are better than gold.
• Mercenaries are killers.

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Bella the Mouse...  She has potential, but she has no idea what that means...  She thinks she does though.

She reminds me of the way I used to be when I ran away from home...  Arrogant, jumpy, sneaky, timid...  and of course a smart arse...  She even seems to be a troublemaker, though of course she "din' do nuthin..."

I offered her a chance to learn from me, to learn how not to repeat the mistakes I made...  how to fight...  how to act...  How to remain unseen, and even how to attract too much attention...  All of my skills...

We will see if this Mouse will survive long enough to harness her potential...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Steel's got me studying the symbols on scrolls so I can understand what sort of things to expect from magically artifacts.  We'll see where this goes...  Most of these symbols I recognize already...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

I found Bella in Fort Vehl...  lurking around the docks.  It seems she had been somewhere from the look of her, but then again she is always dirty.  She mentioned seeing something in the crypts days earlier, and I ...  asked her to show me.  She did not want to, so I convinced her that I am much scarier then a mere shadow.  She unfortunately is exceptionally timid.  I merely have to look at her to make her cringe, and my proximity makes her nervous.  I gave her an iron flail for which to use on the skeletons, which she took hesitantly.

Eventually, we went into the crypts, and I stayed in the shadows to watch her.  There I saw that she can indeed suck it up and fight when she has to.  I must see if I can use that to teach her to be less timid.  She seems to be affected by words, as I have seen when I expose her weaknesses to her.

Farther down, where she thought she saw this shadow, she progressed with fear...  though I am sure she would call it caution.  She dispatched a few skeletons there, and then I had her stand in the shadows for a while.  I wanted her to face fear, though I did not say much as to how.  She has yet to accept my tutolage, so it is hard to get her to learn anything.

I did see her afterwards, without the smoke and mirrors, to find that she did indeed learn something from me, using that flail on the undead outside of Storan's crypt.  I kept an eye on her as we travelled through the war zone that is the Hammerbound Peaks.

I do however wonder if that meeting in Port Hempstead has exposed me...  Time will tell...  She is sharp, but easily disuaded with intimidation...

But I don't want her to fear me forever...  just for now...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

The Mouse...

She's an interesting young kid...  immature...  indignant...  jumpy...  defensive...  but interesting.  She has the skills to become great, yet is still convinced she just needs to 'get by'...  

I ran into her with another potential candidate at Stormcrest.  Mouse called her Rat.  Seems Mouse conned her into paying for a tour of Alindor...  I decided to follow along and see what trouble they would get into.

We ended up travelling past Stone to Sun Castle, to Thorn river for some fishing, even through Wolfswood to the that grove.

Eventually I had them follow me to the Lake of Glass, where I did some investigating.  I had Mouse collect some berries, while I talked to the Rat, then hid in a tree while they talked.  I learned some things, but nothing useful yet...

Then the Rat fell asleep, and something interesting happened.  I started talking to Mouse, and she got defiant, and I straightened her out...  yet she stood up to me...  briefly...  It was amusing, but it was what I was hoping to get out of her eventually.  If she was just mush in my hands, then she would be mush in anyone's, making her a liability and worthless...  but she showed she has some sass, and some backbone...  so I have decided to accept her as my apprentice...  I will have to navigate her desire to learn more about me carefully, but I do not feel she will give me much trouble...  Regardless of what she desires, I hold all the other cards, and she can only accept what I give her or be on her own...

And somehow, I doubt she wants to continue to be alone...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Tyra slams the door as she comes into her room at the Leringard Arms.  " that kid..." she mutters to herself, pacing around the room as she starts removing her mask and armor.  "... asking me to do that...  like I'm some sort of unprincipled killer..."  She takes off her sword belt and throws it on her bed.  

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

After a few hours of meditation, Tyra opens her eyes and sighs.  As much as she doesn't want to admit it, something inside her tugs at her...  wanting her to carry out Mouse's request for blood...  Maybe it was the time in the barn, when she told Bella about herself while she mended her wounds, but Tyra knew Mouse's father shouldn't be allowed to live...  Yet she also did not want to go back down that road.  She remembers the moments of pure hate she felt when she was young, and this could only lead to that same outcome: anger and loathing at her own person.

Then as a wind blew through the Arms, a scroll fell off her desk, and as she picked it up she saw what it was...

[LIST=1]

• Your livelihood rests on two things: knowledge and reputation.
• Know your enemies.
• No one is innocent.
• Everything dies.
• Do not kill unless you are facing your enemies.
• Protect those who are not your enemies.
• A child is never your enemy.
• Retreat in the face of defeat is wise, if not noble.
• No job is too small.
• Pay comes in many forms, some of which are better than gold.
• Mercenaries are killers.

She rolled the scroll back up, and sighed.  " I am Dread Blade...  I must do something...  at least..."

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Tyra sits before a fire with her journal during a moonlit night.  On the other side of the fire lies her apprentice, Bella.  As Tyra thinks about what to write,she watches Bella, considering the bond they now share...
[INDENT]Bella Rouge

The kid has grown on me more then I expected.  It's almost as if she's a frightened, naive little child that needs to be taught the ways of the world, except what she has probably gone through is more then any 'child' should have to go through.

My search into her father's whereabouts has not gone far, primarily because I am still apprehensive about what I have to do...  something not common for me, but then again I have never been asked to murder...  regardless of the many definitions of the word, I do no murder (unless you are a goblin or ogre, then I am a murderer).

Her training is proceeding more easily now that we are blood-sworn to each other...  something I am not sure she understands completely, but she has done well since.  Not having to constantly explain myself has been beneficial to my nerves, which in turn benefits her.

Most recently, I have been teaching her to swim, something I am surprised she did not learn, voluntarily or otherwise, in Fort Vehl...

I think she will soon be ready to accompany me on a task...  but I have yet to test her loyalty...

I wonder what I should do with her if she ever betrays me...
[/INDENT]With that she closes her journal and tucks it away in her bag, and takes to meditating before she puts some more wood on the fire and lays down to sleep...  with a knife in her hand...

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Tyra comes back to the Leringard Arms to find Bella asleep at the foot of her bed...  Being as quiet as she typically is, she goes over to her desk to write in her journal...
 [INDENT] Bella...
 
 She's growing on me more and more, especially with recent events...  I don't think I could have given her a task that could have proved what just a simple comment from her did...  Bella cares about me.
 
 Given her past with men, which unfortunately stems from her father, she's afraid of Zahid.  What's funny though is that she thinks Zahid would be the cause of me, of all people, getting beaten due to her being around...  She's so traumatized by her past it's sickening...  I wish I could find that man...  Dalton...
[/INDENT] She turns around to look over at a sneezing Bella with a smile, before going back to writing...
 [INDENT] She took me to her house...  I didn't know where we were going at first but once I saw the place I knew what it was...  Sadly no one was there...  I would have liked to have killed the man right then and there...  Or perhaps Bella would have herself...  Revenge is dangerous...  It eats at you...
 
 Afterwards I had a run in with some guards...  I could have handled it better but the emotions got to me...  I wasn't exactly pleasant to Private Beck...  Wonder if he holds a grudge...  Would be a very unhealthy grudge...
 
 Later, Bella was very quiet...  I didn't bother her much...  We just went over some basics...
 
 A few days later though we meet with Zahid again...  She decided to come too, but once there started acting like a child, cussing and disobeying...  I know she's not a little kid but I feel like I must treat her like one...  I had her do her Alleys after cussing and wanting to throw a rock at Zahid while he was meditatating...
 
 After that, with some coaching, she had a stilted but short conversation with Zahid...  I hope she felt a little better around him...  He was seperated from us by a creek...  She eventually just wanted to leave in her sheepish manner...  She asked if she could stay in my room...
[/INDENT] She turns around again to look at Bella.  She sighs, but not a tired or sad sigh, a content sigh.  She then gets up and carefully puts a blanket over Bella before sitting back down.
 [INDENT] I told her to take a bath first...  Not that it matters since she's now on the floor...  Silly Kid...
 
 She should have been my daughter...
[/INDENT]

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Tyra always wondered what being a mother would be like.  Having never been with a man, and still only getting older, she would sometimes lay awake at night pondering how her life would be different...
 
 She found out recently.
 
 On a dark stormy night, one of the stormiest of the year, Tyra came home to the arms to find Bella cowering under her bed.  Not that it was new to Tyra, she knew Bella was afraid of storms, and that she would sleep under her bed for some reason, but something led Tyra to want to check on her apprentice.
 
 She found Bella clinging to her new teddy bear, Harrison, as if he was going to be torn away from her.  Stuffing herself under the bed (being somewhat wider and rounder in places then Bella) she inquired about how she was feeling.  After all the time they had spent together, Tyra hoped Bella would finally open up.  What happened was just what Tyra wanted.  Seeing Bella stuck between a dream-like state of being haunted by her past and conscious-awareness, Tyra coaxed Bella into realizing she had nothing to fear, and that she (Tyra) would always be there for Bella when she needed her.  And then Bella let Tyra hold her as she cried.  It brought tears to Tyra as she rocked Bella gently like her own child, until Bella fell asleep.
 
 As she lay there, Tyra smiled and hugged Bella softly.  Tyra felt like a mother for once, caring for and protecting a scared little girl from the boogey man...  
 
 ...except Bella's boogey man was real...  A so called 'giant' that Tyra had to put down...  Only one thought entered her mind
 
 "No one treatens my family, Dalton must die..."