The World of Layonara
Character Development => Development Journals and Discussion => Topic started by: J-ser on May 06, 2005, 06:44:00 PM
-
*Looks unsure about what he is about to do, then gets out a journal and writes.*
How odd. I never thought I would do this. Writing my thoughts for all to see if it is lost. Still there is to much in my mind to leave there. I need to find a way to let it out. Alot has changed since I got here. I am no longer alone, I have met a person named Elrend Starfire. Also I no longer have an uncontrolable desire to steal. I adimt to the loss of some goblin gold and have search a pack ox for any left behind items but it is not bad compared to what I have done. I have stayed true to my oath.
*hurriedly puts away book then drifts off*
-
* makes sure he is well hidden then takes out journal and begins to write*
Thing have been keeping me from writing. I have done much though. I have been on a quest to help save a halfling's Brother/Sister from a kidnapper and I didn't make it. I still curse myself for that. If only I could have hidden better if only I had more power. Then I was forced to leave. That gave me a bad name that I must make up for.
I think I have that chance. Soon I shall go on a quest to convince the Shadow Dragon to help against Blood. That is what I have gathered. Failing this I will fail myself. I must succeed.
*quickly hides journal and floats out of the darkness.*
-
* Stays away from all shadows but still makes sure he is hidden.*
I went on the quest to convince the shadow dragon. He has joined the Dragon alliance. But in a way a failed. Since I am new to this land I do not know some of the customs and I accidently portrayed myself as arrogant. Many were angry at me for my ignorance.
Seeing the Shadow dragon is an amazing expirience. I have only seen one other Dragon and it did not seem nearly as impressive as this dragon. The shadow dragon has mastered the shadows and has control over undead. I am considering trying to find this power. I have heard of a profession known as shadow dancing. I am going to look into this.
*Quickly looks into the shadows then puts book away and leaves*
-
*looks more comfortable than normal but still is wondering if this is the right thing to do*
Just recently I went on a quest to save Haven from bandits. For once I made a good impression and succeeded. My rouge abilties came in to play as well. I saw some pirates waiting outside the door and was able to sneak by them to warn the others. That may have saved some lives. I hope to get even better with that. Hopefully these actions will help improve my reputation. To say the least that is where I need to work most. Earn a good name, mabey become a scout with my skills. Who knows? It would take some time but I have nothing better to do right now.
I am going to try to go to the great library to look into shadow dancing. Haven't been able to do that yet.
*puts away journal and walks of with less hesitation*
-
*Buys a room in an inn and starts writing*
Things have kept me from writing but there is much to tell. I tried to go to the great library to find out about shadow dancing. In my quick search I saw nothing. I'll find some other way to get this information.
I went on a quest to save the city of Praniz from a crazy inventor. My skills with traps came in handy. Another thing to improve on. I also managed to keep most people on my good side during this quest.
*puts away journal and walks outside*
-
*Goes to camp outside Hlint. No one is there so he starts writing*
Elrend Starfire told me that if I wanted to learn about shadow dancing I should talk to Ozy if I could. Today I got to meet Ozy. He told me alot about shadow dancing and I am probably going to take up the begining of it though I need to think about taking it very far.
Shadow dancing is the art of being able to hide in shadows at the start but then moves on to things such as animating your shadow, and then even to leaving this plane to move into the relm of the shadows. Ozy said people who just use it to hide are often cocky though if I stop there It will be because I don't think of myself as ready to move on to anything more. I will try not to think of myself as better if I just stop there. I know of more now.
I would move on to moving into a diffrent plane if he had not told me the dangers. There is an ancient race living in that plane, beasts that would destroy my soul, and even staying there for a long enough time will suck the life from me.
Ozy said that if I wanted to learn of just going from shadow to shadow I should talk to Lueanne or Laliath Vailash. But if I want to learn to walk from plane to plane I need to talk to him.
Though that leaves me with the question of what to do with this power. I hope to be able to use it to redeem myself for my past actions. But with the power Ozy spoke of that seems like such a small goal. How could I use shadows to help the world? I need to think of this before I move onto the power of plane walking.
*puts away journal and goes to sleep think of what he wrote*
-
*sits down by the campfire outside Hlint and starts to write*
I have thought over taking up shadow dancing and I am starting to doubt if I am ready. Learnig the basics might get me interested in plane walking and get me killed. Still more thought is needed on this.
A group know as the grey circle has formed and they are trying to banish necromancy. I don't think they could ever get close to doing it, but I fear for Elrend. I have seen him use necromancy before and I think that he wants to take it further. Though he is strong he can't resist the full force of the grey circle. I will fight them if they come after him, but for now I must wait. Also the I have a feeling the Grey Circle won't be too fond of me for using shadows.
Through a bard I have heard of a powerful magical aritfact that is rumored to be in the broken forest. It will let it's wearer turn into a zombie, skeleton, shade, or spectre. The last two forms might help me blend into the shadows if I take up shadow dancing, at least until I am powerful enough to hide anywhere. Then I'm sure Elrend could find a use for it. Though I might not go after it at all it is something to think about.
*puts away journal*
-
*sits down by the campfire*
Just today I found out how much I have changed. A devil came to this world and asked us to go and retrieve him an artifact. He said he would leave the world alone if we did, but he also gave the group 10000 coins. More then half the group didn't want the money and I found myself among them. With just a word I could have gotten 2000 coins, but I didn't want the money of that fiend.
Elrend and I met up with a shadow dancer by the name of Rayenoir. She vanished infront of an entrie groups eyes and showed me what a shadow dancer can do. I have decided to take up shadow dancing myself, though I don't know how i'll learn.
*puts away journal and falls asleep*
-
*sits down and pulls out his journal*
Where to start? I had a trip planned with a group of adventurers to go out hunting but no one came. As I was walking out to fight alone I ran across a wagon and a halfling out front. He claimed that there was something jammed in under the wagon, and that he was carrying old people. I looked under trying to help, and was captured by an assassin. I was tied up and tossed into a wagon with two others, an elf named Nathalia who worked as a scout, and a halfling whose name I never got. Two more people were added to the cart and after what felt like days we were all unloaded into cages in some underground cavern.
A halfling came out and explained something to me. I was captured because of a gift I have, and was to be forced to steal for the Sombre Fangs, as the group called itself.
After the halfling left Nathalia explained some things to me. There was a guild called the Shadow Thieves which divided itself into factions. The Sombre Fangs were one of them. And as for my gift, she later told me that I had a gift for working with shadows. She herself is a shadow dancer and offered to train me, though I doubted that she would ever have the chance.
Late in the night, two men came and destroyed the cells freeing us. As soon as we left they identified themselves as members of the true Shadow Thieves, and they also wanted to recruit me to join them. They offered me power, but Nathalia was silently begging for me to not join them. I refused to join them, but I can't stop thinking about their offer, and now I hope to meet them again so I can figure out their motives. Nathalia told me that she had guessed my gift offered train me in the art of Shadow Dancing. I’m going to start meeting with her soon.
*puts away his journal*
-
*Takes out his journal and reads over it, especially his last passage*
Seeing as some faction are warring over me, I have decided to go into isolation. If another group kidnaps me I doubt anyone will come to save me again. I don't even want to think about what might happen then, how I might be used. I'm leaving Mistone. No one knows that I am doing this, Nathalia included. Where now, I have no idea. I might return in years to come, but who knows.
*Puts his journal away, thinking about if the choice he made many years ago was right*
-
I'm back. And nervous. Without mentioning any names, I know that the shadowtheives have people in Hlint. I met up with one of them, and though he seemed trustworthy enough I'm still worried about them being here.
I can feel the shadows beckoning to me, and I can no longer doubt that the shadow theives were mistaken about my gift. I feel that if I just slipped into them I would be all powerful and untouchable. My time as a loner is probably running out, more groups then just the shadowtheives may come after me after I start to gain skill as a shadow dancer. Right now I could return to training with Nathalia or join the shadow theives. I feel myself being drawn towards the later of the two. Turing down their offer in the first place seems insane now.
-
Things are starting to become more interesting. Elrend Starfire is now a palemaster. I don't mind at all, but it is a rather interesting choice. Not that I didn't expect it.
Before I went into my self-imposed exile I had completed limited training with Nathalia. I can now hide anywhere, anytime, Even if people are charging at me. But that only makes me more useful to everyone....
In my time in exile, I practiced with weapons that I saw other people use. I now have a large range of exotic weapons at my disposial, that I hope I can use to gain an advantage over people who have never seen them.
Now that I have these new skills, what do I do with them?
-
I saw the shadow thieves man in Hlint today and spoke to him about joining. He is going to contact his master and try to arrange a meeting between me and the guild about my possible joining. It will not only give me power to be taught by them, but also an amount of portection from the other factions. My worst fear now is how to convince them to let me join...
-
Something is wrong. I have heard rurmors of the end of the shadow thieves. What does that mean for me? A new guild is coming up in there place, so what now... Do I join this new guild, or try to stay out of their way?
-
I went to the meeting, but no one showed. The theives truely are dead. Now that I don't feel threatened by them, I no longer feel the need to join them. The new guild is headed by the high priest of Branderback(if the rumors are true, which they all seem to be),so there is no doubt that it is evil. What ever happens, I will not join them.
I recently went to the underdark with some adventures and got a ruby as my share of loot, which I have just sold for 12,500 gold peices. Money is not a matter for me for now. All I have to worry about now is finding an instructor in the art of Shadowdancing.
-
So much has happened, so little time to write...
Many new people have come into my life, some of them leaving it just as quickly...
Beli Tenker- A Dwarven monk of Voraxs, he left to train for the battle brothers for about six years...
Aly Shadowander- An interesting person. Lawful? Not quite. He has given me a good deal to think about though... He is a shadow dancer as well. He advises me to not search for a teacher, but to learn on my own. I have been practicing, but I could use help...
Jaleel- A fighter for Rofirein, and a good friend. I have agreed to train him in a more agile fighting style. It might be interesting.
Odion- I have not seen him since the fall of the shadow thieves, though I hear he is alright.
Bumblebee- Ah little Bumblebee. He is the head of a well known newspaper, the Dragon's Whisper, and I now work for him as head of information. He is also a shadow dancer, though he could use a little help... *laughs* I'll be training my own boss.
last, and certainly not least, Elrend Starfire- My best friend here in layonara. Elrend has become powerful beyond my wildest dreams... It is almost a pitty because I can not go adventuring with him often. He also works for Bumblebee, as head of Security. *grins* It was fun holding the threat of not giving him the job, though we both knew I was joking. Elrend has been visited by the soul mother nine times so far, and I fear for him. It is only a matter of time before he will not be able to come back...
Things to think over.
The shadow theives- Dead. I would not join them, or any of the other groups that have spawned from them.
The plane of shadows- I wish to go there soon, just to see what I am getting myself into. I plan to bring all of the ones mentioned above with me, if possible. It might be hard though, Jaleel and Aly might kill each other. Or rather, Jaleel would try to kill Aly and lose. But I need both of them...
My own training- I think I can train myself to an extent, though I wish to ally myself to some group in the near future. The shadow thieves may be gone, but another group has replaced them, and there are many others besides just them from the start...
*Jser thinks for anything else to write down, the shrugs and hides his Journal*
-
*the writing is shaken, barely legible*
Elrend is gone.
-
*J'ser sighs and sits down*
Its been a while since I've written in here, hasn't it?
I've come to terms with Elrends death. He's gone, though he is not forgotten. I will rember him always.
I have not been adventuring much of late, though I feel that I am so close to a breakthrough. I still have not found an instructor in shadow dancing, though I am looking.
As a side note, I've recently heard the language of the shadows. I wish to learn it, it will obviosly help me along the path I have chosen.
I've been leading the investigations with the dragons whisper as normal, though its much harder without Elrend helping. Bumblebee has given me a more interesting task of late. He's been talking of buried treasure around Mistone.
What to do now? As always, search for a teacher. Try to gain more power. Use it to help the people of Mistone. Survive. Live.
-
A plauge has hit the land and I'm hiding out in the Dungeon of the Eye. Hopefully it will pass over soon, but I doubt that will happen. I'll have to leave sometime...
Everyone I know seems to be leaving my life. Elrend *sighs* is dead, Jaleel has been missing for a long while, the same with Aly, Bumblebee, and a few others. Beli is training for the Brothers of Battle, Daniel *curses* has contracted the plauge. Many others I can't think of right now are gone as well.
*sighs* Speaking of Daniel, I met his brother today. They are polar opposites. Benjamin Poetr is arrogant, evil, and untrustworthy. I greeted him in Thieves Cant, and he asked me if there were any houses near by that could eaily be broken into. He attempted to manipulate a few of my friends to be griffon fodder. I played along and went with him for a while to see if there was a single redeeming aspect about him. There isn't. If *vigorously scratched out* When Daniel recovers I'm going to have to mention this to him.
I've been thinking of learning more about the gods. Ironically, the two that apeal to me are mortal enemys of each other. One represents what I was when I came to Hlint, and some of what I still am, and the other what I am becoming. Branderback and Rofirein. *laughs* I'de rather not be either, but I seemed to be forced to become one or the other.
Shadows. I've spent so much time in them that I can see in them as well as full light. I'm sure there's something ironic and cruel about that somewhere... I'm gaining control over them, somewhat.
Currently hiding *again crosses out* resting from life in a cave. I need some rest...
//I'm only going to be able to play an hour a week or so for a while and figured I'de give J'ser a reason to have disappeared
-
*the writing is all but illegible*
I've been awake for three days now, too scared to go to sleep.
I have no idea why it is happening, but my power is growing greater quickly. The shadows are reaching out for me, out of the corner of my eye I can see them moving. My own shadow more than any others. It will move of its own will, and it has once left me all together. It stepped away, changed in a way, and attacked a group of goblins. It just happened to save my life, but I don't trust it enough to go to sleep with it lurking around me. I think that I might be able to call it, to animate it. I need to see if it can reason, if it will obey me...
I can move shadows on a whim, make them march into daylight without disapearing, but it is hard, and takes all of my attention. In combat, when I am closest to them, they are much easier to move. I can call out the shadows to confuse and daze my foes.
I am redoubling my efforts to find a teacher, or at least someone who knows something about shadows. Maybe Ozy again...
*Jser sets up traps surrounding himself and finally falls asleep in the middle of them*
-
I've really got to write in here more often...
My shadow and I are getting along, it says it will answer questions later, but I can trust it well enough. It has saved my life a few times. Actually, more than a few.
Training... I spoke to Ozy some about how to get more training, and he mentioned making a deal with the shadows. From what he said and what I've learned, there are three ways that I could try. Form a contract with a shadow, speak to them and serve them, in a god-cleric relationship. Second, what I've been doing, live among them and become one with them. The best analogy or description I can think of for it is a rangers being at one with nature, and gain powers that way. The diffrence between a ranger and a simple woodsman, the diffrence between a shadow dancer and a simple rouge. Third, find a mentor and learn under them. Thats what I want to do, as selling myself to a shadow doesn't sound promising, and living in them takes to long. I would follow any path, jump between them, anything, though I prefer a mentor.
New faces, a lot. I've seen Benjamin Poetr a little more. He's not as bad as I thought, though he is little more than what he appears to be, a rouge. An odd man named Brian, trying to become a shadow dancer as well. He spoke to me about it, I basically told him what is written above. Kalin, a mage of some power. All black, carries a latern, looks to be a sterotypical necromancer, though he is far from it.... maybe not that far, but he is not a pale master as Elrend was. *chuckles softly as he writes* Kinai, another shadow dancer, with ambitions. A good fighter, and a good friend. She's talking about setting up a troop of dancers, and I would likely be the one that calls the shots in it. Odd, me moving from jumping at my own shadow to heading an organization. Lots of others as well, can't write about everyone here.
Important happenings... I lost my first soul strand. I've lost one before, I think, but it came back which is something I've never heard of. I've heard rumors that someone forced the soul mother to give everyone back a strand, but this is all in the distant past and doesn't bother me now.
Religion? Bah. Staying away from Rofie, he's a little too strick for me. I really need to stop hanging out with Paladins, or they'll rub off on me again. *takes a sip of holy water* Need to stop drinking this stuff too, I think its messing with my morals.
And most intersting of all, my career. I was approached by a hooded man with a note to come to a meeting at a tavern in Hurm. Others I knew there Kinai and Phaer. Some others I don't know or don't remeber. Anyhow, he called us back one by one to interview us. I was nervous during Bee's job interview, but this man.... He trapped the door, and chair as a test. Luckly, no one failed. He asked me of my past, if I had run afoul of the law, been imprisioned, things like that. Oddly enough, I had run afoul of the law, and counted my encounter with the Sombre fangs as imprisionment. He also asked if I would kill others to reach higher. I might have lied when I said yes, but I might not have. Before I left town, the answer would have been yes. A while back, when I hung out around the paladins and such, the answer would have been no. Now... I'm trying to be a shadow dancer, edge of light and dark, good and evil. I might, I might not. Certainly not a friend, but I will know when I get there. And I know that time will come, as I gave him my name. He has jobs, he told us they would land us afoul of the law...
*shrugs and tosses the book back into his bag*