Well, this is a fine mess I've landed into. First, there was the fire. Yeah, I know I should be grateful to get out alive, but all of my scrolls and books! Gone! Sure I have most of them memorized already, but where am I going to find another copy of Lexical Structure and Vocabulary of Druegar? I spent months tracking that down, and now... nothing but ashes. Then I had this strange... dream. If dream is the right word, for I seem to have woken from it half way across the world. A great dragon, telling me I have been called to fight Bloodstone and his armies? That's crazy talk. Something like this is the work for heros and heroines, not for me. I just want to be left alone with my books. Nevertheless... I found myself in this charming little mud hole town with nothing but a simple robe, a crossbow, and a few coins in my pocket. Terrific. A military outpost, to boot. Fat chance of finding any interesting books here. On the other hand, where armies and heros gather, storytellers are sure to follow, so perhaps I can hear a few good tidbits of information from them. Of course, these bardic types aren't exactly trustworthy and are often given to embellishment, so getting any real knowledge from them will be a challenge. *Sigh* Anyway... not that I'm particularly fond of going up to complete strangers, but I'm new here, and need to get the lay of the land and perhaps a little bit of income so that I can start my life over again. One place is as good as another, I suppose. It's not like I had any family that I've talked to in years or friends I've left behind, so I might as well stay here for a while. Perhaps there are different sources of books and legends? So I agree to do a few odd jobs for some of the townsfolk. Nothing that sounds too dangerous, I suppose. I guess it didn't hurt that some friendly adventurer (I never did catch his name) showed me around the area, and we hunted some orcs and goblins. I was pleasantly surprised that some of the little magical tricks I have learned came in useful, and I was even more surprised to find that I'm not half bad with a crossbow in a fight. After tackling some of the vile creatures for a while, I was able to talk my new "friend" into helping me finish one of the errands I had agreed to run -- retrieve some stolen tax records. Personally, I don't really care about the financial managment (or mismanagement) of this dump, but the job promised some decent coin. All of this running around and practicing the magical arts in earnest seems to have sharpened my skills. I am better with the spells I knew, and have uncovered the mysteries of others that had previously eluded me. Maybe I am cut out for this after all. Then again, maybe I've just been lucky so far.
