Freldo Jabutica's Journal and Letters, Volume One

[SuperMunch]

I wish I knew what happened the past few days.  Mille gave me a yellow mushroom yesterday and I got really sick after eating it and when I say sick, I was hallucinating!  I felt like I was being manipulated by this guy that was looking at a box that cast light while he pressed pressed down on a flat box filled with buttons and moved a little round box that had a greenish light on it.  But that wasn't the worst part of it!  I also kept saying my thoughts allowed and let slip how much I thought Rane was beautiful... ooops...  In the end, Sir Rolf removed all the "happy" from the mushroom and that pretty much restored me to my usual self but I still haven't gone back to normal yet.  It has also affected my memory.  So, Mille gave me a yellow mushroom yesterday and I... I just wrote that.  I know I was at the Haven Mines a few times during the past few days but most of the trips are blurred together, the last two times were strange.  Second to last time I managed to pick a fight with Exodus, I guess we were both pretty upset for some reason.  I blame the yellow mushroom since the incident happened just prior to this descent with Exodus.  Luckily for both of us, cooler heads prevailed and things were smoothed out.  Oh, the cooler heads were Axodeth, Geddrin, Kiva, Renji and Grympint.  Strange... I don't know why I remembered all of that.  Well then, the last time I went down last night I was in a huge party, with several new faces most of which I hadn't made the aquaintance of.  The one that marked me the most was that of Hickle, another brownie quick and eager to prove his worth in battle, not to mention that he did show a certain eagerness to meet both Freida and Mille, smart little fellow, both are very charming.  So...  Let's see what I can remember that happened these past days...  Leilon Arms, Cynn, Rane and Grampa's Ashes, Oxfordian and... Instrument making.  Let's start back to front...  I spent quite a lot of time grinding hickory into dust these past days trying to gain a better understanding of instrument making and it hasn't been easy...  Actually, it has, but it's a lot of tedious work.  I'm finally pretty confortable in my crafting that I can actually intentionally make saw dust out of the crafted rope and hickory branches, which is a good step up from where I was until recently.  To help me with this task I've bought an ox, which I named Oxfordian that I keep in the stable in Hlint.  Oxfordian's a nice ox, well trained and has quite a gore on him, killed an orc and almost killed another.  The best thing about Oxfordian is that he doesn't leave a trail of dung after him, which is nice for the bard on the go.  About Grampa's Ashes, a relatively large group led by my favorite priestess of Ilsare, Rane, travelled down to Krandor to help that child, I don't remember his name, retrieve his grandfather's ashes.  Several VERY tough undead - tough enough to make Rane use all her arsenal of warding spells.  The reward, other than the kid's gratitude was a nice little some of money, enough to cover my spending with my saw dust fabrication training.  About Cynn...  Nice gal - not the looker type, built like a man - but she does have her charm and... I don't want to talk about it.  Finally, The Leilon Arms Inn.  Another night, another presentation but this time with a few twists...  First one was that I bought Yard's old Bull's Strength ring, pretty powerful ring, it allows me lift an extra twig every time I go chopping hickory!  The second one was great, but has run into a little problem.  Derrick, the Inn's barman, offered me an iron rapier if I worked there for four nights and he just gave me the rapier in advance, what a trusting fellow!  He even lit it on fire for me...  It doesn't do anything intresting other than being ablaze, it's a neat carnival trick I guess.  Now, there's a snag to my deal with Derrick, I don't know if I'll be able to make it to every opening of the Leilon Arms for the next few months so I guess I'll return it to him and wait for another oportunity to get an iron rapier.  Well, that's about it I guess.  Oh!  I learned a new trick in my singing now!  I can actually give the illusion that the listeners have increased their stamina, not to mention that my attack hand is a lot swifter, I seem to be able to swing the rapier and shoot the bow a little faster than before.

[SuperMunch]

/*  This is all out of character This entry serves to define Freldo's personality as it might() become useful in the future and also serves as a guide for myself if I ever forget who Freldo is.  Freldo's a happy go lucky guy with no real chips, gripes or problems - the world might be falling around him but he really doesn't seem to worry about it.  He's insignificant and he knows it, he'll try to talk his way out of everything and try to reach out to make new friends as much as he can - networking is important to him.  This is an intentional course of action because, as the world's back story goes, he is a tiny, tiny, tiny compared to what other characters can do and, as I wrote above, he acts on this knowledge.  I intend to keep him like this as long as I can, most likely until I'm thrown into something bigger and even then he won't really stop trying to ignore it.  Happy go lucky characters make good epic heroes (or comedic heroes) in my opinion, not for the dramatic flair they have but because they're fun to be around.  Tragic heroes are good in powerful drama but aren't folks that you'd like to be around in real life (Turin Turambar comes to mind in a flash as does Siegmund) so I avoid them as characters.  His cowardice fits into his "comedic hero" role and is, in a very big way, "a corruption of prudence" - he's overly cautious of his own hide and destests dying for no good reason.  As time goes on, the corruption will be cured - mostly because Bards do eventually become more powerful game wise - but he'll remain the sort of guy that will have a few scrolls of invisibility on hand, just to be safe.  Right now, at level 8, he's not really afraid of everything anymore but he'll take his time or go invisible whenever he can.  He has a habit of sweet talk anything that looks vaguely feminine - he hasn't talked to Chanda or other evil female character yet but he'd try to flatter her - this is his way of "spreading love", as he interprets his faith (Ilsare).  Freldo tends to ignore any character's back story when told to him and is intrested in the character themselves and reacts accordingly to his perception of the character - he measures people by their whole that are presented to him, not by stereotypes and archetypes: - Renji is his human shield and Freldo considers him a good friend - Ash is nice but hard to get along with, especially because she like his nemesis, Bears - Jareg's a guy with a funny hat - Freida's the cutest and craziest warrior he's ever seen - Acacea's the fastest mouth and sharpest tongue in the land - Cole is just plain crazy - Abi doesn't like to be called "lady" - Rane is gorgeous, plain and simple - mostly because she helps him from time to time. ...and the list goes on...  Characters that don't talk to him aren't as well liked but he does have a big heart so they'll be able to fit in some day.  As his intrests go, he's not into material wealth - he wants to be able to enjoy the world without to much fear of dying terrible deaths in the middle of nowhere.  He appreciates second hand equipment and isn't ashamed of using it - all items have a story to tell and that's good.  He has a really frugal lifestyle and also isn't ashamed of it, he has a bit of coin in the bank but it's all directed towards being better equipment for battle and components for his few spells.  As for playing him, Freldo is a part of who I really am, like most of my other online characters are but, in his case, he's uncannily like me - most of the stunts he pulls are things that I have really done in real life, which, so far have translated well into the ingame mechanics.  Also like me, Freldo has a very vast sense of humor and, as I do, have to think of something funny during stressful times (while I might think about it, Freldo's very vocal of his silliness).  Well, that's about it...  But... I have something I'd like to say right here for myself...  

I have only one problem with Freldo...  Some idiot (me) gave him 10 skill points in Parry instead of something useful like Tumble.  I wasted 10 whole points on a skill I NEVER USE.  I'd like to complain about this but it would be a pretty worthless complaint, especially since I SCREWED UP FOR SEVEN STRAIGHT LEVELS.  I don't know why I insisted so much, I guess I thought it might be useful - Andre, you're an idiot.

 */

[SuperMunch]

Two names:  Allie and Silly.

Another: Master Ozymandias.

...

This is a journal entry but I might as well write the rest of the story down if someone finds this after my charred remains are found and this journal is recovered from my bank vault.

The two girls, twins of the most unusual kind, are very, very, very, very, very, very naive, I'm not.  They're also very good looking, which I am hoplessly attracted to.  Also, their uncle is none other than Master Ozymandias, who I very deeply respect despite frightening me to no end.

So, as things go, I managed to make a donkey out of myself to the girls and I managed to get a slight tongue lashing from Master Ozymandias for trying to explain to the girls why boys keep looking at their "lumps".  I actually tried a simple explanation but it was of no use, their naivete is so great that I might as well just run away from them every time I see them.

Seriously, what kind of woman, or even girl, doesn't understand these things?

I mean, come on!  Even ancient and ugly hags grok this concept, why don't two very smart young ladies understand this?

Seriously, what kind of sheltered existence have they led to have been so protected from men?

I'd actually like to explain this to them, in a PATERNAL way, you sick-o (to the reader of these chronicles), but after Master Ozymandias' "don't do that", I'll keep my respectful distance - by running away very fast - and let someone bolder try their hand at this.

I'm overwhelmed by their naivete, so much so that I'll go meditate about it.

To the reader of these chronicles:  You're a sick-o to think less of my chivalry.

[SuperMunch]

Dearest mother,

I've finally started getting somewhere, it took a while but I'm doing alright.

The past few days when not leading some new guy off on a mission for one of the forgetful or clumbsy folks in town, I've seriously taken on a few arts and crafts - mostly the easier ones but I am getting pretty good in my instrument making techniques.  I'm also dabbing in alchemy here and there, mostly making alchemist's fire, when they don't explode on me.

Don't worry Mother, I wear non-flamable clothes and I don't take stupid risks.

Other than that I've come to a strange conclusion: I'm not that useless anymore.

No really!  I have enough arcane, bardic and physically mundane help that allow me to survive conditions that would have killed me until a little while ago.  I may still hit like a girl, but I'm no longer a sissy that had to run away just to survive, I can now stand my ground against many foes - not very tough ones or hordes of them mind you, but I can manage nicely.

I made a few key purchases the past few days that are sure to help me out in the long run - I now have a very nice set of leather armor (much lighter than my old scale mail) that I fashioned into a gladiator's garb (looks very nice, despite what Freida, says).  I also aquired a necklace of shield from Lady Addison (a very gentle warrior, except when she's not being gentle, in which case, she's to be a terrifying person).

I think I can actually start looking for trouble now.

Mother, I'll be fine, don't fret.

So, let me tell you of recent days...

Well, I'll start off with the Leilon Arms Inn that had a few surprising revelations...

Yes mother, I was in town but I didn't stop over, sorry.

Derrick asked me to help take care of the bar because next week Kali will be away on business.  It was a pleasant night, not to many things happening but I helped out as much as I could, in the end Master Ozymandias gave us a few tales of weapons of legends and he told us a few fascinating stories, amoung them his own story about how he came into the service of the Great Wyrm of the Firesteep Mountains.

Derrick paid me, for some reason, for attending the bar but he did threaten to kill me if I dropped another bottle and made a mess.  Come to think of it, Kali also threatened to behead me for the same reason - even Addison wanted a piece of my head, I think it was because she thought it was available for the taking.

The rest of the night was pleasant - a little adventuring with Freida and some lizard killing for pocket change.

The next few days were rather lack luster except that I gained a great deal of confidence in my abilities to not die, which is what I mentioned above.

I met quite a few new folks these past days, Berri (a halfling fighter that seems to be more scared of things than I am), Star (cute elf), Alleina (cute elf), Gildren (a mage with a nice full beard), Storold (a relativly weak warrior but he does hold a lot of powerful arcane magic) and Stump (a mute half-giant with a heart of gold, saved him from the spiders in Sielwood and now he's taken to hugging and crushing me).

Oh, I was almost forgetting a few intresting things happened in Hlint...

Arika, a wandering book merchant, with Joe, her pack beetle, tried to sell me some books.  It wasn't really that odd, if not for the pack beetle!  The critter was very smart and followed her and was quite a sight to be seen!

Another thing was a group of fast running jogging gnomes that ran through Hlint shortly after Arika had left...  Honestly, a group of eight or so gnomes ran by us, in formation, towards the east side and a little while later, they came jogging back, said something about something (they talk VERY fast) and took off beyond the gate.  When we came out to see them, we only caught their last glimpses in the faraway hills towards Fort Llast - they REALLY ran fast.

That's about it for now mother, please send everyone my love.

Your son,
Freldo

[SuperMunch]

Lots of good news today.

I've reached my first objective in alchemy, I can now make alchemist's fire a little more than a quarter of the times I try, not to mention that I don't get burned as often.  Along with this new progress I'm picking up spider's silk to progress further in instrument making - fun stuff to be submerged in sawdust and flaming beetle guts, one of these days I fear I'll set the craft house or Moraken's tower on fire.

Kiva and I went on a little trip to the High Moors, east of Hlint - he said he needed some money and those lizard men are richer than I am, but I could tell he enjoyed the rumaging through the muck.

So...  We chatted quite a lot there, talked about his name (Kiva Darkchild, I prefer just Kiva, short and sweet), about how he needs to get more sun and how his thoughts on Rane which he thinks I'm deeply in love with and that she has a condition, I guess you could call it.  Anyway, we had fun, he almost died and I left with a few more scrolls for my collection.

Well, that's it for the good news.

No, not really, but I won't write about the other good news just yet.

Who am I kidding, sure I'll write it - I keep this in my vault and NOBODY goes through my vault to read it...  At least I think they don't, oh well... let me just jot this down then.

Rane had asked me to write her a song - I think she was kidding at the time but I'm not one to disappoint one as beautiful so I wrote her a poem, not one, but a few, no five - two are incomplete.  Well, it's hard to be inspired by her.

As I was running along, escaping from enemies unseen (more like running along to try my hand at exploding myself) I was jogging past the bench under the great tree in Hlint when I saw a glimmering figure talking to a bunch of folks.  I was going to just run past - you know, semi-transparent people pop up all the time - when I saw it was Ranewin, smooshed at the hands of something or other.

I clearly ignored what caused because, as it seems, I was to fascinated by how good she looked semi-transparent.  Shocking that even in such a state she could reach such greater beauty.

Well, I ran off - people tend to get grumpy after being smooshed and as I was running off to the tower to attempt to blow myself up, again, she caught up with me.

I read her one of the poems...  I read just one, I don't really want to let on how much she... oh, forget it, she KNOWS how she inspires me.  So we sat and talked by the fountain that just popped up next to the temple of Ilsare and I swear Calise was giving us evil looks, I don't think she likes seeing her new flowers being stepped on.

Well, it was a pleasant night and we sat and talked but alas, it was just a lot of words with little substance, I really couldn't ask for much more, she's made of the stuff of stars and even silly words manage to mean a lot to me.

I really do like her and she does inspire me to greatness.  I know we can never be together, she's a long lived elven priestess worthy of lore and I'm just a silly bard with to much time on his hands to write poems and write enormous entries in his journal.

Well, that was about it, I even gave up trying to explode myself last night, at least one night I went to bed in peace.

[SuperMunch]

I don't think I mentioned this and would like to set it straight when this journal gets stolen.

Kiva did not gossip to me of Rane's condition.  We had a heart-to-heart chat and I begged him to tell me whatever it was he was reluctant to tell me.

He didn't want to tell me but I insisted and, being the nice guy he is, he kinda just said it thinking that I hadn't listened.

I just want to make that clear, Kiva's not a gossiper nor is he of cruel intentions, I'm just very, very, very, very, very, very insistent.

[SuperMunch]

Oh no.

I have a feeling that things might turn upside down soon.

Well, first things first - the lighter stuff..  Now I'm just "shucks" bad at alchemy - as opposed to "I hope this doesn't explode" bad, which is nice.  I gave my first batch of alchemist's fire, choking powder and acid flasks to Renji but this next batch I think I'll keep to donate to the temple, Ilsare knows what Calise will do with them, let me just hope she doesn't bombard me with them when I pick the flowers from her garden.

I finally have another full box of spider silk so I guess I'll retake my instrument making again, try to make myself a guitar to complement my mandolin and violin.

Another amenity is that Acacea told me that Silly and Allie are "special" in some way and that their mother is a tough one that'll probably wither me from the inside out if I pester her daughters.  That's also nice to know.  I'll just keep away from them then.

Now, for the thick of it and probably what Freida, my personal vault thief, wants...

Speaking of which, Freida's gone on a long trip to find the village she is from, or something like that - even left a note for me at the Wild Surge.  She wrote a few things in there that I'm intriged with, especially about Ranewin and Ash.  She certainly does know a lot more about Rane and Ash, probably because she's a good listener (or she tortured them to find out).

So, back on topic now...

Wait, not yet, I'm still intriged by little Freida's notice and letter she wrote me - it doesn't seem like her to try to steer me out of harm's way, she's usually very happy to lead me to foolishness.  Very odd.

Now, back on topic.

I wrote Rane a few more poems (I also wrote some for other people, little Freida's amoung them) and I see I have found my muse but I am confused by these women folk.

I met Ranewin near Fort Velensk while I was escorting Stump there to get back to his grave and, after her saving the day a few times, we finally managed to sit down and rest.  She runs around the big tree and comes over again with a turquoise dress.

Shocked?  Me?  You bet.  We sat and talked of little things, the usual stuff while the rest of the party talked about the adventure.

Now I don't know what it is, but Rane has been awfully close to me as of late - the turquoise dress was... well... great... but I fear that she might be pulling my leg.  Not that I mind that of course, it's that I know Rane is high above me and I cannot dare touch her or see her in a light other than admiration - in fact, her mearest touch seems to reach my very soul.  If she blows me a kiss, I can feel it like fire on my cheek.

I really like her, she's not only a pleasant, wise and world worn person, she's quite nice to look at also, which is always a plus but I don't wish for things to get wierd.

Well, that's it for now.

I have to meditate on this whole Ranewin deal, I'll do that while I chop hickory and sing the Lumberjack Song...

Oh, I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day.

[SuperMunch]

I'm gonna write my last three days in here but I'll do it in parts because it started off fine, well not fine but it started off well, went throught surreal and in the end - crazy.  Well mannered night at the Leilon Arms with a side trip to fish, a crazy romp through half of Layonara for some material with Cole and Acacea and, just yesterday, a trip to some plane beyond the circles of the world.  That was when things REALLY got weird, the situation was so sombre - as it seemed - that it was hard for me to find enough to laugh about, Cole looked pretty grumpy (not the usual "crazy" look, just plain grumpy), Ash threatened to gut me like a pig (which I can safely say isn't her usual way of treating me) and the usually polite Grympint acted like an ass.  Well, first things first...  The First Day - The Day of A Revelation  So, end of the week and it was back to the Leilon Arms Inn for another installment of the four part miniseries "Pay Derrick For The Rapier".  It was a fine night, both Derrick and Kali were out of town so it was just Jharl and I taking care of things.  There wasn't much to do other than chat around and play with the new jukebox - loads of fun, I thought it was funny to play some of the more somber tunes when Master Ozymandias started telling his tales.  A shame most didn't get what I did, most of them must just ignore the music.  So, then Ranewin showed up.  You know, I'd like to write a lot about this meeting but the events of last night and lack of sleep drew away most of my spirit so I'll be a little more objective than I usually am.  Wait, before that, I must write down that I never thought elves grew old - I always thought they just poooofed away when they were old.  Also, they might age, but they still retain their beauty, at least I think so.  So...  Here we go.  ...lots of writing crossed out and a few torn pages...  Oh forget it, I can't be very objective, I'll just embellish things like I usually do.  Let me say that Kiva was only partly right - she does have a condition, but it's much worse than I thought.  First of all, she's cursed - yes, she's cursed with a fiancée, Trysk.  An alpha-man so incredibly tough that she said "he's saving me when he's here". Oh, real nice, a seven foot guy with the arms like a dwarf's legs that must have the face of a God - I have as much a chance against him as I do against a gang of crazy drunken rabbies infested, black plague flea carrying ferrets.  Second thing, she's cursed - not with the traditional curse, as above, she's cursed for real.  A necromancer drew the youth out of her appearance a while ago.  Good thing he didn't take the beauty in her so she's still as fine as one can wish - she removed a ring and wrinkles and such just appeared out of thin air on her but she still sounded the same and looked the same (just older).  I wasn't revolted mostly because of what she has showed me the past days, beauty isn't skin deep and, no matter what happens, men grow older a lot faster than the fair elven race.  Third thing, I'm blessed - she said "when he's here".  He's away at sea for the past three years and the last she heard of him was a year ago - a year ago in human or elven time?  Well, it doesn't mater, there is some light in this - he may have thought she moved on and Trysk himself may have wed a mermaid, sea elf or walrus, who knows?  Well, adding things up I'll just have to be patient, I can wait a little while, out of respect for Ranewin.  What am I saying, I do not want commitment.  Commitments frighten me more than said ferrets.  So, about Ranéwin, it's good she has a fiancée, I'll keep her as my muse - she's already given to me a lot of material to write with and with her sad tale, I'll have even more reasons to write about her.  Beauty doesn't age, it just gets softer and softer.  Why not?  We all die some day.  Soooooo.....  The Second Day - Magic Ride With A Crazy Man  There I was, sitting around Hlint when Cole and Acacea appear, not out of thin air but they seemingly appeared out of nowhere and, as if my wish came true, I was invited to go on a big adventure to gather goods Cole's friend needed.  I confess that I did ask Cole for another oportunity to adventure with him and I did expect a lot of carnage, mostly my own, but things did end up a lot different than I expected.  Well, we started off in Hlint and went south to the Battle Fens, once there we went off to some caverns guarded by some very mean trolls that could see through my mantle of invisibility.  Actually, the whole adventure was a blur - we almost didn't stop moving until we were in some mines near Pranzis when Jennara, a halfling Acacea's size, was felled by the trolls.  I... must confess that I had my fault in this.  I was weary and running for my life, I saw little Jennara nearby getting pounded and as I was about to use one of the potions of healing Acacea had bought, I was distracted and missed the chance to heal her, instants before the lethal blow fell.  Jennara, I'm sorry.  I am so very sorry.  I saw you - in fact I was right behind you - and I couldn't do anything to help you, I must make it up to you but how, I'll never really know.  Acacea sat there quietly watching over your body lying there, flag in hand.  I'll never forget that scene, seeing her sitting down (instead of jumping around) and her little eyes suddenly sad - is painful even for me to write about.  I cowardly didn't say a thing, a mistake I'll never make again - I didn't speak to save my hide but in doing so I feel I disapointed Acacea and Cole, two very fine companions that seem to have ungodly patience with me.  After that the group ran out of steam, losing one is never easy, and we returned to Pranzis when the most absurd thing happened...  Saying farewell to Cole and Acacea, I had a sudden urge to hold Cole's hands, but not in the standing up way, I knelt down and just grabbed at his hands.  I swear that he does have the softest hands around, even Ranewin would be a hard match to his soft, well kept hands.  I got up off of my knees after a little bit but I am still in love with Cole's hands.  For some reason.  I thought I heard Acacea casting a spell a little before I fell on my knees but it might have been her talking in elvish, something she does from time to time to show off.  Well, that was the end of the second day.  The third day deserves an entry by itself, I think.  Important Note To Self: I learned a lesson on the second day...  A good lesson from Acacea - invisibility can be my best friend since I can sing and heal without revealing myself - I can use healing potions and spells, even giving the added hasting boost to my friends without actually entering combat.  For historical purposes, I list the companions in Cole's Flight: - Cole (fens, desert and mines) - Acacea (fens, desert and mines) - Renji (fens, desert and mines) - Goldie (venomous tuber fighter, fens) - Jerei (desert and mines) - Jennara (desert and mines) - Luna (desert and mines) - Mith (scary wizard that Acacea doesn't like, but is Cole's friend, desert and mines) - Ael (desert and mines) - Kharl Drake (also known as Carla, at least that's what Acacea called him, desert and mines) - ElvenLadyWithBIGShield (I didn't catch her name, desert and mines)

[SuperMunch]

The Third Day - When I Visited Beyond The Circles Of Layonara

I awoke on the third day, which was two days ago, and decided I'd take advantage of Freida's absence and traveled to Fort Velensk - Addison told me Freida would try to lure me there just to take me to the arena and beat me up.

The reason for my trip so far south was to feed the chickens there the extra corn I picked up in Mistone - I know, it was a silly thing to do but that's the reason I went, to play chicken herder.  To my great surprise, I saw a very large group of folks gathering near the docks, more folks gathered together than I ever thought possible.  All walks were there some were obviously great travelers with a great many years walking the world and some, like myself, are new to the wonders that the world has in store.

A lady greeted the group and started talking with one of the front men, Rhizome was his name.  I heard talk of "The bridges!  They have all been built!", "They were built to protect those that protect the world and nature." and something about a prophecy being fulfilled.  Queer stuff, I never thought bridges were of any great importance other than not getting one's feet wet.

We were asked to board a boat set for the Serpent Isle and, despite my good sense, I boarded and we left for the Isle, a very nice trip but a bit crowded - especially because the dwarves insisted on lying down on the deck (they must all be very seasick prone).

So, on arriving and after a short walk we came upon the "bridges" mentioned above.  I had to take back what I thought about not getting one's feet wet - those bridges were spanning an abyss, not a body of water, and, even if I could fly, like that winged Plenarius fellow, I would just as soon not try, the darkness below seemed to suck the light of the world.

We passed two bridges and stopped before the final one.  I got the sense that great deeds had to have been accomplished just to build each of the bridges we passed.  I was in awe to think of the countless lives sacrificed for each plank, rope and nail used to raise each foot from the abyse below.

Well, as it goes, we all reached the final bridge where a shadow stood upon it, saying that "The bridges of nature and the T'oleflor are built" and that the one greatest with nature (Rhizome, as it seems) was to approach and the shadow gave him a key saying "It is the key to the worlds destiny or destruction. You and your friends will eventually decide that."

With that and a cryptic "My love and I leave and my other love and I part ways" the shadow left with a deep sigh of relief.  Strange words but I'm sure many, many philosophers will ponder what he meant.  To me, he was happy to leave with a new love - whatever it might be - the old love and him probably parted ways during his work on the bridge, probably a force that did not want him to help that Rhizome fellow.

Well, we transversed the last bridge and came upon a large door that just looking at drew life away from me.  I felt cold, very cold, whatever that door guards must be of fundamental power, the essence of the unmaking or making of the world might be in there.  A step after passing the door, the sensation passed and I felt life in me again and trudged forth to a massive oak where we all ascended.

The room inside the oak had mirrors in it, several mirrors of obvious magical properties and in that room there was a dias surrounded by a field of force that, so it seemed, would open only to a name of passage.  While others debated what was to be said as the name of passage, I sat stood attention.

"Try bill", said Mith
"Try 'Freldo'", said Renji (I'm gonna kick his butt one of these days).
"Not sure I've ever heard a Name of Passing", said Planearius
"Well we're inside a giant tree, the time of passing for plants is normally winter isn't it?", said a halfling.
"Do not simply assume everything! There is more than just your life at risk here. Nothing to be fiddled with.." said Matilda

Time passed as ideas flew from one to another.

"Passing could refer to Shadow himself, as Ozy just mentioned.  After all he did just pass from our existence so to speak.", said Rhizome and he finished the discussion with "The name of passing is Shadow, Shadow of the Tol'eflor".

Upon saying "Shadow", a portal opened and we were all whisked away to a forest as ancient as I-have-no-idea-what.  It was very, very, very old and one thing was very obvious, we were no longer amoung the circles of Layonara.  We were obviously on another plane - everything had it's own greenish light, the trees grew tall, so tall that their tops couldn't be seen without flying and all of nature was in song.

A song, yes, a song as if a choir of a dream - all things were like a song, a place so beautiful that it might have seemed that I was awake in my dreams or in my own death.  Notes sung by heavenly voices were the blades of grass, grace was the trees and poetry were the pixies and other beings on that world.  The water soothed not only thirst but washed away weariness, the rare falling leaves came as a snowflake in the opening of winter, the air was as fresh as that from a breeze in the hills and all about us life was blooming, an eternal blooming.  Green was everywhere, even dark night was built of deep green, the falls and droplets of moisture were of the slightest tint.  I was in a dream, a dream of ancients, of the founder races - of the essence of life.

The door that was chosen not more than an hour before might not be the path to salvation, but it opened unto legend.

The entire group traveled through T'oleflor, which name must mean "The Land of Faeries" and we got to see a number of it's inhabitants, fair fey folk.  About the world, Rhizome told me that it was real, "In fact, probably more real that where we come from.  It's the foundation of our own reality I believe."

Alas, it wasn't a dream nor was it confortable death - a mean tempered Ash was there and told me it that killing me would have been a pleasure for her.  I worry about her, for a ranger she does hold a terrible grudge against me.

Anyway, the entire group reunited near the entrance of T'oleflor's throneroom - at least that's what I thought it was and we got to see their highest nobility, two feys with bright wings and, despite their small size, they were so mighty in commanding respect that all, except Grympint (that I had great consideration for, but I do not anymore), stood in respect.  I swear, Grympint commited a most heinous offense before those that are the founders - the only way he could offend any more was to take his boots off and burp in front of them - I cannot forgive him for being so rude, even other dwarves stood in respect such was their awe.

There was a little difficult time where neither the noble T'oleflorian Lords understood us nor did we understand them but after a little bit they descended from their ancient tongue to our vulgar common and we understood them.

The queen spoke and made us understand that our coming had been prophesized, "The time of the regrowth has come it seems.  Protectors of the world in various forms and races for their own desires and causes.  United strangely to defeat a blooded one, but needing the ancient ones and the Silver Veign."

The king started, "The last plant that was saved by Shadow himself, then defended by him.  We have it here. And with your coming you shall bring it back home, but first you need something of it I believe."

He held out a bottle of silvery liquid and continued, "This is yours. use it wisely.  This vial contains the silver that drips from the Silver Veign plant.  The descendant gives the tools. the heroes build the vessel. The vessel holds the ridge.  The silver veign flows down the ridge the sould flows down the silver veign.  The soul touches the bone of blood with this all is done.

During the heroes winning over the conqueror though.  A darkness spreads, caused by their very hands, the hands of those not knowing, life of plants, animals, and the living shall pass in some numbers.  But this pain is short lived in comparison to the other consequence.  You decide."

And with that the king asked the rangers, druids and all those of nature to follow him and they departed.

I speculate that the silvery content of the vial is what must be used to stop Bloodstone.  From their words I speculate that some time in the past they gave a gift to one of Layonara that was used to corrupt ends and now the time has come to correct that mistake however only us, co-inhabitants of the world's corruptor, may unweave the dark fabric that had been place over it.  I speculate of course.

Plenarius returned to the group saying, "Rhiz is now carrying the Silver Plant, we are instructed to plant it near the heart of the world.  If the plant dies, The Silver Veign ends. The vessel of the world ends and it stops the heart."

Comforting words to which Cole replied "So then there must be those dispatched to guard it.  To stay with it on the constant."

Even more comforting words

Planearius then spoke of the plant Rhizome carried, I write below what I grasped of his speech:

"Once the place is near the heart and tended the one that guards and watches now, the Heirophant will visit her place of resting.  The one who plants the Silver Veign shall take over, and give up all other titles.  That person is then in charge of nature and the world.  With the planting of the Silver Veign near the Heart we can communicate with the Tol again.  To do so they must communicate through the three lords of the land or the Heirophant, no others.  Do not let the heart nor the veign die.  Doing so causes the heirophant and the lords instant death.  The one that plants in near the heart of the world is the one that controls nature.  That does not need to be Rhiz.  The Tol don't decide that, we do.

Shadow gave his life to the world after training with the Tol for three decades.  At the end of that training he and married Selian.  But then he
 chose the patch of sacrifice to save the world.  Selian, despises all the sacrifices and does not believe all of the defences for the Silver Veign were necessary.  Now that Shadow is released and is passed on to the Tol realm, the plant is returned, they do not know what Selian will do to us, the Tol or anyone.  Lucinda has been able to ebb her temper up until this point but now she won't even be able to communicate through the grave.

When the Tol left there was a group of seven of thirteen, known as the Lumbral, they need to be saved in order to aid us and defeat Blood.  But... if we aid them too soon, then the darkness he spoke of earlier won't happen.  Which in our opinion needs to happen.  And if that darkness comes then we have a greater darkness and blight, not onlt of shadow, but of at least one god, or two.  And he concluded, 'we are here.  When it is planted, we may slowly return to the world.  Depening on the protector and lords'."

The discussion of who would plant the Silver Veign had begun and Rhizome warned "The planter will make the sacrifice of becoming the Hierophant, which now not only means the protector of the Great Oak but the Silver Plant as well.  It will be that person's primary duty to protect both and rally others to do the same."  In the end, he was chosen, not by us, but by his own fate as I never did see any reason to debate this.

A cheer was given and the group dispersed, we could tell that our meeting was over.  I bade farewell to the land of T'oleflor wishing to return there soon or, if I am so allowed, upon my parting from the world.

I left the fair land with it's feys and smell of ancient green back unto the dark woods north of Hlint.

Now I am here, at home in Leilon with all my old school's history books to read.  I never took kindly to long drawn out lessons of lore but now I see I must to better grip what I saw beyond the fold.

I'll copy a version of this text and post in the Wild Surge for all to see, some might find it useful - some might have time to correct me.

These are Freldo's accounts of the events that happened on March 12, 2006 - the completion of the third bridge in the serpant islands, they are in now way absolute truth or are they anything more than a young and inexperienced bard's accounts of what happened.  I, SuperMunch, have not read the complete history of Layonara but upon the completion of this story, I will do so and Freldo might release a newer version taking the complete history into account.

[SuperMunch]

I've been at home studying these past few days and when I haven't been at home, I've been looking for oportunities and search of something to do.

By "looking for oportunities and search of something to do" I mean, "doing nothing and growing bored".

I thought it would be a nice change of pace from the past few days but something's just not right about mucking around and avoiding menacing blades.  Alas, I am wrong, as usual.  Strange days are these where I lack the rush of excitment in my veins.

I honestly miss all the excitment I had last weekend, despite all my complaining, let's hope bigger things show up in the next few days!

Sitting around just isn't fun, no matter how much I try to make it fun, it just isn't!  I tried hiding in Sielwood to try to get the the spider's cocoons to retrieve some silk, I failed miserably, got bitten and then I just killed the spiders, why not?  I traveled to Rilara to gather some gum arabic and licorice root and stayed a little more to explore the region a little on my own but it just wasn't very intresting, every beast I saw could eat me in a single bite, even the elves, so I just stayed away and didn't pick a fight.

Actually, the only intresting thing I did was follow Renji and company to the Satyrs, a fruitless trip that ended up in a lot of people dying for no good reason.  In the end a satyr guardian showed up and scared us remaining folks off, which was a good thing.  Other companions on the little trip were:
Kiva
Ash
Stump
Jerei
Berri (despite proclaiming cowardice, Berri's a very stout warrior)
Honora (a female half-orc monk I believe, very powerful and she tries hard to blend in)
Rollie (a gnome monk, very quick on his feet)
Talen (a Ranger, as it seems)
Sabrissia (more on her a little further on)

The group was well mixed but lacked a healer so that part fell upon myself so I practiced what I had seen Acacea do, I ran around invisible healing, singing and boosting the companions (other than looting, which I'm still very good at).  It's not the most deadly job but it does take a lot out of you, finding your ailing friends and healing them while avoiding proximity with enemies.  I have to practice it a little more, hopefully soon.

Well, as for adventure and such, that was about it but I did manage to get Sabrissia to lend me a favor.  I got her to cast an enchantment of permanent light upon the crystal rose I got from the T'oleflor Home.  A fine gift it'll make but she warned me that I was to give it to who she thought I should give it to...  You know, I'll never understand women and their secret codes and mysteries - which is a good thing because if I actually understood women, that would take away most of their collective charm.

So, here I am in my tent under Calise's watchful gaze in Hlint.  I have a lot of coin in the bank, a backpack full of Gods-know-what, a near empty vault (I've been getting rid of most of my useless equipment I have no use for) and Oxfordian's pack is full of crafting equipment I have yet to use.  Speaking of which, I might as well throw some stuff out but first I'll need to get a few copper ingots to try to make myself some decent arrows, the ones I use are far too fragile.

That's about it for today, I'll probably go ahead and look for something silly to do as soon as I can.

Oh, I still haven't found someone that was at Plenarius' circle near Blackguard Castle - a shame because I KNOW I missed a lot of very intresting lore.

[SuperMunch]

I missed Plenarius' fireside chat over the whole deal with the T'oleflor but I did manage to hear Master Ozymandias' account of the story and I'll reproduce it here.

Actually, before I do that, let me write how this came to be, a funny story really.

I was coming back from Sielwood on another trip to pick up more spider silk and I happened to see Master Ozymandias on his favorite spot, atop the elevated platform near the Great Tree in Hlint.  He was not in his customary clothing but in a snappy red garb, I stopped, invisible - I get the silk this way, it's a lot safer than picking fights with big spiders.

So, there he was, and I stopped there, looking at him, thinking that invisible I'd be safe...  Lo and behold he spots me staring at him!  Oh, how I laughed!  Nothing escapes him, nothing at all - not even invisible bards running away from spiders.

I understand he's been around a very long time and has a very beaten up journal (my journal is quite new, except for tiny fingers on some pages), he has dealings with the Great Wyrn Fisterion from Firesteep and he has seen a great many things - including the extinction of the Titans from the Grey Peaks (a story that involves a pair of very, very powerful dwarves Rognar and Ta'karsh).

I understand why some look at him with a little suspicion and, sometimes, a little mirth (seems he was, like I am, a silly bard in his youth) but I don't understand why he isn't respected like he should.  He has seen a great many things, his lore of old times is important to us and he does consort with a Wyrm, I'm sure his opinion on many matters is of fundamental importance to all, even the great druid Rhizome.

Well, back on track about the T'oleflor...

Thus Master Ozymandias told me (my comments are below)..

Long ago before the great Cataclysm the T'oleflor took an active hand in guiding and guarding this world.  However they were betrayed many times, by those they were sworn to protect and by those sworn to protect them.(1)

In the end only one of the great elven plants, you know the ones elves use to make their most powerful weapons the moonblades, was left.(2)  That one was in a forest known as the Shining woods, however it was under seige on its own merrits.(3)

A ranger from the Glimmering Halls now known as the Broken Halls named Shadow(4) traveled to the forest and rescued that last elven plant.  Then traveled with it to the last bastion of the T'oleflor, there it was decided that the world posed to much of a risk and had to few defenders for it was Bloods remaining forces that had been destroying the plants.(5)  As well as the servents of Pyrtechon and Corath which deeply wish the end of a certain dragon god.(6)(

It was decided upon then, that the T'oleflor would seal themselves away for a time until heroes had gathered able to conqour eight difficult challenges and truely learn of the world.  Eight items were gathered and then scattered throughout the land, each one a shard of nature and this world the last was a jewel of souls that Selian communicated with Shadow thru.(7)

So one by one the bridges were built by those of us of Hlint as we sought ancient relics from times long gone till at last the final peice came together.

1 - At least this part I speculated rightly, the T'oleflor are founders and they were betrayed.

2 - Moonblades, I must look into this, mighty weapons they must be to be made from ancient wood.

3 - Must be the events of the year -210, it does fit the situation.

4 - The bridgebuilder, now departed and freed from his duty.

5 - General Bloodstone fears the Silver Veign, this is obviously important.

6 - I must check this out for I thought the dragon gods had left the world, even at that time.

7 - Artifact relics disguised as mundane items sought after by geasa in the world.  Wise are the T'oleflor to hide them this way, obvious artifacts would certainly be sought after and greatly desired.

8 - I speculate again but the Dragon God they tried to eliminate might be the very one that appeared to me and called me to Hlint not so long ago.

Of course I didn't stop there, seeing that Master Ozymandias had some time from his busy life, I inquired on other things.

-- About what the items were that built the bridges:

"Most of the bridges are a mystery.  We know we did something, we are just not sure what.  The two that govern the great library were charged with recording this information, and failed."

-- About Rhizome's choice, the one mentioned by Shadow, I asked him if it was between the path to the Great Tree that led us to the T'oleflor home or the one that led to the crypt.  He replied:

"That was his choice, each had benifits and each had concequence.  There are two great portals in that region one leads to the Plane of Lost Souls in the Abyss, the other lead to where we went.

With the Soul Mother on vacation so to speak, the plane of lost souls may of been captureable and a new master enthroned.  Blood is a gnat, the soul mother is far more dangerous."

I asked, if we could have used the Soul Mother's powers to fight General Bloodstone and he answered that it was possible be if she tried to stop us, we would all be doomed, however ..."with her powers would of come the ability to open the other door anyway."

Fascinating point, we could have taken a path more perilous but the safer choice was made.

-- Finally, I inquired about the outcome of these events and the possible destruction of General Bloodstone.  His answer was not exactly heart warming, then again, most great strifes never end all at once...

"Once Blood is down then we have to rebuild this world and fast before we suffer masive civil wars."

As for the "and fast" part...  It might be because we opened a portal through which the outer planes might start a war amoung themselves ... and ... I speculate again, Layonara might be their battlefield.

So it seems that whenever the Bloodwar ends, a new war might start, one with fiends from beyond the great expanse of the planes - GREAT.

After this Master Ozymandias told me the tale of the end of the Titans upon The Grey Peaks, a lighter story of dwarves that drunk brandy along with potions of healing while battling the Titans.

Well, that's about it for this account, I'll reformat this and post it in the inns and taverns of Mistone for public viewing.

[SuperMunch]

First of all, a long past few days.  Very long....  Things started off at he Leilon Arms Inn as per usual, my last night there paying off my debt to Derrick for the iron rapier.  It was another quiet night but there was a lot to do like tending the bar, fetching pies, kicking the jukebox and getting kicked back, getting made fun of by Acacea (as usual, being her second to Cole does give her privledges), failing to make a better presentation of the crystal purple rose from the T'oleflor Home to Ranewin and a few other things I don't really want to remember.  A typically non-typical night except for a new twist to my life...  Derrick offered me a job at the Leilon Arms!  Payment will be with whatever knicknacks he manages to find, which is perfect for me - I may explore a lot more these days but Derrick has been everywhere and I'm sure he has a lot of things, useless for him, that I'll be more than happy to accept as payment.  Derrick and Kali have been very nice to me - except for the usual death threats, daggers getting lodged in the wall above my head when I drop something and other "strange" occurances - it will be my greatest pleasure to help them out whenever I can.  There was even talk of a room for myself in the future.  I like the idea for the prestige it would give me (imagine that, a room at the Leilon Arms!) but I'm not very keen at decorating and I'm sure the room would be ransacked within a week, by myself of course, I'm not very organized.  It would be nice though, a room to place my clothes, instruments and some of the more intresting things I pick up - who knows, I might even organize myself as a better warrior since I wouldn't have to worry to much about the weight I carry.  Well...  That's in the future, I'm happy with the way things are now.  So...  I talked with Rolf about Ranewin and her fiancee - he was a bit stunned of course, out of the blue, a turquoise bard started asking him about personal matters, I'm sure he was a bit shocked.  I needed an opinion from a wise person about where to hide from a jealous fiancee...  It seems I'm doomed when Trysk comes back.  Leaving the Leilon Arms a bit earlier than usual, I happened upon Renji, Cole, Ael, Lam, Jareg (the crazy one with funny hat), Jennara and a few others that I don't remember right now and Jade, preparing for an excursion to the Three Bridges on Dragon Isle.  Without waiting for Acacea to show up, Cole's Number One bard, we left without her for the southern islands.  I'm sure she'll make Cole pay for that and I know she made me pay for it by telling everyone how much of a good "bartender" I was.  So we arrived on Serpent Isle a nice little place with killer trolls and crazy killer trolls and big killer trolls riding even bigger, crouched down killer trolls.  Some were bloodthirsty, others had bloodlust and a few, a very scant few, really wanted to drink blood.  That was just one part, the Saytrs on the Isle were crazy mad!  They picked fights with us out of the blue, for no real reason I suspect, unlike those near Fort Hope, these Satyrs were MAD, MAD I tell you!  Alright, Blood drinking trolls and satyrs apart we reached the Three Bridges again, the area was beautiful as it had been that day and we walked the bridges in silence - I was amazed to see how sombre Cole and Acacea were, they must have lost many dear friends in the building of the bridges.  I do not know who they were but if both of the "happiest" folks I know could be so serious, I must accept that for the lost each shared a great love.  The masses of land between the bridges had strange runes on them that not even the wisest could translate into any language of Layonara, I'm sure each of the runes must have some deep meaning, they might even be the names of the tasks done to complete the bridges (that I mentioned in my previous entry in this journal).  At last we crossed the final bridge and I ventured, despite warnings to the contrary to the Door which I later learned was the path to the Land of the Soul Mother, touching it I felt a bone chilling cold.  I wish I could describe it here in words greater than just "bone chilling" - perhaps I felt cold as if life itself was departing from me - as if I was departing from this world into a new life in a place so dark and away from warmth that the word "cold" itself would mean "infernal heat" to me.  It was cold, very cold.  We turned back at that point, the place gave even the mightiest amoung us a feeling of extreme unease.  On our way back the good old Cole came back to us and he took us on a raid into a troll lair - we entered and a hoard of shaman attacked us - it was at this point that I practiced what I had seen Acacea do, I hung back and healed the wounded and revived the near-dead with the potions Ael had given me.  I saved at least five lives that day, including Jareg's - twice, despite the ingrate's lack of recognition.  Lam was lost in the lair and Cole thought it was his doing, the poor fellow was really upset over this, once again I saw that which could just be Cole's normal face, not the "I'm SOOOO crazy" one that he usually shows us.  I stop my chronical to talk of one I dearly miss...  Little Freida as we were near her home on the isles.  Oh how I miss her, she may be small and wants to take me to Velensk to fight me in the arena, but she is delightful to have around - her crazy ways and her little notebook with notches for every time she's disapointed with someone.  I dearly miss her, I do hope she returns soon, I even revamped my armor for her.  We returned and I took my leave to rest.  That... was just ONE day...  On the second day, I decided to give some serious thought to make my own arrows, these store bought ones aren't bad but making my own would make me a lot happier and give me something to do when I'm bored of sitting around and writing poems.  My first order of business was to... well... figure out how to make arrows, it might seem easy but there's a lot of little steps that one must do before actually getting any work done.  First was to make arrowheads...  To make arrowheads I needed to make arrowhead molds from clay so I set off with Oxfordian II to gather clay and the begining all I did was make a mess of things.  When I was starting to give up, Kharl showed up and comissioned me to make him a box of ring molds.  It wasn't much but more than enough to give me a new boost to my dedication to crafting - so there I went, harvesting clay, avoiding the kobolds and making ring molds.  I spent a long while doing this and was quite successful with my training, I may not be the best in tinkering but I can now make molds with the upmost security in myself.  Kharl is a queer type, he's not bad or anything, he's just a little bossy.  I don't mind that of course but I can see how folk wouldn't like it.  While digging up clay, I met a dark garbed fellow by the name of Count Czukay, or just Count - as he seems to prefer it.  He looked very odd, in his dark armor and massive helmet with a command and dark voice - I was a bit scared at first, I didn't know if he would use the shovel on my head and leave me for dead but he was a nice enough person, despite my bad first impression of him.  We dug up clay and chatted a little, it was a bad day for hard work - rain almost all the time - but very productive for both of us.  The second day was taken up with crafting, alchemy, instrument making, a bit of woodcrafting, a touch of fletching and a lot of beetle killing.  Day three...  Started off rather nice to tell the truth, I decided to take Oxfordian II to the woods north of Hlint for some wood cutting.  Cole showed up and wanted to take me to a place to freeze my butt off - while we talked orcs showed up and KILLED Oxfordian II!  Oh dear me, another dead ox - Granvil will probably stop selling me oxen if I let them die all the time.  Oxfordian III is now my ox as Granvil seems to have no shortage on oxen.  Oh!  Cole introduced me to Reventage D'vinn, a priestess of Ilsare and a part time piano player!  Lovely elven lady and of the correct faith... not that it matters much but I have been know to like elven maidens of Ilsare.  So we started off to the Barbarian Isle to the north but before leaving Hlint we took on another companion, Fair Ranewin.  Oh fair Rane...  Makes me feel good just to say her name.  Ranewin.  I know I should write our feats here, in this space, but let me just write how much I have to respect Ranewin.  While Cole is crazy mercenary with a HUGE sword that has a strange pleasure killing, Ranewin's sweet and sombre ways - typical to that of a priestess of love - goes to vinegar when she gets into battle mode.  I DO NOT want to upset her, in no way shape or form, she call kill me with a whisper I can fathom and I do not wish to die... wait... If I was to die at her hands, even upon her mantle of rage, I'd be happy...  Maybe not, but that's not the point... what's the point again?  Yes!  She's sweet as honey but also as sharp and lethal as a snake.  So...  There we were, on the Barbarian Isles.  Cold as ice, not as cold as the Door Unchosen, but VERY cold.  Cole took us on a crazy romp after the denizens of the cold - crazy kobolds, bugbears, warg riders, spider riders and other humanoid aberrations - that ran around without shirts.  I swear, some really should be taken to the mad house and locked up in there.  Cole, as usual proved his valor in battle and I hastend him and gave him a few bursts of my healing magic but Ranewin... Oh Ilsare, why couldn't she just be a human?  She was a warrior of Cole's worth - not quite, but close enough.  Oh my goddess - even under the barkskin enchantment she looked good and, well, not to be ungentlemanly but she did bend down to chisel off a lot of alexandrite, I actually tried not to notice and I didn't.  Well, alright, I DID look, but just once.  I just have to remember that she can kill me and I don't think I'd like that.  Well, I might...  Stop it right hand, let the left hand write now.  in ugly handwriting m3 nQ wr173 g00d.  r1gH7 H4nd b3773r. stops ugly handwriting  Back to the right hand... You're on notice, write unflattering things about Ranewin again and I'll chop you off..  So, about...scribbles...  The right hand has left the building, this is the new right hand.  Ranewin's....scribbles...  This right hand has to appologize for the two previous right hands.  This one is borrowed from a celibate priest.  We toiled through the spoiled landscape, through more ice than I ever thought possible and found two caverns, one was the home of some kolbods and the other, which was our original destiny, the home of the warg riders - fell beasts like a perversion of forest wolves and more vicious than I ever thought possible.  Cole and Ranewin made "short" work out of them and I tried to pitch in the occasional arrow or two but in the end, I was of more use singing and healing (despite the fact that Ranewin is a lot better at healing than I can ever dream of being).  During this little excursion I felt myself ready for a new kind of song, one that brings harm unto others - I guess I finally found a new calling for myself, I can now harm with words!  Other than that I feel a little more prepared for the toils of the world, I guess I can go talk to the witch of Sielwood and that wizard fellow in the tower north of Hlint.  Sooo... now comes the funny part.  We returned from our long trip to the north - it was long, but since it was just fighting, Cole healing and Ranewin gazing - it was very exciting and very intresting but it paled to what happened when we returned to Leilon.  Cole led us to his room to use his portal into Hlint (a clever shortcut) and, telling us he'd be back and it was for us to stay there... and he left.  I have to thank him for the gesture but it was unecessary as... well... I'm humble enough to admit I'm not quite what Ranewin needs.  Never the less, I must thank him, it was nice of him to set us up like that but I'll just stick to being a gentleman for now, her fiancee's still at sea and I don't want the ire of a fiancee's jealousy washing upon my smallish stretch of land.  Anyway, Ranewin and I in his room with Sinthar's Bane (Acacea's puppy) in the corner napping.  .... uncomfortable silence followed ....  We talked a little but I could see she was ill at ease so we also left for Hlint.  As disapointed as I was for making an ass out of myself twice in three days (in the Leilon Arms and in Cole's Room... In the Leilon Arms) I did manage to talk to her and remind her how much she meant to me - and I finally got to use the crystal rose in the context of my admiration for her.  Despite her flaws (the fact that she can kill me, her curse and her dealings with the necromancer), I find her intriging, as though she's a mystery - which one might say is our case.  We sat under the great tree in the main square of Hlint and, as one could say, she cuddled with me...  I never smelled her so close before, Blood, Sweat and Tears I called it - it was goooooooood.  I truly like her for what I've seen of her, too much for my own good - so it seems.  I want her to know how much, enough that I MIGHT just reconsider my views on commitment.  Forget it Right Hand III, you're fired.  Right Hand I, you're back.  So, about Ranewin's....  ... writing abruptly ends ...

[SuperMunch]

Write less.

Please.

Stop wasting ink on your ramblings.

Signed,
- Right Hand

[SuperMunch]

Father,

It's been a while since I've written you a letter - mostly because I've been at home for quite a lot these past days.  In fact, I'm writting this letter while you're helping Mother bake cookies not ten feet away from me.

Oh, thank Mother for the cookies she bakes me - I tell people about it but I they never manage to make it out of your door.  They must be mysteriously eaten by a cookie eating turquoise monster.

Let me tell of what I've been up to, I know you've already heard it told a million times before so I'll be brief...

- I've learned enchaments of speed and protection
- My song now injures my foes (amazing what a little off tune singing does)
- I have been given new gloves that are helping my combat abilities
- Freida, my little barbarian friend, is travelling but I've been practicing fighting hand-to-hand (as per her orders)
- I've taken up a little tinkering and crafting
- I'm starting to fall for someone

You know of all things but the last, I must get this off my chest, might as well be now.

I haven't ever never felt like this and I worry about it, especially because she's an elf - you know, those clients we have that only drink "fresh mountain spring" water (that's what you sell it as) and our "finest" wines (again, that's what you sell it as), pointy ears, fair features - all of them look slightly fey-ish.

I open heartedly admit what I feel - just not to anybody that I know -  but things are more complicated than the massive, oh so massive, age difference - she might be older than your grandmother but looks like a girl not much older than I, well, if you ignore her condition.

Complicated, oh so complicated...  First and formost, she has been betrothed.  Her fiancee has been out at sea for a while time, three years I believe.  She's very fond of him, as is obvious, after all she is to be wed to him whenever that might be.  The complication is not in her promise but with the way she seem to be warming up to me, we sit together in Hlint and stay close to each other, close enough that I can smell the air she breathes....  Well, you know what I mean, you were young once - and Mother says how much of a hopeless romantic you used to be.  The point is, I don't understand women.

That's just one part of the complication, seems to be the biggest one so far...  The next complication is rather easy to understand, in twenty years I'll be old and wrinkled... wait, sorry, you're almost fifty and well... the POINT is, I'll be older than I am now and she won't be more than a few moments older than she is now.

I greatly precipitate things that are out of the question but I must consider this if her pendulum swings from where it is now to where I am.

I talked to an elven lady once that was married long ago to a human - she said their separation wasn't hard especially because he did a stupid thing - but I can tell that if it wasn't for his foolheartiness, she would have felt his loss more dearly if he had passed before she had a chance to age a day.  It wouldn't have been fair for her to see him die, withered and spent as it wouldn't have been fair for him to not grow old with her as you and Mother have.

Life is precious because it is so scant.

Life for elves certainly has value, but due to it's stretch, it seems to us, quick-folk that they value it less than us.  To them we are mere blinks in their long lives and love amoung our folk is a hasted blink while for us it might be a lifetime.  No matter how much value I have in it, our measures of it may never be equal.

Well, I thought the first complication was pretty bad, but writing this I have to change my opinion - this is worse.

Another complication... well... you know, after those two I can no longer gather about me reason nor logic to analyse this situation as emotions surge and assault me.

I could say that I fear to lose a friendship so golden in trade for love that might not take or might not be allowed to root.  I might say that I cannot imagine how we could find each other due to our so many differences.  I might say a great many things but the arrow of knowing my mortality that pierced me was removed but left a wound not cured.

I fear I have gone to far to leave her alone now, I enjoy talking to her and being around her far to much.  If I seek solace in prayer at the temple in Hlint, she'll be there - if not in presence, in spirit for she is a priestess of the Fair Lady.

I wiggle to find my space but I sink deeper into the warm comfort that is this that I feel.

I wish for knowledge and guidance but I know that for my situation, I must find my own way.

With love, your son,
Freldo.

PS. Thanks for the cookies you brought me while I was writing this, they were great and did make me feel better.

[SuperMunch]

Freldo,

This is your right hand writing.

STOP WASTING SO MUCH INK!

There are only so many squids in the sea and sources of black ink in the world, stop it before you rid the world of it!

Stop.  Now!

Think of the baby squids that'll have to grow up with parents because YOU CAN'T STOP WRITING!

- Right Hand

This is not this day's entry, it's this one.

[SuperMunch]

I'm stupid and foolish.

But it was so very worth it...

It has been a very long time since the last time I fell, about four months, and since then I've tried very hard not to tempt the Soul Mother in to grabbing a hold of me.  But I couldn't resist the urge...

Last night started off as every night does - nothing to do.

I decided I'd might as well grab some copper ore and smelt it to move along my arrow making objective.  It's not hard work, just a little preocupying because I can't really carry that much mined ore so I can't really count on being able to mine that much before having to surface again.  I snuck in invisible and tore through the caverns until the first deposit I could find - I eliminated the oposition in the area with my curse spell and went to work...  A fine haul I managed, eight nuggets that turned into four ingots, a fine excursion.

I left the equipment on Oxfordian III and was just about to get some clay to make into molds (to make the arrow heads) when the lovely AnnaLee appears as a spectre before me.  She told me of where she fell, on her way to Port Hampshire and I offered to take her there to meditate on her grave, why not - I had nothing better to do.  But before we left, Rollie, Honora and another fellow who's name I cannot remember but he said he was a mage, passed by us on a mission to find some licorice for him.

Having a large quantity, I gave him some of mine and noticed that my reagents were running down so, I thought, after taking lovely red-haired AnnaLee to her grave, I'd hop over to Port Hampshire and get some more reagents, including some Gum Arabic near Point Harbor.

The trip to AnnaLee's grave was safe as was my crossing to Rilara but then I started to think...  Why not seek the solution to Farmer Part's scarecrow problem?

Well...  That's when it begun...

I reached his fields full of living scarecrows and thought that I could handle them indrectly - if I summoned a falcon as bait, I could blast them with my song and other indirect methods of attack so that I could preserve my invisibility.

It was working great, the summoned falcon acted as bait while I hit them with my curse song...  Until my invisibility ran out, at which point, being completely unprepared for battle, I was quickly killed by the straw men.

Oh what shame I felt...  So much shame but I decided, after a little meditation, that I could get back there and finish them off I had took care and didn't act stupidly.

I rushed back to Rilara from Hlint and confronted the scarecrows again.  Such was my speed in getting back that they were all still gathered around my grave!  Just my luck, I would have to confront them without being whole, a terrible risk but one that I felt I could take.

I summoned a falcon and dog and sung to them while I sung a curse at the scarecrows which split to overtake each of my summons except for the biggest scarecrow that stayed... on... my... grave.  Just my luck.

After skirmishing and cursing the scarecrows while invisible both my summons managed to kill all of them, except the leader - which we made short work of and I recovered from my passing.

In hindsight, it wasn't a big deal but it was the first time I complete a quest by myself, with no help at all from noone - it was a wonderful feeling, I felt truly alive, despite the smallish nature of the quest.  I returned to my campsite near the Lady's temple in Hlint with a pack full of reagents, Farmer Part's reward and a story to tell!

But alas, I could not find the one that I wanted to share my story with so I slept under the stars thinking of her.

[SuperMunch]

The past few days weren't very intresting but I did manage a few new things...

It started off at the newly reformed Leilon Arms Inn - the locker gnomes that reworked the place did a marvelous job - it looked so good that I had to explore the whole place a few times before actually getting to work.  Kali and Derrick didn't really notice I was goofing off, which was great!

Kali asked me to distribute a rose to every woman in the house so I did just that - even Ash stopped her usual "I Hate Freldo"-ish ways for a little while.  It was wonderful to actually be useful and help out - Derrick was adjusting the furniture with Jharl and Kali was fixing up the guest's rooms so that made me the only employee tending to the customers for some time and I believe I did a fine job, despite Acacea's complaining.

The drinking contest was a great surprise with the reigning champion, Kharl, keeping his crown against tough competition from Master Plenarius.  A shirtless bard, that I don't remember his name, made a mess of the place, vomiting and soiling the newly polished floor - I had expressed my worries about his drinking earlier in the night after he practically had cleaned the Arms out of Will-o-whiskey.  I went through two mops cleaning up his mess and another two trash cans when Master Plenarius lost and rushed off to... well... throw up.

The drinking contest was a blast, despite all the gunk on the floor.  After it ended things went back to "normal" with the shirtless bard getting cleaned up and putting on a show for us that resulted in his getting roaring drunk and plunging through a brand new bar table (the gnomes quickly fixed it, thank goodness).

So many people came in and so many tales were told that I simply cannot remember all that happened but one thing did happen... better... one thing didn't happen...  She didn't show up.

I heard of the preparations to retake Stone (which ended up happening but there wasn't much to recover from Stone, according to the accounts I heard) and of the planting of the Silver Veign (which Acacea attended but probably will not document for public eyes).  Other things I caught wind of was about the Freelancer's Tavern in North Point (might be a nice place, but I'm more of a Leilon man myself).

After distributing so many roses Tyrian made it a point to give me a bouquet of blue roses.  I was at a lack of words for such a gift, so much so that I might even have made myself seem a little ungreatful - a situation I must remedy as soon as possible.

I stayed at the Inn as long as I could but I had to run - it seems heartache can take the will out of someone.

I awoke the next day to fair weather, green grass and her asking me to accompany her to fetch some amethyst which I gladly accepted, after all I might not be of much use at anything but at least I could spend time with her.  We romped through Mistone and Rilara until we came to the Direwood caverns where she managed to collect a few stones to grind to make into healing potions.

We made a pretty good team, despite the fact that neither of us are very good at hand to hand combat.  She would enter the fray and I'd support her with songs and haste, an unlikely pair but we did manage to pull together very well.  Maybe we'll be able to work together more in the future, I still have to stop choking up and relax a little more - watching her in action is nice.

An intresting incident was that she asked me to explore a cavern she told me she had always fallen trying to clear.  She asked me to hasten her in battle so I took the Acacea Approach to fighting (invisibility as a rule) and we plunged off the deep end - battle was pretty swift and she did manage to transverse the earth elementals in a very short time.  I was very happy for her, her radiance for finishing off those elementals was wonderful.

The next day, yesterday, we took to fetching aloe from the woods to the east of Leilon - and again, as a pretty lopsided team, we prevailed nicely.

Oh, I did get some crafting time in and I did progress in a few areas of my work.

I'm rushing this entry...  I know.

I adore her and I know that it's not a good thing for me to feel like this.

I want to know what to do but nobody can tell me what I need to know so I decided to make myself a tunic in Ilsare's colors and try to dedicate myself a little more to beauty and love to see if I can obtain enlightenment.

I...

Forget it.

/*
I did do other things this weekend but lunch in Sorocaba with my uncle's family took a lot out of me so I'll keep it "brief".  How I hate going there, so much so that I can't even exagerate on Freldo's deeds nor dwelve in his feelings.
*/

[SuperMunch]

Two days since nothing intresting has been going on.  TWO DAYS  TWO WHOLE DAYS  Well, that's partly my own fault, Cole sent me one of those quick-as-lightning green feys asking me if I wanted to go after some drow but I had to refuse, "more important duties demanded my attention".  [SIZE=+1]Feh.  Stupid me.[/SIZE]  I should have gone along, at least then I'd see some action.  I've got to find something to do and soon.  Oh, wait...  I did do something, two things!  Very important and worthy of praise...  Ha!  I've donated two boxes of stuff to the temple of Ilsare, lots of potions, scrolls, wines, wands, gems and other odds and ends I had that I was carrying around.  I'm sure somebody would have bought them but I wasn't really up to finding a buyer and I really have to find a way to thank Calise for letting me pitch my tent next to the temple.  The receipts say about five thousand gold was donated, but I'm sure she was just being generous and marking up the items I donated, she's so sweet when she's not giving me the evil eye.  The other thing I did was just as exciting as swapping stuff from one box to another...  I've run around Mistone collecting the stuff that Ranéwin took me around to collect - a box of aloe and comfrey and a box of raspberries and elderberries.  Gathering them, I tried myself against the treants and the kobold armies to the north east of Hlint - tough fights but nothing I couldn't handle.  Whoopie doo!  Soooooo much excitement I can hardly contain myself.  Wow!  Actually... stoping a moment, something did happen...  Plowing invisibily through Fort Hope towards my favorite place to collect licorice root, I happened upon a sitting Kiva and Tegan talking.  I was going to interrupt them but I actually heard Kiva talking from his heart, a very subtle difference in the way he talks.  He was talking of how he needs his space, liberty or something like that and how he was sorry at how she felt that way.  "Oh my," I thought to myself.  Annalee's time with him has come to an end after he did something to her.  I moved on when I felt my spell of invisibility wear off but I fondly thought of the pretty half elven woman I had met a few days before.  I like Kiva, he's a mysterious fellow always rambling of darkness, shadow and stuff that I really don't care about - but, like most people, he's just on his path of discovery.  He's not a bad guy, despite all his "I wear black robes and I'm menacing" attitude but he does have a story to tell, maybe one that I'll be able to sing in the future - but for now, he's the guy I consider a friend that broke Annalee's heart.  Although I didn't know this at the time.  Well, anyway, after getting pecked by the chickens in Fort Velensk and returning to Hlint I saw a sobbing Annalee stumbling through town and I ran after her to talk.  Poor thing, she was in tears.  I managed to convince her to come over by the pond and sit a while - and as I sat, she just fell over and started bawling her eyes out.  It was as I wrote above, Kiva broke her heart - not that it was entirely his fault, he is very plain in his actions and attitudes so an observant person could really pick up on what he thinks about things - but still, she was completely devastated.  I heard her out and I talked a lot - even told her through crooked lines of my hopless ache for Ranewin...  In fact I talked a lot more than she did.  Her long red hair matted against her face dirtied with the dirt mixed with tears.  I deeply felt her pain for I share it in a way - but I can definately deal with it better than she can.  Strange how pretty she looked, even in that way, splashes of dirt and tears on her lovely human face with fine elven features.  Anyway, she talked and I listened then I talked and talked and talked and talked and talked while she cried.  Parting had never been so sorry for me.  I was sad for having to leave that pretty lass by the pool with the woes of the world on her shoulders.  I must see her again, maybe soon.

[SuperMunch]

Still bored.

But intresting things abound.

Two days ago I was running around gathering gold and items from the land and I happened on Berri running off to subdue the kobolds northeast of Hlint.  As I was invisible, I followed him and I have him as much support as I could without revealing myself to the foes.  A fair practice of my new style.

Returning to Hlint I found Annalee in a state of transparentness.  Sielwood spiders she said so we gathered a quick party - a LARGE but quick party to head out there to seek her grave.  A fair fight, despite our large numbers, it was just Annalee and I against the spiders and the Ettincap guarding her grave.  I was seriously wounded and profusely bleeding but I stood my ground, managing to divert the spiders from Annalee to myself - I think she never noticed this sacrifice, but it's no bother, I wil do it again whenever she needs it.

Upon returning to Hlint we met Masters Ozymandias and Plenarius talking about events to come.  I managed to ask a question here and there and I did take note of what was being said - I'll be sure to write an account of it in the next few days.

It was a fine night, boring but Annalee and I did manage to sit and talk by ourselves.  She told me that she was over the events of our previous encounter - I hope she really is.

So...  Yesterday was also about talking, despite Renji's green fey asking me to come along to Fort Velensk for adventure.

I was returning to Hlint after a quick run to pick up Aloe when I came upon Master Ozymandias quietly contemplating the waters of the Blackford Castle's pool.

The oportunity to just talk with such a legendary man of lesser things such as the hardships of a bard and wether it's better to have food or love - was delightful for me.  I've heard him talk before and I've seen him interact with the Masters Rhizome and Plenarius as equals - yet there he was, spending his breath with a lowly commoner as myself.  I was greatly honored to have him share some of his background with myself.

He's a bit creepy, at least to me, but now at least, I understood the origins of this queerness - he's not from Layonara and he is old... Very old...  "Closer to four thousand" years old, he said and he has been on both sides of the battlefield (luckily for us he's not on General Bloodstone's side).  That does explain his queerness and his keen insight on matters large and small.

I gained from him a confession that made my life have a larger meaning - he told me that he knew how hard it was to be a newcomer bard, how hard it was for him to surpass the hump into deeper bardic knowledge and powers but, as I can plainly see, it's worth the struggle.  He gave me tips on spells of great value - seeing invisibility and finding traps are of great worth he told me.

It was a wonderful conversation - I gained a few tidbits of wisdom I'll add to my accounts and speculations of this age but I primarily gained a deeper respect and understanding of the Arch-Bard in his own words.  I am very grateful for the time he dedicated to just throw words out without any set purpose that I could guess.

It gave me gusto to carry on.

[SuperMunch]

I haven't written home in a while.

I don't think that really matters much considering I am writing this letter in my parent's common room in Leilon after raiding the pantry for bread and cheese - no prisioners taken.

Busy past few days...  Might as well start with the intresting bits and leave the accounts of my participation in the battle in defense of Blackford Castle (little to no participation) to another entry that I'll probably copy and leave at the Wild Surge and Leilon Arms for all to read.

Let's see...
- Addison's trip to the Troll Caves with Kavil (did nothing on that trip, but I wish I had something to contribute though)
- Bugbear hunting with Durthak, Ash, Sin, Maev, Malik, Tegan (what Renji likes, as far as I can see), Tyrian, Jin, the lovely and charming Annalee and Rollie.
- Beetle squashing and spider poisoning with Freida, Cal, Annalee.
- Helping newcomer Daniel fight goblins with Tegan (again, she is cute and she is deadly - Renji has very good taste), Berri (I'm glad he's getting to be more fearless now a days, he's an excellent warrior) and Grote (half giant fighter, tough fellow).
- Killed and skinned thirteen lions for Jil and ended up with seven cougar bags.  Very useful.
- Killed, by myself, a fat gryphon that ate Johan's cow near Fort Himlad.
- Killed a battalion of Bugbears (the same place I returned to later with the party led by Ash) by myself and my off-tone singing.  The greatest thing I've ever done by myself, Ishould be proud.
- The Leilon Arms was empty last freas, I was there for a while but Freida dragged me out as did Annalee.  Annalee and I met up with a group of adventurers in Hlint and ended up heading to the defense of Blackford Castle (more on that in a different journal entry).  Derrick did meet me and he passed a Cloak of the Panther to me - a bit too small for me, I'm sure he sees me so frail that he gave me a brownie-sized cloak that I gave to Freida as a present.  Oh, that reminds me, I owe Derrick 150 gold for the drinks I gave to Freida and Annalee.

For all my trouble, listed above, I got a ton of stuff, some gold, some weapons but mostly headaches, cuts and bruises but I can recover from all of that but there's one thing that I can't recover from.  No, two things...

One, The First: Roldem

I travelled with Cole to Roldem.

Never been there before and I wish I hadn't gone along.

There are somethings that one can live without, like testimony to heinous crimes or victim of acts of unabashed hatred.

Roldem was that.  I was no victim but the devastation injured me deeply in ways I haven't felt before, glorious buildings razed to the ground, mass graves, fair citizens huddled in tents, some with no protection to the rain, just a shear cloth against the wind blown in from the sea.  The few buildings left standing were in ruins on the inside yet the folk tried to press on their lives.

Wounded wasn't my body, mind or heart.  I was hurt in my largest vein, that of beauty and kindness.  Hatred was stamped on the land, he who tore through that fair town demanded death and was not satisfied until it was served to him on a platter, gold and crimson with blood of youth and love.

Touched and desperate I was.  I didn't show it for fear of even more ridicule from my mighty companions but I was glad to leave.

I was ashamed to leave.

I am ashamed to have left.

I can leave, they cannot.

..................

What happened afterwards to the town I cannot know but my travel with Cole took us (Addison, a mage fellow that I don't currently recall his name, Jennara and Kharl - other than Cole and myself) to a nasty swamp full of undead elves.

Ick and eek!  Undead elves - nasty bite in all of them and it was in one of these battles that Kharl fell and in the frey of battle I couldn't reach him in time.  Then, to make things worse, I called him Carla a few times (at the time I thought it was the best thing to do considering that I've been wanting to tell him that for the past few days but lo'...  Cole chided me for disrespecting the dead.

If Crazy Cole chides me...  I should listen and I sent Kharl a written apology and I expect him to exact his revenge on me in some demented way.

Well, after exploring some windy caverns we were on our way for some "Chests" as Cole called them and our the way there...  I was back in Hlint.  Don't want to talk about that.

That was One... Now...

Two, The Second: Mortal Wound from Robes of Red

Woe is me.  I have been touched by lips as sweet as the rose is fragrant.  Kiss given freely, tender, with meanings hidden that only she can reveal.

Mortal wound I cherish.  Mortal coil, wound tighter with single touch.

Lost I was when it's warmth grazed my lips, lasted a moment and will be remembered for life.  Hidden away from peering eyes on the docks of Point Harbor, just captain saw what he had seen before so many times but never will he understand what that meant for me.

Seared...  Fire lit the sky.  Time stopped - time stops now as I recall.

There I was, leaving the isle of the bugbears when she appeared from out of nowhere (so it seemed) and came to our aid.

After recovering our wounded, we returned to Point Harbor and sat, both of us near some fountain ignored by the image I beheld.  We talked about recent things for it had been a while since our last meeting. and sat, both of us near some fountain ignored by the image I beheld.  We talked about recent things for it had been a while since our last meeting.

Sat and talked and she revealed, through the mist only a woman knows how to cast, that she was seeking me.  Me.  She had come to Rilara for me.  What does one say to this?

We talked and she asked me to escort her to the boats, she had to be on her way.

On the pier.

Blown away she went.  And now?