Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Feb 10, 2013 18:31:02 GMT -8
Ollvia Virva Cellus:
One month ago, a lot of adventurers started adventuring. I was there. It was okay. I tried to write something, but the Scribes were all very confusing. I hope this is published. This is my second attempt. I guess I’ll write about what happened today because I can remember that and people seem to like to know these things if they didn’t experience them. If they don’t, then they shouldn’t be offended by that comment because they shouldn’t be reading this. Oh, yeah. I’ve read some other chronicles and they always use names and stuff. I don’t see the point in names, but my acquaintances say that if I’m going to write this I should use them. You can call me whatever you want, but my parents called me Ollvia Virva Cellus. That seems to be what people want when they ask for my name. Anyway I came to the inn this morning and the ignorant Thunder person was there to send us off and he did. Not much happened besides that, which is sort of strange. The party wanted to go and help some people that ogres were eating so we went out there and met them. The party went crazy, destroyed the farmland, stole the cabbages, chased the animals, and was really bad at being diplomatic. It was very chaotic. The ogres liked to eat people and they wanted to keep their livestock as pets. The party was trying to help them without hurting the peasants. That was okay, but they weren’t very good at it. The peasants yelled at us some so we caught their animals and returned them. They also yelled at us for ruining their farms and crops. Then they yelled at us some more. I didn't want to ruin their farms so I stayed in the background with that nice sane person discussing other things. We then sent the ogres to the mountains or somewhere to start their own farm or ranch to get animals from. Someone was very helpful for that. Most of the party was incompetent. We went back to the inn. The nice Lake person was there being all exited. He complained about how leadership was hard. He talked about how we should go on a fun mission. The party was indecisive about what hey wanted to do, so he sent us to fight harpies. I stayed at the inn and drank some water. Apparently the rest of the party didn’t do so well and they got killed. They aren't very good yet, I guess. Everyone who was at town chose to go and rescue everyone that the harpies had taken. On the way we met some wraiths that we couldn’t fight so we ran from them. When we got to our destination we dragged out our people and then returned to defeat the harpies. It was a long fight with lots of shifts of power. I used mobile brace a lot. I stayed alive. A lot of our people didn’t, but we won in the end. As the battle ended, some nice priestesses and paladins of the Elder Goddess showed up. They healed everyone and they told us to bring them a purple and blue gem if we found one. They told us we were important (or that some people in the party were-I'm not sure who) wich was nice of them. Then they left. Then we left.
Over lunch some people had their honor tested because they wanted to be in classes. The seductive elf lady told me that I should come to because I wanted to be a necromancer, so I did. They said that there would be some questions. They asked us for the most honorable and least honorable things we had done. I listened to them struggle to phrase things strategically to tell them what they wanted to hear. It was interesting. Eventually I was asked: What is the most honorable ting you've done? The most honorable thing? I'm a foreigner and I don't know much about the honor system. I mean, I try to be nice every day. Sometimes I don't do so well, but I want to be a good person. Is that honorable? I told them this, but I felt strange. Everyone else said different things from that. I was sort of worried. Even the tester gave me a funny look. And then I was asked about the least honorable thing. That was a little easier. I had run away in battle when friends were wounded. But no- I had almost always come back. I'm sure that I'm not perfect or anything, but this honor system confuses me. Temporarily running away? I guess I won't be allowed to become a necromancer. Oh well. I don't really want to hurt anyone. Although I guess I can't become a life mage either.
After lunch we met that mean Water lady in the inn. She doesn't respect us very much. After talking to her for some time we went to go to that tournament thing. On the way we met some met some more mean Water people. They wanted us to pay a road toll. I walked past. The nice sane person used his rank to get past. I guess not all Water people are mean, because he said he was a Water to. When we got to the tournament place the man there divided us into two teams and had us fight each other to determine who got to compete. I don't know why though, because everyone ended up getting to participate. It was okay. It wasn't that interesting though, and it took up a lot of time, so a few of us walked back to town.
At town we learned that a cult of some evil god was being mean and dangerous. This cult had been killing a lot of people. During the morning they had cut out hearts and burned people. This time they had attacked people and kidnapped the fiery dwarf, stollen a box, and stabbed someone who no one seemed to care about for some reason. The party went to try to catch them. We found them in a cave. A lot of people entered. I followed them. An iceball flew at me. Next thing I knew the whole cave had collapsed. I've never died before! It was very interesting. I don't see what's so bad.
The cult was put on trial for killing a bunch of us. The trial went terribly. I don't mind dying, but other people do and the cult had been killing people all day. However their first speaker for their defense was very smart and he managed to victimize them. Eventually the whole thing was blamed on a fairy because it gave them feelings. It sort of sounds childish. For their punishment they had to either kill themselves or do some community service. I won't go into detail about the reasons I'm upset because my hand is getting tired and I still have another mission to write about. I'll be happy to tell you if you ask me, though.
The last mission was killing some undead. I don't like undead because they disturb death. An annoying person who hates death was trying to stop us from fighting the zombies and things because he thought that was killing. We ended up wounding him. Then we defeated all the undead. It wasn't very hard.
Now I'll go figure out how to publish this.
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Apr 8, 2013 16:30:55 GMT -8
Ollvia Virva Cellus
Hi. It’s me again. Or it’s me for the first time if you didn’t read my other chronicle. But anyway, it’s me. Actually you probably know that if you read the author of this. I have to ask Oliver every time just to make sure. Now I’m checking the name I just wrote so I can write it again here. How’s this:
Hi. It’s me again, Virva. Or maybe it’s Virva for the first time. Actually that could be true if Oliver was just lying about my name. But then maybe he wasn’t. Or maybe he’s not actually named Oliver either. I knew it was strange that I could remember his name. Whatever. Names don’t really matter, so you can just call me Virva. Or you can call me Clair. That just reminds me of a friend I used to have…
By the way, I’m sorry for not chronicling last month. I don’t really remember much of it. Oliver told me I was drunk but that doesn’t make any sense. I don’t even drink. Every time I try to remember I just… I don’t really want to talk about this in a place for everyone to read. But I’m sorry.
So today a bunch of really powerful people showed up and joined our party and I’m not really sure why and they weren’t very nice although some of them were. That looked like a run-on sentence. That’s why it’s crossed out. I’ll try again.
A bunch of really powerful people showed up today and joined our party. I’m not really sure why. They weren’t very nice although some of them were. (Isn’t that so much nicer?) The mean water lady hated them and the thunder person liked them. I hoped that one of them was a guildmaster necromancer who could teach me necromancy. None of them was, but there was a very nice troll person who was already in our party and who was a teacher. I told him why I failed my honor test and he decided to teach me. He's really nice. He even didn't want me to use my death ray! Except he was sort of mean to the fiery dwarf person. They both act nice separately! Why do they have to be jerks to each other? Wait. That happened later. Forget lf of that if you want to be surprised. Actually you all probably know what happened anyway, so it doesn't really matter. I'll probably forget regardless.
Anyway a bunch of stuff happened in the morning but I spent most of the time training and the other stuff was really boring. Oh well.
Later we went to find the fairy person that drove people insane last month because he kidnapped a person and we wanted him back. But you might not know what I’m referring to about the fairy person driving people insane because I didn’t chronicle last month. It was a funny story, though. I’ll tell you if you want. But back to this time now. We were looking for this person because he had a cursed thing thing and they wanted it back. They also wanted him to apologize to dead people. I think that's fine. It never hurts to apologize and I like dead things anyway. But I wasn't the one apologizing. Anyway, someone told us to leave the fairy person a sacrifice in exchange. Some people made a pile of lots of pretty and magical things. I put a tree branch in the pile. Then everyone started asking about someone and asking why we were looking for him. I don't know if that person was important for anything. And the nice troll person was a jerk to the fiery dwarf person during this mission. I just thought I's mention that. Or maybe I already have. Anyway- I'm writing that a hole lot. I'll just start a new sentence without saying anyway. Just pretend I said it. The fairy person showed up really quickly and took an item and a my branch and the annoying hobbit person tried to attack it but the nice hero person told him not to. She told him that we were doing diplomacy. Later a bunch of people were jerks to the annoying hobbit person. The whole time, the annoying seductive lady was complaining that people other than elves had come on the mission and that she hated them all. I didn't know she was racist. But she said she didn't hate me and that she didn't really hate everyone else, so I guess she's okay. She said that the actual problem was that they were stupid, but I knew that already. At one point all of the items teleported away, but I wasn't really paying attention so I don't know when. It was really cool and I wanted to try that again, but I didn't have any pretty items besides my Death Tarot. I made a pile of branches but while I was doing that that everyone told me they had found the person and we had to go.
That night I got rid of my death ray. Finally.
-------
I just reread that and it looks really confusing and it doesn't really say much. I should cross it out and write another. But I don't really want to. Oh well. If you didn't like it, I'm sorry. I guess you can tell me how to write better. But last time everyone told me that they still liked it a lot...
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Apr 21, 2013 10:26:19 GMT -8
Note: This paper has semi-private access. It is posted in the adventurers section of the inn, not in the main library. I can only hope that NPC's have better things to do than look at writing of a random commonor.
Ollvia Virva Cellus
The inn is very calm. It's been very kalm for a while. I was writing poetry and drinking water and talking to Oliver like I always do. And I began thinking again. And wurrying. I think it's because no one was there to bistract me. I worry more then. But I thought about earlier this month. I hope my fellow adventururs read this. The smart ones at least. I really do. And I don't consider the older ones my felloms yet, just for future reference.
A lot of stronger adventurers showed up. I tnink you all know this if the right people are reading this. But that's what worries me. They're all so strong and deadly. Thay want to kill people and they can. I think they might want to impress us. And evoryone trusts them too much. Something bad wilf happen becouse of them. I think something bad already has. But our two partees are from different worlds and I don't think they'll mix. I really don't. If any older adventurers feel like reading this for some reason, pleaze dom't try to show off.
But that's not the main thing that's worrying me actually. What I actually worry about is honor. Okay, I don't really know if the martial masters can do anything to me if they read this, but I have a feeling that they'll make my life unpleasant. So I'll write this in code. I really don't want to offend anyone, I just want to be careful. So I don't mind any of you reading this. I'll even help you if you ask me to. Actually, I think I'll just hide my key in this paper. You can look for it if you remember that I'm smarter than all of you think and I usually spell all my words correctly. --- Here it is:
Gur guvat gung ernyyl jbeevrf zr vf gur ubabe flfgrz. Rvrelbar vf oraqvat bire gurve onpxf gb punatr gurve inyhrf, oryvrsf, naq crefbanyvgvrf gb nccrnfr vg. V zrna, ybbx ng gur byqre nqiragheref ntnva. N ybg bs gurz ner fb sbezny, ohg gurl pna’g unir fgnrgrq bhg nal orggre guna hf, evtug? V zrna, bhe cnegl va shyy bs havagryyvtrag crbcyr, naq jr’er vapbzcrgrsg naq haehyl, ohg vg’f fgvyy fbetg bs avpr. Naq rvrecbar urer vf orggre guna gur znegvny znfgref. Crbcyr ner tbvat gb sbetrg jub gurl jrer gb cyrnfr gurz naq or zber yvxr gurz. Ohg urer’f gur guvat: jr qba’g arrq gb. Jr ernyyl qba’g rira arrq gurz. Gurl arrq hf. Bgurejvfr jr jbhyqa’g rira or urer. Gurl pynvz gb or n cnpvsvfg nntvon naq gung’f jul gurl qba’g unir na nezl be nayguvat. Ohg gurl’re hfvat hf nf gurve nezl. V guvax lbh nyernql xarj gung. Jr trg njnl jvgu vg orpnhfr jr’re vaqrcraqrnag bhgfvqr uryc. Ohg jr’er abg vaqrcraqrnag. Jura V gbbx zl ubabe grfg, V gbyq gurz ubarfgyl gung V jnf n avpr crefba naq gung V qba’g yvxr uhegvat crbcyr naq gung V jbhyq arire xvyy crbcyr. Naq V jnf snvyrq. Rira gubhtu fbzr crbcyr jub cnffrq ghearq nebhaq naq hfrq gurve fxvyyf sbe rivy. Gung’f orpnhfr gurl qba’g jnag gb tvir cbjref gb tbbq crbcyr, gurl jnag gb tvir cbjref gb crbcyr gurl pna pbageby. Gur ubabe grft nyybjf gurz gb qb gung oy frrvat jub jvyy gryy gurz jung gurl jnag gb urne, gurersber jub vf jvyyvat gb qb jung gurl jnag gurz gb qb. Abg bayl gung, ohg lbh pna’g yvr, fb gurl npghnyyl sbepr lbh gb punatr lbhe oryvrsf nobhg jung’f ubabenoyr. V ubcr lbh xarj guvf. Is lbh jrer fzneg lbh xarj guvf. V qba’g jnag nyy bs lbh gb orpbzr chccrgf. V qba’g jnag nal bs lbh gb xvyy be or rivy be nalguvat rvgure, ohg lbh fubhyq or avpr naljnl, rira vs ab ubabe flfgrz vf sbepvat lbh gb. Vs jr nyy vtaberq gur jebat cnegf bs gur ubabe flfgrz gbtrgure gurer jbhyq or abguvat gurl pbhyq qb. Nf V nyernql fnvq, gurl arrq hf n ybg zber guna jr arrq gurz. Vs gurl ernyyl jnag crbgrpgvba sebz bhgfvqref, jr fubhyq or bhgfvqref. Nf vg vf abj, gurl’er abg irel urycshy gb hf be gurzfryirf. Naq jr’er ybfvat bhefryirf va gur cebprff.
V’z abg fnlvat gb tb naq gel gb qrfgebl gur ubabe flfgrz, ohg whfg...
V guvax I’yy fgbc orsber V pbzzvg znwbe gernfba, rira gubhtu V’z abg ernyyl n pvgvmra. I unir n srryvat gung vs lbh’er ernqvat guvf, fb vf fbzrbfr jub cebonoyl qbrfa’g yvxr zr irel zhpu ol guvf cbvag.
---
Oh yeah. And also some of the traditions waste a lot of time. I'm not going to code that because I'm tired of coding things and that took forever and that really was a very general statement. And here's another statement that I also forgot to include. It's really really easy to work around and stuff, so it's not really that helpful even if it did have perfect values and stuff.
Except for not killing people. I like that. Hey everyone, that passage wasn't telling you to kill people. Don't do that. Seriously, don't. If the system actually meant that you couldn't kill anyone, I would cross all that writing out. But as you know, that isn't the problem I'm talking about.
I should probably stop writing before Sorikonia starts to hate me even more. Okay, I'll actually stop now.
The bottom section of the paper appears to be torn off.
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on May 19, 2013 16:49:47 GMT -8
Apologies for the late posting. This is for May.
Ollvia Virva Cellus
This is Virva agin. I hope you know that by now.
I was awake late the previous night taling to Oliver. We were discussing adventuring the next day. I was talking about how the party was going to do stupid things and kill, and he was talking about how I should worry about not getting killed myself. Oliver is a great friend. I'm glad I have him. Anyway, I was drinking cold int water (which is delicious by the way) when I noticed that is spilled. And then I noticed that the floor was cracking and a wall was falling in. Then I noticed a lot more water. It didn't seem like mint. I was sort of confused. Oliver frantically grabbed my shoulder and tried to pull me away, but water was coming through the door, and there wasn't anywhere to go. And that's how I died. After I was resurrected I was told that a tsunami had hit Sorikonia and had killed hundreds or thousands of people. I said okay. I think the life mages were expecting a bit more of a reaction. I'm not sure why. I looked around for Oliver. At first I couldn't find him so I thought he was dead. Then I started looking for his haunt. Then I realized that if he was a haunt he would probably find me because of a blessing from Death that I had. So I looked for his body. It turned out he was already alive. He came to me with my pendant, sword, and shield. I thanked him. We started looking for our other friends. I couldn't find anyone else I knew. I asked a person where they were. He asked if I was part of the adventuring party. I said yes. He told me to grab my gear and go to the shore. I asked why. He said that there wasn't time to explain and that I should just go. I asked why. He told me that lots of undead and vampires were attacking. That wasn't very good. They probably should be stopped. He agreed. We both stood there for a while. He reminded me to go. I told him that I didn't have any magic weapons that would work on undead. He pointed out that I had silver. I said that silver wouldn't help against vampires. He told me that there would probably be something I could fight. I said it wasn't likely. He said that other people didn't have magic weapons either and they were still fighting. I said I didn't have skill to hurt undead either. He said that some of them didn't either. I said that I was smarter than the rest of the party. The argument sort of went on and by the time we were finished, the rest of the party had already returned, so it didn't matter. They were still successful, right?
One everyone had gathered together at the inn, I checked on my other friends. Teacher Person. Itami. Kitsune. Fiery Dwarf Person. They were all safe. The other people were all freaked out for some reason. They said that there had been powerful caracwaiths from the dark city. I don't remember their names. They were bird-something and death-person and other-death-person or something. It didn't seem very important.
The ignorant thunder person was talking a lot about how sad the tsunami was. I asked why, but he didn't answer me. Other people also wanted to help save people who were hurt. I didn't understand that either. I talked with the fiery dwarf person a little bit. He thought it was important to train the militia. I had forgotten about that. No one seemed to be paying attention to that anymore. I've accepted that we have different views on this. He wants to because we promised and I think it was a dumb promise to begin with. Anyway, the thing that happened there was when we were voting. None of the missions seemed very important, but I still voted. The thing is, when the ignorant thunder person looked at me and the fiery dwarf person, he skipped right over us and didn't count our votes. I guess we really are dishonored. As strange as this may sound, that's almost a nice feeling. Maybe I can get some more mage training from Temnor. They would love that.
The first mission I went on was guarding a caravan with the militia tagging along for training. I talked to the nice lady with tea and Teacher Person the whole time it was fun except for the militi people repeatedly smacking us with wooden poles. I threatened to terrorball them. Then they went away. The nice lady with tea seemed sad when we left, so I asked her why. She said that it was because of the tsunami. Our conversation went like this (I don't remember exactly what we said): "What's wrong with the tsunami?" "It killed so many people." "What's wrong with death?" "I thought you didn't approve of killing." "I don't, but the tsunami was natural. That's not killing. Death probably caused it itself." "How do you know Death caused it?" "Did someone else?" "I'm not sure." "Huh." "And it's still sad that so many people died. "Why is it sad?" "That there were a lot of people?" "No. That they died." "You mean, why is it sad that anyone dies?" "All of these people died before their time." "How do you know it was before their time?" "Many were still young. They could have done so much more with their lives." "But you will still die eventually." "All the more reason to enjoy life while you can." "But if they are young, then they will be happy. So really it's quitting while you're ahead." "Don't you think they deserve a full chance at life?" "What difference does it make?" "They would have longer to live." "But they'll all die eventually." "But life is good." "How do you know death isn't better?" "I admit I don't. But I enjoy life." "I do to. But you can't enjoy life without the promise of death." "Then you should be able to enjoy life." "They did! And if they didn't, they certainly aren't missing out." (Wow. Those quotation marks worked really well. I should use them again sometime.) Our conversation went on like this for a long time. At one point, she stopped, smiled and looked at me. She told me that it was almost disturbing how difficult it was to counter my arguments. I simply reminded her that natural disasters shouldn't be sad things. At this point some other men who I haven't talked to much showed up and joined in. They wouldn't take death seriously, so I left. I don't really remember how the mission went. I do remember being chased by a hoard of some things while I had a similar conversation with the teacher person. We wandered around the battlefield conversing as I asked him what he thought of death. He said that while I may insist that it's just as good as life, there's no evidence either way. Therefore, you can use life as a way to delay the inevitable. That's an interesting way of thinking. We talked some more about death as our party occupied themselves with fighting and running. We also began to talk about resurrection My impulse told me that it was unnatural and disobeyed Death, but Teacher Person reminded me that Death already could prevent it if it wanted to. Then I remembered how both of my deaths had been remedied perfectly. Maybe Death was completely fine with it. I told him that I agreed, but I didn't think other gods than Death should intervene if that was the decision made. Teacher Person looked a little hurt. He told me that he was living because of divine intervention and he asked if I thought he should have died forever in the tsunami. I said yes. However, since he didn't have access to his afterlife anyway, if he would be forced to stay in the realm of the living he may as well do something useful. Bu only as long as he couldn't get to the afterlife. In the end, I think we both found a philosophy that we agreed on. Oh yeah. I think the mission was fine as well.
I got to spend time with Fiery Dwarf person later that day. We were rescuing dead fire elemental dog things that had drowned or something, when I noticed he was really shaky. I asked him what was wrong. He said the tsunami. I guess I understand. I mean, he is a person of fire. He seemed terrified of rivers and he was always shivering and talking to himself. Once when he thought he was alone, h went off by a tree and murmured under his breath. I came close to hear what he was saying. It turned out that he was singing, very softly: "The earth is firm beneath my feet. The smell of wind is golden sweet. There's a fire in my heart, As here I stand the world apart." I was impressed. I asked him to teach me the song, which he did. I think he finds it strange that I can remember his lyrics but not his name. It's not my fault I'm bad with names. We sang it for a while. Fiery Dwarf Person seemed to grow happier. The egotistical seductive elf lady approached us and asked what we were doing. We sang the song to her. She stared at Fiery Dwarf Person for a while, complimented him, and left. He seemed a little hurt again, but really I think he's fine. Oh, yeah. This mission went fine to. We saw one of the elemental spirit things. There's one for each clan. The egotistical seductive elf lady ills them to get their papers. If you want to know what they are ask her.
I spent the rest of the day with Itami and Kitsune and Oliver and I spent the night trying to stop Teacher Person and Fiery Dwarf Person from fighting. (They didn't, by the way.)
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Mar 1, 2014 21:33:41 GMT -8
Hello, all. This season I am planning to be more consistent with chronicles. I apologize for publishing these this late. I had forgotten about them.
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Mar 1, 2014 21:34:12 GMT -8
Alais Firstmoon
Hello, allies, enemies, superior officials, and other people who enjoy extremely obscure documentations of extremely obscure parts of history. My name is Alais. I am an adventurer in Axiems. Or rather, I’m hoping to become one. Or rather, I’m hoping to learn whether or not I want to become one. What I mean by that is that today, after spending a few days to learn my way around the city, I tried adventuring with a group of others who were doing the same thing as me. I even know some of them. Or knew some of them before today. However you prefer my phrasing of it, assume that is how it is communicated. That goes for all of my works. We’ll all be much happier that way.
First, I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. This is because I am not as paranoid about vampires as some people I know are. I don’t intend to put any important secrets or weaknesses that could be easily exploited. I also don’t expect any vampires to take the time to read this in the first place. If something with high intelligence shows interest in my work, then I am either doing something very right or very wrong. And it is very easy for me to censor my work if need be. Another reason for sharing some personal information is so that you can know some things about the person who is talking to you. Narrations of minor events by unimportant people who lack identity have never been my cup of tea. If I am forcing my readers to deal with two of those things, I can at least give them the third. What kinds of things would you want to know about me? Name? Stated. Age? Always changing, so probably not very useful. Race? Centaur. I have a lot of friends of many other races, including some elves and dwarves. I know an elf who is less physically mature than me, but older than I can realistically ever hope to be, assuming I don’t become an undead or turn to elder sorcery. I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like. I consider myself fairly experienced and intelligent, and most young elves and dwarves have had more than ten of my lives. How can one person’s mind shoulder all of that? I’ll never understand that. Even humans have far larger lifespans than us. It disappoints me a little, but it is also a blessing in disguise at some times. For example, I’ve found that some older elves really have a hard time doing anything. By that I don’t mean eating, talking, working, and sleeping. If you suggest something that breaks routine even in minor ways, they ignore the idea or try to ease into over the course of a year. If you want something done quickly, you are often in for a disappointment. I have been told that some elves can even become detached and cynical. Even apathetic. And I don’t even know the deal with all of this stereotyped superiority-rivalry issue between elves and dwarves is. I don’t seek to judge them. As stated, I have no idea what it must be like to have such a lifespan. But I enjoy my limited one. It gives more meaning to each action and makes it easier to do things. My mother told me that if I want to be able to boast that, I need to actually do something meaningful. I know why she would say that. I like enjoying things. Some people are artists. They make beautiful things. I’m sort of the opposite. I don’t make anything, but I see beauty everywhere. No one else seems to recognize it. The greens in each perfectly smooth leaf. Seriously, look at a leaf. Isn’t that a nice color? The edge is so perfect that the sharpest dagger could not have cut it. And the veins branch out in elegantly unbalanced fractals that recursively reflect the twigs they grow on, which are shaped after the branches, which look like the whole tree itself. Apparently recognizing and understanding amazing things isn’t much use to anyone else. I am from a fairly wealthy family, so I learned to write and study. I joined an elite historian guild, which I work for, chronicling about some things that happen. And now I have joined a party of adventurers. On that note, I should get to the actual recording of information.
Not much of note happened. I don’t feel the need to go into detail about anything. Talia gave a couple lectures, which was nice of her. We met some Dagdioth troops, whom we bullied into going home. (I’m not sure hat to make of that. Should I love my party or despise them?) We were sent to run some errands for Lady Sentris and Abel. I won’t go in to what my party did with the caribou. I wasn’t there for most of it. There were goblins and ents and undead. That sums everything up. Hopefully, you can get some sort of impression of how much of an effect the day had on me.
I did learn some interesting things about my party members. Some are psychopaths, some are insane, some have convoluted morals, but most are actually pretty good people. I don’t know them well yet, but those who aren’t on drugs and don’t kill for fun seem like they could be nice. I had some interesting conversations. They don’t contain anything useful historically, but I want to say that whether or not any of them are remembered, they did exist as more than names and most of them had a sense of humor. I’m not sure who I consider to be a friend. I am pretty easy with getting along with others, so my definition of friendship is unclear even to me. Maybe they all are. In that case I should probably learn something about some of them.
There was something useful that came from today. We learned about the city. Axiems often changes hands between Svodlun and Dagdioth. I don’t have an opinion about this. I have no loyalties to either side. Apparently that is how it should be and if that changes, the town will abandon us if needed. Survival appears to be more important to the officials than loyalty or promises. I actually like that. It’s refreshing. I do have some reserves about the mafia, which apparently plays a large role here. Our town officials seem interesting, Lady Sentris most of all. She wears a black rope belt, which I assume could be tied into a noose in seconds. When a party member tried to report another to her, she told him that he had to trust his peers and implied that we needed to be loyal and true to one another. I assume this is because we will not get loyalty or truth from anyone else.
I don’t know anything about this life, but it’s pretty exiting. I’ll be back.
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Mar 1, 2014 21:34:45 GMT -8
Alais Secondmoon
The weather was wet and snowy and not very conducive to adventuring. Regardless, we all met at the inn again. I was curious to see who would be there. I hadn’t had a chance to meet many of my companions yet. Or at least I hadn’t gotten to know many. They mingled and conversed. I did all I could not to get in their respective ways, while talking with them as well. It seemed that man of the other people there shared my views of the weather. Several decided that they would rather take the day off, and went to some tables to gamble, eat, talk, and practice decoding papers. Some people however, were willing to brave the weather for any mission offered. I admire that kind of conviction, but in this air my sword was like ice. I could only manage my shield because I put a few layers of fur in between my arm and the metal. Others still were fine with going outside, but they didn’t want to look for trouble. I liked that idea. Luckily (or conveniently), we received word of an elven ceremony that was going on in the protectorate. The name of the event translated to “Death of Twilight.” “The Twilight Song.” That was enough to intrigue me, and about a dozen others.
We set out to the Lagmenth Forest. It wasn’t hard journey, though we did have to bundle up. I wore my longest cloak because not much else can protect me fully from the rain and snow. Even the hobbits had covered their feet. We were lucky that we had movement and conversation to keep us warm. I know that I wanted to turn back a dozen times during the walk, and was better off than any of them. As we traveled, the snow was light for some time. I noticed a snowflake. I think that jewelers and glassworkers should look at individual snowflakes. It looked like six crystal cedars growing from one point. It was lost immediately and I couldn’t see any others well, but after that, the day didn’t seem as cold.
We walked through the forest for a while. It was quite pretty. Up here there aren’t as many trees, so I liked it. I was up at the front talking with [Nick]. He was trying to find the correct directions. He had already come across a marker, but now we were lost. We were considering backtracking when suddenly he fell unconscious. All of our other dwarves and one elf also fell. There was a slight rustling in the trees. I looked around but saw little. Most of our number seemed too dazed or too busy looking around frantically. If I’m honest, I admit that I didn’t try to help fight because I still didn’t want to draw my cold sword. Instead, Dumali and I began to heal [Nick]. [Quinn] stood by us with his bow drawn. Most of our allies had drawn their weapons by the time we finished. Some were attempting to fight hidden creatures. Dumali and I moved on. Eventually, the creatures revealed themselves as wood trolls. They took down a few of us and ran off before we could do much to them. Individual attacks didn’t have much effect alone, so overall it was a rather tedious battle. (It was about a minute.) It ended when a troll was taken down and burned. All the others retreated at that point. Later we learned that they had been from Dagdioth in some form or another. I don’t know what difference it makes. The battle did not have much of an effect on me.
As we walked, [Nick] found a huge set of footprints. It was then that we decided to backtrack. When we had found our path, we reached a stone cabin with a set of stares. A circle of protection blocked us. We were let through a little later. It’s not like much happened before then, but I’ll wait a bit. A dwarf came to greet us. She introduced herself as Ruby Crowmark Unwizaste. I’ll be honest, I was a little distracted at the time, so I don’t recall what she talked about. I think she said she would send someone to look for the trolls that had attacked us. We were also told that some elves had fought a giant. There were plenty of pleasantries (I’m really sorry; I don’t remember the dialogue) before we were on our way with a few new dwarven escorts.
I paid a little more attention to the things that followed.
We walked through the forest for a while, making conversation. We walked on fairly steady terrain for a while. The land descended into a ravine. As we approached the small valley, I began to feel a change in the flow of energy around me. It was like mana in the air was flowing in tides, energizing us briefly and then drawn away again as it moved out. We were told a story of a great fir tree that grew at the bottom. We could see the stump for ourselves. It was hard not to. It ate up the landscape. It was gorgeous and sad. The tree was a manawell. The dwarves there produced large quantities of it, but apparently they did not believe they did such quickly enough. They could release an even greater amount mana if they cut down the tree, and besides, the wood was popular for weapons at the time. But once they had done this, the tree was dead and the amount of mana was certainly not as much as they would have made by waiting. It was a classic golden goose story. (A goose laid eggs of gold, it’s farmer wanted all the gold at once and cut it open, you know the rest.) It’s quite sad, actually. It was a very pretty place, regardless. I’m glad we passed by that area.
We eventually arrived at the city. It was much smaller than a human or dwarven city, but I liked it. It was made of trees. Stairs spiraled up and down from them. The grey light from the sky exaggerated the coniferous greens that circled the city. Hints of sunbeams glittered on the frosty ground. It had been a while since I’d visited a forest. I had forgotten how beautiful they were. No, I hadn’t, but any place like that is hard not to admire. I don’t think people appreciate that enough. The ceremony was scheduled to happen at dusk, so I spent the better part of the day exploring and enjoying the scenery. If they let you, you should visit sometime. The trees are tall and rich, the ice sparkles, and the air is clean. Homes seemed to grow from the forest itself. Most of the elves were nice enough. Some were visitors, like us. I was asked by one of them what so many people of different races wanted here. I told him that I was curious about the ceremony. He shrugged and left me.
When it was time, we were seated in a back row that had been set up for guests of various races. Or at least, my companions were seated. I stood, of course. The elves were invited to participate in the ceremony. Some of our friends did. I helped Isanna choose a song. I’m glad she liked it. The elves were seated ahead of us. There were many elves who seemed to be from different places. Some wished to sing as well. It was not polite for elves to have their guests go first, so our friends were invited to place themselves in the second half. The locals started out. One sang of wildflowers that grew there in all sorts of colors. She continued to sing about how they die every year. Another elf sang about the color of leaves, how they go from green to yellow, orange, res, and dry dusty browns as they fall to decompose. Another song described the wind. A cedar tree. A river. A broken tree branch, dying. A rainbow. Blossoms withering. I enjoyed most of the songs. Our companions were fine as well, but no others especially stood out to me. What did stand out to me was how partway through, an elf showed up. His race wasn’t the strange part. He seemed old. I’m not a good judge of elven age. The youngest elven adults are older than I will ever be. But all that considered, he still seemed old. He carried a bladed staff and had an air of sadness around him. Our hosts and the other elves of high standing exchanged looks. They seemed confused, like they didn’t know what to do or how to react. He was a fairly respectful guest for the remaining songs. I would recommend the ceremony to anyone. As all the songs were finished, a strange light filled the air. It reflected off the ice, through the trees. The wind rustled softly. I could have stayed there for hours, enjoying that one moment. In spite of everything, it was the most beautiful thing I had seen all day. And then the old elf stood. He sang a song. He sang of deep losses and the world and skies and ulalia, ulalia, ulalia, I don’t know. It was a sad song and I heard all sorts of things in it. Writing it down would not mean anything. As he sang and finished singing, I felt something strange in the air. For a second when he ended, the leaves were all bright, golden coins. The old elf seemed to make the host uncertain. It was unclear which of them was the figure of authority.
After the ceremony, [Ray] and I decided to ask the old elf some questions. A hundred filled my mind all at once as we ran to approach him. Who was he? Where was he from? What was the meaning of his song? What had happened to the leaves? What was his purpose? What was the ceremony’s purpose? Who had his friends been? What had happened to them? What had happened to him? Why? How? I was figuring out phrasings for questions in my mind as we approached him. Then he did something unexpected. He immediately pointed his weapon at [Ray]. He gave me a look of mild curiosity. All of my questions left me. Did [Ray] know him? No, that was impossible. I realized he was a dwarf. This elf hated dwarves. Dwarves had no place in this elven ritual. And perhaps it was odd that a centaur would even bother. I’ll be the first to admit that centaurs don’t generally involve themselves in the affairs of other races. My confusion gave way to anger. I asked him what was wrong with [Ray] and what was wrong with dwarves. He told me that [Ray]’s race had done many horrible things. I told him that he couldn’t judge one for the crimes of his race but I’m pretty sure he didn’t care. [Ray] told me that it was fine. He backed up. I trued to remember what I had wanted to ask, but it didn’t seem important anymore. How can someone who did such a beautiful thing be so racist? I wanted to yell at him, but it was pointless. What did he even have against dwarves? His friends were dead. He had said so in the song. “Yes. And yours?” He asked. I hadn’t meant to speak out loud. Maybe I had, but I don’t know why. I told him that they were here with me, [Ray] included. This was sort of a lie. I didn’t know many of them well yet. We exchanged a few more empty questions. We then left each other. Looking back on it, I expect I missed a chance to learn something useful. But it’s pointless to regret it. Maybe it’s not too late. And maybe he’ll get over his racism.
I don’t remember much of our return journey. Upon our arrival home, our party split up to find teachers for classes. I didn’t know what class I wanted. I still don’t. I’ll think about it.
I’ll think about a lot of things.
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Mar 8, 2014 14:14:16 GMT -8
Alais Thirdmoon
The past two days were full of ups and downs. The ups were learning interesting things. The downs were learning about some people in my party and apparently dying.
Today when we all met, we were told that Throlis and Boro were taking the princesses Jill and Mary to a ritual in a cave, at Krodigros. We were invited to come, but we probably wouldn’t be back until that night, maybe the next morning. We would miss a day of adventuring. I went to the bulletin board that listed the missions that required completion. None seemed especially interesting to me, so I decided to visit the ritual. I was also curious. A month ago I learned about an elven ritual for honoring the dead. That had been an interesting culturally enriching experience. Now I would learn about a dwarven ritual. We were told that we should also take advantage of the good market prices while we were there. Krodigros was a larger city than Axiems, so it made sense that goods would be cheaper. Almost everyone in our party was a dwarf. Everyone we traveled with was also a dwarf. I felt a little strange to be with them all. Last month all the elves had been intimidating, but at least had a diverse party to stand with. One of the dwarves even asked me why I was traveling with them. I told him that I was curious about different cultures from my own and their histories. He just shrugged me off. But Jill and Mary told me that they had never visited the ceremony before either, so that was encouraging. There was lighter snow today as well, so I wasn’t as cold while traveling. I started to look forward to it.
I asked some of the dwarves we traveled if they could tell me about the ritual. They didn’t offer much information. I got the general impression that I would learn plenty about it upon arrival. I wonder if the rule of innocence applied. Looking back, it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that it would matter for, but maybe it did. I would ask, but that’s the kind of question that is best answered for one’s self. I guess that means I should warn you all. I don’t know if the rule of innocence means anything here, but in case it does, you may wish to put down this book. It’s your choice, but I apologize if I affect your ability to participate fully.
I have been told that I should write about the actual events and not the weather, but I want to mention the sky. It was the most beautiful white that day, white as the grey, frosty ground. Shadows filled the centers of heavy clouds and bright light from an invisible sun outlined them. They made an artful patchwork that hid the blue and blanketed the landscape. Sometimes soft snowflakes fell, so soft that perhaps tiny shards of the sky itself had been falling. A serene, icy, sheen covered the world. It was as white and smooth as the moon.
Naturally the orcs had to ruin it. We had hardly begun our journey when we were attacked by a large group of powerful orcs. I was talking with Jill one moment. Then they were charging us, crushing the thin layer of snow beneath their heavy strides. We rushed to meet them, but were overwhelmed. I didn’t have the time or space to stand and fight. They swarmed me. The most I could do was block their blows and back away. This kept me occupied for a few minutes. They came at me whenever I stopped to heal my allies, so I couldn’t help any of them. I realized they had a nature mage. My companions were soon broken firs. I looked around for help, but all of my allies had fallen. There are some advantages to my race. I can be charmed. I can’t find secret doors. I don’t know how to search quickly. I have a short lifespan. I can, however, run quite fast. Where I grew up I was always the slowest, due to my short legs and large hooves, but when I am not surrounded by my own kind, four legs will always be faster than two. Yes, I ran away. What could I do, really? There was no way I could be of any more use. Staying would only mean that I would die as well. There was no shame in leaving a battle I could not fight. There was no honor in suicide. Besides, I wasn’t really abandoning them. I was actually doing them all a big favor. I could almost heat my party urging me on. The only way to help them was to bring reinforcements. We weren’t yet far from town. I could make it back before my allies bled out or were killed. These were all good examples of the kind of thing I told myself as I desperately ran for my life.
I reached town without much trouble, although I almost trampled a dwarf as I ran to the inn. Abil was there conversing with a large group from my party. I tried to get his attention, but they were all asking him questions. I repeated his name four times before he noticed me. Once I had his attention, I explained how his mother’s family had run into some trouble on the path and how we really needed some help right now and how the good news was that they probably weren’t dead yet and how the bad news was that they were all stumps. He correctly analyzed the situation and sent the party back with me.
Do I need to go into the remaining details? We won. Our party sent us on our happy way and returned to whatever mission they had been doing before.
The mountains were great and majestic as we walked through them. I remember finding a boulder on a hill with my brother Rowan when we were young. The boulder had a side that was easy to climb up even for us. Once we were on top, we had a view of two creeks, the fields, the woods, and some more hills. Rowan had told me that the boulder must have been the biggest rock in the world. I am used to the sight of mountains by now, but seeing the huge domes and spires carved from stone reminded me of that day. I just thought I’d share it.
We had covered about half of our distance when we were attacked by the kobolds. I was admiring the sky some more and wasn’t paying attention the approaching army right in front of us. (It was gorgeous, okay? You would have been looking at it too.) We were a little unprepared. We were swarmed and lost. Our escorts saved us, but the kobolds attacked some again. The same thing happened. Twice. I started to notice a pattern of several of our party simply charging forward instead of intelligently planning out movements and attacking weak points. I tried to suggest this to them, but I don’t think they noticed. The fourth time, we tried tactics. Jill and I took a group of five to run around the kobolds so we could surround them. It actually worked very well. We took some down quickly, reducing the small army to a much more manageable size. From there it was fairly easy. Tactics. They work. What was so hard about that? I clearly explained this to them. I clearly explained how they could easily and strategically fight in the next few rounds. It wasn’t hard. It really wasn’t. They are terrible at following orders. It should not take six more battles to defeat some kobolds. We should not win only by a hair in the final round. These are not things that should happen. Orders. You’re supposed to follow them. I’m not going to go into depth for the next several fights. There are too many painful memories associated with them. Let’s just move on in the story. Eventually we got past the kobolds. That’s all that matters. Let’s put specifics behind us. The past is the past. Forgive and forget.
Krodigros is a larger city than Axiems. Throlis lead us to a bustling market. I was a little overwhelmed. Dwarves were everywhere, flowing through the streets like water does a riverbed. Most were costumers, carefully appraising each item they took. Some were food vendors. They offered large cuts of roast mutton, venison, or goat. Fresh loaves were set out in booths. Ripe fruits and lush vegetables filled large baskets that were circled around the roads as they were sold to passersby. Mead, ale, and honey were abundant. A woman offered to ladle some thick stew onto awaiting plates. There seemed to be a lot of people with plates. I wondered if it was custom to bring a plate to the market and buy lunch there in Krodigros. I was about to ask one of Throlis’s escorts when I turned a corner to find four stalls piled high with the dishes. Some were simple wooded platforms. Others were ornately embossed, thick, round sheets of yellow gold. An outdoor market is not where I would normally buy plates, but they seemed to be just as popular to the people as the food. Next to me, Jill seemed just as confused. This relieved me to no ends. Mary also gave helpless looks to Throlis and Boro. We asked them what we should buy. Throlis told us that we only needed to buy anything if we actually wanted to enter the cave. We said we did. He told us we didn’t have any obligation to join. I told him I was curious about the ritual and that we wanted to learn. Throlis told us that we needed three things. The first was a plate of food. The plate can be whatever we like. Commoners usually bought cheap wooden plates, where wealthy gentry and nobility often bought fancier dishes. Apparently some thought that to pay more money was to show more respect, although I’m not sure that they need any more excuses for lavish displays of wealth. I bought a wooden plate. Trees have always meant more to me than stone or metals. As for the food, Throlis said that we should choose whatever we considered to be nourishing. I tried to ask for a recommendation, but I think I may have insulted the vendor. I thought back to what I had eaten in my childhood with Rowan and Sandy. For as long as I can recall apples have been my favorite, and they remind me of that. I also bought a loaf of dark bread filled with thick grains. The grains were different from the ones I ate down South, but it was the same type of loaf. I bought some greens because my mother said they were healthy, some herbs, and a small wooden cup, which I filled with snow melt. The next item was a light source. Traditionally candles were used, but unlit torched also worked. I bought a thin candle with a yellowish white wax made from tallow. The third item was a knife, or perhaps a dagger. Something that could cut. Something very clean as well. This was my favorite part of the shopping trip. Some stalls had daggers fresh from the forge, wrapped in crisp wax paper with unbroken seals. Others were lined with rows of knives. When a customer chose one, the stall’s owner would dip it into a large flame, smooth it, sharpen it, and lean it once more before your eyes. They would do this all so quickly and smoothly that I almost bought a second just to see the process again. As I browsed the knives and daggers, the sun peeked through the mist for a moment. Every blade shone like a triangular shard of a mirror.
Once I had my materials, I met my party once more at the cave. I stood by [Ray]. He had a pretty candle of a creamy brown wax and a grey stone plate full of meat, bread, honey, and ale. It seemed that [Zane] had convinced the rest of the party to buy on large plate. Instead of having individual supplies, they carried platter large enough for me to sit on laden with fruit, meat, drink, and bread as well as…hatchets. They had a bowl full of enough torches, sticks, and candles to start a bonfire. And they each carried their own small dagger. The sight of them working together to hold it all was honestly ridiculous. I don’t know what was up with them.
We proceeded together into the cave. If I had felt strange at the elven ceremony or in a party of dwarves, was almost downright embarrassed here. I towered over the largest of them as I tried to inconspicuously stand near the back. I got a large number of looks from the dwarves. I suddenly felt bad for placing myself in the middle of a different culture’s sacred ritual. I considered leaving, but more dwarves had already filled the space behind me. As they got organized it became easy to navigate, but I decided against it. My curiosity had returned. I saw Throlis, Boro, Jill, and Mary at the front. Some well dressed dwarves stood behind them. At the back stood the commoners and other guests. None of this was too strange. I suddenly realized how dark it was. I could see, but it was still black as night. A strange uneasiness filled me. I heard something. Some of the dwarves were chanting. I was trying to decide whether or not it would be appropriate to join in, when a dwarf passed me, carrying something smoking. I almost gagged on the scent. It was sweet, like herbs or incense, and the smokiness burned my throat. I began to feel light-headed. As I succumbed to the dizziness, I noticed some figures at the front of the cave. Haunts. They had to be. Dwarves, probably, although some were small enough to be hobbits. Perhaps they were children. They began to talk. The words were garbled at first, but they became more and more clear. What did they say? “Withered”? “Drained”? I know that one said, very loudly and clearly, “Hungry.” The royalty in the front row came forward first. They placed their dishes of food atop what appeared to be a wall. Then more moved forward and did the same with their dishes. Soon it was our turn. I felt suddenly insecure about parading through the dwarves as a centaur, but most weren’t looking at me. They were watching the haunts. I did too. As I set my dish down, I realized that the wall was not made from stone as I had thought, but from thousands of plates from years past. I wondered how old the ritual was. Some old wooden plates were crumbling, but the wall held itself together. All the dishes wove together in complex, interlocking layers. We returned to our positions. A couple of the haunts searched through the food, selected pieces, and returned to the group to share them. Some of the dwarves were watching hem excitedly and murmuring about whose plate they took from. I couldn’t see much in the light, but I could see some of the sad expressions as Throlis heard this. He wanted to scream that this wasn’t the point. I’m sure of it. I could just hear his unsaid words. One of the haunts then called out, “Can we have a fire? It’s awfully cold.” Imagine going out into an empty field in late hours, two after midnight, far away from the torches and lanterns of cities, away from campfires of hunters, away from the light of the moon, because on this night it is new. Imagine all the stars in the sky, bright as suns, spreading out all above you from horizon to horizon. But imagine that you are not below them looking up. Instead, you are among them. They literally surround you. But they don’t. Not at first. There is only darkness. From the east horizon, a single huge star appears. Its light spreads to all the stars near it, then all the stars near them. The whole world brightens in a huge wave around you. Perhaps it was not this large or beautiful, but it was very impressive in the darkness of the cave. From the cave’s entrance, a torch was brought. It was used to light some nearby candles. Candle to candle, the fire spread. The room lit up around us. There was a strange warmth to it all. The haunts seemed much more solid in the light. They warmed themselves in the glow. It grew very quiet. I began to hear music. Several people were playing and singing, but a woman’s voice was the most prominent. She had a nice voice, but the lyrics were in dwarven and I could not understand them. I tried desperately at first to try to translate a few words I might have known, but I soon gave up. I relaxed and enjoyed it. Later I asked one of the dwarves to tell me what the song was about. I think it was about children being taken by evil forces and promises to always fight darkness and defend their home. I watched the haunts to see what they would do next. Shadowy figures were coming from tunnels, carrying things. I realized that they were bodies. The figures laid them down and returned to the tunnels. More came out. They did other ceremonial activities. They did more and more of this, for quite a long time. I lost track of time. They were in no rush. They were meticulous about their work. If I would estimate, they probably took around two hours for the whole process. Then the shadows donned themselves in armor and weapons. They wore different equipment. They were probably just different people preparing for battle. I didn’t know who or what they were fighting and I don’t know if I had guessed. But something about their manner worried me. Then the haunts looked at us. Strait at the audience. I felt very scared all of a sudden. I wanted to turn tail and run strait out of the cave. I had to get away as fast and far as possible. I didn’t know what I was so terrified of, but I was more frightened than I can describe. I wasn’t frightened. I should have been. All of these were perfectly logical responses to my environment for reasons that I could not explain, but I did not feel any of them. It was some sort of magic. I am no elf, so it should have worked. I did work. But a light had stopped it. My candle. I could feel it protecting me. How do I describe any of this? The candle was preventing the fear effect from touching me. It wasn’t my fear. It was the haunts’. I could feel their souls being afraid. I realized how silent it still was. One of the shadows stabbed another. There was no warning, it simply drew its sword and attacked its companion. The dwarves around me were moving. The knife. They had drawn their perfectly clean knives and cut marks in their palms. [Ray] and I did the same. Some dwarves had scars of many cuts. I wondered how many times they had visited this ritual. And how old the ritual itself was, for that matter. The cut on my hand was deeper than I had intended, but I didn’t mind. I could feel the blood flowing warm from my body. I instinctively wanted to bandage it, but instead I just let it drip. It was bright on the stone floor and my green clothes in the candlelight. It was still pouring from my palm. I would have folded it tightly into my tunic, but I didn’t dare. The other spirits approached the traitor and attacked it, but they were easily cut down. It seemed that when there were too many shadows for the one enemy, they were stabbed from behind by an unseen opponent. Some dwarves cut their hands again each time a shadow fell. Others just watched. Finally there were only two left to fight the traitor. They came at it, but their invisible foe killed them as well. I looked to Throlis once more, but he just watched knowingly. Then he turned. All the royalty did. I knew then that the ritual was over. The highborn dwarves walked back toward the entrance first. The others followed. I went back to feeling strange and getting looks. By the opening was a large brazier. Many people placed their lights inside it. Others went to some priests who stood nearby. They would tell the priests to “give the light to someone who needs it.” I decided to do that as well. The priest graciously accepted. Some of my party members put their candles in the brazier while others took them through the exits on their persons. Healers circled around with the dwarves, offering to heal cut hands. They always offered to magically repair the cuts, but most people chose to be bandaged and no more, so as to keep the scar. I did the same. The scar reminds me of the ritual every time I look at it.
Once we were outside the cave, everyone was much more willing to share information about the ritual. It’s actually fairly simple. The ceremony’s purpose is to honor the dead from when Krodigros fell. It has been going on for a little over three hundred years. Everything else I know about it comes from conclusions and speculations I drew from my experience. I have given you the information. You are welcome to do the same.
After that, my companions and I had a nice day out in the city. We explored the markets and bought goods much cheaper than those in Axiems. We met with guilds and entered classes without the strings attached to the guilds back at home. We got some food. My allies had far less money than I did. They decided to enter some gladiator tournaments to earn some more, as they all also wanted to shop and train. I sponsored them with some equipment to gamble and watched them for a while. They are my party, after all. They lost four rounds. And these weren’t exiting, close matches either. They were actually the dullest fights I have ever seen. They had an interesting tactic of getting beat up one at a time while all the others stood and watched, patiently waiting their turns. I would have tried to advise them tactically, but I remembered the battles during our travels and I decided that I didn’t want to go back there. Ever. These people. I’m not writing about that right now. We all had a lovely day and that’s all that matters.
Our return trip was a little fuzzy for me. I think I remember most of it, but I’m not sure. We didn’t run into much on our journey. We met a group of hungry ogres, however. I seem to recall us fighting a battle. We lost painfully, but we planned to try to push through again nonetheless. We were about to launch another attack and then I was with a life mage. I didn’t remember the battle ending or going to someone else in our company. I recognized everyone around. They were the companions of Throlis and Boro. But I didn’t know any of them. The mage asked me what the last thing I remembered was. That shouldn’t be a hard question, but it felt as though I had drifted to sleep during a long play. I would recall something that I had thought was the last thing I saw, but then I would realize that it couldn’t be because something had happened after that. Had I fought ogres again, or were those from the first fight? I didn’t recall. The mage asked me if this had been my first experience with death, but I hadn’t died. I told him that. What was he talking about? He asked me if I remembered the ceremony. Of course I did. Ogres? Yes. Did I remember being injured? Yes. Wait, no. I had been injured several times. But then the battle had ended and we talked tactics again. Did we fight ogres again after that? It made sense, but I wasn’t sure what order my memories were in. I never got injured afterwards… I asked the mage why I was here with him. He said he had just resurrected me. He then said that sometimes people forgot the experience of death. I took his word for it. A warrior offered to help us out and we managed to defeat the ogres afterwards. I’m pretty sure of that much at least. It had been a hard fight, but we got through it.
The ritual had been interesting and the battles important experiences. There is so much about these cultures that I need to learn. So much.
The rest of our party had done lots of fighting when we had been gone. I don’t think I missed much. I was very happy to return to such a diverse group, but I think that it will be much easier for me to go to other cultural events in the future. It’s funny. I hadn’t even known that would bother me in the first place. Now it doesn’t. The only thing of note is that it struck me how many thieves we have in our party. They make me nervous.
I don’t generally call people my friends because my definition doesn’t usually sync up with theirs. I think that everyone I can help and talk with is my friend. Other people have higher standards. But by now I think I can call all of my party friends as well.
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Apr 16, 2014 20:40:04 GMT -8
Alais Fourthmoon
Back at home I have a family. I have a sister, Sandy, who is married with three children. I have a twin brother, Rowan, who is also married. I have a mother who still thinks I took up adventuring to spite her, or because I was sad as a child, or because I felt like I needed to prove myself and was in Sandy’s shadow and I really didn’t need to because they all loved me for who I was. She thought that adventuring is interchangeable with suicide. I always thought that was silly. I still do, given the availability of life magic. (And why in all of Roekron would I need to prove I was different from Sandy?) But over the past month I have been thinking. Death is a very real threat. What’s even scarier is that I have had a hard time thinking about it because I can’t even remember. At one time I even considered how we may die many, many times without even noticing it. We would, of course, because the mages keep records in the overlay about resurrections and our souls would grow noticeably heavy. Maybe adventurers learn to recognize this unknowing as death. But that thought is even worse. Getting used to dying. How could anyone get used to dying and just accept it? Does society as a whole understand the implications? Life and death shouldn’t be something that people deal out so nonchalantly. I don’t want to accept it like it’s nothing. I have family. I write to them and assure them that I am always fine and safe, but I haven’t really thought about it. I have had two siblings and a father die. Other people have families. My party members do. Every living enemy we face, and perhaps the undead as well. Every traveler or hero we tangle in the affairs of. It certainly is something to think about. Actually most things are, so that was a meaningless statement.
But you don’t want to read any of this. You probably want to learn what happened today. I’ll try to keep other unrelated thoughts off the paper from now on.
Spring is here. It is still just as cold and frosty as it has been for my whole stay, but I can tell. I have always been able to tell. There is something in the air. Something just before the trees grow new foliage. Which they have started by now. The sky has been casting its blankets away as well. The clouds creep back late in the days, but the sunset burns them away. They glow pink and orange. But at daytime the skies are blue, perhaps with the vaguest suggestions of white. There is still some snow, but less. Green is tasting the air above the white. This is one of my favorite times of year. Although I do wish that this place knew how to warm up.
Today there were no culturally enriching rituals of death, much to my dismay. In fact, none of the current events were really my cup of tea. There were some tunnels and shrines, but I do not like traveling through dwarven spaces underground. I’m not claustrophobic so much as big. Have heard that dwarven tunnels are also quite big, but I don’t care to try. Most of the other missions involved fighting things such as ogres and Dagdioth. Surely those were very important, but I didn’t know how much use I would have been. There were some bodies in the snow. Those had some promise. The party started out by being sent out to fight Blue Mountain orcs. I gave them my best wishes and stayed back drinking tea and eating bread. What can I say, I got a late start? I talked to Dumali some. She wrote to me asking about my religion, so I answered. I’m not sure if this pleased her. She and Talia wanted to have a theological discussion. I’m not sure how much of this was meant to be kept private, so I will stop now. Most of the discussion happened later, anyway. Please excuse me. When the rest of our party returned, Lady Sentris spoke to everyone present. She described the missions briefly. The briefest by far was a mission for wandering through town and investigating some gangs. She mentioned slightly that that should only affect thieves and assassins and that it really didn’t matter much to the rest of us. What is going on with them? If she had not skipped over the details for this mission, I might have not even noticed. I am very worried. Something is going on. I want to know more, but… I don’t know. Would it be too late by then? Why am I so paranoid? Perhaps I should just dismiss it, but I get the strangest feelings. I will write all of my thoughts here because I know that some will read it. If anything mysterious happens to me, it is either part of this or the fault of vampires or Dagdioth. I think the latter two would be much easier to spot.
I sat out for most of the early mission, but when a group agreed to investigate the bodies, I went eagerly. I was in a large group, Dumali and [Ray] among them. We talked a lot about various philosophies. I like both of them. I think I have shared the most missions with [Ray] than anyone else. Such as when we visited the rituals together. For the elven one, we even tried to talk to the old elf with one another, but we failed because he was so aggressive toward him. Some people speculate that there will be a conflict between the elves and the dwarves. This reminds me of that. I am worried for an unknown reason. The more I think, I always feel like something is near, creeping out of my mind. I don’t write much here. I don’t actually write much at all compared to some, but ideas are the most dangerous on paper. We came across some Blue Mountain orcs, so the three of us became firs as our party and some of Sentris’s men fought them off. We reverted and were on our way. We met a large group of dwarves. They were returning home with a large wild boar. Some of my associates decided to question every little thing about them. Why they were armed so well (when all they had were hunting bows), why they were hunting a boar (when it was clearly a good source of food), why it had needed so many arrows (that were low quality against a huge beast), where they were going (you would think that they were toll collectors). The dwarves were as annoyed as me by this. They did point us on our way helpfully, showing us where some people who had also been investigating for the dead had gone. They were probably no more than people, but thinking back, maybe the caution was wise. We found no signs of previous investigators, and I don’t know how they would have known where the bodies were without seeing them. Upon our arrival, there were several humans covered in furs laying facedown in the white ground. We approached them, but Sentris’s people were ahead of us. They told us to stay put, but we went on. I was still with [Ray] and Dumali. We looked but didn’t touch. Was there a paper poking out of one’s furs? One of our allies began to rummage through the clothes of one. The next moment they were all undead, ghouls, zombies, or were they shamblers? I don’t know. We retreated as trees once more. They could revert us. They fell upon us. Hands with a different kind of coldness. Mouths with a different type of hunger. Was there anywhere to run? Sweet Goddess, what… Lady Sentris sent more of her people out to find the bodies, as we were later told. This time a whole army. They returned them to Axiems. Even on close inspection, they seemed to be no more than bundled up humans. They were laid down side by side. There was a paper on one of them. Sentris ordered two hobbit thieves to search them while everyone else formed a protective wall. She is surely a guildmaster thief. Even so, interesting… We stood in a circle around the bodies while the hobbits squeezed through to the center. As soon as they reached between the furs, undead were rising from the ground. There was a moment of chaos with swords flying everywhere and ghouls and shamblers attacking in all dirrections. Then it was still again. A hobbit had taken the paper. We allowed someone to take it with him as a lesson in cryptography, something that most of us did not need. While they worked on that, Lady Sentris had the corpses identified. It turned out that they were the victims of a very powerful and very nasty spell that had been animating them. They also seemed to be from the North. I then had a very good guess about who had done this. I wonder why he allowed the papers to stay? For whatever reason, they confirmed my theories. Or rather, were all the confirmation we were likely to get as of now. I am worried. Somehow the pebble has started rolling and I have missed it. The problem is that there are so many pebbles. How can I focus on them all? Some of us who had gone to the tunnels returned. There seemed little to discuss, but we showed them the paper.
That afternoon, we set out to investigate a shrine to Moriden. I had heard much about it and had grown curious. Everyone else had already visited. They told me about it as we walked. Apparently they think they know most of what’s going on there, but wanted to use a divine forge to craft magic items. This honestly disappointed me. My party already spends too much time running errands for Abil. Many of Abil’s quests are honestly unethical. I do not see this much worth in magic items. And here… There is so much in this place. There was so much that needed to be done. And yet they returned to a previously explored place for more magic items. Wasn’t there already a lesson in greed sometime back? I wasn’t personally present, but it affected us all. It seems that all they learned from it was not to use those specific coins. Oh, well. I cannot control their desires. Maybe they will learn themselves sometime. Or not, as this is a fairly safe waste of time and energy. We ran into some more blue mountain orcs as we left town. Our amazons ferried us across the river where we were untouchable. More orcs attacked us along the way so we did this again and again the whole trip. Sometimes they used wargs and arrows, but never more than we could handle. Not much else of note happened, but there were a couple more clouds by this point. They vanished quickly. When we entered the cave itself, our party used ropes to get us to the correct level. Climbing is difficult. I have good arm strength from using swords and shields so much, but even so, that is of limited use. I managed to make a walking motion up the wall with my legs while I lowered myself. Those at the top of my rope were waiting irritably for me to finish climbing, so when I got lower down I mostly fell, grabbing onto the rope occasionally to lower my momentum. We were in the middle of a kobold pit there. It wasn’t an especially challenging battle. Those who had been here before wanted to investigate some other shrine. It involved fighting, I think. They needed some of us to solve a puzzle that granted them access to a forge they had come to use. Lenore explained the puzzle to me. Several circles were placed in an overlapping diagram forming fourteen zones. A few numbers were revealed when my allies put some mana into it. The challenge was to give each zone a number so that each circle would contain three numbers that added up to twenty-one. For the first one, it was easy to figure out because two of the zones were already filled. This revealed a new number. Lenore told me that each number from one to fourteen was only used once, making t even easier. We soon exhausted our supply of (two) free numbers. The others prepared to start a fame of guess and check, but that would have been quite slow. Algebra was clearly the way to go. Rowan had never cared for maths. He had never thought that they would be useful for anything, but I paid close attention. Maybe I’ll write to him. Algebra has all sorts of real world applications, such as solving puzzles in dungeons. I would take two circles that overlapped but had only one number each. Then I would label the remaining three zones as x, y, and z. I would write equations for each, setting the sum of all the variables in each circle equal to twenty-one. Then I would set them equal to one another and eliminate the common variable. I would end up with two letters and an exact relationship between them, which could be compared to our list of numbers and found. Too much information? Sorry. Math is valuable. Never forget. We went around the diagram like this until each zone was labeled. Then Lenore pressed them in numerical order. The puzzle fell away to reveal a staircase. I’m pretty used to stairs. We came to a room with a huge dome of light. It was white and opaque and very hot. It was apparently the forge. While our smiths went off to have fun with it, the rest of us looked around. There were a few large statues of dwarves. Predictably, they came to life and could be challenged for magic items. I did this twice and failed miserably twice. But it was all very well. I spent the remaining time there just talking and getting to know my party a little bit better. We had a smooth return, a few conversations about the paper that had been found earlier, and then turned in. That was it. A peaceful ending to a rough day.
I spoke with Dumali that night. She showed me a nice cave that is apparently a popular spot for the party. I should go to the inn more to talk to people. It’s small, certainly, but also cozy in a way. A very cramped way. Until next month.
|
|
Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
|
Post by Karen on Feb 17, 2015 22:48:54 GMT -8
|
|