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Post subject:
 Posted: Mar 18, 2012 - 10:11 PM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 437 Lucky Moon Day 47
Today, I decided I would finally get rid of the extra boards I had made some moons ago. I was in the process of making them into shafts, to later turn into arrows, and the whole process was taking up too much space in my bank storage area. Thus, I finished it off today. I'm not much of a woodcrafter so I wasted a lot of boards, but still, but the end of the day, I had made myself a life-time supply of arrows, at least for a lowly wizard like me who rarely uses his bow. I actually had to go buy feathers from the shop as I had run out of the ones I collected from harpies fairly soon. Indeed, it was the first time making arrows for me, and while I thought it would take a very very long time to use up all those shafts I had created from the boards, it turned out to be a relatively quick task. While I was doing this work at the bank, I made small talk with fellow adventurers at the bank. Apparently, an ancient forest dragon has recently made is residency in a dungeon inside the tree maze up north, and many brave (or foolhardy) warriors have set out to fight it. I am but a weak wizard though, and am more interested in smaller, less ambitious expeditions. Unfortunately, by the time I was finished woodcrafting, the bank was empty and I couldn't ask any one to hunt with me.
No matter though, I had a particular quest in mind for myself anyway. Today I was going to visit the lizard island, this time from sea. Last time, I unsuccessfully tried to find the tunnel that led to it but gave up as the rock maze was littered with giants that were too tough and too many for me kill by myself. Instead, the plan was to walk to Welif and then raft to the island from there. And so I did. I was afraid I would run into a sea serpent but the sea between Welif and Lizard Island was very calm.
Lizard Island is a very creepy place. As soon as I landed, I noticed rotting humans hung up on a stake. I immediately started having second thoughts about coming to this forsaken place by myself. Indeed, throughout the island, there are dead and mutilated humans hung on stakes. Perhaps, a warning to any potential unwanted visitors? Indeed, the lizards seem to have the whole island under control. I saw no hostile wildlife on the island at all. Indeed, the only large animal I saw was a dog walking along the coast. The lizards seem to do an even better job of keeping the surrounding area safe than us humans. The patrol is much more prominent as well. While we usually only have guards protecting the entrances of our cities, I found many lizard men along the road leading to their fort, as well as in the surrounding forest. But what they have in numbers, they lack in intellect and strategy. Each time I encountered one of them, I was able to run away and only have one or two of them follow me. Using this strategy, I was able to reduce their forces little by little. It took a long time though, these lizards have a combination of speed and toughness that make them dangerous. I'm certain I would die if were to be attacked by a group. Even fighting on of them requires a lot of running away. Tough they are less tough and less strong then say a hill giant, they are quicker which makes running essential and also makes aiming spells at them much harder. All in all, as long as it is a one on one battle, they are much easier to kill than giants, especially since lightning bolts do seem to have some effect on them. Their look and the sounds they make though, are much creepier and scarier than anything I've
While I made slow progress killing their kind, I did not actually get to visit their fort. I came close enough to catch a glimpse of it though, and it seems to be made of wood. I wonder if their technology is not as advanced as ours? Or perhaps they don't have the proper resource to make a proper fort? I did see some rock south of fort that they could use though. Perhaps it is more of a religious or philosophical decision? Or maybe one made of out of convenience? In any case, it seems to be holding strong regardless. I think I will continue to visit this island with the hopes of one day seeing the inside of the home of these mysterious sentient species. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 31, 2012 - 09:10 PM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 437 Lucky Moon Day 134
Today was the day of the full Lucky moon, or at least close to the full moon anyway. It is said that if one travels the woods on such a day, your luck may lead you to some fancy items not easy to come by.
I decided to, once again, try my luck at the island of lizards. After warming up a bit with the skeletons at the cemetery, I made my way south-west to Weilif and from there, I rafted towards the island.
My second visit to the island was eerily silent. While in my previous visit, I was constantly attacked by patrolling lizardmen, I did not see a single one while on the road to the fort. It wasn't till I saw the fort itself did I see any sign of them. There were plenty patrolling around the fort though, and I was soon caught up in the exhausting game of lure-and-kill. As always, my strategy was to poison and bolt them as they weakened. Inevitably, I would bolt too soon or too late and they were end up running away from me, begging for mercy. Then I would have to give chase. These creatures are incredibly fast and easy to lose sight of when they are running away from you. Anyhow, I thought to explore the inside of the fort but only succeeded at some minor level. I was able to enter the wooden fort's entrance. It was largely unguarded and the large and domineering entrance hall was empty, save for the body of one dead lizardman in the middle of the room? Perhaps, another adventurer had preceded my visit? That would explain the relative calm of the island compared to my last visit. Whoever visited didn't complete the job however, as I could tell by the large hissings emanating from the walls that the fort was still riddled with a healthy armed army of lizards. I cautiously explored a bit outside of the main entrance but was quickly chased away by a pair of lizards. After killing those two, I thought it would be wiser to scout out the area surrounding the fort. So I made my way back but soon encountered more patrolling lizardmen. It seems like the lizardmen are plentiful and it would be impossible to eradicate them, even though they are localized in a very specific location.
At one point, as I was taking on two lizardmen at a time, I bumped into a another lizardman. And then another, and another, and another. Pretty soon a whole army of lizardmen were chasing me. It seemed as if they had enough of me and my assassinations and had come in full force to get rid of me. They succeeded in that endeavor but not without giving up some valuables. The lucky moon shone bright in my travels, as I stumbled upon a piece of merfolk hair near the fort as well, as well as a robe of protection that a lizardman was wearing. I also collected quiet a few bolts from dead lizards as well. I heard a man in Mirith Castle has a reward that can give him 10 so I only need one more!
On my way back from the island though, is when my real adventure began. After landing safely in the weilif docksl, I made my way northward on the parth to Mirith. However, as I was walkinga along the path inbetween the rocks, I encountered a brigand! He started chasing me as soon as he saw me and immediately started running the other way. Why these men feel compelled to chase and fight fellow adventurers is a mystery to me, but such has always been the reliatonship between city-dwellers and our wild forest-dwelling kin. They are also very strong. As speedy as a lizardmen and much more resistant to my spells, he took a long long time to kill. At one point, he realized he could not win so he started running awat. While I like to think finding mercy for a fellow man would come easy but bloodlust overwhelmed me and I gave chase and made sure he died. And when he died by lightning bolt, I went the extra measure of hacking his head off with my hand axe. It wasn't a pretty sight s the axe is blunt from being use for chopping trees. But at the moment, my bloodlust controlled me and I relished in the act.
It was not my first time I had killed a brigand and taken his head in an a barbaric actbloodlust. Still, the shock of what I had just done was no less unsettling. I somberly walked back towards Mirith contemplating the nature of man when I found myself in the same spot where the brigan had first spotted me. It turned out that there was as whole gang of them waiting between the rocks. A wall of dead trees was between them and me though so we didn't attack each other. I tried talking to them but they responded with cold silence. I told them I only wanted to walk down the road, that I didn't want to fight (though deep down I doubted my own words). Still, they were silent. Except one brigand who slipped past through a nook of the wall of dead trees and began chasing me! Not again! Must I murder my fellow man once again? I slowly killed this second brigand with the same combinaation of poison and lightning bolts. This time I did not feel the bloodlust that compelled me to behead the previous brigand. But I did anyway. At that moment, something changed in me, diary. I no longer consider these creatures men. The way they refuse to communicate, the cold stare they gave me when I tried to speak with them, the silent and emotionless way the brigand snuck up on me to kill me. I feel like I've finally realized why we have a tradition of beheading slain brigands and privateers. They are ruthless, dangerous, and after clashing with them a few times, one feels they are not really one of "us." I can't pretend to know what caused these mercenaries to go astray. All I do know is that it is pointless to communicate with them. They are as foreign to me as lizardmen and hill giants, and not much more intelligent it seems. They are, however, very dangerous. And if words can't convince them to stop their violence, perhaps mutilating their bodies will...
I was with these somber but determined thoughts that I walked back to Mirith around the path. On the way, I met two adventurers. I told them about the brigands and they seemed to know. Apparently, a group from Lerillin and Mirith fled to the rocks. Perhaps to make a last stand? They seemed to have the intention of killing the whole group by themselves but the path between the rocks was apparently b lcoekd from the north as well. I told them the path between the rocks was blocked from the south as well and they seemed frustrated. They must have been very strong indeed to feel they could take on such a large gang by themselves.
Anyhow, with the brigands trapping themselves between the rocks, there was little for us to do but wait. I could all sense that there was to be battle between man and man today and many would die. The only thing we could do was to make sure most of those deaths would be from these wildlings. It seemed as if these brigands were preparing for battle as they planted many a bracken tree within their confined area and somehow managed to tame them so that these bracken didn't attack them. Since I was lugging around a lot of loot from lizard isle and and used up a lot of my reagents, I decided to go back to Mirith and recruit reinforcements. It seemed that world was spreading fast though as I saw many adventurers who were coming to meet the brigand threat on my way to Mirith.
By the time I returned to the rocks, the battle was well underway. By this time, I had already resolved to not hesitate killing these men and to behead each and every corpse. Sure enough, by the time I arrived the ground was littered with brigand blood and their headless corpses. With much stronger adventurers taking the lead of the very fast past and intense battle, I found that I rarely get out my hand axe to use as a guillotine. The battle was much too fast paced for my hit and run approach I usually take to killing and my poison and bolt spells did little to affect the brigands except as a distraction so I was mostly in a support role, paralyzing any mercenaries that were swarming our fighters or casting fire field on any remaining brackens. I think I probably made a bigger impact luring away reinforcement brigands from closing in on us and trapping us within the rocks. Indeed, this may have been there plan all along; Lure us into battle within the rocks, then have reinforcements flank us when we are weaker. Perhaps, they are not as stupid as I thought... Well, their leader/strategist anyway. The actual grunts were quite dumb as their plan fell apart when half of them chased me northward rather than concentrate on trapping the main group fighting the brigands within the rocks. Having so many brigands targeting me would probably would have at least meant they could kill me but I ran into our reinforcements while I was running and they quickly dispatched the mercs on my tail. In the end, we were stronger and numerous as well, and the battle was easily won. Towards the end, I cast a paralyze field spell, not because we were in a bind, but to hasten inevitable outcome. After the battle, we left the headless corpses to rot and headed back to Mirith.
Back at the bank, I was adamant that we split the loot even though I had barely participated in the battle. I wanted to collect as many brigand heads as possible. I was convinced that owning these was the only way to ward off any aggression from these monsters. I volunteered myself to organize the loot split and since only four others were interested, I was able to obtain 11 brigand heads (as well as many other goodies including a gold ring). It wasn't until later that I realized I would have to carry these unsightly heads around for them to have any effect and they would most likely just rot in my bank storage as I carry too many things on hunts as it is. In any case, it has been an insightful day as I feel I've come a step closer to understanding the nature of man. I will be more wary during my travels from now on. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Apr 01, 2012 - 10:57 PM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 437 Lucky Moon Day 217
Dear Diary,
After the ordeal of fighting my fellow man, I decided my next outing should be more light and less philosophically burdensome. So I decided to avoid lizard island as well. After all, who was I do invade these creature's homes? By all accounts, they are as intelligent as we are. I needed a light romp around the forest where the distinctions between man and nature were clear cut. It was kill or be killed in the forest, any other thoughts were meaningless. So that's exactly what I did. I set forth with Diana the druid to the forest so she could tame a bear. A bear!?
Yes diary, a bear. Apparently the ecosystem of Oberin has changed dramatically since the 80 days or so I've cooped up in my room in Mirith. Apparently, bears have been introduced to Oberin? From where they came from, I didn't bother to ask, but apparently the most common one, the brown bear can be found anywhere near Mirith. Indeed they seem to be as common as Harpies now. Perhaps they were introduced from a foreign land and reproduce at an extremely fast rate? I suppose these must be true for all creatures of Oberin, as well as aggression towards mankind. These brown bears are also quite strong. I attacked on with a lightning bolt to test its toughness and soon realized that this was no a creature I would be able to kill easily on my own. They are quite fast for their size as well, making them that much more dangerous. They seem to be a weaker version of hill giants, but more prominent.
The introduction of these species has been a blessing for druids however, as the combination of speed and toughness makes the bear an ideal hunting friend. After Diana successfully tamed the bear (I had to drink in invisibility potion to get the bear off my tail), we went back to town to restock our supplies and then we were off, taking Fulhal the cleric with us. We traveled eastward in general and fought off various foes of the forest. The presence of the bear made our hunt very simple though. It's toughness made it very hard to kill and its considerable strength made sure that our enemies did not last long. Even Bone mages and gapers seemed to fall easily when confronted with a brown bear. Indeed our greatest challenge was chasing down weakened beasts that ran away. I suppose it was my job to stop them since I was the wizard of the party but never really got the hang of it so we ended up running around the forest chasing half-dead creatures a lot. So much so that I got a short lecture from Diana on the art of paralyzing... I hope she did not feel too annoyed at my own deficiencies. I do need to work on my aim for sure, although the densely forested area that we were hunting in made that difficult for a green wizard such as myself.
Anyhow, we made our way eastward but Diana needed to leave so she left us, so quickly that we didn't get a chance to share our loot! In any case, with her and her bear gone, were were that much more vulnerable. We ended up using the usual hit-and-run tactics I employ when I'm alone. Luckily, we didn't run into any gapers or bone mages while she was gone. We did however find a very peculiar but enchantingly beautiful piece of nature when we were near Port Gast. Fulhal was incredibly excited, went down to examine it, an then looked incredibly disgusted. Apparently, we had come across one of the rarest and most valuable items in all of Oberin! Or so it seemed. It was actually just a fake. I did not even know what this so-called "Silver Leaf" was but Fulhal assured me it was an extremely special item, one that apparently let you into a secret store found in the very bottom of Aborek dungeon. It seemed like an item I would never have the opportunity to use but I could tell by Fulhal's excitement and subsequent disappointment that it was truly a special item. Someone had played a trick on us it seems! Ha! It was certainly a clever joke and we both had a good laugh. From port-gast we made our way north, stopping by to chat with a man in a purple cap blacksmithing in his guild hall. The road northwards from Port Gast was filled with hell hounds and brown bears and we soon found ourselves overwhelmed without Diana. We decided to find safety in the water but it turned out that the ocean was no safer than land as there was a menacing fin patrolling the coast. A Shark? Another new creature? I dared not brave the waters when I knew so little about what was in it so we ran south towards Port Gast, but I had soon run out of mana and was vainly trying to hurt the hell hounds on my tail with my bows. We decided to brave the waters and luckily there were no sharks this far south. We decided the path northward was too dangerous and since we only saw one shark win around the coast, we speculated it would be safer to travel by water.
We eventually met up with the the shark and I employed by usual hit-and-run strategy as Fulhal warned me that the shark had bit him earlier and was quite powerful. It was also quite fast and like the new bears, quite resistant to my bolts. However, it was not immune to poison and eventually we were able to see the floating corpse of the shark. What a menacing creature! And it is much larger than the fin would have you believe. We eventually left the waters and took the road path again and we were wise to do so forth further north as we saw three or four fins circling the area further north. The rest of our hunt was uneventful. We decided to go to Lerillin as we were already so close anyway and there split the loot. As usual, I was the only one interested in the material wealth from hunts and I ended up keeping most of the stuff.
So all in all, quite a successful expedition! With two new creatures added to the Oberin ecosystem the wild has become that much more exciting! |
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Post subject:
Posted: Apr 15, 2012 - 11:46 PM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 437 Blue Moon Day 71
Dear Diary,
I made quite the haul today! I started out the day in Lerillin hunting with fellow green wizard Marky and a more experienced druid (named Roylat, I think? Iíve forgotten) and his pet bear. We started our hunt with at the ultimate guilt-free arena, the graveyard! Marky brought his pet snail to the hunt and I was so enthralled by the idea that I copied him and ran back to town to get my own pet snail, Jabba. It has been a while since I even bothered to visit my pets in the stable and I was worried the Snail wouldnít remember me. Itís hard to tell if he recognized his master but the trainers at the stable had thankfully not neglected him so he was at least obedient. Jabba and I ran back to the graveyard and ironically the other two had mostly finished clearing the graveyard by the time I got back. So with the graveyard empty we set out south to hunt in the forests. I was a lot less comfortable hunting in the forest with Jabba than the graveyard though, as I was sure the snail who I had neglected for so long would not hesitate to turn on me if we ran into a creature that was strong enough. Ultimately, I decided to risk it to lose face with my hunting companions. The rest of the hunt was uneventful and luckily Jabba did not betray me. Indeed, he was too slow to participate in most of the battles and even when on the rare occasion that he was present, he mostly nibbled on grass as the rest of us fought. It was mostly my fault though as was a definitely very rusty on druidic commands and Jabba probably didnít understand what I wanted him to do. After the hunt, we went back to hunt so that we could, I thought, split the loot, which Marky had been collecting during the hunt. Marky said he first needed to see to some errands so we patiently waited for his return. When he finally came back he said he had sold all the skulls he had collected! WellÖ no matter, there were still the other goodies we collected from the forest and he also mentioned that he found a holy dagger too that Roylat was interested in. So were interested in the rest of the items but before he could split them, he recalled an important prior engagement and had to leave immediately. He told us he would be back shortly but eventually Roylat had to leave too and I was left to wait aloneÖ with no loot! The culture in Lerillin has certainly changed since the days when I spent my days here. Suddenly feeling like an alien in my hometown, I decided I would go back to Mirith. Right now, Mirith is more of a home than this quaint fishing village that is my birthtown.
Soon after stabling Jabba and giving my regards to the stable workers, and setting off for Mirith, I found an oddly colored rock on the path. As a collector of nifty trinkets, I picked it up and saw that it was a blue egg! Of course! Today must be that time of year! When bunny comes to visit Mirith and gives away goodies in exchange for eggs that are hidden away all across Oberin! Such a mysterious and strange custom! Yet, I was too excited to ponder the why and how of the egg-hunt. I needed to go find some eggs! And the gods were favoring me on this day, indeed! This is the third egg hunt I had took part in but I never collected enough to cash more than a handful of candies. But today, even as I dropped to pick up one egg, I could see another. And so and so on. I couldnít walk a few steps without seeing a colorful egg from the corner of my eye. Red egg, purple egg, green egg, blue! One egg, two egg, three egg, wooo! Such were the kind of silly rhymes I sang to myself in my head as I pranced along the road to Mirith holding my eggs in a basket. I was finding so many eggs, I was surely in for a big reward when I finally reached Mirith! At one point, I encountered a troll on the road. He chased me almost all the way back to the bridge before succumbing to my poison. As I set out to return my trip to Mirith, I saw even more eggs on ground I had already traveled! Truly, I was blessed today!! I found less and less eggs as I approached Mirith but no matter! I had found so many eggs and was excited for what bunny was offering this time around.
Mirith was pretty crowded when I arrived. No doubt adventurers from all around Oberin were here to cash in their eggs. Sure enough, at the bank, Bunny was there. Among the special goodies he was offering were a ring of lesser heal, a ring of remove curse, and ring of medium protection! All items that I have never had the chance of owning! Well, I am actually wearing two protection rings right nowÖ but these are borrowed. That reminds me, I must return these to Euchara! She lent them to me when I almost joined her on a hunt in the ice dungeon but I forgot to return them when I backed out due to forgetting my raft. Anyhow, I had 20+ blue eggs and I needed 30 to get a protection ring. I could have cashed in and gotten a ring of remove curse or two rings of lesser heal, but ambition got the better of me. I wanted that protection ring! And so I decided to walk around the forests surrounding Mirith looking for more eggs. Surely my luck had not abandoned me yet? And in, in fact, it hadnít. I found several more eggs around Mirith. During my second egg hunt I bumped into the Red wizard Cassandra. Apparently, she was collecting eggs but only as food and not for rings!! I wonder what a blue or green egg tastes like? Iíll never know as I canít image passing up an opportunity to cash them in for rings! Well, anyway, I ended up finding some more eggs but I was still two blue eggs short of 30. I started getting discouraged as I was having less and less luck finding any eggs and I decided my luck had finally run out. I decided I would try to buy some eggs from fellow egg-hunters. If a green wizard like me could find so many, surely I could find someone that could spare two for some change? Lady Cassandra had eaten all of hers but I figured I could find someone else.
And indeed it turned out that an adventurer by the name of Raz was offering to sell eggs he collected, but not without a heavy price. He was asking for 20,000 gold for one blue egg. I could afford it, but pride, and maybe greed, made me hesitate in taking the deal. After all, why should I pay such a hefty sum for something I had been finding on the ground all day?
So I made another vain attempt at finding some eggs. I walked further and further from town and it was getting dark. And the further I got from Mirith, the more scared I became. I was carrying all of my eggs with me after all. What if I died and my body was looted? All of my hopes of obtaining that ring would be dashed! I would have to travel back to town as a ghost in shame. Suddenly, the course of action was clear. I would go back and pay the 40,000 gold for the two eggs. It was obviously, it was the safest and smartest option. And it seemed my luck hadnít completely dried up as I found one blue egg on the way back to Mirith.
Back at the bank, I agreed to buy one blue egg from Raz but it turned out he had just dropped off all of his eggs at his guild hall. Oh, the irony! Now I was one short and had no way of getting the last one! All because of my greed for gold! I tried to frantically see if any others at the bank were willing to sell me a blue egg but as I was asking around I found one right between my feet on the steps of the bank! Oh joy!
And so, in a funny twist of fate, I got to have my cake and eat it too. I gave bunny the 30 blue eggs (and 10 green eggs I had collected along the way) for my prize. A brand new protection ring!! Not worn and used like the ones I was borrowing from Euchara. Indeed I could feel that this one ring would provide me with more protection that both of Eucharaís combined. The lesser heal ring is also quite fun too, though I confess I donít quite understand how it will be useful since I can always just drink potions. I suppose the benefit is that I can heal hunting partners as well. Anyhow, regardless of how I will use it, it is certainly fun to own! I thank the gods for bringing me such luck on this egg hunt! Now if only I had any space to store all of the stuff Iíve accumulatedÖ |
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Post subject:
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 - 01:20 AM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 437 Blue Moon Day 238
Dear Diary,
Today, I decided to mine for coal using my coal axe. I had two and I figured I would mine till both of them broke. However, I grew weary and bored of this activity before either one broke. I collected a good bit of coal though so I went back to town in hopes of selling the items. But of course, no one was interested. There was a good many people at the bank. Apparently, they were assembled to rescue a fallen fried who had died in the dungeon inside the tree maze. Once that party was off, only two people remained at the bank, myself and a ranger by the name of Tyren. I proposed a hunt and so off we went, scouting the woods north of Mirith. We encountered the typical forest creatures there: harpies, air elementals, sludge beasts, and forager ants. We also saw quite a few black bears. I had never encountered these creatures before. They are very much like their brown cousins, but tougher and stronger. They were not so resistant to Tyrenís arrows however, so they fell relatively easily. They are certainly less dangerous than the giants that we also occasionally encountered. The most dangerous creature we encountered, one I had set my eyes on for the first time today, we found at the northern most point of our hike.
We ran into a small encampment of sorts called the Gohoran community. It was not much smaller than small towns like Port Gast or Welif but my sense was that this place was more of a community frontiersmen. There were no walls or guards to speak of. Wild forest creatures roamed freely outside the buildings. I did not get a chance to speak with the locals as we were too preoccupied with the dangerous creature I mentioned earlier. This creature was none other than a forest draco! This vicuos creature was merely a cub and much smaller than the bears and giants we had been fighting earlier. Yet, Tyren refused to go near it, even though he dared to fight giants one on one. He told me the only way to kill it would be to poison it do death, but I found that the creature was immune to my poison. Perhaps it was immune to all of my magicÖ How humbling to encounter a creature that is only a baby, but nevertheless made us completely powerless. Luckily, the gohoran community was built near a lake and we rafted into the lake where the draco, whose wings were not quite big enough for flight, couldnít catch us. With no means to fight the creature, we decided we would head back to Mirith. Back in Mirith, we split the loot we had collected and bid farewell. It looked like the rescue party that went to the tree maze was successful as they were all celebrating at the bank steps. I struggled to find room for all the loot I had collected and, unfortunately, I had to let go of some of my coal axes to make room. No matter, I had collected quite a bit of coal anyway and, to be honest, that time would have probably been better spent mining for ferrite. In any case, I must either have a personal spring cleaning of sorts or call upon a family member to let him store my stuff in his storage space. Either that or maybe proactively start looking for a guild to join. That would be the best option certainly, but also perhaps the most difficult. In any case, I will have to do something about my situation soon. Itís a shame that I could not make to the blue moon festival. I may have been able to sell off some of my trinkets. |
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Post subject:
Posted: May 01, 2012 - 02:00 AM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 437 Fighting Moon Day 74
Dear Diary,
Today has been quite an exhausting day! I started the day in Mirith brainstorming how I could create some space to fit all of the collectables I had gathered over the years. First, I would need to get rid of my crystals. So I spent some time infusing and selling crystals. Then, I decided to get rid of my bear skins and leather hides. I bought some shears and went to work making leather arms, then sold them. I even managed to sell of one my rare items, a merfolk hair I found on lizard isle. Seeing that I would most likely never be a skilled enough tailor to use to create a robe of protection, I thought it would be best if another took it. And finally, I got rid of the gold ring I acquired a while back. I knew I could use it to practice my enchanting skills by making a ring of discretion, but what good would that do me? More useless clutter in my bank. And Bart, the Mirith jewelwer, has been buying my infused crystals for many a moon now. I felt I owed it to him to help him out as he has and will continue to do so. So I gave the ring to him. I got nothing in return but his gratitude, but the gold business he will continue to give me in the future is all the thanks I need.
Back at the bank, all the talk was about the ěvisionsî certain adventurers were having and how it connected to a certain mercenary crew that had recently set up camp near Duldrus. Apparently, five or so adventurers saw visions that lead them each to a page torn from a book. And these adventurers were looking for the book that these pages belong too. Meanwhile a leader of a mercenary group by the name of Ash Hauksen has set up camp near Duldrus. He asked for assistance in in ridding the surrounding area of the gapers and golems. It turned out he was the owner of the book and he handed it over to Varto, one of the ěchosen,î who also transcribed the missing pages from everybody else. It is surely a strange turn of events. Multiple people having visions? And a friendly group of mercenaries existing? Anyhow, apparently this Hauksen character asked Varto to take the book to the brigobean library, in the hopes that someone there would have more information on it.
And it so happened that Varto came to the Mirith bank, ready to make the trip to Brigobean. Naturally, everyone there volunteered to join him. How exciting! I had completed some ëquestsí before, running errands for shopkeepers here and there, protecting the city from an infestation of monsteres, but nothing that felt this grand. This felt a like a real quest, and it was truly exciting! We ran as a group towards Brigobean, but being an out of shape wizard, I quickly lagged behind. And in poor timing, my stomach cramps resurfaced and I had to rest for a while. The rest of the group soldiered on while I sat and caught my breath. Once my cramps had settled, I made for brigobean as fast I would dare. The group was very far ahead and I had completely lost sight of them. From time to time, I would see the body of a dead ant or hell hound and I knew they had passČ the road I was taking. Eventually, I made it to Brigobean and a large battle was raging right before it, our group vs a group of brigands. What were these brigands doing here? Anticipating us? Did they know we had this mysterious book? I only caught the tail end of the battle but I did what I could do, mostly paralyzing brigands. The battle was so fast-paced though and manic that I missed most of my spells. Luckily, our group was numerous and strong and we eventually took care of all of them.
In the library, we talked to a cleric who also seemed to function as a librarian. He seemed quite overwhelmed by al l the people present in the usually quite library. He also seemed somewhat confused and startled by what we were trying to tell him? Visions? Books beckoning humans to action? It does seem a little bit ludicrous. In any case, he still agreed to take a look at the book. The book, it turns out, is called the tome of stars (or book of stars, I forget). Apparently, it was last seen in Marali and can be used to revive the dead. Apparently, the Maralians tried to use this book to revive someone named Willow Huaksen (an ancestor to the merc leader?) but were unsuccessful because they didnít have a certain amulet. Apparently, this Willow died in such a way that ordinary cleric magic could no revive her, something about ëZaraí and ěA thousand cutsî or something like that. I didnít understand much of the story behind the book. What we know though, is that the book, at the moment, is useless and some parts are unreadable due to the damage (the cleric sounded like he could fix this), and because it cannot be used for magic without the accompanying amulet of stars. Apparently there are two other book and two other amulets as well. The book of Sky, which was in the brigobean library and given to Varto, and the book of Moon, which is missing. All locations of the amulets are unknown as well. The group was excited about these ancient and seemingly powerful artifacts and became interested in seeking them out. I wasnít so sure though. Wouldnít it have been better to tell Hausken what we had found out about the book, and leave it at that? But I suppose this quest, much like the book of stars itself, has a life of its own, and we had all committed to seeking out these amulets and this book of Moon by the end of the meeting. One thing still bothered me though. The Brigobean cleric was by far the most knowledgeable about the subject at hand, and yet remained unconvinced that the book was capable of creating visions for certain people. It was just a book, after all. Are we, perhaps, being manipulated by some powerful wizard, capable of creating illusions to guide the five ěchosenî to do its bidding? The cleric did warn us not to trust Ash Hauksen. Could this mercenary be involved in a complicated and manipulative plot? But if he knew that his heirloom was such a powerful book why would he trust us with it? It is now, after all, in the hands of a Brigobean cleric that mistrusts him. What purpose would manipulating us do? In any case, the situation remains strange in Oberin, to be sure. I am eager to learn what happens in the next chapter of the story!
When I went to Lerillin to rest up, the bank greeter hailed me as ěthe honorable Fred.î What a surprise! I had only been known as respectable, at best, before. It seems word travels fast and my participation in the trip to Brigobean and my gift to Bart has increased my reputation in Oberin! |
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Post subject:
Posted: May 21, 2012 - 12:22 AM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 437 Sleeping Moon Day 95
Dear Diary,
It has been quite some time since I wrote in you last. I have been pretty inactive though, mostly nursing my ailing stomach back to health. Today, I decided to go out of my house in Lerillin for a bit and sort my items in the bank. It was getting full and I would need to be creative to make more space. One idea was to cook the raw steaks (kept fresh by some bank magic, no doubt) I was keeping and stack them with the cooked steaks. Before doing so, I decided to sell some of my infused crystals. On the way to the jewel shop, I bumped into Heike the Druid and Delimew the rogue. We chatted for a bit on the state of Oberin, and then a mysterious man, clad in black robes, named Jubal appeared, with a tame red Draco following him! I was completely flabbergasted! Druids canít tame Dracos! Everyone knows that! Yet here was a man with a walking around with a pet draco, a red one at that, a creature I had never seen before. He asked if anyone could sell him raw steak as he wanted 500 of them (maybe dracos have a voracioius appetite). I wanted to get on the good side of such an intriguing character so I volunteered, rushing back to the bank where my stock of raw steak was. 500 was about half of what I had accumulated. But no matter. I wanted to get rid of them anyway. Jubal certainly seems like heís doing very well for himself as he overpaid by 500gp and even gave me a wizard token!
He told us his story, and I listened intently. He said he was from across the seas, from a peaceful continent that did not know magic. He always felt out of place there because it turned out he did know magic! In fact, he had the talents of all three mage classes, wizards, druids, and clerics! I trembled at the thought. A man who could use all manners of magic known to Oberin would be one of the most powerful people in the landÖ He said he came to Oberin to learn magic and that he was very weak in the art of magic. I thought that couldnít possibly true. A man who could tame a Draco must surely be more powerful than all the druids in Oberin, at least? According to him, taming comes naturally to him. From where he comes from, the people are not hostile with nature and its creatures and he friends them easily, even terrible and dangerous creatures like Dracos. In fact, he beckoned us come over to the stables to show us something he had found on his trip into the volcano. At the stables, we saw him summon a Red Dragon. I almost cowered in fear of the mighty beast. So terrible, and yet so beautiful. I was in complete aweÖ Apparently, the dragon just followed him out of the volcano. This man was like a godÖ In my shocked state, I blurted out so, and that many in Oberin would worship him as oneÖ He and Heike quickly rejected the idea, telling me I should not worship people. They are right of course, but it is hard not to get the impression that this man, who has the potential to know all magic and who comes from a land that knows no magic, is special and chosen in some way.
Jubal seems to be a man that is well-intentioned and genuinely interested in furthering himself in magic. As some one who can befriend a red dragon, he is probably more powerful than any one person in Oberin. Yet he still wants to learn the basic magery of wizards and clerics. Apparently he has already contacted Cassandra and Fuoco and will participate as a student for their rumored new school of magic. He also, apparently, got Budic to agree to teach him druid magic. Budic apparently agreed to do so on the condition than Jubal tame a draco, a somewhat cruel but clever way to say no. But since Jubal is a stranger here, he probably didnít understand. I wonder if Budic knows what he has gotten himself into. Anyhow, thank the gods that Jubal seems like a moral man that is not interested in war. If and when he masters the three styles of mageries, no doubt he could conquer Oberin easily, especially if he recruited some people who come from his homeland. If they are half as skilled in taming as he is, they could easily turn much of the wildlife against us and we would be overwhelmed. I pray that such cruel ambitions never enter his head. Anyhow, Jubal left us seek out Budic. I spent the rest of the day cooking my remaining raw steak and then chopping wood. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 10, 2012 - 10:05 PM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 438 Waking Moon Day 94
Dear Diary,
Happy New Year! A full moon has passed since I last wrote. My new yearís resolution was, as always, to not die, but Iím afraid Iíve already broken this promise to myself. My journey started in Lerillin where I had been staying for a month. I had decided it was time to explore the wild once again. Specifically, I wanted to return to Lizard Island. I had one more bolt to collect for a prize from the king after all. I was also curious how, if at all, the landscape had changed. The story of Jubal had, of course, reached my ears as well. I should have known he was a lizard in disguise! I thought the way he rolled his sís were strange, but I naively assumed it was just an accent from his homeland, not recognized we had creatures with that very accent as our unfriendly neighbors! Rumor was that he had trained a whole legion of lizards in the ways of magic before he was killed.
Anyhow, I made a stop at Mirith, hoping to invite any fellow adventurers, but the city was empty of fmy kind, so I set off for the island by myself. Since I was by myself, I decided to just wander the coast rather than walk towards the fort. I ran into a few lizard men and dispatched then slowly but surely, but none had bolts on them. The trouble came when I ran into the shamans. Apparently, these are what the legacy of Jubal call themselves. They are basic mages, than the gods. Apparently, Jubal never learned advanced magic, or he never got the chance to pass it on to his disciples. As far as I can tell, these shamans are simply basic wizards with no cleric or druid magic. A single shaman is much less dangerous than a bone mage or gaper. That being said, like their fighting counterparts, they are extremely dangerous in groups. And while they lack the deadly damage capability (they never cast lightning bolt so I assume they donít know it), like any mage, they can be deadly if you are lone. In particular, the shamans are fond of the disorient spell. The first shaman I encountered cast this spell on me and I was totally confused. I couldnít tell what was up and what was down and my efforts to run were futile. Luckily, the mage decided to attack me physically and I was able to locate and kill him with three blasts of lightning bolts. I should have left as soon as I survived that ordeal, but I was still looking for a boltÖ. Needless to say, I regret the decision to hand around longer. I ran into a gang of three shamans and a fighter to boot! They disoriented me, and my best efforts to run were futile as I just ended up running in circles. They hacked away at my health with sickle and poison and a few explosion spells. I tried to hold off the inevitable by casting paralyze field but ultimately, the disorient lasted too long and I couldnít find an opportunity to run. Alas, I diedÖ The silver lining is, I suppose, that these shamans do not keep dragons as pets like Jubal did.
As a ghost, I took the long trip back to Mirith to seek help. Unfortunately, no one was present. I had to somehow find my body and retrieve my items by myself. I donned a new robe and bought some reagents and headed out, wondering if I should just give up. Halfway to Welif, I realized I forgot to store my gold I had retrieved to restock on reagents. Seeing as I would lose all my gold if I died again, I decided to head back to Mirith to store it. Iím glad I did, as I saw the adventurers at the bank this time. I pleased to them for help, and luckily for me, one of them, a fighter named Jedd, agreed to help me.
I wasnít sure exactly where my body was but I was certain it was somewhere in the northeast of the island. We stumbled around the island fighting shaman and lizard fighter. Itís a wonder how much easier hunting in this area becomes with a strong fighter at your side! They can handle the damage from the lizard so there is minimal running to do, and thus, less of attracting more lizardmen on patrol. We had a few hiccups but we were able to dispatch a lot of lizards, but saw no sign on my body. We did, however, notice that one of the dead lizards had many of my important items on himself, as well as 20 full heal potions. I took the loot and split the potions with Jedd, but he we heard a loud hissing of angry lizards upset about the stolen potions. We thought it was best to run, even though many of my stuff, including my reagents and my robe or resistance, were still unaccounted for. Best not to risk it, they were many while we were only two. We made our way back to Mirith and I thanked Jedd for his help.
The rest of the day was all about running around town trying to replace this and that that I had lost on my very unsuccessful expedition. The one saving grace was that I had, indeed, found a bolt on the lizard that looted my body and now had ten. It was a bittersweet sense of accomplishment. I also found a katana of durability just lying on the ground which I gave to Jedd in gratitude. I also ran into Octar, now the leader of the Marali Vangaurd, and we chatted a bit. He tried to convince me to visit Marali but I was too tired and depressed to go another expedition just then. I did mention I would like to someday walk to Marali (Walking is my preferred travelling style as I find it too wasteful to trade in enchantable and sellable crystals for a short cut). He told me I probably wasnít quite ready for such a journey, which is too bad as I had heard there was a man there willing to trade in brigand heads for a prize. They told me I could always travel by portal and when I lamented how it would be waste to use up all those enchantment opportunities for a trip, Skaggz, a fellow adventurer gave me 700 or so red crystals to me! I couldnít believe it! I guess I really should suck it up and just go to Marali now since this is an immense enchanting opportunity! While it was a tough day for me, the generosity of my fellow adventurers has invigorated my spirit. I shall be on another incursion soon enough! Until then, diary! |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 19, 2012 - 03:51 AM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 438 Waking Moon Day 178
Dear diary,
Another adventure for me and, unfortunately, another death. Iím beginning to think Iím not cut out for adventuring... The day began innocently enough. I started to work on the huge supply of red crystals Skaggz game me earlier. I made small-talk with some fellow adventurers at the bank and we started to talk about traps. I wondered if they were useful since as a wizard, I never use my magic trap spells that I had learned to cast so many moons ago. But according these veterans, using magic traps to kill sea serpents is a common hunting method. Apparently, the serpents pick up trapped goodies and thus hurt themselves. A wizard, whose name Iíve forgotten, volunteered to show me, but as I was busy enchanting crystals I told him I would join him later as I wanted to store the leftovers and sell the enchanted ones before leaving town. He went ahead of me, and I had planned to catch up. Unfortunately, not having replaced my charm of swiftness yet, I did not travel quickly. On top of that, I stupidly traveled along the road rather than the coast (the wizard said he would be demonstrating along the coast southwest of the rock maze) and walked by where he was. By the time, I found the area (I had also lost my orb of seeing), the demonstration was over. I could see the body of the dead serpent and the water near him red with blood. No matter. It was probably not an activity I could ever pursue with success anyway.
Back at the bank, I resumed enchanting and chitchatting. Someone, I think Rondino, proposed hunting hill giants and I, and others, happily agreed. So Jedd, Rondino and I went off the rock maze, me trailing behind a little without my charm. Soon after, a harpie appeared to seemingly attack us! I thought it queer that a harpie would travel so far deep into the maze, but it turns out it was a druid in disguise! I had heard of these new powers that powerful druids now possessed, where they could transform into creatures of the wild. Itís certainly seems to be a useful spell, especially if it means you can travel through the wild undetected. The spell is especially fascinating because, the druidís pet, apparently disappears (or becomes a part of the druid?) when the druid is transformed and reappears after the druid regains human form. It certainly is useful for fast travel, especially when you are traveling with a tusker like Budic was. Anyhow, with four people, the giants were no problem, even as Jedd lured two at a time to the arena we chose. I almost stupidly got myself killed a couple of times but luckily, I was tough enough to survive each time. Thank the gods for these worn out protection rings Iím wearing, as well as those full heal potions I got from Lizard isle! Anyhow, eventually the rot of dead giant corpses overwhelmed us and one by one we decided to depart. Actually we were joined by one more person before we disbanded, a rogue by the name of Luciella.
While waiting for Rondino to lure giants our way, I made small talk with her and Budic, and specifically on how I should replace my orb of seeing. I thought it might be fun to create one. I was a wizard after all, and knew how. The only problem was ingredients. I would need a gaper eye, not to mention diamond dust, so the whole thing seemed a bit of a hassle, especially since I could easily buy one at the shop. Still, I had never made one and, as a matter of curiosity and pride as wizard, I still wanted to make one myself. The generous Luciella offered to take me to Marali to hunt gapers after we finished with the giants, and thatís exactly what we did.
We traveled to Marali by portal and carefully scoured the wilderness there. It was my first time coming up this far north since Oberin Tours took me to Aborek. But this time I was with just one rogue as a companion so I felt a little vulnerable. Luciella coached me to proceed with extreme caution and wear a robe of resistance rather than a robe of protection, as the forests here were teeming with dangerous magical creatures: bone mages, gapers of course, bracken, pixies, and the occasional troll too. And of course, there were harpies (is there any place in Oberin free of the harpie infestation?) It was basically a worst nightmare come true for someone with weak resistance to magic like me. We encountered a couple of bone mages but luckily none of them bolted me and Lucianna was able to kill them quickly. We did, however, find a bone mage that overwhelmed us with an army of summoned skeletons. We tried to run through to reach safety in the waters but I lost sight of Lucianna in doing so. Fortunately, I made it to the coast but a couple of pixies and a harpie chased me. I thought I could take them on my own, but these pixies are much more clever than their counterparts in Lerilin and Mirith. They opted to paralyze and disorient me rather than try to harm me, which would have been ok had the harpie not kept biting me. It was quite a pathetic battle that I almost lost had Lucianna not found and rescued me. She was offing killing a gaper she found before rescuing me but unfortunately the eye was destroyed in the process. We decided it would be safer to stick to the coast while we looked for gapers. We ran into mostly more harpies and some bracken, but we did find a gaper as well. Luckily this one chased me out to see but did not bolt me to death and met a quick death courtesy Luciannaís dagger. Unfortunately, the eye was destroyed in this encounter as well.
Things went on like this for a little bit until a Marali scout greeted us. He had apparently discovered a nest of privateers off the coast. Luciella, as a member of the Marali vanguard , I suppose had to do something about this, but she unfortunately had to leave. She escorted me back to Marali and then entrusted me to find Octar, captain of the Marali Vangaurd, to relay the message from the scout. In order to find him, she gave me her orb of seeing! So my little adventure into Marali got me an Orb after all, although the process was a little different than I had envisioned. Anyhow, with the Orb, I found Octar easily enough inside the Marali fortress in a room that is, I guess, the equivalent of a bank. I greeted him but there was no response and for a moment I was worried that he was in a deep sleep that I wouldnít be able to wake him from. Luckily he responded eventually, I told him about the menace that the scout witnessed. He seemed to confident that we could take care of them with just the two of us! I wasnít so sure, but Octar was the captain of Marali so he must be pretty strong. I, hesitantly but not very carefully, followed him to the island where the privateers were grouped. I say not very carefully because I didnít prepare for this dangerous mission at all, failing even to switch out of my robe of resistance to my robe of protection. So off me went, to fight these pirates. The first pair of privateers were repelled fairly easily. However, at some point or another, I was separated from Octar chased by a gang of sharks and a lone privateer. Not having my charm with me, I couldnít outmaneuver them and not noticing I had the wrong robe on, I underestimated how much damage they could inflict with each bite. So I eventually died, bitterly cursing the sharks for focusing on me rather than the privateer. Octar did his part and avenged me as he easily took care of all the privateers as well as their shelters by himself. He sent for a cleric to resurrect me and we sailed back to town in victory (though I felt a little defeated). Octar was kind enough share the loot he got from the privateers as well as show me around the fortress. It would be my second tour of the town and fortress, my first being with Oberin tours. Hadnít I vowed never to travel north after that? I guess I never learn. Anyhow, my impressions of the land are much the same as it was then. The Spartan landscape and architecture is a stark contrast to the more idyllic environment of the other towns and cities Iíve visited. And it strikes me as a lonely place as well. Yet again, there was only one person here extolling the virtues of Marali (back then it was Cassandra but now it seems to be Octar). No doubt many adventurers are more learned than me and are wise enough to stay away from this dangerous place. Anyhow, after the tour we said our goodbyes.
I will stay in town for a bit longer, I think. Iíve had two tours here but I would like to explore the city on my own and see what it has to offer, maybe chat with some of the shopkeepers. And Iíve heard about a man who would exchange brigand heads for a prize. I might inquire about him as well, since keeping heads in my bank storage space is, now that I think about it, quite creepy. I may finish enchanting those crystals too while here, why not? What I do know is that I wonít be setting a foot outside of the city unless itís to go back to the portal with a pure crystal in hand. The first order of business once Iím back in Mirith is to hunt down ingredients for a charm of swiftness. Running away, is after all, a wizardís most important skill. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 23, 2012 - 11:17 PM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 438 Growing Moon Day 22
Dear Diary,
Goode News! Today, I didnít die! And itís not just because I stayed in the fortress all day enchanting red crystals! In fact, that was my plan for the day but I ended up venturing out into the nightmare forest southeast of town as well. But first things first, I started off exploring the fortress and town more thoroughly on my own. The whole thing was a frustratingly slow affair as I still didnít have a charm of swiftness but It was necessary to locate all the relevant shops and such. The city itself is not so large or impressive. Often times I encountered a shop owned and run by a military man. I suppose it is fitting as I canít imagine a city surviving for long in this environment without a strong emphasis on military matters.
Once I had pawned some of prizes I had obtained from my previous hunt, I went back to the fortress to work on my enchanting skills. I still had that giant pack of red crystals I needed to work on after all, and I figured finding the ingredients for a charm of swiftness could wait till I finished this task. But soon after I started, Rondino the wizard entered the room. We chatted for a bit while I enchanted. Apparently, he was visiting Marali specifically to hunt in the woods of death. Apparently, the abundance of magical creatures there helps him test and improve his resistance to magic. Coming here to challenge the infestation of bone mages and gapers in that forest seems unthinkable to me, but Rondino has very strong resistance to magic, so I suppose at his level, it might make sense. I lamented how my resistance to magic was very weak and how I would surely never have the ability to fight magical creatures like he does. He suggested going on a hunt out in the forest of death so that I might train my resistance to magic. He would take care of the harpies, trolls and skeletons while I could focus on the magic creatures. I was hesitant. I had never survived an adventure in Marali after all, but somehow Rondinoís enthusiasm overwhelmed my better judgment, and off we went.
Surprisingly, Rondino was robe-less throughout the hunt, wearing only a shirt and pants. He truly must be an elite wizard to brave the nightmare forest basically naked. I, of course, too no bold risks like that. I dawned on my gray robe of resistance (my last one!) and set off for the forest. Predictably, the hunt posed some difficulties and I nearly died a few times. The hunt itself structured itself where we would find a bracken, which I would attack (mostly through fire field and punching) while Rondino would attract the attention of the harpies, trolls and skeletons that would otherwise distract me from my duel with the bracken. This formula worked pretty well, although my carelessness almost got me killed a couple times even within this workable framework. Specifically, I sometimes didnít know whether a particular bolt was from Rondino directed towards a creature for from the bracken directed towards me, resulting in me not drinking healing potions till I was near dead because I had assumed a lightning bolt from the bracken was actually from Rondino. I know, I know. I should absolutely know the difference since the bracken is right in front of me and I can obviously feel the pain from a bracken lightning bolt and not for a Rondino bolt. I will work on that, diary. The truly horrifying near death moment came when a bone mage decided to enter the fray of one of these bracken killing moments. Even Rondino, as powerful a wizard as he is, prefers to not fight these creatures, especially when other creatures are present, so we ran towards the shore. Unfortunately, th bone mage had managed to disorient me, and I ended up running in circles instead. Rondino was telling me to run but all I could muster was the ěconfuseî to tell him of my condition as a frantically ran back and forth to nowhere. To make matters worse, my stomach cramps suddenly reappeared and knocked me unconscious! It would have appeared to be my third death in as many expeditions, but to my surprise, when I awoke, I could still see colors and found no body below me! I was alive! It seemed Rondino had successfully lured away the bone mage and his minions. Thank the gods! Now conscious, I hurriedly ran towards the coast and soon found Rondino. I was lucky this time around, but this was an important lesson for me. I am not ready for the Marali forest and really have no business being here! Still, we continued on with the hunt and, thankfully, there were no near death events the rest of the way. I asked Rondino for advice on how to survive when a creature disorients you, making running away or even counter attack impossible. He advised drinking an invisibility potion to buy time. I suppose this is a smart strategy when faced with a long range foe like bone mages or gapers. I should remember to do this next time, although Iím not sure how useful it will be when you are surrounded by enemies and paralyzed/disoriented like I was on lizard island.
In any case, Rondino had to end the hunt and he kindly escorted me back to town and we said our farewells. Back in town, I set off to finish enchanting those red crystals. Much to my surprise, I ended up running out of etherite before I could enchant them all! Iíve started working on making more from the logs I collected many moons ago and hopefully it should be enough. I donít dare chop wood out in the forest of death (although there seems to be a healthy number of trees growing within the city walls so perhaps I could use those). |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 07, 2012 - 02:42 AM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 438 Red Moon Day 63
Dear Diary,
It has been quite some time! I have not written in for so long because I have not had adventure worth writing about. My adventuring spirit waned greatly for the past moon and I lived the life of a hermit for a while. Yesterday was the first time I visited the bank room in the Marali fort since last time I wrote. There, I met a ranger named Halcon and we made small talk while he made arrows and I made etherite and infused my remaining red crystals. Rosie the cleric had sent me a welcome letter during my spiritual hibernation so I figured I traded in the last 50 for a pure red crystal. Having finished that, I left to sell the infused crystals but the jeweler was not interested. I decided, on the way, Iíd go to the Marali Mess and borrow their fireplace to cook some of my raw steak collected from my last hunt. I have been cooking steak for so long and I had an intuitive feeling that my skills increased noticeably this particular night and so I, a bit embarrassingly, exclaimed myself a cooking master right in front of the restaurant. Luckily, it was late and the place was fairly empty, but Josiah, the man who runs the place, no doubt with a smirk on his face, kindly asked what I was cooking. I feebly replied I was just cooking steak, but he encouragingly replied that the soldiers like that. We chatted on a bit about cooking in general. We talked of steak flambČ and he gave me some pointers on what would be the ingredients I would need to cook it properly (the finest Maralian whiskey, 8 years old at least!). He then kindly gave me some on the house. Having run out of raw steak, and knowing that the best way to enjoy Maralian whiskey was to drink it, we enjoyed a little late night drink in front of the fire. Me being a skinny wizard who hadnít drank anything for quite some time, felt the effects immediately though and soon found myself sleepy. Josiah looked completely fine though. Maralians know how to drink! I stumbled back to the gem shop to see if the shopkeeper was more open to buying infused red crystals but he still wasnít interested so I went back to the bank, said goodnight to Halcon, and curled up in the corner of the room and went to bed. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2012 - 02:49 AM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 438 Red Moon Day 133
Dear Diary,
Today, I continued arrangements to leave Marali for Andris. Before leaving, I wanted to trade in some of my collection. In particular, I had heard rumors that a Marali guard had put a bounty on any brigand and would give me a prize if I gave him 10 heads. Unfortunately, I couldnít find this guard so I keep my tarred heads in the bank for now. The other rumor I heard was that the resident tinkerer would give me a prize if I gave him 10 dragon teeth. Making small talk with the man, he didnít mention any desire to own more dragon teeth. However, when I offered them to him anyway, he thanked me and gave me a Persian rug in return. What a wonderfully beautiful and useless item! And to think those teeth could have been used to paralyze a group of monsters in a pinch! 10 pinches! But it does look, and it will look nice decorating my bank storage space along with the various flowers in my collection.
While I was looking for the guard that put a bounty on brigands, I visited the forge in Marali. There I saw a ladder leading downstairs to the Marali Sewers. I thought I should visit these sewers as I had done the same for the other two major cities. I know I wouldnít be visiting Marali again in some time, andÖ why not? So I so I stocked up on some extra coal and climbed down the ladder. I wonít bore you with details of the exploration around this dungeon. Maraliís forests may be much more dangerous than the ones near Mirith and Andris but the sewers for each city are much the same: rats, snails, the occasional giant snake, and rats rats and more rats. The booby-trapped chests did more much damage to me than the monsters. I only exaggerate slightly. There was one chest whose lock I could not pick unfourtunately, but other than that, I looted the meager prizes found in the sewers. Now that Iíve got that under my belt, I think I am ready to leave and return to more populated south. I will stay a for a little while (Iíve grown fond of borrowing the fireplace in the Marali Mess to cook steak, and I still want to find the man who will take my brigand heads!) but will probably be gone by the time I write of my next expedition. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 08, 2012 - 05:16 AM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 438 Harvest Moon Day 140
Dear Diary,
Today, I finally left Marali. I found the guard that collected brigand heads, gave him ten, and was rewarded with a ring of remove curse. I have so many extra rings now. My bank storage space is filling up rapidly with each adventure! Anyhow, having done everything I set out to do in Marali, I set out for the portal to the south, stopping once in a while to skin to collect black fur to sell in the south.
The whole journey, for Marali to portal to Andris, was, as well as walking around town buying and selling goods, was uneventful but the slow pace in which I travelled highlighted my need for a charm of swiftness. That would be the first order of business for my activity in the south.
Unfortunately, I didn't quite know the best place to find the ingredients for a charm of swiftness. I had enough spider legs, but I still needed elemental dust. I knew I could easily collect them near Mirith or Lerilin, but I happened to portal into Andris. Should I walk to Mirith or Lerellin? But that would take forever, especially given my slow charmless feet! Still, I decided to head that direction. As I walked, I remembered that poison elementals could be found in the forests of Andris. I decided to explore the forest as I walked hoping I would encounter a poison elemental. Unfortunately, what I encountered instead were harpies, scorpions, hell hounds, giants. The one time I did encounter an elemental, I was too distracted being chased by a harpie to go in for the kill. I ended up returning to to the city to replenish reagents and drop off and sell other items, but no dust to show for my hunt.
I entered the restaurant to borrow their fireplace for cooking and noticed a that Shvin, a fighter was forging maces. I asked him if he had any advice for the best way to collect dust and he offered to help me hunt down poison elementals. Thank the gods he did, because I'm sure I would never have successfully collected everything I needed without him. We scoured the forests west of Andris together and while we did occasionally find the a poison elemental, for the most part our resources were spent fighting giants, bears, scorpions, hellhounds etc... Many times, I lost sight of Shvin but we always managed to regroup eventually. We decided that hunting here was inefficient, but luckily, Shvin had the brilliant idea of hunting in the forests east of Andris rather than west.
Initially, our expedition out east was fruitless in terms of finding poison elementals. However, I did encounter a completely new species of spider, the sand spider, that seems to have propagated around the eastern forests of Andris in my absence. Eventually however, we found ourselves walking along the coast (on our way to crescent isle to look for elementals there) and met wave after wave of air elementals. In any other hunt, they would have been considered a supreme nuisance, but today it was like falling into a gold mine. By the time we were finished with them, I had more than enough to make my charm.
Afterwards, we made small talk at the bank. I spoke of my storage woes and how I envied guild members who didn't have to rely on the banks limited space to store their goods, while also admitting most the goods I had were trifles not worth keeping. Shvin, a member of the Andris Vanguard, told me he could discuss me joining his guild with his leader. Apparently, I had impressed him during our hunt, though I can't imagine why, seeing as he did most of the work! In any case, I told him I would definitely be interested in joining, as being based in Andris would make a lot of sense for me, being a wizard with a lot of work to do in terms of improving resistance to magic. The conversation also turned to robes of protection, one of the items taking up space in my bank storage. According to Shvin, they are not as rare as I originally thought, and could be found on zombies easily! Well, easily for people who can kill zombies quickly, which, I told Shvin, was certainly not me. And in his infinite kindness, he gave me his charm of undead to kill zombies more efficiently!
To top it off, when I asked him to tell me where I could find forager ants (I still had to find a yellow and green crystal for the charm of swiftness), he offered to help me hunt sea serpents. Apparently, forager ants don't mine yellow crystals. How embarrassing! I've been hunting ants since I started out in Lerillin and never noticed this! Anyhow, we made our way to rebel hall where Shvin lured, and essentially fought by himself, sea serpents to the coast while I paralyzed them from the safety of the beach. After two sea serpents, we got what we were after and returned to the city. Actually enchanting the charm of swiftness was was nerve-wracking (If I fail all of our efforts were for nought!) and simultaneously anti-climactic (Shvin would surely have given me a spare if I failed). Still, when the process was complete, I couldn't help but feel excited. It had been so long since I last wore a charm of swiftness. I felt so sluggish, and so vulnerable, without it! i feel complete again! I may just run to Mirith and Lerillin and back just for the sake of running. But I will decided on my next expedition later. Until then, Diary! |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 09, 2012 - 04:45 PM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 438 Harvest Moon Day 224
Dear Diary,
Today, I spent much of the day cooking steak and making arrows. Iíve recently learned how but still find it quite difficult and I fail to successfully craft them most of the time. Still, I had plenty of feathers so even with my shifty skills and a woodcraftsman, I was able to make a 100 or so arrows. I lost all of my arrows in my previous expedition so I was gald to be able to replenish my supply without spending any money (aside from buying woodcrafting tools). Gathering logs in the forest to make the boards to make the shafts to make the arrows was a bit of a challenge as monsters regularly challenge you in this part of Oberin, even when close to town, but I eventually was able to get enough logs.
After taking care of that and selling of a few infused crystals, I decided I would set out for Mirith. I had collected a large quantities of rat tails in my venture into the Maralian sewers and I figured I would scam poor Chucky out of a few healing potions. And besides, I heard rumors about a man living near Mirith interested in a Persian rug. Perhaps he would be willing to take the one I got in Marali off my hands. In any case, I sauntered towards Andris Bridge, picking up reagents along the way. On the way, I encountered a diverse array of that can be found in the forests west of Andris: giant ants, giant spiders, giant scorpions, actual giants, harpies, poison elementals, poison beasts, even a bracken. I even encountered my arch-nemesis, the blinkhound. I decided I would try dueling it with my stave of power, and surprisingly enough, I actually held my own. I was actually able to kill it by myself! It was a wonderful feeling, I almost felt invincible, but I eventually came to a wall I could not across: a gaper.
Oh, how I loathe this terrible creature, its entire existence is an chilling fear-inducing enigma. I froze as soon as it sets its empty mysterious gaze on me. I was paralyzed, unable to even run from it. And soon as I found I could move, I was disoriented, running back and forth in crazed desperation as the creature calmly looked on. At one point, a harpy spotted me and started to attack me. Why couldnít the gaper toy with the bird instead of me! So now I had a harpy attacking me physically while the gaper had me immobilized and occasionally attacking me with magic and poisoning me. Truly, my worst nightmare had come true. I was sure I would die, losing that hard won charm of swiftness just as soon as I obtained it. I started guzzling potions left and right, with no care of what I was drinking. I drank invisibility potions to get the harpy off my back for a couple of seconds, I drank detox potions to counter the gaper poison, I drank full heal potions in my panic when a greater heal potion would have sufficed. I did not care. I was desperate to survive. I frantically tried to cast spells and found a window of opportunity in which I wasnít paralyzed, and dispatched the harpy harradin with lightning bolts. In my fervor, I tried the same with the gaper though I should have known better. It was completely unaffected and before I knew it, I was back to being paralyzed. It teleported me to and fro and continued to poison me. I kept on drinking potions, but in my mind I had given up. But suddenly, I noted the paralysis wore off and was not disoriented. I made a mad dash away from the gaper and was able to out run the abomination. It meant I had to run all the way back to Andris, making my travel along the road pointless, but at that moment I was just grateful for surviving the ordeal. Thank the gods I was able to get a charm of swiftness in Andris for I would have surely died on the road if I had tried to walk to Mirith without it. Anyhow, I infused/sold/stored/cooked the loot from my expedition and called it a day. I was not going to venture the road to Mirith with that kind of evil roaming the way. Perhaps, I will try again next moon. But for now, I shall remain in Andris and enjoy its rich city life. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 15, 2012 - 11:24 PM
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Citizen
Joined: Sep 26, 2010
Posts: 95
Status: Offline
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Year 438 Dancing Moon Day 74
Well, the harvest moon has passed and we are now 74 days into the dancing moon. With the city empty of adventurers, I decided to challenge the road to Mirith once again. This time around the road was much less dangerous. I ran into the usual brown bears, giant scorpions, and giant spiders but nothing as time consuming as a giant, or even a poison beast or bracken. And thankfully, no gaper appeared to block my path either. All in all, it was a relatively peaceful journey to the bridge. The road from the bridge to Mirith was much more time consuming to walk. There was the usual assortment of forest creatures that attacked me, including hell hounds and blink hounds, but thankfully no gapers or bone mages. My stave of power is a godsend in dealing with these blink hounds. In any case, without any bonemages or gapers blocking the way, I welcomed every challenge from every creature I bumped into, so the journey quite a bit longer than it needed to, and involved a lot of running back and forth. The one gooey blocking the road (the one creature I did decide to ignore) must have been quite confused as it saw me walk toward Mirith only to return with a creature on my tail multiple times. Anyhow, I arrived in a very active bank in Mirith safe and sound. I chatted with some of my fellow adventurers there, including the red wizard Cassandra. I also took care of some business scammed Chucky for a few lesser heal potions by giving him some rat tails I had collected in the Marali sewers, and traded my collection of red eggs for a full set of nourish potions. After finishing all that I became exhausted and called it a night. Next time, I will inquire about the man rumored to be interested in Persian rugs.
But after that, I am headed back to Andris! In a great irony, after I had retired to the inn, I realized I had an unopened letter in my sack. It was from Shvin, the fighter who had helped me make my charm of swiftness. He has invited me to join the Andris Vanguard! But of course, to make it official I must go see him in person. Bah! I should have stayed in Andris! Hopefully the way back is not fraught with bone mages and gapers and they are still interested by the time I get there. Hopefully, I will be writing my next entry in Andris as a member of their vanguard! |
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