Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Journals of the Five: A Forgotten Realms Tale
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Aust Meliamne" data-source="post: 788" data-attributes="member: 95"><p>Misha’s Journal #2</p><p>4th day of Leaffall, 1372 DR</p><p></p><p></p><p>Morning came much faster then I would have liked; yesterday was an interesting day to be sure. Only a few days back in Amn and already involved in strange world-spanning plots. Well not world spanning, and probably not all important in the grand scheme of things but 150 gold was at stake. And frankly after the dagger I purchased yesterday I am very broke.</p><p></p><p>It seems that this morning I was the first to wake something that is not too surprising to me at least. The rest of the “party” stumbled down stairs, first Vallia, then Gruush, followed by Kay, and the now shirtless Karanaj. Vallia and Karanaj really do not need to rub it in our collective faces that they are having more fun on their watch then the rest of us. But to each their own I suppose. I did startle Vallia though with my superb command of elven, a little something I picked up from a half-elven girl I knew in Muraan. That was a simpler time I guess, when I had time for such frivolous flights of fancy. Anyway back to the current tale at hand, it was decided that we should promptly head for the Platinum Quill, to follow up on the leads we had gained the day before. A simple plan, but the most effective one we had at the time. </p><p></p><p>And a mental note to myself, Vallia dislikes being called “highness” even if she does act like a stuck up princess. I find it amusing, though if slightly charming. She has her moments though, and maybe if she loosened up some, well she would need to loosen up greatly. Karanaj has his work cut out for him, unless he likes dominant prissy women. To each their own I suppose. Course who am I to talk my only real company is a halfling, and even that does not last for long. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself, not quite yet.</p><p></p><p>Once breakfast was over, Vallia lead the way through the Waft to the Platinum Quill. It was, well, in a word, a place for scriveners, not a place for the best damn mercenary this side of Amn. The proprietor was a tall gentle looking fellow by the name of Catellion, he was in the business of coordinating operations for merchants and providing security. Once again I had to take charge and question Catellion about Galliad and any dealings he may have had with the missing lad. It was slow going and he was less then cooperative, not too surprising. I would have acted the same way in his position, especially if five armed strangers came barging in and asking strange questions. We eventually came down to simply making threats and that is when Catellion shouted for Anteashara, and then leapt over the counter at Gruush who kicked the proprietor in his gut. I whirled and turned to face Anteashara as the rest of the party drew weapons and prepared for another harrowing fight (Ha. I still don’t think we’ve had one of those yet).</p><p></p><p>Catellion rushed for the door but I was able to make a quick offhand strike slashing him across the back drawing blood. But he got away, and ran outside where there was a commotion, I wanted to follow but Anteashara blocked our path snarling. I really did not like her, and I still don’t like her even though she is long dead. Damn it, I got ahead of myself. Well, back to the story. Vallia drew her longsword in two hands and swung it deftly at Anteashara, I could only wince as the blade ripped through Anteashara. Kay drew her little nunchucks and attacked Anteashara, but she missed. Like I said before I don’t expect much from the halfling. Karanaj put a crossbow bolt in her shoulder, and I attacked with my longsword, slashing quickly, thanks to the nifty Bracers of Speed. I was slightly disgusted, though, missing both attacks; but the rest of the attacks were enough, and Anteashara for the moment yielded. The party started to interrogate her while I kept my eyes open and alert.</p><p></p><p>In the doorway I noticed a foot inching forward into view, great I should have known she would not have come alone. I leapt over the wounded Anteashara and rolled out the doorway springing upward and making two vicious slashes at a clearly surprised thug. His head rolled across the dirt-covered road, and his headless body fell lifeless as I turned to a second assailant on my left. He blinked as I was once again much faster then he could ever be, and slashed open his stomach. I continued to spin and took his head as well. I did not wait for his body to fall, as I turned my attention once more to Anteashara, my mind red with fury and battle. In hindsight, what happens next is not my greatest moment. But pivotal in several ways now that I think about it. The party continued to interrogate Anteashara and I had Vallia heal her hoping to prove that we would let her go if she cooperated. The rest of the party continued to threaten her with acts of violence, so it seemed in my mind that if she did not cooperate, then death was the price she would pay. So be it, if it came to that.</p><p></p><p>Karanaj in particular pointed his hand at Anteashara and sneered, “I think she would look better with a hole in her chest.” Empty threat or not it seemed quite menacing to me and to Anteashara as well I would suppose. Anteashara sneered and mocked me asking why I had the whore, Vallia, heal her. Kay answered for me by slapping Anteashara hard across her face shouting in her shrill voice, “speak wench only when spoken to, and only I call Vallia a WHORE!” The group continued to threaten Anteashara with violence. Maybe I acted rashly, but I did what had to be done.</p><p></p><p>She seemed to be very resolute in not saying anything to us and time was growing short. Dead bodies tend to attract flies, as they say, and I did not want to stay there any longer then we needed to. I pressed the issue and placed my blade at her chest, and gave her one last chance to answer our questions. She gave me a look of defiance, which in my mind seemed to say she would rather die then tell us. I did what I had to do, and ended her life, thrusting my blade into her heart. She gasped for a moment, shock in her eyes, reflecting my own. I drew the blade from her chest, and had Karanaj shut the door. This was going to be a long day indeed, three people dead by my hand. I am not sure if I should be proud or ashamed, but I don’t have time to wallow in guilt. </p><p></p><p>The rest of the party is shocked, as well they should be. Kay was the most vocal of the group, and her insults hurt the most. Despite being a halfling, I like her; she is a good person. I think we could have been good friends, but, as of now, I see that like many partnerships it was only fleeting. Vallia as well, in her typical holier-than thou attitude, made some choice remarks. I am not sure how much I deserved, but I let them pass and said what I thought they wanted to hear. My only concern at that moment was to find what Anteashara or Catellion were hiding. Sadly I believe whatever we could have gleaned died along with Anteashara. It was about then that I really was starting to hate her. And she was already dead. I still wonder if I did the right thing. I cannot turn back time, I am no god. I do know that I did what I believed was the correct course of action. </p><p></p><p>The party was in low spirits now, but luckily Vallia was able to recall the prophecy and struck upon a brilliant idea, of course none of us were privy to that idea. But we followed her like lemmings into the Path of Flowers, passing through the Avenue of Chimes, towards the place where “sight and sound” meet. Eventually after some silent moments Vallia stopped in front of a large manse where the two streets met. She finally made herself useful; well, useful to the rest of us outside of Karanaj’s bed.</p><p></p><p>We began to ponder just what to do, and of course in my utter brilliance I proposed that maybe we should just knock to see if anyone was there. Kay went ahead to knock, and I stayed back with the rest of the party counting the minutes until this blasted job would be over. They did not trust me and I frankly at that point did not care much about them, thank goodness my loyalty to money was still intact. No one answered when Kay knocked, so Gruush lifted her up to see inside the building. She spotted two thugs inside but little else. Kay decided to sneak around and I followed, and went to the other side against Kay’s wishes. I don’t expect much from the halfling, but for once she was right. I am usually quite stealthy but the damn bushes were in the way and I tripped, and, well, it was just bad. It didn’t help that once I got my footing I was enshrouded in magical darkness. Well, that answered that about the wizard we heard about in the prophecy. That day was most likely the worst day I could imagine. Sadly it only gets worse from here, for me anyway.</p><p></p><p>I slowly made my way back to the group and faced more derision, “dark-boy” sadly being the most imaginative term. The party decided that it was high time we get inside the manse, but I was a liability. The group split up, Vallia surprisingly stayed at my side, and the rest went inside to ferret out the mage. I took a seat and rested against the wall in total blackness; a very unnerving experience. Vallia broke the silence, and asked me why I killed Anteashara. Honestly at that moment, I didn’t know, and still don’t. It felt like the best course of action at the time. I was a captive audience, though, so we continued to speak, and in a way it helped me think about the events of the day. And I learned a few things about Vallia, I did not know before. One is that she kicks like a freaking mule, two is that I misjudged her very early on, and three is that she is very single. She also has a peculiar nickname, Wildcat, that her father gave to her, having to do with her great strength. Did I mention she kicks like a mule? My ribs are still hurting from that, Vallia, thank you very much. Never piss off the healer, I guess.</p><p></p><p>I mean, early on I thought she was stuffy and pig-headed, and, well, typical of elves, haughty and arrogant. She is none of the above, she cares about people genuinely; a sappy trait, but respectable. She cared even about a no-good money hungry merc like me. Sure she is an elf; a beautiful elf, but she had a mind tucked away under her sometimes-icy exterior. And the fact that her and Karanaj were not romantically entwined took me by surprise; I made too many assumptions early on. Thankfully, after three kicks (I will admit, that I wholeheartedly deserved for choice remarks I will not recount here), Vallia healed me with her divine magic. But then afterwards our relationship brightened strangely enough, and even more strangely, we formed a partnership. It seems that her church was looking for someone to protect Vallia, who just happens to be an elven girl in need. Damn elven wizards and their damn requests, I took the job free of charge on the spot. I hate being bound to my word at times, but there are worse people to serve as a bodyguard for. Did I mention she was beautiful? I am a sucker for a pretty face, even if she is a stuck up elven priestess. ‘Course I couldn’t see her pretty face since I was trapped within the globe of impenetrable darkness. But at the time it was the thought that counted, I suppose.</p><p></p><p>We talked for some time until I realized that the rest of the party had been gone for some moments. I asked Vallia if she could hear the rest of the party. She replied that they were fighting. Not that I am a violent person by nature, but I do recognize that my skills can add greatly to any conflict. Sadly, though, I couldn’t even see my own hand let alone the enemy. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly useless. Thankfully, magic, unlike death, in most cases, is transitory. At least as far as I know; I am no mage after all.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, Vallia decided that it was time to move; despite the fact I still could not see. I took her hand and followed her through a garden towards the sounds of battle, which thankfully subsided. The last thing I wanted was to face an opponent I could not see; fighting blind is not my idea of fun. The party had survived the fight, although it sounded like Gruush had received some grievous wounds in the battle. Vallia healed him with her divine magic and I continued to my existence as “dark-boy”. Thank you Kay, that was so original. </p><p></p><p>Vallia glanced at me quizzically, and walked over to me. She tapped me on the shoulder, I looked at her and then it dawned on me. I could see her and the darkness was gone. I think that was the first time I was truly glad to see Vallia’s face. Well, now it was time to get to down to the messy business of rooting out the mage and any of his cronies left. This wouldn’t be pretty. Just the way I like it. We ventured into the manse and entered a large central room with a closed door on the right and a study on the left. I opted for the closed door, which turned out to be a small bedroom. Sadly, no mage, as the room was empty. Well, not too empty. I did find three aquamarine gems, which are curiously still in my possession. Start of my retirement funds perhaps? What the party forgets about can only be my gain. Like I said, they are clueless, but sadly they are also slowly growing on me. Vallia especially, but that is another matter altogether.</p><p></p><p>We exited the room and moved towards the study, nothing but books and eclectic pieces of “historical” artwork. There was a stairway that leads up to an upper deck. I decided to go up the stairs and have a look around. I didn’t find anything of importance besides a bronze dagger, which is now part of my historical art collection. Meanwhile I could hear Karanaj and Vallia talk about some vines out in the garden that were poisonous. One can only assume that poor Galliad had an encounter with these loathsome vines. I decided to get a look around and went down stairs and investigate the rest of the structure. I went out into the foyer, the large central room, and looked around. That is when the mage and his cronies attacked.</p><p></p><p>Back in the study a dire rat flashed into existence near Kay, just as Catellion leapt out of a closet and charged at Vallia and Karanaj. Karanaj was struck by Catellion’s sword; I was not close enough to get to Catellion so I went after the dire rat instead. I rolled back into room springing over a table and slashed quickly with my long sword at the wretched beast. The creature was dead, and I turned my attention to Catellion. Vallia swung her blade at Catellion, slashing the corrupt proprietor easily. Gruush followed that with a vicious punch to the head, which made Catellion’s eyes cross. Karanaj fired a blot from his crossbow but missed with his poorly aimed shot. Suddenly as if out of nowhere, another figure, presumably the mage, appeared and fired a crossbow bolt at Karanaj, wounding him. Kay took one of her special pebbles and slung it at Catellion, it grew to the size of a boulder and crushed him. That was rather messy. We focused our attacks on the mage and nearly slew him if he had not gone invisible, taunting us before teleporting away. Well, I am not sure if he did, but Karanaj assured us that is what he heard. Well either way I wanted to burn the manse down, but Vallia was against this plan of action. I still regret not burning that manse down. Anyway we found the contracts on the remains of Catellion. Success, more or less. We had what we came for. Payment was in sight. Now all we had to do was evade the guard and we were home free. Sadly, I am too much of an optimist at times.</p><p></p><p>We went out into the streets through the front door and onto the Path of Flowers, I luckily came out of the battle unscathed. Some were not so lucky, well at least Karanaj. He was bleeding pretty badly even still. Just as the guard approached us Vallia surprisingly wrapped her arms around me and kissed my neck, certainly a strange turn of events indeed. It was also an obvious ruse to throw the guards off track and draw their attention to us instead of the rest of the party. Kay as usual missed that point and assumed what was happening was real. Like I said I do not expect much from the halfling. The guards simply winked at me knowingly, and continued on their way. It was just about perfect, and then they saw Gruush. They started muttering something about “merchant and orcs”, I knew this wouldn’t be good and decided to act despite Vallia’s protests to the contrary. Thankfully she busied herself by nibbling my ear. Now I like Vallia. I then simply claimed that Gruush was my bodyguard, luckily the guards fell for it with some convincing acting by Gruush. He is such a smart half-orc. He really is. Finally we made it back to the Silent Siren. I was never so glad to see Kathkallen, although I like seeing his money even more so. Selune was on our side I suppose, or at least my side. Of course that meant the ruse was over though, so Vallia stopped kissing my neck and nibbling my ear. I still like her though; it was a pleasant fiction while it lasted.</p><p></p><p>The party retired to their beds and I sat in the common room thinking, it had been a long day and many things had changed so quickly. I guess I will be sticking around with Vallia at least for longer then I ever expected to. I actually like that though, we well I am not sure, but I know I found something good. I can’t place my finger on it, but she is definitely someone I wouldn’t mind sticking around with despite her numerous faults. She came back downstairs though and gave me an apology, not for kicking me, but because she wasted valuable resources healing me after she kicked me. She can be so sensitive at times. She then went into a strange trance, and began babbling not sure about what, but as it ended she collapsed into my arms. She was so helpless then, in ways I knew then even if I didn’t believe in prophecy or fate, this was meant to happen. Not sure why, only Selune knows, but our meeting was not chance. I am doomed, yet I am not afraid.</p><p></p><p>Misha "Burning Rose" Koldun</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aust Meliamne, post: 788, member: 95"] Misha’s Journal #2 4th day of Leaffall, 1372 DR Morning came much faster then I would have liked; yesterday was an interesting day to be sure. Only a few days back in Amn and already involved in strange world-spanning plots. Well not world spanning, and probably not all important in the grand scheme of things but 150 gold was at stake. And frankly after the dagger I purchased yesterday I am very broke. It seems that this morning I was the first to wake something that is not too surprising to me at least. The rest of the “party” stumbled down stairs, first Vallia, then Gruush, followed by Kay, and the now shirtless Karanaj. Vallia and Karanaj really do not need to rub it in our collective faces that they are having more fun on their watch then the rest of us. But to each their own I suppose. I did startle Vallia though with my superb command of elven, a little something I picked up from a half-elven girl I knew in Muraan. That was a simpler time I guess, when I had time for such frivolous flights of fancy. Anyway back to the current tale at hand, it was decided that we should promptly head for the Platinum Quill, to follow up on the leads we had gained the day before. A simple plan, but the most effective one we had at the time. And a mental note to myself, Vallia dislikes being called “highness” even if she does act like a stuck up princess. I find it amusing, though if slightly charming. She has her moments though, and maybe if she loosened up some, well she would need to loosen up greatly. Karanaj has his work cut out for him, unless he likes dominant prissy women. To each their own I suppose. Course who am I to talk my only real company is a halfling, and even that does not last for long. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself, not quite yet. Once breakfast was over, Vallia lead the way through the Waft to the Platinum Quill. It was, well, in a word, a place for scriveners, not a place for the best damn mercenary this side of Amn. The proprietor was a tall gentle looking fellow by the name of Catellion, he was in the business of coordinating operations for merchants and providing security. Once again I had to take charge and question Catellion about Galliad and any dealings he may have had with the missing lad. It was slow going and he was less then cooperative, not too surprising. I would have acted the same way in his position, especially if five armed strangers came barging in and asking strange questions. We eventually came down to simply making threats and that is when Catellion shouted for Anteashara, and then leapt over the counter at Gruush who kicked the proprietor in his gut. I whirled and turned to face Anteashara as the rest of the party drew weapons and prepared for another harrowing fight (Ha. I still don’t think we’ve had one of those yet). Catellion rushed for the door but I was able to make a quick offhand strike slashing him across the back drawing blood. But he got away, and ran outside where there was a commotion, I wanted to follow but Anteashara blocked our path snarling. I really did not like her, and I still don’t like her even though she is long dead. Damn it, I got ahead of myself. Well, back to the story. Vallia drew her longsword in two hands and swung it deftly at Anteashara, I could only wince as the blade ripped through Anteashara. Kay drew her little nunchucks and attacked Anteashara, but she missed. Like I said before I don’t expect much from the halfling. Karanaj put a crossbow bolt in her shoulder, and I attacked with my longsword, slashing quickly, thanks to the nifty Bracers of Speed. I was slightly disgusted, though, missing both attacks; but the rest of the attacks were enough, and Anteashara for the moment yielded. The party started to interrogate her while I kept my eyes open and alert. In the doorway I noticed a foot inching forward into view, great I should have known she would not have come alone. I leapt over the wounded Anteashara and rolled out the doorway springing upward and making two vicious slashes at a clearly surprised thug. His head rolled across the dirt-covered road, and his headless body fell lifeless as I turned to a second assailant on my left. He blinked as I was once again much faster then he could ever be, and slashed open his stomach. I continued to spin and took his head as well. I did not wait for his body to fall, as I turned my attention once more to Anteashara, my mind red with fury and battle. In hindsight, what happens next is not my greatest moment. But pivotal in several ways now that I think about it. The party continued to interrogate Anteashara and I had Vallia heal her hoping to prove that we would let her go if she cooperated. The rest of the party continued to threaten her with acts of violence, so it seemed in my mind that if she did not cooperate, then death was the price she would pay. So be it, if it came to that. Karanaj in particular pointed his hand at Anteashara and sneered, “I think she would look better with a hole in her chest.” Empty threat or not it seemed quite menacing to me and to Anteashara as well I would suppose. Anteashara sneered and mocked me asking why I had the whore, Vallia, heal her. Kay answered for me by slapping Anteashara hard across her face shouting in her shrill voice, “speak wench only when spoken to, and only I call Vallia a WHORE!” The group continued to threaten Anteashara with violence. Maybe I acted rashly, but I did what had to be done. She seemed to be very resolute in not saying anything to us and time was growing short. Dead bodies tend to attract flies, as they say, and I did not want to stay there any longer then we needed to. I pressed the issue and placed my blade at her chest, and gave her one last chance to answer our questions. She gave me a look of defiance, which in my mind seemed to say she would rather die then tell us. I did what I had to do, and ended her life, thrusting my blade into her heart. She gasped for a moment, shock in her eyes, reflecting my own. I drew the blade from her chest, and had Karanaj shut the door. This was going to be a long day indeed, three people dead by my hand. I am not sure if I should be proud or ashamed, but I don’t have time to wallow in guilt. The rest of the party is shocked, as well they should be. Kay was the most vocal of the group, and her insults hurt the most. Despite being a halfling, I like her; she is a good person. I think we could have been good friends, but, as of now, I see that like many partnerships it was only fleeting. Vallia as well, in her typical holier-than thou attitude, made some choice remarks. I am not sure how much I deserved, but I let them pass and said what I thought they wanted to hear. My only concern at that moment was to find what Anteashara or Catellion were hiding. Sadly I believe whatever we could have gleaned died along with Anteashara. It was about then that I really was starting to hate her. And she was already dead. I still wonder if I did the right thing. I cannot turn back time, I am no god. I do know that I did what I believed was the correct course of action. The party was in low spirits now, but luckily Vallia was able to recall the prophecy and struck upon a brilliant idea, of course none of us were privy to that idea. But we followed her like lemmings into the Path of Flowers, passing through the Avenue of Chimes, towards the place where “sight and sound” meet. Eventually after some silent moments Vallia stopped in front of a large manse where the two streets met. She finally made herself useful; well, useful to the rest of us outside of Karanaj’s bed. We began to ponder just what to do, and of course in my utter brilliance I proposed that maybe we should just knock to see if anyone was there. Kay went ahead to knock, and I stayed back with the rest of the party counting the minutes until this blasted job would be over. They did not trust me and I frankly at that point did not care much about them, thank goodness my loyalty to money was still intact. No one answered when Kay knocked, so Gruush lifted her up to see inside the building. She spotted two thugs inside but little else. Kay decided to sneak around and I followed, and went to the other side against Kay’s wishes. I don’t expect much from the halfling, but for once she was right. I am usually quite stealthy but the damn bushes were in the way and I tripped, and, well, it was just bad. It didn’t help that once I got my footing I was enshrouded in magical darkness. Well, that answered that about the wizard we heard about in the prophecy. That day was most likely the worst day I could imagine. Sadly it only gets worse from here, for me anyway. I slowly made my way back to the group and faced more derision, “dark-boy” sadly being the most imaginative term. The party decided that it was high time we get inside the manse, but I was a liability. The group split up, Vallia surprisingly stayed at my side, and the rest went inside to ferret out the mage. I took a seat and rested against the wall in total blackness; a very unnerving experience. Vallia broke the silence, and asked me why I killed Anteashara. Honestly at that moment, I didn’t know, and still don’t. It felt like the best course of action at the time. I was a captive audience, though, so we continued to speak, and in a way it helped me think about the events of the day. And I learned a few things about Vallia, I did not know before. One is that she kicks like a freaking mule, two is that I misjudged her very early on, and three is that she is very single. She also has a peculiar nickname, Wildcat, that her father gave to her, having to do with her great strength. Did I mention she kicks like a mule? My ribs are still hurting from that, Vallia, thank you very much. Never piss off the healer, I guess. I mean, early on I thought she was stuffy and pig-headed, and, well, typical of elves, haughty and arrogant. She is none of the above, she cares about people genuinely; a sappy trait, but respectable. She cared even about a no-good money hungry merc like me. Sure she is an elf; a beautiful elf, but she had a mind tucked away under her sometimes-icy exterior. And the fact that her and Karanaj were not romantically entwined took me by surprise; I made too many assumptions early on. Thankfully, after three kicks (I will admit, that I wholeheartedly deserved for choice remarks I will not recount here), Vallia healed me with her divine magic. But then afterwards our relationship brightened strangely enough, and even more strangely, we formed a partnership. It seems that her church was looking for someone to protect Vallia, who just happens to be an elven girl in need. Damn elven wizards and their damn requests, I took the job free of charge on the spot. I hate being bound to my word at times, but there are worse people to serve as a bodyguard for. Did I mention she was beautiful? I am a sucker for a pretty face, even if she is a stuck up elven priestess. ‘Course I couldn’t see her pretty face since I was trapped within the globe of impenetrable darkness. But at the time it was the thought that counted, I suppose. We talked for some time until I realized that the rest of the party had been gone for some moments. I asked Vallia if she could hear the rest of the party. She replied that they were fighting. Not that I am a violent person by nature, but I do recognize that my skills can add greatly to any conflict. Sadly, though, I couldn’t even see my own hand let alone the enemy. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly useless. Thankfully, magic, unlike death, in most cases, is transitory. At least as far as I know; I am no mage after all. Suddenly, Vallia decided that it was time to move; despite the fact I still could not see. I took her hand and followed her through a garden towards the sounds of battle, which thankfully subsided. The last thing I wanted was to face an opponent I could not see; fighting blind is not my idea of fun. The party had survived the fight, although it sounded like Gruush had received some grievous wounds in the battle. Vallia healed him with her divine magic and I continued to my existence as “dark-boy”. Thank you Kay, that was so original. Vallia glanced at me quizzically, and walked over to me. She tapped me on the shoulder, I looked at her and then it dawned on me. I could see her and the darkness was gone. I think that was the first time I was truly glad to see Vallia’s face. Well, now it was time to get to down to the messy business of rooting out the mage and any of his cronies left. This wouldn’t be pretty. Just the way I like it. We ventured into the manse and entered a large central room with a closed door on the right and a study on the left. I opted for the closed door, which turned out to be a small bedroom. Sadly, no mage, as the room was empty. Well, not too empty. I did find three aquamarine gems, which are curiously still in my possession. Start of my retirement funds perhaps? What the party forgets about can only be my gain. Like I said, they are clueless, but sadly they are also slowly growing on me. Vallia especially, but that is another matter altogether. We exited the room and moved towards the study, nothing but books and eclectic pieces of “historical” artwork. There was a stairway that leads up to an upper deck. I decided to go up the stairs and have a look around. I didn’t find anything of importance besides a bronze dagger, which is now part of my historical art collection. Meanwhile I could hear Karanaj and Vallia talk about some vines out in the garden that were poisonous. One can only assume that poor Galliad had an encounter with these loathsome vines. I decided to get a look around and went down stairs and investigate the rest of the structure. I went out into the foyer, the large central room, and looked around. That is when the mage and his cronies attacked. Back in the study a dire rat flashed into existence near Kay, just as Catellion leapt out of a closet and charged at Vallia and Karanaj. Karanaj was struck by Catellion’s sword; I was not close enough to get to Catellion so I went after the dire rat instead. I rolled back into room springing over a table and slashed quickly with my long sword at the wretched beast. The creature was dead, and I turned my attention to Catellion. Vallia swung her blade at Catellion, slashing the corrupt proprietor easily. Gruush followed that with a vicious punch to the head, which made Catellion’s eyes cross. Karanaj fired a blot from his crossbow but missed with his poorly aimed shot. Suddenly as if out of nowhere, another figure, presumably the mage, appeared and fired a crossbow bolt at Karanaj, wounding him. Kay took one of her special pebbles and slung it at Catellion, it grew to the size of a boulder and crushed him. That was rather messy. We focused our attacks on the mage and nearly slew him if he had not gone invisible, taunting us before teleporting away. Well, I am not sure if he did, but Karanaj assured us that is what he heard. Well either way I wanted to burn the manse down, but Vallia was against this plan of action. I still regret not burning that manse down. Anyway we found the contracts on the remains of Catellion. Success, more or less. We had what we came for. Payment was in sight. Now all we had to do was evade the guard and we were home free. Sadly, I am too much of an optimist at times. We went out into the streets through the front door and onto the Path of Flowers, I luckily came out of the battle unscathed. Some were not so lucky, well at least Karanaj. He was bleeding pretty badly even still. Just as the guard approached us Vallia surprisingly wrapped her arms around me and kissed my neck, certainly a strange turn of events indeed. It was also an obvious ruse to throw the guards off track and draw their attention to us instead of the rest of the party. Kay as usual missed that point and assumed what was happening was real. Like I said I do not expect much from the halfling. The guards simply winked at me knowingly, and continued on their way. It was just about perfect, and then they saw Gruush. They started muttering something about “merchant and orcs”, I knew this wouldn’t be good and decided to act despite Vallia’s protests to the contrary. Thankfully she busied herself by nibbling my ear. Now I like Vallia. I then simply claimed that Gruush was my bodyguard, luckily the guards fell for it with some convincing acting by Gruush. He is such a smart half-orc. He really is. Finally we made it back to the Silent Siren. I was never so glad to see Kathkallen, although I like seeing his money even more so. Selune was on our side I suppose, or at least my side. Of course that meant the ruse was over though, so Vallia stopped kissing my neck and nibbling my ear. I still like her though; it was a pleasant fiction while it lasted. The party retired to their beds and I sat in the common room thinking, it had been a long day and many things had changed so quickly. I guess I will be sticking around with Vallia at least for longer then I ever expected to. I actually like that though, we well I am not sure, but I know I found something good. I can’t place my finger on it, but she is definitely someone I wouldn’t mind sticking around with despite her numerous faults. She came back downstairs though and gave me an apology, not for kicking me, but because she wasted valuable resources healing me after she kicked me. She can be so sensitive at times. She then went into a strange trance, and began babbling not sure about what, but as it ended she collapsed into my arms. She was so helpless then, in ways I knew then even if I didn’t believe in prophecy or fate, this was meant to happen. Not sure why, only Selune knows, but our meeting was not chance. I am doomed, yet I am not afraid. Misha "Burning Rose" Koldun [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Journals of the Five: A Forgotten Realms Tale
Top