Journals from Character POV

[Tawmis]

So we have started a new D&D game (4th Edition, which half the people playing are fairly new to - having played maybe 10 times, if that - and the other half are well seasoned 4th Edition players). We all work together, so every other Monday we gather in a conference room for some gaming. Something I have always done (since my days of playing 2nd Edition) is make character journals that flesh out my character - and give everyone - and me! - a more in depth look at the character I am playing. Well, our last game (when Mario DMed) I did the journal with the group and the dug it. Now with this new session (Scott is DMing), it's me, Mario and Colleen doing journals - so it's been fun inspiring others to share their character journals.

I figured I'd share them here with all of you.

[Tawmis]

Alek Redmont = Human Ranger (played by Steve)
Kalamitee Wolfsmoon = an Eladrin Cleric (played by Colleen)
Zerkorza Zaidai = Tiefling Warrior (played by Nancy)
Morobunce Greenhills = Halfling Rogue (Played by me)
Kairon Starcall = Tiefling Mage (played by Mario)

The Journals of Morobunce Greenhills, Page 42.
Written by Tawmis

Draconia is a world ruled by The Dragons. Split by the Order of Six, the Draconians that rule the world are Ancient Dragons of Red, Green, Blue, Bronze, Gold, and Silver. Though the Dragons claim that there is no “good” or “evil” among the Dragonkin, only a desire to maintain order and peace – there is an old saying among my people, “It is not power itself that corrupts, but the fear of losing such power.”

Those the Order of the Six maintain that they have only peaceful intentions, I am full of doubt. Ancient texts speak of Dragons of Old, whose avarice for gold could be compared to a dehydrated man’s thirst for water.

Most who have been to Shallow Hills, know the name Greenhills. My family is one of the wealthiest among the Halflings. They gladly harvest food for the Armies of the Green Draconian, and hand over their hard work and harvest to their armies, in exchange for fancy bobbles and sometimes even coin. I was destined to do the same, but that is not the life I wanted for myself.

I did not want to work – almost borderline slave away – for another, for simple trinkets and toys. Despite my family’s background and wealth, I left that life behind and did what so few of my kind do – and ventured into the World.

It did not take long for me to soon discover that the World outside of Greenhills was not an easy one. Human Cities sprang about the land like jagged stones, with their towering walls in an attempt to safe guard themselves, marring the land and twisting it to their needs.

But it was within these human cities, that smelled of sewers and filth that I had to learn to survive. Being as small as I was, it was easy to move about, and acquire certain things I had needed to survive. I wasn’t pleased with myself, lowering myself down to stealing in order to survive. But I did not want to live off my family’s money. I wanted to make it on my own. But among humans, Halflings seemed to have little use.

My pride forced me to refuse the idea of ever returning home. Not until I had gone out into the world and left my own mark.

So I spent weeks like this; surviving by stealing. I learned to be quite good at the skill, until I was caught – but not by the one whom I had stolen the fruit from; but another. He introduced himself as a human by the name of Avathan. He explained that I did not have to be alone; there were others, like me, whom society had deemed to turn their backs on, who were forced to survive as I had.

He led me through a maze of alleyways, and side doors, through ancient buildings, that appeared as if they might collapse with just the slightest breeze, until we reached a small sewer entrance. Within there, we walked in the dark for several hundred feet, before he tugged on what appeared to be a rusted ladder. I heard a series of clicks and whirls, and suddenly, part of the concrete slid away, revealing a passage within.

Despite the entrance into this lair, the inside was lined with beautiful rugs, and glistening objects. Avathan explained that this was the Thieves Guild; or as he romantically calls it, “The Adventurer’s Hall.” Here, there were people of all walks of life – of every race, of every color – from other Halflings, to humans, to elves, half-elves, even Tieflings – and one dwarf (though I could not tell if the Dwarf was male or female; a common problem I have with Dwarf-ilk).

As there was a mixture of races among the Thieves Guild, there was also a mixture of personality as well as reason for stealing. Someone stole, simply to survive. Some stole, because they enjoyed the thrill. Some stole, simply because they could not fight the impulse. All of them, however, made payments to the thieves guild in some form or fashion – whether it was food, trinkets, or gold. Those items, were then recycled back into the Thieves Guild – to pay for Thieves to do specific jobs, should they choose to accept it.

After several weeks of doing various jobs for Avathan, he finally approached me and explained that he had another job for me – one that took me out of Stonepeak – and into the city of Ancor. There was a Guild Master there by the name of ‘Teacher.’ (Somehow I doubt that was his real name; but he respected his privacy enough not to want his name known, even among the Circle of Thieves and Rogues – after all, there is a saying among them here that, “There Is No Honor Among Thieves” and “Every Secret Has Its Price – One Need Only Find It.”)

I agreed to go to Ancor to meet this ‘Teacher.’ My first day out of Stonepeak, I met with another caravan of would be adventurers, that seemed to range from warriors, holy soldiers, and outdoorsmen. Our first night, we stopped at an Oasis, where – in the awkward silence, several spoke to make conversation. I met Alek Redmont, who was a Human Ranger; Kalamitee Wolfsmoon, an Eladrin Cleric; and Zerkorza Zaidai, a Tiefling Warrior, who sat nearest to me.

The small caravan was broken into several small circles of strangers talking amongst themselves. The four of us agreed to make a rotating watch for the night. Zerkorza apparently awoke to hear the sounds of chanting; she woke Kalamitee – and before we knew it, we found ourselves attacked by some form of religious fantatics. I was rendered unconscious only to awaken who knows how much longer – by the cleric who had snapped my ropes.

Neither the Ranger nor the Cleric knew where the Warrior had gotten off to. Was she already taken? The stone beds we were tied to had ridges for bloodletting. Where ever we were, it was not a good place. (But then, when is it a good place when they knock you out and tie you up to a bed unwillingly?) We searched for clues within the room. The walls were lined with and endless row of skulls, whose empty sockets seemed to be watching with hatred.

One door had the sound of chanting coming from it; the other had a strange odor – the third door was open, leading down a hallway where we could see a light. There was no sounds coming from that direction. It seemed to be the safest of choices – I took the front, searching for traps or anything along the hallway.

Much to our surprise, we found the Warrior rummaging through the room. “Were you trying to escape without freeing us?” I asked.

The startled Warrior turned, looked surprised, “No,” she said rather quickly. “I was looking for our weapons and armor.”

I watched her expression. She was lying. She was trying to escape without even getting the rest of us out there. I wonder, would I have done the same? Awakened in a strange place, with skulls, and a stone tablet that had bloodletting ridges?

No. I would have awaken the others. If there’s one thing I have learned, is that the Lone Wolf will die without the Pack.

We continued to rummage through the room – the only thing of interest was a small icon – that the Cleric recognized as being a symbol of the god, Bane. Kalamitee, somewhat familiar with the evils of Bane, explained he was a God of War. However, his intention was not for warriors to call upon him during times of battle; but rather, to one day rule over all of the world himself, and crush all those who oppose him and believe in anything other than him, beneath his fiery heels.

I stared at the symbol of Bane and sneered in disgust. He was worse than the Order of the Six Draconians. At least they allowed everyone to believe what they wanted, so long as it did not interfere or conflict with their own ideas. Bane wanted everyone snuffed out, if they did not swear allegiance to him and him alone.

We left the room and returned to the bloodletting room, where we could still hear chanting down one hall. We continued down the third hall, until the scent of copper became extremely strong. This wasn’t going to go well – I could already tell. It was the smell of blood.

Upon opening the door, Alek immediately began to vomit. The entire room was covered in blood splatter, and there were bodies whose heads had been severed and the flesh of their bodies peeled back.

It was in this room, we recovered our weapons and armor and made our way back up to the bloodletting room, where I peered through the shut door and saw six occult members standing around a sconce. None of them seemed aware of our presence; I quickly explained, I would sneak in first and back stab the one closest; as soon as he would yell, the other were to charge in.

Stealthfully moving through the shadows, I approached the first one and dug my short deep through him. I abhor the idea of taking one’s life – but seeing the horrors I had seen today – I knew that there was no other choice. These men were vile – evil, down to their very core, without any hope of redemption.

The others immediately charged into the room. We moved, for the first time, as a cohesive unit. We were aware of one another’s presence, and made the best of every attack. Perhaps because the dark summoners were so entranced with their chanting – which turned out to be some kind of summoning spell, because as the last one fell, a demonic hand reached through just before it closed – a deep, chilling voice, screaming in denial as the mystical doorway sealed.

We made our way further through the room and discovered a hallway that led out. But as I peered outside, I suspected there was more to these three men and their small caravan. After all, why would they be camped right outside the cave’s entrance – unless they were a part of the cult – or if they were the mercenaries that delivered us to the Cult of Bane.

When we stepped outside, Kalamitee tried to be diplomatic – trying to find out who they were and why we were captured; but by the shocked expression by these men, they clearly had no interest in speaking and wanted to silence us. Immediately another fight broke out, and as the others concentrated on the two warriors, my eyes focused on the one who appeared to be a mage – or some dark summoner.

The mage used a number of spells to stun us and disorient us; but that did not slow me down. He had struck me with several spells as I pursued him through the forest, leaving me close to death. Just as it seemed my last breath would escape my lungs, I heard Kalamitee behind me whisper a prayer to her goddess; and a light filled me. My wounds healed, and the mage, who had been cut and beaten, finally surrendered.

He explained that he had been paid by the Cult of Bane to capture us and bring us to them. They had been awaiting payment outside the Cult’s cavern when we came out and surprised them. We debated leaving the mage to die, tied to a tree – but knew it would be better to bring him with us, alive, to the city of Ancor.

We arrived in the City and turned the Mage over to the local authorities who were well of aware of his actions, but had never been able to catch him. Even more interesting – they offered us a job to work for the city cleaning up similar riff raff.

Things, I feel, are only just beginning to get interesting…

[Tawmis]

Journal of Kalamitee Wolfsmoon, page 32.
Written by Colleen

Red, Green, Blue, Bronze, Gold, and Silver, the simple yet brilliant colors of the Ancient Dragons that rule Draconian, a continent equally divided into 6 pieces, regions based off the rule of each of the 6 Dragons. The Dragons preface that they are neither good nor evil, that all they seek is a willingness to maintain peaceful and orderly rule of their domains.

Among my race the Dragon-kin are revered with awe and ion some cases fear. Many of the elders remember a time when the Dragon-kin were not so kind and would give little thought of other races and creatures on the continent in their quest for gold and precious jewels.

My name is Kalamitee Wolfsmoon and I am a Cleric of the Eladrin and have spent most of my years in the Feywild forests amongst the creatures of my Goddess Sehanine.

10 years past I left the Feywild, at the request of my parents, so that I may learn of the other races outside of our home and see the worlds and maybe even the various regions of the Dragon-kin.

The land outside of the Feywild was vast and vacillated from beautiful fields, mountains and forests to desolate arid deserts not to mention cities and towns laid out precariously and at random by the Human Race. Some of the humans, such as those in the smaller towns, were welcoming and friendly to travelers regardless of their race, whereas the humans of the larger towns, keeps and cities tended to look down upon me with scorn and ire. How so many people could live in the conditions that the city dwellers did, was beyond me. The stench of the bodies and waste enclosed in narrow winding streets and allies was way too much for me to handle and I made sure to arrive and depart as quickly as I could, occasionally stopping at the local Clerics’ hovel to greet my colleagues and maybe learn a new skill or two.

At the town of Lochlainn, while visiting the local Clerics’ hovel I was told of a city called Ancor where there was Cleric’s School that they thought that I may grow in my studies at. Though I was not fond of the human cities, the next morning I packed my small backpack and headed off towards the North.

Towards dusk of my third day of traveling I came upon an Oasis with a merchant there selling wood and food. Since he was the only merchant there, his prices were quite steep I was able to barter 13 logs for the fire for 10 gold. With the sun sinking quickly I prepared the fire and asked the Ranger stand off in the shadows to spare some fire from his pipe to light it ablaze. Once the warmth of the fire began to emanate a bit beyond the ring, the other travelers began to relax and take part of the warmth. The Ranger who introduced himself as Alek Redmont was a human male who kept to himself and spoke very little. Next to him stood a Tiefling Warrior name Zerkorza Zaidai who spoke even less. The last of the travelers was a Halfling Thief….sorry Rogue (just a fancy name for thief if you ask me), name Morobunce Greenhills. The other travelers had moved off into their own groups earlier in the evening which left just the 4 of us at the fire. After the merchant had packed up his wares and left for the evening we all agreed that it might be good to set a watch for the night.

Alek and Morobunce took the first and second shifts respectively, and once they turned in Zerkorza took over. While on her watch she heard chanting, but it quickly faded when she stood to investigate. Returning to her seat near the fire, she resumed her watch and then chanting came again. This time the chanting was close enough that it pulled at the edges of my trance and alerted me to potential danger. As I exited my trance, we were approached by three armed strangers. Alek and Morobunce were knocked unconscious when they started to wake at the commotion caused by Zerkorza who was still near the fire ring. I has used my Feystep abilities to move back into the shadows to see where the chanting was coming from and that was the last thing I remembered until I came to in the most uncomfortable position tied down onto a stone slab.

In the dim light torchlight I could see the walls were lined with skulls that seemed to hold not only secrets, but unanswered screams and cries of torment. Others gave you the feeling that there was something otherworldly watching you waiting for your demise. There were 4 stone tables in the circular room, each containing grooves for bloodletting. I could see that the Ranger and Halfling were tied down much like I was, and the ropes from the 4th table had been broken apart and laid upon the floor in shreds. I could hear the Ranger struggling to get free from his binds, not knowing if they had been enchanted or not I tried to Feystep away and found myself going nowhere. (That answered that question, didn’t it?) I gave a good yank on my arm ropes and they came apart, from there I proceeded to undo my leg restraints and then went over to help the poor ranger with his.

I asked Alek if he knew where the Warrior had gone and he just shrugged and said he had no idea, but wondered if she had wandered down the open doorway that was dimly lit. He then asked if we wanted to go look for the Warrior or free the Halfling who was still unconscious on the table. I yanked on the upper ropes holding down the Halfling who came to as we struggled to get him untied. Once free we decided that we would explore the hallway and see if the Warrior had exited through there or if she had been taken off to her own demised or , running away leaving us to our own demise at the hands of the religious nuts that were probably on the other side of the door where the chanting was coming from.

Much to the surprise of the party, we found the Warrior rummaging around in a barracks room.

“Were you trying to escape without freeing us?” asked the Halfling.

The Warrior turned, startled. “No,” she said rather quickly. “I was looking for our weapons and armor.”

Something in the Thief’s eyes and body language told me that she was lying. I guess I couldn’t really blame her for trying to take flight. After all, when you wake up starting a skulls stripped of flesh & muscle starting at you with empty eye sockets from the walls of a dimly lit room, while being tied to a bloodletting stone, you’re first reaction it to get out of there as fast as possible, plus Warriors aren’t always known for doing much more than charging into whatever is coming at them. I couldn’t have left anyone behind though, too much of my upbringing and the fact that the pack mentality of the wolf courses through my veins, it would have bothered me for eons.

As we rummaged through the room looking for something to use as a makeshift weapon I turned around and came face to face with an alter with an image of the God of War, Bane. As I told the history of Bane and how it was his desire to rule and enslave the world while crushing his opponents and non-believers of his rule, the Halfling sneered in disgust and flung the idol across the room.

After ransacking the room and finding nothing of use aside from a makeshift club that the Ranger made from a bed leg, we headed back up the hall. We could hear chanting from the door opposite the room and the faint smell of copper came from the door to our right. Taking a chance we entered that door and began to walk down the hallway, the coppery smell of blood growing thicker the closer we got to the door at the end of the hall.

As soon as we opened the door and saw the skinned, beheaded bodies hanging from the rafters with our gear piled off to the left of the room. The smell hit us all and Alek doubled over and began to vomit, followed soon by the rest of us. It took everything we had to grab out gear and run back up the hallway to the room with the tables. After taking inventory of our gear, we redressed and rearmed ourselves and made our way to the third door. Morobunce checked for and disarmed the traps that had been placed and we started to make our way down the hall when we came to a second door where the chanting was much louder. The Thief again checked and disarmed the traps at the door and peered in. He counted 6 cult members in a circle around a sconce chanting in some foreign tongue.

Closing the door he reported what he saw and we formulated a plan of attack. I could see in the Halflings eyes that this was not something that he was thrilled with doing, but he knew it was a necessity for us to survive. Slowly he opened the door and disappeared into the shadows momentarily before springing on the first cult member, and digging his knife deep into his back. From there we all moved into the door as a well formed unit. I took out one of them with my cross bow and then Alek and Zerkorza took out three more. We tried to break the final member from his trance to no avail and in finally put a crossbow bolt through his neck ending his chanting. As the 1st cultist fell we noticed the sconce began to close on a reptilian hand and you could hear the agonizing, yet angry scream as the portal closed.

Taking a moment to regroup and piece together what was going on, we turned and headed down the wide hallway on the opposite side of the room, each step bringing us closer to a door where we could see daylight peering through.

Morobunce checked the door for traps again and disarmed a very nasty poisoned needle trap before peering out the door noticing a caravan of three men sitting on their packs. As we came out the door the men jumped up and stood there in shock as we exited into the sunlight. I recognized one of the men from the Oasis and approached him trying to be diplomatic and negotiate information from them to no avail. They clearly didn’t want to give us any information other than the price of 1000 Gold on each of our heads that they were to be paid by the Cultists. They then drew their weapons to attack, the third member of their party staying toward the back of the group. It took me a few seconds to realize that he was a Mage of some sort and that he was preparing to cast spells against us. I tried to counter his spells with a few of my own, but I was not yet experienced with my magic and I missed my quarry a few time. Morobunce went after the Mage with a fury equal to not other and with no regard to himself or his life.The Mage went to cast one last spell, unaware of his surroundings he took a step back into a puddle of water and his spell rebounded into him knocking him down. Just as the Halfling was about to fall, I cast a healing spell to keep him on this side of the grave, he was a brave soul despite being a thief.

Exhausted and injured the Mage explained that he and his companions had been approached by the Cult member to capture us and deliver them to this secret location. They were to await payment from the Cult upon the completion of our demise and were astounded to see us exit the cavern door.

Alek and Zerkorza wanted to leave him to a tree, but even that was too cruel for us to do, so we decided to bring him with us to the city of Ancor. I took his wand and his spell book although it was encoded in text that only the Mage himself could decipher.

Upon arriving at the City, we were stopped by the guardsmen who wanted us to surrender our weapons and queried why we had the Mage bound. Not believing our story, I requested that we speak with the Captain of the Guard wherein we turned over the Mage, who was as well known felon and was wanted for his actions of kidnapping and other dubious deeds.

After speaking further with the Captain of the Guard about the Cultists and their locations, a runner was sent and we were informed that we were to go see the Magistrate. Tired, hungry and in much need of a bath we all protested, but our grumbling was ignored.

We were escorted by one of the Guards to the Magistrate’s office where we again told our story of our encounter with the Cult. He then sat there for a moment taking it all in and then turned to us and asked if we would be interested in taking on a few jobs at the request of the Magistrate. We all looked at each other and shrugged, wondering if we could really take on the jobs and work together as a cohesive unit. Warily we accepted his offer and were rewarded with training from each of our respective Guild houses and the promise of pay.

While I should have been happy at the prospect, all I really wanted was a comfortable bed and a hot bath.

After I acquired those and some dinner at the Cleric’s Guild-house, I laid in bed and wondered just what I had gotten myself into and if I could trust those that I would be traveling with.

[Tawmis]

NOTE: Mario was actually absent for the first session, but still jumped in with the writing...

My dearest sister,

What an interesting night. More like interesting morning. As i had written you previously the starfall had happened last night as predicted. I had taken up my usual perch on the upper southern balcony at the arcane academy here in Arncor. I had also procured a fine bottle of wine and bit of pipeleaf to relax and enjoy an enchanting night. The Baneid starfall promised to be one of the finest in years. This balcony is truly the best part of this academy. The old fools still believe pouring over ancient tomes is the true way to power. Rituals and crude manipulation of the forces around us barely scratch the surface. Event the old astrology master didn’t know what was staring him right in the face. There are far more ancient and secret sources. I do love sitting up here listening to the silent song of the deep night, the ancient whispered names of the stars. Of course most of the overly superstitious population was cowering in their homes not because of course Bane’s night is a night of evil and no one wants to bring that upon their houses. I apologize for rambling again but as i was saying. Dawns light had come again dimming the vast reaches of the night and my bottle was empty and I was ready to turn in. Then out of no where a most motley crew making a great racket near the front gates of the city, and so early in the morning too. Through my watch-glass I observed an Eladrin cleric I believe, she wore the sigil of the moon Goddess Sehanine. She was leading a mage bound hand and foot. Come to think of it he looked familiar, I believe he was kicked out of this very academy some time ago. Must have fallen in with a bad crowd. Anyways she was leading a group of toughs, probably adventurers by the looks of them. A human woodsman, he looked more worried about entering the city than the other, most likely he feels more at home in a tree than in a nice feather bed. One appeared to be a halfling, rouge of some sort, his wary eye kept a lookout even while they were talking to the guards. This will shock you a bit the last in the group was a Teifling. She was a surprise i was not sure until she lowered her hood but unmistakable though she was in an absolute shamble her armor and weapons were in need of a thorough cleaning. Unfortunately I was a bit too far away to hear what exactly they were saying but the Captain of the Guard was soon called then the whole lot was marched off to see the magistrate. At that point the wine had worn off completely and weariness had won out over curiosity. Something tells me this will not be the last I see of this group. Well i should be off again the astrology master will likely need me to assist with his research and may want a report of last night’s starfall. Maybe I’ll make some inquiries later today. I look forward to hearing from you soon give mother my love.

Love Always

Kairon

[Tawmis]

So the next set of journals are from the second session. We "fast forward" 6 months of training in the city of Ancor and bump our characters up to Level 4.


The Journals of Morobunce, Page 70…

It seems strange to me.

The path my life has taken is not the one I had foreseen for myself. When I left Shallow Hills, I saw a life of freedom for myself. Instead, I found the World beyond Shallow Hills as an unforgiving place. Due to my height, most did not pay me any attention in a World that seemed dominated by the Race of Man. It was similar to the amount of attention I would give an ant. So small, so unnoticeable; so beneath one’s attention.

Perhaps there’s a lesson here to be learned. That even I should pay more attention to the little things in life. Things I never took notice of before.

Now in the city of Ancor I am a part of a Thief’s Guild. I left Shallow Hills because I felt like all the work we were doing with the crops we grew – was, for the most part – all handed over to the various Armies of the Six Draconians to keep their soldiers fed and healthy. It seemed little regard went into our own health and caring – once again, the bigger things not caring about the smaller things in life.

But here – now – I am hoping that I go unnoticed. You see, the Thief’s Guild has instructed me to break into this massive estate here in Ancor to retrieve a golden box. I was instructed – no, told – that no matter what, I am not to look inside the golden box. I was simply to break in, get it, and escape.

For the most part, it has been easy. I was informed that the owner of the estate possessed three dogs. A simple toxin within some raw meat put the three dogs down for an extended nap. They would awaken in several hours, none the wiser, save perhaps a massive headache.

The map of the estate I was given is accurate and up to date, so it lets me move across the lawn, and stay in the shadows and darkness, avoiding the constant flow of patrols that marched around the estate. An access panel on the right side of the house was easy enough to unlock and slide into. Of course, that put me in the basement.

The gold box was naturally located on the third floor.

I had hoped for some trees with lingering branches that might be able to grant me access to the second or third floor, to make this easier; but no such luck. Whoever owned this estate was well aware of this common trick that rogues used to break into higher areas of the home and had whacked off all the branches that were even remotely close to the home’s windows.

From the basement, I carefully made my way upstairs to the first floor, where it was near dinner time. The cooks were bustling about in a quick pace, going back and forth, yelling at one another – demanding this ingredient or that beverage. It was easy to slip by them in the confusion and slide under the serving table that had white sheet draped over it.

I sat in there, patiently waiting – as the cooks placed the food on top of the table until it was ready. I walked beneath the table, since there was nowhere to sit. We eventually got to a service elevator that went up to the second floor, where it got out and headed into the large dining room.

It was as I had overheard the night before; tonight the owner of the home was having a large party. This was optimal for me, because this would create an extra amount of confusion – both among the cooks, the guards, and the owner of the home.

I waited until everyone had been served, before I peeked from beneath the sheets and tumbled behind the couch. I was on the second floor and now, the majority of people were eating. They would be occupied. The cooks would be on the first floor, relaxed now that they were done serving. The guards should also be relaxed, thinking everyone was in the dining room eating.

When the moment was clear, I tumbled from the back of the couch to the chair, to slipping out the dining room door. In the long hall, I could see two guards speaking to one another about some female conquest down at the inn.

I went around the other way, where I found the laundry drop shaft. From here, they would clean their “master’s room” and drop the laundry down this shaft because the cleaning room was here on the second floor. This was my ticket to the third floor. I entered the drop shaft and made my way up slowly, only to hear the top open.

Laundry came tumbling down, nearly knocking me off balance. I barely managed to cling to the walls with various under garments clinging to me, as if they too were terrified to fall. I swore in that very moment that if any God of Goddess was seeing this and letting this happen, I would have my revenge upon them in the afterlife.

I shook off the undergarments and let them tumble down to their final destination and continued to the top where I slowly opened the door and saw the maid folding the estate’s owner’s sheets. She smiling contently, adjusted one of his paintings on his dresser, then left the room.

I climbed out of the laundry drop and tumbled into the room, swearing I could still smell dirty garments on me. Once inside the room I went to the north wall where I ran my fingers around the edge of the paneling until I found the latch. Before I popped it open I checked – and discovered – an alarm trap. I moved my dagger just inside and lifting the trigger, and gently eased it back into my fingers, so that it would not pull.

I opened the panel the rest of the way, and saw it. The golden box. Just as I was reaching for it – I stopped. There was a tumbler beneath the golden box. It would trigger an alarm, I could see going up behind the panel walls. It was triggered by weight.

This wasn’t good. I had no idea how much the gold box weighed or even what was in it. It could weigh next to nothing, or it could weigh several pounds.

There was no easy way to do this.

For that matter, there was only one way to do this.

I looked at the window. Open, to let in a cool breeze.

I took a deep breath and release the panel alarm, which instantly sounded. Then I grabbed the gold box, which triggered the second alarm. I grabbed it and immediately ran for the window. I grabbed the sheet the maid had just laid out and tied it to bed’s post. Then with the other end, I threw it out the window and quickly scampered out the window just as the guards had burst into the room.

Landing on the lawn, I could already hear the guards shouting my location. As quickly as I could I dove into the nearest bushes as a small brigade of guards ran up. I was no more than three feet away from twelve very armed soldiers; and they were standing there, looking around – puzzled that I had seemingly vanished.

Small things, unnoticed, I sighed.

The guard dispersed, splitting into four parties, all scattered about trying desperately to find me. The entire estate was on high alert. Getting out of the estate’s massive lawn was nowhere near as easy as it was getting into it.

As I moved through the shadows I listened to the guards with amusement. My “description” changed with each batch of guards I crossed paths with – some I overheard saying I was a human dressed in black; others said I was an elf mage dressed in crimson red; while others said I was an evil demon that used black magic – one thing never came up.

Not a single guard suspected a Halfling that was sitting next to them, listening.

It took several hours to finally make my way across the estate’s lawn safely; and just in time. Just as I was climbing the gate that I had originally used to come in – the three dogs were just starting to awaken.

That was two days ago.

Now we were summoned to the Magistrate’s Estate – and imagine the mixture of amusement and horror as I recognized the Estate. Inside the same dining room that I had originally hidden, the Magistrate explained to use that a large tribe of Kobolds had taken up residence in an old, abandoned Keep that he wanted cleared.

He went on to explain other “adventurers” had taken up the job of going to “clean out the keep” and never returned. Never a good omen, when others have gone and not returned. That means this is something more than Kobolds. We’ve had our share of Kobold problems in Shallow Hills – when they, like gophers, tunnel into our homes within the hills. Kobolds, by themselves, were never much of a problem.

The Magistrate then handed out “gifts” for each of us – more alarming that mine was in the same golden box that I had just stolen from him the night before. Within the golden box was a dagger with a slight glow of magic.

I looked at the Magistrate with a questioning gaze. He smiled and nodded to me, and presented the next gift to the next member. That’s when he also introduced us to yet another Tiefling – one by the name of Kairon Starcaller – and by the looks of him, a well-educated mage of some kind. Almost immediately, when the mage spoke, his droning voice nearly made me wish I had been caught during the theft, rather than hear his rambling.

They gave us one day to relax before we headed out; to gather supplies and the like. But instead, I went to the Thief’s Guild to speak to my “Teacher.” I kicked the door down and slammed my dagger on the table, “What’s the meaning of this?”

“It’s a dagger,” the Teacher replied, nonchalantly.

“It’s the dagger that was in the same golden box that you had me steal,” I shouted, losing my temper, “from the Magistrate, who just gave it to me as a ‘gift.’”

“You’re in the Thief’s Guild,” the Teacher shrugged. “We don’t just give things away. We needed to know you were up to the job ahead of you. We have been training you for the last five months for this. We needed to know you were ready.”

“What if I had been caught?” I growled.

“Then you would have failed,” the Teacher replied, “and rotted in jail for a very long time.”

After all this time with the Thief’s Guild, there was still no loyalty. No trust. No family. I shook my head, grabbed the dagger and stormed out of the room.

This wasn’t over.

Not by a long shot.

The following day, we were on our way to the Keep with Alek Redmont – the Human Ranger, Kalamatee Wolfsmoon – the Eladrin Cleric, Zerkorza Zaidai the Tiefling Warrior – and now, the chattering Tiefling Mage, Kairon Starcaller.

The first strange encounter was when a young bear cub burst through the camp, foaming at the mouth, frightened nearly to death. Two Orcs in hot pursuit also came into the camp – their eyes were just as crazed as the young cub’s. The Orcs fell quickly, just as the Dire Bear parents of the young cub entered the camp and “thanked” our Ranger for saving their young spawn by showing him the burial spot of several Orcs that they had killed.

As we continued, we reached the Bridge, where we spent the night. There was plenty of mischief to be had – as the guards were clearly glad to have new people to speak with. Zerkorza made a fool of the captain of the guard there, easily defeating him in a arm wrestling match. The human like many others, mistook her size as a sign that she was weaker – beneath him.

The Mage made some kind of barter with the guards, and I countered the barter behind the Mage’s back that he would not come back from the Keep alive. Not that I would do anything. I was sure his running mouth would be enough to endanger his life.

We made our way to the Keep on the following morning. We were just outside the Keep’s gate when night approached. We took shelter in a small cabin just outside the Keep. Within the cabin I spotted a trap within the fireplace. Stone hung above, waiting for it to be sprung. But why? I looked at the flooring of the fireplace and saw that it was a doorway. Another trap – an alarm. Clever. The Kobolds must be using this to come in and out. I rewired the trap so that the next time the panel opened, it would drop the stones on the unsuspecting Kobolds, as well as trigger the alarm to awaken us.

Sure enough, the alarm triggered in the middle of the night. Kobolds howled in pain as boulders tumbled into the passage, knocking them from the ladder and to the cold stone below. By the time they had climbed back to the surface, they were bloody, wounded and furious. But we were all on our feet and armed for a fight.

As we cut through the Kobolds, an Orc Priestess made her way out of the hole – furious that we had reversed her trap upon her. She immediately began casting dark magic. In this small, cramped area, this was perfect for me. While the others were having trouble moving around, I was able to slip and slide everywhere I needed to be. With the combined efforts of me and the blabbering Mage of our own, the Priestess was rapidly ushered to the embrace of whatever Death God she worshiped.

With the Kobolds slain and the Orc Priestess dead, we all gazed down the passage way beneath the small cabin and wondered what else waited for us…

[Tawmis]

Journal of Kalamitee Wolfsmoon page 37

At last, I have time to put quill to paper. The last six months have been filled with long hours of training and meditation. The High Clerics here, at The Moon’s Haven Guildhall, have gone through extraordinary feats to assist me in expanding my knowledge of the Arcane. While it is exciting to learn new spells and absorb the knowledge these Elders are willing to share, I will be happy to be done with my training so that I may find a quiet place to retreat. Who knew that Holy Men could talk so much and for so long, debating the most minute detail of religion and faith. Thankfully my Eladrin heritage helped me “participate” by sitting in the back corner mediating yet listening enough to answer up any questions that may be thrown my way.

How I miss the wilderness too! The trees at night with the moon streaming through the leaves, the sounds of the owls, wolves and other creatures prowling at night. I’ve been holed up in this city too long, the stench has become unbearable. Even at night sitting high a top the Guild House has done nothing to help clear the odor from my senses though it has allowed me to watch the comings and goings of the city folk, and what a queer lot they are. I’ve also seen the comings and going of my travel companions, well most of them. The Ranger called Alek, left the city a week after our training began to spend time out in the wild with the Elders Game wardens, and just returned this morning, which makes me wonder if our training is coming to an end.

I still have a bit of distrust for the Tiefling Warrior, Zerkorza. I have not forgotten how she left us tied to the tables at the Caverns of the Cult of Bane. It will take a large feat of redemption on her part to regain my trust, though I do venture to say that she has been training hard. Many nights while I sat upon the roof to feel the wind through my hair and the moon on my skin, I could hear the clash of steel and the shouts of combat from the Warriors Hall along with the calls of triumph and victory as well as those of defeat. One night I Fey stepped over to watch the battle, and while she may be small, Zerkorza is not to be underestimated in her prowess and it not afraid to best the biggest and strongest warriors.

That leaves the Rogue, Morobunce. He is quite the interesting quarry, sneaking out and about about the city well after the masses have retired for the evening. I’m certain that not all of his adventures have been training exercises though. One evening I saw him sneaking out of the Rogue’s Hall, scaling down the drainpipe of the building, intrigued, I followed him via the roof tops where I found him sneaking down a back alley way to meet up with a shadowed figure and do his bidding, almost like he was playing a fool instead of being his usual thief self. These actions of course made things about the Halfling Thief not only more interesting, but also made me quite wary of him and his secrets that he kept enveloped in his mind. As I was preparing to depart, I noticed another figure heading towards that same alley way; a Tiefling doing his best to sneak through the city and hid the fact that he wore the robes of an apprentice Wizard. The Tiefling made his way to the figure and engaged him in conversation, for a moment I thought that he might recognize Morobunce as the Tiefling’s gaze seemed to linger on him, almost as if he had seen him before. I tensed in my hiding spot wondering if the scenario might be a test of the Thief’s skills or if an altercation was going to take place. I relaxed once I realized that the Tiefling was only there to procure some wine and a pouch of tobacco. Upon completion of the business transaction, the three went about their business and I returned to my room at the Guildhall to get some much needed rest.

[Tawmis]

Letter from Kairon Starcaller...

My dearest sister,

What an interesting night. More like interesting morning. As i had written you previously the starfall had happened last night as predicted. I had taken up my usual perch on the upper southern balcony at the arcane academy here in Arncor. I had also procured a fine bottle of wine and bit of pipeleaf to relax and enjoy an enchanting night. The Baneid starfall promised to be one of the finest in years. This balcony is truly the best part of this academy. The old fools still believe pouring over ancient tomes is the true way to power. Rituals and crude manipulation of the forces around us barely scratch the surface. Event the old astrology master didn’t know what was staring him right in the face. There are far more ancient and secret sources. I do love sitting up here listening to the silent song of the deep night, the ancient whispered names of the stars. Of course most of the overly superstitious population was cowering in their homes not because of course Bane’s night is a night of evil and no one wants to bring that upon their houses. I apologize for rambling again but as i was saying. Dawns light had come again dimming the vast reaches of the night and my bottle was empty and I was ready to turn in. Then out of no where a most motley crew making a great racket near the front gates of the city, and so early in the morning too. Through my watch-glass I observed an Eladrin cleric I believe, she wore the sigil of the moon Goddess Sehanine. She was leading a mage bound hand and foot. Come to think of it he looked familiar, I believe he was kicked out of this very academy some time ago. Must have fallen in with a bad crowd. Anyways she was leading a group of toughs, probably adventurers by the looks of them. A human woodsman, he looked more worried about entering the city than the other, most likely he feels more at home in a tree than in a nice feather bed. One appeared to be a halfling, rouge of some sort, his wary eye kept a lookout even while they were talking to the guards. This will shock you a bit the last in the group was a Teifling. She was a surprise i was not sure until she lowered her hood but unmistakable though she was in an absolute shamble her armor and weapons were in need of a thorough cleaning. Unfortunately I was a bit too far away to hear what exactly they were saying but the Captain of the Guard was soon called then the whole lot was marched off to see the magistrate. At that point the wine had worn off completely and weariness had won out over curiosity. Something tells me this will not be the last I see of this group. Well i should be off again the astrology master will likely need me to assist with his research and may want a report of last night’s starfall. Maybe I’ll make some inquiries later today. I look forward to hearing from you soon give mother my love.

Love Always

Kairon

[Tawmis]

And as always, comments are welcomed! I will pass comments to the other folks who have done their journals (since they're not - shamefully! - on this forum!) :smallbiggrin:

[Tawmis]

Journal of Kalamitee Wolfsmoon – page 38

This morning I awoke to a light tap upon my door, Master Bourcier presented me with a letter from the Magistrate of the City of Ancor. I thanked him and opened the scroll to see that it was Letter of Summons and that I was to be at the Magistrates office promptly at 1 in the afternoon. I wondered if my colleagues were to meet there as well. When we last met the Magistrate he was overly excited about our extermination of the members of the Cult of Bane and rewarded us with 6 months of training at our respective guildhalls. Though in reality, I don’t know if it was as much of a reward as it was us owing a powerful man a large debt. There was something about the Magistrate that left me feeling like we were merely pawns in his game of Chess and were to do nothing more than assist in filling his coffers.

After reading the letter, I had been right about the training coming to an end upon seeing the Rangers return and took it upon myself to pack up my small pack with my supplies, carefully wrapping up the Wand of Sleep and nestling it among the rest of my traveling items. Once I was done, I headed down to the main floor meeting up with Master Bourcier for some final words and his blessing on my journey. I hoped to see the elder man again, he was a kind man full of knowledge and wisdom, and reminded my very much of my father. While I was sad my training was over, I can not say that I was sad to be leaving the City and getting back out into the wilderness into the clear fresh air of the wilds.

I lingered at the Guildhall as long as I could before departing to the Magistrates office, where I found myself escorted through the side door and into a foyer where I found the rest of my companions and the Tiefling from the night before. Nodding to Alek, Zerkorza and Morobunce, I took a seat in a gilded chair near the corner of the room and looked around. The Tiefling Mage was there preening about the room in his overly shiny black leather armor thinking that he was royalty or something. The floors of the foyer were hardwood and looked to be hewed of red oak, the curtains were an opulent silk brocade the color of the forest with chairs and a sofa of the same color cloth adorned with embroidery of gold. The two large windows were mostly covered by the curtains, but they let in a stream of sunlight that warmed the room. Elegantly sculpted statues were positioned around the room as well, the Magistrate definitely didn’t spare any expense when it came to the space. After about 15 minutes of waiting, we were ushered into his office and told to partake of the food that adorned the sideboard while the Magistrate finished up the business he was tending to.

Just as we finished our meal, the Magistrate came into the room, full of energy and excitement.

“I trust you all have completed your training?” He asked received a chorus of yese and a round of thanks from the group.

“Good! Good! Now I’m sure you all have wondered why I have requested your presence today?” not waiting for a reply he went on to explain that he had a task for us. He explained that there is a keep called Richter’s Keep that lay south 2 days travel from the City and it was infested with Kobolds. He went on to say that they last party that he sent out had not yet returned and he figured they had met their demise at the hands of said Kobolds and that since he was so impressed with our prowess and handling of the Cult members, the task was ours to accomplish.

My companions and I looked at each other and I could tell that Alek and Morobunce were thinking that we were being called on to pay for our training over the last 6 months and that we really didn’t have much of an option to decline, lest we have the entire army of soldiers of the City coming at us. While we were contemplating our decision, the arrogant Tiefling Mage not only accepted the task, but proclaimed himself the leader of the group. Just as I was getting ready to protest the decision the Magistrate presented all of us with gold coins with a red ruby in the middle. He explained that these were tokens of His office and that for as long as we were in his lands, the tokens would bring us safe passage and aid if needed. He also presented us with 50 gold coins and a tool respective of each of our classes.

His aide presented me with a Symbol of Hope, in which I placed around my neck and tucked into the neckline of my top. Once everyone had received their respective tool, the Magistrate valet handed the maps to the Tiefling Mage, whose name was Kairon Starcaller. After discussing the map and the route we were going to take, we were then escorted out the side door into the City streets to depart on our journey.

Departing from the city, we followed the map to the first guard station near the first fork of the river where our illustrious leader, Kairon tried to gain us passage down the river by one of the barges, by offering him up protection and even tried to go as far to show his token given to him by the Magistrate and find himself not only shut down, but presented with a similar coin in return. The barge Captain laughed at the Mage and told him that if he wanted rights to anything down river he would speak to the Magistrate himself. After the debacle at the riverside town, we headed just outside the town and set up camp.

The night passed uneventfully and the party woke up well rested. The next morning as we began to pack up we heard a rustling heading towards us through the woods. We all stopped what we were doing and drew our weapons to find a small bear charging at us out of the wilderness. Not knowing the intentions of the bear, I Fey stepped off to the side and the bear changed it’s direction towards Alek. The Ranger almost cleaved the poor frightened bear had it not been for me saying something to him. With out breaking stride the bear ran behind Alek just as two Orcs with a crazed look in their eyes burst through the same area in the clearing that the bear did.

We quickly descended on the Orcs and laid them out, just in the nick of time, as a pair of Dire Bears burst through the same spot into the clearing as well. Fearing that we would have to do battle with these great beasts, we were relieved to find out that they were the sires of the small cub and that they were grateful for us rescuing their offspring. The Ranger was rewarded with more Orc bodies shown to him by the Dire Bears and the loot they carried.

Once we regrouped, we resumed our travels to the guard station at the second river crossing. We arrived at the river crossing just as night began to fall, and the guards at first were wary of our presence until we explained while we were there and showed our tokens of passage from the Magistrate. Well things would have been much more comfortable has the Mage not rattled off in arrogance demanding the best rooms and food they had. We had to settle with straw beds for the night and a bowl of gruel for dinner. Sharing some of our food with the Captain and the guardsmen we settled down for our meal, the Mage then pulled out a bottle of wine from his pack and shared with the lot, I recognized the bottle from the exchange in the alley back in the City or Ancor.

The Captain led us into a wooden building where the walls were lined with straw mat beds and a fire blazed in the hearth. Taking up spaces around the fire we helped ourselves to the stew boiling in the cauldron. While we were eating, I noticed that the Thief pulled aside the Captain to try to obtain some information from his away from the rest of the crowd. He found out nothing more than a party of Orcs, which we informed him that we dispatched on our journey earlier in the day for attacking the dire bear cub. Surprised the guardsman knew the Dire Bears by name and was shocked to hear they had a cub.

While sitting with my back to the wall I heard the Mage babbling and preening about the trip to the Keep and how we’ll make it back with no problems. It was then that the Captain made a wager with the Mage for 50 gold that we’d make it back, while I heard the Thief making a side wager against the Mage coming back alive,unable to resist temptation I tossed in 50 gold, betting that by the end of the journey the Karion’s armor would be less than shiny The Captain clapped Morobunce on the shoulder, accepted the wagers and roared in laughter.

After the Captain left the room, with the sound of his laughter echoing out into the night, we resumed our meal to be joined by other guardsmen. One of the men decided that our group was a bit motley looking and started harassing Zerkorza about her small stature. I watched from my seat as he challenged her to a bout of arm wresting. The two sat upon the roughly hew benched on either side of the table and before you could blink your eye the guardsman was on the floor with his arm bent back at an odd angle with Zerkorza hardly out of breath.

“It seems I have underestimated your size” he said as he gasped in pain and slowly pulled himself up from the floor with is good arm. Standing a moment to catch his breath, he looks across the room to see me sitting there with a smirk upon my face. I took a drink from my cup and set it down beside me as he slowly walked over as to not pass out from the pain.

“Pardon me, good cleric, would you be so kind as to heal my arm for me?” he asked wincing in pain and using his good arm to prop himself up against the wall.

“You’re stupidity will cost you. What is it worth to me?” I replied.

“I’ll give you 5 gold pieces.” he answered slowly and out of breath.

I smirked at him, “Make it 10 and you have a deal.” I saw a bit of anger flash in his eyes and went on, “It was not I that was stupid enough to challenge a Tiefling Warrior to a bout of arm wrestling. This should be a lesson in underestimating your opponent.”

He nodded his head and agreed to the 10 gold pieces. Taking another drink from my cup I stood, grasped his arm and began to chant. A warm glow emanated from my hands and flowed up his arm, healing back to what it was once before.

“There, your arm is now as good a new. Next time you should think twice when challenging someone no matter what their size or gender.” I said as I took the 10 gold from his hand and watched him walk off, sullen about not only his loss of the wrestling match and 20 gold, but also the jab to his pride.

Tired from the journey and all the excitement of the evening, we all retired to our beds to rest up for the next days journey. From what we were told, Richter’s Keep was not far off and we all needed to be well rested for any encounters we may come face to face with on the remainder of our journey.

I will write again once we have made our way to Richter’s Keep, provided we make it out alive.