Bard's diary
Demonic
Member Posts: 75
Hello there folks, I recently decided I'll improve my storywritting in english and since I am currently going through a new custom party playthrough of the whole saga, I realized I might as well use it as a base for the story. But without someone to read it, the practise would be pointless, right? So I'm posting it here, for all of you to read. I really hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writting it. And I would be gratefull for any constructive critique both in language and the use of phrases and other stuff.
So, without further delay, I give you the story of young half elven bard as he's dragged through the Sword Cost by his destiny.
Update 11.5.2015:Since I will upload only to DeviantArt from now on, I changed all the links, so they now take to a DeviantArt page with the respective chapter. I will still post an update here, when a new chapter is out.
Prologue
Part one - Brittle Iron
Chapter I.
Chapter II.
Chapter III.
Chapter IV.
Chapter V.
Chapter VI.
Chapter VII.
Part two - Freelance adventurers
Chapter VIII.
Chapter IX.
Chapter X.
Chapter XI.
Chapter XII.
So, without further delay, I give you the story of young half elven bard as he's dragged through the Sword Cost by his destiny.
Update 11.5.2015:Since I will upload only to DeviantArt from now on, I changed all the links, so they now take to a DeviantArt page with the respective chapter. I will still post an update here, when a new chapter is out.
Prologue
Part one - Brittle Iron
Chapter I.
Chapter II.
Chapter III.
Chapter IV.
Chapter V.
Chapter VI.
Chapter VII.
Part two - Freelance adventurers
Chapter VIII.
Chapter IX.
Chapter X.
Chapter XI.
Chapter XII.
Post edited by Demonic on
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Comments
26th Tarsak 1368
Dear diary,
today I met a group of very interesting people. They arrived in Candlekeep in the late afternoon and immediately headed out to Winthrops’s. I was sitting near the hearth, tuning my lute and so I had a nice view on them in the moment they entered the inn.
The first one was a tall woman dressed in simple brown dress with a simple leather corset. She looked young, but her hair was white as snow and cowered by a cape of the same colour as her dress. There was something intriguing about her, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
The next person was a robust man. His armour shouted “fighter”, but I noticed a mace fastened to his belt, so he was maybe a priest . I was trying to find symbol of some god, but I couldn’t find any. Maybe he was just a fighter and I was just letting my imagination run wild. He scanned the inn and quickly walked to the bar.
Another man came after him. This one was clearly an archer, maybe even ranger. I was quite impressed by the size of his bow, before I realized his string wasn’t attached. But it was still an impressive longbow.
Then a woman appeared. She was smaller than her companions, dressed in black and grey clothes with two swords sheathed on her hips. She smiled as she entered and gods, it was a gorgeous smile. She was full of energy and laughter and I was stunned by her.
But she wasn’t the last member of the group. Last one was a tall figure towering above anyone else in the inn. He actually had to bend down to go through the door. His face was hidden in a simple, but sturdy looking helm and I couldn’t remember any race that was supposed to be that tall and bulky. But the man removed his helmet and I got my answer. He was a half-orc, a rare but not an uncommon sight in these lands.
The inn went silent for a moment, but all the patrons quickly returned to their conversations. By the time the group ordered their meals and drinks, I was done with tuning and began to play some easy tunes to warm up. As my fingers run through the strings I continued to watch the group. They chose a table near the hearth so I could hear bits of their conversation, but I didn’t pay them much attention. My eyes were locked on the woman in black, partly because of the contrast between her quite sinister looking clothing and her stunningly beautiful face and frequent smiles.
At one point, she noticed my stare, smiled at me and gave me a wink. My face immediately turned red and I turned away from her, focusing on the lute. I switched from easy warm up tunes to some harder song and tried to ignore her, but I just couldn’t. I looked at her in pauses between my songs and she was always looking at me, smiling. Every time I looked my face turned red more and more and my focus worse but I couldn’t help it.
After a while he said something to her companion and the archer turned to me.
“Hey, you with the lute, are you a bard?”
“Y-yes I am, w-why?” I babbled, surprised by this sudden question.
“Then don’t just sit there, come here and play us some songs. We could use a little entertainment and you must by dying of curiosity. Come here, play some fun songs and we’ll share a story or two, what do you say?”
I quickly agreed and before I noticed I was playing them all of the tavern songs I knew. Winthrop was giving me one of his “I can’t believe you’re playing this in my inn” looks, but I couldn’t care less. I played and she was listening and smiling.
When I ran out of all of my frivolous songs, they ordered me a pint of mead and the archer, Haldemar was his name, began telling a story. He was an impressive storyteller and I breathlessly listened. He had a lot of stories to tell and they were all amazing. Through them I learned the group’s names. The tall silent half-orc was Grask, the man with the mace was Leodrik, and Marissa was the woman with the white hair. And the smiling woman dressed in black was Vanessa.
When Haldemar finished with his storytelling, their attention quickly turned back to me.
“And what’s your story?” Vanessa asked. “Why is a bard here, in Candlekeep? I thought this was the place for studying, meditation and similar stuff?”
“Well, to be honest I've never been anywhere else. Well, I was, but I don’t remember it, I was too young. I’ve been living here with my foster father as long as I can remember.”
“Really? I find it hard to believe that, especially after you played those songs. Don’t tell me you learned them from the books here.” said Haldemar.
“Well,” I shrugged, “I wasn’t out there, but some of the guards were.”
Our conversation then continued for a while, but they went to their rooms soon in the evening, as they were tired from their journey to the Keep. I’ll follow their example soon enough, but I doubt I’ll fall asleep any soon. Even now, while I’m writing this, I can’t stop thinking about Vanessa’s smiles.
I don't have anything to offer in the way of critique other than to say you write very well and I look forward to reading more.
/Edit/ I actually was able to find some grammatical and stylisticall errors by myself, so it might not be that bad with me and my english after all
3rd Myrtul 1368
Dear diary,
Gorion is dead. How? Murdured by a man in black armour and his lackeys. Why? Because he refused to hand me over to them. I still can’t believe it. It all started a few days ago. Gorion suddenly decided we had to leave Candlekeep. He said we weren’t safe anymore. It didn’t make any sense. Why would anyone want to harm us, old scholar and his young adopted son? I protested, but Gorion has already decided. We would leave and nothing I could say could convince him otherwise.
I packed my belongings and bought a sword as Gorion suggested. That was another weird thing. Why the sword? Yes, I had some training, Gorion arranged some lessons for me with the guards, but I was by no means a swordsman. Yet, Gorion insisted. And then, when I was almost ready to leave, it happened. A weird guy approached me on the street, while I was walking back to my father, and asked me a strange question. Immediately after I answered, he pulled out a dagger and attacked me. I was able to dodge his strike and unsheathe my sword, but he didn’t care. He probably knew I was no good with it, so he continued his attack. I managed to deflect a few blows, I had the advantage of the long blade after all, but I was so paralyzed by fear I could only barely defend myself.
Finally, he overpowered me and tossed me to the ground. But when he was reaching for the final strike, his head suddenly erupted and he crumbled to the ground. Leodrik was standing behind him, his mace still covered by blood and parts of brain.
“Are you all right? Did he hurt you?” he asked.
“N-no, I-I mean yes, I’m ok”
He pulled me up.
“Do you know who he was, kid?” he continued with his questions.
“No, why should I?”
“I don’t know.” he shrugged. “But he was eager to gut you, so he probably knew you. Some angry husband? Or father perhaps?”
“What? No!” I blushed when I realized what he meant.
”You sure?”
“Damn right, I’m sure!”
“Ok, no need to be angry, kid. Look, the guards are coming. Pretty damn slow they are. C’mon, we’ll need to explain this.”
Luckily, one of the guards saw it all from the barracks, so they knew what happened. They asked me almost the same things as Lodrik and then let me go. I was still shocked. Someone tried to kill me! Gorion was right, we really were in danger. I hurried back to my father and we departed from Candlekeep almost immediately.
We travelled all day, but when we were ready to stop for the night, Gorion suddenly became nervous. And for a good reason. Few moments later a group of dark figures appeared from the forest. They asked my father to hand me over, and when he refused, they attacked. Gorion shouted “Run!” and then began casting. I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was lobbing one spell after another on them in quick succession, killing most of the group almost instaneously.
“Run!” he shouted again. This time I listened. I turned around, and sprinted blindly to the night, echoes of the magic explosions still in my ears. I don’t know how long I ran, but I ultimately fell down, completely exhausted.
When I woke up, the sun was already up. Someone was shaking with me, and when I opened my eyes I panicked. Large silhouette was crouching above me. I screamed in terror and tried to run, but he was holding me down with incredible strength. He removed his helmet and I finally realised he wasn’t the man from the night. And when he stood up and shouted loudly some words I couldn’t understand, I recognized him. Grask, the half-orc from the tavern.
Shortly after his shout, Haldemar came running. He gave me a quick look, and then shouted to the forest.
“Guys, in here, we found him!”
Then he turned his attention back to me.
“Are you injured?” he asked, his voice shaking with suppressed anger.
“No” I replied. “How did you find me? Why were you looking for me?”
“Later. We have to get you out of this forest first. Where are those idiots anyway? We need to move fast, who knows who else is stalking here.”
The ‘idiots’, as he referred to the rest of his group, appeared shortly after. They immediately grabbed me, and without any words, they dragged me with them. I was still in shock from the night, so I didn’t resist. After all I was glad I’m not alone.
We walked for a long time, before we finally stopped. I was barely standing, my legs shaking from fatigue and hunger. They probably knew that, because Haldemar immediately began building a small fireplace, while Vanessa and Grask were unpacking some food. Then I realized they’re probably almost as hungry as I am, since they probably have been looking for me for quite long.
The food calmed me down a bit and I finally started to think normal again. I realized I still don’t know what happened to my father, but when I asked them, they went silent. After a few moments, Vanessa quietly described me what they found.
They saw the lights and explosions all the way from the Candlekeep and immediately went searching for us. She didn’t mention how they knew it was us, but I didn’t ask. They found Gorion much faster than me, mostly because his spells carved quite a scar in the forest. I smiled.
“Yeah, he was flinging spells like a madman. I never knew he could do that. So, where is he? Why is he not with you?”
Vanessa gave me a sad look and it finally clicked. The short silence, after I mentioned him, the reason why she was speaking so softly, carefully choosing her words, or why he wasn’t with them. I collapsed.
It took me a while before I collected myself enough to think again.
“I want to bury him.”
“We already did, kid. I am of no use in terms of searching and tracking, so I buried him, while others were searching for you.”
“Then I want to see his grave. I have to.”
They looked at each other, but they said nothing. Finally, Haldemar broke the silence.
“Fine, we’ll take you there, but not now. We have to lay low for a while, we don’t know who else might be looking for you. But after that, we’ll take you to him, I promise.
That happened yesterday. I didn’t want to write here anymore at first, but the need was too strong. I need to get it out and this might be the only way.
Also, your English is fine, very good:) In fact, I envy your English a bit.
6th Myrtul 1368
Dear diary,
we visited Gorion’s grave. I have to say I was really surprised by extend of the destruction dealt to the forest. My father surely was an impressive man. Hi died fighting, protecting me, like some hero from the tales. I stood near the simple mound, grabbed my lute and started playing. I don’t know why I did it, it just felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t sing though. No words could express my feelings. The strange mixture of sadness, fear, pride and resolve to live on, so his sacrifice wasn’t in vain simply couldn’t be described.
I was actually quite surprised by those feelings. I never considered myself being tough, but yet there I stood, playing the lute to honour him, sad, but not crying, startled, but not shaking.
I don’t know how long I played. When I finished, I turned around and looked at the group that found me in the forest. They were all standing there, with surprised looks on their faces, watching me with opened mouths. All but the woman in brown. She was smiling, no, grinning with amused expression.
“My my, looks like you’re more than just a simple bard.” she said. “Do you know what you just did?”
I stared at her, completely confused. “I-I don’t know what you mean.”
“Well, when you played, we all could feel your emotions, we were all part of your song. We were not listening to it, we were part of it. I guess it’s only natural, given the place where you grew up.”
“W-what are you speaking about? What’s natural” I whispered. “Yeah, what was it? Why did we feel it?” Haldemar asked.
“Because our half elven friend here subconsciously fused his song together with magic. And thanks to the magic we all felt the same emotions as him. Others can do it too, but they usually have to practise it a lot. You’re quite the talent, Jonah.”
I couldn’t believe it at first, but Marissa eventually convinced me it was the truth. When she discovered I like heroic tales, she made me play them while Grask and Lodrik were sparring. She asked me if I could try to inspire the hammer wielding man to fight better. It actually worked. I still don’t know how I did it, but when I started to play, focusing on Lodrik, wishing he would win, he suddenly took initiative and quickly disarmed his half-orc friend. They were both equally surprised as Lodrik was never able to do it before. And he wasn’t able to repeat it when I was silent. But when I was playing, he suddenly fought better again. When they realised I was messing with their practice, they burst in laughter. After that I had to promise them I’ll always play my songs when they were fighting for real, but never again when they were practising.
Next few days were boring. Haldemar returned from his scouting and we moved on. They took a few quick jobs here and there, we even visited the Friendly Arms Inn, which I would really like to explore a bit more, and then we moved to Beregost, where they apparently had to report to someone.
I was waiting for them in Jovial Juggler, entertaining locals with my songs and wondering to whom they had to report, when they crashed in, angry and frustrated. They ordered some strong drinks and ranted furiously. I ended my song and joined them near the bar.
“What happend?” I asked.
“Bugger off, kid.” Lodrik growled. “It’s none of your concerns.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes and turned to me. “Don’t mind him, he’s pissed. Damn, we’re all pissed, we’ve been screwed. We did our job, but our contact said we messed up and refused to pay us. Now we’re jobless and almost broke.”
“Uh, huh. That doesn’t sound good. What were you supposed to do?”
Vanessa hesitated. “Uhm... I don’t know if I can tell you.” she said, and looked at the archer.
Haldemar shrugged. “Well, it’s not a secret, not anymore I guess. They didn’t pay, so why should we stick with the rules anyway.”
She grinned. “That’s right. Well, you see, we were hired to investigate some strange acting folks in the Candlekeep, but it turned out they were just a bunch of crazy experimenting wizards. We gathered all the information we could and were prepared to leave in the early morning, when we saw the magic in the forest. I think you know the rest. But our contact was furious we didn’t follow the wizards. He demanded we return to the Candlekeep which we refused. After that it went bad.” She stopped for a moment and took a sip of her drink. “Hald and Lodrik started to argue with him and that bastard teleported us out.”
“Just like that?”
She filliped with her fingers. “Just like that. So, now we’re without job and almost without money.”
I didn’t know what to say. We were sitting in a silence for a while, but Marissa quickly broke it.
“Vanessa, I think you forgot something.”
“What? Oh... right, that.” She suddenly looked embarrassed.”Yeah, I kind of forgot. Do you think I should...?” she asked.
“I think he deserves to know.”
Vanessa sighted. “All right, if you say so.”
I was curious what is she going to say, but she took her time. She drank at least two more shots before she started talking again.
“Well, you see, one of the wizards we were supposed to investigate was Gorion. We didn’t know that at first, but when we realized it, we decided not to tell our employer a think about him. And that’s the main reason he was so angry.” She immediately drank another shot.
“My father? But why? And why would you do that? I mean, not telling anything?”
“We don’t know why we were ordered to watch him. And why were we silent about him? Well... he is, or at least he was a harper. That’s enough.”
“A harper? Who? What do you know about them?”
“Not much.” she sighted. ”No one knows much about them, but one thing is sure. You don’t cross them, you don’t spy on them. It’s not good for your health.”
“But why? Surely they can’t be that violent if my father was one of them, she was kind and calm and...”
She grinned. “Peacefull? And what about the slaughter in the forest? He wasn’t that peaceful then. But you’re right, they’re not evil or violent, no. But from what we know, they fiercely protect one of their own. I’m still quite surprised there was someone who dared to attack him.”
I wanted to ask her more questions, but the loss of Gorion was still too recent and all that talking just served as a reminder. I remained silent. She looked like she’s glad. I guess it wasn’t easy for her to talk about it too. We were truly grateful when Lodrik changed the topic.
“So, what do we do now?” he asked.
Grask grunted and made some gestures which I couldn’t understand.
“Damn right we need a job. But what job? Those locals can’t pay much and the life on the road is not exactly cheap, you know that.”
Grask grunted again and this time all five of them joined the conversation. I didn’t pay much attention to what they spoke. I was still thinking about the things Vanessa said, trying to decide if I should trust them. They went looking for me that night, that was sure, but they were supposed to spy on my father too. But why would they tell me that, if they had some hidden intensions with me? No, they were honest with me. That was the only thing that made sense.
But still, what am I supposed to do now? Gorion probably had some plan, but he never told me. Sure, he mentioned Friendly Arms Inn, but we were there. The innkeeper told us that there were some people asking for me and my father, but that sounded suspicious so we didn’t meet them. I may be a little paranoid, but I’ll rather be paranoid than dead. And with the state of these lands, one can never be too careful. Bandits on the roads, troubles in Nashkel, people went missing... wait. Nashkel?
“Nashkel!”
I immediately realized I said it out loud.
“Sorry, kid, you were saying something?” Lodrik asked.
“Yeah, Nashkel. Folks here spoke about some troubles there, I think we should check it. Maybe they’ll be willing to pay us, and even if they won’t, we can always look for smaller jobs there. It can’t be much worse then here.”
“Wait, did I heard you right?” asked Haldemar. “Did you really said WE? Like, YOU with US?”
“Well, yeah?” I replied.
“Look, I have nothing against you, but we don’t need another in our group. We saved you, but if you think that makes you one of us, then you’re wrong. I’m sure you can manage on your own.”
Lodrik gasped. “You can’t be serious Hald. You really want to leave him here?”
“Yeah, he’s not a member of our group. He’s friend, but he’s not one of us.”
“By Lathander, how can you say this? This kid’s in danger, they’re probably after him. We can’t just leave him!” argued Lodrik.
“But that’s exactly why we should leave h..”
“Do you listen to yourself, brother?! Do you know what you’re saing? Because I don’t think so!” interrupted him Vanessa.
“But if...” Haldemar tried to defend himself, but was interrupted again.
“If what?” nearly shouted Vanessa.
“Yeah, if what?” Lodrik joined the argument again. “Hald, there’s no way we leave him here. He’s talented, you saw what he can do with his songs. And he’s got a good idea, Nashkel is a good place to find a job. He’s coming with us.”
“But...” Haldemar looked around looking for help from the remaining members of the group, but Marissa just shrugged her shoulders and Grask was looking on him with disgusted gaze.
“All right, all right you morons,” he laughed, “you’re right as always. We’ll do it your way. Now where’s my flagon?”
I couldn’t believe it. In one moment he wanted to leave me in Beregost, and in the other he agreed I can go with them. Vanessa later explained me that Hald sometimes speaks faster then he thinks, especially when he’s drinking.
We’re setting out towards Nashkel tomorrow morning. I can’t wait.
9th Myrtul 1368
Dear diary,
we finally arrived in Nashkel today. It took us a little longer than we expected, but we had to be careful while we were travelling. There were rumours about bandits waiting along the road, so we often had to wait while Haldemar was scouting ahead. We managed to avoid several traps thanks to his keen eyes, but we eventually had to fight one larger group that openly blockaded the path to Nashkel. They turned out to be quite a bunch of cowards. When they realised they have to deal with two men in heavy armour supported by an archer, they quickly disappeared in the woods.
We’ve been trying to gather some information about the problems in Nashkel, but we weren’t really successful. Everybody told us the same, the iron from the mines is brittle. How can we do something about that? We gave up on that after some time, hoping that people in Nashkel will know more. And they certainly did.
First thing that surprised us was the patrol of Amnish soldiers. While Nashkel of course is a formal part of Amn, it was quite uncommon to see soldiers there, due to his largely autonomous state. At this point, we realised there must be more to Nashkel’s problems, than just a mere quality of its iron ore.
Our suspicions were confirmed, when we were approached by a man who introduced himself as a mayor and asked us for help. He told us he actually asked some other group for help, but they have not yet arrived and he needed the problems solved as fast as possible. When we asked him about the mines, he told us the bad quality of iron was indeed only one part of the problem. The disappearing miners were the second one.
Later that day, after we explored Nashkel a bit and bought some much needed supplies, we headed to local tavern, to discuss our options. There was a nasty surprise waiting for us there. Immediately after I came in, strange women asked me about my name. I don’t remember how I reacted, but she didn’t even wait for my answer and charged at me with her mace. She terribly miscalculated thought. Grask pushed me aside, blocked her strike with his shield and smashed his large fist in her face.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. He hit her with a full force, but she just stumbled a few steps back. Grask was surprised too and she quickly made use of it. Before we realized it, she was casting a spell and few moments later, Grask was unable to move. She then turned back to me and prepared another spell, but before she could finish the incantation, the rest of our group came in and quickly overpowered her.
We were interrogated by the soldiers for the next two hours, before their boss finally decided to believe us. I guess it must’ve been the letter they found on her body that convinced him. Turned out the letter was a bounty notice offering a neat sum of money for my head. I have to say, I was shocked when I read it. Luckily for us, the latter was clear about not informing a law about the bounty, so it was quite obvious we weren’t outlaws.
After the soldiers left and took away the body, we finally got to order some meal. The inn was small, but cosy. Innkeeper wasn’t speaking too much with us, but we scared some of his guests who eventually left, so it was kind of natural.
While we were eating, Haldemar kept his eye on me for the whole time.
“So,” he finally spoke, “do you want to tell us something?”
“Do you have something particular in mind?” I countered with question of my own.
“Well yeah. Why are people so eager to slit your throat, for instance?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. My father told me we weren’t safe back in Candlekeep and that’s why we left, but I actually didn’t know it was me who was in danger. I realised that after Leodrik had to save me from the thug in the street. But who wants me dead and why, well I know as much about it as you do.”
“I don’t think we’ll find out any soon, so why won’t we speak about the job here in Nashkel first?” Vanessa asked.
“Good idea. What do you think guys?” asked Leodrik. “Do you think those disappearances and the iron quality problem are just coincidences?”
“Who knows? But it’s suspicious, that’s for sure.” I replied. “But since the locals are not very eager to speak to us, the only way how to find out is to go in the mines, am I right?”
“As much as I hate to admit it, you probably are.” sighted Hald. “I’m definitely not looking forward to it.”
“By the way,” Marissa entered the conversation ”we’re running low on our potions and since the last time I checked we had no cleric with us, we should probably replenish our first aid kit, if we’re really going inside those mines.”
“Ah, you’re right as always, Marissa.” grinned Hald. “Always the responsible one, right?”
“Well, somebody has to keep you guys alive. So why won’t we check the local carnival first, see if we can buy some stuff there, before heading to the mines?”
That caught Vanessa’s attention.
“There’s a carnival here?” she asked.
“Yeah there is, but don’t you dare to pinch anything, you hear me?”
She rolled her eyes. “C’mon Hald, you’re no fun. We are no saints and you know it.”
“We may be no saints, sister, but we are no thieves either.”
“Fine, fine. Even the cheats are off limits?” she smiled slyly.”
Hald sighted. “All right, you can play around them a little, but try not to steal too much. And make sure you give some of it back to those who lost it in the game.”
“Sure brother, I’ll do it your way.” she grinned.
Decisions were made and the conversation ended soon after. We were tired from our hike to the city and from the long questioning, so we were eager to get some sleep. I’m really interested in the carnival, but I can’t stop thinking about the past few days. Who wants me dead and why? I’m acting tough when I’m around the others, but I’m actually pretty scared. I really hope we’ll find some answers sooner or later.
10th Myrtul 1368
Dear diary,
the carnival was interesting. There were lots of strange people, interesting artists and merchants with a lot of stuff. As soon as we arrived, Vanessa turned to me and smiled.
“Why don’t you come with me, I’m planning to have some fun with rich people’s pouches and I can teach you a thing or two.” she said and winked.
Haldemar rolled his eyes.
“Come on, sister, do you really have to teach him that kind of stuff?”
“Sure I have, brother, you never know when he’ll need it.” she laughed.
He sighed. “At least don’t get him into trouble then.”
“When did I ever get someone in trouble?” she replied with innocent smile.
“Well I remember that one time you stole from the mayor of some small town, or the other time, when you seduced a son of our employer, or...” He wanted to continue, but Vanessa interrupted him.
“Geez, brother, I just want to have fun, I’ll be careful I promise.” she turned to me, “So, are you going or not? And why are you blushing so suddenly?”
“What? Oh, Y-yes I’ll go with you.”
“Good. Follow me and watch what I do.”
Others went after their business and we were soon walking towards large colourful tent near the middle of the carnival grounds. She seemed happy to me, eager almost. I guess she hadn’t that kind of fun for a long time. When we got near the tent, she stopped.
“Listen, Jonah, walk in, find some place to sit and play something quietly. Or just pretend you’re tuning your lute, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll come in soon after you. Look carefully on what I do and how I do it. And try not to stare that much, or else they’ll notice me. Do you understand?”
I nodded, grabbed my lute and did what she said. There were a few chairs near the entrance so I picked one of them. No one paid me any attention, since I was obviously in gambling tent. They were focused on whatever game they played. Of course, I realised, Hald allowed her to steal only from those who run those games.
She came in after a while. She probably noticed me, but her focus was elsewhere. She slowly walked from game to game. She even stopped to play a round or two of some dice game and then left the table. Soon after, she bumped to some guy. He looked angry at first, but she apologized and smiled. He waved his hand and began talking with her. She laughed and nodded to something he said. They then walked to some other table, with a game I couldn’t recognize and began playing it. He was watching her and grabbed her on one hip. It felt wrong. Why he had to do that, I wondered. I’m not sure why it bothered me though. She didn’t care, so why should I?
They lost some money in the game and he left the tent, angry that she didn’t come with him. She was wandering through the tent for a while and then walked out. I followed her outside and she was already waiting there, with a two pouches in her hand.
“Did you see how I got them?” she asked?
“No, didn’t.” I replied, ashamed I didn’t pay enough attention.
“And were you watching what I did or were you watching me?”
“You.” I admitted, my face turning red.
She laughed.
“Well, look at my hands next time, or you’ll never learn anything.”
She poked me with her finger and then started walking.
“Come on, we should probably find the rest, Hald didn’t want to stay here for too long.”
We met them near one of the smaller tents. Leodrik waved at us as soon as he spotted us.
“Hurry up, we’re waiting for you. Marissa is almost done here and we want to start investigating the mines as soon as possible, Hald said...” He couldn’t finish his sentence as he was interrupted by a loud shout and a few strange noises that came from the tent. We immediately rushed inside, only to see Marissa firing some magic projectiles at some man. He tried to retaliate, but she was too fast. Her projectiles hit him and he was thrown to the side of the tent. He fell on the ground with a smoke rising from his body. The smell of ozone filled the space.
“By the gods, Marissa, what’s gotten into you? Why did you do that?” shouted Lodrik, watching the scene in disbelief.
“I did what I must. He was trying to do just the same to the girl you probably didn’t notice. And he was justifying it by saying she’s a witch and thus she should burn. Idiot. As if I would believe him.”
“And what if he was right? What if she is a witch?”
“Seriously? Look at him, he was accusing her of being able to use magic, while he was obviously mage himself. Do you really thing he was speaking the truth? If so, then you’re naive.”
Haldemar looked into the tent.
“Stop it you two. What’s done is done, now we have to leave. Fast. Marissa help the girl and meet us near the mines, we shouldn’t be around when they find him.”
We’re waiting for her right now. I decided to write my diary, since I don’t know if I’ll be able to write anything while we’ll be in the mines and I don’t want to forget what happened so far.
10th Myrtul 1368
Dear diary,
the mines are not nearly as interesting as I hoped they’ll be. We didn’t fully explore them yet, but I should probably start from the beginning.
Marissa caught up with us after an hour of waiting. We tried to get some answers from her, but she remained silent about the incident. Since it was useless to remain on one place, we packed our things and moved towards the mines. The scenery soon lost its nice lively look. The closer we got to the mines, the less grass we saw, and the fewer animals we heard. Haldemar looked a bit gloomy to me, but I think it was caused by his ranger nature. He was probably used to travel through lush forests and plains and this region full of dirt and rocks made him feel uncomfortable.
The mines weren’t that far from the carnival and we got there early in the afternoon. We stopped for a brief meal and then we descended to the bottom of the mining pit. Foreman wasn’t that happy to see us, he made clear that for him, we’re just another bunch of fools going to cause trouble and die, but he ultimately allowed us to go into the mines.
We lit our torches and walked in through the main entrance. Luckily for us, the passages were wide enough for Grask to fit in them. We continued deeper in the mines. There were quite a lot of miners at first, which surprised us. Mayor spoke about disappearances, so we thought there won’t be so many of them, but after we talked with few of the workers, we found out that the mine has several stories below and this is the only one which is completely safe, but it’s also almost mined out. Every miner had his own version of what’s happening. One believed it’s caused by barking demons, others spoke about a dragon or a giant man-eating worms.
Nothing seemed too convincing, but we didn’t run into any problems at that point, so we couldn’t rule out anything. We had more luck with the iron itself. One of the miners showed us the ore in the mine cart. It was covered by film of some strange substance. It couldn’t be separated and he told us it’s the same no matter where in the mine is the ore mined. We took one small piece of ore with us and continued deeper in the mines.
We explored most drifts of the first storey, when we finally found a spot where the ore was still mined. Leodrik picked freshly mined chunk of ore from the cart and examined it together with the sample we got from the miner. The new piece was without the substance, which seemed extremely suspicious, at least to me. We continued with the exploring and soon we ran into the stairs, leading to the lower parts of the mine.
The next storey was significantly less populated with the miners, but there were more guards stationed there. That part of the mine was obviously more dangerous, but it looked like it wasn’t dangerous enough to discourage the mining. We continued through the passages, occasionally stopping to speak with a guard or a miner. We soon realized one part of this storey was mostly abandoned and miners believed it was haunted. It was obvious that’s exactly the place we should check.
I walked towards it, but Grask quickly grabbed me and pulled me back.
“Be careful, kid, you can’t just waltz into that place. We have to be careful.” warned me Leodrik.
“Bu we just walked through the mines, right? And you weren’t exactly careful.”
“Yeah, but there was a lot of other people who could warn us, if we were near danger, but now we’re going to explore the place where those same people refuse to go. Do you get it? There won’t be anyone else, so we have to pay attention to our surroundings.”
I didn’t really understand what he was trying to explain, but I pretended I did, since his lecturing was quite annoying. When we finally moved, Vanessa was walking in front of us at the edge of the light from the torches. Grask was second, Marissa and I were behind him and Leodrik with Haldemar closed our formation.
We were going rather slowly and I was bored. My mind soon drifted back to the carnival, where I was watching Vanessa in the gambling tent. I still didn’t figure out why I was so upset about that guy earlier. I was lost in this memory so badly I bumped to Grask when he suddenly stopped. I began to complain but Haldemar quickly muffled my mouth with his hand and pointed out to the passage in front of us. Vanessa was carefully returning back to our group. She whispered something but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. The others apparently understood her as they all grabbed their weapons and slowly walked forward. Marissa stayed behind and so did I. I wanted to go with the rest, bud Hald strictly told me not to.
They walked through a curved part of the corridor and disappeared from our sight. The mine was quiet for the moment, but then we heard a loud shout followed by sounds of fighting. The fight was over soon and Vanessa came back to tell us we can go now.
We walked into the large hall. Several dead bodies were lying on the floor, covered in blood. All of them were grotesquely shaped, with weird doglike heads. My stomach turned inside out and I vomited everything I ate before.
Leodrik raised his eyebrows.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
“Does it look like it’s all right? This... this... carnage is apparently too much for my stomach.” I replied when I was finally able to speak again.
“Really? But why now? You were there when we killed the bounty huntress and you saw what Marissa did to the mage. And you were fine.”
“Yeah... I guess it’s the blood and those... things. Can we... can we go somewhere else?”
“Sure we can. Just wait a moment, before we patch Hald and Grask up and we’ll move on.”
“Wait, what... are they injured?”
“Nah, just a few scratches and bruises, but it’s important to clean it so they won’t get an infection.”
After a moment of necessary bandaging, we made our way deeper to the abandoned parts and when we came across a large empty hall, we stopped. Our torches were almost gone, which meant it’s almost dark outside and we were really tired. We ate a bit from our supplies – well, they ate, my stomach was still unpleasantly disturbed – and then we quickly settled for the night. We’ll continue with our search tomorrow, hopefully without any more of those... incidents.
11th Myrtul 1368
Dear diary,
my stomach settled down by the morning and I was able to eat a little. Well, I think it was morning, but I had no way of proving it. We got up when we were rested enough, packed our things and resumed our investigation of the mines.
We searched the whole storey including the abandoned part. Fights with those monsters, Marissa said they were kobolds, became more frequent, however I was able to overcome my weakness rather quickly. After the third fight, I was able to look at the dead bodies without any issues. It was kind of disturbing how fast I got used to it. I thing Leodrik noticed it too, but he didn’t mention anything. When we cleared the last group of kobolds near the stairs to the next storey, we decided to rest a little. Vanessa found some strange vial on some of the kobolds and they wanted to examine it.
It was full of a strange green liquid which smelled terribly, and it didn’t look like anything they knew. Leodrik poured a few drops of the liquid on the ore sample we had and it almost immediately covered the piece with the same film we saw on the iron coming out of the mines.
“So, that’s why the iron ore went bad.” said Haldemar, “These little bastards are contaminating it.”
“Yeah, but it’s weird.” I joined the conversation. “You said those kobolds are rather primitive. Do you think they could come up with this kind of idea? And why would they do it?”
“That’s a good question, kid. I’m not sure, but it certainly is odd.” Leodrik looked troubled. “I fear they are merely pawns in someone else’s game, which means we will probably need to find their master.”
Our conversation quickly died out, because we weren’t able to come up with anything but speculations. We relaxed for a few moments, and then we continued through the stairs. The third storey welcomed us with darkness and foul stench. The previous parts of the mines were occasionally lit by torches or lanterns, but this one was clearly abandoned. That weren’t good news, since it meant this level is even more dangerous than the previous one. As much as we expected it, we still felt uneasy when the extinguished torches reminded us. Our progress considerably slowed since we had to be even more vigilant.
We soon found out that kobolds are swarming in this area. That slowed us even more. Every fight could attract a mob of those little mongrels and while they weren’t exactly dangerous in smaller groups, we really didn’t want to face a whole pack of them. But what we wanted is one thing, and what happened is another one. We eventually had to fight one group and Lady Luck wasn’t on our side. They came from every direction and we had to kill at least twenty of them, before the rest ran off with terrible yapping.
They didn’t hurt us that much, but we fought for a long time and we were pretty much exhausted. We managed to find some secluded passage with a dead end, where we could rest and we almost collapsed when we finally stopped there. We stayed there for almost half a day, since we had to clean and bandage a lot of small wounds, and our weapons and other equipment needed our attention too.
When we finally continued with our search the tunnels were silent. Kobolds were nowhere to be found and we could easily scout the rest of the tunnels. The last passage led us to strange rocky bridge over something that looked like a river of molten rock. I later remembered I read about this and it was called “lava”. The bridge looked solid, but Vanessa suddenly stopped us, before we could walk over it.
“Look.” She pointed at the overpass.
We were confused, but she walked a few steps back, grabbed a stone and threw it. To our surprise, the pebble went right through the solid rock.
“Illusion.” she sighed. “I hate illusions. We have to be careful, it looks like only parts of the bridge are real. Everybody, follow exactly in my steps.”
She slowly walked to the other side, carefully testing the bridge before each step. Leodik and Grask followed her afterwards, but when it was Marissa’s turn, she smirked, grabbed a handful of pebbles and threw them to the other side near the ground. Many of them went through, but some landed on solid stone and clearly marked the real bridge.
“Why didn’t you do that before?” Leodrik asked angrily.
“Because it was fun looking at you.” she explained.
“And what if I would fall, what would you do then?”
“Well, you didn’t so why are you so angry?” She smiled innocently. “What’s the point of this if I can’t have a little fun?”
He rolled his eyes and turned his back to her. She laughed and casually walked over to the other side. The rest of us followed and we soon continued through the passages. They looked a little different than before. More like caves than mined tunnels. Vanessa was carefully searching every suspicious place and it soon paid off. We didn’t run into any kobolds anymore, but this cave system was rigged with a disturbingly high amount of traps. Some of them were pretty brutal and I was really glad she could find them and disarm them. Without her, we wouldn’t last long.
After some time of slow exploring, we run into a relatively freshly mined passageway. Vanessa whistled.
“Guys, I think this is it. I can see at least three triggers. That’s more than anywhere else here. I bet the source of the ore problems is on the other side.”
We didn’t see those triggers, but she quickly proved her words by activating them one by one from a safe distance. All the traps were magical and pretty nasty. Whoever would spring them would end like a roasted chicken.
On the other side of the passage was a large cavern with a strange dome-like structure. The rest of the cavern was empty, so we went inside the dome. There were a few smaller caverns inside and it was obviously occupied by someone. We looked around for a bit, and we quickly found its owner. A strange and obviously angry man came from one of the rooms.
“What in the nine hells are you doing here? Tazok shouldn’t send you, you’ll expose my presence...”
He suddenly went silent.
“Oh, shit, you’re not from Tazok, you’re the ones... TO ARMS MY MINIONS! SLAY THEM! SLAY THEM ALL!”
Before we realized what’s happening, kobolds charged at us from almost every side and everything went wild. I can’t describe it in words here, but it was chaotic, laud, and strangely exciting. Grask and Leodrik were killing kobold after kobold, Hald and Vanessa were taking care about the ones with bows, and Marissa somehow sent nearly a dozen of kobolds to sleep. I stood in the middle of our small formation and played my lute. It seems ridiculous now when I wrote it down, but in that moment I could clearly feel and see the effects of my song.
We were winning, but then the stranger joined the fight. He chanted some strange words and almost all of the dead kobolds stood up. Well, their skeletons at least. That angered me for some reason. Sure, I read some books about necromancy, and I really don’t like the idea of using dead bodies like that, but they were just kobolds. It still made me furious. I drew my sword and rushed to the cleric, destroying several skeletons in my way.
He noticed me and prepared his flail for a strike, but I somehow dodged it and thrust my blade through his body. I felt oddly satisfied as I watched him bleed out from the injury, but I didn’t fully realised what I did before he died. And then it hit me. I just killed him in a cold blood, only day after I threw up from seeing dead kobolds. I turned away from the body, just to see the remaining kobolds flee when they lost their master.
My friends were all looking at me, with surprised looks on their faces. We stood there in a silence for a while, before Leodrik finally spoke.
“Uh, good work, kid.” he said, “Care to explain to us what just happened to you? You ran at him like a berserk, pulling out moves you were never able to do when we practised.”
“I-I don’t know, I just... I didn’t like what he did with those skeletons, and... By the gods, I’m as clueless as you, it was like I wasn’t myself.”
Haldemar interrupted us, pointing out that there are still some kobolds hidden in the rest of the rooms. We put aside my strange behaviour for the time being and quickly searched the rest of the dome. We found a few letters, strange sword, pouch with coins, some strange holy symbol and a wizard.
Yes a wizard, imprisoned in a small room. He was happy when we freed him and eager to leave and since he knew a short way out, we were soon breathing a fresh air under the blue sky.
12th Myrtul 1368
Dear diary,
I had a weird dream tonight. I can’t really recall any details, but there’s the strange feeling I had since I woke up. I don’t know how or why, but somehow, I’m sure it wasn’t just a dream. I remember a few fractions of it and they show nothing but strange dark lands with one exception. One short fragment of the dream shows Gorion, dead and alive at the same time, speaking to me, but I can’t hear what he says.
But the dream is not something to worry about I’m sure. Even if it isn’t a normal dream, it’s still a dream and they can’t hurt me. I should be worried more about the bounty hunters someone’s been sending for my head. But I should write this from the beginning, or else I’ll forget something, like I usually do.
We camped soon after we emerged from the mines. The fight with the strange man and long hours of walking through the tunnels took their toll and we were really tired. The wizard demanded we continue travelling until we arrive to Nashkel and he was really upset when we ignored him and stopped for the night.
The dream came that night, but when I woke up in the morning there were more important things to do than trying to remember it. Xan, that was the elf wizard’s name, turned out to be quite an annoying fellow. He was unbelievably pessimistic and arrogant at the same time, combination which I didn’t believe was possible. He should be thankful for his rescue, but no, he tried to tell us what to do or where to go and when he realized we won’t listen to him, he start acting almost like a little spoiled child, whining all the time. I have to say I was extremely annoyed and surprised. I met a few elves in Candlekeep but they all were always calm and patient.
Finally Marissa lost her patience. She began yelling at him, accusing him of being a disgrace of elves, which started a furious argument. We had to back off from them as they were on the brink of magic fight, when he threw his final argument. He said Marissa had no right to judge him as she was no elf, at which point she pulled of her cowl and moved off her hair so he could see her ears.
He was quite surprised and so was I. Up to this point, I had absolutely no idea Marissa is actually an elf. Sure she wasn’t behaving as a normal human woman, but then, neither was Vanessa. I simply thought it’s because she’s a sorceress.
Xan went silent after that. He walked with us for a few miles, but he soon went his own way. The mood immediately went up and we soon resumed our usual travelling routine, laughing and talking about a lot of nonsense stuff. We managed to solve the problems that were plaguing the mines which meant a reward was waiting for us in Nashkel.
We arrived almost at noon and immediately went to the mayor. We told him what happened and showed him the vials we found along with the ore samples and letters. He was quite happy to hear his troubles are gone and paid us a handsome sum of coin.
After that, we went to inn. Or at least we wanted to. Turned out another assassin was waiting for us and he immediately attacked with throwing axes. To be honest, I couldn’t believe he’s actually doing it at first, since we were on the open street with a lot of Amnish soldiers around, but it was soon obvious he doesn’t care. First axe missed us, second got blocked by Grask’s shield but Haldemar got hit by the third. We finally realised what’s happening and charged him, but he was quite fast and agile. He was even able to dodge arrows shot by soldiers who came to our aid. It was horrible. He continued throwing his axes whenever he could, while dodging a lot of arrows and attacks. He proved quite skilled, but he ultimately made a mistake and got caught between two angry men with shields. When he realized his mistake it was already late, Leodrik and Grask got him cornered and mercilessly slaughtered him.
Soldiers tried to stop them from killing him, but my friends were furious, because that bastard wounded Haldemar badly. Girls tried to help him, but the axe was stuck between his ribs and it looked awfully grim. I rushed back to help them as soon as the bounty hunter went down. They removed the axe and I tried to hold the wound closed so he wouldn’t bleed out before they could bandage him, but the wound was large and he was losing blood quickly. Marissa tried some potions and they helped, but not nearly enough.
And then it happened. I don’t know how I did it, but as I was holding his wound, wishing for him to survive a strange but somehow familiar force emerged within me. I have no idea what it was or how I was able to control it, but Haldemar’s wound healed without a sign of a scar. And then I passed out.
I woke up moments after. I still don’t know what caused Hald’s miraculous recovery but it sure took its toll on me. However, my strength soon returned and I was able to help girls with moving our ranger to the inn. He wasn’t dying anymore, but he still lost a lot of blood.
Turned out the assasin’s name was Nimbul, it was written on the bounty notice he had. He managed to kill at least three soldiers, which explained why their attempts to capture him alive were poor at best. They were pissed at him almost as bad as we were.
We remained in Nashkel for the rest of the day. Hald rested a little and he was able to join us for dinner.
When we finished our meal they all looked at me. They expected some explanation, but I had none and so the awkward silence was ensured. Haldemar was the first to break it.
“Would you mind explaining us what you did? Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy you did what you did, and I’m thankful for that but we would really like to know how you managed to heal me.”
I shrugged. “I would like to know that too, Hald, believe me. You know as much as I do, maybe more even, since I passed out for a moment after – after I did that.”
“Really?” he asked. He wasn’t quite convinced, I could see it, but I had no explanation whatsoever.
“Is it possible? Can he do something like that without knowing how he did it?” he asked Marissa when he didn’t get his answer from me.
“Well, it’s not common, that’s for sure. It wouldn’t be that surprising if he cast some arcane spell since we already know he can manipulate arcane, but you can’t heal with arcane energy. Only diviners, clerics and druids, those who get their powers from a god can do that. Of course, there were a few healers who could do something similar, but it turned out later they were actually in favour of some god, they just wasn’t aware of that.”
“So you say our young bard is what? A saint? A chosen of some god?” he asked.
Marissa probably wanted to answer him but they were interrupted by a loud displeased grunt from Grask.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Hald replied to him “sorry Jonah, I shouldn’t spoke like that. If you say you don’t know how you did it, I won’t question it.”
I smiled. “It’s fine. I wouldn’t believe it myself too, if it wasn’t happening to me.” I chuckled, but then I turned serious.
“But I guess it sort of explains the attacks. As much as it scares me, we can’t deny there is something weird going on around me, or inside me. And I fear the person behinds those attacks knows way more than we do.”
“Well, there’s always a chance your father stepped on someone’s toes and he’s mad enough to extend his revenge on you.” said Leodrik.
Grask grunted eagain.
“Yeah.” Leodrik nodded. “We probably shouldn’t stay here for long.”
“But Hald has to rest, we can’t move now.” Vanessa immediately argued.
“Well, we have to stay here for this night, that’s for sure,” said Haldemar “so why won’t you guys look for some more jobs to do and we’ll decide what we’ll do tomorrow.”
They talked about that for a while, but I wasn’t really paying attention to them anymore. I was thinking about the dream and that power I felt. They ultimately agreed to Hald’s proposition and went looking for some work, while I grabbed this diary and began writing.
Sorry for the longer wait guys, my inspiration went on holiday (or was stolen from me by a few new PC games, you choose xD ) and I wasn't quite able to come up with the right words.
Hope you'll liked this chapter and once again, sorry for the wait
13th Mytrul 1368
Dear diary,
we’ve met weird and disturbing people today. The first one was just weird, the second was both, but let’s take it from the beginning.
Haldemar was, to our genuine surprise, completely healed in the morning. He didn’t even feel any pain. Sure, we all saw what I did, but it was still surprising to see him walk a mere day after being struck by an axe to his chest. But he insisted he’s fine, and since Vanessa managed to find us a job, we had no real reason to stay in Nashkel any more, especially after the last ambush.
The job turned out to be bounty hunting. The rest of us didn’t like it. Hunting people with prizes on their head is a dirty job and we really didn’t want to be the same as Nimbul, but when she described the job, we all agreed. In fact, it wasn’t exactly a bounty, more like a reward for finding stolen gems and there were no specific instructions about the thieves themselves. The other reason why we took the job was because the main suspect was someone called Prism, a sculptor, who never harmed anyone. We were quite confident we could get the gems without bloodshed. But if someone else got to him first the poor artist could easily end up dead.
Prism was supposedly last seen travelling towards the carnival and so that’s where we started. We asked around a bit and got a lot of gossip, but very little useful information. He didn’t actually appeared on the carnival but there were a few claims people saw him travelling north. There is only one place where he could go on this side of Cloud Peaks. The mines. Everywhere else was wilderness and we doubted he would actually try to cross the mountains.
The guards patrolling near mines confirmed our conclusion. Quite a few of them saw a fancy looking man walk past the mines only a few days ago. They showed us the direction he headed and we quickly resumed our search. Luckily for us, the land around the mines is rocky, void of any plant bigger than a small bush, so we could see far into the distance.
The first one to spot him was Haldemar with his keen ranger eyes. He was moving on a ledge in the middle of tall cliff. It took us some time to find a way to get there, but we eventually managed it.
Prism was acting really weird. He was sculpting a large face in into the side of the mountain, mumbling frantically and completely ignoring his surroundings. He wasn’t even aware of us, until we actually spoke to him.
“W-what? Who’s there?” he gasped, “Is it Greywolf?”
When he turned to us we realised he’s pale and thin, almost as if he wasn’t eating or sleeping, and he was most certainly sick.
“Calm down,” I said. “I don’t know who Greywolf is, but he certainly isn’t one of us.”
“He isn’t? Oh, thank you, thank you Oghma. I feared for the worst. But if you’re not him, than who are you? Adventurers perhaps? Would you be so kind and protect me for a while? I know Greywolf is after me, I really shouldn’t stole the emeralds, I know I shouldn’t but I had to. I have to finish her and the emeralds are my only chance. Only they resemble her eyes, I can’t use anything else.”
He didn’t even waited for our response and immediately resumed his work, his hands moving with incredible speed, sculpting large, but beautiful face.
We stood there, baffled and unable to speak. When we finally recovered from the shock, a wild debate ensued.
Hald and Leodrik wanted to simply grab the gems and leave, while the girls tried to convince them to stay and protect the sculptor. Grask supported them, but I think he didn’t really care about the sculpture or the artist, he just wanted to kick someone’s butt. I stayed neutral, since I was really interested in Prism’s creation, but I didn’t like the possibility of another fight.
The argument stretched for almost an hour and was ended only by sudden arrival of Greywolf. The bounty hunter wasn’t exactly pleased to see us there, and demanded we leave and let him do his job. It was obvious he’ll kill the sculptor, if we let him, so we declined.
What we didn’t expect was him attacking us. We were six and he was alone, yet he felt confident enough to charge us. He was good and his sword was emitting some mysterious icy aura. He could probably take out any one of us in a one on one fight and he knew it, but his overconfidence was his undoing. He managed to land a few blows on Grask, who barely blocked them with his shield, but then Vanessa, Leodrik and Hald joined the fight. Outnumbered, without a space to manoeuvre on the ledge, he eventually lost.
Hald later said he didn’t meant to kill him, but Greywolf’s defence was so good, he wasn’t able to land anything nonlethal.
Sadly, Prism died soon after he finished his marvellous sculpture. We buried him, took the emeralds and found a place to stay for the night, since the sun was almost gone.
Your vocabulary is very rich, making it a pleasure to read your journal entries.
14th Myrtul 1368
Dear diary,
why is everyone so violent down here in the south? I would really like to know. Yesterday, there was Greywolf and today that Amnish group. We were exploring areas southwest of Nashkel, since we planned to stay away from towns for a while and so we didn’t want to return to Nashkel with the emeralds yet. We met some small groups of kobolds and hobgoblins, half of them actually run off when they saw us, but then we came across them.
A woman with two other goons, wandering through the wilds. She began insulting us as soon as she spotted us. I didn’t know why, but after a brief conversation, it became apparent they are hunters of some sort. The problem was, they began hunting us. Sure they were only three, but we split up some time earlier and I was only with Vanessa when we met them.
We ran. But they were fast. I still thing they were using some magic, because we couldn’t shake them off even though they were in metal armour. We tried to find someone from our group, only there was one large issue. We had no idea where they went. Hald was hunting and we didn’t expect him to return any time soon, Marissa wandered off to gather herbs and our two fighters were gods know where.
We eventually lost our pursuers, but they turned out to be pretty good trackers. The game of tag merely changed to the game of hide and seek. We crawled through the forest, carefully observing our surrounding and desperately trying to avoid their eyes. Well, to be fair, I was desperately trying, Vanessa moved like a natural stalker. She crept through the bushes as if they weren’t there and she even managed to find a nice hiding spot.
We stayed there for maybe an hour, but those Amnians were not giving up. Finally, Vanessa got tired of running and hiding.
“Allright, that’s enough. No more running.” she said, “we’re going to take them down.”
“But how?” I asked. “They have the numbers and they have better equipment, we don’t stand a chance!”
“Only in a fair fight.” she replied with a terrifying look on her face.
I got really scared only by looking at her. She was angry. Terribly angry. I never saw her loose her temper before and I never want to see it again.
She quickly came up with a plan. I was supposed to run from them again and lure them out. In short, I was the bait. She didn’t tell me what will she do, but I was sure it wasn’t anything nice. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about being the lure, but I would rather walk through the Nine Hells than argue with her at that moment.
I moved on her signal. I kept my head low and moved slowly towards the edge of the forest. They soon spotted me and followed in my trail. I was praying to all the gods I know and I hoped she’ll manage to do whatever she planned. They were skilled hunters and carefully manoeuvred me through the forest. I realized it rather fast but I was unable to do anything about that. Soon they had me in the exact place where they wanted. My way was blocked by a ravine I wasn’t aware of before and they covered all of my escape routes.
Or at least they thought so. But when the women came out to claim her prey, she suddenly realized she was alone. Then we heard a muffled scream followed by a sound of falling body. The women got nervous. She almost forgot about me and searched the forest for any signs of her companions, but she was unable to find them. Finally one of them stumbled out of the tree line. His throat was slit and he was losing blood quickly. He fell down before she could get to him. Vanessa was still nowhere to be seen. The women was frightened, I could see it in her eyes. She stood up, grabbed her spear and slowly moved towards me.
“Get out you bitch, or else I’ll kill this boy!” she screamed.
She got no response. I wanted to run, I desperately wanted to run, but I was frozen by fear.
“Do you hear me? I’ll kill him, if you...” She couldn’t finish.
She dropped her weapon and reached for her neck, while she turned back towards me. Her eyes were widened by fear and her neck and mouth were covered in blood. I couldn’t see why, but her hands moved away a moment before she dropped on the ground. I gasped. There were three throwing knives buried deep in her throat.
She was dead before her body hit the ground. Vanessa came out only moments after that, her weapons still in her hand. Tiny droplets of blood were falling from her swords, creating a thin red path behind her.
I saw her darker side for the first time.
Chapter X - Thoughts
This one's a little shorter, but that's mainly because it's more about inner thoughts than about actual action
Yeah releasing a book would be nice, it's one of my long lasting dreams, but I doubt I could release THIS as a book since it's all based on copyrighted material... oh wait... you were joking, right? xD
Chapter XI - Gnoll fortress
Chapter XII - Unexpected saviour