3. Thoughts of a squishy scout - Thorns journal.

Thoughts of a squishy scout - Thorns journal.


  • Peace.. very rarely do we ever get to experience it. And it often leaves us when we take it for granted.

    We have earned this peace, and though it is fleeting, I will enjoy it while I have it.

    A demi-god.. the daughter of Urdlen and Shar. We killed it.
    Scythonhalingfel.. a dracolich of incredible power. We killed it.
    The Hungry One.. a powerfull being that.. I don't know much about. Killed.
    Windego … well we killed it too. Why not we were there anyway..

    I'm not sure the details on everything. I'll ask someone later, or something. All I know, is I don't want to see another gate attack.. for at least two days. Lea needs her rest.. and to be honest I need my rest too.

    I'm still not sure what to think of Ridian.. or Aelfin as he calls himself thinks he can teach her. Specially with what she has just gone through with me.. its just.. its a thought after I've had some rest.

    A while back.. Calia came back into my life. Shortly following, Ridian, and my brother Briar did as well. The next day.. Lucidious bumped into me. I joked, and said.. if Eluriel shows up, I'll be speachless. And now Eluriel is here, along with Meril. Next on my list of people from my past would be Elridith.. we'll see.


  • I'm concerned. Its coming up.. the final battle against the dracolich. We'll need all the help we can get. Every sword, every bow, every single healer we can find and every caster with skill. And despite that, everyone seems to be arguing and fighting. It needs to stop.. Rith assures me that everything will be fine, that everyone will band together when the time comes. Can only hope shes right.

    People are also on edge. Wren, Havon, Cara, La'ali.. even Yngdir. They want me to take my old sword, and throw it in a chasm. They want me to destroy the helmet Emma gave me so I could speak with her when I need help. They shouldn't have said those things when I had the helm on.. Emma may be a spirit but shes a seven year old girl. And that scared her.

    I'm not getting rid of either. They're not some evil things trying to cause me harm. Emma helps anytime she can. The sword saves my life constantly, and allows me to help others when needed. They're scared of the sword because they don't understand it. To be honest I don't understand it either.. my controll over what it does might have improved somewhat, but it suprises me with something new each day. I swear the other night it felt like the blade itself had a heart beating within it.

    Why do I feel like its done that before..?

    Adriell is angry, and the other druids seem to be upset with Jerrick over the actions he's taken. I can calm Adri-Bear.. the others, well they can calm themself. Shes taking a long soak in the den as I write this, it will help to relax her. And she really needed some time to relax.

    Should make the most of the time I have left..


  • Things have calmed now, well as calm as they'll possibly ever get. No more shades, no more shadows… we actually seem to have gotten past that. About time.

    Sol has finally snapped out of her moping about, the crying, the curling up and twitching whenever I'm with Lea. It was enough to make me want to open up a portal to a pocket plane, and take Lea with me. Just so we could have some time away from Sol. She claims shes getting better, claims shes moving on. I'll believe it when I see it.

    Speaking of, something seemed to have pissed my sword off. Heat.. lots of heat, and then fire. Burnt through the leather and cloth, and nearly melted the skin of my hand onto the hilt when I held the blade. Fire was surrounding the rusted edge, with enough head to force me to hold it away. It eventually calmed, and went back to sleep.. not sure what made it angry, but now I know it can be angry.

    Had an interesting talk with Val just now.. about many things. She is by far my favorite bard, talking with her just comes easy. We spoke of the dracolich and the coming battle. Its close.. we don't have long. She told me there was a way for me to defeat it. There is a plane of possitive energy. She stated, this was where all the healers pull their healing from. And if I could but open a portal to this plane above the dracolich, it would kill him instantly.

    Getting above him is no problem. These boots I have allow me to jump incredibly high.. off walls.. they really are amazing. The problem is getting the blade to work, and then opening the right portal to the right plane.. its all complicated.


  • With Emma guiding me, I told the others to check behind the waterfall, and we stormed the hill, fighting off shade after shade that appeared from the earth. I hate shades.. they use your worst fear against you.

    Ronan, Jerrick and Ducky started to dig into the grounds.. digging deep, really deep. Into caverns I've not expored before.. these lands never cease to amaze me.

    Deep underground we were assaulted by more shades and shadows.. I lost track of how far we went.. how many we killed.. we pushed through so many rooms.. people yelling for help, rushing back to retreat to a healer, rushing forward to help the front lines. Arrows were flying overhead, hitting shadows on the walls..

    More often than not, I lost controll of myself.. and ran for my life … I remember being wrapped in Jerricks arms once when I came to. Considering the two of us snapped out of it at the same time ... we both laughed and moved on.

    The last of the caverns were nothing to laugh about.. it was a death trap. We were attacked from all sides, by shades, powerfull shadows.. Our group was split into many directions. Many fell.. I came close.. very close. All that could stand and fight pushed on to the necromancers cave.. a short distance away. My vision was blurry.. the blood lose had me dizzy.. the shadow bites made my left arm all but useless. I stumbled around... and then I saw her.

    Lea.. laying in the corner, propped up against the cavern wall, her arms out beside her.. bow in one hand.. blessed arrow, held in the other. She sat there.. gashes blood covering her... she didn't move. I forced myself to get to her.. ignoring the pain.. the trail of my own blood I was leaving.. I was getting to her.. even if it killed me. She was still alive.. but just barely, with just enough blood left for me to save her... it was close, but when she opened her eyes and took in a breath.. I knew she'd be alright. Lea.. you're stronger than you know.

    I was able to save Father Raldi as well.. but.. I couldn't save Sol, she was to far gone.. her body was cold. I couldn't get to her in time. The front line and the others returned.. having dealt with the necromancer. They took Sols body and started to leave.

    I colapsed.

    The rest is a blurr.. stumbling down the caverns.. back to the entrance. I can't remember much of it.. could hardly call me alive at that point. Untill.. Quelcoth. He healed me, completely. My body didn't ache from anything.. my strength returned. I was.. as I was before I entered these caverns.

    Sol is back with us now.. she'll be fine. Though she'll probably wonder where I vanished to for a few days.

    I needed a small break away from those south gates.. away from all the trouble. Two or three days in peltarch with Lea.. then we'll be back down south, ready for whatever else norwick throws at us.


  • Its amazing what a person can do when they have to.. When you've no one to defend you but yourself, no one to help you fight your battles but yourself..

    I've written about the little girl with glowing green eyes before.. I just recently solved any mystery behind her. A few nights ago outside the south gates, shortly after sunset.. before the creepy fog rolled in, before the shades and shadows attacked us yet again. Emma walked up.. and just about put everyone on edge again. She has glowing green eyes, and when we first met she put me on edge too.. so I couldn't blame them.

    She pulled me away from the group of gate defenders to talk, she was scared.. and she needed my help. She asked me to come with her.. and I was, but not alone.. my friends at the gate would never have let me. Emma said she could bring one other, but that was it. I turned and looked towards the gates, and damn near everyone raised their hand or said they would go. Even Quelcoth … my banite buddy? But it was Doni.. an old friend of mine just recently returned that came with me. Emma pulled us away from the crowd.. and our eyes began to glow green, just like hers.. I glanced over to the gates, and they were under attack by shadows.. again.

    I blinked. And I was no longer at the south gates. But in a desert, nothing but rocks and sand as far as I could see. It was just the three of us.. but what shocked me was, I heard Emma speak. I almost thought it was her speaking in my mind.. untill I saw that Doni heard her too. She never spoke before.. she couldn't, at least.. not back home.

    She told us to ask our questions, and we did.. Her name is Emma, the blue eye'd boys name is Tommy. She was not alive.. but then again, not dead. Its.. horrible, what she went through.. how she became what she is..

    She lived in norwick.. had a mother.. many friends, Tommy being one of them. Used to have many friends.. she said, but.. he took them all. A man.. no, a monster is what I'd call him. A monster living out in the rawlins.. took her friends.. took her mother.. and took her. The things he did to them.. I stopped her from saying.. Anything that could make a child of seven years old.. welcome death, she should never have to relive.

    All she could do was hold onto me.. crying, green tears streaming down her face. And for the longest moment.. all I could do was hold her there. I couldn't tell her everything was going to be alright.. I couldn't say anything.. but after a while, she calmed down.. and told us why she brought us here.

    The monster that killed her.. wouldn't in death let her go, he took his own life, following her in spirit. Keeping her from rest, from moving on. She said he'd get angry if she was gone long... and then there he was, a monster.. in the shape of a man, with glowing red eyes. He knew right away why Emma brought us here.. and he was angry. He was angry.. and I was pissed. His body started to change shape.. I thought.. if anything, my kamas could kill him.. untill I saw what he became. A Herzou.. fitting.

    My sword woke up, much like it did with the dragon.. holding the awakened sword out to the best.. he backed away, scared off the blade. I was still pissed.. he wasn't going to escape. I charged forward, taking a slash across its chest, the blade screeching as it cut through the demons hide, forcing it back against a rock. Despite the power of my blade.. it still only had a squishy elf weilding it. Doni was trying her best to help.. but her arrows seemed to just bounce off..

    It was just me.

    The Herzou faught back, slashing me, tossing me back into the sands.. I wasn't giving up. For what he did to Emma.. he deserved this. I pressed on the attack.. the sands about my feet were mixing with my blood and his.. I managed to knock the monster off his feet and stabbed into its chest with the blade. No sooner did the beast fall.. the mans spirit, the one with glowing red eyes rose from its corpse.. begging for his life.. backing up to the rock.. terrified.. begging for mercy.

    I almost feel bad.. I didn't mean to cut the rock behind him in half as well. The rock didn't deserve that.

    I was tired.. bloody.. the sands about me coated in much of my own.. my sword, was also tired. It went back to sleep.. turning into the rusted blade I know. I was ready to colapse.. and I would have, but Emma ran up and wouldn't let me go.. it was hard enough to breath, and her hug made it more difficult.. but I managed.

    She thanked us both.. and said she could finally rest. She also gave me a gift.. a helmet of sorts. She told me, that whenever I need her help, call on her.. and she can speak to me, let me see what she sees. She said our thoughts and eyes would become one, whenever I put the helmet on.

    It works.. I can talk to her, and hear her thoughts. She was a great help in locating the black onyx behind the grapevine atop the hill. If it wasn't for her.. we probably never would have found that cave..

    Next page..


  • It woke up.. The sword finally decided to wake up.

    There was something outside the gates one day, a large, dragon… wyvern like thing, I'm still not sure what it was. There wasn't many of us there. Ras, Havon, Lea.. myself and one or two others. Not the best for defending the gates.. we needed more heavily armored men in metal shells. But even so, we set out to see what the thing was.. or what it was doing.

    We didn't have to get very close, it had good eyes on it, and as soon as we could see it far off in the distance, it could see us. Spreading its wings out and roaring, it began charging us. We scattered, sending arrows that just bounced off its hide. Ras took north, I stayed on the road, and Lea took east.. it went after Lea. I bounced another arrow off the back of its head, as it turned towards me, I slide my kamas out. I was killing this thing.. it wasn't going to hurt her.

    The beast was massive, fast.. its claws were sharp, teeth, sharper. It was all I could do to keep up. The kamas did nothing but leave small scratched in its hide, where as its claws brought a great deal of blood from me. They were trying to help.. but arrows just bounced off.. and no one joined me to help take down the beast up close.. that is, untill the sword decided.. it was time to help.

    Shealthed on my belt, I felt the sword awaken.. at first I feared it was going to try and open a portal, and it wasn't the most convenient time for a portal.. but I drew the blade anyway. In a blink the sword changed.. it went from being the old.. rusted blade I've always carried. To an incredibly beautifull sword. With enough power enough to send a shiver from my hands, all the way up my arms and through my body. I knew one thing for certain, it was time to kill the beast.

    The sword made quick work of that, one.. two maybe three slashes was all it took, and this monster I was strugglng to scratch, fell dead at night feet. No sooner was the beast slain.. the sword went back to being its normal self. Everything would have been fine.. but Ras decided to tempt fate. A large wyvern flew down from the sky, and stung me... its posion was nasty.. as I can barely remember killing the thing.. most everything is a blurr.. though I do remember Lea.. she, she nearly carried me. All the way to the healers.

    There she stayed with me, treating my wounds.. never leaving my side as I rested. Aaleyah.. shes, shes something else. I don't care if the others doubt it.. I've no doubt at all.


  • The next night the sword was once again needed.

    Everyone was gathered outside the south gates, talking casually about the recent events. Joking.. laughing, everyone seemed in good spirits. Even Yngdir, as he was surrounded by a circle of people. He wasn't speaking but I bet he enjoyed the company.

    I sat with them, and no sooner did I find my seat, the little girl showed up, peering at me from behind a tree. See I've this friend.. though I don't know her name, or what she is exactly. I believe.. shes some form of ghost, or spirit. She appears in the form of a little girl, roughly between the ages of seven and ten. Curly blonde hair, and glowing green eyes. The first night I ran into her, I was somewhat frightened of her. She never spoke, and she could see everything. I don't like it when I'm seen and I was trying not to be.

    The second night, she appeared after a bugbear attack against the south gates. Celad had falled, Pugor too. She somehow brought Celad back.. no diamond.. no prayer.. it only took her to touch my hand for a split second, and I felt.. its difficult to explain. She helped, she brought both Celad and Pugor back this way. Then she vanished.

    This night was different, she didn't have the smile on her face that she normally carried. Something was wrong. She pulled me away from the others so we could talk. Though the conversation was.. odd. She reached up and took my head in her hands. And with an instant, my eyes began.. to glow, just like hers. Again.. I couldn't begin to describe how that felt. But what I saw shocked me.. I was no longer seeing the little girl before me, or the south gate and people around me. I was seeing.. her thoughts. A young boy her age, with glowing blue eyes, trapped.. within a crystal. Held captive deep within a fortress, surrounded by a small army of soldiers and cultists. She was asking for my help, though.. alone I had no chance.

    I'm greatfull, for the many friends I have. I only needed to ask, and everyone gathered took up arms to help me in this. My friends are great.

    My blade began to hum, shaking.. it also wanted to go. Again I saw but a thread of light in front of me, so I quickly cut open the portal. Giving everyone one last warning of what was awaiting us on the other side, I jumped through.

    We faught, and it was difficult, highly trained soldiers started pouring down from every direction of this fortress, swarming us. Some of us, myself included, came very close to death. Making our way through the corpses, we searched the fortress, finding a way inside. Inside we found more soldiers.. and, creatures holding odd gems, one a blue gem, and one an orange gem. We found the use for them later.. when we found the boy. He was trapped in this large crystal.. and guarded by two statues, one orange, and one blue. When touched with their matching gem, they came to life, and… attacked us. We smashed them both to bits.

    The crystal encasing the boy melted away. From the expression on his face, he seemed.. confused as to what exactly was going on. Luckily, I had two greenstones from the gem collecting I'm currently doing for Myrrha. I held the gems up to my eyes, and the boy smiled, seeming to understand completely. He then vanished.. it was time to go home.

    Another thread of light, another swipe of my blade, and we were all safely home.

    That, is all the information I have on this special blade, written within the past few pages. The more I use the blade.. the more I understand it. I hope to one day master this blade, but we'll see.


  • Recently, things have happened that required my sword to work, there was no question that it needed to work, as there was no other option for us to chose from.

    Benji, a good friend of mine, was turned to stone by a demon, and taken to the abyss. Its suprising, how quickly your friends rally together to help you when you need it most. And Benji had that of a small army. The people gathered, we prepared to set out into the depths of the abyss, ready to face death itself to save Benji from this demon… and all I had to do, was get this sword to work.. for once.

    I'm not sure how, though I don't want to question it. The sword had linked with my mind in the past, showing me images of places to go where a portal could be opened. Perhaps it felt the need, the desire to go.. I'm not sure. All I know is.. I could see a tiny thread of light in front of me, the sword humming, shaking in my hands. It didn't take long for the sword once again to take controll, though for this, I was acting with it, instead of against it.

    The abyss was a horrible place, the air hurt to breath from the heat. Demons all about.. succubi ... why does it always have to be succubi? Had no problem at all, being a better archer than them. Considering I had almost ten or fifteen more bows at my back, we gave the demons a little a little rainfall of arrows.

    We struggled making our way through the abyss, fighting off demon after demon, untill we found a building leading further underground. Deep within.. as far down as we could possibly go, we found him. Benji, shoved away in a small corner of the room, a statue. The demon standing before him was massive ... and also a male-female-thing. Of which I'm not sure, she.. he ... it was quite taken with me. Her little.. toy, a small hin in leathers far to tight, seemed to hate me for that fact. After talking, which led nowhere, the demon attacked us.. and the hin, vanished into nothing... a usefull trick. We took the demon down, swarmed it, filling it full of arrows, doing our best to hack away at its thick hide. I even jumped into the battle and gave my kamas a taste.

    Seeing his master fall, the little shadowing hin fled.. I've a feeling he won't last so long in the abyss alone. We turned Benji back to his normal self. And it was time for us to go home ... I was sick of the abyss.

    Again I saw a small thread of light, and again without hesitation I struck at it with the sword. It felt good to be home.


  • Trying to remember exactly which portals lead to which planes is proving difficult, as its been many years. For the life of me I can't much remember.. though I will write what I can.

    After we stepped through our first portal, we realized two things.. One, Adlanial had lost most of his memory. And miss Sparrow, was nowhere to be found. We searched the plane for her, for any sign of her, where she could have been. But all we found was a strange feather. A magical feather, that when Adlanial touched, restored a small portion of his memory. We called these feathers, memory feathers.

    No sooner did we find our first memory feather, the sword decided it was time to go home. It forced me to open a portal, and brought us all back to Narfell safely.

    The following days revolved around the sword acting up and carrying me where ever it wanted to go, showing me images in my mind to where a portal could be opened. And then forcing me to cut open a portal whenever I found the place it wanted to be. Once it brought me to a pocket plane, where I found the corpse of a man, with nothing much on him but a book bag filled with books on the planes. All of which I still have.

    Another time I was brought to a pocket plane, a small plane of.. nothing. Where I met the strangest person. An elf my height.. my weight.. that sounded like me. And also had a sword, just like the one in my hands. He had complete mastery over the sword, and mocked me, saying I was a dissapointment, then told me to learn to weild it.

    The only real progress I made in learning to use the sword happened in an underground cavern. The pack was surrounded by undead, the slow, fleshy kind that arrows don't even budge. After filling a walking corpse with ten arrows, not slowing it down in the least. I pulled the blade out and asked if it would help. No sooner did I ask, the blade began to hum, and glow.. this bright yellow color. It was hungry for battle, I could feel it wanting to strike down the undead about us. One touch of the blade caused the undead to turn to ash.

    The last thing I remember of the sword ever acting up on its own was the frozen castle. We had found enough memory feathers in our travel to restore most, if not all of Adlanials memory. We searched this castle for one more, the last remaining bits that were missing. Our search led us to the throne room. Where an ice queen sat frozen in a throne, with an ice king standing in front of her. The king turned to us as we entered, and begged our help freeing his queen from her frozen state. Then demanded the feathers to restore her. We would have gladly helped, but Adlanial had used them to restore his memory. Once told that, the king snapped, and said he would just take them from us. It was not an easy fight.. for a king made of ice, he was difficult to take down. No sooner did we defeat him, he cracked, and fell to the floor, shattering in hundred of peices of ice. The ice queen, sat in a frozen state watching her king fall, also shattered in place, leaving behind nothing but a purple gem.

    The gem, which I soon found out held the ice queens soul, is very powerfull. It held enough power, that at the time, Ronan made me promise to keep it away from him. The gem is strange, as when I look at it, I can't help but feel that the soul on the inside.. is looking back. To this day I still have the gem with me, and to this day it still holds its creepy stare.

    We restored all of Adlanials memory…

    We never found Miss Sparrow...

    And the sword has stayed quiet... untill just a few days ago.


  • The sword seems to be active.. somewhat. Its been years since this blade has actually done anything. And as far back as I can remember, from when I first found the blade. No one could find anything on it. Merril, Zyphlin.. neither of them could, and they knew just about everything.

    Its been a long time, but I'll write down all I know on it here.. for just in case some other finds this blade, they'll at least know what I know. If of course they bother to read over this book. Anyway..

    It all started one day in the den, Tala called the pack together, of the ones I can recall.. Arandor, Star.. and of course Adlanial. We gathered together.. shared tea, and were then introduced to a young woman by the name of Sparrow. She was looking for.. something, something important, though I can't recall what exactly it was. But she needed our help, so we set out east, along the long road past Jiyyd. We made our way deep within the Mintas.. really deep within.. there we found an old set of ruins which still seemed to be intact. Deep within these ruins, was.. an artifact? Something of the sort, and that was what Miss Sparrow was looking for. Another group was also searching for the same thing.. and if memory serves, they had beaten us to it, and took it.

    Defeated, deep within these ruins, everyone began to look around at markings on the wall, anything and everything that stuck out as odd to them or miss Sparrow they searched. Leaving me by what looked like an old stone altar, covered in dust. Also covered in dust.. was this blade. What appeared to be an old rusty longsword, covered in dust, untouched for years. It was no wonder Star overlooked it, she was normally the first one to grab anything and everything that looked special.. or shiney, but as it was, it looked worthless.

    I took the blade, swiped the dust off and looked it over. Strangely enough, when I did I began to glow this.. blue color. The sword began to hum and tickled my hand with a magical vibration. It felt.. weird. Everyone was looking to me then, as I was now.. doing something interesting. On the other side of the room, Adlanial was also glowing, just as I was. Curious as I was, I couldn't much do anything to figure out what was going on … as I started walking towards the wall without actually forcing myself to walk. Unable to controll my body, or even fight against it, I took the blade and struck into the wall itself. Cutting.. not the wall, or the earth behind it, but cutting a tear.. a rift, into the plane itself.

    More later..


  • Ever have one of those days where it feels like you've been through hell?

    Was a quiet and peacefull night, Albry needed a break from everything so she went for a walk. When I decided to follow … so did the rest of the militia. A good cover of darkness made her escape easy.. and mine quickly following. We talked for the longest time, pretty much all night. The stress of all the responsabilities does get to her, she just doesn't want to let it show in front of everyone. Shes a leader, she has to be a strong symbal for others to look up to. Part of me wishes she would take a vacation.. or at least get more than five hours of sleep a night.

    Our talk lasted througout the night outside of Jerricks home. We were interupted shortly after sunrise by Dom and Danika.. which, Albry took as a prime opportunity to embaress me.

    Benji had been kidnapped and taken to the abyss. Val wanted me to use my old portal sword to cut open a plane to the abyss itself. I've never actually -controlled- that blade. Its always controlled me, forcing me to cut open portals to.. anywhere it wants. Ara used his magic to tell me best where to open the portal.. and just like that, the sword seemed to react, like a key to a door. So.. I opened a portal to the first layer of the abyss, right outside norwicks south gates. Pretty sure I'm breaking some sort of law there.

    Inside was terrible, the air was so hot that breathing hurt. Didn't help the fact that I'm always so bundled up for life about Narfell.. Not only was the very place horrible, but what we found in there was worse. Succubi ... I hate succubi.. specially the 'playfull' ones. To add to those.. Vrock, and Herzou.. and Demonic spiders of.. well they were really big spiders.

    I wish Crux hadn't have jumped through the portal, it was hard enough trying to keep an eye on everyone else. She wasn't ready for a trip like this.. Not many in our group were.

    We found Benji.. he was being used as a 'toy rack' by this strange giant demon and her 'boy-toy'. The demon took a liking to me, and the hin.. thing did not. He reminded me of Gears.. fading away into nothing, and showing up somewhere else. Gears was better at it though. The demon was tough, for an interior deccorator anyway. But he.. she?Is dead now. And her little archer was pissed. I'll probably have to deal with him.. if he ever finds his way out of the abyss.

    Benji is safe and back in the arms of Talyna. Where he better stay for a very long time after what we just went through to get him there.

    Crux, Clay, and Danika are all resting, they needed it.. and they've earned it. Albry is getting some rest as well, about time.. even she needs her sleep. As for me.. I'm up polishing this portal sword, the armor is next.. I've now, a very old suit of elven armor. The armor itself seems always covered in some type of frost.. I'll have to show it to Sy.. he's the oldest elf I know, he could probably tell me more about it.


  • Once again.. I've went days without writing anything here and alot has happened.

    Tindra, we had a talk recently, about something incredinly important. Which.. unfortunately was interupted by Caelian, and then again later by Crux. I'll write down my own secrets here no problem, but not others. Not something this personal. I fear I may lose Tindra, or rather.. the Tindra I know right now. I hope that doesn't happen. I'll need to talk to her again.. probably in a more secluded spot.

    Speaking of, she got a letter from Feather recently, shes doing well.. I think.

    Jerrick is finally back, about time too. One of the first things he did was fix one of the messes we've made. Despite what Caelian says, we do need him. Maybe not for everything, but for some things. I've a vail of blood and.. ooze I have to give to him. Its from the bear in the cave south of the lake..

    The animal was deseased, one of the many in the rawlins these days. Crux went out to the cave alone, without word to anyone. Onyx and I followed. We talked a little while she mined, going after tin.. which she seems to be getting better at working lately. The noise brought the bear in, Onyx and I couldn't calm it, as it tried to rush us, swiping weakly at us. It wasn't long for this life, in the shape it was in. We had to bring it down. I tried my best to save its life.. but the fight, and its condition.. there was nothing I could do. Onyx and I struggled.. but we managed to take the poor bear outside and give it a proper burial … where as Crux just, went back to mining. This.. suprised me.

    Anyway.. what else..

    Ronan, I've asked him about this soulgem I've carried for years. He says he most deffinately can enchant -something- with it. Though what.. he couldn't say. Its strange how long I've had this gem.. also strange how it feels like you're being stared at when you look at it. But Ronan remembers it, upon me showing it to him he got a rush of memories.. which he seemed to enjoy. I'm not sure how enchanting works, but I'm curious as to what could be done with a gem this powerfull.

    Thats all I'll write for now, I've got to go find ~Lady~ Albryanna.


  • Things I've learned over the past few days.

    Puppets are annoying. I've someone, a puppet master, sending puppet versions of me, Albry.. children. They're tough.. magical, and the worst part is they never shut up. Mine tried to act like me, fool everyone it was me. It slipped. Ever since then the puppet master has sent stronger more dangerous puppets after me. Its as if the creator of these puppets just wants to make me angry.. threatening Crux. I know she can handle herself if a puppet found her, but that just pissed me off.

    In total.. six puppets sent, six puppets destroyed.

    Another thing I've learned, the copies of people, they really are very much like the original. Its going to be difficult to tell the original apart from the copy. But theres something there, some small thing.. something I'll find. I need to figure it out soon. Troff can't take much more of this.

    Things seem to be falling apart without Jerrick here. He needs to hurry up and get back. I'm not sure how long Ducky will stay out of trouble without him here to keep him out of it.

    Eli has left me with multiple messes to clean up.. I haven't been able to bring myself to tell Caelian shes gone.. really should just get that over with.

    Myrrha has a softer heart than I ever thought she did. Glad for that, hope she never changes.

    Clay needs lessons on climbing trees.

    Albry -loves- the blue Lingerie.

    I'll write more, but I'm tired.


  • I just had to do one of the most difficult things in my life..

    These past few days I've heard close friends say nothing but bad things on Elis behavior.. she was getting out of controll with the pixie dust. I had to do something.. It wasn't easy.

    Albry and I confronted her about it in the barracks office behind a locked door. We tried talking to her on it, but she wouldn't listen, everything we said went in one elfy ear and our the other. She didn't seem to care of our concerns, or what she was doing to her friends.. or her family. Even going so far as to try and lie to the two of us, just to get out. She was convincing enough to fool Albry.. But I changed into a pixie just to prove my point. She has a problem. And it shows.. she snapped, trying to get dust off me, Albry tackled her, she struggled.. got slammed against the floor and held by Albry. We tied her up.. and did what we had to. Drag her, kicking and screaming to a cell..

    Shes locked up now.. no visitors. At first, she was kicking, and screaming.. Abry turned to leave the cell, motioning me to follow. Eli met me face to face at the bars, her eyes red, tears running down her face.. it.. I couldn't.. I had to get away from the cell.

    For about an hour, she screamed.. and for about an hour I stood in the locker room, re-aranging my locker. Trying to keep my mind off things.. anything so I wouldn't rush in there to my little sisters aid. I have to keep reminding myself.. this is for her own good. At least shes settled down now.. She just sort of sits there in the corner of the cell, curled up in the corner.. she looked up at me once, and I know shes in pain. It has to be difficult.. having to drop something like that so fast, so sudden.

    To make matters worse.. I was the one to have to tell Caelian about what was going on.. he was pissed, but he understood. I couldn't go with him and tell the kids why their mother wouldn't be around for a while.. why she wouldn't be there to tuck them in at night. I'm sorry Caelian..

    The one thing keeping me from breaking down at this point is Crux.. shes hardly left my side since all of this began.


  • I really should write in this thing on a daily basis.. alot has happened, alot thats not good. A little that is.

    Harvey.. the polite vampire, the one I thought was okay. I don't like him.. not anymore. He showed up one night and made one of us chose the one he would feed from. We took to long and the sun rose.. pissed off he ran off to the crypts, saying someone would die tonight.. also leaving a note, inviting anyone to come and visit him.

    Noah and I did, alone.. which would have been fine, but we were followed. We took a blind deal that if we let him feed on us, he wouldn't have to revert to his more monsterous ways. Feeding and killing on everyone. He promised he wouldn't turn or kill us. And we were more than willing to.. not like we had a choice in the matter, little blood for the lives of others. Then.. Crux walked in. The way Harvey looked at her made my skin crawl.. and the way he treated her made me want him dead.. or.. dust. He fed from all three of us.. and then he did something else to Crux, that made her act.. weird. He allowed us to leave.. we all went to the healers, we were fine..

    Later I learned that Harvey sent a note by Benji, promising to never bother norwick or its people ever again, thanks to Noah and myself.

    Crux was somewhat.. distant, for a few days after. Shes back to normal though.. she probably has no idea how that one night together eased so many of my worries.

    One problem solved.. and if Harvey keeps his word.. which, with how manners and politeness hang heavily on him, I can only hope he will. Thats two problems solved.


  • Eli has been sniffing pixie dust.. which is bad. Crux told me she knew someone up in peltarch who became addicted to the stuff. I'd say she probably is.. as when I turned into a pixie, she practically shook me down for dust, collecting it. I'll need to keep an eye on her for a while.. but if things go from bad to worse, I'll just get Albry ahold of her. That always works.

    Something strange though.. there was a little girl out the south gates at night, with glowing green eyes. I couldn't sneak by her.. or away from her, or anything. Those eyes of her saw everything.. I don't even think she blinked once. I tried to talk with her, but all she did was smile, or.. giggle. I have to admit, this little girl put me somewhat on edge. I would have talked to her more, but Brendel walked up.. and she vanished.

    Back at the gates, everyone was standing ready, already heard of the strange little girl from Caling and Eli. She didn't show back up again.. the sun was rising. I decided to give her one last window, a chance to say something, anything really. Walking away from the gates down the road, I began to swirl darkness all around myself, keeping it up as long as I could.

    It worked.

    Twelve sets of glowing green eyes was all I could see, they were all around me, watching. It was the strangest feeling.. being surrounded by a creature.. or a thing you know nothing about. I made no action against them, and they made no move against me. Merely watching.. waiting? All of the eyes vanished as my darkness did. Leaving me with so many questions.

    Can't believe its already noon.. I'm up and dressed, but Crux is still in bed. Ah well she'll be up and dressed soon.. I jus-..

    That was.. unsettling. I made the entire room completely dark.. and, the eyes were there.. here, in the room, in the grapevine! The door was locked.. window was closed and somehow.. nevermind. Something is wrong here.. but they're no threat, at least.. not yet. I'll try talking to them tommorow night.


  • Things have calmed. Eli seems to be trying to get closer to Crux.. as, they're speaking, somewhat. Its still going to take time I know, but at least now they both know they've got something in common. Troff was right, these two need help.. why would you need so many clothes? Ah well, its a start.

    Eli has also taken up kamas, I'm amazed at how fast she picked up on them. Shes not accidenntly cut herself or dropped them yet. Her strikes are somewhat slow, and need to be practiced, but with time she'll be fast.. possibly faster than me. I wouldn't mind that really, I'm glad to pass on the lessons Nicahh pounded into me.

    I think alot about Nicahh, like where she is or how shes doing.. I hope shes doing well. Its a sad thing really.. she used to be so well known, everyone knew her, or knew of her. But now.. its as if no one remembers her. Very few even know what The Sisterhood is.. or was.

    Theres an undead over by the destroyed fence … I really should stop visitng this place, its no longer safe. Ah well.. its going to stumble its way over here... eventually .... would be horrible to be that slow.

    While I wait.. I managed to somehow beat Crux in a fight. Which.. kind of makes us tied, as she beat me easily last time. Still not used to armor, or a heavy sheild and sword. Unfortunately this means I've got to fight Troff.
    Not looking forward to-

    Took the smelly thing long enough, ah well its headless ... and now it smells here, time to go home.


  • Three days and three nights.. it felt as if everything that could be out in the rawlins was attacking us. Bugbears, goblins, hobgoblins, shadows, shades, slimes undead bugbears.. It was relentless. Crux and I spotted the scouting group.. of whatever small weird army that was. We ran from the lake to the gates and held our own, untill the group of fourty plus hobgoblins and one bugbear was killed. We thought that was the end of it.

    The next few days went on as non-stop fighting.. it was difficult, as even I had to retreat to the healers once. It was either go willingly, or Crux would have drug me up there.

    Brendel fell in all this.. twice it seems. He's gone again.. left a day after all the fighting was done. We'll see him again, probably in the next one hundred years.

    And.. to make matters worse. Eli hates Crux.. maybe hate it a strong word.. strongly dislikes? Either way its not good. Everytime Crux does so much as lean on me, or give me a hug.. Eli walks off without saying a word. I've talked with her.. and she said she would give her a chance.. but I'm worried. Because Crux knows Eli doesn't like her.. and I'm sure shes feels as if shes responsible.. as she keeps telling me, shes just causing me trouble. Its a mess.. a tangled mess, and one I can't really do anything about but try and help.. and wait..

    At least Noah is having an easier time.. he picked Sessa, glad for him.


  • The days and nights passed by.. we went by boat.. caravan, walking roads and forests.. there were so many strange new things I've not seen before.. but we had no time to see the sights. The whole trip, we only took the time to rest that we needed, and even then, that was short. Even traveling as fast as we could possibly go with such a large group.. it took us nearly twenty days and nights.. just to get to Cormyr.. I've always thought myself a patient person.. but being stuck with such a diverse group as we had.. it quickly gave me a headache … I lost count at how many times Targohr had asked 'are we there yet?' I'm just glad he had Arlan to keep him company. Or else Yngdir might have actually have had to speak up.

    Through it all.. some good outshined the bad of such a long trip. Noah and Caling seem to be getting somewhere around 'close friends' And.. I'm not sure if I should be worried that she'll be getting him into alot of trouble, or.. maybe happy that he'll probably keep her out of it? Ah well, time will tell.

    I'm thankfull for Crux.. she kept me company the entire trip. We've talked alot.. and, I'm ashamed to admit that.. I've completely missjudged her. Who she is.. what she is.. how she is.. I'm an idiot for doing such. But.. with our time together I've learned different. Shes very... nevermind, should get back to the trip.

    The Knight took us straight to the cave.. which, was guarded. By a pit-feind. Really distinct smell on those.. He was a talker.. and thankfully so, because I'm not sure we could have killed that thing. He told us.. actually, he read to us, that he was bound to the entrance, and in order to get in.. he would need one soul. After much more arguing.. Noah walked up to me, told me that there was no other choice. I knew what he was thinking so I asked if he was sure.. and he just nodded, telling me.. to save the kids. He turned.. and walked up to the monster. I watched him with each step towards that thing.. everything about the situation felt wrong.. but it was Noahs choice.. and one he was determined to see through to the end. He offered himself up to the monster.. and no sooner did he finish saying the words, the knight herself, jumped in front of him. Putting herself between Noah and the demon.

    She sacrificed herself, so that we could enter and save those children.. I told Noah to take her sword and sheild.. he had a job to do. We did not let the knights sacrifice go to waste.. we entered that cave.. cutting our way through any banite that stood in our way. Soldiers.. crossbowmen, priests.. undead, lesser demons, we never slowed, forcing our way into the deepest part of the caves. There.. we found them. The children.. they were scared.. hungry, dirty.. crying. The gates were opened, and the children rushed towards us, all happy to be alive.. to be rescued. Some held our hands as we lead them out of the cave.. some, we carried out, others followed along with us, as we made our way to the surface.

    We were met by a group of more knights. They thanked us for rescuing the children for all that we did. The children rushed towards them, and off they went, leaving us in Cormyr and.. completely on our own to get back home.

    The trip back took longer than the trip there.. Crux made things easier. I'm so glad she was there.. I sometimes forget that not everyone is as nice as they are here in norwick.. and asking a dwarven merchant simple directions can quickly become heated.. we eventually found a port, and took a ship back to peltarch. In the city.. everyone went their own sepperate ways, back to their own homes and families for much needed rest. Feels good to be back in the barracks, back in my bunk.. Crux is resting while I write this.. she seems so peacefull-... she just stole my pillow.

    Yeah I'm not getting that back tonight.


  • Cormyr.. thats a place I'd rather not visit again. At least.. not with a group so large and diverse as what we had. Should probably start from the beggining, might make more sense.

    Standing outside the gates.. when we actually had gates. Two fully armored people rushed up, both bleeding from fresh wounds. One, a Banite, and one, a Purple Dragon Knight. They were both from Cormyr, and she.. the knight, had been chasing down this banite, finally catching up to him here at our south gates … now that I think about it, thats a long way to run. Talk about devotion on both sides.. anyway, she was pissed, and ready to srtike him down where he stood.

    As it turns out, the Banite had knowledge of where multiple children had been kidnapped and taken. And instead of wanting to save these children, she wanted to kill him.. which would have also been the death of the kids. Even a knight can be blinded.. We kept the two apart, everyone gathering around, holding her away from him. Bound and tied, we tried to get the information out of the banite. However.. all he would tell us was, we would get the information we wanted if we brought him to his friends in oscura.

    After many annoying arguments that never got us anywhere, Noah, Caling, Crux, myself.. and oddly enough, even Sogar, decided to actually -do- something. We took him north, to the oscuran docks.. we were outnumbered three to one, even with the help of Sogars guardsmen.. it would have been difficult if a fight broke out. Luckily one didn't.. and we got our information, for exchange, we had to hand over the banite.. it was our only option, and Sogar made sure they kept to their end of the deal. Instead of anything resembling words.. we were givin a map, and one of them laughed telling us 'good luck'. Looking over the map.. you could easily tell it was Cormyr.

    We split ways there. Noah and Caling went south to prepare, while Crux and I went north, and took a boat south shortly after arriving in peltarch. We stocked up on supplies the moment we reached norwick, then made our way to the south gate, where the Knight was still standing, waiting... Turns out.. we somehow beat Noah and Caling there.

    The knight told us, that this map leads to a cave that she knows of in Cormyr, and asked for our help. Many of us.. if not all of us went with her, some.. without even knowing how far this trip was going to take us.