Xilent
08-05-2007, 03:54 PM
Dear Mom,
I know that you told me to stay away from strangers, but I appear to have fallen in with evil companions. Mage school was so boring, Uncle Pietr had taught me more about being a wizard than those old fuddyduddies seem to know. The children in the class, and I do mean children, made fun of me because I could not talk. So one night, I went into town. And fell in with evil companions. They took me drinking, and when I had drunk enough "convinced" me to try out sailing. The capatain later told me that it was a common way to pick up fresh crewman. But I was so woefully inept as a crewman; I never knew when to stop signing questions or suggesting alternatives. The captain finally dropped me off on a small island, near Stormreach. And when I say dropped, I mean that literally. No payment, just the clothes on my back, a couple of weapons that no one else wanted and a suggestion that I turn my back on the sea.
The first building that I came to was the Rook's Gambit, a nice looking place. Near the back, a friendly woman by the name of Euphonia challenged me to complete her maze. It was not that hard, all that I had to do was find 5 red stones and then bring them back to her. I had to fight three spiders, and I got to loot several boxes, that literally came apart when I smashed that with Uncle Pietr's quarterstaff. When I successfully completed her quest, she offered to teach me some tricks, and I took her up on her offer. I offered to stay longer, but shortly afterwards, she turned to another and I knew it was time to move on.
After completing another couple of tasks - beating up on a skeleton, and shooting down some flying, but immobile winged things, I caught the local fishing boat for the main city of Stormreach. When I asked the captain of that boat if he ever went anywhere else, he just ignored me. I guess that I should not have been too surprised after I saw him talking with the skipper of the boat that brought me in.
He dropped me off at another dock, and the first meeting place I could get to was the Wavecrest Tavern. Here the barkeep asked me to do him a favor, and bring up a cask of Old Sully (believe me, with the way that it smelled, I was not at all anxious to try a taste, it must have been in that basement for a long time). When I lifted up the cask, a door popped open. Behind it were two more doors. Past that last one, I came up on a kobold, at least I think it was a kobold, it was just like that one in the stroy that cousin Walther told us over Winter's Eve. The silly rat was resting, next to a fire, and I snuck up on it and hit it over the head with the quaterstaff. (I have had a lot of time to exam this weapon; I still have not figured out what it is made of, but it never seems to take damage). I could then loot the two chest at my ease. One contained loot, but the other had an Unholy aretifact in it; it made my heart shiver to even touch it. I took both the keg and the artifact to the tavern keeper. He kept the keg, and directed me to the local brother of the Silver Flame (yes, they have one here, and Yes, I will go every Rest Day to hear them pray!).
The brother sent me back into the caverns to see what other mischief the rats were up to. I eventualy killed 10 of them (they just could not seem to stand the cold of my cold ray). I took loot from two chests, one of which was an heirloom of one of the barmaids. After climbing donw a ladder, I found an old altar - as I approached it the whole cavern started to shake. You know that I have never liked the dark places, and when pieces of the ceiling started to come down I tried to leave. But the way was blocked. Both by a door and Crazy man. I killed him to get out of that shaking cavern. It was the only way. Apparently, he had left a chest near the entrance; as I knew he would not need it again, I looted it too. (Yes, I said looted - food costs money, and I did not have very much). So after clearing the basement and returning the heirloom, I had more than 100 gold; which is a lot to have from where we came from, but a mere pittance in this mercenary town. The taverner suggested that I meet up with other companions, and then left me to my own devices.
So I have met new companions. I have taken the sobriquette of Dumb, since that is what the kids at the academy called me. My new companions are Shoale, a rogue thief, Rumay, a human Paladin, and Morrodin, a dwarf fighter. They are all as new to the city as I am. We met up next to a man named Lord Goodblade - though what he is a lord of, I have never been able to figure out - nor have any of the others.
Goodblade gave us some tasks, and paid us of in loot. Not very good loot, at least I did not think so, but it all sells. (Seems like an awful mercenary attitude to take, but that is what it takes in Stormreach). The first thing he asked us to do was recover some ancient daggers from an old crypt. My companions, not nearly so pious as Father Zolon, thought nthing of breaking into every casket we saw. Some of these had skeletons that did not like being disturbed. But they quickly died under the weapons of our warriors, and I never had a chance to show them my skills. In the deepest part of the crypt there was a chest - shiny and dust free. it was guarded by a skeleton captain, and a couple of cohort skeletons, but again they proved no match for the four of us. We retrieved the daggers and returned to Goodblade. He refused to part with any of the daggers, even chiding us until we coughed up the one that we had kept for ourselves. (Mom, I know he asked us to get them for him, but if he wanted them so bad, he should have tagged along).
In spite of our trying to short him, he offered us another task. He wanted a rare scroll from a building: the outside looks just like a barn, but the inside was much more like a dungeon. And some thieves had beat us to the inside of the building. We had to fight them for the chance to find the scroll. I got to use that burning hand spell that Pietr had shown me, and my companions were amazed. One of them even commented that while he felt the heat, he was not singed, even when surrounded by my flame. So, seven thieves and a slime (yes, a slime, imagine a slug, only without eyes and much more slimey), later, we were able to find the scroll and return it to Goodblade. More loot for us, and we were off on his next task.
This time he wanted a cask of healing potions from within the sewer complex. Yes, Stormreach has sewers, and they are just as disgusting as you would expect. Evil sure gets it way when it hides treasure in a sewer: you have to prove that you can take it, before you get a chance to prove that you can dish it out. We ended up having to fight several mechanical dogs (yeah, I had to look up the word mechanical - ask Ucle Pietr what they are), several scorpions, and a bunch of spiders to get to the end. Eventually we arrived at a warforged. I could never figure out what demented person left the protection of this cask to a warforged. They are every bit as scary as the stories of cousin Walther. When we solved his (the warforged's) puzzle, we got the cask, and this time, Goodblade gave us some potions for our troubles.
Because of our good service, he gifted an ornamental sowrd to each of us, but it mush not be worth much, the local pawn buyer only gave us 50 gp for it. On our way out of the immediate landing area, we passed two guards, arguing about this area they called the Low Road. One of them even challenged us to take it. It was populated with some more of them ratty looking lizards, but me and my companions quickly cleaned it out. Climbing up the rope at the end, I discovered a higher level mage that was willing to train me a bit more, and name me 2nd Rank. I took it, the additional spells that he taught me, and the increased memory that being of 2nd rank allows. Yes, now, I can hold 4 spells in my memory at one time. He also pointed us toward a dive called the Leaky Dinghy.
In there we found a lady that had misplaced her ward. She told us where the rumors had said she had disappeared, and we went there to search. Eventually we found here, but not before fighting more undead (remember, we had fought them in that crypt) and an evil necromancer. Strike one up for the good guys. Not much loot here, nor much of a payoff, but fighting on the side of good is its own reward. And we had the chance to return a yound lady to her protector.
I know that you would have me return home or to go back to that stuffy academy, but now that I have had a taste of the adventures that Uncle Pietr and cousing Walther have talked about, I want to have my own adventures. So, for a while, I am going to stay with my new companions. Do not worry about me, they accept my disabilities and my skills. When I have more gold set aside, and when I am sure that it will get to you, I will send you some of my gatherings.
Until then,
your son Ethelberry (also know as Dumb)
I know that you told me to stay away from strangers, but I appear to have fallen in with evil companions. Mage school was so boring, Uncle Pietr had taught me more about being a wizard than those old fuddyduddies seem to know. The children in the class, and I do mean children, made fun of me because I could not talk. So one night, I went into town. And fell in with evil companions. They took me drinking, and when I had drunk enough "convinced" me to try out sailing. The capatain later told me that it was a common way to pick up fresh crewman. But I was so woefully inept as a crewman; I never knew when to stop signing questions or suggesting alternatives. The captain finally dropped me off on a small island, near Stormreach. And when I say dropped, I mean that literally. No payment, just the clothes on my back, a couple of weapons that no one else wanted and a suggestion that I turn my back on the sea.
The first building that I came to was the Rook's Gambit, a nice looking place. Near the back, a friendly woman by the name of Euphonia challenged me to complete her maze. It was not that hard, all that I had to do was find 5 red stones and then bring them back to her. I had to fight three spiders, and I got to loot several boxes, that literally came apart when I smashed that with Uncle Pietr's quarterstaff. When I successfully completed her quest, she offered to teach me some tricks, and I took her up on her offer. I offered to stay longer, but shortly afterwards, she turned to another and I knew it was time to move on.
After completing another couple of tasks - beating up on a skeleton, and shooting down some flying, but immobile winged things, I caught the local fishing boat for the main city of Stormreach. When I asked the captain of that boat if he ever went anywhere else, he just ignored me. I guess that I should not have been too surprised after I saw him talking with the skipper of the boat that brought me in.
He dropped me off at another dock, and the first meeting place I could get to was the Wavecrest Tavern. Here the barkeep asked me to do him a favor, and bring up a cask of Old Sully (believe me, with the way that it smelled, I was not at all anxious to try a taste, it must have been in that basement for a long time). When I lifted up the cask, a door popped open. Behind it were two more doors. Past that last one, I came up on a kobold, at least I think it was a kobold, it was just like that one in the stroy that cousin Walther told us over Winter's Eve. The silly rat was resting, next to a fire, and I snuck up on it and hit it over the head with the quaterstaff. (I have had a lot of time to exam this weapon; I still have not figured out what it is made of, but it never seems to take damage). I could then loot the two chest at my ease. One contained loot, but the other had an Unholy aretifact in it; it made my heart shiver to even touch it. I took both the keg and the artifact to the tavern keeper. He kept the keg, and directed me to the local brother of the Silver Flame (yes, they have one here, and Yes, I will go every Rest Day to hear them pray!).
The brother sent me back into the caverns to see what other mischief the rats were up to. I eventualy killed 10 of them (they just could not seem to stand the cold of my cold ray). I took loot from two chests, one of which was an heirloom of one of the barmaids. After climbing donw a ladder, I found an old altar - as I approached it the whole cavern started to shake. You know that I have never liked the dark places, and when pieces of the ceiling started to come down I tried to leave. But the way was blocked. Both by a door and Crazy man. I killed him to get out of that shaking cavern. It was the only way. Apparently, he had left a chest near the entrance; as I knew he would not need it again, I looted it too. (Yes, I said looted - food costs money, and I did not have very much). So after clearing the basement and returning the heirloom, I had more than 100 gold; which is a lot to have from where we came from, but a mere pittance in this mercenary town. The taverner suggested that I meet up with other companions, and then left me to my own devices.
So I have met new companions. I have taken the sobriquette of Dumb, since that is what the kids at the academy called me. My new companions are Shoale, a rogue thief, Rumay, a human Paladin, and Morrodin, a dwarf fighter. They are all as new to the city as I am. We met up next to a man named Lord Goodblade - though what he is a lord of, I have never been able to figure out - nor have any of the others.
Goodblade gave us some tasks, and paid us of in loot. Not very good loot, at least I did not think so, but it all sells. (Seems like an awful mercenary attitude to take, but that is what it takes in Stormreach). The first thing he asked us to do was recover some ancient daggers from an old crypt. My companions, not nearly so pious as Father Zolon, thought nthing of breaking into every casket we saw. Some of these had skeletons that did not like being disturbed. But they quickly died under the weapons of our warriors, and I never had a chance to show them my skills. In the deepest part of the crypt there was a chest - shiny and dust free. it was guarded by a skeleton captain, and a couple of cohort skeletons, but again they proved no match for the four of us. We retrieved the daggers and returned to Goodblade. He refused to part with any of the daggers, even chiding us until we coughed up the one that we had kept for ourselves. (Mom, I know he asked us to get them for him, but if he wanted them so bad, he should have tagged along).
In spite of our trying to short him, he offered us another task. He wanted a rare scroll from a building: the outside looks just like a barn, but the inside was much more like a dungeon. And some thieves had beat us to the inside of the building. We had to fight them for the chance to find the scroll. I got to use that burning hand spell that Pietr had shown me, and my companions were amazed. One of them even commented that while he felt the heat, he was not singed, even when surrounded by my flame. So, seven thieves and a slime (yes, a slime, imagine a slug, only without eyes and much more slimey), later, we were able to find the scroll and return it to Goodblade. More loot for us, and we were off on his next task.
This time he wanted a cask of healing potions from within the sewer complex. Yes, Stormreach has sewers, and they are just as disgusting as you would expect. Evil sure gets it way when it hides treasure in a sewer: you have to prove that you can take it, before you get a chance to prove that you can dish it out. We ended up having to fight several mechanical dogs (yeah, I had to look up the word mechanical - ask Ucle Pietr what they are), several scorpions, and a bunch of spiders to get to the end. Eventually we arrived at a warforged. I could never figure out what demented person left the protection of this cask to a warforged. They are every bit as scary as the stories of cousin Walther. When we solved his (the warforged's) puzzle, we got the cask, and this time, Goodblade gave us some potions for our troubles.
Because of our good service, he gifted an ornamental sowrd to each of us, but it mush not be worth much, the local pawn buyer only gave us 50 gp for it. On our way out of the immediate landing area, we passed two guards, arguing about this area they called the Low Road. One of them even challenged us to take it. It was populated with some more of them ratty looking lizards, but me and my companions quickly cleaned it out. Climbing up the rope at the end, I discovered a higher level mage that was willing to train me a bit more, and name me 2nd Rank. I took it, the additional spells that he taught me, and the increased memory that being of 2nd rank allows. Yes, now, I can hold 4 spells in my memory at one time. He also pointed us toward a dive called the Leaky Dinghy.
In there we found a lady that had misplaced her ward. She told us where the rumors had said she had disappeared, and we went there to search. Eventually we found here, but not before fighting more undead (remember, we had fought them in that crypt) and an evil necromancer. Strike one up for the good guys. Not much loot here, nor much of a payoff, but fighting on the side of good is its own reward. And we had the chance to return a yound lady to her protector.
I know that you would have me return home or to go back to that stuffy academy, but now that I have had a taste of the adventures that Uncle Pietr and cousing Walther have talked about, I want to have my own adventures. So, for a while, I am going to stay with my new companions. Do not worry about me, they accept my disabilities and my skills. When I have more gold set aside, and when I am sure that it will get to you, I will send you some of my gatherings.
Until then,
your son Ethelberry (also know as Dumb)