Neverending Nights

Dug this out of the old archives from back in 2004 or 2005…

Love,
Tawmis

Colleen now has a blogspot for her character, which can be found by clicking here – but I am also posting them on NeN’s site as well.

Journal of Kalamitee Wolfsmoon – page 38

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Journals of Morobunce, Page 70…

It seems strange to me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The gold box was naturally located on the third floor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There was no easy way to do this.

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

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

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

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

Small things, unnoticed, I sighed.

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

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

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

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

That was two days ago.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This wasn’t over.

Not by a long shot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Journal of Kalamitee Wolfsmoon page 37

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

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

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

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

This is the entry for Mario’s character, Kairon Starcaller. Now that Mario’s character is a part of the adventure (he had to sit out the first session due to real life) – his character now continues to writer his sister. Read below as Mario writes how the adventure from the last session turned out from his character’s point of view… You can read it on Mario’s website, Reality Break as well…