April 1, 2000
Cleric's Guild, Southern end of Medievia
Alone in my guild, I being a nearly mastered cleric am practicing in the ways of my deity, healing. As I scrolled through the endless collections of dusty hard cover books, pages turned yellow due to age, print smudged by numerous fingers in an attempt to learn. I scanned through the selected book to find the goal of my search.
"Eureka! Finally the spell I have sought after for ages, one spell that defines my servitude to my gods, 'Resurrection'"
The word 'Resurrection' flowed like a cool autumn stream off my lips. The pinnacle of my life, this made me complete. After spending a rigorous hour practicing, I was over-joyed with the outcome of my toil and practice.
*Hey, Hetic are ya busy right now?*
Telepathy you got to love it. It was Nquadroa a dear friend and mastered cleric. Both of us, devoted to the healing of others and the smiting of evil.
*Not at the moment Nquad,* that's what everyone called him * why do you ask? * *Major fire down in Ruella you know what that means right?* *Lots of people are going to need our assistance. Thanks I'm heading to Ruellia now, should I be expecting you?* *Umm! That's not what I was referring to, fire, goods, trade run, and big money. * *What? Hmm... money is tempting but can't we help the people?* *Sure, as soon as we get our cash.* *Fine I'm going to Nash's town via portal then hike out to Riverton. * *My God, you're a real cheapskate. I'll meet you there. Oh yeah I'm bringing Shadim and Alara with us.* *Sounds fine, the more the merrier. *
"This is going to be great," I thought. "Make some money and help some people out at the same time. I can really make a name for myself."
After gathering up my gear, which was falling apart at the seams, I started rooting through my egg sack. I found the object I desired, a glimmering sphere of crimson mist, which glowed with a brilliant green aura. Carefully I lit up the sphere and held it in my palm, I could feel the monumental power it bestowed upon my magic.
"Son of a Scruff! I can't believe it!" I shouted loudly throughout the guild. "Has it really been that long?" My glimmering sphere of crimson mist suddenly flared yellow then it no longer gave off a green glow, instead it dissipated and all that was left was a grey ball with little wisps of mists mingling inside.
I continued to rant and rave about the strife I endured to obtain it, till a cleric of lower stature wandered in from the trapdoor. He looked up and fixed a powerful gaze upon me. I felt my body slowly numbing, my mental functions grew hazy, but I noticed a glowing item held by the cleric. I struggled for the words, but I managed to summon a powerful gust of wind to knock the item flying upwards outside of the guild room. The paralysis faded and I had control of my body once again. I quickly rushed towards my opponent and tackled him to the ground. I removed a potion from my belt and thrust the contents down his throat. Before he knew what hit him, he vanished out from under me causing a mild fall to the ground and a satisfying thud.
"Lets see how cocky he is when he has to hike sixty miles back here. Well time to move out." I recited a spell that whisked me the courtyard of Medievia and I walked towards the fountain. I took four long, deep gulps of water before I filled my chalice.
"This water seems more filling now then it does in my chalice." A neighboring janitor seemed to agree with me momentarily before his head was split into pieces by some warrior's boot. I scolded the warrior for his action, "I hope that's not the way you get attention, you brainless half-wit."
"I do what I do, can you really blame me for it?" the warrior said in his defense. Well I thought it over for all of two seconds.
"Yes, I really can." I flicked my wrist at the warrior and a column of flame engulfed him. He screamed and flailed his limbs as he made a dive into the fountain giving off a rather undignified splash. I was soon on my way to the portal and to my fortune.
The Astral Plane, Somewhere in the land of Medievia
I made some mental calculations and estimated my time to Riverton to be a little over an hour. I decided to use my portal time to find a new light. I once again opened my egg sack, this time it was filled with some sort of gas only found on the astral plane. I fanned the gas out of the my sack and smiled at what I saw inside.
"Hmm! this looks good I think I can use this." I thought to myself, since speech is impossible in this location.
I held the light in my hand and lit it up. First thing that happened was a boost to my magic, the second was a rather large shock from the light. Good thing speech is impossible since I would have shouted a number of profanities.
The recoil sent me flat on my back; I stood up and shook off the shock. I conjured my labels out of thin air and, carefully not touching the light, I placed it on the deadly item, the label read "Evil, don't Touch!" So I reached into my egg sack and pulled out light number two. It was some rather large crystallized tears that glowed brightly. Poor, poor Gwendolyn, may her sadness give me power. I nodded off for awhile only to wake up in a terrible condition.
The Black Conclave, right outside the portal
I will never ever fall asleep again in a portal; I was rather rudely awoken by my head colliding into the chest of an iron golem that patrols the portal region. I felt the blood flowing down my face, and that was the least of my worries. My head still spinning from the blow I managed to recognize a figure through the blurs. Tall, muscular, and green! Without a word the battle began, rushing towards me with demonic speed, the troll threw a flurry of jabs and uppercuts that I skillfully blocked with my face.
Although I was not much of physical fighter I knew I was dying on my feet, one more blow and I would be a corpse. I managed to conjure up a sandstorm for defense, but without sand the spell did little more then blow the troll back several feet. The troll set up to end this fight, and, getting some speed under his feet, the muscle bound monster charged headfirst at me. My legs wobbled, and collapsed from under me just as the green behemoth made his final step. He tripped over my fallen body and fell, down a flight of stairs leading down to the Nashite city. I clawed my way to my feet losing my balance several times, only to fall back down. I decided to rest for awhile, till I could gain my footing.
I crawled over to the edge of the stairs and peered down, the troll had fallen down two flights of stairs, but luckily the ground had broken his fall, and spinal cord.
Once I gained enough composure I asked the golem why didn't he intervene, his response was nothing more then a shrug of the shoulders. I peered down the flights of stairs and saw Salem, one of the protectors of the Nashites. I shouted out to him to see if he needed any help with disposing of the corpse, but he shook his head. He grabbed the odor sack of a troll and heaved it up at me, but it shrank before it disappeared. I rose to my feet and pulled out my map and compass, then made a conjecture of the distance from The Black Conclave to Riverton. A little over ten miles. Not wanting to walk that far in my current condition, I called out to my clannies.
* You guys at Riverton yet? * * Yep, we have been waiting for you for about fifteen minutes * * Sorry Shadim, I ran into a problem, summon me and I'll explain * * Sure thing, next stop beautiful Riverton *
In the time of my eyes blinking I dematerialized at the town and reformed at the Riverton trade shop. My appearance was apparantly not very welcome, I was confronted with screams and a rather sharp sword pointed at my neck region. I threw my arms up and screamed bloody murder, as if the troll wasn't bad enough. I soon realized my would-be assailant was none other then Shadim himself. A round of sighs overcame the group.
"Hetic, my boy! Sorry about the whole sword in your face thing, I thought I summoned a blood demon by mistake!" Shadim spoke, with a rather heavy and dominant highland accent from Gdangus.
All I managed was a rather dull, "Huh?", Alara pulled out a rather large mirror from her bag a showed my reflection. I let out a mild scream, and made a quiet comment about blood pudding. I pulled out my chalice and dumped the contents on my body, in hopes to wash off the blood. I was wet and shivering from the icy water, a thought sparked in my brain, note to self: Warm water before shower. Chuckles came from the group, and smiles plastered on their faces. As I stood there shivering I conjured a fireshield to keep me warm and dry off my equipment. Alara smirked, and leaned over to me and whispered,
"You scream like a girl."
"I do not scream like a girl, besides I don't even know what a girl screams like."
"Like this!"
I soon found myself the victim of a rather playful but surprising pinch on my rear, having no other choice I screamed. Alara leaned over to me and whispered,
"Just like that," she replied, as she blew out the small flame on the tips of gloves.
Stay Tuned for Part II: Embarking on the Voyage