A Long Month

I said goodbye to my new friends by the River and decided to journey to the last college still operating in the north to see what remains of my gift.  One friend, Faengal, decided to journey with me.  It was a long way to the school. 

This is a bleak bleak land.  Cold.  Rugged.  Our first stop was a small lodge of self-proclaimed watchmen who lookout for demonic activity.  We spent the night here, but found little warmth in their walls.  We traveled on, and had to kill some of the biggest spiders I've ever seen.  I hate spiders.  If anything is the result of demonic influence, it is spiders.  Faen is very good with his bow though. 

We stayed a few days in Dawn by the sea where I discovered an old smugglers haven still loaded with stolen goods.  Not sure if it is active or if these treasures remain from an older time though, will have to check back in a few weeks and see.  Was able to upgrade my wardrobe and weapons and sell some things.  Been very short on funds of late. 

Wandering around we found a shipwreck and I was almost seriously injured by a snow troll, but Faen killed it from a distance.  I owe him my life.  Traveling from Dawn to the Hall of White we were beset by white snow snake demon things.  Faen saved my life again.  They came so fast I couldn't even tell where they coming from.  I was injured and we had find a place for shelter as a storm front was coming in.  I think Faen sucks cold like a newborn babe at breast, but I am a man of the southern mountain. 

We took refuge in an ancient and very strange set of ruins.  Strange metal.  Strange machines.  Dangerous traps.  But safe from the weather.

White hall proved a dissapointment.  There is practically nothing here besides a small limited inn.  Faen decided to say here while I sought out the college.

The college accepted me after a small rather simple test. It is much smaller than the academy in the south and do not hold the academy in high regard here.  I wonder what they would think of me if they knew that once I had risen high but now was cast low.  But my first lesson humbled for it taught me a new magic that I had never even suspected existed before.  How much more can I learn here?

I settled into my humble room and the first full day took a field trip with my fellow students.  My power is stunted but my memory returns. I easily recognized signs of a hidden ward deep inside the dig in ancients ruins.  Dwelving deep into the halls that had seen a living heart in a thousand years, facing the dead, and a couple of rather simplistic puzzle locks, we discovered a power source with unknown benefits and dangers.  Its guardian was very strong, but impotent cut from the source.  I didn't know how to cut the source, but the teacher did, and I made short work of this guardian.  My sword arm grows stronger again.

At the dig I saw a startling sight.  A burned body.  Mark of a dragon.  Had Martin been here?  Was my transformed friend this far north?  Was he fleeing to alien lands?  Had he forgotten all that he was or was he simply so angry that he would kill all?  Or is it even Martin?  I don't know.  I've seen no sign of the dragon.  But others, including the remnants of a caravan, have complained of dragons plaguing the land, especially in the hinter regions (as if this area could have more rugged barren places than I have already seen). 

But back to the power source.  It is alien and the books we needed to explore were stolen.  So I sought them out and retrieved them facing many strong adversaries who had gone rogue.  In the end it was a lady mage who was trying to form an evil cabal for some reason, I'll never know now since she no longer speak to the issue.  She tried and almost succeeded in killing me.  I left Faen behind because this was foe to great for him.  Flame demons and blizzard winds were conjured.  But in the end my gift and my arm was enough for now. 

Oh, what I would give for my ancient enchanted blade of the Blades, my armour that made the gift and blood flow.  But the imperials have stolen it.  Locked up on some vault or on some trophy rack in a nobles hall in the capitol for all I know.  The blade of my friend, who gave his life defending the world from the first major demonic incursion, is also gone.  Maybe it still rests in its case in my old castle.  I don't know. 

But I have new sword with a bit of power, and a bow with a bit more.  I have robes that make the gift stronger.  And day by day my blood grows thicker and my muscles regain their strength and movement.  I am coming alive again.  And I find one gift of some value still remains in full.  I can still draw, so I am illustrating my journal with art to convey this journey.



So I have decided a personal test is in order.  A Jarl has asked me to retrieve a tome of dragons.  Perhaps it will help me discover if the dragon is Martin or not.  So I am returning south to the barrow to find what I find.  Faen will journey with me.  I may even settle in and buy a house, though some Jarl I don't know has invited me to his lands far away and even offered me a bit of land to build my own.  But more coin is thin.  Hmmm... maybe on the way south I'll take a bit of a detour and stop by the city of Dawn first and see if the smugglers are still active.