My name is Aloth [spoilers]

[jeffrobot]

I love when people journal their adventures in RPGs, so I gave it a try myself. This game is on Path of the Damned and Trial of Iron. Not Expert, but I do have AoE highlighting turned off. No spoilers except for meeting your first companion and one of the fights in the very first area after the prologue.

 

My name is Aloth and this is a journal I’m keeping of my adventures in Aedyr. I came to the town of Gilded Vale seeking the homesteading opportunity offered by the locale lord, Lord Raedrich. He promised land and a new life to anyone that came to his town. When I got here, I found a tree hanging with dead people, and a very scary group of people that wanted to know if I had anything to do with all their babies being born without souls. Apparently the homesteading deal was off the table and something very strange was going on in this town and to Lord Raedric. They set me up with a room in the inn and no one spoke to me again after that. Bored and in a foul mood, I took up with some of the locals in the tavern and couldn’t help myself from having a little fun at their expense. The drunk simpletons that they were, they got mad immediately and insisted we “take things outside”, which is where I met Guinness IV and my life took a turn for the unforgettable. 

 

 

“Shut your mouth, wizard.” One of them said, and looked like he was about to hit me when a very short, red-haired and bushy-bearded dwarf, who no one had noticed before, strode up and interrupted us. “What’s goin on, here?!” he roared. The villagers apparently didn’t like that, and since both the dwarf and I were foreigners, they decided they were going to kill us both. Of course, I am a second-level wizard and these were simple townfolk, so they never stood much of a chance. But the dwarf turned out to be a pretty remarkable fighter, too. A single bolt from my wand, and two swings of his mace and the three drunkards were dead.

 

 

Neither of us were fazed by killing three villagers outside an inn, and I recognized a strong and indomitable spirit in the dwarf. His name was Guinness the fourth, son of Guinness the third. I offered to join him, not knowing what else I was going to do. He looked me up and down like he was examining a weapon. “Sure. I could use a companion.  Let’s go.” And so began our adventure together.

 

 

We went back inside the inn where my new dwarf friend immediately set about hiring a third member for our group. He found another dwarf, a very sinister-looking fellow, sitting at a table drinking a beer. This dwarf was a rogue, deadly with a blade, named Gelfarin. 

 

 

For 250 copper pieces, he joined us indefinitely. 

 

 

The three of us were now just about the deadliest group of people in this town, so I felt pretty safe. Guinness told us he’d heard there was a bear in the forest to the north and he wanted to go kill it, so Gelfarin and I followed him out the door and up the path towards the forest.

 

 

After a couple hours walking through the thin forest, Guinness stopped. “There” he pointed, and I looked and saw a dark cave mouth in the side of a rocky hill. 

 

 

I was a little unsure exactly how one went about fighting a bear in a small, dark cave, but Guinness had a plan. “Eat this”, he said, and took several meat pies, cheeses, and tankards of ale out of his backpack. As we ate I could feel my strength returning from the long march. Guinness nearly drank himself under the table. By the time he stood up again, I could see he was a little unsteady, staggering back and forth a little bit. But by god, you looked in his eyes and you could tell he was ready for a fight. “The beer helps me take the hits.” Gelfarin and I exchanged glances nervously, but followed him as he stalked into the mouth of the cave.

 

The cave was dark, but I could tell it was small. I could hear what could only be the bear gnawing on some bones just around a bend. “Okay Al, you go stand over there” he pointed to a corner of the cave that would keep me out of the action. “You’re gonna have to cast that big fire spell of yours, but goddam it don’t hit me with it” he said under his breath. “Gel, stick close to me. I want you to poke that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bear in it’s ♥♥♥ while I’ve got it’s attention.” Gelfarin nodded without saying a word. If he had any doubts about this situation, he’d decided to ignore them for now and focus on the fight.

“Ready?” Guinness whispered. We both nodded. 

“Chaaaaaarge!” he yelled and roared around the corner. 

“AAAAARRRRR!” came the yell of the bear, and it came bounding around the corner. By god, she was a big one! And this damn dwarf, not even half her size, was running straight for her jaws with just his little wooden shield and a mace! 

 

Gathering my senses, I began the incantation to cast Fan of Flames, my most deadly spell. But then, the shadows behind the bear came lumbering into the light of my wand and we saw two more bears! Smaller than the mother, but with claws and teeth just as deadly!

 

“Don’t worry, boys! I saw this in a dream! Keep at em!” In a second, Guinness was neck deep in bears. They were all around him, tearing, clawing, snarling, biting. But somehow, my god somehow, he ducked, dodged, and waved his shield around in all the right places and was deflecting most of their blows. Then the mother bear let out a roar and I saw blood splatter the floor. Gelfarin had snuck behind her and was stabbing her haunches repeatedly with his long knives. But Guinness had locked eyes with her and she couldn’t look away, and the bear cubs were still focused on him, too. Suddenly he slipped, and the mother bear’s jaws closed around his arm. I heard him grunt. One of the cubs slipped it’s claws inside his shield and tore at his flesh. He grunted again. My Fan of Flames incantation was nearly complete, but I knew I needed to stop these bears from landing another blow. I reset my stance, and quickly muttered the phrases for Curse of Blackened Sight. The spell landed right in the center of the fray, and all three bears roared as their vision was narrowed to a tiny speck. 

“Nice one, Al! Now cast that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fireball!” Guinness roared, in between chugs of an incandescent blue healing potion.

“It’s not a fireball!” I yelled back, elated at the success of my spell. 

“It’s a fan!” 

WHOOSH!

A gout of flame erupted from my outstretched hands, turning Guinness, Gelfarin, and the three bears into a single massive explosion. 

“♥♥♥♥!” I yelled, hoping my companions were still alive. But after no more than a second or two of stunned silence, I heard the scrape of claws on shield and grunts of dwarven exhaustion. The battle was still going and none of the bears were dead!

“Errrrruuuuu!” A deep, sad moan came out of the mother bear, and she collapsed, revealing the picture of Gelfarin poised behind her, his blades slathered in blood and his locks of hair smoldered and smoking. 

 

 

The cubs were startled, but I whipped my wrist and whispered the phrase for Arcane Assault, a bolt of blue energy exiting my hand and exploding on the cub’s face, taking a chunk of it’s skull. The last remaining cub mewed once before Gelfarin’s blade sliced into the back of it’s skull from behind and it sank to the floor.

 

 

“Well done, BOOOYYS!” Guinness roared, a wide smile spreading his face end to end. His clothes were bloody and tattered but he looked remarkably healthy.

“I knew we could do it!”

The whole thing had lasted no more than eight seconds. I let my legs collapse and fell back against the wall of the cave. 

“Good god.”

Gelfarin was looking at the carnage on the ground around us, and absently cleaning his knives. “Gods, that was pretty easy” he said, his mouth splitting into a grin. 

“Hell yeah it was!” Guinness roared, clapping him on the back. 

“I knew it would be!”

I had a thought. “Hey, Guinness, what do you mean you “saw this in a dream”?”

Guinness suddenly turned serious, with a look of great pride in his eyes.

“Ever since the night my caravan was attacked, I’ve had these visions when I sleep. I’ve seen myself kill this bear at least twice before. I’ve seen other things, too. But…” He looked at Gelfarin and I. 

“It wasn’t with you two in my dream. It was with some other blokes. I don’t really get that part.”

Not understanding, Gelfarin and I looked at each other.

“Huh” I said.

“Yep. It’s weird. But…” and he lowered his voice. 

“I think I’m special.”

“You’re definitely special!” I said with a laugh.

 

[Volourn]

I approve the different approach of writing from an npc perspective. Well done.

[DIIscIIple]

But you should do the rest in the spoilers area.

[Tigranes]

Edited title, feel free to continue.

[Matt516]

Wonderful read. Thanks for sharing.

[jeffrobot]

Thanks guys. Sadly, the next day, Guinness, Gelfarin, and Aloth were all slain by a pack of wolves. There was some miscommunication and Aloth was out of position.