The Cheyness!

[Cheysulii]

I had always been, well, a sort of outcast. I had none of the physical prowess of the warriors nor the magic of the Tribunal's shamans. I was somewhat skilled with a dagger, but couldn't make myself like the night. Fed up with my lot in life, i began to venture through Halas to look for something to give purpose to my life. The rest of my kin just snickered and laughed at me, but i came upon a great feline, floating maybe 6 inches off the ground, holding a large stave of wood. I hailed him, and asked him what he was doing here, and if he was a new breed of monk. The wise cat replied, "No my child, i am no monk. I am a child of the wild. I am a beastlord! Now, follow me child, and we shall know what your fate is." All of a sudden the cat ran down a narrow tunnel and brought me to a series of huts and a pen full of wolves. He led me to a truly great man, the leader of my guild. This man did not make fun of me nor think me any weaker or stronger than anyone else. He gave a cloth tunic and sent me on my way to become one with the wild.
After swimming across the small pond that connects Halas to Everfrost, i was bombarded with new smells, sights, and sounds. My hearing and eyesight sharpened, and i felt a rush of adrenaline. THIS was my domain, the wild, out with the animals and in the fresh air! As i continued to daydream, a gnoll snuck up behind me and yelled defiance at me. I tried to pull my smallish dagger on him, but he hit me over the head with a large stave first. I remember a searing pain, and then nothing. I opened my eyes and found myself floating in a dark grey. There were others floating there, dwarves, elves, and my cousins the humans. on occasion one would disappear or another would come. I hated it. I began to ask myself if this was death.. if all of my lifes struggles had ended like this.. to float around in a gray mass... never changing, always dreary.
COLD! I rolled over and looked around and found myself in everfrost again. I reached towards my boot and found my dagger still there. I still had my rations and my tunic on. I was confused, lost, and alone. I began to wander around and decided to carry my dagger in my hand, just in case. It felt good in my hand, like an extension of my own arm. As i wandered around, i came upon the same gnoll that had felled me before. I ran at a full sprint, dagger raised, and fell upon the lone gnoll, ripping, tearing, biting. Tap. I began searching through the pulsating remains of the gnoll, he was till alive. Tap Tap. Finding a few coppers somewhere around his left thigh, i began to loose the bloodlust that was flowing through me. Tap Tap Tap. I turn around, and lunge with my dagger in hand. The cat i had met before simply grabbed my wrist and flung me over his shoulder in the snow. He then chuckled to himself and said, " So you know what it is to have victory and to fight like the wild."

The grandiose feline helped me up out of the snow, and left me to my buissiness. I went about cleansing my mountains of gnolls, ice goblins and all other ilk. Upon reaching my 8th season, i ran forward to the place known as blackburrow after hearing that a war was breweing there. It stunk in Blackburrow, like rotten meat and stale ale. The gnolls were endless there, and i had no companions to help me. This is where i met my only true friend, my warder. He came to me in my time of direst need, as i was about to succomb to the unrelenting attacks of the gnolls. A feral wolf sprang from my side and tore a gnoll's throat out, bristling and growling at the rest. It was then i knew what the feline had said, about how i was a child of the wild.

I went about my buissiness in Blackburrow, assuring that my homeland would never be threatened again. My backpack bulging and my warder by my side, i travelled to the foriegn lands of Qeynos. As i strolled past the younger humans, i chuckled to myself. These men hd never seen one like myself, nor a warder. They begged me to teach them how to become beastlords themselves, but i replied, "You cannot Become a beastlord, you are born a beastlord." I went to the head of security in Qeynos, and gave him a large sack full of the teeth of the vile gnolls. It felt great, and the respect that was bestowed upon me made me feel like i had grown maybe 5 seasons older. Just then, a magician maybe a season my senior burst into the room, bleeding. He wheezed out, " Orcs...... Freeport.... Tunare save us all!" He then collapsed to the floor, unconcious. I allowed the judgement of the Tribunal to pass over him, and the Tribunal deemed him worthy of life and healed him. he rose and said, "I am Quelvin, and i am forever in your debt noble barbarian. It seemed i had made another friend.

Chapter 3

Me and Quelvin travelled to freeport, a city caught up in a war of its own. We were instructed by the head of the freeport militia to try and hunt down the vile Deathfist orcs of the Commons. I held a brief discussion with my warder and Quelvin, and we decided to accept the job and attempt to root out all the evil orc.

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I snuck quietly out into the wilderness, stalking a small orc carrying a miner's pick. I tracked him to an area filled with tents and campfires, teeming with orcs. as i crept up over the final hill, i reached back and pulled my trusty staff out of its sling. Quelvin mumbled a few words and threw a small gem into the air. A smallish man made of the earth itself crawled out of the ground. I hit it over the head with my staff and found that my legs had been immobilized. Quelvin chuckled and explained that he too had companions, though not of the living sort like my warder. Feeling quite dumb, i decided to show my expertise and skill in combat to make up for my foolish behavior. I screamed defiance at the entire orc camp, throwing axes and casting my spells. A overflowing wave of orcs fell upon us! I dodged to my left and came around with my staff, knocking the first orc to the ground. My warder, seeing an orc mumbling in the rear, lept over the ensuing fight and slammed its head intot he orcs side, interrupting his spell and effectively saving us all. The earth man fought well, using a sword Quelvin had picked out of thin air. Then i saw an orc rush past me and slash Quelvin open from his right shoulder to his belly button. I saw my friend's blood yet again, and was enraged by my failure to protect him. I picked up a large stick off the ground and started swinging it along with my staff, knocking heads and beating all within arms reach. When i was finished, i looked worse than Quelvin. He had been wearing a magical enchantment that provided him with armor, and was fine. I on the otherhand was bleeding from my left ear, a gash in my side, and had a broken leg. I smiled with satisfaction, not a single orc left, and fell into an unconcious state.

I awoke in a cleric's tent in the Commons, head aching and still not able to bend my legs. Quelvin chuckled and bandaged me up. He said we had eradicated an entire camp of orc in one attack, and were to be recognized for our efforts by the capitain of the militia himself! I fell out of bed in a hurry, banging my knee on a desk as i scrambled to get my coin purse to tip the fine lady who had saved my life. We walked towards Freeport, jabbering about the wonders to come.

As soon as we entered freeport, a grand cheer rose up among the merchants and citizens. We were showered in gifts and gold, as well as good food and ale. I ate a steaming piece of venison while my warder bowed its head to a piece of raw bear. Quelvin ate almost nothing, sipping his ale and nibbling on bread, and seemed to be lost in concentration, mumbling words to himself. I shrugged the uneasy feeling coming over me as the capitain of the milita came forth and presented us with medals of honor, as well as a reward of 100 gold coins. I found myself an attractive woman, gave her a bit too much ale, and wandered off to find a room...

The next day, i arose with a headache, grumbling as i put my leather breeches on. The lady of the night had left, and Quelvin was asleep by the fireplace. I decided to allow him to rest, knowing he was the one who had felled the rest of the orcs after i had fallen. I stumbled around our room, gathering my things, preparing myself to go take a stroll outside in the cool air of dawn, and to check up on my warder. As i grabbed my staff, i heard a faint crack outiside and a shuffle of feet. I quickly sprung out the door and brought my staff around in a wide arc, beating a filthy gnome about his bald head. To my surprise, the gnome drew a dagger on me and jumped behind a box, concealing himself from my view. I called out, " Oh small friend, i meant you no harm, i was just ensuring my gold was not going to be rifled when i stepped out my door."

I couldn't find that gnome, he seemed to have dissapeared...
I stroked my warder's fur, feeling the sinewy muscle underneath to make sure he wasnt hurt anywhere, then walked off towards the Northern Desert of Ro, to deal with a Dervish infestation the milita wanted routed out. Quelvin summoned us some heat stones so that we might see at night, and we were on our way......................

I wiped the blood from my hands, a long day of dervish hunting complete. Sitting in a tavern, i pulled out a needle and began to stitch up my tunic, damn spellcasters and their fireballs. My warder waits outside, not welcomed in most human establishments. They just do not understand the bonds of nature. Quelvin has traveled west, to his homeland with news that a war is on the verge of breaking with the crushbone orcs. I myself am told i should head out to High Keep to help the guards there with a gnoll infestation. I take one last swig of my ale, savoring it as it runs down my throat, lay a few silvers on the bar, and make my way out to the east commons.

I pass through the commons without any trouble, most bandits and orcs leaving me alone when they see my faithful warder trailing along behind me. It takes me a good 2 days to reach the great expanse of forest known as kithicor.

As i step into the forests, i get a sense of dread, a cold spike of foreboding penetrating my spine. I notice many mangled corpses on the path, whats left of adventurers past. The sites are gruesome, the careless adventurers seem to have been rent by unholy powers, leaving nothing on the bones but glistening hunks of muscle and sinew, causing the corpses to emanate a faint red glow. Swatting at the flies and gnats attracted to the corpses, i stumble down the path, gagging on the stench. It gets worse as i continue down the path, my eyes start tearing, my nose begins to run. My warder suddenly yelps out in pain. I turn around in a start, dropping my backpacks and readying myself for a fight, only to see he stepped on a thorn.

The corpses are getting increasingly disturbing. I see non-human forms lying around, like the bodies of the fabled ogres or even of the lizard men from the west. I realized then, that my peril was great. I reach behind my and lay hands on a new staff of mine, feeling the leather grips and the weight of the head. Unstrapping it from my back, i start glancing around as i walk. I see High pass in the distance, a mere 300 yards away. Looking back quickly, i go into a dead sprint toward highpass, running from my own shadows, spooked. I burst into the mountain setting of highpass and find myself in the middle of an orc encampment.

I was quickly losing the fight that ensued. These orc were different, stronger and spellcasting. I felt drowsy and sick, could not see past my own nose. As i felt myself succumbing to the waves of orcs, a great pillar of ice erupted from my staff, freezing the blood flowing through the orcs' very veins. I glanced at my own staff in amazement, not sure what had just happened or how i had caused it to occur. I decided i liked my new staff, and made sure it wasnt scratched or cracked anywhere before bandaging my wounds and making my way to High Keep.


I started, not sure where the command had come from. I see a guard, or what i thought was a guard but actually a man with WAY too much armor polish and spare time. I shouted from afar, "Are ye Friend or foe?". The man chuckled and said he was friend to the barbarians, we had done him some favors awhile back. I approached slowly, not trusting this shiny individual yet, and told my arder to stay put around the corner, out of sight. The man said he was Lonnruck, a paladin of Nife. I greeted him as Cheysulii, a shaman of the Tribunal, not knowing if he would accept me for who i really was, and who doesnt love a great big shaman?

I followed Lonnruck into the keep, passing numerous guards who all leered at me from under their helms. I could tell that these people were sheltered, and hadn't seen many barbarians pass through as of late. Ever since people had started heading out to the Paludal Caverns trading path to clear out the bandits, the keep had been fighting an uphill battle with the gnolls and were on the brink of collapse. I walked down the once-majestic halls, now covered in blood stains and soiled cloth, all tables hacked apart or broken or laden with the wounded or dead. I smelled gnoll everywhere, and wished i hadn't left my warder outsde. I pulled on some gloves i had purchased in the bazaar, supposedly magic, and tried to force my will into them. After a minute or so of failure, Lonnruck asked, "Are you constipated or something? Why are you making a face like a fat kid trying to do a pushup?"

I chuckled and said that i had eaten some bad rations while on the way here, and was feeling bit queesy. We walked a ways, and i noticed things were beginning to look worse, there were weapons littering the floor, and fresh pools of blood...

TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!

Ugh.... i looked down to find the source of my pain and saw 3 gnollish arrows sticking out of my chest. I stumbled forward a step, tried to catch my balance, over-compensated and fell backwards, hitting my head on a flagstone. I lay bleeding as i heard the noises of the ensuing battle just a few feet away from my feet. I heard a small prayer "...Nife, heal this man.... your forgiveness and true goals....serve you indefinately..." and felt a rush of life in my aching bones, and my wounds closed up. I lept to my feet pulling my staff out and screamed, " Fear me, for i wield the staff of...er... ICE MAGIC!" and proceeded to make my funny face again while all the gnolls stared at me. A few began to chuckle, and soon the entire group was charging me. THe lead gnoll raised a jagged sword to hack at my prone, constipated, head and met with a shield in the face from Lonnruck. Lonnruck kicked me and told me to wake up, or we would surely fall.

I gave up trying to activate the magic ice again, and began thuning gnolls on the head and neck, trying to incapacitate them. One tried to get away, throwing its sword on the ground to try and trip me up. I focused on MY magical powers and brought an icy wind to buffet the gnoll, killing him.

Thats when my memory begins to fade out...