itsmelen
12-05-2006, 09:45 AM
<div></div>Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog.Well, I suppose I should start by getting you caught up to the present day: not long ago I was a displaced refugee -- like so many others -- as a result of the shattering. I found myself ducking out of the way of stray arrows and scrounging around for scraps of food. Before the shattering, I owned a small jewelry store and sold my own jewelry. It never made me rich, but it got me by. Back then, I had a beautiful wife and a young child. . . well, they didn't make it to see this blog entry. The shattering destroyed our home, and my wife and kid were killed by some careless wizard's stray meteor. That really took a toll on me, I think that for a while I had given up the will to live, but that human survival instinct really is something else. I really thought it was just a matter of time before I was done in, and honestly I kind of wanted to be so that I could join my wife and child, but one day by sheer luck this guy named Captain Varlos saw me stranded and let me hitch a ride on his ship. In retrospect, I probably should have asked him where he was taking me before I got onboard, but I guess you're not thinking right when you are eating grass to get by. Anyway, Varlos seemed like a pretty decent fellow; he explained to me that some guy named Lucan something or other had hired him and other ships to go out and seek people like me to help repopulate the cities that had lost so much. Honestly, I didn't care what the heck he was saying to me right then, he had a crate full of food that he said was free - FREE! Needless to say, I took advantage of that sweet deal. We made a stop off on a tiny island before heading out to Freeport, and that's where my adventures began!While we were shored up on this tiny isle, I started to poke around a bit. I met up with a nice fellow - can't remember his name - he taught me how to summon a little bat buddy to keep me company. It was really welcoming to be perfectly candid, I mentioned that I had lost my wife, and I hadn't had any sort of companionship since then. I don't know, maybe I'm babbling incoherent, but I found the little guy's company to be really refreshing. The little guy seems pretty mischievous, so I thought "Dastard" would be a good name for him. After that, I met up with a fellow named Tayil, who told me that they were having a little problem on the island. Seems there's still a power struggle for control of the island, and Tayil asked if I'd be willing to help out. I figured that hey, if it weren't for these folks I'd be dead in the mud somewhere, so I should at least help out a little. And you know, if I died, well, at least I knew there was someone waiting for me on the other side. Well, I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say I'm a quick learner! <span>:smileyhappy:</span> Here's a picture ofme and my little buddy Dastard in action:<img src="http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1781/eq2000005eq9.jpg">That wolf was a big fella, but he was no match for Dastard and me!After that, I hopped back on the boat and eventually arrived in Freeport. It's such a big city - honestly I'm a bit overwhelmed right now jhust exploring it. I mean, I had been to Freeport a couple times many many -- many -- moons ago, but it's honestly nothing like I remember it. The best way I can describe it is like: you step off the boat and onto the harbor and you're thinking, "hey, this is pretty neat," but you step through those dock doors and the enormity of the city just hits you. I couldn't tell which was way was which at first, but I think that slowly and surely I'm getting the hang of it. Maybe this can help describe what it's like to see Freeport for the first time.<img src="http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/75/eq2000006wa2.jpg">The guards have been pretty helpful to me. Haha - don't mind me laughing but I am just thinking about how all these enormous and powerful trolls and ogres who have probably seen so many battles are now stuck guarding the city and dealing with little lost tourists like me asking "where's the banker?" "where's the innkeeper?" and other ridiculous questions every 10 seconds. Eventually I did find my way to that innkeeper -- crabby guy he is, let me tell you. Well, I guess I can't be too mad at him, being that not only did I get free food and water out of this, now I'm getting a free room too! I just have to pay some upkeep costs, which hopefully shouldn't be too big a problem. I even got a little bit of furniture, including a mirror. I have to say, I was a bit taken aback after I hung up the mirror - it had been so long since I had even seen my own reflection that I couldn't help but stare for a moment. For some strange reason, looking at myself in the mirror made me really happy - I've been through so much, and I have to say - I came out of it not looking half bad if I say so myself <span>:smileywink:. If only my wife had made it through too, I bet she'd feel the same way. </span><img src="http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8425/eq2000007oy1.jpg"><div></div>