k40
05-08-2007, 04:33 PM
<p>5/7/07</p><p>Long ago, my ancestors took residence in the city of Halas. My ancestors were known throughout Norrath as some of the bravest adventurers in all of the land. They slew dragons and defended Halas with their life...however, the cataclysm struck. When the cataclysm struck, most of my ancestors were determined to stay in Halas till the end. Fire fell from the sky, and in the mess of it all, two people fled the city, a man and a woman. These people were to become my great, great, great, great, great, great, grandparents. Yeah I know its a lot, but these people would play a huge role in what was to come.</p><p>The man and the woman brought with them only one thing, a book of Wayfare history, tucked under the man's shirt, they headed for Qeynos. They sought refuge in Qeynos until the cataclysm was over, luckily it was one of two cities that survived and had been heard of after the cataclysm.</p><p>The two people built a home and started a new life, unheard from, and unseen by the outside world. They left behind the life they used to live, one of fame and fortune. Eventually, the couple had a kids, and their kids had kids, and so on and so forth. Then you get to my father. My father was nothing special. Just an ordinary traveler, however at the age of 18 he decided to leave home. Before he left he found something, piled away behind all the rubish in their house...a book. After reading the book he left, taking it with him and not telling his parents. His parents didnt want the word to spread, they have been keeping it a secret for five generations, but Elgradus "Fallabrine" spread the news. He discovered he was a Wayfare, he shouted to the town. However when people asked him how he got where he is, he told them his ancestors had fled Halas. People shunned him, his family was not brave like the others. In a desparate attempt to redeem his family, Elgradus Wayfare ran to Permafrost to slay the Vision of Vox. He however was unsuccessful. My father died, the book was lost, and the family name was destroyed...until now.</p><p>This is where I come in. Before Elgradus died he fathered a child, me. My mother had kept the family name secret and how my father died was also a mystery to me. </p><p>5/8/07</p><p>Like my father, I too left home at the age of 18. I packed up my things, said goodbye to my mother, and left my home. Not knowing where I was going, I headed off down the Qeynos Highway. I eventually came to a narrow pass through some rock on the highway. I continued through when I saw three men approach, I waved and kept walking until they stretched their arms out.</p><p>"Whatcha got in the sack?" one of them said. Hearing footsteps behind me, I turned around to see three more men approach from behind. I turned back around and the fellow started talking again. "I said, whatcha got in the sack?" </p><p>"Nothin" I replied.</p><p>"Well then you shouldn't have to worry about giving it up then, do you?" the man said, drawing a dagger. There was nothing important in the bag, just a few items to make a camp, some food, and some clothes. I however, was not about to give this bag up to a band of thieves.</p><p>"So its that way?" I asked</p><p>"It's that way" he replied, lunging at me with the dagger. I grabbed his fist and spun him to the ground. Another man entered to the right with a fist, stopping his fist I punched him in the stomach and delivered a blow to his head. The man fell to the ground. I whirled around, expecting more attackers, but the men just stood there and laughed. Everything went black...</p><p>5/8/07</p><p>I awoke to a splash of cold water. Sitting up, I saw a small man leaning over me. He offered a hand, it wouldn't be much use because of his small stature, but I kindly accepted it. </p><p>"Took quite a beating there did ya?" he asked. The boy was a halfling, a bit on the smaller side for his race. I guessed he was in his teens, however younger than me. He stood there examining me, he had short red hair and contrasting blue eyes. A smile adorned his face as he continued examining me. I stood up and rubbed the back of my head.</p><p>"Yeah" I said.</p><p>"The bandits got you too huh?" </p><p>"I guess so" I replied. "What do you mean "you too"?"</p><p>"I come through here every year, and every year it's the same thing, ya walk through the path and they come surround you, front and behind."</p><p>"If this happens every year, why do you keep coming through here?"</p><p>"Berries of course. Best berries in Norrath are right on the other side of this pass. Here, take these." he handed me some berries.</p><p>"What are they?" I asked. The berries looked anything but appetizing, yellow, green, and brown. </p><p>"For that nasty headache you got, I suggest you eat them or youll be hurting in a little bit.", I swallowed the berries.</p><p>"So you know these guys?" I asked.</p><p>"Yeah" he said. "Their hideout is in some ruins not far from here."</p><p>"Well I dont know about you, but im going to get my stuff back."</p><p>"Its very dangerous in there, but im up for an adventure!" he cried cheerfully.</p><p>5/9/07</p><p>I started walking down the road, the halfling quickly caught up from behind me. "So whats your name anywho?" he asked. </p><p>"Elgard, and you?"</p><p>"My names Kobbo" he said with a smile. "So were going to the hideout? It sounds exciting."</p><p>"Yea, have these guys ever taken anything from you?" </p><p>"Yes sir! Once...they took my bag, but after they found out it only had berries in it they left. Every year since then they only come to beat me up, I dont mind it." he mentioned something about revenge, and some dust berry, but I didn't pay attention to it.</p><p>"Well you'll have your chance for revenge. Where is this place anyway?" Kobbo pointed to a path that cut up and through the hillside.</p><p>"People say its haunted, I dont believe them though."</p><p>We continued up the path and eventually came to an entrance. The building was made of stone. Moss seeped through the cracks in the walls and the entire structure seemed to be sinking into the mud, it was tilted towards the left. Above the door was a plaque that said "Stormhold". The thing that caught me most was the stench. The building was surrounded by a thick layer of fog and it smelled like rotting flesh.</p><p>"Ugh, whats that smell?" I asked.</p><p>"People say theres zombies that lurk around here. I still dont believe them, but boy would it be cool to see a zombie!" Kobbo said with excitement. It came to my attention that Kobbo, like most other halflings, was oblivious to fear and danger. He laughed at things most men would cower in fear upon.</p><p>As we approached the entrance the doors swung open and a blast of cold air came from within, Kobbo clapped. The air inside the building was chilling to the bone, a contrast to the hot air outside. The smell of rotting flesh still lingered in the air. Adorning the walls were paintings of knights, aside from the occasional spider web. We continued walking down a hallway. Rubble and dust covered the floor, it seemed as though the whole building was crumbling around them. We eventually got to a door, hearing voices within I motioned for Kobbo to stop.</p><p>"We'll be rich!" one of them said. "I cant believe a fool would carry something as precious as this in his bag" another said. What could they be talking about? I didn't remember putting anything valuable in my bag. </p><p>Kobbo was leaning against the old rotting door when all of a sudden it broke off its hinges and came smashing to the floor. "Oopsie!" he said, giggling.</p><p>"You again!" one of the men shouted. This man was human, much smaller than I was. Not muscular at all, however these bandits were known for their sneaky moves. He was about five foot six, while I towered over him at about six foot two. I was very strong, common among barbarians.</p><p>The man quickly darted off down a corridor while the other five men spread out. "Here we go again" I mumbled. Picking up a piece of rubble, I moved to confront them. One man attacked from the right, his sword drawn. I quickly threw the piece of rubble at him, striking him dirrectly in the forehead knocking him out cold. I picked up his sword and whirled around to block any other incoming attacks. Another man charged in, I met his sword with mine and pushed him, knocking him down onto the floor. Suddenly a door burst open from accross the corridor. It was very dark but I could just make the outline of a golem walking down the hallway. The golem crouched to get under the door and entered the room. He towered at about seven foot. The golem walked over to me, grabbed me by the neck, and pinned me against the wall. I looked to my right to see what Kobbo was doing, he was sitting on the ground in a corner rummaging through his bag. Kobbo took something out of his bag, it looked like another berry, and threw it at the golem. The golem instantly turned to dust and I fell to the ground. The rest of the bandits dashed off in different dirrections. </p><p>"Thanks" I said. "What was that?"</p><p>"Dust Berry" Kobbo told me.</p><p><i>5/10/07</i></p><p>I quickly ran off down the hall after the man who had fled earlier. Kobbo followed behind me. "Look!" Kobbo shouted. He pointed to the man's footsteps in the dust. We follow the footsteps until we finally saw the man. He kept walking around a corner. I picked up another piece of rubble and hurled it at his leg. The man's leg buckled and he fell to the ground, dropping a green gem. I ran up to him, picked him up by the shoulders, and shoved him against the ground.</p><p>"What do you want with me?" I asked. The man had no reply, I threw him down and he ran off down the hall. I picked up the gem he had dropped and put it in my pocket. "Come on Kobbo, lets get out of here before we run into the rest of those bandits." I said. I looked around for the little fellow but he was no where to be seen. Theres was a door about four feet from where the man had fallen, I saw small footsteps leading into the room. "Kobbo?" I whispered as I walked into the room. Kobbo was standing over a pedestal, staring at the top of it.</p><p>"Look at this." he said.</p><p>"What is it?" I asked as I walked over to the pedestal and looked down at it. On top of the pedestal was a fairly large book. Around the edges of the book were different colored gems. The book had a leather binding, it looked as if there was a title inscribed in it at one point, but over the years it had been worn down and it was now illegible. In the center there was the shape of a diamond inscribed in the leather, with a W marked inside. I tried opening the book, but it was sealed as if by some magical spell.</p><p>"What do you think it is?" Kobbo asked.</p><p>"I dont know, but whatever it is, it must be of great importance." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the gem I had found earlier. Marked on one side of the gem was a capital W, just like the one marked in the book. I placed the gem inside the one on the cover, the book gave out a small puff of air. I looked at Kobbo, his eyes were fixed on the book. As I opened the book, the ground began to shake. On the first page, it said "The Wayfare Family History". When I went to pick the book up, the ground began to shake more violently. I closed the book up and put the gem back in my pocket. The ground kept shaking as parts of the cieling came crashing to the floor. "We better get out of here." I told Kobbo.</p><p>Kobbo and I ran back towards the entrance following our footsteps, they however were disappearing because of the new debris falling around them. We must have taken a wrong turn at one point. We came to a large room in the building. In the center was a life sized chess set. In the middle of that stood the man we had chased down.</p><p>"Fools, look what you have done!" he shouted. "You shall perish from you mistakes, but not I, no, not I. You see I control the game now, as I stand in the center of this chess set it represents my control over what happens next!" the man started to laugh, it seemed as though he was going insane. Suddenly the chess pieces on the board broke open sending dust flying everywhere. When the dust settled, skeletons remained where the pieces had once been. Behind the man stood an unusually large skeleton, he wore a crown. The man continued laughing hysterically, but those laughs soon turned to laughs of fear. He turned around to look at the large skeleton, the king. The man fell to his knees as the king drove his fingers through the mans eyes and mouth. The man screamed as the flesh began to rot off his body. His screams soon vanished as he turned to dust. The king then motioned and his pawns moved forward.</p><p>"Got any ideas?" I asked Kobbo.</p><p>"Nope, wait till people hear what ive seen! They'll never believe this!" Kobbo said, giggling.</p><p>"What about those dust berries? The ones you used before."</p><p>"Oh those?" he replied. "Those are very rare. I dont have any more of those, I do have these ones that cure a stuffy nose though!" Kobbo took them out of his bag and showed me.</p><p>"Alright, grab that stick" I pointed towards the stick. It turned out to be an old walking stick, but that was besides the point. I drew my sword and rushed in at the skeletons. I bashed the first one in the face with my fist and swung my arm around catching anothing in the back of the neck. Both skeletons turned to dust. Three more came at me, all of them took their arm off to use as a weapon. I blocked on skeletons arm and knee'dn the stomach. Then I kicked to the side catching another skeleton in the leg. I saw Kobbo off to the side trying to defeat the third skeleton with his stick. I tossed my sword up and caught it, aiming it at the skeleton like a javelin, I trough the sword and struck the skeleton in the head.</p><p>"I had him!" Kobbo shouted agrily.</p><p>We both turned around to face the skeletons on the chess board. The King skeleton let out a loud roar. Behind the chess board was an old pillar, it was crumbling by the day and could bearily support the weight of the roof above. </p><p>"Kobbo!" I yelled. "Throw your stick at that pillar over there!" </p><p>"Can do!" He yelled back. Kobbo threw his stick, but the kingthe middle caught it in the air. The king roared again. "Darn it!" Kobbo shouted as he started rummaging through his bag.</p><p>I looked at the chess board one more time, fists up. I prepared for a fight when Kobbo shouted, "Ahah! I found it." Kobbo pulled a small white berry from his bag, whispered a few words and crushed the berry. A strong blast of wind knocked the king back into the pillar. The pillar slipped a little and began crumbling more, it however did not fall. </p><p>"Come on!" I yelled to Kobbo. I ran towards the pillar while the skeletons were knocked down. I picked up a sword, hit the pillar with it, and kept running. I looked back to see if Kobbo was still with me, he was. As I looked back I saw the pillar crumble and the cieling above crash down onto the chess set. Kobbo and I ran up a flight of steps and found our footprints again. The ground was still shaking and the building continued to crumble. We reached the exit as the rest of the building collapsed behind us. The ground behind the entrance building sank in as it let out a huge cloud of dust. It wasn't until that point that we realized the majority of the building was underground. </p><p> <i>To Be Continued...</i></p>