Gorion's Death, Bears, and a Hidden Gem
At the beginning of his trials, Dathorn set about doing what he could to secure more coin for the journey ahead. Candlekeep was not without a few incompetent fools who had thought the young wizard friend enough to help them. Unfortunately the guards, particularly Hull and Fuller, were not fooled by Dathorn's charming smile. The years had made them suspicious, and they were stingy to reward him.
Something did prove interesting, however, as would-be assassins attacked Dathorn while he was snooping around for any stray gold coins. Though he had not memorized any spells for the day, they underestimated how sharp his aim could be with a childhood toy now become deadly weapon: the sling. Dathorn's familiar Soot, a hideous little mephit of dust,
was quick to swoop from the rafters and claw out the eyes of the foolish knife wielding wretch. His accomplice, found in another building, was also taken care of with the same merciless efficiency.
They hadn't walked a stones throw from the walls of Candlekeep before Gorion and Dathorn were set upon by an ambush. Rather than throw his life away, Dathorn was quick to find cover as his mentor and foster father fell under attack and died. After a miserable night spent in the rain, with several liberal beatings administered to Soot with his walking stick to stop the mephits bitter complaining, Dathorn awoke to find that the urchin Imoen had tracked him via the trail he and Gorion took.
All those years Dathorn had been pretending to be a confidant to Imoen, but now he was alone and free, and didn't need to put on airs any longer. The moment she insisted to go with him, the young magus waited until her back was turned before Soot leaped to the attack. Blinding her with a gust of ash, she was helpless to the claws of Dathorn's familiar and several well placed sling bullets.
Dathorn left her unconscious and near death on the road, after picking her clean of several valuable potions and a wand that would surely come in handy.
Dathorn prepared his spells (sleep was the most effective spell he had at the moment; anything out there would be helpless to Soot's claws when put unconscious) and set out for the day, moving towards the place Gorion fell hoping to find his tome...surely the power hidden there would be immeasurable! Unfortunately the crafty sage had bound it tight with a word of power, a word he took to his grave, and Dathorn was forced to leave it in disgust. He was about to head back towards the road when Soot squealed in alarm;
a hungry bear was lumbering right towards them!
Using his sling and prepared spells, Dathorn put the animal down, and out of sheer spite tracked the bear's mate and cubs to a nearby thicket. Soot blinded them all and they both kept their distance as the beasts stumbled around in darkness, only swooping in to finish the job when his master's sling had weakened them.
They camped in the woods eating bear, Dathorn studying his spells while Soot napped stuffed from their meal, and set out as soon as it got dark. Upon reaching the road, Dathorn spied two travelers; one of them was clearly a wizard from his manner of dress, the other a shifty looking halfling. The wizard would surely have spells that would be useful! Soot leapt to the attack, as Dathorn supported him with spell and bullet. The halfling proved to the stubbornly resistant to both, even able to keep from being blinded and grievously wounding Soot.
Fortunately, Dathorn's familiar was fast even wounded as he was, regenerating the cut and laughing at the halfling while
he blundered through the brush being peppered by sling bullets. He fell, and Dathorn looted both their corpses, rewarded with two new spell scrolls (apparently the wizard was a Necromancer, judging from his magic) and even more useful potions of healing.
Dathorn spent the night camped in the woods, studying the scrolls and transcribing them into his spellbook. They were attacked in the early hours of the morning by a single gibberling wretch, but the diseased mongrel was no match for a hungry dust mephit and angry young wizard. Soot ate his breakfast and they set off along the road. After a short time, the sharp eyed mephit spotted a glittering among the trees, and though annoyed Dathorn inspected his suspicions.
Expecting to find nothing more than a bit of metal, Dathorn was surprised when his hand
closed around a diamond! He ignored Soot's satisfied leer, tucking it into his robes and mumbling that perhaps at the next inn his familiar would be treated to a bit of stew. They set off down the road (ignoring the odd looks from a traveler) towards the Friendly Arm; Dathorn desired a real bed, tired of camping in mud and grass.
...To be continued!
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Out of Character Notes
Congratulations on Raven, Grond0, I've been following his progress and it's exciting to see he made it into Amn.
Wow! Soot is a lot more useful than I thought. His ability to blind enemies with glitter and irritate them with dust really helps, in addition to being a pretty sturdy combat pet. No gibberling can mess with him!
I took my one conjurer proficiency point in a sling, and I've relied on it many times just in the wilderness outside Candlekeep. With Dathorn's decent dex it gives me a semi regular attack that, while it may not do much damage, it is steady when I'm out of spells. I managed to kill about eight bears and two wolves, with a small handful of gibberlings, so I'm almost to level two even before reaching the second screen.
I also did not know about that diamond at all. Huh. It just goes to show you that as many times as you play this game, you always seem to find something surprising.
Another update coming soon!
Modifié par Eviscerotica, 10 février 2012 - 01:29 .
Retour en haut
All you need up to that point((Sirines exempted if using Baldur's Gate 2 rules)) are command and summons.
