Posts Tagged With: Fantasy

Emer’s Diary

Posted on January 13, 2010 by caseykins

April 13, 1033

My last entry was interrupted somewhat abruptly.  I’ve settled into my schedule a little more lately, and I realize that I have quite a lot of time in the afternoons to do whatever I want to.  I’ve been studying hard on my own to keep ahead of the classes as much as possible, but I haven’t been making much headway.  I met another Elf in the library yesterday, Lillias, and I think we may begin studying together.  She and I hit it off quite a lot, and she’s slightly more advanced than I am.  Hopefully she can teach me some of what she’s learning in class.  I now realize that I won’t have time for formal instruction, as all the classes take place in the mornings when I need to be working.  I’ve said a quick hello to some of the girls in my dormitory wing (evidently courtesy is one of the lessons), but I haven’t truly had a conversation with any of them.  They all float around in the most beautiful dresses and I feel positively shabby in my shapeless robes walking the same corridors as they do.  I must be quite the comical sight, a heap of green and yellow material shlumping about in the halls versus their flowerlike frocks.　 At least my shoes are dainty.  I use Xanda’s handy little spell every time I go out, then set my slippers on the window sill to dry overnight.  Magical.　

I have a neat little tree outside my window.  It was gnarly and odd looking when I first arrived, but it soon put out little green shoots in all the rain, and now pink flowers are blossoming all over it.  It’s made my view quite nice.　 I sit and embroider before it in the evenings sometimes. I’ve finished my little pouch, and have started to embroider a little book on the bag of holding like the ones all over the school. I intend to do my slippers next, though with what I have no idea.　

On Tuesdays, I try to spend a little time on the green lawn beside the school practicing my spells. I let the element build up inside my chest, channel it through to my finger tips, and then let it dissipate before I send anything off.　 I wouldn’t want to damage the grounds at all, but it’s important to have practical experience. And better the grounds than the University itself. I really have very little real world experience using my abilities and I’m a bit afraid that when presented with a real situation, all my theories will just fly out the window in the penetration of fear that would invade myself. But I don’t know for sure, and practice makes perfect. Tuesday is the perfect day, because that’s the day the prep classes go on field trips around Brindol, and there are less people around.　

I haven’t braved the city itself yet. I’m still exploring the University and building up my confidence in this metropolis. Maybe someday soon.

April 19, 1033

Lillias and I have been studying together at least twice a week, and I’m coming along so quickly in my studies now that it’s almost obscene. I dream of force at night, and fire in the day, and I feel permanently blissful under the surface of my calm Teacher’s Helper persona. Annandale is as unavailable as ever, spending more time in his private office than out of it. He’s always extremely friendly to me when we do spend time together, and I’ve taken to bringing him dinner from the mess whenever he’s in his office past nightfall.　 It’s not part of my job, but he seems to appreciate it and occasionally he’s in a chatty mood and I can ask him some questions about spells that have been stumping Lillias and me.  He may not be a Wizard, but he knows more about magic than anyone I’ve ever met. I’m trying my best to keep everything as orderly as he likes it, but it’s difficult with all the students traipsing in at all hours and asking for notes on every subject under the sun.　

I finally learned Orb of Force, a tricky spell that I’ve been working on for months now. It feels good to be so productive!

April 22, 1033

Madam Glerda, the supervisor of the Finishing School, asked me to attend the theater with them tonight! I’ve never seen anything other than the occasional wandering minstrel, so theater on this scale is a completely new thing to me. I can hardly wait!　

I’ve made tentative friends with Ananalie, the human girl next door, and she’s lending me a dress so I don’t feel completely out of place. The dress is a little big on me (OK, more than a little big), but she taught me how to tie the sleeves in the latest style and gushed over my newly embroidered slippers, so I felt like quite the little fashionista, though really I’m nothing when compared to the other girls. I’m getting as energetic as the humans, evidently, living with them nonstop as I do now.

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Emer’s Diary

Posted on November 18, 2009 by caseykins

March 24, 1033

I left the Temple of Boccob shortly after dawn yesterday, with low mist hugging the roads and a red sun rising slowly over the hills.  It was such a pretty spring morning that I was sorry to be leaving.  Xanda got up with me, principally to wave goodbye from the doorway as I traipsed the cold roads in my new blue clothing, my bag of holding slung lightly over my shoulder.  I turned and waived back just before I lost sight of her, and I will always remember the way the Temple looked that morning, all shrouded in mist.  As soon as I got to town my tranquil mornin ceased, of course.  There were at least a dozen people piling their things in wagon after wagon, bustling around the little square.  I felt quite lost before an older human male noticed me and pointed me in the right direction. 

I’m riding with Honey and Handy in their wagon.  They’re as cute as their names sound, an old and wrinkly human couple selling Handy’s prize wood carvings and Honey’s prize weaving.  Most of the group are Humans, and I find them quite energetic.  The obscene amount of energy they have must contribute to their short life spans.  They just can’t keep it up for that long!  I haven’t spent much time with any but Elves in a long time.  I must be quite a sight to see, piled in the wagon like another sack of cloth, bouncing away in uncomfortable misery on the worst roads in the country.  I couldn’t have picked a worse time for travel, with the rains making muddy holes in all the major byways.  We should be reaching Brindol on the 29th, and hopefully the closer to town we get, the better the roads will be.  I’m crossing my fingers.

I volunteered for the first watch tonight with a few others, spaced evenly about the campsite.  It’s been a beautiful night, with clusters of sparkling stars bejeweling the heavens.  It doesn’t look like it will stay that way for long, though.  An ominous cloud has just begun to form on the horizon.  I fear it will be days of rough travel in pouring rain for us from now on.  In some ways I love spring, but in others I wish I could just skip it!

March 28, 1033

It was just as I feared.  Pouring rain with little let up these last three days.  We can see Brindol now, a wide circle of gray stone and painted wood in the valley below.  Little bits of color flutter from the ramparts, the red flags standing out against the cloudy sky.  Tomorrow I’ll be there!

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Emer’s Diary

Posted on November 11, 2009 by caseykins

March 19, 1033

Xanda and I took the day off together and went down town… much to the dismay of Madam Samanda, who doesn’t approve of canceling classes.  We had a lovely bright and sunny day for our trip.  The spring is upon us with a vengeance these days, the hillsides sprouting green shoots like mad.  On days like this I’m sorry I won’t get to see the wildflowers of summer dusting the roadsides, crowding out everything else with their little blue faces.  The earth was still damp from the rains yesterday, and my slippers got quite saturated with mud and road grime.  I don’t think they’ll ever be the same, but Xanda swears she has a secret spell to take out any mud stain in existence.  She’s calling it Earth to Water.  I hope it works. 

In any case, I purchased a lovely explorer’s outfit.  A tight pair of brown cotton pants, a nice, loose blue silk shirt with many hidden pockets, and a beautifully well made doublet of cotton brocade and leather with more pockets.  I got a plain brown pair of boots too, with extra thick soles for many years of wear, and a brown leather belt to hook all my necessaries to.  I went a little overboard and got myself a new pouch for all my spell components, too.  It’s plain now, but I intend to embroider it with flames per my newest spell: Fireball.  I don’t know that I ever would have gone with something quite so skin tight had Xanda not been along, but we had so much fun trying everything in the store, and the blue brocade was so perfect that I really felt I needed it.  Some days I wish I could take that elf girl with me.  She says she wouldn’t leave the temple for all the world, though; content to sit in the barren hills and teach little ones for the rest of her life. 

While in town, I asked about transport to Brindol.  There’s a group of folks all leaving for the Brindol Craft Fair on the 23, and they will give me a lift on one of their wagons so long as I provide my own food and drink, and don’t mind sitting in the back with the cargo.  I think I’ll mind a little bit, being tossed about with the cargo around me, but to get where I’m going I’m willing to be quite uncomfortable at times.  It’s strange to think that I only have 4 days left in this place.  I’ll miss the quiet life of the temple, I think, but I’ll be trading it for a much more exciting existence.

I’m quite curious about this Annandale, too.  I wonder what sort of person he is, and if we’ll get along.  I don’t know what I’ll do if we don’t see eye to eye, for it will be quite impossible for me to return to the Temple of Boccob permanently, if only for pride’s sake.  I’m leaving a friendly place behind me, and sometimes I think that friendly should have been enough for me, that I’m crazy to seek more than I have right now.  But then I feel the powerful glee that surges up inside me when I channel the elements within my soul, and I know I’m right to crave a better understanding of my power.

March 22, 1033

They had a lovely little ceremony for me at dinner tonight.  My class presented me with a beautiful brass holy symbol of Boccob to take to my new place, and Madam Samanda made a nice speech about wishing me well in my endeavors.  I cried like a baby, but I’m feeling rather excited for tomorrow in spite of my tears.  Is this the last night I shall ever sleep under this roof?  And where shall I be sleeping in the future?

 

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Emer’s Diary

Posted on November 4, 2009 by caseykins

March 10, 1033

Well, it’s starting to be spring again.  We’ve had unceasing rains lately instead of unceasing snows, but the hillsides are beginning to look dusted with green.

No word yet.  I suppose I’m being too impatient, expecting a reply to my inquiries so soon.  I can’t help but be anxious, though. 

 March 15, 1033

I recieved a letter today! It’s from a Madam Damynda at the University in Brindol, just a short trip over the hills from here!  The situation seems ideal.  I’ll surely be able to find an experienced Wizard to study from at a university.  Madam Damynda writes that a professor of theirs, Annandale, is seeking an assistant to field student questions and grade papers while he continues with some important research.  I’ll be given room and board in exchange for my services, and be able to take a few classes free of charge in my off time!  Madam Samanda knows Professor Annandale slightly.  He stayed here on his way to Brindol several years ago, and if he knows Boccob, he must know about magical study.  I can hardly wait to be off!  Though, of course I’ll have to be delayed several weeks to put my things in order and make travel plans.  With the university so close, it will hardly be a permanent separation.  I won’t feel so bad about leaving here when I know a visit is possible, even if I never have the chance to make one.  Xanda will have to give my students their final exams in April, for I will be gone to Brindol.  They have a theater there, and a seashore!  I can hardly wait.

March 16, 1033

I spent all day packing.  Luckily I don’t have many possessions and Fon was kind enough to give me a bag of holding as a going away present.  He teared up a bit when he gave it to me.  Said it had been in his family for three generations.  They were a great set of adventurers, Fon’s decendants, and he was just glad to be able to pass it on since he has no relations of his own to use it.  You would think I was going straight to a Dragon’s lair the way Fon talked of my leaving the temple and the dangerous times that will ensue, but I’ll miss the old curmudgeon.  It was sweet of him to give me the bag, and I will think of him every time I use it.  I intend to take my quilt, and both sets of robes, as well as my spell book (of course), and my diary (ditto).  I’ll probably see if I can buy a set of adventuring clothes before I set off, much more comfortable and cool than all the drapey fabric of my Wizard wear will be on the road.  A good pair of sturdy shoes would be nice too, instead of the thin slippers I wear around here.  I must see if I can get someone to take me to the shops.

Madam Samanda announced my leaving at dinner today, and my entire class burst into tears, bedewing their soups with saltiness.  They’ll soon forget me for their new teacher, and realize how short a time a year really is.  As of yet, they’re only about sixty years old, hardly old enough for anything to grab a hold of them permanently.  I feel a slight twinge of guilt in leaving them half way through their year, but there’s really no help for it.  The letter from the university said to make haste, as their term had already started.

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Emer’s Diary

Posted on November 3, 2009 by caseykins

February 23, 1033

I’ve made my decision.  It’s finally time to leave this Temple of Boccob.  I’ve learned everything I can from Madam Samanda, and I know she disaproves of my studies of evocation.  She doesn’t say anything, but her brown eyes flash when I speak of it, and truly, I can see how she wouldn’t understand how I can have such an aptitude for something she could care less about.  I know it would be easier for her if I studied what she studied, but I just can’t seem to care about illusion the way she does.  And she can’t help me anymore than she already has with the forces of nature I find irresistible.

It’s been ice cold this winter, which I think has added to my unrest.  We’ve had snow almost daily, with drifts up to my shoulders.  The cold just creeps into my little room, the stone walls all rimed with ice, the long narrow window letting in only a fraction of what little gray light we get, the air alive with snowflakes and nothing but the bright quilt on my bed to help keep me warm.  I’ve been barred from the courtyard, even.  Usually the worst storms only serve to push a wall of snow across the western wall, but this winter it was completely full of icy fluff – impossible to walk there and get some excercise in the small intervals when it wasn’t gusting and storming.  It’s good I didn’t make the decision to go until now.  I would have been extra restless, knowing I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to.  The snows have already let up, leaving frozen heaps of dirty ice and hard snow everywhere.  Soon it will be warm enough for travel, and I intend to know where I’n going by then so I can catch the first wagon out of here. 

I shouldn’t think like that.  Really, I will be sad to leave.  This temple has been my home for so long that I don’t know if I’ll even be able to like another place, no matter how nice it is.  And I’ll be sad to leave the newbies behind.  They always remind me of myself, adolescents of only a hundred years old, roaming the halls at first as uncertain as can be, but gradually realizing that this place is their home now.  As I did.  It’s sweet. 

February 28, 1033

Two Wizards from an adventuring party stayed here last night.  They went away this morning, but they took a few dozen letters of inquiry for me and promised to post them in town.  I hope I’ll hear soon… I’m quite excited for new adventures, but starting to feel rootless.  It’s very disconcerting.

I took Xanda’s class today as well as my own, Xanda having quite a head cold.  Fon refuses to “desecrate his art” by healing her for something so trifling as a head cold, and Xanda’s been cranky about it all day.  I took her class so she could stay in and rest, and I must say that her class is much more lively than mine, and not always in a good way!  They were attempting to learn Open/Close using a set of hinged boxes, but the ammount of squabbling that went on over who got to use which box, and who was Opening or Closing the box of their neighbor was amazing to me.  I finally yelled at them all in quite an unseemly burst of temper, but things only went slightly better after that.  You can imagine how glad I was to return to my little serious class of first levelers.  They, at least, were orderly and courteous, whatever their magical abilities. 

I let Madam Samanda know that I was thinking of leaving, and she told me they would miss me much without surprise, or real emotion.  She doesn’t quite seem to understand my need of evocation, but she does know that no one in the temple can help me farther with any kind of magical study.  I’ve been at a stagnant point for some time, and she understands why I’m going.  Madam Samanda also offered to send a few letters on my behalf to some of her colleagues.  That was very kind of her, for, of course, she owes me nothing.  The letters should go by post tomorrow.  Excitement tingles in my fingers.

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