Faerun.
By Brian Lotosky
Hello, my name is Orion Gellanthar. Perhaps you've heard of me? No? Well then, I suppose I've got quite a bit to tell you then. I'll start from the very beginning, but don't worry; I'll skip over most of the dull stuff so you don't get too bored. This is going to be read to people right? Yes? Alright, I'll try to get to the exciting stuff as fast as I can, even though we're not really strapped for time. Anyway, before I go off on a tangent, I was born in the city of WaterDeep, located on the Sword Coast. Let me tell you, WaterDeep is the largest, most beautiful city you could ever find from one end of Faerun to the other. (Faerun of course being the continent on my world where WaterDeep is located.) The only city on earth that I can compare it with is New York city, if just a little bit cleaner, and with more colorful people, as hard as that can be to believe. Its one thing to have people with green hair, and all kinds of body ornaments, but try living in a city where you walk by people wearing full plate armor and carrying a sword across his shoulder larger than my entire body. Now that's a shocker. Anyway, let's move on with my story
I didn't spend too long living in WaterDeep before my parents decided that it was time for me to go to school, and get an education, though I'm positive any of you college kids would kill to go to the school that I did. You see, my family had always had proficiency for the magical arts. Yeah, you heard right, magic. Not the kind of cheap "the hand is quicker than the eye" tricks you see from your own magicians, but the real kind of magic that blows stuff up, you know, the fun kind of magic. Somehow, my parents had managed to enroll me in prestigious magic academy known throughout the land as Tarth Moordra. What made this academy so prestigious was the kind of mages (magic-users) it produced. Where I'm from, every fifth person is a sorcerer or a wizard, and my parents wanted me to stand out from the crowd. Tarth Moordra trained Warmages, in layman's terms, magic users trained to travel along with military units and act as a mobile artillery cannon.
I spent a few years studying at Tarth Moordra before I stuck out on my own. I'd tell you more about my escapades there, but let me say this, there may be children present and I don't want really want to offend anybody more than I may already have. Let's just say that I did very well in my studies, both in and out of class. However, the one problem with studying at a mage academy, even one as famous as Tarth Moordra, was that a graduate wasn't guaranteed any kind of steady paying work upon entering the real world. So there I was, by myself, thousands of miles from my home and my family, with no money in my pocket and a whole lot of power in my fingertips. I thought to myself, I was trained for combat, so why don't I join a military? You see, Faerun is a world in constant turmoil, much like your world during the time of this King Arthur fellow. There's always some evil nation invading its neighbors, or a dragon eating un-wary travelers, or a horde of Orcs pillaging the countryside, and thus, there was always a call for able bodied men. I was sure to find work, and I sure as hell did. Lucky me.
You see, there's a surprising demand for well schooled Warmages amongst the various armies and mercenary bands in Faerun, so it wasn't very long before I found some gainful employment. All I had to do was make my way to the nearest town, and within a few days, I had several offers on the table. Nothing spectacular of course, considering that I was really close to being in the middle of nowhere, but there was one in particular that caught my eye. It was a small adventuring troop looking for a spell caster to serve as backup for a bounty hunting contract they had just taken. I was pretty excited, since the pay was more than I expected for someone just starting out, however, it wasn't the pay that sparked my interest, it was the troop's destination. They were traveling to WaterDeep! Turns out, the local government had put out a bounty on an escaped killer who had fled the territory, only to turn up amongst the masses of my old hometown. My new partners were thrilled to find out that I knew my way around the massive metropolis, since not one of them had ever been that far west on Faerun. (WaterDeep is located on the western shore of Faerun, and Tarth Moordra was located many miles to the center of the wide continent.)
The trip itself was non-eventful, save for just one event. During the trip from Tarth Moordra, I spent most of the time working as hard as I could to fit in amongst the group of hardened warriors, and not make too much of a fool of myself. These were some serious guys, let me tell you. Swords, shields, heavy armor, the whole nine yards or so you people say in this world. One of the main tenets of the being a Warmages was that you were trained to be a lot tougher than the average mage, as well as training in various weaponry. I mean, I'm more than able to hold my own in a fight, but these guys looked like they could take on a dragon and win. I figured it would be in my best interest to just keep my mouth shut for the time being and just follow orders. Take this one part for example. It was right after we had started our journey, and one of the bounty hunters was curious as to what I was capable of. At first, I was a little trepidacious about getting into a fight with one of these guys, but he assured me it would be a friendly exchange. So, I took out my spear, squared off, charged in at him, and promptly got my ass handed to me. The man, whose name was Joven if I remember correctly, laughed jovially and helped me up off the ground. He told me that I hadn't been hired for my combat prowess, and asked to see what my magic was worth. I smiled back at him, pointed my finger at a nearby tree, and proceeded to blast its branches over a mile radius. Joven stared for a few minutes, and never again questioned my abilities. Sorry for the tangent, I'll get back to my story.
It only took a couple of weeks on horseback to reach WaterDeep. I can tell you those big stone front gates never looked better than they did on that day. It had been a long time, and I was finally home. After a few perfunctory searches by the town guard, we entered the city. First order of business was setting up home base, which we did in the first inn that could accommodate all of us, and still provide a measure of privacy. Finding our mark wouldn't be difficult; he wasn't a hard man to spot in a crowd, despite the ease of losing yourself in the throngs of people that fill the city everyday. It was more of a question of taking him out without causing too much damage or injuring any civilians.
Within a few days, we had managed to track the mark to his hole, which naturally had to be in the smelliest, dankest sewer in the whole damn city. I'll give it to the guy, but he was a slippery one, and he had managed to elude the clutches of all of my teammates. I immediately took off after him down one of the side drains, and cornered him in front of a blocked off storm drain. To him, I must of looked like some kind of untrained rookie, as he drew his sword and advanced on me. I tossed my spear aside, and raised my hands in front of me. A self-assured smile crossed the mark's lips. He thought he had me. I spoke an incantation, and within seconds the poor bastard was down on the stone floor, desperately trying to put out the small flames that covered his body. He quickly decided that any more resistance would be stupid. What a smart guy.
Well, that's my story, or at least part of it. I don't want to waste too much of your time, and I really should get going. Oh? What happened after that you ask? Well, I got my pay, and a new measure of respect from my teammates. I still work for them to this day, in fact, I'm about to head and meet them for our next job. It was a pleasure talking to you, I hope we meet each other again, and then I can tell you some more stories.