5th/Joy, Friday
Bin'Lei would be so proud of me! Today was quite a day: my first real test, and I passed! A really big entry today for a really important day!
After waking up and exercising a little, it started to rain really hard! Normally I wouldn't much mind, but this was a big storm. Luckily though, I found a tower just nearby I could take shelter in! Imagine that! A tower in the middle of the wilderness! But what was even more special was what was inside!
When I came in, I met two really nice people. One is called Kane: he's interesting. He said something about studying magic in the woods, and over the course of the day he proved that he was good at it too! He is a great and smart guy, and is really interested in magic. He has darker skin then anyone I've met before! I just know that travelling around this land is going to be fun!
The other person's name is Alexis. She said that she was a paladin. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but she is definitely one of the bravest, nicest people I have ever met, and she is a really good warrior as well! I can just tell that we're going to get along great!
And that wasn't all that happened either!
We'd barely even met each other and agreed on 'Storm Peace' (one of the new things I learned today. Apparently, when a storm is raging outside, people declare 'Storm Peace' when seeking shelter. That means that they will not harm each other for as long as the storm rages on outside. Neat!) when suddenly there was a really, really loud clap of thunder, and these three big stone doors that led to other rooms collapsed, and all of these rats came rushing out! They were really scared: it looked like they were frightened out of their wits! Kane rushed forwards suddenly for some reason, said something I didn't understand and scraped his flint and steel against each other. When he did, all these rocks on the ground suddenly flew into the air and sprayed at the rats! Most of them got out of the way, but one was hit with a big rock and killed right away.
Then I saw that Kane was all on his own and the rats were headed right for him, (and they sure looked mad!), so I ran forwards next to him and tried to get between him and then. Alexis came up as well, but she isn't very fast with all of her armour and didn't get as close.
I was right about those rats: they were so scared that they bit and scratched and crawled all over us! It was my very first test out of the monastery, and unfortunately I don't think I did all that well… but Kane was great, and Alexis not too bad either, and we managed to kill them all with only a couple of bites and scratches.
As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Kane decided that we should find out what had spooked those rats so much. I was curious too, and Alexis seemed suspicious that there was something going on, so we all went down the passageway that they had come from. We found another room further down there which had a rope that I tried to climb (I didn't manage and fell off. Oh well, it was fun!), but while Kane was walking up to two doors at the other end, two nasty big monsters (Alexis called them hobgoblins) burst out and attacked him! Alexis and I quickly ran up to help him! Luckily he managed to block their attacks before we got to him: he's not too bad a warrior, really. When we showed up he cast another spell, and the bigger, meaner looking 'hobgoblin' kinda twitched and looked confused suddenly. It was here that I learned just how good a warrior Alexis is: she blocked the attack of the other one with her shield, and then stabbed it right through the throat with her sword, killing it right away! I managed to kick the bigger one in the face, which gave it a blood nose, and then get out of the way of its next attack, but it was then Alexis who came forwards and ran it through with her sword. She is really good!
Neither of the two bullies had much on them that was really worth anything, but the bigger one was wearing a belt that was all glowy. Kane took it off and asked if either of us wanted it: Alexis said that she would only if nobody else wanted it, and I said I didn't: Master is always telling me that we must learn to depend only on ourselves, and not our tools. So Kane put it on. We all think that it is magic, but we have no idea what it does. Still neat!
After these two battles, we were beginning to wonder about this place: it seemed really dangerous! But Alexis wanted to push on, saying that there was clearly some evil at work in here, Kane wanted to investigate and see if there was anything else magical around, and I knew I couldn't turn away from such an excellent challenge as this! Maybe even life-threatening! So I opened the other door, the one that the hobgoblins hadn't come through.
Through this door was a room where the ground was covered in gold coins! But there was also a huge ugly dead thing lying on a table in the centre. At least, we thought it was dead, until it got up to attack us! Alexis said it was a bugbear zombie, and seemed really angry just to see it. It got up and threw a javelin it had lying by its side right at me! (I managed to dodge: it wasn't a great throw.) Then it took out a club (Kane and Alexis tell me it's called a morning-star. I'm learning so much today!) and charged at us! I took out Bin'Lei's bo, as I hadn't had any practice with it yet today and thought I should get some: Alexis readied her sword and shield, and we faced it together! Kane picked up a javelin one of the hobgoblins had and threw it, and almost hit me! It's a good thing I saw it in time! Alexis slashed the thing across the chest, and I managed to hit it in the head, but it hardly seemed to care! It gave a freaky kind of moan and hit Alexis in the chest with its 'morning-star' really hard: I could see the shock ripple through her. Even with her armour on, she must be really tough: that was quite a hit, but she was still on her feet! But she sure didn't look too steady… I yelled at the other two to run while I held it off and tried to use a Cyclone's Fury attack, but it just bounced off its shield. The big thing tried to hit me back: it's a good thing I dodged, because the blow hit the ground under me and I could feel the vibrations in my feet: it was really, really strong!
The other two were already running away now, so I decided I didn't need to keep it occupied any more, and ran too. Like Master says "Flight is better then death. He who fights and runs away, lives to run another day! (Master is so funny!)" The thing wasn't very fast, and didn't chase us for long: after a little while it just gave up and walked off! Alexis was hurt, but also seemed angry: she said that she'd destroy it. By now we really had quite a bond, even though we barely even knew each other: I guess that's what happens when you save somebody's life! We talked for a while on what to do next: all three of us were still determined to search the rest of the tower, each for our own reasons. I was a little worried about Alexis (and I think Alexis was worried about Alexis too! After all, courage is one thing, but common sense is another) but Kane convinced us to look through the other rooms to see if we could find anything that might help us.
I used Bin'Lei's favourite selection technique to choose which corridor to go through next, and decided on the one to the left. On the other end was a normal room with a chest in the middle: Alexis ran forwards to open it as soon as she saw it! (I think she was hoping there would be some medicine inside) I thought of telling her to wait and look around first, like Bin'Lei always told me, but thought that she'd no better then me because she was older. It turns out Master was right though: as soon as she tried to open the chest, a dart shot out of the lid and into her shoulder! When she was already badly hurt, that was the last thing she needed! Luckily though, there was a potion inside: I guess her instinct was right, but I hope she'll be more careful next time! There were also some pearls, a head-band and a sack of coins: Alexis and I both decided Kane should have the pearls, since we didn't really want them, and the three of us split up the coins amongst ourselves. I thought the headband looked really cool, so asked if I should try it on. Kane said he felt that it was magical, and Alexis said that it wasn't evil, so I did put it on. When I did, I felt really focussed! Neat!
Alexis was feeling much better after the potion, so we headed through one of the other corridors we hadn't gone through yet. Having learned that this place was full of mean things, I listened at the door first: at first I couldn't hear anything, but then I heard a kind of high-pitched screech! I told Kane to get back (even though he isn't too bad a warrior, Alexis is better, and besides his magic is more useful from a distance!) and Alexis thrust open the door. When she did, this really ugly mean thing that looked like a flying head with tentacles and flaming eyes came right for us! I tried to kick it but it swerved out of the way and came right for me: but then Alexis swung her sword with a yell and cut it clean in two! She is a really good fighter!
Kane took a ring from the room and put it on: it was magic too. When he concentrated on saying a word while wearing it, his voice sounded all raspy and weird. Magic is strange!
Now we came to another decision: the only other corridor was the one the hobgoblin thingies had come from, but the bugbear zombie thingy would attack us if we got too close! I decided to see if I could sneak past the zombie and look around on my own. The other two agreed, but Alexis told me to be very careful: she's so nice! I managed to sneak past, but the room on the other side of the corridor was too dark for me to see anything. I went back and told the others this: Kane offered his lantern, so I went off again. This time, though, I accidentally kicked a pebble, and the zombie thingy got up to attack! It's a good thing it's so slow, or I would have been in trouble: I just ran away to the others.
When I told the others this, they started talking. They decided we should try to destroy the bugbear thingy, and Kane came up with a great plan to do it: we would run over close to its room to wake it up, and then I would run into the corridor and keep away, but Alexis would stay in front of it and issue a challenge. Since the thingy was not very clever, it would go to attack her, and she would hold her spear against it when it charged. Meanwhile, I would jump out from the corridor and attack it from behind! Kane is very smart!
We did everything as we had planned it, and it worked great: the zombear thingy ran (or shambled fast) towards Alexis and managed to whack her in the leg: at the same time, she stuck her spear right through it! Then I ran out from the corridor and jumped into the air, hitting it in the spine with my quarterstaff! It didn't even seem to notice, and turned around with one of its weird freaky roars and hit me in the stomach before I could get away: it really, really hurt! I have a really big bruise where it hit, and a couple of scratches from the spikes! Alexis gasped and called out, and Kane rushed forwards with his own morning-star to help out: apparently all of his spells were useless against dead things! While it had turned around, Alexis speared it through the leg, and Kane hit it too, but I don't think he managed to hurt it at all. Meanwhile I thought back to my training, and decided to try the Falling Comet attack! I'd never really been able to manage it before, but today I really would have made Bin'Lei proud! I hit it in the ankle first to knock it off balance and then, focussing my ki and spinning around to gain momentum, I hit it in the neck so hard that its head came off! Using the same momentum I jumped backwards, landing perfectly: I pulled it off Master!
The bugbie thingy ran forwards and tried to club my head into my shoulders, but it couldn't aim properly without its head and I managed to step out of the way! Alexis and Kane rushed forwards: Alexis was shouting at me to get out of there, Kane was trying desperately to hit the thing with his morningstar! I smiled at Alexis a little to show her that I'd be fine, and hit the thingy with the end of my bo to push it back: it didn't work, and I jumped back again. The thingy was clearly pretty angry at me, because it kept chasing me, but I ducked and it only hit the wall! Kane managed to hit it hard in the shoulder with his morning-star this time: it slumped over and I think I heard its shoulder disjoint! This gave me my chance: I vaulted over its back, twirled around and spun my bo above my head, and then struck it in the chest, close to the hole that Alexis had made before! The decaying thingy was so weak here that my bo went strait through it and its heart fell out! It got up again to keep fighting, but then stumbled backwards and fell over! When it landed, it just kind of came apart: a leg fell off, the dislocated arm slid away and its chest kind of caved in, and then it turned to dust! Alexis and Kane later said that they think that the magic re-ani-mat-ing (another new word I learned!) it couldn't cope any more, but they're not entirely sure what happened. Maybe it had just rotted away too much, who knows?
Anyway, Alexis was really proud of me after that, and made absolute sure I was ok! She's so nice! Kane seemed very impressed too! I was really proud of myself, and I bet Master would be as well! As a reward for us both fighting so well, Kane let us keep all the gold in the room that it had been! He's so nice!
And as if all of that wasn't enough, we found another nasty thing when exploring the final room we hadn't been in! Kane was in the front this time: Alexis and I were pretty hurt, and he only had a bite from the rats at the start. But as he walked into the other room, he went strait into a web! And an enormous spider came down and tried to eat him! Usually I like spiders, but this one was trying to eat my new friend, so I wasn't happy at it at all! But Kane said some strange words that put the thing to sleep, and then Alexis easily cut off its head with one blow. In the room on the other side Kane found another magical object: this time a pearl that helps his magic! And there was some gold in there that he let Alexis and I have again: he said he had most of the spoils so far already, and we deserved some. He's so nice!
And then, when we went back to the main chamber, we found some goblins talking, and Kane knew what they were saying because of that ring! Alexis and I each killed one, but the other one got away. They were saying something about their two scouts (we think the hobgoblins that attacked us!) and Bugbears and her orders!
Phew! Now my wrist is tied from writing so much! But, as you can see, it was a really incredible day, and I have this feeling that we are far from finished yet! This could be a great adventure!
Write again soon!
Tsumiku Asuka.