Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

A cheap, tacky scroll case in the bottom of a certain drow's already messy bag contains sheets of parchment, rolled with uncharacteristic care. Instead of arcane symbols, each sheet is covered in tight, cramped characters in Drow, with snatches of Common interspersed here and there, almost at random. The first begins as follows.

Day 56

Or at least, this would be day 56, I think. I need my old book back. I hadn't realised just how useful I find it for organising my thoughts. This is a city full of mages, surely one of them could find and summon it for me, or something? But who can I trust? Not a lot of my fellow drow, certainly. Maybe Vallyn could do it... if he hadn't totally disappeared, that is.

Whatever, that problem aside for now, I should start at the beginning. After the last entry a month ago or three... hells, it's probably been even longer, I've lost all track of time, but anyway. I guess life went on for a while, as per normal, but the important ting is that I went out exploring with Dani. Not too unusual, but what we found, besides the usual motley collection of things trying to eat us, was one massive great glowing portal to Darkness alone knew where.

Alright, that's an exaggeration. It actually looked pretty damn normal for a rift in reality leading to somewhere entirely different. Still, it was kinda shimmery, and impossible to see where it led. So, being me, of course, my first response was "Ooh, let's see where this goes!" and off I went. You'd have thought I'd have learned from the first time, but no. Flaming idiot of a drow, off she goes, poof.

The third worst thing about it was that the other end of it led to some random tunnel in the wild Underdark with nothing whatsoever to give any bearings. The second was that apparently it was a one-way portal. Figures. The worst thing, though, was that our gear didn't come through with us. Not a stitch of it. Besides being a little on the embarrassing side, that turned out to be really damn inconvenient.

Lacking anything better to do than pick a direction, start walking and pray, off we went. Fortune smiled on us, or at least, as Xaberan used to say, Beshaba looked the other way, but one way or another, the darkness provided, delivering unto us a ragtag bunch of shadow-blinded surfacers who were easy pickings, and happened to be carrying food, armour and other such basic supplies.

And so life went on. Most of the time I've lost probably goes into that interminable time we spent wandering blindly in the Underdark, without a clue where we were. That was rough. Like, really rough. I'm frankly surprised we survived at all, but eventually we stumbled, again through luck not judgement, on this lovely shiny city right here; the City of Dark Weavings - Sshamath.

There's plenty more to be told, and more important, but I think for now I'm going to take a break. I'm a lot weaker, and a lot poorer than I was, but I've still got to eat, sleep.. well, technically I'm getting enough rest that I don't have to pass out like a human, for once, but... yeah.

The untidy handwriting continues on the next scroll.

Day 57

Again, I find myself scribbling. It's only been another cycle, but there's still plenty more than that to tell, since we arrived in Sshamath, what, a month ago? A couple of tendays, at the very least, I'd say.
Maybe I'm overestimating the time. Maybe I'm underestimating it. It's so hard to tell.

Anyway, we were pretty disoriented at first... so we got drunk. That helped. The drink's not bad here, anyway. I've learned my way around vaguely by now.. at least, in the market here and in the tunnels closest to the city. Ironically, I'm still picking up my potion supplies from a mindflayer.

Like always, the most important things are the people I've met. Take Vallyn, for example. Damn that guy's got problems, and I'm not sure I'm helping... I've been there, though, and the least I can do is try to give him a helping hand past the pitfalls. Not that I'm very qualified for that. Somehow I've ended up apprenticed to him, while I learn my way around this place and until I can take care of myself again. He's not just a sneak though, he does magery too. You have to, to get anywhere in this city, it seems.

He seems pretty keen that I ally myself with Bregan D'aerthe, but I've yet to speak with their leader here enough to figure out whether I want to do that or not. It depends what they can offer me, and what they're going to expect of me in exchange. I do find myself hoping it works out though. Why do I care? Who knows.

The biggest problem with this city, is that though it's thankfully not some spider-kisser web, it is most certainly very drow. And so am I, at the core. I've learned better than that though, learned different ways of looking at the world... but sometimes the ways of my childhood seem better, easier. I'd go back to it so easily, I know, if it weren't for Dani. I guess what Vildor said to me back then was true after all. I'll just change to fit in wherever. Am I really that desperate? That reliant on other people? Maybe I am. I don't know whether to be afraid or not.

Anyway. Next important person, mentioned already above, would be Zordem, and then the necromancer Vallyn warned me away from... Amon, I think his name was. Regrettably, I may have attracted his interest, but there's no risk of me wanting to ally myself with someone who thinks my value goes up if I die.

After that, a succession of randomers I can't put names to, who've fought alongside me against various beasties in the tunnels. May'lin was one... oh, and whatsherface, the mage. Damn, her name escapes me, but she's pretty strong, and I like her company too. Fade, that's the one. Plenty of others, but as I've observed countless times before, I suck at names. Some duergar with a z in his name somewhere?

Next bunch is the svirf-hating idiots we may ...accidentally have made enemies of. A clanky scythe-swinger called Cythis, lump of metal on a stick guy, aka Gally-whatsit, and their quiet friend, who worries me more than the loudmouths. Lump of metal guy is actually alright to talk to, if a bit stuck up, and I've hunted with both him and Cythis before, but at the moment, I think it could go either way.

The original dispute was a bunch of Dani-typical insult-slinging and trying to help another svirfneblin called Nomsy, who is also alright, if a little careless, to say the least. Oh, the other group of people I'm supposed to be watching out for are House Mori'hyanda, who are spider-kissers. 'Nuff said. I'm not actually sure how to recognise them yet, though, which is unfortunate.

Lastly, we've run into a couple of cute suckers who I'd probably have fed crackers if I'd met them back home; one knife-juggling coward, who I haven't seen that recently, and one over-talkative scribbler, who claims to be on sugar, which tastes great, but doesn't actually seem to do much by way of making me high. Ah well.

I seem to have run out of space, as well as important things to say, so I'd probably better stop here. Will write more later.

Jewelcast wrote:Fortune smiled on us, or at least, as Xaberan used to say, Beshaba looked the other way...

"Beware who you mention, little filthy-tongued drow. Beshaba may avert her eyes from me too one day, and you may find yourself clucking once again wherever you've fled to".

X.