Geldreng

          ~ The Further Adventures of Geldreng the Archer~

I had been busy looking for Ravener Guts as I have been desperately wanting to upgrade my composite bow. It seems that this form of Drudge just does not want to part with this part of his anatomy very often. I had just come back from a short hunt and was resting in Ayan Baqur watching the sun rise as I listened to the fountain gurgling. Ultron, a good mage friend of mine decided to see how I was doing. He informed me of a magical new set of armor that is for mages only and that he is in the hunt for the required components to be able to get this wonderful armor. He said that the Grievers have an acid that he needs to be able to get to the dungeon that the armor is stored in. Little did he tell me of the abilities of the Greivers or how big they were.

Always up for a challenge, I accepted his offer to look for the Greivers and maybe a Ravener Drudge or two along the way. It certainly helps when you work as a team and it can get very scary while running through the Dires with no one to guard your back. As we worked our way along we tangled with a number of Scrawed and Virulent Grievers. I was a bit surprised to find that they were of a fairly high level but we seemed to be doing ok. While working our way down one hill we were ambushed by some Golems, I quickly changed to my Blunt arrows and dispatched them with quick firing and some helpful spells from Ultron. As I was checking the last Golem for treasure a huge darkness came over me and before I could do anything my corpse was laying there and I was visiting the lifestone. To my surprise a Harrower Griever had decided to spawn right behind me. As Ultron watched in dismay he couldn't take on the creature by himself and I was going to be a few minutes to get to the area of my demise. I worked my way carefully back to Ultron although I did have to run away a bit from a few creatures that thought I looked like lunch and finally was back with Ultron seeing my corpse and the Harrower Greiver that was standing on top of it. I looked the monster over and started to shake, it was level 121 and together Ultron and I were just over level 60. Ultron being the good sport that he is decided to through caution to the wind and draw the Griever away from my body so that I could recover my lost items. Soon he was ready and as the Griever moved towards him, I sprinted to my body and got my items and then quickly spun around and started to fire arrows into that creatures back. I was set on revenge and my mark was true as quickly the number of holes in its hide exceeded exceptations and it fell before Ultron. I was shocked to find that this Griever cleared up 3% of my new vitae and I was a bit dumbfounded that the two of us could take on such a nasty creature and survive. It was time for me to return to civilization and repair a few of my wounds and restock my ever dwindling supply of mana stones that are needed for my magical items.

After my short trip to Hebian-To I ventured over to my favorite bench I went and wondered what adventures would befall me next. As I repaired the back of my coat that had a large hole in it from the Griver, Ultron and Siobahn showed up to say hi. I listened as they described their journey along the Dires beaches to reach the safe haven of Ayan Baquor. Although I don't know if any town is safe with the Virindi floating around. Ultron decided to leave, something about wanting sleep, and then Siobahn asked if I would accompany her to Kara for a little exercise. Knowing that the Linvak Mountain Range is a lot tamer than the outskirts of Ayan I decided it would be a nice trip. I have this affinity for mountains for some reason and would enjoy some new scenery.

Well we ran and ran and suddenly we were at yet another Lugian Citadel. I did not realize that there were three of them. Knowing that I have a fair chance against the mighty Lugians I decided that I should work off my vitae with my partner in the Happy Wanderers, Siobahn. Once we got inside we proceeded to pound on the Lugians as we worked our way in. In a short time I was finally free of vitae and Siobahn had cured herself of her vitae problem as well. We were walking back towards the entrance when as entering the main room Lugians surrounded us. With no where to run We fought valiantly but to no avail, the Lugians got the upper hand and I succumbed to the enslaught and then they turned on Siobahn and we met at the lifestone in Ayan. We quickly gathered our wits and off to Baishi we portalled to get ready for the run back to the Citadel of our demise. Siobahn met a mage friend that gave her a lot of magic and that helped us run a lot faster across the countryside and finally back into the Citadel we went. Siobahn was the first to get a sudden glow as she advanced to the 21st rank and moments later I proudly accepted the title of Archer of the 29th level. I continued to teach the Lugians that Geldreng is not an Archer to be messed with and then it was time to leave as Siobahn had other commitments to make.

I recalled myself to Ayan and went back into town wondering what I should do. I checked myself over and found that I still had a lingering vitae problem but knew that a nice drudge from outside of town would certainly help me alleviate the problem so I suited up and marched down the hill. I found my quarry very quickly and got my quiver filled with the proper arrows. There was a fellow adventurer there and I informed him of my intentions as I did not want to startle him. I loaded my bow and off went a volley of arrows and they all hit their mark and soon the Stalker perished to the many holes in his hide. My vitae problem was clear and I felt well. The adventurer had finished in incantations of arcane enchantments and had proceeded out to conquer the Direlands. I soon found him hitting an Obsidian Golem and resolved to watch the good fight. I noticed that the intrepid adventurer was not getting the upper hand and ran down and used my healing arts to help him recover from his wounds. After doing this twice and seeing that he was running out of steam I unleashed a barrage of arrows and felled the beast. The adventurer was very thankful for the help and was sure he would not of survived and for my efforts allowed me to keep the treasure that the Golem had accumulated. With this I bid farewell to this explorer of the nether regions of this isle and returned to the relative safety of Ayan.

As I sit here at my bench, watching life in Ayan Baqur pass me by, I write in my journal I am surprised by the vastness of this land and all of the creatures that inhabit it. I look back and see the days when a Mattekar would make me run from one end of this ilse to the other or even the mention of a Lugian would cause me to stop but I have grown so much in this last while and my abilities are increasing all of the time that although life here is never easy, it certainly is getting more tolerable. Maybe even some day I will find myself a place to call home and proudly diplay the trophies of my youth and some of my current adventures too. To have friends like Ultron, Xenwrathe, Inkebah, and Siobahn does make life easier but I still miss the days of hunting in the forests of Ispar with my brother, Galthenar, and relative peacefulness that being home had given me.

- Geldreng