I have decided to try my hand at writing a journal based on the latest campaign we have started. The group is as follows:
Tanar d'Lyrandar - 6th lvl half-elven Psion and bearer of a lesser Drangonmark of his house.
Oarsen - 6th lvl human monk in the service of Del Dorn.
Del - 6th lvl gnomish rogue and tobacco expert.
Digger - Warforged Ftr1/Artificer 5.
This will be my first attempt at this, so please forgive the roughness coming out of the gate. I will be writing this for the most part through Digger's eyes, but from time to time will switch it up when the need for an all seeing eye comes into play.
15 Nymm 998 YK, 0100
In an effort to practice the traits which will allow me to blend in more with those around me, I have purchased this book to keep a written record of our travels aboard the freelance vessel The Lady in Mourning. I know little of the workings of an airship, but my master Tanar d'Lyrandar has mentioned several times in our few months together that he misses the feel of the air upon his face. It is..ironic, I do believe that is the word Master Tanar uses, that his chance has arrived so soon after him saying it would be a cold day in the lower Abyss before House Lyrandar allowed him to leave his office here in New Cyre.
I must examine the office as instructed. I will return in a moment.
* * * * *
Very intriguing warforged, very intriguing. I wish to hear more of your travels and travails. Your "master" from the dragonmarked house Lyrandar... curious... are not your kind now a free 'people' per the Thronehold Accords?
Not the I keep abreast of the laws of the lesser races, the Rings of Siberys occupy my every waking hour. Although I 'read' an obscure reference to "the creators shall free their created" in one of the outer most rings once...
Very intriguing warforged, very intriguing. I wish to hear more of your travels and travails. Your "master" from the dragonmarked house Lyrandar... curious... are not your kind now a free 'people' per the Thronehold Accords?
Not the I keep abreast of the laws of the lesser races, the Rings of Siberys occupy my every waking hour. Although I 'read' an obscure reference to "the creators shall free their created" in one of the outer most rings once...
Although Master Tanar has asked me to simply call him Tanar on several occasions, I can not carry out this request. My first memory is of my first Master, a gnomish magus who studied the arts of necromancy, teaching me the lesson of respect for those I serve.
It was not until after I had departed my first Master's service that I learned that the methods used by him were not the ones practiced by most.
Even though I have sworn allegiance to Master Tanar's house, he has decided it was best not to add in his reports that the warforged assistant he has gained is trained in the ways of an artificer. While it might assist him in regaining favor in the house, he chooses to respect my unspoken wish to remain as far away from attention as possible.
15 Nymm 998 YK, 0115
I have asked Azotus to keep watch over the front office so that I may focus my attention on the task at hand. I am not used to expressing my thoughts to any but him and while Master Tanar finds it amusing that I can speak freely to a "fancy looking hammer" but not him, I have yet to find the humor myself. In many ways Azotus is the closest thing that I shall ever be able to call family. I see him as being closer to a "brother" than a "son", but if I were to stretch the boundries of what Master Tanar calls "the box", I could argue that since I did create his body and give him life Azotus is my child. Perhaps Master Tanar and I could discuss this while he drinks his kafe before we depart for the docks.
I do not understand why Master Tanar is so dependent upon the beverage when he first awakens each morning, or why he sends me to retrieve a second mug as soon as he takes his first drink from the one I have waiting for him each morning. I also have not figured out why Master Tanar grimaces the way he does as he raises the first mug to his lips, but remains smiling with the second. Perhaps the vendor uses a different ground kafe, water, and heat ratio than I do. Could six spoons per mug not be enough?
It was over kafe this morning that the messanger from Prince Winnarn arrived and wished to speak with Master Tanar. Although as a normal practice Master Tanar does not allow anyone entrance into the office before ten, in order to weed out those who do not truly need the help of the House he has told me, I must assume that it was the man's uniform which changed Master Tanar's mind. Although I remained in the back office until summoned by Master Tanar, it was obvious to me that perhaps the messanger was expecting to see something different when I entered the room.
Azotus says he detects something approaching the door of the office. I must see what it is.
Looking forward to hearing more. You seem to be doing just fine getting into the mindset of a warforged.
15 Nymm 998 YK, 0145
My appearance might not have met the expectations of the messanger yesterday morning, there are still those that find the sight of a warforged, especially an armed warforged, unsettling. I do not think the young humans will be returning here tonight, but I will move to the front office to make certain of it. When I was with Master Belrak there was never a need to post watches, but New Cyre is very different from Master Belrak's shop.
I do not understand how record keepers know what to enter into a book and what to leave out. With each sentence I write, I feel as if I am leaving a thousand more in my mind. Perhaps when I have saved my salary further I can acquire a recording stone and simply speak my thoughts instead of writing them. For now though, I will try to remain focused on keeping my thoughts limited to the subject at hand.
While most warforged created are encased fully in a protective coating of armor, I can not ever recall that being the case with me. I have always felt an oddity among my kind as the few metal pieces I have upon my person are nothing more than worked brass and tin with the majority of by body being composed of enspelled wood and stone with bindings of leather holding everything in place the way tendons do among the flesh races.
I also lack the fabled strength and skill at combat that has made my fellow warforged both prized and feared at the same time. Even Azotus is more designed to assist me with my true calling than to serve as a weapon. The fact that my hands shake as if I had the human condition of palsy when forced into brute combat does not help matters either, but Master Tanar handles himself quite well for one who only draws his blade in practice these days and I do not doubt that with his knowledge of airships and sailing, myself and the others coming with us will be fine.
I see that I am getting ahead of myself once again. How do the others manage to stay on the topic at hand?
After we were told to prepare to meet with Prince Winnarn, Master Tanar and I followed the messanger down the avenues of New Cyre until we arrived at the dwelling location of the exiled Prince. I do not understand the concept of this word. How can you be who you are, but told that you are not who you are?
The races of man carry many odd traditions like this one I suppose.
Arriving closely after us was Brother Oarsen of the Whispering Hallows Monastery in the service of Dol Dorn. While Master Tanar has convinced me that always speaking the formal title of Brother Oarsen is not required, I was guilty of it yesterday morning due to my inability to maintain my outward calm on the inside.
The young Prince offered food and drink to Master Tanar and Brother Oarsen, but made it obvious quickly that I was seen but not recognized by him. My master asked why I was not offered the same consideration, but I have become used to being viewed as nothing more than "a talking gearbox" by many.
We soon learned that another had been invited to this meeting, but due to unforeseen circumstances had been detained. After learning this fact, my master could not contain his curiosity any longer and asked why we three had been summoned there. It was a question I was curious to learn the answer to also, but I do not think I will ever have the fearlessness that Master Tanar does when he makes up his mind to learn something.
With a sigh that suddenly made his young face appear much older the Prince began speaking. the ink appears nearly faded on this last ine
Looking forward to hearing more. You seem to be doing just fine getting into the mindset of a warforged.
Thanks. I worked on his concept for a long time before the game started and had to adjust quite a bit when I learned that we were suddenly jumping from lvl 1, where I thought we were starting, to lvl 6.
The end result was that while Digger has been around the block a few times, he has never really been out in the "real" world by himself and his thoughts pattern do not flow smoothly unless he is "serving" some one.
This limitation becomes really obvious once the chars board the ship...
While a recording stone will remain beyond my means for the moment, I do believe that I will begin research on a formula that will allow a writing pen to remain full of ink indefinitely. If such a formula could then further be perfected as to have the pen write on its own power as its owner speaks the words, I do believe it could change the way that many house scribes conduct their daily business. Could this be a part of the “outer box” thinking that Master Tanar wishes me to practice? Although I feel this is truly an idea that I should see through to its completion, it keeps me from the goal that this journal was intended for.
I should clarify that while Prince Winnarn lives in exile here in New Cyre, the young heir to the throne does not consider his current position as a lessening of his obligation to “his people”, and we soon discovered how seriously the man took his obligation.
He had taken it upon himself to hire The Lady in Mourning and her crew to deliver relief packages to the victims and refugees of Cyre who have taken residence in the city of Moonshadow. Master Tanar agreed to the task immediately, even though he knew that there would be a tremendous backlog of paperwork upon his return. My decision was equally easy to reach, as where Master Tanar goes I do as well. The Prince seemed to realize that my freedom of choice was something that Master Tanar wished to have recognized, and as such did not shift to face Brother Oarsen until I had verbalized my acceptance of the task as well.
I had assumed that Brother Oarsen would agree just as quickly as we had, but he reached an internal conclusion that I had not expected. Brother Oarsen felt that his personal beliefs could not co-exist with an aspect of the delivery that Prince Winnarn had arranged. While he was comfortable with the delivery of clothing, food, seeds, and other life sustaining items, he did not like the fact that the Prince was sending weapons to the refugees.
This struck me as odd as Brother Oarsen carried upon his person a finely crafted quarterstaff, dagger, and a pair of equally well crafted kamas. I do not know much about his faith, but it seemed odd that one so well armed could fault another for wishing to do the same for those he feels deserves it. Apparently Prince Winnarn felt the same way and his tone left no doubt that perhaps it was truly best for Brother Oarsen to leave ruling to those who rule, and being a servant to those who serve.
The brief and animated conversation between Brother Oarsen and Prince Winnarn seemed to place them both in a sullen mood and Master Tanar quickly sensed that perhaps the best thing for all parties was to depart to prepare for the ship's arrival the following day. Saying his farewell to the Prince, Brother Oarsen departed first and Master Tanar, as well as myself, quickly followed behind him.
As we departed one of the Prince's retainers informed us that we should be expecting to meet the missing member of the meeting tomorrow at the shipyard docks.
It was as we were walking back to the shop that Master Tanar asked if I was looking forward to getting out and loosening up. I informed him that while the experience would be a new one, I did not think it wise to tamper with my stucturial integrity at this time. While the comment made him smile and slap me on the back lightly, I still fail to see the humor that he did. Perhaps it is simply a concept I am not meant to grasp.
When we reached the shop, he informed me that he was going to alert House Lyrandar that he had been hired for an assignment and request an apprentice to be sent here to New Cyre while he was away. I nodded simply and stood by the door waiting for him to speak his wishes on what he would have me do for the evening, but initially he did not understand my posture by the door. As he began walking away, he turned back once and observed that I had not moved from the door and began walking back towards me. He wished to know why I was standing still and I informed him that the day had yet to pass the noon hour and I was not off duty until after the ringing of the sixth bell past the time of the high sun.
Shaking his head and sighing, Master Tanar told me that the day was mine to do as I felt and to find a "hobby" before the ship arrived tomorrow. I assured him that my shaping of leather and metal were my hobbies, but he felt..feels that it should be something I do that another can not make a profit on. He suggested I learn to play football with the local children, but the concept of young adults playing a game where they kick around a ball made of a foot does not seem sanitary to me.
In the end, I settled upon purchasing this book, a pen, and several small containers of ink to begin keeping a record of our trip to Moonshadow. I do believe this will match the criteria that Master Tanar has placed upon it.
I will end for now as there are many small details to take care of before the ship arrives tomorrow.
16 Nymm 998 YK, 1300
Even when I had the honor of serving beside Master Belrak nothing we produced in his workshop in Eston compared to the perfection of creation I saw when The Lady in Mourning arrived this morning. Lowering down from the sky, she seemed to block out the sun for a moment and even Del, the gnomish assistant that Prince Winnarn spoke of, fell silent as we all stared upwards in appreciation. The vessel was long and sleek and harnessed the power of a bound water elemental, or perhaps several lesser ones, to keep it in the sky and to assist when more traditional sailing was required.
I do believe that I can understand the emotion of awe and perhaps envy as well, as I am both humbled and..hungry to further my own training to strive to reach the skill needed to create something as wonderful as this ship. I owe Master Tanar a debt far greater than he will ever realize, as before the moment I stepped aboard this ship I believed that I could be..content with the life I had chosen for myself. Now I feel the..spark, as Master Belrak would have called it, burning brightly once more.
I must return topside and tell Master Tanar this revelation. I do believe he will be most pleased.