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The
Great Journal of the Great Mage
Volume
One
The Gathering
Welcome.
I am Nickademus. This is my journal. I am a mage.
I was born and raised apart from my family, so that I could learn
the arts of magic. In the world that I am originally from, magic
was feared and not understood. Magic was blamed, some say
rightfully so, for the destruction of much of the life of the
world. The world is a desolate place. Water is scarce and the
people live every day in search of it. I guess that I have had a
pretty sheltered life. I have been spoiled by my upbringing. I
never had to struggle to survive. I was known as a hermit when I
moved out and away from my mentor. I wish that I could write some
about him, but he prefers to remain, well, unspoken of. I will
grant him this for his teachings.
I aspire to be the greatest mage of all time. I have always
seemed to have a great understanding of magic. No one has ever
seemed more intelligent or wise than I. It sounds, well,
conceited, but it is true. I always seemed to be one step ahead
of my mentor in every way except in experience of magic. That has
changed, my friends. I now possess great skill and experience. I
have traveled far and wide. I have met many interesting people
and seen many things.
I would like to
talk right now about my friend, Brihon.
He was the only person to ever come to me for conversation. This
struck me as odd when we first met. He said that he did not
understand me, and that intrigued him!
Well, Brihon was a trader. He would walk to the other side of our
world if that is what it took to get a good deal. I admired his
courage and perserverance. I began to talk to him regularly. I
found that it is nice to have someone to talk to.
One day, Brihon came to me and asked if I would accompany him on
a journey. He had heard that a new trade route was needed to
increase relations with the city and surrounding areas. This
trade route, however, was very dangerous. He needed someone who
had the ability to talk with and understand the people and
creatures around the area. I was that person. I considered this
for sometime before agreeing. I decided that there must be more
to life than books, and suddenly had a strong desire to see what
I had been missing out on.
Together we set out to gather a few more people to come along for
the journey. Brihon hired a cleric with the ability to make and
influence water to supply us with an adequate amount for our
journey. He would come with us, of course. He was young. His
given name was Marcus. We called him the Boy.
We also needed some protection. Brihon had spent many days
looking for a warrior that could stand up to absolutely anyone.
He had been observing the gladiators of the town. He knew that he
might find such a warrior in one of them. He finally found one
with the strength that noone had ever seen before. He could pick
a man up and break him in half! The only problem was that the
gladiators were slaves as well. Knowing that the task of hiring
this slave would be impossible, he rigged a fight in which this
particular gladiator would surely lose. Our only hope was that he
would not die as well. When the fight took place, it worked just
as Brihon had planned - although the medicinal care cost more
than he had intended. Brihon then went to this slave's owner and,
being a master of words, convinced him that this gladiator was
"washed up" and bought him from the original owner.
Brihon then freed the slave and hired him to protect us for our
journey. His name was Raagh Skull-splitter. He was not very
intelligent, but could wield any weapon put in his face. A master
of combat, if I say so.
We were now ready. But for what?