Dear Diary:

I, Alvy Sarantyr-Falconbridge was born on the 19th of Uktar,
in the Year of the Blazing Brand, 1334 Dale Reckoning. My
mother is Delandra Sarantyr, an elf of Myth Drannor, singer,
composer and now seamstress. My father is Tomas Falconbridge,
a human adventurer of Tilverton. I have one sibling, my older
sister Allandara.
     I grew to maturity in Tilverton. Five years ago, my
sister left to see the world. My mother's stories of the
wonders she has seen in the world had fired both of us, and I
begged her to take me with her. She ruffled my hair and said
that she would be back. I have not heard from her since that
day, so I have decided to try and find her.
     I left home on the 1st day of the month of Kythorn, in
the Year of the Worm, 1356 DR. I left to find my sister and
carve a niche for myself in the world as well. Who knows,
perhaps I could become rich and famous?
     Before I left, my parents bought me a new harp, and a
set of matched daggers to protect myself. They also gave me
some money to tide me over until I could make my fortune.
Unfortunately the money wasn't sufficient to buy a horse but
I did not press. I knew how much my parents needed the money.
     My mother being an elf, was far older than my father,
yet appeared to be as old as I was. She was renowned for her
grace and skill with the needle, even amongst the agile
elves. Unfortunately my father did not have the benefit of
such a life span, and is old for a human, being 40 years old.
He no longer is as spry as in his earlier adventuring days,
when he met my mother.
     As for me, well I'm tall for a half-elf, 5' 11", but
mother says that I'm more graceful than most elves. At the
time I write this, I'm wearing a set of nice clothes that my
mother made me. Well, enough about me. Now my quest!
     I journeyed to the village of Shadowdale to begin my
quest for fame and fortune, having heard that many
adventurers met there.  On the way I passed through Shadow
Gap, an area reputed to be haunted. I felt fingers skitter
down my back, but met nothing more dangerous than a crow.
     Arriving at Shadowdale, I asked for directions to the
Old Skull inn, having heard that it was the only inn in the
small village. I booked a room, the Green Room, with it's
elaborate tapestries I felt quite at home.
     I played at the inn for several evenings with little to
show for it, although one night the most powerful mage on
Faerun, Elminster AND the most famous bard on Faerun, Storm
Silverhand, watched my performance and I even saw Elminster's
foot moving in time with my tune! Of course I knew they lived
in the village, which played a significant part in my
decision to come here, but I never believed that I would see
them!
     I'm going to try and write in this diary every day,
perhaps one day I will become famous and my story will be
told far and wide.

8th Kythorn:

     Today I was relaxing in the comfort of the Old Skull inn
when I was approached by a young human male; judging by his
robes, I assumed that he was a mage. He asked if I would like
to join him at his table. He gestured toward a table at which
sat a young half-elven woman. I was immediately interested,
and moved over to the table. I noted that the woman wore a
mail vest and held a flail at her side, which she continually
checked. Her nervous gesture told me much about her
inexperience.
     The young woman rose to greet me, and motioned for me to
take a place at the table. She introduced herself as Aspena,
a cleric of Chauntea. I know something of that deity, as she
is well known as the goddess of agriculture. The flail at
Aspena's side came as no surprise then, the flail being a
common instrument of agriculture.
     At this point I noted that the young mage had not yet
seated himself at the table. I looked around to spot him
conversing with a tall elf leaning on the bar. I looked at
Aspena questioningly, but she shrugged. I decided to wait for
this mage to explain himself, and settled back to watch the
patrons of the inn.
     The mage moved around the bar, conversing with anybody
who were armed or who looked like an adventurer. Several
answered him with shakes of the head, and some appeared
interested, asking further questions, only to reply in the
negative. I began to wonder what I had let myself into.
     The elf moved over to the table, and seated himself. I
introduced myself, as did Aspena. The tall elf was named
Swiftbeat, and I judged from his attire of leather armour,
longbow and matched scimitars that he was a wilderness
warrior, a ranger. He moved with a fluid grace yet seemed
very strong. I decided that he was an elf I would like to be
behind in a fight.
     After a while, the young mage had spoken to everybody in
the inn bar one. A dwarf dressed in mail and carrying a
battle axe was noisily eating a meal. He appeared to disdain
the use of utensils, unfortunately for those onlookers who
were subjected to his meal. The young man approached and
spoke to the dwarf. The dwarf nodded in agreement between
mouthfuls, and, still clutching his plate of food, moved
over to our table. He introduced himself as Brun Ironskull.
It appeared that Brun and Swiftbeat already knew each other,
as they just nodded at each other. I resolved to watch the
pair of them.
     At this point the mage finally named himself Miphon, and
began to explain what the mission he wanted us to do was
about. Hearing this, I leaned forward to listen.  Finally I
would be able to slay all those dragons, reap all the riches,
and return to adoring maidens like a hero from my tales! I
returned to reality when I realized that Miphon was asking us
if we agreed. I readily replied in the positive, followed by
the others. Miphon told us to be sure to bring appropriate
equipment, and bade us good night. The others all headed to
bed, leaving me with my dreams of dragon slaying.  Noting the
empty stage and the curious farmers, I leapt to the stage and
began to play a ballard I had heard from my mother. The
farmers appeared awestruck, or at least maybe approving.
Hopefully the rest of the adventure would be a little better!

8th Kythorn
     This morning dawned clear and bright - or so Aspena told
me cheerfully, as I was in no condition to see it.  If
adventuring required a person to wake up this early in the
morning, then perhaps it wasn't for me!  I managed to drag
myself out of bed and walked downstairs to where the others
were waiting. After a quick breakfast, we all set out to walk
to our destination.
     After a while on the trail, I began to change my mind.
Perhaps it wasn't so bad.  Here I was, on the road, in good
company, with a full purse and seeing new sights. What more
could a bard hope for?  With some discreet questioning of
Aspena I gathered that our quest was to collect some moss
from a cave nearby.  At that I groaned!  No wonder the other
adventurers had not accepted!  Still, it was a little late to
back out now.  Besides, I need the money that Miphon's master
will pay for the moss.
     Further down the road, we encountered a merchant on his
wagon. The others would have rode by but I asked to see his
wares. Perhaps he would have something of use. My persistence
was paid off when I found that he had a book of songs from
far off Waterdeep.  This I gladly paid for, along with a
larger book to keep my journal in.
     After several hours walk Miphon declared that we should
turn off the trail here to reach the cave. As we moved
through the forest, I heard a crashing of bushes, and froze.
The others did likewise.  Aspena drew her flail, reminding me
that I should draw my daggers as well. We paused while
Swiftbeat tried to peer through the bushes.
     Then the creature crashed into a view. It was about 8'
tall, had green warty skin and a very large nose. Swiftbeat
yelled "troll!" as he drew his flashing blades and leapt to
attack.  Brun spat on his hands and drew back for a mighty
swing. All of us swung or threw at it as it roared and
attempted to rip us limb from limb!
     Over the next several minutes, Brun and Swiftbeat proved
themselves mighty warriors as they hacked at the creature.
Brun began screaming insults at it, as he swung at it with
surprising agility and strength, even for a dwarf. The troll
scored several nasty gashes on Brun, but he appeared to shrug
them off and continue fighting. Actually I don't think he
even noticed that he had been hit, as he appeared to be in a
frenzy of hacking. The troll was quickly dead, and Swiftbeat
doused it oil and set it alight. He explained that trolls can
regenerate, even from death.  Indeed, I saw several of the
limbs that he threw on the fire still grasping at him.
     Aspena prayed to her goddess to heal Brun's wounds, who
had collapsed. She was obviously in fear of his life, but
after a short time he managed to stand on his feet again. His
frenzy had appeared to exhaust him. Still, I was impressed!
Swiftbeat said that trolls were found on the Trollmoors near
Silverymoon where he came from.  Apparently only large
parties of soldiers dared fight them, even then they
generally had many casualties. Obviously I chose my party
members well.
     We soon arrived at the entrance to the cave that Miphon
proclaimed the site of the moss. Miphon pulled a length of
wood, wrapped in oil soaked cloth, from his backpack. Brun
muttered about humans as he lit it with his flint. Brun the
dwarf, and Swiftbeat the elf, could both see in the darkness
quite well. Aspena and myself had both inherited such an
ability as well. Unfortunately the light from the lantern
would temporarily destroy that ability, leading us to be as
Blind as any human in the dark. Oh well. Brun and Swiftbeat
didn't seem particularly impressed as well.
     The cave was really amazing. In there we found the moss,
but also a whole secret lair complete with an evil mage! We
fought some goblins, and I hit two in the forehead with two
throws of the daggers that my parents gave me. Perhaps they
are magical? Who knows.  We found the mages spellbook, and a
letter written in some strange tongue. I know a bit about
lots of languages, but I couldn't recognize it. The spellbook
had lots of magic writing in it, and Miphon was very happy.
I had a look as well. Maybe I'll try to learn some of the
spells from the book like Miphon suggests. Maybe they will be
useful.
     Just a few minutes ago we gave the moss to Miphon's
master and the others are celebrating their new (relative)
wealth. I think I'll join them.