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period of solitude of Carmalena I took a few moments after reading the post about the trial to gather my thoughts about why I should do it. I had come to the conclusion that I had been neglecting my guild lately after brutal defeat by Tigeress. I felt like all the work I had done for the Hunts Program was just taken from me. I needed something that connected me with the Rangers, but on the same note strengthen my spirit to come back, and give effort to the Guild again. I soon sought out Thorina to tell her the news of how I wanted to participate in the Trial. With this, I stripped down to Tracking boots, Amulet of Strength, Mage Guild robes, Gold medal, and a Charm of Alvogyl. I thought long and hard about one weapon that I could take with me to prove I had an inner strength, and an outer strength, in that I used a Stag knife. After the task was set, I found myself on the open road to learning about what it was to be like a Ranger from the older days. How to walk around the lands and not be spoiled by spells of teleportablity. Having to map and find their own way around. Survival was the key, if you could survive for a week in the open with no one around to hear you scream when death stares at you, with a rapier pointed at you as you feel Kilana, and Corin's breath on your neck. For the next seven days... Silence.. This is a true test of power. A test for only those who wish to be challenged. This is not for the weak minded. It has already been one day and I can feel the terrible strain it has on ones body and mind. Fighting face to face, feeling the blood splatter on your face when you slice your knife up into the skull of an ogre. This is life... ~Tranos Dungeon~ I can feel the wind blow cold air across my back as I move forward into the darkened hallway. Foot steps can be heard down the hall. I quickly submerge into the shadows walking quickly but quietly. I creep up upon two Ogres talking about killing a human down the hall, and how they plan on having it for dinner. Their skin looks like slime from where I am, and their breath smells. You can almost taste the stench pouring off their body after a battle to the death with human life. I am disgusted. Out of the shadow I come with Wrath and Vengeance for that poor human. One slice and the Ogre's head rolls across the floor. I tuck and roll into the shadows before the second ogre knew what hit. He moves a huge club to his right hand and starts mocking me. One more word out of him, and out of the shadow I come, one quick thrust and the knife goes up and into the ogres skull. I twist it for good measure, and then pull it out slowly, as the life in his eyes fades, and his lifeless body rolls off of mine onto the floor. I remove what items he has on him and I continue down the hall. I stumble upon a locked door a few meters on. I cast my unlock spell, and the obstacle is no more. I move forward into another narrow and darkened hall. I come upon a space where vines sprout from the floor. I sense danger and I move carefully across the floor. A noise behind me causes me to quickly roll and look only to be attacked from the opposite side by a poisonous Venus fly trap. It takes a nice slice of my arm, and I can feel the poison trickle down my veins. I turn and take the head off the Venus fly trap. The head slowly rolls off into the distance and the vine falls to the floor like a limp rope. Three more vines attack all at once. I move swiftly causing them to entangle in each others vines. One quick slice and a sticky substance sprits out into my face. Death has now become the theme of this floor. I wipe the slime off my face and throw it to the floor. My legs start to shake as I collapse to the ground. I am infected with poison. I remember an old spell from when I was training in the guild, and I cast it quickly before my fate lays in the hands of the Immortal's of Death. The poison fades from my body, and I clear up my wounds. Rest is all I have on my mind at this point. I eat some of the hides left inside the ogre's pack. I find a nice spot behind a rock in the shadows, and I disappear for the night to rest. Tomorrow I will sweep the second floor. Night of day 13 of First Growth of the year 208 On Earth it's Friday, February 16, 2001 After a long night of no sleep my body feels like it had been trampled by several large chariots. I rub my eyes. With the combination of dirt on my hands, and the dry eyes, it feels like someone took a handful of sand and rubbed it across my eyeball. I stand up and I glanced around to see if any traps had been sprung, and if I had been safe for the night. A couple of traps had been set off, and several crushed rats lay in pools of maroon blood in the traps place. I gather my things and I fill up my pack. I'm not really that hungry, and I'm sure in this dungeon I can find some sort of flesh to eat later on. I move out from behind the hiding spot I had found for the night and chant a spell to unlock the door. *Click* the door is made short work of and I find myself descending down the ladder to the second floor of the dungeon. ~Tranos Dungeon~ ~Second Floor~ I carefully made my way down the ladder making sure I leave no trace of my existence here. I walked slowly down the hall a bit and I got startled by clanging chains, and screams. I move faster and less cautious, and as I turn a corner... A man ... no a dwarf...about 3'1" stands there looking in the opposite direction. He seemed to have been chipping away at some rock with a small pick axe. A small rock or geode of some sort fell from the wall. He unpacked some salt, and mixed it with the geode or rock, and created some sort of quartz ... it was shiny... I started to feel jealous... I wanted one. I wanted THAT one. I snuck up behind the small dwarf. I stuck my knife into my right hand. I raised it above my head, one swift motion and his little dwarven life was no more, and the quartz was mine...I took a deep breath through my nose.... That same stench I smelt before... I turned around an ogre swung his club at me! I jumped back and threw my knife at him slicing the arm he held his club with. He dropped the club and I rolled forward picking up the club and swung it at his feet. I swept him off his feet and he laid there sprawled out dazed from the trip. With one swift motion, and no remorse I smooched that smelly ogre's head clear into the ground. The walls, myself, and the dwarven man were now covered in ogre brains and blood. I turned towards the man, and gave him an evil grin. He looked scared of me. He thanked me for saving him from the ogre, and he handed me the quartz for my troubles. I spat onto the ground, grunted at him, and slipped into the shadows before he could get in another word. I was covered in blood and brains, and I now stunk to high heaven. I felt so dirty, but for some sick reason I felt good. I had only one thing left to do, and that was to move on to the third floor. With that in mind, I moved on to a thin hallway with scratch marks on the walls. If I wasn't covered in blood, and had mashed a few heads in, I probably would have found that scary ... now the only thing that was scary in this dungeon was me... After a short walk I found myself in a junction. I debated on which way to go.. I wasn't sure which way was the safest way to the third floor. Walking to the South I was ambushed! Three spawn, two orc shaman, three trolls, and a ball and chain! The spawn stunned me with a spell, and I was attacked from all sides by the trolls. Soon as I was able to shake off the stun, I quickly shoved my knife into the stomach of one of the trolls. Blood dribbled down his chin as his life was taken. I turned quickly and slit the throat of another troll. Shocked he grabbed his throat only to find it was to late. His life was slipping away. I ran towards the spawns, each went down by my knife! I was kicked from behind by the third troll, and I fell onto the ball and chain. I growled so loud the troll had to cover his ears. I turned around and with the might of Alvogyl, and the strength of Keraptis, I pulled so hard on that ball and chain, I ripped it right out of the wall and took of the last trolls head. The only thing that remain was the two shaman.. With blood slowly dripping off my chin, I picked up a crossbow that one of the trolls had dropped. I slowly took aim and drove an arrow right through the orc's brain. Loading the bow quickly, I turned towards the last orc, and fired it directly into it's heart. I watched them die slowly and painfully. There was nothing left but me. I quickly grabbed everything that they carried before reinforcements arrived. I ran into the next room clenching my stomach for I had been hit by an arrow from one of the trolls. I pulled out the arrow as fast as I could, but slowly to the human eye. You could hear my scream of pain all the way to Devardec. I cast the body restore spell, and the wounds were no more. I sat down to rest for the night, I didn't care if I was in the open.. I was in pain, and I collapsed... Tomorrow ... the Third floor... I had a dream that night, of being in my bunk back in the guild. Laying there staring up at the stars, and watching the moon fade over the horizon. Clouds form and it begins to rain. Heavy drops of rain pelt my forhead... I slowly open my eyes. There standing over me a large wolf drooling with his fangs showing. He gives a low growl, as I pat around in search of my knife. I have no idea where I am. My head hurts so bad and my left arm is numb. I couldn't even move it to get the crossbow on the floor. The wolf snapped at me as I pushed his mouth away with my foot. The wolf came at me and I wraped my legs around it's stomach, I squeezed as hard as I could with my thighs. The wolf whimpered and dug it's teeth in my leg. It made me squeeze harder, and the wolf let one last yelp as it collapsed in a heep of flesh and bones. I removed my boots, and sliced them into strips. I tied them toghter so that I could make a splint for my leg. It had been bitten into deep. I didn't know how much further I could go but I still carried on.... ~Tranos Dungeon~ ~Third Floor~ I limped my way down long dark halls hoping that they were empty all the way to the end. My hoping became a reality. I had made it all the way to the end of the third floor without seeing or fighting one single creature. It was really damp, and I was getting really cold. My body felt like it was on fire. But I had the chills. I knew at this point I was getting sick.. I felt like I was going to die.. There was no heal spell in the realms that could make this better. I loaded the crossbow, and poisoned my knife. I moved to the south. The ghoul lord, and his hench men attacked me. I quickly dispached the ghoul lord, and made short work of the ghosts. I was soon battered by the the rest of his hench men. I could feel pure anger, and wrath take over... I don't remember what happened after, but I found myself laying in a heep of bones. I picked myself up, and walked to the door to the forth floor. It hurts to write... Tomorrow... Forth Floor. After getting some rest I picked myself up and decended down the long steps to the fourth floor of the dungeon. The floor was damp due to the mist that made it look like my knees down were gone. I was really cold now and I had wished I had never ventured down here alone. I could hear groans and moans comming from every where. Chains rattled, doors slammed shut.. Now was not a good time to test my will power to move on. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I moved on..... ~Tranos Dungeon~ ~Fourth Floor~ I knew the fourth floor was mighty big so I paced myself. I hade a broken arm, the bite to my leg was now infected. I had the flu of some sort, and I smelt like a rotting corpse. I just wanted to find some sort of spring to wash myself up, and get some rest. I continued on to a room that gave me chills.. I walked into a torture chamber! There was sink, and a place to lay for a while. I could use some of the medical items to fix myself up. I cracked my arm back into it's place, and made a soft cast for it so that it didn't move to much. There was some antiseptic, and I rubbed it on my wounds. It felt like something crawled up into the wound and ripped it open more. I poured some more on the wound and wrapped it up tight. I washed my body quickly from a small sink with a cloth. I washed my robes and hung them up to dry. I felt a little bit better now that I cleaned myself up a bit. I rapped myself up in a dirty cloth, but very warm, and I crawled into one of the cabbinets to get safe reset. I awoke a few hours later feeling alot better. My neck was kinda cramped up, but it was a small price to pay for some quality rest. I gathered my things and put my robes back on. I gathered some water in a vile and corked it tight. I don't know if I was seeing things or not, but I thought to have seen several ghouls and ghosts. I think I was just loosing my mind. I hid in the shadows and moved my way through the halls. There in front of me was the Bronze Colossus, and five of his gargoyle friends. I submerged from out of the shadows, and took a quick slice at the jugular of the Colossus, it seemed to only make a scratch on him... I took one step back and thought of a quick solution to kill him. I rolled under his legs and I heard a snap, and I screamed. My arm cracked again! I turned around to see that he was moving, I took my knife and I sliced his achilies tendent and he fell quickly. The volley's of arrows shot by the gargoyle's missed thankful to my skills in dodging. I reached up with my knife, and quickly slammed it into his heart. He let out a large growl that quickly turned into a gurgle of blood. I didn't know what to do with the gargoyle's because I wasn't flying... I reached into my pack quickly and realized I still had the crossbow. I loaded it, took aim, and sure enough I still had the skill, even with a broken arm to put an arrow into the head of the gargoyle. One fell, right after the other. I had defeated them... I knew there was only one task left, and that was the Three Headed Giant. I knew a defeat to them would be amazing, but there was almost NO way I could beat them. I moved on anyway... Solitary Ranger Carmalena Finder of Strength Weapon of Wrath |
Date Joined: Current Status: Mentor's Name: Mentor Pgm. Graduate? Ironwood Ranger Bow Award: Guild Team(s) Joined: Gold Leaf Patch Award: Giant Falcon Award: Ring of the Redwood Award: Taken Period of Solitude? Guild Offices Held: |