You have been taken by the Mists

Author Topic: Journal of Mason Moonshadow  (Read 855 times)

bidocks

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Journal of Mason Moonshadow
« on: July 06, 2010, 04:17:54 PM »
Journal of Mason Moonshadow


[a dusty, beaten leather bound book is found in the basement of The Spires of the Morning Church in Waterdeep with a lock on it which isn’t even locked, written inside are pages and pages of indecipherable scrawlings, but some passages are easily read, those will be recounted here]

My sister and I were taken in by the Priests of Lathander in the City of Waterdeep.  We were but infants and as such have no recollection of parents or family.  The priests and their assistants did their best to help raise us, but there were many others in the orphanage there and not much attention to go around I suppose, since that’s not their main purpose.

[random scrawlings]

Melisanna, my sister is becoming quite good at the studies the priests present to us.  I have more trouble.  I grasp the basic concepts, but I don’t get the “how” of it all.  The priests are not fond of this at all.

I like to watch people, and sometimes follow them to see where they go, and what they do.  Sometimes this is very boring, other times it’s a lot of fun.

One day while sitting on the church steps, looking for someone to follow, I saw a man wearing a simple brown robe walk by.  I could see something under his robe that struck me as strange.  Just a patch of fabric, but it did catch my eye.  I got up and followed him, at a distance of course so he won’t see me.

He seems to not have any particular destination in mind as he meanders all over town.  He never turns his head, and keeps his head covered all the time.  Suddenly, I lose sight of him in a crowd, and I begin frantically looking for him.  Out of the corner of my eye I see him turn a corner down an alley I never noticed before.  I follow in hot pursuit.

I get to the corner to see him step into a doorway, off the street.  I approach this doorway, and try looking in the window, but see nothing.  I go up to the door and peer into the keyhole.  Still nothing.  Suddenly the door opens, I get grabbed and find myself inside.  The door is slammed shut behind me.

I find myself in an odd curio shop, with two grizzled, bearded men in robes glaring at me.  I smile.  They continue to glare.

[the writing seems to get a bit harder to decipher]

One of the men begins to speak at me in loud words and sayings, I can hardly understand what he’s saying which is very strange because I think it’s the same language I speak but it sounds different and it almost sounds like there is more than one of him talking which is really weird because I can clearly, well mostly clearly see that there is one of him and one of the other man.  His words are hurting my ears and then I make out that he says, “Who, are you?”  Of course I tell him I’m Mason Moonshadow.  He continues talking in that weird sort of language, sort of not language, that seems to boom in my ears and then he stops.

[the next paragraph is clearly written in legible script]

I sit up.  The men seem to relax just a little bit.  I start to explain that I was merely following the man right here and he ended up in this….. store?  I also explain that I follow people just for fun, I don’t mean any harm.  I start to look around the store and see some very interesting things:  jars with stuff in them, strange dried looking things hanging from the ceiling, boxes with dried weeds, various jewelry, and hats, lots of hats.  This is very confusing to me as I have no idea what any of these things are, nevermind why anyone would buy them!

“Do you know where you are?”, the followed man asks.  I tell him no.  Hey smiles slightly and says, “good”.  Suddenly, I am in the forest, and so is the man I followed.  I’m standing right next to him and there is no one nearby.  Confused, by this of course, I exclaim, “How did we get here?”, “Magic, my boy” is his reply.  The priests of Lathander spoke of Magic as heretical and myth.  I was not prepared for the reality of this.  So of course, I shook my head and said, “Magic isn’t real, it’s just the Gods playing tricks, it’s not to be used and cannot be controlled.”  The man laughs at this, a little too long, I think.  At that he raises his hands, mumbles something I don’t understand, and sparkles fill the air around him then drop to the ground and disappear.  Stunned, I nearly fall over, my jaw must have hit the ground and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.  The man laughs again.

I am speechless.  He begins to tell me that Magic is all around me and I should learn to respect it.  He says he gets his power from something called The Weave, and a Goddess Mystra who protects and cares for it.  None of this makes any sense to me of course, but I listen anyway.

We sit and speak and some time goes by.  Eventually my eyes go back into my head and I am able to form words again.  He explains more about Mystra and The Weave.

Suddenly, he perks up and seems to be listening for something, breaking his sentence in the middle.  I hear rusting in the bushes.  “Get behind me boy!”, he yells.  Now, I’m not that much of a fighter, but this guy was thin and did not look to be in any kind of shape to defend us.

Then from all sides, kobolds appear, maybe half a dozen, all carrying spears.  Kobolds are not really that dangerous, but these looked like they mean business, bandits apparently.

As they approach us, I start digging for my trusty dagger, in order to attempt to defend myself, I am just a young boy, after all.  The man places his hands in front of him, and flames spring forth from his fingertips!  Three of the kobolds are engulfed, one of them drops to the ground.  He then points a hand to another, and a single bolt of lightning tears through the kobold, killing it instantly.  He then mumbles some words and I am surrounded by some sort of field of energy.  I see spears bounce off as the kobolds throw them at us.  I am standing, speechless and amazed.  The remaining kobolds run off into the forest.

He turns to me, looks down and says, “Still not believe in Magic?”.  Before I can reply, he mutters something, and disappears!  I look around a bit more and realize I am just outside the walls of Waterdeep.

[ several pages seem to be missing, their torn edges still apparent]

As if the Priests were not already displeased with my learning abilities, now I tend to spend my time daydreaming of that day in the woods, and sneaking off to the curio shop to talk to the owner.  He normally is quite brusque with me, but sometimes will tell me snippets of stories here and there, or answer a question he refused to before.  I also explore the woods outside of Waterdeep, in search of that wizard, but I have never seen him again.

Through my own investigations, I learn of a small temple to Mystra, right here in Waterdeep!  How did I not know this before?  I have lived here for twelve years, and never seen this place?

I proceed to go to this Temple, and repeatedly, I am refused admittance.  One day, however, the Head Priest takes me into a small room in the back of the temple and sits me down.  He takes a seat behind a very ornate desk and retrieves some papers from it.  “You are very persistent, young man.”.  “Yes I am, thank you very much for noticing and letting me in.”.  “That was not a compliment.  You are not welcome here.” I ask, “Why not?  I want to learn about Mystra and The Weave!”.  Startled by this comment, the priest takes a book from a shelf directly behind him, places it on the desk, and opens it to a page marked with a strip of cloth.

“Well then, if you would like to learn about Mystra, there are some requirements.” He proceeds to read lists and lists of things I would have to do.  I didn’t hear anything past the opening statements, and I’m sure my eyes glossed over completely.  He asked me questions, presumably to test my mind.  Then he slammed the book shut and said I could never return here.  Shocked, I exclaimed, “But I just answered all your questions!  I promise to do whatever you want!  I want to learn about Mystra!  I want to be a mighty wizard!”  “Exactly!” he replies, and points a finger at me.  “You don’t want to honor Mystra, you want to use her for your own ends!  This I cannot abide.”  He then escorts me out of the Temple.

I trudge back to the Spires of the Morning Church, defeated.  My one hope has been taken from me.  My sister, upon hearing my story, simply shakes her head and says, “You should not go looking for such things, Lathander will take care of you.”  I can’t accept that, that wizard in the woods did such amazing things!  Lathander can’t do that (or so I think).

[more torn pages and unreadable scrawls]

My studies at the church of Lathander prove pointless but for one thing:  I realized that I went to a Priest and asked him to make a Wizard of me.  What a silly child I was.  I have begun praying to Mystra.  If she is the controller and protector of the Weave, she must be very powerful and with that power, perhaps she will hear my prayers.  I beg her to listen to me and teach me.  I no longer desire to be a Wizard, but I feel that I should praise Mystra and find a way to help her protect the weave.

On one of my long walks in the forest outside of Waterdeep, I was ambushed by three bandits.  One of them grabbed my arm and the others demanded my money, of which I have none.  They threatened to kill me in brutal and savage ways and waved swords in my face.  I wrestled my arm free and out of nowhere mumbled some words I didn’t even realize I knew and I felt a surge of energy throughout my body.  One of the bandits swung his sword at me, and before he could hit me, I made a motion with my hands and a field of energy engulfed my body, his sword glancing off of me.  I punched him square in the face and what can only be described as “energy” tore through my hand into him, knocking him back several paces.  I turned to face my other foes and they seemed shocked at my actions, to the point that they could not run away fast enough.  I am of course completely shocked by this.  I do begin to see this as a revelation, and sit down and pray to Mystra immediately.

Then I run to town and replay the scene for my sister Melisanna.  She is of course shocked and in near disbelief of the events, but I continue to tell her everything that has happened.  I then tell her that I believe Mystra has granted me some power.  She must have done this so I can help protect the Weave with her!  I have to begin training to be a warrior!

I run across town to the local blacksmith, with the few coins I have managed to hide for myself and demand he make me a sword for my protection of the Weave!  He grumbles, then laughs, then smiles and courteously makes me the most hideous, poor weapon to grace the hands of a warrior for my few coins.  I am ecstatic, I have a weapon that I can now use to fight the forces that would harm the weave, all in Mystra’s name.  Who needs that Temple anyway?

My days are now spent in the woods, perfecting my fighting abilities, and harnessing the power that Mystra has granted me.

[the writing seems to become sloppy and trails off at times]

I fight battles in the wilds, against anything that dares to defy Mystra’s will.  My mere mortal’s sword empowered by Mystra and her charms.  She grants me power to make this simple weapon able to cleave our foes in two!  All the while their blows seem to glance off my body.  I am becoming the Defender of Mystra!  She leads me down this path to protect the Weave.  I shall stand to defend this ideal!

[another page is torn out]

I manage to scrounge together some more coins from bandits I have slain in the wood.  The blacksmith has made me a slightly better sword, a shield, and some armor.  Now I am a true Knight in Mystra’s name.  With my mortal armor and my Magic Armor and Enchantments, I can destroy any evil that threatens the harmony of the Weave.  In time, I can stand next to Mystra and protect the weave from the heavens.

[ the script becomes extremely neat and well written]
I have learned to accept that Lathander is not my chosen God, against the will of his Priests, and even my own sister.  Still, I know deep in my heart that Mystra has chosen me for her Defender, to be the one who can help her keep the harmony of the Weave intact.

My sister keeps to her studies, yet I regale her with my tales of adventure and battle.  She does not seem impressed with this, and tries to calm me and keep me home.  This I simply cannot abide.

[many pages are missing and the following script is nearly illegible]

Mystra!  Please show yourself to me!  I am your faithful servant, your Defender, why do you hide from me?  I see the abilities you grant me!  Am I not worthy of your tutelage?  Mystra!  I need to know!

I am confused!  Am I a man?  Am I Mystra’s son?  What am I?  Why am I here?  Why can I do these things?  There is so much I do not understand!  I saw skeletons in the woods recently and I raised my hands and they were turned to dust!  How can this be?  What have I become?  I need your guidance!

[ another page is missing, then the script is flowing and beautiful]

I have figured out my calling.  I am to be the Defender of Mystra, not quite a Priest, and not quite a Wizard, but something in between.  My weapons are her Enchantments, and the weapons of man, both in concert.  It is my duty to destroy any evil or any that threaten her or the weave, for without the weave, all is lost.

This will be my last writing as I must devote all of my time to training.  I will lock this book and hide it as my testament to Mystra and my dedication to her.