The Great Library of Palanthas

An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Clerym.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap Off 65 80.'
The gully continues 'Eyes hurt? Turn Color OFF!! (regular story dates)

Astinus says 'Enter the main library here to view only the author list.'
Astinus gently places a leather bound tome with glowing glyphs on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Clerym' scribed in red ink.



Author:  Clerym
Date    Fri Jun 21 15:23:05 2002


Subject  The Life of Clerym Darkblood




I, Clerym Darkblood, once lived in a village full of warriors.  These warriors
trained night and day to become the best of the best fighters.  The only god
they worshipped was Kiri_Jolith.

Then one dark stormy night a baby was born. That baby was me.  From the start
half of the town knew that I was going to be a great warrior.  They saw that I
would be able to wield a blade in a few years.

They saw all of the good benefits of myself and my fighting qualities, yet
they oversaw on vital thing.  I was an evil baby, I didn't know it at the time
but as I grew up I realized I wanted power and glory.

At the age of five I could beat anyone within 5 ages of me at a duel.  I was a
great swordsman but I wanted more, I didn't know what but I knew I wanted
something more.

At the age of 12 I was one of the best warriors in the village.  My parents
and brother were all amazed at how good I was at wielding a sword. One day
while at the dinner table, my father was saying grace, the usual, "Dear
Kiri_Jolith, Thank you so much for the warrior ability you have placed upon us
all.  Thank you for placing this food on our plates before us."
Blahblahblahblahblah.

It was the most boring thing I've ever heard.  I was getting so sick of
Kiri-Jolith, all I ever heard was Kiri this, Kiri that.

But this Kiri-Jolith never did anything for us or for our family, even though
everyone in our family worshipped him, except me.  I secretly worshipped Queen
Takhisis.



Author:  Clerym
Date    Fri Jun 21 15:30:55 2002


Subject  The Life of Clerym Darkblood Part II




I hated Kiri. I hated him for anything he has ever done.  Everyone in the town
wanted me to serve him when I got old enough to become a Solamnic Knight. But
I knew that those knights were wrong, wrong about anything they ever did.  The
believed in justice, the wrong justice.

So the day that I became old enough to join the Solamnic Knighhood, a bunch of
Knights came to escort me to their temple, I spoke with my father just before
we left.

"Father I don't want to go.  I don't want to become a Solamnic Knight."

"Son, I know that you never wanted to be a Knight of Solamnia, but it's in our
blood."

"NO. That's where you're wrong.  It's in YOUR blood not MINE! I hate all of
you.  I don't want to become a Knight.  Leave me alone."

With that I turned around smack into a Crown Knight. "Well young sir, I
couldn't help but to overhear your conversation, and your GOING to become a
knight whther you like it or not."

As I unsheathe my sword I shout, "No I'm not.  I'll never become a knight of
Solamnia."  With that said I stabbed the knight in the stomach and ran to my
horse where I mounted him and rode off into the ever rolling hills of the
North.



Author:  Clerym
Date    Fri Jun 21 15:33:09 2002


Subject  The Life of Clerym Darkblood (Conclusion)




From there on out I have been riding night and day to a town I heard of in the
south called Neraka.  I have ridden into Neraka in search of the Queen and her
army.

I was out seeking to see if I would be accepted into the ranks of the Knights
of Takhisis where I could show everyone real honor and pride.

Clerym Darkblood



Author:  Clerym
Date    Fri Jul 12 22:55:46 2002


Subject  Nordmaar




It was a dark stormy night when I left through the North gates of Neraka,
heading into the forest to the North.  I didn't know why I was heading in that
direction, I only knew what was shown in my dream.

The dream, the dream was about a tower somewhere around a castle.  The tower
was swirling in and out of reality, yet it seemed to be filled with about 200
dragonarmy soldiers.

So there I was walking through the forest to the North of Neraka, when I came
upon a sign at the end of the path.  The sign said that a town, Jelek was to
the East, and the town Nordmaar was to the West.

But since I didn't know which path to take I sat down and looked at my dragon
who was slowly walking down the path to the West.  I stood up and followed
him, to where I could see a building in the distance.

The building, in fact, turned out to be an inn, which I was grateful for
because I hadn't slept in days.  I asked the innkeeper if they had any rooms
available and she gave me one for only 300 gold coins.

I slept noiselessly that night when I was awakened by a loud thud against my
door.  I opened the door to see what I assumed to be a mage, because of the
wand he held, and a man sitting slumped over on the floor in front of my door.

I decided not to interfere because it was none of my business so I said,
"Carry on, I didn't mean to interupt you two."  With that I shut the door and
slept the rest of the night noislessly.

I left the inn at dawn the next morning and informed the innkeeper of the
midnight scuttle, but all she did was shrug.  So I continued down the path
until I saw a light grayness looming up in the distance.

As I looked up and down the fog it suddenly surrounded me and I was lost.  I
wandered for awhile until a vision came to me from my Queen saying, "Go 7
spear lengths straight then take a left, and you will be out of the fog."

So I did as was said and I was out in no time, and as I turned to look at the
fog it seemed to come at me so I backed away until I backed into a stone wall
and I looked up."

As I looked up some tower guards came out and ushered me inside to get away
from the fog, for which I heartily thanked them.  After awhile they said I
could travel outside again, but to watch my step.

I turned to one of the guards and said,"Do you know of a tower with a group of
soldiers anywhere around?  By the way what is this place called?"  "This place
is called Nordmaar and the place you think of is what was, not what is."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the tower was in a village called Cedalford.  It is said to
travel etween realms because of an unkown magic."

"Where can i find Cedalford?"

(continued)



Author:  Clerym
Date    Fri Jul 12 23:50:57 2002


Subject  Nordmaar (Continued)




"You may find Cedalford to the West of Nordmaar, it is a very small village
though, I think it is abandoned."

"Thank you for all your help."  With that I went out the gate and walked West
to the village of Cedalford.

A couple of days, or maybe hours, I arrived at a half abandoned half destroyed
village which I assumed to be Cedalford.

I looked around the village and was horrified at what could have done this.  I
decided to find a decent place to sleep where I could look for the tower  at
dawn.

But during the middle of the night I woke up, but didn't know the reason as to
why I woke up, so I looked around until I saw a flash of light out of the
corner of my eye but when I looked up nothing was there.

I continued to stare at the sky until I saw another flash of light and I saw a
tower floating by with little people in it, and I stood up to follow it but
with another flash it was gone.

I sat there the rest of the night trying to watch and follow this tower, but
it always seemed to be just out of my reach.  So after awhile it was dawn and
I gave up.

But I decided to stay another night and watch for the tower, but I would go to
where I presumed the tower would have stood all those years ago.  So night
finally came and I went to the spot and saw the flashes of light again and
again.

I got onto my dragon and flew up towhere the flash of light would appear next
and all of a sudden I was in the tower.  I didn't know how it happened but I
was in it.

I decided to wander around the tower and meet some soldiers I had seem from
the ground, but  I could see no soldiers, no mages, no nothing just me and the
tower.

So I wandered down the stairs that seemed endless until I got to a locked and
bolted door, which I swung at  and chopped at with my mace and sword until it
finally broke.

I opened the door and saw a semi-transparent beast with two snake heads and
one lion head staring at me.

The beast had four legs and a tail like that of a scorpion.  I walked into the
room and accidently kicked a stone which went rattling along the floor.

Right as the stone came to a halt the beast shot a breathe of fire at it which
disentigrated it immediately. I looked completely shocked until I saw a
strange artifact with inscriptions on it, and I knew I had to get it.

(Continued)



Author:  Clerym
Date    Sat Jul 13 22:08:26 2002


Subject  Nordmaar (Continued)




I looked toward the beast and noticed that the parts visible, were covered in
feathers, and his legs and neck were covered in scales, but I also noticed
that the artifact was only a half and I wondered where the other half was.

But I had no time to worry about that yet, I had to worry about this beast, I
decided to test something.  I ran up and crouched under the beasts stomach and
was about to stab upward when the scorpion tail swung down and knocked me into
the open.

I had a bruise on my side but that was nothing compared to what was about to
happen.  Right as the beast swung with his tail and breathed fire I rolled
under him and stabbed his stomach but nothing happened, he carried on
perfectly fine.

So I figured if this beast can't be killed like any other thing I've gotta
either stab it in the heart, which I still didn't know where it was, or chop
off all three heads which were about twenty feet above me.

So I ran over to a leg and took out another sword, and using them as picks I
pulled myself up the leg to get to the body, but abut half way up one of the
snake heads twirled around and started biting at me, making my climb even more
difficult.

Right as I reached the top the head bit my left should and I dropped my sword
and fell off the body, but as I was fallen I grabbed onto a scale on the leg
which was sturdy, and stopped myself from falling to the ground.

But I couldn't use my left arm because of the bite so I had to use everything
I could including teeth, legs, knees, everything.  After what seemed like
hours I reached the top, only to find myself lost amongst the feathers.

I didn't mind the feathers much but what I did mind were the GIANT ticks and
fleas that were everywhere.  I got into several fights, including one where my
left arm, again, was bitten and furtherly disabled.

But I finally reached the top and climbed onto what I thought were huge heads,
but were merely three small heads but from so far down they looked huge.

The heads were only three times bigger than mine, but they were extremely hard
and thick.  I started hacking away at the first snake head but the other two
were biting at me the whole time.

The middle head breathed fire and singed some of my hair just as I finsished
off the first snake head.

I went over to the third head, the other snake head, because they were the
only ones that could reach me.  I started hacking at it when it started
bucking like a wild bronco and I held on with all my might.

With my legs wrapped around it's neck I stabbed and hacked and slashed at the
head with my sword.  The scorpion tail I forgot about stabbed me in the back
but didn't go to deep.

But it stilled worked, and I was critically wounded because it was all I could
do to chop off the second snake head, and I laid back amidst the feathers and
rested, but then the whole beast started bucking.

(Continued)



Author:  Clerym
Date    Sat Jul 13 22:39:56 2002


Subject  Nordmaar (Continued)




So as it started bucking I sat up and lit a torch I kept for whenever I need
it and ran at the final head and climbed onto the snout and turned around.

I pulled out my sword and held a sword in one hand and a torch in the other. 
I stabbed the torch in one ear and I stabbed my sword in the eye several
times.

I withdrew my sword and while the beast writhed in pain I chopped off the
final head.

As the beast stumbled to the ground I jumped off and landed with a thud  but
the thud was my legs hitting the ground, and when I hit I rolled because the
beast landed where I was seconds ago.

I walked over the beast and stepped on it several times as I walked, with a
limp and a shuffle over to the artifact and pulled it out of the stone, but as
I did so the whole tower shook.

I heard some foot steps on the stairs and spun around but grimaced in pain
because of my wounds.  It was a soldier, a dragonarmy soldier.

The soldier turned to me and said, "Hello there, I am the Captain of this
battalion in this tower, but the artifact your holding is half of what came
bring us back to Krynn and back to reality."

I looked down to the object in my hand and spoke to the Captain, "Where is the
other half?"  He replied, "I have it, but I couldn't find a way to get past
that beast, but now you have."

" well put it together" I said. He replied, "No only the victor over the beast
can do it." And he handed the oter half to me.

" Ok how do I bring this tower back to Krynn and reality, what do I do?"

"Simple,  put the two pieces together and recite the inscription."

So I did as he said and  I felt a huge shudder throughout the tower and I
heard lots of noises outside the door yelling, "We're free. We're back, hey
everyone we're back to Krynn."

The Captain said to me, "Come you are a hero, and a knight of much bravery,
and you have freed us.  We thank you and will follow you."

I followed him outside and the soldiers were cheering, "Clerym, Clerym,
Clerym, Clerym.." I said,"How do you know my name?"

They replied," Takhisis has told us about you." So I shrugged and said, "Ok."

The Captain turned to me and said,"Where will you take us to?"  I said, "Ummm,
I will take you back to Takhisis Temple in Neraka!"

So we started our trek through the Neraka forest and we ended up at Neraka's
gates.  I said to the guards, "'Tis I Clerym DragonClaw, Knight of the Queen
Takhisis, Leader of 200 dragonarmy soldiers!"

The guard replied," We shall let you through, where did you get those men?" I
replied,"It's none of your business, now open these gates if you will."  The
gates swung open wide and we walked into Neraka.

(Continued)



Author:  Clerym
Date    Sat Jul 13 23:02:12 2002


Subject  Nordmaar (Conclusion)




As I walked into Neraka I noticed a bunch of people staring at us, with all
the soldiers waving and shouting hello.  But I headed down the street to
Takhisis Temple where I could pray for Takhisis.

I would pray for the Queen to help me decide what to do with these 200
soldiers following me.  Then a vision came to my head.

It was a vision of the Queen's Knights fighting against the Conclave Wizards. 
It was a huge battle, so I figured it was a war and I took the soldiers off to
clan hall to train them for the future war.

The ferry had to go back and forth at least 100 times just to transport all
the soldiers over to the hall.

It was about one year later when a couple of our mages were captured and taken
prisoner by the Conclave Wizards.  All the soldiers were trained, and they
still followed me.

I knew that the vision I saw a year ago was going to come true, that there was
going to be a war.

Then Takhisis came to me in a dream telling me that I would fight bravely with
command over the 200 soldiers. She told me  that I would be a good knight and
encourage my soldiers into battle the next week.

One week later I was walking over a hill in front of the soldiers when I saw
the Wizards on the opposite hill.  I knew that I would fight well, but I
didn't know how the fight would end up........

THE END!

Clerym DragonClaw Squire to Lord Konan (P.S. I hoped you all liked my
story, it was fun to write.  Tak- I need you to go over my story, it's for
Rank 4. Thanks.)



Author:  Clerym
Date    Sat Jul 27 16:30:03 2002


Subject  Leading my troops




It was the middle of the night when I was sudenly awakened by the sound of
footsteps outside my door.

I heard a short rapping on my door and sat up and said, "Come in it's open." A
young man, a dragonarmy soldier walked in and said, "Sir, another town has
been attacked."

I said, " Another? Those bastards must have something with the norther towns
of Neraka."

He nodded and said, "Yes. Sir we have reports that it was the same group, and
a witness said that they were last seen leaving the town and heading into the
Neraka forest."

"The Neraka forest, I've been there, that is where I found you guys. But
that's irrelevant, where exactly in the forest are they?"

" Sire, we do not yet know but we will send scouts out in the morning?"

I said, "No! We will not risk men, go get some sleep and send in your captain,
what's his name again?"

The man nodded and said, "His name is Captain Vormse sir, Captain Vormse, I
hope you will remember it."

The soldier walked out and I lay down to rest, with thoughts racing through my
head about the town being burned and all those innocent people dieing.

There was another knock on the door and Captain Vormse walked in. I said, "Yes
, you've finally arrived.  Did you here? Those rebels have destroyed another
town."

"Yes sir. I've heard. What are we going to do about them?"

"Well I thought about it and there are only 5 towns left.  So I figured we
should pick one that we figured would be the next target  and we set up camp
there."

He nodded. "That is a good plan, I suppose that you've picked out a town?"

"Yes it is the town of Dranek, not to far away from the last town attacked. I
figured that  that would be their next strike. We will ride at dawn, have your
men ready by then."

He nodded and walked out.  I fell asleep dreaming of catching the rebels but
was soon awakened when the sun was about to rise, it was dawn.

(Continued)



Author:  Clerym
Date    Sat Jul 27 17:25:12 2002


Subject  Killing Rebels




I walked over to the camp tents which were already awake and mounted on there
horses.  I said, "Good to see you are all ready." I hopped onto my horse and
shouted, "Follow me."

We road out from the temple of Takhisis towards the Northern gates of Neraka. 
All 200 of us must've looked a mighty sight, we were all ready and prepared
for war, we expected it.

But what we didn't expect was arriving at the town to find it destroyed and
burned. I shouted, "God Damn those rebels have taken out this town also!"

But as I dismounted the horse I noticed hoof prints exiting the opposite way
we came.

I mounted my horse and rode off in the direction of the hoof prints and my men
noticed me  leaving and decided to follow.  As it turns out it led to the
Neraka Forest.

I turned to find my men behind me. I noticed that they were all watching me
wondering  what I was doing, and I explained.

"These hoof prints, I figured were the hoof prints of the rebels horses. We
will setup camp here tonight, and absolutely NO fires. We do not want to give
away our position."

"We will find them and dispose of them in the morning, we will leave at dawn
as we did today." Now go get some rest, you'll need it for tomorrow."

The men went off to setup camp and I made a tent for the other CO's. We made a
plan to surround the  rebels camp and ask them to surrender.

If they did not, then we would dispose of them and set there camp afire.  We
sent out scouts during the middle of the night and when they returned we were
disappointed because we thought they hadn't found the camp.

But we were wrong, the scouts said that the rebel camp was about 6 miles due
north of us, with about 300 men.  I was not frightened of the 300 men because
they were rebels and we were all trained soldiers.

Dawn came and again I found all the men ready. I mounted my horse and rode
north, with my men following me. We could hear the sounds of men walking and
talking, and the crackling of the fires. I knew then that we had reached the
rebel campsite.

I order half the men to go left and half to go right. The to circle around the
camp.

But not to give up the position. So the men split up and when I figured they
were completely around the camp I strode forward, with whatever CO's where
left behind me.

We strode into the camp and I shouted, "Rebels! Give yourselves up!" What I
assumed the leader walked out of a tent and said, "What give up to you and a
few puny men."

I shouted back, "No to all my men." With that I whistled loud and long and the
men of mine around the camp stepped forward, and I smiled at the look upon the
rebels faces.

"Now will you give yourselves up?" The leader turned to his men and shouted,
"Get your weapons, we are under attack, all to arms!"

I smiled and thought to myself *I knew this would happen* and I whistled to my
men and shouted, "AATTAACCKKK!!!"

All of my men charged and the battle began.  My men dismounted their horses
and drew out thier swords. I rode in upon my horse swinging my sword left and
right, slaughtering the men that stood in front of me.

I noticed one of my captain's in a fight with 3 men and I realized it was
Captain Vormse. I dismounted my horse and ran over to  Captain Vormse.

I helped him and we quickly slew the three men. He thanked me and ran off to
elp another man.  I saw the leader striding towards me as he drew out a mace
and a sword.

I dropped my shield and drew out my second sword and strode towards him.

(Continued)



Author:  Clerym
Date    Sat Jul 27 18:10:19 2002


Subject  Finishing the Job




I strode towards the leader and saluted him, as he nodded I saw some of his
rebel followers sneaking up behind him, but I was not worried.

I let him attack first and as he did so he ran at me and tried to impale me on
his sword, but I spun around him and with a swipe of my blade one of the
rebels fell.

But as I turned around I saw the mace coming at my head and I ducked and
slashed at his feet.  He jumped and I tackled him to the ground.

I jumped up and swung a sword at the leader on the ground, but he rolled to
the side and stuck his sword in my right shoulder. He pulled out his sword and
I felt my left arm go limp.

So I raised my sword in my right hand and we started stabbing and slashing and
slicing at eachother. I got stabbed in a leg and a slice across my cheek but I
was far better off than him.

I had sliced off one of his arms making him drop his mace. I also stabbed a
leg right through so that he couldn't walk and he fell to the ground. I looked
at him as he lay there and I heard a noise behind me.

I turned around and a sword pierced me in the rib cage narrowly missing my
heart.

I fell to the ground but continued to fight on killing both of my attackers. I
turned to the fallen leader and shouted, "Watch you rebels that are left as I
finish off your leader." With that I took one slice and took off the leader's
head.

The remaining rebels looked astonished and while looking at there leader my
men slew them.

(continued)



Author:  Clerym
Date    Sat Jul 27 18:36:06 2002


Subject  Returning Home




As I lay down heavily wounded from the battle. I closed my eyes and saw a
light at the end of a tunnle.  I started to walk towards it when Captain
Vormse awakened me and said, "Sir, you are badly injured we must get you to a
healer."

I sat up and nodded. They lifted me onto my horse and with the remaining 137
men including myself, we torched the camp and rode back to Neraka, glorious
and feeling tired but happy to still be alive.

As we rode up to the gates of Neraka the guards saw my injuries and swung the
gates open fast.  We rode to the Temple of Takhisis where a cleric healed me,
and summoned more clerics to heal my men.

A week later I met with my men to ask how they felt the battle went.  They
felt like it was perfect strategically and that me killing the leader won the
battle, but they hoped and prayed to Takhisis that they didn't have to go
through it again.

That night I had a dream of Takhisis saying that I led my men bravely in
battle and that I fought well. She told me to wait for further instructions in
the next year for another danger to the people of Neraka.

She said I need not worry about that yet though, and get some rest after a
hard fought battle.  And so I did......

Clerym DragonClaw Leader of The DragonFighters

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