An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Arvail.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap is at 65. You change? 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 large tome gilt in gold on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Arvail' scribed in green ink.

Author:           Arvail
Date    Tue Jan 17 01:27:24 2006
Subject   Journal Entry (day 1, week 1, month 1)

My father intends on teaching me a few tricks of the sword today.
 I'm
not sure if I'm up to the challenge.  So much fear rests on
making him
proud.  Perhaps one of these days I'll just run off..  No that
would be
a bad idea, I need to prepare myself.  Who knows, maybe these
lessons he
teaches me will come in handy.  My older brother left for the
training
camps last week.  He's always been the jewel of the family,
everyone has
always seen him as the one who will go and bring honor to the
family.  I
hope he fails, it'd be one less shadow to live in.  I just wish I
could...  Move on.

If only I were older, I'd show my brother what a real warrior is.

*sigh* I must give it time.  Patience is such a pain.

Many of my friends are getting excited about training.  I don't
know why
it's not like this war is going to last much longer.  Her
majesties
wrath is swift and she will finish the job quickly.  That is all
for now
journal, until next time, keep my thoughts safe.

Arvail Banestag-

Author:           Arvail
Date    Wed Jan 18 01:54:52 2006
Subject   Journal Entry 2

Today father taught me the basics in parrying and general sword
fighting.

It was very difficult at first as the sword I was given was a tad
bit
too big for me.  But after a few hours of practice I improved and
was
able to utilize the power of the large weapon to some effect. 
Earlier
this evening my father lead me to the cellar of our cottage and
pulled
out an old box that I had often wondered about.  Inside the box
was an
assortment of medals and old weapons that had been used by my
father in
ages past.  Amidst all the clutter, he pulled out a large shield
with a
Black Dragon painted upon the face of it.  After wiping it off I
could
see that this shield meant a great deal to him from the way he
pondered
over it.  He handed the shield to me and asked if it fit. 
Stunned, I
took the shield and fit my forearm into it, a perfect fit.  He
then
nodded and with a tearful eye shut the trunk and lead me back
upstairs
and into the back field.  There was a large stump in our back
field that
my father and my brother before me had used to practice on.  My
father
instructed me to practice ramming the stump with my shield. I
rather
confused as to why he wants me to do this, but he instucted me to
do it
every day into I can begin pulling the stump out of the ground.
Perhaps
this bashing practice will come in handy some day, but I don't
see how.
After instructing me about the stump my father headed inside with
a
worried look on his face.  I'm so confused as to why all the
people in
town are growing more and more depressed.  It cannot possibly be
that
this war is getting to them this badly.

I've decided to name the dragon on the shield my father gave me.
I will
call it the Shadow Dragon. Perhaps it can become a friend to me
and
dwell in the shadows of my predicessors along side me.

Goodbye for now Journal.

Arvail-


Author:           Arvail
Date    Thu Jan 19 01:20:05 2006
Subject   Journal Entry 3

Well, another day comes and goes.  Today I was left mostly to
myself to
work on my training.  This stump bashing is exceeding tiresome. 
So I
switched on and off today with the bashing and sword play.  Some
of my
friends invited me to go box with them today and were
dissapointed when
I told them I had to keep training.  Perhaps I can go box in a
few days.
 I think I am getting better with the sword fighting.  I'm able
to stay
in tune with my father when we fight fairly well, even though I
know
he's going easy on me.  But he has allowed me to use my new
shield, the
Shadow Dragon.  It was rather cumbersome to use at first, but I'm
getting the hang of it now. Much to my unliking my father nailed
two
large strips of metal to my wooden sword today, doubling its
weight and
making it harder to swing.  But even with the weight I'm finding
that my
continues working is paying off with quicker blows and stabs.

I'm still not sure why my father has had a worried look on his
face
lately, but today there was a town meeting that I believe
pertained to
his stress. I'm afraid to ask what the meeting was about and I
don't
think he's going to say anything.  I'm very tired tonight from
all the
training today so I think I'll end it here, goodnight journal.

Arvail-


Author:           Arvail
Date    Fri Jan 20 02:16:00 2006
Subject   Journal Entry 4

Today I aquired my very first kill.  It wasn't, however, a kill
like
most people might think.  It all happened very quickly.  I had
just
finished up a few swinging exercise on the stump in the back
field and I
was in the process of cutting up some fire wood when out of
nowhere this
damned Kender came flying out of the woods with a pack of wild
dogs hot
on his tail.  The Kender ran right by me with a grin and when I
turned
around the five wild dogs were eyeing me for their next meal. 
The
largest one jumped at me and without hesitation I slammed into
it's
incoming jaw as hard as I could with my shoulder.  I felt a dull
thud
against my shoulder as the dog collided with me, his head made
thee same
sound as a rock being thrown against a tree, he fell to the
ground with
a wimper.  With the wood hatchet in hand I threw it with all my
might at
the dog that was just to my left.  Much to my dissatisfaction the
dull
end of the hatchet hit the dogs right thigh and he let out a loud
yelp.
This loud yelp is what scared the rest of the dogs off, and they
all ran
away snarling angrily at eachother.  Their leader lay dead at my
feet,
as I had crushed his skull and broken his neck with my shoulder. 
My
father heard the noise and came outside only to find me standing
in
front of the dead hound.  After telling him of my encounter he
merely
patted me on the back and chuckled something off about kenders.
Thinking
about it now, I believe he said it would have been better for me
and the
wolves if I would have aimed my shoulder at the Kender.

Apart from that we recieved word today that my older brother has
arrived
at the training camps and that he will be assigned to a division
in a
few weeks.

That is all for now journal, time to go ice my shoulder.

Arvail-

Author:           Arvail
Date    Wed Jan 25 02:22:56 2006
Subject   Journal Entry 5

Well, it's been over a week since my father started training me
in the
arts of fighting and I think I can comfortably say that I'm
learning
very quickly.  After my encounter with the wild dogs my father
thought
it would be good to learn some basic boxing skills so he allowed
me to
attend the village boxing match with some of my friends.  I
entered the
middleweight section and after winning just two fights I was
omped by a
boxer of much higher skill than my own.  Upon returning home my
father
merely laughed at my pummeled face and said he had expected as
much with
my level of training.

Unexpectedly he asked me if I wanted to beat the boy who had
defeated
me, I nodded of course and he tossed me a pair of hand wraps and
a
helmet and told me to meet him outside in ten minutes.  That was
yesterday, all day today we've been practicing hand to hand
combat.  It
feels nice to feel like I'm learning something new.  Although I'm
still
shaky as far as my sword skills go, I'm sure these boxing
techniques
will assist somewhere.  I don't know when I'll ever be able to
defeat
the person who beat me, I don't even se how it's possible, but
I'll keep
training and see if anything pays off.  I'm rather pummeled
tonight from
fighting with dad today so I think I'll end it here tonight,
goodnight
journal.

Arvail-

The Storytellers of Ansalon, The DragonLance MUD

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