The Great Library of Palanthas

An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Tavin.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap is at 80. 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 worn folio on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Tavin' scribed in earth-colored yellow ink.



Author:  Tavin
Date    Tue Dec  4 20:22:50 2001


Subject  Wanderlust (part 1)



Bouncing down the road towards Palanthas, Tavin hummed a happy little tune and
constantly craned his head to see the surrounding area. There were more
butterflies than he could count and so many shiny rocks laying on the ground
that he couldnt help but stop and look at them every once in a while. He even
managed to find a rock that looked like his Uncle Rusty, who was sitting in
his pouches at that very minute. Though he was sort of greenish and liked to
eat flies, but that was a problem for another day. Today, he was going to
visit Palanthas and see what these knights were doing there. Maybe if he was
lucky he would see Takhisis too. Sure, she might eat him, but that would be
really neat too! So he was in a great mood as he walked.

As he drew nearer to the city he saw more and more houses, mostly farms
judging by the land around them, and the cows, and the vegetables. The funny
thing was that there werent any farmers in thier fields. It was all very
strange. There were plows out in the fields, left sitting to collect rust
(which was just so interesting he had to go look at them) and barn doors were
open, and wagons were full of turnips, yet there were no animals hooked to the
wagons or plows and no farmers in the houses. He had even gone in one to make
sure the poor farmer hadnt fallen and broke something and wasnt waiting for
someone to find him. He had to pick the lock to the front door, but that only
help to affirm his belief that some poor soul was inside needing help. He had
probably fallen out of bed and couldnt help himself now. Why, the poor old man
might be starving! But his hopes were dashed to little pieces as he walked
through the house and found noone. Although under a loose board in the kitchen
floor he did find a rather tidy amount of gold and steel and even a spoon that
looked rather valuable, so he made sure to put them carefully in one of his
pouches so bandits wouldnt steal it while the old man was away.

As he finally drew within sight of the gates of Palanthas, he could see
dragons, they looked like they were red and black and he even thought he saw a
blue smudge tear across the sky but he could be sure if it was a dragon or a
finch as high up as it was. But then it didnt matter cause he was at the
gates.

Careful there fel... The gate guard started, then he looked down  and
grabbed for his pouch Hey! Watch where your going kender! What is your
business here anyways?

Well. You see, a couple monthes ago I got hit with Wanderlust, just like my
cousin Braphelbaugh did when he was my age, I'm 17 now just incase you were
wondering, but Braph, as we called him, ended up getting eatten by bugbears,
at least, thats what we assume since he never came back to tell us. I'm hoping
that if I get eaten its by something neat, like a dragon, or even better that
dragon-goddess of yours, Takhisis, but as I was saying, I got Wanderlust
and...

The Knight realized he had asked the wrong question then and quickly raised
his hand to cut the kender off while it was catching its breath. Allright!
Enough, I understand. I suppose you want in Palanthas now too? Before the
kender got more than a nod off the knight continued Fine, so long as you
abide by the rules, take nothing here he gave a rather pointed look at Tavin
and check your pouches at the gate when you leave

Gee, thanks Mister...whats that on your chest? A lily? Why thats cute..Well,
thanks Mister Lily-man. Since your so nice you can have this, I found it on
the road a ways back Reaching into his pouches Tavin pulled out a
silver-hafted dagger with a Lily etched into the gem at the end and the name
Jarrid carved into its haft and handed it to the knight.

Tha..how..bu..Ahhh! Just get in the city and dont forget to follow the laws
and dont pick up anything you find on the street. If you see one measely
copper laying there, LEAVE IT BE! The guard sputtered as he slid his dagger
into its matching sheath.

(to be continued in next story)



Author:  Tavin
Date    Tue Dec  4 20:54:38 2001


Subject  Wanderlust (part 2)



Why, that dagger goes perfect with that.. Tavin decided it would be best
to do as the Lily-man said and go into the city right then since it looked
like he was about to cry. Most people didnt like to cry infront of other
people so Tavin left him too it. If he had thought of it, he would have given
him the hanky that had the neat Lily and letters J.T. embroidered on it,
but by the time that he remembered it, he was far enough away that it didnt
matter.

Looking around there were more of the Lily-men around, though many werent
wearing thier armor. A lot of them just had the same look to them, hard eyes
and no smile. They didnt look like they were happy to tell the truth. So Tavin
tried to cheer them up by telling them stories, but most of them realized they
had business the other way or had forgotten something in the tavern they were
just leaving when they spied him.

At one point as he was walking, he saw a man with a funny mustache that
drooped down the sides of his face and wore lots of armor (he didnt understand
how anyone could wear all that armor and still move) yell something about
OST SOLARUS UTH MITHAS!! and throw himself into a battle with a bunch of
guys wearing funny costumes with wings and big swords, as well as a few men in
that funny lily armor. It must have been a play the way everyone watched,
Tavin even threw a few copper after they 'killed' the mustache man. They must
have had a mage around too to make the death look so real. Tavin looked all
around but he couldnt find one so he turned and kept walking.

As he went he saw more and more people wearing those funny costumes, the way
they glared at him as he walked by made him giggle, but that just made them
glare harder. He also saw a few guys wearing armor that had a skull on it, it
looked better than that silly lily, and even a few guys in robes that had what
looked like a rose thorn embroidered on it. They must have been mages, but he
couldnt get any of them to do any tricks for him and glared worse than the
costumed people when he asked. Of course, he kind of understood why, they had
nothing in thier pouches except dust and petals and even something that
smelled like sulfur and crap. He tossed all of it into a sewer hole and kept
walking.

Finally, he got tired of looking around the city and decided to go into a bar.
When he got there he ordered a glass of ale (whiskey was always too hot and
wine too sweet) and tried to sit really still and just listen to the people.
It was really hard though, but when they started talking about the demons in
the city and the Knights of Takhisis taking over, things began to make sense
to Tavin. All those farmers had run away, and the Solamnics hadnt changed
thier symbol to a silly little flower (which seemed even sillier on those evil
knights) and that play, wasnt really a play.

Quite frankly, Tavin began to get upset. He had come here to see the solamnic
knights and maybe see if he could buy a holy symbol off of them (he collected
holy symbols, the way the shone and seemed to carry the attitudes of thier
diety just intrigued the little kender) and now there was just these guys.
They were interesting and all, and they did have some neat holy symbols, he
had found one that looked like a five-headed dragon just that day, it was a
little tarnished so he had decided to take it to a smith to get cleaned and
then drop it back off at the house he had found it in, but that was besides
the point.

He was just going to have to do something about this. He marched out the door,
mind set on helping the Solamnics drive the Knights of Takhisis out of
Palanthas, then down the street he saw a giant blue dragon land and, giggling
with excitement, he went running down the street hoping to see it and talk to
it if he could.

The Storytellers of Ansalon, The DragonLance MUD

Astinus points to the massive wall of books behind him and bids you to make a selection.


Authors: All|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

Astinus sighs as he recants 'We saved 868 books from Ansalon from before the great Cataclysm through today.'
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