The journal of Detheriel (full of spoilers)

[Sillara of the Tamari]

*BUMP*

Well, it has seemed long to me. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Still doing this one, Shamrock?

We're still waiting.

Sillara

[shamrock_uk]

Chapter 15, Part 1.

We arrived back at Trademeet and promptly had to fight through yet another horde
of animals at its gates. Mazzy requested permission to leave the party and
defend her home, fearing for her family who were situated perilously close to
the eastern gate of the city. Of course I allowed her to depart and the rest of
us headed towards the town hall.

The local trade guild head, Guild-Mistress Busya, apparently knows Kelsey from
way back - that young sorceror is just full of surprises! It was thanks to this
lucky connection that after being told of a problem with some Dao Djinn who were
plaguing the local merchants, we were soon ushered in to see the High Merchant,
Logan Coprith.

He cut an impressive figure that's for sure; certainly not the average
bureaucratic busybody. From his build and direct manner I would have guessed him
a military man in times gone by.

The party is escorted to High Merchant Logan Coprith.

He was a worried man however, with good reason, but I was pleased to see that he
was sensible too. He wouldn't be the type to be easily provoked into rash action
due to public hysteria.

Apparently the townsfolk thought that the local druid's grove was responsible
for this attack and had sought to murder a passing druid, Cernd, for his
perceived crimes. I didn't believe that he was guilty for a moment of course,
but the mere mention of druids was enough to bring a stab to my heart at the
thought of dear departed Jaheira. If she were here then I'm sure this could have
been cleared up quicker. Needless to say I wasn't about to leave this poor
fellow to the mercies of mob justice, so we took him under our protection as
requested.

It took us only a few hours to reach the druid grove and Cernd departed soon
after in order to scout ahead. We pitched a rudimentary camp on the edge of the
grove and Saerileth and I crept on ahead, hoping to seek out these druids with
the minimum of disruption.

I count myself as being a pretty skilled tracker, but we walked right into an
ambush. Not only that, but it was set by trolls, of all the clumsy creatures.
These trolls were fearsome indeed though, practically invisible, seemingly
impervious to some of our weapons and with terrifying strength-sapping claws and
spells.

Saerileth and Detheriel fight for their lives in the thick undergrowth

We prevailed in the end, but I had to drag Saerileth back
to our camp for healing as she had been badly weakened by the ghoulish touch of
the troll.

Saerileth defends herself fiercely as her body fights a deadly blight

Our close call had taught us caution, so from then on we scouted ahead and lured
the monsters back in groups of two or three towards the main party rather than
fight them all on our own. Whilst I must admit that I found the practice a
little cowardly, I couldn't deny that Tsujatha, Jan and Keto's magic were a
great help in bringing the beasts down.

Tsujatha gathers himself for a magic assault upon the nearest troll

We fought running battles across what seemed like the width of the grove,
heading towards the only structure we could see - a large dome in the distance.
As magic grew short and Saerileth and I grew increasingly tired I called upon
the statue I was given by Mielliki - Cerberus proved to be a quick and savage
fighter.

In a flash of blue light, Cerberus prepares to leap upon the enemy.

Invigorated by the presence of our latest companion, Saerileth rushed ahead with her hammer held high, keen to smite a path to the dome. She rounded the last corner of bushes and was confronted by more of the monstrous green hulks who tried to bash her to the floor. Saerileth prevailed of course and the party rested a moment whilst I decided to scout inside the mound.

Saerileth charges into battle

After sneaking inside, I found myself inside a veritable lair of trolls! Despite my better judgement, I just couldn't resist delving into their treasure trove to see what powerful items might lie within. Unfortunately I disturbed a couple of gemstones which rolled out onto the floor and before I could look up, I was surrounded by ravenous trolls.

I ran back outside and we began defending ourselves frantically, piling the trolls on top of their fallen comrades in the hope of trapping the rest inside. Unfortunately our efforts proved insufficient and we were being hard pressed on all sides as the remainder of the trolls burst fully out into the sunshine. All looked very grim for a moment, but then Tsujatha stepped in to end our troubles with a single terrible spell.

Worn out with our exertions, we decided to make a brief camp here among the glades rather than risk pressing on further for now.

Tsujatha shows his quality.

[ 05-15-2006, 06:08 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Sillara of the Tamari]

Very nice! I look forward to part 2 of chapter 15!

Sillara

[shamrock_uk]

Bah, no rest for the wicked, eh? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

It won't be fast - the reason for the delay is I failed one of my exams so have to do a @~&^* retake when I thought I would have lots of free time to myself. I should have picked a job that didn't make me do exams

I will try and keep it ticking over, but it really depends on how well I apply myself to the revision. Must..get..more..motivation!

[PhantomMonster]

I haven't posted at all really here but I liked this story a lot and it hasn't been updated in a while so

*BUMP*

It's been like a month so I just thought I'de bump it

[shamrock_uk]

Hey PhantomMonster, welcome to IW.

It will be coming, just very slowly

I don't want to give a time estimate as I'm pretty rubbish at sticking to them, but I definitely will be carrying on with this.

Come September 15th I'll have a lot more free time, but will try and get something out before then!

[Kyrvias]

Huzzah!

[chickenhed]

*eagerly waiting on shamrock's doorstep.... (don't be disturbed, I'm a fan! [img]smile.gif[/img] )

[shamrock_uk]

I've just been sent to an internet-less house away from home with my job so very hopeful that I can give BG2 a good playing in the next two weeks [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 09-24-2006, 05:37 AM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[shamrock_uk]

Grr, I don't know how its happened but I apparently didn't have a backup of my most recent saves

Am currently replaying from back in page4 I've got as far as the Ogrons, so it looks like I've got Tsujatha's quests, Jan's quest, the final Umar quest, the Shadow dragon, and the druid grove left.

I started replaying from memory and didn't realise I was that far back, so I've already done the tanner quest and dropped Mazzy after doing her sister's quest.

Hopefully I can charge my way through that lot this evening and pick up after the druid grove tomorrow.

Can't believe it, I had so many folders called "BG2 backup", "BG2 reinstall" etc that I must have just assumed I had the saves.