I awoke late, and Ellyana had left the place where we had been resting. I gathered my equipment and headed for milltown. Stopping to dress a small graze (I had to keep my eyes shut for a while - don't ask!) I headed for the town centre.
Ellyana and I had planned a quiet evening. We intended to go for a meal, then spend some time together on a quiet beach.
After a diversion to Dundee to let some adventurers down into the sewers, we headed for Caern and then on to Kili. After picking up food and drinks we headed for the beach.
It was a glorious evening, there on the golden sands. We watched the stars as they shone down on us, and we chatted about this and that. Later, as the stars dimmed and the sun rose, our conversation turned to more serious matters.
I had known for a few days that something had been bothering Ellyana. It seems that time spend in dark mountain lairs or fire-bright volcanic tunnels has awakened some of her previous fears. I was at a loss to know what to do. It pains me to know that my love undergoes such torture, while I can do so little to help ease her mind. I asked what I could possibly do, and she replied that I could be with her, and to hold her as she slept. Little enough, I know, but I've got into the habit of sitting for some time, watching over her as she sleeps. As the night ended and daylight washed over us, Ellyana felt she could rest if I watched over her, so needless to say that is what I did.
After the quiet day away from the creatures of the lands, I'll soon get back to training.

These new gauntlets fit just fine. It was a long, hot journey beneath the volcano, but well worth it when I slew the demon and took the gauntlets from its lifeless body. Needless to say, I didn't have to make the journey alone. Ellyana was beside me every step of the way, healing me when I fought one of the creatures in those blazing depths, or herself fighting off the stronger creatures. With the princess beside me and Lucy's enchantments on me, the demon stood no chance.
I hadn't realised the torture the trip was for Ellyana. Those tortuous tunnels have revived her darkest memories, memories that should have been left undisturbed. And yet she said nothing of the matter while we planned the campaign beneath the volcano, nor as we fought our way through the maze. One moment blinded by clouds of ash, the next dazzled by great gouts of flame from lava pools, my love fought and healed, thinking more of my quest for the gauntlets than for her own safety or peace of mind.
I am, I know, truly blessed with the knowledege that my lady is beside me in whatever I attempt and that the love I feel for her is returned a hundredfold. And that love is so profound, often it is difficult to express my feelings to her. 'I love you' - such a small phrase, yet such a wonder to speak or to hear spoken, those three small words that can say everything.

At long last I paid a call on the trainer at Milltown. I seem to have been working for this level for an age. Not that I'm complaining, mind you! With my beautiful Ellyana beside me, it's a wonder that I train as often as I do, for I'd much rather sit somewhere quiet, talking, laughing, drowning in her emerald eyes ...
See what I mean? The very thought of her takes my mind away from what I am doing. It's a question of balance, trying to find that fine point between spending my time in her wonderful company, or busying myself farming or training. She is never more than a few steps away, I know, but even that small distance between us is a wrench.
Anyway, as I was saying ... I finally achieved the level yesterday. I've got some new armour, and I can now use the phantom mask that has been sitting in my bank vault for a while. It seemed strange, taking off my fine visor for the last time. I've been wearing it for so long, I'm sure some people must think it's a part of me, not a piece of equipment!
Now I need to go after new gauntlets, and I have some crystals to dispose of - then it's back to the desert for a time.

Just as I returned to the lands the crier called that dark portals had opened near Caer Laleldan. I hurried there, with no time even to send a messenger bird to Ellyana, in order to aid in the defence. But by the time I arrived, all was serene and the raiders had been vanquished.
Ellyana and I met in Miltown and after a while we headed into N'rolav endless desert. I'm very close, now, to achieving the level I've been working at for what seems an age. But I'd had a long journey back to the lands, so could not train long enough to reach the level. That should come later today.
We went to one of our quiet places to talk and relax for a while. Ellyana had acquired three TB's in the last few days, and she lined them up to be opened.
What a surprise - one demon helm and two glowing blue crystals! My love nearly fainted from shock. After so many fruitless kills, two of the elusive glowing crystals lay on the ground before her.
I badly needed to rest for a while, so I stayed in our quiet place while Ellyana set off to find what the crystals contained. I do so hope they were useful - it would be a blow if both were duplicates. I'll find my lady soon, to find out what happened when the crystals were translated for her.
I've collected a couple of glowing crystals myself, so soon it's off to the machine to see how my luck is holding up. Then I should attain the next level. My Phantom Mask is sitting in the bank, ready for me to use, and once I get new armour then I'm all set to hunt down the great Ash Demon for his gauntlets. Busy, busy, busy.

I've been away from the lands for a few days. There's a craftsman I know, many leagues away, who can work in steel, in fine metal, in silver and gold. And there were a few items I wished him to produce for me.
It's a bad time to be away. In the days before I left, raids were occurring with increasing frequency, and becoming more widespread. The High Queen had been discussing the possibility of finding out more about the sea-dwellers, with a view to arranging a treaty with them, or some of them, if possible. Assaults had been carried out on the ant lair in the endless desert, in an effort to wipe out the larvae, leading to the eventual demise of the lair. But it had been said that perhaps the ants are too long-lived for this tactic to affect them - we shall see.
Ellyana had been training when she could, in between rushing to the site of a raid to help in the fighting and to aid those who needed healing. I worry so much about her when we are apart, for I know she will give all her strength in aiding others. But that is the person she is - the person who holds my heart and my soul in her hand.
I must hurry back to the lands, to find my wonderful lady. I'm sure she's been busy, either training or fighting off raids. I'm sure I must have missed so much ...

N'rolav dark forest. Not the best place to make camp for the night, but I'm somewhere amongst these twisted trees, though not too sure precisely where. Still, it doesn't matter where I am, when I am not where I wish to be.

There's a cursed wolf just beyond the circle of light cast by my fire. He and I have spent the night trying to stare each other down. He's been very patient, actually, as I've been talking to him all night. But if he says a single word, I'll have the throat out of him before he can move a muscle.

A single word ... words ... there's the problem. In my mind my thoughts are crystal-clear about certain things, but these thoughts have to be put into words, and that's when the thoughts seem to lose some of their meaning, and the words can't convey exactly what I mean. And then those words are heard and interpreted by another and go into their mind, and again they lose something of what was meant. The upshot of all this is that I don't convey quite what I mean, and that other person doesn't quite grasp what I say, and then things go amiss.

So, N'rolav dark forest - not where I wish to be. I've been trying to explain to someone that what I wish for, and what I feel I should ask for, are not the same. I have reason - good reason, in my mind - but clearly I can't put those reasons into words which mean the same to another as they do to me.

How can wishing to cause someone no harm cause so much upset?

I must have slept for a short while. I saw a tombstone with my name etched upon it. Funny thing, that, for I've always assumed that I would die without the chance of burial - alone, forgotten. And beneath my name was carved 'He tried to do it aright' Some way to be remembered! - we all know the saying about the paving-stones on the road to the underworld of the damned.

It must be getting somewhere near dawn. That wolf is getting restless, and I think he's calling to his packmates, for I hear stealthy movement amongst the dark trees. Time to make a move, I think. Perhaps we'll exchange a look of some knowing of each other as he lets me pass. Perhaps he'll attack as soon as I rise to my feet. Maybe I'll kill him. Maybe he'll kill me. We shall see what transpires. There's only one certainty right now - in this exact spot at this precise moment there's no-one to see or know or care what happens.

I'm sitting under a tree, still resting after one of the most frantic days I remember here in the lands.
It started off fairly quietly. I rose early, moving quietly so as not to disturb Ellyana from her rest. She's used a lot of teleport scrolls in the past days, chasing from one raid to another. I planned to farm on midnight beach, hunting down sharks for glowing crystals to take to the machine, hoping to replenish her supply. I'd been there for some time, but had collected only two glowing crystals, when a call went out that Fartown was besieged by a horde of madmen. I used one of my scrolls, determined to join the defense of the town, but was quickly overcome by their numbers.
I returned to midnight until I heard that it was now the turn of Branishor to be attacked, and I quickly made my way there. As I searched around the outskirts of the town, I met Ellyana, who had made her way when she heard of the raid. She had fought, and healed others, as usual using most of her strength for the benefit of comrades in the battle.
Once things quietened down, I went looking for Ellyana, who had gone off somewhere quiet to recover her strength. She was not sure which direction she had wandered, and I spent many marcs fighting my way through the grasslands searching for her, all the while becoming more alarmed. Then her messenger bird found me - she had, somehow, found her way to Milltown, where High Queen Cordelia was addressing a meeting.
I finally caught up with my lady at the meeting, after which we headed into N'rolav to train. Ellyana began to feel uneasy, fearing that another raid might be imminent, so we made our way out of N'rolav.
The High Queen had called for volunteers to help clean out the ants from their nest in the desert. Ellyana wanted to go along, to assist any who might be injured in the expedition, so I tagged along too. I've never been into the lair of the ants before. I'm usually pretty good with maps, and tracking, and finding my way around, but at one point even I couldn't tell where we were in those endless, twisting tunnels.
Once the nest was cleared, we went back to a meeting the High Queen had called, but could not stay long. Ellyana was totally exhausted by this time, and it was as much as she could do to make it to our resting place.
We had no time to speak, even. We had no sooner sat down than Ellyana went to sleep in my arms.
I watched her for a while, and reflected on the events of the day. The farming had netted me a couple of tele scrolls (and a fair bit of plat!!), and training had helped relieve me of the melancholy I had felt after missing so many raids in the last few days. And the ant's lair has been cleared - at least for now. It remains to be seen if the population will recover.
Ellyana has fel for a couple of days that something is building up. She has felt the earth shake, as if tremors are being caused by something - good or evil - attempting to force it's way to the surface. And I have noticed, between raids, how still the lands have become. It is as if something is expected, as though everyone in the lands is holding their breath expectantly. But for what do we wait? I guess time will answer that.

It's been an eventful few days since I last wrote here. What with one thing and another I haven't had a chance to record what's been happening.

After finishing the quest I was given by The Learned, I have now become a member of the guild. The induction took place at the guildhall. Just before the time the ceremony was due to commence, I took a walk through Milltown, thinking to pick up a few ales for any who might happen to be in the guildhall at the time. I was rather surprised to find the inn had sold out of drinks ... and I saw quite a few members of the Learned around the town.
I thought the induction would be quick and quiet. After all, it's difficult to get more than a couple of members of a guild together at one time ... or so I thought. As I entered the grounds of the guildhall I received a rather pleasant surprise. I hadn't expected to see half the members of the guild in attendance for the induction. I was touched that so many of them had taken the time to welcome me into their family.

A couple of days later, I heard Ellyana call to me. She was in Milltown with Skyls watching over her and Kira ready to heal her, but she wouldn't allow Kira to proceed 'til I was there. It seems that the wound she'd taken previously was not healing, and Kira had found a splinter of some sort lodged in the wound which needed to be removed straight away. Anyway, after I got to the inn, Kira removed the splinter.
Ellyana was in no state to use her strength to heal anyone afterward, so we took a long-planned and much-delayed trip to Ethucan. It's a beautiful place. The beach is superb, and there is a wonderful park there. Though I had that feeling I get, the one that warns me I am being watched. There are guards all over Iscax, and some parts of the city are closed to visitors.
We spent a few days there, while Ellyana healed from her wound and recovered her strength. It was wonderful to be able to spend time together, just the two of us, wandering around Iscax, chatting and laughing on the beach, and exploring the place. And with neither of us having calls on our time for assistance, we had the opportunity to talk over plans for the future.

A couple of days after our return, Ellyana was again calling to me to meet her. She and Kira were helping Skyelark, who had received an injury. I still haven't had the chabce to find out what happened to her. But, from the parchments her messenger birds have brought, she seems to be making a recovery.

There have been raids all over the lands during the last two days. And, true to form, they have occured while I was unable to take a place with those who fought to defend the lands. Makes me wonder, sometimes, is there any point in training, levelling, increasing my skills and improving my equipment, if when defenders of the land are needed I miss the action?

I must go and find my love. She will have been in the thick of things, fighting off those who invade the lands, and aiding others she has fought alongside. I must make sure she has not used all her strength healing others with no thought for herself, though knowing her, that will be the case.

I woke yesterday and sent my messenger bird to find Ellyana. The reply she sent troubled me greatly. It was rambling, incoherent, almost as if she sought desperately for someone, anyone to speak with. After the bird had flown back and forth a few times, I managed to get a small amount of information - at least the princess was not alone. Whatever had occurred, wherever she was, Skyls was with her. So I sent my bird to him.
It transpired that Ellyana had been bitten by a spider while searching for blue guardians. Instead of seeking treatment, she had for some reason gone to N'rolav Caernivale in search of a pair of stygian boots. Skyls had found her there, collapsed over the remains of a vile horror.
The bird flew between Skyls and myself as I headed for midnight beach and I read his messages with mounting alarm. They had managed to escape from N'rolav by the time I arrived, and Skyls was trying to comfort Ellyana. She was in a bad way, half awake, half asleep, talking only with an effort and making very little sense.
Skyls' terse instructions were - get her to a healer - now. Don't let her stop, don't let her sleep.

The journey seemed to last forever. I wasn't sure if Ellyana could hear me or see me as I stood on midnight beach, holding her more-or-less upright, refusing to let her sleep. I found a couple of teleport scrolls, one in her pack and one in mine. It didn't matter where they would get us, as long as they got us to the same place and somewhere near a healer.
We ended up in Branishor. With much cajoling, Ellyana managed a couple of steps, but all she wanted to do was sleep. It was getting more difficult every moment to get her to keep her eyes open. She was awake enough, however, to ask why she should struggle to keep her eyes open when she couldn't see anyway ...
That's when I picked her up and got to the temple as fast as I could. The door to a temple should be opened with some reverence. I prayed the gods would forgive me as, with my arms full of my wounded love, I just kicked the door open and rushed in, shouting to Kathryan that Ellyana needed help and she needed it NOW!
I held Ellyana's hands tightly as the healer saw to my lady. I've inflicted wounds, taken wounds, even on occasion stitched myself back together after a fight, but I found a fascinating revulsion as I watched Kathryan at work. She was detached without being hardhearted, firm without being too domineering as she cut, treated, dressed and sewed the wound - very different from my feeble attempts at battlefield first aid, usually accompanied by much fumbling and cursing.
At last, Ellyana could at least stand and was able to walk a short distance. We made it to one of our favourite spots, where she was able at last to get the sleep she so desperately craved.

Having recovered from yesterday's mishap, I awoke at Kili life monument. My pack was full of items dropped by the creatures I had slain the day before. So I took a stroll into Port Prefadis and sold them. By the time I returned to the LM, Ellyana was waiting for me. She'd been training all day, judging by the soot and ash smudges on her and her equipment. She clearly needed some fresh air so we took some food and drinks to one of our favourite spots.
We planned a trip to Ethucan, and spoke of some other matters. The time passed, and we both drifted off to sleep.
I awoke early. Ellyana still slept, so I spent some time training on the lava flats. Not a great deal of time, admittedly, as I also had some other matters to attend to, but I made a small amount of progress to the next level. Might be enough to show those who think otherwise that given the opportunity I'm quite capable of making the effort of getting down to the business of training.

Just how stupid can someone be? I'd made it back to the lands at last, and met up with Ellyana. I'd waited so long for that moment. It was so good to see her again, to hold her in my arms.
We thought we'd venture into the volcano maze and seek out a pair of gauntlets. We fought every step of the way, and almost reached our goal, when one slip brought the venture to an end.
I'd been feeling exhausted as we made our way through those endless tunnels, and eventually that weariness took its toll. I was fighting not only with the creatures of those caverns, but also with myself, forcing myself to go on. It's no excuse for a basic error, but my eyes were playing tricks on me. I could have sworn that Ellyana had healed me after an encounter, but I was badly mistaken. I took one step and walked straight into a creature that killed me with one casual stroke.
I hit the LM pretty hard. I was able to take a quick look around to see where I was - another error, I'd been away so long I couldn't remember where I was tied! I recall saying hello to Lucy and Onden, then just as Ellyana arrived, I collapsed into a deep sleep. What an idiot!!

All my drawings are done now, and I've sent them with my messenger bird to Bebhinn. I'm surrounded by the drawings I discarded or gave up on, so I can make plenty of paper boats for Ellyana and Lucy to play with!
With the drawings done and sent, I've been feeling much better than I have for a few days, though I still miss Ellyana terribly. I can't wait for the moment when I see her again and hold her in my arms once more. And that moment will be soon, love.
I have a sea-shell in my pack, which has had an enchantment laid on it. I'm just preparing to use that enchantment at this moment - I just need to find the right words. This will mean nothing, of course, to all save one, and that is how it will stay. It's one of those things that, while not exactly a secret, mean so much to just two people that they will not be shared. I have only one chance to use this shell correctly, so I must make sure I do it properly.
With the quest from The Learned now complete, many other events will flow in their own time, and the 'to-do' list will shrink rapidly. I look forward to the day when I can happily set fire to the list, knowing that everything on it has been accomplished. Then Ellyana and I can take some time for ourselves, perhaps. That may sound just a touch selfish, but for various reasons we have not seen each other for a while.
Have I ever told you love, what torture it is for me when we are kept apart? I don't think I have. So much for the silver-tongued rogue, eh? I often find it easier to say how I feel in writing rather than talking.
I'll be able to see my love soon. I've managed to get quite a few things sorted out, though at the terrible price of being away from my princess. Soon I shall give her this sea-shell, and maybe we can take a little trip together, and make up in some small way for the time we've lost.

I've had to shut myself away for a time, surrounded by sheets of parchment. I needed to write a report about a quest I was set by The Learned. The quest is completed, the report written. The only trouble I've had is that I have to provide pictures of what occurred in the quest. Those of you who have read earlier parts of this journal will know that I'm not very good at drawing. So I've had to do the drawings over and over again, trying to get them right. And the attempts have, I must admit, not put me in the best of moods. I know what I want to show, but can't put it over on parchment, and I get frustrated and angry with myself. I know I'm not the best of company when I get into that mood, so I've kept away from everyone until now. At last it is all done. Now it's time to catch up with the rest of my 'to-do' list.