Last seen looking for Endrin the Illusionist, of the Badlands.
Score: 875 | 4/22/24 |
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nystral the Illusionist. I was born in the city of Rhad, which is a city on the eastern coast of Krythar. I come from a long line of wizards and so it was natural that I would enroll in Rhad’s Wizard College when I was a boy of 12. Due to my high intelligence I easily mastered the curriculum and within a few months I was casting my first cantrips.
I remember well the amusing pranks we students would play on the professors with the minor spells we had memorized. My favorite trick was to rip a piece of parchment off a scroll, crumple it up and chew it until it was nice big spit wad, and then cast mage hand to hurl it at the chalkboard while the professor’s back was turned.
Another neat trick was to cast ghost sound in the hallway imitating the Headmaster’s voice calling for the professor. When the professor left the room, four of five of us would cast light spells on the professor’s desk to create a huge magical bonfire. Of course it wasn’t real fire, and did no harm, but the professor would rush back in the room and try to save his spellbook and scrolls. We would act scared and frightened at first, but when the Professor finally realized he’d been duped, we’d laugh our heads off. Some of the boys used mage hand to lift up the girl’s dresses or dip their pony tails into ink vials, but I never never never did such awful terrible things.
But it was not all fun and games. In fact, Wizard College was mostly sitting at a desk until the wee hours of the morning poring over ancient tomes of arcane literature. The school had a 10:00 p.m. lights out policy, but most of us students secretly studied by candlelight after hours so we could keep on top of the voluminous material presented to us day after day. The professors knew we were breaking the rules, but winked and looked the other way.
"Wizard College was mostly sitting at a desk until the wee hours of the morning poring over ancient tomes of arcane literature.
The school had a 10:00 p.m. lights out policy, but most of us students secretly studied by candlelight after hours..."
Against my father’s wishes, I decided to major in illusions. My father believed that illusion was not a serious school of magic and wanted me to major in evocation as he had. However, illusion appealed to me because it seemed to be the most amusing type of spell to cast, so I stuck with my decision. Professor Gazim, an elderly gnome illusionist, became my favorite professor and mentor, and I spent long hours working with him in his study, learning the secrets of his arcane profession. Unfortunately for me, Gazim was an unrepentant practical joker and would torment me daily with sick magical pranks. One day, I entered Gazim’s lab to find him hanging by the neck from the ceiling. Gazim had been acting angry and depressed the day before and we had had a terrible argument. I immediately felt terrible guilt for the apparent suicide. I fell on my knees, lifted my hands in prayer and cried: “Medea! Medea! I would do anything if you only brought Professor Gazim back to life! He is my favorite professor! Ask Maladek to take me instead!” Immediately, the hanging gnome opened his eyes wide and gave me a merry grin. “Would you give me a big kiss on the lips?” he asked in his high gnomish voice. Before I realized it, the illusion vanished and Gazim ran out of his hiding place and gave me a big wet smooch on the kisser. Yuk!
In the year I turned 25, Professor Gazim decided it was time to put me through The Trials, a series of grueling tests to determine if I had mastered magic sufficiently enough to go out into the world. One part of the test was an underground maze which was filled with goblins and kobolds. I was allowed no weapons but was required to get from one end of the maze to the other using only illusions. The professors did not know that I was studying how to speak draconic on the side. I cast change self to make myself appear to be a kobold, and walked through the maze with no problem, greeting other goblins and kobolds along the way.
I passed the other tests easily and I earned a Doctor of Wizardry (W.D.) degree. Graduation Day was a solemn occasion and we all wore white robes and square hats with tassels (my tassel was purple as I was an illusion specialist). With a dead serious look on his wrinkled gnomish face, Professor Gazim shook my hand and wished me good luck in my future endeavors. I beamed with pride at my mentor’s words. I then felt a strong electric shock coursing through my entire body, putting my hairs on end and scorching my graduation gown. Professor Gazim laughed so hard he bowled over. Slowly, I realized that the little gnome had cast shocking grasp before the handshake, and I had fallen for the oldest trick in the book. Fortunately for me, Gazim had a cleric friend of his available to cast cure light wounds on me immediately afterwards.
I returned home to my family’s house and my father, Talok, urged me to apply for a position with the city government, as he had when he was a young wizard. He advised me that it was steady work, with good pay, and a stepping-stone to greater things – maybe even the Wizards Council if I worked hard enough. Sadly, I did not listen to my father’s wisdom and instead decided to embark on an adventuring career. Years of being bottled up at the Wizard College, with little outside contact, had made me eager to see the world.
I pounded the pavement looking for a position in an adventuring company. Sadly, I was not a good judge of character at that time due to my long isolation in the ivory towers of academia. Within a few days, I fell in with The Red Company, a group of adventurers, led by Sir Emeris the Brave and Mighty One. The adventurers of the Red Company seemed normal at first glance, but gradually revealed to me serious chaotic tendencies. Due to a long series of unwise and hasty decisions, our adventures always seemed to end in mishap and mayhem, with many narrow escapes, few victories and little treasure. Finally, while we were traveling through Qibboth, our party became involved in an adventure which we should have declined but we needed the gold badly. I do not want to go into details for it is painful to remember. However, when things had wrapped up to its sad conclusion, most of my compatriots were in prison and I found myself pursued by Cham of the Queen’s Rangers. I assure you I was innocent of any wrong doing, however I was unfairly tainted by guilt by association.
By the dark of night, I managed to enter Plebon unnoticed and hid out with some people I knew, but would rather not name, who lived in the less reputable neighborhoods of that city. I waited four weeks to give things time to cool off. After that, I gathered up my few belongings and my underworld associates helped me to stowaway on a merchant vessel (charging me quite a bit of gold for the help however).
The ship, named the Wings of Glory, set sail the next morning to a destination I knew not where, and cared not, so long as it took me further from my pursuers in Qibboth. I was discovered within three days, after the quartermaster noticed the missing food that I had been snatching to quiet my rumbling stomach. I was hauled up on deck before Captain Mab who immediately decreed that I should walk the plank. I begged and pleaded for my life, to no avail. This had no effect on the Captain’s hardened heart.
Desperate, I used my illusion magic to save myself. I cast change self and made myself appear to be a beautiful priestess of the love goddess Alene. I began my best attempt at a sultry dance, and though I have no dancing skill whatsoever, the sailors went wild with glee at my pitiful performance. Captain Mab was not impressed and still wanted to throw me overboard, but perhaps figured that the men might mutiny if he did. The Captain allowed me to live, on the condition that I entertain the sailors daily with my illusions. I tried prestidigitation, dancing lights, ventriloquism and many other spells but the men would have none of it. Every day they demanded that I change self into the Alene priestess and dance again. With a heavy heart I would comply and dance as long as the spell lasted. It was quite humiliating.
At least two or three times per performance a sailor would forget that I was not really a woman (or perhaps he cared not) and would attempt to get a more close up performance. At such times I would rap the man sharply on the head with my staff until he backed off. On such occasions the sailor would look befuddled, for I disguised my staff as a veil which I twirled around my head. To the appearance of the men, I was draping my veil over the sailor’s head in a seductive and teasing manner. Only the sharp cracking sound of wood on skull belied the illusion. After a week of this, the men got tired of getting lumps on their heads and behaved themselves.
After two weeks, Captain Mab asked me if I’d like a permanent position on the ship’s crew. Apparently, he had grown to enjoy my performances and he believed I was helping the men’s morale I was determined not to stay but I played along so he wouldn’t lock me in the brig.
Finally, after four weeks of travel, we pulled into the port city of Arindel. We went ashore and immediately hit the tavern circuit. I used what money I had left to pay for drinks for Captain Mab and the sailors. As soon as the sailors were sufficiently in their cups, I took the first opportunity to slip away unnoticed. I quickly left town and headed south toward Invidia, the capitol city of Umerus. Luckily, I found a merchant train to travel with for mutual safety. The trip took three days and was thankfully uneventful.
I entered Invidia at dawn and wandered the streets looking for some way to earn money, as I was hungry and my purse was nearly empty. I stood on a street corner and entertained some children with prestidigitation for a few hours. I made floating smoke animals, colorful balls of light, dancing faeries, and the like, which well pleased the small crowd. I earned a few coppers but then a town guard warned me to stop because casting spells in town was against the law.
After a day and a night, I entered a tavern and noticed a posting concerning an illusionist named Endrin who lived in the Badlands and was looking for younger illusionists to intern in his service. It was a paying job, so I girded my loins, took up my staff, and set out for the Badlands.