Writings Of Abdullah

The Writings of Abdullah http://www.classicalarabicmusic.com/images/Al-Kindi.jpg A collection of the works of Abdullah, a scholar from a land over the sea. (This is a page where the works of my character, Abdullah can be found in one place. Please do not add to it without my permission. Also note that the works written here are from the point of view of my character and therefore may not be wholly true or they may be bias to his opinions. -AlpineAl.) The Land of Athera What could be classified as a journal, written by Abdullah from the time of his arrival to the time of his death, whenever it may come. By Abdullah ibn Suleiman ibn Ishak Al-Hakim, scholar. Chapter I - Arrival

We arrived on the coast of this foreign land, it was certainly a bizarre sight. I had grown up in a harsh desert, it was a struggle for survival every day, but Athera... Athera was a different story entirely. Great rivers drank from cascading waterfalls and vast lakes gave off a mirror-like image of the sky above. This land was quite like what the Holy Book described as paradise, perhaps I had died on the long voyage, if only. Mushir (my bodyguard) and I were quite enamored by the sights we had encountered and quickly set out to find the inhabitants of this land. Earlier explorers of my people had told of large tusk-bearing creatures that inhabited a wasteland even more harsh than our own, surely these were nothing but lies told to amuse children. They also told of humans much unlike ourselves, except for their light skin tones. We must also not forget of the tall race of long eared folk and the short bearded race of drunkards. This ethnic diversity were probably the stories that that tickled my curiosity the most. Mushir and I are yet to see any inhabitants of this land, and our ship has long left the coast. We were now alone in an uncharted land, but alas, it was a beautiful land. http://i.imgur.com/gL1EeWP.png Aleksis Grandaxe, the Dwarf.

I write this section of the chapter from what the locals call a 'tavern', strangely enough this building is a large tree. The locals I have spoken too seem to think that there are many of these taverns about the land, I wonder how many large trees a

http://i.imgur.com/bCamtaE.png 'Bird King', the Human.

landmass can sustain, but I digress, this section is not about the giant tree. Mushir was being stubborn, saying that we should wait for people to come for us. I thought it would be better for me to head out and search for people, instead of wasting time waiting. So while he slumbered I set out. It was a few hours before I came upon a large structure made of sandstone, I read the signs outside it to find that it was a temple, well that was my translation at least. I looked around to find the structure's inhabitants to no avail, so I set out again, this time on a large road that ran directly into the temple. Eventually I happened upon three men, coincidentally of three different races. A dwarf, an elf and a human. The elf wore black and red robes, the human wore a full suit of finely crafted armour and the dwarf also wore well-crafted armour. I greeted them with how I had been taught 'hello'. A bizarre word. Conversation passed along, I made the mistake of calling the dwarf short to which he became angry. Luckily his friend calmed him down. Quickly I was offered a job by the Human, who his companions called Bird King. I wondered if he was actually a King. So the man offered me a job, at first he mistook me for a warrior which I completely denied. I told him of my profession as a scholar and explorer and he quickly had a job for me. I was to gather information about the tavern which I currently sit in, learning about the inhabitants and their fears. Now I knew that this job was obviously malicious, as I heard them speaking of how they would return to burn the tavern down. I played dumb and accepted the job, I didn't have much of a choice in the matter as far as I could see. They also promised good payment, and I needed such a payment. I was in a foreign land with no money after all. So I entered the tavern to find it empty, the men continued on their way. I sighed and sat down and began continuing this very chapter.

http://i.imgur.com/4pgzV2T.png Riondil Seni, the Elf.

Chapter II - The Swamp I spent some time in the tavern, talking to not only the patrons but the explorers who came and went also. I learnt the basics of the surrounding lands. Life was somewhat boring until one day a young looking elf graced my presence. I thought it was quite rude at first, he sat down at my table without invitation. At first he asked for a doctor, to which I informed him of my lack of knowledge of the land, let alone the people who live in it. I learnt his name, Thalin. It became apparent he had just returned from an 'adventure', I've come to believe it was more of a misadventure. He claimed to have found a battlefield, littered by corpses and blood. Beyond that he found ruins and a strange race, boars contorted into humanoid form that also wore armour and bared arms. He quickly described the route he had taken, he had gotten lost at some point so I would have to compensate. We chatted some more before I set out. I looked for a mountain nearby to no avail so I returned to the tavern. I drank for a while before a man, Harald was his name called out to me. It was strange, he referred to me by name. He introduced me to his white haired friend, Adeon. We traveled on the road for some time before arriving in a rather terrible looking town. It turned out this was the home of the Raevs... I'm not quite sure what the towns name was as we didn't linger long. We set off somewhat late in the afternoon, so time was of the essence. Upon our arrival at the destined swamp we were quickly faced with a complication, something the marked men of whom I was travelling with were reminded; vodniks. Re-animated corpses of the drowned dead, these things awaited for unsuspecting victims to wander by when they would spring forth and drag them down and under. I became quite afraid once they told me on how the Vodniks killed their prey, and I feared that each step through the muddy swamp would be my last. It was not until we were halfway through the swamp that a vodnik struck, and I believe it may have been one of the most sudden and unexpected things in my whole life. Without warning it grasped Adeon by the leg and began to pull him under. I'm not sure what happened next, except that when I looked back again I saw a thrashing in the water as Gerald, Harald and Siegfried attempted to save Adeon (the two names unmentioned to this point were also marked men). I waded over, only to see the group jump apart from each other and Adeon emerge from the middle, covered in water and mud. It was then we heard even more screeches of these vile creatures and we all decided it would be a good idea to run, so we did. It was then we came to a clearing where we believed that we had lost them, we were wrong. Within a few minutes we heard the sounds of the vodniks from all sides and upon looking about we found that we were indeed surrounded. The only option was to fight. They closed in on us and Adeon showed off a power which I had never seen before, the ability to create flame. Within a few seconds he had created a blazing inferno forward of his position, decimating some of the vodniks. We took this as an opportunity to charge, Harald took on three of the creatures. He manage to kill two before he was tackled by the third. I myself engaged one, killing it with a quick strike to the spine. I didn't quite see what the others were doing. Harald was about to be killed just as Adeon stepped in and cut the beast in half, and that was the conflict averted. We were quite lucky if I don't say so myself, however, night was beginning to fall and we found ourselves in the middle of the swamp with little to no sense of direction. We walked around for some time before it became apparent that we were walking in circles. It was decided that our best course of action was to set out in one direction, and so we did. We eventually came across a large stone keep of some sort with a tower towards the back. The marked men talked among themselves for a bit, I followed Gerald and Harold off to the right of the building while Siegfried and Adeon stayed at the front.