Xakelfmun the wandering druid.

[Xakelfmun]

Here Iam again, sitting at a wooden chair in my house at Northport, ready to hit you roses and friends with the latest writings from my hand. This time I will talk about myself (as usual) and my life in the swamps of Greenclaw where I inhabited some time, to the actual period of my life where I live in a great house in Northport.

My adventure started many years ago. I was talking with a friend which is a leader of the Red Rose, discussing about possible ways to cure a huge sickness of this era: Paranoia. This Red Rose leader who prohibited me to mention his name, and which, in order to hide his identity well enough, I will just call him "Rob", had a huge paranoia. He couldnt sleep at night, and always was thinking people followed him, or that people were planning on invading the island of Fibula and take over the guildhouse. Well, this happened once, so I dont really blame him... But whatever, we were talking, and he told me something that called my attention a lot.

He said:
Ah, long years ago, I used to explore the swamps in search of treasures. The Greenclaw swamp is a rich source of them. Long years have passed since I first stepped with my boots in there. Numerous treasures Ive found, and mighty unknown places as well. I have unlocked several doors, and some are still a mistery. I became rich with the jewels I found in dead trees and rotten waters in there, but theres something that has always haunted me. In my old exploration days, I met a crazy old man that lived there in the swamps. He called himself "Nemesis Divina". He was a very old man with long beard and hair, dressing in old black dirty and teared rags. His hair had a strange color. It was something like dark pink... Who knows how he got it. Well, he talked to me about some little mushrooms he found in the swamps, that grew only once every year at only one exact locations. There was two different colors for them, but only one of them were the real treasure. These mushrooms would cure any disease from your body and mind. I spent some years trying to find them, but I had no success. Last time that I visited Nemesis Divina with Dunja, some years ago, he was a bit bad. He had lost all senses, and was only talking strange stuff. After that I never went to visit him again, but Im afraid hes gone, and with him, his secret location of the mushrooms...

This really had my attention. But well, some time passed, and I couldnt forget about this. This was like a goal for me at some point... So I decided to spend a season in the swamps.

I asked "Rob" where he last saw that old crazy man, and headed to the swamps. I had enough supplies in my backpack to live for a week, but I was sure that I was going to be fine. My magic allowed me to lit fires, hunt monsters, create things... Everything that is needed to create a living place.

I reached the swamps, and through some caves, I reached the place that "Rob" described me. It was already a dark night when I reached, so I decided to take a rest. It was starting to rain, so I went inside a little cave that served as a refuge for the night.
At the middle of the night, I heard some steps in the darkness.

Xakelfmun: utevo lux!

Fiat lux... And there I saw, standing in front of me, and very white skeleton, trying to rise it's hands towards me.

Xakelfmun: exori flam!

The skeleton burned down to ashes fast enough, and I could keep sleeping. The morning was gray, but I had the chance to explore a bit more. I found a safe place, some kind of a hole/cave in the ground, it was easy to lock it from the inside, and nobody would enter or even notice. There was nothing inside of it, so I started building what was going to be, my home for the next months. I walked around all the swamp, and managed to find several wooden boxes, and a nice coffin. I had a lot of tapestrys that would work as bed sheets and pillows in my backpack - a druid, even if poor, always needs a confortable nest. I found some barrels and other useful things. I even had decoration with some cool dry plants and some herbs and flowers I found around. Ah, and I must confess... It was me who took the last bloodherb in existence from it's exhibition. Hrhr. Well, the coffin was confortable, and much more with the tapestrys and pillows... I had a barrell where I used to lit a fire and stay all night long warm and happy, rainy days I just woke to throw more branches into the fire or to cook something to fill my stomach. Living this good life, I almost didnt care much more about finding Nemesis Divina or even the mushrooms I was seeking.
But destiny hits us all.
One day I was carrying a load of branches to keep my fire lit all night, and to have a big reserve, when I saw a big branch into a lake of swamp water. That branch seemed to be enough to lit the fire for a whole day. I just had to walk through a long way of tall swamp grass to catch it. While making an effort through the swam grass, I made a bad step and fell to the ground.
I opened my eyes and tried to feel my body to see if I had any injury. But my eyes only met three things: One) The dirt of the ground, Two) Swamp grass, Three) A semi buried skeleton.
It was scary, a yellow skeleton between the swamp grass, with the swamp grass growing between its bones, and some very old rags and something sticked to its head that seemed to be hair long time ago. I moved the swamp grass a bit to see it a bit better, and noticed a backpack next to it. I took the backpack, and went back to my pile of branches. I opened it and found several things. A wooden spoon, a rusty fork, a rusty knife, a golden mug, a plate, some money, some thrash and broken things, and a diary. The diary was a bit wet, and most of the pages were lost. You could barely recognize the writing in the first page that said: "Diary of Nemesis Divina, the old sorcerer of the reign of Thais"
Eureka!! I thought. I found the guy without even searching him, what more can I ask...
I went back to my hideout with the branches, the golden mug and the diary. I litted the fire and a candle and started reading.
The few pages that were readable had a lot of random words thrown out without making sense.

Xakelfmun: What a crazy man... What a waste of time!

I went to sleep.
Next morning I woke up and decided to go back for that big branch that I saw the day before, and I lost the oportunity to catch because I went back to my house to read the diary. I reached the place and again I saw the skeleton, but I passed above it, and reached the place where the water started. The branch was a bit buried in the ground, and it reached a little island in the middle of all that rotten water. I started trying to pick the branch up, but it looked like it was a complete waste of an effort. I took a seat on it, a bit frustrated, looked around a bit, and then I saw it and all. In that small island reached by the big brach, some small strange mushrooms of two different colors were growing.
I walked on the branch with a lot of effort and equilibrium and reached the small island. I couldnt even put a feet on it because there was no space. I managed to grab the mushrooms and put them on my backpack and go back.
I realized that it was not a good idea to remove that branch, so I went back to my hideout and had a great meal.

I spent many months in that place, and it was a really great period of my life. But the lack of seeing people (specially women) made me go back to the city. "Rob" was amazed and really happy for the mushrooms, and I never told him about his dead friend... I just told him, that I didnt find him.

Life went on really great, I kidnapped a bed in the basement of the guildhall of the Red Rose where I spent all my days sleeping, just waking up for short whiles to cook something or go out to meet ladies under the shinny sun of Fibula.

But my days in Fibula came to an end also. I was very disturbed by all the unpolite members of the Red Rose that used the guildhouse. They kept making noises, yelling at the guildmeetings, and even going to sleep together, and they kept waking me up.
I needed a palce to find peace, to find a retirement of the civilization, without being 100% alone all the time. So I started walking, and one day, I came to Northport to visit my old friend Arn Loewenherz. In his efforts to expand his guild's fun, built a little patio next to the Fontaneda Army castle, the Northport Clanhall. That day we spent a great time with many nice friends and cute girls from Fontaneda Army, and later even some other Red Roses arrived the place. We spent all the day in there, and at the end, everyone went to sleep. I didnt have a place to go back to sleep, and even with the invitations of the Fontaneda members, Arn and Shaera, to sleep inside their castle (that I suspect, had a second intention on me), I decided to keep walking, as a wanderer I was. So I walked to the center of Northport with my stomach filled with meat and coconuts, when I saw the waterwell. I needed a refreshing cup of water, and I tasted the sweet water of the well. Ahhh... Refreshing! - I said almost at the same time I watched that cute house to the east. Yes, it was a cute place with a mailboxt at the door, and it seemed to be abandoned. So I tried to open the door, with success, and I found the most beautiful house ever. So simple that it's beauty instantly surrounded me.
There was dust everywhere, but that was easy to fix. One window to the north and one to the south, a big table for 6 people, two sweet and confortable beds... jar, chairs, oven, boxes... All a poor druid with no belongings would need to start a new life.
And here Iam, living a quiet life making my magic and visiting my friends.
And shall this last forever!

Xakelfmun the druid

[Nirdor]

Nice story Xakel, well written.
Did you managed to pick some mushroom leftovers to me too?

[Sir Balder]

Thanks for this great story, Xakelfmun! It was very entertaining to read. If I ever found out who this "Rob" is that you speak of, I would interrogate him more about these things...to bad you covered up his identity so well.

PS.

They kept making noises, yelling at the guildmeetings, and even going to sleep together, and they kept waking me up.

Sorry about the inconvenience, buddy.

Yours,