Savannah's Journal

[Savannah Farstar]

Day 20 of Summer, 511 AV There's nothing around me but trees. Endless trees and dark forest floors. This isn't anything different from home, but yet I can't help but feel alone and in danger. It's only been nineteen days since I left. I can still remember the day clearly. I wish I couldn't because if I couldn't, I wouldn't feel so betrayed. Why did I have to live a lie all my life? She was just another Jamoura, not my mother. That's all behind me now, though. I'm free and on my own now. No one to take care of the helpless Kelvic. I've pretty much exclusively stayed as a tiger so far. None of the animals seem to want to come close to me. It's not like I want to do them harm, but I'm a predator in their eyes. They don't know any better, so why should I blame them? I prefer the solitude anyway. It gives me time to think. I wish I knew who my parents were. I wish they hadn't left me in The Spires. I wish I could know the love of a mother, not the sympathy of a woman. I wish I could learn to do things like others can. Why do I have to be so stupid? I'll never amount to much... I can't say I miss them. I hardly know them really. But why do I feel longing for someone I've never known? My mother and my father, two people I've never met and yet... I feel like I know them more than anything. My mother, a powerful wielder of the arcane arts. Slim and graceful with her human lineage. My father, a fierce warrior and master of the forge. A great dire tiger even bigger than me. I'm just a normal tiger, but he is something more. He might've had a dire offspring if he had reproduced with a Kelvic, but he chose my mother instead. Why would he weaken his lineage and create a runt like me? Is that why he left me? It must be, but why would my mother leave me too? It's a funny thing really. I know everything about my parents except for two things. I can't name them and I don't know their location. I have nothing but appearance to use in order to find either of them. No matter how hard I try to call up either bit of information about them, I draw a blank. It keeps me up at night while I sleep in caves or safe up high in the trees. Someday I'll find them, but until then I'll have to search hard and thoroughly. -Sav

[Savannah Farstar]

Day 45 of Summer, 511 AV This marks the forty-fourth day being away from home. I've been wandering aimlessly towards the east for ages. The trees seem to be thinning almost imperceptibly, but I can't tell quite yet. I've forgiven my adopted mother. She only wanted to keep me safe and provide for me. I can find no fault in her pure intentions, and I should have thanked her. I hope I didn't cause any lasting sadness from my departure. I hope she can forgive my childish actions. It's my birthday today, or so she told me. I'd like to think it is, but rather I think today marks the day she adopted me or found me. However way she found me, it doesn't matter. I've decided to call this, day my birthday. As tradition dictates, I've collected a lot of berries and some safe tree fruit for a feast of sorts. I've never had any friends and no one came with me anyway, so I'll just celebrate on my own this time. I don't really mind to be perfectly honest. All this solitude has told me that I'm not fit to be with anyone. Not the Jamoura children, nor the animals of the forest. I'm meant for solitude, so I shall stay in it. I hope someday I could smile again, but there's nothing left in me to smile with. I gave myself a present after all. I wasn't really going to, but I decided to anyway. I almost smiled at the adjustable straps I fitted to my pack. Using a bit of sturdy vine and my food knife I managed to fashion them quite effectively. Now I can loosen them and be able to shift forms while wearing it. That way I don't have to carry my pack in my mouth anymore. What a sight I must be though. A tiger with a pack resting on its back. Oh well, it's effective and makes my life a little easier. Maybe I do deserve a smile after all. -Sav

[Savannah Farstar]

Day 90 of Summer, 511 AV Today's the last day of summer. It doesn't really get cold here in the forests, but I can tell I'll be leaving it very soon. I estimate my journey through the forest should end in the spring of 512 AV. I've heard of a town just beyond the Taldera region. Hopefully I could purchase a map of some sort to help guide me. I should've set a destination before running wildly into the forest, but it's too late now. Sylira is the name of the region I should enter in a few seasons. Hopefully my travels prove to be just as easy as it has been so far. I’m not so sure anymore, though. I think something’s following me in this eerie forest. I haven’t been able to find my stalker and I’m not sure what it wants with me, but I fear whatever is going to happen will be happening soon. I’m not sure I’m strong enough to fend off an attack from anything. I've only gotten off lightly because I’m a tiger, but once these creatures realize I’m not a mighty predator, but rather a fruit eating weak Kelvic… I have to keep my confidence up, for I fear it’s showing in my attitude. This thing that stalks silently has me checking over my shoulder constantly. I can’t sleep so easily anymore either. I hope it’ll strike soon, so I can get it over with. Is it just a curious being intent on figuring out what I might be? Or is it a hungry demon looking for its next prey? No matter which reality it is, I’m scared to the point of paranoia and I can’t take much more of this. My pace is slowing and I’m missing more and more foraging sites. I’m slipping up more and more often and the effects are showing. Whoever or whatever is following me occupies my thoughts day and night, always at the edge of my imagination. I haven’t worked up the courage to call out to it. Maybe if I initiated the connection first, it would finally show itself? But what if I do call out to it, and instead it strikes? I don’t know anymore! I’m wracked with indecision and paranoia, slowly breaking down until I have no mind left. I’ve decided to call out to whatever this thing is. I’m going to find a clearing and set up something for the both of us to eat. Maybe it’ll see I want to talk and it’ll join me. And if it decides to strike, I’ll be able to see it emerge from the tree line, giving me some time to make a run for it. It’s not the perfect plan but it’s all I have. I hope I’ll see the first light of winter after this ordeal, but if not… I’m sorry my Jamoura mother. You may not have birthed me, but you are the one who shared your love. I will always remember you as the one who cared. I hope you’ll someday have a child of your very own. A child that loves back faithfully, always. -Sav

[Savannah Farstar]

Day 2 of Autumn, 511 AV I’m not sure how much time I have left to recount this. What I’ve done is a very big mistake and I don’t believe I’ll live through the next few days. I’ll try to recount the entire occurrence of the last three days, but I fear I cannot. Even now I can hear his eager laughter in the distance. He’s hunting me and sooner or later I’ll have to face him or get to safety… I had set up a medium sized clearing with a lunch for two. I hoped this plan of action would work in bringing my mysterious stalker out of hiding. It worked too well. I had only a heartbeat’s warning before he was in front of me. Blood red eyes glinting above perfectly threatening fangs were the first thing that captured my sight. But what assaulted my senses next, absolutely chilled me to the bone. His voice was like the sound of a rumbling storm bound straight from hell. Deep and resonating with a chaotic hostility threaded through his every word. And what’s worse, was that the actual words were nothing but polite. It was almost maddening that two such things could mix and come to existence. “Hello my dear. It seems you have set up a nice lunch here and I can’t help but notice you’ve set a second plate, so to speak. I hope you don’t mind if I just swopped in and joined you?” His voice unnerved me. From the very moment I stared into those crimson orbs, I saw my death on the fringes of the future. Here was my murderer, staring at me head on and there was one thing I did. Something I shouldn’t have. Something that sealed my fate for the next dozen days. The very thing that created my first conflict, nearly ended my life and changed my views on the world forever. I regret everything I’ve done since this moment, and I wish every night that I might’ve changed it. So what did I do that was so disastrous? Was it changing into a tiger and attacking this demonic presence like the fearless predator that I was supposed to be? Did I roar him down and show him who was the predator and who was the prey? No, what really happen was much worse. I ran for the trees. There was no battle cry followed by a face off worthy of the epics. No going down against an impossible foe in a blaze of glory. No instead I tore away with my tail between my legs, eyes wide in fear and paws scrabbling in the underbrush in an attempt to get away as quickly as possible. What’s worse is this seemed perfectly reasonable to me at the time. I wasn’t ready to take on such a monstrosity. I should never have goaded him out. But instead, my curiosity got the better of me, and now I was running for my life. He followed easily on bat like wings. I don’t know how he managed to navigate through the forest so expertly with those massive appendages, but he did it. And all the while, he laughed demonically. His deep voice rumbled throughout the trees, reaching my ears from far off. Even in my fear addled state, I recognized the small blessing of that statement. He was a little ways behind me, and was steadily getting quieter! I was escaping from him! My surprise retreat had caught this demon off guard and I was going to live another day! My spirits were on the rise as I soared through the trees with almost surreal ease. I felt myself building speed as my toned muscles sang in elation, carrying me to safety with each contraction. Then my hopes were crushed. I felt a sudden shift in the air around me and the was all the warning I was given. Just as suddenly as the trees were zipping by, they all disappeared at once. The surprise caused by the missing trees was so much, that I stumbled and fell. Slightly bruised and battered, I rose to find myself staring all around at treeless, Holly landscape. Devoid of cover, I was a goner when the demon caught up with me. In moments I was up and dashing away as fast as I could, but the sounds of flapping and laughter soon caught up with me. I felt the massive weight of the monstrosity hit my flank, sending me careening in an uncontrollable roll down the hill I was running along. Things get hazy from there. My mind chose to cloud itself in preparation for my death. But I was saved only moments from death by a man I came to know as a father figure to me. A sharp cry rang out over the hill top, halting the laughter of my attacker. I still can't figure out what the cry was, but the effects were immediately apparent. A massive shadow fell on both my prone form and the form of the demon, which I later came to learn was a Zith. The last thing I can tell you for certain I know was reality and not dream, was the deep screams of pain and the horrifying sound of rending flesh. I don't know what attacked the Zith, but I do know I will always remember those final cries of what I thought to be the most powerfully evil being. -Sav

[Savannah Farstar]

Day 6 of Autumn, 511 AV Beranubus Neverwinter, Glyphologist and Summoning Adept. That's what he introduced himself as. The man who saved my life with some quick thinking and good preparation. He won't tell me how he did it exactly, but he brought a demon under his control and used it to rear the Zith in half. I don't really care how or why he did it. What I care about is what he's making me do now. He won't tell me why, he won't hint at why, and I most certainly can't force him to tell me, but for whatever reason he's teaching me magic. Against my most heated refusals and polite declination, He's made me an apprentice under his instruction. I guess secretly I'm immensely curious and a little excited that I might learn something, but who knows. The one trade off to this apprenticeship isn't that I must pay him. It isn't even me serving him in more mundane tasks. No the one thing he requires in return is much worse. For the duration of my apprenticeship, I mustn't change into a tiger, I must wear dreaded clothes at all times, and I must above all else, learn to read and write in this accursed language he's forcing on me! Worse thing is, he won't tell me the language. It's made up of some kind of flamboyant symbolism that makes no sense. The only good thing about them is I'm able to draw them rather than write them. They appeal to me a little, I guess. Rather than confused letters that mold together and make no sense whatsoever, these symbols stand out as there own entity. They're all different, unique in their place and design. My first four days with Bran- my nickname for him- has been spent learning to read the symbols he gives me. We spend hours all day every day going over the runes and practicing them until they stick. I'm surprised and elated to say that I might actually be learning to read and write. At first I couldn't grasp them, but after the first day, the symbols seemed to lock into place in my mind. Now I'm learning at an incredible rate, mastering each symbol and thief meaning as he feeds them to me. He's even taken my journal and changed it a little. Apparently the journal has the symbols etched into the leather binding, giving it its ability to record what I say. Before, I couldn't read what I said, but he's changed the letters to symbols, so now I'm able to read what I've recorded already. It's only a matter of time before I master the language he's making me learn, and secretly I've never been happier. I caught myself smiling again, and I can't find a reason not to anymore. Even Bran comments about my recent uplift in spirit. Now if only I could get him to teach me to fight... -Sav

[Savannah Farstar]

Day 11 of Autumn, 511 AV I've been so busy with Bran, that I can't seem to find time to update my journal as often as I'd like. He's taught me something amazing in the last few days! I think the most important thing so far is that the language he's taught me directly resembles the glyphs he uses in his magic circles! I thought he was avoiding teaching me real magic, but all along the lessons have been about the pieces of spells! Later today, he's going to let me use glyphs for the first time. I'm so nervous! What if I mess up and ruin any chance of continuing? Bran's nice, but I don't know what he'll do if I fail my first attempt. I'll make sure to succeed flawlessly so he'll teach me more! We've finally stopped for our break at midday. We've been going over circles all morning and he says I'll be able to summon something right now. So far he's only taught me one of the astral coordinate lines, but he promises I'll know them all by the end of the day. I'm going to summon something from the low world Fyrden, I guess. He says I can find eager creatures that would just love to cross over. He says circles are empowered by the Djed in me, what he considers the essence of a wizard's very soul and the driving force all around us. I'm not so sure about it, but I have no reason to doubt his words. Bran taught me how to draw a simple circle setup, or what he calls a minimal circle. It's only meant for simple creatures nothing too powerful. My coordinates are drawn in counter clockwise just like Bran taught, so now it's time to open my circle. But first, we have to meditate and prepare my mind for the task ahead. Bran says summoning even the weakest circles to contain even the smallest of creatures, requires concentration and no mistakes. I can't let anything out of my circle the first time, no matter how tempting the deal a creature offers. Bran has me spending a solid hour drawing my minimal circle. He says I must make it perfect with absolutely no errors. I'm not strong enough to fight off a surprise attack from one of these creatures, or so he says. I think I could if I had access to my tiger claws and fangs, but he forbids it. I must do this with nothing more than what he's taught me and my own inner strength. Bran says I'm strong in the inside than physically. He says I'm a wizard, not a warrior. I hope he's right. "Savannah your coordinates aren't aligned correctly. Redraw the whole circle." He says quietly over my shoulder for the fourth time. "If the debates are even slightly wrong, you could open a portal into an entirely different world. Concentrate more." Same thing he said the last three times. I can't take his anymore! We've been kneeling in front of my failures of circles for the passed two hours and I'm sure my legs have rooted to the ground! I'm starting to wonder if this isn't worth it at all. The more I spend doing this, the longer it'll take for me to find my parents. "Good! Now use the needle and age your blood to the circle. Just a drop mind you." He finally says after scrutinizing my sixth circle. I've been awaiting this moment for too many hours to count. But now that it's here, I'm suddenly scared. I don't know if I can do this any more. What if I bring something too powerful through? What if I'm not strong enough to do it? There's only one way to find out, I suppose. Impossibly slow the single drop of my crimson Kelvic blood falls. I watch it splash onto the parchment Bran gave me, seeping into the dried ink of my minimal circle. Just as suddenly as it hit, the entire center transforms before my eyes. Colors swirl infinitely together in a vortex, sucking downwards into the paper. The sight was a beauty to behold, sound and sight blending together impossibly to form the portal, my portal. At first it seemed like nothing was going to step through. For a fleeting moment, I felt like I had failed. And then, as if rising from the depths of the sea a figure emerged. It didn't take long for the creature to break the surface of the paper and come into being. It only stood two and half feet tall, barely able to reach my waist. It's skin shined magnificently midnight blue, possessing an otherworldly luster that caught my eye. "Savannah." Came Bran's whisper of a warning, drawing my eyes from its skin, right into the fiery orange eyes of my summoned creature. And what I saw there chilled me to the bone. -Sav