An idea to start

I just thought of something... I want the story to start with a BANG per-se, but I don't want to start the group out in a fight.. *yawn* I had an idea this morning to start the story out with some largish creatures gathering up forces of some smallish, creatures. I want to stay away from the traditional D&D creatures b/c I think it's just been overdone and I want to come up with something fresh. These creatures are not that bright, but they are strong and they are territorial and fight a bit. I would want these creatures to have a culture, and a village (of sorts) and families, which are torn from them by the big, bad guy and they are given a choice, fight for me or we kill you and yours. I would probably have their society very strict and definate gender and class roles would come into play. I am thinking that their society might be somewhat reminesceant of the "traditional" brutish Indians of the movie old West. ***Please don't think I believe that the Native American tribes are brutish, I just want to portray these guys similarly to the way the old black and white westerns (mostly wrongly) portrayed the Native Americans. ***

A Quick Decision

I saw a solitary D6 on my desk and I thought, I"ll let the dice decide... so here is what came up with for my characters...

Fighter - male
Sorcerer - male
Cleric - male
Ranger - female

That should make an interesting party, shouldn't it? Now, for names and backgrounds for each... more later tonight maybe...

A start

As the sun crests the horizon, the sleepy village of Rosenford awakens. The birds sing a joyous chorus that celebrates the wakening of a new day. Soon, the shutters open on the windows, the doors open, the forge fire is stoked and built up, and the inhabitants of Rosenford stir about on their daily business.

Sighs... this might be ok later on, but from what I've read, a book needs a jumpstart to get the reader hooked and to keep reading the book. But, this is going to start out with the kids with their families, in their hometown. Maybe give the reader a sneak peek at what's happening to the northwest? Maybe a "fight" of some sorts that involves the pc's? A fight between a pc and their mother/father/sibling/etc.? A spar where the reader isn't aware that the fight is just a spar? (Why would they be sparring??)

Here' the outline of some things I jotted down during lunch.

• Quick town overview - we briefly see the highlights of the town and meet the main characters briefly.
• The kids are ready and eager to be off, and they head out
• First couple of days, the travellers have good weather, albeit a little cold in the morning and evenings, but it almost seems a grand party for them. The last couple of days are wet and cold, and the whine and bitching quickly begin.
• They make it to town about mid-morning of the 5th day.
• They go out into the town, getting a feel for the place and finding where their mentor's reside. They start to get settled into a routine.
• After a couple of weeks, the town is raided by a largish party of gnolls. They come in the hours just before dawn, and more or less do a smash and grab at the town. The steal livestock, foodstuffs, or anything they happen to see that is of obvious value. Just as they are seen, the alarm goes out, and the gnolls make a break for it, but meanwhile left 1 guard dead, another injured, and several items stolen. (A sack of flour, a small cask of ale, and a couple weapons). The next morning, once the town's leadership has assessed the damage done, they call a meeting. Every able person in town, that is unmarried and over the age of majority (16ish) is asked to join the guards. They will primarily only be needed at night, but meanwhile, they will be trained in basic combat arts of defense and offense. While on duty, they will be given armor and weapons to wear, and will be paid a stipend for their service. Their main duty is to watch out for the attacks, sound the alarm if one does happen, and then last but not least, stay alive if an attack does happen.
• These attacks have been happening for several weeks now at seemingly random intervals. There was once a raid 2 days after one, yet the last attack was a whole month of ago. The village doesn't know what's going on. They've sent messages explaining the situation to some of the nearby villages, including the elven village of Lorithon, but so far, they've had no response.
• The pc's, along with 2 other villagers/craftspeople are recruited into service.
• The local wizard hasn't had any problems at his tower, but there are spells in place that misdirect people looking for his place. He says he will see what he can do in the way of helping protect the town with his arcane knowledge.
• The cleric of the group has been studying at the local temple with the acolytes, and they are able to heal the wounded guard.
• ** note** need to come up with a name for this "artisan's" settlement.
• Within the next week, 2 elves arrive in town, to help defend, and also to help train any new guards. The ranger in particular quickly takes up with them, and soon becomes quite the expert at gnolls. They also sharpen their tracking and fighting skills with them. The others are trained with the elves as well, but the ranger has an affinity for many of the same things that these elves do, not to mention one is a ranger as well.
• The elves also tell them that they have had a noticable increase in creatures crossing their lands.
• From the South, a couple of rough looking fellows come into the settlement. They are retired mercs, that settled there, and since their own guardsmen have their hands full with attacks on their village, they come to offer their support. They own a tavern in their village and get quite a bit of their spirits through an artisan here in ???? that distills all sort of product.

Just some ideas I wanted to get down. How's it sound? Does the plot line sound predictible? too familiar, or overused from other stories you've read or heard about or seen in a movie or something.

More Thoughts on Characters

OK... Here are somethings I know about what I want in my story.

1. I know that I want this to happen in a D&D style world.
2. I know that I want this story to be about 4 kids as they head out into the big world, but somehow get caught up in things and become "adventurers".
3. I know the classes that I want my adventurers to be are: sorcerer, cleric, ranger and fighter. I have yet to decide who is what and what gender each are.
4. I want a minimum of one character to be female, but I'm thinking of two, but I'm afraid that would be a little too expected.
5. I know that I want my kids to have a profession that they've been training in, that they can fall back on, or even possibly use once they are trained in their adventuring class.
6. I know that I want this story to primarily focus on the characters, not what they're doing. I want this to be a story of the kids growing up to be young adults, and maybe in later stories, to adults, parents and leaders.
7. I want this story to show that life isn't fair, but you have to at least try to make life what you want it to be. If you don't try to make the best of things, you probably will be miserable, no matter what material possesions you have or don't have.

Questions:

1. What rules system do I use from D&D? If I want a hope of even possibly publishing this, I'll probably need to use the 4.0 set of rules. If I'm not going to publish, it would be easier to write this using a system I know, 3.0.
2. What kinds of things can my guys do that won't just immediately kill them off? I'd actually like to kindof roll things out as they go, but instead of people "roleplaying" the characters, I'd be writing out their actions/reactions as they go... to a point. If the dice go too badly for them I'll interviene of course.
3. Once they get started, what will keep them adventuring once they get started?
4. Sorcerer will probably start realizing that he/she has "powers" shortly after they've hit puberty. How will they manage to "hide" their skills? How long will they have been able hide this? Maybe this character isn't quite "of age" to go on the journeymanship, but they are a brother/sister/cousin/neighbor or the other of one of the ones leaving, and there is a sorcerer or wizard in the first town that they are going to be staying at that might be able to train them.
5. Ranger - this could be male or female, but what would their skills or training be? Possibly a hunter for the townsfolk and also is training to cure the hides for leather and furs?
6. Cleric - This person would probably be a bit of a "hippie" type, believing in hug a tree, make love not war (unless it's an orc or something.) I was also thinking about this character having an addiction of some sort, possibly 'shrooms or some sort of "herbal". How would this hinder or possibly even help the group?
7. Fighter - This could be either sex as well, but I'm leaning towards a male for this one. Mainly because I want him to have a kind of relationship with one of the females, and he is a little bit over protective of her, and she ends up saving his rear.

My people....

My main characters will start out as just normal kids (all human btw... elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. are in the world, but they the aren't in this particular area). They are crafts people, and are going on their journeymanship tour to aquire new skills, make contacts, and see the world. The world is primitive, but the people are happy. The kid's go with their basic supplies and their hopes and dreams to the north and west of their sleepy town to their first destination. Along the way, they learn more about each other and they learn that the cleric has been called, and the sorceress slips that she can do "things" using her mind.

One thing that I think is going to be different, is that the kids are going to know each other, and they, in the normal town setting would have been a couple of friends and then the friends of a friend type relationship. They aren't that close. But before things are over they will be like brothers and sisters (or closer).

I did a guesstimated census for my street, and the small town, quiet and hardworking people here are very similar to what I would like for my "hometown" of Rosenford. A quick estimation, I count 24 houses on my street. Out of these 24 homes, there are about 16 elderly people that live on this street, about 30-34 adults, and about 12 kids under the age of 18. I think there are 2-3 kids that would be in the age ranges that I have in mind for the characters in my story. I know in the world that I have, more people would tend to live in a home than just a single elderly couple, and a single mom would probably be quite a bit more rare. Here there are 24 houses, almost a third of those houses have elderly people in them, and only about 2 or 3 of those eight have more than just the elderly person or couple in them. The other 16 homes house on average 2 adults and either have 2 or more kids or none. I'd say only here the average of households with kids would be around 25% (4). In my world, it would be much more manual labor to be done, so that would tend to have more kids and more people in each household. In my world, I would think that in an area of 24 households, there would be on average 1-4 elderly persons, 2-6 adults, and 2 - 8 kids. That would be an average population of 8 people per household. Some would have no elderly, with parents and only a couple kids maybe, but then there could be a farm with 3-4 generations there with 20 people in a 3-4 bedroom house. Also where my street is about a half a mile, the same number of households in my world would be considered to be fairly densely packed if they were in an area within a couple miles. I read in a medival history book about village life that it was thought that it took 10 acres for a family to raise their food, livestock and food for the livestock. That would be 240 acres for just 24 households, where here, the 24 households are probably on less than 30 acres. But then again, there isn't any livestock here besides maybe a chicken or two, and most gardens are for decoration, not food. There are a couple small vegetable gardens, but they are mostly for suppliemental food. I completely understand 10 acres per family being needed to supply a family with food. So my population would jump from modern day 50 to 100, but on almost 10 times the land.

Roses background

Everyone has a story, but if the short course of a novel, you just can't fit everything, so what do I include, what do I just leave to the reader's imagination? Isn't that one of the big questions almost every writer poses to themself?



In the LOTR trillogy, Tolkien gives you bits of pieces of elven and human history, he gives songs, reasons for wars, reasons why this person feels this way, and so on... In one way it makes the story come alive and it helps explain to people that don't have a clue what a dwarf or elf is why the elves and dwarves are. I remember when I was reading the book for the first time, I wondered, "Is this a novel or a musical?" I really had to struggle through the first book, but once through that book, the background information really make the rest of the trillogy come alive and also gave needed information about the remainder of the series. I started another book, one of the few books I've ever simply given up on, and I literally was having to look something up in the glossary every couple sentances. I mean, it's one thing to have to figure out a word by looking at how the word is used, but with that novel, they went straight into the politics and power struggles of this person vs. that person, and their titles and heirarchy which was NOTHING like normal fuedal heirarchy... expanding your vocabulary is good, but a book where that much of the vocabulary has to be researched before getting what the author means isn't pleasurable reading for me. Then again, I don't want to mock my reader's intelligence by writing the story at a 4th grade level, but putting adult content in the book, like other series I've read a couple of books for. The balance I seek is to write a book for a common adult, somewhere in between 20 and 30. I don't want the book to be dumbed down, yet I don't want to have to have a glossary to define all of the terms I use. I want to be descriptive and imaginative and full of interesting thoughts and ideas, but not overly so, so that you about lose the plot in the description.

Roses developments

OK, so I've got to come up with something for my characters to get started on their grand adventure. Monsters comming and killing everything (or the adventurer's families) is too overdone. Ie. In the name of the king, Wheel of Time series, and I could probably name a couple more if I checked through my books. I've also thought about an evil cleric kidnapping one of the group, but if he's strong enough to fake being a good cleric, wouldn't he be too strong for the group to defeat? Unless of course they were severely lucky, and almost literally caught him with his preverbial pants around his ankles. I've got to find a reason why these guys would be equipped with at least basic arms and armor. Even farmboys or country folk would have a bow or sling and would know how to use it, but armor? I sincerely doubt anyone in Rosenford would have a suit of armor, unless someone happened to make armor, and then why would 4 kids not expecting to go into battle get any of it? If I was heading out on a long trip, I would be more worried about supplies that armor or a weapon (other than a basic hunting implement, and eating knife). AND once I do get these guys outfitted, what will be their foe? I can't make the enemy too good, because these untrained (for the most part) smucks will get their butts handed to them on a platter. Like I said in an earlier post, I'm thinking about these guys' adventuring not really starting until they reach this artisan colony that they're going to for their journeymanship. There, the town gaurd is under manned, and they earn some extra cash by doing guard duty for the town. I'm thinking that this community is a smallish walled town, but many residents don't live actually inside the wall. Alot of the artists here prefer seculsion of a small cabin away from others. The community has a small population of about 100 or so that live in the walls. There's a large market held a couple days a week and the population swells greatly on that day. While the young'uns are on gaurd duty, they are provided with armor, and they are given some basic training. There's also a sorcerer's tower nearby where the sorceress trains, and the cleric trains with the guards, but she also spends alot of time in the forrest communing with nature. Now, the next step, is what is going to happen next. Something attacks the community? That's for another post.

True self?

Have you ever looked at people when they didn't know you were looking? It's almost like it's a window into their mind. A lady in the car behind me at a stop light has such a sour face, it looked like she was just dreading what ever lay ahead in her day. Her lips were pursed, she was having to squint because of the sun, even with her sunglasses. But I just got an immediate feeling that she just absolutely dreaded going where ever she was going. I've also caught people with just a very slight shade of a smile of their face, while they're going about doing something. It's not a job they very particularly enjoy doing, but there is just a hint of a grin and a lil sparkle in their eye. In that case, I think that they are thinking about someone they love. It's almost impossible to tell if it's a lover, or a friend, or a family member, but the basic feeling comes through loud and clear. If I can only express this in my writings as to enhance the mood of the person instead of just making it seem wordy and excessive.

Here's a go at it in context to my story.

Jarei set about making a small campfire while Rocyn set up the tent. She took a short, sideways glance at Roc while getting the twigs and tender for the fire. Gods, he is such a good looking fellow. As she struck the flint and the spark flew into the tender, she had a tiny grin on her face. The spark died quickly the first strike, so she stuck the flint against her dagger again, and this time the flame firmly started consuming the tender. She set the twigs she had gathered over the tiny flames and they soon were caught up in the fire as well. Rocyn glanced over a Jarei to see how the campfire was going, and was witness to a beautiful sight. Jarei was a pretty girl, but now with the firelight dancing in her eyes, and just a slight smile was upon her lips, she was beautiful.

Roses of the Dawn - plot line outline

It's been ages since I've written anything it seems. I've got to get back into the habit of writing something, ANYTHING when I get a few minutes. Without practice, I'm never going to get better at telling the stories that pop into my head. Well, here are some ideas for my premire novel ( I hope someday).

The kids are in the small town. I'll give basic information about them, they've known each other all of their lives. They're kind of the graduating class of the town, just on the verge of obtaining adulthood status. But first, they must go on their journeymanship. This exposes them to life outside of their hometown, it allows them to visit anywhere they desire to go, if they wish to spend the time getting there. This generally allows the teens to broaden the gene pool per se of the town's population, because the kids quite often find their mates while out on this journey. Some of the famlies in town have made quite a show of their kids journey, by buying them new horses, new clothes, arranging the child to go to exotic locales, or furnishing everything (most of the time without the rest of the town's knowledge) and not forcing the child to live in "the real world" for a while. But these kids are generally middle class. Some of their parents are marginally better off than others, but it doesn't really matter. They are going out on their own, and they are going to further their knowledge of their trades and become better members of the community upon their return.

They head off, but the journey isn't quite as smooth as they first expect. The town that they reside in first is an artist's colony of sorts and the town starts to get hit with seemingly random attacks. The attackers steal food and provisions mostly, but they also make off with any precious metals and gemstones they can get as well. It's really hit the town hard, but their few gaurds simply are not enough to protect the town. They reach out to the younger residents and plead for assistance. They will be trained in the basics of defense, they just have to basically help with gaurd duty so that the local guards can get some rest. Well, at this point, the 4 that have just arrived are the most promising candidates out of the elidgeable candidates for guard duty. Most of the colony's residents are either elderly, or infirm, or simply whimpy. The group sees that this is just simply one of the responsibilities of being part of the community, so they accept the training. They aren't alone by any means, but compared to the rest, they are probably promoted thru the ranks fairly quickly.

The group is asked to go out on a scouting mission, to see if they can find more about what is going on and what the raiders are truely after. The group sets off. With the help of the ranger's tracking abilities, they find a cold but clear trail. They trek into the wilderness into parts rarely entered by the humans anyway. They stumble across a large encampment of a varitey of monsters. They learn a little, but mainly because of stupidity, they are caught and a fight ensues. They manage somehow to come out alive, and they return with dire news. The group they found was but a small part of the army that was forming in the mountains.

Now, here's one of the spots where I'm stuck. What happens next? Do they go back and dare try to get more information? Do they go tell the local lord? Do they go to the king? Do they try to raise an army of locals to defend the village? What do they do, and how do they do it? I've been thinking about possibly using a variation of something that the game group I used to be with did. They came across a very large village of gobins, lead by hobgoblins. The encampment was in a seculeded valley with outposts about 15 minutes travel along the road, outside of the larger inner encampment. We manage to lure some of the gobbies away from one of the outposts, and when out of sight, the group took them out. Then, we sneaked up on the remaining gobbies, and made em look like porcupines. That group was almost 100% elven, and had a several of the nature loving classes in the group. Later, we combined some sneaky manuevers to set fire to a main command hut in the center of the larger compound, and was able to create alot of chaos, and slaughtered MANY foes, and scared a good many of the others away with the vast array of elven archers and mages (there were only 6 of us, but between spells, and other things, we about doubled our numbers within sight of the camp).

Well, I'm getting tired. I'll write more about this after I've had a chance to think about the possibilites some more. Oh, and one last thing I want to mention. I finally bought a domain for a website! Now, I've just got to build the site and publish it once I pay for the site hosting that is. LOL. Maybe by the time someone else reads this, I might actually have something up, so what the hey... the site name is www.carolinadragon.com . I'm going to put some of my game world notes on there, as well as some of my drawings, thoughts and writings about D&D stuff. I'm basically going to have that site as a point of reference for all of my D&D related writings, game ideas, and maybe even published adventures? I don't know... we shall see. I have alot of work to do. One of which, is if I plan on even thinking of writing for WoTC, I'll need to get the 4.0 books. I looked on Amazon, and the set starts at about 65 for the pre-order. SO... do I write for what I know? or for what is popular? I'd kind of like to continue writing for the die hards that like 3.0 like my group, but if so, chances of actually getting the modules or story published are small, but whatever. I would like to expand my knowledge of 4.0 and maybe eventually get paid for doing something I like. Wouldn't that be fun?

Another idea...

This one is something I'm actually writing on the fly right now. It's rough, but I got the idea for the story the other day, and my mind keeps going back to the idea, wanting to do more than just the base idea. I've heard that to become a better writer, one must write. So here I write, for no one but myself.

The room appears blurry to Marylin as she wearily opens her eyes, well as she attempts to open her eyes. She can feel her face starting to swell. Sighing, she thinks that so much is the pain and inconvienence of staying beautiful. She had to get that doll of a husband to pull a couple strings in order to get this plastic surgeon to do her surgery in time for her to heal before the charity ball. Doctor Johanson is the best plastic surgeon on the West coast, and almost impossible to see this time of year. But a friend of dear Husbands, was a golf partner to Doctor Johanson's gay lover or something odd like that. She didn't care, she just wanted this work done. Marylin began planning her next steps for once the swelling went down. Her appointment with her personal trainer was in a week, so that she could take off those impossible two pounds from her stomach and ass. She wanted her waist trim and her ass as firm as a 20 year old's in 3 months. She has been told that she already looked great for a 40 year old, HAH, shows them what they know, she was actually 60. She considered having Doctor Johanson doing another ass lift and lipo, but he refused, saying he couldn't possibly fit it into his schedule as well as the other proceedures. "Well, damn it! Nurse! Get me out of here! I've got an appointment in 2 hours!" The nurse in pastel pink scrubs hurrys to Marylin's bed-side. "Ms. Londin, please, just take it easy for about another 20 minutes, and ... " "Damn it, bitch, I want to my room NOW." "Yes ma'am, I'll call the doctor right away to transfer you to your room" the nurse hastily replied, as she turned and ran off to the other side of the recovery ward and hastily dialed a number.

Within an hour and a half, Marlyin was waiting in front of the posh clinic, waiting for her limo driver to pull around. As she enters the limo, she yells at the driver, "Go to the Anastasia Star Spa, NOW! My appointment is in less than an hour now, and with this damned traffic..." and her voice becomes muffled as the limo door is shut and the car speeds away. She was scheduled next to have a new treatment made from some crazy assed, slime from a sea cucumber that was only found in the tropical oceans off Brazil, combined with mango and citrus, it was supposed to do wonders for post operative swelling and make your skin as soft as a baby's. She didn't care where the hell it came from, it made her look better. She didn't care that her dear Husband was paying 10 grand for it each month. All the stars were having it and since it was the best, it was hers. Sighing she mentally goes over her schedule for today. Next, she was to go to another room here at the spa for spot laser treatments for a couple odd colored patches on her knee, then to soak in a hot mud bath to finally get some realxing time from all of these slow peons. And of course, her waxist is going to be at her house later this afternoon, to do a touch up on her bikini line. So much she does to be the perfect model wife for dear husband. Too bad, he most of the time screwed half the state except for her. Oh well she thought. "As long as he keeps her comfortable, and pays for my surgeries and treatments, I don't give a damn who he fucks." Marilyn mumbles. Once at the spa, she is placed in a room with a large table where she is covered head to toe with a slime, except for the tiny sunbathing type goggles. She lies back, and relaxes for a while. "Marilyn, it is time to go." A deep masculine voice eminates from the corner of the room. "I just got here, you crazy ass. Get the hell out of my room unless you want me to talk with the owner about your employment here." The voice responds, "I'm not an employee here, I am Death." 'Oh, please... SECURITY!!" Marilyn screams as she sits up, opens her eyes, and she realizes, her body is still on the table. The technicians won't be due back for at least half an hour. "Scream all you want, but they won't hear you", Death replied. "I-I can't be dead... I just have the rivoplast treatment to rebuild my heart tissue, two years ago, I had the treatment to reverse aging in my.. " "You didn't die of old age... but while your body may look young, your soul is old, wrinkled and sickly. It calls for me to take it away for the great rest." "Technically, your body had a deadly reaction to a chemical compound that formed between the anestheisia from your recent surgery, the material they just slimed you with, and the speed that is left over in your body from last week." "But, I have a better body than most people half my age." Marilyn protested. "It is your time. You squandered your time here only looking towards yourself and what you wanted. Meanwhile, your family is gone, you have no children, you husband is in name only and your friends only are your friends because you are in the same social circle. They hiss worse than a pit of vipers behind your back, just like you do with them when one of their backs is turned." "But, what now? Do I go to Hell? Heaven by some miracle?" "No, " Death replies, "You are to learn, rest and return. Your soul will be given another chance, but in your next life, you will not have an easy life. For all of the advantages that you had taken advantage of in this life, you will be disadvantaged in the next. But that is a step that is far away at this point. First, you learn. I shall leave for a while, and when you have learned what you need to know from this life, you will simply advance to the next step, rest. Once that period is over, I shall see you once more to guide you to return." "But now.... " Death placed a cold finger on her forhead, "Learn the consequences of your life."

The temporary end...

More to come. I want to continue on showing what she learns, which is what her "friends", family, and the people around her REALLY thought of her... the good and bad, in this case mostly bad. Then the rest phase. More or less time to contimplate and think about what she did, what she should have done, but she doesn't really know the answers. Once she gets to one point, she thinks she's done all of the resting she can handle, but it continues on, while she makes more realizations about her life. Just when she forgets about to expect the rest to be over, she is greeted again by Death. It seems to be different now. They talk a bit more and discuss things, and he says that the basic grain of truth resides in her forever, but the lessons learned must be wiped away for rebirth. He touches her forehead again, and she is going through birth. She is now a baby in a poor, but loving home. Marilyn's journey is just starting again, and maybe the lessons will be learned this time.

Vacation of the Mind

This is a short story that I've been working on off and on, (mostly off) for a couple years.

A Vacation of the Mind

I wake up lying in the sun on a lounge chair on a bright, sunny deck. I’m disoriented a bit as I look around, but I see a beautiful, sunny beach, and a scattering of buildings. I now have some vague memory of checking in to this posh resort for a vacation. It’s strange, I don’t remember driving here or really planning this trip. Sighing, I put it off to really needing a vacation and sit back into my chair. Around me, I see other resort patrons basking in the sun, with waiters and attendants weaving their way through the crowd of sun-worshippers, stopping here and there with a drink or a towel. With a sigh, I pull my sunglasses back down over my eyes and lie back soaking in some much-wanted sun into my skin.

Before my nap, I now remember taking a quick dip in the ocean, but the water was so cool, I quickly headed back to my chair to warm up in the hot summer sun. I laze about in my chair as I stare out at the waves, ever rolling, and seemingly perfect. It seems odd that the surfers aren’t out. Seems that these waves would be ideal, coming in perfect with tall cresting, rolling waves. I then notice something strange. This is a very warm day, but I don’t see anyone in the water. That’s kind of odd, but I again shrug off the coincidence, because the water was really cool when I took my dip. I stare back out into the waves, and I do a double take, as wave after wave rises, but just short of cresting the waves seem to just change their mind and retreat back down. Again and again, the waves start refusing to break. What’s going on? I shake my head in confusion, rubbing my eyes. I have to be having some sort of delusion. I didn’t think I’d been out here that long. I look around me, and no one else seems to notice the surf’s strange behavior. The waves now are becoming more violent, rising higher and higher, but at the last moment, seemingly changing their mind and declining back and sweeping out onto the beach in a rush of foam. Just as I decide to ask someone about the bizarre phenomenon, I glance up the beach to see if the same behavior is there as well. Dark clouds and fog has gathered up the coast. A storm must be approaching, but as I look out to sea, I see a red glowing sign apparently just hanging in midair. I run to the edge of the deck to get a better view, and I finally can make out the word “EXIT” in the glowing red letters. About this time, a door opens out of midair over the ocean, and a man in scrubs wheels an elderly man in a wheelchair through the door. I see below him there is a blue tile floor, with some cheap fake palm trees on the wall past the door. “What the HELL is going on?” I turn to get someone’s attention and I now see that I am no longer surrounded by resort patrons, lounging in swimsuits and plush robes, but by patients in gowns, pajamas and bathrobes. What I had previously perceived as attendants and waiters are now doctors and nurses wandering through isles of people just sitting in chairs, staring stupefied at a poorly painted picture of the ocean on an old gymnasium wall. That exit sign is the entrance door to the gym and the warming sun is a giant heat lamp hanging overhead. My world spins as the confusion overwhelms me.

I open my eyes, and slowly, my blurry vision reveals to me that I’m now in my suite. I slowly sit up in my bed and then twist my legs so that I’m sitting on the side of the bed. I see my luxurious bed with the softest cotton sheets I’ve ever felt. Plush pillows at the top of the bed are still dented with the impression of my head. I see a note on my nightstand that read:

“Ms.
You passed out from too much sun. The resort physician has seen you and told us that you will be fine, but you need to rest for the day and for you to drink plenty of water. He will be by your room again this afternoon to check on you again. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to call the front desk.

Management”
So that’s what happened? Oh my, did I have a heatstroke? I’ll ask the doctor when he comes to check again. It’s so nice to be somewhere where they take such good care of me. I look around my room. I see my bed, which faces the door to this smallish room. Beside the door, I see a small potted palm tree, and then there is a dresser littered with keys, money, and other typical items from my pockets. Past that, is a door leading to my bathroom. On the wall opposite my dresser, there is a large open window where the salty sea breeze is blowing through gauzy curtains. I stretch lazily and walk to the closet, wondering what I shall wear today. I pick out some clothes and turn to put them on the bed while I showered. The bed looks strange now. I don’t remember a hospital bed in my room. A flash of light crosses my eyes, and my world spins again. Now I see that I am in a hospital room. My window is a frosted pane of glass with wire mess imbedded into it. I look into the mirror above my dresser, and my once long dark blonde hair is now haphazardly cut and extremely short, like someone was in a rush to get rid of my hair. Instead of a sleek suntanned complexion I was expecting, I see a pale, scarred face with heavy, dark circles under my eyes. I also notice that I have a large bandage on the back of my head. I turn and now my door is a heavy steel door with several locks on it. I throw my clothes on the bed and grab my stomach from nausea that suddenly overwhelms me. The room spins uncontrollably as the world goes black.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Who the hell is beating so at my door? Don’t they know I was sick and I need my rest? Showers of stars cross my eyes as my head jerks back into the wall. I wince as my legs jerk and feel my feet kick the frame of the bed forward. I realize that I am convulsing, but I can’t stop the jerking movement of my entire body. My eyes go to the door where I can fuzzily see the arms of nurses and doctors trying to push their way into the room. I had evidently fallen and pushed the bed against the door with my convulsions. I fall backwards into a roar of blackness.

A curiously strange, but familiar voice echoes through my inner void, but it feels as though they are speaking some other language that I had forgotten long ago. What are they saying? The words seem so familiar, but I just cannot fathom what they might mean. The blackness around me starts to turn to gray, and I see myself lying on the floor. Voices keep calling me and I feel like I’m falling again, but this time into the spotlighted form of myself lying on the floor.

That uncomprendable voice keeps calling, and I must find it. Who is this? Why are they calling me? I keep searching for the voice and it sounds so close… I gasp as I open my eyes and I feel my body shuddering still in the last throes of the seizures. Now I can finally begin to understand some of the words of the mysterious voice. “Wake up! We have you now.” “It’s OK, It’s OK…” as a hand gently strokes my hair. I can now focus my eyes enough to see a face, just inches from mine. I feel a cold wet wipe swipe my arm and the sting of a needle as it pierces my arm. I see a slight smile of relief as the doctor sees that I am now aware of my surroundings, but is still holding me tightly to keep my still shuddering form from hurting myself. I feel a sting of what feels like a cut above my eye, and several large bruises all over. I sigh as I realize that I can finally control my movements. I lie there for a moment, catching my breath, and the doctor takes the opportunity to let go of me and give some instructions to the nearby nurses. I look around the room briefly and I see that the room is a bizarre mish-mash of resort and hospital. My potted palm is standing next to a steel door with sturdy locks, a hospital bed in front of me with the flowing gauzy curtain drifting in a sea breeze beside me. The nausea and dizziness return in a rush as my eyes roll back in my head. As my mind slides into the dark abyss again, I feel my body jerking again, and I hear “We got to remove the device from her brain. She’s rejecting it and it’s killing her….”

THE END FOR NOW……….

Character development

Sorcerer - They would slowly discover their ability, initially by being able to do simple cantrips by just thinking or small motions with their hands. A strange word would sometimes just pop into their head, and they'd whisper it without even realizing it. Shortly after they start out on the journeymanship, the sorcerer realizes they can do more powerful spells, but they realize that the more powerful the spell the longer it takes to figure it out, and the more practice it takes before they can make it work like they imagine it should.

Ranger - They've hunted all their life practically and know their way around the woods. Has been on hunting forays alone for the last couple years, each time daring to venture farther and farther if he wished. Part of their journey to adulthood is to learn to trust in others. They have always had to rely on mostly themselves to do what needed to be done. Now they have to realize that you can not do everything. Another obstacle that she must overcome is making the guys realize that she does know what she's doing when it comes to the wilderness. She is quite knowledgeable for her age when it comes to surviving in the woods.

Fighter - muscular, slightly above average intelligence, but for the most part very shy. Part of his journey to adulthood is learning to go for what he believes in, to not shy away if it's something that he really believes needs to be done. Before it's over with, they tend to be the leadership of the party, because he thinks wisely before running into battle. If he came to a negotiation before a battle, if he felt he was not a significantly good at negotiating, he would bring someone who would be.

Cleric - a bit ditzy, but essentially they have a good heart. They have to learn that there may be a time for recreation, but if there are important matters at hand, recreation must be placed firmly on hold. Not enough to not enjoy friends and good company, but knowing how to place limits on recreation when there is need to.

Roses of the Dawn... character ideas

Here are a few ideas of the main characters. I'm not sure at this point if I'll be going with 3 or 4 characters to begin with. I might have more characters join later, some or the originals may go away, settle down, etc. But this will follow the core people, basically the fighter and the sorcerer.

The fighter - I'm uncertain at this point on it this character will be male or female. Either way, they will have been raised with only their father. Their father is the village smith. He does the expected type of tasks in a village situation, such as shoe horses, make hinges, makes other tools and implements needed from iron. His child has always been there to help him since they were strong enough to pick up a tool. His child is growing up fast, and the time for his journeymanship is comming soon. The smith will miss his trusted assistant, but it is time to let them go.

The sorcerer - Basically is a skinny little rat that is always into mischief. One day, they notice strange things sometimes happen when they think about doing things. For example, (s)he was going to close the door behind herself once (s)he brought in a basket of vegetables for (her)his mother. They turn and start to reach for the door, and the door starts to close itself. With a little pushing motion, the door does close. At first, it made ya kinda woozy headed, but the more he did that, the more he wanted to do it. Slowly, they found that they could do the door close thing 3 or 4 times before getting light headed. One night, he was having a bad dream, and sat up with a start, and a light was shining above his/her bed. It was no lantern or candle, just a glowing orb, that slowly faded away to nothingness after a few minutes. The more and more he used his magic, the more he wanted it, craved it. It was exausting, but so thrilling at the same time.

The cleric - they are the middle child of the local herbalist and carpenter. Her mother instilled into her and her siblings the love of the woods. They have also been taught a goodly portion their mother's extensive knowledge of herb lore since the day they were born. One day she was out in the forrest just to the east of town, gathering herbs and mushrooms her mother needed. She was in no rush to finish her task on such a beautiful day, and as usual, was just wandering around the wood, looking, learning and exploring the wood around her. She found a wonderfully sunny patch of the softest grass you'd ever see. She was suddenly sooooo drowsy, so she stopped to take just a short nap. Seemingly as soon as she closed her eyes, she was dreaming, and a magnificent creature appeared before her. He told her that she had been called into the service of Obahad Hi, if she chose to accept the calling, that she would only simply need to start wearing this. In his hand, was what seemed like at first a piece of knotted and knarled wood, but upon closer inspection, she saw that there was a face in that wood of the man of the woods, Obadad-hi. If she chose to follow him, go into the woods, back to this same place and she would be instructed on what she needed to know. When she awoke, she first expected it to only be a bizare dream, but yet, in her hand, the piece of gnarled wood was in her fist. At first the girl didn't know what to do. She had always thought that she would just either take up her mother's craft, either helping here or another village nearby, but to become a cleric? Obviously, she chooses to become a cleric, but does she keep doing so? Does she like it? I was also thinking of this girl also possibly having a slight addiction that develops into a deleima. She loves her mushrooms. Her mother also uses the mushrooms, but only when she goes on vision quests on important days, but this girl find that she enjoys the high from the mushrooms more than she should, and she begins to neglect her diety and her friends and family. Part of the story is the consequences of her action. Maybe someone dies that she cares for, or she is maybe even kicked out of the clericy for a while till she straightens up.

The last character, I was planning on having either a ranger or a druid. I thought that that would be someone that the characters could go to to help them survive early on in the wild. I'm leaning toward ranger, and this ranger be apprenticing in leather working and tanning. He hunts, and kills, skins and tans the hide, then makes it into something.

Well, I've got to go. The kids are sick tonight.

My epic... Roses of the Dawn

I have an idea for I guess you'd have to call it an epic novel, or series of novels. Basically it is a story of a group of kids that live in a magical world of swords and sorcery.... too bad they rarely have ever seen a sword, and sorcery? HAH! Half the town thinks it's a storyteller's dream. They've heard of magic, but very few if any have actually seen it.

This area is a fairly remote village called Rosenford, deep in the foothills of (insert country name here). A tradition in this area is that the teens learn the basics of life from their families, then at a certain age, they set out into the world for a time. The teens either go to a neighboring town or city and learn more in a trade they already know some of, or they learn a new trade, or they can even just go out into the big, bad world to see what's out there. This trip is called the (I have yet to name it), and once the children return, they are no longer thought of as children. It is a rite of adulthood that all children do. If they cannot perform this task, they are valued as incompentent and never can claim the benefits of adulthood, like, for example, they will not have a voice to speak and vote in the councils. Sometimes, the children leave and never return, some are gone only a couple weeks, but in general, the children are gone for at least 6-9 months, more often a year. Sometimes they come back with fiancee's, sometimes children in tow. You never know until they return. The children tend to wait till there are at least a couple of others to go with them, for there are many dangers out there. Sometimes, if the child can arrange safe passage, or they are a stubbornly indepenant soul, they venture out on their own. But it is nice having someone to watch your back while traveling.

This idea has been bouncing around in my head for quite some time, and I have a notebook of ideas and things I would like to include. However, I have several questions I'm trying to resolve at this point.
1) Where should I begin the story? Should I start several months or even years before they set out, in order to give background on the characters and the local areas? I'm leaning towards starting the story about a month or so before the set out. That will give me a chapter or so of set up time before the kids head out.
2) What would be my hook for getting them started in the adventuring biz? Why would they keep adventuring instead of just going back to their trades (that they know that they can make at least a small wage at)?
3) How would they get their basic equipment? As in basic arms and armor? I know some they would accumulate piecemeal along the way for a while. At first, they would have to fall back on their craft/profession during the winter months, just to have enough money to survive.
4) What types of creatures could they fight against that a) haven't been overused, (like orcs) and b) wouldn't grossly overpower the beginners that have just begun to learn to fight, probably have little to no armor, and few good weapons, with alot of improvisation for the first while?
5) I know I want at least one female in the group. She is going to start out being a little bit ditzy, a little bit dependant on the guy(s) that she's with, but before it's all said and done, she'll bail them out more than once. But my question here is, should I have a one to one ratio of boys to girls? or more or less? And slightly related to this, is should I have just 4 adventurers? or more or less?
6) Some initial characters that I have been thinking about are: a) a fighter - he, or she maybe?, would be the only child of the local blacksmith. They would be strong because they would be helping their father all day long, between working with the bellows, and learning the smithing trade, they stay lean with well muscled arms. b) sorceress ? - I was thinking this might be the only girl, if there was only a girl. I'm not sure though. In alot of the game groups that I've been in and read about, the girl is kindof defaulted to some sort of magic user. Do I want to change this up? It could also be a guy. Maybe bookwormish, but it could be someone whom is a little more "macho", but they fight agains even wanting to acknowlege their sorcerous abilities. c) cleric? I was thinking that a cleric would be VERY helpful in a low level group like this. The group is basically starting out as 0 levels esseintally, advancing to 1st when they acknowledge to themselves that they do like this kind of stuff. d) I was also thinking of putting either a druid or a ranger type in the mix. The area is a pretty remote village, and I think the druid or ranger would be the most easily fitted for being from this original area.
7) How detailed would I need to go into fleshing out the rest of the village? Only the people with whom the main characters come into contact with regularly? Even then, do I just come up with a name and physical description? or do I go all out and tell how them and the main character has a long standing feud, because they stole an apple when they were 6 and blamed it on the other, and the other got severly punished for it?
8) How detailed to I need to describe the village? and it's surroundings? How do I inject that this is here, the closest village is 2 days walk to the East, or about a day's ride? The mountains really begin about a 2 days ride west of here? They are technically in the foothills of the mountains. In and beyond the mountains they know are all sort of magical beasties, and creatures. The only people that dare venture out to the west are some few brave traders, and some trappers. The trappers know to leave some areas alone, because they are either elf territory, or because of weird things happen for no reason there.
9) What would keep them adventuring? The need to earn quick and easy money? Why wouldn't they just revert back (and stay that way) to their old craft? Would there be a re-occuring evil NPC that would keep them going back for more? Would there be a greater overall task that they need to accomplish?
10) What POV would need to be used? From one of the characters? From varying characters? From a third party/storyteller/narrator? Should I show from the baddies' point of view?
11) I'm trying to come up with ideas that haven't been done a million times, but it something new and refreshing. For example, I would like to put a focus on the kids growing up into adults, with the stresses and the thrills of the adventuring being the enzyme of their assention into adulthood. For example, I don't want to start the book off with a group of orcs or similar attacking one of the party member's families farms. That was done in WoT series, it was done in Eragon series, and even done in a couple others that I am not going to look the titles up on at this moment. I don't want to follow the same gender/class rules that dominate alot of the gaming groups. It's not going to be an all male group, and it's not going to have the males being all macho and manly, and the girls being girlie and needing saving. And also, the guys might want to go whoring, but if they do, they will be likely to either find themselves needing a cure disease cast upon them, or they might either wake up naked and broke with all their possesions stolen, or wake up in an alleyway with the crap beat out of them and their money gone.

I have so many ideas, but I just want my story to be different. I want to show the world that females can be strong characters, but not overwhelming characters. That things do happen between the characters while they sit around at night. They might just sit and eat, but then again, one might just take a tumble with another character.

More to come... but I've got to go get some sleep.

K@

I know nothing of love

I know nothing of love,

The kind that makes your heart sail like a dove,

I once thought that it was true,

But I now know that was nothing that new.

I don’t know anything of love.



I know something of lust,

It’s the thing that drives us not to trust,

On broken promises and lies, ever when it's unwise,

A new way to get their high,

I know something of lust.


K@ March 6, 2008


I know it needs work, but this is just an inital draft.