Unraveling The Past 1st Edition

g n i l e v a Unr ast P e h T Let gooooooooooo

A Book by Actual Students

This Edition of Unraveling the Past is published exclusively for IDK and Things Inc, Toronto Ontario PRINTED AUGUST 17TH 1376

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced stored in or introduced to a retrieval system, or transmitted by any other means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the express written permission of both the copywrite owner and the above publisher of this book.

PRINTED AND BOUND IN SIDNAR

ISBN: 666 666 6666 6665

WRITTEN BY Colena Shan Eesta Liang Ethan Zhang Marysa Liu Mitchell Nathan Chen Zhang Rachael Rassie Leung Zhou Terrence Sophia Deng Deng Vivian Liu Xuan He Wang With Special Thanks to Carina Pei Eliana Li

Forward

BY MATT THOMPSON This story was written by an absoluterly wonderful class of Grade 5 and 6 english literature students during the CoVid-19 lockdown. We constructed a story together over several weeks of online classes and at times let dice decide the outcomes of some narrative decisions. Students wrote feverishly after each session to document their characters achievements and hardships. What follows is a story we are very proud of.

TO

Our Parents THANK YOU FOR ALWAYS SUPPORTING US

CONTENTS Welcome to Sartoga The Eve of The Seven Disaster at the South Gate Meeting at the Market Wheel of Woe The Trial Ozmo the Merchant Mage The Enchanter's Tower New Home, New Journey The Cursed Swamp Still in the Swamp!

The Heroes Return The Siege of Sidnar

Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8 Ch.9 Ch.10 Ch.11 Ch.12 Ch.13

Welcome to Sartoga CHAPTER 1

Xuan He

Xuan had signed yet another bounty note. It was his job. This time, he was going to the swamp, a murky wasteland of muck. He was not excited about it. But, as they always say, a deal is a deal, so he had already packed his bags. In theory, the rest would be easy. He would just follow the rest of the group, and catch the criminal.

The bounty for this mission was odd. He was hunting a person named “Gage� He was not known to be dangerous. He was last seen in the swamp, ragged, and probably wasn't a threat.

That was the weird part. Why hunt a stray? What would a stray know? He thought about how this would work the whole way to the swamp.

The team of bounty hunters arrived at the swamp, looking around, looking for an old cobblestone mansion, built out of two supporting pillars of wood, which has decayed between the years, making the house unstable.

That proved hard, because of the abundance of wood structures, and only wood structures. The only stone appeared in wells, sheds, and small ruins. That is when they spotted it: an old building, withered through the ages, battered by the rain, and, most importantly, made of stone...

By : Mitchell Hi! I'm a red Dragonborn bounty hunter. I wear a black cape and medieval armour. I use my magic to capture or knock out the criminal if facing. I'm very strong at magic. I think of a spell and try to cast it. If it's successful, then boom. I used the spell I wished to cast. I can cast a fireball, I can teleport, I can heal other members of the team, etc. I can do all that and also I’m very energetic, strong and brave. I catch runaway criminals no matter what. That’s what keeps me motivated. It's also what a bounty hunter is... It’s not safe to have criminals running everywhere. So it's my job to chase the criminal and capture it. I like it when I catch a criminal. I feel like a hero when I do.

Welcome to Sartoga character. By: Vivian

Background​: bounty hunter

Personality​: Confident, Curious and Independent

Trait​: charm

Race​: Elf girl

Terrence

My character is a very strong and powerful Ancient Hero. His name is Jack. But Jack rhymes with hack. Oh, but he doesn't hack OK! But, he loves to talk, defend, fight, and hike. Also, he is guided mostly by an elf. Jack doesn’t really feel right when he sees animals, hears silence, feels heat, and does slow paced motions.

Jack is very feared from heights. He is cheerful, energetic, kind, fit, and strong. Oh, you can’t forget that he is humorous. My character is made out of all above.

Terrence

​My

Character

Name: Jack

Likes: fight, Hike.

Dislikes: Heat

Traits: Energetic, Humorous

Fear: Height

Background: Ancient Hero

Race: Guided, Elf

My character is a very strong and powerful Ancient Hero. His name is Jack. But Jack rhymes with hack. Oh, but he doesn't hack OK! But, he loves to talk, defend, fight, and hike. Also, he is guided mostly by an elf. Jack doesn’t really feel right when he sees animals, hears silence, feels heat, and does slow paced motions.

He is cheerful, energetic, kind, fit, and strong. Oh, you can’t forget that he is humorous. My character is made out of all above.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Bonjour tout le monde. I'm starting this journal to note everything that is happening around me.

I come from a long line of French elves. I’ve lived with my grand-maman, Antoinette, and my grand-papa, Simon, for as long as I can remember. My parents are always busy at work. So engrossed in their assignments that they don’t bother to acknowledge my existence. I’m practically invisible to most of the people around me. The only few people who actually make an effort to recognize me are my grandparents and my friends.

I’m 19 years old and I work as a bounty hunter. I am doing well in my job and I’m pretty successful. That is because most people do not pay attention to what I’m doing most of the time so I use that as an advantage and quietly creep up to the person I’m aiming to catch. When I was little, my grandparents would have to go out to the supermarket to purchase the groceries. Since we live far away from the nearest villages, they are usually gone for many days, sometimes even weeks. During these long

hours, I devote my time to learning new things. You can say that I’m incredibly independent. I've taught myself how to do activities such as baking, cleaning, reading and writing, albeit I’m not too good at cooking.

I’ve learned how to paint, knit, sew and even taught myself how to do archery. Sure, I’ve smashed some vases before but at least in the end, I mastered the skill. Actually, to tell the truth, I’ve smashed multiple expensive and ancient artifacts that are lying around the house. How can you blame me? It’s not my fault that Grand-maman Antoinette doesn’t keep them away from me. Far away from me if you really want it to stay unshattered. There is probably no one object that I’ve handled that came out of my hands in one piece. You guessed it! I’m not very proud to say that I’m incredibly clumsy when it comes to handling delicate and precious items. I haven't told her about the many objects I’ve destroyed over the years yet, which is probably most of them... and I don’t plan on telling her any time soon. If I did tell her, she would have said something along the line of ‘ you mustn’t go around shooting arrows at people. It is very unladylike! ‘ or something like ‘ that is not the way I raised you young lady! You have to start acting responsibly or there will be nothing left for me to do than to punish you! ‘ In that high pitched and squeaky voice of

hers. She has quite the thick French accent. I sometimes can’t understand her correctly. I know you’re probably thinking that she is right and all but I still fully believe in my statement that not every lady has to be like a prissy, pink princess, raised to be perfect in all ways possible.

Anyways, I speak, read and write a few different languages. Four fluent languages to be exact. To make things clear, I taught myself these languages. Over the years, I've learned English, French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. How did I do it you ask? Well, there’s a humongous room that has millions of books that are stacked upon tall shelves that reach up to the ceiling! I don’t exactly find this room appealing or intriguing since reading is not really something I prefer to do during my free time. I can definitely do it well but it’s still not an activity that I find myself tempted to do. But since I had no other option to learn more languages, and because I really had nothing else very interesting to do, I reluctantly did so. Though I sat in the library for hours, miserable hours mind you, reading and flipping through the pages of long, thick and old books, I think it was totally worth it. Now I can insult other people without them knowing what I’m saying! Not that I plan to do so but whatever. At least I can do it if I want to.

The library room is really gloomy and stuffy. Not much colour is found within the walls. That was the case until I decided to paint it! I am extremely proud to say that I painted an entire room, from top to bottom, all by myself. I remember it like it was yesterday…

The day I made this marvellous decision was just another completely ordinary day like any other. I was baking cookies in the kitchen while knitting a new jumper for my collection of knitted clothing. I was sitting in the living room, with no care in the world. I was absentmindedly humming a tune. I had this feeling that I was forgetting something really important, but I didn’t think more about it. Still humming while knitting the sleeve of the jumper, a faint smell of smoke seeped into my nostrils.

Suddenly, something crossed my mind. The cookies! I had forgotten about those delicious cookies! I dropped my knitting utensils immediately and ran as fast as I could towards the kitchen. When I entered the room, there was smoke everywhere. I threw open the oven door and frantically peered inside. The smoke quickly poured out of the oven and right into my face. I coughed, gagged and fanned at the air so that I could see clearly. And there it was. The tray of burnt cookies. I made a swift move to take them out of the oven but ended up getting a big burn mark on my hands. I had

forgotten to put on the oven mittens again! Again you ask? Well I burnt my hands when I had forgotten to put on my oven mittens while I was baking a cake. And when I was baking brownies, and cupcakes, and macaroons, and apple pie, and turkey, and bread, and pizza… Yeah, that list could go on forever.

Anyways, I frantically went to search through the cupboards, looking for my mittens. By the time I got back with my hands safely within the oven mittens, the cookies had turned to ash. I turned off the oven and threw the poor treats away. I was really hoping to eat something that I made by myself once in my life. As you might have guessed, I haven’t successfully cooked or baked anything the past few years that I’ve been trying. Whatever food I would try to make, it either ended up undercooked, just plainly disgusting, soggy, too hard for your teeth, or, like this one, burnt. I do think that I’m cursed to never be able to cook a proper and good meal. I can’t even make a decent salad and that’s only some type of green and salad dressing mixed together! Though my grand-maman says that one day, I’ll make a scrumptious meal, I completely doubt it.

Anywho, I decided to go to the library. I didn’t exactly want to go but I guess I have no choice but to go do some research there. I’m determined to make something good to eat… anything.

I made my way down the hall where the library was located. The halls were dimly lit by candles and had a spooky feeling to it. There were many doors along the walls of the hallway, each leading to a different guest room that wasn’t used for many years and won’t be used for many more years to come. Each and every one of my footsteps echoed through the long and dusty halls, the candle’s light flickering every now and then. Changing my walking speed to be a little bit faster , I finally reached the big door I was searching for. I pushed the large door open. It let out a squeak before opening completely. Inside the room were, as I stated, shelves that were piled with books of all sorts and languages. I searched the room, looking for the section I came here to find. Searching for quite a bit of time, I finally found the section I was looking for… the baking and cooking section. There were cookbooks that towered over my head.

I started to skim through books until I found the books that really help.

I took the baking books in my hand and stood up to walk over to the door.

I abruptly stopped when I saw my painting supplies scattered on the floor

near a table that was close to the plain, old wall. Walking towards it, and reaching a hand to grasp the objects in my hands. I looked up to find the bare wall that was staring back at me. So ancient that it could have gone in a museum and fit perfectly well with the ancient artifacts that are found inside. The paints looked so colourful beside the ugly faded yellow colour that I made up my mind that I needed to give the walls a little makeover. Fine, not a little… a great big one. I decided that the cook books could wait. Sitting on the wooden floor, I started to paint little pictures onto my new and blank canvas. After hours of painting circles, squares and numerous other creatively beautiful patterns, my stomach started making loud rumbling sounds as if it were whining that it was incredibly hungry. I stood up and started making a beeline towards the kitchen. When I finally made it to the room I had been searching for, I opened the refrigerator door to look for some leftovers from the night before. Since cooking was not one of my strong suits, I decided not to risk attempting to bake or cook something today. I was just not in the mood to clean up after myself when I ruined the food that I was cooking. Anyways, I microwaved some leftover soup from last night and wolfed it down as quickly as possible so that I could go and finish my fine work of art.

Running back to the familiar big door, I pushed it open and went straight back to work.

After painting for many hours and endlessly painting the walls, the muscles in my arms were aching really painfully so I halted my work and went outside for a stroll in the yard. I needed fresh air badly after sitting in a stuffy room that smells of ancient papers.

Keep in mind that at the time, I still didn’t learn how to use a bow and arrow.

I walked down the hall and to the back door that led to my destination.

Opening the heavy door before me, the sun’s bright light was scintillating more brilliantly than usual. The sky was a beautiful light blue with fluffy white clouds dancing about. It was slightly windy which made the trees and the other plants sway around gracefully. Sitting on the trees were majestic birds of all colours that chirped in the most melodic ways. There was a sweet smell coming from the flowers around me. It was fairly lively outside. I decided to go explore the huge shed, that was the size of a small house, because I’ve never actually seen the inside of it.

I marched towards the small structure and pushed open the small door.

There was dust flying everywhere and the place looked deserted and not

used for quite a long while. Opening cupboards was quite a struggle because all the door handles had high security door locks secured to them.

After making numerous attempts to unlock the locks, and tragically failing, I decided to explore the walls that had peg boards covering every inch of it. There, I found an old bow that was enveloped in dust. When I picked it up, the sheet of filth engulfed my hand and now my hand was a dirty grey colour. I went to the sink near the back of the room to wash the soot off from my hands. The wooden floorboards creaked with every step I took. After washing my hands to clean off the grime, I went to search for some paper towels to dry off my still wet hands. I searched both sides of the area but didn’t find any Kleenexes. But what I did manage to find was a set of arrows that, I assume, come with the bow. I took both of the objects from the shelf and went out of the dimly lit space.

I set the two objects on the grass and went into the house to find something that we didn’t need anymore to act as a target.

I came back outside with a bowl of fruit in hand, ready to try and shoot the fruit inside with the help of my bow & arrows. Readying myself to shoot the first arrow at the juicy green apple that sat on top of an old tree stub that was cut down a long time ago. I pulled the bow string and

aimed at the apple. Letting go of the string, I watched the dart soar through the air and shoot right through the small apple. Juice squirted across the lawn as I congratulated myself for getting the arrow to fly through the apple with ease on my first try. I guess I’m just really talented so it came naturally to me. Spending many hours trying to perfect my archery skill can really drain you of all your energy. It sure did that to me. By the time I went back inside to get some rest, my arms ached because of the many times I had to pull back the bow string and then let it go, and because of how heavy the bow was. My knees hurt because of the numerous times I had to kneel down to pick up an arrow for the bow.

After that experience, I started practicing to no end, how to aim the arrow correctly and how to get your target every time. I had also finished painting the library so now it is very colourful and glamourous. I am extremely proud of myself for accomplishing these things all by myself...

I do hope that I wrote enough for today… my grand-maman Antoinette and my grand-papa Simon are back from their long journey to the supermarket.

I’ve gotta run!

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

Rachael Zhou

Hello, I am Alitura. I am an elf from Sidnar.

I like nature and animals. There isn’t much of that in the city, so I often go to the forest to find them. It’s peaceful in the forest.

I don’t like to go to public or noisy places. They are very crowded when I go there, so I don’t go there often unless it is mandatory.

I am the youngest child in my family. I have one older brother and two cousins.

Lately, there has been a cult, known as the Cult of Broderick. It is a cult that is based on a belief that when Broderick put on Bane's crown, he became Bane. I'll tell you the story.

So basically what happened is this city called Pentos worshipped a god named Bane. They worshipped him because he gave them good fortunes, won them a lot of battles, blah blah blah.

Then the city decided that they were tired of worshipping Bane and decided to kill him. Weird, right?

This group, Roderick amongst them, went up to wherever Bane lived, found him, and killed him. Roderick then put on Bane's crown, which turned him i​ nto ​Bane. He then started killing the rest of the group, which killed him in turn. When Broderick's body fell from the sky, it smashed the city of Pentos.

And that's it. Now, now, enough of this. Time for the story.

My Character

By Marysa Liu

Likes: Animals, magic, plants,

Character Infomation By: Marysa Liu!!!

Race/looks: My character is a female elf that is 157.48cm which, for an elf is very short in height.

She has light brown hair that goes up to her legs with hazel eyes.

Her skin tone is very light as the colour of snow, her ears small but very pointy.

She may look 12 or so, but elves are immortal so her actually age is 18!

Personality: My character is playful and can think quickly, throughout a tough situation she will always be there to cheer you up! Even though she may seem all cheerful outside when it comes to the real deal she will be as concentrated as if her life depended on it (it probably will), she is also very good at acting.

Likes: She loves animals of all sorts and usually gets along with them all the time.

Magic is one of her favourite things in the world, it fascinates her very much every time she either does it or sees it.

Art also fascinates my character very much, from the natural art of nature to the art of magic runes.

Cooking/baking, my character loves to make all sorts of things in the kitchen. The main reason is that she loves experimenting with the different tastes of different foods and seeing how two completely foreign flavours taste together.

Dislikes: Bitter foods or drinks, she hates the weird tingle after she eats something bitter so she often tries and avoids them.

Water, she will touch it if she has to but if not she likes to avoid getting wet because she hates how her hair gets stuck together and how it takes hours to get dry again (showers are an exception).

Ability: Magic About their birthplace: My character was born in a medium-sized village in the Gal’Dara Mountains, it is called Pulchra Oppidum​. There are mostly elves living in the village, most of the children are taught to use magic and only so many people in the village master it (it takes a long time to master it). In her town, there are a lot of small bakeries with all sorts of great foods and treats which is what got my character into baking! In Pulchra Oppidum there are beautiful flowers and fruit trees surrounding the place, there are many animals too. The town smells like pastries but if you go to the edge of the town and go to one of the meadows it will smell like amazing tropical flowers, sweet fruit and fresh mint. There are special geo rocks you can find near the river near the meadow at the edge of town, they are usually used for jewelry which is worn by almost everyone in town.

Trait: My character is just another regular elf though her parents are ​Politicians. Because her parents are politicians she is resected by all. My character still wants to go out on adventures somewhere far from home though.

My character will be a Dragonborn,it has a lot of personalities. My parents died in a dark alleyway and I was right next to them and I am a bounty hunter, I have been trying to find the person who killed my parents for 17 years and bring him to justice. My personalities are I would help anyone who needs my help and I always love to work with people, I hate people who joke around. I am a good person I WILL DO ANYTHING TO BRING SOMEONE TO JUSTICE, ANYTHING.

đ&#x;˜…

đ&#x;˜…).

Yolo ( ), this is my creative writing assignment homework for June 3 I guess.

Ok let’s start‌ (why do I hate this) this is now starting to be my character talking ( -Eesta

đ&#x;˜ˆ

Hello, the names Sora (I don’t know why), I like using a bow and arrow, OR kicking people in the legs (because I’m evil ), I hate being told what to do, and being friends with idiots, I really don’t want to share my motives‌ I have a soft voice, and blond hair.

My traits, well, does being aggressive count? (I don’t really know.)

My background as a politician sucks, everyone’s scared of me for one, and I don’t even want this job! Do you think people are scared of me because my race is an elf or the fact that I’m powerful? Here’s the thing, a normal person, is freer than politicians like myself, ‘sigh’, any day now I’d think I’d love something fun to happen, maybe even dangerous who cares, well I for one certainly don’t, any things better than a lame job, of course with this much power won't it be fun?

My answer is no! I mean, come one! I’m an elf, for Pete’s sake! (Bangs head on table) auugggggggggggggggggg!!! I then asked myself why not be a bounty hunter. I mean I’m fast, but no, just no I have no idea why, but just no.

I need to say that I have no idea who my parents are and if they are alive, they went missing when I was a kid.

The last thing I remember them saying to me was telling me to do my homework!

Rude...

đ&#x;˜’

đ&#x;˜

The Eve of The Seven CHAPTER 2

Eliana

7/2/2020

Looking up at the old and crooked building standing in front of me, I didn’t know what to think of.

I couldn’t help but just stare blankly at it, as I tried to swallow any sign of emotions down my throat . I’ve spent most of my life cooped up under the explosion of stars that composed of my bedroom ceiling, and I never intended nor thought I would end up having to leave it. My mom would always read me stories about the outside world, and I promised every single day she could read me a story that I would end up visiting those places when I became of age. However, my mother would just painfully look at me and make me promise I would be careful if I did. I smiled ever so slightly as I recalled the memory, but it faded almost instantly when I remembered that could have only happened in the past. Shortly after I turned 5, my mother ended up having to leave for a reason she didn’t tell me. Of course, as naive as I was back then, I didn’t think much of it, and it was a decision I regretted sorefully. She never came back, as she was burned to the stake by the humans. I’ve held a grudge ever since, and my father is terrified of me ever leaving for the outside world. As a result, I never really left the house if it wasn’t for a good cause, and that’s said with the permission of my father. As I was thinking over the past few events, I felt a little nudge in my shoulder and I realized it was my dad, smiling painfully at me while asking what I thought of the place. I didn’t say anything, and just decided to head inside with a box of carry-ons tucked under my armpit. The moment I stepped in, the smell of old dusty furniture attacked my sense of smell. Grimacing, I put the box on the ground and decided to look around while waiting for the movers, the smell following me wherever I went. I ended up going upstairs, the sound of creaking floorboard haunting me on the way up. As I arrived at the top, a strange cover board caught my attention. When I opened it, there was a strange handle with weird carvings in it, as if they were from ancient times. Hesitantly,

Xuan He

The group arrived at the swamp fairly early. Of course, that happens all the time. Our target was a man named Gage. We moved along, looking for the mansion the note said he was in. The description said it was a large stone, one, but there were ​no​ stone structures. We did find an abundance of stone wells and sheds, though.

Eventually, we found the stone mansion. The fences were run-down, and many cobwebs were hanging from the roof. It also seemed too small for a mansion. It had collapsed on its side, flattening the entrance. From what I could see, it was quite unstable.

We walked to the front door, and tensed. Ethan seemed to have spotted something on the second floor(Which had a giant hole in it, by the way). “What?” I said, “There is nothing there!” He pointed at a cabinet stand. There was a man in shawls. He seemed to be watching us. “Do you think that is Gage?” I asked. He responded, “Probably. He matches the description,” Ethan then climbed the structure, sneakily moving up the back, and sneaked behind the man. He held up the rope, but before he could strike, the man bolted forwards, with panter-like speed, and ran. We chased him, but in vain. He seemed so quick, it kind of looked like he was going ​through​ the walls and furniture.

He jumped over a cabinet, used a fallen chandelier as a jump pad and jumped into the next room. We kicked aside books and had a very tough time not tripping. Gage was prepared, though. He was like a monkey, because he had jumped most of the way, clinging on furniture.

During the chase, he had also lost a shoe.

We rounded downstairs, following the sound of his frantic running.

We jumped upstairs, avoiding holes and obstacles in the way. Gage was too fast, though.

We eventually lost his trail, after he jumped down the building.

“You think he is dead?” I asked. Rassie said, “Probably not. He could run so fast, do you think he would not handle a fall?”

We studied the surrounding buildings, but still didn’t find him.

Besides, Gage was probably smart enough to dive in the ocean.

So, we extended our search into the side of the swamp, to where it met the ocean.

The eve of the seventh

Carina Pei

“It was another normal day...oh wait, today is the day for the elections!”

I wake up in a rush to get ready. My family always made a big deal over this but honestly, I think it’s kind of boring. You just sit in a room with random people you don’t like who are speaking. Only one person that I know feels the same. One of my sisters, Aubree.

Regardless, that’s besides my point. I’m very talkactive for an elf, as you may notice by reading this. Back to the story anyways.

As I head downstairs I bump into one of my brothers who tells me not to go downstairs. I promised I wouldn't but curiosity took over. As he left, I sneaked downstairs just to hear my parents arguing. They always did! Me and my siblings would hide upstairs and try to ignore it when it happens. But they were arguing on the day of the elections! They never did because they thought that the elections were super important or something. Anyways, as I sneak back upstairs I check the time…it’s 9:36. Wait...we are going to be late! I tell all my siblings so we head downstairs to tell our parents.

We lived far from where the elections happen. We kind of panicked so we had to go fast. My parents continued arguing on the way. We were late by just the slightest because my father was speeding. Apparently no one in my family wanted to be late. Except for me and Aubree because we didn’t even want to go. Oh well, there. Another boring election with random people we don’t like or don’t care about. They all seemed a little silly to get elected but nobody cares I guess. As long as we can actually stand them being around for over 2 days, they are fine. No matter how dumb they are.

The elections were finally over! I almost fell asleep. I vaguely remember an impolite old man storming out or something. Maybe I was dreaming...

By:Vivian ​( I ran out of things to write)

Hi there! My name is Vivian and I am an Elf. I live in Sidnar where it is very merry but I gotta say, sometimes it is pretty messy.I work as a bounty hunter therefore, I have to catch criminals to earn money. It is very dangerous sometimes since the criminals carry weapons around and steal artifacts. Sidnar is full of bounty hunters which is very stressful since you have to catch all of them. Well it's the eve of the seven and it is very exciting. Personally, I love festivals, you get a break from work, you get to eat yummy food, and also, you can talk with all of your friends! My favorite festival is the festival of the Seven which is coming up very soon! I am so excited anyway, my time is taken I have to go work byee!

By : Mitchell I think that we can have another ministry of Sidnar. I think that the place we tried to catch that criminal smelt like a dump truck.

It feels very important for me because there are only like 5 bounty hunters in the city and I'm one of them. The swamp looked like a flooded city (because it is) and has an eerie sound since nobody goes there that often. That is kind of scary when you have to go there. I think that Baldwin can be a little quieter and more polite. Right now he’s a shouting and a temper maniac. If he treated people nicer, more people would probably like him. I wonder how Baldwin got elected in the first place‌

Terrence

As you should know, I am an Ancient Hero and an elf. Although society is a big one, I am sure I can place myself in it. I feel that I should be placed about the mid-higher level because I am a hero, which means I protect people. I am a person that has an impact on people in Sidnar that is not like me. Also, I think that as an Ancient Hero, I am successful enough to be in society. I feel that Sidnar is a place that is full of puzzles, mysteries, problems, and lot’s of traps. What I mean by traps are those things that you need to go through or you’re stuck. Sidnar overall is a place that many educated and people that can face challenges should be.

Rassie-

Cher journal,

Je suis enfin revenu. I’m back again to report to you what has happened since the last time I wrote in the journal, since it’s been such a long time.

Creeping in an old mansion with water seeping into your clothes is not fun.

Add that to searching for a criminal and trying to be quiet at the same time and you’ve gotten yourself into a difficult situation.

Why am I writing in the middle of a tough mission you ask? Well, I just have this feeling that something interesting and worth telling is going to happen on this expedition. I’m not exactly sure why I have this feeling but I just have it.

Anyways, we’re creeping in a mansion that’s been abandoned, like every building in this neighborhood. This neighborhood used to have been incredibly expensive to live in. Rich families would do so much just to live in this area. But due to the community being far too close to the endless sea, people have fled to live somewhere safer. This has resulted in the neighborhood being a den of crime because police officers don’t usually search anywhere here. The roads were flooded with salty water

and everything looked as if it were dead in one way or another. Some houses have completely fallen and some just looked strangely gloomy and unstable. The objects around us gave off a stench so stinky, you can’t imagine. I was obviously breathing from my mouth because I believe that I would have passed out because of the smell if I weren’t doing so. I was with my fellow bounty hunter group, looking for a man who goes by the name Gage. We were searching this area for obvious reasons. If you don’t know, when criminals look for somewhere to go into hiding, this is usually the place you would find them hiding in. Which is why we are searching this neighborhood for Gage first.

In the mission contract we had been given, it said that this man, Gage, was not a dangerous man nor did it say he did anything wrong. I suppose he’s just another criminal. But the strange thing is, the papers told us to bring the whole crew. That sparked my curiosity because if he weren’t highly dangerous, why would we be commanded to bring the whole lot of us? Maybe I’m just overthinking things?

Anywho, I look up to the second floor from where we’re hidden, and see a man behind a desk that looks like it hasn’t been used for a while.

I turn around to look at my friends but see that they don’t exactly know that the person we’re looking for is right in front of us. Well, this is going to be a long journey.

I look at the only other girl, Vivian, and thankfully, she seems to know what’s on my mind and what I’m looking at. I very slowly, start to crawl up to where the lad is standing while carefully untying the knot of the rope in my hands. I look back one more time and see that Vivian has already pointed out to the boys that the man was right in front of them.

Fortunately, they seem to get the message.

Looking back, I realize that I’m right behind the criminal and he seems to not notice my presence. I get ready to lunge, adrenaline rushing through my veins.

However, when I pounce at him, he miraculously escapes my grip and I am sent hurtling into the desk. My back crashes into it and I shriek in pain. Head throbbing and still in a state of pain and shock, I hurry up and pick myself up to run after everyone else. One of the boys, Ethan, grabbed onto his foot but ended up pulling his shoe off instead of stopping him from running away. There was a splash that echoed from the ground

below as the man that is supposed to be Gage, goes running away, further and further.

Now that he is in the light of the sun, I can see Gage properly. He is dressed like a businessman, with his formal blue suite and fancy shoes.

Yet after some more intense observation, his clothing looks old and tattered.

It looked as if it was the only good clothing he owned so he wore them every hour of every day, of every week, month and year. I assume he might have been rich at some time but wasn’t rich for a long time after.

Bringing myself back to earth, I follow my crew mates to chase Gage, swiftly darting through the water and onto the pavement after him.

I need to run… I’ll update you on further events but now, I need to catch up with everyone else.

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

Rachael Zhou

5/7/3/20

The Eve Of The Seven As the town square began to fill, I shifted uncomfortably on a chair. I was waiting for the ceremony to start, waiting to see who would be on the council this year. As I scanned the crowd for my friends, I noticed that the Archeon, the leader of the city, seemed subdued, unlike last year, when he had been smiling and cheerful, eager to share the new members of the council. The old members of the council, the ones that the Archeon chose to stay, seemed upset too.

“Welcome to this year’s Ceremony of the Ministers,” the Archeon said, “I have the pleasure of introducing the new members of our council.” He cleared his throat again and continued: “Nathan, the Minister of Transportation.” A bulky Dragonborn strolled across the stage and shook the Archeon’s hand forcefully but respectfully after receiving a certificate, also leaving the Archeon in a state of pain.

“Eesta, the Minister of Public Health.”, said the Archeon in a voice that suggested he was still not quite recovered from his previous ordeal.

A young elf pranced across the stage, shook the Archeon’s hand and took the certificate from him. The Archeon seemed grateful that he had not suffered another bout of discomfort.

“Finigan, the Minister of Sanitation,” the Archeon said, who seemed to have regained his sombre mood. A short and stubby hobbit waddled towards the stage, stretched out his hand, and shook the Archeon’s hand, also receiving the accompanying certificate. He went off the stage to clear the way for the last Minister.

The Archeon started again: “Baldwin, Minister of Industry.”

His voice was drowned out by the unmistakable sound of marching. A human, who had evidently woken up on the wrong side of the bed, stormed across the stage, nearly yanked the Archeon’s arm off, snatched the certificate, and murderously glared at the audience.

A frightened Archeon sputtered “T-thank y-y-y-you B-Ba-Bald-Baldwin. Th-th-this concludes the ce-ce-ceremony. Th-thank y-you everyone f-for c-c-coming.” I drew in a sharp breath, wondering what else would happen on this strange day.

Baldwin stomped off, but not before booting Finigan, who was disappointingly looking at his papers on sanitation. “Aaaaaahh!” cried the hobbit while tumbling off the side of the stage, his ministry papers flying into the crowd. Baldwin stopped. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there,” he said in a voice that could never be described as sincere. This caused a wave of whispers to ripple through the crowd.

“You know, I’ve heard rumours that he wants a third ministry title” murmured one of my friends. People were muttering on that strange event and the Archeon looked disturbed. The hobbit looked injured as he collected his papers on his new job.

The square started filtering and everyone left.

What my character thinks about Sidnar By: Marysa Liu If you would to ask me about my feelings towards the city of Sidnar I would say it’s a great place and it has great people that I would like to befriend, but of course, I much prefer my home town. Sidnar isn’t exactly the safest place seeing that at the edge of the city there is a swamp I believe, I’ve heard from many villagers living in Sidnar that a lot of criminals live in the swamp, but that just makes Sidar more interesting right? Ok, well The only reason I came to Sidnar was to look for Adventure, something new to do you know? There are more festivals in this place like this upcoming one called The eve of the Seven, I’ve been told stories about what they celebrate at this event and it’s great that I actually get to celebrate it for the first time. I love how in Sidnar there are all sorts of people from humans to hobbits, it makes me feel like I belong and plus I’ve made so many friends whall I was here!

My father was waiting for me at home while I was running a few errands, if I could put what I was doing in such terms. My father became quite poor when my mother passed away, leading to the reason I had to leave my old one, and I had to learn how to deal with it by self-teaching myself on how to steal. He ended up recommending the possibility when the situation only became worse, and at first I was completely against it. However, after a few days passed, I started to become more and more intrigued by how much it could profit. I ended up having to be obligated to do so, whether I wanted to or not considering how little of money we had. I got caught a few times in the beginning, but none of those fails led to a wanted poster of me, to my relief. While I was in the act of stealing a few apples, I realized that a middle-aged woman was staring at me with wide eyes. Clearly, she wasn’t used to seeing such a thing. Startled almost as much as she seemed to be, I looked at her thoroughly enough for her to keep her mouth shut on the subject. With a small sigh, I ended up leaving the place, a bag full of stolen food on my shoulder. I intended to walk right back home, which was more ideal for criminals like me, but I decided to have a stop by the fountain. As I was about to sit down on the bench, I had happened to have startled a couple who were sitting near. They were humans, to my discomfort, and it didn’t help with the fact that they were looking at me as if I were the most intriguing creature they’ve seen. They ended up leaving when I looked back at them, and I didn’t complain. I’ve been holding a grudge with the humans ever since my mom died, as they were the reason why. I stood up and looked at my reflection in the water, a few shimmering coins ever so slightly ruining the ripples showing my face. I looked quite tired for a 16 year old girl, as bags were hanging at the bottom of my eyes. As I was on the intention of leaving the place, I saw a weird looking man stomping furiously through the crowd of people. He wore very tattered clothes and happened to have lost a shoe. He looked ridiculous, if I had to put the scene in a nutshell, and he ended up disappearing as he walked further away from where I was standing. I decided to head home, as there was already enough disturbance for a day.

CEREMONY Sophia Deng I’m a ​dragon​, not a​ dragonborn​. I tell this to no one, because it would bring too many questions. I’m a Clan Dragon. Clan Dragons have Clans of course. We are defined by the color and what the horn is made of. Clan Dragons, unlike other dragons, shed horns. I am a hybrid of all the Clans, which there are sixty-four.. I’ve been selling little rings made of my horns at a huge price. Most dragons have human avatars. When a Clan Dragon turns into human form, the horns come off and now you're a human. Everything is so tedious in human form. As being a dragon a lot of my senses are duller but still sharper than an average human. To turn back into a dragon all you have to do is put on any set of horns, it can be anyone’s, and do a simple spell.

Because of this, anyone can turn into a dragon with only a set of horns! None of the other races know this so we are not yet hunted. A cool thing about Clan Dragon horns is that they can purify or corrupt things according to what Clan they are in.I left my home because the Clans have started to hunt hybrids. Hybrids have an advantage of having a range of spells and a whole different variety of weapons and scales. Now I am in Sidnar. Even though it’s worse than the tiefling towns I’ve been to, it will do for a short while I guess (meaning a few weeks ). Today I went to the ceremony. Normally ceremonies are ​boring,​ but this one was different. A woman first announces the new archeon whose name is Gideon. Then the new archeon starts to announce the new ministers. The Gideon appoints a hobbit as the minister of sanitation, a dragonborn as the minister of transportation ( I’ve always thought dragonborns are funny, they don’t have wings, how do they travel? ). Also an elf is appointed minister of public health. After, a bulky (​fat)​ person storms up the stage. The archeon appoints the man, Baldwin, two positions. I stared in shock, no one had ever been appointed two positions no matter how strong or weak he or she was! After being appointed two positions, Baldwin looked at the archeon expectantly. The archeon showed no sign of seeing the weird look as he said “ Now to end the ceremony, please get ready for the Eve of the Seventh!” I get this weird feeling that the eve of the seventh will be a very bad day. As the newly appointed ministers go off the stage, Baldwin hisses to the archeon “This isn’t over” and storms down the stage. As he storms down he kicks the minister of sanitation, the hobbit. The unlucky hobbit just manages to hang onto a railing to prevent him from falling down the stairs. How rude! A minister should never do that, even one that’s been newly appointed! Later as I went back to my house I was thinking about that weird Baldwin. Why

had he said this isn’t over? Should I investigate further or decide the mystery would be better left unsolved? Is Baldwin even a serious problem? Maybe I should go to the library to see if they have some history books. Maybe Baldwin is in one of the books. I changed my course abruptly and headed for the library.

Special note all this is happening from my character's perspective.

-Eesta Ok this is me sitting in an office with my boss and two other candidates watching Baldwin yelling at our boss.

Let’s rewind a little, Hello I’m Eesta and I just got elected as a politician of health. I’m on stage and it’s soooo boring!

Just standing there watching names be called, I’m now standing next to my short Hobbit friend (I call him shortly) and watched as Baldwin got elected for 2 things, it’s surprisingly weird because all the damage has been caused by him and he flung shortly off the stage!

When I went to my new office to settle down I put my bow and arrow away and headed on over for a meeting.

Now that we’re all caught up, I have two people to question about something that has been killing lots of citizens (one of them is Baldwin).

I’ll be busy for a while .

đ&#x;?š

đ&#x;˜…

The Disaster at The South Gate CHAPTER 3

Xuan He

We continued searching the area. Eventually, we found two roads.

One led to Sidnar, and the other to a wooden mansion. “Should we go-?”

Ethan asked, but was abruptly cut off by Mitchell. “No! That is ​not ​ going to lead us anywhere!!” We all stared at him. “We are going!” I insisted.

Mitchell finally complied, and followed. As we opened the door with a creak, Ethan walked forward to signal us to stop. “There,” he whispered, “The tripwire,” And indeed, there was a barely perceptible tripwire. As he disarmed it, we opened the door. There was a giant oak log, connected to the wire. After we walked around it, we saw that the fireplace was lit, and an eerie shadow was pacing in the next room. Inside the room, it was a lot like a study, with bookshelves and tables. It was very pleasant, if you get a chance to live there.

I creeped towards one of the rooms, and in came Gage. He was talking, or rather, debating about something. “Today. No. Tomorrow.

They will catch you! No. Today. They won’t. Yes they will. No. I am going today.” he muttered. Just then, he worked himself up. “What was that?

What was what??” He turned and stared in several places, turning like a maniac. I put my head down, and he spun around in a full circle, finally seeing me, with my shadow in the fireplace. He bolted, through the window, not caring about the broken glass.

As he jumped out of the window onto the balcony, we followed, and jumped down into the water. We jumped, and missed the fountain, rolled into the water, and gave chase. We chased Gage over the hill, and he landed in one of the houses. Gage was much faster than normal humans. Perhaps he was using magic? Well, probably.

We sneaked in, looking for a good attack path. We waited, and ran, opening the doors at the same time, causing quite some commotion inside. The tactic works when you know that your target is the only person there, cornered. The problem was, we ​didn’t​. That almost killed us. We each arrived in the same room, where there were at least 20 people with metal and wood rods, and batons. Upon seeing us, they stopped their pacing and talking, and pointed them at us.

That seemed to have backfired, though. Instead of attacking, they started arguing about safety, as one of them shot a beam of red light at someone else. Then, someone else talked. “Quiet down, quiet down...” it said in its drawling voice. I looked around, and saw him, sitting in a chair, in the shadows, on the far side of the room. “That was quite an entrance,” he said, “I ​must​ know who you are before I kill you. So, first, what business do you have here? Of course, you are hunting me. Who hired you?” Ethan walked up and said, “Gage did. You saw the man who was running up? That’s him.” The man sighed. “Yes. Even with Baldwin’s protection, we are still not safe, well, not ​enough.​” He smiled again, looking up, relaxed, and refreshed. We took a look around. There were old furniture, and some documents. This also seemed like a good place to set camp, because of how secluded and hard to navigate the swamp is.

Its a tradition to set a scarecrow on fire every year at the festival. This year is no exeption.

Me and a few friends were sent to get the scarecrow to burn. We have to walk a long way because of some security apparently. I think its a little ridiculous. As we arrive, we have to talk to a security guard to get the scarecrow. Me and Marysa decide to talk to him. As we were kind of nervous, the guard didn’t believe us at all. Then we saw a purple tiefling who was standing next to a cart full of fruits…

It looks like she's trying very hard to act normal and not get noticed. She looks very suspicious...I think i recognize her from somewhere, but I can't remember where. Oh, shes a marketer apparently. That would make sense. I see a guard approaching the cart of fruits.

Suddenly the fruits…“aren't fruits anymore”. As the guard checks the fruit, the fruits become four black crates! I recognize those...people transport illegal goods in them. Wait a minute...she's the tiefling criminal from the wanted posters! Next thing I know, an explosion happens! I think I heard someone yell to ring the bell. When the gas disappeared, the tiefling was gone.

We got a glimpse of her tail down the street and Colena decides to go after her. I see Marysa asking around what happened. She tells us a tiefling attacked the city. Sophia went to check out the cart. I go to ask for help for the injured but i get ignored. I think the cart is about to explode! Sophia and Colena attempt to use magic. Colena slows down the time but its too slow. Sophia casts a spell but it happens very slowly. A few guards asked what happened and give cash for answers. I think it's unfair how they can just buy their way out of their problems. A random dude steps up and says some things I didn't listen to but I did hear that he accused me and my friends! We are getting escorted to the filthy prison. I have a feeling this is going to be the worst festival EVER.

Me Rachel, marysa and Sophia discuss a plan. I decide to tell the truth and try to charm.

Before I could I heard a noise…nothing is there. Perhaps I imagined it. I fall asleep and that’s all I remember…

Disaster at the South Gate Vivian

Hi there it's me Vivian! Today, Me and the boomers went to catch Gage. He is a criminal. Apparently, he led us to the apartment where all the criminals stayed. And boy were they DANGEROUS. As soon as we entered, they started waving weapons at us and questioning who we were. We said “we are the boomers. we are secret agents!” They attempted to kill us but apparently, the leader of all the criminals asked, “everyone what is all this with the infernal noise?” “They said they were agents…” the boss questioned us. He said that he would kill us. He gave us a chance to work with him. We declined, surprisingly he let us go! We tried capturing Gage but we forgot where he went. We did not trust the leader of the criminals so we went to a bar.

Terrence

After today at the South Gate, I thought and thought, and yeah, it was a total disaster. So first, basically everyone got into some kind of trouble. Oh and if you're asking not trouble in school but the other type of trouble. Well I was in this hard thing and it was hardcore to get out. So, I tried and tried, BOOM god I didn’t get out. Well I could’ve some of my powers, but I was so stupid at the time just thinking to get out, but I just didn’t use it. Well, now I’m still stuck and just trying to get out the next time.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Salut! I’m back with the new events of our journey to write to you about...

Trudging through the swamp is extremely disgusting. You could be stepping on anything, from carrion, which is the rotting flesh of a dead animal, to sickening muck. But on this mission, getting dirty is the least of our worry. What we are worrying about at the moment is how to find Gage when there isn’t any hint of him anywhere. I do wish that there could be a sign pointing out to which direction this man set off to, but there isn’t and we most likely will not be so lucky.

At the very end of the marsh, there were two pathways. One leading out of the swamp to, I’m assuming, the city. The other one leads to a large, dark mansion. After close inspection, I realized that the door was slightly ajar.

There was no evidence that Gage had gone in that direction because there were no footprints in sight. We all shared opinions and observations and in the end, we did something that is sort of like a vote. Mitchel had suggested we take the trail towards the city but everyone else said that the track to the mansion raised more suspicion. In the end, we all decided on

going to the mansion, with Mitchel, who was reluctantly trailing not too far behind.

When we finally reached the entrance, I saw a tripwire across the door, but I don’t think I was the only one who noticed this. It seems that everyone has already noticed it.

Ethan saunters forwards and carefully steps over the tripwire and enters the room. We follow his action and all set foot into a barely lit room. One of the people our group points out the giant log above our heads that was supposed to fall on top of us when we triggered the wire.

After secretly thanking the gods that we managed to not get hit by this giant piece of wood, I could see the source of most of the light. There was a shadow in the opposite room that came from a fire. Before anyone could react to this, Xuan slowly creeped up to the room and peered inside.

Since there was a silence between us all, we could all hear a man’s voice muttering to himself. The mumble of incoherent words came to an abrupt stop as the man slowly turned around and had a miniature stare off with Xuan. It wasn’t exactly a stare off but it sure did look like one. It looked like the man was burning holes through Xuan’s head.

Without a warning, the man jumps out to the patio and with one last look back at us, he leaps into the water beneath and disappears.

Without hesitation, we all take the risk of jumping into the water. We successfully land without any serious injuries.

Once we jumped down and landed, we all saw this great big stone fountain that we could have had the pleasure to make contact with, note the sarcasm.

We venture further into the water, searching for this man. We all watch as he arrives at this building and smashes through plywood to enter. We each pick an entrance to enter from and privately countdown the seconds until we all barge in.

We all jump into a room with about 20 people inside.

They each have a rod in their hands. After recovering from their state of shock, they start yelling maniacally and point their rods at us. I don’t see the point in this unless they were to hit us with it.

Apparently, I’m wrong because after yelling a lot more, fire started shooting from their sticks. Dodging the sparks is a really difficult job but thankfully, there was a voice from the end of the hall. He seems like the leader. He’s sitting on a large chair. He appears to be really tall, even

sitting in the chair he does. He has a top hat that rests a little bit crooked on his head.

He starts asking us questions like who we are… which we respond with “We are the Boomers” and he asks what business we have to do in his ‘humble abode’. He asked us who hired our group to come after him.

I’ve got to answer these questions…

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

Rachael Zhou

1/7/6/20

Disaster at the South Gate

When the ceremony had ended, we went to the market to prepare for the festival. I was putting up the traditional decorations when an announcement echoed through the market. “Colena, Carina, Rachael, Marysa and Sophia, please make your way to the south gate to pick up your delivery.” We looked at each other with excitement. The scarecrow had finally arrived! We put our things down and walked towards the South Gate.

When we got to the South Gate, we noticed a young purple tiefling wearing a simple brown overcoat standing there, looking at the guards with an expressionless face. We walked up to a guard and Marysa said, “We’re here to pick up a delivery of a scarecrow.” The guard blinked and said, “Is the scarecrow for you?” Carina looked at Marysa and said, “No, it is for my friend here”, motioning to Colena. They engaged in quite a quarrel (I won’t go into the details since it was boring) until the guard finally believed us and pointed us towards the end of the line.

The security had tightened because there was this cult who worshipped a different god and wanted everyone to worship him. There was this ancient adventure or something about this group who wanted to kill this god named Bane. They killed Bane, but one of the group, Brodrick, had put on Bane’s crown and became Bane. Nice.

As we stood in the line, there was a cart full of vegetables and fruits that came. The purple tiefling approached the guards. One of them turned and asked her who she was. “I-I-I’m a merchant”, she stammered. The guard nodded and said, “We will have to check your cart”. She looked as if to protest for a moment but settled back down. What we didn’t know was that the cart was full of smuggled illegal things and the fruits and vegetables were illusions. The guards started to poke and prod the cart, looking for panels that could hide illegal things.

The guards circled the cart and for some reason, the tiefling always tensed when they got near the back. One of the guards reached into an opening at the back and the tiefling acted strangely. “Wait”, she cried, but it was too late (LOL. The next thing that happens is definitely not LOL). The guard touched something inside and the illusions dissolved. What replaced them were purely black crates.

The guards leaped back, drawing their swords. Just then, two pale Dragonborn emerged.

One reached inside his cloak and drew out something shaped like a bottle. He threw it right at the crates and the other Dragonborn fumbled with something and took off into an alley. The first followed. The tiefling stepped back, ready to bolt. . . and the crates exploded.

I was not in range of the explosion so I was unharmed (well, there was the smoke, but does that matter? Actually smoke can give lung cancer but we’re not counting that, are we?). As I opened my eyes, I saw smoke billowing out from the cart. The tiefling scrambled to her feet and ran off into a different alley.

Colena was on her feet, sprinting after the tiefling while conjuring ropes from midair and sending them after the tiefling. I went over to the crates, where Carina, I think, was inspecting the crates. It was hard to see in the thick smoke. I looked in the crates that had not been damaged yet. Some things could probably explode, but before I could figure it out, smoke billowed out of the crates, and an explosion started building up again.

Carina or Marysa or maybe Sophia, I don’t know, cast a shield on the crates, temporarily stopping them from exploding. “Run!” whoever was holding the shield there shouted. I scrabbled away from the crates as they exploded again. The person holding the shield just managed to get away with no injuries.

There was a sound of boots thundering on the road. Three guards wearing blue cloaks came into view. These were Royal Guards.

Some people had already taken off after the explosion, but some were still left. “Who can explain what happened here?” the guards demanded. No one answered. They asked again. This time, a human said, “There was a purple tiefling and two Dragonborn. The Dragonborn went to this alley.” He pointed at the alley the Dragonborn had gone. “The tiefling. . .” He paused to remember. “The tiefling went down Fleet Street, with a mage working with her.” The leader of the three Royal Guards directed one of the guards to chase after the Dragonborn. “Thank you. You will be rewarded.” The leader gave the human a bag of gold. “Is there anything else we need to know?” The human nodded and. . . pointed at me, Marysa, Carina and Sophia. “Them.”

How bad can our luck be (FYI, our luck is very bad today)? First the explosion, now this.

Worst day ever. The leader handed the human another bag of gold and motioned to the guard. The guard shoved us in the shoulder and marched us to the prison, the leader following us.

The prison, a large square building surrounded by barbed wire, was on top of a steep hill overlooking the city. The prison towered above me and my legs protested as we started to climb the hill. We finally reached the top, panting. A guard came out and took us from there. He dragged us into a cage, padlocked it, and left.

There was a soft sizzling sound in front of me. I slumped against the bars, looking at my friends. I wish we had water because climbing that hill made me dry up. There were footsteps and a guard walked towards the cage we were in.

“Well, well, you people have a lot of explaining to do,” he snarled, dragging his sword across the bars, “Working with the cult, exploding illegal explosives and injuring quite a lot of people. We will hear every last word, and if we must, force them out of you brutally.” Or something like that. I didn’t hear the rest, because I had heard distant footsteps ringing through the prison.

A figure materialized, running towards the guard. He placed his hand on the guard’s shoulder and whispered something in his ear. I looked away, then looked back. The figure moved into the light and what had been a figure previously was now unmistakably Baldwin (oh shoot, the hobbit kicker is here).

He looked at us and said, “It seems like some people from my ward are being harassed.

What can I do for you?”

Who knew preparing for a party could get you in jail. I surely didn’t, especially when I didn’t do anything wrong that would get me in jail because one second I’m in line trying to get a package, the next there’s an explosion and everyone is running around helping others and mostly themselves and I’m here confused because I was in a 50m line trying a package and later I’m being framed that I help a person make the explosion EVEN THOUGH I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! Like man, what evidence do you have that I did something? One person accuses me and my friends and you believe them! It was one person, one victim and you’re all like “Well it’s just one person, there totally isn’t a single chance that he might lie or blaming the wrong person so let’s just put’em in jail!” and what if the people you jail aren’t even the legal age to go to jail, Have you thought of that? If not you might want to go back to police school and study up because you might be putting a 5-year-old in jail for doing something that he/she might not have even done! Do you know the worst part? my friends and I have Mr. Baldwin as my representative like hasn’t that man killed over 100 people or something? He can just leave us in here and just let us get beaten up by some giants and plus Colena is still out there trying to catch the bad guy whall all of us are here in jail waiting for our trial. Second thought we might not even have a trial and the judge might just say we are guilty and we will be stuck here forever. Adventure is what I asked for and adventure is what I get, maybe we could try and sneak out of here. Ok, that would be a bad idea like if we do that we could become criminals!

THE INTERESTING ARRIVAL ​Sophia Deng

As you know, the citizens of Sidnar normally receive our scarecrows to burn, but now the system is different. Our security tightens because there is a rumor that a small group of dragonborns called the cult have infiltrated Sidnar . So now we have to go down to the gate to get our scarecrows ( now when I think of dragonborns the word that comes is stupid ). Why would our security tighten? Well first you have to know why Pentos fell. There used to be a god called Bane.The people of Pentos made an agreement with the Bane, in exchange for safety and weapons, the people of Pentos let Bane rule them. After a long time the people of Pentos did not like to be ruled by Bane anymore, so they sent a group of seven to kill Bane. After killing Bane, a dragonborn in the group betrayed the others. He put on Bane's crown and became Bane. The group had to fight an original member of their team. According to the stories in the library I read yesterday, the hero in this story is a man called Gabriel. The dragonborn who betrayed them was called Rodrick. The cult believes that Rodrick was the good guy. The group of dragonborns also believe that Rodrick will return. Anyhow, we go up to the guards and introduce ourselves. Soon a cart arrives, it’s not the scarecrow cart, it’s a cart carrying fresh produce. The produce cart is very suspicious. I see all the fruits and vegetables but I don’t smell any of it. There is a tiefling near the cart, she is all purple and wearing a robe. One look at her and you can tell she is trying to look ordinary. A guard says “ Who are you, state your business.

You might be bringing illegal goods.” The tiefling looked nervous, she said “ Umm, I’m a merchant”. The guard looked​ impressed​, I resisted the urge to laugh, the worst argument in the world that won a guard was right in front of my face. The guard says “Please , ma’am go to the side, we need to inspect the cart.” As a guard put his hand into the vegetables, the produce disappeared. Instead of fresh produce, there are six black crates inside. Right behind the first cart was another cart. The cart was still not the scarecrow cart, instead, two riders jumped out, both wearing robes and masks. The mysterious people took off their masks. Under the masks were two pale white dragon faces. They were dragonborns of the cult! One of them says “ Rodrick will return” and throws something, the other flees down an alleyway. One of the guards yelled “ Wait” but it was too late. A massive explosion occurs. Everyone went flying.

DISASTER After the explosion the cart is cloaked in smoke. The purple tiefling, wearing a mask of horror and shock, sprints down a small street. Colena uses magic to try to catch the purple tiefling. The magic rope she conjures wraps around a street post, the street post falls in front of the tiefling. While Marysa requests information I go check out the broken cart. The cart still holds a few untouched crates. The fire was licking hungrily at the crates. It would cause ​another explosion! I looked at the ground, there were a lot of injured guards! I had to help them. I quickly dragged away most of the injured guards. The crates looked about to explode! But there was still one more guard on the ground. “ Hey! Colena, I need some help here! The crates are about to explode again!” I yelled. I know Colena cast a spell because I was suddenly in slow motion! Luckily, the exploding crates were also in slow motion. Instead of thinking slowly, it seemed almost normal. I could remember a shield spell and I cast it as quickly as I could. It worked! It worked! My shield spell really worked! The injured guard was protected by my shield.

I almost cried tears of joy. As the explosion dimmed I heard footsteps, lots. Who were they? Are they friends or enemies?

ARRESTED Soon, I saw who came, it was some members of the royal guard. As they came, Colena ran to ketchup to the tiefling. The members of the royal guard asked for what happened. A man said “ I saw everything. First a tiefling came, she brung two dragonborns from the dragonborn group. Then the dragonborns made an explosion. After, the tiefling and a dragonborn fled. The other dragonborn was gone.” A royal guard then asked if anyone was helping them. The man pointed at our group. The first thing that came to my mind was ​‘what’??​. I just saved a person, didn’t he see? Then the man pointed down the street Colena just went and said “ The tiefling had an accomplice, she ran that way.” Before I could figure out what had happened the guards arrested us. We were bound and taken to the prison no matter how many complaints we could

utter. This was so unfair! We are going to jail just because they had listened to a man who obviously did not see the whole thing. I wish I had spoken up earlier! That would have helped.

But such wishing is futile, it has already happened, there’s nothing anyone could do now. In the top security cell (that’s very leaky ) I’m in now I hear a distinctive whoosh. Then I hear some footsteps. It’s a guard , I know he is talking but I am not listening. I’ve already heard heavy distinctive footsteps from upstairs, they are not unlike the footsteps Baldwin makes. Oh no not Baldwin, I think of him as a criminal. Why? ( I forgot to tell you what happened at the library ) Because Baldwin built the mansions where the swamp was. The mansions were built on a thin shelf of rock. Over time the thin shelf of rock broke down. The mansions were built by the sea, so all the sea water slowly came in. Now it’s a swamp. Anyway, back to my dank cell. Baldwin comes down no matter how much I pray. He whispers something to the guard that I cannot catch. The guard looks clearly horrified. Then Baldwin turns to our group, he says “ I’m here to represent you guys at the hearing”. I’m partially horrified and partially amazed. How could Baldwin represent us, what did he do to represent us? What was he going to do at the hearing? “ What are you going to do at the hearing?” I asked, trying not to choke. “ Well,” replied Baldwin, “ Whatever you want me to do, I am your ​humble​ servant.”

By: Mitchell I wasn’t there during the explosion. My fellow group of bounty hunters and I were still at the swamp catching that nasty criminal. All I heard was a distant explosion.

Very soft since we were far away. I didn’t know what it was though. Perhaps it was a firework? Someone barbecuing? A Lot of thoughts went through my head but none of them sounded right. Then, I saw a tiny bit of flame rise up into the air. Nothing else.

Welp, no barbeque for me I guess. Well, isn't the fire good in a way too…? I mean- it burned the scarecrow so… isn't that what we were supposed to do…?

Eliana

7/9/2020

As I made my way through the crowd of people near the south gate, I tried not to arouse any suspicion around anyone there. Failure was the last thing I needed in my life right now, as that could literally define whether I would keep on gaining money or not. I ended up making my way to the front without anyone raising any eyebrows other than a guy who seemed to be only looking at me because he was appalled by the way I dressed. I ignored him and proceeded to continue with what I had planned: stealing a few produce to feed my dad and I. As I was just about to approach the cart, I suddenly felt as if I was being watched. Awkward as I am, I started getting quite nervous, and it unfortunately was showing quite badly. I tried to play it cool but I couldn’t get away with the fact that I kept on being eyed. I gulped any sign of nervosity down my throat and ended up grabbing a few fruits and vegetables before I noticed a guard turning around to face my direction. I quickly tucked in my hand before he could notice anything whatsoever, and decided to head back towards my boss’ headquarters. However, I couldn’t slip through the gate fast enough before the guard got notified about it. He approached me while I silently held back a few cuss words. He ended up asking me what I was doing here, and I answered as smoothly as I could by saying I was a marchand (marketer) to him. He seemed quite impressed by my french and I was glad he didn’t question me further. As I was about to leave again, the guard said he still needed to check what I was hiding under my bag. My face turned blank red as I heard about this, and I tried to make him stop, but I failed miserably as he continued to glide through my bag. The illusion broke, and he called a bunch of other guards who pulled out their swords on me. As I tried to figure out how to escape, a cart arrived behind me, where I found two dragonborns staring at everyone in the crowd. I took this opportunity to leave while they were distracted. However, as I attempted to scurry away, a massive crate behind me exploded, and caused quite a lot of damage around the area. I took off my brown cloak ( which happened to be on fire, mind you) and ran down Fleet street. I was slightly limping from an injury I got from the explosion, but I seemed to be fine other than that. When I turned around, I saw that I was being followed by a strange human being chasing me down while yelling some gibberish I couldn’t comprehend. I got worried and ran a little faster before disappearing from sight of the event place. Slowly running out of breath, I tried to keep my stamina up until I reached my destination. And from what I knew, a crazy girl was still chasing me from down the street. I finally reached my boss’ headquarters, and I quickly headed in before anyone could notice. I took a minute to catch my breath before proceeding to walk up the flight of stairs to my boss’ office. I quietly walked inside as he turned around his seat to face me.

He asked me how the heist went, and, disappointed but not as much as he looked, told him the truth. He ever so slightly grimaced, as he was quite expressionless in general, and dismissed me. I slumped and headed out of the building, where I saw with surprise the same girl from before. She seemed very lost, but I couldn’t care less. I slipped away without her realizing, and went back to the shadows.

We did a lot of things during those events we were trying to catch someone name Gage, we were not successful. When we were traking the man name gage carina and rachael got in trouble but after all they were good, then we went in to this weird mansion and this man was like we have to do this today! Then we followed him and we got caught but we negotiated ourselves out, when we got out we meet terence and we fight him cause he fought we were bad but eventually mitchell knocked out terrence but he got injured hard like hard hard.The last thing we did was me and my crew were at the bar and that was It and I CAN’T WAIT FOR A ANOTHER CLASS!

Special note, the security went up due to some stray Dragonborn around the city.

So the meeting just ended, I think it was because of Baldwin. He ruins almost everything in my opinion, great and I’m supposed to talk to him!

I went to my office and Nathen the other politician didn’t enter his office. I don’t know why. As I sat in my office thinking everything was gonna be fine, I felt something sharp stabbing me in the shoulder, I looked around and saw a hooded figure. Now I’m shocked that he’s here, I grabbed my bow and arrow and hit the hooded man.

Why is he here? Who is he? Why am I not using some fire magic?

As I had a few questions on my mind, I saw Nathen look in and then run away. COWARD!!!

I kept hitting the hooded man with arrows, he was heading for the door so I hit him in the head, now he’s on the floor unconscious , I slumped against the wall, my shoulder hurting just as Nathen came back with a guard and a medic, I was told that it was a smart idea to store weapons on the first day, but I just never go anywhere without my bow and arrow.

The medic pulled the knife out and said a few things. I don’t remember what he said , he used healing magic. I guess I got poisoned, ÂŻ\_(ăƒ„)_/ÂŻ meh, I don’t really care since I was stable and conscious.

Just as I thought nothing can go wrong any more, I saw an explosion outside my window.

OH COME ON, GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

đ&#x;˜‡

đ&#x;˜…

Meeting at the Market CHAPTER 4

Xuan He

The man on the chair looked at us with an air of surprise. “Any last words?” he said, touching his chair. Ethan started throwing out gold coins, and the rest of the group, excluding me, started doing the same. I simply just stood there, scowling at them.

The man looked even more surprised. His eyes now had a playful glint in it. “That is peculiarly interesting. Now, answer me. Why ​exactly are you here?” When I just grunted, he stared at Rassie. “You. Talk.” he ordered, as he took a grape from the bowl on the table. His gaze bore down, looking at her. She mirrored it, only that it was weakening. Just then, Mitchell stumbled forward, holding a chair. “I can’t exactly see very well.” he said. I sighed. It was not exactly helping.

The man stared at the floor, and laughed. Rassie stumbled forwards at exactly the same time. Her eyes were closed, concentrating on the man’s gaze. She seemed disoriented. When she stumbled two times, the man smiled. “I see. So, you are not catching me after all. You are catching a stray.” And the men in front of the person pushed us out.

“We should go to the Enchanter’s tower,” Rassie said, first thing after we came out. “Yeah, I mean that is good and all, but why?” Mitchell asked. “Yeah. The man. Some magic going on, he told me,” she answered.

So, we went to the Enchanter’s Tower. It was a very old and gothic government building, used by a very odd mage. He was middle aged, and quite good at magic. No one liked him a lot, though, because of how he lived. I walked up the little path and arrived at the birch door. As we sneaked toward the door, we heard some footsteps.

After a while, the footsteps broke into a run, and the door slammed open. A person ran out, and Mitchell tackled him, pinning him to the ground. The new person reached out, grabbing a stick, slamming it.

Mitchell caught it, trying to reverse his strikes. The rest of us watched them, tugging a stick. Mitchell won, jumped a little, and landed on top of him. “Now, now, there is no need to get hostile!” I said, picking up the stick and throwing it out.

---

We were heading back to town, walking through the grass of the swamp, with no fights occurring. We learned that the stranger was Terrance, an explorer, who somehow got stuck in a water tank. We finally crested the top of the hill and went into Sidnar.

It was a pleasant day, so, I guess why not go to a pub and talk about life?

The meeting at the market

Carina Pei

I wake up in a jail cell and see Baldwin prancing around the cells. I can’t help but to glare at him gloating around. He wants to know what happened. We tell him the truth and he just nods there. I can't tell if he believes us or not. I want to punch him so badly for just standing there and not doing anything. He starts to ask weird questions about the incident. He says he believes us but the others wouldn’t. He says he could help us by “influencing” others. I snort but manage to disguise it as a loud cough. He says we will have to pay him back if we accept the deal..

We try to negotiate with him. But at one point he nods towards to the air and says our “friend” can help us. We are super confused and have no idea what he means. He lets us make a decision. The others all said no when I thought we could just say yes and scam him by running away but I was outnumbered. We say no but I suddenly regret it as he walks away. Few more minutes of boredom. Yaaaaaaaaaaawn.

The guard walks in. we will be moved to trials. The guard’s key gets blown across the room and disappears. Great, now we are stuck. Marysa tries to cast a spell but gets muted by a guard. Sophia is trying to turn into her dragon form slowly. I sit in the corner because my magic and everything else sucks. Rachel tries to become invisible because she thinks someone is spying on us invisibly.

There's yelling. I look behind me and see a large white dragon. Well done Sophia. Someone rings a bell. Sophia is now a dragon. We run on to her and run away.

We ran for a while. I think we got away! We got in the marketplace and see a bar above the mountain. I wish I was there…

THE MEETING AT THE MARKET

Hello! It’s me Vivian! Today I am here to explain where we left off from the bar but before that, let me tell you about when one of the boomers wrestled someone to the ground and got his nose broken! It started when we went to search for Gage. We saw a person and decided to see who he was. We thought he was Gage but we were wrong turns out, he was someone else. One of the boomers decided to wrestle him since the person shot an arrow at his nose. They battled but the boomer finally won so we carried him to a bar. We had a drink since we didn't know our south and west. So, we gave up and decided to spend time at the bar. We were just relaxing since we had a rough day. I saw a tiefling sitting next to us and she was staring at us. I don’t know what she wanted with us but she was suspicious. I asked her what she wanted and why she was following us. She just walked away really fast. And when I tried to catch up with ehr, a bunch of people came in so I couldn't find her. I thought she was suspicious and I didn’t know what to do. I thought that I should tell the rest of the boomers but they might react weirdly so I decided not to. So I just avoided eye contact with her. But when we left, I noticed that she was behind us and she was still following us. Then, I finally decided to ask her what she wanted with us again. Then she just ran away. I started to think someone sent her to follow us. But I still had my doubts so I didn’t know for sure so I decided to ignore her for the second time. Then, we finally got back home. And she finally left. The next day, I finally decided to look at the newspaper and that tiefling was said to explode the city, and the people who came in yesterday were there to help the tiefling too! I could not believe my eyes, this time I had no doubts!

The leader of all the criminals sent her to keep an eye on us. But why would he want to watch us is he trying to kill us? I decided to tell the boomers about yesterday, surprisingly they believed me but we all agreed that the big boss was too dangerous and there was nothing we could do but investigate a little bit. But we still had to deal with the Gage problem since he kept on running away from us. We had to think of plans. We decided to follow the boss of the criminals and go to the tower that the boss directed us too but we thought we couldn’t trust him but we still had to try. We headed there to look for Gage, we heard steps and decided to go in. Gage was inside!!!! We tried to get him again. But still, he jumped out of the window. That Gage is very good at parkour! We always lost him since he jumped out of the wind most of the time. This time we split up, half of us ran through the door and half of us jumped through the window. We still couldn’t catch up to him but we knew which direction he went. We ran very fast and caught up! We ran and ran, we all grabbed him but he pulled away and so, we all let go. At that point we were tired so we followed him and he went to the bar. We needed to rest so we didn’t follow him. When we went back to the bar, Gage was gone! We searched around everywhere when one of us suggested a cabin near

here where he might be. We decided to find a cabin and maybe gage might be inside of it. We went inside...TBCÂ

OFFER Sophia Deng Baldwin was pacing outside our cells. It’s boring to watch him, a fat man pacing back and forth. He says “ Okay, lets get on with the more formal business. Tell me, what happened at the south gate?” I am so bored with retelling the story over and over but, we tell the story to Baldwin anyway. After we tell Balwin the story, he requests more information. “what did the dragonborns look like?” he asked. I tell him “ They were dragonborns from the cult.” Baldwin nodded, he said “ The cult, you say?” “ Yes, they were,” I said. Baldwin nodded again, “ what did the dragonborns look like?” I couldn’t reply, Marysa said “ They were pale and white. They were both wearing robes and hoods.” “ You can agree to this or you don’t. I will try to help you get out of this. I cannot guarantee this, but with me you will have a much higher chance of getting out. I only make this offer once. Make up your minds, I will give you some time.” Baldwin said.

This seemed too good to be true. I asked “ Are you helping us for free? You don’t seem like the generous type.” Baldwin chuckled, “ If you get through this then at the time when I need help you will help.” Marysa asked “ One help for one help right?” “Well, obviously yes” came the reply. We voted. There was a problem, if we agreed the price we had to pay afterwards might be too much. On the other hand, if we disagreed then we would probably be killed. Before we finished voting Marysa yelled at Baldwin “ We disagree. the price we pay will almost definitely be too much. ​And​, you’re too​ fat​ to help us” Baldwin said “ Well okay then, I hope your secret friend will help you.” He winked at no one in particular. What? Did we have a secret friend? I hope we did. We were in a messy situation. What were we going to do when the guards came for us? We sure don’t have the best chance to get out. I sure hope our ‘secret friend’ will help us.

BREAKOUT A long time later, some boring guards came. They started putting shackles on us and telling us it’s time for the trial. I see that one guard has the lovely keys. I keep staring at the keys. A few moments later, the keys disappear. What? Was I hallucinating? I blinked, the keys weren’t there. Marysa tries to use magic and launches at a guard. The guard is apparently a wizard and cast a spell. Marysa can’t seem to talk and can’t cast any spells. Now we don’t need a trial. We’ll probably just get thrown off a cliff. Sigh, I don’t like turning into a dragon, normally it’s disorientating. Being a dragon is different than being a human. Anyhow, I put on my horns and I turn into a dragon. It’s slow, about three minutes. The guards start to run away from me as I grow bigger. Soon, my head bursts out of the ceiling. I’m a white dragon, I can’t imagine being a black one. I get everyone outside. Then, quickly, we all run into the streets.

Market I can’t believe we got away. Now there will be wanted posters of us everywhere. Now, I guess, we are criminals. We spend more than three minutes running up and down alleyways. Soon, somehow, we end up running into the marketplace. Everyone is getting ready for the Eve of the Seventh. After looking around for some time, we all spot a bar called The Adventurer’s Rest.

Don’t we all​ wish​ we could be there, celebrating the Eve of the Seventh with everyone else? We were missing out on a ​festival!​

Terrence

It was a very successful way to escape out of the hard box thing.

But actually it was a person in front of me, so I decided to throw a stick at his face and guess what? His nose broke. So, I got to escape but I decided to throw that stick once again, but it wasn’t so much damage this time. Then the person came to me and pushed me down so we were fighting. But at least I escaped and I am still in full health so I think there is no problem of me continuing and staying for a long time at Saratoga. For all this that I did, I used my brain, so I need to use that wisely so I don’t get in this weird situation anymore.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Je suis enfin ici. Let me continue the story…

The conversation drags on as this man, who claims he is ‘The Gentleman’, continues to ask us questions about our mission. Ethan is answering these questions as the Gentleman listens intently to what he is saying. Ethan makes up this unconvincing lie that Gage hired us to go on this quest. The man started to look quite doubtful, although he did the whole time, and he begins to move away when Ethan blurts something out. “ Wait! Wait, I have money… we have money “ he practically screams, as he digs his hands into his pockets to fish out some pocket money that he might have. He empties all his pockets out onto the ground as the rest of us follow suit. The Gentleman seems rather surprised at our actions as he starts muttering, mostly to himself though. “ This day is rather interesting…” he murmurs.

He turns towards my direction in hopes of forcing some information out.

That’s when Mitchel decides that it’s a good time to interfere with the

situation by acting like he is blind. He flails his arms around wildly, attempting to look like he is feeling his way around the place. I struggle to contain my laughter and end up producing a very unladylike snort that my Grand-maman would scold me for.

The man turns to look at me again, giving me an extremely unsettling feeling. He appears to be asking me a question because his mouth looks like it’s moving but I don’t know exactly what he said because my mind starts to go fuzzy. I shoot desperate looks at my friends but they don’t seem to get my message.

Suddenly, a throbbing pain settles itself into my head as my mind goes into complete emptiness. I feel like I would fall over from the amount of dizziness I felt. I was suddenly engulfed in darkness.

In a flash, I see myself running through a mansion. I see a man that is wearing a hood that covers his entire face up. He is surrounded by candles that give off a dim light to the room we’re in...

I’m with my friends, the Boomers, signing a long contract assigning us to search and chase after a man named Gage…

There were obnoxiously loud shrieks and orders from a man that had a chef’s hat sitting on his head. He was shouting out demands from the top

of his lungs, pointing at a loaf of burnt bread that was smoking on the countertop. There was smoke everywhere that was pouring out from the oven. He didn’t look happy…

The intense throbbing pain was back for a second as my vision started to blur once again…

I see my child in a library as different words of all sorts move all around the place…

I’m now in the bakery again. The baker is more calm but still made me feel agitated. He starts muttering words that I’ve heard come out of his uncaring mouth one too many times. “ You’ll never amount to anything…”

I feel the unmistakable feeling of fire against my skin, fire that is so close and yet so far. It is giving me warmth when I am surrounded by darkness… until it suddenly dissolves into a pool of blackness...

I fall back to reality but everything is still unclear. My vision is indistinct as I try to focus my mind on my surroundings. My legs feel like jelly as I try to stay in my standing position. My hearing is imprecise but I believe it’s good enough for me to hear the conversation

going on around me. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the Gentleman that is talking at this precise moment. “ Would any of you like a job?” he asks us.

I immediately replied. “ No” I blurted out after a few seconds of silence. My tone was firm and serious. Seriousness that I’ve never used before. I’m deep in my thoughts when his voice brings me back to earth. “ Understandable… “ he says, as his voice slowly trails off into complete silence.

A few minutes pass by. You could only hear the heavy breathing coming from everyone’s mouths. One could describe this silence as pin drop silence, so quiet you could hear a tiny, little pin drop down to the floor.

The Gentleman breaks this silence by telling us to leave. Actually, he’s not just telling us to go. He more like demanding us to leave.

He says my name… how does he know my name? Can he read minds or something? “ The old enchanter's tower… I think you’ll find who you’re searching for there… is it Gage you said? Yes, you should find Gage there” and with that, he turns and leaves the room.

We exit the room and make our way back to the swamp.

Once again, we discussed and shared our observations of the information we’ve recently received with each other. In the end, we all decide to spread out to look for clues.

We determine that going north should do us some good. Ethan uses the compass to point to the north and we set off in that direction.

After walking for what seemed like many years, we decided that our best bet would just be to go to the tower that the Gentleman had suggested that we pay a visit to.

We walk for what seems like many more hours and finally arrive at our destination.

Approaching the tower, I note that it’s in the middle of the city. I used to hear stories from my Grand-maman. She had told me that the tower was cursed and haunted. I can understand why Gage, or any other criminal, would have chosen this setting to hide in. Like the neighborhood from earlier, this place was quite deserted if you ask for my honest opinion.

We start creeping up the tower staircase. I believe we made it undetected.

We stop at an entrance. It’s quite a small entrance, but enough to fit a few people through at a time. If you listen carefully, you can hear the faint

clicking of shoes on the floor. The footsteps seem disoriented as it becomes louder by the second. Mitchel daringly steps forward, ready to attack whatever will jump out of the entrance.

There is suddenly a guy with a stick in his hand. He is slamming the stick into Mitchel’s nose while screaming maniacally. They tackle each other to the ground.

This fight goes on for quite some time but it’s not exactly the most dangerous fight. It’s quite pathetic if you ask me, not to be mean or anything, but it’s true. They’re simply slapping each other like two babies fighting for a toy, though there is no toy in this case.

When the miniature battle finally came to an end, which Mitchel won by the way, we decided that the next best thing to do is to go to the ‘Adventurer’s Rest’, which is this bar that we go to quite a lot. We bring the lad that broke Mitchel’s nose with us. We all introduce ourselves and I discover that this guy’s name is Terrence.

When we arrive there, we sit at the table that we always sit at when we come here. We’re all laughing and joking around, having the best time of our lives. We sip on our drinks with no care in the world, mission completely forgotten. Vivian and Ethan are doing their best at healing

Mitchel’s nose. I lean back in my chair and observe the sky. It’s so incredibly blue that it looks like it was painted.

I glance to my side and see a very bothered Terrence that is deep in thought…

I need to finish my drink. I also want to go talk to the owners of the bar… See you!

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

Rachael Zhou

5/7/10/20

The Meeting at The Market

“What exactly happened at the South gate?” Baldwin asked in the dim light of the cell.

We told him. “And they don’t believe you?” he asked. We shook our heads. He seemed to think for a while, and then he said, “I might be able to help you get out of this situation, in return for a payment.” “What payment?” one of us asked.

“Well, you see, I help people here and there, and when they are all back to normal, I ask them a favour as payback for me helping them. Picture me as a well. I give you water to drink, to use, but then I am drained. You must help me to make me full again. When I help another person, I call in a person I have helped and I ask them to help me with the current situation. So, when you are all settled to your normal lives, I’ll ask you to help me help another person.”

“If you fail to help us, will we have to give you that payment?” someone asked. “Well, if I fail to help you and you stay in prison, you can’t really help me, can’t you?” was his reply. We looked at each other, thinking. ​No, I do not trust Baldwin. He caused that disruption at the ceremony and he probably has an extremely bad temper. I will not accept his help, I​ thought.

“I’ll give you time to consider your decision”, he said. He turned to leave and was almost at the door when someone shouted, “Wait!” and asked another question (I forgot, sorry). Baldwin left after that, but not before answering (I forgot what he said too, sorry again).

After about half an hour, Royal Guards showed up (I hate them, they’re idiots. They’re really stupid) with handcuffs and said something about interrogation and a trial. Just then, the key somehow floated from the guards’ hand and disappeared in the back corner. One of the guards looked inside the cell, clearly worried while trying to not look worried. He scanned the room for things that could be suspicious.

Oh and here comes the fun part where I do nothing except breathe. It started with Marysa trying to use magic to open the door, and then the guard threw some kind of powder at her and muted her. Sophia started changing into a dragon (did I mention that she was actually a dragon about 30 feet long that could turn into human form? Ok, I think I didn’t mention it) and the door was half-open, so we did the idiotic thing that most people did when breaking out of the prison: We ran.

Once outside, Sophia changed back into human form and there were more footsteps. We whirled around to see Colena running out of the prison (that was Colena that teleported?!) and guards following. We turned and dashed behind some building, beckoning to Colena. “Come on!” someone yelled. Colena seemed to shimmer for a moment and then started to run (or float for some reason) in a daze.

Apparently we ran to the city marketplace where people were making way for two jet black carriages, the ones used by government officials (uh oh). In the distance, we saw this bar that we

went to once called Adventurer’s Rest. Something happened as we walked past (I forgot) and I realized they were heading to the South Gate, probably to investigate the explosion. There seemed to be a purple tiefling in Adventurer’s Rest, like the one that was working with the two Dragonborn. . .

By : Mitchell The bounty hunters and I now are STILL chasing that bandit. Talk about a marathon... I was minding his own business until an ancient hero showed up and punched me in the face. I fought back and found that I felt pain coming from my nose.

It hurt everytime I tried to touch it. I didn't mind. Soon we settled but it seems like the ancient hero broke my nose. I still can't believe a bounty hunter like me just kicked a butt of an ancient god. Later, we decided to go to our favourite bar. The bounty hunters (the boomers) were just laughing and talking while I was rubbing my nose to make it feel better. I look beside me and see the exact ancient hero I fought with earlier looking down poking his fork back

and forth through his salad… I wonder why…?

Remember when I said “If we break out of jail we would become criminals” well guess what we did, broke out of jail. Now we’re criminals on the run, but first HOW we broke we broke out. OK well the first part of breaking out was a big blur, it happened to fast I don’t even know what happened but all I know is after that

During these events It was so slow like the events were so slow it was like 20 minutes, and it was so fun the more time the more fun like gage once said. I was just following everyone we were trying to catch a criminal name gage and we are getting close but last class we met met with terrence so everyone is about to meet. I forgot who it was but 2 people are in a prison and colena is invisible.

Eliana

7/12/2020

As I was heading back home that same afternoon, I noticed a strange group of people who seemed to be questioning their entire existence had I not realized the magnet they were holding in their hands, as if they were private detectives. Intrigued, I decided to stop in my tracks and listen to what they were saying from afar. I didn’t quite understand most of it, as it sounded more like gibberish to my ears considering the distance. All I ended up hearing was that they were heading north for unbeknownst reasons. I started walking away, as they bored me with the fact that they had an idea of where to go. After a few more moments, I ended up seeing a familiar guy who was approaching me. I grimaced slightly as the person wasn’t who I expected. He came up to me with a sly smile and asked me how I was doing, as I tried my best not to gag. He was half ogre, which still resulted with him having very distracting bad breath whenever he talked to anyone. Barely being able to bear his breath, I told him I was fine and he kept his sly smile before abruptly changing facial expressions into a very serious looking face. I flinched when he did so, but he seemed to have not noticed. He told me his boss wanted to see me, and, hesitantly, I followed down the path that led to his boss’ whereabouts. I choked a little when I finally took a long breath in after the small discussion with the half ogre, similar to what a fish out of water would make if I had to do any visual comparaisons. When I arrived in front of his boss, I silently held back a nervous gulp that made way too much sound for my desire. He was dangerously flipping a dagger in between his fingers at a very agile speed. Realizing I had arrived, he made the same sly smile as the part ogre except he had more creases in the corners of his mouth due to age. As I tried to not react to his snide, he asked me about how my criminal career was suiting me. I snapped back saying something about how it wasn’t for him to be poking his nose through my stuff. However, he only ended up smiling even more at my response, before questioning me about anything that happened at the market earlier. I refused to tell him anything, as I thought over what my boss would do if he found that I was doing business with him. The guy was very secretive, as the law enforcement didn’t have a single clue about him. He was practically the most successful criminal in the town, and I didn’t want my boss to know I had affair with him. However, I was slowly starting to give in when I realized he would pay good money if I told him any information. I hesitated when I heard about this, since I really needed the money to help my dad and I. I ended up telling him the events of this morning, and he seemed very intrigued with what I had to say. He smirked before tossing me a bag full of coins like it was worth a cent. Baffled by the amount, I took a step back to indicate my gesture to leave before he asked me whether I could assist him on a little mission. As I was still pretty shook by the amount of money he gave me, I didn’t think much of it before accepting the offer.

Snidely as he was, he told me that he wanted me to follow the same group of people I saw earlier while walking back home. Slightly confused on why he gave me this mission, I set foot to find where they were. I remembered they decided to head north, and I ended up finding them after a few minutes. I sneakily walked behind them as they bickered with each other on what they would do once they arrived.

I stumbled into an emergency meeting, my arm still hurting.

I was then told, “ there has been an incident at the South Gate, when told to go attend to the people at the gate, we got into some sweet carts which are the rides for the politicians.

On me and Nathen’s way to the South Gate, we were given a blank roll of paper that then wrote “Eesta and Nathen, update, break out at city prison” just as we passed the famous bar/pub.

Wheel of Woe CHAPTER 5

Fighting demons, helping people, close to dying!

Well at least we won (I think), this is just great, this is what happened.

Me and Nathen we’re still in the cart, we saw a crazy person yelling, we got out, he attacked, people got taken by the demons, and more got hurt, we had to make some choices, and they led to a lucky fight.

That’s the summary of the day.

Eliana

7/16/2020

After spending a few hours at the pub, searching for any kind of information that could’ve been useful, I decided to leave as I noticed the group of people I was following had started leaving. I sneaked out and hid behind a barrel, which surprisingly did its job as a good hiding place. The group had decided to head uphill, so my options were very limited, to my annoyance. My legs were starting to burn as I was still crouching during the entire time, and it didn’t help that one of the members kept on moving around along the way. They finally arrived at the top, to my big relief, and I let out a small sigh before collapsing on the ground near a trash can. As they didn’t seem to be doing anything interesting, I ended up just sitting back and trying to entertain myself as the time passed, occasionally taking a look or so to make sure they were still there. As I was fiddling around with my fingers, I turned around only to realize that a blue glowing oval was heading my way. Panicking, I looked around hesitantly before deciding to duck under a small opening that seemed to fit me. Running as fast as possible, I ducked under just enough time before it could’ve hit me. As I was silently cheering, I stopped immediately in doing so as I realized a few shards of glass had pierced a few areas of my skin. I grimaced before deciding to come back up only to discover a quite large mess, with a giant fissure in the middle of all of it.

To my horror, I found out that a few people were gising on the floor, some bleeding more severely than others. Considering I was still not supposed to be noticed, I didn’t know what to do but just stood there awkwardly as I saw other people coming out of their hiding places too. I decided that with the major set back the group had caused, they wouldn’t be doing much investigation for the next day or so, and I started setting foot on my way back to the gentlemen.

Suddenly, I felt a loud rumble coming from behind me as I realized that monstrous looking creatures were coming out of the fissure. Struck by horror, I gulped nervously ( a tendency I had ) , realizing the creatures happened to be much more closer to family than I expected: Demons.

As my ancestors started attacking the city, I tried my best to help citizens nearby. Many of them mefied me because of my looks, but in the end they ended up leaving safely out of the destruction made. Silently holding back the urge to punch one of them in the face, I took a sword and brandished it as I started walking toward the demons. Progressively losing energy, I successfully was able to damage quite a few, but they were still causing much harm to the village. I felt bad for the occasional pleas for help, but I wasn’t in my best state of health at the moment so I couldn’t afford keeping my guard down while running to help them. After a few more moments of fighting, I noticed that Tom and June had joined the battle. Slightly relieved, I stood in shock as I realized many demons had disappeared in a poof of smoke right before my eyes. Jerking my head in their direction, I noticed June gripping onto her necklace quite tightly. I assumed that was the reason why, and I took this advantage to save a few citizens as they were still pleading for help. As this cycle of events was going on, I overheard a few of the monsters talking to themselves. Knowing the language, I eavesdropped over their conversation, which consisted of talks about burning the village down and killing everyone in their way. I wasn’t quite surprised however, as their actions were very well deflecting their intentions. I shoved the conversation off my shoulder and continued the battle until I couldn’t take it anymore.

The Wheel of Woe My character, Colena, was running to the famous bar, gasping as she tried to communicate to her friends. They h ​ ad to know what she just saw. Demon-like creatures.

She yelled, but was unsure if her friends got the message. She ran after them, the demon-like creatures still swirling about her.

The famous bar had several people in it. It was the most famous bar in Sidnar. Colena and her four friends barely had any time to look when a fire came out of nowhere. They all attempted to dodge…but not all of them successfully escaped the danger. Most lost 2 in health…but one of them was okay.

A carriage rattled along but they paid no attention.

Suddenly, a gaping hole appeared, and small and large demons appeared. The civilians screamed. On the other side of the bar, there were several people although Colena could not see them.

Colena ignored the demons and quickly rushed to help the civilians. Her friends and the other people on the other side did too. The demons were climbing out of the hole now.

Uh-oh​, thought Colena as the first small demons clambered over the edge.

These are from my visions!​ thought Colena.

As they managed to get the civilians away another fire came out of nowhere.

Colena managed to avoid most of the fire and quickly healed herself as she was low on health. She saw a glimpse of blood—her worst fear. Some other people were coming to help them. Colena kept fighting.

She fought the large demons and so did her friends. It felt so long before guards came and helped. Eliana, the criminal Tiefling was holding something and some demons were getting burned.

Finally, nearly all the demons were gone defeated, except for a small group of demons escaping the fight. The guards approached the fighters.

“Thanks, you deserve to be rewarded,” said a guard. He looked beaten, as if he was fighting a lot.

Then, another guard came, riding on a horse.

“These people stopped their own trouble,” said the guard riding the horse. “They caused these demons to appear.”

Grr……is that the same guy who said me and my friends were criminals? ​thought Colena angrily.

The End (FOR NOW)

This is the class where we all get together but not yet, I think that will happen next class. Me and my friends all went outside but when It was over we all gone somewhere else. At the end of the class we were all getting together.

Rachael Zhou

1/7/13/20

The Wheel of Woe

So we made it safely to the marketplace, but Colena wasn’t with us. We started heading home but at the edge of the marketplace, we heard this ghostly voice sounding somewhat like Colena. “I see weird stuff”, it said. We were really confused until the air shimmered and Colena appeared.

We continued walking home. Up the street, there was the stage that was set up every four years, but it was set up again only a day after the ceremony. “Citizens of Sidnar”, a magically magnified voice rang through the square. “Too long, too long, had the rich gotten richer, the fat has gotten fatter, while the Archeon says “Just wait! It will come with the next Archeon.” but these are all lies. When has it ever happened? When have the ‘lower class’ people ever been paid attention to? It has been too long.”

From underneath his cloak, he pulled out this long silver rod. After a few seconds, there was a crackling noise and an electric blue light burst out of the rod, streaking in every direction.

Colena was hit first; a blue light landed directly on her chest. Sophia and Marysa were hit next, also on the chest. Carina leaped out of the way and I followed. I wasn’t quick enough. A jet of blue light smashed into my leg (ow) and I staggered away towards Carina.

An electric blue wheel tumbled towards Adventurer’s Rest, where the government vehicles were parked. It smashed through the marketplace, leaving a fissure in its wake. The wheel hit the bar and collapsed the roof. I looked at the stage where the man had been, but all that was there was a smouldering cloak and one boot.

Something else happened that made me have more injuries (ouch, probably affected my head and made me forget it. I think it was a fire) and I saw Sophia turn into a dragon and lumber towards Marysa, who was dying. She leaned over her and breathed, not fire, but steam that coiled around Marysa and healed her. Colena looked beat up as she struggled to her feet but Carina was fine.

The fissure that was left behind by the wheel seemed to be crawling with horned things, perhaps demons? Demons were the ancestors of tieflings and had a different language than us.

Their language was named Infernal, which is the language the tieflings speak across the sea. They were split into two groups: the large demons and the small demons. The small demons were faster but were more vulnerable, the large demons were slower and had armoured scales.

The small demons were starting to spill over the edge and head towards the civilians, so we fanned out between them. There were two groups of civilians; another group of people branched out on the other side of the fissure. We shouted at the civilians to run and they started moving towards the exit. We instead focused our attention on the large demons and ran towards them.

A white light burst out of Colena and wrapped itself around her, healing her. Marysa dashed towards me and healed me. We kept our distance from the large demons and used long-distance magic. Just then, a column of Archeon’s Guard marched into the square, drawing weapons. They split up and one group went to help the civilians and the other to us.

The large demons headed towards the building, seemingly unfazed by the attacks launched on them. I fired spell after spell, but none seemed to do anything (energy wasted). As more guards arrived, one of the guards fighting alongside us took his sword and jabbed it at a demons underbelly just as it smashed its fist into a building. It collapsed, dead.

We changed strategy and aimed for their underbellies, which seemed to be their weak spot.

As we did this, another pack of large demons emerged, followed by some packs of small demons.

The large demons headed towards another clump of buildings.

Slowly we managed to defeat the large demons and we went towards the other pack. They had already reached the buildings, but we overcame them and went to help the civilians.

One group of civilians had already gotten to the exit when the small demons caught up to them. A group of guards started fighting them and that group of civilians escaped. The other group had some of its’ people taken by the small demons, but the majority were safe and moving towards the exit.

Tom, the barman of Adventurer’s Rest and June, the waitress came out of the ruins of Adventurer’s Rest and started fighting too. Tom pulled out a bow and quiver started to shoot at the demons. June clasped a pendant on her neck and her tattoos began to glow. One by one, the demons turned to dust.

We continued fighting. When I looked back, Tom and June were floating (what the-) over the fissure and attacking. The majority of the civilians were now being dragged down the side of the fissure by small demons (poor them) and there were no large demons left (yay). Few civilians from that group escaped (why does life have to be so bad).

After pulling the civilians into the fissure, the small demons moved towards the buildings and I lost track of whatever happened to them. The guards gathered around us and one of them stumbled towards us and said, “Thank you for your contribution to Sidnar. You will be rewarded.”

There was the clip-clopping of horse hooves on pavement and a guard that looked much fresher than the ones that had been in the fight came into view.

“They must be escorted to the castle. We will ask them questions about what happened here,” he said (oh shoot, life is so bad today). Me, Marysa, Colena and Carina looked at each other like: Aren’t they going to just throw us in the prison again?

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Bonjour! I’m back again to keep you updated on the new events that will be occurring. Let’s get right to it…

We’re still sitting on the patio, having the fun time that we deserve. I take this time to suck in the appearance of the pub. The place is one of the cheaper places compared to the other pubs around, with the peeling wallpaper and dusty ceilings. Though it appears like it could crumble and fall any second, the place seems to be radiating joy as all the customers chatter away happily at their tables. It seems that no one cares much about what the area looks like but more about the atmosphere around them.

The two beings that run the place make the mood so much brighter.

There is the short, little dwarf barkeeper. He tells interesting stories that thrill the crowd every time. There is this one story that stands out to me above all others. It’s this story about an enormous and long

skeleton claw that is displayed in the shop. He retold the story many times before and said it was from some kind of beast. If I remember correctly, he said it was from a dragon. He could make anyone smile without even trying too hard. Whenever he comes around, you will definitely find yourself trying, but obviously failing, to suppress a smile. In a matter of seconds, you’ll be laughing your head off because of some joke he said or something that he did that is no doubt hilarious.

Then, there is the server. She is a tall, dark black skinned elf that is fairly beautiful. She has tattoos that run from her shoulders, all the way down to her forearm. They are intricately tattooed on her skin, spiraling all around her arms. I haven’t exactly talked to them before but if I’ve heard correctly, their names are Tom and Jane. Tom has a bubbly and charismatic aura around him, whereas Jane is more quiet and calm compared to him. Though they have their differences, they work together to try and make the bar a comfortable place to stop by whenever nearby, which they’ve most certainly did achieve, if not

attained even more than they expected. Now practically everyone stops by this bar to get a refreshing beverage whenever they can.

My train of thought comes to an abrupt stop when I spot Terrence beside me, looking quite uncomfortable and awkward, though no one really sees this as we’re all busy doing whatever it is we’re doing. I tap him on the shoulder and the chit chat between my friends, the Boomers, immediately stops as they stare attentively at my interaction with the boy.

I’m not all too good at talking to other people other than my friends because I usually just bottle things up deep inside as don’t talk about it unless it's very important . I ask the first question that comes to mind.

“Where did you come from?” I question in the kindest voice I can manage.

Me and the other Boomers stare at Terrence tentivey, waiting for him to answer.

He seems to hesitate because of our intense gazes, but still answers.

“It was deep in a forest…” he starts but breaks off.

We all continue watching him with our waiting eyes when he finally starts again.

“It was deep in a forest, far north of Pentos…” he starts again. He appears to be searching his mind of some distant memory that he can’t exactly find that easily.

“We were trained to fight,” he says.

“Me and my troops” he quickly adds after seeing our questioning gazes.

“We were trained to fight dangerous things so that we could perform brutal missions and finish menacing jobs that were given to us by our leaders” he says quietly.

“All I remember is that final task… we had completed a very treacherous task” he utters, still combing through his mind for anything else to add to this statement.

“A feast… that’s what it is!” He exclaims suddenly, making me and the others jump a bit.

“We had this massive feast to celebrate our victory” he says again, but this time, more quietly.

He sits there, thinking of anything else.

“I don’t really remember much after that but I know that Pentos has been in ruins for the past century, or possibly even more…” he trails off, still deep in thought.

We leave him be with his thoughts as we continue what we were previously doing.

We’re having so much fun relaxing. We haven’t relaxed in quite a while. But, like they say, all fun has to come to an end at some point…

A few black carts appear into view. They are pulled by beautiful and healthy horses. As I look more closely, I observe that these carriages are in front of the marketplace, effectively blocking our view of it.

We all silently agree with our eyes to go explore what everyone is all looking at, for there is a crowd around the market.

Slowly inching forwards, we are met with the view of a big, strong blast of blue electric that came from a rod. The rod looks similar to the rod the Gentleman and his crew used in us. Before I can see the person who shot this force of light, it starts moving fairly quickly.

And it’s moving towards us! It’s moving towards the hill that we are standing on. Before my brain can process what is happening, my feet start moving as if my body has a mind of its own. Thank goodness it did that or I would have fallen behind the other Boomers, though I can run quickly. We’re running as quickly as our legs can carry us.

When we get far enough, we stop to catch our breath. That’s when I realize that Mitchel, Terrence and Ethan have stayed behind, trying to use magic to stop the blast from going farther than it already is and causing more damage. I watch as the ball of electricity rolls right on top of Terrence which seems pretty painful by the looks of it.

But my gaze quickly flickers to the ball of electricity once more as I watch it continue to move. To my horror, it is making a beeline to the Adventurers Rest! That building would not stand much against this strong ball of light. Right when the ball was going to hit the bar and most definitely make it collapse, there was some sort of bubble force field that magically appeared around it. Thank heavens for that!

My prayer has been answered.

When the ball makes contact with the bubble, it explodes into a little show of deadly fireworks everywhere. The sparks of electricity injure some citizens that were too close.

I sigh in relief as I continue to breathe heavily from all the running I had to do. I’ve already collapsed on the floor, panting. I have decided a rule that I will follow for the rest of my life: never ever run intensely like that again. Though this will not really benefit my health in certain ways because I have to move, it will certainly keep me steered clear of getting some breathing disorder, not that that’s such a big problem.

As I’m trying to control my rapid breathing, I don’t notice the giant crater in the ground, nor the…

“Dragon” I breathe out.

I’ve always wanted to see a real dragon like that and now, I get to see one that isn’t too far away from me. It’s a pure white dragon that isn’t too big but isn’t too small. I believe it’s an average size… it’s absolutely beautiful. Now that I’ve seen that sight, I resist the urge to go over and stroke it’s scales. That would be absolutely amazing.

Before I continue to gush on about how stunning the creature is in my head, there are some other creatures that come into my line of vision.

They have a variety of different sizes. Now that I’ve seen a dragon, I don’t think these creatures look majestic at all. They look like little ugly demons. Trust me, you don’t want to see them. They will probably give you nightmares that will make you jolt upright in the middle of the night and have cold sweat dripping off your forehead. They’re nasty creatures that you do not want to encounter. Mark my words in it. Pray to god and tell him that you don’t ever want to meet these things.

Well, they were crawling in a disturbing fashion, on their hands and feet.

We all yell out to the civilians that are closer to the canyon to escape and run away from it as quickly as possible. They do as they are told but some of them are glued to the spot, shaking with fear. I would probably be in their places if it weren’t for the other tasks that

I’ve completed, and the other beasts I’ve faced. This is just like some other tasks that I’ve done for work before.

The small demons that are coming out of the pit are a lot faster than the big ones because of their evident size difference but still, they are slow compared to some creatures that I’ve encountered.

While they’re still exiting the hole, me and the other Boomers, plus Terrence, fan out and get armed to fight the smaller demons that are closer to us.

I take my bow and the quiver full of arrows from my back, which surprisingly, no one really noticed. I have exactly 12 arrows inside the quiver but I think that that is enough to take down a fair number of demons if I don’t miss any hit, which I think I can accomplish. I’ve had many years of practice in the tiny woods I go to when my grandparents aren’t home. They forbid me to go because it’s quite risky, but what’s life without a little risk? It just makes my existence so much more fascinating than staying in a house and doing laundry and scrubbing toilets like a version of Cinderella or even a housewife, if I ever get married. I’m most likely not going to get

married because I don’t exactly want to but who knows what goes on in the future? My grandmother is probably arranging my future wedding with some random young lad in her head. I hope that one day, she can see that I’m an independent young lady… that doesn’t really act ladylike. But who knows?

Anyways… I’ve already strung an arrow into the bow, specifically the arrow rest, which is in the middle of the riser. The riser is also called the grip because it’s the grip you have to hold onto when you pull the bow string.

As the demons arrive at the top of the canyon, we start to fend them off. Some people are using magic to somehow drive the demons back into the hole. Some people pull out daggers, spears and even some swords, which they then use to slash the creatures and push them back into the ground.

I draw back the bow string and aim my arrow at one of the demons and then I let go…

Right in the chest, where the heart is supposed to lie, but I’m not entirely sure if these creatures have the same placement of their

hearts. While I’m calculating this in my head, I don’t see the demon fall back into the pit in the ground. When I look back, I’m not too surprised to not see the creature I shot standing there because I’m pretty sure I damaged it pretty badly.

Another demon comes charging over to the general direction of where I was standing but I don’t think it has a very good sense of navigation. I don’t even think these creatures have any good sense when it comes to being smart. Or anything actually... And right now I’m being kind.

I quickly set another arrow in place, pull back and fire! Bullseye! The ‘heart’ again… 10 more arrows left.

Two more come my way as I set, pull, and then release. The first one falls back as the second one comes bolting headfirst at me.

Fortunately, I shoot it’s head just in time as it stumbles back right at my feet... 8 more arrows left.

Seeing the outcome of trying to attack us, the demons seem more hesitant. As I point my arrow towards them, they start to shrink in fear. They all jump back into the canyon as I hear the cries of a

group of civilians that have been cornered by a group of small demons. Without further thought, me and the other Boomers sprint towards them to help make the demons go back to their hole.

I draw back my bow string and fire, hitting one of the demons and successfully making it flee away. The other Boomers help fight off the other ones while the civilians start to escape to take shelter in their houses.

We start sprinting over to the north side of the market to help a group of guards, who have just come not so long ago, fight off the demons that are attacking them.

We’re all fighting a group of smaller demons alongside the guards who were previously fighting on their own. I draw back the string and let go, hitting a demon right in the eye. It staggers back towards the hole, half blinded. I wish my grandma could see me with a bow and maybe consider letting me live by myself in peace. But no. She won’t, and I can’t show her my skills with a bow because she will probably suspect that I’ve been practicing behind her back.

Anyways, I’m still deep in thought while I keep on shooting the demons away and back into their canyon.

While we’re still using violence to fight them away, the civilians that were cornered and trapped by some of the demons are fleeing the area as rapidly as they possibly can to a safer location.

The guards are moving on to fight another group of small demons as we, me and the Boomers to be exact, walk towards the edge of the canyon. We slowly edge our way inside the pit to further investigate the area and how the demons have appeared out of nowhere from there.

Before we enter, I catch a glimpse of the warm and kind hearted Tom holding a bow that is loaded with an arrow. I can’t say that I’m not surprised to see this from the once bubbly dwarf. He looks so dangerous when holding this weapon. I would be really cautious around him if I were near. But that’s the last thing I see until I follow the other Boomers into the hole.

Once at the base of the pit, the air is ovenlike and it’s scorching my skin. Only in a matter of seconds after I’ve entered, there is sweat dripping from my head and making my hair moistened with

perspiration. My clothes are sticking onto my now sweaty and damp skin.

After getting over the uncomfortable wetness of my body, I realize that I’m hearing sounds in my head. The ominous whispers continue even after I cover my ears with my hand, trying to block out the dreadful sound. It’s like it’s not coming from outside but from inside my head.

I look around with a worried expression plastered on my face but relax a little bit after I see that all the other Boomers have that same worried face. This reassures me that I’m not the strange one out because I hear this since they all seem to hear it too. We keep on creeping through all the dirt clouds around us, continuing even after hearing the extremely disturbing noises.

We keep on trekking through the dust, looking for anything peculiar or something that stands out.

As we reach what seems like the middle, I see a band of demons that are holding a small group of civilians captive. We all simultaneously whip out our weapons and hit the group of creatures, freeing the poor

civilians that look like they are about to vomit up all of their inner guts in fright.

We all get ready to head back. As we walk towards the edge of the canyon, where we came from, we are engulfed from head to toe in dust. I feel more exhausted than ever before, even more than when I ran that marathon to escape the evil grips of the ball of electricity.

I’ve only been walking, but not for as long as it feels. My ankles are sore from lifting my feet up and taking steps forwards. My back is slouched but I still continue. I can’t wait to go to bed, and to sleep the night away in dream land. Also to have a nice cold shower to relax and soothe my aching joints. After this experience, I don’t think I can ever feel the same way about hot showers.

My mind is fuzzy with the thought of finally exiting this pit that I don’t see the other demons that make an attempt to attack us from all sides. Luckily, my friends have fast reflexes and immediately fight them away from us. I also don’t realize the other civilians that are dragged away, but thankfully, my friends are there to save them.

As we climb up to the top of the canyon, I see more guards coming to the scene. Maybe they’re here to arrest us for doing so much damage to the marketplace? But they can’t! We’ve saved so many civilians that they should be thanking us! Maybe they’re just here to help us fight off the rest of the demons? But there aren’t many that are still alive and standing, not that that’s a bad thing. It’s certainly a good thing.

They circle around us and another group of people that, I believe, were also helping fight the demons off.

When I’m sure we’re going to get arrested for everything we’ve done, they start clapping us each on the back, thanking us. They’re gushing on and on about how we’re going to be rewarded for our work. That’s good to hear. At Least we won’t be spending the rest of our long lives in a cold and dark jail cell.

As I’m deep in thought, thinking about how I will live a long and happy life in the sun and not in a poorly lit cell, I don’t notice another man stumble along with us.

There is a long walk to the castle, and it’s all done in silence. I think it’s an awkward silence because I’m dying to ask a question to the guards or mutter something to my friends. But no. We’re going to be questioned about the whole situation. That’ll be fun…

Time to continue my walk to the castle… See you soon!

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

Terrence

Well we have me getting out of this weird situation. So now I'm in very bad health because I was harmed. Well at least I’m stable so I am still alive and I excelled my health to a 6, so that’s all right. I also improved some of my stats. Well what really happened that made me go to 1 health is that we were in a situation where you had a choice to run or attack and I was mental broken at that moment so I chose to use magic. So, you know what, in life you need to make very smart decisions and don’t be like me because I didn’t make correct choices, but I will the next few times.

SPEECH Sophia Deng Once we got to the marketplace we were all trying to catch our breath. We weren’t being chased thank goodness. Then we hear this ghostly voice saying “ I see weird stuff”. We say nothing back and are very confused, when did ghosts talk? Somehow Colena appears right in front of us, Colena does this a lot so we weren’t surprised. We go up the street and start heading home. As we go we notice that someone is climbing up the archeon’s stage. We don’t really care until he says in a magically loud voice “Citizens of Sidnar, in this city, over time, the fats get fatter and the rich get richer. You shall reap what you sow. Every year they say ‘wait’ the next archeon will protect you, but, has the archeon protected us?” I look at the person who is saying this, he is in his mid fifties and is wearing tattered clothes. All around him, parents are pulling kids away from the stage. I don’t like what this is and I start to back away. Two guards start running to this man clearly trying to figure out what is happening. That’s when I notice the man only has one shoe. The weird person thrusts a hand towards the guards. The guards freeze up, they can’t move, they look paralyzed. This man throws his hand up and it shoots some type of laser or something. The laser thingy hits a rock and the rock rolls down at a speed no other rock would roll at.

DESTRUCTION

Before I know it I’m hit by something emitting blue light and now cannot see anything. I know something is burning and I realize it’s probably me. Suddenly I’m a dragon again! I have no idea why, but I feel good for someone who got hit by a thing and got burned. I don’t feel bad and I’m not bleeding a lot so I look around to inspect my surroundings. I see destruction everywhere and a blue disk thing flying at a group of people. There is a new ravine in the middle of the marketplace. The person who shot the lazer is now some smoldering robes and a shoe. I keep looking until I see one of my friends, Marysa. Marysa looks like she got rolled over by a bulldozer. She is lying in a pool of blood and the color from her face is draining away rapidly, oh my gosh, is that what happened to everyone else? I rushed up to her quickly and healed her. I

can’t heal her entirely but I could stop the bleeding and clean her wounds. When she wakes up she looks at me and scrambles away. I look around until I’m sure everyone else is okay. I’m almost ready to turn back into a dragon until I hear a roar. It was coming from the new ravine!

Me and my friends crowded around to look. There were demons, tons of them, all scaling up the ravine.

DEMONS The demons were mostly an ​ugly​ sight. There were small ones and big ones. The small ones looked tiny and had bat-like wings. The larger demons were scarier, they had sharp claws, sharp teeth and sharp horns. I backed slowly away from the ravine, the sight of demons made my stomach twist. As the first demons came out on the other side, a group of people met the demons. They formed a protective line protecting the citizens. On our side of the ravine demons began pouring onto the ground. We tried to form a protective line but our numbers are smaller.

Instead, we help the curious citizens away from the ravine. After most of the citizens are away from danger the big demons start to come out. We go and attack them. All I have to do is a mixture of fire, raking, clawing, biting and scratching. It was a long time before the first big demon fell. The demons somehow ignore us attacking and just keep demolishing houses. The members of the archeon’s guard are finally here. We take down one demon after another. Soon the fight turns in our favor. We kill almost all of the demons. Some of the buildings are on fire.

The members of the archeon’s guard come and congratulate. This happens until a guard yells “Wait! We have rumors that these people started this fight.” Most of the guards look unsure but we go to archeon’s castle anyway to be tested. It’s not a real trial but we still are suspects. What will happen now? I super-duper do not want to go back to a drippy prison cell again. I ​hope​ that if we win the trial they’ll be nice and let us go back to our normal lives.

The Wheel of Woe Vivian Liu

Yesterday a large group of demons came from the ground to attack the civilians. So of course we took in action. Some of the guards got really hurt but they kept on fighting which was not a good idea. We charged at the demons and most of them died or retreated. Gage said “​YOU SHALL REAP WHAT YOU SOW and then the demons attacked. We fought and fought and now, almost all the demons are almost dead but we still didn't know what to do. We fought even more when one of the archons guard got hurt but we had to help him, so we healed him with our healing powers. A lot of the demons were defeated by then so we decided to help clean up and then go home. But then another group of demons came in and we had to fight them There were large demons and small demons but they were all very dangerous. We fought and fought and then the wheel of woe came in. It was a big blue oval and it was very big and long. It struck two people and one of them had a pool of blood dripping and she was in serious condition But a dragon came and healed her but she still needed rest. The wheel of the woe is so dangerous! We fought as many demons as we could and when we finally did. The city was on fire! I warned my friends trying to get them not to put out the fire since it was too dangerous, but they did not listen to me. So we had to put out the fire but Gage still ran away and we still needed to find him. We decided to put out the fire and then catch Gage. The fire spread quickly and soon a building was in ashes We had to move quickly or else the whole city could be destroyed. We moved to different spots to put the fire out and it seemed to work. After many hours of hard work, the fire was out. We still had to capture Gage so we could get our bounty but he was still too hard to catch. We knew exactly where he was going. He was going to the demons hideout and we knew where that was. We went to the hideout but no one was there but they should have probably ditched there but then someone was hiding and moving and that person could be Gage so we went up there while some of us kept

an eye to see if he would run away. When we saw him he was not Gage but a poor civilian who was hiding so we told him he was fine now.Â

The Wheel of Woe

Carina Pei

We are tired from running and we just want to go back to normal and live our lives. We continue our journey taking small breaks. During one break, we hear a ghostly voice saying “I see weird stuff”. I’m a little bit freaked out but when nobody reacted, I thought maybe I imagined it. We start to walk again after a short break but then we see a weird guy climbing something that looks like a podium. He starts yelling some weird things. He's only wearing one shoe... I think he's the same old guy from the elections! I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t even notice what was happening around me. I had a lot on my mind until I saw a thing swinging at us. Colena, Marysa and Sophia got hit. Me and Rachel leap away but she got hit on her leg. Colena, Sophia and Marysa are really low on health. I lost a bit of health and Rachel is now also low. I’m sort of healthy. Sophia becomes a dragon on low health so that's exactly what happened. She became a dragon and is now stable. Marysa gets healed with the aid of magic. Then when we went back on track. We cross another market and cross the boomers. They are fighting demons and so we fight alongside them. We spend some time healing each other. We continue fighting them after a bit of healing because more pop up...

I wish this could end.

I wish my life could go back to normal.

By : Mitchell When the bounty hunters (including me) were walking to the marketplace until we heard someone's voice booming from the marketplace. Then, up on a hill, there was a giant glowing electric blue saw object rolling straight towards me! I decided to use my magic to throw the electric blue oval off course. Then, it went rolling off towards The Adventurers Rest. Suddenly, a force field like aura surrounded the building and flung the wheel of woe flying out of sight. Later, we saw a giant crack in the street. Turns out, it was a fissure! Then, out came the demons. Big demons, small demons all these creatures started pouring out like water from a jug from a crack straight from heck! The small ones started pulling

civilians into the fissure and the big ones destroyed houses. It was a rough fight but we got the demons to retreat back into the fissure.

Xuan He

The crew and Terrance sat in the patio of the pub. It was a good day, with the breeze sweeping the group. Terrance, it seemed, was odd.

The elf had said his origins, which was even more odd. He recounted himself to be born in a town not far from Sidnar. He was good at fighting, and impressed many others with his skill. Then, he signed up for a troop of adventurers. On their missions, he rose up the ranks, until he became one of the most respected members.

The last thing he remembered before finding himself in the tower was going to a feast. This was odd. The only other city that was cataloged was Pentos. Pentos was ruined 1000 years ago. Terrance couldn’t​ have lived that long. Our discussion was cut short, by a few black carts blocking the view of the market, someone yelling out. We got up, and left, saying goodbye to the barman.

Before we set foot on the road, there was a yell. Someone was standing on the center stage. That was odd, because it was reserved for government officials, and the ragged person there definitely wasn’t.

What was more odd, was that he was only wearing one shoe. He then raised a rod, and a ball of crackling, blue, energy rolled out.

What I didn’t know about Gage was that he had magic. It was surprising, because Gage was only a stray. Then again, we were hunting him, meaning he had to be powerful, or at least, had something to do with power.

I rolled back just in time, and landed behind a house. The scene seemed to dissolve into chaos. I ran, finding a shack that was well clear of the mess. The smell of embers could easily be found in the market.

--The screams stopped. I look up, and see that the danger has passed. That is when I saw a crevasse spanning the entire length of the market square. Then, with growls, demons crawled up from the fissure of rock. There were two large ones, the size of houses, with wings, teeth, gnarled claws, and the general appearance of a giant Gargoyle. The smaller ones were about as big as a wolf.

They started walking, in no apparent hurry, being quite relaxed.

We fanned out, each drawing our swords, and attacked. We seemed to

hold them off, as they retreated somewhat, trying to find a way around our blockade. Striking and blocking wasn’t hard, because of how small the demons that I was fighting were.

The first wave retreated. I looked around, seeing destruction. The market was on fire on all sides. The two big demons were lumbering upwards, hitting the buildings, while being attacked by spells, rocks, and small projectiles.

Just then, the second wave came down from the other side of the fissure, carrying many civilians.

We moved forwards, down into the ravine.

Arriving down at the bottom, it felt like hell. It smelled of death, and fires blazed. There were also ominous whispers, saying warnings to not continue. Ignoring them, I charged up the other side, completely taking our enemies by surprise. Killing two and ripping one to the ground, I looked around. We were evenly matched, with some guards joining us.

Then, we heard a crash. The two big ones fell, and the small demons retreated. It seemed they thought they lost.

We pushed them in the fissure, rescuing people, and we finally killed them all. Celebrating, we regrouped.

A lone figure on a horse came over. He seemed unhappy. “Actually, we really think the gentlemen here caused this trouble,� he said. He dismounted, walking towards the guard. After some silent murmuring, we were led towards the castle, where we knew the dungeons were.

The Trial CHAPTER 6

I love both silver and gold but I’m already happy without them being stuck in my life forever.

You guys must be aware that there was a fight, but we all managed to survive. That’s the good news; the bad news is that when we were in court, we managed to clear our names, but what really bugs me is this word that Baldwin said: “Death.” when I asked him he left but stopped to say “When you have an enemy under your foot, step harder.”

O-o…

WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!?

We were also elected to be some royal guards.

We were given sheets to sign our names, and now we have to go on a mission.

GIVE US A BREAK!!!

The Trial When guards led her group to the prison cell, Colena was very angry. They wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for the guard who thought ​they s​ tarted the battle with the demons.

I didn’t do anything but help fight the demons who came out of there,​ thought Colena furiously.

As the guards led them to their cell, a guard in front of them said something, but Colena didn’t hear, because she was so angry. Then the same exact guard popped in front of them again and said the same thing but Colena ignored.

“We’ll be back soon to escort you to trial,” one of the guards that led them to their cell said when they got to the cell. He and the other guards left.

As soon as they were gone, Colena attempted magic to break her group out. She had no success.

The guards had come back to escort them to the trial.

A guy named Gideon, Baldwin, and a politician only Eesta and Nathan would know were seated in front of them.

Before Gideon, Baldwin, or the politician could speak, Colena burst out angrily, “We’re innocent! We’re not criminals (Eliana maybe)!

Why are we in trial? We did not cause the demons to come, okay?”

Baldwin laughed as Gideon said, “We are here to determine that.”

Colena glared at him. “Now, are any of you involved in criminal business?”

“No, none of us. Except for Eliana,” said Colena.

Gideon turned to Eliana and began to question her. Colena didn’t want to hear anything, so she plugged her ears with her fingers. She didn’t hear much until after the trial. She just wanted it to get over with.

And they would be free to go. They would ​not ​be executed or anything like that.

Finally, the trial ended, and Gideon said, “Well! You are innocent!

Now follow the guards, we’ve got a place for you to rest…”

Great! t​ hought Colena, pleased.

The guards informed them they would soon get an object of their choice, but not now. First, they rested, and were supposed to go onstage before the crowd.

The guards led them to the stage. Somebody punched another.

Colena ducked aside. The others began to punch each other, although not ​too h​ ard. Everyone seemed to have lots of fun.

“OK, calm down!” Colena said loudly. “Calm down!”

The punching stopped right away. Gideon stepped forward and began to speak to the crowd. Colena thought, ​Should I use magic to get a bow and arrow and shoot him? He is the one who made us go to trial…b​ ut then another voice in her head said, ​Don’t​.

Am I being mind-controlled? ​thought Colena as she stayed frozen in place. “…now, who wants to give a speech?” Gideon said.

Give a speech! t​ he voice in her head said. Colena felt herself go forward and say, “Hello! As the leader of the Boomers…”

Leader of the Boomers? That’s the bounty hunters! What the—? “……and the punching was to show how strong we are……”

Seriously?

Eliana was giving Colena a look. Colena knew the look said, ​I am so going to pin you to the wall​.

However, Eliana was probably mind-controlled too, because she congratulated​ Colena instead.

Colena fought against the mind control. She didn’t break free of it, but she managed to clear her head a bit.

Rachael Zhou

7/7/19/20

The Trial

So we were led down a hallway, and then there was this huge marble staircase, but we were turned around by the guards and led down a ramp, going through a pair of doors. We arrived at a place that clearly was a prison. As soon as we stepped into the corridor, I started to feel disoriented, as if something was messing with my head. We were escorted into a passageway that seemed to go on forever and was lined with torches.

After a few steps, a person sitting at a desk and drawing what suspiciously looked like pigs on a sheet of paper appeared, looked up at the guard and asked something about how long we’ll be staying. The guard escorting us just waved him off and we continued on our way. A few torches passed, and then someone who seemed to be the same person as before looked up from writing and said: “Papers?” The guard waved him off again and he sighed: “Ah” and continued scribbling on his paper. Torch, torch, torch, torch, torch, torch, and again a person sitting at a desk scrawling on a sheet of paper looked up and said: “Papers?” and the guard waved him off. “Ah,” he responded and continued scribbling. And it goes on and on like that.

Once we passed a prisoner in a cage and he looked at us, raised a rock, and scratched a line on the back wall. He murmured something to himself as we continued on our way.

At last, we reached an open cage and we were filed inside. Apparently, we were in ‘protective custody’. There seemed to be some kind of magic here but I couldn’t tell what spell had been cast. We saw the Minister for Justice come and say something to us, something about getting us in a few hours.

I saw Colena, focusing on something in the corner, and it kind of looked like she was conducting an orchestra, but I didn’t think she was the musical type.

After a few hours, we heard the sound of boots on stone and some guards appeared. We followed them out into the corridor, but this time no one said: “Papers?”. Torch, torch, torch, torch. . .

We arrived in a large room with a pretty low ceiling. The ceiling was dotted with glowing orbs, and there was a podium where three people sat: the Minister for Justice; Floyd Parker, the Archeon, and Baldwin. There were some benches and a pillar stained with what looked like blood (oh no). This was the Cavern of Justice, the previous court.

We were pointed to the benches and we sat down uncomfortably close to the bloody pillar.

Baldwin pulled out a pipe, lit it, and put it in his mouth. Parker and the Archeon looked at him with a look of disgust on their faces.

The Archeon cleared his throat and began: “The first court of High Archeon Gideon Fairwinner. Any questions?”. Someone asked something, I think it was Colena, and her question

was: “Why are we here when we are not guilty?” Parker smiled and answered: “Guilty until proven innocent.”

I looked up and realized that the orbs of light on the ceiling were Orbs of Truth. They were supposed to tell if the person being interrogated was telling the truth or lying. “Have you ever been associated with the Cult of Brodrick?” Fairwinner asked. “No,” we replied. “Heroes that helped citizens,” he murmured under his breath. “How did the day begin?” someone on the podium asked. Eesta started explaining what she experienced.

After Eesta finished, Fairwinner asked: “Why do you hate the Empire of Sidnar?” (You’re probably thinking: Is Sidnar an empire if it has only one city? The answer is: they consider themselves an empire.) “We never hated Sidnar,” we answered (He even convicts his council, the Archeon does. Eesta and Nathan are part of the council).

Then came a different question: “Have you ever been involved in organized crime in the swamp?” Most of us said no, but the purple tiefling who appeared at the South Gate, who I hadn’t noticed before, said yes (Her name is Eliana and I’m going to call her that). The Orbs of Truth turned light blue.

The people on the podium pressed her about her life. She told them that she lived alone and supported her own life, but sometimes, to earn money worked for this guy named the Shadowbroker. Eliana was cleared. Baldwin leaned forward and said: “Some of you should learn to accept help when it is offered to you.” The others looked at him like: What the heck? Do you have something to tell us?

Parker arranged for a reward of 900 pieces of gold and Colena asked something about the pieces being big or small. Parker laughed as I saw Fairwinner look at a slip of paper, and then move it forward and burn it using the candle. It was finally time to go. We were led up a staircase and to a place called the Foreign Way. The Foreign Way was a place that housed visitors to Sidnar. It was filled with houses that looked like ‘miniature mansions’. We were split into two groups and led off to different houses.

Once we got inside, there was a long wooden table that had lunch already prepared.

The afternoon went by, and before we knew it, it was night. I fell into a dreamless sleep and the next thing I knew, it was morning and a guard was knocking on the door. “5 minutes!”

Curious, we quickly changed and met the others and a guard outside, who was looking good-natured and wore a plain black cloak, which was more or less casual. I noticed that Terrence and Rassie looked unsettled, but I couldn’t figure out why.

There was a noise, like the cheering of the crowd. It got louder and louder as the guard led us wherever we were going. We arrived at the foot of the castle, where a stage had replaced the stone steps and a crowd had gathered. The guard motioned to the stage, so that’s where we headed to.

Along the way, there was a scandal, in which Eliana tripped and fell, and then everyone started punching each other in the face (I know, it’s a bit stupid). I stayed hidden in the shadows of the group as everyone calmed down and we walked onto the stage. Fairwinner stepped out from the castle. “Ayyyyy”, he whooped enthusiastically and raised Nathan’s hand while the crowd cheered. “Would anyone like to give a speech?” he asked. Colena stepped forward and delivered a really boring speech (I’m not going to go into details), and then (Suprise!) Eliana stepped forward and c​ ongratulated​ Colena. And then we got medals.

After that little affair, we were in the council chamber and Parker was getting us to sign a contract that would make us Archeon’s Guard (wow) and he asked us to go to either the marketplace to clear off the remaining demons or go to the Enchanter’s Tower, which is probably housing some of the Cult’s members.

Of course, we chose the tower.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Salut! Back again to tell you about the ‘all too exciting’ meetup at the castle… We’re being interrogated! Anyways…

As we enter from the big wooden doors, I see beautiful purple carpets hanging from the ceiling. My grandmother would probably adore that piece in our house. She would most likely invite a whole village to come and see it hung up on our walls if she had it. She loves to keep the house clean, whilst my room is a crazy zoo of clothing on the grounds, and books that I do not read scattered on the floors messily. Since I like to paint, there are paintings of trees and other elements of nature painted on the walls, making my room look like it's actually outdoors. I love my room. It’s probably the most interesting room in my whole house. My bedsheets are all a beautiful shade of forest green with leaves and vines intricately stitched inside. There is a big window on one side of my room, with beautiful sea blue curtains that imitate the beautiful stream in the tiny little forest close to my house. The window provides natural

sunlight, so most of the time, I don't have to use the lights and save loads of energy. It also gives the room an even stronger nature vibe.

The rest of the house is just like any other house you would see.

Anyways… the marble staircase that we are currently climbing up is so smooth, my grandmother would probably fawn over it and compare it to everything in our house. We step up a ramp that isn’t too far from the staircase and get to a set of doors.

We enter a long hallway with torches that light up the whole hall dimly.The walls and floor are all made of a type of brick that looks like washed river rocks which I find beautiful.

As we continue to walk down this hall, I see jail cells lined all along the walls. Most of them are already occupied, with the prisoner sitting on the ground in chains.

Now I feel a little queasy from the questions swimming in my head.

Are we going to be put in prison? Will we be stuck here forever? Are they going to starve us just like the other prisoners? They all look like skin and bones. How will we stay alive if they dehydrated us?

Continuing to walk down the hall, I feel disoriented. Though there’s only a wide hallway, I feel like I’m lost. I don’t feel like there’s a destination as the hall goes on and on. I’ve already given up counting the minutes that have passed. It seems impossible to do so because whenever I try to, it seems that I can’t remember how to count. It’s as if the hallway was cursed to make anyone who walks in it feel bewildered or stupefied. That is exactly how I feel right now.

Arriving at some kind of station with a guard standing guard, the silence is finally broken.

“Papers?” The guard that is leading us says in a chirpy voice.

The other guard nods and heads in his way. As we walk by, the fire in the torch magically disappears. This leaves me perplexed cause I’ve never seen a torch like that. This shouldn’t leave me puzzled because I already know that this castle has many expensive add-ins. Those torches must have cost a miniature fortune because it’s probably some high-tech mechanism.

As I look to the left side of the hall, or so the left side that I think is the left side, there is a prisoner in a cage. He’s scratching lines

into the walls with a small rock, leaving white marks on it. He sits there in silence, staring at the carvings. He seems like he’s completely oblivious to our arrival as he starts muttering to himself.

“Two day… can’t have only been two days” he utters to himself, not even looking up to where we’re all standing.

We finally arrived at a bigger cell that is vacant. It would be able to fit me, the Boomers, Terrence and the other people that were also fighting off the demons without having to cram us in. We all file in after the guard’s command.

“This is only temporarily… you won’t have to stay here too long” he says to us in a voice that is empty of any emotion.

We all stay inside while the guard closes the door and walks away.

We stay silent for a few minutes, the only sound being the retreating footsteps of the guard and the faint mumbling of a prisoner in another cell.

After waiting a few more minutes, even the faint tap of the guard’s footsteps couldn’t be heard. You could probably hear a tiny pin drop in this silence.

About an hour passes by, but I can’t be sure, and a man comes to have a little talk with us.

“Hello there!” He says cheerily, his smile faltering when he sees the look we’re giving him.

“As you know, you will be questioned…” he says, his tone less enthusiastic.

“You will be rewarded… as far as I know” he informs us. He doesn’t seem to enjoy the silent treatment everyone is giving him.

“It’s either metals or execution…” he trails off, looking towards the ceiling in thought.

“Probably metals!” He quickly adds after seeing our frightened expressions and the fear evidently swimming in our wide eyes. He seems inexperienced and new to this job and isn’t as fierce as some other people who work here.

He exits the room and leaves us to ponder our fates.

Before I can further question myself on how I could have gotten myself into this situation and what my grandma would probably think, one of the other girls, specifically the only human girl, tries to

use magic to get herself and her friends out of the cell. She waves her hands around whilst muttering a few words, which are supposedly spells, under her breath. I’m not the best at magic because of the many times I refused to learn it. It’s not my strong suit. When my grandmother tried to teach me, I just simply rejected her efforts to persuade me to learn it. The only reason I didn’t want to master magic is because my parents were extremely good at controlling their magical abilities so I didn’t want anything to do with it. You see, I don’t have a very stable relationship with my parents since they never spent any time with me. They stayed at work and kept me with my grandparents. As a child, I never experienced the love that you can only feel from parents. My grandparents were a great help to me and over time, I thought of them as my parents. Just maybe a little older than them.

Anyways, even though I can’t say that I’m amazing at magic, I can tell that that spell didn’t work for her. Maybe some malfunction or her hand gestures were wrong or maybe even her pronunciation of the

spell was mal pronounced. I can’t be sure because, as you know, I’m not too good with magic.

She doesn’t try again after that so we are left in an uncomfortable silence. As some time passes by, but I can’t be sure how much, another guard comes to our door. He unlocks it and leads us back down the hall. I can’t help but realize that the door was on the opposite side of where it was originally from. That confuses me.

Maybe this dungeon is supposed to make your mind go haywire. My thoughts are running crazy in my mind as we continue to walk down the hall. We arrive at another guard’s workstation and he starts to talk to us.

“Oh, leaving already?” He questions everyone. His voice tells me that he seems disappointed that we’ll be having to leave the dungeon so soon. I don’t know how soon but it doesn’t seem that we were here for that long.

We all nod our heads, not in the mood to say anything.

We continue to move along the hall, stopping at various workstations.

Every time, a guard would ask us the same question and we would

reply with the same head movements. The torches would go out as we moved forwards.

When we finally arrive after what feels like years, we are met with a door. When the guard pushes open the door, we all find ourselves in a room. The room is very large, but the ceiling is really low which makes the room appear much smaller than it actually is. The lights are replaced by a few glowing orbs that are really bright, and yet as I continue to stare at it, I realize these aren’t the same as ordinary lights. They are bright like any other light you would find in a house, but they don’t hurt your eyes. My grandfather would probably love to have this light in the house because his eyes hurt whenever he sees a bright light like so and he can’t see for about an hour afterwards. That’s why we practically only use natural sunlight which is the exact reason we have so many big windows in our house. It’s also why our house looks so scary when it’s dark out or if it’s a cloudy and rainy day. During the night, if we need light, we use candlelight because it’s not as bright as a light that is powered by electricity. It doesn’t exactly provide a lot of light but it’s better

than going to the kitchen in the middle of the night to get a glass of water… in complete darkness!

Anyways, there are chairs around the center of the room. They are lined in a row, enough for all of us to sit on one.

There is also a pillar. An incredibly unnerving pillar mind you. There are blood stains splattered on it. The blood looks old and instead of the red colour that a lot of blood has, the blood is an ugly burgundy or maroon colour. It’s extremely unsettling. Pushing the thought about the disturbing pillar with the ancient blood smothered on it, I look forwards and see three men dressed in formal attire, sitting at desks.

The first one to the left, from what my grandparents have told me, is the minister of justice. I’m not very fond of things that concern the law, but from my basic English vocabulary, I have a little idea of what that minister does. He’s probably the minister that declares peace between all the different species of beings. Or something of the sort.

From what I’ve heard from my grandmother’s gossip, he’s a very likeable man and is really friendly to everyone. He has these reading glasses that he doesn’t seem that willing to wear. I don’t have that

much experience with glasses, unless you count sunglasses without prescription. Both of my grandparents have glasses. Not to be stereotypical, but I feel like most elderly people usually have glasses.

Anyways, he’s wearing his formal attire like the other two men, though he doesn’t look that comfortable in them. I suppose he just isn’t used to these types of clothes or he just doesn’t like them. I for one don’t like wearing formal attire. He looks like a little kid, trying on their dad’s business suit. I can completely relate to that. Once, me and my grandmother went to this party where it would be best to wear formal clothing. I tried on one of her prettier dresses but ended up looking like a mess. The dress was way too long, even though you can’t consider me as a short child, and I kept tripping over it. And that wasn’t the worst part. The worst was most definitely the heels that I had to wear! They weren’t as high as my grandmother’s pair, but they were high enough. They are so uncomfortable! It’s like walking with a stick stuck to your heel, making you have to stand in a tippytoe position. I feel so bad for all the women out there that have to wear those every single day to work, and I’m extremely envious of the men

out there who are not forced to wear these types of shoes. But I’m really thankful that I don’t have to wear heels often at my job. I usually get to wear rubber boots so that I don’t get my socks dirty while trudging through swamps, or occasionally some sneakers if we’re on pavement.

Enough about me… Then to the right of him, is the archon himself. He is a broad shouldered man. He seems very impatient from what I see but I’m not one to make wrong comments about things until I’ve actually got reasonable proof. He is drumming his fingers on the table while he leans in his chair, making a squeaky noise. He’s smoking a pipe inside, which I do not approve of, but who am I? He’s the damn archon who can send an army of soldiers to kill you without moving a finger. He rules over the whole village! I’m just some bounty hunter girl who got herself into trouble by helping the village and will get herself and her friends executed if she opens her mouth to make protests. I have a very sharp tongue when I want to talk, which is why I don’t talk much. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by insulting them if they don’t deserve being insulted.

And then there’s Gideon Fareweather. I don’t know much about him because my grandmother tends to skip any gossip about him.

I just noticed this but the room is already quiet. I think the trial has begun. I start to fidget with my hair and bite my lower lip, which is something I tend to do when I’m nervous. My nervousness continues to increase when there is a tense silence stuck in the air.

“Why are we here when we’re not guilty?” A girl asks very loudly.

She’s the girl that tried to use magic in the cell. I sigh in relief when the tension has decreased in the slightest. I find it very brave of her to be the first one to speak.

“We’re getting to the bottom of this,” replies the minister of justice in a clear voice.

There is another silence that follows that.

“Are you, or are you not, involved in the spice trade?” They question.

I have no idea what the spice trade is. Apparently it’s a drug trade or something of the sort. I partly zone out of the strange conversation. What is this becoming? I thought we would be rewarded or executed. I would actually much rather get executed

than questioned like this. Being executed is so much more exciting than sitting here answering questions. I might actually die right here, right now, from boredom even before they cut my head off or something. I can’t stand boredom. If you include me into an uninteresting conversation, I will most likely completely space you out, and end up daydreaming of returning to my bed and sleeping, or being back home with my bows. I’ve actually mastered two different kinds of archery over the years. I’ve, of course, mastered the bow and arrow. I’ve also mastered the crossbow which is also super cool.

It’s like being sent back to the medieval times while I’m working with my crossbow. We’re like best friends. The three of us.

“Have you, or have you not, been associated with the cultices of Roderick?” I hear one of the three men ask. I can’t be really sure which one is speaking because of how distant I am.

I shake my head from side to side, giving them the impression that I’m completely aware of what they’re talking about, and that I’m listening. I don’t know much about the story of Sidnar. It’s a myth that my grandparents told me before, when I was younger. I didn’t

quite enjoy the story so I don’t remember much. Everyone is just so prejudiced towards each other, they don’t get along. I bet the other species have different memories of this story because everyone sees a situation differently.

For example, there’s the American Civil War that went from 1861-1865.

There were two sides. The northern states of America that were loyal to the Union. And there were the southern states that seceded from the Union. The north wanted to declare peace, and to ban slavery everywhere. The southern side rejected this and fought against them to keep slavery going. So imagine you stood by the northern side’s motivation. You would most likely think that the southern people were ‘evil’. If you were on the southern side, you would think that the north is ‘evil’. That’s because everyone has different beliefs and they want to fight for what they think is right. Some people think that they deserve the slaves that work for them, while some think that making someone work without paying them is just a cruel thing to do. But in the end, the north side won and that’s why you don’t see slaves in America anymore. That’s an example of this situation. Some people

thought that Roderick did the right thing and they’ll support his decisions. He probably has a reason for doing whatever he did. Then people here apparently support Gabriel and his decisions. They’ll see this story in another perspective than the other people who don’t support Gabriel. Well, there you go. I just gave you a whole paragraph explaining some things about the Civil War. I should really become a teacher, not. I am really bad at explaining things. You probably only got three pieces of information from that ‘informative paragraph’ I gave you just then. That there were two sides, the north states of America and the south states of America. That they had a war to stop slavery, and that the north side won.

I didn’t hear any responses to this because I completely zoned out just then, talking to myself in my head. I really have to stop spacing out on things. This is supposed to be important. The last few moments to live until they put me on that pillar they’ve got there and chop my head off with an axe. I feel like that death would be better than me suffering and dying in pain. It would be a quick death, and I

wouldn’t spend the last seconds of my life in agony. I hope that they’ll kill me quickly. Like I said, that would reduce the pain.

“When did you decide to become heroes?” Someone questions, but I completely miss it. At this point, I’m swimming deep in my pool of thoughts, the voices around me completely forgotten.

The next question perked up my interest, snapping me out of my train of thoughts.

“Have you or have you not participated in the crimes in the swamps?”

One of the three men asks. I don’t bother acknowledging who, as I look around at the other people around me. I’m really eager to know who is a criminal out of this group.

“Eliana is participating!” Colena exclaims confidently.

She’s the girl who attempted magic in the cells and the girl who spoke up first during the beginning of the trial. Though she is very courageous for answering these questions so confidently, I don’t think it was very loyal of her to rat out her friend to the archon. But I’m not going to judge her decisions. I zone out again because I don’t really want to know more about the crimes in the swamp anymore. It’s

that mission that got us into this tangled mess. We still don’t know where Gage is located. We barely followed him. We couldn’t even chase after him for five minutes. We lost him when we could’ve caught him. We had him cornered! He could be well in our clutches if we had sense enough to do something before he jumped out onto the pavement ground. My head starts to ache just thinking about it. Some time passes by, with the three men taking turns asking us questions, and with a selected group answering them. Then there’s me, zoning everything and everyone out. I’m really not a good listener. You should never come to me for comfort. I’m naturally not a big comforting person. No one feels good after coming to me. I’m not really likeable, unless I want to be. When I want to be likeable, I’m really likeable. No one could resist me! I’m just kidding. I can be likeable, but not that much. I think I can be convincing, but I’m not sure. I guess I am when I’ve got loads of practice lying to my grandparents about the things I do every day. I tell them I spend most of my time in the library, when in reality, I’m in the small wood near my house, shooting birds out of the air. I’ve stopped going there

frequently, now that I have a real job. I used to go there whenever I tried to work at a restaurant once but that didn’t work out very well. I now have the job of being a bounty hunter, which is the best job I could ask for now. I didn’t have any friends, unless you count the dead animals that I’ve shot. But now that I work with other bounty hunters, the number of friends I have has increased by a lot.

I spend a lot of my time with the other Boomers.

Everyone is screaming things out at the same time makes me look up.

They have all shouted a series of either gold, or silver, and one other type of rock that I’ve never heard of. I’m not too fond with science either, though I’m half decent with it. They’re probably answering a question that was thrown at them. I don’t know what, but I shout with them, not wanting to be left out. I scream silver because that’s the last shout I’ve heard. I still don’t know what’s happening but atleast they didn’t point me out to be the girl that doesn’t listen when she’s being questioned.

“What does this have to do with anything, though?” I hear one of us shout in a puzzled manner.

There is no answer as the three men seem to wave off this question.

“We will get the gold and silver, and that dumb metal you wanted” they finally say.

They end the trial. I don’t catch a word of it because I really don’t like conclusions. They’re usually boring. Actually, everything to me is pretty boring. We are dismissed after they reward us with some gold.

I don’t bother counting how much they give me because that’s the last thing in my mind. All I’m thinking of is my bed, and a good night’s sleep. Also a relaxing warm shower. Some tea before bed, with a good book with me. After all that happened today, that’s all I can think about without getting a headache.

We are led to wherever we were sent to go by a guard. We all walk in a jumble, not at all a neat line like we’re taught in kindergarten. I think we all have to go to school again so that we can learn to do simple things like this again. We also all deserve some sleep. Whatever this guard is leading to better take less time than the trial because we all have to go home to get the rest we need.

We’re led to an area with a few miniature mansions. I don’t remember my grandparents talking about a place like this in the palace so this comes as a surprise to me.

There’s a fountain near the center of the area with a harp playing not far from there. As I look closer, I see that this harp doesn’t have a player beside it. It’s playing completely by itself. I’ve never seen an instrument play by itself before, unless you count those fake scenes in movies. I might be hallucinating right now but when I do a double take, it’s still playing there by itself. Then there are these rose petals falling from the sky at all times. They don’t seem to stop and it’s annoying. I don’t really like roses because they’re way too common. I see them everywhere whenever I go to markets, which is very little. I don’t do well with flowers that much because if I smell them way too closely, I get allergies and start sneezing a lot.

Pushing the thought of those rose petals falling everywhere to the back of my head, I walk to a table where they’re serving food. I have a lunch of everything you can think of, ranging from ham and cheese sandwiches to roast chicken. The food is absolutely scrumptious but

definitely not better than my grandmother’s cooking. No one can beat her cooking, like ever.

After finishing the last of my meal, I pour myself a tall glass of ice cold water from a pitcher on the table. I take it up with me to the room I was assigned to. I set it on the nightstand so that I can drink it in the morning. I can’t really start my day without water. I usually don’t feel very good without it. I get dehydrated very quickly. I pick up my book. At the moment, I’m reading the hunger games, by Suzanne Collins. It’s a book about these games where 24 kids are put into an arena to murder each other and starve to death.

The last one alive wins their precious life and glory for killing everyone else. It could be a book that describes the world in the future. A world full of fear and terror. And starvation. I, like other elves, don’t dream often. That’s why I can read books that aren’t very good bedtime stories and not have night terrors. I’ve only dreamt a number of times. I’ve never actually had a nightmare because I can control my dreams very easily. It’s a blessing that all us elves have.

It makes sleeping so much more relaxing.

I read a few pages of the book but can’t continue reading because my eyes start to droop. My book falls on my lap with a thud as I drift off into dreamland…

The leaves brush my face as I run through a forest, similar to the one at home but larger. The birds are chirping in the background but the sound is very muffled. My footsteps are muted from the dead leaves that lay on the dirt. As I continue sprinting through the wood, buildings come into view. But as I continue on, it appears that these buildings are only ruins. It must have been a city of some kind until it got destroyed. The remains of the buildings look long dead, the damage unrepairable. There are bits of purple vine here and there but not much else. The murky water before me gives off an uneasiness as there is no movement in it at all. Not even a ripple. I hesitantly step inside as it is the only way to get to the other side. The minute I step foot in, there is a strong wind, but not your usual breeze. This one makes me sweat. I look back and see a few phantoms poke their heads out of the remaining windows of the crushed building. The sight of them makes the hairs in my back stick up even though the sweat has

already plastered them down into my skin. I can’t stay any longer here.

‘Make me fly’ I say in my head.

‘I need to get out of here’.

Usually, I could always think my way out of these situations… now I can’t.

‘What is this?’ I think frantically.

‘I need to get out of here!’ I practically scream in my head.

After all of that, I’m still not able to change the scenario. ‘What is happening?’ I question myself, over and over again. I try breathing.

‘In and out’ ‘In and out’ I try to steady my breathing and make my heart slow down the rapid pace it’s beating at.

‘You’re going to be okay’ ‘It’s all just a dream’ I say these things over and over again but I know I don’t believe any of it.

A strange feeling bubbles in my stomach. I feel like puking. I fight the dream, trying to think of something that will help me, but nothing comes. Nothing’s here to save me. No one.

‘Give me my arrow’ ‘Give me my crossbow’ ‘Please!’ I repeat these words countless times but nothing happens.

Ripple. There is a ripple. In the water. And it’s not me… something is in this water, and it’s coming.

I scream for help as I feel myself being pulled down. There is something or someone tugging at my legs. I’m being pulled down into the water. I frantically splash around, trying to stay above the water. I need air! I can’t swim! I’m being pulled downwards.

Lower…

Lower…

Lower…

The last thing I see is a blinding purple light…

I sit upright immediately, spitting out purple water. Purple water! Why would I have purple water in my stomach? My blanket is singed.

There is a steam that is burning it. Black smoke billows out of the blanket and the room smells of burned fabric. I push the remains of the fabric off of my body as I run down the stairs. I find all the Boomers to talk to them about this peculiar dream, and the terrible singed blanket and purple liquid that came out of it. They are the only people I trust. I lead them to my room after waking them all from their sleep. I realize that it’s the middle of the night. The sky is already dark.

They enter the room, with me at the back and they all have shocked looks on their faces. They look at me like I’ve grown another head. We all sit on the floor since the bed can’t be used. I tell them what I saw and experienced in the dream as they all listen intently and hang onto every word that I say. We discuss these weird events and share ideas. By the time we’ve finally finished our long discussion, everyone seems to be drained of all energy. Dark circles can be found under our eyes, making us appear much older than we actually are. Though I am absolutely exhausted, all my troubles have been removed from my brain after our discussion. I’ve cleared my mind of all these

thoughts by spilling them out to my friends. The only things that still stick in my mind even after spilling it out are the thoughts of the dream. I’m still a little shaky from them but I think I can handle it fine. I find it pointless to try and fall asleep for even another minute because sooner or later, the archon’s guards will come and collect us because we can’t stay here forever. I just hope that I didn’t put too much of my burdens on my friends’ backs.

I shuffle to the bathroom drowsily, not feeling really ready to start the day. Splashing water on my face always wakes me up so that’s exactly what I do. I turn the tap and put my hands under the cold water, causing goosebumps to erupt up my arm. I cup my hands and splash water in my face. Much better. Now I’m wide awake and feel much better. I brush my teeth and take a quick shower because I’m still incredibly sweaty and there’s still some residue of the purple liquid that remains in my skin. I’ve already wiped most of it off with a towel but it’s still there.

I turn the water on and wait for it to warm up. I strip myself of my filthy clothing and step in the shower. The water is warm but not

hot and feels refreshing on my skin. I scrub off all the access filth from my body and wash my hair. When I finish, I dry myself off and go to change. I’m not the best at fashion so my clothes aren’t much. Just an oversized sweater and a pair of skinny jeans. This is my usual style whenever my grandmother’s not home. When she is home, I have to wear dresses that are too formal for my liking. My hair has to always be pinned up, which makes my headache the longer I have it in the plaited style. My hair is naturally straight so whenever I plait my hair, It becomes wavy. Now that I don’t have to braid my hair, my hair is straight. I decide to wear it down, cause my head really needs a break from all the styling.

When I go down the stairs, I can hear voices from the hallway.

Everyone is ready now as I see the archon’s guard approach us.

Without saying any words of greeting, we are led outside. Everything that happens next happens in a blur. The only thing I can see is the phantoms, the ruins, the murky water and the purple light as I walk to some kind of stage. I don’t notice everyone punching each other, as I am too absorbed in my own thoughts. I don’t see the journalists

writing down everything that is happening around us, not missing any details. The trumpets that are playing are loud but I don’t pay any attention to them. Gideon stands up and silences the crowd but I don’t see. I’m looking down at my feet when he asks if anyone wants to give a speech. There ringing in my ear, the silence causing this. It’s the same sound as the birds that were in my nightmares. It’s extremely unpleasant. The silence is finally broken when Colena steps up to give a speech. I can’t pay attention to anything that she is saying but I catch a few words but they are muffled. “...kind citizens… as the leader of the Boomers… thank you” but I can’t piece these words together. It doesn’t make sense. My mind is all jumbled up and I can’t think very clearly. Colena steps back to her spot as Eliana steps up to make a speech. This time I can’t hear anything. I’m staring down at my hands, feeling uncomfortable. I really want to go back home, but I can’t. I can’t leave now because the archon won’t let me unless he wants me to. We are given awards, the silver gold, and other rocks we asked for. I don’t even care if they gave me some other piece of metal now. I just want to return to

my house, to return to my stash of bows and arrows in the hollow tree of the small wood. To my room. Even to the library! Anywhere is better than here. I don’t really like it here even though it’s so luxurious. I like my own home so much more. We are dismissed from the stage. We all stagger down a hall and into a room. The minister of justice strides in with contracts in his hands. I try to pay attention to what he is saying. I manage to stay focused for a little while, enough to catch the important stuff.

We are being asked to sign a contract telling us to root out the remaining demons. I want to reject the offer and go back to my original bounty hunting job, but I know this man is in control of us.

He’s going to threaten us until we agree. Force us to accept. He’s going to do whatever he can to make us do the job.

Gotta make this decision, even though I can’t actually make a decision for myself… Goodbye.

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

PRISON AGAIN Sophia Deng

The guards escort us to a beautiful castle fit for a ​king.​ In the castle the guards flank us on all sides. Inside the castle there’s a beautiful staircase going up. But, instead of going up one of the guards opens a rusty door and gestures us inside. After the rusty door I expected a dank, dark passageway, I guessed correctly. There was a long passage that went down for almost forever. I groaned inwardly, so definitely another prison. We go down and down and down and down for almost forever. Soon there’s a room with a guard sitting next to a table. He asks “ Papers?” and stretches a hand out as if expecting papers, one of the guards flanking us waves a dismissive hand and the guard next to the table nods. We keep going on for a long time until I spot an identical room with a guard sitting next to a table. Guess what he says, you probably guessed correctly. He asks “ Papers?”and stretches a hand out as if expecting papers. One of the guards waves another dismissive hand and the ‘paper’ guard nods. We go down and the same thing happens all over again, and again, and again and again and again. I have no idea what time it is but I feel like I need a nap. After a long way down we finally end up in front of a large cell. I yawn very​ importantly​,​ ​prisons were definitely going to be a part of my life, two prisons in two days. The guards all let us file in. I hear a lock click and then it’s fairly quiet and boring. I hear someone making music, perfect around naptime. I have no idea how long it is but some guards come. Now what? Don’t we get enough guards for more to come? Who knows what they want? We’re probably going to the Cavern of Justice, one of the first courts built in Sidnar.

CAVERN OF JUSTICE

After a lot of footsteps, we hear some sounds on one of the sides and rush to it hoping to get out first. Then a door opens on the other side of where we’re all standing. Huh? This was definitely magic. We go down another hallway. There’s a guard sitting next to a table, he says

“Leaving already?” The guard ignores him and we keep marching down. Then……. we see that same person saying “Leaving already?” again and again and again for countless times. Finally we see a huge room. In the room there’s a huge column. The scary part is that the column has a few scary stains. The stains were dark red like dried blood. I was right, we were in the Cavern of Justice.

TRIAL Our judges were the minister of justice (obviously), the archeon Gideon and oh no, Baldwin. Yes, we all hate Baldwin. He nods at us. Colena yells at the archeon “Why are we here if we are not guilty?” Baldwin says “ Yeah, why are they here?” The archeon glares at him and says to Colena “You are here so we can determine if you are guilty or not.” “Okay, because you are so impatient, we will start the trial,” the archeon says. Before the archeon can say another word, Balwin asks “Have you been involved with the spice train?” What the heck is a spice train? A train made with spices? I love peppers! “What’s a spice train?” I ask. Baldwin replies “A group of alcoholic drinkers.” Everyone says no. Baldwin proceeds to the next question, “Are you associated with the cult of Rodrick?” The answer is no. Baldwin says “Have you ever helped terrorists?” Everyone says no again, this was pointless, we didn’t commit any crimes! The archeon cleared his throat, “When did you decide to become heroes?” “We never became heroes, fighting demons is what any citizen would do.” Eesta says. “Oh, oh, oh! Is this the minister of public health?” “Yes,” Eesta says. “ Well, you should tell us the whole story because you are a minister. And we hope you don’t lie.”, the archeon says ignoring Nathan’s ‘I’m a minister too!’. Eesta relates the story to the judges. Near the end Baldwin interrupts “How long have you hated the empire?” Everyone says something like ‘We never hated Sidnar.’ “Have any of you been associated with crimes going on in the swamp?” Balwin asked. I finally figured it out. These were trick questions! They were made to detect if the person was lying. Then, after lying, The person would die. Everyone says no. Until Colena says “She is involved!” pointing at Eliana. Eliana’s face looks pale. We all are silent. Baldwin chuckles “Oh, do we have a criminal to punish?” Eliana says, her voice shaky “I d-d-d-do help p-p-people in the swa-a-amp b-b-but I normally d-do it for my-myself.” Balwin says “Hmmm” and looks up at an orb on the ceiling then he says “how long have you been planning with the tieflings across the sea?” Everyone answers no. “Okay,” Gideon says, “what color do you like, gold or silver?” I say gold. “What are we going to do with them?” The minister of Justice says. “Death” says Balwin before the archeon could reply. “No, they should be rewarded,” the justice guy says. “And promoted and given 1000 pieces of gold.” he added. The archeon said “Very well, they shall be promoted and given 900 pieces of gold” Finally we were done, someone said something but I was too sleepy. I get myself into a bed and start to sleep.

SPEECH? When I woke up some guards came, they weren’t wearing their usual armor, they were wearing plain robes. They escorted us to the front of the mansion. The closer we got the more whispers we heard. It was like lots of people just murmuring. Once we got to the front we finally realized what the whispers were coming from. There was a stage, on the stage were some seats. But, there were people, so many people, a crowd as big as an eye could see! The archeon comes and raises Mitchell's hand. The crowd roars. Eliana looks around and falls.

Eliana punches herself in the face. Then a guard comes with some medics, he gets Eliana up and Eliana punches him in the face. A fist fight erupts on the stage. Then as soon as it came, the fist fight ended. We sit on the benches nicly. The archeon says “Would any of our heroes give a speech?” Colena did. I wasn’t listening, I was laughing. After Colena gave her speech, Eliana said thanks to her. What? They literally hate each other. This was so weird. I also hate attention. So, I went off the stage.

By: Mitchell For most of the trial, I wasn't very concerned. I'm on high alert if one of our members starts getting physical. Then, we have to pitch in and help because we don't want to lose any people on our adventure.

Who knows what will happen when we lose someone. They might have something we don't have and it might help us on our journey. Everyone plays a special role on our journey; even the criminals. If we lose someone, it might be game over for all of us.

THE TRIAL by: Vivian

Today I am going to talk about the trial that happened. So basically, a few people were in court and they were deciding if they should get executed or not. They were telling the truth I could tell but the guards did not believe them. I could tell that they did not want to be executed. The guard finally decided that they should give them a chance.

Then there was a big award ceremony that I did not know about and it was right outside the resting lounge. I was in shock when I went outside since a whole lot of crowds came running to us and asked us to tell them about one of our adventures. I ignored them and decided to go back inside but another crowd of people made me go back outside since when I left, a guard told me to go back. A random girl came and said that she was the leader of all of the boomers when she was not even in our group. I decided to wait since I thought she was daydreaming or crazy. As I guessed correctly, she was crazy. She kept on stopping and muttering random words no one could hear, then I remembered who she was. She was the girl who was in court and almost executed. They asked once again if anyone wanted to say a speech and I said no since I had nothing to say. Then the guard said ​we congratulate the boomers for such efficiency in their work. They have made our city a much safer place therefore please congratulate them when you leave!​ Personally, I don't like crowds but we did a great job so yeah!

By the end of the day, I was exhausted after so much food, fun and talking. It was so fun that I couldn't stop going to the party. There were people but a lot of them were there to congratulate us. I really liked all the people and all the food at the party, everyone was having fun, they even congratulated a criminal. Everyone was so ready for the next year to have a fresh start. That year was fun even though we did not catch Gage yet but we were so close to getting him to jail. I wonder why the people were so happy probably since we fought off all the demons that tried to hurt the citizens and we put out the fire really easily so that is maybe why they were thanking us. Then I heard the crowd cheering and saying, ​We appreciate your hard work. Thank you so much!​ And they were grateful to us. I'm happy to say that the boomers helped the citizens but we still have to catch Gage and the rest of the criminals who put us in grave danger when we went to the criminal base. I am excited to get them in jail, the place where they belong. We still have lots of plans in order to obtain their bounties.

All I can say is ​Better luck next year.​ :>

The Trial

Carina Pei

We enter a weird place that distorts our vision and messes with time. We go down a corridor with guards and weird dudes and the corridor looks endless. Colena is trying to use magic to break out and it's kind of hilarious when she fails.

We are going to be brought to someone important and we can’t lie and stuff. We have to decide what happens. We hear boots in the hallway. We hear a door opening behind us. We see something keep replaying and I’m very confused. We see a bench and three people on it. This place looks like it was made for a lot of people but there are only three. The top of a pillar has blood stained on it and there are a bunch of chains. I recognize this immediately. I feel faint and try not to look at anything or else I might vomit. A dude puts glasses on as if it makes him look smart. Another dude drums his fingers on the desk. Baldwin looks up. WAIT, BALDWIN…?

We are apparently in court. Colena bursts and says ‘why are we here when we aren’t guilty’ they say they will determine if we are guilty or not. I can't help but snort at his stupidity.

Apparently there’s a drug around town so he asks us if we were involved. We obviously weren’t. I get lost in my thoughts and try to stay out of this. I talk very little and try to kind of hide in the shadows.

It’s finally over. We can take a break and just rest for the night outside.

Xuan He

We filed into the castle, walking down the halls, and looking around. We were led down a stone ramp, and landed in a cave. It was Sidnar’s prison. Looking down the main hall, it seemed that it went on forever. Moving with the guards, we eventually went into a holding cell.

There was a person inside: he was Floyd Parker, minister of justice.

Nodding, he left the cell.

After a while, we heard footsteps, and in came a guard. They led us down the hallway. The guards, upon seeing us, waved and said, “Oh, leaving already?” Then, they smiled. The next guard we came across also said (and did) the same thing. It was eerie.

I walked towards the end of the hallway, and went inside a large cave. It seemed like the courtroom, as there were many, many stone benches, spaces for an audience to stand, floating and glowing orbs for lighting, and, most importantly, three tables. There were three people there, sitting. In the middle was the Archeon, Gideon, flanking him were Baldwin and Floyd. Behind them, there was a massive marble pillar. The top was stained with blood.

“The session has started.” Baldwin said. Colena burst out, “Why are we here if we are innocent?” Floyd smiled. Pulling on a pair of reading glasses, he said, “No one is innocent until proven innocent.”

They pulled out their notepads, and started asking.

Baldwin went first. “Have you been involved in the recent, if not disastrous, spice trade?” he asked. The spice trade was the trade of an herb that came from the other side of the sea, where the tieflings lived.

“No. I don’t even know what it is!” Colena said. Floyd rustled his paper.

Baldwin went on, “Have any of you been associated with the cult of Roderick?” I looked at Gideon. “Yes.” I answered. Gideon looked up. He asked, “When did you decide to enter the battle?” “We just helped,” Colena said.

Floyd, looking apprehensive, asked “How did the day go?” “It was a normal day, until we saw this crazy old man yelling, then he shot a blue ball at us, from what looked like a broom handle, the ground exploded, and a bunch of monsters came out of the crater.” Esta said.

“Is there any of the Archon's guard that you may want to reward?”

Gideon asked. Esta answered, “The leader.” Floyd wrote another thought down, seemed to have a sudden inspiration, and looked up again.

“Do you, any of you, have any record of criminal activity?” he asked. After a long enough pause, Gideon sifted in his seat. “I’ll come back to that later. Now, tell me what you like best about the city.” “I think it is very well-lead.” Esta said. Gideon, looking pleased, wrote it down.

Eliana suddenly said “I may have,” as Baldwin looked at her with surprise and curiosity, “because I have previously worked with a man named the Shadowbroker.” Floyd looked at his notes, seemingly satisfied, and asked, “Are there any other threats that the Archeon’s guard needs to know about?” We said no. Floyd, looking hard at his notes, finally said, “Rewards, for their service.” “I agree,” Gideon said.

Baldwin laughed. Gideon considered it again. “Maybe, 100 gold and a promo-” Floyd cut him off. “No, ​1000​ gold pieces and a promotion!” he said.

A messenger came in, passed a short slip of paper to Gideon, and went out again. Gideon frowned, looking down at the paper. “As for… the south gate prison, I-you are excused.” The guards then led us out of the caves, up the ramp, and onto the main road.

We arrived in a marble building, and went into one of the wings. It was extremely luxurious, with magical flower petals falling from the sky, and a glorious fountain. We were led to our quarters, and I went to sleep.

--I woke up, after a knock on my door. Rassie was there, with the rest of the team. “What?” I asked. “Well… a dream.” she answered.

“What is so urgent about a ​dream?​” I asked. She motioned for me to come. Coming into her room, I saw that it really ​was​ urgent. The bed was burned, and the sheets singed.

“Yeah. What exactly happened, and why is this related to a dream?” I asked. She quickly explained the dream, where she was running in the swamp, and then got pulled down. Then, waking up, she spat out a wad of purple slime, which quickly burned the bed. We talked about how dreams work, for the whole night, until we were called by a voice, saying we needed to go.

We regrouped, and came with the guard. As we went down the hall, there was this noise that seemed to be coming from a crowd.

Coming out of the building, I saw a ​huge​ crowd, stretching as far as the eye can see. There was also a wooden stage, set in front of the mansion. Waving, I stepped onto the stage. Looking down, I saw a few people carrying trays of what looked like blue goo. They were struggling to hold it, as if the goo was alive and wanted to escape.

Suddenly, Vivian fell, a very unconvincing stumble. The guards rushed up, evidently not knowing that it was a trick. They accidently started grappling each other, and a brawl started out. I sat down on one of the benches on the stage, and, as it started to get boring, started musing about the bed. ​If it was magic, what could it have been? And who, or what had casted it? ​The brawl had ended, and they calmed down. ​How could she have had it in her mouth? It was acidic! ​Colena was now on the stage, walking forward. ​What swamp “water” could be purple? I have not seen any. I​ stood up, as Gideon was handing out medals. I accepted mine meekly, and we were let out again.

We arrived in the council chamber, a sandstone-carved dome, with a central obelisk, covered in runes. We sat down, and were greeted by Floyd. “That was an ​amazing​ speech you did there,” he said, “now, here are your contracts. All you need to do is sign them and, if you want, check the boxes.” I took my form, read through it, and signed it.

Ozmo The Merchant Mage CHAPTER 7

My day can be expressed with two words: NEVER ENDING!!!

This is what happened: we went to Ozmo as he kept all the weapons.

We all asked for different things. I only remember getting a book to make my magic better because I suck at magic .

Anyways, he said that if we want to boost the skills of our weapons, we each have to give blood.

GROSSED ME OUT!!!

Then, at night, we ran to a tower and it was surprisingly quiet‌ too quiet.

When we went in, we all saw a giant log hit Carina in the chest. She didn’t see the tripwire It was so obvious that there would be traps and she didn’t think twice! Oh geez .

We stepped over the wire. Eliane and Colena came out of nowhere and were out of breath.

Then, we heard music (the battle music from PokĂŠmon ranges) We were in the middle of a group of demons.

đ&#x;˜’

đ&#x;™„

Eliana I have beholden a skeleton key.

7/22/2020 After a traumatizing visit to the armoury, we ended up deciding to head towards the enchanter’s tower. The place seemed quite opposing, with its great brick walls standing sturdily on the ground. As much as the building intrigued me, however, I didn’t have the intention to go in. I looked towards one of the members right before nodding in her direction. We quietly left the group of people behind, not thinking much about them as our thoughts were wrapped solely on the plan. Heading towards the bank, in which we had the intention of robbing, I started getting more nervous as we approached it. I gripped the handle of my key a little harder the moment I saw it coming into view. Gulping down any stress, I snuck towards a back door and jammed my key in the keyhole. Entering a vast looking lobby, I found a set of bars nearby that led to a metal door. Assuming the vault would be found behind, I quickly analyzed where my friend and I could easily slip inside. I found an entrance and quickly stepped in, her right behind. The room led to a circular door that contained a heavy-looking keypad up against the wall. Discreetly, my accomplice helped me hack it open. With a small clicking sound, we finally entered the vault.

With a small giddy of joy, I sighed with relief before realizing a strange creature happened to be asleep nearby. Before I could do anything, my friend cast a sleeping spell as reassurance. I thanked her, then started heading towards the pile of money and gold just lying around. Excited at the sight, I quickly took a bag before starting to stuff the items inside. However, a few locked boxes were stealing my attention, and I headed towards them as my curiosity took over.

Suddenly, a small alarm started ringing throughout the building. Starting to panic, I quickly had the instinct to jam my key inside the lock. As the sound intensified, my panic rose even more, and with the little amount of time, I shoved the box inside, including the one that I threw in afterwards. Turning around to face my friend, I noticed she was still stuffing money inside her bag. The bag was almost full, which was why I gestured to her to escape the place. She nodded right before I bolted out of the exit. Even though I was progressively losing breath, I didn’t stop running until I reached the outside. I quickly locked the door behind once my accomplice had exited the area and started running behind her. After a few moments, I looked back at the bank, only to realize that the guards had decided the robbers were still inside it. I chuckled slightly before continuing to run away from the perimeters of the building. We ended up running into the other members. Some of them seemed to be in bad condition. They questioned our disappearance. As we were still out of breath, we took a moment before my friend answered: “ Robbing a bank, y’know?” I gave her a small panicked look, but the other members didn't seem to take her answer seriously. Still happy after the successful robbery, I walked with joy as we continued down a path.

Ozmo the Merchant Mage Soon, Colena’s group was escorted to get their item. They would get only one thing, but it could be anything. ​Anything​. Colena planned to get a bow. A bow with arrows that could go through solid walls.

The item would boost your stats too. Colena knew the bow would boost her ability to act under pressure. She wasn’t too good at that.

The group had been given 900 gold bars to pay Ozmo, the guy who would give them the weapons. Each 100 gold bars would make him make the gifts better. But there was only 900, and the group was made of 14: a human, a tiefling, many elves, some dragonborns, and a dragon.

They would figure it out later.

As the guards led them down a corridor, Eesta attempted magic to make a torch glow so they could see better. The corridor was pretty dark.

Eesta, however, wasn’t really good at magic—she was the best when it came to act under pressure. Because Eesta wasn’t great at magic, Colena helped her light the torch. They did it successfully, and the guards led them to Ozmo.

Ozmo was waiting for them. Colena asked, “Hello, can I get a bow? A bow with arrows that can go through solid walls?”

“How much are you going to pay?” asked Ozmo. Colena hesitated for a moment. She muttered to the others, “Is it OK if I pay him 100 gold bars?”

The others agreed and Colena gave him 100 gold bars.

Ozmo produced a bow out of nowhere. Then he gave Colena a lot of different arrows. A ​lot ​of arrows.

“It’s a Bow of Blasting. It’s explosive, but it’s also obvious,” Ozmo said.

“Thanks,” said Colena and she stepped aside so the others could get their item.

Colena was so interested in the bow she didn’t hear what the others’ items were, although she was pretty sure someone got a key that could unlock or lock any door (if there was a keyhole), another get something called an ‘Animal Amulet’ which could summon any animal (although it was unpredictable), and another get a Cloak of the Chameleon which would help blend in with the background.

Then, she suddenly heard Ozmo say, “I need some of your blood.”

Colena knew perfectly well that Ozmo wasn’t talking to her, but she turned away instead of turning to look to who he was talking to. Her worst fear was blood—not the blood that’s out of view in your body, but the blood on bad injuries or wounds.

Ozmo did something to some of the others before they left. Colena wasn’t sure what, but she didn’t think she would like to know or see.

“You are to go to the Enchanter’s Tower,” said the guard who led them outside.

The guard explained to be on their guard—anything could happen.

They also knew there were some people there. Probably enemies. The enemies were undoubtly on ​their​ guard.

When they arrived, the Enchanter’s Tower looked pretty creepy.

Nobody appeared scared, though, and Colena didn’t think anyone was.

Colena approached first, and when everyone was inside, she grabbed her bow, and carefully climbed the stairs that were in front of her, cautiously. There was a door at the top.

We should check the door out,​ thought Colena. She cleared the top.

Suddenly, something hit her. ​Hard​. On her leg. She fell down the stairs, and landed back to her group. Her bow had fallen out of her hands, but she snatched it back up. Eesta jogged up the stairs, and when she got to the top, she glanced around. Noticing nothing, she disappeared behind the door.

Colena walked up again. She thought enemies were on the other side of the door. So she nocked an arrow and sent it flying through the door. Barely a second later— “What was that about?!” yelled Eesta from the other side of the door. Colena was relieved. If Eesta had been shot, she wouldn’t be able to speak that well without saying, “Ow.” Eesta must’ve dodged it.

Then Eliana and Carina burst out of nowhere. “What’s going on?”

Colena turned to them and yelled, “Where were you?!”

“Robbing a bank,” replied Carina.

“Robbing a bank while the rest of us are in danger?!” Colena roared.

Then, something surrounded them. The fourteen of them. Enemies.

Uh –oh, looks like we need to fight out of this​, thought Colena as she nocked an arrow and sent it flying.

Ozmo was a nice guy. He gave us our weapons. I chose a sword that can change me into both a big and small person. I saw a lot of cool weapons. The weapons he makes are awesome. In this class, all we did was just pick our weapons. It was quite boring for a while, but every class is always fun.

ITEMS Sophia Deng Our mission is to go to the Mage’s tower. Some people believe that some of the Rodrick cults are there. We are going to the armoury to get equipped with weapons, I think. A guard is taking us to the armoury. The guard suddenly says, “Oh, well, I’ll leave you right here. The person who will help you is a creep- oh, nevermind. Well, he is kind of weird. So, uh, I’ll leave you here.” So we went down the hallway he pointed. We see a person sitting in a chair in front of a room. He looks young and old at the same time. All his clothes are nice except for a hat.

We go into the room, and he bows: “ Well, I am Ozmo the Merchant Mage and, of course, you all know me.” I’ve never heard of Ozmo the Merchant Mage. The room had no weapons, none at all. There were a bookshelf and some other cool things that would be of no use in battle.

“Where are all of the weapons?” someone asked. Ozmo said, “ Of course there are no weapons - I get them for you. You tell me anything you want, and I will give it to you. This thing has to exist because I will be pulling it from the void. Any more questions?” “Yeah, can I go first?”

Ethan says. “Of course, what would you like?” Ethan replies: “A sword that can make me change size.” Ozmo looks around and draws something out of his other hand. “Come forward, stick out your hand.” Ethan does. Then, Ozmo stabbed Ethan’s hand. Ethan grew to a huge size. Ozmo stabbed again, and Ethan grew bigger. Ethan grew and promptly after turned back to his own size. What the heck? Stab him on the hand? Why? Couldn't he tell us he was going to do that? Anyway,everyone got items. Most items had defects. Mitchell had an elemental blade, which matches the weather, but it was too loud and obvious. Colena had a bow of blasting, which could blast open walls, but was also very obvious. Ozmo said, “Well, you wanted a boom-boom bow, so it booms and is obvious.” That was ​slightly​ funny, but I wasn’t going to trust Ozmo. Eliana has a key of some sort. It allows her to unlock any door and lock any door permanently until she locks a different door. It’s perfect, no defects at all. Marysa has an amulet that allows her to summon an animal. Rassie has a crossbow, and Xuan has an invisibility cloak. Nathan asked for an axe, Eesta has a powerful book, and Carina has a perfect whip.

Rachel has a cloak that allows her to turn into an animal. It’s cursed, though. Terrence has a pistol, but he comes from the past and has no idea how to use it. Vivian has a fire spear. Me? Oh, I wanted a staff that would allow me to turn into a phoenix. Phoenixes are so rare and

beautiful. Ozmo pulled something out and hid it behind his back. He asked for me to stick my hand out: ​no, thank you!​ The last time someone stuck his hand out, he got stabbed. I asked for him to set down the thing lightly.” He did, and it was a ugly black stick with knobs and knots.

Before I could make a pouch for it Ozmo said, “As you can see, some of your items are imperfect. If you would like to make a trade to take away the imperfections, I will gladly do so.”

Mitchell made the trade, and his item no longer booms. But, Ozmo now has a vial of Mitchells blood. I wasn’t going for it as this was, after all, slightly creepy. Rachel and Vivian both do this.

Rachel loses some hair while Vivian loses a memory. I make a pouch for the cursed stick, and we all leave.

TOWER We are in front of the Mage’s Tower. Nobody can hear a single thing. It’s eerily quiet.

Colena steps up and opens the door. Unluckily, Colena gets hit by a log and sails in the other direction. Eesta goes up to the door and jumps away. An arrow soars past her, hits the log, and the log explodes. Haha, Colena always stumbles into traps. We go into the tower. I give myself some armour, but I can’t quite see past it. Carina and Eliana come from behind us. “What were you guys d ​ oing behind us,” Colena asks suspiciously. Eliana replies: “We were just scouting around.” Carina says, “ Robbing a bank, you know.” Colena looks skeptical, but we go up a random staircase that spirals upward. I wasn’t quiet because of my armour, but, even worse, Rachel opens a bag of doritos: “wwpphhhhtttttt.” Vivian and Ethan both yell, “Doritos! What a good idea!” They then had a contest to see who could stuff the most doritos in their mouth. This was ​so s​ illy! Also, this was a sure way to attract enemies. I groaned: this was going to be a long staircase.

By : Mitchell When we went to the Archon’s Armoury, we walked past a leaky hallway. Then, we encountered a mage called Ozmo. He said that he'd been expecting us. The group altogether had only 900 gold pieces. You give 100 gold pieces to the merchant mage, he reaches into the void and gives you a weapon you wished for. I got an elemental sword; the element changes depending on the weather or region. Say it's rainy, then my sword can summon waves. Or, if it's really windy, I can then summon a tornado (not a good idea, though).

Rachael Zhou

2/7/21/20

Ozmo the Merchant Mage

After we signed the contract, we were led down to the Archeon's Armoury by another Archeon guard. We stopped at this dark hallway and the guard said: “There you go, the Archeon’s Armoury. I-I don’t go in there.” He sounded kind of ominous and scared at the same time (which, if you ask me, is a strange combination). We all looked at him like: “Are you kidding me?” He just looked at us with a blank face.

Eesta waved her hand and a stick appeared with a bright light glowing on the top. It illuminated the dark hallway in front of us, and so we continued to the Armoury. After a few minutes, we reached a door labeled A ​ rchon's Armoury​. We pushed the door open and went in.

Inside it was completely dark. Suddenly, everything lit up, revealing a person sitting on a chair. He wore tattered clothes and he was one of those people that you can’t really tell what age they are. He looked old and young at the same time (How is that possible?) and he seemed to have traveled a long distance in a short time. “Welcome to the Archeon’s Armoury”, he said, “I have been expecting you. My name is Ozmo.” I looked around and realized that there were no weapons and no armour, just a plain, circular room with a bookshelf on one side.

“What would you like?” he asked. Colena went first. She asked for a bow that could go through walls and shoot at any distance. “You can only have one of those aspects,” Ozmo said.

Colena chose to have a bow that could go through walls. He waved his hand, and a perfectly normal-looking bow appeared. He tested it by touching one of the arrows to something, and the thing exploded. “This might be the loudest thing I ever heard”, he remarked as he handed it to Colena.

Terrence was next. He requested a gun that could shoot any distance, and so Ozmo reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol. He handed it to Terrence.

Ethan wanted a sword that could turn him smaller or bigger. Ozmo hesitated and said: “I’ll see what I can do.” He conjured a dagger and said: “This one came out a little weird.” He motioned Ethan forward. Ethan held out his hand and Ozmo stabbed it. Ethan became bigger. He stabbed again: bigger He stabbed again: biggerr. He stabbed again: bigger. He poked Ethan’s hand and he shrank back to his normal size. He then took the dagger from Ozmo.

Eesta asked for something that would boost her magic. She paid 100 gold pieces for it. (We were using the 900 pieces of gold that Floyd Parker gave us). Ozmo walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a book that was definitely not there before. He handed it to Eesta and said: “Every time you read it, your magic will be boosted.”

Marysa wanted a necklace that could summon any animal and paid 100 gold pieces for it.

Ozmo made a necklace; a dangling pendant appeared on it. “This is the Amulet of Animals,” he told her. Marysa put it on and touched the pendant. Immediately, a Bengal tiger leaped from it,

growling and snarling. “Woah, woah, woah,” Ozmo said, “Calm down.” The tiger shrank back into the amulet.

Carina requested a whip that could grab things and paid 100 gold pieces. Ozmo conjured a plain brown whip and handed it to her.

Mitchell wanted a sword that changes its ability depending on the weather and the region.

He paid 100 gold pieces for it. Ozmo drew a sword out of thin air and gave it to him.

Sophia asked for a staff that could turn her into a phoenix and paid 100 gold pieces. Ozmo told her to hold out her hand;she asked why. Ozmo sighed and instead put his hand behind his back and this black gnarled staff appeared on the floor. “It’ll turn you into a phoenix,” he said.

Vivian was next. She wanted a fire spear and paid 100 gold pieces for it. Ozmo twirled his hand and a spear with some fire in it materialized. He handed it to Vivian.

Xuan requested an invisibility cloak. Ozmo conjured up a black cloak. As soon as it came out, it turned exactly the same as the background. He put it on and disappeared. Ozmo took it off and gave it to Xuan.

Eliana asked for something that could pick any lock. She reached into a pouch and drew out 200 gold pieces. We looked at her like: why didn’t you tell us? Ozmo pulled a key looking thing out of the air. It was a key on one side, and a dagger on the other. He explained that the dagger end would lock any lock permanently unless she used it on something else. The key end would unlock any lock.

Rassie wanted a crossbow. Ozmo conjured up a pure white crossbow and it floated towards her. She took it as Ozmo told her that anyone hit by it cannot be healed.

Nathan couldn’t decide what he wanted, so Ozmo pulled out a wicked-looking axe and handed it to him.

Finally, it was my turn. I asked for a cloak that could turn me into anything. Ozmo conjured up a cloak that had pure black raven wings. It floated in midair, next to the staff on the ground, and I took it.

Ozmo then asked whether any of us wanted to remove the side effect. Mitchell said yes.

Ozmo conjured up a dagger and a glass vial and told Mitchell to hold out his arm. He cut him and dribbled the blood into a vial. (I forgot what he did next). I also asked him to do this to my cloak.

He replaced the dagger with tweezers and pulled out a few strands of my hair.

Immediately, the wings on the cloak relaxed and turned a gentle grey. Vivian also asked for it,so the tweezers disappeared and a vial appeared. He inched forward and tapped her forehead. The vial filled up with a warm golden liquid and he did something to her spear with it. (I forgot).

After that, we thanked Ozmo and left. Let’s flash-forward a bit. It was night, and we were creeping up the steps of a tall, disheveled tower. We reached the top and stared at the Enchanter’s tower. Terrence took one look at the tower, shivered, and whispered: “Bad. Not safe.”

We tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

I thought of an idea. I used my cloak to sort-of vanish from existence and then reappeared on the other side. On this side, it looked like an ethereal plain. Demons were floating around. A blinding purple light radiated from the room. As I watched, a jellyfish-shaped demon floated to a window and disappeared. I walked over to that window and looked outside. Orbs were floating around out there.

I turn to see an arrow hit a log and it exploded. ​Colena​, I thought. My friends came in and I joined them. We start to head towards a staircase. Colena was already halfway up when Eliana and Carina came bursting in, panting. “Where have you been?” Colena asked. “Robbing a bank, you know,” Carina replied. None of us believed her. I opened a bag of chips.“Doritos! Awesome!” Vivian shouted as we started climbing up the stairs (Note: It is not recommended to open a bag of Doritos while you are trying to sneak somewhere. It is even worse of an idea to have your companion yell: “Doritos! Awesome!” Why did I do it then? I don’t know. I probably was hungry).

That was not a good idea.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Hello! Back again…

I’ve made the decision. But I didn’t really make it in my own will. I reluctantly agreed to go to this mission and so did everyone else.

We are now part of the service of the archon’s guards. We’re supposed to be doing something concerning the cult of Roderick which doesn’t sound too pleasant. Like I said, I don’t like how prejudiced the archon is, making us chase after a group of people who support Roderick. We all have different beliefs about the story so they shouldn’t chase after one particular group for believing something that they have the right to believe in. It just doesn’t make sense, how these rulers think. What is going on in their minds? It’s just messed up, how they think. But since I’m technically one of the archon’s minions, I have to listen to and obey whatever he tells me to do. I wasn’t really listening to what we were supposed to do in our mission but I’m sure someone is going to explain it to me later. I’ll know sooner or later. What’s the difference?

We’re headed to the armory right now which gives me a little hope that I can at least get something good from this deal. I really want a real crossbow because I have a million bows. I only have one crossbow and it’s not even a good quality one. I made it out of carved wood, but it was fine for practicing. Now I want a real one and I think that maybe I can finally get one from here. We have 900$ for our whole group of people. That more than nine of us and every time we pay, we are required to pay by the hundreds. We each get one item which seems fair since most of the archon’s guards also only have one weapon. The hallway starts getting darker until it turns to a pitch black. I can’t see a thing and that’s a little alarming.

“He’s a little spooky” warns one of the guards in a shaky voice.

The girl I now know as Eesta pulls out a stick and illuminates the hall. We shuffle around and then finally find our way at an entrance. The door opens and we find ourselves entering a completely dark room with torches lighting up the room. The area is completely silent until a figure starts approaching us. I move my arms in front of me, a defensive pose I’ve gotten used to while in the forest. There

is a man walking towards us. He looks really old and yet he looks young at the same time. It’s incredibly alarming to be seeing him. He’s a well dressed lad with the exception of his tattered hat that is perched up on his head.

“Hello, my name is Ozmo!” He says. I don’t catch the rest of his introduction as I finally get to analyze the room we're in. It’s just a room. There aren’t any weapons hung up on the walls. There is barely anything. It’s practically empty. I send a questioning look at Ozmo but he doesn’t seem to catch it and then a confused look to my friends who they seem to be thinking the same thing.

Ozmo walks forwards to Colena and asks her what she wants. She wants a bow and arrows. He reaches his hand past his other hand as it disappears and doesn’t come out of the other side like it’s supposed to. He draws out a bow, and a quiver with arrows inside. He appears to miss all the looks of astonishment on everyone’s faces. He moves down the line, asking everyone what they want. Terrence asked for a wooden pistol and that’s exactly what he got. When it was Ethan’s turn, he asked for a sword that could turn him big or small.

Ozmo reaches his hand through the other hand and pulls out a sword. He stabs Ethan’s hand and nothing happens. After a moment, Ethan starts growing to the size of a giant. I let out a gasp in surprise but it is not audible to anyone except me. He keeps on going down the line. Eesta asked for a spell book so Ozmo gave her one from his shelf. Marysa got an amulet that made animals appear whenever she used it. Carina got a whip with special abilities.

Mitchel got an elemental blade that changed abilities depending on the weather. Ozmo stops at Sophia. Sophia is the girl who can turn into a dragon. I find her ability to be very amazing. She asks for a staff that can turn her into a Phoenix. Ozmo reaches his hand past his other hand and pulls nothing out. He asks her to hold out her hand but she doesn’t. So Ozmo keeps on moving down the line. Vivian asked for a fire spear. Xuan asked for a cloak that could make him invisible. Eliana asked for a key that could lock and unlock any door. And then it was my turn. I knew exactly what I wanted from the start.

“Could you please make me a crossbow that whenever it is shot into someone, they cannot be healed?” I ask him. He reaches his hand behind the other hand and it disappears. It takes a moment but he finally pulls out the crossbow I asked for. He tells me that it will not be able to heal if shot into someone, and not even the user can be healed if shot by it. I’m content with this. This is better than I had imagined. It’s a beautiful pure white crossbow that’s perfect to me. It has the same structure as the one I built at home but it’s so much stronger and more stable than it. He continues down the line. Nathan gets an axe that is very strong. Rachael gets a cloak that can make you shapeshift. I don’t really understand how it works because my magical abilities aren’t really advanced but I think it’s supposed to make you shapeshift.

“Would anyone like to change the side effects of your weapons?”

Ozmo asks.

No one steps up at first but Mitchel then walks forwards. Ozmo cuts Mitchel’s skin and collects his blood in a tiny flask. Rachael then steps up and he plucks her hairs and puts it into a jar. Finally,

Vivian steps forward and he takes something from her mind. I’m not sure what it is but it seems like he’s using magic to do it. Like it said, I can’t do magic.

I don’t step forward because I don’t think it’s a very good idea to do it. What is he going to do with pieces of our body? He could be evil… you never know. I don’t trust him completely.

We leave the room and head to our rooms to get ready for our mission…

When night falls upon us, we head to the Enchanter's tower. It’s dark and a little chilly outside but it feels better than it being too hot in my dreams. The tower is tall and disheveled. It’s eerily quiet… too quiet to be natural. It’s probably not safe in there. We walk closer and find out that there are people here. There’s a staircase and a door that is locked. Rachael gets to the other side of the door somehow and then Colena decides to follow her. She walks in and seconds later is thrown past us. There, hanging on the ceiling is a giant log. Colena gets mad and shoots an arrow at the log, making it burst into flames.

We keep on walking, still no sound except for the sound of our

footsteps. There are boxes in the next room. Boxes that look strangely new. As the rumours say, this place hasn’t been used for quite a long time. The new boxes don’t fit in with everything else around it because everything else is dusty and old. These boxes don’t have much dust on them. Carina joins the group some point in between. What, joins? Did she leave? I don’t know. I didn’t listen to her explain where she was.

I’m too busy investigating the boxes. Nathan sneezes once, reading through the abnormal silence. He sneezes again and again, making the silence unsilent. He must have allergies to dust. There is quite a lot of dirt here, just drifting through the air. There is a ripping sound.

I look back and see Rachael opening a bag of Doritos. The sound irritates me but I don’t comment. Vivian and Ethan look up from what they’re doing also and run over to have some Doritos too. Not the time!

I just want to yell that at them. This is not how we are supposed to be doing our job! I practically scream at them in my head.

I need to deal with this…

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

​Ozmo the merchant mage. By:Vivian Today, we went to Ozmo to get our weapons. Some of them were very peculiar while some of them were very amusing, but not all of them. One person got a dagger. You may think, “What is so special about a dagger?” Well, once Ozmo stabbed the person, he grew bigger and bigger. I think his name was Ethan or Ethel. Well, I can't remember! Another person asked for a whip to get a hold of things. Another person asked for a skeleton key and a dagger so she could both unlock anything and lock the door. Another person asked for an amulet that could turn her into any animal. What did I get is your question, so I'll answer. I got a spear that has fire on it, so it will take pretty big damage, I gotta say. The next thing we knew, there was a loud commotion. It turned out that some people were robbing a bank. I heard sirens wailing and people screaming “THEY’RE STILL INSIDE! SURROUND THE BUILDING!” I stopped watching the cars. We were going up to patrol the area in case the robbers came to hide here. Though there was some commotion, most of us would not focus as we decided to have some Doritos instead of working. They were so yummy! Someone then told us to focus and we were obedient for only a second, but we went back to eating Doritos. We saw people run away and didn't warn the others: oh boy, were they mad! We got a whole lecture about helping out and doing our job properly. We then noticed that two members of our group were missing and started to wonder if they were behind the robbery. Surely enough, both of those robbers looked like girls, so it had to be them who cracked into the safe and started a bank robbery. When we searched around more, we now had public evidence that they were the robbers.

One of them had left their belongings by accident; that was the cue to us to catch them. We tried,but by now, they were already out of sight. I bet they ran away.

We thought about where they could have gone, and one of us came across an abandoned building where they were hiding. But, we did not know that they were there. So half of us decided to go in while the other people waited outside in case they escaped. We thought our plan was perfect until we realized that they were not in there and all. It was very frustrating for all of us. They probably ran this way to make us think that they were in here, but it was all a big distraction so we left to search in groups.

Ozmo the Merchant Mage

Carina Pei

A dude brings us down a spiral staircase. He mentions that we have to go to the armoury to see another dude. He also mentions that he’s a little spooky. We go and see a weird guy who introduces himself as Ozmo. We are now in the armoury . We have to pay gold and he says weird things. The torches become blue and he reaches back and draws out a bow and some arrows. I think that’s honestly pretty cool! He takes out a pistol for Terrence and a sword for Ethan. He stabs Ethan with the sword and Ethan becomes bigger with every stab until he shrinks back. It’s so weird. Ozmo gives a weird manuscript to Eesta. He gives an amulet that summons animals to Marysa, but it goes wrong and a tiger leaps out of it. It's finally my turn! I prefer using ropes and stuff more than shooting or stabbing, so I get a whip! It has mobility and grasping so I can get things from afar. I can grab some goblins, hang from stuff, and the best, WHIP PEOPLE. Anyways, it’s Mitchell’s turn and he gets an elemental blade. He wants Sophia to hold his hand for some reason. Instead, he puts it on the floor and it turn out to be a staff that makes you a phoenix! I still like my whip, though.

Vivian gets a fire spear, Xuan gets an invisibility cloak, and Eliana pulls out a pouch full of gold! We watch in confusion as she takes out $300! We are all shocked, but make no comment. She gets a dagger but on the other side it’s a key to unlock any lock! Rassie gets a nice white crossbow, but, as I said, I’m more of a whip girl. Nathan gets an axe and Rachel goes last. She gets a Raven Cloak. Ozmo starts fixing a few weapons that didn’t work as well. I sit in a corner, admiring my whip. I don't listen to what Ozmo said or fixed because they all look the same.

There's a tall tower in front of us. Everything is quiet. There's no animals, birds, or anything.

Eliana and I sneak away to rob a bank. We see the bank. It’s the biggest bank and we snuck in. There’s three thin golden lines. We step carefully over them. As we look around, we see that the stones look strange. It looks like an emergency escape. I examined the place and Eliana broke the bars. I see an imp outside: it's probably guarding the place. I cast a sleeping spell, just in case. Inside the vault are shelves with golden items, money, and more bags of money. We rob the bank and now we are running. We hear some idiots say to smoke them out. We are now on the run but I don’t think anyone recognized us. We head back to the others and lie. I told them we robbed a bank, but they thought I was kidding, so that’s good. We have to go up the weird staircase. Rachel opens a bag of Doritos! We hear some weird music.

Xuan He

We were led down a staircase and into a cold, dark, and damp hall made of stone bricks. There were no torches. We continued on in the hall, and arrived at the door. We opened it, and the torches inside fizzed to life one by one. There was one person inside. He was wearing the guard’s standard uniform, except a top hat, which looked quite old.

“Hello! My name is Ozmo. How may I help you today?” he said. I looked around, seeing no weapons. “Ah, you want gear, don’t you?” he asked. “So, who wants to go first?” he asked, looking at Colena. She said,“I want to see a bow and arrows that go through walls.” Ozmo lifts both hands, and passes one behind the other. It seems to disappear, and when he pulled it out, he was holding a bow and an assortment of arrows.

To test it, he pulled back the string, but, instead of springing back quietly, it produced a sound like a horn. He jumped. “Not, ah, the quietest weapon I have handled before,” Ozmo said. He gave it to Colena. Terrance steps up, saying, “I want a pistol.” Ozmo reached inside his coat pocket and took out a short revolver. He gave the minigun to Terrance.

Ozmo turned toward Ethan. “Hmm, maybe a sword that makes me big and small?” Ethan said. Ozmo takes out the dagger, which seems to have a unique chime to it. It has a curved tip, which appears to be a little too small. Ethan reaches out, but Ozmo pokes him with it. “Ow! Wha-” Ethan exclaims, but before he can finish, he grew in size. Ozmo poked him again, and he returned to his original size. “Hm. This came out wrong,” he murmured. Nevertheless, he gave it to Ethan.

“I guess, some type of magic?” Esta said. Ozmo took out a book.

On its cover were two gloriously golden words spelling Mordenkainen's Manuscript. He gave it to Esta. “What, um, does it do?” she asked. “You need to read it,” Ozmo said.

“A minion summoner,” Marysa said. Ozmo pulled out an amulet. It had a carving of a lion head on the front as well as many other animals.

“Ah, may this be the amulet of animals?” he exclaimed, “Yes! It may be!”

Marysa put it on and touched it. Suddenly, it glowed yellow: a tiger

appeared, clawing at everyone nearby. Marysa let go, and the tiger disappeared. The amulet’s glowing stopped.

“A, hm, a, um, a whip?” she said. Ozmo whipped out a whip (What a coincidence!). It was leathery and soft but seemed to be alive. Ozmo gave it to her. Ozmo then looked at Mitchell. “A sword that matches the weather,” Mitchell said. Ozmo took out a stone sword that was cold yet hot at the same time. It instantly turned red-hot, matching to sunny weather above.

“I want a staff, that, yeah, will turn me into a phoenix,” Sophia said.

Ozmo pulls his hand out. Nothing seemed to happen. “Hmm, let’s see, I guess,” he muttered, “I’ll do it like so!” Throwing his arm out, a black, gnarled staff fell on the ground. Sophia picked it up, and examined it.

“A spear that inflicts fire,” Vivian murmured. Ozmo pulled a spear out from behind his back. It was made of stone but had a glowing tip that radiated heat. Getting hit by this spear is probably not a pleasant experience. Ozmo turned to me. “A cloak that renders the wearer invisible,” I said. Ozmo opened his cloak and pulled out a black coat from under it. I took it.

“A lock picker,” Eliana said. Ozmo turned around, walked to a cellar door, and pulled a black key out of its lock. The key had a giant handle embellished with many little skulls and a wicked dagger at the front. Ozmo threw it to her.

“A crossbow,” Rassie said. , Ozmo pulled out a white crossbow. It had a few runes inscribed on it and did not seem to be made of wood, but otherwise, it was a regular crossbow. “Ah, the Crossbow of Woe!” Ozmo said. He held it out and flung a few arrows out.

“An axe that does more damage, or something,” Nathan said.

Ozmo pulled a black axe out of one of the many holes in the wall. He gave it to Nathan, looking at it with mild curiosity. “A cloak that can turn into tools,” Rachel said. Ozmo kicked a barrel, and a ragged cloak fell out. Taking it, he suddenly pushed it away. “It seems cursed,” he said, but Rachel took it anyway. “Well, that should be everything, unless you want to remove your after-effects!” Ozmo said when we turned to leave.

Mitchell, looking at his weather-blade and knew something was wrong, said, “Yes.” I sighed, basically out of habit. Ozmo turned and went on his

merry way, retrieved a dagger with a bone on it from a crate, and walked back.

He quickly sliced Mitchell’s skin, and put his blood into a vile that he punched out of a melon (Wow, what?). The sword glowed and became normal again. The curse had lifted. After saying goodbye, we left for our first mission.

--I set foot, once again, into the swamp. The enchanter’s tower stood in front of us. We stepped towards it. Drawing our weapons, I realized that it was too silent. It was eerily quiet. I climbed the first set of stairs to the entrance. Once there, Colena tried opening the door and saw that it was locked.

She put her hand on the door, and it opened. Clever magic! She stepped in, and I saw a wire just before she stepped in. Sure enough, a large log came tumbling down. I dived out of the way and let the danger pass.

After getting out bearings, we continued in.

The Enchanter's Tower CHAPTER 8

I felt excited because there was a boss, like when you play a game, and I wanted to fight one because I had teammates. I saw a Dragonborn where we were trying to kill it. We just fought. We were at our home base.

Rachael Zhou

5/7/24/20

The Enchanter’s Tower

As we continued upstairs, I spotted recent activity, footprints, on the ground floor.

Suddenly, attacks came surging from the front and raining from above us. Hooded figures rushed down the spiral staircase.

Colena, panicking, shot an arrow at two of the figures: it passed over one of their shoulders, hit the wall, and exploded. The person seemed surprised before he regained his senses and waded into the fight. Rassie fired a bolt from her crossbow, and it hit someone in the chest.

He immediately felt pain. Two more lunged towards Eesta and Carina. Eesta waved her hand in an arc, and a shimmering blue shield appeared. Carina cracked her whip and it reached one of the attackers and pulled him inside. He tumbled under the shield, and, for some reason, the shield shattered into magical blue fragments.

Meanwhile, the silhouette of a person holding a dagger lunged towards me. I pulled my cloak tight around me and transformed into (I wasn’t expecting this) a giant silver gorilla. I reached down to the startled assailant and picked him up. I then smashed him down and let go (He deserved that, considering that he attacked me f​ irst​).

Terrence conjured a fireball and threw it at someone. Marysa squeezed her necklace and held out her hand. Slowly, a cobra slithered out of her hand and leaped on a figure’s face as more people entered the building. Mitchell unsheathed his sword and rushed down to meet them. The leader, an orc with dark skin, pulled out a rod and pointed it at Mitchell. A purple light burst out of the rod and hit him in the chest. Mitchell blasted backward and onto the stairs, lying there motionless.

Xuan sped down to Mitchell and started to drag him up. Colena used magic to launch a person into the air, then slammed him down hard. Xuan, Colena, Carina, Eliana, Terrence, Eesta, Sophia, Rassie, Marysa, and Mitchell (Well, Xuan was dragging Mitchell) followed Vivian into a room to set up a defensive position. A dwarf, holding a torch, and a human stretching back an arrow on a bow came into view. Nathan drew his axe and threw it. It struck the dwarf twice (It’s a magical axe) and came back to Nathan. He charged the human and also struck him twice with the axe. The dwarf and human lay on the ground, bleeding hard. Ethan stabbed himself with his little sword (or dagger, I should call it) and swelled to almost the same size as me (I’m a giant gorilla, remember?).

We chose which way we would go. Most of us went up (the most includes everyone, except Nathan and me), but Nathan decided to go down. I asked the spirits (Oh yeah, there were spirits) whether I should go down or not, and they gave me two visions at the same time (I don’t get that, but whatever). One vision was of a cloaked figure throwing documents and books into a fire in a room, while the other vision was of people at the entrance loading the same black crates that exploded the other day. I chose to go down.

I lumbered towards Nathan, who was at the bottom of the stairs. He turned, and (Suprise!) sank his blade into my forearm. He tried to do it again, but I succeeded in batting away the blade and knocked him down the remaining stairs (I’m still a giant gorilla, you can’t blame me). I shrank back into my normal-form and said: “It’s me, you idiot, it’s me.” Nathan looked a bit confused as he turned and attacked the people at the entrance. Everyone, except an orc, was hit by him, and the orc pulled out a weapon.

I used magic to send a blue light across the room to Nathan, which pressed on him and turned into armour. The orc looked towards me as if to say, ‘Are you kidding me?’ He threw Nathan down and charged towards me.

I dropped to the ground and rolled. I landed flat on my back with the orc standing over me: a difficult situation here. I pulled my hood down and vanished. I appeared on the ethereal plane and the orc was like, ‘What the heck?’ Nathan was still on the ground. The orc looked at him and said: “Get rid of the rest of them.” A person came in with a heavy-looking barrel and placed it dangerously close to Nathan. He lit something and dashed out the door. The orc followed.

I looked at the barrel and spotted a lit fuse. It was burning away pretty quickly. I quickly used magic to shield him. Stacks of steel piled up in front of Nathan, blocking the barrel. I shielded him just in time. The barrel exploded the next second.

Orbs spilled out and made their way towards me and the walls. They didn’t go near Nathan. I saw a green pod burst, mixing green liquid with blue liquid, sloshing around in the transparent orb. This was all that I saw before the orbs exploded.

I covered my head so that none of them affected me. When my vision cleared, I was alone. All the bricks that built the walls on the ground floor had been blasted out by the explosion. The spiral staircase had lost its bottom steps. The tower itself seemed to be levitating.

The others came down the staircase, and suddenly I could see everyone again (I left the ethereal plane). We went out to the marketplace. Now that everything’s become boring, let’s flash forward a bit.

We were in the castle again, and a guard named Rexor was walking in holding a sheet of paper. He didn’t look at us. Instead, he looked at the paper and said something about mission completion, 1200 gold, the Enchanter’s Tower belonging to us, and then left. When we were heading back to the Foreign Way, we found a few Archeon’s Guards waiting for us with our things packed.

“It’s a shame that you have only stayed for a short while,” they said, handing us our belongings. We walked back to the Enchanter’s Tower. Since the place was currently unable to house people, we started cleaning and repairing the tower.

As we were cleaning, Sophia came and told us something. She told us that she was trying to get something to help her clean, and, when she opened her bag, she found a small package that had not been there before. We all opened our bags, and sure enough, we each had a little brown package inside. We opened it and found 100 small pieces of gold.

When we asked Colena what she got, she said: “I got 100 gold.” Then she paused: “Well, if you have to know, I got 54 gold, “ she added. That’s when we noticed that Eliana and Carina were gone (again). We went to the harbour where there was a boat about to set sail. Eliana and Carina stood on the deck. Colena raised her fist and started savagely yelling insults and curses as they set sail. They were gone, disappearing on the horizon.

Let’s flash forward again. We were on a cart bound for the ruins of the ancient city of Pentos. We were on another mission. But, that’s a story for the next chapter.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Allô… comment ça va? Here with another update on the events…

There’s a sound coming from the staircase. I look up and see two figures.

Before I have time to react, Colena’s already shot the first figure. It explodes right in his face… poor thing. I pull back the string and shoot out the arrow that is quite similar to a bow’s arrow. It flies through the air and hits the first figure square in the chest. I feel a little sympathy for him because he got hit twice, and his companions didn’t get hit at all.

Yet. One of the figures lunges forward to push us back. Eesta conjures a shield out of magic. It saves us from all being smashed by this figure.

Carina whips out her whip at the figure that is now in the ground. This figure is bigger than the one that me and Colena teamed up to overpower.

Rachael rips out her cloak and drapes it over herself. The next thing I know, she’s turned into a giant, silver gorilla. She’s absolutely beautiful.

I love animals, like you’ve probably noticed by now. Why am I thinking about this in the middle of a fight? My head is throbbing a little from the fall but I think I can handle it. I sit up and balance myself. I look straight at the wall and stop the spinning in my head. When I look back

towards where the gorilla/Rachael was, I see a cobra on top of the gorilla. They’re two of the most beautiful creatures I’ve ever seen. I think this even though I know they’re both not real. And that one of them is not an actual animal and the other one is from an amulet. But I really can’t help but admire the creatures.

Mitchel slips away from our group as we watch the gorilla and the snake do whatever they’re doing. I’m not much help as I stand there, head spinning a little.

After a while of standing there, I watch Xuan pull Ethan back to our main group. This motion reminds me of the time my grandfather tried to pull me away from the department store. I was only a little girl, maybe about six, and I saw a bow and arrows from the display window of the shop. I begged him to buy me one but he said that my grandmother would never approve of it. He had to pick me up to get me to go home because I was incredibly stubborn at the time. Still am actually.

Sophia waves her hands around and releases two beams of light and it hits a figure. He is stunned and falls to the ground. He’s definitely unconscious. He looks so peaceful while stunned, unlike when he had his conscience. When he was conscious, he had an ugly scowl on his face,

identical to the Halloween masks you would wear to try and scare your friends. Now, he doesn’t have the scowl so he looks undisturbed.

The last cultive looks frightened by what happened to his mate. He runs off into the lab, where there is a massive hole in the wall. He looks back one more time and I see all the terror in his eyes, the looks on his face. He wants to die on his own will. He wants to do suicide. He turns around to the hole and readies himself. He leaps into the hole without hesitation. I all watch tentatively as there is no sound. Then there is a thud, joined by silence. He must be dead. He can’t be alive after that fall.

Vivian goes into the lab, probably to investigate and find anything strange.

She doesn’t take long and soon joins us as we head to the stairs. Ethan stabs himself with his sword and starts growing in size. He’s now about the size of Rachael, the gorilla.

We now head up the stairs, not sure if anyone is there. We try not to make creaking noises because of the stairs but it’s pretty difficult. The stairs look old, and it feels like it too. They’re like the stairs at home. Our house is very old, though it’s in pretty good shape. It was passed down from generation to generation, going a hundred years back. When I pass away, it’ll be passed down to my children if I have any. If I don’t have

children then it’ll be passed to the next relative alive. Probably one of my nieces or nephews. The stairs in the house creak too much for my liking.

We were supposed to get it changed but my grandmother decided it would be best not to change until I’ve got my own house. Why? Because I have this nighttime snacking and food addiction that my grandmother wants to stop. Every night, when everyone is sleeping, I would take a candle and light it. The creeping was the hardest part. I would go down the hall, down the stairs and into the kitchen. I would take a carton of juice and a few cookies. Snacking on them gives me this amazing feeling. It’s so good.

I just sit there eating everything in the pantry. When I’m stuffed and can’t eat any more, which is probably when the pantry and refrigerator are completely empty, I make sure to close all the cupboards and doors so that no one gets suspicious. I creep back up the stairs and down the hall to my room. I blow out the candle and snuggle into my covers. I would do this every night. It became a routine for me.

-Light a candle -Go to kitchen -Eat everything -Go back to room

I had to do all this undetected. But one night I was caught and that’s when the schedule was put to a hold. I don’t do it much anymore, unless I have an extremely strong desire to eat something during the night. It’s a wonder that I’m still so slim. I eat so much junk food that you would think I would be really obese or chubby, but I’m not really that fat. I'm not skin and bones either. I’m just right.

We manage to make it to the top of the stairs without making too much noise. I think that whoever is here would already know that we’re here but maybe this unknown person won’t think that we’re going towards it.

We enter a dark room with a shadow in the middle. It’s throwing books into a basket. When most of the books are inside this basket, this figure sets it in fire, burning all the paper within the books. Before the fire has even finished burning one book, Marysa has put out the flames. The figure turns around and we come face to face with a red Dragonborn. He pulls out an orb “I’m warning you…” he says.

“If you come any closer, I will set this whole tower on fire” he threatens us while holding out this orb.

It might have special properties and can make anything explode. It might be a grenade that looks different.

While he’s making threats to us, he doesn’t notice Ethan stab himself with the sword. He doesn’t notice one of us turn small. He doesn’t notice Ethan creep behind him. And… “Aahhhh!” The Dragonborn screams when he is stabbed with the sword.

After a second, he starts growing larger, and larger until his head is touching the ceiling.

Eliana finds this as a good time to bully the enormous person. She says things that I don’t really hear because I’m frozen to the spot with fear.

This Dragonborn is humongous. Ten times the size I am. He’s towering over us all. Why did you stab him Ethan?! We’re all as good as dead. But maybe we can overpower him because we’re a larger group than him.

Maybe he’s going to move slower because he’s bigger? This could also give us an advantage and a disadvantage. He could crush us all into bits with just his giant fingers. But we’re swifter than him and can escape his clutches.

Terrence sends out a missile and it soars through the air. Boom! It hits the Dragonborn right in the face! He falls flat on his stomach as his massive

weight shakes the floor. A massive explosion is triggered by this and the tower explodes. We manage to get out. For some odd reason, the tower feels miraculously stable. We gather everything from the top floor and head down the stairs to a safer area.

I think I know a simple explanation of the tower staying so stable. Before the place was deserted, a bizarre mage lived here. He did strange and weird things. One day, he decided to sell the tower. An unfortunate buyer decided to buy it. It was definitely a bad deal but the buyer didn’t know that at the time. The building was sold to him in a matter of days. After a while, he finally came to his senses and realized that this tower would not do any good to him. It’s just managing another property and losing more money. He decided that the next thing to do was to knock the tower down.

After years and years of trying to destroy it, everyone just gave up because it was no use. And that’s what happened and where it is now. This might be the most damage that has been made on the building, like ever.

I’m pretty sure that this old mage is Ozmo even though I don’t know much about him. I know that everyone else thinks the same thing that I’m thinking. That it has to be Ozmo. I mean who else could it be? I can’t really think of any other mage I know that would strike a bad deal. I

mean 100 gold pieces for him to try a little harder?! That’s not exactly fair if I do say so myself.

We’re walking to the marketplace at the moment. It doesn’t take too long because Sidnar isn’t that big. We are rewarded 1200 gold pieces in all for our work. We all check our bags and find a brown bag within. I open mine and about 100 gold pieces fall out. I look around in surprise and see that everyone else got money.

“How much gold did you guys get?” Colena asks us all.

“100 gold pieces” we all reply simultaneously.

She looks disappointed by our answers as her frown grows.

“I only have 54” she says.

We all look back at the city. Specifically the harbour, and see an elf and a tiefling climb aboard one of the ships, ready to go explore a new destination…

Gotta go!

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

Terrence

Well, more cool things happened and also weird stuff. So, let’s start off with the first thing. The first thing we had done is that we were fighting the dragonborns and Gorilla’s. I used my pistol and shot the dragonborn so I had successfully knocked down it (Kinda). Well it was a pretty good roll, but not the best. Many others were also using their weapons and giving damage to our opponents. It was a great decision of mine, that I had chosen the pistol because the damage was a lot and others would just have to clean it up. So all in all, it was a successful thing that we did.

ENEMIES Sophia Deng So, walking upstairs as loud as a bull is not recommended. Before long, we saw a person wearing robes. Looking up, we saw two more people also wearing robes. We had more people, but none of us were properly trained. As for our enemies, they were probably pros at fighting because they needed skills to escape the guards of Sidnar. Oh, wait a moment: ​we ​were guards, too. Colena fires her bow at the lone figure. The arrow misses and hits the wall behind the figure. The wall explodes, completely. Rassie fires her Crossbow of Woe, and it hits the lone figure in the shoulder. He charges at us and separates Carina and Eesta. Eesta pulls out her book and chants a spell. Suddenly a shield materializes and protects Eesta and Carina. Rachel uses her necklace to turn into a gorilla. ​Gorilla?! ​That was very funny. Anyhow, Rachel starts smashing the lone figure who looks dead already. Marysa summons a cobra, and it starts biting one of the other cloaked people. As I was watching the fight, I realized I was in a horrible spot.

There was an enemy above me and an enemy below me. I used magic to knock the person above me down. The person with the cobra on his shoulder jumps out of the hole Colena blasted. I hear an ‘Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh’ that ended abruptly as he crossed out of the barrier protecting the tower. The barrier blocks sound, too! Nathan brings out his axe, the Berserker’s Axe. He immediately starts cutting down two of the people in front of him. All of us, except Nathan and Rachel, go up the stairs. Once we get to the top, we see a hooded figure. He’s trying to burn some papers on a desk in the room. Just as the fire came to life, the flame blew out. He whips around, and the hood comes off: he’s a red Dragonborn. The Dragonborn pulls out a glass orb. Suddenly, Ethan charges. Then Ethan disappears. Oh, wait, no, he changed size. Then, the Dragonborn became huge. ​Was Ethan even on our side?​ Terrence pulls out his pistol and shoots the Dragonborn. Terrence has no idea how to use a pistol. Nevertheless, the dragonborn dies. Suddenly, we hear an explosion. Then there’s another explosion. We grab some papers on the desk, hoping they are important. We go back down the stairs, but the stairs aren’t there. Instead, we float down the stairs. The entire first floor is wrecked. We listen to a story about the tower. The tower was made by a mage who was weird. This mage always made bets, deals, and trades. The people who made bets, deals, or trades always felt like they lost.

That is the end of the story. Suddenly an idea popped into my head: ​Maybe the mage was

Ozmo!​ He made a strange deal with us: Mitchell lost some blood, Nathan lost a hair, and Vivian lost a memory. It was weird, and I did get a weird feeling about it. I tell my friends, the fellow guards. We agree that Ozmo built the tower.

REWARDS We go back to the marketplace, then to the capital of Sidnar. Another guard comes and gives us one thousand two hundred pieces of gold. Then, he says something surprising: “Your rnew base will be the mage’s tower. It is your property now.” As he leaves, Colena goes off to find Ozmo. She goes to the same place we met Ozmo and can’t find anything. We go to the mansion seeing as we can’t find Ozmo. A guard hands us our packs. His partner says, “I can’t believe you guys are leaving already.” We say nothing back and we go to our tower. We fly up the staircase, then unpack our bags. I notice that I have a brown bag. I open the bag, and one hundred gold pieces fall out. Everyone has a bag, and gold falls to the ground. Everyone starts counting gold, and we are all satisfied except for Colena who seems crestfallen. “How much gold did you get?” Marysa asks kindly. “One hundred. No, if you want to know I got fifty-four,” Colena spat. “Has anyone seen Carina and Eliana?” We all shake our heads. Colena says, “Okay, excuse me, I’m going somewhere.” Then we start fixing the tower.

By : Mitchell The enchanter’s tower is a bizarre place.

Once you are inside, it feels like you're in a whole different dimension. The tower is so tall and it has never collapsed. The whole group was in the tower. I made a mistake that almost cost me my life There were Dragonborn, dwarves, and a leader orc in the enchanter's tower. I decided to go to the leader orc and try to fight it. I underestimated the green orc because it struck me in the chest with a magic wand. I was blasted backward and took a lot of damage.

The Enchanter’s Tower The battle in the tower started off not how normal fights would start. First, Colena was super mad at Eliana and Carina, she totally did not realize figures were coming towards them. They had to be enemies, otherwise why approach silently?

God, I better shoot them​, thought Colena, aiming her ‘Bow of Blasting’ at the lone figure coming to them. Turning her back on the other two silent people, she sent an arrow flying.

Unfortunately, she missed. The arrow struck close to the person and exploded.

Are these cultists? The ones we were here to capture? t​ hought Colena. Her ability to act under pressure was not great—although improving thanks to the Bow of Blasting.

“Someone’s downstairs!” said a voice. One of her group.

Colena rushed to look downstairs. There were more figures there.

“Should we go up or down?” asked Colena.

They split up, two of them going down, the rest going up.

One of the elves of the group asked the spirits, “Is going up good?”

“Yes” was the answer. Elves were guided, which allowed them to ask spirits yes-or-no questions.

The upper lever is probably safer than the lower level​, thought Colena. ​I don’t think it’s entirely safe, though.

When they got up the stairs, Colena saw a dragonborn. One that she saw before. The one that set off an explosion to help Eliana when smuggling illegal goods (who lied to the dragonborn and convinced the dragonborn successfully, even when she was terrible at lying), and caused her friends, the other regular people, to be locked up in prison.

The dragonborn! What’s he doing h​ ere​? ​Colena thought. ​I really want to hit him with a flurry of arrows, but the whole place would probably shake and more people—people on ​his ​side could come.

The dragonborn, if he saw them, ignored them. He was burning stuff…probably evidence.

One of her group began to fight another of the group—Colena was confused and unsure why, but they kept dodging and fighting with the exact same speed and agility. Were they doing well—or were they both doing terribly?

What the—? ​thought Colena.

Rachel used her ‘Cloak of the Raven’ to transform. Unfortunately, it was totally unpredictable and soon she was a huge, hairy, gorilla. Or ape. Colena never learned the difference.

Colena’s mind was just watching the gorilla until the dragonborn lunged at one of her group.

Quickly, Colena used magic to make an invisible wall in front of him, so he would slam into the wall. Her magic was not strong enough,

but it was half his height so the dragonborn tripped, where one of Colena’s other group hit him ​hard w ​ ith their weapon.

Suddenly, the two that had gone downstairs were back to them again, and the tower began to shake.

Uh-oh. Must’ve been some crazy fight down there.

Then they went back to their mansion to move to their new headquarters or base—the Enchanter’s Tower. As they rummaged their bag to find cleaning supplies— “I’ve got gold! 100 pieces!” said one of her group. Colena frowned, ripped open her bag, and a brown bag she did not know was at the top. Inside was—of course—​gold.​ Only 54 though.

“Where’s Eliana and Carina?” said Colena, suddenly realizing the Tiefling and one of the elves were gone.

What? They were right here moments ago! They’re not prisoners, but they’re escaping?

“Where are they?!” Colena yelled, and she used magic to tell Eliana in her head, ​Get back here! Period. Now! And Eliana replied, ​Shut up!

Where are you?! ​Colena snarled, but Eliana did not reply.

After a minute’s thought, it hit her. Colena knew where Eliana and Carina were most likely to be now—going across the Endless Sea. Then she ran over to the docks (which wasn’t too long because she used magic to boost her speed and energy) and shook her fist in the direction Eliana’s ship.

I can’t believe you gave me only 54 gold! ​Colena messaged with magic. ​Get back here! We have unfinished business!

Shut up! ​Eliana said again. Colena managed, but with great difficulty not to say, ​I’m gonna shoot your ship and make it explode! a​ nd struggled even more not to do it.

Get back here now! ​Colena messaged, but Eliana ignored this.

I am so gonna scream at Eliana, ​and ​Carina, because they left us to do the dirty cleaning! When they get back, I am gonna throw fireballs at them with magic! However, their ability to act well under pressure is pretty good, maybe I’ll use magic to lower that skill,​ thought Colena furiously as Eliana’s ship got further and further away. ​And maybe I will drown them if I’m angry enough. I’m already super mad at Eliana now…

The End

The rest of my day can be summarized as follows: we fought in the tower, and I used magic for the first time.

Eliana and Carina left.

A month later Things were back to normal. My group and I were traveling to some old ruins. Colina’s trying to sleep, and just as she started to doze off, she woke up and yelled. I don’t know why.

Xuan He

Walking down the staircase into the tower, we heard a few voices.

Suddenly, 2 cultists appeared from the stairs, holding daggers, with one coming up with a stone club. Facing the two cultists, Colena shot an arrow at them. It missed, hitting the opposite wall. It exploded with resounding force, completely destroying the wall. One of the two turned, surprised. Rassie took advantage of the cultist's momentary distraction and shot an arrow at him. It hit him in the chest. He launched at Rassie, but, with an arrow sticking out in your windpipe, it is extraordinarily hard to get aim.

The Dragonborn missed, hitting the wall. At the same time, the lone Dragonborn was flanking, ready to attack. Eesta, out of instinct, pulled out the leather book. A blue shield erupted. The Dragonborn, however, was ready. He slammed his club on the shield. It broke. He was about to hit again when Rachel took out her cloak, turning into a silverback gorilla.

The cultist, taken by surprise, stepped back. The gorilla lifted him.

Before he could even yell, the gorilla slammed him on the wall. The last cultist looked up. He took out his dagger, aiming for the gorilla. Terrance dived out of the gorilla’s reach and shot two fireballs. The Dragonborn deflected both of them. He, however, did not note the canvas in front of him.

The canvas was suspended by two metal frames. They were cut into the wall, but after years of wither, the wall was loose. The fireballs were on a direct path there. The canvas fell, hitting the Dragonborn, effectively ending his effectiveness. The Dragonborn who got shot grabbed his fallen comrades club. Marysa suddenly grabbed her amulet.

A sleek, gold cobra jumped out, attacking the cultist.

Meanwhile, Mitchell was going downstairs. There seemed to be a presence of people. There was a small explosion. Putting on my cloak, I also went down and saw a group of Orcs. The leader held a wand. It, of course, was a rod.

I dragged Mitchell up. He had a purple burn. The orcs, now clueless(I hid Mitchell under my cloak), went back down, searching the area. So far, we were winning. Colena rushed into a room and we

followed, slamming the door behind. The door was rammed, and the orcs destroyed the door.

Nathan was the first to respond. He pulled out his axe, throwing it at the orc. Its aim was true: the axe firmly lodged in the orc’s face.

Kicking the orc, he pulled out the axe. There was a man behind him. I didn’t know ​why he was a part of this “mission” with the orcs. Even at close range, he missed. Nathan swiped at him, cutting his bow, and elbowed him down the stairs. The man was ​not fit for this kind of mission, I was sure.

There was an explosion downstairs. Knowing we could not go down, I walked up. We arrived at a dark room and inside was one black figure, throwing documents into an explosive crate. He threw a fireball at it. Colena moved forward, and the fireball was extinguished. The figure threw back his hood, revealing that he was a red Dragonborn. In a flash, he pulled out a glowing glass orb. “I’m warning you! Don’t come closer!” he rasped. The gorilla ran, and the two started brawling. I looked down and saw Ethan running towards them.

Suddenly, the red Dragonborn swelled, making a hole in the roof.

Ethan returned to his normal-size. I heard a small scuffle downstairs.

The cobra leapt out from the door, biting the dragonborn. He roared, slamming the cobra: it disappeared. Recovering, the Dragonborn ran.

Colena shot a shield at him, and he tumbled. Terrance pulled out his pistol, and, with one clean shot, killed him.

There was another explosion from below. We searched the room, looking for clues. Terrance, meanwhile, picked up the glass orb the Dragonborn was holding. It was luminous, with a pod of green liquid inside.

An extreme explosion rocked the tower. Looking down, there was a blast field of objects and remnants of the tower. We climbed down.

Then, on the first floor, we saw something extraordinary: the first floor was completely blown, ​but the tower was still standing.

--“300 gold, each of you, for completion of your mission,” the leader was

saying, “Also, a bonus: you are now free to own the tower.� After journeying back, we settled down and slept, probably in the most uncomfortable bed ever created.

​

​The Enchanter’s Tower.

We were in the tower when a whole lot of cultists were attacking us, as well as Ozmo. There was also a big gorilla and, boy, did it want to eat us! We had to fight all of the cultists, and this guy started jabbing himself with his dagger. He got bigger and bigger and guess what he did next? He started wrestling the gorilla. I thought that he was no match for the gorilla but it turns out that they were the same. Then, I went down the stairs to find that there were lots of cultists coming toward us. We fought and fought them until they were gone. Then, a man with a berserker’s axe struck a dwarf and hit him twice. Then, once again, we have the problem with the size-changing dagger. He started jabbing one of the cultists and the cultist grew bigger. We started to wonder if he was still helping us or not. Then, he turned himself tiny, which was a foolish and absurd choice. We decided to split up to see if we wanted to go up or down;only two people decided to go down. I saw that the same two people were fighting each other, though I thought they were on the same team. I think the girl’s name was Rachel or Raquel, but that doesn’t matter. When he finally notices that they were on the same team, the boy strikes toward the cultist, but he gets hurt. Rachel or Raquel (I don't know her name) wraps the boy in a suit of armour. They both ended up okay, but I still think it was a pretty dangerous decision to go downstairs. When all of the cultists were gone, we thought that we were in grave danger because the base of the tower was completely gone. Fortunately, the tower was still holding. We had to thank the one and only OZMO! Thank god he had held the tower together, or else we would have died. But still, the tower had had a 2-foot drop to the ground. However, this was better than the tower falling apart. When the battle finished, Eliana the Tiefling and Carina the Elf gave us gold. They only gave Colena 54 gold, but the rest of us a lot of gold.

Then, Eliana told us that she would be going back to her Tiefling hometown so that she could meet her family. Carina was retiring or something, but the point is that they’re leaving us. When Eliana and Carina said farewell, Colena tried relaying messages to Eliana saying, “GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! YOU DID NOT GIVE ME ENOUGH GOLD!” Eliana only replied, “Shut up.” Well, I guess the story ends for now, andColena is probably still raging right now. But, I think it is because Colena tried to rat out Carina and Eliana for robbing the bank, so I would say that she deserves to get less gold than anyone else who fought. Now that I let Ozmo take the bad side effects out of my spear, I won't have any problem​s.

New Home New Journey CHAPTER 9

A New Home and a New Journey

BY COLENA

Colena and her group were currently deciding on how to use their new base, the Enchanter’s Tower.

For the Upper Floor, they had to install two rooms. They could leave it if they wanted to, though. Or they could make it a Magical Study, a Prison, a Panic Room, a Library, or a Workshop.

There was a collapsed room too. They could leave it, or open it. To be able to use it though, they had to open it. Then they could make it either an Armory or a Library.

For the Empty Lab, they could leave it, or, fix the wall, then use it as an Infirmary or a Workshop.

The Ground Floor could be left alone, or half fixed, or a Full Repair. They could also hire guards.

“For the Upper Floor, I recommend we get a Library and a Workshop. The Magical Study won’t be useful to all of us—because some of us are not great at magic. The Prison…maybe we should kill instead of lock up. And the Panic Room…it will keep us safe from danger, but what good is it when the rest of the tower crumbles? And leaving the Upper Floor in its ruined state will do nothing good,” said Colena. “The collapsed room—we should open it and make it an Armory—to get armed you know. The Empty Lab, we should fix the wall so rain can’t get inside and make the Empty Lab an Infirmary. As for the Ground Floor, we can do a Full Repair but do we need to hire guards? It’s 100 gold each, and we fight much better than them. Since when did they make any situation better?”

As for the Magical Protection…I don’t really care about that​, thought Colena.

They decided to vote. To Colena’s pleasure, most voted for what she wanted, and nobody thought of leaving a single room or hiring any guards. The magical protection was most voted for ‘vision’ and ‘barrier’. Basically, Vison allowed them to sense any invisible people approaching the Enchanter’s Tower. The Level of the magic was pretty high—4 out of 5.

However, none of these were free. The Library, the Workshop, the Infirmary, and the Armory all costed 200 gold each, and opening the the collapsed room and fixing the Empty Lab’s wall costed 100 gold each, and most expensive of all, the Ground Floor’s full repair, which was 300 gold.

Then the group were starting to go to Pentos. Colena drove the second cart, and they went through the city. Colena eventually dozed off but woke up when she heard in her head, ​I hope you get stabbed.

Eliana, seriously? ​Colena snarled.

And then it started to rain.

This will make things easier​, thought Colena sarcastically, before an elderly man opened a door and yelled, “Come here!”

One of the Guided Elves asked the Spirits if it was safe to go stay in the elderly man’s cottage for the night. Yes was the answer.

Colena looked suspiciously at her food and used magic to check if it was poisonous. It was not. The elderly man said, “We are poor,” and one of Colena’s group gave him 100 gold bars. And the man was ​stunned.​ As they stalked up the stairs to their beds, one of Colena’s group said, “What’s that?”

It was a substance that Nathan and Eesta immediately recognized.

“It’s something that forces the drinker to tell the truth! Expensive…and illegal,​ ” said Eesta.

Marysa decides to go confront the elderly man, and Colena and Eesta join her.

“Ahem! We were…er about to go to bed when we saw this strange bottle,” Marysa began but Colena had already attempted magic to make the man explain everything truthfully. And she succeeded.

“Well, we’re not proud of it, but we’re poor, and we sell the illegal liquid so we can have a place to live,” said the man. “If we didn’t sell it, we’d be homeless.

Good-bye.”

And he let them out the front door. It was still raining hard, so Colena muttered a spell that allowed the rain to go through them. They felt no more rain on their nearly soaked clothes, and they continued down the Queen’s Road.

“Aaaah!” They heard someone shout. Rachel, who was lookout on Colena’s cart, said, “There’s something down there!”

Colena could barely make out a head, a head that was sinking in something like quicksand.

Colena immediately used magic to lift the guy out of the sand. She succeeded, and the rain spell was gone, and the others, who had been sleeping, woke up.

Slowly, the head floated up, higher and higher, and they could see his body and his legs, and his feet.

“Aaaaah!” screamed the guy, shaking, apparently frightened.

This class, we did not do that much. We are just fixing the main problems in our house, and I am pretty sure that we are on a mission right now. So, yeah, that's it; I am happy with how our house turned out to be: great.

Rachael Zhou

1/7/27/20

A New Home and A New journey

I’m sure you’ve read about the part about me turning into a giant gorilla, so I think you should know why we have to renovate the tower. We decided to turn the two rooms on the upper floor into a library and a workshop, the collapsed room into an armoury, the lab where Colena blew a hole in the wall into an infirmary, and fully fix the ground floor.

We got to work (we actually hired people, which cost us 1000 gold). While we were doing that, Xuan found a bookshelf that you couldn’t take the books off of. He tried to pull them off, but instead, the bookshelf slid aside to reveal a shelf with a single, dusty notebook.

Xuan came and told us what it was. It was a diary written by Ozmo, which confirmed Colena’s suspicions that Ozmo was the person who used to live in this tower. Ozmo had written that to secure the tower, he had gone to this person named Garglemax the Mad or something like that (I know that’s a horrible name. Who would want the title ‘the mad’?). So that’s where we went.

We went to the craftsman’s district and found a tent that no matter what shade of green you liked, it would always turn to the green that you don’t like, so it looked different for everyone.

Apparently, this is where Garglemax lived. We opened it to find a room, about 40ft​2​,​ ​and Sophia stepped in and said: “Hello?” There was a sound of shuffling and then a voice muttered: “What do they want?” three times.

Suddenly, a bald man appeared and said: “Hello! I am Garglemax the Mad and if you want to secure your place you have come to the right person. You may make up your own standards or pick from a selection. What would you like?” He gave us a selection of things we could add to the tower.

The first one was a thing called ‘vision’. It meant that if you are inside the building you can see what’s happening outside and if you were outside the building you could see what was happening inside.

The second thing was called ‘barrier’. It’s pretty simple, basically a magical barrier that protects you from intruders.

The third was called ‘transportation’. If you install this, you could travel in and out of the building with magic or something like that. Pretty straightforward.

The next one is easy to understand so I won’t go deep into it. ‘Offence’ attacks intruders.

Simple.

Now this one is a bit hard to understand. ‘Ethereal’ meant that you can’t do what I did the first time I entered the tower. You can’t fade and appear on the other side. You can vanish outside, but you wouldn’t be able to reappear inside.

The last one was ‘amplification’. It’s paired nicely with the offence thing. It makes your attacks stronger.

We paid 1000 gold for ‘barrier’ and ‘vision’. Let’s flash forward a bit.

We were on 2 carts and we had selected 2 lookouts and 2 drivers. Marysa and I, I think, were lookouts, and Colena and Eesta were drivers. We were making our way towards Pentos when we came across a short and stubby man named Kenneth Golgarian. He wore a squashed hat with a peacock feather on top. Golgarian challenged us to a storytelling contest.

Eesta volunteered to do it. Golgarian started first. He told us a story about an adventure that he went on. He was sailing across the Endless Sea to adopt a unicorn but he failed. He told us that that was how he got the scar on his hand. When he showed the scar to us, we saw that it was barely visible.

Eesta told a story that lasted all afternoon and when she was done, Golgarian was stunned. “That might be the best story I ever heard,” he said, taking off the feather on his hat.

He handed it to Eesta with a bow and we continued on the way.

The next day, while Colena was driving, she dozed off, somehow keeping a firm hand on the reins. Then she suddenly woke up flailing. We all stopped and looked around. When we were looking around, I spotted a sentence carved into stone: “​Good luck tomorrow - you’re going to need it.​” So we now have a sinister message haunting us. And the next day made it even worse. It was still summer but for some reason, a huge storm came and soaked us. Deep gray cumulonimbus clouds blocked the sun as lightning streaked down from them. Rain poured without hesitation as we tried to find shelter. At last, we located a distant cottage. As we moved closer, we singled out a man outside shouting over the booming thunder.

He had his shirt pulled over his head to block the rain as he yelled: “Do you need a place to stop?” We gladly said yes. “You can put the horses in the barn”, he yelled. We put the horses in the barn and went inside with a nod from Marysa.

Inside a woman was standing over a pot on the fireplace. “You can put your cloaks in the other room”, he said. After a few minutes, we sat down for dinner, where Colena almost got us kicked out (How nice). She tested the food for poison. The man looked offended (he somehow figured out that she was testing it for poison) as he asked us where we were from. “Sidnar,” Colena answered. The man said something about giving us food and shelter and us not appreciating that and Marysa said: “Right now is a hard time” or something like that and the man calmed down and mumbled something about the crops failing. We realized that they were poor and offered them 100 gold, which they gratefully accepted.

After dinner, we went to bed. I spotted another thing; this time 2 cups of dark liquid that gave off a putrid smell if you went near it. They were placed on the windowsill. I went to tell the others. None of us knew what it was other than Eesta and Nathan. They told us it was the Potion of Truth. It was an expensive potion, but also illegal.

Marysa and Colena went to talk to the couple about it while we stayed in the room and waited. That ended with us getting kicked out.

When we were outside and on the cart with the horses reined, Colena made a magical roof that blocked out the rain. After a few metres, we heard a voice shouting: “You didn’t give me my money!” We couldn’t locate where it came from and so we continued. Then we saw a head

sticking out of some quicksand and stopped. It seemed to be a man who had sunk most of his body into it and Colena decided to get him out.

Those of us who were sleeping immediately woke up as the magical roof dissolved and the man was levitated out of the quicksand by Colena, coming out flailing.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Bonjour… let’s continue…

We now have a total of 2354 gold pieces. It’s a lot if you ask me. And it should be enough to do some good upgrading to our tower. Our tower! It’s ours now. I can’t wait to decorate everything and make every room have meaning.

We hire workers to help us improve our new home. It takes a few months but soon, we have the tower in good shape.

The top floor was split into two sections. One side of the room was made into a library that I will probably not enjoy going to but it’ll still be quite helpful to us, in my opinion. Then the other half was built into a workshop where we could build things or fix things that need to be fixed.

There was a collapsed room in the tower so we opened it up. Now there aren’t any rocks inside so we make it into an armory. The armory will be essential, if I do say so myself. It’s very important because I doubt we could kill many monsters with just physical combat. We need long distance weapons to kill more at the same time. We’ve filled our new armory with many different weapons that would prove to be useful in the future.

The empty lab that the cult did suicide in still has the ginormous hole in the wall. We don’t want anymore of that cult, do we? No, definitely not.

We did the hole because I don’t think anyone would want to fall out of it and die tragically. That wouldn’t be very good. It’s then turned into an infirmary which is also an essential, just like the armory. It’s good for when we get hurt, because we are definitely going to get hurt. I’m 100% sure about that. Monsters not hurting people that are trying to attack them? That’s unlikely.

The ground floor is very damaged. We all decide to make a full repair so that no one can come in from one of the damaged holes everywhere. We decide not to hire guards because, as Colena puts it, we are much stronger than any guards will ever be.

Like I said, a few months go by, with contractors and other workers coming in and out of the place. And now, our tower looks as good as new.

It looks quite nice if you ask me. It doesn’t look like the old rotting place that it was months ago. I think that even my grandmother would approve this, even with her picky style and strict rules. She would be proud of me.

My room isn’t very clean at home and she is always scolding me that ‘young ladies do not act like this! Clean up this mess this instant or I will

throw everything out!’ She would always scream her head off at me whenever she came into my room. That’s why I put a lock on the doorknob.

I can’t stand her screaming at me. It’s painfully agitating. But I guess I have to be a little more organized.

The last month of repair comes around and we all find ourselves going to a powerful mage to sign a contract for our tower. We need security for our tower and he can conjure up some kind of force field for us. It’ll keep our property safe while we’re gone on a mission or something.

We enter a small street with lots of small houses. This is the worker’s region. Standing out of the crowd is a house that is an ugly shade of green. I don’t know why but this green just isn’t very appealing. Even though green is my favourite colour, I just don’t like this neon green. It’s too… bright. I like dark pine tree green. That’s my favourite colour. We walk towards the house and knock on the door. A small man opens the door and greets us.

“Hello, welcome to GargleMax the mad’s emporium!” He exclaims cheerily.

We enter his house and listen to him explain the different things we can do to improve our tower. In the end, we all agree to get the barrier and

vision for our tower. It seems like the most reasonable choice. We then leave to finish up the finishing touches of the tower.

About a month later, we were summoned to the castle once more. We are asked to sign a contract that tells us to seek out the remaining cultists that are taking refuge somewhere. We all agree to sign this contract, but reluctantly. We set off immediately after we prepare our things. I pack a bag containing my crossbow, the bows and a first aid kit, just for emergencies. I don’t think I’ll need to use it with all the powerful people in the group. They all seem to know a little magic, and some are definitely really advanced at it.

We leave two carts, with two horses pulling each cart. We start our journey on a road leading us out of Sidnar. After a while, we come face to face with a man. He asks us to tell a story.

“I’ll tell a story,” says Eesta.

“Very well,” the man says.

Eesta starts telling this man a story I’ve never heard about. It lasts for longer than I can wait, since I’m very impatient with everything. I zone out completely during this story, not thinking about anything in particular.

I’m just thinking about how these rulers should not even be rulers! Aren’t

rulers supposed to accept everyone, no matter what they do or what they are? This archon really doesn’t deserve his post as an archon. We should have a leader that can accept everyone and not be so prejudiced to everyone.

The story is finally done as the man opens his mouth to speak.

“That was the best story I’ve ever heard!” He says, looking like he’s on the verge of tears. Not tears of pain but of happiness. He plucks off his feather from his hat and hands it over to Eesta.

We continue on our way after the man has finished praising Eesta for her storytelling abilities. I can’t tell stories unless they’re scary ones. Once, I volunteered to tell a story to a group of kids at a park. I told the story of ‘little red riding hood’.

“Once upon a time there lived a little girl that loved to wear a cloak. That cloak was pure red, like her blood. Her granny got sick one day so she decided to go bring her some treats. Her mother told her not to wander any further than the road but she didn’t listen. Her mother told her not to talk with strangers, but guess what she decided to do? She decided to talk to some random wolf that could miraculously speak to her! Like, what wolf can talk? She also told the wolf where her grandmother lived, putting her dear granny in great danger. Guess what she also did? Well she wandered

off of the road she was supposed to follow and started picking flowers while the wolf went to hunt down her poor sick granny. She picked up a bouquet and set off to find her granny, who is most likely already dead!

She goes into the house and sees her ‘granny’ in the bed. I’m pretty sure she knew that that wasn’t her grandma because of the big ears, big eyes, big nose, and sharp teeth but she just kept on talking to her. The wolf ate her up when she wasn’t paying attention and then took grandma out of the cupboards to eat her up too. In the end they both died and the wolf lived happily ever after… And that, kids, is why you should always go to your granny’s house and talk to a wolf” I end the story always screaming at the top of my lungs. When I finished, the kids all looked so scared. One of them even bursted into tears. Kids… that’s why I don’t ever want kids.

Like ever. They’re so annoying.

The cart suddenly came to a halt. We get off the cart to look for any disturbances but end up not finding anything suspicious.

We’re back on the road again, but there is an enormous thunderstorm that shakes the ground. It’s terribly loud for my sensitive ears. We decide that it’s not the best idea to continue our journey in this weather so we stop for the day. It’s a fairly silent night, with the exception of the giant

thunderstorm that is taking place above us. That was meant to be a joke.

I’m terrible at making jokes, as you can probably tell right now. I’m not funny, unlike some people.

There is a man that comes to the rescue. He offers us shelter in his little cottage. I couldn’t exactly hear what he was saying, obviously it’s the cause of the thunderstorm. We enter into a warm cottage. There is a woman, probably the man’s wife or something, stirring a pot of what looks like stew.

He leads us to a room as we set our things down into this room. We head to dinner after cleaning ourselves up from all the rainwater.

We’re now sitting at a table in an awkward silence. Colena decides that now is the perfect time to see if the food is poisoned. This is probably not very polite to do since this man is offering us a room in his own house without asking for anything in return.

“Where are you from?” He questions.

“Sidnar” we all mutter.

“Not poisoned” murmurs Colena to herself.

The man seems very offended by this.

Marysa quickly fixes the situation.

“We’ve been through a lot so we don’t trust many people. You will probably not understand what we’ve experienced before but I find that it is very kind of you to offer us some shelter and food. Please excuse Colena’s behaviour… she’s usually like this.” Marysa says in a calm and polite voice.

“Well, we’ve been through a lot too. We don’t have much money, me and my wife, and it’s the least we could do” he replies, looking a little less offended but still a little angry.

We offer him 100 pieces of gold for him and his wife and he looks surprised at first, but finally accepts it. He seems content with the money.

We finish dinner and head to the room that we all share. Rachael is looking into a cup that I didn’t see there before. It’s just that I don’t pay much attention to things. Rachael points it out to all of us as Eesta and Nathan perk up at this.

“That’s a truth potion!” They exclaim at the same time.

The truth potion looks incredibly disgusting. Are you supposed to drink that? I certainly wouldn’t want to. I would probably like to tell the truth in my own will rather than drink that!

I start to get drowsy as a few more minutes pass by. I don’t think I can stay awake for any longer. But next thing I know, I’m being kicked out of the house! I didn’t even get a second of sleep in there! We gave you 100 pieces of gold for heaven’s sake! And you decide to kick us out when the rain is pouring down at its hardest?! We head into our carts and take off down the road. I drift off to sleep, too tired to stay up any longer.

Crossbow… Bed… Arrows… Peace…

“AHHH” there’s someone screaming outside. It’s so annoying! Can a girl not sleep in peace around here!? How many times have I been awoken from my sleep? Too many times!

I’m awoken from my sleep by this screaming. It’s nighttime for goodness sake! Stop screaming in the middle of the night, whoever is screaming!

I look outside and see that the rain has parted for some reason, but I’m not in my right mind right now so I don’t think more about it. The road is getting softer and softer as we progress. We all exit the cart for some reason that is unknown to me at the moment. I’m absolutely exhausted! I’m going to fall over any minute.

Drenched in rain. Too tired to do anything. Head aching because of this screaming. That’s how I will describe what I’m feeling right now if you ask me.

There is a person in the mud. The person that’s screaming. Colena levitates this person into the air. That causes him to scream even louder, making my headache ten times more painful!

I need my beauty rest! I’m not pretty because I just am!

That was a joke… still trying to be funny. Totally failing!

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

Terrence

Well, today was ​very​ special because we got to build our house.

So, I feel very lucky to have this opportunity because this house is very cool and nice. I guess houses are usually cool, but this one is more. Having a house to me is a very special event in my life because having a house means to me that you have another responsibility to take. And I would love to take this wonderful responsibility because it is one of my dreams to really have this cool house. Well, during my downtime, I would usually go in the pool to relax because especially during the summer, it’s very hot, so the pool really helps a ​ lot ​to cool you down. Also in my downtime I love to use the great open space in my backyard because that’s the place where I run and do my exercises. So, I hope more incredible things will happen later!

​A new home a new journey by: Vivian

Today, we got to design our new tower, which we will be staying in for the rest of the year. I think so, but I'm not sure. We got to decide what we wanted to do with each room. You might think that was a fair deal, but it was expensive. I just kept my thoughts in myself. One of us decided not to fix a wall, but no one liked his idea, so we ended up fixing that wall. We also decided to have an armoury room just in case we ever encounter people trying to hurt us. We decided not to have guards because we are much stronger than the guards who wanted to help us. We still don't know what to do, though. We thought about a panic room, but we would have nowhere to go afterwards, so we decided not to. Plus, it would be cramped. We had a library and workshop for the two upper floor rooms. We had to open the collapsed room and built an armoury inside of it. We fixed the wall and built the infirmary in the empty lab. Finally, we fully repaired the ground floor. We went on the lookout afterwards. We went to have dinner with an elderly couple, but Colena tried to cast a spell on the food to see if it was poisoned. The old man saw and said that he was going to kick us out because of Colena >:-(. But, Marysa helped us by telling the man that it was an accident: he said it was ok! We went on lookout for work to find bad guys. Two people had to drive the cart, two people went on the lookout, and the rest of us went in the back of the cart. We travelled until we spotted it. I was sad that Carina and Eliana could not join in on our fun adventure since they went to the Tiefling hometown. I gotta say that this is better than going to the tiefling hometown where Eliana and Carina went . We drove and travelled along lots of rocky paths that made us stumble out of the seats. We had no seat belts, so we could only deal with it. But the main reason I was worried was that we had to pee in a bush if there was no washroom.

Hopefully, no one would have to go through that problem because that would be straight-up silly. We found a canyon of demons, and it was very scary.

Xuan He

After a good night’s sleep, we planned out the tower. After some debating and researching, we finally agreed on a Library and workshop on the top floor, an Armory in the collapsed room we passed, an Infirmary in the bottom room, and a small area on the bottom with full repairs. That gave us 1300 gold left to spare.

The next day, we started hiring. I was in charge of the library. After pulling in the workers, we started moving the shelves. It proved hard, however, and I thought that we should take the books out first. After taking out the books with extreme difficulty, we laid down to rest. I saw a notebook.

Well, I only saw it because it was written by Ozmo. Flipping through it, I saw that this tower was a ‘base’ made by Ozmo. The notebook told about his plans. Then, I saw something that caught my eye: he had hired another Mage, called Garglemax the Mad, who put a very powerful preservency charm on the tower.

After talking, we journeyed back to town, looking for a tent that would be Garglemax’s humble abode. We eventually found him in a green tent. It was small.

When we went in, however, we saw his magic firsthand: it was more than 40 feet wide inside. “Hello! My name is Garglemax! What do you need?” a voice came from the chair. Garglemax turned, and passed a slip of paper to us. We agreed on a shield defence for our tower, as it needed defence; we don’t want it to get blown again. So, after paying 400 gold, we left him. He cast the spell, and left.

ONE MONTH LATER Summons from the Archeon’s guard mostly signaled bad news, especially if it came from the leader. We arrived at the palace pretty early and met Rexar, the leader, at the gates. He showed us a map.

“The cult seems to have set up their base in the ruins of Pentos,” he said. Giving us the map, he signaled for a few servants to come.

They brought 4 horses and 2 carts. It would be enough. I sat in the second car. Colena came up, and we went off.

After some uneventful driving, there was a ring of a bell. A man ran up towards us, brandishing a feather. “Hello! I am Kenneth!” the man said, “I will challenge you to a storytelling contest,” I sighed, knowing this would be boring. Kenneth started. “It was a dark night...”

The cultists were based in Pentos? Wow, that's far. Also, there are so many storms. I seem to see one coming.

“That is how I got this scar,” Kenneth was saying, pointing at a mosquito bite.

That is peculiar. D ​ id we get them out of Sidnar? Seems unlikely. It was just one tower.

“Your turn!” Kenneth said, looking sure of himself.

I’m confused. This journey is already weird. A storytelling contest?

That is a very peculiar test.

“Once, there was a person.” Esta was saying.

Get back on topic. The dream. Yes. How could I have forgotten?

Woah, that, was, hmm, wait. No, actually, it can’t be in Pentos. Baldwin is also odd. I might as well suspect him.

“Wha- that is the best story I’ve ever heard!” Kenneth stammered.

He let us pass. It was very uneventful from then on. Mostly, we just slept.

Hey, it ​is a caravan! Night finally fell, setting around the road like a blanket.

I noticed Colena was asleep. That was not unexpected. I am only awake because there is a lump of stuff behind me. And when there is a giant lump behind you, sleeping is like a chore. Suddenly, Colena jerked awake. “You WISH!” she screamed. Looking around, I saw nothing.

Rachel, however, looked at the road, and motioned for us to come.

There, etched on the road, was a sentence: “Good luck tomorrow, you’ll need it”.

--Now, I’m pretty sure the sentence was about this rain. It was pouring r​ ain. I absolutely hated it. As we began to lose hope, a man appeared from a cottage. “Come! You need shelter!” he yelled through the rain. We barely heard him. He directed us into the barn. After helping us steady the horses, we were brought into the cottage.

There was an old woman inside, stirring soup. “Ah, Reginald!

You’ve brought back some friends!” she said. “Yes,” Reginald responded. We unpacked. After awhile we got ready for dinner. They served us soup. Before anything, Colena started muttering. I knew, of course, that the food probably wasn’t poisoned, by the smell, because it kind of is my job to do that, now. The man looked offended.

We ate quietly, and went to bed.

--I was woken by a knock on my door (What now??). One look at Esta’s face made me sure we were leaving (I have a very shrewd idea what happened). Sure enough, we pulled out the horses and left. Colena cast a water-vanishing spell, so we continued. It was quite boring after that, with a lot of stopping to rest the horses, and freeing the wheels from muck. The landscape was also uninteresting , with nothing to see.

Suddenly, there was a yell.

A NEW HOME Sophia Deng Well, we have to figure out where we will spend our money. We have two thousand three hundred and fifty-our gold pieces in total. We were all discussing what we were going to do.

Colena was yelling at us until we agreed with whatever she said. ​Unfair! ​Anyways, we fixed the entire building and added a library, armoury, infirmary, and a workshop. I was about to rest in a newly made bed until I heard someone calling my name. I went over to find the group over a dusty notebook. We flip through it: it’s all about how ​Ozmo​ built the tower. Ozmo wanted it to be more stable than anything, so he went to another mage’s house. He struck a good deal, and now his tower was stable. However, he couldn’t paint it anymore. Seeing this, he sold the tower to some sucker and left. Wow, he sold it to some ​sucker:​ I wonder who this ​sucker ​is. The name of the other mage is Garglemax the Mad. We all decided to visit Garglemax.

GARGLEMAX THE MAD So we went to the place Garglemax was and came by an ugly green tent. No matter which side you look at, they are all ugly, puke-green. Why would any self-respecting mage like to live in a tiny puke-green tent? So weird! I looked inside the tent flap. What should’ve been 4 square feet was about forty feet wide and forty feet in length. “Umm, hello? Anyone home?” I asked. A man came out, muttering about something. “Oh, hello! What can the humble Garglemax the Mad do for you?” he asked in a strange accent. “We were hoping you could, um, help us make the Enchanter’s tower more secure,” Marysa said. “Yes, yes, yes. I remember that tower. Do you want vision, barrier, transportation, offence, ethereal, or amplification?” he asks.

“What are those?” someone in our group asks. “Well, vision lets you see other people around your tower. Barrier is a barrier. Transportation lets you teleport to anywhere, well, almost anywhere. Offence enables you to attack better. Ethereal makes your stronghold even more secure by not letting people in the Ethereal Plane pop right into your tower……” Garglemax kept droning on and on. Very boring indeed. I wanted to have a barrier and ethereal so that no one

could get in the tower, but the others outvoted me. We ended up getting barriers and vision.

What’s the point of vision? All you can do is see enemies outside of your barrier. They could be in the Ethereal Plane, and you can’t see them: all they have to do is pop into our tower and loot it. We probably won’t even be in the tower forever. When are we going to use it? Some people had weird opinions when conversing with the mage. We go back to the tower after receiving the enchantments and everyone takes a short rest.

TRUTH POTIONS After about twenty-five days, we get summoned to the capital ​again​. The Acheon guard captain, and everyone who works with him, thinks that the cultists are in the remnants of Pentos. They give us two carts. We immediately start bickering about who’s the driver and who’s the lookout. Colena is a driver alongside Rachel. I’ll bet they will start yelling at each other; they do that a lot. We leave the capital. On the way, there’s a man with a hat with a… peacock feather?​ Where’d he get that? This weird man challenges us to a storytelling competition. He must be the dumbest person ever. I narrow my eyes and consider killing him.

No, it wasn’t worth the trouble. ​We​ could probably beat this guy; he didn’t look like a storyteller.

“Who in your party will enter? Oh, the lady!” he says as Eesta steps forward. Then, he begins to tell a ridiculously short story about a person braving some stormy seas. “........And that’s how I got this dreadful scar,” he ends the story dramatically, showing us just a tiny dot on his hand. As if that was a scar! He ​must​ be the dumbest person ever! We’re all snoring as Eesta tells a story that went on for hours and hours. Where did she come up with that? At the end, and when we’re all awake, the person says, “My! That must be the most beautiful story ever! You all win of course!” He gives the peacock feather on his hat to Eesta. No, not a feather, a quill. That was nice, at least. We keep going. Colena fell asleep for some weird reason, but, suddenly, she woke up and pulled the reins of the horse. Our cart stops and we decide to rest there. On the ground, some letters spell out ‘Good luck tomorrow, you're gonna need it’. The message left us with an unsettling feeling: not good. The following morning, an ugly storm started. It was a rainstorm, to be more specific. Of course, what did we fear about a ​rainstorm​? Well, the people who were driving the carts got soaked. We continued down a path until our lookout spotted a cottage. The cart stopped for a moment and a person came out, or so the lookout said to us. I

hear an unfamiliar voice yell: “You guys can stay here for the day! I’ll help you get your horses into the barn!” We decided to stay for the night. The message said that there would be trouble, and that’s why everyone chose to go inside. Inside is an old woman who’s stirring a pot of something yummy. After the old man helps us take off our jackets, the old woman gives us some soup. The soup smells yummy. But, because of the recent blow-ups and fights, I hide the bowl of soup under the table and stir it with my horn for a while. After I’m completely sure that there’s no poison in the soup, I start drinking it. I take a look at everyone else to see what they’re doing. Colena’s chanting some weird thing and nothing happens. “Why in the world do you need to know if it’s poisonous? We helped you with your things! Do you not trust us?!” he asked. Ohhhhhh, Colena had the same idea as I did: to check if it was poisoned. “W- how did you know I was checking for poison?” “Oh, I have lived for a long, long time. I know a lot of spells, tricks, and potions. I knew you were doing a ‘check for poison spell’.” “H-h-” Colena starts, but Marysa cuts in: “We are so sorry that we did that, but things have been really, um, tight. We figured that if enemies could be in our group, we thought ‘Oh, the person over there might be an enemy too.’ Sorry!” “Yes, yes. You are right , things have been tight and tough. We have a small business, enough to keep a farm. But, I fear we may lose money and lose our property. I take it you are coping well?” He says as he nodded, eyes thoughtful. “Oh yes, we are well, at least we are more well off than others in our town.” Marysa says. “Wait! Can we talk about something in private? For a moment?” I ask. “By all means,” the old woman says before the man could reply. Skip the conversation. We give him a hundred pieces of our gold. “Oh! Thank you! You are so very generous!” he says with surprise. After eating the stew or soup or whatever humans called it these days, we went to sleep in fluffy beds. Almost in the middle of the night, Rachel wakes us up and tells us a story of two cups. The liquid inside the cups was dark and it smelled bad. Rachel says it was right on her stand. How weird! Eesta says that this was a truth potion that journalists used to get information from minister members. It’s illegal and banned. How would it come here? A horrible idea struck me: ​What if the truth potions were for us to drink? Then, we would have to tell the truth about anything we were asked!​ The thought sent shivers down my spine. We go to ask the man what the dark liquid was and he doesn’t tell us: how annoying. Colena uses magic to force him to tell the truth. He says, with blank eyes, “ It was a truth potion. My wife and I learned how to make this a long time ago. This is the only way we can keep our farm.” I felt a tiny bit of pity. “Oh, and because the rainstorm is easing up, I suggest you go now,” the man says, after stepping out onto the trance with a tone of menace in

his voice. I take a look out the window and it’s pouring outside. So much for no rain! But, we had no choice. We all go outside and get the horses ready.

PERSON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD After a lot of questions like, “Uh, why did Colena do that,” we finally set off. Colena cast some sort of spell to keep the rain off, but it had a slight malfunction. After a while, we saw a person’s head in the middle of the road! My first thought was: ​What the heck?!​ My second thought was: ​Did he fall in quicksand? ​ My third thought was: W ​ hy is he in the middle of the roaWhat is Colena doing again?​ Colena cast a spell and the rain was quickly upon us again. The person was levitating in the air! Even worse, he was yelling so loud I was sure he would attract all the Dragonborn of Pentos - I meant the remnants of Pentos.

By : Mitchell With the extra money we got, we decided to spice up our new base: the Enchanter’s Tower. First, to keep the criminals from barging in, we fully repaired the ground floor. Oh- and we had 2354 gold to spend.

Anyway, the reason the ground floor was destroyed is because some dwarves brought explosives and blew it up. That cost us 300 gold to repair. For the second floor, we fixed the wall and set up an infirmary so that if we get injured, we can always recover there. That cost us another 300 gold. The collapsed room was on the third floor. It had a lot of rocks and rubble, so first we had to open it up; then we set up an armoury so we can make our own armour.

For the highest floor, we decided to add a

library and a workshop so we can make our own tools.

Time rewind; a month earlier.

We made repairs for the tower, we bought new enchantments, we went to a meeting…

WHY WAS IT SO ​DAGGON ​BORING?!?!

Idk just was.

Anyway…

Time rewind, end; back to now ( a month later) We’re going on a trip!

YAY!!! *Sigh* We have to fight again, though.

NOOOO!!!

Well this sucks.

Well, I guess I’m good at storytelling and I got a feather.

I beat the old man in a storytelling contest. ​

I bet I can beat you all in a storytelling contest!

After that , more boringness, soooooooo…

Yea...

The Cursed Swamp CHAPTER 10

Why am I friends with them?

I Dunno, just am. I would say why but I choose not to, I guess I just find the choices we make stupid and bad (even though we always make it better).

Cool, so you just blow up everything you see! Sure, that’s a great idea! Now the monster that’s eye got blown up is gonna kill us! Gee, thanks a lot, COIENA (sorry if I spelt it wrong)!

Time rewind: a few hours ago.

The man Colina saved ran away; that was rude. We got to the point where we had to go on foot and the horses couldn’t pull the carts we were in.

We summoned a monster and someone turned into a sparrow just to scout ahead to see what was awaiting us in the swamp. Guess what they told us they found?

NOTHING!!!

Writers note: they did find things but didn’t tell us.

We went into the swamp assuming it was safe (and it was not). We ran into some purple fog, and we realized that we couldn’t use magic in it so we went back and decided to make some magical animals to ride. I went to the carts and got the horses to ride, as well.

Almost halfway there, the big yellow eye showed up, and Colena blew it up.

Anyway… Run or stay?

Note: thanks Colena for making this more difficult than it already was !

Behold the power of regret for coming with them!

- Eesta

The Cursed Swamp The man, who was freaking out like ​crazy,​ finally calmed down and ran away after Colena told him she was simply trying to help.

As they continued on, they soon encountered a path filled with mud.

They managed to pull the carts out of the muck but they either had to continue, continue on foot, or find a different path.

Colena used magic to summon a weird creature to scout for a different path. However, she finds none and their only option left is to continue on foot.

They decide to camp for the night. Then, on the second watch, while the watchers woke up the others, Nathan took out his Berserkers Axe and smashed somebody who was behind a nearby bush. Unfortunately, his axe was cursed, in a frenzy, and since there were no more enemies to attack, he turned on Rachel. Rachel did not manage to dodge in time, and took a hard blow. Colena used magic to take the axe away from Nathan, and set it down on the grass near him, but if he attempted to grab it, at least half of the group would beat him to it.

They continue, with Colena and Eesta in the lead, and Rassie and Rachel at the back. The fog was dark, but when Colena tried to use magic to make it go away, the magic didn’t work.

“Huh?” Colena said aloud. One of the Guided asked the spirits, ​Is it safe to go on? a ​ nd the spirits replied ​no​.

“We should go back,” muttered Colena.

“We should stay,” said one of her group. “It’s dumb to go back.”

“Going on when we know it is not safe to go on is dumb,” Colena said.

“True,” muttered another of her group.

“Shall we vote?” asked another. They voted, and most wanted to go back.

“Phew…shall we ride on something to go?” suggested one of Colena’s group.

Marysa used her “Amulet of Animals” and with a flash, a sleek, cute otter appeared. However this otter was ​huge​. It was big enough to hold two people and be quite comfortable, although it did look a bit confused. Colena petted the huge otter and got on with Marysa, while the others got on horses.

Ethan, who had become small, was now having difficulty getting up.

Colena used magic to levitate him, and Rachel, who was a dragonfly, lifted him up without much difficulty.

Then Rachel and Ethan vanished into the darkness.

Um…did they go into the fog? ​Colena thought. And then…in the water, a huge shadow appeared. The only body part of the creature Colena saw was an eye. A huge eye.

This is creepy​.

With a flash, Colena took out her bow, nocked an arrow, and the arrow plunged into the eye. And the arrow exploded. The figure slunk back into the water, motionless.

Colena summoned an animal. Nathan somehow went crazy and started hitting Rachel. We go into the swamp. kind of start splitting up. We push deeper until the water starts rising.

Rassie sees something off to the right: something shiny. She is about 10 feet away from us, and it was just a horn. She takes the horn and goes back to the group. Then, the purple swamp starts to come back. Now, I am scared. We start hearing some weird stuff, so I decide to be quiet. Colena starts using her magic to get the fog away, but she was not successful.

Marysa starts summoning a bird but isn't successful the same as Colena. I start wondering whether it is the swamp or if it's their luck. We start doing a pole to continue or to not continue. We start trying to find a place for them to camp. I STARTED BECOMING small, and I was successful. Rachel and I are in the fog and Colena is nice and uses her magic to levitate me.

Someone makes a brown horse. I am sorry I forgot their name. Now, we are all one horse.

Then we found a dead Dragonborn. His name was Rodrik. First of all, Rodrik is a random name; I just don’t know how he came up with that name. Then, we found Ozmo and I was being mean to him. So sorry. I then hear some random, very old Dragonborn words. Still, though, Ozmo is so funny. I LOVE HIM. Then, we got this scene where a person was similar to Rodrick. I think we are going to meet Rodrick next class, but that was such a random name; Rodrick.

The Cursed Swamp

​ ​

By: ​Marysa Liu

Being a watch out in the rain isn’t the best thing in the world, in fact, it was horrible! First of all, I hate being wet and Colena just dropped the rain shield to save this buried man that was screaming as if he was about to get eaten by a dragon. Secondly, you can barely see in this weather which made this very stressful because the whole team depends on me and Rachael to make sure we don’t hit any rocks whall driving and to make sure we stay out of danger!

Ok, the screaming man at this point is getting REALLY annoying, I look over as Colena yells “I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU”, the man says something else but I couldn’t hear him over the sound of the pouring rain. Soon it started raining cats and dogs, Colena, all wet and seemingly uncomfortable got agitated at the man and dropped him which led the man running off in the distance in fear. At this point, I was awfully confused, wasn’t the man calling us for help just a few minutes again when he was still stuck in the ground? Why was he screaming when Colena tried to help him? What’s happening!? The carts starting moving again, as we continued to move on, the swamp started to come to view. As we were moving on, I saw a giant bird, it was blue and had one eye, wait how many heads does it have? Anyways, it seemed to stand on one leg for some reason, soon, the bird’s eye met mine and walked closer to our carts “SCWACK!!” it said then fly away. I tapped Rachael on the shoulders and then pointed at the bird, Rachael gasped and draws the creature down in a notebook she brought. I smile at the bird then I heard a CRACK as it looked like Eesta’s cart had lost their right wheel, I quickly grab on to the side of the cart I’m on as Colena makes a quick turn to avoid crashing into Eesta’s cart, then CRACK! I look down and our left wheel has broken, leaving everyone to panic, we slowly start to sink and as everyone starts to get off I could help but realize that the ground feels like this disgusting mushy mud and I was very disgusted but interested at what it could be made of. The carts slowly start to sink more to the fact that we could not continue on them, I start to feel panic as it looks like we may still have a long way to go and how the swamps do not look like the best place for walking by foot as it is very possible that dangerous creatures may be living there. The whole gang starts to figure out how we were going to our destination as I see Colena casting a spell, as the spell begins to form I see a small flying creature with one eye, a toothy mouth, a tongue sticking out, and may small tentacles with eyes on them too, it was weird but cute. As this is happening I hear a

WOOSH and look behind me to see Rachael putting her cloak on and turning into a Kuku-bird. I look over back at Colena and her eyes have turned fully white, I was a little freaked out by this but realized that maybe she has been using magic to look through the eyes of probably her strange creature. As I take my eyes off Colena I see the rest of my group trying to pull the carts out of the mud, I quickly go over to help them hoping there would be a chance that we could pull them out and use them for the rest of the journey. After a while of trying to pull them out and succeeding, Colena has returned to her sense and Rachael has returned. The sky was starting to turn dark and we have decided that we were going to camp out until morning, we’ve chosen some people to be look-outs as the rest sleep. As I was in resting, I couldn’t help but wonder how a normal Elf like me could soon become part of some Royal missions and how I could become friends with such strange but great people. As my thoughts start to deepen I slowly start to drift to sleep. I don’t know how long I’ve been asleep but soon I have been woken up by either Rassie or Sophia, I don’t remember who, they were telling us to wake up because they think something dangerous was near the campsite. I quickly got up and looked around a little alarmed, as I was looking around I saw Nathan taking out this axe and charging into a bush. I heard a sorta loud SWING as Nathan swings his axe and chops a god sized rat in half, I make a small shriek as the rat’s body flys into view, other big rats scatter at the sight they have just seen. Oh no I thought as Nathan started to go in his frenzy, at the moment there were no rats around for him to attack so he ran right at Rachael. I was panicking as I saw them fight and hit each other and it was very scary. At last, Rachael gets hit in the stomach, I quickly run over and use my magic to heal her. After the healing process, Colena uses magic to grab Nathan’s axe and pulls it sorta far from his reach. Nathan slowly starts to fall out of his frenzy, after that commotion everyone tries to fall back asleep. In the morning we all get ready to continue our adventure, Rachael and Rassie volunteered to walk at the back, a few minutes later we walked into a mysterious fog, Colena tries to do a spell but nothing seems to happen. Eesta starts to pass down a message saying “Don’t breath in the fog!” but everyone starts to chuckle saying that it is impossible to not breathe it. I try using my magic to summon a bird to help us look above the fog but nothing happened, I instantly had the idea that the fog was somehow stopping us from using magic.

I decided to ask the spirits if it was safe to carry on the mission through this fog and OUCH! I stubbed my toe ‘that must mean no’ I thought and I wobbled a little trying to ease the pain. I tell everyone about what the spirits have said

and we all stopped to discuss what to do next, most people had said “if we stop now how do we continue the mission?” and I must say that is a good point, after the discussion we agreed to go back to safety. We turned around to go back and slowly the animal noises start to become softer and softer till we could not hear them at all. Terrified we started to make a run for it, as we entered the water I cringed, I HATED WATER! We were supposed to be quiet but I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible so I made some big splashes. Oppsies! After a while, I realized that Rassie was carrying a strange horn, I didn’t know what it was but figured that it wouldn’t be something to concern about. After we got out of the fog we decided to go back in to continue the mission. So back in the fog we went.

Rachael Zhou

2/8/4/20

The Cursed Swamp

This guy was crazy. As soon as Colena lifted him out of the mud, he started screaming and shouting like a maniac. “Let me go!” he screamed. “Calm down,” Colena said. “No!” he yelled (what the-). We asked him: “Are you mad?” As we let him down, he took off running into the distance.

Ok, that was weird. We scanned the place for clues. We spotted a broken handle of a shovel and realized that this person had been ​buried ​up to his neck by the cult. Then we left the place and continued into Pentos.

We reached a place where we had to use magic to clear away thick bushes. Colena went ahead, occasionally setting a shrub on fire or levitating low branches to clear the way. However, even that couldn’t stop us from reaching a place where it was so thick that clearing the way was not effective.

Colena summoned a weird creature that was kind of like a ball with eyes on its arms. It went up into the clouds and stayed there as if waiting for instructions. I swirled my cloak and in a puff of smoke, turned into a cuckoo (that was not expected). I spiralled up into the clouds, joining the weird creature (I don’t know its name. Probably something like Bob).

Down below me, I saw Colena’s eyes turn white (creepy) and she started to sink in the mud. The creature started moving forward and I followed it. We spotted an animal passing that showed signs of recent passage. I beat my wings faster and we went higher, where my vision was suddenly obscured by a mass of purple fog.

The creature turned back towards the others and zoomed away. I pressed forward into the fog and dived. The frogs were still croaking, so I took that as a good sign. I scraped the ground with my claws as I flew out of the fog. Suddenly, all sounds of nature stopped and something started slithering around.

There was a very shallow pool of water around me. I watched as a ball emerged and opened a single yellow eye with a pure black slit in the middle. It blinked twice with sideways eyelids.

All of a sudden, waves erupted around me and then went back down, taking the ball with them. I looked around and started worrying that I might be lost. Somehow I managed to find my way back to my friends. I turned back into myself with another puff of smoke and told them what I saw.

The night came, and we agreed to let Ethan and Mitchell take the first watch. I slept for the first time in what I realized was 2 days, so I quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. In the morning we woke up and we decided that it was currently unsafe to go out, so we had an uneventful day in the woods.

The second night came, and this time Rassie, Sophia and Nathan took the watch. We were woken up early by Rassie and Sophia because they had heard something. Nathan had already drawn his axe and charged into the bushes, so we just waited for him to come back.

He did come back, with what turned out to be a rat. His axe had a problem, though.

Whenever you started attacking something using it, you couldn’t stop, so someone in our group had to be injured. It turned out to be me.

“What’s going on?” I asked (no one answered). Nathan dropped the corpse of the rat and charged towards me (I might as well add an again there). He sank his blade into my stomach (ow) and immediately the colour started draining from my face (welp). Someone came, waved their hand, and healed me as Colena made the axe drift out Nathan’s hand. She placed it about 20 feet away from him and he didn’t try to get it.

I got to my feet as Nathan took a deep breath. He walked over to the axe, picked it up, and sheathed it (good). We had breakfast (I don’t know where we got that from) and then we went to the animal path that I had spotted a day earlier.

It was a narrow pathway with enough space to fit 2 people side by side. Colena and Eesta went in the front, with Rassie and I bringing up the rear. After maybe a kilometre, purple water rose up to our knees and something started slithering between our ankles. Then, strangely, the water receded and fish appeared. They jumped (?) into a nearby pond but one of them landed on the ground and burrowed into the marsh. Before it did that, though, I swear I saw it take a breath of oxygen using lungs (the heck-).

The next time I looked at Rassie, she was 10 feet away, in the bushes, bending down to pick something up. She came out with a beautiful horn hanging around her neck. We didn’t know what it did but kept it anyways.

Soon after that, we reached the fog. We went in, but the fog was so thick that we could only see the head and shoulders of the person in front of us. Colena tried to use magic to make the fog lift when we were passing through but for some reason, it didn’t work. Eesta looked at the rest of us and said: “Don’t breathe in the fog.” The thing is, we were all breathing in the fog and we n ​ eeded​ to breathe in the fog.

We turned back and came out of the fog. There, the mud was really deep so we went slowly. We reached a spot where it seemed that it had been flooded so we started using magic.

Ethan stabbed himself with his sword and immediately became tiny, so he had to tread in the water. I turned into a dragonfly (not expected either; I was expecting a bird) and tried to carry Ethan but failed.

Meanwhile, Marysa summoned a giant otter (I think it talked but I’m not sure) and Mitchell summoned a horse. Eesta decided to go and bring the horses from the cart (oh yeah, we still had those). Colena used magic to make Ethan kind of levitate onto me. Eesta came back earlier than we had expected and then Ethan and I went out to scout.

We went higher, swerving back to the fog and saw a sight that nearly made me fall out of the sky. Looming out of the fog was this huge Dragonborn’s skull. There were a whole bunch of cultists around it, chanting something in a language I couldn’t understand. Then there was a cage hanging on a wooden post that seemed to float. Only the top could be seen out of the fog, so I wasn’t sure if there was someone in there.

We decided to go inside the fog and see what it was about. We flew lower and entered the fog, where we knew we couldn’t use magic. From this point of view, we realized that there were not many cultists. Footprints showed signs of recent movement, but no cultists seemed to be in this area. We turned to the cage as a hand reached out. . . and grabbed me.

I was pulled inside the cage, leaving Ethan hanging in midair. I thought about what to do and concluded that I should transform. I decided to change back into myself and then turn into a bird. Great idea.

I turned back into myself and then twirled my cloak. Nothing happened. I pondered for a moment.

“Oh, now that’s great. Now we’re both stuck in here. My plan was to take the dragonfly and send it to get help. Instead, it turned into you! How nice.” I turned to see Ozmo, sitting at the back of the cage.

Ozmo spotted Ethan and asked him to go get help. Ethan asked for gold and credit in turn and Ozmo hesitated, and then said: “Fine. I’ll reward you. Have a good life!” Ethan moved forward and started picking the lock. Ozmo pressed him to just go get help, but he kept on saying that he could do it. The third time he said it, he suddenly fell with a thud. I moved forward and tried to pick the lock, but it ended up snapping. Oh no.

Ozmo just said: “Oh that’s fine, I’ll just fix it using magic.” He went like “Abra Kadabra” and nothing happened. I don’t blame him. He hadn’t used magic in about a month. Ethan started climbing the pole that I just noticed and came into the cage. “That’s your 10% and that’s your 10%”, he said, pointing at me and then Ethan as all the wildlife went quiet. I forgot whether Ethan stabbed himself or not, but he wasn’t noticed by the cult who just started to lower the cage.

The cage stopped at eye level with a person covered in a dark cloak. He said something in the language that they were chanting before and lowered his hood, revealing a white Dragonborn underneath.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Hello again. You’re asking ‘has your headache subsided yet?’. Well the answer is that it has not. Anyways…

Colena frees the disturbingly annoying lad from her magical hold on him.

He runs away and we let him go because, why wouldn’t we? He’s so loud, no one cares that he’s running away. I just hope that he doesn’t go around disturbing people that are asleep right now. If I was a person that he’s disturbed, I would do exactly what this other person did to him. I would bury him in the dirt up to his neck. Wait, what? He was buried in the dirt to his neck? I’ve heard of this method of punishment before. It was done in the swamps, where there is a lot of water to make the dirt easier to dig into. It’s a method the baddies in the swamp would use to get information out of someone. They would hold you captive and then dig a hole. They would throw you in and refill the hole until the dirt is up to your neck. It’s a very cruel thing to do. It usually works but it didn’t seem to work with this lad.

We continue on the road, down to the swamp. The brush gets thicker and thicker as we continue to progress. I try to get a few more hours of sleep

but I can’t fall asleep with this pounding headache I’ve got because of all the sounds around us. I look up to the trees and see this very weird species of bird I’ve never seen before. I’m fine with identifying different types of creatures but I’m not the best. That’s the benefits of being a hunter. I’ve never actually eaten any of the meats I’ve caught but I’ve definitely eaten the many types of plants I scavenged. The berries in the forest are so much more juicer and more fresh than the ones my grandparents bring home from the market.

These birds have never appeared in the book I read. The book was an old book with different species of animals inside. There were many pictures inside too, which is why I chose to take time out of my day and read it.

They have double of everything. Four legs instead of two. Two heads instead of one. These two winged blue birds are very peculiar. Before I can make any more observations, they fly away. We are now in calf high muck. It’s very gross but luckily, I’m in my work pants which I don’t care for as much as my own pants from home.

Colena decides to summon an animal of some kind with her magic as we all exit the carts. She’s fairly good at magic and has many weird ideas.

She waves her hands around and conjures up this ball with eyes and tentacles. I don’t think it’s a real animal but I don’t want to judge it, even though it won’t hear my thoughts. It might actually be really useful. You never know. There is now a cuckoo bird in front of everyone. I’m guessing that’s Rachael because she has that cloak. Colena becomes both blind and deaf because she is now in the body of her animal. As we look back at our carts and find that they are both completely stuck in the mud. It takes us a long time but we still can’t seem to get the carts out. I wonder what the archon will think if we go back right now without the cart that he provided us with. We all look towards Colena, checking if she’s fine because she’s unnaturally quiet. She’s knee deep in the mud! That’s not very good if you ask me. She could get stuck, just like our carts. The cuckoo goes to explore the swamp and the jungle around it. Rachael is gone for a while which makes us all worry a little but when she comes back right before the sunsets, we all relax a little. We managed to get the carts out of the muck with the time we used. It was really hard but we still accomplished it. Rachael tells us about her experience but I don’t pay attention to what she’s saying. The dream I had sticks to my mind. The jungle that looked just like this one. The soft mud like here. We’re all

absolutely exhausted by the time Rachael finishes telling us about the events that occurred while we were working with the carts, but it’s really good information. Though I didn’t listen to it, I know it has to be important knowledge that we should hold on to during our mission.

Mitchel and Ethan decide to take the first watch as we set up camp. We’re going to sleep in the back of our carts tonight. I really like camping. I’ve done it many times on my own in the forest. I would climb up a tree and take a supply bag with me. I would put my sleeping bag into a big branch and tuck myself in. I don’t roll in my sleep but in case I do, I would strap a belt around my waist and then around the sleeping bag and the branch. That always keeps me from falling off. I really don’t like to wake up early. I’m definitely, 100% not a morning person, but when I’m out in the woods, I can wake up at the break of dawn. Like literally. I wake up right when the sun is starting to rise. The sunrise is beautiful. All the vibrant and warm colours mixing together in the prettiest ways.

I don’t like camping here though. I can’t fall asleep even with the reassurance that there are two people guarding right now. I just don’t trust that this place doesn’t have any dangers. Especially at night. I stay awake, not even tired anymore.

After a few hours, Mitchel and Ethan wake us up so they can have a few hours of sleep. Me, Nathan and Sophia volunteer to take watch next.

I take watch because I can’t sleep so I might as well use my time wisely.

After an hour or so, we hear shuffling coming from the bushes close to the campsite. This sound makes my stomach bubble in the most unpleasant way possible. There are multiple small footsteps rushing towards us. Me and Sophia immediately run to the campsite to wake the others. Nathan pulls out his axe and starts hitting all these creatures. They’re rats that are the size of dogs, which is very unusual. What is in this jungle? Nathan keeps on hitting these rats until there are no more left to hit. Nathan seems angry. Very angry for no reason. He walks towards us as we back away.

He’s in a frenzy. It’s the curse that came with his axe. He charges towards Rachael and hits her right in the stomach. It looks too painful, I can’t express it in words. She’s whimpering on the ground. Marysa quickly rushes over to her and heals the wound. After a minute of Marysa treating Rachael’s long and deep cut, she looks much better. She still doesn’t look completely healed but it’s better than walking around fighting monsters with a huge gash on your stomach. Colena uses her magic to take Nathan’s axe away from him in order to stop his violent

behaviour. She makes it float a long distance away from him, enough so that she can get it before he can. Nathan looks much more calm without his axe. After all of this, I finally feel a little tired as I lay down on one of the carts and fall asleep.

In the morning, we pack up everything that we have and start marching to the swamp. It’s now a narrow pathway, enough for two people to stand side by side in a line. Me and Rachael walk at the very back of the line.

We continue as the water rises higher and higher until it rises to our knees. I don’t like the feeling of this water on my skin very much but I have no choice but to continue. Something is always slithering past the soft ground, sending chills up my spine.

I look to the right and see something glinting in the sun. It’s shiny and gold and I can’t help but feel curious on what it could be. I start walking away from the group to the side of the swamp, in the jungle. I push passed the leaves and reach where this shiny object is. It’s a curved horn. It’s attached to a golden ring, hanging it on a tree. It won’t do any harm to take it, will it? I decide to take it from where it was and wait for something bad to happen. One second. Nothing. A minute. Nothing.

Nothing is happening. I guess it’s age to take it with me. It might come in handy? I don’t know. It could have some magical properties or something?

There is suddenly movement in the front so I quickly catch up to the group. Sophia just narrowly missed being bit by a snake. Thank goodness she has fast reflexes. We keep on walking until we reach a fog. We all decide to enter, still in the same line we were in while in the swamp. As we continue trekking through the fog, the sounds of nature seems to be vanishing slowly. Becoming more distant. My companions are hard to see.

I don’t want to lose them so I quicken my pace while still being stealthy.

I can see no more than their heads and shoulders.

“I’m just going to use some magic to make this fog go away” says Colena unexpectedly.

She seems to be saying the spell but nothing’s changed. She’s going to repeat whatever spell she was saying but gets some of the fog into her mouth. She starts coughing really loudly, cutting through the abnormal silence that surrounds us. After a moment, Eesta warns us not to breathe in the fog.

That’s utterly impossible! The fog is all around us. And we have to breathe or we’ll die. We’ve already breathed in enough fog to kill ourselves if this fog was poisonous. Why aren’t we all dead, then?

Near the front, Marysa tried to summon a bird but is didn’t work.

“We shouldn’t continue” someone splutters.

I don’t know who because the voice is not clear.

We all turn around to leave. Me and Rachael are in the front now, since we were in the back in the beginning. For some reason, the sounds of nature get quieter. It’s strange but we keep moving the way we think that we came in from. We set a slower pace, to become more quiet and stealthy.

We creep through the swamp, attempting to be quiet. That plan didn’t work because there is a loud splashing sound from behind. I look back and see Marysa trying her best to be quiet, which is definitely not that good. We are so much louder going back than coming in. Rachael looks back and gets distracted. She steps in a hole and lets out a shriek.

“Oh no, run!!” Someone screams as we all start to run away. But we are stopped by something that goes by us. We all let out breaths that we didn’t know we were holding and continued our walk, but this time a lot faster.

The sound of nature becomes louder and louder by the second and then, we are finally out! I feel a wave of relief wash over me. We’re all alive!

Maybe a little shaken up but still alive. That’s better than being dead!

We all stand there, trying to catch our breaths. When everyone’s calmer, we devise a plan.

Ethan stabs himself and shrinks to a smaller size. He splashes through the water, trying to stay afloat. He's too small his feet don’t even touch the bottom of the swamp. Yes, the swamp is deep but I’m just trying to give you an idea of how small he is. Rachael pulls the cloak over herself and becomes a dragonfly. She tries to lift up Ethan from the water but ultimately fails. Colena levitates Ethan with her magic when Rachael keeps on trying. Rachael looks so happy, I can see it even when she’s a dragonfly. She must feel accomplished for carrying Ethan. Too bad it’s not really her that’s doing it. Marysa summons a giant otter from her amulet.

It’s humongous, about the size of a horse. Marysa climbs on top as Mitchel summons a brown horse with his magic. The horse seems unhappy but he still lets Mitchel climb on. Eesta heads back to where we left the carts to retrieve the horses that were left behind. I decide to wait for her and not to summon some animal with magic because it’s probably not going to work. Like I’ve mentioned before, I suck at magic. Eesta comes back after a little while and climbs on a horse. I climb on another horse. We don’t walk into the fog because I don’t think it’s a good idea to. After a

long time, Rachael and Ethan still haven’t come back. That would probably be a bad thing. We start to head into the fog slowly. As we enter, the magical otters and horses don’t disappear. We start moving stealthily through the fog, being careful not to make any sound. The horses appear to be nervous but I can’t really read their eyes. We all stop when we see an eyelid open to reveal a yellow eye with a slit in the center. It stares unmoving at us and then moves to go back to its original position when Colena blasts an arrow into it. There is a high screech even louder than the man’s screams.

There’s suddenly a long serpent creature coming up to the surface. And it’s moving towards us!

I wonder when and how I’m going to die. I’m so lucky I’m not already dead!

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

Terrence

Well some other weird stuff happened and it is going to be crazy.

I bet this time was probably the one that I didn’t like the most so far. So people turned into animals like an otter or a horse or I don’t know what else but a lot. So I took the safer way which is that I didn’t turn into a animal because I thought it was too stupid. I guess some people think it is, some people don’t. I mean it is to me so yah. This is a time where I didn’t really do anything but I remembered this place clearly but looks different now than I would have remembered. I saw this flower but didn’t pick it up cause I was not going to take the risk of picking it up. What if it was poisonous?

PERSON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD​ (continued) Sophia Deng Oh no, why does that person have to scream so loudly? As if reading my thoughts, Colena yelled at the levitating person: “Why are you yelling? Are you mad at us?” “No, just scared. AHHHHHHH” he replied. We got him back down and he ran away. “Yes! Yes, do that!”

Shouts a furious Colena. When we went to the place where the guy sank, we saw a shovel.

That guy wasn’t sinking, he was buried up to his head! Just as we had all prepared to leave, Eesta said “Wait, guys. I think I know what this is. This is what the criminals in the swamp do.”

“They, um, bury the people there up to their heads and leave them there until the person in the ground tells them what they want to hear.” Eesta went on quietly. Now knowing we were on enemy territory, we kept going on the path.

FOG The path seemed to keep narrowing. There were a lot of bushes on each side. “The horses aren’t looking good”, our look-out said quietly. Somebody suggested that we should get out and see why the horses were going slower. Everyone- well, almost everyone, thought that was a good idea. We got out and we started sinking. Oh, mushy swamplands, I hate them! There was a wall of mist in front of us, and it was so foreboding that no one really wanted to go in. At that time, Rachel suddenly decided to turn into a bird, a tasty looking cuckoo to be exact.

Colena, with her magic that she loves so much, summoned a huge ugly monster. Rachel flew into the fog and the monster lumbered into the fog too. Colena’s eyes suddenly turn white, like pure white. Apparently, Colena did this all the time (she’s really weird) but it was still creepy. Bit by bit I edged away from her. Suddenly Colena yelled “I found nothing!” We decided to make a camp next to the foggy area. Everyone was going to keep watch. Before the first watch started watching, Rachel returned, and brought back news. “So I saw a lot of wildlife at first, but then all the sounds disappeared after I got far into the fog. Then I saw this figure, and it turned to me and stared at me with one scary yellow eye. Then I ran away. The news was a bit creepy, but what did you expect? Ethan and Mitchell went out to do their watch. Like ten seconds later, Ethan and Mitchell come in to get myself , Nathan and another blurry figure. We went out for a watch and we heard some stomping. Nathan took out his axe and swung it. Something gets a dull thunk and hit Rachel on the return swing. Everybody came out of our camp to look at the mess. Marysa healed Rachel and we all decided to see what’s out there tomorrow. The next day, we all went outside. We took a look at a swamp and I avoided some type of snake. This was all very uncomfortable and everyone else thought so, too. Mitchell summoned a horse, Rachel turned into a dragonfly, Marysa called a giant otter, Ethan stabbed himself and turned small, Colena cast a spell to make Ethan fly and Eesta got the horses from our ‘cozy’ camp.

After that, we all had something to ride on. We did see a giant skull of a dragonborn, so the

rumors were true: Rodrick did fall down and smash Pentos. There were the remnants of Pentos, a lot of broken down houses and such. Colena tried to do magic but nothing happened , nothing. “Seems like we lost magic here. Don’t breathe the fog!” Colena said , while breathing in the fog. “Colena, if you haven't noticed yet, we are like, all breathing this weird fog thingy.” I yelled at her. “We’ll go scouting if you like,” said Ethan and Rachel. “Oh, yes please!” shouted Colena. Ethan and Rachel went into the misty air and I soon lost track of them. We headed back to our camp and waited, but nothing happened. So everyone decided to go into the fog again and we did just that. We kept going and going and going. Soon all the sounds of wildlife were gone, just gone. It was so eerily quiet.

By : Mitchell Along our way, we encountered this mysterious purple–ish fog. Rachel decided to turn into a bird and take a look at the fog.

First, she heard some birds and frogs, like what you hear at a normal swamp. But, this was no ordinary fog. Once you go into the purple-pink fog, it's hard to breathe.

Suddenly, it became eerily quiet. No birds chirping, no frogs croaking. Nothing. By now, it was getting dark. We were getting paranoid of the dark, so we took shifts to guard while the others were sleeping. But when Nathan was taking watch, these dog-sized rats came out from the bushes.

Nathan got his axe and chopped a rat in half and was now in a frenzy. This means if there's nobody else to attack, he has to

attack one of his friends. Nathan swung hard and struck Rachel in the chest and she took some serious damage. Then, Colena used her magic and threw Nathan’s axe so he could calm down again.

Xuan He

There was a person in a pit of sand. Colena lifted him into the air, instantly drenching whoever wasn’t under the cart’s hood. He screamed louder. “Calm down!” Colena said, which didn’t really have effect because of the rain. Eventually, Colena put him down. He bolted, leaving behind a trail of muck. I stepped down and put a hand on the pit. It wasn’t even sand, now that I touched it. Looking around, I saw a shovel, a lump of soil, and a lot of disturbed sandy dirt.

From that, I gathered that he was buried, by hand. This was a very shady, yet useful, tactic that has seen a lot of successes. Though, of course, the tactic needs large amounts of water. After that odd encounter, we continued. After a few hours into the journey, the rain finally stopped, giving us visibility into the large ruins of the giant city. We reached the front, where a stone gate once stood, capitalising Pentos’ former glory.

We heard a squawk. Looking at a patch of leaves, I saw a very strange and apocalyptic bird. It was bright blue, and appeared to be standing on one leg. It turned in a circle, finally spotting us. It turned. ​The bird had two heads and four legs. Squawking, it pulled its head and four wings popped out. It flew off into the distance.

After progressing for a while, there was a squelch, as our cart sank into the bog. We stopped the horses so they won’t tire themselves.

“We need to scout a path,” Colena said, as their cart also sank. She whispered something and a ball of fluff appeared. An eyeball materialised. Finally, 9 tentacles sprouted, each with many eyes upon them.

It flew, powering itself with its tentacles, as though they were (Very awkward) wings. Colena closed her eyes, seemingly looking through the thing’s eye. We started pulling the cart.

--“I found nothing!” Colena said, opening her eyes, looking awkward.

Rachel pulled out her cloak. Putting it on, she turned into a cuckoo and looked eagerly at the sky. It flew up, looking around. It quickly disappeared into the clouds. With nothing else to do, we resumed the dull, yet crucial, cart-pulling.

Finally freeing the cart, we pulled the horses out, which was actually harder than freeing the carts. The cuckoo finally came back. It turned back into Rachel. “I found a small path. It should be stable; the bird we just saw might have gone through, by the looks of the foot prints,” she said. “The problem is that I saw some purple mist there, and a monstrous creature, with many animals,” she continued. The sun was setting, so we decided to set camp. Mitchell and Nathan took the first watch.

There was a lot of noise at the camp. I jumped out. Nathan was rapidly attacking a bush, looking anguished. A giant rat flew out and was cut cleanly in half. Rachel rushed out. “What happened?” she screamed.

Nathan, with his amazingly mad and volatile axe, attacked her. Colena came out. Rushing towards Rachel, she swirled her hands, and healed her. Colena jumped up, pointing her hand at Nathan. The axe flew out of Nathan’s hand. Coming out of his trance, he picked it up, and went to his tent.

After that disturbing experience, it was a very good night.

The next morning, we journeyed into the swamp. Knowing we could not continue on horse, we took our gear, and went. The water was purplish with a green hue. There were a lot of worm-like snakes in the water. We wandered for a while. Then, we see a horn. Rachel showed us the ornate instrument, and we walked on. We entered a clearing.

There was a cloud of purple mist, which was much thicker than the other parts.

Colena breathed in the fog. She twirled her hands, probably trying to get it out of the way. It didn’t work. This fog seemed to stop magic.

Eesta grunted, “It is probably this fog!”. As magic is our most powerful weapon, we went out.

We realized it was getting quiet. I quickly quieted down, sneaking, and we went on. A creature moved, and the water rippled. I stopped moving. The creature passed. We had to get out of the water. While treading in the water, Ethan stabbed himself and became small. Rachel, trying to help, turned into a dragonfly (Which was unfortunate). Colena levitated them. Marysa summoned an otter. Colena jumped on the otter.

Mitchell summoned a brown horse. Mitchell rode on.

Eesta brought a few horses from the carts after some time. “We're going to scout!” Ethan shouted, which took a long time for us to hear, as he was way too small. They went on ahead, so we had some time to rest.

We decided to go into the mist, because Ethan and Rachel were taking forever. We rode towards the way they went. The sound diminished, which I took as a bad sign. I was right: ​a creature came out of the water.

The Cursed Swamp by: Vivian

Hello, it is me, Vivian. Today, I will talk about the cursed swamp. We went to infiltrate the camp. We walked into the fog, where you cannot use magic, to search for the bad guys and to do the rest of our job. However, a lot of people kept on coughing, and it was very blurry. We got lost since it was dark and there was fog! We decided to set up a camp to sleep for the night. We would continue our journey in the morning. Ethan shrank himself so he could escape if we were in danger. However, we had to swim, and he was too small, so he would sink. Rachel decided to transform into a firefly so that Ethan could fly on her back. The rest of us also summon animals that we can ride on. Most of us decide not to go back into the fog. Since Rachel and Ethan were small, they could go back into the fog and no one would see them. After a while, Ethan and Rachel had yet to return. We wanted to go back in, but we were afraid, so we waited longer. We finally decided to go inside the fog to check on them. It turned out that they were in great danger, Rachel especially! We found her in a cage with Ozmo.There was also the Dragonborn who was with Eliana when the explosives were inside. He was the person who caused the disaster at the South Gate. Well, he did not cause it, but he helped make the explosives actually explode! He was the evil person who controlled all of the criminals. He scared us, so we didn't make a single move.​ I CAN'T BELIEVE HE WAS THREATENING US! NOT COOL AT ALL! NEXT TIME, I AM GOING TO CATCH HIM AND HAVE HIM EXECUTED FOR SURE!​ We were making fools out of ourselves for actually listening to him.

Ozmo looked really agitated because he had lost his magic for nearly two months. He wanted it back. Rachel’s raven cloak also isn't working, so I think we have to save them. However, we still haven't thought of a plan. Hopefully we can actually make up a plan that works, since the Dragonborn is really smart.

WE HAVE TO THINK OF A PLAN TO OUT BEAT THEM! BUT HOW?!

Still in The Swamp!

CHAPTER 11

Guess what? - Me (Eesta) What? - You (Reader) We are going home now! - Me What are you talking about? - You Here’s what happened: I rode across a part of the swamp with some friends who followed close behind. They were attacked, and I was the only one who escaped. I saw that it was all an illusion, and I tried to make everyone see what I saw.,After a while, it worked!

Time-lapse!

We saved everyone.

We got out of the swamps.

We went back to the city. HOW MUCH MORE GRINDING DID WE HAVE TO DO!?

WHY? THIS IS BECAUSE WE SAW A LARGE ARMY APPROACHING! We’re too late.

P.S. Who’s Lafey?

y Yep, we’re still in the swamp.You may think that we are out of the swamp, but sadly no. We, including Ozmo, were going to escape, but I went on my own, instead. I decide to do something dumb, and it actually works: I try to swim with those weird things in the swamp. It works. There was also a storyline with Rodrick, but we didn't finish it.

Still in the Swamp After shooting the eye, Colena cautiously took a step back. That is, until, something touched her foot. Colena glanced down, and she and her horse were being pulled down by a tentacle, or at least, what seemed like a tentacle. She couldn’t scream either.

She was drowning, drowning, until she felt she could still kind of breathe. Still, she was sinking.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic​. She repeated these words inside her head. After all, panicking would do no good.

After what seemed like many hours, Colena was picked up by a similar tentacle. A giant monster had picked her up! Colena was a little scared. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t. After a little while, the tentacle dropped her, and she went ​splish splosh​ into the water.

Instead of trying to hold her breath, Colena found out she could still breathe, with a little difficulty, but it was still better than trying to hold her breath. Soon, she resurfaced and found her friends.

She heard a shriek from Eesta. Colena quickly waded into the swamp, Marysa behind her. They both found Eesta with a ​monster ​turtle.

It was ​huge, but slow, like turtles usually are. There also was a bit bubbling. Now knowing Eesta was OK, Colena went back.

Eventually, Eesta returned with Ethan. He was ​very ​small.

Rachael and Ozmo were rescued from being locked up by dragonborn, unknown ones.

They finally headed home.

On the way, Colena spotted, as so did some others, a skeleton skull. A huge one. Like a building. She and four others decided to search the skull. Very few dragonborn were in it.

In one room, there was a script only Sophia could read. It was about Roderick, the dragonborn who once killed Bane with six others.

Seven names were on top of the script, in English. One was Roderick, and another one was—Terrence. Colena found this quite shocking. The seven of them were over a thousand years old, but Terrence looked like a kid.

As soon as they went out of the room, a dragonborn saw them and said, “You’re too late” before Colena kicked and punched him unconscious.

There was, as Colena soon found out, a dragonborn army marching towards Sidnar.

Rachael Zhou

5/8/7/20

Still In the Swamp

The Dragonborn didn’t notice Ethan since he was tiny. After the Dragonborn left, Ethan slipped through the bars, climbed down the pole, and went to get help. As he did that, Ozmo said: “Goodbye, tiny parser, it’s sad to see you go. I liked you. Too bad, you have to die.” That sent an unsettling chill down my spine.

Almost three hours had passed, but still, no help came. Ozmo leaned forward and said: “I tell you this: if you have e​ xtraordinary, dangerous​ ideas that involve risking your life but keeping mine safe, I’ll go along with it.” That was worse. I was stuck in a cage. What did he expect me to do? There was nothing to do anyway.

After a long time (I mean it. I was stuck in that cage for almost 10 hours. I wonder how Ozmo did it for a month), I saw a familiar face in the eye socket of the Dragonborn’s skull: Rassie! Finally! She took out a rope and spun it around. Rassie threw it towards me, and I reached out to catch it. I missed it. Luckily, Rassie was a good thrower. The rope landed in the cage, and Ozmo bundled it up.

Somehow, she dragged the cage towards her. Eesta joined her, and both started picking the lock. It appeared difficult, but they were almost done. Colena came and said: “Here! This will work.” She stuck her finger into the lock just as Eesta and Rassie finished picking it. The door swung open.

I clambered down onto the ground while Ozmo followed. We went to the edge of the camp where the others were waiting. Mitchell looked quite injured; he had a nasty looking wound on his shoulder.

We asked Ozmo what he was doing here,.He asked if we had heard of something called the Mage’s Bane. He said another name for it was the ‘Creeping Horror’, which was, as he described it, “A big old snake.” He told us that he came here to steal one of the snake’s eggs and do whatever he wanted to do with it (I think it had something to do with magic).

We went back to where our carts were and headed home. This time I wasn’t the lookout (God, being lookout meant that I wouldn’t sleep for 3 days); Marysa and Vivian were. We travelled while Ozmo entertained us.

I thought of the assignment they gave us. They had wanted us to gather intelligence about the cult’s movements in Pentos, yet there were barely any. What will they be like when we tell them that the camp in Pentos had been abandoned? There had been recent movements, but no one was there except the 3 Dragonborn.

What will happen when we tell them that the camp’s been deserted? They would not be able to get any intelligence from that information. We did rescue their Court Enchanter, but that

was probably it. Basically, a handful of us got injured or was stuck in a cage for no particular reason.

As we passed through, there was a valley. It was covered in shadows, which was weird since there weren’t a lot of trees. There was also dust rising from the ground, and the valley seemed to move closer to us. As it got closer, it suddenly looked like there were boulders in the valley. I then realized what it was: black cloaks, irony boots, weapons glinting in the sun; an army of cultists.

Rassie~

Cher journal, Major fights are going to take place today! So… The snake appears to be really big, even though I can only see one part of it. Colena slips down into a hole and falls straight down into the water.

Bubbles start to come up as she disappears into the water. Eesta and her horse start to run away, with Vivian and Mitchel not too far behind her.

In seconds, Vivian is being eaten by the snake. Her horse keeps on running forwards, as if it’s rider is still safely in its back. Mitchel’s horse runs away in horror too, following Vivian’s horse. It leaves Mitchel there, sitting in the swamp. The snake’s tail coils around him while Mitchel pulls out his sword. He swings it at the snake but it just slips off of its skin.

The snake bites him. He’s probably poisoned. He relaxes and puts his sword away. He must be out of his mind! The snake is right there! Just stab it!

Sophia starts to fall in the same way Colena did. We must all be dying right now. Well all die in some way.

“She’s lying, the snake is love” screams Mitchel. I don’t know what he’s talking about but I know he is definitely poisoned. He’s not thinking straight. Mitchel steps forward, about to walk straight to his death… into

the snake’s open mouth. I step backwards and whip out my horn. I put the mouthpiece onto my lips and blow out as much air as I can possibly blow. The sound reverberates through the jungle as Mitchel collapses on the ground. Marysa lifts a log and throws it. Sophia breaks the surface and comes up out of the water.

“I’m okay,” she says.

“What happened?” Asks Marysa.

“I got pulled under and I stabbed the eyeball,” she explains quickly.

Xuan lunges I wards the snake and hits its head. A dark purple blood oozes out of the big gash. The head goes back into the water and disappears. But I’m sure it’ll be back soon. Xuan moves Mitchel to a piece of dry land.

“Guys, it’s an illusion!” Eesta says to us.

We nod our heads and wave off her explanation of the whole situation.

Whatever is she saying? This is all an illusion? That’s pretty unlikely if you ask me.

Suddenly, Eesta shoves Xuan for no apparent reason. She must really be out of her mind. The snake’s tail coils around Terrence’s body and pulls him up. Terrence goes through the same thing that Mitchel went through.

He pulls out a weapon, ready to hit the snake with it when the snake bites him. He relaxes and puts his weapons away. Terrence is put down. He starts to walk straight into the snake’s open mouth. Eesta and Sophia both grab him by the arms at the same time, not wanting Terrence to be eaten by the snake. He walks backwards with Eesta and Sophia and seems to come to his senses. I think back to the horn. It’s helped the situation with Mitchel. He stopped walking when I blew it. The snake is everywhere now.

It’s taking up more room than it did before. I look up to where the top of the snake is. There are two tentacle eyes, one holding Colena and the other holding Vivian.

I immediately understand what Eesta has been saying. It’s an illusion! The snake is making itself appear smaller. Colena and Sophia didn’t actually fall into the water. They were pulled up by one of the snake’s tentacles. And Vivian. She wasn’t eaten. She was also taken but it appeared differently.

“What Eesta is saying is right” I say to the others.

“What Eesta is saying is true!”

No one appears to mind what I’m saying, waving it off. The horn! That helped Mitchel and apparently Sophia! I could maybe try to use it to help this situation. I put the mouthpiece to my mouth and blow into it, as hard

as I can. I can see the look of astonishment on everyone’s faces as I know that the horn’s has its affect on them. They can probably see this snake now. The whole snake. I look up at Colena and see that she’s fallen down into the water after realizing she wasn’t really deep in the swamp.

Vivian comes out of her daze and falls into the water but she doesn’t look very good. She looks like she’s a little hurt. snake is recoiling... how it hunts... illusions... Mitchell is suffering... smacks him... magic... Marisa takes out dagger and moss on Mitchell... same thing to Terrence... moving in the swamp... thrashing in water... estates goes off to go see it... resta screams... Colena runs to them with Marisa following her... Coleman comes back... Marisa and est a come back with Ethan... tell about the cage... go together... Dragonborn ends his patrol...a skull... rope... spin in the air... to Rachel... completely miss... but throw is good... get a hold... resta tried to pick lock... difficult... I help.., longer than needed... coke hurts finger... door finally open... two go out... recluse the cage... exit the camp... ask questions to Ozmo... why were you here ozmo?... expedition... the mages bane... the creeping horror... the big snake... got some eggs... they’re dead for a long time... guards them for centuries... they eat them?... sweeping up the magical mist us for years... the only creature that can do magic here... no magic user can use magic there... going to steal some eggs... a mage can’t use magic and you set them on fire... or drop a rock in it... head back to sidnar... on the way back we get weapons... Marisa and Vivian are lookout... entertained by osmosis... probably be rewarded... kinda succeeded but not completely... look at a valley that moves... not a shadow or valley... made up of soldiers... largest army ever... closer and dusty... black suits... marching towards sidnar... army of Dragonborn... seems intent to attack the city of sundar... suggest a fight of twelve to millions... in a temple...

Enter a skull... inscriptions all the walls... Coleman runs fingers along the walls... can’t understand most of it... we aren’t dragon horn... except Sophia... the Dragonborn side of the story... Roderick uses the power of bane in the end... a couple of different names... go down a list... scarred into terraces shoulders... his name... scratches into the walls... scratch from Roderick... Gabriel... beside Terrence too... one last name... lafay... only name without scratching... go up stairs and knock out guard... too late... and free Rachel...

ILLUSION Sophia Deng I saw an eyeball before Colena punched it. “Great!” yelled Colena. Actually, not so great.

A snake’s great head reared up. Then, as it came up, Colena disappeared. Vivian’s horse buckled at the sight and charged off. Vivian fell, and the great snake ate her. Oh no, we couldn’t go on in peace? The snake finished with Vivian and went after Mitchell. As the snake came closer, Mitchell did not back away. Instead, he drew his weapon. The snake lunged forward and wrapped its heavy, long coils around Mitchell. Mitchell relaxed and put his weapon away. ​How is he so dumb? What did he try to do, trick the snake?​ The snake loosened it’s coils and backed away. It opened its mouth. Mitchell walked forward, right into its mouth. He is so crazy: anyone could see that! Wait, there was a sucking sound. I jumped away. Then, I heard two more sucking sounds. I’m pulled underwater. I breathe in and- WAIT, WHAT? Am I breathing in WATER? After a few moments of this bizarre experience, I see an eyeball. ​This might be another snake. ​I punched it anyway and fell? “Oh, there you are!” said Eesta as I came out of the swamp. This was too confusing. The snake dove into the water and Eesta pushed Xuan. Where Xuant was wading, the snake’s head burst out. The snake changed its course and headed over to Terrence, who held a weapon. Terrence relaxed as the snake got closer. He put his weapon away and started walking towards the snake's mouth. Oh no, not this again! Eesta and I pull a relaxed Terrence back. He looked like he woke up from a great dream.

Rassie blew a horn out of nowhere, and everyone stopped. The snake looked very weird.

Looking up, I saw two tentacles: one held Rassie and another held Mitchell. Ohhhhhh! Eesta was yelling “It’s an illusion!”. Why had none of us listened? The snake disappeared and let go of Rassie and Mitchell. ​No use now that we’ve seen your trick​! Suddenly, there’s the sound of trashing up ahead. “I’ll go look, don't come with me until I think it’s safe,” Eesta said. We waited, but no one came, so Colena went ahead. “It’s safe,” we heard her shout. When we went forward, we saw a happy Eesta feeding a giant turtle. We kept going, and soon we saw the camp.

DRAGONBORN SKULL Colena, myself, and some other group members went into a huge dragon skull. It looked like a temple. There were a lot of crazy and weird inscriptions. I could understand it, but the rest of my group couldn’t, so it was probably Dragonborn. It's about the story of Bane. But, it’s the Dragonborn version. It read that when they defeated Bane, Rodrick said not to use the crown.

He said that the others in his group were going to use the crown to cause mayhem, but Rodrick said “No.” There was then a great battle, and Rodrick was losing. Rodrick was dying, so he tried to use the crown’s power.He became Bane. He died and fell, smashing Pentos. Next to the story, there were some names: Rodrick, and Gabriell. ​These must be the names of the seven who went to fight Rodrick.​ As I looked down, there was Terrence. How many people named

Terrence are there? Terrence was confused when he joined us. Maybe he was another Terrence, and there was some kind of weird time machine. Next to the names were some scratches. Terrence’s scratch was incomplete, and La Fay didn’t have any scratches. We went down and knocked out a guard. Before we knocked him out, he said “It’s too late.”We were all grouped together again, so we headed out. Ozmo was pulling at random objects: that is our entertainment. Suddenly, everyone saw a huge valley. Wait no, it’s a dust cloud.No, wait, it was a huge army. This army was so big, it almost blocked out the sun. Dust formed from marching.They were marching to Sidnar! Suddenly, the words came back to me: ‘It's too late!’

This must’ve been what the guard was talking about. It was definitely a Dragonborn army.

By : Mitchell While in the mysterious swamp, we encountered a strange snake that attacked us. This wasn't an ordinary snake: it was 15 feet long! It dragged people down, and, for some reason, they experienced a drowning sensation. After that, the snake ate Vivian! Next was me. The snake creature started to crawl towards me and pounced. I struggled as I tried to get out of the way. Unfortunately, it bit me in the shoulder and poisoned me. I was dying, and the creature opened its mouth, waiting for me to crawl in so it could eat me.

Suddenly, the group retrieved a giant log and struck the snake away from me.

Thanks to Marysa, I was healed by this special moss. We saw a Dragonborn camp

and one of them said, “You’re too late”. We saved Ozmo and were on our way to Sidnar. But, when we were on our way, we saw an army marching to Sidnar with over 10,000 soldiers. Now, we realized why we were too late.

STILL IN THE SWAMP BY:VIVIAN Right now, we are still in the swamp. We’re trying to save Ozmo and Rachel so we can go home to our tower. Despite this, we need to run inside the smoke where we cannot use magic, so it will be very hard as we cannot use our powers. Eliana, Mitchell, and I decided to go into the smoke, but the others chose not to, so we went inside by ourselves. Inside was a gigantic snake blocking our way.Our horses were scared of it, and my horse threw me off. The snake swallowed me. I was so mad>:~(. Eliana was the only person who made it to safety without getting hurt by the snake. Mitchell, on the other hand, tried to duel with the snake, but was badly poisoned.He is now unstable. Well, I was in the snake’s stomach, so all I could say was that his luck was bad ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. While I was stuck, some of our other teammates noticed that we were still not back. I heard that since Ethan was small, he could fit through the bars and go get help.

He reached them and explained what happened to the rest of our teammates. They went to seek help. Sophia and Colena were the first two to find out that I was inside the snake’s stomach. They came to help me, but they were also eaten. After a few hours, we found out about the people trying to track down the Dragonborn. It turned out that we were not inside the snake’s stomach: it held us inside of its tentacle, so it let us out. We went to find Ozmo and Rachel so we could go back. On our way back, we saw a giant shadow. Well, it looked like one, but it was actually a group of Dragonborn.Our Dragonborn told us that they were going to attack Sidnar, so some of us had to go to Sidnar to protect the city and the citizens. Like always, most of us decided to go to Sidnar, but only some of us wanted to battle the army. Some people even went to stay in another city, but 5 people against an army of 10,000 Dragonborn is not fair. We also ran into a giant snapping turtle. It had bitten Ethan, so he was poisoned.

Xuan He

The giant mass of flesh around us continued to thrash. Suddenly, a giant snake head rose above the surface of the bog. It was purple, like all other things in the swamp. It had many fangs, all dripping with venom.

I drew my sword, stepping back. The snake (If you could call it a snake) was massive, like it was everywhere. Colena pulled back her bowstring once again. The snake looked at the menacing bowstring and hissed.

Colena abruptly sank, then disappeared under the surface. Sophia followed suit. Eesta silently mounted her horse and, rearing it, fled.

Vivian followed. The snake suddenly dropped, silencing itself. As Vivian rode towards it, it struck, swallowing Vivian. Mitchell lunged as the creature steadied itself: the snake was still too fast. Swinging its head in a wide arc, it hit Mitchell.

Mitchell seemed to relax, putting away his dagger. Before we got into a fight, I had a strong suspicion that the snake had poison. But, I didn’t think that this would be a type of poison. Rassie took out her horn, probably out of desperation, and blew. Many things happened at once.

The horn seemed to be able to reverse negative actions and generate positive ones.

I felt clearer, realizing every detail. Mitchell ran back from the snake, collapsing. The snake was momentarily distracted by the abilities of the horn. Marysa pointed at a log. I knew what we had to do: we had to ram the snake. Taking the log, we maneuvered around most of the snake. It was still focussed on Mitchell.

It took us all of our energy to throw the log. It seemed to work, though. The snake reared, dazed, and threw its coils at us. I dove alongside the rest of the group to avoid the creature's first attack. It hissed menacingly, glaring coldly at us. It didn’t attack because of the sudden appearance of Sophia. She rose out of the bog, panting. I used this to my advantage and lunged. I dodged the first strike, grabbed its head, and slashed it.

I let go and slid back. The snake was thrown into chaos, wildly hitting the trees. I dragged Mitchell back to flatter ground. The snake finally calmed down. A wide gash had appeared on it’s nose. It was oozing an obnoxious purple liquid that seemed to be blood. Terrance walked to the side, evidently aiming for the gash, and jumped.

The snake was ready. It raised it’s coils, dodging, and warped around Terrance. It struck. Terrance stumbled, and unprimed his pistol.

He put it away. The snake opened its mouth, as if expecting Terrance to walk into it. “It’s not real!” Rassie suddenly yelled, blowing the horn.

That’s when I realized she was right, because Vivian was levitating in midair beside the snake. Then, two tentacles popped out from the side of the snake’s head. One was holding Vivian, and Colena materialised in the other one.

The snake had the ability to bend reality, along with the power to stop magic. This paired with its amazing mind-debilitating effects. Colena seemed to realize that she was not underwater. She squirmed around until she was lose. The snake was caught by surprise. Vivian had the same realization, and dropped out.

We practically dragged each other onto our animals. I rode away at top speed, following the group. I only stopped with the rest of the group when we were out of the fog. Rassie went off to grab some of the local moss, which can help eliminate most poisons. She dabbed it on Mitchell’s wounds. The poison was sucked up by the moss.

--We rode towards Ethan and Rachel, but much more carefully: we didn’t want to run into, let’s say, a giant turtle. As we approached some reeds, we heard thrashing. This was not the bullfrog-and-fish-swim thrashing, it was loud. Eesta dismounted her horse and walked towards the sound.

I don’t really think it helped, as we heard yells next. Colena jumped off of her horse. Momentarily slipping, she continued towards the screams. There was a very long pause after that. Then, there was more thrashing, a lot of yelling, and some snapping noises. They eventually came back, grumbling about a turtle.

The swamp started to become more rough. We gave up, knowing that we needed to go on foot. However, we need to first find a clearing to keep our animals. I found one, and we left them there.

We trekked for some time, stopping at a small tree. We have journeyed far. I was about to give up when I saw a giant skull. I signaled for us to stop. The skull was proof of the legends I heard about at home.

These legends told of a Roderick falling from the sky, crashing the city, and generally being mean. The skull was converted into a temple of some kind. A Dragonborn was writing glyphs on the skull. The area around it was converted into a camp, which was made to house a lot of people. There were libraries, workshops, and even prisons. “I’ll go in,” Colena said, creeping up to the skull. Half of the team followed.

They went into the camp, sneaking around the buildings. It was relatively easy as it was only the outskirts of the camp.

After some silence, they finally came back with the addition of a very exhausted Ozmo. I did not expect that, even in my wildest dreams.

Rachel was also there.

The way back was easier done than said, actually. After our desolate experience in the swamp, it took us no time at all to get the horses and the carts. We were ready to head home to Sidnar.

Our journey back was boring until we saw a valley. But, as we advanced, we realized that it wasn’t a valley: it moved. It wasn’t a shadow, there was nothing to cast it. We realized something else: there were voices. It was an army.

The Heroes Return CHAPTER 12

The army we saw was an army of Dragonborn.

OH, COME ON! A few decided that they would slow down the army. While they stalled and everyone was distracted, I slipped away.

Three days of travel led me to the mountains - good enough.

Before I knew it, I couldn’t make the right choice.

Am I ashamed of myself for running away from my responsibilities?

NO, AND I NEVER WILL BE! IN YOUR FACE! I WILL NEVER TAKE BACK THE CHOICE I MADE! HAHAHAHA! “No, I’m not lonely, “said Eesta.

Well, I’ll give an update later. See ya.

To start off the class, everyone got to upgrade. After that, we went to battle the army. We battled for 40 minutes. Xuan is unconscious. We summoned a Grendel, but I don't know what that is. Marysa cast a spell on Rahael, Sophia, and Vivian. Xuan drifted through the dead bodies, and Xuan looked terrible. Wow,this battle was not 40 minutes: it took up the whole class.

I entered through the gate and I saw one of the Arkham guards. I saw a large orc, and I thought that he was the orc who we fought at the enchanter’s tower. The next day, everyone woke up and saw a purple cat. Guess what? It was Ozmo. Oh yeah, Ozmo is not dead. That is the third last class, I think. I hope no one dies for the last class.

The Heroes Return Now, they had to pick where to go: save Sidnar before it was too late, or go somewhere else. A giant Dragonborn army was approaching the city. Colena and her group knew that they could beat them to Sidnar because they were a smaller group, and they were on horseback.

While Colena, Mitchell, Rassie, Nathan, Terrence, and Ethan went to Sidnar, Marysa, Xuan, Sophia, Eesta, Rachael, and Vivian went elsewhere. Colena wanted to save the city and did not think splitting up was a good idea, but she said nothing.

If they get into a fight,s​ he thought grimly.

Ozmo had given them an option that very morning. Because they freed Ozmo, he agreed to give them one more item, or upgrade their previous one. Colena chose to upgrade her Bow of Blasting so that in addition to going straight through solid stuff and exploding, it would also pursue the target - if there was any. Ozmo successfully

made it, and Colena took the Homing Missiles”, pleased. It wasn’t actually a missile, but an arrow that pursued the target.

Most had upgraded, but Rachael had asked for a Slingshot of Speech which allowed her to communicate through the air.

However, she could only say ten words.

As soon as Colena reached Rachael say “Help.”

Sidnar’s town gate, she heard

Did they get into a fight? They shouldn’t have split up,​ thought Colena. Then, a ragged Sophia came into view. A few kilometers away, Colena could see an explosion.

Friends are in trouble! I knew they shouldn’t have split up,​ thought Colena as she teleported to Sophia. Sophia was looking very tired and her health was very low. Colena quickly used magic to heal her, and did it successfully. Then, she teleported back to the town gate.

Suddenly, she felt something weird hit her. A few moments later, she recognized it from the Enchanter’s Tower. The Vision Barrier had spotted something. But what?

COLENA #WRITINGCLASSISFUN Writing Class is Fun (yes, I know this is unnecessary but still)

Rachael Zhou

1/8/10/20

The Heroes’ Return

We got to upgrade our items or get a new one. I got a slingshot that could send messages.

Ozmo let us choose to upgrade or get a new one.

We reached a point where we had to decide what we should do. About half of us decided to go defend Sidnar, while the other half decided to delay the army (myself included). So we took some horses, and Colena, Eesta, Mitchell, Ethan, Nathan, Terrence and Rassie (plus Ozmo) climbed into the carts and headed down the road.

We estimated that there were more than ten thousand soldiers, with a division of magicians (That made the battle worse since there are only 5 of us). A group of Dragonborn on horses pulled ahead of the army and headed towards us. Sophia came in dragon form and took off into the sky (She’s a pure white dragon, about 30 feet long). I turned into a hawk and flew up to join her.

Marysa wheeled her horse around and retreated. I lost sight of Xuan when Marysa summoned a tiger. The tiger rushed towards a Dragonborn on a horse and swiped at him, taking the rider completely off his mount. Xuan threw off his cloak (yeah, he was using his cloak) and charged towards one of the riders. He slashed at the horse and the rider toppled off, but the person didn’t seem bothered by that. The person drew his sword and swung at Xuan. He parried the blow but ended up engaged in a duel.

Marysa summoned an elephant that charged at the army, but missed because the riders easily swerved around it. Sophia tried to squash the frontline but it didn’t work since they all ducked. I did the same, but it also failed. Sophia then swooped down and breathed what looked like blue fire, but then we realized it was frost. The frost froze four of a group of five; the fifth one retreated to the army.

Marysa twisted her arm and a hand appeared and squashed a person (what is it with all the squashing???). Xuan’s duel didn’t seem to be going so well. He was bleeding badly by the time Sophia swooped between them to try to stop the fight. Xuan found a chance and lunged forward as the Dragonborn regained his senses and counterattacked. I swooped down and let out a hawk’s cry as plates of this kind of ethereal armour fitted onto Xuan’s body. Marysa summoned an eagle but I didn’t know what it could do .

Sophia blasted a ball of fire into the front line. Flames erupted around them, engulfing them. To my surprise, they simply walked out of the flames as if they weren’t there. Vivian threw her spear, but I don’t know if it hit the target because I was distracted by something else.

A dark cloud and a heavy fog passed over the army. It was evidently magic, as cumulonimbus clouds don’t usually form in such a small area and leave the rest of the sky blue.

Marysa tried to make the clouds reveal the army using a gust of wind. It didn’t work.

Two fireballs burst out of the clouds and headed towards me and Sophia. One struck Sophia in the side while the other went after me, and I dodged it. Lightning had started to come

out of the cloud and strike towards us. The first one went for Xuan, but he dodged it (phew). It still brushed his back, though. The second streaked through the sky towards me. I rolled in the air (somehow) and dodged it. The third one was shocking. A massive wave of electricity emanated from a bubble floating in the cloud and hit all of us (I feel for Xuan). Xuan passed out on his horse.

The next one hit Marysa right in the chest, leaving her looking very beat up. Sophia glided low and tried to heal Xuan (not sure if it worked) and I swooped down and landed on Marysa’s shoulder, healing her as well. Xuan and Vivian retreated. Vivian cast a spell to make a wall to slow down the army and it worked. A wall about 8 meters high emerged from the ground. Marysa used magic to break the bubble inside the cloud. A red ball appeared in her hand and she thrust it towards the bubble. It hit, the bubble bursting, and the person inside it fell to the ground, disappearing into the army.

After that, I realized that everyone except me and Marysa had retreated, leaving the two of us to fight an army of ten thousand (it did not end well and we didn’t stand a chance even with 5 people). I was still on Marysa’s shoulder. I shifted back to my elvish form and tried to cast offensively at the cloud. When I tried to do that, I felt a fearsome, malevolent magical force coming from the army that I couldn’t place. The spell didn’t do anything. The mages in the army were gathering, and the army was marching closer.

Marysa clutched her amulet and summoned a gren’dell (Basically a creepy giraffe). It ran at startling speed towards the army and disappeared among them. I did some magic and the cloud began to recede. I saw another blue ball, but then I saw something quite funny. The mage inside had a dagger out and was attempting to fight off the gren’dell. The army was about 200ft from us now. The front line lowered their spears and began to march out from the rest of the infantry.

Marysa reached into her bag and pulled out some sulphur (where did she get that from?).

She threw it into the air and clapped her hands and a wall of fire appeared in front of the Dragonborn. I cast a spell to make the bubble burst (it was - well, not what I expected) and the bubble moved up and down until it burst and the mage fell into the infantry below.

The line of spearmen marched through the fire and closed around on us. The flames disappeared and a cold, cutting rain started to fall on us. I began to feel weakened. We recognized this spell. It was supposed to suppress your magical ability and if you stay in it for a long time, you would lose your magical ability. Marysa conjured a magical shield that deflected the raindrops.

The spearmen were roughly 100ft away from us. I turned into a dragon, scooped up Marysa, flew up through the clouds and stopped on the other side.

From here we saw, on our left, a Dragonborn standing on a large stone platform that kind of levitated off the ground. I could feel an aura of magic around him, even though I was, like, 2000ft in the air. He was obviously the source of this dark cloud and I could feel that we had not fought him yet. He felt much stronger than anything we had encountered so far.

Marysa tried to knock him off the platform by making a magical sphere and lobbing it at him, but sadly it didn’t work and that just made it worse. He deflected it easily, launching it into the air. He lazily tossed his hand at it and it exploded (wow, I come across a lot of explosions in my life). Shards of the sphere flew everywhere. One of them grazed Marysa on the cheek and another one scraped me.

I tried to do the same thing that Marysa did and it made things as worse as they could be. I fired another sphere at him, but he caught it and fired it back towards me without exploding it and this time I took a direct hit. I was forced to revert into my Elvin form and we began to fall from the sky.

My mind whirled and everything - the sounds, smells, looks - slipped away as I plummeted into a void of nothingness.

I woke up in a cage (somehow I didn’t die, I guess?). A box, rather, and filled with water that I could somehow breathe in. I was confused because I remembered my energy fading, falling from the sky and if I didn’t die from that sphere I would have died from a 2000ft (609.6m) fall.

The box had concrete walls in the back, top, bottom, and both sides. The front was made of something that looked like glass, with just enough room for me to sit inside. I peered through the glass (or whatever it was, but I’m going to call it glass). Another box the same as this one was in this room, this one holding an unconscious Marysa. I tapped on the glass until she woke up.

We stared at each other for a while before a stream of light entered the room from what looked like a tent flap. A hooded figure that I knew to be a cultist entered the room. He waved his hand at Marysa’s box and the glass disappeared. The water inside carried her out, spluttering and coughing. He lowered his hood, revealing a bright green Dragonborn with alarmingly white eyes. He was blind. He said something to Marysa that I didn’t understand a word of and waved at my box, which carried me out with the water.

The Dragonborn said something, took out a rusted dagger and held his hand out to Marysa.

She put her hand in his and he cut a line across the back of it. He scooped some of the blood that came out and waved his hand over Marysa’s. The cut closed and Marysa took her hand away.

He then offered his hand to me. I backed away. “Now, now, if I wanted to hurt you I would,” he said in accented elvish. I placed my right hand on his hand and he laughed. “That one won’t do,” he said (or something like that). I looked at my right hand and realized that the skin was not there. What had replaced it was a reflective light blue metal. I gazed at it for a moment before putting my left hand in his hand. He did the same thing as he did with Marysa and healed the cut.

“Go now, before you are discovered,” he said. He held open the tent flap as we ducked through and emerged into a cultist campsite. No one seemed to see us but I didn’t feel invisible.

It was as if people were ignoring us as we walked out of the camp.

Rassie~

Cher journal,

Hello et bonne journée à vous! Let us continue the tale…

This trip will be a long one, probably longer than any other ride I’ve been on before. Not saying I’ve been on many rides. It will take a long time to get to Sidnar, but not as long as the army.

The carriage we’re travelling on rattles as we progress the trail. The horses in front are pulling the cart at a medium pace, their hooves clattering noisily upon the dirt. The movement sends clouds of dust into the air, blocking my view of the army that is progressing towards Sidnar at a slower pace than us.

Ozmo is in the cart with us, upgrading our items. I’m sitting beside the window, watching the army continue to move on further away from us.

“What would you like, sweetheart?” says Ozmo, unexpectedly.

I am taken aback, and so all I can respond with is a simple “Pardon?”

“Would you like me to upgrade your item, or get a new one? Or, maybe save me the effort and time and not ask me for anything?” he repeats.

I think about my crossbow and how it has a curse on it. The curse was that the wound that was made by it couldn’t be healed. It could be highly

dangerous if I hit one of my friends with it by accident and did not have a way to heal them.

“Could you maybe lift the curse, if that’s possible?” I ask him in a hopeful voice.

He nods his head and takes the crossbow. He waves his hand over it and gives it back to me. I guess my weapon is finally fixed!

I stare at the item in my hand and think how beautiful it is, with the intricately carved designs on the wooden handle. It looks pretty similar to my beautiful bow and arrows that I used to use. I’m still not over the fact that it was taken from me by the guards after the fight with the demons. I never got it back. That bow was so handy.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts when I see Vivian throw her spear at a tree.

The tree magically burst into flames, burning quite quickly. She jumps out of the still moving cart to retrieve her weapon. It seems like she can control the movement of her spear because when she holds out her hand, the object flies straight into it. It’s a pretty cool improvement.

As we continue to move along, I see Xuan, Marysa, Sophia, and Rachael veer off to go delay the arrival of the army. I’m concerned for their safety because there are so many guards and only a few of them. That

isn’t exactly the fairest fight, but I don’t think the army cares about being fair. They care about winning. But, I really do hope that they make it back safely, and not too damaged.

We continue on the road to Sidnar. After a bit, I look back and we all see a storm cloud and a dragon, the same pure white dragon that was fighting the demons with us. A battle is definitely taking place right now.

I look around and immediately realize the absence of Ozmo. That can’t end well…

Eesta is also gone. Why is everyone disappearing? Who’s next? Why can’t we all pay enough attention to realize these things? We really need to start doing that. First, it was Eliana and Carina. We didn’t even notice that they were gone until they came back! They robbed a bank and we didn’t notice!

Now, it’s Ozmo and Eesta that are gone. I wonder which bank they’re robbing.

As we proceed along the road, I see Sidnar loom into view. The sun is starting to set. The sunset is absolutely beautiful, but it’s not exactly the right time to think about this: there’s a war going on!

Lots of citizens are running around frantically, terror swimming in their wide eyes. The guards around us are trying to reassure the civilians, but they don’t seem to believe in what they’re saying themselves.

Colena breaks my train of thoughts by telling us about the message Marysa sent us. It said to help them, and that Rachael is dying, fading away from the world. I don’t know how we can help them. If we head back, we would be too late, and Rachael would most likely be dead.

Sophia is now flying towards us in her dragon form. I watch as Sidnar comes closer , until we finally enter through the gates.

I’ve gotta go.

Sincèrement, La fille qui a commencer cette journal

By : Mitchell For saving Ozmo, he let us upgrade our gear. He upgrades my elemental blade.When I use it, my blade can summon stronger weather. We then discuss who should slow the army down. I decide to go back to Sidnar, while some people want to ditch us. The rest of the group went to delay the army. On our way to Sidnar, I feel a strange pulse in my head. Someone is in our tower. “Probably Ozmo,� I thought. We see lots of lightning, ice, fire, and smoke rising from the group trying to delay the army. I also see something, shaped like an elf, fall from the smoke. Now, I'm paranoid.

BATTLE: 4 VS AN ENTIRE HUGE ARMY Sophia Deng When we saw the army marching towards Sidnar, I thought about a few options. ​One: I could ditch them. A second option is that I could run off to Sidnar like a coward. A final option is that I could try to stop this army. ​ I chose option three: buying time. This way, I wouldn’t be directly helping Sidnar, but I would still be helping Sidnar. Take no sides! That might give you an advantage. I turn into a dragon so I could help. A part of the army breaks off to confront us. I try to squash one of the riders,but I completely missed it. I’ve always been lousy at fighting. I try to squash someone again, seeing if I could get lucky. Nope, I missed it again. ​Hmmmmmm, this is ​not​ going to work.​ Instead, I use magic to knock down the riders. I breathe out some ice and plunk, plunk -​ the riders turn into icicles and fall off their frozen horses. There’s a ball of some stuff and, suddenly, a thought strikes me: ​they had mages, too! ​I thought we could win by using magic and turning their whole army into dust. Out of nowhere, I get hit by a fireball. The skies are getting dangerous! The fireball hits me in the eye, but I’m fine.! I mow down the whole first line with flames. I look around for my friends. Xuan was locked in combat with someone. He looks really bad. I used magic to pull him off of Xuan. Xuan got lucky and hit his opponent.

There are many clouds and lots of fog surrounding the incoming army, so much so that it was hard to see.. This was bad: our magic couldn’t penetrate. The clouds were crackling with electricity. Lightning starts to hit the ground. One bolt hits Marysa, another Xuan. A third bold hits me. Oh, a dragon’s tough:falling to the ground was one thing, but getting struck by lightning was a totally different thing. The pain - ​oh!​ How many volts was that? Marysa looks really bad, and Xuan was dying on his horse, which was running away from battle. I went to help Xuan. As I was doing so, I exit the battle, which I hoped my friends would be able to win. I heal Xuan a little bit. When I look back, the bubble, which was now emitting blue light, burst. The person inside fell. Then, there’s a huge wall. ​Nice one! That will slow them down.​ The victory is short-lived as Rachel was hit by some magic shards that a mage cast at her. I was so busy watching that I didn’t see Colena healing me. I turned back into a human. As we ride back to Sidnar, we all realize that Eesta isn’t with us. Ozmo is not here, either. Suddenly, I had this vision that someone was intruding on something. It was our tower.We rush to the tower, not waiting for anyone else. Inside, we search the tower and find no one. As such, we all settle down for some sleep. Outside, there are lights, the sound of marching, ​and​ the sound of yelling and screaming. Sidnar was settling up for a siege.

The army continued to advance. It was scary, looking at that many people. It seemed amazing that they did not suffocate in the mass of bodies. Five horsemen broke off from the main force, probably to intercept. They would be much faster than our carts, though we would be faster than the army. I jumped out of the cart and pulled on my cloak.

Marysa wheeled our cart out, riding towards the incoming army. Rachel whirled her cloak and turned into a golden hawk. Sophia jumped, turning into a white dragon.

Marysa turned a little, hiding low in the grass. She clutched her amulet. A large tiger jumped out of the long grass. It roared and shot up at the first rider. The tiger jumped a little too high. But, as the formation of the riders was in a V, it hit the second one and killed him. Rachel, as the golden hawk, swooped down repeatedly, doing no damage, but made the formation into a very wonky V. The third rider circled, falling low. He pulled out a shimmering double-bladed bronze sword carved with ancient runes. I pulled off the cloak and drew my sword. Surprised, he didn’t react when I swung my blade at his horse, slashing him on the back. He fell off his horse and nimbly rolled onto his feet. Rachel rode past us. She shot out a giant icicle, hitting the fourth rider.

The fifth rider had a moment to recover. His comrades had all fallen. He turned his horse around, moving back.

The Dragonborn slashed. I blocked his blow and twisted his blade.

He pulled back and slashed again. There was a roar from behind. We both turned. There was a giant claw heading towards us, summoned by magic. We dodged it, diving behind the tall grass. A shield erupted between us. The Dragonborn was angry as he expected to have already defeated me.

He lunged at the shield, breaking it. However, he concentrated on destroying the shield. I jumped behind him, slashing again at his back.

He spun around, swinging his sword. I blocked, and as he collapsed, I stabbed my sword through his chest.

The cultist crumpled. A gentle thudding told me that they were already firing at us.

I ran back, and, quite unexpectedly, found my horse. I steadily rode it to get out of range of the arrows. The massive dragon flew above me, burning the front line repeatedly. The army was not slowed, though.

After they came out of the fire, it became apparent why: they were fire resistant. There must have been mages who had enchanted their armour, or fed them potions.

That was kind of true. Fog started enveloping the army in a dark purple mist. I heard a whizzing sound above my head, and looked up in time to see two fireballs flying out of the clouds.

It was a long time before I came out of the obscuring mist. There were many sounds, like bangs, splashes, and yelling. Behind me, it seemed that the mages had summoned lightning, as there were a lot of repeated flashes and bangs. The cultists might have been controlling the weather.

The army was not too far behind. I could still see the silhouettes of their fire-resistant armour and lowered weapons. There was still a wall of fire in the battle, but it was futile. The wall would be easily charged down by the spearman, and they were resistant to fire.

Suddenly, the clouds flashed yellow. I saw a ball of yellow flames appear. I was then rammed down into the earth.

BAAAAAAAM! T ​ he ball of light hit the ground, sending dirt flying in all directions. I rode out towards the city as the mist slowly swallowed the scene.

--Sidnar appeared from between the hills, dotted with frightened civilians being beckoned into the city’s walls. I rode into the gates where a line of people were squeezing themselves in. I found the rest of my team at the tower, feeling that there was something wrong. We padded the door quietly. Thoroughly looking through the tower, we found nothing amiss.

The next morning, we woke up to see a dark line of cultist’s surrounding the city. The siege had begun.

THE HEROES RETURN BY:VIVIAN

Ozmo upgraded my weapon so that when I strike, it will automatically come back to my hand. This happened before we went to battle at Sidnar.

It was on the carts. We went to the battle at Sidnar. At first, we were doing well. We formed a wall of fire so that it would be harder for the Dragonborn to get through. However, they acted as if the fire was never there. Three Dragonborn were coming my way, so I struck one of them with ice. It was successful. Another one came, and I hit it with my spear.

We had to form another wall so they couldn’t get in. The mages broke through the wall with their magic. Xuan was hit, and he was on the floor.

Lying there, Sophia went to heal him. It worked, and he woke up. He pulled at his horse, and rode away, but Sophia was hurt. One of the mages was in a bubble. Rachel burst the bubble, and they duelled. Rachel tried to strike at him but missed. She tried again, and she hit him. Rachel struck another mage. I retreated when a mage formed a big bubble, but Marysa did not. She was wise and chose to burst the bubble, and she succeeded.

By then, all I knew was that Marysa sent a message to Colena saying that Rachel was disintegrating and that they needed our help. Colena healed Sophia. Sophia flew with Colena to go find them. Mitchell, Rachel, and Marysa rode away somewhere else.

The rest of us decided to go back to the tower and deal with the Rachel problem later. This was because the Dragonborn were attacking the city.

Eliana returned, and we stayed there.

The Siege of Sidnar CHAPTER 13

Long story or short?

Short story.

I earned the trust of the Dwarves.

Sidnar, I have some help.

(Only because I ditched my friends [TnT]. Please don’t kill me, guys.)

Long story.

I rode until I reached the home of the Dwarves. I managed to get an audience.

Blinding myself with my choice, I accepted the Pledge.

Given a necklace, I watched a clip of a dwarf who’s killed by the necklace.

Then, it was my turn. I had to answer 4-5 questions.

I earned the trust of the Dwarves: here we come, Sidnar!

Making it home to the city, we fought and won.

Fighting is harmful, so is strength. But, it’s who you're using your skills for that matters.

3 days later, everything was better. We aslo had friends supporting us in the land of the Tieflings. Note: I hugged one. I’m now going to tell you the last great thing that happened in those 3 days.

We needed a new leader, and it was a fight to the death between the Dwarves’ chosen fighter and Baldwin.

In other words, me vs Baldwin.

But, here’s the twist: I have already won. When we fought before those great three days, I backflipped over him and, with one shot, killed him.

As the new leader, I guess I want to unite Sidnar with the Dwarves.

To start off, Colena spilled her water on her computer… yikes. Nathan, Xuan, and possibly me got a throwback from the last episode about the orc. Eesta claimed that there was an army outside but the gangsters didn’t believe her, so the gangster dwarves walked towards Eesta ( they are not really gangsters, they are 4 feet tall). They gave Eesta the necklace, basically they were doing a lie detector test but luckily Eesta did not die.

We saw a box, and it was the bones of Killian. Then Ozmo said this: 3 years after they killed Bane the Blackhand, Terrence partied too hard and fell off a roof. We spent 10 gold pieces and we went into the castle and decided to enter the dungeon. We then came upon this dude who had the same scar as Terrence, but he was a dragonborn.

Then we got so lucky, Matt rolled the dice and everyone got total success and we damaged Rodrick alot, like he got mad, then Colena said that Rodrick was a dummy. As we watched, Rodrick turned into a stone. I just wanna say that we are gonna have our last class on monday and we finished our story and rodrick died in the end. What a great way to end this story, and we also get to read the book next class so this is a ‘w’ and this class is a ‘w.’ w= winner=matt and all the other students

The Siege of Sidnar Colena and her group rushed back to the Enchanter’s Tower because the “Vision” Barrier had spotted something.

The next morning, Ethan, who was on watch (on the roof of the Enchanter’s Tower), brushing his teeth, saw two people walking to the tower from the town. Rachael and Marysa.

Rachael and Marysa arrive at the Entrance to the Tower when the rest of them woke.

Colena, who always, no matter what, woke up early, saw Rachael and Marysa too.

“Hello,” said Colena when everyone came to Rachael and Marysa.

“Didn’t you die, Marysa?” Colena and her friends asked.

“I’m not dead, you fool,” Marysa replied.

When they all looked at Rachael, they noticed she had a metal hand.

“I have a metal hand,” said Rachael.

“What the ​hell ​happened to your hand?” Colena said.

After interrogating Rachael and Marysa, they headed outside. It was early morning, so the sun was still rising. They saw a bunch of people running around, but since no sound came into the Enchanter’s Tower or out of it, they heard nothing. They headed out to see what’s going on and they smelled it before they saw it.

It smelled a lot like fire. Colena moved in that direction and saw that the gate was closed.

Closing down the city? Did they know about the dragonborn army approaching? The harbor was the only place anyone could get in and out. Colena frowned. It was a bit suspicious, so she drew out her bow but didn’t shoot anybody—yet.

They entered the marketplace and saw commotion. Colena scanned the stalls. Empty. No food. People were shouting at each other.

Did buyers buy all the food? ​Colena thought.

But there were overturned barrels and baskets too. It soon became clear someone had robbed t​ he place. When she looked up, she saw two guards. The first was the leader of the Archeon’s Guard. The second was much bigger. It was the pure-blood Orc from the Enchanter’s

Tower! Colena snatched up an arrow and shot it at the Orc. He was one that fought she and her group at the Enchanter’s Tower.

Her arrow soared in the sky and pierced his shoulder, even though he was wearing the Archeon’s Guard armor.

Both guards drew their weapons towards Colena.

“Stand down, citizen!” shouted somebody.

“Hold, hold, hold, hold!” cried another. “Those are Archeon’s Guard!” He pointed at the group, because they were an official wing of the Archeon’s Guard.

The Orc grinned as he stared towards them. Then both guards started to walk towards them.

“He fought us in the Enchanter’s Tower,” growled Colena.

“Have you been drinking?” asked the Orc. “Excuse me?” scoffed Colena. “I am way too young to be drinking! I am not even ten years old!”

The Orc chuckled and said, “Too young, and also too early to be drinking, but what the heck, the world’s about to end, isn’t it?”

“I’ll make you explode if you keep talking nonsense to me,” Colena said.

“I’d like to see you try,” said the Orc. Colena frowned and smelled alcohol on his breath.

Oh I see, ​thought Colena, I’m ​not drunk but ​he ​probably is​.

“You’re drunk,” Colena said to the Orc. The Orc said, “Yeah, I’m drunk, so what?”

Then a merchant yelled, “If you’re done, can we get back to repaying me for the damage of my store?”

The Orc leaned close and said something to the merchant. Colena suddenly had a whole load of information pop into her brain. And the information made sense. This Orc was not a cultist, but he stole stuff from the cultists. Then the Orc took Colena’s arrow from his shoulder and scratched his back.

Arrows aren’t really back scratchers​, thought Colena. ​Careful, that arrow can explode.

“All the food has been stolen,” said the other guard. “We have enough problems now.”

Stolen? By who? C ​ olena wanted to say but said nothing.

The group then continued to a side alleyway towards the smoke.

Finally, they came to a harbor and saw that many ships were ​burned​. Colena used magic to zoom in. While she watched, she realized Marysa was low in health and they were about to go in war. As she healed Marysa, she frowned. It was easier than usual…

Then—Colena heard in her head, ​Ozmo here. If you gotta minute, head to my armory.

Terrence is in a bit of distress. Could ya come?

She realized the others had heard this too. They headed to the Ozmo’s castle, Colena with her bow and arrow. At Ozmo’s gate, the guards stopped her.

“Put the arrow down,” said the guard. “Or stay outside.”

Colena reluctantly set the arrow back into its quiver, but held the bow at her side.

They headed down the long staircase into the armory.

At the table, Terrence was looking stunned. When Ozmo gave him a glass of water, he took it, and threw it against the wall.

“WAKE UP! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!” shouted Colena.

“Uh, maybe you should ask Terrence,” said Terrence.

Isn’t ​he ​Terrence? ​Colena thought.

“What happened to you, Terrence?” asked Rachael.

“I don’t know,” said Terrence. “Ask Terrence.”

“Aren’t ​you T ​ errence?” asked Colena.

“I thought so too,” replied Terrence.

How can somebody not know who they are? C ​ olena thought. ​Maybe it’s Ozmo?

Colena followed her friends into a room Ozmo showed. They were were led to a room and said, “Welcome to the Catacombs. The Fabled Tomb of Heroes. In this Tomb, we are proud to have three of Pentos’s Chosen 7.”

There were the bones of the Ootmark and Gabrielle and Terrence.

Creepy…he’s dead. But then how is he alive?

“How did Terrence die?” asked Colena.

“Three years after they killed Bane Terrence partied much too hard and fell off a roof,” said Ozmo. “Who’ve you’ve been round with…it’s easier if I just show you. Don’t freak out.”

“OK, I promise not to freak out,” said Colena darkly.

I will freak out if I feel like it​, thought Colena.

Then Ozmo waved his hand and the room was now 20 feet deeper then it had been before. More magic.

Colena looked towards the back of the room. There were four tanks. They were person-sized. Three had people inside of it. The fourth of was empty.

The first tank containd Nathan floating in the tank, eyes closed. The second tank contained Mitchell. In the final tank was Vivian.

“These are the people Ozmo took blood from—the ones he made a deal with!” Marysa said, and Colena remembered, when she asked for the bow, hearing Ozmo say, “Can I have some of your blood?” to one of her group. Only when Marysa asked the spirits whether it was a good idea or not, and the spirits told her not to, did the others refuse the offer from Ozmo.

“Ok…so…” Ozmo said.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” shouted Colena.

“Maybe…some…bad…things,” said Ozmo.

Some? A lot is more likely,​ thought Colena.

“If you can get material from somebody, you can make a backup. When they die, you can pull them from the darkness and into a body. It is far easier to do it when the material is collected before the backup dies,” said Ozmo. Then he turned into a green-skinned dragonborn. Then he said to Rachael, “Surely you, of all people, can see the benefits of having this insurance program.”

Insurance program? More like the creepy dead bodies,​ thought Colena.

She nocked her arrow and pointed it at Ozmo.

She shot her arrow. It went straight through Ozmo. She frowned.

He’s a ghost or an illusion​, thought Colena grimly. ​I should’ve known. Magic can do that easily. Ozmo is not here.

“WHERE IS THE REAL YOU?!” shouted Colena.

“I am the real me!” said Ozmo. “Look over there!” He pointed to the side. Nobody fell for the trick and he disappeared into the air.

Then Colena heard explosions going off.

Colena dashed up the stairs, and was soon outside, her group behind her. When she passed one of Ozmo’s guards, she shouted, “What’s going on?”

“The dragonborn is all over the place!” said the guard.

Dragonborn army here​. Colena took out her bow and shot the nearest dragonborn.

“The real me is dead?” Rachael said.

Colena ran off, shooting as many dragonborn as possible. Blowing up the dragonborn was fun, and Colena realized dragonborn were immune to fire. Explosions was a different story.

The day went quite well, nobody getting too injured.

They headed back to the Enchanter’s Tower. Without knowing what happened for the next few hours, Colena found herself listening to Nathan as he explained what Finigan Stovepipe, a hobbit, had told him.

The entire group wanted to now kill Baldwin. Apparently, they arrested Gideon and now Baldwin was ruling the city. So they went to the jail to free Gideon, which everyone wanted to do. Colena, tired, didn’t even try to understand half of what they were saying.

She soon found herself freeing Gideon and going to the Cavern of Justice and facing off dragonborn. They wanted to get Gideon and the clones. When Colena tried to teleport a away, the pale-faced dragonborn stopped her. In fact, he stopped their every move that required magic.

Colena gave up and took out her bow. It might not have its magical skills, but it would do damage. She shot it at the pale-faced dragonborn, striking his shoulder.

“Really?” he said. “Shooting sharp pieces of w—” BANG! The arrow exploded and his arm fell off.

The dragonborn shouted, “This might help you select targets!”

The Clones and Colena glowed green. She was glowing green.

Me? OK, he’s not helping them select targets, he’s just trying to get his revenge. I’m surprised that the other dragonborn haven’t figured it out yet,​ thought Colena. ​Or is he selecting who to kill? Does he want my bow?

“Charge!—I guess!” shouted Eesta.

“CHARGE! I GUESS!” shouted a bunch of voices and dwarves came out of nowhere and started fighting the cultists.

Colena, Mitchell, Rachael, and Marysa faced the pale-faced dragonborn who had stood up, with only one arm because Colena blew off the other one. He deflected spells and roared, “Do you know who I am?! Do you know whose blood runs in my veins?!”

Rodrick’s blood​, thought Colena. But she said, “Don’t worry, I know ​exactly ​who you are. A dummy, is that correct?”

Terrence, who was fighting somebody, said, “To be fair, your grandfather was quite stupid.”

The pale-faced dragonborn said, “I am the blood of Rodrick! And I will become—” Mitchell, who shot a spell at the dragonborn, turned the dragonborn to stone.

As soon as this happened, all the dragonborn surrendered.

“Where are you going?!” shouted Xuan. He was talking to Baldwin, who was trying to escape. Eesta, who was closest, grabbed him and slammed him into the ground.

A few days later, after Eesta was now the leader of Sidnar (cuz she killed Baldwin), Tieflings arrived, helping Sidnar get supplies. Eliana was amongst them. Colena was tempted to shoot her, but then thought, ​I’ll kill her after Sidnar is fixed.​ Carina was back too!

The war was over…for now.

Epilogue After Sidnar had been healed, Colena returned to her old self: relaxing all day, eating, and practicing with her bow. She was bored, but she couldn’t say she missed the war.

She was often catching glimpses at her friends. They were busy, unlike Colena. She was just a kid, and a kid loves to play.

Colena remembered the speech that the guy who announced Eesta as ruler of Sidnar gave, “Glad you’re not dead. Congrats for not dying, or eating each other!”

Eating each other​? Colena grinned and was pleased that everything was much, much, much better. The “clones” were impossible to fix. She relaxed.

The Siege of Sidnar By: Marysa

After being released by the seemingly blind Dragonborn, Rachael and I ran away back to the Enchanter’s tower. We went to find the rest of our friends to inform them about what had happened during the battle in trying to stop the Dragonborn army. The battle wasn’t what I had planned to happen, but it still kind of worked out. As we reached the door of the tower, Rachael and I saw a figure on the roof. I didn’t recognize the person, but I was too tired to figure out who he was. As we entered, all of our friends came down and asked all sorts of questions. Both Rachael and I answered them with tired voices. We were tired because we just battled a whole army, as well as we hit the ground from 20ft up in the air. That was not good at all. We rested, then made our way to the marketplace of Sidnar.This place was like home, a place that I had not been to in ages. We walk over to the gates. It seemed like the people of Sidnar had bricked up the gate of Sidnar. Now, the only way to get in was at the harbour.That wasn’t great. We went in through the harbour gate and saw two guards. Suddenly, Colena shot the Orc guard. ​Colena! Why would you do that?​ The guards and Colena argued. I didn’t know what’s happening. After a few minutes, I hear a person yelled, “IF Y’ALL ARE DONE, CAN YOU GET BACK TO REPAYING ME?!” I looked over to see a merchant angrily looking at the guards. Everyone started to talk again. I’m not very interested in the conversation, so I looked around the marketplace. Everyone was in a hurry, and fighting could be seen,, and nothing was in line. After all of the ruckus, my friends and I returned to our base. We got a message from Ozmo that said to go over to his place because there was something wrong with Terrence. ​What? There was something wrong with Terrence?​ I’m confused as always, and a little nervous. We went over to Ozmo’s place and there, on a bed, was Terrence. He was staring at the floor. I could tell that everyone was worried because they all started to ask him, “What’s wrong?” All he answered was “I don’t know, you have to ask Terrence”.

What? ​W​hat does he mean by that?​ ​Isn’t he Terrence?​Colena yeled,l “AREN’T YOU TERRENCE?!” He replied with “Yeah, I thought so, too.” Colena, in frustration, casted a spell and ​SMACK​, she slapped Terrence. “Why would you hit me?!” He looked down at the floor, “Does it even matter? Not like you’re hitting a person.” He blinked a few times. “Everyone I’ve ever known, I never knew” he quietly said. He said another line, but I didn’t catch it. I was too busy with my own thoughts: What was happening? What can I do to make him himself again? ​I GOT IT!!​ I began to perform a spell to transfer my mind into Terrence’s mind to see if I could view his memories. As I look into his mind, I get more confused. All of these memories are all jumbled, and it’s hard to fit everything together. I dove even further into his mind to see if he could remember if there was a spell that was performed on him to make him like this. I searched, but there was nothing. “Oh, okay. Let me show you what happened to Terrence.” Colena started to talk nonsense and said, “NO, YOU DID SOMETHING, OZMO!THIS IS ALL A LIE!” Terrence, depressed, spoke moreI followed Ozmo into this secret room. “Welcome to the Catacombs! The ancient Hall of Heroes!” In the hall were different types of great heroes from Sidnar. “In this hall, we are proud to have THREE of the chosen seven!” My friends and I looked and, suddenly, Colena gasped. “What?” we all asked. Colena pointed at a tomb that had Terrence’s name on it, and a skeleton in the casket. “HOW IS HE DEAD!?”

Colena yelled. “That question is not that specific,” said Ozmo. “How? iWho is dead?” “TERRENCE, OF COURSE,” yelled Colena.“Terrence, from The chosen Seven?” Ozmo asked., “YES,” yelled Colena.

Ozmo took a deep breath: “Promise me that you won’t freak out?” Everyone nodded. “Well,” Ozmo

began, “Three years after, the chosen Seven defeated Bain. Terrence partied a little too hard, and crushed his skull.” Usually, if you said that to me on a regular day, I would have laughed, but this situation was far too serious to laugh at. Collena, once again, yelled, “WAIT, IS HE A GHOST?!”

“Let me show you,” Ozmo said as he waved his hand. At this, the room extended. In the extended part of the room, there are four tanks with an orange liquid that seemed to be glowing from the inside. Only one of the tanks seemed to be empty. The tank was not smashed, but was more so opened. The liquid that poured out was still, wet as if it had been recently opened. I recognized these tanks: I saw one of them be removed when we cleaned the Enchanter’s Tower. I was told that some people found Terrence in one of them. As I looked back at the tanks that had people inside, I saw Nathan, Mitchell, and Vivan. I was shaking in my own skin. W ​ HAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?​ Colena yelled at Ozmo, “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Ozmo explained how the people in the tanks were clones, which meant that if the individual died, they could be replaced. “Rachael...”

Ozmo said smoothly. Slowly, he started to turn into a green Dragonborn. My eyes widened. That was the same Dragonborn that freed us at the campsite! “Surely you can see the benefits of having a clone, right?” Ozmo smiled, “It was much easier to just clone you than repair Marysa, right?”

I shivered as he said my name. Ozmo started to talk about good deeds, and then I heard my name again. “Marysa thinks it’s a good deed, right Marysa?” I heard the others yell at me to say no.

I said, “Of course not!” Ozmo, unsatisfied with the response, replied: “Rachael! I gave you an awesome hand! What do you think?” Ozmo picked up a rock and threw it at Rachael. With her robotic hand, she caught it and crushed the rock. Colena had enough, so she took out her bow and shot an arrow at Ozmo. The arrow magically went through his body. “Look over there,” said Ozmo excitedly. He disappeared. Multiple explosions go off in the distance, and my friends and I go back up to see what had happened outside. As we emerged, we saw that chaos had erupted. We had to drag Rachael and Terrence along because they were still depressed to hear that they were clones. Colena asked a passing guard what was happening, and even the guard seemed to be confused. They told us that the Dragonborn were everywhere, and they don’t know what happened. Everything was in a jumble. Rachael and Terrence started to say some pretty depressing things to the guards. All the guards replied with, “That’s the spirit!”Everyone was being very weird. AS we emerged, we saw familiar smoke in the distance. We all went to the blocked up gate to fight the Dragonborn that tried to climb the walls. Everything was a blur. The guards don’t care that the Dragonborn attacked. In all the years that we had lived here, they had always cared for these kinds of things. We were told by the guard that Baldwin has been chosen as the new Archeon, which infuriated all of us. All of our group has decided to confront him. As we all started to go to the castle, Rachael walked up to a roof and started to attack in an attempt to hold the Dragonborn off. I watched as Rachael tried to battle them, but she was HIT! She collapsed on the ground, and I ran over to her in shock. By her side, I used my fury to cast a very strong spell. This knocked out the opponent, as well as it healed Rachael. As we kept on fighting, I saw Eesta with an army of Dwarves. Together, we began to fight all of the Dragonborn.

As the Dragonborn started to become fewer, my group of friends went to confess to Baldwin.

The war was now over, peace had now been restored. As we met up together, we started to help the villagers of the town get together in peace. About three days later, Eesta had become the new Archeon, and things settled down. That day, we all saw a boat. No more than one boat sailed into the harbour. They were a Teifling boat, and you would never guess who was inside leading and helping the Teilfings:CARINA AND ELIANA! It has been so very long since I’ve seen them that I started to wonder if they even remembered me. I saw a lot of my friends run over to them and hug them. They definitely looked different.I couldn’t help myself, so I too ran over and

gave them big hugs. “Hello! Do you remember me?” I asked. All I could say was that it was the happiest that I had felt since forever.

Rachael Zhou

5/8/14/20

The Siege of Sidnar

This one is kind of weird. I know that it’s the last chapter, but it’s weird because, well, everything starts as pieces and then they are like, “I want a friend” and they all piece together.

So, I guess it’s time to start?

We were walking through Sidnar towards the Enchanter’s Tower. It was dawn; the sun had just begun to rise. We arrived at the tower just as a whole bunch of spit landed beside us (Ethan was brushing his teeth while being a lookout and he spat over the side). The rest of the group had just started to wake up.

“Hello,” someone said (I forgot who). Sophia just straight-up asked: “What have you been doing?” Marysa explained what happened in a , uh, less violent way. Then somebody asked: “Weren’t you dead?” and Marysa was like, “No, what are you talking about.” Some of them started eyeing my right hand (Well, I would too if I discovered that my friend had a metal hand) and Colena asked: “What the hell happened to your hand?” I said: “So, ok. I have a metal hand.”

Case closed.

Sounds could not leave the tower and sounds outside the tower could not come in, so we couldn’t hear anything outside the tower while we were inside. As we looked out, though, there were a lot of people running around and doing stuff. We went out and we smelled it before we saw it. It smelled like fire, but it had rained for a bit recently.

We began to follow the smell, which led to the marketplace. The South Gate had been recently repaired, but you couldn’t see the gate itself because it had been bricked over. The city was under lockdown, only walls and no gates.

Colena drew her bow and nocked an arrow (Why). When we reached the marketplace, there was practically nothing but​ c​ ommotion. As we looked around, I noticed that all the stores and stalls seemed empty, like the cork had just been pulled out of an empty bottle. Some had been knocked over and smashed, others had broken windows and everyone was just shouting at each other.

We looked over to the right and recognized two guards. One was a human who had led the first contingent of Archeon’s Guard to the marketplace when the demons started attacking everyone. The second one was much larger than him. He was a pureblood orc. He was the one that was leading the group that had stolen the explosives from the tower and nearly killed Nathan and I. Colena, seeing this orc, fired an arrow from her bow, even though he was wearing the uniform of the Archeon’s Guard (I’m pretty sure that I’ve been spelling Archeon wrong this whole time. It’s supposed to be spelled like Archon). The arrow hit him in the shoulder (If you think this is embarrassing you may skip these few paragraphs) and the crowd started to panic (Colena why).

Both guards drew their weapons and one yelled: “Stand down citizen!” and the other called out: “Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!” (I lost count of how many “ho”s sorry). “Those are Archon’s Guard,” he said, pointing towards us (because we are in an official wing of the Archon’s Guard). The orc grinned as he stared at us.

They both started to walk towards Colena (I thought it was a bad idea to shoot him, kindly do not blame me). We could tell that something major just happened here and I had the urge to turn into a bird and fly away (It is NOT a good idea to shoot law enforcement). Colena told them that the cultists blew up the Enchanter’s Tower (No the orc did and nearly killed two of us) and one of them said something about that being heroic.

“There seems to be some confusion,” he said. “Have you been drinking?” he added to Colena (Can’t this guy tell that we’re too young?) and Colena was like: “We’re too young!” The orc smirked and said: “Too young? It’s also much too early to be drinking. Ha! What the heck, the world’s about to end, isn’t it? Why not.” “I’ll make you explode if you keep on talking nonsense to me,” Colena said. “I’d like to see you try,” he said, but we could smell alcohol on his breath.

Colena might not be drunk this early in the morning, but it seemed like ​he p​ robably was.

“Alright alright alright, everyone’s on edge this morning, are we not?” the other guard said.

“Why don’t you all smell the orc?” Colena shot back. “Alright, that’s racist,” the guard said “What are we doing right now? ‘Let’s all smell the orc.’ That’s a very racial statement you made there. That’s frankly, rather disappointing.” “Yeah, I’m drunk, so what?” the orc snapped. You can see what happened there.

Behind them, a merchant yelled: “If you’re done, can we get back to repaying me for the damages to my store?” The orc turned towards him and leaned in. “That’s what happens when you don’t pay the gentleman your protection money,” he hissed and then laughed softly.

The orc wasn’t a cultist. He arrived after the cult and stole the explosives so the cult couldn’t use them, which was pretty successful (he didn’t have to blow up Nathan and I along the way). Some of us have heard of the gentleman. He’s a gangster, a criminal of some sort. The orc extracted the arrow out from his shoulder and started using it as a back scratcher (Note: You shouldn’t use arrows as back scratchers, especially explosive ones. Kids, do not try this at home).

He said something about thanking her for the back scratcher and the other guard was like, “OK, can we stop?” He said something about getting back to preparing for the siege and something about all the food being stolen.

“We’re already pretty worried that it’s going to be man against man, woman against woman , child against child, baby against baby. We’ve ascended into full hunger games mode.

Could you maybe not accelerate that by shooting people?” he implied (read the Hunger Games book people and you’ll know what he means). Colena asked something about all the food being stolen and the merchant behind the guard said: “Yeah! Very productive. Who stole the food?

That’s what we’d all like to know.”

We went to a side alleyway towards the smell of smoke while having a conversation with this guard, who reintroduced himself as Talbit. “You may remember me. Altmark of the Fourth Cohert,” he said. Essentially a sergeant. “I’m tasked with investigating with the mass robbery at the market. Any information you can provide me with would be useful,” he added. Colena asked him why we should trust him and his answer was: “Why should you trust me? I don’t know. Why

should I trust you?” He said something about not robbing banks. He asked something about the dwarves.

“Alright. We had two major crimes occurring at once but they didn’t seem to be related. A mass robbery occurred in the marketplace, stealing food, and pretty much only food. Someone took all the food. Smashed up the windows, kicked over the stands, wanted destruction. These guys were well organized, they had carts, they were wearing a uniform, they were all dressed the same.

It was a professional job and we have no idea who it was. This second issue, equally pressing, significantly more expensive, and no less terrifying, well, easier if I just show you. Surely you can smell it,” he said.

We followed him towards the craftsmen’s district. The craftsmen’s district usually smelled of smoke. People working, the industry here, blah blah blah. This time it was different. It smelled like wood burning. Not metal, not fireplaces, not campfires, but massive amounts of wood. As we walked past, we looked down the hill and saw the harbour. It was stunning. Whole ships had been burned and ships were sinking, a cloud of thick black smoke billowing from their decks. I recognized it at once; the same black smoke had billowed out of the carts filled with crates when we were at the South Gate.

More than a dozen ships had been burned, some others had already sunk. All that was left were black shells, broken masts, sails floating on the water, darkened by fire. The two major docks that had extended out of the land were utterly destroyed, small fires still burning. We investigated.

All we figured out were things that had already been figured out: stuff’s been burned, stuff’s been looted, stuff’s been exploded, basically the South Gate all over again except this time with ships.

Something was strange, though. No one had seen who did this. No one had even caught a glimpse of them.

The people in the marketplace ​wanted t​ o be seen. They were sending a message. They weren’t like: “I’m going to BURN all of your food”. They were like: “I have your food, hehe”. The people at the ship were like: [insert sneaky mischief noises].

The mages also came (most of us are mages, including me). Talbit told us that no conventional magic had been used here, which meant that they weren’t invisible. They were stealthy. He told us that the guys in the marketplace w ​ anted​ to be seen. They were sending a message, telling us something. They wanted people to know that they had it. Not burned, not destroyed, but that they had it. He told us that if this was connected they would have burned the marketplace and destroyed the food supply.

After we did this, Colena healed me and Marysa. And then we all got a message. We all heard it but no one else could. “Ok, Boomers, Ozmo here, your old buddy. If you get a minute, head on over to my Armoury. Your friend Terrence is in a bit of distress and I think he could use a friend. I don’t know. Just come and get him, would ya?”

We headed up to the castle. Colena gripped her bow tightly as if expecting to come around a corner and have a cultist jump out at you. We went through and headed down the long staircase.

We entered Ozmo’s armoury and Terrence was sitting there at a table, looking stunned.

As we were walking in, Ozmo offered Terrence a glass of water. “Here buddy, have a glass of water,” he said, levitating some water across the table to Terrence. He took it, poured the water on the table, and threw the cup against the wall. “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! What happened to you?” Colena screamed. Terrence looked at her and said: “I would have no way of knowing what

happened to me. Maybe you should go ask Terrence.” I asked him: “What happened to you, Terrence?” “I don’t- know. You would have to go ask Terrence,” he said again.

Colena screamed: “Aren’t you Terrence?” and Terrence said: “Yeah - I’m right there with you Colena, I thought so too.” Colena used magic to slap him and Terrence said: “Why would you hit me? Does it even matter? It’s not like you’re hitting a person. Everyone I’ve ever known, I never knew. Everyone I ever cared about never knew me. I have never done anything I’ve done.

You’re my friend, right?” He turned to Ozmo and asked: “How did I get a sword?”

After a bit of silence, Ozmo turned to us and said: “He had a right to know. Ok, look, it’s probably just easier if I show you. I didn’t do anything to his memories,” he said. “He didn’t do anything to Terrence’s memories,” Terrence said. Colena said something I didn’t hear. Terrence replied: “No, actually this is the first time I’ve said anything true.” Colena said something about him being more than a thousand years old. Terrence laughed. “Stupid,” he muttered “What a stupid - why did I believe that? Only a thousand years old. Why would I think I was special?”

Ozmo motioned to the other room. He led us into the room, which was adjacent. “Welcome to the Cataclose,” he said “The fabled Tomb of Heros.” All I knew about this place was that only particularly important people were buried here. “In this tomb, we are proud to have 3 of Pentos’s Chosen 7. Gabriel, for example, the guy who founded the city, Ootmark, big strong orcish dude, died like a year after the fight. Then we’ve got the third one, and that’s something that ya’ll probably want to know about.” he said, gesturing towards it. All these tombs have a stone carving of the person. When we looked at the tomb, we saw a carving of. . . Terrence.

“Well, he’s a thousand years old,” Colena said. But when we looked inside the coffin, it wasn’t empty. Lying inside, was a skeleton. T ​ errence had died before​. But then we couldn’t explain why Terrence, perfectly healthy, was outside this room, very much alive. “How is he alive then?” asked Colena. “Mmm, that question’s not specific enough. How is who alive?” Ozmo replied. “How is Terrence alive then if his bones were there?” Colena asked. “Terrence the member of the Chosen 7?” Ozmo asked slowly. “Yes,” Colena said. “Three years after they killed Bane the Black Hand, Terrence partied much too hard and fell off a roof and his skull was crushed,” he said.

“Who you’ve been running around with, look,” He held up his hands. “It’ll be easier if I show you.

Don’t freak out. Promise? Promise you won’t freak out? Mitchell? Mitchell, do you promise not to freak out? Nathan, do you promise not to freak out? Vivian, do you promise not to freak out?”

We started asking questions like whether he’s a ghost or not and he said: “It’ll be easier if I just show you.” He waved his hand at what looked like a solid wall and I realized that the room was 20ft deeper than it appeared. “I just did some sack with it in the tomb - I needed a place where nobody could bother me.” I looked towards the back of the room and saw 4 tanks. They were the size of a person. Three of them contained a broiling orange liquid and were lit from the inside. I saw a person in three of them. The fourth was empty. We recognized these tanks because we threw away the old one in the tower.

As we walked deeper into the room, Vivian walked towards the farthest tank on the left.

It had dust on the front so she wiped it away. Inside it, floating with his eyes closed was Nathan.

The empty tank had been opened. The liquid sitting on the floor was not yet dry, which meant that it had been recently opened. When we were in the Enchanter’s Tower, just a day after Terrence was let out, the liquid was dry. The next two tanks that weren’t empty contained Vivian

and Mitchell. But, if I recalled correctly, Ozmo had taken my hair, Vivian’s memory, blood from Mitchell, and on the cart, something from Nathan. So where was the clone of me?

“Oh! It’s the people who he took blood and hair from!” Sophia exclaimed. Colena said something. “Ok, so, maybe some bad things. When you’re powerful like me, good and bad, it’s sort of hard to tell the difference,” said Ozmo. “So basically, b ​ asically​ the idea here is that, if you have material from an individual, you can make a backup. And should that individual die, you can pull them from the darkness, and put them into a place. This is much easier to do if the backup exists before the individual dies. There’s far less, um, sloppiness putting them back together. Which is why I participated in the challenge of doing it to somebody who had been dead for a thousand years. And then I couldn’t help but see the merits of the program and how beneficial it might be to be able to sell people without insurance.” he added. “Rachael,” he said, waving his hand. And he turned into a tall, green-skinned Dragonborn with shocking white eyes.

“Surely you, of all people, can see the benefits of having such an insurance program. It was much, much easier to put you straight into my backup than it was to, you know, pull Marysa back together,” he said.

Now my mind was whirling. It was O ​ zmo​ who had freed us. He was the bright green Dragonborn. “Listen. I can hear you thinking - yes, I can hear your thoughts, chill out - when you get to be as powerful as me,” he said, “I can hear a bunch of “kill him, kill him”. Colena, hey, Colena, of everybody in this group, you’re the most delightfully evil. Why would you shoot at me with a bow? Anyway, when you’re powerful like me, good, evil, right, wrong, they don’t really mean anything,” he said. “Why?” Colena asked. “Why? I try,” he said, with the air of obviously not trying.

“Listen. I just tried a good deed this morning, and I sort of broke Terrence’s brain. So I think that’s it for good deeds,” he said. “Good deed? You call that a good deed?” Colena cried.

“Yeah! He was dead, now he’s not, he didn’t know things, now he does. Marysa certainly thinks that this is a good deed, don’t you Marysa?” he said. “No,” she said. “Rachael. Didn’t I give you an awesome hand? Isn’t that pretty sweet?” he said. Ozmo threw a rock at me and I caught it with my right hand. It literally turned to dust (read Harry Potter if you’d like to know where that came from). “Pretty, huh?” he said. “Did you get that from Harry Potter?” someone asked. “Now that I think of it, probably! I read it when I was a little kid. That makes a lot of sense! It’s not like I made you Peter Pettigrew,” he said. “I want my hand,” I said. “Oh. Ok. Alright. Maybe I do owe you a bit of an apology, so like I made your clone before you lost the hand, so the clone did have a hand,” he said “I just kind of thought you’d like this better and I hadn’t decided whether I should tell you that you’re a clone yet.”

I died.​ I had thought it was just some kind of miracle that I had survived but now I realized. The empty tank used to hold m ​ e. ​I had all my memories and things like that but I was in a body that was n ​ ot mine​. I wondered for a moment whether I was cloned twice because he did take my blood as a clone. I concluded that since I was currently a clone and probably you couldn’t clone a clone, I was not cloned twice. That still left me with a question. Was Marysa a clone? She probably would’ve died from a 2000ft fall. Terrence was a clone too so at least that made two of us (which was probably even worse but whatever).

“So Rachael’s a clone?” Sophia asked. “So I did chop off the clone’s hand and give you a metal hand and maybe that didn’t work out,” he said “Sorry.” “Ummm, I would love to continue

this,” he said (but we all knew that he absolutely did not want to continue this), “but unfortunately, I have other things I need to do and so -” He was interrupted by the sound of smashing. The bells in the castle began to ring. As we turned back to Ozmo, Colena fired an arrow, which went right through him and smashed into the wall behind him. Ozmo smiled and said: “Oooooo, isn’t she barbaric? Shoot first, ask questions later. Who cares if he’s an ancient sort of powerful mage, he’s probably actually in the room. He’s probably actually vulnerable to be stabbed. I have a quick question: Have any of you ever touched me before?” Now that got us really confused. Only me, Ethan and Marysa had ever touched Ozmo and never in the castle. I had been the one that was most exposed to him as I had been in the cultist camp where he freed us and offered us his hand. I had also been in the cage with him.

Colena had never touched him and neither had anyone except me, Marysa, and Ethan. He occasionally used a pair of tweezers or a dagger, but none of us had ever touched him in the castle because O ​ zmo had never been to the castle​. I know that this is confusing. Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.

“Where is the real you?” Colena screamed. “I am the real me,” Ozmo said laughingly, “Look over there.” He pointed somewhere and vanished. The explosions and bangs and booms and blah blah blah were still going on. We hurried upstairs with Terrence and it was rather chaotic up there in the streets. People were rushing in all directions. Some guards appeared to be heading into the castle, some guards were heading away from the castle, some just seemed to be doing nothing at all. Terrence and I were both pretty depressed. “The real me is dead?” I mumbled numbly.

“Welcome to the club,” Terrence said, turning to me. We asked a guard what was happening and he stuttered: “Th-the Dragonborn! I don’t know, man, like, they’re everywhere!” We went to the wall and started fighting (oh no) and thought that the first day went pretty well.

A curfew had been imposed, and we were supposed to go home unless we wanted to “lose our faces” (The curfew was imposed because there was a coup). Here’s what happened. So we came after fighting to absolute chaos. People were protesting. Archon’s Guards were just walking around the crowd. Talbit came to us and said: “We need more people like you.” Then he just left.

A while after that, people dressed in leather blue cloaks and holding clubs or rods. The leading one said: “Curfew has been imposed, so go home unless you want to lose your faces.” He smacked a poor man in the face as the horde of people started dispersing.

At night, I tried to bomb the army (It failed badly, just so you know). I was standing on the roof of the Enchanter’s Tower. I held my hands out and concentrated. At first, it was quite successful. Fire rained from the sky above the army. Then I started to feel something inside me, like something bad was attacking me from the inside. It was obviously the mage and it felt rather dark. I couldn’t hold it anymore as blood started pour from my nose. I felt myself hitting the ground and everything went dark. I woke up on the roof. A blurred figure stood over me. The figure sharpened to reveal Marysa as she healed me.

The second day we met Finigan the Minister of Sanitation. “Nathan,” he said over and over again. He then said something about Gideon the Archon being in chains or something and fleeing the city by the sewers. We went down to the castle and down to the dungeons. When we went down there, remembering how confusing it was, we found a guard, not an Archon’s Guard, but someone dressed in leather holding a club. “Where’s the way out of this place?” he asked. We were lost too, so how were we supposed to answer that? A duplicate appeared and asked the same

question. We soon realized that we all had duplicates, including Terrence and I (I only added that because I thought that you might be confused if clones can have duplicates. Yes, clones can have duplicates but clones can’t have clones). Colena tried experimenting with her duplicate but it didn’t go away. One guard drew his sword and plunged it into the stomach of his duplicate and found a sword stuck in his stomach. Finally, Colena bumped into her duplicate and the illusions disappeared. There was a cage, holding Gideon. “Good lord, I’ve been shouting for 20 minutes already,” he said.

We freed him and Colena asked for something in return that we never got and I didn’t want anyway. We ended up getting lost again, this time stuck in a cave with glimmering orbs on the ceiling. The Cavern of Justice.

There were eight chairs, seven in one line and one facing them. An elderly elf was chained to one of them, Ootmark the Orc was chained to another. A bulky Dragonborn was shackled to a third one, straining on the chains. I suddenly realized who these people were. They were the clones of 3 of Pentos’s Chosen 7. Which meant that they were coming after Terrence next.

The chair facing them held an albino white Dragonborn. Colena, Marysa, Sophia and I recognized him as the Dragonborn who’d helped Eliana escape before she joined our side. He was not chained down.

There was a desk with 2 chairs. One held Baldwin, dressed in the robes that Gideon had worn to our trial. Sitting on the other was the Minister of Justice, Floyd Parker. He didn’t look well at all. Well, he was bound and gagged so I don’t think anyone in that position would look well.

We knew that there was a way out. If you crossed the room, there would be a door. The thing is, there were people there that would kill us (I don’t need that to happen again). The white Dragonborn looked towards us and smirked. He stuck out his tongue at us, seemingly relaxed.

“Ah,” Baldwin said, “Good of you to deliver us some ingredients. That’s the end of my side of the agreement , is it not?” The Dragonborn spoke without moving his mouth. He said: “There is one more missing.” “Yeah yeah yeah. The bar mage. She’s around somewhere, man. I can’t keep tabs on everyone,” Baldwin said. June. They were missing June. Someone said something and Baldwin looked towards them, surprised. “Well, sort of,” he said. Someone said something about being smarter than Baldwin and he laughed. Colena somehow insulted Baldwin and the Dragonborn said: “I have a proposal for you. Simple deal. You leave the clones and the descendant of Gabriel.” The clones? Plural? Yes, I knew for sure that they wanted Terrence, but why me? They might not even know that I’m a clone. Why plural?

We said no. “Don’t. Don’t leave me,” Gideon said, turning towards us. ​He w ​ as the descendant of Gabriel. We asked him whether he was a clone or not and he said: “No, I’m not a clone. But Gabriel’s like my great-great-grandpa.” “We all know that you’re Gabriel’s heir. Come down here so we can sacrifice you to whatever thingy wants to do,” Baldwin (I think) said.

Terrence just kind of stared at Gideon with a sort of odd expression. The rest, I kind of forgot the details, but I do know that Colena shot the Dragonborn with an arrow and he asked why she was shooting him with “sharp wooden thingies” before the arrow exploded. Gideon did something brave and said something about the noble blood that ran through his veins before a whole bunch of cultists came and dragged him away. The Dragonborn, who revealed that he was a descendant of Roderick, said that his followers were idiots and marked which ones of us were to kill and which

ones were to be sacrificed. Terrence and, surprisingly, Colena were marked green, the rest of us were marked red. Now, this got really confusing. He said he wanted the clones plural. I was a clone. Why was I red?

Someone blew up Roderick’s descendant (I think it was Colena) and all the cultists retreated as dwarves appeared with June. We freed the clones from the chairs and Xuan spotted Baldwin trying to sneak away. He failed to stop him but Eesta (I haven’t seen her in a while) lunged out of the shadows and threw him to the ground.

When we came out of the Tower three days later, there was a tiefling announcing that Eesta had been crowned Archon and Baldwin was to be buried with full honours from a fight to the death in the Cavern of Justice. The food supply had just appeared in the marketplace but it was only enough for 2 days.

Luckily, that night, glowing lanterns on ships approached the harbour, and we got to see Eliana and Carina for the first time since they had left. Carina looked much stronger and was handing out food and supplies, Eliana was pacing on the deck of a ship and yelling things. I was pretty sure that Colena was going to shoot Eliana. I wonder. I’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.

Can someone let me relax?

Epilogue

No, no one will let me relax because I have to do an epilogue. Well, here it is.

The sky above me was warm and blue, sunlight dappling through the multicoloured leaves of the trees in the forest. It was autumn now, nearly winter, when the cold snow would cover everything (snow is actually zero degrees celsius). I’d taken this chance to walk in the forest, which would be bare in 2 months, wildlife gone into hibernation or migrated. The bears were at the stream hunting for the salmon, the birds singing with delight.

I had visited this place many times, always spending a few hours to enjoy the view. It was beautiful, nothing like the city, which was currently undergoing repairs. I had taken a break from helping out and taken a walk here. Colena was refraining from shooting Eliana, due to the many arguments about whether she should shoot her or not. But there was none of that here in the forest, only the quiet sounds of birds chirping.

By : Mitchell As we entered the Enchanter's Tower, We saw Ozmo and Terrence depressed for some reason while sitting on a couch. The group asked what's wrong and he said “you should go and ask the real Terrence.” We stood there, confused. All of a sudden, Colena boomed out: “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! YOU ARE THE REAL TERRENCE!” Then, she slapped him.

Then, Ozmo pulled out some sort of coffin and opened it. Inside was the skeleton of someone. Then, we realized, Terrence was right! He wasn't the real terrence! He was just a clone of the real one! Then, he showed us 4 capsules with orange liquid.

One was open, the one that used to hold Terrence.

The rest of them stored the people that removed the curses from their weapons, so I was in one of the capsules. Then came an explosion just like the one at south gate.

It turns out that Baldwin took leadership again. After that, we went inside this mirror maze and met Rodrick’s Progeny. With ease, I just turned him into stone with a single blast of magic. Eesta killed Baldwin in one hit with her psychotic hand as well.

Suddenly, Eliana came and supplied us with a lot of food since we were running low.

BACK TO THE CITY Sophia Deng As I wake up, everyone is outside greeting Rachael and Marysa. As I get closer, I can see that Rachael’s hand is solid silver. “What were you guys doing?” I ask, finally within earshot. “Oh, we fought, got captured,then released. I’m not going into detail- not now anyways as we all see that Sidnar is under siege,” came the reply. “Are you sure you guys aren’t under a form of mind-control, or whatever mages get up to now?” Colena shoots me an offended look.

Rachael replies, “No, I don’t think so.” We go into the city after we help Rachael and Marysa settle. As we walk through the city, I see a big orc. He’s a member of the Archeon’s guard, which surprises me as he​ w ​ as​ ​present in our tower when the Dragonborn came. Colena immediately fires an arrow at the orc with a look that says, ‘I’m shooting you now, and I’m gonna ask questions later.’ The orc looks a bit angry as he pulls out the arrow protruding from his shoulder. He then scratches his back, shouting insults at Colena. The crowd everywhere is on edge as Colena and the orc were having a heated conversation. After the productive argument, the citizens began to yell: “The food is gone!You’re fighting over what, alcohol?’”

After that embarrassing alcoholic-fueled fight, we start to question the citizens. They think the gentleman stole the food. The gentleman is a criminal from the swamp. While we investigate the harbour, an ugly sight came into view. There, far out in the ocean, was the litter of burnt ships.

Someone did this on purpose. Someone must have led an organized attack. I bet their plan is to steal the food, make sure the city can’t get more supplies, and to let them rot until they do what they want. We look around and see the following: things are destroyed, stolen, looted, or have disappeared. The thing is: nobody saw who did it, or if it was the cult.

CLONES Suddenly, everyone gets a message. It sounds like Ozmo. Ozmo says Terrence was feeling sad,bad, angry, and all sorts of feelings at once. This didn’t sound good because people can’t experience that. We went to the castle, noting more signs of damage. When we got to the armoury,Terrence was sitting, looking stunned. “What’s happened?” asked Colena. When Terrence said nothing, Ozmo replies: “Well, I’ll show you an example of the mood he’s feeling.

Here, Terrence, have a cup of water!” Terrence grabs the cup and smashes it on the wall. He continues looking at the ground in the same position as before. “What happened, Terrence?” asks Colena, trying to be polite. “Maybe you should go ask Terrence,” Terrence said, with no hint of emotion. “What? Aren’t you Terrence?Our friend?” Colena questions. “ I was your friend, but Terrence was never your friend,” came the sad reply. “So,you’re not Terrence?” asks Colena, losing hope. “No, I am not Terrence. I’m nothing. The real Terrence is dead.” ​None of this is making sense. Is this a joke? No, Terrence’s feelings seem genuine. Did Ozmo do this?

Oh no, what if he did? ​“No, I did not enchant him, if that’s what you’re asking,” says Ozmo, quietly. ​What? Is Ozmo reading my thoughts? How did this happen?​ “Here, I’ll show you why he’s like that,” Ozmo says as pleasantly as possible. We next go to the Tomb of Heroes. There

are all sorts of famous heroes in the room. “It’s better if I show you, okay?” questions Ozmo .

“Sure,only if it doesn’t require mind control,” Colena snippily replies. “Of course, it doesn’t require mind control. Here we go: one, two, three, and go!” says Ozmo, his voice drowning out. p​Poof​ - “Well here I am!” says a very happy Ozmo. “We have three of the seven of the ancient heroes. Most importantly, we have Terrence here.” A tomb falls open and there’s a Terrence-sized skeleton in the tomb. ​How could Terrence be here? Terrence is in the other room. Did we go into the future? T ​ here are so many thoughts that I can’t think clearly. There are four tanks on the other wall. As I look closer, one has Nathan in it. He looks happy and undisturbed. When I look back, I see Nathan right behind me. I look back at the tank, Nathan is still in there. How can there be two Nathans? In the other tanks are Mitchell and Vivian. The last tank looks like it was just opened. ​What are these? Copies?​ “Okay, let me introduce you to my life insurance policy. Basically, basically, I clone some people with some of their body parts.

So then, when the person dies I pull out the clone and the clone keeps living with the person’s memory.” Ozmo paused. “A mage like me should do something with his powers so here I did something and I called it my life insurance policy. Terrence died at a party. He partied too hard and fell off the battlement and his neck cracked. Then, I pull out a Terrence clone and yay, we have Terrence back. Rachael is a clone too. She died while being burned by acid and fell from a high place. Then I pull the clone out and you have Rachael again.” Rachael looks horrified for a moment, then that gets replaced by the same exact look Terrence had. Ozmo took this moment to turn into a green-blue dragonborn. Rachael’s stunned look turns into one of understanding and then disgust. ​It must be hard, figuring out you’re a clone. Imaging you being dead, but not… dead. That would be weird.​ Then as Ozmo turns back to himself, “So you tricked us. You fooled me. Feel happy? Now? You’re just a dirty scumbag trickster. I’d rather be dead than live as a clone.” Rachael says with a cold hard voice. She didn’t mean she didn’t want to live, I think.

The Rachael clone just wants to intimidate Ozmo. “Oh yes. I do feel very happy. My clones work.” he replies “I should make more and get a lot of gold.” At this point, Ozmo crossed the line. ​Kill him, come on, kill him. He deserves a good beating.​ I think . “Don’t think about killing me and yes” he adds, seeing our faces. We were probably all thinking about killing him. “I can read your thoughts. But think about all the good stuff I could give you. See, look at cloned Rachael’s metal hand.” He throws a rock. Rachael effortlessly catches it and crushes it into dust. “Stop giving us your stupid little gifts Ozmo” Colena says as she shoots one of her Boom-Boom arrows at Ozmo the stupid merchant mage. The arrow goes cleanly through Ozmo as if he was never there. “Hmmm… have any of you ever touched me in this castle? No! I have never been to the stupid castle. As if I needed to. This is goodbye to you all!” Ozmo says as Poof!​ he disappears.

THE LAST FIGHT When we leave the castle, we hear alarm bells ringing. The Dragonborn were coming!

We could see the entire army, marching towards us like a black tornado. Once we got everyone

back outside, we prepare for the oncoming battle. We are all fighting the Dragonborn. The first day was a good one. We manage to fight off part of the army. What I do notice, though, is that the enemy winces when we shoot them with ice. Opposing this is fire, as they walk right into it.

If I remember correctly, they were humming. I think they enjoy it. In my old history class, (I’m still a Dragonet. The reason I’m bad at fighting is because my parents didn’t let me attend a fighting class) the old Dragon says that Ogen the Old & Odd married a human. Ogen was from the Flint clan, until they banned him. He helped bare twenty Dragonets at an alarming rate.

They all married their sisters and brothers, and had many more Dragonets. They soon had enough to be called Daggrinbronaesis (Dragonborns, in the Dragon language. We gave them a horrible name because they were part human, part dragon.) The Flint clan was known for being fire resistant. They even loved sleeping in fire. Playing with it, Ogen must have passed the trait on to the next generation. The next day, we stop using fire and, instead, use ice. This was effective, and the second day of attacks went well. We held the army off. The only damage we endure is minor damage at the exterior gate. Around eight o’clock at night, we hear sound coming from the city. When we arrive in the city, there was a mob of people. Members of the Archeon’s guard stand there, doing nothing. They continue to march up and down the street.

We follow them stealthily. After a while, people on horses arrive and, holding clubs, start clubbing the people right off the street. “That’s what happens if you march around the place without the gentleman’s permission,” one of them kept saying, while clubbing another person away. I watch as Mitchell sneaks away, obviously trying to find out why the citizens of Sidnar need the ​gentleman’s​ permission. We hide in a small corner until Mitchell came back. He explains to us that Balwin was the Archeon, and Gideon was shackled in the dungeon.Gideon in the dungeon to, you know, rot.After taking in all of this information, we all vote to free Gideon and kill Baldwin. Freeing Gideon might give us an extra boost. We head back to the castle.

Instead of meeting some of the Archeon’s guard, we meet some of the gentleman’s guard.

Thankfully, they didn’t ask for a beating, just for ten pieces of gold. We gave them ten pieces, and we were in the castle. We go down to the dungeon. The moment we enter, the weird sensation comes back. We meet another of the gentleman’s guard and he says, “How’d you get outta this place?” We shrug. Who knows how? I’m not sure. We repeatedly go down the same tunne:l we again see the person asking how to get out.As we enter the tunnel ​again,​ the person asking for help now has a clone. The clone is copying the person, exactly. When he got suspicious, he drew his sword and stabbed. Suddenly, the same sword was now sticking in his abdomen and the clone disappears. He turned to us and says, “Wha- wha di yeh do tha for?”

He stumbles away. When we got to the point where he was standing, we all begin to see clones. Colena says, “I’ll just pass, move away.” She steps to the side. Her clone, in the same tone and voice of Colena, mirrors her words: “I’ll just pass, move away.” She too steps to the same side as Colena. “I hate you, you’re blocking my way,” Colena says impatiently, bumping her head against the clone. The clone disappears. We all do the same thing (I high-fived my clone). In the far side of the corner is Gideon in a prison cell. When he saw us, his eyes lit up.

“Oh there you are! I’ve been yelling for the last twenty minutes! Free me, or I’ll lock you up, too!” he yells at us. ​This guy’s a crackpot. Why bother freeing him? He’s making no sense. He’s been down here for at least one day, not twenty minutes.​ “You’re in no position to make threats,” Colena says, darkly. We free him anyways. He tells us to go down the corridor, and we follow

closely behind him. We see the roof of a large room. The roof is quite lo- oh, it’s the Cavern of Justice, again. There is a passage on the other side of the room: this is our free ticket out of here. However, in the Cavern, there is an elf, an orc, and a huge human chained to the middle column. They are three of the seven. The human is Gabriel’s son. The orc’s skeleton was in the tomb of heroes. The elf is with them, so she’s probably one of the seven, too. They were ​clones.​ Sitting opposite them was a pale Dragonborn, specifically one of the Dragonborn who was present at the disaster of the south gate. He’s sitting there, looking untroubled. Baldwin is sitting at the judge’s table alongside the minister of Justice. The ministeris tied and gagged.

“So, we are still missing the female mage,” Baldwin was saying. A connection popped into my head: June is one of the seven, as she too is fighting demons. She is a very powerful mage.

“Oh, you mean June, or, should I say La Fay?” I call out. Baldwin looks at me with surprise.

When he sees the real archeon, his lips tremble. He was about to say something, but the pale Dragonborn says, “Seize him, he’s to be sacrificed!” Behind us, there’s the sound of marching.

When I turn around, there are about a dozen Dragonborn weapons out, marching towards Gideon. “But I- I’ve- I have the blood Gabriel in my veins. How dare you! You have no authority to capture me.” Gideon , turning to Gabiel’s son, says,e“Can’t you help me?” Gabrie’s son replies: “No, but you should run away, son of my grandchildren. Do not let him have you!” . We strike a few of the Dragonborn down. ​So, Gideon is the son of Gabriel. They’re related, and that’s how they chose the next Archeon. B ​ ut, matters were worsening without thinking of Archeons. The rest of the Dragonborn kept moving, not even caring when one of them fell. I’ve seen this behavior: the pale Dragonborn was likely controlling the other Dragonborn. We try to stop the Dragonborn, but they take Gideon and march away. Colena shoots an arrow at the Dragonborn. The pale white Dragonborn says, “Shooting pointy pieces of wood now? How low have you commoners fallen?” Suddenly, ​BOOM!​ his whole arm explodes. We all try to cast spells, but he’s too powerful. He easily overpowers us, and the other Dragonborn are coming back. “Oh yes, there you are. Fools! You should faster! ” The pale Dragonborn points at Colena: “She was shooting pointy bits of wood, and now my arm is gone! Kill them. This will help you!”

Everyone began emitting a strange red light, except for Colena and the three of the seven who were emitting green light. The people with red light are to be killed, while the people with green light are to be captured. I gulp:, I was to be killed. Instead of fighting the Dragonborn, we turn our attention to the white Dragonborn and cast numerous spells at him. He yells, “How dare you! Do you not know whose blood runs through my veins?” ​Obviously Rodrick’s, I​ thought.

“Rodrick’s! Yes, Rodrick’s! You DARE? YOU DO? COME AT ME!” he screams, letting out a maniac’s laugh. He blocks most of our spells until one from Mitchell hits him on his leg. From that point, he began turning into stone. We hear the sound, ​clang clang,​ of the Dragonborn dropping their daggers. The dragonborns were surrendering. We had won! However, Baldwin’s sneaking away. Eesta pounces on him and with a ​snap! k​ ills him.

EPILOGUE The next few days are a return back to normal. Everything is okay, and supplies are steadily coming back. The following morning after the surrender, the citizens find a huge pile of

food. The food is the same stolen food. On the third day, a dwarf (The dwarfs were our allies in the battle) ascends the Archeon stage and says, magnifying his voice, “Citizens of Sidnar!”

There is a lot of applause. “Sidnar is now part of the Dwarven empire (for now)! We will decide a leader for you as the Archeons were all horrible. We will decide this based on a fight to death.

On one side, you have Baldwin! On the other side, there’s your own minister from ward five (I think), Eesta! Now, this battle already happened three days ago! Eesta was the victor! Eesta is now your leader! Of course, Baldwin will be buried with full honors,” he finishes, smirking. Eesta is now our leader. As we go to congratulate Eesta, there are ships coming towards our harbour (Or, rather, what’s left of it). As the Tieflings on the ship come down, I can spot two faces that I recognize. One of their hairstyles changed a lot, but she still looks the same otherwise. Eliana and Carina were back! I moved down to the harbour to greet them.

Xuan He

The cult was preparing. They always were. The camp had been set. They were ready to attack, or defend, for that matter. The dragonborn had set up giant catapults, preparing for the invasion.

--The archon’s guards were tense, having meetings, and genuinely setting up plans. They had contingents prepared at the gates and at the top of the walls. Armed and ready, they were the last resort.

--The Enchanter’s tower was in full-on battle mode. Supplies were prepared, the armory stocked, and all was fixed up. It needed to be. The cult had stations prepared, too. Each one, however, was equivalent to one tower. The contingent inside was ready, yet it didn’t feel right to them, like something was missing.

--It was a dark and seemingly remorseful day, as it had just rained.

There were no birds circling around, and no wildlife. Everything was rushed; nothing was made perfect. It was all just a jumbled mess of last-minute revisions of battle tactics, training, sharpening and strengthening weapons, and mostly tensing at the fact that there was a large, scary army outside of our door.

I spent a lot of my time studying Sidnar’s geography and siege battle plans. Both were needed, because of the impending war. Most of the documents, however, were quite useless.

I headed down after a lot of reading, just in time to hear a knock.

Racheal and Marysa came in, looking weary. “What happened?” Colena asked, stunned. I noticed something different, though. Racheal had a silver, or rather, metal hand.

The rest of the group also realized it. “What happened to your hand?” We asked. “Long story,” Racheal answered. We decided to go to the market, to catch up on some important details. After all, our tower had a bubble that kept intruders and sound out.

The first thing we smelled outside was alarming. There was the lingering smell of fire and smoke. I also had a feeling that it didn’t come from the craftsman’s district. We walked towards the smell.

Sidnar had changed a lot since the start of the siege. I witnessed it firsthand when we passed the south gate. It was heavily blocked by wood, stone, and bricks, preventing a charge. I saw Colena pull out her bow. Not surprising, really, the cult might have been digging a hole right at that moment.

As we got close to the market, we heard noise. Lots of it.

The market was panicked. One good look around, and I knew why: the stalls were empty. Someone seemed to have stolen from them .

They were knocked over, smashed, and just ransacked. Two guards came running in. One was a middle-aged man, wearing full armor. The other was an orc.

Colena grabbed an arrow, and shot. It hit. The orc walked over, grinning mischievously. “You technically blew up part of the tower!”

Colena said, touching another arrow. “Yes, tha-” the second guard began. The orc cut him off. “Have you been drinking?” he asked. Colena looked surprised.

“Do you think so?” she said, evidently feeling unnerved. “Um, right, should we stop fighting? The food was stolen, and it would be bad to have a rebellion,” the other guard said.

The guard led us towards the fire smell, though a side alley. We arrived at the harbor. It was on fire, with some cleanup crews putting it out. “A team of raiders attacked, setting fire to the ships, and the supplies. They were very well organized,” he said, shaking his head. He was right. There was no sign of trespass, excluding the fire, of course.

Suddenly, I heard Ozmo’s voice. “Yes, hello! So, your friend, um, is distressed. Could you come?”

I entered the gates, walking down to the stone staircase that I know leads to Ozmo’s armoury. I opened the door. “Why hello!” Ozmo said, turning around. Terrance was seated next to him, looking down at the ground.

“What happened?” Colena said, glaring at Ozmo. “You need to ask Terrance,” Terrance said. I looked at him. What ​was ​going on?

Terrance continued on. “No one that knew me knew me. Nothing I have done has been done by me.” he said, “How?”. “He is not under a spell,” Ozmo said. “I will show you.”

He opened a door. “Welcome to the Catacombs!” he said. He walked to three coffins. “We have three of Pentos’ chosen seven,” he said. I have had to work on them, but in a quiet place. He waved his hand at the wall. It opened.

Inside, there were three tanks filled with a green liquid. The first three had the silhouettes of people inside. The fourth was empty, with some of the liquid splashed on the floor.

Vivian walked to the three full tanks. She brushed away the dust, and squinted. Nathan was there, sitting peacefully. We all gasped. She trembled suddenly. In the next tank, she was inside, sleeping.

Ozmo looked delighted. “You see? These are, ah, insurance. You see how smart this plan is? To have your memories pumped into you, when you died? You can live ​forever​!” He was sounding maniacal now, looking even more happy.

We glared at him, drawing weapons. He laughed. “HA! You don’t get it, huh? Well, too bad! Look over there!” he said, pointing, and disappeared.

There was the ring of a bell, and yells. We ran up the stairs, opening the castle doors, and wow. The wall was being engulfed by bodies, fighting for dominance. The streets next to the walls were thrown into disorder.

I ran towards the wall. Our side was winning a little bit, because the cultists had to scale the wall, losing precious time. We climbed, and started directing weapons at them. We stabbed them against the wall.

The problem was that there were too many.

Nightfall came eventually, bringing a close to the first battle of the siege. I made my way back towards the tower, going through the main road. The citizens were acting up. I couldn’t blame them, we were in the middle of a siege.

I realized, along the way, that no Archeon's guard was helping.

Suddenly, the rest of the group ran out. “Baldwin has taken control!” Colena said, “They have locked up Gideon.” We redirected ourselves towards the castle once again, and went down the ramp we knew that led to the dungeons.

We entered the dungeon. The dungeon now didn’t seem like one, as there were no guards. I knew there was illusion magic, and indeed there was. We seemed to have walked beside the same table for ​ages.​ A person walked by, saying, “How do we get out?”. After a while, the ​same exact person walked past us, saying the ​exact same thing​. “I’ll explain the illusion,” Colena said. The man walked passed. Then, we heard Colena’s voice saying, “I’ll explain the illusion,”. We stopped when we heard a shrill yell.

Gideon was yelling his head off, sitting in a cell. We pulled open the door, and let him out. I led him towards the chamber of justice, where there was an exit.

In the center of the room, were seven chairs. The first was occupied by Baldwin, sitting quite relaxed. The second had an orc in it, and finally, there was a dragonborn. Baldwin was first to see us.

“Ah, hello!” he said, lifting his head. The dragonborn lifted his head a fraction of an inch, and “said” something. He didn’t move his mouth, though. “There is one more,” he said. “Yeah, yeah, I can’t keep tabs on all of them. You know that,” Baldwin grumbled, looking annoyed. “I have a proposal,” the voice said again, in its drawl , “Simple deal. Leave the clones, and you may go.”

Gideon shook his head.

Suddenly, the dragonborn from the walls came in. Colena raised her bow. She shot a few times. The Dragonborn in the center seemed to have controlled them, because they advanced on Gideon. They were mindless, ignoring the casualties Colena was causing them. The rest of us had already drawn weapons. “I am tired of these games,” the voice said, turning its tone into an aggressive one .

Gideon was already dragged out of the room. Colena pulled out her bow, aiming a direct shot. It hit his shoulder. Had he not wanted to play games, he would have extracted it, saving himself from the explosion. That wasn’t the case. He looked at Colena, still relaxed.

“Really? Shooting pointy pieces of wo-” The arrow exploded, causing a huge cloud of dust that enveloped him. I could make out that he had fallen out of his chair.

He rose up as the dust settled down. One of his arms had been blasted off. His eyes now looked deadly dangerous. He radiated fury.

“It seems the blood of Gabrielle still holds strong! I only care about the sacrifices, KILL THE REST!” he shouted. He waved his one arm. A red aura erupted around me. I knew that it meant death. However, Colena was highlighted in green. Wait, what? Sacrifices. Does that mean some of us are heirs of Gabrielle?

The cultists turned, walking out of the room, but they fell back.

Why? That is when I heard someone yelling, “CHARGE I GUESS!!” and running. They slammed out from the wall, and I realized they were dwarves. The cultists were hit against the walls. We started hurling spells. The dragonborn stood, and deflected them easily. “Do you know who I am?! Do you know whose blood runs through my veins? Do-” Mitchell had shot a spell from underneath the battle that hit him. In the next moment, he turned into stone.

The dragonborn had dropped their weapons. Baldwin was running up the ramp, and was stopped by Eesta, who slammed him into the ground, killing him. We had won.

--The cultists had disappeared in the middle of the night, leaving their supplies behind. Most of their camp could still be seen.

--The dwarves had made Sidnar part of their empire. Even though that seemed sad for some, if provided them with protection. During the ceremony, they also announced the new Archon: Eesta.

--The food stolen was timidly returned in the middle of the market.

No one would be hungry.

--Eliana and Carina were seen, directing the recent supply chain in the harbor. It was amazing.

--Xuan was once again sitting at the Enchanter’s tower. His destiny was fulfilled , and he could return to his home. However, he also couldn’t. The enchanter’s tower ​was​ his home now.

THE SIEGE OF SIDNAR BY: Vivian

Today is the finale, so Esta went to form an alliance with the dwarves because we needed their help to fight off the cultists. The dwarves asked her if she would obey the laws, and she asked them what happens if she does not obey the laws. The dwarven council put a necklace on the guy and the necklace tightened and blood squirted out of the guy's neck and then his head popped off. I know, it was so DISGUSTING! The council told her that is what happens if someone won't listen to them, and she asked how they know whether she is lying. They asked her what color the book was and she said red, and I think if they were lying then the book would not be red? We went back to Sidnar and there were rioters, and they burned the harbor. They said something like “Get out of here if you want to keep your face.” We went to our tower and Ozmo told Terrence that he had been dead for 1000 years, and that he is a clone and he went crazy! I looked into the tanks that Ozmo had and there was the body of Nathan. I looked into the second tank and there was the body of Mitchell. In the third tank, it was my body, and then I remembered the deal we made with Ozmo to fix our weapons. Rachel is also a clone! So he basically cloned us. We found out that Ozmo is the dragonborn who saved us. We also found out that Gideon is the descendant of Bain. We go to the prison and find that the chosen seven have been reunited, and that they are with the cultists. There are a bunch of people and Baldwin is one of them and I think that one dragon born is Laffaye. Well, there are many dragonborn. We keep on using magic to try to free Gideon and at the end, a mage got sick of it and did magic to make us all shine red except for Colena. What could that mean? Finally we tried to fight and Colena struck someone's arm with her bow and arrow, and it turned out that the guy is Roderick’s descendant. We killed him with magic, though it was a dumb decision not to ask who he was. At the end, the cult surrendered and Xuan caught Baldwin sneaking out but Eesta grabbed him and threw him to the ground before he could escape. We saved the city and now it is part of the Dwarven Empire! Esta fought Baldwin to the death and she won, so now she is Sidnar’s ruler. At the end the tieflings came back, including Eliana and Carina, to feed the city.

That is the end of my story.Â

g n i l e v a r n U t s a P e h T