A Discovery In The Mountains

[Evilbanana5757 154]

OOC NOTE: I talked to the maker of beardmancy (who has left the server) and asked if I could try to reintroduce it, sort of, into the server again. Honestly I'm not sure if anyone has actually become a beardmancer yet and I don't really want it to die out, so I wrote up a self teach tome. I'll see what I'll do with it later. Anyways, without further ado, here's the story I made on how my character actually got the tome in the first place, so it doesn't just appear randomly. Enjoy <3 (even though I suck at writing :c)

 

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Gil’ead cursed silently to himself as he tried to push the large, scratched and irregularly shaped boulder out from the small, almost hidden doorway in the mountainside.

 

He failed.

 

 

“Damn this, why do I even bother…” he muttered to himself, glancing around at the view in front of him. It was beautiful, really, with the sun setting behind the mountains. There were many, he noted, and they each had their own long, sloping valleys, full of rocks, gravel, and, of course, grass. He stared at the short, coarse grass in front of him, the kind that only grew in the harshest of environments. In this place, it seemed, this grass was the only living thing around. But Gil’ead knew that was false; creatures lurked here, from beetles to snakes to darker things.

 

And that was why he really, really needed to get that boulder away from the door.

 

“Perhaps… no, no, that wouldn’t… or… maybe…” he murmured as he paced about, desperately trying to see if he could break in before the sun set. If he did not open it soon, he knew, he would soon have to pitch up his tent and admit defeat.

 

But in that moment, inspiration struck. This was likely because at this point, Gil’ead was thinking of the last warm inn he had been staying though. It was nice, warm, and cozy; but he remembered how he stared up at the cobblestone wall surrounding it and saw how it was cracked and chipped, due to water managing to find itself seeping into the tiniest of cracks, and once winter came it froze, turning into ice and slowly pulling the stone apart.

 

“Aha!” Gil’ead shouted into the frosty air. “I have it, I have it…” he quietly whispered to himself, standing back and observing the boulder from a distance.

 

 

He noticed how, although it was mostly compact and together, there was a thin crack down the middle. It would be perfect for what Gil’ead had in mind. He took a step back, taking a relaxed breath and closing his eyes. His hands, which were held out in front of him, moved in an odd sort of fashion as he seemed to concentrate for a few seconds. Then, before him, a swirling ball of water appeared, around the size of a fist. As he opened his eyes tentatively the ball grew, becoming about a foot long in diameter. He smiled faintly to himself, and with another jerk of the hand he guided it over towards the boulder. He moved his hand slightly, and the water splashed into the tiny crack in the center. Gil’ead waited a couple seconds for it to fully seep through, then he closed his eyes once more, picturing the water frozen. The faint cracking sound in front of him told him that it had worked. Inside, he felt overjoyed! Slowly, he opened his eyes once more, and saw…

 

The boulder hadn’t moved.

 

However, the crack has become considerably larger! This gave him a great deal of encouragement, and so for the next hour or so Gil’ead repeated steps until finally, the boulder quite literally broke in half and fell apart.

 

 

Smiling with content, Gil’ead waited a minute for the dust to clear, then he walked inside. He was surprised at first, for it looked almost identical to some halflings burrow!  It was cozy, with a nice couch by the side, a table in the middle, an expansive kitchen of sorts, and even a warm-looking fireplace, which still had old half-burnt logs sitting inside.  Gil’ead honestly had no idea who would ever possibly live here and why, but it truly did not matter to him. He was an adventurer at heart, and finding secluded little places like these were really what meant most to him. Oh, and the treasures that went along with them.

 

In his book, a mysterious ruin was not complete unless it had some old artifact inside. In Gil’ead experience that could be anything from an old, dusty book to a bag of golden coins. And so, for the next few hours Gil’ead scoured the entire room. He found old knives, old pans, old inkwells, and even a bottle of ale that looked to be a hundred years old! After giving it a quick sniff he decided that it probably would not even be fit for a rat.

 

 

All in all, the room really didn’t have much at all. That is, until Gil’ead decided it would be a good idea to try and get a fire going. He walked over to the fireplace, taking out the old logs. Right as he was about put in some new ones in, he noticed a small, dirty book among the ashes. He bent down, picked it up and dusted it off. Then he read the title, and gasped.

 

“Beardmancy! JAACKPOT!” He laughed and laughed, for now, in his hand, he held the tome of perhaps the rarest of any magical art.

 

So, with a simple smile, he sat down, and whispered to himself…

 

“Time... time for the world to feel the power of beards, once more....”

 

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[Ford 1996]

why

[Fredfort (jens6851) 283]

Lovely lovely story  .

I look forward to this becoming a respected magic subtype. 

[Soggy365 162]

*Aldal Ireheart, travelling through the mountains on one of his many pilgrimages, imagines he hears the sound of insane laughter from a nearby crevice. Shrugging he continues on, fancying he catches a few words between the chuckles*

 

"Beardmanceh? Whut in Yemekar's name is that?"

 

*He strokes his beard thoughtfully*

 

"Maybe this is a soign! Ah 'ave been called tehr grow mah beard inteh deh most magnificen' beard in Anthos!"

 

*Aldal chuckles, continuing on his way*

[Gathius di Silvari 73]

Gathius de Silvarois looks down at his long gray beard descending past his waist kicking the snow in some forgotten wasteland.

[Birdwhisperer 1174]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.