Born on a cold day in Abadius, the 23rd, I was the third of seven. I always loved animals and as I grew I would often take it upon myself to feed and take care of them. My family had several, a few horses to pull the wagons, guard dogs to help protect us as they traveled from town to town, a few pet cats, and even some livestock, chickens and such, to help keep us well fed. Financially life was very good. Father was very skilled at crafting magical items, and loved to give us the very best. We would want for nothing. Mother was rather well known for Harrow reading, and in every town they set up a shop in she would constantly be doing a reading for someone or other.

Growing up was interesting. Every few months we packed up everything and moved to another town. Some were very large, and other barely had fifty people living there. I occasionally got bored and would end up in my father’s things playing around with some of his crafting materials. He didn’t like that very much and often punished me on the occasions he caught me. It was no surprise to anyone when I started casting spell at 8 years old. It was a good life, I meet a lot of people and learned much about the world.

When I turned 20 mother told me about a reading she gave me when I was born. Apparently it said that I was to leave the family and go off on my own for a while exploring the world. My birth tattoo is supposed to lead the way, but I still don’t know where. I don’t tell anyone about it, so only my family knows, and I don’t know where in this world the map is of. It’s an overland map depicting a few ruins surrounded by a great forest. There appears to be a few small villages on the edges of the map, but unfortunately there are no names on the map. Before I left my family, only two months ago, they made sure I had plenty to help me. At my father’s orders I took Dorin, one of the guard dogs, with me and a pouch full of gold along with some of my personal possessions. Of course, Marduzi is at my side and has been for almost five years now. Amazing creatures bats are;, I don’t know where I’d be without him.

So here I sit in in this tavern having just finished my breakfast, Dorin laying at my feet and Marduzi hanging on my shirt hiding under my cloak. My boots are fully broken in now and my vest is starting to fade. As practical as this outfit is I do miss the vibrant colors of my old cloths. I do love this wide brim hat, keeps the sun from burning my face and the rain from completely drenching me.

One more thing before I go, and it’s a question I’ve been asking my self these last two months: where am I supposed to go?

Character sheet: Zandu Netem [Human sorcerer from Varisia]

Cause of death: cheese.
Cause of death: exploding lighthouse.
Cause of death: smooshed by a hill giant after removing his armor and leaping out from behind a tree.
Cause of death: a big hug from a shoggti (demonic outsider).
Cause of death: cast lightning bolt at lich, and received fireball in return.
Cause of death: fighting a demon unarmed or armored.
Cause of death: finding out just how angry fire makes trolls.
Cause of death: dire boar searching for the chewy nougat center.
Cause of death: dropped below zero by a Cone of Cold spell.
Cause of death: he touched the altar anyway.
Cause of death: rolling down stone steps to retrieve lantern, catching on fire, being attacked by undead, eventually being rendered unconscious. Mercy killing by party member.
Cause of death: TPK by a chuul while trying to impress the troglodytes.
Cause of death: killed by Sanura’s doppelganger while remaining party watched.
Cause of death: bled out amidst a pile of healing potions, five feet from party members.
Cause of death: really big explosion.
Cause of death: strangled, crushed, swallowed whole, and then digested by the Hive Mother of the Monster the DM Made Up himself.
Cause of death: lit self on fire while being devoured by scarab beetles.
Cause of death: other.

2001-2008

The answer to that question came to be in the form of an old man. We both took shelter from the approaching storm in an abandoned cabin along some nameless road. With a fire lit in the fireplace to fend off the cold we shared our rations and tales of our travels. He told me that he had once been an explorer seeking out old ruins and secrets for the Pathfinder Society based in Absalom— a society whose purpose is to learn the mysteries of the world and find answers to undiscovered questions.

We talked well into the night until I nodded off from the prior day’s travels. When I awoke the fire had burned itself low. The old man was no where in the cabin and there were no footsteps in the newly fallen snow around the cabin.

So, I found myself booking passage aboard a ship on route to the city of Absalom to see what mysteries and answers await me there.

Just before I left the ship that brought me to this marvelous city I made the acquaintance of two very capable females. Tythe is a very dark-skinned elf, tall, agile and as I found out likes rum, a lot. Astrid is a half-elf who seems to prefer carrying a very large sword and as I later discovered has a wonderful talent with music.

We were on our way to a nice inn called the Golden Griffin when I noticed three men drag a fourth off into an alley. It may not have been the best of ideas, but I lead my to new friends over to help this stranger. I was attempting to be discreet, but I guess Astrid doesn’t know what that is. Anyway after some talk with the one assailant, I told them simply that if they let the guy go I would let them live. His response was to have three more of his friends come at us from behind. We killed a few before they ran off. That’s when we met Salma. She just showed up and started to heal the wounded, and was berating us for fighting. I explained to her what happened and she seemed to reluctantly calm down. The victim, Torin Radu, thanked us and told us he would deal with the town guard, so I invited Salma to join us for a drink as well.

Within a few minutes we were all sitting at the bar enjoying a drink (Salma had water, her preference) and I asked the bartender how to find out information on a map. I was again told about the Pathfinder Society and was given directions on how to get there. I talked with my new companions as Salma led the way and Astrid tried to keep Tythe walking in a straight line. She really likes her rum. Fascinating group I have now I only hope my sisters grows up to have the same traits these three ladies have.

At the Pathfinder Society I was told I could get the info if I went to collect a book from a man named Gill. I agreed and again Salma lead us to something called the Puddles District. It’s a very rough part of town where only the poorest of people live. I felt for them as we made our way to our destination. Unfortunately, we could tell something was wrong when we reached Gill’s house. The door was open, and no one answered. Astrid saw someone watching us so I went after to see if this person saw what happened. For a few copper the nice old lady informed us that three men went in and took Gill from his house and dragged him off to some cliffs. She pointed the way and we were off as fast as we could go.

What I saw appalled me, these men had four old men shackles together and were about to push them off a cliff. I told them that if they let the old men go I would let them live. So the one kicked the first off and all of them started to go over. Astrid ran and caught the chain to pull them up. I was kind of low on spells from my last fight so I pulled my bow along with Tythe (she is an amazing shot) and we started to attack.

When all was said and done I had to give Astrid a healing potion and took one myself. Salma was tending to the old men and the attackers were either dead or had run off like the cowards they are.

As Tythe unlocked the shackles I handed Gill the letter from the Pathfinders Society. He then explained that the book contained codes from an invading army over 100 years ago. The problem was that when he tried one of the codes the army rose from the dead and went to complete their mission. He did discover a master abort code that would prevent this from happening, he just couldn’t remember it. Even worse it seems that a man called Nessiam had the book. We started to escort Gill and his three friends to the Pathfinders society, but unfortunately we saw some flashing lights from off in the distance. Gill remembered that that code meant the granary was to be poisoned. We sent his three friends off alone the as Gill and the rest of us went to prevent the entire city from a horrible death.

We found three town guards dead at the door, which was broken open. And inside the granary we found robed undead with a chest. Astrid sang and attacked, Salma called to her god, and Tythe did her best with a sword. I cast a few spells from behind as Dorin helped to defend us. The fight didn’t last very long, after a couple of bursts of energy from Salma the undead were again dead. Just after the town guard showed up and we explained what happened. We searched the building, but found no sign of Nessiam, so we headed for the pathfinders Society .

I thought it was strange that everyone was in bed sleeping with everything that was going on, but I then found out the Gill’s three friends never made it there. We filled them in on everything and when Gill mentioned he knows a man who can help us find Nessiam we all headed of to the Siphons located under the Puddles district.

After walking chest deep in sea water, Dorin swimming most of the way, we came to a door and were eventually let in to ask Grand Master Torch what he knew of Nessiam. He was unwilling to just give us the info, buy we could buy it for 3000 gold. Yeah like we had that kind of money. So instead he gave us a challenge, he had five chests he was unable to open and he wanted us to open them without stealing anything. I know it was just a test of our character and abilities, the chests weren’t that difficult to open. Torch was so impressed with us that he gave us the info and 100 gold each. Turns out Nessiam is holed up in an abandoned siege tower just outside of the city. As we were leaving the sewers the sun was rising and my stomach was growling. I stifled a yawn and that’s when it another signal was pointed out to me. We’ll have to forgo food and rest for now and go to the Metro Cathedral and stop more, then deal with Nessiam before we can go bathe, eat and sleep.

We need to finish this, and it needs to be finished NOW. It’s only been a full day, I know, but first the granary, then the test we had to go through just to get a little information, then the cathedral, and now we are so close. Here at the “pyramid,” if you can really call it that, of the dog, we’ve done almost everything but get that book. I’m starting to get a bit cranky, and hacking away at people with my claws is something I don’t like doing. It’s just I really don’t like to get blood on my hands. I’d much rather cast in a few spells, but we’re so close. If Nessiam will just surrender it will be all over.

Right I forgot to tell you about the cathedral. We got there just after all but one girl was killed, and we destroyed the undead. I shake a bit every time I got some of that disgusting decay on my hands, but I’ll deal with it. We attempted to play the song, and did so horribly. Then we ran for a couple of hours to this pyramid/tower thing. Well, let’s get it done.

Well, that’s over. After we burned the door down and followed Nessiam’s escape route for a while we searched the tower. The book was locked in an iron chest which was rather easily opened and we returned it to the Pathfinder Society. After making sure the master abort code was used I showed them my birth tattoo and explained a little about it. They brought in a nice cartographer and the next thing I knew I was being nudged awake. We then returned to the Golden Griffin Inn where we had a nice bath and something to snack on. Then it was suddenly morning.

While having breakfast, an older woman from next door came in and started screaming about demons in her basement. We went to check it out and discovered that someone had dug a hole right into her basement wall. As per my suggestion the town guard was called and they decided to take over from here, so we went to stock up on supplies.

When we returned to the inn there was a message for us from some one with the initials TR. We went to the tavern mentioned and it turned out to be the nice guy we helped a few days ago. He said his sister is under some kind of spell and we need to get her back. So we are going to attend a Ball and attempt to bring her home. This sounds like fun to me.