Professor Arryn's Story (Part 5)

Here the next six letters and diary excerpts from Professor Arryn Jones, my D&D character.

To read the previous parts of the story, click the links:
Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

To those who are D&D players, there are spoilers for the adventure Treasure of the Broken Horde below.
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27 Mirtul, 1493 DR  (27 May)

Dad,

It is done!  I summoned an arcanaloth called A’kin.  It turns out that the book and the ritual are what summon him; the components list was actually a recipe for his favorite food as traveling that far makes him hungry.  Haha.

We talked for quite a while and came to an agreement on our Pact.  He wants my loyalty and for me deliver to him any information and secrets I gather.  I am to cook his meal and summon him once a month to report.  In return, he will give me power and the ability to use spells as a warlock.  I think that is a fair trade!  He seems rather friendly for a yugoloth, actually, which really surprised me.  There’s a chance that we may eventually become friends; If he truly is what he seems to be, that is.

I already feel the power coursing through me.  Dad, it is amazing!  The very first spell I cast was Comprehend Languages.  I walked down to the common room and listened in on conversations in Dwarvish, Gnomish, and I even caught some Undercommon!  I sat there stunned, thinking about all of the possibilities this has opened up.  I am in awe.  Tomorrow I am going to visit the library!

Love,
Arryn 

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29 Mirtul, 1493 DR  (29 May)

Dad,

I checked in at the local Harper’s hangout that Artus told me of.  A big fellow, going by the name “Bart,” told me of a possible job that just came in.  I’m to meet up with Veradda Stoor in the village of Parnast, in the foothills of the Greypeak Mountains.  It seems I wasn’t the only one who heard of the opportunity. 

I ran into a couple guys on the road traveling in the same direction.  It turns out that they were headed to Parnast, too.  We decided to band together as we don’t know what trouble we might encounter. 

Secretly I am relieved to have a paladin on my team.  If I get hurt someone will be able to heal me.  The other guy seems to be able to cook anything!  It is really tasty, too. 

Love,
Arryn

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3 Kythorn, 1493 DR  (3 June)

Dad,

This power… its amazing!  I can throw blasts of force or shield myself in magical armor.  With these new abilities I can dispatch wicked creatures and find the knowledge they have kept away from the rest of the world. 

Unfortunately our contact, Veradda Stoor was killed.  We found her body on the roadside with little evidence as to who killed her.  She had some scrolls on her with possible locations of Dragon Cultist’s hidden caches.  Our small group decided to head forward and check them out to seem what could be claimed.  There’s three sites described on the scrolls:  an abandoned (goblin?) cave, and pyramid of stone, and old abandoned Giant’s shrine.  It looks as though we’re going to explore the cave site first as it is the closest.

This is exciting!

Love,
Arryn

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8 Kythorn, 1493 (8 June)

Dad,

It turns out the cave was not abandoned after all. There was a swarm of  miniature goblins still in residence.  There was a giant’s corpse in the cave, in a sprung trap, which made everything smell even worse.   The stench was quite overwhelming.  It was quite fun defeating them though.  Quite a challenge!

But t8 Kythorn, 1493 (8 June)

Dad,

It turns out the cave was *not* abandoned after all. There was a swarm of  *miniature* goblins still in residence, as well as a miniaturized Giant.  (That’s an odd sentence!). There was a (regular size) giant’s corpse in the cave, too, in a sprung trap, which made everything smell even worse.   The stench was quite overwhelming.  It was quite fun defeating them though.  Quite a challenge!

But there’s the question; why were the Giants there?

We’d moved on to the next point on the map; the pyramid of stone.  It was actually made of stone creatures that were quite friendly!  Ggrrkk even told us of local news: another giant!

When we got to the top there was indeed the back end of a giant blocking the entrance.  With some effort, and a lot of cringe factor, we were able to move him to read the engraving:

“TO PASS YOU MUST SPEAK THE PHRASE OF PRAISE….”  Those cultists are sure fanatical about their queen.

Unfortunately the place was already looted out.  The only thing left of value was a ledger of cultist names.  Of course, stupid kobolds would never understand the value of knowledge.  All the better for us!

Love,
Arryn
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14 Kythorn, 1493 DR  (14 June)

Dad!

Oh my goodness!  I just got to explore the alter of Annam the All-Father.  He’s the giant’s god of Knowledge, Magic, Fertility, and Philosophy.  It was so beautiful! 

A dragon had roosted her for a while, but it has since moved on.  Maybe it and the dragon cultists (dead behind the alter) got into some kind of fight.  The only thing that was here when we arrived were some mephits and some very large owls.

Just as we were about to leave, a very large storm giant came in to investigate the recent desecration.  He introduced himself as Kraddokk and was very pleasant.  He told us that now that the age of dragons is over that the age of giants has begun.  He said there is war between the giant clans and we should warn everyone to stay clear of the sacred places of giants and their dwellings.

After the dragonborn offered him some our food, the giant actually gifted us with some potions and bid us good day.

I’m still is shock!  I think I better brush up on my Giant; its been years since I’ve practiced the language.

Love,
Arryn

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24 Kythorn, 1493 (23 June)

Mother,

I’ve started my adventures and have been having a grand time!  I've absolutely fallen in love with magic.  No, I've not forgotten about Ramas; this is different.  Magic has opened up so many possibilities for me, and for the knowledge I can reclaim from the forgotten corners of Faerûn.  I just recently visited a giant's temple.  It was so beautiful that words cannot describe it!

I’ve made my way back to Everlund and the Moongleam Tower.  The group that I was traveling with wasn’t a good fit.  While I did like the dragonborn and his amazing food, the paladin was too serious for my taste.  The Harpers here are really helpful and are going to help me find another group that would be better a team for me.

I hope all is well with you and Henry.

Love,
Arryn


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Here's her picture!  I found an image on the internet (that I can't find anymore or I'd totally give the artist credit!) that I really liked but I wanted to tweak several things.  This is my edited version that depicts Prof. Arryn and her familiar, Ozzy, whom I will introduce later.

This brings me to my current gaming experience!  I play once a week on Mondays.  I've joined a group mid-way into Storm King's Thunder so there will be spoilers for anyone else who is playing that season.

How should I publish from here?  Should I publish one tidbit at a time?  Or would you like chunks as I did before? 
 

Professor Arryn's Story (Part 4)

Here are four more letters and diary excerpts from Professor Arryn Jones, my D&D character.

To read the previous parts of the story, click the links:
Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

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1 Mirtul, 1493 DR  (1 May)

Dad,

I did it!  I got the book!  I had to set up poor Ramas in an awkward situation and I feel really bad about that.  He was able to get himself out of it, so it ended well.  Unfortunately, I also stood him up for our dinner date, and I’ll have to find some way to apologize to him for that.  I don’t like deceiving him and not sure that I want to do it anymore.

I can’t read my book just yet.  I think there’s some sort of spell on it that I have to get removed. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight from all the excitement, so I’ll go back and grade some more research papers.

Love,
Arryn

Professor Arryn's Story (Part 3)

Here are four more letters and diary excerpts from Professor Arryn Jones, my D&D character.

To read the previous parts of the story, click the links:
Part 1  Part 2

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28 Alturiak, 1493 DR. (28 February)

Dear Mother,

I hope this letter finds you in good health.  My apologizes for not writing for a few tendays now; I’ve been working on a big project and it has taken all of my attention.  Well, most of it anyway.  The rest has been trying to decide what to do about Professor Nathandem.  He’s now insisting that I call him “Ramas,” and acting rather familiar.  Tell me, Mother: How do you know when someone is in love?  What should I do?  I desperately need to focus on my project, but he is so… alluring.  Debating with him is very enjoyable, and I have to admit that I like the way he looks at me.  What did you think of him when you met at Highharvestide?

Arg. I ramble on.  I really need to focus on my project!  I’m concerned that if I don’t keep my focus then I wont be able to succeed in this advancement.  What do I do, Mother?  Ramas has asked me to dinner several times and I’ve kept coming up with excuses to avoid him.  Very soon I’ll have to say yes to appease his pursuit, and I admit a part of me is pleased at the thought.

Professor Arryn's Story (Part 2)

Here are four more letters and diary excerpts from Professor Arryn Jones, my D&D character.

To read Part 1 click here.

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3 Alturiak, 1493 DR  (3 February)

Dad,

Today, after a particularly captivating lecture about Karsus's Folly, Professor Nathandem invited me to tea to talk more on the subject.  Our discussion continued for quite some time until we were interrupted by our class schedules.  He invited me to join him in the Rare Books library soon, which only the senior professors have access to.  He wants to show me the texts which support his argument disagreeing with Mystra's limit on magic. 

Professor Arryn's Story (Part 1)

I told you before that I've started playing Dungeons and Dragons again.  I like to fully create my character, with personality, quirks, and back story.   I've spent a lot of time developing her story, and researching some of the world of Forgotten Realms (one of the worlds used in Dungeons & Dragons), and some other things.  I've made my character related to another famous character, which I'm sure you'll pick up on before long. lol

The short version:

Professor Arryn is a half-elf Rogue/Warlock.  She is a book nerd, loves mysteries, and highly values knowledge; she will do whatever it takes to collect it.

Here are letters and diary excerpts I've written to explain her back story.  I've written more, but I'll give you a few "entries" at a time.  Please note that the world of the Forgotten Realms has their own calendar, holidays, and culture, which I will reference.  I'll give the equivalent of our dates to have the progression make more sense to you.

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5 Elesias, 1492 DR (5 August)

Dear Mother,

I hope you had a wonderful Midsummer!  My celebrations were pleasant enough.  I am happy to tell you that I start my new teaching position this autumn.  I’ll be the Professor of History at the College of Fochlucan!  Silverymoon!  I get to move from this tiny no-name town and back to the city of my birth.  Perhaps you’ll come visit me? 

Strawberry Yogurt Soup

Hello!  I've been busy with house stuff and retaining my sanity.  Much of my time has been spent trying to resolve our current health insurance mess.  We were approved to have OHP, but they still had it on record that we had private insurance, which we lost when my husband got laid off, so I've been having to untangle it.  I wont go into more detail as it is confusing and borning.  I think I'm finally near the end of it!  I'm still fixing doctor appointments though.  My doctor that I just got doesn't take my new insurance so I'm having to switch again, as well as other family appointments.

Good news!  My husband started a new job last week!  It's through a temp agency, but both the agency and the workplace have made my husband feel appreciated and productive.  He's also on day shift!  Hallaluja!  He gets up at 5 a.m. now, instead of 10 a.m.  I'm adjusting my schedule a little bit (I used to get up at 6:30) so I'll be getting up with him.  It's *so nice* to be able to cuddle with him instead of sleeping alone.

I've been doing art on the computer these last few weeks.  I've had several graphic design orders - a few repeat customers came back.  I love hand dyers!  They make such lovely yarn and they like to dress them up with pre-printed labels, which I am happy to make for them.  :D  It's so satisfying to work with other artists! :)

Ooh, I don't think I told you all that we got a fish!  Anna's been wanting fish for quite some time but I didn't have any time or money to invest into an aquarium.  I told her it would have to wait until after Pandora, our ferret, was gone.  She passed a few months ago now and my daughter was having a hard time with it, so I was thinking it would be a really good idea to try to get fish sooner rather than later.  So I started looking at fish books with her and we decided on a betta and a mystery snail.

Then a friend had a betta they were thinking about getting rid of; apparently he killed any tank mates and she didn't like that.  I told her that was funny as we were thinking about getting a betta and a snail.  So we talked about it a bit more and they brought over the whole 5.5 gallon tank a couple days later!  Anna was thrilled!  While I started working on getting everything set back up Anna decided to name him "Soup."  😂  The previous owner told me she'd named him "Strawberry Yogurt" because of his red/white coloring.  So his full name is "Strawberry Yogurt Soup."  Hehe.

I've been working on getting him happy as there were a few things making him upset.  He didn't like the stronger current of the filter so I changed it.  Then he got sick (probably from stress from the move) and there were a lot of nitrates in the water.  I've been doing daily water changes to fix that.  He seems much happier and relaxed than he was when we first got him.  He's settling in nicely.

Note: His fins have healed more since this picture was taken.  I'll post more later. :)

Never a dull moment!

I'm back, again.  I really don't like being away but sometimes I really can't help it.  😥

So just as I was getting on a roll with my blog things go reeeeeal interesting in my life.  Sigh.  Things never are simple. lol  First I had an anxiety breakdown.  I got help and got the ball rolling to get mental health services for myself and special needs services for my kids.  THEN, my husband got laid off from his stable job of 9 years.

I'm actually okay about my husband being laid off as things were getting ugly at work.  His superviser was being abusive and getting away with it, and I was really done with the whole swing-shift thing making me a single parent.  (It had been 2 years on that schedule!)  But with having gotten all the balls rolling for all of the health care I couldn't just let it all drop.  I need to resolve my anxiety with a councilor.  My boys need extra services for their special needs.  My husband needs to continue to take his medications or he will die.  (Today is the 1 year anniversary of the day I nearly lost him to heart failure and a pulmanary embulsism.)

I had to do all the paperwork, appointments, and phone calls to get health insurance through the state, which I did.  Then some things with what was approved was wrong so I'm still going through all the steps to get it straightened out.

Meanwhile I haven't had terribly much time and attention to do any in-depth crafting.  I'd mostly sit down on the couch in the evening with an audiobook and my knitting, and promptly fall asleep instead.  It was mighty frustrating!  Then an opportunity came up that I couldn't pass:  My husband's schedule had changed so he'd be home with the kids and I could go play Dungeons and Dragons in our friend's group.

I haven't been able to play regularly since I was in college.  Several months ago I created a character for a 1-off event and I'll be playing her: Professor Arryn, an overly curious half-elf who sold her soul to and Elder God in trade for knowledge (warlock).  I've decided to actualy MAKE my Book of Shadows (my pact boon).  I'll be doing it art-book style from an old book I had in crafting supplies, convienantly titled Magic Made Easy. lol  It's a discarded library book, which further goes with my character's background.  Maybe I'll write some stories later of her adventures and share them with you.  We'll see, but I will definately keep you updated on the progress of my book! :)  So far I've copy/pasted some of the text I'll need handy from the downloadable version of the Players Handbook and printed it out to paste into my book.  (Our family owns two hard copies of it and this is for private use only so I should be okay.) 

In addition, an online friend is getting married very soon.  I'm working on some crochet hearts that she's requested so her online crew can be represented at her wedding.  :)  I've made three so far.  I'm going to see if I can make 3-9 more and mail them out by Saturday.

So that's what's going on currently.  There's a lot to do and I hope to get back to my regular schedule again.  That's all the time I have for now, so TTFN.

P.S. My husband got a temp job yesterday.  Yahoo!

Job Rewards System

The job system I have set up for my kids had grown stale; I would assign points with signatures on the refrigerator and then award prizes out of a box.  Unfortunately, my daughter tried to sneak some of the prizes, so I put them in a cupboard out of reach.  Out of sight, out of mind. :(

I used my husband as a sounding board.  What would work?  Should I hang them on a clothesline?  Should I stick them to the outside of cupboard?  What if I displayed them on the wall a la Chucky Cheese?  (We'd been to two birthday parties last weekend, both were at arcades with prize walls.).  I liked this idea, but where would I put it so that 1) it didn't take so much work I wouldn't upkeep it 2) the kids couldn't sneak things easily and 2) it needs to not look tacky.  This is my home after all!

My exhaustion-induced OCD babbling continued until about 12:30 a.m. when I finally struck upon the idea that I'd go with:  I'd tape poster board to the inside of a cabinet's glass window and affix prizes and coupons to it with mounting puddy!  This particular cabinet is on the side of our TV and isn't used as much as the other side so I wouldn't be blocking anything vital.

Peanuts Strike Again!

Last week was Spring Break.  Not only were my kids home all week, but the kids I daycare for were here all week as well.  I had the whole week planned for to keep them all busy so they didn't eat me.  (You know that meme where Chris Pratt is keeping the raptors at bay?  Yeah, that's my home every day.)  The week went rather well.  Yes, there were mild disasters, but nothing unexpected.  Paint got everywhere as we all made treasure boxes (tutorial is coming soon!), popcorn got all over the floor, many cookies were eaten, and several episodes of Gumby were watched.

My kitchen was a wreck all week.  But not for the reasons you would think.  Sure, the kids used a lot of extra dishes but I was running the dishwasher three times a day.  The problem was that I was running another peanut purge.  Yup.  Tuesday morning we had peanut butter in the dishwasher again.

Sigh.

Spring is here!

While Oregon teases us and lets us see the sun every once in a while, I know that more sun is coming.  It is already much warmer and after such a harsh winter we are ready to get outside! 

I’ve been working a lot in the garden this week, cleaning, setting up, and repotting the plants that the kids started over two weeks ago.  I live in an apartment so I don’t have and ground to dig in, but I do have a good space for a potted garden.  

Really I have a brown thumb.  I have killed so many plants it isn’t funny.  I have been trying to learn over the years what works for me and what doesn’t.  For the longest time I couldn’t have indoor plants and my ferret would dig them up, or my kids would knock them over.  My kids will ever be a danger, lol, but I’ve learned better placement when I have plants indoors.  TV trays in the corner by the sliding glass door work pretty well.

On the porch I’ve had realize that I have FULL SUN all day long and certain plants don’t do so well, or don’t do well if I don’t keep them *really well watered.*. (Cough) Sorry tomatoes! (cough). So I’ve skipped the more delicate plants until I improve with my diligence of caring for the plants.

Last year I had a *gorgeous* succulent that I unfortunately lost to an insect invasion in the fall.  It spread to a few other plants I had, too, which was really sad.  I’ll have to get another one of those.  Besides desert plants, I have a spider plant that my sister gave me from her Mother Ship.  I’ve named it Satellite (hehe) and it has done extremely well both on my porch and inside the sliding glass door.  She’s produced many of her own satellites over the last year and a half that I’ve had her. 

Marigolds always do well on my porch, but this is the first year in several that I don’t have any.  This year a friend gave me a bunch of wildflower seeds so I’m trying those out.  I also got Teddy Bear sunflowers as my kids really really really wanted sunflowers.  These were the smallest I could find, and they’ve planted so many seeds that they’re going to take over my garden later this summer.  lol. 

Besides flowers, I really like to have an edible garden.  Peas are excellent; they’re pretty, provide some privacy screening, and are a yummy snack. 😃. Thomas loves to grow carrots and eat them fresh out of the garden, so I always have some smaller varieties of those.  I have spinach, basil, and rosemary too!

I have a little shelf connected to my house where it gets some shade during the day.  I’ve decided I want chives (they did extremely well before) and cilantro there.  I’ve not gotten those in yet, probably get to it this weekend.

A few weeks ago my daughter decided that she’s in love with worms.  She kept begging me to go on a walk so she could say “Hi,” to all the cute pink worms.  Haha!  Some friends encouraged me to build a worm bin and let her have pet worms.  I reluctantly have agreed but I am *not* going to be the one taking care of them. lol

I repurposed a rubbermaid bin that I had in the other room.  I drilled some air holes in the sides and drainage holes in the bottom.  The kids shredded newspaper, soaked and squeezed it out, and I fluffed it up as they put it in.  Then they threw in some old fruits and veggies we had, as well as some coffee grounds.  Then we had to wait for it to rain again.  The instructions we followed to build a worm bin are here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/garden-yard/make-worm-bin-ze0z11zhir?pageid=1#PageContent1

My daughter was so cute with her shovel and pail.  We walked the older kids to school and she was saving worms in the parking lot.  She talked to them and tried to encourage them to get on her shovel!  Haha.  I think she saved about 15-20 worms that day.  We’ll have to gather some more again soon.  I don’t see much activity in the bin yet, but maybe we’ll see some castings soon.  They’ll be really good for our garden when they’re ready.

Today I bought some bricks to boost up the garden pots off of the concrete, and while I was at it, I bought some big bricks for the worm shelter, too.  They’re going to live on the porch so I’ll have to block the sun from roasting them.  I’ll get you a picture of that when it is complete.  As you can see, my daughter is NOT shy about playing her pets. lol

 

My.HomeRoutines

Yay, I’m getting this blog posted on time!

I know it sounds funny but this is a big deal to me.  By nature, my life has to be flexible to do all the things I need to do.  I have three kids, two with special needs and one still very young.  They need my attention 24 hours a day.  I know a lot of people in need of Tender Loving Care that God regularly brings to me to care for -  He made me a heart-healer to help these people, and I go where he calls me to.  This often calls for cancelling or rearranging my plans to meet their need which sometimes makes getting my own things done difficult.  I have happily done this for many years but lately it has grown too difficult as my life has increased demands.

So I’m cutting back on my flexibility and increasing my schedule.  I have two home businesses and I cannot manage them without set hours.  My daycare hours are already set, but Rachel’s Cozy Knits & Designs kept getting neglected, as did my house cleaning.  So I pulled out a tool that I’ve not used in a while. 

Stretched Thin

I've told you before that this is a blog about my life just as much as it is about my art.  My artistic efforts are one segment of my life, and an important one.  Without creating, I wouldn't be me.

Some days its been hard to have enough brain power and inspiration to create.  My husband and I have been struggling to keep up.  Not with the Jones', but the bills - the demands of life.  He has his regular job which pays most of the bills, but those bills keep increasing.  (i.e. Rent just increased in the fall.)  He has a creative mind, too, and

Christmas coat

One day my five-year-old daughter, Anna, looked in my closet and saw a little green coat hanging. She asked me about it; I told her it was the coat that I had knit for her when she was about two years old. I told her that she had outgrown it.  She wanted to try it on anyway, insisting that it would fit her. Well, it did fit around her chest but the sleeves only went to her elbows - not very useful for a coat. The yarn had been discounted and I'd long since ran out n my stash, and the coat was felted anyway.  I couldn’t invasion a way to lengthen the sleeves that I would be satisfied with, so I had put it away for another child to enjoy someday.

Anna kept talking about her coat.  She wanted to visit and hug it.  I recalled that I had received some gorgeous wine-red Lopi bulky yarn in a craft swap.  It would be perfect for another coat!  Christmas was coming soon, and it would be a perfect gift.

Wow, the past few months have been *very* busy for me.  Not only was there the usual holiday rush, but Portland was hit with Snowmegeddon - twice!  The first hit right before winter break, so the kids were out of school early.  Then after the extra-long break, they only got to back to school for a few days before we got hit again, this time harder than the first!  Our cities aren't used to the levels of snow that we've gotten this winter and the roads weren't taken care of.  Then a few days later we got ice storms that froze the roads into skating rinks for a week.  It effectively shut much of the cities down, including the schools!

We finally are back to normal weather for the first time in over a month, and the kids are finally back in school.  Add in a bad flu, a lice scare, friends moving, and notice of a relative's passing.  Unfortunately, damage has been done and I am battling burn-out. 

The only knitting I've been doing recently is ribbed hats that don't take any concentration at all.  Its about all that I could handle for a while.  I hope that once I'm rested a bit more then I can get back into some juicy projects.  I want to finish designing the alien hats I'd been working on! 

Next time I will show you what I worked on for my kid's Christmas gifts.