Beware the Tree Devil

(This is a character related post from the point of view of my current character Aram the Tree Devil)

The truth behind things is easy to see. The trick is to believe that what is perceived can be changed. I found myself wandering the streets of the fair city looking for employment. Money is needed for my ambitions, and so coin is what I search for. Unfortunately I did not find destiny, it found me, and honestly, who wants hand outs from destiny, its an embarassment. Still, the coin was needed, and so I listened to the lady who tried her best to be polite. An act, an illusion of who she is made apparent by her frustration with me. But if she is not tested, both her and I will not know her own shortcomings, so it was a learning experience for us both. It seemed I had a date with a rapist and murderer, also, a man of great power. I use the term loosely, for his is a perceived power, one that he does not have himself, but one that is given to him by others. It does not make him less dangerous, but it makes him easy to see and read. Regardless, the man asked for us, and tasked us with gaining an item for him. A flask containing a demon of dreams.  He didnt tell us this last part of course, but I found it out on my own. I find most things out on my own. Elven enginuity and all that. Ah, but I wasnt the only one invited.  There were three others, all human. One was a priest named Callus, A strange man worshipping a strange god. I didnt really like him much, for he had very little substance. Men of cloth seldom do, they try there best to fit a niche role in there gods profile and become less because of it. How the man attracts followers or shepards his flock is beyond me. Fate and Destiny, letting things come to you or accepting them as they fall in your lap. Its just lazy. I wonder how he brings council and succor to his followers. "Dont worry my child. It will happen, or it wont." I think I'd stop attending services shortly after. Still, he has a single mindedness to him that makes him easy to read, and thus easy to trust. I wont expect suprises from him, and he seems to have a good soul to him. I suppose thats enough, the rest isnt very important to me. At least at the moment. Another human was Erick, he was an odd, short tempered human, but that was to be expected from a warrior. He wanted to turn his blade to make things safe, and that philosohpy is fine by me. My first impression was a good one. His words would be honest, as would his actions. The last human was a Knight. Sir Drake. Well, I didnt like him at first. He was the prime bootlicker of Felix, and that made him another enemy, simply by association.  Still, time and action could prove otherwise, as it did so often.  After being given an assortment of information I hit as many contacts and sources as I could, finding a decent amount of useful information, as well as more than a few tid bits of tediously found useless information. Still, it was enjoyable enough to simply peruse the books for something as sound as an adventure.  Preperations were made after the weekend, its taboo in some insanities to go adventuring on weekends, and so we decided against it. Still, we made good progress, for we had found information from one of the guards that orcs were raiding nearby travelers. We all agreed that killing them and putting an end to the threat of bandit raiders would be worth the expenditure of a bit of effort. Suprisingly, me and the priest work well together. I cant  get a handle on him, but we seem to have a similar mind of tactics. Should he travel with us i'm sure we'll get along just fine, for I can at least understand him on the field of battle. All of our troupes members know there roles quite well, and I was grateful for this actualy. Training an entire adventuring party can be time consuming, but in this one we displayed unity, and that made things all the simpler. Eventually we made it to the Oni temple. No longer an Oni temple mind you, now a rumored base of goblins, and thats indeed, what it was. In hindsight, they werent very smart. The base was known by more than a few people to have been an old stronghold of Oni in the days past. It seemed like a bad move to create a band of goblins so close to the city. If we wouldht have wiped them out soon, the guards would have undoubtedly done so once overall confirmation of there presence was confirmed. I am glad however it was us. The fortress was filled with a great many things. Alot of birds too, an Owl and an Eagle. We rescued them and there young of course. Majestic creatures, and ones relishing there freedom from some prison. I can relate to those sentiments. But the birds were little in comparison to the great beauty we uncovered. Scarred and chained, we found Rayne, a nymph. Even with the scars, one could not steal away her beauty, for sometimes, especially in the fey, it manifests from within. I was quick to free her, and Maxwell was quick to cover her up. Idiot. I think his cod piece must be on a bit too tightly. I have to say that many of her words didnt reach me, I was too enthralled with her naked beauty. My carnal senses you see, are quite honed, though my stalwart companions seemed more concerned with her modesty. Illusions. My honesty shows my nature, and the revers is true. Hiding my features with illusions is easy, hiding myself with lies however, would be disgraceful. Still, the fey was grateful, and offered us some reward. I should add that my reward wasnt exactly what I had in mind, but it was lucrative. She is an amazing creature, and a link to a past thats long eluded my people. I hope to get to know her better on many levels, though her complexities may end up being too much for me. Still, I'm up to the challenge, especially with one of her looks. Well, after releasing my pure hearted beauty, she asked to remain outside, and tended the horses and malnourished birds. Such a kind creature, especially after seeing such cruelty. Ah, but it was not the only creature we found. Shadow Tail, a mighty bronze dragon appeared to us after some time. He told us of the location of our flask, and of his own problems. He had been kicked out of his lair. I should say, that he was far more intimidating as a mouse than as a dragon, especially after that declaration. We agreed to rescue his lair and treasure after we had secured the flask. And secure the flask we did. More dead goblins and then there leader, a shape shifter. It wasnt difficult, and our troupes teamwork again proved too much for the enemy. Flask in hand, we went into the dragons lair below the stronghold. The new inhabitant was an odd creature, an aboleth. Whatever it was trying to do failed, and although it was no easy task, the creature was dispatched, and the dragons horde saved. After that I cleansed the magic flask in water. This by the way, released the creature inside. The demon was a goblin with tainted blood who could take and give dreams. Honestly, I didnt really understand him much. But he gave me the dragons dream, and that was something I guess. Now I have the compulsion to help the dragon obtain more treasure. Not really my quest, but I suppose fate is heavy handed in and around the evandarks legacy. Maybe its the priests fault. After talking to the thing for a while it vanished, or ran off. Honestly, my attention span was fixated more on the monetary treasure before us, more so than the abstract dream stuff treasure. But perhaps greed is my sin. Maybe pride too. I dont think I would count lust out exactly either. Oh, Maybe I should include envy too, now that I've taken up this mantle of securing dragon treasure for our newest troupe supporter. All jesting aside however, having even a young dragon sponsoring us will allow us a great deal of respect and options in the future. Well, aside from returning to the city and having an outstandingly annoying accountance with Felix, the adventure ended. We got our money, and were tasked again. I shouldnt say task. We didnt have much choice. A do or die thing. Unfortunately our employer is the plot spinning omniscient sort of villain. Knows what we did, what we faced, that kind of thing. I can vaguely see images of him moving pieces on a chess board while bellowing bwa ha ha's down an empty corridor. Apparently he has a host of wizards at his beck and call, i've developed illusions to thwart them in the future. No ones immune to trickery, no matter how much they huff about it. This includes my self. Still, having a predictable adversary is more favorable than having a mastermind at work. He's undoubtedly not the only bit of filth to be watched, but at least we know to watch him. Assuming we can get away from him. His "I'll say its treason" bit is already tiresome, and he's only used it once. We'll have to find away around that, and soon. I wont be forced to follow this tyrant, and making up that bit about me being paid for my trouble was little more than a lie. I wanted to help my comrades, but not if it meant helping Felix. Still, I cant allow fate to get in my way. No matter how it tries to stop me, I'll manage on my own. Or I wont. Its as I always say, I'm truely imortal, up to the point where I die, then the meaning of my life becomes little more than an illusion. Or a lie. Much is in the works for what little respite I have. I have coin to spend, my people to help, and my comrades to watch over. What lies in store to me is easy to say, but hard to see. It will be interesting though, and hopefully lucrative. Regardless, I have my eyes set on many things. Freedom and health of my people, a woman, coin, adventure, and dragon hunting. For an elf of my calibar though, this is but the beginning.
(I'll have more soon, including detailed information on his opinions of his troupe, npc's and what not. I'll try to do perspective based posts after every adventure. Time pending.)