Lorne's Diary:

Free At Last!

FINALLY! I got the (%@# out of that %&#_ing shadow! That's the last...the absolute last time I ever go trapsing off into shadow for the sake of nostalgia.

My road to freedom started with the arrival of a young fellow by the name of Darian at Charm castle (that's what she calls her place). Apparently he'd wandered out into the woods near his home, gotten lost, and came by to ask for directions. After a bit of conversation, it became patently obvious to me that he'd wandered in via a shadow path. Or at least, that's what his story wanted me to think. One thing didn't match up though; I could tell by the way he moved that he's had a hell of a lot of combat training for some random country bumpkin; he's not as good as I am, but he'd stand head and shoulders above anyone else in Toril except Elayne. Of course, Kellis did the whole bodyguard bit, putting me in proper position to intercept any attack on her. I think I'll play the listening game here...whatever he's hiding, sooner or later he'll make a slip.

Anyway, Elayne decided to try following this guy's backtrail through the forest, and Kellis seemed to have enough access to my memory to pull some of my tracking skills up, so we all set off through the forest. Of course, I'm on the edge of my 'seat' this whole time - if there's a shadow path here, these spells will probably unravel any minute....

And so they did. Gods, it was like breathing again after an eternity underwater; I felt the voices start to fade, felt the knots on my mind starting to loosen, so I pushed, and strained, and all of a sudden it all snapped apart! Without those voices, I felt Kellis' persona burst apart into tiny shreds like a popped balloon filled with confetti. I actually had a momentary twinge of remorse for the fellow as he went. He was just as much a stooge in this as I was, after all. But then again, it was him or me, and I was here first, dammit! I felt myself expand back into my body, and the sensations were almost overwhelming. Then I realized what they were...I was still wearing that annoyingly heavy, hot, stuffy suit of armor. So, my first act as a free man was to get the hell out of that tin can.

Of course, the other two are staring at me pretty hard, and Elayne looks utterly shocked. I introduce myself properly, and give the pair of them some idea of what they're getting into by shadow walking. Darian seemed to take it in stride, but Elayne seemed to take it pretty hard, especially when she found out her magic didn't work out here. I think there must still be a few bits of Kellis lodged in the cracks of my head somewhere...I had to fight off an impulse to go and tell her things would be okay. That's the last thing she needs right now; she's out in the real world, and she's got to learn to keep her guard up. Personally, I think that the best thing would be for her to go back to Toril and keep up what she's been doing for the last several years. Darian's home has got to be around here somewhere; it shouldn't be hard to find it and drop him there. Unfortunately, this shadow path seems to be one-way, and is closing off behind us. You don't see that sort of thing very often, and it doesn't make sense if Darian really used that path to come to Toril. Another inconsistency to keep in mind about him, I think.

A few days later

Well, we've finally gotten to some more travelled shadow paths with some villages and towns, where I was able to trade off that sword I was stuck with on Toril for a couple smaller ones more my style, and get us some better gear. I also had an idea for dealing with Elayne's crush on me; she's got these nice auburn highlights in her hair, so I got her a set of clothes in a shade of red that clashes with it just awfully. Women usually don't seem to appreciate it when a guy can't tell what color they'd look good in (green in her case, or possibly blue, but never red). Just to top it off, I threw in a racy set of lingere that should have gotten me soundly slapped. She didn't seem to mind them much, however...hmm, I'd have thought that that would have bothered her. She's also gotten it into her head that she wants to see the magic of Amber and the golden circle. I'm trying to talk her out of it...after all, I've spent the last forty years or so trying to keep her skin intact, and it would kind of suck to see it get flayed now.

Darian seems to be as ignorant of shadow as he should be, but those inconsistencies are still bugging me. However, I don't see any way to decide one way or the other right now.

We got ambushed last night while we camped...common slavers, it looked like. Perhaps I should have gone easier on them; I might have been able to use them, if I'd played my cards a bit differently. Then again, I've never been very fond of slavers, and I was a bit cranky from thirty-odd years of being pent-up. Also, the fight did give me the chance to confirm my assessment of Darian's fighting skill. A bigger bother, though, is the fact that I could still feel Elayne being threatened. I'm definitely going to have to squash those last bits of Kellis once I've got the leisure.

At the tail end of the fight, some soldiers showed up, and offered to escort us to their camp. I decided to take us along in hopes of getting some news, but cautioned Elayne and Darian not to mention Amber - the soldier's uniforms showed a lion rending a unicorn, and I don't think that sounds friendly to Amber. I just hope we're not sticking our heads into the lion's mouth.