Tilvan's Story; Currently Untitled

[Tilvan the Storyweaver]

Alrighty, this is one of my first works that I actually think was good.  I have further proof of it being good because it almost got in my school's literary magazine... but it was too long (T.T).  Anyways, this is set in the Forgotten Realms(A Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Setting).  This is the first chapter, I have another written which I am grooming and a third one in the process of being written as well as a very good idea of what happens in the fourth.  Well here it is, the story of a man named Seraphus.

P.S Beware, this is a full 6 1/4 pages long single spaced...
P.S.S And the formatting is a bit off from the transfer to the post.

Chapter 1
Hill's Edge
A man wearing a unique hat was sitting at the bar; the hat was brown beret with a ring of solid Bronze going around the edge.  The man was wearing scale mail armor, and had a giant sword on his back.  The sword was at least seven feet long, its handle was about one and a half feet long and the blade was five and a half feet.  His name was Seraphus, and he looked to be a powerful warrior as indicated by his lean powerful build.  He pushed a lock of black hair out of his blue eyes as he yawned; he had been sitting at the bar for the past 2 hours.  He was dead drunk and pissed off.  He had come to the bar so he could enjoy himself, not so he could be bored.  But he was stubborn and figured that something must happen soon.  That and he didn't trust himself enough to get back to the inn.
At that moment Seraphus heard a scream from outside.  Everyone ran to the windows to look, and Seraphus managed to stagger to one as well.  An enormous Dragon flew by, it was too dark out to see what color it was but it didn't matter to most. Everyone was running into their homes to hide.  Except for Seraphus, he was too drunk to think to run.  Then the back wall of the bar exploded, and ugly, short, green creatures poured into the room.  Each one of them was grinning nastily, exposing its sharp teeth.  The goblins drew their small Morningstar from their waists and prepared to slaughter the civilians in the tavern.
Seraphus blinked and then grinned drunkenly, "I knew something would happen if I waited."
Seraphus drew his Greatsword and charged.  Five goblin heads hit the ground as the result of his first swing, and all the Goblins froze.  The head Goblin stepped back a bit and then gave a short sharp laugh, as Seraphus' swing knocked him off balance and sent him careening to the floor.  The Goblins charged forward and started beating Seraphus's prone form.  Then one of the Goblins saw Seraphus's cap, and grabbed it.  It backed away and put the cap on his head, laughing.
Seraphus blinked and felt his head; Seraphus jumped to his feet with a savage growl, throwing Goblins off him and into the walls.
Seraphus roared, "No one touches my hat." 
Seraphus went into a rage; he started swinging wildly, taking out half a dozen goblins with every swing.  Then he saw the Goblin with his hat, Seraphus grinned and threw his sword to the side imbedding it in the wall point first.  He dashed towards the goblin, picked it up and started throttling it.  Seraphus then grabbed the hat off of the Goblins head and threw it into the fire.  Seraphus staggered towards the door, but then collapsed into a mead induced slumber.

*               *               *

Late the next morning Seraphus woke up, and something felt out of place.  He slowly sat up and felt grass underneath him.  He felt his head, no hat.  He looked at himself and saw that he had been stripped of his armor and his sword had been taken.  He got up and looked around; about one hundred feet away from him were the gates of Hill's Edge.
It took a while to figure it out, due to the pounding in his head as a result, Seraphus groaned and put his head in his hands as he slowly recalled the events of the previous night, but he soon realized what had happened.  Hill's Edge was known for harboring many a thief and scoundrel; someone must have found and looted him while he was unconscious and then dumped him outside of town.
"Damn it! Those Stupid Bastards! They don't know what they have gotten themselves into!"  Seraphus realized he must look either very silly or insane talking to himself so he quickly shut up.
Seraphus ran to the city gates and the Guards let him in, though they did snicker when they saw him.  It didn't occur to him until to ask if they knew anything until much later, and at that time it was too late.  He then set out to find who had stolen his stuff.  As he walked he couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be no damage from the dragon, granted there seemed to be quite a bit of damage caused by the goblins and whatever else had attacked.  A small while later he saw someone that was wearing a cap, his cap.
Seraphus set off after the man, and he started to gain ground.  The man looked back over his shoulder very but didn't seem to notice Seraphus.  Soon the man turned and entered a small building, Seraphus followed.
The front room seemed very large for such a small building.  That was when Seraphus noticed the smell, decaying corpses, and because of his Paladin training he could sense the undead auras when he focused.  They were a bit farther in the building so Seraphus wasn't worried bout them quite yet.
Seraphus carefully walked through the first room having lost sight of the thief, but after having gone about 10 feet into the room the door swung shut behind him and five men came in from the side doors, each one wielding a sword.
"So the Red Wizards finally found us.  They must have been pretty stupid to send an unarmed guy into fight us," said one of the men.
"I'm not with the Thayans, I just want my god damned hat back," snapped Seraphus.
"Dumbass, you think you can take all of us on without any of your equipment.  You're crazy!" was the incredulous reply.
"So I've been told." and with that said Seraphus charged the first guy, slamming his fist into the man's face.  The satisfying crunch and the scream of pain form the man signaled that he was out of commission, and so Seraphus turned his attention to the next guy.  This one was a bit more cautious and Seraphus noticed out of the corner of his eye that a man was coming up behind him.  Seraphus moved forward as the man behind him charged.  Seraphus jumped and kicked the guy in front in the chest of him and then pushed off of him, and used his momentum to nail the guy coming up behind him in the face with a second kick.
With three of their men down the remaining two were keen to avoid their comrade's fate.  Suddenly the man on the left chuckled and drew forth a thin, supple piece of wood.  The man pointed the piece of wood at Seraphus, and only then did Seraphus realize what the stick was.
Seraphus dived out of the way, right as a bolt of lightning emerged from the tip of the wand.  The man cursed and fired off another bolt, which Seraphus barely avoided.  But now Seraphus was ready, as the third bolt went off he dived under it and rolled forward; which brought him right up into the guys face.  One punch later and the man was down, Seraphus snapped off a kick and the last guy went down with several broken ribs.
Seraphus calmed himself and took in his surroundings.  There were three doors in the room, one in front of him and one to either side.  Seraphus figured that he should go farther in and so he went straight forward, on the way he stopped and picked up one of the men's swords along with the wand.  So with steel in one hand and magic in the other Seraphus plunged forth into the building.
The door led into a long hallway and Seraphus could see many little niches all along the hall.  Seraphus took a step in and the door swung shut behind him, again.  A zombie emerged from each niche, and formed into a line coming toward Seraphus.
Seraphus laughed out loud, and then realized he still didn't know how to activate the wand.  A quick look at the wand revealed a lightning bolt shaped button, Seraphus smirked and pointed the wand down the corridor, and then he pressed the button.
A bolt of lightning lanced out of the wand, but it came from the end pointing towards him, not the zombies.  Seraphus was sent flying back through the door, and he quickly got up, cursing all the while. He turned the wand around, pointed it towards the zombies and pushed the button again.  The bolt lanced down the corridor hitting every zombie along the way and breaking down the door at the other end.
Seraphus swore, he saw a lot of people in the room down the hall, and they all knew that he was there.  He charged down the hall and fired off another lightning bolt just to keep them down.  As Seraphus entered he realized that there were a lot more than he had previously thought.
A sword came whistling towards him and Seraphus blocked the blow handily, and he quickly struck back and cut the man across his chest.  But Seraphus was soon hard pressed to defend himself from the many men and he was slowly getting worn down.  Finally Seraphus got tired of fighting, pulled out his wand and cleared the room by firing several shots from his wand.
Seraphus paused and looked around; all of his foes were dead or pretending to be.  There was only one door and Seraphus opened it.  Behind the door was a glowing, green portal.
Seraphus grinned and said, "This should be fun," and then he stepped through.   

*               *               *

On the other side of the portal was a large cavern with a pool of water in the center.  Looking around Seraphus saw no one but knew better than to let his guard down.  This of course didn't help him very much when a ball of lightning slammed into him and sent him flying back several dozen feet.   
"What the hell was that?" Seraphus jumped up and saw a Lich about 50 feet away.   
"That would be me," drawled the Lich, "And now you die" another ball of lightning came flying at him but Seraphus was ready this time and avoided it.  Seraphus started moving forward, but the going was slow as he was forced to continually dodge the balls of lightning.  Finally he was close enough to strike but the Lich started chanting again, Seraphus's blade started heating up and Seraphus had to quickly let go.   "Damn!" Seraphus pulled out the wand and fired but the bolt was turned aside by the Lich's spell resistance.  The lich stopped and turned towards the portal suddenly.  A raven haired man came out of the portal he had a Longsword on his back and a pair of daggers at his side.     
"Need some help?" called the man.  He then took the Longsword off of his back and started running for the Lich.  The Lich started chanting a moment later and as the ball of lightning shot out of its hands the man jumped out of the way and landed next to Seraphus, his daggers in hand.
"The name's Nightbird," Said the man, "You looked like you could use some help."   
"Yeah well, if the bastard had been like a normal villain and started bragging before the fight I would have been fine.  By the way, the name's Seraphus."   "Undead don't tend to brag.  Anyway let's get this over with."   
The Lich cleared its throat, "Remember me," It said sarcastically, "I was about to kill you," and that being said it released a bolt of lightning at them. 
They both dived to the side and then Nightbird pulled the longsword off of his back and shouted, "Catch!"  Nightbird threw the longsword to Seraphus, who easily caught it.  When Seraphus caught the sword he felt something probe at his mind.   
'Calm yourself, I mean no harm.  I am the spirit of the blade, we can talk more later but now we must fight.'   
Seraphus could feel that the blade was trying to hold back, but he did as the blade said.  Seraphus ran forward going for a high cut, and Nightbird went forward too going low under Seraphus's blade with his daggers.   
The Lich was able to avoid Seraphus's swing but Nightbird's daggers got past his defenses and cut into his legs.  The Lich growled and moved back chanting as he went, when he finished a large battle axe appeared in his hands.  He surged forward and started chanting again, right before he got to Seraphus he stopped.   Seraphus was prepared to meet the charge of the Lich and he saw Nightbird moving around to the back of the Lich.  Then the sword started heating again but it abruptly stopped.  The Lich and Seraphus were both startled but the Lich kept coming and Seraphus was ready. Seraphus parried the Lich's downward chop and stabbed.   
'Yes! I haven't tasted Lich flesh in years!' 
As the Blade bit deep into the Lich, its flesh bubbled and sizzled.  The Lich screamed and pulled back, as he did so Nightbird sprang and plunged his daggers into the Lich's back.  The Lich growled and a shockwave exploded outward form him, sending Nightbird flying.  The Lich turned and started running towards the other end of the cavern.   Seraphus went after him and he saw what the Lich was heading for, the pool of water.  Seraphus didn't bother thinking of what that could mean.  The Lich stopped at the pool and started chanting, and a portal started to open.   
"Oh, hell no!" Seraphus lunged forward and plunged the blade through the Lich's back.  The Lich screamed in pain and stumbled forward into the water.  At that moment the sword emitted a lightning bolt, which was amplified by the water, and it ripped through the Lich's body.  The Lich was still screaming when it exploded in a firestorm of arcane energy.
Seraphus was sent flying backwards into the wall and out of the corner of his eye he saw the same thing happen to Nightbird.  When the arcane energy died down Seraphus was barely conscious, he vaguely saw a figure cloaked in red approach him but after that no more.   

*         *         *         *

When Seraphus awoke he was aware of a warm feeling inside of him, then it disappeared and he sat up.  The first thing Seraphus saw was a man dressed in the robes of a priest standing next to him.   
"Good you have awoken.  I was wondering when you would it has been over 12 hours since the Red Wizards found you."  The cleric smiled warmly and stepped back.   "The Red Wizards?"   
"Yes, you probably don't remember but they were the ones that took you out of that cavern.  They are eagerly awaiting you so that they can hear what happened.  However, you don't have to leave yet.  The spells worked better on you then on anyone else I have ever treated, however, you may still be tired, and that..."   
"Ah, Stop," Shouted Seraphus, he then continued in a quieter tone, "I get the point you don't need to ramble on.  I am feeling quite fine and am ready to see the Red Wizards now."   
"Oh... Okay follow me."  The cleric led Seraphus through the temple and into the streets, a few minutes later they arrived at a small walled encampment.  They approached the doors and stopped as a small slot opened.   T
The guard on the other side of the door said, "Who and what?"   
"I have brought the warrior from the caverns," said the obnoxious cleric.
"Enter," the doors opened and Seraphus went through, the cleric stayed behind.  They went towards the main building and found a Red Wizard sitting in a chair, across from him was Nightbird.   
"Hey! Good to see you alive, you were pretty beaten up when the Wizards arrived."   
"No really," said Seraphus dryly, "You were conscious?"
Nightbird laughed and said, "Yeah we elves resist magic pretty well."   Seraphus blinked, "You're an elf?"   
"You betcha," Nightbird pushed his hair back revealing two pointy ears.
"Pardon me, but there is a reason I asked you here.  Would you mind recounting your experience, starting when you entered the building." The Red Wizard was staring at Seraphus coldly.   
Seraphus recounted the events and then said, "The entire reason I went in there was because I saw the guy that took my hat go in.  Did you happen to find it?"   
The Wizard pulled a brown cap with a bronze band around the edge out of his pocket, "Is this it."   
Seraphus snatched the cap out of the Wizards hands and pulled it on, "Yeah, This is it."   
"Now, there is only the small matter of your reward."   
"Reward?" asked both Seraphus and Nightbird.   
"Yes, we had been hunting those men for a long time now and thanks to you we apprehended them.  Seraphus, for you I thought that we might replace your stolen equipment; with magical equipment, of course."   
"Sound good."   
"As for the elf, we will enchant your daggers.  And we will give you your sword back."   
"Bout damn time," grumbled Nightbird.   
A man entered   the room and said, "Sir, we have a slight problem.  A half-orc and a wizard are trying to enter the town and we can't persuade them otherwise, the wizard is not a problem,   but the half-orc is causing a bit of trouble."
Nightbird chuckled and said, "Does the Half-Orc seem to have an IQ of 3?"   "Yes, why?"   
"They are associates of mine; if you could give us our stuff and let us go we will remove the problem."  The wizard gestured and the man ran off and came back a second later bearing their rewards.   
"Thank you, now if you will excuse us we should be leaving," said Nightbird.   "Yes," said Seraphus dryly, "Thank you for doing absolutely nothing."  Nightbird smacked him upside the head, and they left.   

      *      *      *      *

At the edge of town they heard some people arguing and they headed towards it.  Sure enough, there was a man in the robes of a wizard and a half-orc.  They were arguing with the town guard, or the man was arguing and the half-orc was asking if he could chop them up yet so they could get into town.   
"Ilivan! Figo! I am over here," Seraphus and Nightbird went over to them and Nightbird said, "It is good to see you again. I hope you have not had much trouble."   "You mean besides Figo being stupid?" said Ilivan, the mage sarcastically.   "So he was being normal, am I right?"   
"Yep.  Anyway this must be Seraphus, right?"   
"That's me.  But how did you know?"   
'I told him, calm yourself.  I am Tilvan, the sword you fought the Lich with.  I have been traveling with Nightbird and his friends for a while now.  They never cease to give me tales to tell.'   
"Sooooo, it's a telepathic sword bard?"   
"That would be true; however he can get annoying at times particularly when he meets someone he wants to follow so that he can get more stories, Said Nightbird.   
"AKA, you." Said Ilivan, " and from what he's said  you plan on going to the Forest of Wyrms to find the dragon that technically got you in this mess in the first place."   
"Lemee guess, he can also read thoughts?"   
'That would be correct, and I think that you will weave a story that is worthy of me, one of the truly great bards.'   
"Rather arrogant aren't we?  Anyway, he is right and if you want to tag along I suppose it would help, especially since I will be fighting dragons.  We are first going to head to Triel, to get some information.  Then we will go north to The Forest of Wyrms."
Nightbird laughed and said, "What do you know, you aren't as incompetent as you look.  I guess we should head out, on what seems to be a unique adventure."   
Ilivan smiled and said, "Well then, let's go!"  They turned and set off into the sunset, and Figo promptly tripped and landed face first into the dirt.   
"That ruined the adventurous spirit we had," said Ilivan.   
Nightbird laughed and said, "Would you expect anything else from him?"   
"Very True, my friend."
Seraphus groaned and said, "What have I gotten myself into?"   
'An adventure my friend! An Adventure.'

Any and all criticism, flames, praise and etc... are welcome.  I am always looking to improve my work.

[Gabi]

This looks like it could have come straight from an RPG. It had some good action scenes, which is something I can never get right, but I think it could use some more character development... and a little more variety in the writing style, I don't know how to explain that well, but it's related to the sentence structures and the points of view. Variety helps keep the readers' attention.

Oh, and I liked the descriptions too.

[Tilvan the Storyweaver]

The RPG aspect was really what I was going for.  I read so many books that have all these deeper meanings and I figure that sometimes people just want to read a good old Action Adventure book with nothing to figure out really.  I don't mean to make it flat and cliche'd, but I don't want to have it explaining the meaning of life.

As for the character development that will happen more next chapter and beyond.  This chapter was to introduce Seraphus, Nightbird, and Tilvan.  And also to set the tone and pace for the rest of the book.

And I plan to do more revising so that should defiantly end up getting fixed.

[Nikki]

Really cool =3

i'll say more when i'm not half-asleep...