Journal of Tristan Anorox Winterbloom

Tenth of Building Season, the 1,240th year of the Second Age.

The past few Seasons have been…both exciting and filled with sorrow. A series of events that were both fortune and misfortune, intertwined and connected inextricably through one another. My journal entries will probably be infrequent, as I do not have the free time to just write anymore – always practicing, always training.

First off – how I got into this situation. My father Fawkes sent me on my first hunt; tracking down a fairy dragon. It was meant to be a sleight against me, another way to scorn the half-breed child. And so I chased her. For two years of my life, I chased her because she dropped a chamber pot on the king and stole the royal scepter.

I caught up to her several times, but bad luck always found its way to me. Two years…and I finally caught her. In a muddy cornfield, I got my hands on her. But, she was using a spell. Rather, not a spell, but something innate to fairy dragons – the ability to transport across Realms. She departed, and I went with her. To the most…fantastic place I had ever been to. The Fey Realm.

Turns out, Elves like my mother originated from the Fey Realm. It is their ancestral homeland. And while I was there, a number of very odd occurrences…occurred. First and foremost, my Human half of my half-breed nature was pushed aside. I'm a fully fledged Elf now. Second, I learned that I am a Winterbloom. A descendant of Zeltana, the first of the Winterbloom. Third, I formed an essence crucible, which was quite the surprise. I'm an essence-weaver now! And last, as I was the first Winterbloom to arrive in some time, I was afforded the chance to challenge their leader to show my worth.

The Matriarch, the Realm Protector of that place, had me display my prowess in combat. Thank the gods I was trained as a dragonslayer, as she shifted into the shape of an Elemental Realm dragon. I was able to defeat her in that mock affair, and so I was given the mantle of the next Lord of the Fey Realm. My ancestral birthright as a Winterbloom. I was just lucky enough to be the first one to arrive since the Great Exodus.

I learned of a Vault below the Queen's Wood, the massive tree that serves as the center of the Fey Realm. Attempting the Vault door, I failed to open it. It is opened with essence, and I just didn't have enough.

With my quest still underway, and wanting to return to complete it, The Matriarch gave me the corpse of one of their fallen. I was then accompanied out of the Fey Realm by the very dragon I was hunting. Felicity Glimmerwing. She's a scamp and a trickster, but she has grown on me since my first proper meeting.

Heading back to the capital, I helped some people as I could. Doing what grandfather and mother taught me – helping others when it wouldn't be to my detriment. I did come across some of The Black Company; fought them off and scarred them for daring raise their hand to a noble – even one as myself, masquerading as a half-breed.

Which I can do now. In fact, thanks to Felicity's training, and several spell primers I acquired, I am rapidly training myself as an essence-weaver.

Then…gods, this is hard to write about. We reached the estate. Everyone was dead – mother, the staff and servants – it was horrible. Butchery is not enough to describe what happened, but I have already put off writing this section several times now, and will leave it at that.

I was able to return to the Fey Realm thanks to a ring gifted to me by The Matriarch. I set my mother to rest inside the Queen's Wood, in a pool of sap that she was submerged into. Felicity was a constant comfort during that ordeal, never leaving my side. It…truly cements her as more than a fairy dragon assigned to serve me. But I don't know what to think about our relationship yet. Friends? Maybe. Something else? Possible.

I returned to The Mortal Realm and went to the capital, Bhant's Holdfast. I chose to do some investigating before going to the townhouse and returning to the king with the fairy dragon corpse and his scepter. I met a diviner, was able to gather up enough coin by brewing some potions which I converted to elixirs to sell to the Pathfinder Company, and then went back to them to get my answers. It also afforded me the chance to acquire spell primers, which I retrieved from the diviner's assistant before moving up the stairs to his chambers.

An assassin beat me to the location. The diviner was slain, and I fought the assailant – killing them. But their corpse vanished into dust, leaving behind the cloak and dagger. I grabbed the two items and fled, heading to the king's court to report not only my mission's success, but to inform of the assassin.

I arrived, gave my report, handed over the corpse of the fairy dragon, the scepter, and then told of the assassination of my mother and the country estate staff. Archon Grimtome, an advisor to the king and a powerful essence-weaver, used a spell to see the truth of my words, and thus I was allowed to leave. I also received the king's favor, and had some of the king's finest assigned to guard me at the Anorox townhouse in the capital.

I was told to remain in the capital, as father and grandfather were both off on dragon hunts, my half-sister was pregnant, and my half-brother was gone as well. They wanted a dragonslayer nearby in case another one appeared.

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Going to the townhouse and getting settled into my old room, I found a letter from my grandfather which confirmed much of my suspicions about the family's affairs while I was gone on my two-year hunt. I met with some staff members and the guards, and then went on some errands – including selling Felicity's ill-gotten loot. Given I would never get a coin from father, it seemed prudent enough, though selling stolen goods left a sour taste in my mouth.

We went back…and the assassins struck again. Everyone was poisoned except for me. Then the black-cloaked figures came into the building. I retreated upstairs and fought them – but suffered a dire wound. I would have died if not for Felicity's intervention; grabbing the supplies for a potion, quickly making it, and bringing it close enough for me to imbue.

I fled back to the Blackspire and reported the events to Archon Grimtome. He gave me his favor, which had an artificed communication spell to allow him to reach me. I thought that I would be given quarter in the Blackspire until the assassin issue was resolved.

But…he came home. Father. Fawkes. I confronted him about my suspicions that he was behind the assassination plot – he always loathed grandfather for making him marry my mother, and while he could never lay a finger on my grandfather, he could easily have arranged to assassinate mother and me. I accidentally showed my true nature, being a full-blooded Winterbloom, and he tried to disown me. But only grandfather as family head could do that.

He left, embarrassed. The Archon, however, advised that I leave the capital. Non-Humans are heavily discriminated against in Bhant. His words were wise, and he told me he would correspond with me through his favor when my grandfather returned. And so I left, trading for some supplies on my way out of the capital, and under the effects of my Disguise Form.

We reached a small range of mountains that I was familiar with, found a cave, and while Felicity remained in The Mortal Realm to scout and try to find more information about the assassins, I returned to the Fey Realm and trained with The Matriarch. I performed feats of artifice, learned new spells, and was exposed to my true Heritage's culture.

But my time to train came to a rapid conclusion as the Elemental Realm of Fire created an Incursion into the Fey Realm. I joined The Matriarch and the other fairy dragons; a defense force, and fought off the goblins that flooded through the rift. The Matriarch fought a fire dragon, and once I had pushed and held the goblins back, we traded foes.

My first fight with an actual dragon. I was fueled by the power of the Realm itself – my essence crucible connected to the Fey Realm on a fundamental level, which let me use essence practically without restriction. My fight with the fire dragon was perfect. Every movement was just as I had practiced with grandfather and his enormous puppets we trained against as youths. I slew the beast, drank its blood, and drained its essence crucible – adding fire elementalism to my repertoire of spell types.

I spent a few more days in the Fey Realm before returning to The Mortal Realm, where I learned some horrific news. All Winterbloom were slain. Every one of them in the capital, and the Archon said he would inquire further through divination spells. Felicity was waiting for me when I arrived, and we went to go meet my grandfather at the Anorox estate.

He was, thankfully, in good health. We spoke for an evening and into the night, before I took him to the Fey Realm on a short visit to show him the wonders of that place. The following morning, we received word that a demon dragon – an as-to-that-time unseen type of dragon – was up north in the Gredo Expanse, on the border of the kingdom of Bhant. We met one of grandfather's traveling companions on the way, and spent our evenings in the Fey Realm just enjoying each other's company – and the new starberry wine.

We arrived in the Gredo Expanse and saved some half-breed Broxtar from being trapped. I offered them refuge in the Fey Realm while we sought out their remaining populace, who were taken by a powerful enchantment cast by this demonic dragon.

Grandfather and I went up a mountain tracking the beast, and we found its lair. I fought it – I even fought grandfather who fell prey to its spell. I was able to resist its enchantment thanks to recognizing the signs from training with The Matriarch. It was a hard-fought battle, and I almost died…but I won. I beat the dragon. A type of dragon that even grandfather had not fought. I drank its blood and harvested its crucible – another spell type for my arsenal.

We went back to the kingdom of Bhant and were ambushed by The Black Company, hired by my father to kill grandfather – to take the position of family head – and me – because he despises me for what I am. After killing some of the assailants and fleeing with the help of my enchantment spells, grandfather gave me the secret crest that marked me as family head. Or rather, next family head. He entrusted it to me, wanting me to find my half-brother Bertram and give him the mark. His birthright.

And…grandfather…he called me his son. Not his grandson. Not "boy" like he used to. But "son". The man who I consider more a father than my own father. One of the happiest moments of my life.

We returned to the estate, and grandfather was grievously injured by Fawkes. After fighting off more of The Black Company, I slew Fawkes…the man who fathered me, but was in no way my father given how he treated me. Even grandfather called him a bastard. I killed him, and gods-forgive me, I don't regret doing it.

Grandfather fell into a coma from a poison that weakened his mind, and Felicity put him into her extradimensional storage space, keeping him safe until we gained some distance from the estate to get back to the Fey Realm. We tried to heal him, but to no avail. He is now in a comatose state, in the Queen's Wood; and I have to find a healer who can bring him back.

The king banished me in absentia as my sister played the events at the estate to her own advantage – as told to me by Archon Grimtome. All the crimes; the assassinations, grandfather's disappearance, father's death – all on me.

And so now I'm on the road. No longer Tristan Anorox, but instead Tristan Winterbloom. My true identity. Who I really am. The last of my bloodline…the last lord of the Fey Realm. We're heading south, Felicity, me, and two destriers from father's stables.

I'll be traveling while under a new guise – Markus Anorox – to try and keep the assassins off my trail. Fawkes was a philanderer, and so him having more sons out of wedlock and who left the kingdom is entirely feasible. The assassins aren't looking for Anorox dragonslayers, they're looking for Winterbloom Elves, so it should be safe to use my family name which I have less of a chance of slipping up on than if I used a fake family name.

Hopefully, Bertram isn't too far away. I'm going to fulfill my grandfather's wishes and give him the family head crest. And once that's done…well, we shall see what the future holds.

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