Date: Sunday, April 29, 2001 3:58 PM Subject: Lazy Days of Summer

Hello,

Let's see how our valiant heroes are spending the summer...

MacGyver managed to sweet-talk Mistress Tenielle into allowing him to see the closed stacks of books on Gnomish technology... he's currently reading a book on Gnomish Siege Engines (steam-powered battering rams!). Sometimes you can encounter him in some of the rough neighborhoods after dark, or in the more dangerous taverns of Old Seagate.

Stephen can be found just about everywhere. He's been spending mornings at St Michaels, and late at night he can be found socializing with students in the dormatories. Afternoons are spent trying to bypass Guild Security to get into the restricted guild Library stacks... not having a lot of luck there, but some of the Senior Journeymen have loaned him some relatively uncommon books about obscure subjects. Evenings are spent performing in local pubs (like the Book Wyrm!), and rumours are that he practices fencing at sunrise in the Guild Courtyard with Goodman Doric, the local Dwarven dueling expert, and any of the other Guild fencers who are up at that hour. The only remaining question is precisely when (and where!) Stephen sleeps... that's a subject debated by several gossips.

When in town, Blackhawk starts each day training with the Weapons Masters down in the Courtyard. He fences with Doric extensively, but only rarely with Stephen. Neither does more than test the other's defenses.. there's a general feeling that both are saving the real competition for later. Usually, though, he's gone for several days at a time with the Rangers patrolling the area around Tiana Falls... a mountainous pocket that not only has indigenous nasties like goblinoids and giants, but has recently had an influx of "lost" undead that got trapped when the Dark Circle tried to expand through some impenetrable mountain terrain. He's been trying to spend his days off talking to some of the retired Rangers who have been to the Isles about the sorts of things he can expect to find there.

Raven is rarely seen these days. She spends most of her time at the Temple in Slippery Rock, or communing with the fey in the woods northeast of Stonesboro. Every week or two her superiors within the (Druidic) Circle force her to take a break and come into town to socialize... I think there's a feeling that despite her obvious skill, her training is becoming a bit too focused, and she will have difficulties balancing the human side of her with her integration with nature.

Jaden spends every waking minute pouring over books on magic and ancient tomes. There is a bit of a sense of desperation to him... he has only recently come over to his magical studies, and he seems to realize that he will only have access to the Guild Headquarters and its amazing resources for a short time. So he does everything he can to absorb information and try to find new spells for his spellbook. Of late he's been spending a lot of time helping Cathrin Thunderfoot with chores in exchange for her tutelege. He isn't intentionally neglecting his physical training... if the sun comes up, and he's in a room with a window, and he's not in the middle of translating an important passage... he'll jump up and run down to the training area, and get a good two hours of weapons practice in.