Veril's Tome of Ilmater
::=::Introduction::=:: For those who find this, I have made a little section in which I describe myself. Hopefully you'll return this to my body.... Whereever it may be. I am Veril Leornil, a follower and healer of the Broken One, and my mother has been a healer of the Broken One, and her mother, and her father, and his mother...
I saw no reason to break the line.... And once I swore my allegiance, I have ties to the Broken One that can not be severed. I shall uphold His sayings, His wishes will be my order, His pain is mine, and mine his.... And so is his power. The power of a Healer and Priest flows through my bloodstream.
I was born in Therinsfelt, a small, bustling city filled with nobles who wished they could 'get away from it all'. Therinsfelt is located deep within Lochkifeld Treestorm, an amazingly large sister-forest to the comparably miniscule Neverwinter Wood.
We often got dirty, leafy green mages who had sworn to protect the forest screaming at us, saying that 'we had no place here and that we were "contaminating" the wood'. Many call them 'Druids', and they usually attacked our walls, much to the displeasure of the nobility.
The Leornils, my family, healed those wounded, and my mother even resurrected a man, pulling him from the cold clutches of death at the brink of no return. Everything seemed great-we were wealthy from the income we earned from healing and blessings, and we were practically invincible with our advanced healing techniques. I completley stopped healing, caring only for my self. I was richer than any nobleman, and I was only twelve. What else would I want to do? The Broken God had my Mother as a Healer, and she was the best-even people from Neverwinter came to us for her skills.
Until the Leafmages came to destroy us. In the middle of the night, I heard a yelp. Leaping up from my bed and grabbing a short blade, I ran into my little sister's room, only to find her split open. Blood was all over the floor. Her head was gone, and on the wall by her bed, scrawled in blood, was:
"HEAL"
Mother and Father rushed in, only to find their twelve-year old son with a sword in his hand and their daughter mutilated.
[Dried tears cover this passage]
Mother, her eyes watery, looked at me in horror. Father grabbed her, putting his arms around her. They cried. I cried. I still cry.
I went in my room and laid down on the bed, shivering with fear and sorrow. I gripped the shortsword for the rest of the night, looking through the doorway. I slipped into sleep and out of it. It almost seemed as an invisible force was pushing me to get up.
Tired and depressed, I got up from my room when the sun rose, only to find Mother and Father gone. I rushed into Seliel's, my deceased sister, room. Her body was gone, but the blood was still there, along with the gruesome message.
I ran outside, my throat rough from crying. Everyone was dead or screaming; the town was ransacked. The dead bodies were everywhere, and Seliel's head was on a rough wooden branch. Leafmages and Leafblades burnt down the Town Keep, silent as they did so.
I looked around for my Mother and Father, trying to spot them among the carnage. I was wondering why I didn't wake up. Perhaps my sadness drove me into a sleep that was so deep that only force could wake me. Maybe I was simply tired. I don't know why.
Mother and Father were nowhere to be found. I suspect they are gone forever, as I have never heard or seen them after that..
I was unhappy to find that the Leafmages and Blades had finally killed most everyone. They saw me, and most of them stood there silently... Except for one who was dressed in ornate steel-green armour... She came up to me, and spoke; 'Ah, it's the little Healin' bastard who's been stunting the forest. We have something special for you.'
They then took me, tying me up and throwing me into a dark cave. Two cruel Leafblades took out jagged pieces of stone, and started cutting me, beating me, and swearing at me. They grinned as I cried and pled for mercy.
After hours of torture, they dragged me further into the cave. They went deeper, and deeper, and deeper for what seemed like years. I was surprised to find that the Leaflovers had made an encampment far into the Underdark. They had made several camps every few thousand feet, as if they were making a base of operations.
They taunted me, telling me how I'd die by Illithid sucking my brains out, or Beholder's eating me. I whimpered as rocks and sharp plants cut me, tearing into my flesh. I prayed to Ilmater on the last day of my 'escort' and...
...got results. Rocks fell from a low corridor, and the men were smashed as I scrambled away. I ran out, finding a small grey man who called himself a 'Dwarf'. He told me of a city where I could be safe, a guarded city in which I could call my own sanctum... Sanctuary.