\--==Official Submission==-- FROM: General Debinani Rahl RE: Chapter Twenty-Six - Haplo''s Story HAPLO'S STORY Funny how odd a quill feels in your hand when you don't write very often.As much as I readI have little occasion to write things down. It's usually so much easierjust to say thingsthat I never have much occasion to write things down. When Laz suggestedthat I sit downand put to paper the events that brought me here, I just laughed at first.I've neverbeen one to chronicle my life events. But I figure that someone, someday,(A relative god forbid I ever get married) may be intersted in what old Haplo did withhis time onthis silly little patch of land we call home. So here it is.Adventuring runs in the family I suppose, but I doubt Ma ever figured I'dfollow in myfathers and grandfathers footsteps. Grandpa, my namesake, was half darkelf.I supposethat's where the wild streak comes in. He dedicated his life to what hecalled, ridding the world of their foul corruption. But that was another time and place.How he and his family ever ended up on Sosaria is a story that he took to his grave. Oneof the fewactually. My grandfather was the consumate city rat. He was alway nervousin the woodsand prefered the cobblestone beneath his feet. Funny that I his namesakewould much rather spend my time off in the woods.I suppose my love of the woods comes from my father. Dad was never muchlike grandpa. Dad's love of the bow was second only to his love of his family. He carrieda bow with himas long as I can remeber and was always making improvements to his design.When he finallydecided to settle down, he opened up a small bow shop outside of vesper. That's where I come into the picture. Guess the Dark elf blood is pretty dilute by thetime you get to mebut every now and again traces of it will crop up. Grandpa was a bit upsetat the birth ofmy sister, but as cute as she is he got over it quick. Anyway, I spent mydays playing inpiles of wood carvings and running off in the woods. Nights, mom made mestudy magic. Notmy first passion. That's the forest. I've loved the forest since I was achild. The calm, tranquility. By the time I was 10 I knew the woods in a 10 mile radiusaround our house like the back of my hand. Dad would send me out to trap rabbits and smallgame for lunchand sometimes dinner. Things progressed, I got older and stronger in boththe ways ofthe woods and with my archery and magic. When I turned 12 my fater startingtaking me on his logging trips. That was also when I got my first bow. Father said he'dbeen saving itfor me. That summer was also when I had my first runin with the darkerelements ofsosaria. I was off in the woods as was usual when I heard screams comingfrom beyond. Iwent down to investigate and saw orcs attacking a small group of peopleheading throughthe woods. Slaughtering them was more like it. The orcs finished thelittle group off without much trouble but not without me giving them a hurting. I managed to chase them off from my vantage point in the trees without them seeing who it was. It wasthen I realized the true power contained in the woods. I vowed to make sure that peoplepassing through what I considered my woods would be safe from the darker element.The years passed. Eventually I headed out on my own, taking small amountsof gold forescorting people through the woods. Mom got sick the year of my 20thbirthday and diedshortly there after. Dad didn't take it so well. Sara, my sister, took iteven worse.Her and ma were very close. Sara dissappeared shortly after mom died. Dadgot better eventually and business picked back up. Dad started crafting some of thebest bows I'veever seen him make. It was then I decided I should head out and see theworld. Dad understood and was suprised it hadn't happened earlier. I made my way downto vesper,picked up some supplies and headed off to investigate the world. I made myway about by hiring myself out to merchant caravans. I traveled all over the mainland, drawing mapsand making sure that the caravans made their way through. Pretty soon, Imade a meger living escorting people city to city using my numerous shortcuts through thewoods. I alsotook it as time to help thin out the orc population that seemed to ever movetowards the populated areas.One day I came upon an ettin and a couple orcs attacking a man in the woods.He looked to know his way around a sword and was holding his own as well as any mancan against oddslike that, but he was fighting a loosing battle. I took up position and fired arrow after arrow. I was able to drop the orcs without a problem, and it freed upenough room for theman to finish off the Ettin. I moved off into the woods again figuring I'ddone what I could.I wondered off in to the woods back towards Britian when out of nowherejumps a figure.I quickly drew my bow and a bead on the stranger, the murderers runningrampant and all,and he just dropped a backpack in front of me saying only two words;"yourcut." I then recongnized him as the man I had helped with the ettin and orcs. "Thanks." I said. "I'm Haplo""Lazarus Shade" was his reply.We made fast friends. Making frequent trips into the forests to make them abit safer thanthey were. He then dissappeared for a while. When I ran into him again, hebegantelling stories of this group he had joined called the Black Rose Society.I really wasn'tthat interested, being a bit of a loner myself, but when I heard that theyneeded helpfighgint the orcs, I knew that I had found allies. An enemy of mine enemyand all.