Everyone has to start someplace...

Do you ever wonder how things would have turned out if you had choice a different guild to start with? Shortly after joining the Rangers I looked at being a Mage, the only thing that stopped me was the cost of all the spell books. I was having more fun learning to RP then sit around and camp anymore.

I wonder if I had just gone for it, if I would have been drawn back to being a Ranger. Probably, my short stint to help out the Warriors didn't last long, I crawled back even then to be what I was happiest being.

Jacko was head of the guild, that was always a constant. Kelly was his Second, and Park head of the Elven Rangers. Then there was me, just another recruit wandering around Everwind.

I remember the first time Kelly met up with me, she took me to Illustree's Shrine and we started there. First thing she told me was that if anything happened, I was to run, not look back. Better if I escape and bring help then we both get captured. It was an amazing thrill, so new to RP everything felt so real and struck deep inside me.

We took a "Ranger's Path" along the western edge of Everwind, past the Elven Village, along the Rim of the Underworld. When she finally stopped to let us catch our breath we stood on Vexxus' Tooth, the highest point in the Realm. It was a beautiful sight to see, long before the Dragon Wyre claimed the skies. Dropping down to the path below we hurried past the mouth of the passage to the Underworld, past the "KEEP OUT" sign to the Faerie Glade, and into the main village. I got my first tour of the grand white stoned castle that rose before Everwind. Standing on the roof and looking out over the Realm, I fell in love for the first time. I could be happy here, and I was.

This was a time just before Guilds even got their own Halls. And we had nothing more to do then wander the land we were meant to. Many times I stood on Vexxus' Tooth and looks down in the dark swamp, and at this time, I was afraid of the Drow and or getting lost down there, let along going down INTO the Underworld...not on you life. Roleplay was real to me, and made me feel alive. ((Picture taken on Vexxus' Tooth....oh, and yes, black hair!))

This was a time when Grace and Slip were Elves *grins*, before Raistin's Trial, before the Beast and the Sorceress....at a time when our first adventures would stir up. The first of the Epic Quests started, "The Quest to Save the Magic"....Keys, Chests, Clues, Books....we had to find them, bring them together. If Dark got their hands on it, we would have been thrown into darkness....so the Light HAD to find them all. I remember finding the last lost chest, it was hidden deep in the ocean. Now, being the poor RPer I was then, I saw nothing wrong in standing under the water next to this chest, guarding it, knowing the Drow Sean (Mackie) had the key. So I was new, I made mistakes, I have to look back and smile how simple things were back then, and wonder what serious RPers thought of this newbie recruit that was only just learning what roleplay was.

I have to admit, it was a thrilling way to start, feeling the control and lack there of that comes when roleplay starts the flow. I look back and know I would have handled things much differently, but have no regrets for having fun.