#aldanon

[aldanonthesage]

((Headcanon: Aldanon is A+++ at picking out books for people.))

[aldanonthesage]

☯ During the siege of Crossroad Keep

Aldanon reeled back from a very large explosion, bushy eyebrows burnt off. The lack of eyebrows left him with an astonished expression that was heightened by the perfect “O” of his mouth. Apparently oblivious to the bits of zombie raining down around him, he leaned towards what had been the source of the explosion and peered curiously at it. “Hm. So that’s how that works.”

[aldanonthesage]

What is your greatest shame? Your deepest regret? Your highest triumph?

“Well, I’m quite proud of helping the Knight Captain during that nasty King of Shadows business. So I think that would be my triumph, yes. As for the other two...” Aldanon’s expression turned deeply troubled. “I was never able to save my Amabelle. I think that is both a shame and a regret. She was... quite the woman.”

[neverwinternighting]

((Have some more Valentines!))

[aldanonthesage]

Aldanon wasn't one to shuffle. Shuffling was for ancient madmen, not sages. True, Aldanon wasn't exactly young. He knew that. But he was far from ancient. So he didn't shuffle.

Usually.

-----

Aldanon shuffled into his room, arms crossed in front of him. He shut the door behind him, careful to latch it with only a quiet click. Once it was locked, he made his way over to his little bed. It was almost more of a cot, really, but he'd never wanted anything nicer. Besides, large beds took up room he could have used for bookshelves.

Normally Aldanon would retire to his room each evening and select a book from his private collection. A history tome, a treatise on magic, a recipe book- he didn't really care what he read. But read he would, until the candles guttered out. He could spend hours in the quiet of his room, silently appreciating the feel of parchment between his fingers as he flipped through his books and wrote little notes in the margins. It was his nightly ritual, and he liked to think it kept his mind sharp.

Except it didn't. Recent events had proved that. He'd been forgetting things lately. At first it was little things, things he could brush off as perfectly normal forgetfulness. He'd misplace a book, or forget about a meeting, or lose some small item. But now...

Now it was big things. Important things. He'd forgotten Barry, and had an entire day slip from his memory when he last traveled from Neverwinter to the Keep. And he'd forgotten Safiya.

Well, no. Not forgotten Safiya. Forgotten everything, including Safiya. For a brief little time, he'd thought he was back in Neverwinter. Though he was young, thought... thought Amabelle was still alive.

Huddling on his little cot, the sage wrapped his arms tightly around himself. "I remembered," he whispered. And he had. He had remembered, in the end. But that was too little, too late, and didn't change the fact that he was forgetting things. Forgetting important things, like friends.

Aldanon was old. Ancient, even. He'd lived through wars and chaos, political games and magical accidents and even an assassination attempt. But he'd never been very frightened of anything. Even the King of Shadows had seemed small and far away, as the sage trusted in the Knight Captain's ability to defeat the evil. No, Aldanon was not easy to scare.

But now? He was terrified.

-----

Crossroad Keep is a surprisingly silent place at night. Thick stone walls muffle sound well. Well enough that little can be heard once the quiet of darkness has settled over the Keep. Not footsteps or whispers, certainly. Not dark deals of compromises or quiet promises.

And certainly not the weeping of a frightened old man.

[clanironfististhebest]

journal!

((Khelgar doesn’t keep a journal, but if he did … . ))

Magic is confusing and stupid.

[aldanonthesage]

ALL the memes! :D

1. What is a thought that often keeps you from falling asleep?

"Why do my eyebrows hate me?"

2. Who is on your mind the most?

"Me, of course! It would be rather worrying if anyone else was more involved in my mind than myself."

3. Do you have any scars? If so, how did you get them?

"I have one on my thumb. I cut myself with a spoon."

4. If you could pick one song to describe who you are, what song would it be?

"I rather enjoy that little kobold’s Doom-doom-doom song. I’m not certain it describes me though, unless I am doomed."

5. Have you ever felt like just packing up your things and leaving everything behind?

"Well, if I were going to leave everything behind I probably wouldn’t pack it all up."

6. Name 3 of your favorite books. Now if you could live in the world of one of those, which one would you choose?

"I enjoyed the Tome of Iltkazar a great deal. I’m also a fan of Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook and that story about the flying cities. But I don’t think I’d want to live in any of those worlds- just being a spell wouldn’t be very exciting, and if I chose the cookbook I’d be stuck inside a kitchen. And I’m terrible at heights, so the flying city would be a poor choice. unless it crashed…"

7. If you could go out on a date with your celebrity crush, what would you want to do?

"Grobnar and I are planning on making a dracolich together! I don’t know if he’s a crush, but he is a celebrity."

8. If you had to have your memory reset but you could choose only one memory to keep with you, what memory would you choose?

"The memory of the time I cut myself with a spoon. It was quite painful, you know, and I want to make sure I don’t do it again."

9. You run into yourself from the future, they offer to tell you what you have to look forward to, would you choose to know what your future is like?

"Probably not. Though I might ask if they’ve found any new duskwood jam recipes."

10. You’re a survivor in the zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon of choice?

"A spoon. Quite deadly, you know."

11. Are you currently hiding something from someone?

"I hid a copy of my Tome of Iltkazar notes in the Keep library."

12. What is one thing you don’t want your parents to know about you?

"I stole some duskwood jam from my mother’s cupboard when I was nine."

13. What are some sensitive subjects for you?

"My eyes are rather sensitive. They become quite surly when I yell at them."

14. Was 2013 a good year for you?

"I don’t know. I suppose I’ll have to wait and see. Or time travel- I wonder if there’s a spell for that…"

15. If you could change any moment in 2013, would you?

"I suppose I’ll have to experience it through time travel, then use time travel again to go back and change whatever I want to change. Which really raises some interesting questions about the reality of the past and future…"

16. What is the worst nightmare you’ve had?

"I dreamt that someone stole my duskwood jam recipe."

17. Where do you feel the most comfortable?

"In my slippers. They’re blue and fuzzy."

18. A night at home or a night out?

"It would depend on what you mean by ‘out’. If you mean outside in the cold, I’d much rather be at home. If you means outside this plane, then that could be interesting depending on where exactly I was."

19. What is the thing you fear the most?

"I’m not overly fond of the dark. Makes it quite hard to see what you’re doing."

20. If you were a fictional character who would you be?

"If I were a fictional character I wouldn’t be myself, so there wouldn’t be any good reason for me to enjoy being that fictional character."

21. Have you ever felt forgotten?

"Oh, all the time. I don’t often get visitors, you see. And when I do, they’re usually quite impatient. ‘Can you tell me what this shard is or not?’ ‘Do you have the notes on the Tome of Iltkazar or not?’ ‘Are you sane or not?’ And then they leave and I go back to my work. I like it here at the Keep, though, There’s more people around."

22. How do you handle conflict?

"I don’t usually run into too much conflict. People get impatient and angry, yes, but most people don’t stoop to violence in my experience. Like that Garius fellow. He was quite upset when it took me a while to explain the specifics of that ritual, but he never did anything violent."

23. Who and/or what makes you the happiest?

"Duskwood jam with biscuits and tea."

24. If you could design the perfect day, what would it be like?

"Well, it would be a day where I have plenty of time to get lots of research done, but still have time to share duskwood jam with my friends! They all love it, you know, especially Sand."

25. Do you have any hobbies?

"I enjoy research, and alchemy. And divination. And cooking."

26. You can have only one trip in a time machine, would you travel to the future or the past?

"I think I would go to the past to remind myself to bring my spectacles when I leave for Crossroad Keep."

27. List one of your quirks

"Quirks? Oh, I don’t have any." Aldanon smears a spoonful of duskwood jam on the raw potato he is eating. ”I’m quite normal.”

28. Have you ever had a near-death experience?

"When I cut myself with the spoon the cut was quite deep. They had to take me to the Temple to get me healed."

29. What is the strangest thing you’ve experienced?

"I met a talking badger. It kept insisting it was Elanee, polymorphed, but I’m fairly certain it was just a badger."

30. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?

"The Knight-Captain was telling me a hilarious story about how Black Garius actually performed that Illefarn ritual, and the King of Shadows returned, and there was a great war… Nonsense, of course. No one in their right minds would perform that ritual! But the Knight-Captain was so adamant that it happened! It was quite funny."

[neverwinternighting]

((Hey guys! There's an Aldanon blog for NWN2 now! Say hello to aldanonthesage, maybe ask a question or two, make them feel at home! ;D))