From Humble Beginnings...

 It began long ago, over a year in fact.  I emerged from my initiation as a Necromancer with the fire of adventure burning in my soul.  After my meeting with The Harbringer, I ran to the Field of Bone to seek my fortune.  Though you may think my eagerness foolish, I had but a few meals worth of supplies and would need restocking soon.  With not even a pet to aid me, I struck out against the vermin that threaten to infest Cabilis even as I draft this bit of history.  Scaled wolf pups, scorpions, and spiders of varying sizes fell at my whim.  Around 5^th level, an odd thing happened.  An Iksar Warrior, handed me a ring that increased my intelligence.  I thanked him for his gift, but was unaware of the value of it.  To say my experience with such things was limited would be an understatement.  This encounter with anonymous generosity has stuck with me to this day.

 It was when I reached 6^th level that a monk named Swifthand noticed me.  Through some connection in another life, he was compelled to give me guidance and support.  He gave me a tunic made from flayed wurm skin to wear.  Though hardly proper attire for a Necromancer, this tunic was special.  It afforded me an extra spell and absorbed damage when taken, while allowing me some protection from being struck at all.  As I progressed through the levels, Swifthand handed me more items.  A pair of earrings and a face mask that I still wear to this day, some bracelets that boosted my magic and enhanced my body’s durability.

 One rainy day in the Field of Bone, I found myself lost amongst the trees and wandered into a new area.  The Emerald Jungle.  The jungle seemed inviting at first, despite the gloominess that tree cover provided.  Little was I to know that I would have my first encounter with… A DRAGON!  His presence alone was enough to make my scales crawl, even before I knew why they did so.  Evidently, someone had ticked off this mighty being and ran right past me.  As I turned from watching his fleeing backside, I was face to face with IT.  A mighty roar and I was facing Cazic Thule.  With an air of amusement, The Faceless one threw me back to the world of the living, where I found myself naked and without spells at my disposal.

 I retraced my steps as best as I could and found the jungle again.  It was not long before I was able to locate my former body and retrieve the gear and treasure I had amassed.  At the time I had no idea how significant tNext stop was the acquisition of maps and learning to sense the direction I was headed.  This was also the reason for my addiction to SoW potions.  Though I have sought counseling for this problem, I have been told that the only true cure is the acquisition of a might steed to carry me.

Soon I was travelling all over Kunark in search of adventure and treasure.  Making Kurn’s Tower my own, I rapidly outgrew those hunting grounds and moved on to The Lake of Ill Omen, Warsilk’s Woods and The Overthere.  Eventually Dalnir became my new home, and I spent 7 glorious levels hunting there.  Once I outgrew Dalnir, it was on to the adventure of a new continent.  Soon I was an expert at traversing the long distance between Kunark and Vellious.  I gave many a tour of the route to Thurgadin, where the dwarves are hesitant with outsiders but grant them the benefit of the doubt.  My continued obsession with hunting Giants for sport yeilded me a great legend among these dwarves, and a certain notoriety with the Giants themselves.  Recently, my legend has spread to the dragons of Skyshrine, and I am now welcome to visit there anytime I like. 

 THE GUILD

I was sitting at the bank in Cabilis, celebrating my promotion to 20^th level when I received a summons from Swifthand.  “Meet me in the Field of Bone, your destiny awaits.”  It turned out that Swifthand had belonged to a guild named “The Plaguebringers” and had left due to some internal issues.  He was looking to form a new guild, but lacked the discipline to keep track of everyone.  I told him I would be glad to help, and quickly created tools to keep track of everyone and their abilities.  Our numbers swelled.

Soon, I recruited the druid called Hangs (alt) to act as my emissary.  His ability to travel the realms was much greater then mine, so he was granted officer status to act strictly at my instruction.  He eventually gave up adventuring altogether and is now serving as my broker, as well as emissary.

Since then, I have seen the guild roster swell and diminish.  Members were leaving to join battle with others of their level of ability.  They were after the big treasures and DC just wasn’t up to it.  At first, my reaction was to be insulted by this.  How would we ever be able to gather enough power to go on these grand adventures if everyone left the guild once they reached a high enough level?  Soon I came to realize that life is like that sometimes, and getting stuck in a rut is normal.  I did not begrudge them their thirst for bigger adventures.  Many times the roster seemed full enough to begin organizing some larger scale adventures of our own.  Every time, more members left.  The important thing to remember is “Once a Chow, always a Chow.”  Former members like Angyl and Kappaphi constantly invited Chow members to band together with them in adventure and kept their ties with the guild strong.   Though their affiliations outside of Dragonchow change, they keep coming back to the fold. I am still unsure which friends I have made because of Dragonchow or which Dragonchow members became my friends first.

Other members offered to improve upon the tools I had already created.   When Klothe joined us, we gained a trade skill junkie who also wished to add some organization to the guild, despite the constant trickle of members to other guilds.  About this time, I became a bit disillusioned with the concept of truly large Dragonchow raids.  The legend of Dragonchow has grown throughout Norrath, and even to the far reaches of Vellious. I was at a retreat for Iksar Heretics, which was great, when I received a message from Swifthand that a merger was being discussed.   Radalas was interested in not only joining the two guilds under the name Dragonchow, but was ready to start leading raids.

I attended a Kael raid with Radalas and was impressed with his ability to keep things moving.  Next was Siren’s Grotto, where I not only enjoyed the raid, but managed to walk away with some nice gear myself.  A couple more Kael raids followed, and now my dream of being able to walk among the dragons of Skyshrine unchallenged has become a reality.  Dragonchow is now ready to fulfill its destiny.

THE STUDENT AND THE TEACHER

As an officer, recruitment was within my purview.  I took recruitment seriously, since I did not wish to be associated with the wrong sort of people.  I happened upon a young Necromancer, some 4 or 5 levels below my own about the time I started hunting giants for sport.  He had many questions, and seemed very likable.  I soon invited him to join Dragonchow. 

When I received a message from Swifthand that he had acquired some new jewelry and would like to trade for some Forest Loops I had acquired, I instructed him to give the jewelry to young Jarok.  Though I needed one of the items to complete my set, I saw that Jarok was more in need then myself.  I was rapidly approaching the point where I could get those items on my own anyway.  Jarok flourished, and soon passed me by in ability.  His talent and determined nature proved more then worthy of the faith I had in him.  To this day, my investment in him has continued to pay off in friendship and support.

PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

I find life comes easier when you make the lives around you easier.   When someone gives me his/her friendship, I find that I am unable to not help them out.  I talk to and adventure with my friends because they are my friends, not because of what they can do for me.  I take every opportunity available to me to benefits my friends, sometimes at a cost to my own progress.  Though I look forward to achieving 60^th level, it will come in time and rushing the trip takes away from the journey.