Message 1015 : A Guide for Young Professionals (Kilvarnan) Written on Thu Dec 12 17:40:19 1996 At the bequest of several of the servants of the City, I have undertaken to do my best to explain the simple ways of the shadows to those who would call Tharbad home. I stress that His Majesty does not condone nor allow the practice of 'thievery' or darker skills, yet some things must be known in order to live within this peaceful coexistence. This said, I offer the following advice to all who would be at home in the shadows. Contents: --------- I. Locations II. Skills II.I Thievery Based II.I.I Weaponry II.I.II Assassination II.I.III Miscellaneous Skills II.II Other Professions II.II.I Warrior Skills II.II.II Ranger Skills II.II.III Magic III. Conclusions I. Locations: ------------- The path you have chosen is not one which is well respected in the common view, hence you will find that most people willing to teach such skills, notably those which deal with assassination and thievery, hide from the public eye. Your first order of business should be to familiarize yourself with the City of Tharbad. Despite my efforts, this city retains a reputation of being a city of thieves, and not without good reason. The inhabitants are the type of ruffians often seen hanging around the lowest bars and back alleys, and wouldn't think twice about ending your life if they believe they could get a dime out of it. However, you should consider this town to be your home. Your citizenship in Tharbad will likely become your most prized possession, as those masters with highest skills are found here for the majority of the learning you must acquire. If at all possible, this should be your home town, as young thieves would never be able to afford the price of citizenship or gain a change to pay it, due to the aggressive nature of the gate guards. Tharbad proper is known to house one guild, skilled in the areas of hiding, sneaking, piercing weapons and attack skills, and the art of stealing. The location of this guild, obviously, is not immediately apparent, but there are those who can tell you how to find it. In addition, rumours exist of a Guild of Assassins which have set up a lair in the catacombs below the sewers of the city. This location, which should only be approached with the aid of someone more skilled for those beginning travelers, is rumoured to instruct students in areas directly associated with the art of assassination. Specifically, its students gain the ability to silently kill opponents with a swift blow to the back, unseen and unheard by the victim. A second guild, rumoured to be under the control of the Black Dagger, can be found to the north, near the City of Fornost. To find this guild, I can only suggest contacting the underground movement within the city, crime is not so disorganized as some would have you believe. The elven cities of the Grey Havens and my former home of Rivendell teach more survival based skills: missile weapons, heightened awareness, and the like. Some of these skills are very important, as outlined below, and as such you should remain on good terms with the inhabitants of these cities. Elrond is particularly well known for remembering misdeeds to himself or his citizens. The township of Bree fancies itself to have a guild, though it is little more than a penny-ante group of ruffians, and in general should be avoided by anyone seriously interested in the profession. II. Skills: ----------- II.I Thievery Based ------------------- Due to the fact that most travelers today who might once have gained infamy due to their skill are in fact simple highwaymen, I must assume that this area of knowledge is poorly understood. As such, I offer the following advice upon the allotment of skills: II.I.I Weaponry --------------- Don't kid yourself, you can't live without knowledge of how to use a blade effectively, especially if someone decides that they don't like you creeping around. This said, I would defiantly advise the learning of piercing weapons, are everything hinges around them. An incredibly high level of practice isn't necessary, as long as you are able to hold your own in a fight. Coupled with this is dodge. You should focus upon this in your youth, as your life is centered more around not being hit than it is upon blocking others in combat. In this, you should be greatly aided by your natural dexterity, don't weigh yourself down with excess baggage. Therefore, learn dodge to your greatest ability. Once we pass the weaponry basics, we enter into more advanced areas. As I mentioned, your life depends upon your ability to dodge attacks rather than fend them off, but a moderate skill in parrying is very beneficial. Unfortunately, your chosen profession, as a rule, isn't very knowledgeable in this area, so you'll have to seek out a warrior type of instructor. I'd recommend the city of Fornost. This isn't a pressing matter, but before long you should obtain an average ability to parry others attacks. A second skill which will help you immensely in combat is what we call 'attack.' Once again drawing upon your, hopefully, innate dexterity, you can improve your weapon skills so as to allow you to attack more often than your opponents when using a fast, that is, piercing, weapon. This skill should be learned to fairly high levels when the opportunity presents itself, and is beneficial if you often travel alone. Another weapon skill, taught primarily in Rivendell, is that of missile weapons. While I have explored extensively with this ability, particularly in the area of crossbows and longbows, it does not provide much benefit in real terms. The primary use of this skill is to allow you to obtain food for yourself, killing deer and the life. Through the use of a bow you can avoid direct confrontation with your target, which can be beneficial if you are uncertain of your abilities. However, I do not recommend learning this skill unless you count yourself as a ranger rather than a more city-based traveler. II.I.II Assassination --------------------- While rarely spoken of, this is one of the main calling of your 'profession' and, consequently, why you are often untrusted by those in power. The goal here is to kill your target before it realizes you're around or has any chance to respond to your attack. As a result, you can silence potential alarms as well as using related skills to move yourself stealthily through areas which are less than welcoming. The effective use of this art requires a high skill in the ability to sneak, hide, and, of course, backstab. A low skill in any of these can very easily result in a fumbled attempt, alerting others to your intentions and generally being hazardous to your well-being. The ability to move silently, sneaking, is of utmost importance to this and other thievery skills. By moving silently, others will not hear you enter or leave rooms. Based upon the importance of these requirements, you cannot settle for less that a superb knowledge of this skill if you which to scout out targets, attack stealthily, or relieve others of their possessions. Hiding is the next skill you must master to effectively carry out these actions. Provided that you have hidden correctly you cannot be seen by normal means, other than by trolls or people who have a high awareness, virtually a sixth-sense in these matters. Once again, it is important to learn this skill to your utmost ability once you have reached a moderate level of knowledge. Finally, you must know the skill of backstabbing flawlessly to allow correct assassinations. Thus, these three skills must be learned to their maximum levels once you have mastered the basics of the profession. II.I.III Miscellaneous Skills ---------------------------- Of course, other 'thief' skills exist, to varying levels of importance. The ability to search out hidden passages is very important if you travel alone or among groups which may not know of this ability. However, a moderate level goes a long way towards allowing you to eventually find a hidden opening. Thus, attending one or two practice sessions on searching is adequate. Next, you'll find that the ability to pick locks is indispensable. Without this skill you'll eventually find yourself trapped behind a door with no way out, likely leading towards your death. Thus, I would recommend learning this skill to average levels. In addition, once you can afford them and are confident of your ability to hold on to them, find yourself a set of lockpicks. With the right touch, these tools will allow you to open locks which your skill might otherwise not be up to. Note, however, that breaking-and-entering is illegal in most communities and various guards take offense at such actions. In your travels you will, undoubtedly, run into others who may attempt to use these types of skills against you. In order to guard against this, several guilds throughout the West will take the time to train you to raise your awareness. This is highly recommended, as it will allow you to realize attempts upon your life, detect hidden creatures, notice silent movements, and perhaps eventually gain a more sensitive response to darkness. Thus, you should learn this skill to high levels so as to protect yourself against others. Another useful skill taught by some masters is that of escaping fights. Although cowardly (remember, discretion is the better part of valor) you will find this skill useful as it allows you to attack a target and then remove yourself from the fight in a controlled manner rather than fleeing blindly. There have been rumours that against less intelligent targets it is possible to wear down defenses using a backstab-escape combination repeatedly. I personally do not use this skill, but have had it recommended to me by many. If you choose to do so, remember that it becomes easier to escape the more you know, and that it is ineffective against large groups of opponents. Finally, despite the abject illegality of such, I should mention the skill of stealing. Among those who chose to use the skill, it can be quite effective, allowing one to finance almost any endeavour provided they put a little bit of time into practice and then use their head while stealing money or possessions. However, and take note here, this is not a skill to be attempted at less than superb skill. To attempt to steal at anything less than an expert level is nothing less than taunting death. Thus, if you wish to pursue this path, be committed to it. II.II Other Professions ----------------------- Despite the large number of areas available to you within this profession, there are other skills which you will find useful in your travels. II.II.I Warrior Skills ---------------------- As mentioned above, the ability to parry, a skill taught by warrior trainers, is useful in moderation. I would recommend eventually learning this to average or above average levels. Once you've gained quite a bit of real-world experience you should increase this level so as to adequately protect yourself, but at this time you will have enough pent-up time that you can afford to practice this skill, whereas at lower levels of experience you likely won't have the free time to learn it. II.II.II Ranger Skills ---------------------- Some of the knowledge taught by rangers will prove to be useful in your travels, especially if you travel alone often. Most important, of course, is the ability to ride a horse. Horses have been bred down over the years, and modern varieties are much easier to ride than those in the past. Thus, a moderate level of riding skill is more than enough to serve you in your travels. This skill will become increasingly useful as your travels lead you between cities, especially in hostile areas in which you may be set upon by brigands, orcs, trolls, or those of Fallen Numenor. Secondly, you should know how to swim. Canoes or other boats are very heavy to carry around, and you'll find that very few people travel upon most waterways of the lands. Thus, you'll find areas rarely visited by others and, with an average skill or better you can provide against the danger of drowning in rivers which might not have an immediate way back to shore. II.II.III Magic --------------- Generally these are looked down upon by the non-magic oriented professions. However, you'll find that traveling without knowledge of simple magic will be annoying at the least to deadly at the worst, in these days of fallen mages. Thus, while expensive, I'll recommend that you put a minimum of effort into learning these magics, though excessive practice is not necessary not beneficial in relation to the amount of practice you'll put into them. You'll not that I do not list any attack magics here. Some will suggest these to you, but in order to gain attack spells you'll have to sacrifice a lot of other skill in order to be a third-rate mage. From the mages of Arda you should learn the spells of 'Detect Invisibility' and 'Night Vision' provided you are able to do so. Detect Invisibility will allow you to view objects or creatures cloaked by the invisibility spell, as the name implies. This will help you in several ways. First, it will allow you to notice the presence of Black Numenoreans and their ilk before you're engulfed in flames. Second, quite a few people are known to endow their equipment with invisibility, and sometimes lose these possessions by one means or another. In this line, more than a few full moneybags have been found invisible upon the ground in the past, as well as equipment retrieved from corpses. Third, annoying as it may seem, quite a few people insist upon talking to others while invisible, a quite annoying activity if you can't directly respond to them. As for night vision, this is due to the fact that it is very hard to kill things in the dark, especially via assassination, if you can't see them. Thus, if you can learn this skill it will serve you very well when hunting your targets at night or indoors. Again, the churches are able to provide a few useful cantrips to your skills. Of these, I recommend learning 'Armour,' which will increase your natural dodge, and 'Sense Life.' This second spell is fading from Arda slowly, and will eventually disappear altogether due to a loss of knowledge. However, until this time, Sense Life provides, essentially, a cheap version of the awareness skill described above. Thus, if you can learn it, it will provide a very high level of protection from hidden life via fairly unnatural means. As I wrote, these skills do not require a lot of practice. Learning them a couple of times will generally serve, though backfiring spells will be a problem when trying to cast them. Generally, even at a bad level of knowledge you will still be adequately served by their presence. III. Conclusions: ----------------- From these remarks it should be possible for those new to the profession to gain a basic understanding of how to proceed, and thus save me the trouble of having to enforce laws upon those who are not quite aware of what they're doing. This profession is known for having a large number of skills which must be completely learned to be effective. As a result, you should realize that to learn everything outlined will take a long time, possibly not until your name is repeated by traveling minstrels. Thus is the life of a true professional, however. It is important to not try to rush these skills, but rather focus upon the basics and from there build up to the more 'impressive' skills. Thus, basic defense must be learned first, followed by traveling skills. Basic knowledge in spells, such as detect invisibility, should be learned as soon as possible so as to protect yourself from outside dangers. From there, your specialized attack skills (sneak, hide, backstab) should be perfected. Once these areas have been completely covered, it is up to you to make of them what you can. There are many who aspire to greatness, but few actually achieve the respect they desire. Signed this Day by My Hand, --Kilvarnan Sivlas Rahae Head of the Guard, Tharbad