AI wrote:Is the trainer's name Frist, Frith or Firth?
Gah! Fixed it I think now. Thanks! *Waits for a post so he can post the next chapter*
Chapter 7: Good and Evil
Spoiler:
I headed to the east side of town to meet this ‘High Preist Jal’” On my way to the east though I encountered a rather despondent looking young man. He was dressed in full armour and standing by a white horse. According to my host’s memories this was a sign that the man was either very wealthy, or something the humans call a paladin.
The man road towards me, looking at the surroundings without really seeing them and moaning like something in pain. I found this quite distressing, especially since my host was experiencing a… twinge. This became even more distressing when I realized that I was standing still, the horse was headed towards me at a full trot, and I had about a half a second to throw myself to the side or get run down.
It was only his horse’s common sense that kept him from running me over. The horse brought it’s self to a stop; it’s face inches away from mine. Then it let its long red tongue loll out of its mouth and brushed its tongue against my host’s face. I should have found the gooiness comfortable, but my host shuddered in revulsion at the sticky horse saliva against her face.
"Oh, would that I might never see another day such as today, alas, alas!" The man atop the steed said
“Ach! Ach! Sir your horse is… ACH! I don’t have any apples!”
“Wha… oh! Oh I’m dreadfully sorry ma’am. Is there anything I can do to make up for this? Oh, before I forget. I’m Sir Dryden”
“Aurelia. I would appreciate a towel, and perhaps you could tell me what’s wrong?”
"Is there something that ISN'T wrong in this wicked world?” the man snapped. Then he blushed hotly, blinking. “Oh, I'm sorry ma'am. You've come to me at a bad time."
The questionably polite young man took off his fancy overcoat, and offered it to me. I was certain that horse-saliva was not very good for richly colored fabrics, but I accepted his offering without a word, and cleaned my face.
“What exactly is the problem?” I asked
"Oh fair damsel, I don't want to burden you with my problems.”
Something in the skeptical look on my host’s face caused him to give me a double-take, then look me up and down. .
“On the other hand, perhaps you're just what I need... I'll tell you my tale of woe, and then you can decide whether to help me or not.”
“Go on?”
"Last year I was traveling with a trade caravan in the icy steppes of Vedra when we were ambushed by orcs. Except for myself, there was only one other survivor, a beautiful and skilled mage by the name of Corinna."
The man blushed again, a dreamy smile crossing his face. I waved my hand in front of his eyes and he did not react.
"What can I say about Corinna? Her eyes are exquisite emeralds, her face is that of an angel, she is a goddess made flesh! With Corinna's magic and my paladin skills we became the perfect team. Together we defeated orcs, yetis, and other evils too terrible to mention. At night we hugged each other for warmth, warding off the relentless cold. And finally, after months of traveling together, the two of us made it back to civilization. We're the perfect team! The gods intended for us to be together, I'm sure of it!"
“So… what’s the problem? Is she in love with someone else?” I asked, borrowing from my host’s knowledge of the plots of ‘romantic plays’
"Corinna is evil and she hates me."
“What… exactly do you mean by evil?” I asked, having been called evil myself. I didn’t think of myself as evil though. “I mean… the whole disliking you thing is certainly harsh”
The man gave me a look “I’m a paladin. I’m trained to know evil with I see it”
“What… is a paladin?” I asked
“How can you not know? Holy warriors in service of the light, the spirit of humankind, and all things holy” He responded, great pride in his voice
“I’m… not human. I’m an elf” I said dryly. Dangerous as these paladins might be with their zealotry, this one clearly made up for it with poor observational skills and general good natured stupidity.
“Oh…” He said, hurrying on to change the topic “Once we got back to Fort Pinewood she wanted nothing to do with me! She said she only stayed with me to survive, that she never loved me! I feel like I've had my heart ripped out and trampled to a pulp! Now she broods in her manor, studying dark tomes of forbidden magic. The last time I tried to visit her she attacked me, and placed what she called an 'Anti-Annoying Paladin Ward' around her estate. Some invisible force stops me from even passing through the front gate of her manor now!"
“Dark tomes of forbidden magic?”
“The darkest”
I growled at the man inside my mind about how incredibly unhelpful it was. I pondered if it was possible to buy one of those anti-annoying paladin charms from this Corinna.
"The tenets of my paladin Order clearly state that I must slay Evil wherever I find it, but how can I raise my sword against the woman I love? (Sigh) If only I could convince Corinna to abandon her dark magicks. How can one so beautiful be so ugly inside?" he continued while I brooded
“I guess appearances can be deceiving sometimes” I offered carefully, wondering what Dryden would think if he saw my true form.
"If you're willing to help, please take this love terrain I wrote to Corinna at her estate. It's just west of the bridge."
“Fine” I said tersely, snatching it from him. Then I crossed the bridge. Corianna’s mansion was dark, black, and foreboding. I could almost see jagged peaks of lightning flashing between the spires. I knocked on the gate and a pretty young woman emerged, scowling at me from her purple robes. Her body was surrounded with bands of blue fiery magic. Human magic, my elf’s mind told me, elves were not good at manipulating it.
"Let me guess. That tin-headed oaf of a paladin is still pining for me outside the gates of my estate, and he sent you to do his dirty work."
“Yes.” I said sympathetically “Here it is. Sorry, he begged me”
"Look, I'll pay you 150 pieces of gold if you can get rid of Sir Dryden for me. Kill him, trick him, marry him, whatever, just make him go away!"
“I… Kill him?” I said taken aback
“Yes. Go do it” She said, slamming the door.
I headed back to Dryden uncertain of how to handle this situation. “Um… excuse me?”
“Were you able to get my terrain to Corinna?" he demanded with all the eagerness of an unweened puppy
“I'm afraid so. She told me to kill you." I said.
“Then things are even worse than I feared. It is only a matter of time before Corinna's experiments in black magic come to the attention of the authorities. When that happens, my duty as a paladin will be clear: I will have to slay her. There is one...last chance...one last thing to try...to save Corinna from herself...if you would be willing to help. There is a cursed artifact known as a 'Ring of Opposite Alignment.' Supposedly it has the power to change the most pure-hearted hero to evil, or the most wicked villain to good. If we could acquire that ring and trick Corinna into wearing it perhaps she would develop a more...amenable personality. Unfortunately...the merchant is selling it for 100 pieces of gold, and due to my paladin vows of poverty I can't afford it."
I pondered this for some time. Corinna wanted me to get rid of sir Doofas… erm sir Dryden, and she would pay me 150 gold for it. This ring only cost 100 gold. If I gave her this ring, then sir Drayden would stop bothering both her and me. And perhaps it would convince these other paladins to not hunt her as well.
“Alright… Is this jewlry worth about the right amount?”
"Milady, you are a saint!” Drayden rushed off, leaving me standing there, wondering if he was even going to come back. A few hours later he returned with a shiny gold ring. The ring featured a prominent symbol that was purple and red in coloration in the center of it. I stared at it for a moment.
"Now you must convince Corinna to put on the ring. I'll leave the details up to you."
“Kay…” I said, taking the ring and heading for Corinna’s mannor. I knocked again. She saw me, and her eyes lit up “You’re back! Did you do it?”
Something about this felt… Wrong. I was supplying a woman with a ring that would enslave her mind on the say-so of a foppish and despondent zelot. This wasn’t a good act at all. I felt immense guilt at what I just did, then wondered why I was feeling guilty? Other people said I was evil after all, right? Still, with a heavy weight on my mind I handed the woman the ring, giving it a closer look. It was then that I realized that for all that I was seeing magic auras of cold fire around Corianna this ring had no power at all, or at least none that I could detect.
That load taken off of my mind I handed it to her “Drayden wanted me to give you this. It’s a ring of power” I said. Her eyes lit up and she snatched it greedily from me, then slipped it on her finger.
“Wait a minute! This isn't a Ring of Magic Power!” She said after wearing it a moment. She began to desperately claw at the ring. “no… no… It's cursed! Why that lousy, conniving paladin! I'll melt the flesh off his bones! I'll...eh...” She collapsed into a pile on the chair, and I ran to her side. Desperately I tried my own magic on the ring, but with no avail. I was wrong. The ring had been magiced.
“Actually, my head hurts. I...I need to rest. Yes, rest, and think some things over."
I stood by her side for quite a while, tending her best as I can, feeding her some of my strength. Then she waved me off. “Go…” she said weakly.
I left. My host was angry, and I felt guilty about my part in the whole affair. I wondered if maybe humanity deserved to be exterminated.
“Did you do it?” The last man on earth I wanted to see begged of me
"I gave her the ring and she put it on. I...guess it worked. At least, I'm assuming it did based on the fact she hasn't melted the flesh off your bones yet."
"Well, I guess that's good news. I must admit I was hoping for a more instantaneous transition to Good, but perhaps the ring takes time to work."
I shuddered. If that ring wasn’t evil, then I didn’t know what evil was.
“It… I think… something about that felt…”
But Drayden was gone. I stood in the empty street, and I felt my host begin to shudder uncontrollably. Everything went dark.
Master ooze, welcome to lawful good. I prefer the more chaotic side of the spectrum.
Anyway, you can edit your posts or, if you have a valid reason (like wanting to have each chapter in it's own post), double-posting is allowed.
So, no need to wait for others to post before publishing the next chapter.
AI wrote:Master ooze, welcome to lawful good. I prefer the more chaotic side of the spectrum.
I love playing with morality in my stories. Good and evil are interesting concepts.
I'm used to double-posting being something one gets quite yelled at, even if one wants each chapter in a different post :-p. But if it's O.K for this specific instance I'll take careful, cautious advantage of it. Thanks!
Chapter 8: Human Magic
Spoiler:
I was surrounded by darkness, warm and hot. It was playing a throbbing tune across my mind. It took me a moment to adjust to this. Something had happened to my host. She had… shut herself down in shock, and had somehow shut me down as well. Was this a… rebellion against me? I pondered and fretted as I touched the controls behind my host’s body, opening her eyes.
I felt linen against my host’s skin. She was in a bed. I looked around and saw white walls, a white bed, white painted door… everything was white. According to my host’s memories injured people were usually kept in white rooms like this until they recovered by humans. Also my host thought this was rather foolish as injured people recovered more fully, if slower, when in warm environments that reminded them of home instead of cold sterile environments that were stark and alien.
It was at this point that a man, decked in white robes, entered the room. He was snapping with some unusual light energies.
“Oh, good. You are awake, child”
I blinked irritably. I knew I was not a child. I never had been, and my host was a full adult.
“Yes. I am awake” I said “My name’s Aurelia.”
“I am High Preist Jal. You fainted, and were brought to me. There’s nothing wrong with you though, just shock. Might I ask what happened?”
“I… I’d rather not go into deep details”
“Very well. Would you be interested in making a donation to Pelor, god of healing?”
At first I considered laughing in the man’s face. After all, the paladin was one of ‘god’s servants’. But after some thought I realized that I did not KNOW which god, and that Jal had been nothing but kind to me.
“Alright… here” I said, taking off the opposite earring to the one I had handed Dryden
“This is quite valuable… are you sure you want to part with it?”
“I’ve already parted with its mate”
"My lady is MOST generous! You have gained a great ally in Pelor today!"
“You’re welcome”
I was uncertain how good an ally this Pelor was. I was much more confident in Jal’s abilities. He had the aura of a skilled healer, and his unusual human magic illuminated his figure.
“May I ask how you learned to use magic?”
“Well, I studied in a monastery, and they found that I had the talent, so they taught me how to use it according to god’s will”
“I see...” I said. This was quite different then my host’s memories “Um… am I well enough to go then?”
“Do you feel well enough to go? There’s nothing physically wrong with you, but you have received a mental shock”
“I… I feel fine”
“Well, you may leave any time. Tea?”
He offered me a glass of hot tea. I was uncertain where he had grabbed it from “No thank you… I think for now I’ll be returning to exploring the town”
“If it so pleases you” Jal said with a nod, opening a door to the street for me. I stepped out onto the street and almost immediately slammed into a man wearing crimson red robes.
"Fie and fiddle, where has my blasted book gone?! You! Elf! If you happen to see a thick silver tome, bring it to me immediately for a reward!"
“I have a name… It’s Aurelia” I said, wondering who this absent minded young man was. I recognized his robes based on my host’s memory. This man was a mage-in-training. He was a red mage.
“I’m Livius. Please get my book, and I will give you a reward”
I pondered saying no to this single-minded man, but I decided that I wanted to get to know more about human magic, and the magical fire crackling at this man’s fingertips. I supposed that I had better get hunting for this book.
Update: A bout with the sumertime blues is slowing my progress. Expect things to pick up when I'm either undepressed and it's still summer, or back at college and taking Point-Set Topology, Physics 3, Geology and Economics and therefore will not be depressed. Or in translation: I feel like I am worthless and accomplishing nothing since I'm not in classes, and can't get a job in this economy so I'm moping instead of writing. Which means I'm accomplishing LESS. Staring at a wall is 'fun'. My fault, I fell behind in writing, and that's what made me depressed, which is making me fall further behind... I had intended a chapter a day.
Here's chapter 9 by the way. Opinions, and advice are appreciated on EVERYTHING. I will fix mistakes once they are pointed out, and already have may times. I decided that writing more was the best way to break out of the summertime blues
Chapter 9: Of bars, booze and compititions
Spoiler:
While I had initially decided to hunt for the book, it wasn’t that long before I realized that chances were I would not actually find it. There had to be several books in town, and the description was, in my opinion, somewhat lacking. Point in fact it was downright non-existent. Uncertainly I went back to wandering the streets.
The streets near the entrance were mostly rough dirt. In this ‘richer’ part of town they had simple cobblestone paths. These parts of town was mostly abandoned and it caused my host to quiver a tad. I surmised that this might be because the houses reminded me of Cordila’s manor. They were large, and imposing. They were made out of solid material, typically stone and metal, with intricate filigree work.
Frequently these buildings were boarded up, and without even a guard the predictable had occurred. Bars had been pulled loose, and the insides looted leaving gaping doorways into ruined beauty… there were rich red carpets partly pulled up with bits cut free. There was thick dust coating the insides with foot-prints and noticeable spots on the walls where the objects once hung. There were smashed floorboards where the raiders had suspected hidden vaults were located. Ironically most of the looters tended to miss the inherent value in the carpeting and furniture, leaving it in broken piles as they searched for more liquid holdings.
As I left this district with a shudder, I noticed a blue-haired man. He wasn’t carrying anything stolen from the buildings that I could see, but blue hair was not a common human trait according to my host. Curiously I walked over to him. My host’s precice perceptions showed that while this man was not carrying anything obvious, he had several small pockets sewn throughout his clothing. The reason and purpose of these pockets was beyond my knowledge.
“Um… hello?”
“Nothing happening here. Move along”
“I just wanted to ask”
“MOVE ALONG”
I could see no other outcome then the one which would involve the guards, and possible damage to my host’s body. I moved along.
As I continued to explore I wandered into a distinctly less rich part of town. This area was loud, and filled with throngs of smelly humans and dwarves pressed into close quarters. The prior humans I had interacted with had smelled mostly like what solids referred to as soap, and the only dwarf I had interacted with so far today had smelled acrid and burnt. This teeming throng of humans and dwarves had a musky, warm smell with the sharp, acrid scent of old vomit and piss.
My host’s eyes burned and her nose watered in reaction to these strong scents, but this was clearly one of the social centers of town and I had been told to get to know people. Not only did I want to be in the mayor’s good graces, but I wanted to know my foe. So I entered the bar.
I was hit in the face with a solid wall of sound. Tin and wooden mugs slamming against rancid unvarnished tables. Multiple voices simultaneously in an un-ignorable cacophony. The lights were infrequent, hung from the ceilings out of reach of all but the tallest of patrons. The brightest lights were over the bar it’s self, where the light was as bright as the day. Constant, wheeling, multi-colored movement surrounded me as barmaids and customers walked from table to table carrying battered mugs of booze, and cracked bowls of stew. I noticed that most of the patrons were wearing spoons on strings around their necks. I walked cautiously over to the bar.
“He… hello?” I squeeked
"Welcome to Brock's Tavern. Five gold pieces for full room and board! Three gold gets you stew bread and beer! One gold gets you booze!"
“I… I see…”
"Or perhaps you've come to challenge me, the Fort Pinewood Armwrestling champion, to a contest of strength?"
“Um… I’m Aurelia, What sort of challenge?”
“Armwrestling of course!”
“What’s armwrestling… and what’s your name?”
The dwarf behind the bar guffawed, covering me with a blast of the smell of rancid beer.
“Well… Armwrestling is the sport of the strong, and as for my name, I’ll give you a hint. I own the tavern”
“Brock then?”
“Aye, someone give the lassie a hand.”
My host blushed but I felt no malice in the words, despite my embarrassment at having to ask such obvious questions
“Could I have a demonstraition of arm wrestling?”
“You’ve never seen it before?”
“I have not”
“Fine… Ram!”
A dwarf that had been drinking heavily from a giant barrel turned to Brock
“Yesh?”
“Let’s give the lassie a demonstration in arm wrestling”
“… Only if you’ll top off my barrel again”
“Sure”
The two men grabbed arms across the table, growling at one another.
“Once your elbow is placed you’re not allowed to move it. When I say go, we each try to push the other’s hand to the bar. Go!”
The two grunted and strained, muscles rippling in impressive bulges across their arms. I began to feel rather warm, and I think my host was leaking uncomfortably, but I ignored it as best as I could. Ram’s hand was slowly forced down, until it hit the table with a bang.
“So… lassie… do you want to try?” Brock asked me
“Sure” I said after a moment’s hesitation placing my dainty hand into Brock’s large meaty hand, then setting my host’s elbow properly onto the table.
“Like this?”
“Yup”
Brock’s sweaty hand closed around mine, and we clasped fingers then stared into each other’s faces across the bar. It almost looked like he was searching through my soul
“You’ve got a penetrating gaze” he remarked
“Um… meaning?”
“I feel like you’re sifting through my soul lassie, with those sharp blues of yours”
“Oh”
There was a moment’s awkward pause, and I thought I saw Brock’s face redden slightly
“Well… erm… Go!”
I began to push, hard, using my mass within my arm to help the pushing. I felt grunts and groans escaping my lips and I heard similar noises emerging from Brock’s. His arms began to bulge, while I squeezed my host’s muscles from within to prevent noticeable bulging and to improve their efficiency. At first we seemed to be evenly matched. Beads of sweat like clay bullets for slings broke out on his forarm. Then he started to get the advantage pushing me back an inch before I could rally my strength. Gradually his arm slid downwards notch by notch, until it was resting, gently, on the table.
His eyes were wide, and his face frozen stiff with white bloodless cheeks. Then he guffawed.
“You're the strongest elf lass I've ever met! Good show! The reward for beating me is fifty pieces of gold, and you earned every bit of it!"
“Here here!” Ram said “I wanna challenge the elf lash too!”
“What… do I get if I win?” I asked Ram
“You get my barrel! Yesh! It is my pretty! All tha booze in tha worldsh!”
“And… why do you need so much? Or why would I need it?” I asked dubiously
"Ta blowsh the bridge of coursh! Tha bridge inta town. Tha oozes gonna BURN when they get to Pinewood, ha ha hic! Or ats least thatsh what tha mayer says."
My confidence in this man’s ability to not drink the whole barrel before the orcs arrived was limited. I decided it was in pinewood’s… and therefore in mine own… best interests to give this booze a better keeper.
“Alright… what sort of challenge?”
"Why, the only real wayh you can prove anything! A drink'in contesht!"
“um… alright?”
“Bartender! Drinks!”
Brock poured two tankards of something that I initially assumed was the same stinking fluid drunk by the majority of the other customers. But as I brought it to my lips I smelled a warm, floral bouquets coming from it with a touch of the scent of fresh baked bread.
“Hey! Wha ish this pish?”
“The most fortified beverage I serve”
“Oh. Kay! Thash alri then”
Dumbfounded by this conversation, I waited for the start sign
“Go!”
The two of us both chugged our drinks, then slammed them down on the bar. I was moving a split second slower then Ram due to my need to observe his actions first and copy them. It burned going down, stripping the mucus from my throat, and parching my tongue. I exhaled sharply as it hit myself in my host’s stomach.
“Wow…” I hissed between clenched teeth
It was simple, once the toxic drink was touching me, to counteract the venoms in it and avoid injuring my host. It was fairly simple chemistry really, and the alcohol broke down readily into formaldehyde, which could then be ejected from the host rather simply. Ram and I downed drink after drink, the clinks of mug on table getting louder and louder in the increasingly silent pub. I was dimly aware of many staring faces. My host’s vision began to blur and the world was beginning to get hazy, when Ram suddenly fell backwards
“Oh mah godsh… itsh fulla shtarsh” he murmered, and then he began to emit the most distressingly loud and dreadful noise in existence.
“Snoring… he’s asleep. It seems you are a lass of many talents. You win the world’s biggest barrel of booze!” Brock said
“What the… rabbit am I going to do with the world’s biggest barrel of booze?”
“I’m certain you’ll have plenty of time to think about that. I am not letting you try to walk out of here. Diana! Carry the lady upstairs, and put her in the good room!”
I vaguely felt hands touching my body, and bouncy motion, and then I was tucked into gentle sheets. I think my host’s mind went blank before my head hit the pillow.
Edit sumery: Fixed Brock/broke mistake. Will fix other when I have time
Last edited by LBD on August 12th, 2009, 1:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
This parts of town was mostly abandoned and it caused my host to quiver a tad. -> These parts of town were mostly abandoned and it caused my host to quiver a tad.
spelling fix:
Broke’s sweaty hand closed around mine, and we clasped fingers then stared into each other’s faces across the bar.
