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A Long Hard Rain - The Story of Autumn of Fallon - Completed: 8/14
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<blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 3007507" data-attributes="member: 11"><p>I went into town and brought a wheel and clay and had blocks of stone delivered. I sculpted many things in the years that passed. Some of their titles were: <em>The Ascension of Fallon</em>; <em>Bronthro</em>, <em>Thoth</em> (a bust), <em>Isis in the Moon</em> and <em>Seventeen Cats</em>. Also in this time priests and scholars came and left. Rollod went off on some adventure and Poitren of Fallon and his sister Martha came to stay. Tyth moved on but left a copy of one of his journals at the shrine of Thoth and Benjamin of Bast (1) arrived. </p><p></p><p>Others came as well, warriors and bards and wanderers that I came to learn were adventurers. They came for aid, knowledge and healing and often left very generous donations for the seminary. On occasion one of the older orphaned children would run off and Kellina suspected that they had left to follow these adventurers. I learned a great deal in this time and my study of religion grew. I learned the basic teachings of all the gods in Ra's pantheon, from Ra himself to the deception of Seker. I learned the symbols of all the gods and when their holidays were. I took to wearing white almost exclusively, but I did not don the headband which would declare me an acolyte in the priesthood of Fallon.</p><p></p><p>It was autumn, and Lorraine had left the month before under mysterious circumstances. We were all worried, for one of the things I had learned in my studies was that worship of Isis was disallowed in the Black Islands. A message came to Kellina and she, Poitren and Martha left to find her. "I will be back in three to four days," Kellina said. Benjamin was spending less and less time in the seminary having found "good parties" (as he called a night out in Geffanstag's taverns) of late. And early one morning when I was the only one of any authority in the seminary, Fallon took her most direct action in my life up to that point.</p><p></p><p>I was washing clothes out front when I heard yelling and saw a group of men carrying some burden between them come through the gate. There were two women with them and they were wailing. As they approached I saw what it was they carried on a blanket. It was boy of about twelve summers and he and his carriers were covered in blood.</p><p></p><p>"Holy priestess of Fallon, please help us," one of the men cried.</p><p></p><p>I led them inside, too nervous to speak and brought them to a bed in the infirmary. It seemed that the boy had been running in the fields as his older brother was reaping with a scythe and did not see as the boy as he ran too close in the tall wheat. The blade had sliced him across the front from his right armpit to his bowels. Blood was everywhere and I could see a part of his entrails bulging from the wound. The boy moaned and spit blood and slipped hack into unconsciousness.</p><p></p><p>"Help him! Help him!" the mother cried.</p><p></p><p>I began to use my healing craft as I had been taught. I applied the crushed herbs that slowed the bleeding and the ointment that would help to prevent infection and them placed several large bandages on him and had the men hold him as I tied them tight around him to hold the whole thing closed. Blood soaked the bandages immediately. It was apparent that they were doing little good.</p><p>A man grabbed my shoulder and shook me. "Use the power of your goddess." he yelled in anger born of worry for the boy.</p><p></p><p>"I -," I faltered. "I am not a priestess. I just volunteer here. The priests are away."</p><p></p><p>"My boy with die! My boy will die!" The mother began to scream.</p><p></p><p>I heard the older brother sigh in resignation. "I killed my own brother," he said.</p><p></p><p>"Do not give up hope!" I cried to the crowd. "Fallon is with us here. She has not abandoned us, nor has she abandoned this boy. He might yet live. Nothing is beyond her power."</p><p></p><p>The crowd was silent. Several looked angrier. They were not convinced by my impassioned pleas.</p><p></p><p>"Do not lose faith," I told them. "Fallon desires and deserves your faith. What is the boy's name?"</p><p></p><p>"Tom," someone said. I walked over to the boy and cradled him in my arms. His hair was thin and blonde, stained with blood. He was not much younger than the boy I had been forced to kill back at the River of Blood and he was dying in my arms.</p><p></p><p>"Tom, " I whispered to him. "Tom, Fallon will save you. She has a place reserved for you in Anubis' Realm, but you don't have to go yet if you don't want to. It is not your time. " And I felt that to be true in my heart and I felt the strength of that conviction as I lay my hand upon his chest and softly said, "Fallon, please give Tom strength to face the trials of his life, for this is but one pain of life's many pains that he will overcome with your help." And I felt the healing warmth emanate from my hand and pass into the boy. The boy jerked and coughed. The wound was closing; not completely, but enough so that I could bandage him again and this time it would stay closed and begin to heal as long as he lay still.</p><p></p><p>The people stood in the room dumb-founded.</p><p></p><p>"I hope you never let your faith die. For only through your faith, directed by Fallon was this boy saved today. Please join me in a prayer."</p><p></p><p>Kellina returned the next day and the first thing I said to her was, "I am ready."</p><p></p><p>"I have waited five years to hear you say those words," she replied and the very next day my training was to begin, but that night I had a dream that Malsted had died and in the morning when I awoke I knew it to be true. I had to return to Lambert. Kellina understood.</p><p></p><p>Lambert had not changed much in my departure. Malsted had left me his shop and all his belongings in the will. Of course the government took more than half of its value in inheritance tax and I sold whatever did not have sentimental value and donated the money to the seminary. I took the statue of Captain Yeardley Scott Discovers the Black Islands and placed it in my cell at the seminary. I visited my old home. It was boarded up. Whether Eric had come and done that or someone else did it to ward off squatters I did not know. The house seemed like a ghost to me and I did not stay in its vicinity long. I have not returned there since. I was tempted to take a ride up to Sown With Bones to see if Eric had returned there. From what I had heard the main house had been sacked and burned during the war and at least one of his older brothers had died, but I resisted the temptation and returned to the seminary eager to begin my training.</p><p></p><p>The training took almost four years. I finished my religious instruction. Learned to focus Fallon's power through spells and learned how to defend myself with mace and shield and to shoo away opponents from a distance with a sling. Part of my training required me to wear chainmail armor for days at time until I grew used to its weight. I was taught to swim and how to save a drowning person and I learned how to lay my hands upon the wounded and heal them. This brought me much joy.</p><p></p><p>In time I knew that I had to move on. I had given the seminary over eight years of my life and I knew that there were other places I was needed and adventures to be had. Yes, I even grew to look forward to adventures. Kellina sent me to Paragraine. She pointed out to a quote attributed to Fallon, "The first and last steps of a quest take place where you were born." And so I returned to Paragraine and there I joined the old medicus, Milo, who worked out of a shack in the city’s market district. There were many poor and homeless in Paragraine so I took to asking alms until some guards rudely reminded me that this was against the law and so I was forced to take on another job to help pay for the temple's expenses.</p><p></p><p>I went to the Black Sunflower Arena (2) and offered my services to the infirmary there. Even though it was a place of infinite cruelty and glorification of violence I knew that even these savage gladiators deserved the gift of Fallon and that perhaps I might with Fallon's help get through to some of them and get them to devote their energies to more productive ends. In addition I knew that some of the warriors there were slaves that were forced to fight and since part of my religious training included the teachings of Nephthys I hoped I might get an opportunity to save some of them.</p><p></p><p>I met some people there including a young boy who sold bags of peanuts to the spectators. Jackie Dwiner (3) wants more than anything to become a gladiatorial warrior and I spent many afternoons trying to talk him out of it. He talked with glee about blood-letting and the poking out eyeballs and similar notions. I spoke to him of Fallon's love and how some warriors were dedicated to good and how he might be like them, but that even warriors dedicated to good did not take joy in murder for sport or profit. I could tell that there was a part of the 11 year old boy that listened to me and considered the options I tried to explain to him.</p><p></p><p>There was also Finneous "Fingers" McFinney (4) who often had one hand where it did not belong (thus his nickname). This young bard dressed and acted like a jester. I spoke to him once or twice and he was a bit too wild to hold a decent conversation with, but I got the idea that he did not like the Arena of Blood either and only worked there to save enough money to move on. In the few times I spoke to him he always mentioned traveling. He wanted desperately to go to Herman Land, Fallon knows why.</p><p></p><p>I don't know how long I will be satisfied with this new occupation. I am eager to adventure and to help those who are victims of tyranny, but here I will stay until Fallon presents me with an opportunity to move on.</p><p></p><p>I must go now. The last games of the year are beginning in a few minutes and I am the only one on duty in the main arena itself. Anyway I heard that Erlo the Pure (5) is going to fight today and I must admit a weakness for his honorific style of non-killing combat.</p><p>---------------------------------------------</p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p></p><p>(1) Bast is the Goddess of Cats, Luck and Comfort. You can read about Aquerra’s Priests of Bast <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priests+of+Bast" target="_blank">here</a>, and about the Priest of Bast class <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priest+of+Bast+Characters" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p></p><p>(2) This gladiatorial complex includes the impressive Arena of Blood which can hold nearly 30,000 spectators, and a series of smaller pit fighting areas for more intimate betting. Its plaza is adjacent to the Market District on one side and the Lists of Black Talon on the other.</p><p></p><p>(3) This was my attempt to give the DM some NPCs to work with and include in the game.</p><p></p><p>(4) Another NPC for the DM to use as he pleased, with a nod to the old Dragon magazine comic.</p><p></p><p>(5) Erlo the Pure, also known as the Bloodless Fop, is a famous gladiator of the Arena of Blood who always grants mercy, and is known for his dance-like flowing swordsmanship.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="el-remmen, post: 3007507, member: 11"] I went into town and brought a wheel and clay and had blocks of stone delivered. I sculpted many things in the years that passed. Some of their titles were: [I]The Ascension of Fallon[/I]; [I]Bronthro[/I], [I]Thoth[/I] (a bust), [I]Isis in the Moon[/I] and [I]Seventeen Cats[/I]. Also in this time priests and scholars came and left. Rollod went off on some adventure and Poitren of Fallon and his sister Martha came to stay. Tyth moved on but left a copy of one of his journals at the shrine of Thoth and Benjamin of Bast (1) arrived. Others came as well, warriors and bards and wanderers that I came to learn were adventurers. They came for aid, knowledge and healing and often left very generous donations for the seminary. On occasion one of the older orphaned children would run off and Kellina suspected that they had left to follow these adventurers. I learned a great deal in this time and my study of religion grew. I learned the basic teachings of all the gods in Ra's pantheon, from Ra himself to the deception of Seker. I learned the symbols of all the gods and when their holidays were. I took to wearing white almost exclusively, but I did not don the headband which would declare me an acolyte in the priesthood of Fallon. It was autumn, and Lorraine had left the month before under mysterious circumstances. We were all worried, for one of the things I had learned in my studies was that worship of Isis was disallowed in the Black Islands. A message came to Kellina and she, Poitren and Martha left to find her. "I will be back in three to four days," Kellina said. Benjamin was spending less and less time in the seminary having found "good parties" (as he called a night out in Geffanstag's taverns) of late. And early one morning when I was the only one of any authority in the seminary, Fallon took her most direct action in my life up to that point. I was washing clothes out front when I heard yelling and saw a group of men carrying some burden between them come through the gate. There were two women with them and they were wailing. As they approached I saw what it was they carried on a blanket. It was boy of about twelve summers and he and his carriers were covered in blood. "Holy priestess of Fallon, please help us," one of the men cried. I led them inside, too nervous to speak and brought them to a bed in the infirmary. It seemed that the boy had been running in the fields as his older brother was reaping with a scythe and did not see as the boy as he ran too close in the tall wheat. The blade had sliced him across the front from his right armpit to his bowels. Blood was everywhere and I could see a part of his entrails bulging from the wound. The boy moaned and spit blood and slipped hack into unconsciousness. "Help him! Help him!" the mother cried. I began to use my healing craft as I had been taught. I applied the crushed herbs that slowed the bleeding and the ointment that would help to prevent infection and them placed several large bandages on him and had the men hold him as I tied them tight around him to hold the whole thing closed. Blood soaked the bandages immediately. It was apparent that they were doing little good. A man grabbed my shoulder and shook me. "Use the power of your goddess." he yelled in anger born of worry for the boy. "I -," I faltered. "I am not a priestess. I just volunteer here. The priests are away." "My boy with die! My boy will die!" The mother began to scream. I heard the older brother sigh in resignation. "I killed my own brother," he said. "Do not give up hope!" I cried to the crowd. "Fallon is with us here. She has not abandoned us, nor has she abandoned this boy. He might yet live. Nothing is beyond her power." The crowd was silent. Several looked angrier. They were not convinced by my impassioned pleas. "Do not lose faith," I told them. "Fallon desires and deserves your faith. What is the boy's name?" "Tom," someone said. I walked over to the boy and cradled him in my arms. His hair was thin and blonde, stained with blood. He was not much younger than the boy I had been forced to kill back at the River of Blood and he was dying in my arms. "Tom, " I whispered to him. "Tom, Fallon will save you. She has a place reserved for you in Anubis' Realm, but you don't have to go yet if you don't want to. It is not your time. " And I felt that to be true in my heart and I felt the strength of that conviction as I lay my hand upon his chest and softly said, "Fallon, please give Tom strength to face the trials of his life, for this is but one pain of life's many pains that he will overcome with your help." And I felt the healing warmth emanate from my hand and pass into the boy. The boy jerked and coughed. The wound was closing; not completely, but enough so that I could bandage him again and this time it would stay closed and begin to heal as long as he lay still. The people stood in the room dumb-founded. "I hope you never let your faith die. For only through your faith, directed by Fallon was this boy saved today. Please join me in a prayer." Kellina returned the next day and the first thing I said to her was, "I am ready." "I have waited five years to hear you say those words," she replied and the very next day my training was to begin, but that night I had a dream that Malsted had died and in the morning when I awoke I knew it to be true. I had to return to Lambert. Kellina understood. Lambert had not changed much in my departure. Malsted had left me his shop and all his belongings in the will. Of course the government took more than half of its value in inheritance tax and I sold whatever did not have sentimental value and donated the money to the seminary. I took the statue of Captain Yeardley Scott Discovers the Black Islands and placed it in my cell at the seminary. I visited my old home. It was boarded up. Whether Eric had come and done that or someone else did it to ward off squatters I did not know. The house seemed like a ghost to me and I did not stay in its vicinity long. I have not returned there since. I was tempted to take a ride up to Sown With Bones to see if Eric had returned there. From what I had heard the main house had been sacked and burned during the war and at least one of his older brothers had died, but I resisted the temptation and returned to the seminary eager to begin my training. The training took almost four years. I finished my religious instruction. Learned to focus Fallon's power through spells and learned how to defend myself with mace and shield and to shoo away opponents from a distance with a sling. Part of my training required me to wear chainmail armor for days at time until I grew used to its weight. I was taught to swim and how to save a drowning person and I learned how to lay my hands upon the wounded and heal them. This brought me much joy. In time I knew that I had to move on. I had given the seminary over eight years of my life and I knew that there were other places I was needed and adventures to be had. Yes, I even grew to look forward to adventures. Kellina sent me to Paragraine. She pointed out to a quote attributed to Fallon, "The first and last steps of a quest take place where you were born." And so I returned to Paragraine and there I joined the old medicus, Milo, who worked out of a shack in the city’s market district. There were many poor and homeless in Paragraine so I took to asking alms until some guards rudely reminded me that this was against the law and so I was forced to take on another job to help pay for the temple's expenses. I went to the Black Sunflower Arena (2) and offered my services to the infirmary there. Even though it was a place of infinite cruelty and glorification of violence I knew that even these savage gladiators deserved the gift of Fallon and that perhaps I might with Fallon's help get through to some of them and get them to devote their energies to more productive ends. In addition I knew that some of the warriors there were slaves that were forced to fight and since part of my religious training included the teachings of Nephthys I hoped I might get an opportunity to save some of them. I met some people there including a young boy who sold bags of peanuts to the spectators. Jackie Dwiner (3) wants more than anything to become a gladiatorial warrior and I spent many afternoons trying to talk him out of it. He talked with glee about blood-letting and the poking out eyeballs and similar notions. I spoke to him of Fallon's love and how some warriors were dedicated to good and how he might be like them, but that even warriors dedicated to good did not take joy in murder for sport or profit. I could tell that there was a part of the 11 year old boy that listened to me and considered the options I tried to explain to him. There was also Finneous "Fingers" McFinney (4) who often had one hand where it did not belong (thus his nickname). This young bard dressed and acted like a jester. I spoke to him once or twice and he was a bit too wild to hold a decent conversation with, but I got the idea that he did not like the Arena of Blood either and only worked there to save enough money to move on. In the few times I spoke to him he always mentioned traveling. He wanted desperately to go to Herman Land, Fallon knows why. I don't know how long I will be satisfied with this new occupation. I am eager to adventure and to help those who are victims of tyranny, but here I will stay until Fallon presents me with an opportunity to move on. I must go now. The last games of the year are beginning in a few minutes and I am the only one on duty in the main arena itself. Anyway I heard that Erlo the Pure (5) is going to fight today and I must admit a weakness for his honorific style of non-killing combat. --------------------------------------------- [b]Notes:[/b] (1) Bast is the Goddess of Cats, Luck and Comfort. You can read about Aquerra’s Priests of Bast [url=http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priests+of+Bast]here[/url], and about the Priest of Bast class [url=http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priest+of+Bast+Characters]here[/url]. (2) This gladiatorial complex includes the impressive Arena of Blood which can hold nearly 30,000 spectators, and a series of smaller pit fighting areas for more intimate betting. Its plaza is adjacent to the Market District on one side and the Lists of Black Talon on the other. (3) This was my attempt to give the DM some NPCs to work with and include in the game. (4) Another NPC for the DM to use as he pleased, with a nod to the old Dragon magazine comic. (5) Erlo the Pure, also known as the Bloodless Fop, is a famous gladiator of the Arena of Blood who always grants mercy, and is known for his dance-like flowing swordsmanship. [/QUOTE]
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