Legacy of the Silver Dragon - Day 2 (Interlude)

[Goldhammer]

Beatrix

Throughout the story, Siarla listens transfixed - jumping (along with the other patrons in the small establishment) at the story. The owner appears to want to come over to have a word with the cleric of Malborka, but whether worried about the disfavor of Malborka or Beatrix who could probably eat enough to let her close up shop early every day, it's unsure.

Something near the end seems to trouble the young woman, and when Beatrix pats her belly Siarla looks down too and opens her mouth, "Uh.. that's amazing! But, I was wondering just now... Are all clerics of Malborka, um, you know... large?"

Her words trail off as Beatrix asks her questions, "Uh. Yes. Awhile ago.. and rumor has it that Anna.. a young woman I know who had been missing. She was rescued by a few young male adventurers." She lingers on the word 'male', perhaps she has a crush already on one? "They went into a well in the basement of the house, and I think they're supposed to meet up with Gregof later today."

"Young male adventurers? Wondering if they the same men I met in inn last night. Maybe run into them again when I met with guard captain." Beatrix says, pondering to herself a moment.

"I do well to get on good side of these adventurers. If they are already heroes, they could be useful in getting Malborka accepted in town." She thinks.

"Oh, Large? Well, not all members of sisterhood are large." Beatrix replies to Siarla. "Some are just huge." She adds, bellowing out a crude laugh.

She clams down and begins to explains why she's so big. "Well not all who worship Malborka are large, in fact some are quite small. But our sisterhood? We follow Malborka's example in all things. Her wisdom, her courage, her kindness and even her body shape. So we bulk ourselves up. Hard training all day, hard feasting all night. Makes us big. Makes us strong. Makes us tough. Unmovable as mountain. Unbreakable as castle. Large stomach is like mighty shield. Guards insides from damage. Protects good people from harm like wall. Crushes evil like battering ram. Most important, stomach is being symbol of our goddess and all she stands for. It is so large because we are being so dedicated to her and to everyone we protect." Beatrix finishes, a great amount of pride.

"Is there something wrong with being large?" The fat cleric asks, perhaps foolishly not quite understanding why Siarla would have a problem being as big as her.

 

[Voda Vosa]

"Well, I'm not much of a tale teller, but if you rather hear my raspy voice, here it goes... We were investigating the disappearance of a young lady named Anna, and found clues that she disappeared in the burnt out house on town." The dwarf begins. "We found a secret passage to underground tunnels, crudely carved out of the earth. As we bravely made our way into the caverns, we had to fight off a gelatinous cube, who have just gotten a townsfolk as a meal. What we didn't know was that the townsfolk might just be the owner of the burnt house. And we found his wife soon enough, although we knew naught of that. As we made our way deeper, we were assaulted by several white skinned little humanoids, that we slaughtered with ease. There was a bigger one, of female appearance, that kept avoiding us, despites the laughable attempts from Antares to make it come to its senses. You see, he thought our missing lady was that creature. I laughed at that conception, but alas I was wrong." Muzdim takes a long stare at Antares. The elf knew that might be as close as the dwarf would come in accepting he was wrong. "Making our way thought, we came to a chamber were we found this female and a group of smaller buggers, and we attacked them, although Antares here kept crying over that she was Anna, as we smashed her skull in. Anna was on an altar, and was being fed some strange liquid. We think this liquid mutates people into these white things. There was some sort of twisted divine magic at work there, I bet my holy symbol on that. But antares can give a more accurate picture of what was at work there, I left with Anna at that moment. She was tainted and the priestess of the Sun god managed to cure her. Before that she would not come to the sun. It is evident she would have turned into one of those hideous creatures if it weren't by us."

 

[Binder Fred]

OOC: Nice one VV.

[...] "There was a bigger one, of female appearance, that kept avoiding us, despites the laughable attempts from Antares to make it come to its senses. You see, he thought our missing lady was that creature. I laughed at that conception, but alas I was wrong." Muzdim takes a long stare at Antares. The elf knew that might be as close as the dwarf would come in accepting he was wrong.

"As was I," reciprocates said elf, sharing in that sadness. "Though only on her past identity," he specifies (mostly) for Dysare, smoothly adding to the ongoing story.

"Making our way thought, we came to a chamber were we found this female and a group of smaller buggers, and we attacked them, although Antares here kept crying over that she was Anna, as we smashed her skull in."

"'That she could be saved'!" corrects Antares with clear, knuckle-whitening annoyance this time, the tale bringing some of those feelings flowing back up into his chest -- the helplessness and despair, the strangeness and the hurt!

Then his breath catches and he looks back down, shoulders progressively sinking into sorrow: "It would have been... so simple."

<Response Muzdin? Note that ignoring *is* considered a response here >

OOC: Holding off on the Rune stuff until Dysare has had a chance to catch up/react to Muzdin's story, if that's alright?

 

[Voda Vosa]

"You know better than to get angry at things in the past Antares, she's dead, and so she shall remain. We will never know if she could have been saved. All we know is that we relieved her from her twisted existence." The dwarf replies, dryly.

 

[Binder Fred]

"The trying would have been so simple," explicits Antares in oblique response and after a pause, voice ever so sad. "Not necessarily the doing, master Stonehand. Or the saving. Just... the trying." He sniffs, some of the arguments from the priest of secrets slowly seeping into his consciousness...

And yet... How to put it? "Is not hope for a better future what drives us all forward along our wandering path? Isn't forgetting the imperfect past - or hiding it - then surest way to insure an imperfect future?" Yes, yes it is! "Why then *not* get angry or sad or hurt- by a past that cannot be changed, sadly, mournfully true, but could, perhaps, if enough tears are shed (and shared!), be done differently in future...?" And there is some directed iron creeping into in his words there: he's never truly understood why Muzdin chose his particular way, a source of lightning between them as profound as the ancient racial frictions...

But as he says this the emotional mists suddenly part, inadvertently blown right from under him by the gale of this conversation about the future to bare their gapping, twisting heart. He underlines it for them, hammering the words, "What if we meet another Anna?" Down there, the very next time they descend?

Teeth pressed together in anticipated distress, green eyes widened, he seeks to meet Muzdin's cool grey, Stellan's sparkling brown, even Dysare's lined blue-grey, trying to communicate the very personal, very likely dread of having to relive that oh-so-recent past, not in some hypothetical future world, but indeed very, very soon...

 

[Voda Vosa]

"In light of what we now know we might try and capture this one. But given how painful and thraumatic the purging was for the real Anna, I doubt something so changed, so twisted, would walk out of there sane, if alive. I would suggest killing them on sight, as we did with the last one, we would save it much suffering." The dwarf knew the elf was afraid of this kind of answer from his part, and he said it to tease him. Playing with his mind was as easy as toying with a puppet. Antares was so easy to read. Muzdim smiles, his beard applying the effect of the smiling. "Don't take it personal Antares, but you are rather obsessed with this relatively unimportant subject, when the real, important secret to unveil, is who is behind the transformations. Who is transformed and how to deal with them is unimportant, if whoever is doing this, keeps up doing it in secret."

 

[Binder Fred]

"In light of what we now know we might try and capture this one. But given how painful and thraumatic the purging was for the real Anna, I doubt something so changed, so twisted, would walk out of there sane, if alive. I would suggest killing them on sight, as we did with the last one, we would save it much suffering."

Antares wipes a barely-shed tear with the back of his hand: "You don't know that! We could - we could do it progressively, bit by painful bit! She- Even eyeless and so changed, she was still there, you know." He breathes in, the priest's words disturbingly merging with Mysthyr's earlier ones in that breath -- down there, in the pit: "In truth declaring 'this cannot be done' before every mist-shrouded hill, talpidae or otherwise, may be human and dwarven wisdom, may perhaps even be diamond-sprinkled path to lesser suffering, but if so-" And then he spots Muzdin's expression and stops mid-convincing, mouth open.

The dwarf knew the elf was afraid of this kind of answer from his part, and he said it to tease him. Playing with his mind was as easy as toying with a puppet. Antares was so easy to read. Muzdim smiles, his beard applying the effect of the smiling. "Don't take it personal Antares, but you are rather obsessed with this relatively unimportant subject, when the real, important secret to unveil, is who is behind the transformations. Who is transformed and how to deal with them is unimportant, if whoever is doing this, keeps up doing it in secret."

A pause. Then, with sudden hope: "But... the next time, we will try?"


[sblock=OOC]To save him or her is what he's asking there.

I can give you a "big elven puppy-eyes" charisma roll if you want, VV? [/sblock]

 

[Voda Vosa]

The dwarf sighs, "We will try. But you'll carry that burden, the burden that if we try and it turns out to be worse, the suffering and the blood will be in your hands then. I hope you can cope with that."

 

[Binder Fred]

"Of course. And yet only if it outweighs the good of it." Excited he immediately turns to the young man by the window, lest the momentum be lost: "Stellan?"

<If he needs prompting, being distracted by -um- other matters :
"Shall we try to save the next Former-Anna we meet? Master Stonehand has already given his solemn word."

 

[gambler1650]

Antares, Muzdin, Stellan

Dysare murmurs to Antares, "Yes, the garden. And I will discuss a few things with you, after helping further with the bell. I do suggest that you come by later, after talking matters over with Officer Gregof." And then she goes quiet as the conversation begins, and listens to the conversation, watching Antares with a hand suspiciously covering her mouth. She's been privy to his obsessions and easily hurt feelings before, and covers her amusement at seeing someone taking such obvious advantage of it. Though perhaps she also disapproves on some level, but Antares for now is left to fend for himself in the waters of social interaction.

At the end, Stellan looks over from his perusal of the garden, and the young apprentice currently working in it. "Of course Antares! As long as her name is Anna. After all, you keep insisting she too was a former Anna, and only are forcing us to vow to save another if she too is a former Anna." He gives a sidelong wink at Muzdin.


Beatrix

Siarla can't help but look down at herself - the girl is likely an object of some attraction amongst the local boys. "Um. Well. No. Of course not. Nothing wrong with, er, largeness... But well, aren't there ways for followers of Malborka to not have to grow so large? It just seems like... SUCH a change."