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The Rise of Felskein [Completed]
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<blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 4246975" data-attributes="member: 60965"><p>Session 4, Part 5</p><p></p><p>-Note: played session 29 last night. Probably in the top few sessions of the game. Someday I'll actually get there with this narrative too...-</p><p></p><p>"His name in our tongue is Thessalock, though he is also known by other names. The Keeper of the Shadow Council and Ganderon the Ashen to name a few. The Crystal Towers has other, less polite names for him," Captain Dellaun, the leader of the Elves said in accented common, with a faint smile for Harold.</p><p></p><p>Harold snarled and spat on the floor.</p><p></p><p>Ilsa blinked a few times at Harold's uncharacteristic behavior and noticed that Suniel was sitting alone, staring into fire as the rest of them sat at the long center table of the inn and talked with the band of Black Rangers.</p><p></p><p>"Our order was set in place to keep the... <em>things</em> of the Black in, not to keep other things out. The Black is usually its own deterrent. But when one of us found that the Unstone had been taken from the Ironhenge in the depths of the Black, I rode to the Council of the One Tree with full haste. I met at their gathering place at the Emeraldhenge, near the colossal trunk of the One Tree, and told them of what had occurred. A day later, three score of us rode out from the Forest of the One Tree, pursuing him," Dellaun paused and took a deep drink. The gathered elves looked down at their meals, sorrow etched into their faces.</p><p></p><p>Ilsa took a deep drink herself and noticed that Harold had pulled a sheet of parchment and a quill out of somewhere and was taking notes. It seemed vaguely disrespectful to Ilsa, but the elves seemed too caught up in Dellaun's story to notice, Ming seemed to be equally engaged in getting drunk as quickly as possible and trying to adjust the wrappings over the acid burns on her arm, still wearing the ill-fitting breastplate she insisted on wearing at all times in case the Kellins came back. Suniel looked to be off in his own world.</p><p></p><p>Dellaun sighed deeply and continued. "We hoped that whoever or whatever had taken it wouldn't know how the Unstone worked, hoped that we could catch him before he learned. We knew that whatever had been able to pass our wards and watchful eyes and survive the dark things that roam twisted tangle of The Black was powerful, but we had no idea it that we faced Thessalock." </p><p></p><p>He spat the name like a curse and some of the other elves murmured angrily in chorus, eyes dark.</p><p></p><p>"We almost had him early on, sitting alone at his camp studying the Unstone. We ambushed him, hitting him with everything we had. Six of us died the instant we attacked and three more fell before he escaped." He paused as look of deep weariness overcame him. His voice was tired when he spoke again. </p><p></p><p>"I won't go into the ambushes and battles we had across half the continent pursuing him, the entire villages that he wiped out and rose as the dead in the hopes of delaying us, the foul magics he used, the black power of the Unstone he wielded, the horrible twisted things that he called upon from forbidden places to hinder our progress. Every death left us weaker but more determined to kill him, vowing on the broken bodies of our friends and companions that he would taste vengeance."</p><p></p><p>He blinked rapidly and took another drink, as if hiding tears. "And now we have lost him and turn home in defeat, dozens of elven and hundreds of other lives paid for naught."</p><p></p><p>Harold finished scribbling and looked up as if he were going to ask a question, but Ilsa quickly stood and walked forward. "We are sorry for your loss, it would be rude of us to trouble you with these memories any more than we already have."</p><p></p><p>Harold shot a dark look at her but stood and faced the six Black rangers. He adjusted his uniform and cleared his throat. </p><p></p><p>"I, as Honor Guard of the Crystal Towers, pledge that we will avenge your fallen countrymen," he said, voice proud, body erect. "They say the foe of my foe is my ally and so I call you allies of the Crystal Towers. Perhaps together our people might bring down Thessalock and his Ashen Tower, end his dark tyranny and destruction."</p><p></p><p>Dellaun looked long and hard at Harold, as if trying to decide something, and then nodded.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Ranger Captain stood up and looked as though he were going to say something formal and profound, but before he could, Ming stood, her bench scraping loudly on the stone floor, then belched and popped her back with a groan. "Excuse me from all the long winded sob stories and ass-kissing. I need to race like a piss horse. Or, piss like a, well, whatever, you know what I mean."</p><p></p><p> </p><p>She staggered out, swaying heavily and colliding with the door frame with a loud string of curses. Ilsa thought maybe it was a good thing Ming was insisted on wearing her armor; Harold's glare at her back looked like it could cut flesh.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Harold turned his glare on the dwarf. Ilsa smiled innocently at him, raised her ale mug to him, and picked at the chicken on her trencher.</p><p></p><p>Ming had ruined another opportunity; the elves were all rising now, speaking amongst themselves of rest. He quickly decided to ask his favor for rescuing their companion in the morning, when they were fresh and not lost in the grim memories of their journey - and when there would be no interference from the others.</p><p></p><p>After the elves said their polite 'good nights,' Harold joined Suniel where the elf still sat by the fire.</p><p></p><p>"You hear all of that from over here?" he said, glancing back for a moment to see the last black elven cloak disappear into the night.</p><p></p><p>The wizard nodded, not taking his eyes off the fire, fingers steepled in front of his mouth.</p><p></p><p>"Well, what do you think?" Harold said.</p><p></p><p>Suniel sat quietly, unresponsive. Harold was about to ask again when he spoke. "I think the ignorant may be the blessed."</p><p></p><p>"Right, so what does <em>that</em> mean?" Harold said.</p><p></p><p>"It means most of the world is darker than the night outside the door this tavern and civilization is like a hut on the edge of a black sea filled with prowling things that snatch the unwary off the shore."</p><p></p><p>Harold wondered at Suniel's dark mood, thinking for a long moment before he replied. "Then the Crystal Towers is a lighthouse standing proud and shining her light to drive the dark things away. Have you seen the Crystal Towers, wizard?"</p><p></p><p>Suniel shook his head as he tossed another log onto the fire.</p><p></p><p>"The four smaller Towers rise high over the land, the crystals floating at the apex of each glittering in the sunlight. Everywhere in the land at least one of them is visible - alight even at night with their own inner glow that all can see, ever-present beacons of hope. And the main city, the clean, cobbled streets of the Capitol stretching in all directions from the base of <em>the</em> Crystal Tower..." he paused, thinking of home, a feeling of pride stirring in his chest. </p><p></p><p>"The Tower stretches into the skies, made of an ancient silvery metal we call silversteel that's harder than steel, stronger than magic. I've been to the top of the tower once, so high that the air is thin and chill, but from its mighty height you can see the entire nation on a clear day as it was when I was there: from the four other Towers to where the cliffs drop to the Endless Sands, to the two gleaming Spires that guard the sides of the Span - an almost unimaginably huge bridge of silversteel, so wide that we have entire cities, forests, farms, and rivers on it, three hundred miles long, connecting the land of the Crystal Towers to the mainland..."</p><p></p><p>"The Crystal Towers is Felskein's lighthouse and I will do anything, <em>anything</em> to keep its light shining," he said.</p><p></p><p>They sat in silence then, Suniel's gaze lost in the fire, Harold lost in longing thoughts and proud memories of the land that had raised him, that had trained him, that he fought for - that he would die for.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Ming came back to find the tavern almost deserted. Only Ilsa, snoring on the bench near the long window that looked out onto Mirror Lake, and Suniel, still sitting by the fire, remained.</p><p></p><p>She stole the last of Ilsa's uneaten chicken from her trencher and sat down next to Suniel.</p><p></p><p>"What's eating you?" she said around a mouthful of cold, greasy meat.</p><p></p><p>Suniel sighed and put on half a smile as turned to her. "Oh, just some goblin trouble. I had to rescue No Tongue from a pair of farm dogs that had him stuck up a tree all night and pay the farmer an exorbitant amount for two stolen chickens and a pie. I'm sure Stabber did it, but he blames No Tongue and Lunt is too stupid to even understand what we're talking about. Nothing overly important, just vexing after a long day."</p><p></p><p>Suniel's story had a poorly-feigned lightness to it and Suniel's eyes were far away, looking past Ming rather than at her. Ming raised an eyebrow. "Well, I think you just opened your mouth and dropped a load of cow paddies, but I don't have a problem with that. If you don't want to tell me what's bothering you, that's your deal."</p><p></p><p>She took another big bite of chicken and winced as the wrappings on her arm shifted under her armor. </p><p></p><p>The elf looked surprised and his eyes focused on hers for the first time. He looked at Ming for a while like he was about to say something. <em>Gods, I hope he isn't going to tell me</em> his <em>sob story now too</em>, she thought. <em>I'm not drunk enough for another one tonight.</em></p><p></p><p>A solemn look came across his face and he opened his mouth, but Ming stuck a small chicken wing in it before he could speak and stood. </p><p></p><p>"I said I don't have a problem with you not telling me and I meant it," she said, scratching the spot on her head where the hair was just starting to grow back in as the startled wizard pulled the chicken wing from his mouth and blinked at it. "Besides I'm tired and my arm burns like hell. I'm going to go take a bath in the lake and pass out. Night."</p><p></p><p>She walked away, swiping the sleeping dwarf's half-full tankard as she passed, leaving Suniel staring at her back.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Suniel tossed the chicken wing into the fire and smiled. Ming had actually helped a bit, in her own way. Hard to take yourself seriously when you open your mouth to bare your heart and end up getting a mouthful of cold, greasy, half-eaten chicken in it instead. He stood and stretched, checking on Ilsa before he headed out.</p><p></p><p>The goblins were all asleep in the boxes he had built for them and attached to the back of his carriage. No Tongue was muttering "master" over and over in his sleep, fingers twitching. Suniel suppressed a shudder at what might be going on in the simple goblin's mind, but felt his smile get a little bigger.</p><p></p><p>His carriage horses nickered when he went into the stable and he dug around in the many hidden pockets of his robe until he found some dried carrot for them. After a moment of scrounging in the dark he found a curry comb and went over the big animals, enjoying their smell and their warmth and their comforting bulk. By the time he left the stables, he was almost content.</p><p></p><p>As he went to the door to his carriage, to record, catalog, and journal the creatures they'd fought earlier, he glanced out at the moon reflecting off the water. </p><p></p><p>Ming bathed in the lake, washing her hair with a delicacy that belied her rough nature. Without her armor and brusque facade on, she was almost beautiful.</p><p></p><p>As he looked, a memory from long ago swelled until he no longer saw Ming, instead the one who had saved him, who had given him hope and made everything seem possible, the one whose loss had left him a broken wanderer for... years? Decades? How long had it been?</p><p></p><p>A loud snore from Lunt's box pulled him away from his memory. He took a deep breath, a final glance out at the lake, and stepped into the carriage and its smell of paper, ink, and magic.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iron Sky, post: 4246975, member: 60965"] Session 4, Part 5 -Note: played session 29 last night. Probably in the top few sessions of the game. Someday I'll actually get there with this narrative too...- "His name in our tongue is Thessalock, though he is also known by other names. The Keeper of the Shadow Council and Ganderon the Ashen to name a few. The Crystal Towers has other, less polite names for him," Captain Dellaun, the leader of the Elves said in accented common, with a faint smile for Harold. Harold snarled and spat on the floor. Ilsa blinked a few times at Harold's uncharacteristic behavior and noticed that Suniel was sitting alone, staring into fire as the rest of them sat at the long center table of the inn and talked with the band of Black Rangers. "Our order was set in place to keep the... [I]things[/I] of the Black in, not to keep other things out. The Black is usually its own deterrent. But when one of us found that the Unstone had been taken from the Ironhenge in the depths of the Black, I rode to the Council of the One Tree with full haste. I met at their gathering place at the Emeraldhenge, near the colossal trunk of the One Tree, and told them of what had occurred. A day later, three score of us rode out from the Forest of the One Tree, pursuing him," Dellaun paused and took a deep drink. The gathered elves looked down at their meals, sorrow etched into their faces. Ilsa took a deep drink herself and noticed that Harold had pulled a sheet of parchment and a quill out of somewhere and was taking notes. It seemed vaguely disrespectful to Ilsa, but the elves seemed too caught up in Dellaun's story to notice, Ming seemed to be equally engaged in getting drunk as quickly as possible and trying to adjust the wrappings over the acid burns on her arm, still wearing the ill-fitting breastplate she insisted on wearing at all times in case the Kellins came back. Suniel looked to be off in his own world. Dellaun sighed deeply and continued. "We hoped that whoever or whatever had taken it wouldn't know how the Unstone worked, hoped that we could catch him before he learned. We knew that whatever had been able to pass our wards and watchful eyes and survive the dark things that roam twisted tangle of The Black was powerful, but we had no idea it that we faced Thessalock." He spat the name like a curse and some of the other elves murmured angrily in chorus, eyes dark. "We almost had him early on, sitting alone at his camp studying the Unstone. We ambushed him, hitting him with everything we had. Six of us died the instant we attacked and three more fell before he escaped." He paused as look of deep weariness overcame him. His voice was tired when he spoke again. "I won't go into the ambushes and battles we had across half the continent pursuing him, the entire villages that he wiped out and rose as the dead in the hopes of delaying us, the foul magics he used, the black power of the Unstone he wielded, the horrible twisted things that he called upon from forbidden places to hinder our progress. Every death left us weaker but more determined to kill him, vowing on the broken bodies of our friends and companions that he would taste vengeance." He blinked rapidly and took another drink, as if hiding tears. "And now we have lost him and turn home in defeat, dozens of elven and hundreds of other lives paid for naught." Harold finished scribbling and looked up as if he were going to ask a question, but Ilsa quickly stood and walked forward. "We are sorry for your loss, it would be rude of us to trouble you with these memories any more than we already have." Harold shot a dark look at her but stood and faced the six Black rangers. He adjusted his uniform and cleared his throat. "I, as Honor Guard of the Crystal Towers, pledge that we will avenge your fallen countrymen," he said, voice proud, body erect. "They say the foe of my foe is my ally and so I call you allies of the Crystal Towers. Perhaps together our people might bring down Thessalock and his Ashen Tower, end his dark tyranny and destruction." Dellaun looked long and hard at Harold, as if trying to decide something, and then nodded. The Ranger Captain stood up and looked as though he were going to say something formal and profound, but before he could, Ming stood, her bench scraping loudly on the stone floor, then belched and popped her back with a groan. "Excuse me from all the long winded sob stories and ass-kissing. I need to race like a piss horse. Or, piss like a, well, whatever, you know what I mean." She staggered out, swaying heavily and colliding with the door frame with a loud string of curses. Ilsa thought maybe it was a good thing Ming was insisted on wearing her armor; Harold's glare at her back looked like it could cut flesh. *** Harold turned his glare on the dwarf. Ilsa smiled innocently at him, raised her ale mug to him, and picked at the chicken on her trencher. Ming had ruined another opportunity; the elves were all rising now, speaking amongst themselves of rest. He quickly decided to ask his favor for rescuing their companion in the morning, when they were fresh and not lost in the grim memories of their journey - and when there would be no interference from the others. After the elves said their polite 'good nights,' Harold joined Suniel where the elf still sat by the fire. "You hear all of that from over here?" he said, glancing back for a moment to see the last black elven cloak disappear into the night. The wizard nodded, not taking his eyes off the fire, fingers steepled in front of his mouth. "Well, what do you think?" Harold said. Suniel sat quietly, unresponsive. Harold was about to ask again when he spoke. "I think the ignorant may be the blessed." "Right, so what does [I]that[/I] mean?" Harold said. "It means most of the world is darker than the night outside the door this tavern and civilization is like a hut on the edge of a black sea filled with prowling things that snatch the unwary off the shore." Harold wondered at Suniel's dark mood, thinking for a long moment before he replied. "Then the Crystal Towers is a lighthouse standing proud and shining her light to drive the dark things away. Have you seen the Crystal Towers, wizard?" Suniel shook his head as he tossed another log onto the fire. "The four smaller Towers rise high over the land, the crystals floating at the apex of each glittering in the sunlight. Everywhere in the land at least one of them is visible - alight even at night with their own inner glow that all can see, ever-present beacons of hope. And the main city, the clean, cobbled streets of the Capitol stretching in all directions from the base of [I]the[/I] Crystal Tower..." he paused, thinking of home, a feeling of pride stirring in his chest. "The Tower stretches into the skies, made of an ancient silvery metal we call silversteel that's harder than steel, stronger than magic. I've been to the top of the tower once, so high that the air is thin and chill, but from its mighty height you can see the entire nation on a clear day as it was when I was there: from the four other Towers to where the cliffs drop to the Endless Sands, to the two gleaming Spires that guard the sides of the Span - an almost unimaginably huge bridge of silversteel, so wide that we have entire cities, forests, farms, and rivers on it, three hundred miles long, connecting the land of the Crystal Towers to the mainland..." "The Crystal Towers is Felskein's lighthouse and I will do anything, [I]anything[/I] to keep its light shining," he said. They sat in silence then, Suniel's gaze lost in the fire, Harold lost in longing thoughts and proud memories of the land that had raised him, that had trained him, that he fought for - that he would die for. *** Ming came back to find the tavern almost deserted. Only Ilsa, snoring on the bench near the long window that looked out onto Mirror Lake, and Suniel, still sitting by the fire, remained. She stole the last of Ilsa's uneaten chicken from her trencher and sat down next to Suniel. "What's eating you?" she said around a mouthful of cold, greasy meat. Suniel sighed and put on half a smile as turned to her. "Oh, just some goblin trouble. I had to rescue No Tongue from a pair of farm dogs that had him stuck up a tree all night and pay the farmer an exorbitant amount for two stolen chickens and a pie. I'm sure Stabber did it, but he blames No Tongue and Lunt is too stupid to even understand what we're talking about. Nothing overly important, just vexing after a long day." Suniel's story had a poorly-feigned lightness to it and Suniel's eyes were far away, looking past Ming rather than at her. Ming raised an eyebrow. "Well, I think you just opened your mouth and dropped a load of cow paddies, but I don't have a problem with that. If you don't want to tell me what's bothering you, that's your deal." She took another big bite of chicken and winced as the wrappings on her arm shifted under her armor. The elf looked surprised and his eyes focused on hers for the first time. He looked at Ming for a while like he was about to say something. [I]Gods, I hope he isn't going to tell me[/I] his [I]sob story now too[/I], she thought. [I]I'm not drunk enough for another one tonight.[/I] A solemn look came across his face and he opened his mouth, but Ming stuck a small chicken wing in it before he could speak and stood. "I said I don't have a problem with you not telling me and I meant it," she said, scratching the spot on her head where the hair was just starting to grow back in as the startled wizard pulled the chicken wing from his mouth and blinked at it. "Besides I'm tired and my arm burns like hell. I'm going to go take a bath in the lake and pass out. Night." She walked away, swiping the sleeping dwarf's half-full tankard as she passed, leaving Suniel staring at her back. *** Suniel tossed the chicken wing into the fire and smiled. Ming had actually helped a bit, in her own way. Hard to take yourself seriously when you open your mouth to bare your heart and end up getting a mouthful of cold, greasy, half-eaten chicken in it instead. He stood and stretched, checking on Ilsa before he headed out. The goblins were all asleep in the boxes he had built for them and attached to the back of his carriage. No Tongue was muttering "master" over and over in his sleep, fingers twitching. Suniel suppressed a shudder at what might be going on in the simple goblin's mind, but felt his smile get a little bigger. His carriage horses nickered when he went into the stable and he dug around in the many hidden pockets of his robe until he found some dried carrot for them. After a moment of scrounging in the dark he found a curry comb and went over the big animals, enjoying their smell and their warmth and their comforting bulk. By the time he left the stables, he was almost content. As he went to the door to his carriage, to record, catalog, and journal the creatures they'd fought earlier, he glanced out at the moon reflecting off the water. Ming bathed in the lake, washing her hair with a delicacy that belied her rough nature. Without her armor and brusque facade on, she was almost beautiful. As he looked, a memory from long ago swelled until he no longer saw Ming, instead the one who had saved him, who had given him hope and made everything seem possible, the one whose loss had left him a broken wanderer for... years? Decades? How long had it been? A loud snore from Lunt's box pulled him away from his memory. He took a deep breath, a final glance out at the lake, and stepped into the carriage and its smell of paper, ink, and magic. [/QUOTE]
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