the Jester
Legend
Scuse me guvnor, can we have another?
Defenders of Daybreak, The Early Years.
Sialia
First Post
Dylrath sank into his chair weakly. This wasn’t the way he had planned things. Teliaz was supposed to have found something, if not good, at least reasonably neutral to do with his eternity. The Outgrabe was supposed to help him find it--something amusing, something distracting, something exciting, something possibly lethal to Teliaz even, but something non-Evil for heavens’ sake. Velendo’s blessing was supposed to keep both of them away from messing with Evil things.
“You know that position you turned down as First Worshipper--it’s been claimed,” the Outgrabe rattled on cheerily. “Some other guy claimed the Lord High Flunky gig. But Teliaz could still make you a high priest or something . . . if you’ve changed your mind?”
“Umm. No.”
“Or a lich, maybe. Heyyyy, I could be your phylactery--I’ve already got part of your soul--there’s plenty of room for the rest of it in here. You’d be indestructible--nobody’s ever going to lay a hand on me, right? I’m Regalia. Did I tell you about the Regalia part? Teliaz owes you that much, I’ll bet. You probably wouldn’t even have to go through the ritual. All you’d have to do is ask him--simple as that. He’s feeling generous just now, and I’d put in a good word for you.”
Dylrath recalled the only lich he personally knew: Hagiok. Hagiok, the demented professor who literally went on forever. The Defenders had found him standing before a classroom of dry, dust covered skeletons--not the animated kind--teaching magical theory in a classroom that had long since been buried by the ages and the dungheaps of Oursk.
“I don’t want to be like Hagiok,” he said, backing away. “He was mad. He taught students who were beyond learning anything. Way beyond.”
“So who says you’d have to? You’d still be you, just forever. And anyway, you want to teach, we’ll get you a classroom full of students who won’t fade out on you. Vampires, fer example. Nobody said dead has to be unattractive, right? Professor Dylrath, lecturing for all eternity to eager and immortal classes on the Doctrine of Teliaz. I’ll bet those girls’d do just about anything to pass their exams. And hey, you’d get to write the exams, so who knows what they’d have to do to pass anyway?”
Dylrath tore his mind away from that vision. “Uh . . .. Just what is the Doctrine of Teliaz?”
“‘Being nigh indestructible is a hoot!’”
Dylrath’s lips repeated the phrase soundlessly. He felt, just for a moment, as if he finally understood what Arcade had been going through as his own mentor all these years.
“Bare minimum,” the Outgrabe continued confidentially, “it beats moping around about the total destruction of your career plans.”
“How did you know about that?”
“Try hanging out with Mr. Omniscient a while, and you’ll get the hang of actually knowing what’s going on for a change.”
It was hard to argue with that kind of logic.
At least, hard to argue with it on an empty stomach.
Dylrath still felt lightheaded with hunger. If only he had . . . a simple glass of tomato juice. Just that . . . or some red wine. Or . . . he licked his lips, unable to let the word for what he really wanted speak itself in his mind. He buried his head in his hands. Ah, Calphas . . . . I was supposed to go with Teliaz to get him on the right track, and I sent the Outgrabe ‘cause I didn’t want to go myself . . . . I almost deserve this.
I’m going to have to make this right. Myself this time. ‘Anything worth doing is worth some effort’ he thought. Master Arcade won’t approve, but I never did get his lessons just the way he meant me to. He stared at Kelsey’s body. I wish you were here, he thought. I wish I could tell you about why I’m doing this. So somebody would know. I wish I had explained The Plan to somebody from the beginning so there’d be at least one soul that knew that this wasn’t it.
“I’m hungry,” he said simply.
“So eat,” said the Outgrabe, simply. “He’s not going anywhere.”
“You know that position you turned down as First Worshipper--it’s been claimed,” the Outgrabe rattled on cheerily. “Some other guy claimed the Lord High Flunky gig. But Teliaz could still make you a high priest or something . . . if you’ve changed your mind?”
“Umm. No.”
“Or a lich, maybe. Heyyyy, I could be your phylactery--I’ve already got part of your soul--there’s plenty of room for the rest of it in here. You’d be indestructible--nobody’s ever going to lay a hand on me, right? I’m Regalia. Did I tell you about the Regalia part? Teliaz owes you that much, I’ll bet. You probably wouldn’t even have to go through the ritual. All you’d have to do is ask him--simple as that. He’s feeling generous just now, and I’d put in a good word for you.”
Dylrath recalled the only lich he personally knew: Hagiok. Hagiok, the demented professor who literally went on forever. The Defenders had found him standing before a classroom of dry, dust covered skeletons--not the animated kind--teaching magical theory in a classroom that had long since been buried by the ages and the dungheaps of Oursk.
“I don’t want to be like Hagiok,” he said, backing away. “He was mad. He taught students who were beyond learning anything. Way beyond.”
“So who says you’d have to? You’d still be you, just forever. And anyway, you want to teach, we’ll get you a classroom full of students who won’t fade out on you. Vampires, fer example. Nobody said dead has to be unattractive, right? Professor Dylrath, lecturing for all eternity to eager and immortal classes on the Doctrine of Teliaz. I’ll bet those girls’d do just about anything to pass their exams. And hey, you’d get to write the exams, so who knows what they’d have to do to pass anyway?”
Dylrath tore his mind away from that vision. “Uh . . .. Just what is the Doctrine of Teliaz?”
“‘Being nigh indestructible is a hoot!’”
Dylrath’s lips repeated the phrase soundlessly. He felt, just for a moment, as if he finally understood what Arcade had been going through as his own mentor all these years.
“Bare minimum,” the Outgrabe continued confidentially, “it beats moping around about the total destruction of your career plans.”
“How did you know about that?”
“Try hanging out with Mr. Omniscient a while, and you’ll get the hang of actually knowing what’s going on for a change.”
It was hard to argue with that kind of logic.
At least, hard to argue with it on an empty stomach.
Dylrath still felt lightheaded with hunger. If only he had . . . a simple glass of tomato juice. Just that . . . or some red wine. Or . . . he licked his lips, unable to let the word for what he really wanted speak itself in his mind. He buried his head in his hands. Ah, Calphas . . . . I was supposed to go with Teliaz to get him on the right track, and I sent the Outgrabe ‘cause I didn’t want to go myself . . . . I almost deserve this.
I’m going to have to make this right. Myself this time. ‘Anything worth doing is worth some effort’ he thought. Master Arcade won’t approve, but I never did get his lessons just the way he meant me to. He stared at Kelsey’s body. I wish you were here, he thought. I wish I could tell you about why I’m doing this. So somebody would know. I wish I had explained The Plan to somebody from the beginning so there’d be at least one soul that knew that this wasn’t it.
“I’m hungry,” he said simply.
“So eat,” said the Outgrabe, simply. “He’s not going anywhere.”
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Sialia
First Post
Dylrath stood over the body, one hand on Kelsey’s chest, and one on his neck. It was so clear, now, the hunger said. What is flesh but meat? What is meat but flesh? And so fresh, still warm. So wet with juices, and you are so thirsty. Such thirst. Such hunger.
He felt a certain numbness as he realized what the Outgrabe meant. Of course. If I’m in, Teliaz will want to know that I’m really in. First test of loyalty. Only question is whether I’m drinking the blood of a living man, or eating the flesh of a corpse.
Does it make a difference, I wonder?
He felt a certain numbness as he realized what the Outgrabe meant. Of course. If I’m in, Teliaz will want to know that I’m really in. First test of loyalty. Only question is whether I’m drinking the blood of a living man, or eating the flesh of a corpse.
Does it make a difference, I wonder?
Attachments
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
No, I'm nearly shocked speachless. He goes Vampiric? I'll have to wait and see.
Thank you,
GW
Thank you,
GW
jerichothebard
First Post
Ummm.... dangdiggity. That is SO not how I pictured Dylrath's life going...
Character growth is always an amazing thing.
And Teliaz - the surfer god of undeath. Calphas help us all.
(I bet his dad's pissed.)
jtb
Character growth is always an amazing thing.
And Teliaz - the surfer god of undeath. Calphas help us all.
(I bet his dad's pissed.)
jtb
Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
My guess is that Teliez has to be nearby watching - this reminds me of the effect that he had on people before, like the girl drawing hearts in her notebook, except with a bloody dagger sticking in them. HIs new effect on people is to make them want to go cannibal.
I half-expect him to pop in just as Dylrath resigns himself to eating his buddy, going "Ha! Almost had ya there!"
I half-expect him to pop in just as Dylrath resigns himself to eating his buddy, going "Ha! Almost had ya there!"
Sialia
First Post
How did one begin? Did you use a knife and fork for this sort of thing?
Or just go for it face-first?
Dizzy. Dizzy like the moment when you lose your balance at the peak of the jump and know the ground is too far to be any help, too close to avoid hitting. Dylrath knew the sensation of falling well. He’d done it many, many times.
I am falling, he thought as he leaned forward, leaning his face on Kelsey’s chest. What do I do when I fall?
Besides hitting the ground, that is.
What would Master Tomtom say? ‘Tumble, you fool.’ If you have to hit the ground, hit it on some part of your body you can afford to bruise. Any landing you limp away from is a good landing.
And Master Alix? The lessons of Master Alix were only sometimes in what he said. Mostly they were in watching what he did. The Last Lesson of Master Alix was: Those Who Make Deals with Evil Gods Make Good on their Promises or Spend Eternity in a Bag.
Which went with Tao’s lesson regarding never offering anybody eternal devotion unless you really, really mean it. And with Master Nolin’s object lesson that being suicidal is a good way to get yourself killed.
And Cadrienne? Had she ever said anything useful about how to keep it all from going bad, when it all looks like there’s no way left but straight on down into the ground? Apart from the business about how to talk somebody into accepting a spell effect so they couldn’t resist it when it came, which is, incidentally, what that stupid disk is doing to you, he reminded himself. Taught it everything it knows, he thought wryly.
Maybe something about not being able to help everybody in the world who needs help, even if you really want to? Something about some people being beyond help? Nah, she never said that. She said soppy things like ‘Hope!’
Hope.
What is there to hope for at a moment like this?
He thought: I hope I don’t have to eat this body.
I really hope Calphas knows that it’s not ‘cause I’m shirking. It wouldn’t do any good for me to go with Teliaz now--I can’t do anything more for him . . . This has gotten way beyond me.
I hope when I die, I die a good clean puking-up-with-fever kind of death and rot for a while and then maybe get eaten by scavengers. And stay dead.
The thought brought a certain bright lucidity to his mind. He imagined himself actually trying to eat Kelsey’s chest.
He snickered.
Say ahhh, he thought, open wide. Wider. No, really, wider.
With this jaw and his scurvy teeth, he wouldn’t even be able to chew through Kelsey’s shirt.
He chuckled at his own absurdity.
Pride, he thought. My pride is all soft and squishy. I’ll land on that.
He collapsed in convulsive giggles and slid to the floor.
After a bit, he wiped the tears from his eyes. “I think you better go now,” he said quietly.
“You’re not coming with?”
“’Tempting . . .’” he said using Tao’s intonation out of long habit. “But no.”
“Your loss. Well, boss, can’t say I didn’t try!”
After a moment’s doubletake, Dylrath realized it wasn’t addressing him.
“Pity,”Teliaz said, stepping away from Kelsey’s body as He became visible.
Or just go for it face-first?
Dizzy. Dizzy like the moment when you lose your balance at the peak of the jump and know the ground is too far to be any help, too close to avoid hitting. Dylrath knew the sensation of falling well. He’d done it many, many times.
I am falling, he thought as he leaned forward, leaning his face on Kelsey’s chest. What do I do when I fall?
Besides hitting the ground, that is.
What would Master Tomtom say? ‘Tumble, you fool.’ If you have to hit the ground, hit it on some part of your body you can afford to bruise. Any landing you limp away from is a good landing.
And Master Alix? The lessons of Master Alix were only sometimes in what he said. Mostly they were in watching what he did. The Last Lesson of Master Alix was: Those Who Make Deals with Evil Gods Make Good on their Promises or Spend Eternity in a Bag.
Which went with Tao’s lesson regarding never offering anybody eternal devotion unless you really, really mean it. And with Master Nolin’s object lesson that being suicidal is a good way to get yourself killed.
And Cadrienne? Had she ever said anything useful about how to keep it all from going bad, when it all looks like there’s no way left but straight on down into the ground? Apart from the business about how to talk somebody into accepting a spell effect so they couldn’t resist it when it came, which is, incidentally, what that stupid disk is doing to you, he reminded himself. Taught it everything it knows, he thought wryly.
Maybe something about not being able to help everybody in the world who needs help, even if you really want to? Something about some people being beyond help? Nah, she never said that. She said soppy things like ‘Hope!’
Hope.
What is there to hope for at a moment like this?
He thought: I hope I don’t have to eat this body.
I really hope Calphas knows that it’s not ‘cause I’m shirking. It wouldn’t do any good for me to go with Teliaz now--I can’t do anything more for him . . . This has gotten way beyond me.
I hope when I die, I die a good clean puking-up-with-fever kind of death and rot for a while and then maybe get eaten by scavengers. And stay dead.
The thought brought a certain bright lucidity to his mind. He imagined himself actually trying to eat Kelsey’s chest.
He snickered.
Say ahhh, he thought, open wide. Wider. No, really, wider.
With this jaw and his scurvy teeth, he wouldn’t even be able to chew through Kelsey’s shirt.
He chuckled at his own absurdity.
Pride, he thought. My pride is all soft and squishy. I’ll land on that.
He collapsed in convulsive giggles and slid to the floor.
After a bit, he wiped the tears from his eyes. “I think you better go now,” he said quietly.
“You’re not coming with?”
“’Tempting . . .’” he said using Tao’s intonation out of long habit. “But no.”
“Your loss. Well, boss, can’t say I didn’t try!”
After a moment’s doubletake, Dylrath realized it wasn’t addressing him.
“Pity,”Teliaz said, stepping away from Kelsey’s body as He became visible.
Last edited:
Jackylhunter
First Post
That is so cool!! What the hell does the new God of Undeath want with Dylly??? Oh no..!
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