In the Valus - The Heroes of Marchford (Chapter 14 Continues - 12/24/08)
- Thread starter Funeris
- Start date
TheYeti1775
Adventurer
We all needed it....
I had a few as well.
I had a few as well.
hobbit_killer
First Post
?
No, you two just needed to be smacked over the head with the empty bottles.
Your friendlt neighborhood cannibal
No, you two just needed to be smacked over the head with the empty bottles.
Your friendlt neighborhood cannibal
HalfOrc HalfBiscuit
Adventurer
For some reason, after reading the first couple of pages of this story, it dropped off my radar. Having "rediscovered" it, however, I've been reminded of why I enjoyed it 
.
I do particularly like the darker tone that Destan's games provide. In a world full of evil incarnate, it shouldn't be any surprise if paladins have to compromise their principles once in a while - and their sponsors, be they divine or angelic, should surely understand.
Looking forward to more ... [hint, hint].
PS. Belated congrats to Funeris. As I think I said on someone else's storyhour, enjoy it while you the baby's still cute and cuddly ... and not talking back ... and not asking for money every five minutes ... and not asking to be picked up from some party in the middle of the night .
.I do particularly like the darker tone that Destan's games provide. In a world full of evil incarnate, it shouldn't be any surprise if paladins have to compromise their principles once in a while - and their sponsors, be they divine or angelic, should surely understand.
Looking forward to more ... [hint, hint].
PS. Belated congrats to Funeris. As I think I said on someone else's storyhour, enjoy it while you the baby's still cute and cuddly ... and not talking back ... and not asking for money every five minutes ... and not asking to be picked up from some party in the middle of the night .
TheYeti1775
Adventurer
I'm always on your case for more...
And I shall not stop.
Day off or not I will bug you for more updates.
And I shall not stop.
Day off or not I will bug you for more updates.
Funeris
First Post
Chapter 10: The Truth, The Promise and The Half-Fiend
Ok folks. Finally got around to updating. As for my tardiness, for those of you that don't know, I've been working on an upcoming book for Emerald Press...and as usual I'm slammed at work...i have the kid...etc. etc.
No rest for the wicked,eh?
So, if I can't make frequent updates, maybe I can make them a little longer for you. Enjoy.
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Tobias struggled in the pitch black darkness. His body tingled but would not move. Nor could he open his eyes. The numbness of unconsciousness he had experienced before, but this time was somehow different. His thoughts drifted back to Reddel and his first meeting with his guardian.
His near death experience occurred within a cold mirror of the natural world. It was the Valus, it was Rhelm his home and yet it was the world without time. The coldness had been the infinite gap in perception human minds weave into time. It had been a place without emotion, untouched by anything considered real.
This place was just emptiness.
Then, his perceptions exploded with a tingling sensation in his head. A slow pressure starting at the crown of his head and traversing backwards through his skull created the feeling. It was fear. It was pain, just numb pain. And it dripped with the terror Tobias had as a child. The terror of watching his father’s execution for alleged and unproven crimes, forced to watch the life flee from the corpse.
The feeling of sensing something was wrong but not seeing the cause. An unknown reality twisted upon instincts too subtle to be understood: wariness and suspicion.
His body convulsed or his mind, he was unsure which. And the tingling passed. He felt his sentience expand, blossoming as a flower and flooding upward. Not flooding, flying as if pulled upward by a great force. He concentrated and could imagine although not physically see the world growing smaller behind is rapidly ascending soul.
Bright light bathed his soul as a flaming orb appeared within his “sight”. The light, although warm due to the flame, was hostile and unwelcoming. Toward this sun he hurtled ever faster, unable to slow or stop. Before the first flame licked his soul, the flight abruptly ended.
His soul dangled in front of sun, held by some unrecognized force. Yet the flames of the Risen God’s prison still flailed toward him, trying to devour. His soul shifted backward, pulled by another force and he felt warmth spreading across his back.
“That prison is not for you, my chosen.” Reddel’s melodic and stern voice whispered into his being. “That realm they call heaven is not. It is more a hell. And by serving faithfully, you have been exempted.” Her strong arm spun Tobias’ soul around and her firm hand gripped his.
With a swift beat of her wings, his course altered and he was pulled across time, space and through dimensions. A bright light enveloped him as his vision filled with blinding white.
“Welcome home, Tobias.”
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The Heroes were stopped at the gates of Dun Moor by a filthy guard with rotten teeth. He walked a slow circle around them, inventorying their goods with his eyes.
“Aye, and whadda youse want?” The guard poked Tobias’ corpse with his bow and Motega smacked it away. The man’s hand grasped his sword’s hilt.
“Entrance, guard.” Fitz stated. “We need to see the Lady Erigal.”
“Right. Well I don’ think she’ll have the time to see you. But, es your loss.” He pounded on the huge oak doors and a peephole slid open. “Ese travelers want to be let in.” A snicker passed through the hole.
“Well, you know the new law. Travelers, if you wish entrance to the great city Dun Moor, then you must pay a fee. Otherwise, return from where you came.” A gruff blue eye stared out of the hole.
Magnus fumbled with his robes, extracting several silvers and handed them quickly over to the dirty guard. He examined the coins for a moment, bit them and slipped them into his pouch.
“We only accept weapons or armor. ‘Ose are the rules.”
Magnus’ eye twitched. “Then let me have my money back.”
“Wha’ money?” The guard’s face broke into a smile, rancid stench passing through his rotten teeth. Magnus’ hand twitched as arcane energy began to fill his palm.
Motega grasped the mage’s hand, interrupting the spell. Then he grabbed the dwem armor and weapons and threw it into a heap at the soldier’s feet. “Is that enough?”
“Aye, savage. At’ll do. Open the gates!” The heavy doors groaned as they shivered ajar slightly. The Heroes turned and walked toward the city.
“Enjoy your stay!” The guard yelled from behind. “Oh, an’ nice doin’ business with youse.” Another sour smile crept across his face.
Motega’s arm lashed out and he struggled to get the mage and Tobias’ corpse through the portal.
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The eternal starlight of Angulum lit every building and field in a beautiful silvery hue. Tobias walked along the pristine streets, Reddel beside him. Every blade of grass or stalk of wheat swayed to a harmonic rhythm, a music that danced lightly on the air.
“What would have happened had I passed into the sun?” Tobias’ eyes glanced at his guardian. Still her wings were caked with the blood of the unholy. Her great-sword was sheathed though.
“You need not worry about that. You would have never passed into it; I was there to catch you.”
“But, my friends?”
“They will not be so fortunate. The sun itself is just Saficea’s wrath. They will pass not into it, but through it into the realm of the Risen Gods. And then they will spend eternity trying to dodge the constant war of the gods. It is not a paradise.” She glanced briefly at Tobias before looking forward.
“But Fitz, he is a cleric of Ceria. Will he not be afforded a station at her side?”
“He will suffer the same fate as all of the others. The Gods care not for their worshippers.” She paused, allowing her words to sink in. “He may not know that that is his fate, yet. But as he grows in power he will find out. And then, like all of his brethren in all the churches, he will seek to keep the afterlife a secret.” Tobias’ face fell, his eyes locked upon his feet.
“But you need not worry about that now. You are here, in heaven. This is your place and your friends have chosen their own paths. Maybe some of them will be redeemed along their path. Perhaps some of them will fall even further. These are not your concerns, now.
“Much of this, chosen one, you already knew or felt. Why do you question it now?”
“I suspected it, yes. And I felt it. I just would prefer my friends not suffer that fate.”
“It is their path. And only they can change it. That was not your task. Now,” she reached down and laid a comforting hand on the paladin’s shoulder, “I must take care of another charge. I will return. Enjoy this paradise.” A silent shimmer and a shift in the breeze marked Reddel’s departure.
Tobias turned and looked into the infinite twinkling starlight. “My poor friends.”
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“Ahhh, I see you are without your druid friend. I do so enjoy your company more without that whore in my presence.” Lady Erigal grinned greedily at the compatriots as she stared at the body of Tobias. “What service do you require of me this fine day?”
“We need you to resurrect our friend.” Fitz laid a gentle hand on the corpse, his eyes shifted downward.
“Of course, of course. I can do that. If you can pay.” She hungrily glared at the Heroes.
“We can pay.” Fitz quietly responded.
“Very well, first I need to know which of the Risen Gods he placed his faith in.” Her condescending smile nearly brightened the room.
“Morduk,” Motega grunted.
“Yes, the God of Vengeance and Justice,” Magnus added sorrowfully.
“But,” the Lady interrupted, “I was under the belief that he had renounced Morduk. He said as much last time I spoke with him. So, who did he worship?” Blank stares appeared on the wizard’s and the Rorn’s faces.
Fitz cleared his throat and turned to his companions. “Friends, please wait outside while I finish this transaction.” The blank stares turned into questioning glances, but Motega and Magnus shuffled out of the Lady’s private chambers.
“Oh, this should be good,” Erigal remarked as she sat upon her chair.
“Tobias admitted or confessed to me some time ago that he had become a,” the cleric paused, hesitating only for a moment, “paladin.”
Erigal’s face flushed bright red and turned deep crimson. “A paladin?!”
“Yes, Lady. A paladin.” Fitz’s eyes were now permanently fixed upon the floor.
The Lady stood up swiftly and spit on Tobias’ cold, dead body. “You bring an angel-worshipper into the House of Qwynna Pru and ask for a resurrection?! You have some nerve, priest of Ceria.” Her eyes were knives piercing Fitz’s skull. “This is intolerable. I will not perform this raising. His death is deserved.” She flung herself back into her chair.
“He was a good man, Lady.”
“I don’t care if he gave all of his money to the poor. I don’t care if he slaughtered every demon upon this island. I don’t care. HE IS AN ANGEL WORSHIPPER!!! He does not deserve to return.”
“My Lady,” Fitz’s eyes lifted from the floor and fixed upon Erigal, “despite his beliefs, if I had the ability I would raise him myself.”
“You are a Cerian. That statement in and of itself is a blasphemy. By my church, I should have you slaughtered. I should have had him slaughtered,” again, she spit on the corpse. “And I should have slaughtered your heathen b*tch.”
“I can pay above the normal price, Lady.” Fitz resumed his gaze of the floor.
“Yes, well, that would be a start. But I will have to confer with Qwynna Pru herself, and see if she will allow the,” Erigal gritted her teeth, “angel-lover to return. And priest, you will pay for that service as well.”
“Yes, Lady.”
“And you will pay for it now.” Her eyes took on their cold glare as she waited for his money. Fitz laid the money upon the table and stepped backward one pace. Erigal snatched the money up, placing it within her own purse.
“Wait here, harvester. I will return with my Goddess’ denial in a few minutes.” The Lady stalked off into another room.
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The minutes idly passed as Fitz stood in Lady Erigal’s private chambers waiting for the denial. He kept no track of the time, his eyes settled upon the body of his friend.
Suddenly, a door slammed open and Erigal walked back into the room. She turned slowly and shut the door. Then, cautiously she walked toward her chair and eased herself into it.
Fitz raised his eyes to survey the Lady’s cocky countenance. His eyes could not find the condescending sneer though. Instead, the Lady’s face was chalk-white as though she were ill.
“Lady?”
“Qwynna Pru will grant your request*,” she stated in a sickened whisper.
“Lady?!” Fitz’s hopes soared.
“Not so fast, harvester,” the priestess interjected sensing Fitz’s joy. “That is not even taking into consideration whether or not he wants to come back.”
“Yes, Lady. I know of the ritual.”
“And if he does return, he will owe a debt to Qwynna Pru.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And it will need to be paid immediately upon return. I can perform the ritual tomorrow in the morning. I need the payment tonight though.”
“Of course, my Lady.” Fitz beamed.
“And if he chooses not to return, your silvers will not be refunded.” She stated with finality.
“Yes my Lady.” Fitz dug into his pouch. “How much extra, Lady Erigal?”
“Just the standard price.” The priestess looked as though she would faint or vomit. “No extra money this time.”
Fitz eagerly handed the coins over and turned to leave.
“Tomorrow morning, bright and early,” Erigal demanded.
“As you wish,” Fitz conceded. Then he bowed and exited the private chambers.
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* - Destan had me roll an unmodified d20 to see if Qwynna Pru would allow Tobias to be resurrected. I rolled a natural 20. This is before I decided whether or not to return...
And so you all have a time frame, this occured in late October of last year. The only reason I know that is because the next day was my birthday. And Destan gave me the best b-day present ever...a player death...(that's sarcasm). Needless to say, I spent the following two days inebriated. Mourning.
Ok folks. Finally got around to updating. As for my tardiness, for those of you that don't know, I've been working on an upcoming book for Emerald Press...and as usual I'm slammed at work...i have the kid...etc. etc.
No rest for the wicked,eh?
So, if I can't make frequent updates, maybe I can make them a little longer for you. Enjoy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobias struggled in the pitch black darkness. His body tingled but would not move. Nor could he open his eyes. The numbness of unconsciousness he had experienced before, but this time was somehow different. His thoughts drifted back to Reddel and his first meeting with his guardian.
His near death experience occurred within a cold mirror of the natural world. It was the Valus, it was Rhelm his home and yet it was the world without time. The coldness had been the infinite gap in perception human minds weave into time. It had been a place without emotion, untouched by anything considered real.
This place was just emptiness.
Then, his perceptions exploded with a tingling sensation in his head. A slow pressure starting at the crown of his head and traversing backwards through his skull created the feeling. It was fear. It was pain, just numb pain. And it dripped with the terror Tobias had as a child. The terror of watching his father’s execution for alleged and unproven crimes, forced to watch the life flee from the corpse.
The feeling of sensing something was wrong but not seeing the cause. An unknown reality twisted upon instincts too subtle to be understood: wariness and suspicion.
His body convulsed or his mind, he was unsure which. And the tingling passed. He felt his sentience expand, blossoming as a flower and flooding upward. Not flooding, flying as if pulled upward by a great force. He concentrated and could imagine although not physically see the world growing smaller behind is rapidly ascending soul.
Bright light bathed his soul as a flaming orb appeared within his “sight”. The light, although warm due to the flame, was hostile and unwelcoming. Toward this sun he hurtled ever faster, unable to slow or stop. Before the first flame licked his soul, the flight abruptly ended.
His soul dangled in front of sun, held by some unrecognized force. Yet the flames of the Risen God’s prison still flailed toward him, trying to devour. His soul shifted backward, pulled by another force and he felt warmth spreading across his back.
“That prison is not for you, my chosen.” Reddel’s melodic and stern voice whispered into his being. “That realm they call heaven is not. It is more a hell. And by serving faithfully, you have been exempted.” Her strong arm spun Tobias’ soul around and her firm hand gripped his.
With a swift beat of her wings, his course altered and he was pulled across time, space and through dimensions. A bright light enveloped him as his vision filled with blinding white.
“Welcome home, Tobias.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Heroes were stopped at the gates of Dun Moor by a filthy guard with rotten teeth. He walked a slow circle around them, inventorying their goods with his eyes.
“Aye, and whadda youse want?” The guard poked Tobias’ corpse with his bow and Motega smacked it away. The man’s hand grasped his sword’s hilt.
“Entrance, guard.” Fitz stated. “We need to see the Lady Erigal.”
“Right. Well I don’ think she’ll have the time to see you. But, es your loss.” He pounded on the huge oak doors and a peephole slid open. “Ese travelers want to be let in.” A snicker passed through the hole.
“Well, you know the new law. Travelers, if you wish entrance to the great city Dun Moor, then you must pay a fee. Otherwise, return from where you came.” A gruff blue eye stared out of the hole.
Magnus fumbled with his robes, extracting several silvers and handed them quickly over to the dirty guard. He examined the coins for a moment, bit them and slipped them into his pouch.
“We only accept weapons or armor. ‘Ose are the rules.”
Magnus’ eye twitched. “Then let me have my money back.”
“Wha’ money?” The guard’s face broke into a smile, rancid stench passing through his rotten teeth. Magnus’ hand twitched as arcane energy began to fill his palm.
Motega grasped the mage’s hand, interrupting the spell. Then he grabbed the dwem armor and weapons and threw it into a heap at the soldier’s feet. “Is that enough?”
“Aye, savage. At’ll do. Open the gates!” The heavy doors groaned as they shivered ajar slightly. The Heroes turned and walked toward the city.
“Enjoy your stay!” The guard yelled from behind. “Oh, an’ nice doin’ business with youse.” Another sour smile crept across his face.
Motega’s arm lashed out and he struggled to get the mage and Tobias’ corpse through the portal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The eternal starlight of Angulum lit every building and field in a beautiful silvery hue. Tobias walked along the pristine streets, Reddel beside him. Every blade of grass or stalk of wheat swayed to a harmonic rhythm, a music that danced lightly on the air.
“What would have happened had I passed into the sun?” Tobias’ eyes glanced at his guardian. Still her wings were caked with the blood of the unholy. Her great-sword was sheathed though.
“You need not worry about that. You would have never passed into it; I was there to catch you.”
“But, my friends?”
“They will not be so fortunate. The sun itself is just Saficea’s wrath. They will pass not into it, but through it into the realm of the Risen Gods. And then they will spend eternity trying to dodge the constant war of the gods. It is not a paradise.” She glanced briefly at Tobias before looking forward.
“But Fitz, he is a cleric of Ceria. Will he not be afforded a station at her side?”
“He will suffer the same fate as all of the others. The Gods care not for their worshippers.” She paused, allowing her words to sink in. “He may not know that that is his fate, yet. But as he grows in power he will find out. And then, like all of his brethren in all the churches, he will seek to keep the afterlife a secret.” Tobias’ face fell, his eyes locked upon his feet.
“But you need not worry about that now. You are here, in heaven. This is your place and your friends have chosen their own paths. Maybe some of them will be redeemed along their path. Perhaps some of them will fall even further. These are not your concerns, now.
“Much of this, chosen one, you already knew or felt. Why do you question it now?”
“I suspected it, yes. And I felt it. I just would prefer my friends not suffer that fate.”
“It is their path. And only they can change it. That was not your task. Now,” she reached down and laid a comforting hand on the paladin’s shoulder, “I must take care of another charge. I will return. Enjoy this paradise.” A silent shimmer and a shift in the breeze marked Reddel’s departure.
Tobias turned and looked into the infinite twinkling starlight. “My poor friends.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Ahhh, I see you are without your druid friend. I do so enjoy your company more without that whore in my presence.” Lady Erigal grinned greedily at the compatriots as she stared at the body of Tobias. “What service do you require of me this fine day?”
“We need you to resurrect our friend.” Fitz laid a gentle hand on the corpse, his eyes shifted downward.
“Of course, of course. I can do that. If you can pay.” She hungrily glared at the Heroes.
“We can pay.” Fitz quietly responded.
“Very well, first I need to know which of the Risen Gods he placed his faith in.” Her condescending smile nearly brightened the room.
“Morduk,” Motega grunted.
“Yes, the God of Vengeance and Justice,” Magnus added sorrowfully.
“But,” the Lady interrupted, “I was under the belief that he had renounced Morduk. He said as much last time I spoke with him. So, who did he worship?” Blank stares appeared on the wizard’s and the Rorn’s faces.
Fitz cleared his throat and turned to his companions. “Friends, please wait outside while I finish this transaction.” The blank stares turned into questioning glances, but Motega and Magnus shuffled out of the Lady’s private chambers.
“Oh, this should be good,” Erigal remarked as she sat upon her chair.
“Tobias admitted or confessed to me some time ago that he had become a,” the cleric paused, hesitating only for a moment, “paladin.”
Erigal’s face flushed bright red and turned deep crimson. “A paladin?!”
“Yes, Lady. A paladin.” Fitz’s eyes were now permanently fixed upon the floor.
The Lady stood up swiftly and spit on Tobias’ cold, dead body. “You bring an angel-worshipper into the House of Qwynna Pru and ask for a resurrection?! You have some nerve, priest of Ceria.” Her eyes were knives piercing Fitz’s skull. “This is intolerable. I will not perform this raising. His death is deserved.” She flung herself back into her chair.
“He was a good man, Lady.”
“I don’t care if he gave all of his money to the poor. I don’t care if he slaughtered every demon upon this island. I don’t care. HE IS AN ANGEL WORSHIPPER!!! He does not deserve to return.”
“My Lady,” Fitz’s eyes lifted from the floor and fixed upon Erigal, “despite his beliefs, if I had the ability I would raise him myself.”
“You are a Cerian. That statement in and of itself is a blasphemy. By my church, I should have you slaughtered. I should have had him slaughtered,” again, she spit on the corpse. “And I should have slaughtered your heathen b*tch.”
“I can pay above the normal price, Lady.” Fitz resumed his gaze of the floor.
“Yes, well, that would be a start. But I will have to confer with Qwynna Pru herself, and see if she will allow the,” Erigal gritted her teeth, “angel-lover to return. And priest, you will pay for that service as well.”
“Yes, Lady.”
“And you will pay for it now.” Her eyes took on their cold glare as she waited for his money. Fitz laid the money upon the table and stepped backward one pace. Erigal snatched the money up, placing it within her own purse.
“Wait here, harvester. I will return with my Goddess’ denial in a few minutes.” The Lady stalked off into another room.
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The minutes idly passed as Fitz stood in Lady Erigal’s private chambers waiting for the denial. He kept no track of the time, his eyes settled upon the body of his friend.
Suddenly, a door slammed open and Erigal walked back into the room. She turned slowly and shut the door. Then, cautiously she walked toward her chair and eased herself into it.
Fitz raised his eyes to survey the Lady’s cocky countenance. His eyes could not find the condescending sneer though. Instead, the Lady’s face was chalk-white as though she were ill.
“Lady?”
“Qwynna Pru will grant your request*,” she stated in a sickened whisper.
“Lady?!” Fitz’s hopes soared.
“Not so fast, harvester,” the priestess interjected sensing Fitz’s joy. “That is not even taking into consideration whether or not he wants to come back.”
“Yes, Lady. I know of the ritual.”
“And if he does return, he will owe a debt to Qwynna Pru.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And it will need to be paid immediately upon return. I can perform the ritual tomorrow in the morning. I need the payment tonight though.”
“Of course, my Lady.” Fitz beamed.
“And if he chooses not to return, your silvers will not be refunded.” She stated with finality.
“Yes my Lady.” Fitz dug into his pouch. “How much extra, Lady Erigal?”
“Just the standard price.” The priestess looked as though she would faint or vomit. “No extra money this time.”
Fitz eagerly handed the coins over and turned to leave.
“Tomorrow morning, bright and early,” Erigal demanded.
“As you wish,” Fitz conceded. Then he bowed and exited the private chambers.
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* - Destan had me roll an unmodified d20 to see if Qwynna Pru would allow Tobias to be resurrected. I rolled a natural 20. This is before I decided whether or not to return...
And so you all have a time frame, this occured in late October of last year. The only reason I know that is because the next day was my birthday. And Destan gave me the best b-day present ever...a player death...(that's sarcasm). Needless to say, I spent the following two days inebriated. Mourning.
TheYeti1775
Adventurer
Another Good Update
Good Job.
Good Job.
