Last Stand of the Dorinthians (Final Chapter)

[Fenris]

"You're right we don't look alike. My father married a Dorinthian slave girl after my mother died, although I must admit I got along with my younger sibling well enough. As for the stories of his possible treason, many of the emperor's advisors tried to convince us that it was true, though I sometimes doubt the emperor himself believed it otherwise he would have commanded my half-brother to appear in front of the court without his army instead of having him wait miles away. Then the true treason was revealed to us during this rise of Festios' disease and many of the advisors were revealed to be worshippers of Festios, Oberius, and Cryon."

"Your brother is a good and honorable man. I hope the Emperor can see the truth of that."

As you answer the three questions the advisor near the emperor says, "Truth, truth, and truth"

The old man smirks and says, "Well, yes. Some truth anyway. Now two more questions. Your statements make it seem as if you are ignorant of the plague that has beset the Empire. Your accent and appearance is strongly Dorinthian, and I assume you've been out in the country or farther away from our grasp instead of the urban centers we have controlled since we have lost the Dorinthian urban centers due to the plague. So, are there still fair amounts of Dorinthians still surviving and untouched by the plague? And do you fear that the plague will reach them all eventually regardless?"

Dartis' face hardens a bit, torn between answering truthfully and betraying what remains of Dorinthia, though he has forsaken it.
"Those questions are why I am here sir." replies Dartis.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

"Truth."

The old man nods to his advisor and to Dartis. "Very well. We will discuss this more later, but you shall stay for the rest of the questioning. I think you will find it as valuable of an experience as I."

He turns towards Collasti as his advisor recasts his truth discovering spell and asks, "Now Collasti, let's ask you some questions. How do we cure this plague?"

The man licks his lips and doesn't answer until the guard behind him drives a blade into his shoulder. The exposed skin shows a green, plant-like tint: the blessing of Festios. Despite this the man does still scream out like a normal human would, and the fear in his eyes quickly causes him to answer, "There... there is no cure. We experimented just in case, but found that even divine magic did little to the affliction except cause it to temporarily recede just as your own priests know."

"...tr... Truth..."

There is a stunned silence as the crowd of Senators and advisors turn pale. Two men become sick and run to the corner to loose their vomit. Only the old man stands firm, his expression bearing anger as he reaches for a knife at his belt. "You created this plague! How did you do it? My priests and mages can at least figure out how to undo the damage you caused with that information!"

"We didn't create the plague, we only altered it! One of our priests had a vision that a foreign party would release a plague into the nearby water supply. In his vision he saw the time and the place that this would happen, as well as the ceremony necessary to alter the plague to save ourselves once it was released. We were skeptical, but we still waited at the seen place and time and ambushed the foreigners and killed them. We did not stop them in time from dumping at least some of the plague, but we took the leftover metal containers filled with the plague and experimented with them until we found a way to transform our bodies into plant-like life using the plague and our own divine faith. We thought that humanity might be doomed, but at least we could have our three gods would reign over the remnants of humanity through us and our teachings."

"Truth."

"Yes, maybe some truth but he makes his fellows seem almost heroic, which knowing what we do about him brings doubt to his story. Stilll, who was this foreign party? Who poisoned the water and likely made this disease?"

"I don't know who they were, or where they came from since we killed each of them. I only know that they were elves."

"Strong truth."

 

[Fenris]

"Or at least men dressed as elves. It seems the Empire made one enemy too many. Were the elves not enemies, the plague would not have been released and therefore not altered. Of course, it seems that the followers of Festios are, resourceful, if not strong willed. So it seems this plague was destined to come one way or the other. And while your magics can tell falsehoods, they do not reveal ultimate truth, only what is true to the teller. In my belief, even the faithful of Festios are being deceived. I think Festios does not want to save humanity at all, or even change it. Festios wants all of humanity gone for good." replies Dartis calmly.

 

[Bloodweaver1]

Caramip Ashhearth

"Which is why we have come here. We think that the answer that we all seek is hidden here." Pipes the small Gnome.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

OOC: Getting ahead of the other group, so delaying the post.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

The old man studies Dartis for a moment and says quietly, "So you want to doubt the possibility, do you? The elves after all, may not be such villians. Very well, our Dorinthian guest has a point. We can't afford to chase the wrong path. Not with humanity's time quickly slipping away. I am open to suggestions." He then takes a moment to study Caramip, with her familiar eastern accent, as the Senators speak.

"We could send spies to the land of the elves." "No, it could be a waste of time that we don't have."

"Perhaps we could investigate the place the Festios priests ambushed the poisoners." "And prove little more than what we know now."

"We can trust in our own divine magic." "Possibly. What do you propose?"

The Magistrate answers, "There does exist a ceremony where we can try to contact the spirits of the dead and ask them several questions. If we focus on the plague while doing so, we might find someone who is deceased and knows about it. Perhaps they'll be elves, or perhaps one of the many priests of Festios our soldiers have slain. It will only take me a couple hours to gather fellow clerics and the necessary materials."

"Very well, we can spare a few hours on something that just might bear fruit. Meanwhile, Dorinthian, would you and your friend like to join me for a talk by the balcony," the old man asks, pointing towards a balcony that overlooks the city.

 

[Fenris]

The old man studies Dartis for a moment and says quietly, "So you want to doubt the possibility, do you? The elves after all, may not be such villians. Very well, our Dorinthian guest has a point. We can't afford to chase the wrong path. Not with humanity's time quickly slipping away. I am open to suggestions." He then takes a moment to study Caramip, with her familiar eastern accent, as the Senators speak.

"The rules of war are often decided unilaterally, and the victor decides in hindsight if his actions were just, which since they assured victory always are, unless some other code of conduct takes precedence." replies Dartis

The Magistrate answers, "There does exist a ceremony where we can try to contact the spirits of the dead and ask them several questions. If we focus on the plague while doing so, we might find someone who is deceased and knows about it. Perhaps they'll be elves, or perhaps one of the many priests of Festios our soldiers have slain. It will only take me a couple hours to gather fellow clerics and the necessary materials."

"Regardless of who brought the plague it was merely a plague that every city deals with from time to time. Whether it was humans, elves or Locusi, the ones you wish to speak with are not those who brought the plague, but those who changed it. Unless the plague was magical in origin there is no need to fear it, it's effects were already present it seems. We need to know what they did to it to determine how to reverse it.

Collasti, when was the plague partially dumped and how long did you and your fellows experiment with it to alter it?"

"Very well, we can spare a few hours on something that just might bear fruit. Meanwhile, Dorinthian, would you and your friend like to join me for a talk by the balcony," the old man asks, pointing towards a balcony that overlooks the city.

"As you wish" replies Dartis heading to the balcony.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Collasti answers, "It was dumped a bit more than a month ago, and it took us less than a week to alter it. We were amazed by the plague, as our magic could not cure those afflicted by it. We could only alter the plague so that it altered instead of killed our faithful."

"Truth, truth, truth, truth."

As you an the old man walk towards the balcony, the guards stiffen and move to follow until he angrily waves them off until they comply and leave you privacy. The man grimaces and says, "They move to protect me, as if I need protecting. They forget that it was I who strangled the self-proclaimed Emperor Sustinius on that very throne more than thirty years ago. You can still see the blood stain on the right arm of the seat," the old man says fondly. "Now I, Emperor Trajanus, oversee a dying Empire. This is not the time for fighting, Dartis, so as we wait let me be frank. Humanity's days might very well be numbered and what we decide to do here today will either save it or doom it. We have a few vials of the altered plague that we recovered from Festios' priests. I can at least give you that, and perhaps you know of someone with the know-how to find a cure if given the sample. We have been trying to find a cure using the samples for some time now, with little luck. The core of the plague seems to be nature-based, and we believe that the original version of this was of the same basic structure. While we wait, please ask questions that you may have. And what of you, my gnomish lady? What is your name and what do you think of all of this?"

 

[Fenris]

Collasti answers, "It was dumped a bit more than a month ago, and it took us less than a week to alter it. We were amazed by the plague, as our magic could not cure those afflicted by it. We could only alter the plague so that it altered instead of killed our faithful."

"Truth, truth, truth, truth."

As you an the old man walk towards the balcony, the guards stiffen and move to follow until he angrily waves them off until they comply and leave you privacy. The man grimaces and says, "They move to protect me, as if I need protecting. They forget that it was I who strangled the self-proclaimed Emperor Sustinius on that very throne more than thirty years ago. You can still see the blood stain on the right arm of the seat," the old man says fondly. "Now I, Emperor Trajanus, oversee a dying Empire. This is not the time for fighting, Dartis, so as we wait let me be frank. Humanity's days might very well be numbered and what we decide to do here today will either save it or doom it. We have a few vials of the altered plague that we recovered from Festios' priests. I can at least give you that, and perhaps you know of someone with the know-how to find a cure if given the sample. We have been trying to find a cure using the samples for some time now, with little luck. The core of the plague seems to be nature-based, and we believe that the original version of this was of the same basic structure. While we wait, please ask questions that you may have. And what of you, my gnomish lady? What is your name and what do you think of all of this?"

"This plague has advanced further and faster than I ever dared fear Trajanus. I do have a few resources that could examine the samples. Of course they may not be disposed to help Tallione, or even humanity. Though as we have seen this, alteration, can affect gnomes. Has the plague itself been know to strike non-humans? How is the plague spread? Only through water? No, it must be other ways, it has spread too far, too fast. How long after exposure before some starts showing symptoms of the plague? "

Dartis looks the emperor squarely in the eye. "Don't you find it ironic that a Dorinthian has come to save the Tallione Empire?"


OOC: Good thing Dartis got his MPH at Dorinthia Univeristy

 

[Bloodweaver1]

Caramip Ashhearth

"Me?" She asks a bit surprised, but does her best to cover it. "My name is Caramip Ashhearth." She says a bit plainly. "Personally, I feel that some of your people are getting what they justly deserve for what Tallione soldiers did to my village. But their children… everyone’s children, do not deserve any of this. While we have come to save what is left of the human species, I have come to save their future.” States the small Gnome.