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The Canterbury Tales- Chapter 4: Dead Drunk
- Thread starter Deuce Traveler
- Start date
Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
The dusky man looked insulted and said, "It was not I who brought you here, but your own recklessness. We left signs etched inside the stone circle of which you slept and yet you did not heed them. Of course, it was over 2,000 years ago that my former master was banished and so perhaps it is not entirely your fault. Unfortunately, he has you now and he won't easily let you go. He has become greatly weakened in these last years. Perhaps confronting him will make him expel more of his energies until his hold on this realm is shaken and you are able to break back through the wards and to freedom.
Long ago, Varath was a powerful god that I was picked to worship when I was but a child. His area of responsibility lay in giving nightmares to people, and many worshipped him in the hopes of placating him. At first, it is said that he was a fair deity. As I grew into adulthood I found him to be somewhat cruel, granting nightmares to those who needed warning or who had guilt on their consciences. However, over time, he grew bored and dangerous, forcing nightmares into the sleep of every individual he could and making sleepless nights for everyone. Sleeplessness led to paranoia... paranoia to madness...
Eventually, I led a rebellion against him, defeating his avatar in a mighty battle, slaying his remaining insane priests, and burning his temple to the ground. The stones of it were shattered, the rubble reduced to dust, and the parched earth abandoned.
Varath’s name passed from living memory, and then out of all but the dustiest of books, and now all that remains is a piece of circular stone where no being ever stopped at before … especially not to sleep. For Varath was still waiting, on the edges of the world, and his only path to return is through the minds of sleeping humanity … and that is why he brought you here. He needs you to help him return to earth, in a similar way that you need him to release his hold on you so that you may return and your body not waste away."
OOC: Sorry I have been slow... on another road trip...
Long ago, Varath was a powerful god that I was picked to worship when I was but a child. His area of responsibility lay in giving nightmares to people, and many worshipped him in the hopes of placating him. At first, it is said that he was a fair deity. As I grew into adulthood I found him to be somewhat cruel, granting nightmares to those who needed warning or who had guilt on their consciences. However, over time, he grew bored and dangerous, forcing nightmares into the sleep of every individual he could and making sleepless nights for everyone. Sleeplessness led to paranoia... paranoia to madness...
Eventually, I led a rebellion against him, defeating his avatar in a mighty battle, slaying his remaining insane priests, and burning his temple to the ground. The stones of it were shattered, the rubble reduced to dust, and the parched earth abandoned.
Varath’s name passed from living memory, and then out of all but the dustiest of books, and now all that remains is a piece of circular stone where no being ever stopped at before … especially not to sleep. For Varath was still waiting, on the edges of the world, and his only path to return is through the minds of sleeping humanity … and that is why he brought you here. He needs you to help him return to earth, in a similar way that you need him to release his hold on you so that you may return and your body not waste away."
OOC: Sorry I have been slow... on another road trip...
Dragonwriter
First Post
Duncan looks about, a wild light in his eyes. The light dies down as the old man speaks and when he finishes, the young paladin has several questions... "Two thousand years? Any prison wears to dust in that great time. What made you think this... thing, that you claim to be a god, would be held for that long, when you knew you would die? But a more pressing thought is, how do we trust you, and how do we return to waking?"
As Duncan speaks, he looks over the strange man, evaluating his stance and listening carefully to his speech.
[sblock=OOC]
Detect Evil. A Paladin has to do what a Paladin has to do.
And I'm not worried about the pace. Frankly, I meant to post sooner too...
[/sblock]
As Duncan speaks, he looks over the strange man, evaluating his stance and listening carefully to his speech.
[sblock=OOC]
Detect Evil. A Paladin has to do what a Paladin has to do.
And I'm not worried about the pace. Frankly, I meant to post sooner too...
[/sblock]
HolyMan
Thy wounds are healed!
"There you are," Professor Smiley says leaning down to pick up his oversized toad. He listen to the dusky man's mad tale and outrageous claims with the calm of any scholar.
"Rubbish you wish for worldly men such as oursleves to believe in evil spirits that oppress people during sleep. It has been studied and nearly proven that nightmares are due to stress and anxiety. Eating before bed, which triggers an increase in the body's metabolism and brain activity, is a potential stimulus for nightmares. So your God of Bad Dreams sounds like a tale to scare children to me."
Returning Halford back to his hatbox the Professor stands and dust of his lab coat. "Will you please show us the way back to the caravan? Please."
"Rubbish you wish for worldly men such as oursleves to believe in evil spirits that oppress people during sleep. It has been studied and nearly proven that nightmares are due to stress and anxiety. Eating before bed, which triggers an increase in the body's metabolism and brain activity, is a potential stimulus for nightmares. So your God of Bad Dreams sounds like a tale to scare children to me."
Returning Halford back to his hatbox the Professor stands and dust of his lab coat. "Will you please show us the way back to the caravan? Please."
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Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
The man seems shamed by the questions. "I admit we could have tried to do more, but we were not sure of his power. If we had failed, all the plains may have been subjugated and the will of our people forever broken. If you wish to question our resolve, however, let it be known that many of us died to do the little that we had managed. And yet death was not the worst fate of my fellow betrayers. For myself, I was not able to move on to the other world, but was instead shackled to the future of my defeated master. I do not know what will happen to me if you emerge victorious. However, I would risk limbo if it means that the terror in the temple will not haunt mankind again."
To the Professor he says, "So you believe this is a figment of your imagination? I am the one who has waited for countless centuries. Perhaps it is I who should believe myself mad, and see you as a figment of my own imagination."
As the Professor walks a few feet to get back to the caravan, he suddenly realizes that the ground disappears a few hundred feet off the pathway to the temple. The ground there seems to be made of nothing but inky blackness, which confounds the Professor even more.
Duncan
[sblock]
You do not detect evil from the man, however the aura of the temple flares with a feeling of wickedness so intense that it nearly stuns you even from this distance. The evil feels ancient to you somehow...
[/sblock]
To the Professor he says, "So you believe this is a figment of your imagination? I am the one who has waited for countless centuries. Perhaps it is I who should believe myself mad, and see you as a figment of my own imagination."
As the Professor walks a few feet to get back to the caravan, he suddenly realizes that the ground disappears a few hundred feet off the pathway to the temple. The ground there seems to be made of nothing but inky blackness, which confounds the Professor even more.
Duncan
[sblock]
You do not detect evil from the man, however the aura of the temple flares with a feeling of wickedness so intense that it nearly stuns you even from this distance. The evil feels ancient to you somehow...
[/sblock]
Dragonwriter
First Post
Duncan stumbles backwards, a hand clutched to his head. He winces and shakes his head to clear it of the overwhelming darkness of the area. He gasps once, then turns to look at the professor. “Careful, sir. Your words come close to blasphemy. And speak plainly!”
Duncan looks back at the strange dream-man. “If many of your people died fighting, then how do we stop this Varath?”
[sblock=OOC]
HM, you do recall the limited scientific knowledge at this point in time, right? And the power of the Church? And that Francis works for a Church official?
Just want to point these things out before you say something that might get you burned at the stake.
[/sblock]
Duncan looks back at the strange dream-man. “If many of your people died fighting, then how do we stop this Varath?”
[sblock=OOC]
HM, you do recall the limited scientific knowledge at this point in time, right? And the power of the Church? And that Francis works for a Church official?
Just want to point these things out before you say something that might get you burned at the stake.
[/sblock]
HolyMan
Thy wounds are healed!
[sblock=ooc] I always put 14th century in my googling for pharses and tech terms. It seems that around that era the names were just starting to be made up! And no sorry did not remember you are a man of the cloth or at least the great churches arm that can smite her enemies. [/sblock]
And no sorry did not remember you are a man of the cloth or at least the great churches arm that can smite her enemies. [/sblock]
ethandrew
First Post
Francis frowns visibly, he didn't like this one bit, the whole situation reeked of evil. He pulled up the cross he wore around his neck and kissed it once before tucking it back under his shirt. He watched the interchange between Duncan, The Professor, and the messenger, curious, cautious.
Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
"You're presence here means that he'll want to manifest himself to you, which will drain his energy. If he expends much of his strength, he will lose more control over his realm and parts of the temple will be claimed by the ethereal nothingness you see around us. You don't want to fall into the nothing, but if you can sap enough of his strength then Varath will have to choose between fading into nothing or remaining a glimmer of himself while letting you go back to the waking land. A warning... if you decide to accept Varath you will strengthen him again with your worship. Having a god indebted would come with consequences best left unimagined, both for you and your people. Varath is a trickster of sorts. Be wary."
Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
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