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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1421968" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Karak #2] A Goddess Speaks[/PLAIN]Here's the rest of Karak's backstory, as told by his player.The WarehouseSo the days blended into night and into days again. Karak made his escape from Banacus without a problem. All knew that no one would stop him from leaving the city, it was entering the city that was the problem. The plague that had befallen Banacus caused the city gates to be closed to outsiders for the first time in fifty years. Whether the plague left Banacus and spread no gave a care. So Karak left with only what he could carry on his back and the weight of his brother’s death on his heart. He had sworn to his King that he would see Malak safely through it all. He was his brother’s fighter. How can a miracle worker protect himself? He needs the might of axe, armor, and shield. He had heard Malak talk of Faith. Hmpfff! Where was his Faith now? What did his Faith give him? Nothing but death, that’s what. Where was his Goddess to save him from his plight?These were the types of thoughts Karak thought whilst he sat upon the wooden crate in the warehouse. Three days forced march brought him to Vimore, about a week’s travel from Hillville Junction. The gates of the town were open and people were not wary of his presence. Karak promptly found a job and lodging as a warehouse guard for Hungrt the Cautious. Hungrt has made his fortune in flour and vinegar, which he stored, in his large wooden warehouse. Thieves had begun to steal the large wooden barrels that stored the vinegar and rat tracks tromped the flour sacks. What was strange however was the vinegar barrels were stolen empty! But Hungrt could not sell vinegar without barrels and so Karak was hired to guard the warehouse, and in the process search for the offending rats that were soiling the flour. Night had fallen for the third night of the watch and not a crate had been stolen or a flour sack nibbled. As Karak made the rounds in the rectangular warehouse the vinegar arranged in neat rows stacked three barrels high and four rows deep; he could see the rat tracks in the straw of flooring. By the size of the imprints this warehouse was being hit by a large number of rats. A swarm was all that Karak could tell. Karak strolled to the south side of the warehouse where the twin moonsbeams fell through the window to the floor. Karak walked and stopped so each foot stepped in the white rectangle of moonsbeam on the floor and clasped his war axe behind him as he gazed out the window.He remembered a half-elfin woman wearing the King’s armor. A Janissary was it. The king’s soldier was searching for him. Karak knew by now that his description would be posted throughout Banacus for killing the sergeant and his men. But how did Karak know about this Janissary? This one he knew from somewhere in his past. Shaking the image of the fairy face from his mind, Karak looked around him. Nothing stirred. Only the sound of wooden window shutters softly blown and hitting the outside of the warehouse could be heard. Karak watched the dust motes swirl in the moon light kicked alive by his metal shod feet. The dust moved and danced as if they were alive. Upon peering closer Karak could envision the dust coalescing were little people acting out their lives. Karak could see he and his brother following Arngrim in the snow. The dust swirled like the unnatural blizzard that struck them and claimed the life of Arngrim. Next Karak saw the haunted human monastery filled with the undead that he and his brother defeated. Malak was glorious in the pursuit of his Queen. He glowed with her holy essence, much like the dust mites glowing in the moonsbeams now. Karak next saw meeting up with a caravan and he and his brother descended a mountain. Then the image shifted onto a small watchtower where he encountered more enemies to smite. The battle was played out in the dust. The next 'play' was peculiar indeed for he saw the elfin Janissary as fresh in his minds eye played out in front of him of a battle in the house of a manor in Banacus. It was the same house he and his brother delivered the message to. In this house he saw acts of spider climbing, miracles of Shaharizod, and pure out and out fighting. It seems the Janissary’s group defeated the attackers, and that seemed as it should be.By this time, Karak was kneeling in the moonsbeams watching his past play out before him. He swept his hand through the dust mites disrupting their little play and watched them swirl around and around. Karak’s lids grew heavy from the hypnotic circling of the dust in the moonslight. Slowly as if on the edges of his eyesight, Karak watched as the swirl began to take on features. First the edges of a smile, then two round and blue eyes, then a nose, then a chin. A beautiful face of unknown heritage formed in front of his eyes, the mouth was moving but the sound was too silent. Karak leaned in closer. "Karak Kloskurmbur, son of Kignar, bother of Malak, hear me." Karak sat motionless enthralled by the face of beauty."You are wasting your life, and I am not pleased," the face spoke to him. "You did not cause your brother’s death. The forces of Aphyx move against me my son. They move to destroy my faithful servants like your brother… and… you."Karak harrumphed at this."Yes, Karak, I have not only overseen your brother, but you as well. You too are a faithful servant to the Queen. I know that which lies within your heart and it was once pure. I ask of you to make it pure to me again. Do not blame me for your brother’s death, blame the followers and corrupt of Aphyx. They destroyed your brother as well as my clerics and Battleguards, and they seek to destroy me. If they succeed in their quest, the world as we know it will be destroyed. I need you Karak. Many have served and perished as my Battleguards, and I mourn them all. But the task I ask you is even greater. I know you have the mind and heart to follow me for I am your Queen now Karak. I am your Goddess as I always have been. Go, now Karak, with all the rights and responsibilities as my right hand. Leave this place forthwith and travel to Hillville Junction. Go, my son, my faithful, and my Battleguard. Travel knowing you are guided and protected by your Queen who loves you as she does her own skin."And, with that Karak, stood up, blinked in the moonslight, and turned to exit the warehouse. Nothing stirred - not even a mouse. Karak knew not what his Goddess meant by being a Battleguard. Inside he still felt empty and alone at the death of his brother, and he was no more comforted with the knowledge his Goddess watching over him. He did not feel any more protected or safe. And if truth be told, he was still angry with her for allowing one of her faithful to die. And, now he was supposed to put his life in her hands."Hmpfff! Hardly," Karak thought. * * *An outsider would have found it interesting to know the thoughts rolling inside Karak’s head with his angry thoughts of defiance to his Goddess, because Karak was making good speed, even for a dwarf, as he made for Hillville Junction.</blockquote>

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