The Years Inbetween After the disappointing news that the garrison at Firis was refusing to investigate the disappearance of the people of Simil Magnus offered the boys a chance to get revenge. He cautioned them that it would be a very long road but no one seemed to be terribly reluctant. Magnus apologised and told the boys that it had been a very long time since he had paid enough attention to current events in Harn. He said it was the fault of his long life and despair over ever learning what the Chained Man was up to that had made him careless and indifferent. But no longer he swore. He would reactivate old contacts and connections and keep both eyes open from now on. He led the boys to the Trobridge Inn where he knew the innkeeper. There he got them jobs as stable boys and pot boys while he made arrangements to get training for them. He urged the boys to listen to everything and everyone to see if they could hear any news about strange goings on. They did so but the only strange bits of news they heard were of the mysterious disappearance of Simil of course. It took them a while but they learned how to listen without being too obvious about it. They also learned how to write in Harnic under the tutelage of the innkeeper. He was full of respect for Magnus but refused to talk about him. After three quarters of a year Magnus returned. He told the boys that he had re-forged some contacts and that he had made the following arrangements for training for them. He listed the following possibilities:
The decision on which group to join is up to you. The Second Step Once the players have decide what career paths they wish to follow Magnus spends sometime with them teaching them how to read and write in Lythian. He tells them that this is (was) the written language used in a large continent whose coast Harn used to off of. He accomplishes this training in an amazingly short time and he proves to be an excellent teacher. He tells you to use this language in all written communications of a sensitive nature. You're not supposed to use it too often since 14 year olds who know secret languages would be pretty suspicious. He does establish with you a simple code that you can use to hide some sensitive information. Any letters you send must be sent to the Trobridge Inn which will serve as his headquarters. He expects monthly reports. He's not going to tell any of you where the others are so you cannot betray them. At the end of your training he wants you all to return to the Inn. He also teaches you all a form of martial arts Tai Chi, something again that he proves to be a master of. None of you can last more than a few seconds with him in a bout. The night before you the first of you are scheduled to leave he takes you all into the woods. There he places a powerful geas on each of you in a day long ceremony. This geas prevents you from discussing Magnus' true nature. He also places a blessing vow on each of you that adds to one stat until the vow is broken. The geas was sorcerous magic but the blessing vow was priestly. Magnus shakes his head when you ask him what god he worships. "It doesn't matter now. Her magic still seems to work but I may be her only worshipper left in the entire world." He refuses to discuss her any further. At this point you know the following skills: Read/Write Harnic; Read/Write Lythian; Evidence Analysis; and Martial Arts (Tai Chi) The Knight's Tale (Notes) Magnus wakes you early one morning. He had told you the night before to say farewell to your friends since you would not be seeing them for years. You're all too young to take that too seriously. After a quick breakfast he takes you outside to the stable. He starts saddling a horse and you ask, "Am I going to be walking alongside?" He shakes his head in amusement. "Am I to ride behind you?" you ask with fear in your voice. He smirks broadly and leads the horse out of the stall. He hands you the reins and then moves on to the horse in the next stall. You have never ridden a horse in your life before. No one in the village owned one. Horses are for rich people and knights. The horse senses your unease and rears up dragging you with it. Magnus rushes over, "Not like that idiot. You must be firm. Show him who's in command." He grabs the reins and pulls down firmly on them. The horse settles and he rubs his coat. He lashes the reins to a hook on the wall. He turns to you and passes you an apple. "Give him this and speak calmly to him while rubbing his coat." You take the apple and do as Magnus ordered. The horse takes the apple. "It's not too different than a cow really," you say. Magnus snorts. "What's his name?" you ask. Magnus shrugs, "What do you want to call him? He's yours." You are taken aback. Horses are terribly expensive. "But, but what have I done to deserve this?" Magnus looks you straight in the eyes. "It's not what you've done but what you will do. You will learn and become a welcome ally against the coming evil." He turns to take the next horse out of it's stall. He turns to you again, "Besides what sort of knight would you be without a valiant steed? He's not a war-horse but he's fast and steady and smart. All too uncommon characteristics in horses. And lads." He finishes up as you grow more familiar with your mount. He helps you mount up. Your euphoria about the fabulous gift almost lasts to midday. The road to Menekod Castle, the headquarters of the Order of the Checked Shield in the NE parish of the Kingdom of Kanday takes you along the Salt Trail from the Trobridge Inn. Magnus tells you that the Order took the castle from their enemies the Order of the Company of the Copper Hook. The Order of the Company of the Copper Hook is dedicated to the worship of Agrik the god of evil war and fire who is diametrically opposed to the goddess Larani to whom the Checkered Shield is dedicated. This war was started back in 682 by the then Grandmaster of the Copper Hook, Ezar. He decided to start a war between Rethem and Kanday so the Copper Hook invaded Kanday. The war, a bloody affair which cost four monarchs their lives, ended two years before you were born. Since then the Copper Hook has waged an informal war against Kanday in particular and against members of the Checkered Shield in particular. By midday you are in such pain and misery that you ignore pretty much everything Magnus is telling you. Magnus seems to derive some twisted pleasure from informing you that it will take you roughly a week of riding to reach the Castle. You ask Magnus to kill you know since it would be faster and less painful. He laughs. He keeps up a gruelling pace, "to toughen you up". and you have the weeping sores on your thighs to prove it. He provides some stinging salve to heal them. The salve burns like fire when you put it on, like being killed all over again, but you refused it the second night of travel and woke the next day aching and in even more pain. After that you gritted your teeth and bore it.It takes you a week to reach the castle. You do so just after nightfall and you are so tired and sore that it is all you can do to hang onto the horse. Magnus bangs on the door until someone responds. A old man who still has the tonsure of a Order Knight answers and tries to turn you away. Magnus yells at him until no less a figure than the Marshall General of the Order comes, trailing a drift of subordinates. He speaks to Magnus and after a while he comes over to you. He looks at you shivering and clutching at your horse and nods. "He'll do. We'll make a knight of him or kill him in the attempt." The other knights laugh and Magnus nods a grave farewell before turning his horse and leaving. The Marshall General tells you that you have his permission to leave your horse to another's attention this time. But that's the only consideration you'll get from him. So your new life begins... The Knight's Tale - Part Two Life was hard. Despite the fact that the Fighting Orders were supposed to be less snobbish you soon discovered that wasn't so. Most of the young pages and would be knights were still the sons of nobles. Maybe not the first or the second sons but nobility none the less. And they had little use for the son of a farmer. They played many tricks on you and were aloof and mean. But despite all that they weren't allowed to be too mean and you worked hard. You fought when you needed to and kept to yourself as much as possible. The older knights were if not exactly kind to you at least they recognised talent when they saw it. So you advanced. First you were a stable hand, then a page and finally a squire. When you were nineteen something strange happened. The Order was playing host to a Baron Julor the lord of the shire of Daen. Your master Sir Caldor, a kind but strict knight was in charge of the honour guard. You were standing guard that knight beside the Baron's bedroom door when you heard strange music. You found yourself drifting off and struggled to remain awake. You drifted off for a second just after hearing a strange sound. It sounded like nothing so much as the wondrous clock the Marshall General had in his chambers. You struggled to awaken and fuzzily you saw Sir Caldor lying on the floor. Someone was leaning over him. The figure turned to look at you and you would have gasped if you hadn't been so groggy. The figure had no face. It moved slowly towards you and started raising an odd blade towards you. You realised that the clockwork sounds were coming from this figure. It pulled the blade back and started moving it towards your stomach. You were paralysed by the music still and could do nothing to help yourself. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and a figure appeared. A feminine voice shouted, "NO! You shall not take this one." A bright blade interposed itself between you and the strange figure's blade. The strange figure reared back but said nothing. It and the bright figure exchanged a few blows but suddenly the strange faceless figure bowed and turned to go. The bright figure seemed to grudgingly return the bow and then turned to you. It was a beautiful woman in full armour. She looked down at Sir Caldor's body and shook her head. "Tragic that one of the lady's devoted knights should die so, treacherously slain by magic." The figure turned to you and smiled briefly before disappearing. What an uproar there was when you reported the murder. At first they wanted to blame you. They accused you of being a turncoat with the bluff Baron leading the crowd. But when you described the faceless, ticking figure the Baron and the Marshall General blanched and the accusations fell silent. (No one would tell you what or who he was though). After that no one blamed you. And when you described the glowing woman the other knights of the order looked at you in wonder. "The Lady herself?" they wondered. "Or one of her servitors?" After that the other squires looked at you in jealousy rather than contempt. And the shining lady returned to you... The Sorcerer's Tale (Notes) Magnus wakes you very early. "Time to go," he says. It feels like you'd only just got to sleep and now it's time to get up again. "Bring what you cannot do without but leave the rest behind. The innkeeper will store it for you." You shrug your shoulders. None of you had brought anything from Simil and you haven't accumulated much since then. Magnus leads you outside after you're dressed. All he is carrying is his staff and a pouch at his belt. "Don't we need provisions for the trip?" You remembered what an ordeal your friends had gone through to get ready. He shakes his head. "They travelled by standard means. We are going to travel like sorcerers do." Your eyes light up and you follow Magnus down the Salt Road towards the west. "Aren't we going the wrong way?" He shakes his head in response and only leads you a kilometre or so from the Inn. There he stops and looks carefully around before leading you off into the bushes. You don't go far before finding a clearing. He does something magical and then nods in satisfaction. "No spies present." He starts taking off all his clothes and you are taken aback. He looks over at your expression of terror and snorts. "Don't be an idiot. You don't want clothes for this. Get naked and then pass me your clothes." Shaking his head in amusement he starts folding his clothes and somehow puts them into his belt pouch which doesn't look anywhere near large enough to hold them. Your jaw really drops when he takes his staff and puts it in the pouch as well. He turns to you and looks annoyed that you're still dressed. The look is all you need to make you strip. You pass him your clothes in a messy bundle and he titches and goes about folding them properly before storing them in his pouch. "How is all that fitting in there?" you ask. "Magic," is his curt reply Once you're naked he looks at you. You squirm uncomfortably. Once you're transformed I want you to follow me. Do not go off on your own and be very, very careful. We will be passing over some dangerous land and if you stray from my lead you may be killed." "What are we going to do? We're not going anywhere naked are we?" He laughs and takes a knife and some feathers out of the pouch. He shortens the straps on the pouch until they're are no longer than would be needed to go around his staff. He then gestures towards you with the knife and you flinch again. He looks sad and then angry and curtly commands you to stand still. "As if I would have the slightest trouble killing you if I wanted to," he mutters. Abashed you stand still and let him cut some hairs from your head. He takes the hair and the feathers and ties them together with some of the hair. He then touches you with the bundle. You feel a weird sense of the world getting larger and everything looks odd. Why is everything close so fuzzy and things far away so clear? Why are the colours so poor? Why is Magnus so tall all of a sudden? What's going on? You start hopping around in your distress until Magnus laughs and commands you to be still. You huddle in your distress. He stoops and holds the shiny blade of his knife towards you. You see a falcon reflected in the blade and you understand what's going on. I'm a bird you want to say but all that comes out is a high pitched screech. "Shush yourself," Magnus says. "I will be joining you right away and after that we cannot talk until the spell wears off or I dispell it. Or someone else dispells it. We will both be falcons and fly to Melderyn. This will save us time travelling and give you a taste of what it is to be a sorcerer. Remember to stay close and be careful. We will take it slow at first so that you get a chance to get used to your wings. After that we will travel as fast as any natural beast on Harn. Hopefully we won't come across any unnatural beasts along the way." You ache to ask him more questions but you cannot. Magnus creates another bundle of feathers and hairs and then touches himself with them. You watch fascinated as he shrinks into a falcon. He sticks his neck through the loop on his pouch and you understand why the loop is so small. The pouch seems very large for such a small bird but suddenly he leaps into the air. He circles above you and you stare up until with a sudden leap you take off! He shrieks his approval and circles again before taking off eastward. You follow him marvelling at how easy it seems to be to fly and at how far you can see. The ground passes below you at a dizzying speed. The flight is uneventful as you pass far above the woods and fields below. You can see the Void far to the south and something tells you to stay away from it. You just started feeling hungry when Magnus folds his wings and drops out of the sky like a thunderbolt. Panicked you hasten to follow him and discover him on the ground tearing with his beak at dead pigeon. He looks at you and your disgust is tempered by your hunger. He walk awkwardly over and start tearing at the dead bird. After you eat you take off again heading ever eastward. That night you sit by a campfire beside Magnus and go on about how wonderful flying is. He nods, "Be careful you don't get too attached to it. Sorcerers who take other forms too often sometimes forget their humanity in the glory of it all." This quietens you down and you settle down to sleep. After three more days of this travel you see a strange sight off to the south. It looks like a rainbow reaching from the edge of Harn to an offshore island. Magnus spots it too and shrieks loudly before heading to the ground. He changes back into his human form and then removes your spell. You dress and he explains that from here on you'll have to walk. It's not wise to try and sneak onto Melderyn disguised magically. You head southward after buying some supplies at a small village. You travel southward a few days. You are startled by all the signs of magic you see. Farmers using sorcery to do things your parents would have had to do by hand. This angers you at the wastefulness of abandoning sorcery and Magnus can only agree. Eventually you reach the end of the Rainbow Bridge. You are amazed at how beautiful it is but terrified at the thought of crossing it. "Can I see through? Is it an illusion? What happens if someone disbelieves it while we are crossing." The guards laugh and tell you that's pretty unlikely. "Better men than you have tried lad." Magnus adds kindly. You end up riding across in a wagon blindfolded. The wagon itself is pulled by blindfolded oxen. Magnus soothes your injured pride by telling you that many people can only cross this way. He himself is seemingly unaffected by the Void and he walks alongside the wagon whistling. You spend another few days crossing the island of Melderyn heading for the city of Cherafir. By the time you reach the city you are almost exhausted by the constant exposure to wonders. As you near the city you see that Cherafir was once a great port but no longer. The docks hang out into the Void and most avoid the former waterfront. Above the skyline tower a number of towers. For some reason you cannot count them and wish you had your falcon's eyesight. You travel through the city passing more wonders. Finally you reach a small house seemingly made of glass standing before a low wall encircling the towers you had seen from outside. Magnus turns to you. "Here's where I leave you lad. This is the gatehouse to the Towers Academy. Here the Gatekeeper," he gestures at a strange creature you can see through the walls of the gatehouse, "will test you to determine which tower you should go to. I must go but I know you will do yourself proud. Good luck." With that he turns to leave and the Gatekeeper emerges. It bows to you and you bow in return. "Welcome young master, please come this way." It turns and you follow it into the Gatehouse. The Martial Artist's Tale Magnus takes you away on foot. "No way for a horse to reach where you're going my lad." You each sling a pack on your packs and Magnus with his staff and you with a stout black cherrywood staff set off. "Where are we going?" you ask. "To Mount Wynan, the tallest mountain in Harn. There we will find the monastery of Emptiness." "Why have I never heard of this place?" you ask. Magnus shakes his head in bemusement. "There are a great many places you have never heard of my lad, but to be honest you have never heard of this place because they who live there don't want you to have heard of them. They are a very secretive bunch." "What do they do there?" "They watch and they wait." "For what?" "You'll learn." The journey takes a long time. On the way Magnus shows you more basics of martial arts. The route takes you to Tashal the largest city in Kaldor and then north from there along the Fur Road that eventually reaches Orbaal the Ivinian Kingdom. You don't go that far but at some unmarked spot along the trail you turn off into the unmarked wilderness. Magnus leads you surely and swiftly through the woods and into the hills. Magnus tells you that an orc nation lives nearby but you never see even a sign of orcs. The hills eventually turn into mountains and there high above you rears Mount Wynan. This is only the second time you've climbed a mountain and you find the going hard at first. As you go higher it gets colder and colder until you've left the trees far behind. "Who would live up here?" you ask incredulously. "How do they get their food? How do they bear this cold?" Magnus has been pulling progressively warmer clothes out of his pack but you still find the cold unbearable. Finally after almost a week's travel Magnus points something out to you. "See there? Along that edge of the mountaintop. That's the monastery." You'll have to take his word for it as all you can see is the jagged edge of the mountain. Later that day you finally realise that you can make out a building. It doesn't look very inviting you decide, plain gray stone walls and all, surrounded by bare rock or ice fields and snow banks. Late in the day you are nearing the gate when you see a strange sight. An old bald man wearing nothing but robes is sitting cross legged atop a large boulder. He seems unaware of the pair of you and Magnus doesn't seem to notice him either. You start to point him out to Magnus but he shushes you. As you pass below the boulder the old man leaps from the top with a grace belying his age and launches himself on Magnus. Magnus manages to deflect the old man's assault and they launch into a display of martial arts such as you've never seen before. They throw each other and twist and turn, launching stunning blows and kicks that somehow never seem to land. Finally the old man launches some sort of punch attack that ripples the air between him and Magnus that connects without physically touching him and he is knocked off his feet. This ends the fight and the old man walks over to offer Magnus his hand. Magnus gets up and brushes himself off but not before bowing to the old man. The old man returns this bow and exchanges a few words with Magnus in some language you've never heard before. Magnus smiles in affection at the old man and then gestures to you. "This is the student I told you about. He is here to learn whatever you need to teach him." The old man bows to you and you return his bow hesitantly. Magnus bows to you looking very sober. "Make me proud. I have a long journey ahead of me." He strips off his clothes and stands unshivering before you in the cold. You have never seen such a scarred body before. He takes his pouch and shortens the strap. He then takes his clothes and pushes it into his pouch. Then he takes his staff and does the same! He then pulls a bundle of feathers from his pouch, making gestures and speaking words of power and simultaneously shrinks and grows feathers until a falcon sits before you. The Magnus falcon sticks his head through the pouch's strap and then jumps into the air. The falcon Magnus circles above you, lets out a few shrieks and then flies off towards the south-west. The old man shakes his head in amusement. "Such a show-off. Well then young man let us go inside and see what you know. The Martial Artist's Tale - Part Two Well the old man, who unsurprisingly turned out to be the abbot, was as good as his word. He tested you in many ways, some of which you couldn't really identify as testing at all. He seemed satisfied by what he learnt though. And then you were set to work. You were introduced to all the brothers and novices present at the monastery, forty-six in all including yourself. The abbot told you that the Order always had to have forty-nine members because of that number's sacred significance. You are the new forty-ninth member. If there hadn't been a vacancy you couldn't have joined at all. All of the members of the Order are known, even to each other, only by the number assigned to them when they joined up. (Or had advanced to through promotion). Since you were the most recent member you were now to be known only as Fifty. "Fifty?", you asked. "Shouldn't I be Forty-nine?" The abbot smiled indulgently. "You are not to know this but I am only Number Two. Our god is Number One." And so he/she/it was. You have never received any indication of the nature of Number One other than that Number One opposes evil. You received much training at the monastery, some of it in surprising areas. Acting? Disguise? (Just what is the purpose of the Order?) Members left and returned at odd intervals and were gone for years at a time. Just once a member did not come back and Number Two left the monastery only to return later with a young boy in tow. (Thus did you get promoted to Number Forty-nine). You trained almost non-stop for eight years and never left the monastery. One day though the monastery did get a strange visitor. The first you knew of the visitor was the sound. It was coming up the mountain, some kind of rattling, creaking, groaning and screaming. It got louder as it neared and the other monks were obviously badly affected. They fled down into the bowels of the monastery where the gardens are to hide. But not the abbot. He just stood at the doorway and waited. But for some reason despite your unease you could withstand the onslaught as well. You walked over to the abbot and bowed. "Esteemed master what approaches? is it the doom of the monastery?" Number Two turned to you with a smile on his face. "No, Number Forty-Nine, the one who approaches could indeed bring this monastery crashing down but that is not the reason why it approaches." You waited for Number Two to continue but he did not. "Then what approaches, Master?" "Ilvir." You started, "The god, that Ilvir!?!" Number Two bowed, "None other." He turned to watch the god approach. You looked down and saw a cloud of...something approaching. It seemed to take the light away. You heard the crash of rocks as the form approached. "Why does the god venture here?" "The god wishes a rematch. He is a sore loser and wishes to attempt once again to beat me at chess. Run and fetch me my chess set." Your jaw drops open but you hasten to do as you are told. You return to discover that a horrible smell has now joined the cacophony. The abbot instructs you to set up the set on the flat rock where you first sighted him. You hasten to do so and then return to the doorway. The abbot moves over to the set and gestures to you to join him. You do so and marvel at the horrible combination of foul odours and hideous noises emanating from the approaching god. The abbot turns to you. "Are you brave, Number Forty-Nine." You nod, "Brave enough." "Good for the god needs...a conduit through which to play chess. Are you brave enough for that?" You blanch at the thought of that horror touching you but nod. The abbot smiles sadly at you. "Good", he says. You stand there with the abbot's hand on your shoulder as the god approaches. It looks vaguely like a huge hunchback walking under an enveloping cloak. Even the slightest motion seems to cause it great pain and it is swathed by sound and drenched in a plethora of stenches. You steel yourself as it reaches out to you. Later you return to yourself to see the god descending the mountain. You gag as you realise that there is something in your mouth. You retch it up and find yourself holding a greenish...rock? If it's a rock then why does the surface yield slightly to pressure and why does it stay warm in your hand? And how is it fuzzy? You hold it high to the sun and see a rainbow caught within the rock. You turn to the abbot who smiles at you and pats you on the shoulder. "Keep it. It is not wise to reject the gifts of the gods. If it is a gift. Go fetch your less sturdy brothers and then I suspect a round of combat followed by a good long soak in the hot spring would prove beneficial." You scurry off to obey staggering a bit at first as you reclaim your body but then turn at the gate to address the abbot. "Did we win?" The abbot shakes his head in amusement and you head down to the Secret Gardens. The Scholar's Tale (Notes) Magnus takes you westward. Your destination is the temple/library of the Hyn-Aelori order of Save K'Nor in the city of Coranan. This city is the capital of the Thardic Republic and is the largest city in all of Harn. Magnus tells you how many people are said to live there but you just cannot wrap your head around the figure. You travel westward along the Salt Trail until you reach the fortress of Moleryn, headquarters of the Ramala Legion that guards the Ramala Province of the Thardic Republic. There you cross the Teb River and a short day's travel brings you to the city of Coranan. At least you think it's the city since it's much larger than any place you've ever been before. Magnus laughs at your exclamations at the city's size as you make your way along the Moleryn Road through the centre of the city. You reach a square before a huge fortress. Magnus leads you confidently along the road between the towering walls. You have been making your way through huge crowds of fairly well behaved travellers and locals. Here and there you see priests and the members of fighting orders passing through the crowd. Here and there you see soldiers dressed in red uniforms. Magnus sneers at them when you point them out and tells you that they're members of the Red Guard. They were formerly well respected and able soldiers who were privileged with the task of guarding the Thardic Senate but now they are corrupt or ineffectual popinjays for the most part. He points out groups of mercenaries to you that are tasked with policing Coranan since the Guard are too important for that. At the end of the road between the walls is a tall gate. Magnus tells you this is the Gate of Mejenes who was considered by many to have been the greatest emperor the former Coranan Empire had. Magnus mutters that he was a nice enough guy but he always cheated at cards. You ask when he lived and Magnus tells you that it was about 250 years ago. You stand and wait for your turn through the gate and Magnus tells you more about the city. Finally it's your turn through the gates and you pass beneath the murder holes and the portcullis and out onto the Kobar Bridge. That's when you understand Magnus' amusement at the size of Coranan. Across the river you see an enormous city. Directly opposite is another strong castle on an island. To the left you see docks. Behind the docks are the town walls that were absent on this side of the river. Above the walls tower the tallest buildings you've ever seen. All along the riverfront is a bustle of activity. To the right is another small town that isn't surrounded by walls either. Magnus leads you across the bridge up to the next gate. This is the Kobar Gate and passage through it is quicker than through the last one. You pass from the sunlight into the walls of Caer Coranan that covers most of a small island that Magnus tells you is manmade. The place is full of Red Guardsmen and most people are solemn as they pass through. It's a quick passage to the next gate, the Irien Gate which you pass through, over another short bridge and then through the last gate, the Quilon Gate. Finally you're in Coranan proper. You're in a large square that's full of people. Magnus leads you to the right along the moat. As you head along Thard Street you hear a loud roar coming from the west. The sheer volume of the noise startles you and you jump. Some passer-bys laugh at your parochialism but Magnus' frown silences them and they hurry off. "What was that?" you ask. Magnus shakes his head in disgust, "The Pamesani Arena where they stage fights between people and animals. And worse. An abomination." Shaking his head he leads you along the street until it reaches a side street called Juzyn Street. He leads you along Juzyn Street until you come up to a gate in a wall. The road bends left here but Magnus leads you to the door. On a metal plate on the door is engraved the symbol of a scroll that doesn't have any writing on it. He pounds on the door and a man in gray robes opens it up. Magnus introduces himself and hands you over to this man. He turns to you as you are led inside, "I must go. Good luck and keep in touch." You stare aghast at his back hurt by this curt dismissal as he walks away until the gray clad man speaks not unkindly to you. "Let's go inside shall we and see just how smart you are." So your new life begins. The Scholar's Tale Part 2 A scholar? What a laugh. The priests didn't seem to care what you did.
They tested you and seemed satisfied enough with your intelligence but you strongly
suspect that Magnus had paid them to keep you. Once they learned that you could read and
write all they asked you to do to earn your keep was to work as a scribe in their library
recopying documents. A never ending task. The library is huge and goes down many levels
below the ground. You can still remember your first tour. The amount of scrolls and books
and other written records was immense. The farther down you got the more obscure the
materials got. The bored apprentice giving you the tour showed you the books in Harnic
first and then books in elvish (very few) and dwarvish (slightly more but still few in
number) and then at the very bottom of the building he showed you a room full of
mouldering scrolls and books in what he called a dead human tongue. You were startled to
see that the books were in Lythian but you managed to hide your surprise. Your jaw almost
dropped open when you realised that many of the books were treatises on magic. You
promised yourself that you would pay a private visit to this room as soon as possible. The Scholar's Tale - Part Three In your last year in Coranan you were hanging out with your street friends
when you saw a startling sight. There on the other side of the street was someone from
your village! It was Matthias, a friend from your childhood. But how he was changed! You
asked your friends to wait for you and sauntered across the street. Matthias was painfully
thin. He wore someone's livery and had an iron collar around his neck. He was standing
outside a shop holding some packages staring at the ground as though his life depended on
it. You approached him slowly knowing slaves. "Matthias?" He started and dropped
his packages. He lunged for them and you bent down to help him. His arm stretched to reach
the packages and you saw that he had a twisted chain tattooed on his forearm! You grabbed
his arm and he flinched. "Matthias it's me, Adam. Where have you been? What happened
to the village?" You looked into Matthias' eyes and were shocked by the pain you saw
there. Matthias opened his mouth and you saw only a pitiful stump of a tongue. "Who
had done this to you?" You grabbed him by the shoulders and were going to shake him
when a rough hand grabbed you by the shoulder and twisted you around. "Are you
interfering with my slave, sir?" You looked up and saw a fine gentleman with waxed
hair and mustachios, as was the style. "Sir I must ask you to leave my slave
alone." You stood up and looked the man over. He was tall and well muscled. At his
hip hung a fine rapier and his clothing, all black, was in the best style and made of the
finest material. "Where did you get this slave?" you asked. He sneered at you,
"I am not accustomed to speak with street ruffians. I have pressing matters
elsewhere. Good day sir." He curtly ordered Matthias up calling him Matt. "Come,
let us go." He made his way past you and you moved to step in front of him. He
slapped you hard, knocking you to the ground. You growled at him and made to stand up.
Before you could get up he had his rapier at your throat. "I would think twice before
trying anything if I were you. As I see it you have two options. First you can try and
pursue matters with me and die. Or second you can stay put and cease bothering me. Which
is it to be lad?" You shook your head in irritation and then nodded in agreement.
"Wisely chosen street trash. No one messes with Sir Artor Silvercrest." He
sheathed his rapier and stalked off followed by Matthias who shot you a desperate look.
Your friends rushed to your side and you nodded when one signed whether he should follow
him or not. You dusted off your clothes and retired to a nearby bar. The Reunion Eight years had come and gone and you had changed a lot. No longer where you the simple farm boys you had been nine years ago. You had come a long way and had all acheived some status in your trades. And you wondered when your vengeance was to begin. When would Magnus summon you back to help him in the war against the Chained Man? Letters from him had been few and fair between. You had all been steadfast in submitting your reports four times a year but the few replies you got from Magnus tended to be absent minded exhortations to do well and study hard. Not once in all that time did you actually see him. You all graduated from your training with distinction and without other guidance moved on to the duties of masters rather than students. Year eight passed, then nine and you were in your tenth year when suddenly late in the month of Plants your masters received a letter from Magnus. You were all summarily dismissed, well not dismissed but freed from your duties to attend Magnus. He asked you all to return to the Trobridge Inn posthaste. So you all made arrangements to do so... Last updated August 19, 2004 |