"So what was it like to kill Valrya?" Morley and I hadn't spoken all day, I followed and he sat silently leading. Well we didn't start off like that, he asked me what it was like riding Lorissia I told him another comment like that and I'd add him to my dead necromancer list, that kind of killed conversation. We were at a makeshift camp in the wild now, as usual for me it was a simple campfire with our meager camp next to it (I had a two blanket set up, Morley had something more elaborate that involved laying down like three layers of padding before he put his blankets down.
"I was half in and half out of concienceness when I did it Morley, it felt like getting socked in the testicles and waking up with all the worst nightmares, except they were real."
"Still you got a lot of experience out of it I'm sure, I mean you already show promise with your necromancy, recklessness yes, but promise, like that blood trap in Lork, ingenious, that you were able to do that in the dark very impressive." Morley respected power, its the one thing that scratched his itch for domination. We had eaten something Morley had brought with him, I thought it might be poisoned (or to some idiots envenomed) until he ate first, he watched me while he did and made a comment while I was eating that if it was poisoned he could have developed an immunity to it thus making me waiting for him to eat was a dumb idea, I hate him so much.
"Yeah it was great seeing entire villages of small children being burned alive, let me tell you."
"Ahh yes the mage hunter tribe, what a silly group of morons, they were trying to hunt us all down and kill us, looks like we got there first right?" He smiled in a way that was more than a little unsettling considering the subject matter.
"What am I doing out here with you Morley? We are not even in the same class of people! I'm an opportunist, you're an evil guy who bathes in evil."
"Not true, I bathe in water, and judging on your smell, something you should do more often." Hardy har har, I was in prison you dick! Look I know this is years later, but that comment still stings.
"Morley I need to know what we are doing becuase I'm not up to murdering children because you told me I have to."
"Oh don't get off your pedastal your highness, if you must know you're fixing my mistake ok! See I admitted it, I made a mistake and you are correcting it! Hell we're doing the world a favor here, so don't get all worried about murdering innocents, these guys are all bad people that I associated with made mistakes with and now you'll be cleaning up!" He really admitted he needed me to fix his problem, over the years this would become a pattern, never once have I ever called up Morley to help me, ever, for a reason mind you, his solutions always involve murder a lot more than mine, which is pretty bad because most of mine involve murder too.
"Thrilled we are fixing problems for you, what about my problems Morley?"
"Are one of your problems a resurrected army of undead currently planning on bringing back entire armies of dead people to enslave the world?"
"No actually no."
"Well then there you are!" Hate him so much. So yeah, his "problem" was a resurrected evil that he thought he could control that got loose. And on top of that he figured two of us would be enough to handle something even he admitted to being a freaking army. You have to hate Morley, only he could be so callous and stupid at the same time. What's sad is that he always keeps one step ahead of me. I swear he and I are fated to either doom this world or save it, probably doom it to save it only to doom it again. Why of all the people I have to spend the rest of my eternal life with did I have to be paired up with Morley?
Monday, April 11, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Should Have Stayed In Jail
I was whistling since they arrested me and threw me into a cell (not literally mind you they were very polite, thats what you get when its a paid for police force, mainly because they don't know if you're a high enough roller to buy his way out and make their lives miserable). I'd been told to shut up a few times, but the little diddy in my head would not go away. I shouldn't have been that happy honestly, what I'd done was more evil than usual (despite mervis being the one who hurt Lorissia most people don't view necromancy as a very necessary mean for their end). I was only in jail over night before a well dressed man unlocked my cell and escorted me to their processing area. Lork jail, was actually larger than I figured for a community of their size, I guess because of all the gambling and transient population the jail was set up for that and not the local yokels. It was built in three sections seperated by hallways and heavy iron bars. The first area was reception included places to sit and pay for your crimes (literally they had a board up with money next to each offense, most hilarious on it was "Sexual congress with animal" the fine was five pieces of silver, a pittance really). Beyond reception was processing where they took off your dangerous weapons/items and stored them there as well, processing also appeared where guards bunked out/changed. And then beyond processing was the cells, great construction and care went into each, again because sometimes even the really rich might spend a night in grey bar hotel. The diplomat who escorted me to processing procured my weaponry and other items (including my money which surprised me that it was the full amount).
"Sorry for the incovenience Mr. Lorentino, but we were not aware of your status in this matter." He had that entirely grateful for your help look I so rarely get.
"My what?"
"Your status, I wasn't even aware the Red Hand authorized independent contractors to work as mage hunters, but your associate assures me you two are of quite well renown for this kind of thing." My associate? I didn't like where this was going, and I shouldn't have.
"Well you don't want to go around and advertise of course." When you are involved in a con and don't know your part its best to play along.
"Of course, still you have to forgive my men, they had no idea you were working for Countess Lorissia and it looked like you had murdered Lord Mervis in cold blood, if we had known you were there on the Countess's orders and only acted to save her life from a dangerous necromancer, well no need to dwell on the past, all of your items are here and your associate is outside waiting for you, the citizens of Lork thank you for your esteemed service to us and wish you a pleasant stay." He showed me out of processing and into reception where Morley was waiting for me (I really should have known, I thought maybe Lorissia had buffaloed them, but lying up a storm was not really her strong suit). I waited till we got outside the jail to voice my concern.
"What is going on Morley? What are you doing here?"
"No thank you? No 'thanks for saving me Victor, its nice to see you again Victor, how are you doing Victor?' Fine fine don't thank me." That's what Morley was good at, being an asshole whenever he could.
"Thanks Morley, now what the shit is going on? Why do they think I'm a mage hunter where is Lorissia?" We were walking towards our horses (mine had apparently been moved nearby, and Morley's necrobeast was instantly recognizeable.
"You're friend is fine, they think she's a countess and now with Mervis's ill gotten gains, minus a fee of course, she can live like one, I'd recommend we avoid her though, last I checked the Fire God not a huge fan of necromancy, even if it was to help, as for whats going on? I saved you a lengthy prison stay, I'd say we are even after I kind of got you jailed for five years."
"Wait what? You got me arrested?"
"What can I say? I was jealous of Valrya's attention being paid to you, so I may have you know paid off some officials to trump up a war profitting charge, you understand these things happen." We mounted and started on our way out of town, I was following Morley if only to kill him immediately after.
"These things happen? I SPENT FIVE YEARS IN PRISON MORLEY!"
"I said I'm sorry, and I saved you from possibly spending more time in prison, see even." Again Morley has a weird idea about even. I let it go, there was nothing I could really do about it (Morley was still terrifying to me, because I had Valrya's memories, most of her children were coerced into the life style, Morley actively sought her out).
"Ok if we're even I'm out, no way am I staying anywhere near you." Because I'd run across him once before in which he injured me and threatened to kill me, I figured five years apart hadn't really made us any closer.
"Oh yeah about that, look I need your assistance with something, and my helping you out was kind of predicated on you helping me out." With Morley there is always a catch.
"So you helping me, something I was entirely unaware of, now indebts me to helping you, even though you just told me that you helped me to even a score in which you had previously had me locked up for five years?"
"Yes thats the long and short of it." I hate him so much, this isn't even the last time he's scewed me over, its a pattern really. I only have myself to blame never ever have I gotten the upperhand with Morley. We rode out of town and north (before we left I left a note at the tanner I'd found to make my snake belt, it was simply I'm sorry, I paid the man to make sure she got the belt). I didn't know what Morley wanted, or where we were going (thats the way he does business, "I need you, but you won't know the full extent of why until I tell you once you can't back out"), and like usual with Morley I wished I'd remained where I was.
"Sorry for the incovenience Mr. Lorentino, but we were not aware of your status in this matter." He had that entirely grateful for your help look I so rarely get.
"My what?"
"Your status, I wasn't even aware the Red Hand authorized independent contractors to work as mage hunters, but your associate assures me you two are of quite well renown for this kind of thing." My associate? I didn't like where this was going, and I shouldn't have.
"Well you don't want to go around and advertise of course." When you are involved in a con and don't know your part its best to play along.
"Of course, still you have to forgive my men, they had no idea you were working for Countess Lorissia and it looked like you had murdered Lord Mervis in cold blood, if we had known you were there on the Countess's orders and only acted to save her life from a dangerous necromancer, well no need to dwell on the past, all of your items are here and your associate is outside waiting for you, the citizens of Lork thank you for your esteemed service to us and wish you a pleasant stay." He showed me out of processing and into reception where Morley was waiting for me (I really should have known, I thought maybe Lorissia had buffaloed them, but lying up a storm was not really her strong suit). I waited till we got outside the jail to voice my concern.
"What is going on Morley? What are you doing here?"
"No thank you? No 'thanks for saving me Victor, its nice to see you again Victor, how are you doing Victor?' Fine fine don't thank me." That's what Morley was good at, being an asshole whenever he could.
"Thanks Morley, now what the shit is going on? Why do they think I'm a mage hunter where is Lorissia?" We were walking towards our horses (mine had apparently been moved nearby, and Morley's necrobeast was instantly recognizeable.
"You're friend is fine, they think she's a countess and now with Mervis's ill gotten gains, minus a fee of course, she can live like one, I'd recommend we avoid her though, last I checked the Fire God not a huge fan of necromancy, even if it was to help, as for whats going on? I saved you a lengthy prison stay, I'd say we are even after I kind of got you jailed for five years."
"Wait what? You got me arrested?"
"What can I say? I was jealous of Valrya's attention being paid to you, so I may have you know paid off some officials to trump up a war profitting charge, you understand these things happen." We mounted and started on our way out of town, I was following Morley if only to kill him immediately after.
"These things happen? I SPENT FIVE YEARS IN PRISON MORLEY!"
"I said I'm sorry, and I saved you from possibly spending more time in prison, see even." Again Morley has a weird idea about even. I let it go, there was nothing I could really do about it (Morley was still terrifying to me, because I had Valrya's memories, most of her children were coerced into the life style, Morley actively sought her out).
"Ok if we're even I'm out, no way am I staying anywhere near you." Because I'd run across him once before in which he injured me and threatened to kill me, I figured five years apart hadn't really made us any closer.
"Oh yeah about that, look I need your assistance with something, and my helping you out was kind of predicated on you helping me out." With Morley there is always a catch.
"So you helping me, something I was entirely unaware of, now indebts me to helping you, even though you just told me that you helped me to even a score in which you had previously had me locked up for five years?"
"Yes thats the long and short of it." I hate him so much, this isn't even the last time he's scewed me over, its a pattern really. I only have myself to blame never ever have I gotten the upperhand with Morley. We rode out of town and north (before we left I left a note at the tanner I'd found to make my snake belt, it was simply I'm sorry, I paid the man to make sure she got the belt). I didn't know what Morley wanted, or where we were going (thats the way he does business, "I need you, but you won't know the full extent of why until I tell you once you can't back out"), and like usual with Morley I wished I'd remained where I was.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Mervis's Malicious Monotone
Five men lay dead. I killed them naturally, I was angry and not seeing things in a "live and let live" type way. Mervis had gone from stupid foppish moron to someone who needed to be sliced open and have salt poured into him, in the space of say two broken fingers! The first guy was guarding the door to the lavish suite Mervis was staying in, I reached through him and burned the guy behind him (believe me the shocked look on his face showed that he didn't know you could indeed do that), the next three were a victim of my rather poor swordsmanship (which showed that Mervis obviously hired people based on looks not actual ability). When it was all said and done I was standing over five bodies my right hand dripping blood, my sword also coated and I wasn't even getting started.
The suite was really just two major rooms, the greeting room where I'd just butched Mervis's guards, and the bedroom where Mervis was waiting. My hands shook in rage, it was bad enough he tried to kill me, but that he had taken Lorissia and intended on using her in a blood ritual? That really just pissed me off (ignore for a moment that at one time I'd done the same thing, though it wasn't technically me, I swear that woman got into more blood rituals than anyone else). I lashed a string of fire at the door leading to the bedroom and sliced the door in two (it was dangerous given the state I was in, but I was really angry, hindsight tells me I could have accidentally burned the whole stupid room down with that kind of reckless abuse of power). Mervis looked like I had interrupted a little alone time, his balding pasty ugly face just served to make me angrier, the fact I could see Lorissia tied up on the bed, probably also factored in.
"MERVIS!" I rushed forward, he didn't have time to move or cast a spell (and thankfully he had not laid a blood trap on the ground, which is no surprise Mervis was a terrible necromancer, honestly Valrya had always considered him a failure). I had pinned him a wall beside the bed my right forearm underneath his chin, my left still clutched my sword and I held it an inch below his genitals.
"Trezlan hey lets talk, lets just calm down you know you want to be calm." Mervis was a mind bender (I don't think I mentioned them in my magic breakdown, basically much like the Red Hand Judge, they work a spell on your mind with their words, its really effective, but tends to lead to a short life as no one ever wants to lose control of themselves and if you can't hear them, or you intentionally inflict injury upon yourself their magic doesn't tend to work), I could feel his words trying to burrow into my brain, I tightened my right hand in a fist and felt a surge of pain wash them away.
"Mervis I'm not some dumb fool you know, that you assumed I worked for Morley is laughable, that you thought you could send two idiots to get information from me insulting, that you would dare hurt my companion, death sentence."
"Think about this Trezlan! We're brothers! Just because Morley killed Mother doesn't mean we can't team up to kill him! Forget this tramp, with our power we could rule this town!" Mervis always did think small, I mean he'd lived his life just satisfying his urges, using up women, using their life energy to keep up his virility and then tossing them aside. I'll admit I hadn't lived a life of altruism and grand world saving measures, but I'd at least been involved in things!
"Mervis," I leaned in close, I could smell the rotten stench of his breath, "The only thing we share in common I killed specifically because I'm not like any of you." I buried my sword into his guts and it pinned him to the wall, I heard a whimper and he squirmed to get off the blade but was failing. I turned my attention to Lorissia who looked like death warmed over, he'd been draining her for about a day, going slow (it was how get more pleasure out of his victims, most necromancers do a quick rip, Mervis prefered to savor the flavor as it were).
"I can fix her, just let me go, just let me live Trezlan!" His voice was high pitched and desperate.
"Yes yes you can fix her." He was about to say something else when I withdrew the sword from his abdomen and he came crashing to the ground, he was thankful at first until I buried the sword through his back and trapped him on the ground (its hard to write on someone when they are squirming). I worked the ritual fast I could feel his life force seeping out faster than the blood. Mervis himself had passed out in the second impalement. Unlike with Valrya I didn't retain any of Mervis's memories or emotions, I did not want them. I just passed the life force into Lorissia and left his husk on the ground (when you are transferring life force intentionally and of sound mind you don't have to take in any yourself, when I killed Valrya I kind of messed up obviously). She looked better but was still out of it, I could see color returning to her cheeks so I knew all she needed was rest.
I heard footsteps crashing up from down below (Mervis was staying in a hotel that had two floors, we were on the second). I left Lorissia on the bed and went to the main area. I was greeted by what was considered the law in Lork (Despite being Red Hand territory Lork kind of operated independently for the most part, the local gambling dens paid a private force to keep things on the straight and narrow). There were five of them, well dressed in shining mail armor wielding a variety of weapons that probably hadn't been used ever from how shiny they looked. I held my hands out in surrender and laid down on the ground, I felt the shackles lock around my wrists and was brought roughly to my feet.
Yes my lovely journal another stay in prison for Trezlan Lorentino. As I've said in the past I tended to be incarcerated a lot, almost like I'm some kind of criminal? Preposterous though, all those charges are clearly not true at all! Even the ones I admit to.
The suite was really just two major rooms, the greeting room where I'd just butched Mervis's guards, and the bedroom where Mervis was waiting. My hands shook in rage, it was bad enough he tried to kill me, but that he had taken Lorissia and intended on using her in a blood ritual? That really just pissed me off (ignore for a moment that at one time I'd done the same thing, though it wasn't technically me, I swear that woman got into more blood rituals than anyone else). I lashed a string of fire at the door leading to the bedroom and sliced the door in two (it was dangerous given the state I was in, but I was really angry, hindsight tells me I could have accidentally burned the whole stupid room down with that kind of reckless abuse of power). Mervis looked like I had interrupted a little alone time, his balding pasty ugly face just served to make me angrier, the fact I could see Lorissia tied up on the bed, probably also factored in.
"MERVIS!" I rushed forward, he didn't have time to move or cast a spell (and thankfully he had not laid a blood trap on the ground, which is no surprise Mervis was a terrible necromancer, honestly Valrya had always considered him a failure). I had pinned him a wall beside the bed my right forearm underneath his chin, my left still clutched my sword and I held it an inch below his genitals.
"Trezlan hey lets talk, lets just calm down you know you want to be calm." Mervis was a mind bender (I don't think I mentioned them in my magic breakdown, basically much like the Red Hand Judge, they work a spell on your mind with their words, its really effective, but tends to lead to a short life as no one ever wants to lose control of themselves and if you can't hear them, or you intentionally inflict injury upon yourself their magic doesn't tend to work), I could feel his words trying to burrow into my brain, I tightened my right hand in a fist and felt a surge of pain wash them away.
"Mervis I'm not some dumb fool you know, that you assumed I worked for Morley is laughable, that you thought you could send two idiots to get information from me insulting, that you would dare hurt my companion, death sentence."
"Think about this Trezlan! We're brothers! Just because Morley killed Mother doesn't mean we can't team up to kill him! Forget this tramp, with our power we could rule this town!" Mervis always did think small, I mean he'd lived his life just satisfying his urges, using up women, using their life energy to keep up his virility and then tossing them aside. I'll admit I hadn't lived a life of altruism and grand world saving measures, but I'd at least been involved in things!
"Mervis," I leaned in close, I could smell the rotten stench of his breath, "The only thing we share in common I killed specifically because I'm not like any of you." I buried my sword into his guts and it pinned him to the wall, I heard a whimper and he squirmed to get off the blade but was failing. I turned my attention to Lorissia who looked like death warmed over, he'd been draining her for about a day, going slow (it was how get more pleasure out of his victims, most necromancers do a quick rip, Mervis prefered to savor the flavor as it were).
"I can fix her, just let me go, just let me live Trezlan!" His voice was high pitched and desperate.
"Yes yes you can fix her." He was about to say something else when I withdrew the sword from his abdomen and he came crashing to the ground, he was thankful at first until I buried the sword through his back and trapped him on the ground (its hard to write on someone when they are squirming). I worked the ritual fast I could feel his life force seeping out faster than the blood. Mervis himself had passed out in the second impalement. Unlike with Valrya I didn't retain any of Mervis's memories or emotions, I did not want them. I just passed the life force into Lorissia and left his husk on the ground (when you are transferring life force intentionally and of sound mind you don't have to take in any yourself, when I killed Valrya I kind of messed up obviously). She looked better but was still out of it, I could see color returning to her cheeks so I knew all she needed was rest.
I heard footsteps crashing up from down below (Mervis was staying in a hotel that had two floors, we were on the second). I left Lorissia on the bed and went to the main area. I was greeted by what was considered the law in Lork (Despite being Red Hand territory Lork kind of operated independently for the most part, the local gambling dens paid a private force to keep things on the straight and narrow). There were five of them, well dressed in shining mail armor wielding a variety of weapons that probably hadn't been used ever from how shiny they looked. I held my hands out in surrender and laid down on the ground, I felt the shackles lock around my wrists and was brought roughly to my feet.
Yes my lovely journal another stay in prison for Trezlan Lorentino. As I've said in the past I tended to be incarcerated a lot, almost like I'm some kind of criminal? Preposterous though, all those charges are clearly not true at all! Even the ones I admit to.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Mervis's Marvelous Morons
I hate waiting, if this isn't readily obvious to you faithful reader of my insanity (or strange alien creature reading a journal of the world you destroyed) then you haven't been paying attention. I burned my way out of my restraints without too much difficulty (there was one terrifying moment before the ropes burned through that the chair caught on fire, but you know that was brief), but I was stuck in the room until the two jerks who broke my freaking fingers returned. The room was fairly small, felt like a basement from light sources and that it was dirt floor with stone walls (also sound was muffled). Only one real way in or out, and it was a metal door (I could have tried burning through it, but without knowing whats on the other side I could end up blowing myself up, which funnily enough happened to me once later on, not like anytime soon in this timeframe, but I digress). So I waited, and waited, and got angry, and waited. I also laid a blood trap at the door entrance (its a bit of ritual magic thats best left to your imagination for the most part, especially how I got blood with no knife or blade nearby, think badly broken fingers), but that didn't take too long and so I sat in the dark waiting.
It felt like a day had gone by before the door opened again (of course this had to be when I was taking a piss in the corner, I even knew the second I went to pee they'd come back). The small man was the first one through the door and stepped right into my trap, his scream was high pitched and brief (thus is the nature of such a trap, just again leave it to your imagination, it was fatal and not in a nice way) unfortunately its a one time thing and his big ugly companion came tromping into the room after him murder in his ugly eyes. He had a size advantage, an ugly advantage, and I had two broken fingers, but I had the an anger advantage and I can conjure fire with my damn hands! I also had the darkness in my favor, as the light provided by the door being opened didn't give big ugly a great visual of me, I didn't help this by blowing up a fire ball to blind him more (I had to be careful with hurting big ugly, I needed him alive temporarily at least). I lead off with my right hand, because I'm a mouth breathing moron, as soon as my broken fingers brushed his hard as stone face I screamed in pain (I hurt myself a lot more than I could have possibly hurt him). He didn't wait for me to recover from my own tactical blunder, two shots to my groin region had me double over in pain (hitting a man in the groin totally not fair). I was on my knees when I felt that large tree branch he called an arm cinch in around my neck, seconds away from dying or being knocked out I reached back with my left hand and garbbed hold of his genitals (turn about is fair play) it didn't phase him at first until I willed fire into my hand and burned his balls into the next world (no matter how tough you are, when someone burns your testicles off, you are going down forever). The tree branch off my throat I took a huge gasp of air and brought my foot solidly into big uglies nose, it had the desired effect of erupting his face with blood.
Still clutching his no longer there testicles I worked my necromagic on his back and drained his life, I felt my fingers snapping back into place (necromancy restores your body, it does not do it pain free, fixing a broken appendage with dark magic is the most brute force method ever) and let out another scream. Big ugly tried to say something as his life was being sucked out of him, but it came out in grunts and honestly I was taking what I needed from his life force anyway. His was a tragic life of being a victim of violence and then being the one who brought that violence to others, the age old story. I did confirm what I thought, Mervis was on to me, well sort of. He thought I was working with Morley (and thought that Morley had killed Valrya, something all the other children of Valrya thought honestly), and had sent these two to figure out what Morley wanted with him. I also got a brief glimpse of Lorissia unfortunately under the sway of Mervis. I didn't have much time to work, so I stepped over the mess of the little man at the front of the room, spotted my supplies including my sword, snatched them up and went on my way.
When I emerged in the light of Lork the city looked as I had left it, a bunch of people walking to and fro trying their best to ignore others while on their way to their current fix. I had a mission though and a location, poor Mervis wouldn't see me coming until it was too late, unfortunately for Lorissia too late had already happened for her as well. Tommorrow I write of damnation, well more than usual.
It felt like a day had gone by before the door opened again (of course this had to be when I was taking a piss in the corner, I even knew the second I went to pee they'd come back). The small man was the first one through the door and stepped right into my trap, his scream was high pitched and brief (thus is the nature of such a trap, just again leave it to your imagination, it was fatal and not in a nice way) unfortunately its a one time thing and his big ugly companion came tromping into the room after him murder in his ugly eyes. He had a size advantage, an ugly advantage, and I had two broken fingers, but I had the an anger advantage and I can conjure fire with my damn hands! I also had the darkness in my favor, as the light provided by the door being opened didn't give big ugly a great visual of me, I didn't help this by blowing up a fire ball to blind him more (I had to be careful with hurting big ugly, I needed him alive temporarily at least). I lead off with my right hand, because I'm a mouth breathing moron, as soon as my broken fingers brushed his hard as stone face I screamed in pain (I hurt myself a lot more than I could have possibly hurt him). He didn't wait for me to recover from my own tactical blunder, two shots to my groin region had me double over in pain (hitting a man in the groin totally not fair). I was on my knees when I felt that large tree branch he called an arm cinch in around my neck, seconds away from dying or being knocked out I reached back with my left hand and garbbed hold of his genitals (turn about is fair play) it didn't phase him at first until I willed fire into my hand and burned his balls into the next world (no matter how tough you are, when someone burns your testicles off, you are going down forever). The tree branch off my throat I took a huge gasp of air and brought my foot solidly into big uglies nose, it had the desired effect of erupting his face with blood.
Still clutching his no longer there testicles I worked my necromagic on his back and drained his life, I felt my fingers snapping back into place (necromancy restores your body, it does not do it pain free, fixing a broken appendage with dark magic is the most brute force method ever) and let out another scream. Big ugly tried to say something as his life was being sucked out of him, but it came out in grunts and honestly I was taking what I needed from his life force anyway. His was a tragic life of being a victim of violence and then being the one who brought that violence to others, the age old story. I did confirm what I thought, Mervis was on to me, well sort of. He thought I was working with Morley (and thought that Morley had killed Valrya, something all the other children of Valrya thought honestly), and had sent these two to figure out what Morley wanted with him. I also got a brief glimpse of Lorissia unfortunately under the sway of Mervis. I didn't have much time to work, so I stepped over the mess of the little man at the front of the room, spotted my supplies including my sword, snatched them up and went on my way.
When I emerged in the light of Lork the city looked as I had left it, a bunch of people walking to and fro trying their best to ignore others while on their way to their current fix. I had a mission though and a location, poor Mervis wouldn't see me coming until it was too late, unfortunately for Lorissia too late had already happened for her as well. Tommorrow I write of damnation, well more than usual.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
If I Knew I'd Tell You
"Was it poisonous?" It took a little bit of searching but I managed to find a tanner/leatherworker in Lork (you'd think with all the morons coming and going and blowing money someone would want something as a reminder? Or new pants? but no none of that here).
"Look lets just skip this discussion and you just make a belt out of it, if you could feature the head on the buckle that would be great." I didn't want to get angry at him, its one of those things that people get wrong all the time, and getting angry doesn't help. He looked dumb founded but agreed to do as I asked and I provided the coin to get things going (where I got money back then was mostly from the pockets of the dead, I've omitted these parts from the story as its rather boring). I'd been cooling my heels for two whole days in Lork, Lorissia had appeared once to tell me that things were going "Ok" and then disappeared back into the Blooming Rose, I swear I thought she was ditching me to entertain herself (she was, I guess when you've been raised in a martial church the idea of being all about you is lost). Oh I almost forgot she also got more money from me, apparently she didn't have any, yeah so I was bankrolling her good time and waiting around for her to find Mervis (Yes as if being ugly wasn't enough his name was Mervis, I mean my name is Trezlan for gods sake and I could make fun of him). I was cursing the waiting when I ran right into a mountain of flesh.
"Where's Morley?" No excuse me, no how do you do? Nope right to the where's someone I met once five years ago.
"See you're off, you're supposed to say excuse me." There were two of them, the smaller one talked, the larger one who ran into me (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) just spoke with what he had been given, his rather large fists. The large one introduced himself by hitting me in the gut with a solid left right combination that had me gasping for air (you'd think I'd learn to just burn first and ask questions later, but no, no I always mouth off and end up paying the price). I was about to offer a follow up suggestion of civility, but all I got was a large boot the face and the darkness of unconciousness. When I awoke I was tied to a chair, gagged, naked, and I swear I felt slippery, I don't want to think about the slippery part.
"Mr. Lorentino I want to dispense with the bullshit, you are gagged so I don't have to listen to your whining and pleas for your life, I want to find Morley, you're going to help me, you either nod yes, or swing your head no. I will warn you, if you say no my associate will break one finger on your hand for each no, starting with you right hand." Small man was talking again, room was dark, a single lamp illuminated it, I wasn't blindfolded (bad sign, if someone blind folds you they anticipate letting you go and don't want you telling others what you look like, if they don't, well don't expect to live).
"Do you know where Morley is?" Now see the real answer here is no. I had to say no, I was already starting one finger down. I looked at my right hand in a solemn answer of sorry, the large man snapped my index finger up, it broke like a shiver of pain, I screamed against the gag and felt more trapped than I had prior to the finger going up.
"Will you help us find Morley." I started sobbing against the gag a little bit, I didn't want to say no, my hand begged me to say yes. But honestly I didn't want to find Morley, I didn't want to know what these two wanted with him, and so with regret I shook my head no and my middle finger was broken in kind. The little man took a moment and came close to me, his eyes beady little things stood apart on an overly large forehead (he wasn't bald but his hair was losing the fight with that that massive head).
"Trezlan I know this hurts you, and I want you to know I just want to find Morley, I don't care about you at all, so just cooperate ok, because if you don't we'll have to get creative after we break all of your fingers." That's the rub, "creative" I've been there believe me, my creativity is admittedly limited (well it was once, I now have access to things that would make these two look like rank amateurs, which they admittedly honestly were), but the threat is always there, "talk with us now or suffer until you die." I sighed and wimpered a little bit, the little man pointed to the bigger man and he withdrew from beside me.
"I'll give you sometime to figure this out Trezlan, think about it please for the sake of being able to hold something ever again." I did think about it, a lot, and part of what I thought of was what the little guys eyes would look like on a new belt, see thats the thing with messing with me. You may think you have the upper hand, but history has shown, no one keeps me down forever. Even governments have eventually fallen to the might of Trezlan Lorentino. These two would prove no different. First mistake? Leaving someone who conjures fire alone in a room not shackled with some kind of anti magical thing! I mean come on thats like magic 101!
"Look lets just skip this discussion and you just make a belt out of it, if you could feature the head on the buckle that would be great." I didn't want to get angry at him, its one of those things that people get wrong all the time, and getting angry doesn't help. He looked dumb founded but agreed to do as I asked and I provided the coin to get things going (where I got money back then was mostly from the pockets of the dead, I've omitted these parts from the story as its rather boring). I'd been cooling my heels for two whole days in Lork, Lorissia had appeared once to tell me that things were going "Ok" and then disappeared back into the Blooming Rose, I swear I thought she was ditching me to entertain herself (she was, I guess when you've been raised in a martial church the idea of being all about you is lost). Oh I almost forgot she also got more money from me, apparently she didn't have any, yeah so I was bankrolling her good time and waiting around for her to find Mervis (Yes as if being ugly wasn't enough his name was Mervis, I mean my name is Trezlan for gods sake and I could make fun of him). I was cursing the waiting when I ran right into a mountain of flesh.
"Where's Morley?" No excuse me, no how do you do? Nope right to the where's someone I met once five years ago.
"See you're off, you're supposed to say excuse me." There were two of them, the smaller one talked, the larger one who ran into me (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) just spoke with what he had been given, his rather large fists. The large one introduced himself by hitting me in the gut with a solid left right combination that had me gasping for air (you'd think I'd learn to just burn first and ask questions later, but no, no I always mouth off and end up paying the price). I was about to offer a follow up suggestion of civility, but all I got was a large boot the face and the darkness of unconciousness. When I awoke I was tied to a chair, gagged, naked, and I swear I felt slippery, I don't want to think about the slippery part.
"Mr. Lorentino I want to dispense with the bullshit, you are gagged so I don't have to listen to your whining and pleas for your life, I want to find Morley, you're going to help me, you either nod yes, or swing your head no. I will warn you, if you say no my associate will break one finger on your hand for each no, starting with you right hand." Small man was talking again, room was dark, a single lamp illuminated it, I wasn't blindfolded (bad sign, if someone blind folds you they anticipate letting you go and don't want you telling others what you look like, if they don't, well don't expect to live).
"Do you know where Morley is?" Now see the real answer here is no. I had to say no, I was already starting one finger down. I looked at my right hand in a solemn answer of sorry, the large man snapped my index finger up, it broke like a shiver of pain, I screamed against the gag and felt more trapped than I had prior to the finger going up.
"Will you help us find Morley." I started sobbing against the gag a little bit, I didn't want to say no, my hand begged me to say yes. But honestly I didn't want to find Morley, I didn't want to know what these two wanted with him, and so with regret I shook my head no and my middle finger was broken in kind. The little man took a moment and came close to me, his eyes beady little things stood apart on an overly large forehead (he wasn't bald but his hair was losing the fight with that that massive head).
"Trezlan I know this hurts you, and I want you to know I just want to find Morley, I don't care about you at all, so just cooperate ok, because if you don't we'll have to get creative after we break all of your fingers." That's the rub, "creative" I've been there believe me, my creativity is admittedly limited (well it was once, I now have access to things that would make these two look like rank amateurs, which they admittedly honestly were), but the threat is always there, "talk with us now or suffer until you die." I sighed and wimpered a little bit, the little man pointed to the bigger man and he withdrew from beside me.
"I'll give you sometime to figure this out Trezlan, think about it please for the sake of being able to hold something ever again." I did think about it, a lot, and part of what I thought of was what the little guys eyes would look like on a new belt, see thats the thing with messing with me. You may think you have the upper hand, but history has shown, no one keeps me down forever. Even governments have eventually fallen to the might of Trezlan Lorentino. These two would prove no different. First mistake? Leaving someone who conjures fire alone in a room not shackled with some kind of anti magical thing! I mean come on thats like magic 101!
Monday, April 4, 2011
You Can't Come In
I was sneaking up on Lorissia, she was still sleeping on her back, her bow was propped up behind her head and I could not see the short sword she called a dagger. It was mid morning, the fire was just smouldering embers. Just about when I was standing over her I felt that dagger touching my genitals.
"That's close enough." She said in a growl.
"There's a large snake about to strike you." There was, looked venomous to me (venomous you know having venom with which to inflict on a strike, as opposed to poisonous that being something you ingest, this is a tip on proper word usage THAT EVERYONE GETS WRONG!), and it had advanced on her while we slept (thank whatever luck I have that it went after her, with how soundly she sleeps I'd be eaten before she woke up).
"Yeah I've got the snake problem handled right now, can't say how large it is honestly," A dick joke, she dare make a dick joke at this venture! I jumped back from her (during which she almost cut my bag open and I don't mean the one I hold anything in if you catch my drift) and launched a bolt of fire at the snake, it hit and incinerated the little bugger right before it would have bitten the crap out of Lorissia. She turned to see it with a start.
"Wow there really was a large snake, do you think its poisonous?" YOU SEE YOU SEE!!!
"Well I don't know never been a big eater of snakes, now could it have been venomous? Probably." She gave me a sour look (I always got sour looks from Lorissia, in a way it screwed up my level of attraction, the more someone dislikes me, the more turned on I am). We gathered our supplies in silence (I collected the snake to have a leatherworker make something out of it for myself, this disgusted Lorissia naturally). The border crossing was easy again (I miss those days of just jumping over the invisible line in the dirt), and soon enough we were on our way to the town of Lork (so named after their first ruler Lork I, at the time of our visit they were up to Lork XIIII, I haven't visited Lork in a long time, so I don't even know if its around anymore, or what version of Lork they are up to). Despite being near the border to Ronerawth, it avoided the conflict entirely, I guess on a account of it just being a town for gambling and other debauchery, no one wants to attack the fun places.
Eight bars (six of which have ladies of the evening you may purchase for a good time), four advertised houses of borrowing (with more obviously filling in the gaps in the unadvertised sense), and ten gambling houses. Lork had more places you could spend and lose money than any other service. Housing was mostly temporary flop houses for employees or people hoping to make it rich with few actual houses interspersed. The city was laid out like a big box with individual streets making up the center of the box. The cheapest places were on the outside the more expensive contained within. Some of the interior streets and locations even had guards standing outside of them to prevent rif raff from getting too close to high rollers. The bar we were looking for was the The Blooming rose (with a picture out front that reminded me less of a rose and more of, well not a rose). Lorissia and I tied up our horses at the hitching post and went to go inside the two goons out front held us at arms length.
"Whoa no way you can come in." I looked over at Lorissia figured the armor and weaponry was definately a no go and was about to tell her I'll only be a moment when I saw the direction of the gazes were on me.
"Wait what's wrong with me?"
"You clearly don't have any money, your lady friend is welcome, you'll have to stay outside, perhaps try the Gold Stumper up a couple streets." Charlatans!!! Lorissia gave me a smile and told me she'd get back to me if she saw the guy (hard to miss him, short, balding, missing the top row of his teeth and yet he'd be surrounded by ladies). I stamped back to my horse and sulked. Later on in my life I'd buy the Blooming Rose and burn it to the ground, I'm hella petty.
"That's close enough." She said in a growl.
"There's a large snake about to strike you." There was, looked venomous to me (venomous you know having venom with which to inflict on a strike, as opposed to poisonous that being something you ingest, this is a tip on proper word usage THAT EVERYONE GETS WRONG!), and it had advanced on her while we slept (thank whatever luck I have that it went after her, with how soundly she sleeps I'd be eaten before she woke up).
"Yeah I've got the snake problem handled right now, can't say how large it is honestly," A dick joke, she dare make a dick joke at this venture! I jumped back from her (during which she almost cut my bag open and I don't mean the one I hold anything in if you catch my drift) and launched a bolt of fire at the snake, it hit and incinerated the little bugger right before it would have bitten the crap out of Lorissia. She turned to see it with a start.
"Wow there really was a large snake, do you think its poisonous?" YOU SEE YOU SEE!!!
"Well I don't know never been a big eater of snakes, now could it have been venomous? Probably." She gave me a sour look (I always got sour looks from Lorissia, in a way it screwed up my level of attraction, the more someone dislikes me, the more turned on I am). We gathered our supplies in silence (I collected the snake to have a leatherworker make something out of it for myself, this disgusted Lorissia naturally). The border crossing was easy again (I miss those days of just jumping over the invisible line in the dirt), and soon enough we were on our way to the town of Lork (so named after their first ruler Lork I, at the time of our visit they were up to Lork XIIII, I haven't visited Lork in a long time, so I don't even know if its around anymore, or what version of Lork they are up to). Despite being near the border to Ronerawth, it avoided the conflict entirely, I guess on a account of it just being a town for gambling and other debauchery, no one wants to attack the fun places.
Eight bars (six of which have ladies of the evening you may purchase for a good time), four advertised houses of borrowing (with more obviously filling in the gaps in the unadvertised sense), and ten gambling houses. Lork had more places you could spend and lose money than any other service. Housing was mostly temporary flop houses for employees or people hoping to make it rich with few actual houses interspersed. The city was laid out like a big box with individual streets making up the center of the box. The cheapest places were on the outside the more expensive contained within. Some of the interior streets and locations even had guards standing outside of them to prevent rif raff from getting too close to high rollers. The bar we were looking for was the The Blooming rose (with a picture out front that reminded me less of a rose and more of, well not a rose). Lorissia and I tied up our horses at the hitching post and went to go inside the two goons out front held us at arms length.
"Whoa no way you can come in." I looked over at Lorissia figured the armor and weaponry was definately a no go and was about to tell her I'll only be a moment when I saw the direction of the gazes were on me.
"Wait what's wrong with me?"
"You clearly don't have any money, your lady friend is welcome, you'll have to stay outside, perhaps try the Gold Stumper up a couple streets." Charlatans!!! Lorissia gave me a smile and told me she'd get back to me if she saw the guy (hard to miss him, short, balding, missing the top row of his teeth and yet he'd be surrounded by ladies). I stamped back to my horse and sulked. Later on in my life I'd buy the Blooming Rose and burn it to the ground, I'm hella petty.
Friday, April 1, 2011
The Newest Style of Jewelery
"So what exactly is it?" Lorissia was sitting across from at the campfire cleaning one her knife (I say knife damn thing was a short sword, I think it was also a subtle threat).
"Some kind of collar."
"See its comments like that why I'm glad you have all that magical training Trezlan."
"Oh hardy har har follower of the smart ass, I wasn't finished! The metal is something I haven't seen, something with a really high melt temp or the runes inscribed in it could be to prevent it from being burned by magic." I'd been playing with it all day, couldn't get it unlocked, couldn't understand the runes, actually I was half surprised I hadn't somehow gotten it stuck on myself with all the stupid things I was doing with it.
"So we'll just take it to a smith? They can figure it out," Lorissia didn't exactly understand when you take something from someone you killed, its not like you can just swing in to someone else and have them appraise it (actually thats something I frequently find myself doing nowadays, I wonder if that says something about me as a moral honest person).
"Yeah because someone in Ronerawth will have seen a Red Hand magical thing and want to talk about it, or a Red Hand smith will think its super awesome we have some judges blah blah and not turn us into the authorities." She did that hand dismisal women do when they think you aren't listening and I kept staring at the collar. We were close again to the Red Hand Border, our prey was in Red Hand territory best Valrya remembered (it was weird back then trying not to think of her as the real valyra, honestly the real valyra I knew was the fake one and the real one was more like the fake, whoa got lost there). He wasn't even a real threat, more like a foppish moron who used parlor tricks to get pretty women into bed with him, but unfortunately he tended to murder them after when they woke up next to what he looked like (when I told Lorissia this was one of the possible targets, well lets just say it wasn't very hard to convince her to pursue him). We were waiting for daybreak to make the border cross, unlike most dumb people we wanted perfect light to make sure we didn't run afoul of some kind of ambush, magical creature, or shorty invasion (look shorties are nothing to mess with, they'll rip your damn ankles off). So the night was spent with her cleaning various weapons and I staring at the collar between foolishly trying to pry it open. Let me tell you it was fun times, comparitively it was a laugh a minute to where we were going, but I didn't know that!
I swear most of my stories seem that way "Man and I thought that sucked but the suck hadn't even begun to suck yet!" I tell you I need to do more things like pick flowers and live life like a naieve child, then times will only get better and not worse! Yeah right I know my luck, the flowers would be deadly and if I was a child some creepy uncle would just take advantage of me.
"Some kind of collar."
"See its comments like that why I'm glad you have all that magical training Trezlan."
"Oh hardy har har follower of the smart ass, I wasn't finished! The metal is something I haven't seen, something with a really high melt temp or the runes inscribed in it could be to prevent it from being burned by magic." I'd been playing with it all day, couldn't get it unlocked, couldn't understand the runes, actually I was half surprised I hadn't somehow gotten it stuck on myself with all the stupid things I was doing with it.
"So we'll just take it to a smith? They can figure it out," Lorissia didn't exactly understand when you take something from someone you killed, its not like you can just swing in to someone else and have them appraise it (actually thats something I frequently find myself doing nowadays, I wonder if that says something about me as a moral honest person).
"Yeah because someone in Ronerawth will have seen a Red Hand magical thing and want to talk about it, or a Red Hand smith will think its super awesome we have some judges blah blah and not turn us into the authorities." She did that hand dismisal women do when they think you aren't listening and I kept staring at the collar. We were close again to the Red Hand Border, our prey was in Red Hand territory best Valrya remembered (it was weird back then trying not to think of her as the real valyra, honestly the real valyra I knew was the fake one and the real one was more like the fake, whoa got lost there). He wasn't even a real threat, more like a foppish moron who used parlor tricks to get pretty women into bed with him, but unfortunately he tended to murder them after when they woke up next to what he looked like (when I told Lorissia this was one of the possible targets, well lets just say it wasn't very hard to convince her to pursue him). We were waiting for daybreak to make the border cross, unlike most dumb people we wanted perfect light to make sure we didn't run afoul of some kind of ambush, magical creature, or shorty invasion (look shorties are nothing to mess with, they'll rip your damn ankles off). So the night was spent with her cleaning various weapons and I staring at the collar between foolishly trying to pry it open. Let me tell you it was fun times, comparitively it was a laugh a minute to where we were going, but I didn't know that!
I swear most of my stories seem that way "Man and I thought that sucked but the suck hadn't even begun to suck yet!" I tell you I need to do more things like pick flowers and live life like a naieve child, then times will only get better and not worse! Yeah right I know my luck, the flowers would be deadly and if I was a child some creepy uncle would just take advantage of me.
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