Rain had caused puddles in the street, the mud slopped over my boots in an annoying squish as I walked toward the other me. The chief was behind me, keeping his distance. He told me his men were all out securing the towns borders so as to prevent fake me from getting out (which also had the side effect of keeping real me trapped in town should I try and leave before the job was done). I didn't really have a lot of different monster killing items. I had my sword, I had my ability to conjure fire (which admittedly is about all you need) and I had my raw courage (stop laughing!). The chief (he had a name but honestly I prefered chief to Elroy) had a weird looking crossbow contraption he got from his office and of course his ice magic.
Fake me kept sitting down where he was at. It was kind of alarming honestly. He hadn't moved since I spied him from the second floor at the chiefs station. This was an indication something was of course horribly wrong. We approached cautiously, well I say we, I mean the Chief did, I kicked in the door which shattered the glass and got me stuck in it (its never as cool as you think it would be). Fake me reacted immediately, his flesh shivered is how I can best explain it, and then he came after me with some kind of freakish talons. It was like he was at one time me, and then something else entirely, some weird kind of reptile creature (I personally had never fought a mimic, they are by their nature reptilian, which makes sense sort of?). I had my sword up and kind of hopped back into the street and the rain. I lost track of where the Chief had gone because I was too busy not getting slashed open by false me's claws. The mimic started with an overhead slash that would have sliced me to ribbons. The rain was kind of melting the false skin it had put up off itself, which was fairly gross. I dodged the slash and launched fire as a follow up, well I tried to, the damn rain kind of fizzled the fire with as much intensity as put into it (even with good magic power being immersed in the opposite element tends to mess with your ability to conjure it). I swear the creature laughed at me.
I was about to close the distance and try and cut that ugly lizard in two when a crossbow bolt hit it dead in the chest. It didn't seem phased at all, a second bolt struck close to where the first landed again to the same effect. I couldn't see the Chief, with the rain and the worrying about dying, but I could only imagine his dismay that the crossbow wasn't working. The lizard was now fully just a lizard, his disguised flesh was an oozing pile in the mud (I felt bad for whoever came across that later). It came running at me both claws stretched out as wide as they would go, I rolled past it and slashed backwards with my sword (which I'm sure looked like I slipped in the mud and kind of flailed backwards, which I totally did not do). The sword strike caused the beast to howl in pain and collapse into the muddy street. I took a moment to regain my footing (from the roll mind you, not slipping, totally didn't slip) and turned around to see the Chief standing over the lizard. I was about to call out a warning when I saw one of the more terrifying uses of magic I've ever seen.
The thing about magic is that while depending on power level you can bring stuff into being, if there is already some of your element around to begin with you can do some pretty nasty things with minimal exertion. The Chief being an ice user was at a strength to the lizard creature. He turned the rain into a shards of falling blades with a simple twist of his hands. One minute snarly mcclawsatme was there, the next he was being ripped to shreds by tiny shards of ice. The creature couldn't even get off a scream.
"Well thanks for not waiting until it ripped me in two to kill the creature." The chief was bent over collecting the remains of his bolts, the creature was a bloody paste at his feet.
"Had to get close and you out of the way, its not like I can control the rain Lorentino." It was true enough, still I couldn't help but feel I wasn't getting screwed, well more than usual.
"So that's it were done here?" I wanted to get out of the street, commotion had brought some of the townsfolk from their homes, and I don't think my twin was the most well liked in town, and outside of the chief, its not like people knew he wasn't me.
"Not quite I need to look over the shop he was set up in, something could be going on there." I groaned, but followed the chief into the store. Most of what was for sale was cheap garbage or just outright garbage. The store looked to be nothing more than a hollow front to look like a real thing. I looked where the fake me had been sitting and noticed he was strangely sitting on a rug. I moved the chair and pulled back the rug, there was a bit of a circular cover over what appeared to be a basement or cellar.
"This place have a cellar?" The chief was looking at the rear of the store.
"Not that I can recall."
"Shit." And we were in shit, I knew it then that whatever was down there should never be seen, and yet into the dark we went, being stupid sucks.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Like The Worst Mirror Ever
Tormillo, it was a town north of Zorn, in later years it would become a principal rail station for Zorn itself (due to the mountains surrounding Zorn and concerns for safety no direct rail lines connected to Zorn Proper). Back when I first arrived there it was a caravan hang out, run by a couple trade bosses who didn't like each other. Since it was a waystation it was great for picking up goods cheap before they found their way to Zorn store shelves (if you knew the right people, sometimes these deals were not exactly legal). Also because of all the trade and potential for theft it had a fairly large Red Hand authorized police force. Tormillo was actually quite well known for its lawmen, using a combination of magically inclinded and just nasty people, breaking the law in Tormillo was not advised for anyone (which made the prospect of murdering someone well a little bit harder).
I came into Tormillo at nighttime (I had arrived earlier in the afternoon but figured it best to not arrive in daylight to try and find fake me), the weather was with me as a nasty rain storm had come in, so the streets were mostly clear and I didn't look weird coming in with my hood up. I went to the first lighted sign promising drinks and ducked inside. The bar was a two story wooden affair, there was a piano player plinking away badly and a couple sorry looking drunks working their way through watered down liquor (The watering down was for the drunks benefit, the police force was not known for their kind arrest procedures). When I stepped inside people looked up briefly and then went back to their depressing boring lives (look they weren't there on a mission from an undead spirit historian all right! Their lives were meaningless). As I got closer to the bartender he gave me a rather nasty glare.
"Thought I told you to never come back here." A phrase I'm all to common to hearing, but this time I hadn't recalled ever being in there. See prior to this I was assuming the fake me looked like me in general, something I was about to find out was not entirely accurate.
"Excuse me? This is the first time I've ever been in here." Drunks started to sit up and take notice, the potential for a fight was brewing.
"Lorentino you are a terrible liar, now you get out of here before I make do on my other promise." He took a nasty looking club from under the bar. I suddenly noticed how big the bartender was, and how nasty that club looked.
"Calm down Jeb, I'm sure Trezlan was just stopping in to see me, weren't you Trezlan." The new voice was behind me. He was a tall thing looking guy, I didn't see any weapons on him, but noticed the badge on his chest proclaimed him the local head of the police. I again had never been to Tormillo, but Valrya had, I had a vague sense of knowing this man, but could not place his name and face together.
"Yeah uhh good to see you." If you can't figure it out, I'm terrible with playing along with others. The chief lead me out of the bar and back into the rain. I put my hood up back up and we walked in silence to his office a couple dirty streets over. It was surpingly empty, I guess the rest of the group was out for the night or were told to stay away, never a good sign to come to a police station empty.
"You're early, I figured you'd take a couple days to scout it out, figured one of my boys would catch you on the outside and we could keep this quiet." To say I was really lost here was putting it mildly.
"I uhh don't understand?"
"Who do you think drew you the map?" He smiled, something in his eyes I didn't like, something dark that wasn't in the color, "Honestly I don't know what deal the Archivist has working with you and I frankly don't care, you're here and you can take care of my issue off the books and thats good enough for me." I tell you two Trezlans apparently really angers everyone! I had no idea.
"Is another me really that much of an issue?" I was sitting down in a wooden chair, the chief was sitting at his desk across from me, I felt like he was measuring me up for something, hopefully not a coffin.
"Based on the reports I've seen about you, yes two of you is one too many, probably could do better with none of you, but that's not my place to say." He leaned back in his chair and chewed his bottom lip, "It's also not that it looks like you, it could look like anyone, the problem being until you got here I didn't know if it really was you." Mimics, nasty creatures never fully killed off despite many attempts. As one can imagine its almost impossible to kill off a creature that can look like anyone.
"A mimic? But I was under the impression this was something your people set up?" The Red Hand despite being spread all over usually maintained a uniform purpose. It was the one thing they were good at, well that and murdering people in horrific ways, so two things.
"My people? Who do you think I am Lorentino? The Red Hand is just the government now, they won't be always, I work with them, but not for them, understand the difference." I heard this a lot prior to The Red Hand's collapse, its partially why they collapsed, theirs was an empire based on fear of a central authority that didn't really exist in actual practice. "Whoever brought that thing into my town is going to pay, but for the moment I need you to take care of it."
"How do you know I'm me and not it?"
"Because I've been watching it all day, come I'll show you." He lead me upstairs to a panoramic view, I thought at first it was probably a dumb thing for security until I noticed the glass was only one way, we could see out, but people couldn't see in. He handed me a scope and pointed across the town at a shop. And there I was sitting there, it was off putting. I mean I knew where I currently was, but I could not tell the difference between fake me and real me.
"Ok thats alarming, how did you even know he was a mimic?"
"Murders in town, I went to the archivist he owed me, mimics tend to feed often, prefered food is someones inner organs, you don't want to see how they eat."
"And when you went to the archivist he told you that there is a real Lorentino and he wasn't some kind of organ eating fiend."
"Yep, then he told me that if I collected information on the creature he'd send someone to take care of it, I just happened to figure it would be you based on what information I have on you."
"Oh you've got some stuff on me? That's nice." This is even worse now, three hundred years of blundering through the world has left quite a record of my failures. "So how do we kill it?"
"You don't know? I thought you were some big shot monster hunter?"
"Heh that was my aunt, I'm a blundering moron compared to her, I've always liked fire though." The chief smiled, and held out a sliver of ice from no where.
"Been partial to ice myself, guess we were destined to be opposites." We both sat in silence in the room for a time. I could hear the patter of rain on the roof above as the storm got worse. The storm was a precursor to the problems me and the chief were about to face, unfortunately for me, my storm was just beginning. Apparently killing yourself, harder than I had previously thought!
I came into Tormillo at nighttime (I had arrived earlier in the afternoon but figured it best to not arrive in daylight to try and find fake me), the weather was with me as a nasty rain storm had come in, so the streets were mostly clear and I didn't look weird coming in with my hood up. I went to the first lighted sign promising drinks and ducked inside. The bar was a two story wooden affair, there was a piano player plinking away badly and a couple sorry looking drunks working their way through watered down liquor (The watering down was for the drunks benefit, the police force was not known for their kind arrest procedures). When I stepped inside people looked up briefly and then went back to their depressing boring lives (look they weren't there on a mission from an undead spirit historian all right! Their lives were meaningless). As I got closer to the bartender he gave me a rather nasty glare.
"Thought I told you to never come back here." A phrase I'm all to common to hearing, but this time I hadn't recalled ever being in there. See prior to this I was assuming the fake me looked like me in general, something I was about to find out was not entirely accurate.
"Excuse me? This is the first time I've ever been in here." Drunks started to sit up and take notice, the potential for a fight was brewing.
"Lorentino you are a terrible liar, now you get out of here before I make do on my other promise." He took a nasty looking club from under the bar. I suddenly noticed how big the bartender was, and how nasty that club looked.
"Calm down Jeb, I'm sure Trezlan was just stopping in to see me, weren't you Trezlan." The new voice was behind me. He was a tall thing looking guy, I didn't see any weapons on him, but noticed the badge on his chest proclaimed him the local head of the police. I again had never been to Tormillo, but Valrya had, I had a vague sense of knowing this man, but could not place his name and face together.
"Yeah uhh good to see you." If you can't figure it out, I'm terrible with playing along with others. The chief lead me out of the bar and back into the rain. I put my hood up back up and we walked in silence to his office a couple dirty streets over. It was surpingly empty, I guess the rest of the group was out for the night or were told to stay away, never a good sign to come to a police station empty.
"You're early, I figured you'd take a couple days to scout it out, figured one of my boys would catch you on the outside and we could keep this quiet." To say I was really lost here was putting it mildly.
"I uhh don't understand?"
"Who do you think drew you the map?" He smiled, something in his eyes I didn't like, something dark that wasn't in the color, "Honestly I don't know what deal the Archivist has working with you and I frankly don't care, you're here and you can take care of my issue off the books and thats good enough for me." I tell you two Trezlans apparently really angers everyone! I had no idea.
"Is another me really that much of an issue?" I was sitting down in a wooden chair, the chief was sitting at his desk across from me, I felt like he was measuring me up for something, hopefully not a coffin.
"Based on the reports I've seen about you, yes two of you is one too many, probably could do better with none of you, but that's not my place to say." He leaned back in his chair and chewed his bottom lip, "It's also not that it looks like you, it could look like anyone, the problem being until you got here I didn't know if it really was you." Mimics, nasty creatures never fully killed off despite many attempts. As one can imagine its almost impossible to kill off a creature that can look like anyone.
"A mimic? But I was under the impression this was something your people set up?" The Red Hand despite being spread all over usually maintained a uniform purpose. It was the one thing they were good at, well that and murdering people in horrific ways, so two things.
"My people? Who do you think I am Lorentino? The Red Hand is just the government now, they won't be always, I work with them, but not for them, understand the difference." I heard this a lot prior to The Red Hand's collapse, its partially why they collapsed, theirs was an empire based on fear of a central authority that didn't really exist in actual practice. "Whoever brought that thing into my town is going to pay, but for the moment I need you to take care of it."
"How do you know I'm me and not it?"
"Because I've been watching it all day, come I'll show you." He lead me upstairs to a panoramic view, I thought at first it was probably a dumb thing for security until I noticed the glass was only one way, we could see out, but people couldn't see in. He handed me a scope and pointed across the town at a shop. And there I was sitting there, it was off putting. I mean I knew where I currently was, but I could not tell the difference between fake me and real me.
"Ok thats alarming, how did you even know he was a mimic?"
"Murders in town, I went to the archivist he owed me, mimics tend to feed often, prefered food is someones inner organs, you don't want to see how they eat."
"And when you went to the archivist he told you that there is a real Lorentino and he wasn't some kind of organ eating fiend."
"Yep, then he told me that if I collected information on the creature he'd send someone to take care of it, I just happened to figure it would be you based on what information I have on you."
"Oh you've got some stuff on me? That's nice." This is even worse now, three hundred years of blundering through the world has left quite a record of my failures. "So how do we kill it?"
"You don't know? I thought you were some big shot monster hunter?"
"Heh that was my aunt, I'm a blundering moron compared to her, I've always liked fire though." The chief smiled, and held out a sliver of ice from no where.
"Been partial to ice myself, guess we were destined to be opposites." We both sat in silence in the room for a time. I could hear the patter of rain on the roof above as the storm got worse. The storm was a precursor to the problems me and the chief were about to face, unfortunately for me, my storm was just beginning. Apparently killing yourself, harder than I had previously thought!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
To Kill Ones Self
"You want me to kill me?" This seemed counterintuitive to helping me, in fact pretty sure being dead would effect my plans to get help.
"Not literally you moron, someone pretending to be you has to die. You see my records only have place for one Trezlan Lorentino, so its either you or him, I'd prefer you since I'm dealing with you and not him, but I guess if you were to be him then I'd have to deal with him to kill you, understand?"
"No."
"Good, well you know my price kill this fake lorentino get back to me and I'll help you, besides killing fake you will probably help you out anyway since I'm sure he's only pretending to be you to lure your friend in." If this reads insane, it didn't make anymore sense when he actually said it to me.'
"So you want me to kill this guy because he's pretending to be me and that messes up your records?"
"Precisely."
"Are you telling me you don't have two people named the same thing in your records?"
"I do have that, but not pretending to be the same person. It's more than a name Lorentino, its that he is assuming your identity, that creates a problem, a subset of filing I don't want to have to do, so solve my problem and I'll solve yours."
"Won't it also mess up your records when I kill fake me, that being I'm alive he's dead?" I forgot to mention since the Archivist is a spirit he needs no light in his cave, so you have to bring your own or remain in the dark. Its really a pain in the ass to keep a torch down there, especially around all that paper, I've tried to sell him on oil lanterns, but its still a no go.
"True I'll have to come up with a name for fake you, Oh great idea, find out his real name so that I can put that on the record, and we're done here." He handed me a piece of paper with a crudely drawn map and times for when I'll be able to find fake me at certain locations (it wasn't very surprising to find out the map was not drawn by the archivist, but another of his helpers guy is huge on bartering). With that he excused himself and told me that he expected the job to be done in no later than a week (with travel time, he's not a monster, well he is, but not like ok this got away from me moving on). So there I tasked with killing a fake me, and finding out fake me real indentity for a ghost record keeper. I have to tell you, one of the more straight forward jobs I've ever worked.
"Not literally you moron, someone pretending to be you has to die. You see my records only have place for one Trezlan Lorentino, so its either you or him, I'd prefer you since I'm dealing with you and not him, but I guess if you were to be him then I'd have to deal with him to kill you, understand?"
"No."
"Good, well you know my price kill this fake lorentino get back to me and I'll help you, besides killing fake you will probably help you out anyway since I'm sure he's only pretending to be you to lure your friend in." If this reads insane, it didn't make anymore sense when he actually said it to me.'
"So you want me to kill this guy because he's pretending to be me and that messes up your records?"
"Precisely."
"Are you telling me you don't have two people named the same thing in your records?"
"I do have that, but not pretending to be the same person. It's more than a name Lorentino, its that he is assuming your identity, that creates a problem, a subset of filing I don't want to have to do, so solve my problem and I'll solve yours."
"Won't it also mess up your records when I kill fake me, that being I'm alive he's dead?" I forgot to mention since the Archivist is a spirit he needs no light in his cave, so you have to bring your own or remain in the dark. Its really a pain in the ass to keep a torch down there, especially around all that paper, I've tried to sell him on oil lanterns, but its still a no go.
"True I'll have to come up with a name for fake you, Oh great idea, find out his real name so that I can put that on the record, and we're done here." He handed me a piece of paper with a crudely drawn map and times for when I'll be able to find fake me at certain locations (it wasn't very surprising to find out the map was not drawn by the archivist, but another of his helpers guy is huge on bartering). With that he excused himself and told me that he expected the job to be done in no later than a week (with travel time, he's not a monster, well he is, but not like ok this got away from me moving on). So there I tasked with killing a fake me, and finding out fake me real indentity for a ghost record keeper. I have to tell you, one of the more straight forward jobs I've ever worked.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Off To See the Archivist
"Were you followed?" That's how I'm greeted. Its actually a common question with the people I normally deal with, either because they are on the run, I'm on the run, or were all just paranoid. Where I was at was deep underground far away from Zorn, it had been three weeks since I'd been freed from my minor imprisonment (compared to five years everything was minor). The underground location was far to the north almost near the coast. I had to tap into Valrya's memories to find someone who would be able to help me (it was a scary road trying to search memories I didn't actually live) the one that was most prominent was with a collector of sorts. Valrya had only dealt with him one time and it did not go well for her, but he did know things and so I sought him out. He called himself the "Archivist" a knowledge accumulater. It was said he had the history of the world in his shelves and I'd believe it from all the stuff that was accumulated there. The one thing that jumped out at me about the man, he was dead. Not undead, just flat out dead, he was a spirit (normally spirits remain because they have unresolved things they want to resolve, I got the impression from the archivist, he just remained because he didn't feel like going away upon his death), being a spirit made surviving easy, he didn't have to eat, drink, or even sleep. I still don't necessarily understand how he accumulated more knowledge. I could understand some kind of bartering for his old knowledge, but everytime I've visited him since then he's had new info, almost instantly. At times I wonder if he was ever alive, or if he's just some kind of god hiding out as a spirit.
"Probably you know I've never been good at hiding from people." The cave system was full of books, some with text I didn't understand at all, I still find volumes I've never been able to figure the language from, questions directed at the archivist just get me stares and mind your own business.
"Honesty, its what I've heard about you, well that and idiocy, funny how often the two go hand in hand." The archivist was in a suit of sorts, well thats what he appeared as, it looked like the kind of thing you bury someone in, but that could have just been his favorite suit anyway.
"Well thanks, I think sort of?"
"Be at ease Lorentino, if you were any threat to me I'd have had you killed long before you got here." Oh yeah thats the other thing about the archivist, he's the kind of person that flat out admits he can have you killed and means it. Another thing that he shares with everyone else in my damn life, I think I'm the least threatening person I know, and I'm a murderer!
"So can you help me?" I figure since he knew my name and what I was doing there, he probably knew why I was there.
"I can help you, but you need to help me first."
"Ok and what do you need?"
"I need you to kill someone for me, and before you say anything, I will not help you unless you do this for me." Why must everyone need something from me before I can need things from them? Its so not fair!
"Well thats, damn, who do you need killed?"
"You actually." He smiled and I could see through his head. Yeah things were about to get odd, well odder. Honestly its really hard to even say my life isn't confusing because seeing it written down I've got some serious problems. And some serious oddness, frankly I'm amazed when I can just eat a meal by myself without like the meal becoming sentient and trying to eat me (which you know funny story did happen once). You'll have to wait till tomorrow little journal before I explain how I killed myself and still remained living.
"Probably you know I've never been good at hiding from people." The cave system was full of books, some with text I didn't understand at all, I still find volumes I've never been able to figure the language from, questions directed at the archivist just get me stares and mind your own business.
"Honesty, its what I've heard about you, well that and idiocy, funny how often the two go hand in hand." The archivist was in a suit of sorts, well thats what he appeared as, it looked like the kind of thing you bury someone in, but that could have just been his favorite suit anyway.
"Well thanks, I think sort of?"
"Be at ease Lorentino, if you were any threat to me I'd have had you killed long before you got here." Oh yeah thats the other thing about the archivist, he's the kind of person that flat out admits he can have you killed and means it. Another thing that he shares with everyone else in my damn life, I think I'm the least threatening person I know, and I'm a murderer!
"So can you help me?" I figure since he knew my name and what I was doing there, he probably knew why I was there.
"I can help you, but you need to help me first."
"Ok and what do you need?"
"I need you to kill someone for me, and before you say anything, I will not help you unless you do this for me." Why must everyone need something from me before I can need things from them? Its so not fair!
"Well thats, damn, who do you need killed?"
"You actually." He smiled and I could see through his head. Yeah things were about to get odd, well odder. Honestly its really hard to even say my life isn't confusing because seeing it written down I've got some serious problems. And some serious oddness, frankly I'm amazed when I can just eat a meal by myself without like the meal becoming sentient and trying to eat me (which you know funny story did happen once). You'll have to wait till tomorrow little journal before I explain how I killed myself and still remained living.
Friday, May 13, 2011
When Freedom Isn't Free
"You're free to go Mr. Lorentino." They say this now, two weeks of
torture, and now I was free? I knew something was wrong, but you
don't look a gift freedom in the mouth (well you could but you'd be
pretty stupid). It was the beaurocrat again, the old man interrogator
apparently had something else to do.
"Why now? I mean I've still got fingernails, teeth, able to talk, clearly
there is still something that could be done to me." Ok so maybe I did
look a gift freedom in the mouth.
"You know nothing, so you're worth nothing. I'd like to apologize for
the incovenience, but I'm sure what we did to you is less than you
deserve for something else." The beaurocrat nodded to his guards
and they escorted me out (I say escorted it was more like drug out, I
wasn't really that great at standing at that point). "If you see Lady
Lorissia Lorentino, you know where we are." I was dumped outside,
it looked like I was in Zorn proper (I wasn't used to the natural
sunlight so it took me a moment, but all the spires and people
walking by keyed me in that I wasn't on the outskirts). There was a
small package near the doors, inside was my sword, money and
some food. There also was a note "Look up the Kulinara Family",
my captors apparently were trying a new long game. Get me
interested in the mystery and then follow me to Lorissia, it was a
smart move because I'm naturally curious, but it was a dumb move
because I get lost so easily expecting me to find anyone in a fast or
timely fashion was expecting way way too much.
I was walking down a side street when that annoying pang of guilt
hit me. Morley was still back there, why I cared was beyond me. He
tried to kill me all the time, he was one of Valyra's nastiest most
pliant pupils, but still being tortured isn't fair even for a dick like
Morley. I walked back and started banging on the door. No one
answered, I looked up, it appeared to be some kind of large stone
tower, I don't even know if thats where I was originally. I sat banging
for a bit, eventually I gave up and sat down next to the door. If you
asked me why I did it, even now I can't tell you. An old man
approached me and tossed a couple coins, it was marginally
insulting.
So I abandoned Morley, I'll admit it wasn't the best effort to actually
get him back, I didn't use magic, I didn't try and kidnap someone or
cause a ruckus. I just banged on a door and then gave up. About as
much effort as he could expect from me honestly. I didn't hang
around Zorn for very long, figured I had a better chance of spotting
pursuers/followers/anybody if I made some time elsewhere. Zorn
wasn't the only town with records and resources, and I had a lead to
something. Though as much as I was afraid of what the Red Hand
wanted, I was doubly afraid of running into Lorissia, I still had no
idea what she was going to do to me when she caught up with me. If
she caught up with me. Yeah things were looking bad, but then
again at least I wasn't being tortured. There's always that "Man got
hit by a bull today, but at least I wasn't tortured" its a low water
mark, but you know me I take what I can get.
torture, and now I was free? I knew something was wrong, but you
don't look a gift freedom in the mouth (well you could but you'd be
pretty stupid). It was the beaurocrat again, the old man interrogator
apparently had something else to do.
"Why now? I mean I've still got fingernails, teeth, able to talk, clearly
there is still something that could be done to me." Ok so maybe I did
look a gift freedom in the mouth.
"You know nothing, so you're worth nothing. I'd like to apologize for
the incovenience, but I'm sure what we did to you is less than you
deserve for something else." The beaurocrat nodded to his guards
and they escorted me out (I say escorted it was more like drug out, I
wasn't really that great at standing at that point). "If you see Lady
Lorissia Lorentino, you know where we are." I was dumped outside,
it looked like I was in Zorn proper (I wasn't used to the natural
sunlight so it took me a moment, but all the spires and people
walking by keyed me in that I wasn't on the outskirts). There was a
small package near the doors, inside was my sword, money and
some food. There also was a note "Look up the Kulinara Family",
my captors apparently were trying a new long game. Get me
interested in the mystery and then follow me to Lorissia, it was a
smart move because I'm naturally curious, but it was a dumb move
because I get lost so easily expecting me to find anyone in a fast or
timely fashion was expecting way way too much.
I was walking down a side street when that annoying pang of guilt
hit me. Morley was still back there, why I cared was beyond me. He
tried to kill me all the time, he was one of Valyra's nastiest most
pliant pupils, but still being tortured isn't fair even for a dick like
Morley. I walked back and started banging on the door. No one
answered, I looked up, it appeared to be some kind of large stone
tower, I don't even know if thats where I was originally. I sat banging
for a bit, eventually I gave up and sat down next to the door. If you
asked me why I did it, even now I can't tell you. An old man
approached me and tossed a couple coins, it was marginally
insulting.
So I abandoned Morley, I'll admit it wasn't the best effort to actually
get him back, I didn't use magic, I didn't try and kidnap someone or
cause a ruckus. I just banged on a door and then gave up. About as
much effort as he could expect from me honestly. I didn't hang
around Zorn for very long, figured I had a better chance of spotting
pursuers/followers/anybody if I made some time elsewhere. Zorn
wasn't the only town with records and resources, and I had a lead to
something. Though as much as I was afraid of what the Red Hand
wanted, I was doubly afraid of running into Lorissia, I still had no
idea what she was going to do to me when she caught up with me. If
she caught up with me. Yeah things were looking bad, but then
again at least I wasn't being tortured. There's always that "Man got
hit by a bull today, but at least I wasn't tortured" its a low water
mark, but you know me I take what I can get.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Exactly as I Suspected
"So are you going to tell me you screwed me or are you going to hide behind a lie?" My patience for dealing with Morley is always very short.
"No hello? No good to see you in my hour of need Morley?" Our cell was the same type I'd been tossed into for a couple of days hard stone walls, solid iron door with no real viewing area, low ceiling.
"Going with a lie then? Or just distract me from the fact you completely hosed me!" Room was small and I still shouted because honestly yelling at Morley is my favorite thing in the world.
"I'll admit I misjudged this situation and may or may not have lead you to a point where you could get the feeling I put you at a disadvantage." Morley looked frazzled, which was different from his usual smug look of smugness. Dare I say he was actually in a bad spot.
"Thats about as close as I'll get with you isn't it?"
"Yes lets move on, don't tell me anything, don't tell them anything."
"I don't know anything."
"Keep not knowing anything!" I'd figured they were probably listening to us in the cell (its the oldest trick in the book torture someone, put them in a cell with someone nice and see what they say).
"No you see I really don't know anything Morley, I'm just getting tortured for the fun of it at this point." Someone was having fun, it wasn't me, but someone was!
"And as soon as you tell them something we're both dead, so keep on telling them nothing." Morley as always wasn't listening to what I was saying. A jailor arrived and removed Morley from me. It was a blessing and a curse, I wanted to know more from Morley, but since they were listening I knew he wouldn't tell me anything else. So there I sat in my cell awaiting the next round of torture, at least I knew that I could entirely blame this on Morley, that was nice. I hate having to think this was somehow my fault!
"No hello? No good to see you in my hour of need Morley?" Our cell was the same type I'd been tossed into for a couple of days hard stone walls, solid iron door with no real viewing area, low ceiling.
"Going with a lie then? Or just distract me from the fact you completely hosed me!" Room was small and I still shouted because honestly yelling at Morley is my favorite thing in the world.
"I'll admit I misjudged this situation and may or may not have lead you to a point where you could get the feeling I put you at a disadvantage." Morley looked frazzled, which was different from his usual smug look of smugness. Dare I say he was actually in a bad spot.
"Thats about as close as I'll get with you isn't it?"
"Yes lets move on, don't tell me anything, don't tell them anything."
"I don't know anything."
"Keep not knowing anything!" I'd figured they were probably listening to us in the cell (its the oldest trick in the book torture someone, put them in a cell with someone nice and see what they say).
"No you see I really don't know anything Morley, I'm just getting tortured for the fun of it at this point." Someone was having fun, it wasn't me, but someone was!
"And as soon as you tell them something we're both dead, so keep on telling them nothing." Morley as always wasn't listening to what I was saying. A jailor arrived and removed Morley from me. It was a blessing and a curse, I wanted to know more from Morley, but since they were listening I knew he wouldn't tell me anything else. So there I sat in my cell awaiting the next round of torture, at least I knew that I could entirely blame this on Morley, that was nice. I hate having to think this was somehow my fault!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
When I know something I'll let you Know
There is one easy way to never crack during torture; and thats to not know what they want you to know. See its simple in its execution, they'll torture all day and you won't be able to break because you don't actually have what they want. I'll give the Red Hand credit for being creative. My first bit of torture was being in a room with an annoying bell ringing for hours. It wasn't painful, it was just annoying, you couldn't sleep, you couldn't think, you only heard that damn bell always ringing. After I didn't break to that (well I did lose my temper and invent some swear words personal favorite "Mogarblywister!" it just rolls off the tongue) I was taken from my cell and stretched out for a bit (hands and feet tied on a table winch use to pull me in opposite directions, hurt so much). No questions were asked during that period just the pulling to soften me up (I actually began asking them questions like "Why are you doing this to me?").
After the stretching I was brought to another room with a table and asked by a kind old man about Lorissia and her current location. He would plead with me to tell him all I knew, after I stonewalled him I'd be dragged off to be tortured more. And so things went for a few days. I think it was a few days, torture and lightless areas tend to blend days and hours. Its the nature of doing things in repetition. Like once I was sewing for what felt like hours on hours, turned out had only been an hour.
Still I was beginning to be weary when they brought me to a new cell and I had a cell mate. I wasn't too surprised to see it was Morley, of course it would be Morley. When my life sucks Morley is right there waiting for me. Though this time I was quite surprised to find out how exactly we began to share a cell. Alas that will have to wait till tommorrow, I have a birthday party to attend to today (my own actually) yes yes well wishes and all that, when you're reading this it might not even be my birthday (or its just me reading it later in which case maybe it will be? I dunno) all the same Happy Birthday to me! And I'll see you tommorrow!
After the stretching I was brought to another room with a table and asked by a kind old man about Lorissia and her current location. He would plead with me to tell him all I knew, after I stonewalled him I'd be dragged off to be tortured more. And so things went for a few days. I think it was a few days, torture and lightless areas tend to blend days and hours. Its the nature of doing things in repetition. Like once I was sewing for what felt like hours on hours, turned out had only been an hour.
Still I was beginning to be weary when they brought me to a new cell and I had a cell mate. I wasn't too surprised to see it was Morley, of course it would be Morley. When my life sucks Morley is right there waiting for me. Though this time I was quite surprised to find out how exactly we began to share a cell. Alas that will have to wait till tommorrow, I have a birthday party to attend to today (my own actually) yes yes well wishes and all that, when you're reading this it might not even be my birthday (or its just me reading it later in which case maybe it will be? I dunno) all the same Happy Birthday to me! And I'll see you tommorrow!
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