The Tale of Argyle

Harkker
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Playing nwn since Balder's Gate

Posts: 948

The Tale of Argyle Mar 7, 2014 18:15:11 GMT earthdreamer, hungrycrow, and 2 more like this

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Post by Harkker on Mar 7, 2014 18:15:11 GMT

We hurt… oh we hurt so bad. Being trampled by a dragon was nothing next to this pain. Physically I was untouched, but mentally and spiritually we were on fire. Master! I cried out… Master! But for the first time in decades only the void was there… He was gone… We no longer existed… I crumpled to the ground stunned by the emptiness of my mind. I knew in my heart he was dead… The grim reaper had snatched him completely… and by our connection, it would take me as well.
Darkness and agony… It gripped me for what felt like at least a year… it was like I was cut in two… I felt like a pile of ashes with a tornado over me. I did not care and I had lost the feeling to care. We did not exist. What reason had I to live? I felt my life ebb away slowly… My spirit wasted away with more of my essence going every moment.
There was only a little of me left… I … and it was weird to think in the singular…was aware that my breathing had stopped and that it was all but over. At least my body was near the fish market… someone would find me and do right by me.. I would not be eaten by rats… How funny that would be, for them to eat me… and then the thought hit me. What would happen to my masters body?
What little of me that was left imagined the swarm of rats descending on his body deep beneath the city. That’s where he was, wasn’t he? He sent me to give Sir Hugo a letter while he went to shadow haven. I didn’t care about myself, but thinking of him and what would become of him, filled me anger. Who did this to him? How could they get away with it? The thought lit a spark in me, but there wasn’t enough left of me to stop my existence from fading away. I said a prayer to my ancestors and all the spirits asking them to fulfill my vengeance when suddenly it all comes clear to me. I see a single word of the one true language float just out of the reach of my mind. I see the word in front of me… it floats in my brain but it is near invisible. One single word that speaks the truth of the universe. I am cold there is nothing left of me… but if I can speak this word I will recover. If I can grasp this word in the language of the gods I will survive. My brain struggles to make the word mine. It is a word of power… I can either make it mine or die. The word is too big to large for my brain to contain, it burns me as I try contain its power. It is not just a word but an entire concept that goes with the word… But I think of my master and the rest becomes easy…

“Live”…

My lungs burn as I say the word … my spirit which was dashed against the rocks is weak..but I will live. I will survive..I will get vengeance

Harkker
Administrator

Playing nwn since Balder's Gate

Posts: 948

The Tale of Argyle Mar 7, 2014 23:01:22 GMT earthdreamer, hungrycrow, and 2 more like this

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Post by Harkker on Mar 7, 2014 23:01:22 GMT

I awoke with fish bits in my mouth confused about what had happened. When I called out in my mind for Magnus and felt the emptiness I remembered what had occurred immediately. The fish mongers wife found me and slapped me her broom. I tried to jump but found I could only limp away. I knew I had to go beneath the city… But I was just so tired… it took me a long time to find my way to the secret door in the barn. I forced my limbs into hands and I got dizzy and fell over losing my lunch at the same time. It took me a time to find and unlatch the trap door, but having done so I knew that I must go quietly… for a hundred years worth of monsters lay under Kalamon. I tried to remember why my Master had gone below…. But the memory was just gone. It was as erased from my mind as our spiritual link was destroyed.
I dodged the wererats and the Drow as best I could getting lucky in not having a confrontation. I staggered to where I knew he fell, all the while knowing that my memory was fading and failing. My heart broke in two when I saw his robes with a pile of dust in the center of them. Dust was all that remained of him and all that he was. It was death magic…it had to be. there would be no resurrection. There was no coming back for him. I gathered his stuff and as much of his ashes as I could and curled up into a ball in the dark. I held them and fell asleep.
When I awoke I heard something moving in the dark towards me and it took me a full minute to catch my bearings. By then I knew I had to move quickly so I shot down the halls evading my pursuer while making my way to the exit before it could find me. As I walked hurriedly through the streets of the capitol city I could hear a multitude of people speaking about the funeral of the Thane and his weird children. The Thane had died? When did this happen? Asking questions I had found that I had blacked out for three days in the darkness of the catacombs. No one had even taken notice of Magnus or his death. The Thane had died a mysterious death and to me this seemed like it was linked between them. I was willing to bet that whomever was responsible for the thanes death would be behind my master’s death as well.
My mind was spinning with thoughts and I sought an old bard at the theater for more information. He told me the children of the Thane had used a lawyer and stole the rights of the inheritance from the king. He said that the king was angry with them over it and that they fled the very night of the funeral to Thel Dinge. The rumors said that the children had a million gold and were arming themselves. There were rumors that they had a powerful magic item that could control dragons and that they were going to come down from the north and kill everyone. The Bard told me that none of these were likely true except that they had gone to the north and that they were not on good terms with the king. Did they have something to do with the murder of my master? I would have to find them to find out. I would not travel by sea, that was for sure. I needed to go home.

Harkker
Administrator

Playing nwn since Balder's Gate

Posts: 948

The Tale of Argyle Mar 8, 2014 22:03:02 GMT earthdreamer, Uthganyon, and 3 more like this

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Post by Harkker on Mar 8, 2014 22:03:02 GMT

Our home was in the royal ward of the city, a smaller but still well sized house. For close to twenty years I called these streets my home, prowling about at night and I knew every niche among them. I was surprised to see four royal guards at the front door watching a smaller man from Sergon’s guild examine the front door. I walked closer knowing that they would not recognize me and listened.
“Little man, can you open the door or not?” The largest guard boomed as he spoke.
The Wizard looked frustrated as if he had relived this conversation over and over.
“It’s not that easy… “ he said in reply. “It is heavily warded by a mage of the highest caliber. If you open it up not only would it blow you up but it could blow up the insides as well. I need more time… I need more time.”
“We have our orders… “ the Fat guard replied. “We are to confiscate everything inside. We don’t have all day”
The befuddled wizard crouched lower and began to study more.

I knew I only had a small amount of time to get in and out before the guards broke in and took what they wanted. I made my way to the back and hopped up on the roof and then went in through skylight as I had done a thousand times before. I was overcome with sadness when I entered, for the scent of my master was everywhere. Our home felt as empty as my soul was and I knew it would never be the same again. I had to think of what I should take. Knowing that everything was going to be taken away by the guards made me think that I should really take everything that is really important.
I grabbed a ball of string, some magic wands, a couple of fish wrapped in paper, a couple of potions, and a container of milk. I decided to take a ring that would help with the cold and an amulet that would help with protection. Who knew how long my hardened skin would last. I grabbed his old travel bag that was bigger on the inside than the outside. Not knowing how much walking I would do, I took his old pair of boots that he always said helped him march. I grabbed the portal stone to Thel Dinge and considered what else to take. I could not take too much, only what I could wear and what was in the bag. I picked up his favorite toy and it filled me with such sorrow that it took me near an hour to recover. I only stirred when the front door blew inward with the force of a fireball. In the time that remained I climbed out the skylight and took one last look then I was gone. I did not want to be there when they stepped into the traps…

Two weeks later and I was still staring at the portal stone. It was at least twenty years old but I knew it still held the magic to return me to Thel Dinge. I just had to figure out how to use it. I was not a wizard, I knew how they operated. I knew what the spells they used. I had even been a conduit for those spells at points. But this portal stone was different, it required a command word that would be simple for a wizard to use but near impossible for anyone else. I stared at it.
I tried to think of a hundred different things that my master had done but none of them worked.
Once again I was at a stop, if I could not get this stone to work I could not find out who killed my master. Was it the children? It looked like it was, they grabbed the inheritance and fled. Had they fled from justice to the splendor of the north? Only this portal stone could show me the truth. I focused on it and I could barely make out the image of word. It was there just below the surface of reality. I understood it then. The words were all around us and all I had to do was take them and I could shape the world. I wrestled with the word and made it mine… speaking it opened the knowledge of things to me. In the next moment I was in Thel Dinge.