Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on May 22, 2006 16:11:28 GMT -5
Hand Puppet: Keystone
Urthdigger sat in the Golden Boar pub, waiting for information. He had tracked his target this far, and there was no chance he had left the city. He was a Hand, an assassin in the true sense of the word. The word assassin basically means "One who uses hashish." Like the assassins that spawned the term, the Hands used hashish, then killed while in the illusion of paradise. Urthdigger rarely used it however. For him, the visions he saw of an afterlife in paradise only served to remind him that he would never go there, no matter how loyal he was to Cyllyl. He just didn't belong, neither in the land of the living, and especially not in the land of the dead. He was from another world, and there was no rest for him until he died in his own world, a world that no longer existed. As he waited for newcomers, Urth stared into his empty cup and thought about the events that lead him to where he was now.
He was resting from a recent workout next to the fountain in the void, the dimension between dimensions. He was in his normal form of a humanoid mole there, like he was in most dimensions. Shad and Shawn were helping the survivors of Sorahon search for the spirit gems, Cronk and Josh were off elsewhere in the void, likely trying to find other people who had lost their home. Stranger, Urthdigger's shadow, was in the shadow plane. There was nobody around for miles. "Hiya Urth!" Urthdigger fell backwards into the fountain in surprise "Gah! Why'd you have to do that, I'm going to have to start all over again!" The fountain was a main meeting point for the community in the void. It restored people to the exact physical status they were in when they last left their home dimension. It meant that life wasn't painfull after the first hundred years, but it was annoying if you weren't very strong before. Urthdigger splashed some of the water at the newcomer before getting out to do some pushups. "How long have you been there Tim?" said Urthdigger "I'm your author, I'm always around keeping an eye on what you're doing." "Ok, let me rephrase that: How long has your avatar been there?" "Oh, about the time I interrupted your resting." The avatar of Urth's author was not particularly threatening. He was a thin, pale, weak human. Like Urth, he had blue eyes and dark brown hair. He did possess plenty of powers from being a god of sorts, and had taken away most of Urth's power once. He also had the power to change anything he pleased, although he was honorable enough to follow a strict set of rules involving his interference in the various worlds. In short, he was a dangerous and powerful individual. "What are you doing here?" said Urth. "I have some news relating to one of the survivors." "I hope it's good news. You tend to always make things worse." "Now that's not true. What about when I helped you escape the mad sorceror a few worlds back? "I remember that. The door you led me to was the feeding chute for the pit of snakes." "It had the exit right?" "And snakes. Big snakes. Lots of them." "And which would you have preferred, the sorceror or the snakes?" "The sorceror, now get on with your news." "There's a world that contains a key to finding one of the survivors. It'll be hard, but I promise it'll be different..."
As Urth sat in the bar draining another glass, he thought about the Avatar's words. In his defense, Urth had yet to fall into a pit of snakes. Instead, he had to suck up to a god who's idea of missionary work was to slaughter the whole village, a hard job when one's been a pacifist his entire life. Two more patrons entered the bar. "Barkeep!" chittered Urthdigger "A round for my two new friends by the door!"
He had struck gold. Those two patrons were friends of the bandit he was looking for. After a few drinks, they told him everything he could ever want to know about his target. He left late in the afternoon the next day. The bandit lived in a rundown house along main street, and was currently off "working", by which his friends probably meant mugging people in dark alleys. Urth had a habit taking jobs like this, figuring if he had to kill someone, it helped that they deserved it. He also tended to attack enemies of the guild, figuring he could improve his standing in the guild with little bloodshed that way. The house itself was locked up tight, but a chimney provided an easy way in. The inside of the house was even dirtier than the outside, an assassins dream. He could literally stand in the middle of the room and be unseen. Why did his targets always have to make it so easy?
Randall came home late that night. He had come to like Welstar. Sure, the guards actually cared about what he did here, but at least he was away from the Hands. He hadn't expected to wrong them that night, just a simple mistake in a dark alley, but he had been fleeing for his life ever since. His table had been cleared, except for a piece of paper. It read: "Got bored, left for snacks. Whatever you do, don't run." It was signed "Urthdigger Quickclaw, Novice of the Hands" Randall panicked and ran for the door. It was tightly locked. "Hey, I told you not to run. Don't bother getting your keys, they were just so shiny I couldn't help myself." Urthdigger stepped out of the shadows, the moonlight from the window glinting off his dagger. He was about half Randall's size, but he strode up to the human without fear. The most important aspect of intimidation is confidence, having absolute belief in your own skills will have your enemies believing in them as well, even if you do look like a teddy bear, only cuter. Urth raised his dagger into position ready to strike. Randell shakily rose his club and swung at the approaching arakun. Nothing but air. Urth deftly dodged his swing, waiting for just the right moment to strike. It wasn't hard, Randall was drunk as a skunk and fighting out of desperation, whereas Urthdiggerwas sober and calm. Again and again the bandit swung, each attempt as useless as the last, until at last he swung too hard. Urth manuevered his way through Randall's follow-through and planted the dagger between his ribs. It was all over then. Even if a biomancer happened to walk in right then (An amazing feat, seeing as the door was locked), he'd still lose far too much blood before even a simple healing spell could go off. Randall lost his grip on the club, staggered forward a few paces, then collapsed on the ground. Urth took his dagger from the corpse and in one motion beheaded it. He picked up his bag of supplies and stashed the head inside, then began looking around for a place to wash up. The problem with close-up fighting was that it tended to be messier than normal combat. Normally this wouldn't be a problem if his target had been outdoors, or on Crypt or Perdow, but Keystone was the home of the sentinels and paladins, where matters were expected to be dealt with by the law and not by the sword. As luck would have it, there was no water available anywhere. It wasn't as if he expected indoor plumbing, but a tub of water or other such supply of water would have sufficed. The blood had already dried, dying his fur a dark crimson and clumping it together in spikes. In lieu of disposing of the evidence, Urth chose to disguise it. He cut a square of fabric from the bedsheets and draped it over himself in a makeshift cloak. There was no way it'd hold up under any inspection, but hopefully it'd be enough to get him past the gates.
Urthdigger left out the front door, locking it behind him and tossing the keys to the side. The night was empty and silent, nobody was there to see him leave. He slung the bag over his shoulder and held the cloak closed. Just two blocks. Two blocks and he'd be home free. He started north up Main, his own paranoia berating him with every step. "Murderer. You took someone's life, you deserve to get caught. You deserve whatever punishment you can get." Urth's thoughts drifted to the vial of hashish he kept among his other supplies. It was tempting to lose himself in the paradise, to quell the voices with illusions of a pleasant afterlife, but he needed a clear head. The last thing he needed was to get high and tell everyone about it. The intersection of Main and Darkwar was close by. Urth could now see other Gifted Ones walking through the gate. Aside from the few guards assigned to graveyard shifts, Gifted Ones were the only ones out this late. Most seemed completely oblivious to the passage of time, probably due to the odd sleep patterns they kept. Just another entry in the list of why they annoyed him. Urthdigger sat watching the adventurers for a little while before someone grabbed him by the shoulder. "Not thinking of running are ya? Not that it matters, you smerr rike fresh human brood, you wourdn't get far. Now why don't you come quietly before we have to do this the hard way." It was a vulpin, and as Urth looked behind him he saw the sentinel badge pinned to his shirt. There'd be no fighting his way out "I didn't do it, I was just an innocent passerby. You might still be able to-" "Burrshit! I can see the brood leaking from your bag. Now put your hands behind your back." Urth reached into his bag, the vulpin taking a step back and drawing his sword as he did so. Rather than a weapon, Urth pulled out a piece of paper. "Here, read this." The vulpin grabbed the paper. Blood had gotten onto it in a few places, but it was still mostly legible. "Target: Randall (splotch). Bandit that defaced the guild entrance by (larger splotch). Last seen taking the portal to Welstar. Bring back proof of your success." "It's not like I enjoyed doing it." said Urthdigger "But he was a nobody. Worse than a nobody, he preyed upon the innocent civilians of this town. If you still feel like arresting me for doing this town a service, then so be it" "Randarr had a drug problem, got in a fight with his supprier, and died. Suspect tereported from the crime scene, taking the victim's head with him as a warning to other crients. I never saw you, you never evaded the guards by taking the statue in the adventurer's guird. Are we clear?" "No....yes? Ah screw it, thanks." Urth bowed to the sentinel before blending into the crowd of other Gifted Ones. The guild was far less guarded than the front gate as the watchfull eyes of the tax collectors weren't there. Slipping past was easy. The statue was made of solid gold, and depicted an old man who had made good and thoughtfull decisions in his life. It wasn't hard for Urth to think of something prudent he had done. Aside from the occasional larcenous deed, he lived his life for the purpose of serving others. As he reflected on this, he reached out and touched the statue.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Jun 9, 2006 13:30:06 GMT -5
Hand Puppet: Cretar
Urth passed out shortly after touching the statue. As always, he dreamt of home. It was always that way, ever since he lost it. At first he attributed it to nostalgia, but every dimensional traveler he met had it the same way. Memories. The avatar had told him the key to restoring his world laid in his memories and those of the 7 other survivors. 8 survivors, one for each element. He was the survivor of earth, Shad Otterdan was the survivor of water, and Shawn Quickclaw was the survivor of air. His girlfriend Karren Stormeye was likely the survivor of fire, but he had yet to think of anyone that would match spirit, body, energy, or destruction.
He woke to find himself back in another guild. It was similar in design to the one he just left, but with a higher concentration of druids, monks, and rangers. A quick glance out the door let him know why. He was on Sosel. The only adventurers who ever came here on purpose were usually those with guilds here. It wasn't that Sosel was a bad place, in fact it was fairly pleasant. It was just a pain to leave. Raji's rift was difficult to reach without flight, Perdow's limbo was full of monsters, and Wysoom and Crypt both had their transportation spaced all over the place. Sosel had the same problem as Wysoom, except the pods off of the planet only opened during the day. On top of that, there were numerous fake pod that ate hapless adventurers, making it difficult without a guide. Most adventurers were impatient, and didn't like having to wait until day or for a druid's help, so they avoided Sosel whenever possible. Urth slipped out onto the street and took a look around town. It was still night, but that was no surprise: It wasn't the same time here that it was on Welstar. It had likely been day when he got there and he slept through the end of it. Urth idly checked his bag to see how much money he had. It wasn't much, surely not enough to hire a decent guide. He needed some quick funds.
A sly grin crossed his face as he snuck into the residential district. Getting money was always just a matter of finding who'd miss it the least. One building in particular had gilded handrails, ornate window shutters, and real gargoyles paid to sit on the roof all day. Urth hid in some bushes near the door and went through his bag. "Severed head....contract.... another contract I have no recollection of signing... odd looking stick, why do I have this?" He chucked the curved stick and went back to sorting his stuff. "Vial of hashish...several vials of theriac... ah, fishing pole." Urth didn't need a fishing pole to fish, he was quite good enough with his hands. Instead, he detached the metal "lure" from the line and got to work picking the door's lock. The inside of the house was more extravagant than the outside. Marble tiled floors, statues, the works. Urth took a deep breath as he examined his surroundings "Ok, just take what you need, and get out." In a short while, Urth had taken a cart from the back and overloaded it with valuables all tied down with some rope from the storage room and the last of his fishing line. He left the fishing pole on the ground, tossed the picks into the cart, and took one final look around for anything more. He didn't find anything, until he noticed the bedroom door was slightly ajar. Through the crack he could see a crystal vase containing a large sapphire. There was also a dragonian sleeping soundly on the bed, but that was no matter for a master thief. Urth climbed up the wooden doorjam, leaving claw marks all the way up, then leapt off the of wall and glided over to the other side of the room. As he passed over the dragonian, he couldn't help but notice his necklace. It was likely expensive, but the runes on it meant it was probably a form of protection, either to protect him from harm (not like Urthdigger intended to kill him anyway), or to warn him if anyone came near. Either way, it probably wasn't worth it. Urthdigger landed on the floor next to the endtable and looked at his prize. The sapphire was huge, almost too big to have fit in there, and incredibly shiny. He had to have it! The endtable looked different in a square around the vase, probably a trap of some sort. This era's technology definitely wasn't enough to tell the difference between the sapphire or no sapphire, but the vase was a different matter entirely. Urth climbed onto the endtable, taking care to stand on the outer edge, and deftly grabbed the sapphire... but couldn't get his hand out. His closed fist was too big to fit out. In desperation, Urth tried to yank his arm out and was surprised when there was no resistance. The vase wasn't stuck to anything, nor did anything stop him or set off an alarm. It had just been a decorative inlay. Relieved, Urthdigger wiped the sweat from his brow and proceeded downstairs to the rest of the loot. Urth checked that everything was tied down securely, then pushed the cart to the door. It was surprisingly easy to move. He stopped to open the door, but the cart didn't. It lumbered straight on through, ripping the doors off their hinges, clattering down the steps, and coming to a shuddering halt in the middle of the road. Urth waited, expecting a dragon man in his PJs to come down the stairs, the gargoyles to investigate, or anything. Instead, anything is precisely what didn't happen. Urth shrugged and went down to drag the cart off to the pawn shop. Aparrently in a city in the trees above a dinosaur filled forest odd noises were commonplace. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed an oddly curved stick. It looked like it might come in handy, so he stuck it in his pack.
"How much for this vase?" The catfolk looked over the crystal vase with a loupe. "With orrr without yourrr hand in it?" Urth looked dumbfounded at his paw, then slowly released his grip on the sapphire, letting it fall back inside it's container. "Ah, finally something of value." said the catfolk as he poured the sapphire out and examined it. "I'll give you five hundrrred gold pieces for this. Now, if yourrr hand was included I hearrr some-" "No thanks, I'm using it. What about everything else?" "The vase is glass, the gold is brrrass. The carrrt's prrrobably worrrth a couple hundrrred because it's useful. I'm prrreparrred to offer seven hundrrred for the whole lot.". After a while of attempting to haggle Urth accepted the offer and stepped outside. It probably wasn't a good idea to stay long. The shop owner would probably squeal the moment the sentinels arrived. The west gate wasn't very guarded, but Urthdigger drew his cloak tight around himself as he approached anyway. The human gatekeeper smiled and patted him on the head as he passed. Urth couldn't help but wave back in return. No matter how much evil he had done, it was nice to know people still found him cute.
Once he was out amongst the planet's canopy Urth quickly climbed his way down the trunk of one of the giant trees that made up the jungle. He felt at home here. It reminded him him of the forest he spent his early teen years in, and his form felt glad to be amongst the trees as well. He walked over to the bank of the great nameless river for a drink and to wash his clothes, then slipped into the water to clean his fur. As he soaked in the cool water, his thoughts drifted to when he first arrived in this world.
Urthdigger walked through the portal from the void and found himself in a stark white room. The avatar had said there were no survivors here, but rather knowledge to help him find one. Still, he had been vague at best. This whole matter didn't feel right. "Greetings Gifted One. Welcome to the Retroverse." The voice seemed to come from all around him. "Hmm, I see you like things childish and cute. You're fond of nature and animals. You also have a tendency to steal, and prefer subtlety and stealth to get what you want." An arakun appeared in the room. It looked around for a bit, then waved at Urthdigger. "He looks friendly." said the voice "Why don't you go play with him? I'm sure you two will become best friends..." Urthdigger slowly approached the arakun, who watched him with a look of pure innocence. As he got close, the arakun ran up and hugged him, and everything turned black. When he came to, Urth could see his body lying a short distance away. He examined his paws, now black with much shorter claws, then looked at his wingflaps and tail, running his fingers along them in disbelief. He had been forced to change his form before in other worlds, but it was always a change to his body, never a swap with a different body. "Sorry for that, but mole boy just isn't an option. Besides, we couldn't let you enter with that pesky elemental control thing embedded in your DNA. Don't worry, we'll take good care of your body until your return. Now there's just a matter of your guild. You have a history of sneaking around, preffering stealth over strength. Being a Hand would suit you perfectly." "And what if I'm not interested?" "You came here seeking information. You're free to leave, but then you'll never know what you seek." Urthdigger thought about it for a moment "Fine, I'll become a Hand." "Good, now just swear your allegiance to Cyllyl and we'll be done here..."
Urth snapped out of his reverie. He had learned since then that what occured was not a swap. There was nothing in his body back there, and the arakun still inhabited this body. He recieved urges from his new form, pushing him to kill and steal, among other things. He made a habit of keeping to himself moreso than usual during the winter as a result. The arakun didn't seem very smart, relying on emotions and wants to communicate, but it was difficult to seperate his wants from those of his host at times. Urthdigger climbed out of the river, shook the excess water from his fur, and put his sash and gloves back on. As he was putting on his necklace, a nearby roar made him pause in fear. He waited cautiously, then finished putting on his necklace. The beast wandered over to where Urth could see it. It was a young deinonchysaur, not much bigger than the average human, but still much larger than an arakun. Urthdigger tried to run, but his body was paralyzed with fear, and the pieces of tail and wingflap hanging from the dinosaur's teeth weren't doing much to calm him down. It looked in his direction, and Urth distinctly heard himself give out a loud shriek. The paralysis was gone and Urth took off in a blind dash through the forest. The fear was overwhelming. He had no idea where he was going, or what he was going to do, just that he didn't want to die. In a desperate attempt Urth jumped behind a tree and hid. The plan worked to an extent: His camoflauge kept him hidden, but the deinonchysaur could still smell him. It began searching around the area, uprooting small plants and bushes in it's zeal. It was just a matter of time before it got close enough to smell where he was. Urth turned to face the tree and expected the worst. WHUMP! The deinonchysaur was shoved out of the way by a powerfull force. A unicorn had showed up to save the day. He seemed to be an expert in how the dinosaur would attack, as well as where to strike to cause the most damage. Urth had heard of these rangers, the counterpart to the Hands. Like templars to cultists, or fallen to paladins, they were the exact opposite of the Hands, yet so similar. While the Hands studied the ways and anatomy of the humanoid races, the rangers did the same to animals, but while the rangers were reverred as providers for the food and clothing they gave, the Hands were despised for what they did. Still, Urthdigger was too greatful for the rescue to be jealous, and even saw a way to come out on top in this whole encounter. After the fight was finished, he walked up to the unicorn, clapping his hands. "Bravo. I must thank you for taking care of that beast for me; you saved my life back there. If it's not too much of a trouble, do you think you could help me? I'm a bit new here, and could use someone who knows the area. Who knows, if you ever get into any trouble, I could watch your back." The unicorn was skeptical "Watch my back? It didn't seem like you were doing good when I arrived." Urthdigger smirked "Well, at the first sign of danger, I'll get behind you and watch your back. Then while it's occupied with you, I can actually manage to get up close and slay it. It's not like it's going to cost you anything." The unicorn pondered the idea for a moment, and then nodded. "Feel free to accompany me. My name is Cretar, who are you?" Urthdigger prepared to shake hands, before realizing that his new friend couldn't "My name is Urthdigger, but everyone calls me Urth. Nice to meet you." Urth couldn't help but get the feeling something was watching him. He took a quick glance over his shoulder, but didn't notice anything. Still the feeling remained, but he put it off as an effect of the overcrowding forest. Anything could be out there. "So," said Cretar "Where exactly are you headed?" Urthdigger was hesitant to reply. Revealing the location of the guild carried penalties worse than death. As long as he could get back to the right planet, he'd be fine, but he didn't want to reveal even that much. "I... can't really say. I just need to find my way off this planet, preferably to somewhere other than Welstar." Cretar made at attempt at shrugging, but a lack of limbs made that difficult. "I only know of the pod to Welstar. We might find another pod, but don't keep your hopes up." Their trip was more or less uneventful. They ran into a few minor foes, and every time Urth would circle around the foe, looking for a place to put his dagger, but he had no idea where the vital organs were located, and the battles were over too soon anyway. Searching for the other pods was futile as well, the only one they discovered almost made a snack out of the poor arakun. At last their search led them to a ruined city. The city was inhabited by uncivilized natives going about their business. "Maybe the natives here might know something." said Cretar casually. Urthdigger wasted no time in running up to the dais in the middle. "Hey, savages! I'm looking for a..." A spear thudded right next to him. He had caught the attention of the village's hunters. The women, children, and farmers had all run inside, but that still left a considerable force of natives. They gathered around Cretar and Urthdigger... or Cretar anyway. Urth had scampered off. Cretar prepared to defend himself, cursing the arakun for getting him into this mess. The hunters raised their spears, but were soon distracted by the dying screams of one of the unfortunate hunters near the back. Another death soon followed, about halfway around the circle from the first death. By the third death, it was obvious something was amiss. The leader raised his spear, pointed it at the unicorn, and shouted something in neither Common nor Sylvan, and the group charged. The unseen attacks happened more frequently and more concentrated in the directions of the village entrance. One savage near the deaths raised his spear to attack, but was interrupted by a dagger point sticking out where his heart should be. "Now we're even, go!" Urthdigger pulled his dagger out, and jumped off of the savage's back. Cretar wasted no time in getting out. Urthdigger viciously attacked the remaining hunters, getting too close to his opponents for the spears to be effective. The other hunters were hesitant to attack after the first few times he dodged and let the attack hit his opponent. As he was finishing off one of the hunters, another did something completely unexpected. Dropping his spear, he ran up and punched Urthdigger. The force of the blow knocked his light body to the ground, and he found he couldn't get back up. All he could do was watch as the remaining hunters raised their spears for one final strike.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Jun 24, 2006 14:44:12 GMT -5
Hand Puppet: Powint
Death was not quite how Urthdigger had pictured it. He had died before, many times in other dimensions, and it usually involved a judge of some kind determining whether he had been good or evil. When it's found that he wasn't born there, and thus can't die there, he's sent back. This time was different. He was lost in a plain of strange plants similar to wheat. It was hard to concentrate on any one thing, everything seemed to shift around as he looked at it. There was no god of judgement, no other waiting souls he could see, or anything. The only thing in common was that he had no body, just a shape for his spirit. He was all alone, without even his form for company. Urth wandered for what seemed like an eternity. There had to be something, this was not the afterlife. He'd been there twice in his homeworld. Once to rescue someone who's soul had crossed over, and once when he died for a short while. The afterlife was relaxing, so much so that you never wanted to leave. This place was relaxing, but not nearly as much as the afterlife. Urth knelt down amongst the grains and prayed. He prayed mainly to Sikkar and Cyllyl, but put in a general prayer as well. He wanted to be out of here. Whether his soul departed to the heavenly choir, or whether he was sent back, he didn't care. Just that he no longer had to stay in a place that mocked him for what he couldn't have.
The first thing he was aware of was the warmth of his fur and how cold his paws were. His eyes were taking a while to adjust, but from the cold stone floor, the complete lack of noise, and the faint smell of hashish coating the place, he reasoned he was back at the guild. He got up from where he had been sleeping to stretch, but noticed everything was missing. His gloves, his belt, his money, and most importantly the head he needed to confirm the success of his assignment were all missing. "Worried about something?" The Avatar was sitting a short ways away, right next to a pile of Urthdigger's belongings. "Wow, thanks, I don't know what to say." "Then don't say anything. As much as I'd like to take credit for this, I can't. I don't even have the power here to do this, not yet anyway. Getting to 'take it with you' is just one of the perks of being Gifted. As for why I'm here, I have some good news and some bad news." "Tell me the good news." "You'll be pleased to know that Cretar is ok, and desite you acting like an idiot, what happened at the village was not your fault. They don't speak any Common, so your little insult went unnoticed." "Then why'd they attack us?" "They were starving, and when a pair of animals stumbled into the camp, they had to feed their families. I suppose all that happened was for the best. Even as a murderous assassin you can't help but aid people." "I don't see what you're getting at. Cretar was in danger because of me, many of the hunters died, and so did I!" "Ah, things aren't always as they seem. In accompanying you, Cretar learned something valuable, and not just some cheesy moral like the power of friendship. The villagers were on the verge of starvation. Those you killed died a far less painful death than starving, and your death helped feed the survivors, although you were mostly fat." "HEY!" "Lastly, you got back here much faster than walking would have. Now, about the bad news, try to remember the events leading up to your death." Urth tried to recall what happened. He entered the village with Cretar, shouted at the savages, backstabbed a few of them, stabbed a couple more, got knocked for a loop, then skewered. "Sorry, can't think of anything that seemed bad." "You can remember what happened, but what about how it happened." Urth tried to remember the exact events that happened, but it was all too hard. He couldn't remember the manuevers he took, how the place looked, or anything! It was as if he had just been told about what had happened. "Dying puts quite a shock on your form. He's forgotten everything that happened in the few hours before his death. This is not good, because to him, the fights he watched Cretar do and the battle at the village never happened. Without the experiences of combat, your form will never grow stronger, and you'll never leave this world. Keep that in mind." With that, the avatar abruptly vanished. Urth put his equipment back on, sheathing his daggers in his sash, and hauled the bag over to Powint's room.
Powint was the First Ward of the Hands. She watched over the advancement of the mustajibs and novices in the guild, although this mostly consisted of keeping track of each member's contribution to the guild. Urthdigger was a little reluctant to see her; It was no secret she didn't like him. Despite the dwindling number of Hands, she held those under her to certain standards. Urthdigger had talent, but showed no motivation or initiation, and only seemed to pay lip service to Cyllyl. This annoyed her to no end. Powint liked to garden, and was tending to one of her plants when the arakun entered. "I have completed the mission." he said. Powint popped a party popper and blew on a noisemaker half-heartedly. "...Congratulations." she said sarcastically. "Do you have anything better to do than make snide remarks to me? I got the job done right?" Powint sighed "Being a Hand is more than just knowing how to kill people. We are the subjects of the goddess Cyllyl. We must be prepared for whatever our goddess asks of us. This means casting away your foolish morals, and learning not to rely on the other inferior gods." "So what if I only 'spread the word' to followers of the Nameless One and Varkyll-an-bluge? They could use some reminding that we're not on their side. When it comes to other gods, they have their uses. I'm superior to a dagger, but that still doesn't mean my hand shouldn't use it. I'd love to hear more of your preaching, but I must be off. If you need me, you'll know where I am."
Urthdigger walked off before Powint could say another word. The next few hours were spent studying anatomy, the worship of Cyllyl, and the application of various sneaky tricks possible with a dagger. His teacher was an ancient tortle known only as the Ancient. The Ancient had a problem of always explaining not only what was needed, but also why certain organs were vital and what they did, why striking a certain area resulted in excessive bleeding or numbing pain, the significance of the chants for spells, and other such information unneccessary for assassinations. This made him a very good teacher, provided hs students could stay awake through his long lessons and slow, dull voice. Urthdigger was glad when the lessons were over and combat training began. Urth grabbed a pair of practice daggers off of the table and began to circle his teacher. The old tortle wielded his pair and assumed a defensive stace. Urth spotted a potential weak point and sped towards his master for the attack, hitting only air. He didn't bother looking for where the Ancient had dodged to, he was amazingly fast, especially considering his race. Instead he rolled forward to escape the counter-attack he knew was coming. He felt his opponent's daggers graze the edge of his fur, indicating not only a near miss, but also that he was right behind him. Rather than get up and turn around, Urth launched himself off the ground with his hands and did a half twist somersault in midair to land in a sliding stop facing his opponent. "If... you... want... to... be... seen..." said the tortle "You.... will... be..." "Well duh!" said Urthdigger as he readied for another attack. He closed to melee range and managed to get a few hits in through feints and counterattacks. "I just wish I could watch myself, I must look so cool dodging and-" The Ancient stopped going easy and put the full weight of his bulk into a swift swing. The incredibly dull blade of the practice dagger did little to stop it from crushing Urth's arm bone. The arakun fell to his knees and let loose such a string of chittering that one didn't need to know sylvan to know he was swearing in it. The Ancient was silent, instead communicating telepathically to let the full extent of his annoyance show. "We are about being unnoticed and unseen, not about flipping out and looking cool. Drawing attention to yourself like that will only get you killed. Now tend to your wounds." Urthdigger passed a mustajib on his way out, who showed a brief expression of fear upon seeing his wounds. This wasn't the first time his arm had been broken however. Like kankus, arakun have hollow bones to reduce their weight enough to fly. This also made them easier to break, and provided less protection against being stunned. Urthdigger set his arm in a sling, thanking Gaia for giving him a prehensile tail to make such tasks easier. There wasn't much to do other than wait in the recreation room for his arm to get better. He sat down in a cot he had set up in a corner of the room and sulked. He understood they were fighting a losing battle, but they were still too serious about everything. All they ever thought about was Cyllyl and how to serve her. They were nothing more than puppets. Somewhere along his train of thought, Urthdigger drifted off to sleep.
Urth awoke early the next morning. Someone had removed the sling on his arm, which had fortunately healed. His other arm was laid across his chest, the wingflap forming a makeshift blanket. There was a letter tucked underneath it, but Urth laid there with his eyes closed, pretending it didn't exist. After several minutes he decided to just get it over with. The writing was neat and flowerly, obviously Powint's. "While you have proven yourself a capable student, your loyalty remains in question. You must learn that those who do not accept the superiority of our goddess Cyllyl deserve only death. There is a hostel on Welstar where many travelers go to stay. All of the residents there are unbelievers who need to learn their god will not save them from ours. There is no negotiating your way out of this one, and you will be exempt from any training or advancement until your mission is complete, whatever reasons you have for being here will have to wait. I have taken the liberty of healing your arm, so I expect you to get on this immediately." Urthdigger tossed the letter to the ground and sighed. He knew he shouldn't have gotten up this morning.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Jun 27, 2006 16:03:47 GMT -5
Hand Puppet: Hostel
Urthdigger made the trek to Scarrowfell shortly after reading the letter. Like most cities, the adventurer's guild was shortly inside. Amidst the usual assortments of bards and warriors stood the portal to Limbo, his ticket off of Perdow. Limbo itself was a vast grey field with narrow roads marking the safe paths. The shining clear portal to Welstar wasn't far from the portal to Perdow, but it was seperated by fifty feet of unpathed land. Urth whinched as he saw a pilgrim step off of the path and get torn apart by a vortex. The only other way to the Welstar portal was a long and winding road that stretched beyond the horizon. Urth took a deep breath and let it out slowly, reciting a prayer to Cyllyl as he did so. He stepped about hesitantly for a second, then ran off the path. His footsteps were lighter than falling snow as he took cover in the shadows of the very fiends he sought to escape. His heart was racing as he neared the portal, knowing that one wrong move meant he was a dirt stain. A good five feet from the portal he ran into a problem. There were no shadows he could hide in. The distance was short enough, so he took a running start and jumped for it. The thraxodemon he had been hiding behind was the first to notice him, but vortexes and colossal sandworms soon noticed the tiny morsel, and they moved fast. The portal was inches away, but so were the monsters. Urthdigger flew straight forward to increase his speed, and landed in front of the portal just as the monsters recoiled from the path. Safe at last, Urth took the time to taunt his predators before jumping through the portal. Everything turned white, then black as he passed out.
The dreams came again. Memories of his life as a mercenary before his days at the garrison. He learned a lot in those days, but the most important thing he learned was to think for himself and open his eyes before doing anything. The last things he saw in the dream were the faces of his friends from the abbey, dead by his own hands, the slaying of his commander after learning he had been tricked, and the deserted camp where he swore never to take another life again.
Urthdigger awoke back in the adventurer's guild in Keystone. It was odd to be back in the same city where a short while ago he had been running for his life. The sentinel hadn't told anyone what he saw from the looks of things: the city was still it's peaceful self. As usual, there was a host of adventurers outside the north gate, swapping tales, singing songs, and generally idling the time away. He stopped momentarily to listen before heading out into the forest.
Urthdigger relaxed considerably once he was out of the city. There were no rules here; nobody cared what you did, or whom you did it too. More importantly, the sylvan landscape calmed his form. The forest extended far to the north and wrapped around to the west, where the hostel awaited. He had been there in the past, during his exploring days. He wanted this to be a dream. He never wanted to kill anyone, let alone innocents. Life was something sacred, something to protect rather than destroy.
The outside of Militiade's hostel was peacefully quiet. Butterflies flitted about the flowers in the garden. Urthdigger walked up the path to the entrance, trying not to notice the peace. He wanted to be done with this. Inside, the guests were having breakfast. The servants hustled about, serving food and cleaning up the mess. Urth tried to stay away from the dining areas, not only was his conscience shouting at him, but attacking someone in that big of a group was suicide. The sleeping quarters were mostly vacant, but Urthdigger managed to find a pair of arakun lying next to each other. "Probably a couple." he thought to himself. At least they wouldn't have the pain of losing each other, they were headed the same way. "May Sikkar forgive me..." he muttered as he drew his dagger for a killing blow. The male arakun's ears perked up at the sound of Urth's voice. He rolled out of the way of the stab and picked up his fellblade from under his bedroll and stood to attack. Urthdigger almost smiled in spite of himself. In his travels around the dimensions, there were three things he had no qualms about killing: Undead, which were already dead, demons, which would just be sent back where they came from, and souleaters, which he hated above all else. A souleater was any kind of creature that devoured the souls of others, either keeping them imprisoned and drawing on their power, or completely destroying it. They were the only thing that could permanently kill him before he restored his world, and they were just plain immoral. Fallen weren't exactly souleaters, but they fed souls to the Nameless One, which made them just as bad. Urthdigger dodged the first two swings with ease and returned with a few slices of his own. The female had woken up by now, and was occupied casting a spell around her partner. Urth paid her little attention. A few more dodges later he was up close, his dagger between the male's ribs. The female stopped her spell and began to run, only to catch a throwing dagger in her back as she was entering the hallway. Urthdigger got to work cutting off the male's head when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Breakfast was over, and the guests were returning to their rooms. Urth heard one of the guests notice the body and draw her sword. She peered into the room, but Urthdigger was already gone. He watched from his perch above the door as the catfolk walked in. It would only be a matter of time before she turned around. Urthdigger took the initiative and leapt off the sill, soared through the air, and plunged his dagger into the girl's skull. Quick and painless. Urthdigger finished removing the heads of his latest victims and stashed them, then looted their bodies. Aside from a few shiny gold pieces, they had nothing interesting. Urth slunk out to the hallway and looked around. Nobody seemed to be aware thus far that there was a killer on the loose. As soon as nobody was looking he darted over to the bathroom. A bead curtain blocked it from the hallway, but provided little in the ways of privacy. He gave the occupant a quick slice across the throat, followed by a stab through the chest, then stabbed behind him to catch an unfortunate witness. Urthdigger began to really get into his role. He started to spook the residents, picking off individual group members when the others had their backs turned, letting some of his victims scream well away from the others, and of course locking the front door and stealing the only key. Eventually, only four survivors remained, two servants and two guests. They were holed up in the kitchen, each one watching an entrance as well as one of the others. They knew their assailant was a Hand, and a small one at that. Most of all, they were ready to kill anything that moved. Urthdigger watched from the shadows of the hallway near one of the guests. A throat slash was out of the question, so he slashed the catfolk's hamstring and stabbed him through the chest as he fell. The guest on the far side of the room saw what happened and alerted the others. The remaining guest stayed behind with a sling while the servants approached with sword and spear. The papau servant with the spear was laughable with his diminutive size, but he dodged Urth's stabs effectively and counterattacked from a safe distance, however eventually it failed to dodge and was practically skewered. Urth attempted the block the human servant's sword with his dagger, but the massive blade pushed it away, leaving a slash across Urth's arm. Urthdigger decided to take care of the guest slinging rocks at him next so he could put all his concentration into dodging the remaining servant. He closed the distance quickly and swung his dagger with fierce speed, dealing several critical blows. The guest was still alive, but he wouldn't be slinging stones anymore. That just left the remaining servant. Urth goaded his opponent into attacking, then dodged the blade and prepared a counterattack. The servant caught him off guard by smashing him in the face with his shield. The servant lifted his sword with both hands and plunged it down at the prone arakun. Urth quickly rolled out of the way and slashed at the servant's hamstrings. The servant rolled onto his back and brought his shield up to block Urthdigger's dagger, but a swift kick to the side of the head knocked him out long enough for Urth to finish him off. It was only later as he was retrieving his trophies and looting the corpses that he realized what was bothering him. That last person he had killed was a paladin. He reflected over what had happened during the past few hours. He saw the fallen, and once he killed him, he found it so easy that he did it again. Soon he was slaughtering people in cold blood. He fell to his knees and cried out. This wasn't who he was, what was this world doing to him? More importantly, was this going to affect him when he returned to the other worlds? He left the other corpses where they lay, but dragged the paladin out to the garden for a proper, albeit headless, funeral. It was the least he could do after what he had done.
Urthdigger started on his way back to Keystone the next morning. Passing through the forest, he washed his sash and gloves free of blood in a pond, then settled in for a bath himself while his clothes dried. The water was cold and he almost immediately regretted it, but he desperately needed a bath and wasn't likely to find a hot spring anywhere nearby. Urth had almost finished when he heard some voices nearby. He hastily swam to the bank nearest the voices and hid there. There was always the possibility that someone had escaped the hostel, and out here in the open without his daggers he stood little chance. A unicorn and an anakim were the source of the disturbance. "Someone just cleared the entire hostel, just our luck. Guess we'll head to the lodge." Urthdigger recognized them as gifted ones. They always talked a little funny. They hadn't noticed him, not that he had anything to fear from them. He waited until they were gone anyway before finishing, then grabbed his equipment and resumed his journey home. Urthdigger stopped at the camp just north of Keystone for some food and information. The garnet statue leading to Perdow had recently been spotted in the church of Sikkar inside Keystone, where the paladin's guild was. He thanked the other gifted ones for the food and entered the city. It was night in Keystone, and the candles in the church made it shine like a beacon. As Urthdigger walked inside, he couldn't help but stare at the stained glass windows adorning the wall. Images of paladins in their pursuit against evil stared down at him as if they knew what he had done. He turned his back on the church and headed for the staircase. The guild was on the second floor. The paladins in the guild paid no attention to the little arakun amongst them as they went along with their prayers. Gifted ones intruded in there all the time. The statue was near the back of the guild and as usual it had a virtue inscribed on the base. Love others. Urthdigger had no trouble with this. He loved almost every other creature, and his girlfriend Karren Stormeye was out there somewhere. He thought about her and vaguely felt himself moving between the worlds.
Again, he found himself passed out. His last thoughts had been of Karren, and she was what he recalled in the dreams. She had been with him that fateful day when their world was torn apart. While he fell into one of the cracks in the dimension, she stayed up top and tried to grab him. Her arm reaching down for him was the last he ever saw of her.
Urthdigger emptied the bag of heads onto the floor of Powint's office. "Well, look what the coon dragged in. These are the travelers I told you to kill, correct?" "Bite me, I did what you asked." snapped Urth. "Well, aren't you feisty today. We'll see if you're telling the truth soon enough. Until then consider your suspension still in place." Urthdigger retired to the recreation room to relax. He laid down in his cot and began tossing one of his daggers in the air and catching it. After getting bored with this, he added a second dagger, and soon switched to juggling three of them. He watched the deadly steel dancing inches from his face, his paws going through the motions more out of routine than due to any self preservation. Caught in a crossroad of apathy, he knew dying wouldn't solve anything, but neither did he care to go on living. Nothing seemed like the right thing to do. The scent of hashish caught his nose. It wouldn't solve the problem, but at least it'd help him relax. He caught the daggers and sheathed them one by one, then searched through his bag for the vial he always kept on him. He wasted no time in taking the drug, and for a brief moment he was in bliss. It was all too short, and while the experience left him anxious and happy, he wanted more. He wanted to completely lose himself in paradise and never come out. Elena's store was right nearby. Elena herself was busy trying out some of the merchandise, among other things, when the arakun arrived. "Hey, welcome brother! Let me know if you, like, find anything you need." Urthdigger was still hallucinating and a little loopy "Umm, yeah, could I get some hash? I think maybe four vials outta be good." "As much as I'd like it to be free, I can't just give you some hash, you gotta pay for it... wait, hold that thought: I just realized, I'm a gorgon, and I help people get stoned, isn't that funny?" She let loose a snorting laugh, and Urth started giggling. It was funny. He counted out a small pile of gold pieces onto the counter. "Ah, thank you." said Elena "Now, is this all just for you?" "Oh, you know me." said Urth, dodging the question "I'm a party animal. Heh, get it? Party... animal?" Elena chuckled "Yeah... animals. Here ya go." She handed him the vials and stared at his hands "...you have very small hands, it's like they could go anywhere, and my hands are huge, its like they're everywhere. Peace out little anywhere dude!" She blew a kiss at him as he left, then promptly forgot he existed. As soon as he was in the hall, Urth downed one of the vials. The effect was stronger this time, but he wanted more. He quaffed the remaining four vials and collapsed on the floor.
Paradise was exquisite. Beautiful arakuns attended to his every need. There was rivers of wine, peaceful scenery, and shiny sparkling lights everywhere. Even after several hours, the paradise didn't fade. It seemed by ODing on hashish, he had circumvented the judgement fields and skipped directly to paradise. Urth was in the middle of something dirty involving a pair of grapes, a silk cloth, and a large leather boot, when all hell broke loose. The girl's skin melted off of her bones, leaving a skeleton with a grinning visage. Everywhere he looked this was happening, until at last he was the only living arakun left. The world itself melted away, aside from the skulls from all the girls. The skulls floated up and began circling him, laughing at him for believing he had finally made it. The circle grew smaller and smaller as they closed in, until at last the darkness took him.
Urthdigger shot awake. Despite the pounding headache and recent nightmare, he felt pretty good. He didn't recognize the bed he was in, but that didn't bother him. He pulled the sheets off, and that's when he noticed the tail draped across him. He pulled the sheets further and traced the tail up to a wonderfully curvaceous body. A naked cat girl was sleeping next to him. His girlfriend was going to kill him.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 7, 2006 10:37:59 GMT -5
Hand Puppet: Karren
Urthdigger paced back and forth across the room. The catfolk was still asleep in her bed, but she'd probably wake up soon. His brain was all too happy to relate the events of last night. He had known his form could do things on it's own, but he hadn't considered it'd have a party while his mind was high as a kite. The catfolk he was with last night wasn't the biggest problem, but it was by far the most immediate. His thoughts played out in classic angel vs. devil style as he considered what to do. "Well, Karren always said you should make people happy, and that's just what you did." "Are you kidding? He made a promise, he was going to marry her. If she finds out, she's going to kill him!" "The operative word here is if. She'll just never find out." Urth's good side remained quiet, unable to find anything. This was how most of those debates tended to end. As long as he was siding with his devil, he looked around for things to steal. She didn't have much money, or anything expensive to speak of. Her clothes looked nice, but nothing fit him. He heard a rustling sound from behind him as the catfolk began to get up. "You'rrre up earrrly." she said "... how long have you been awake?" "Long enough to see you take all my money and trrry on my skirrrts." Urthdigger blushed deep crimson, not that it showed up through his thick fur. "I was just trying to find something like pants that fit me." "You look better without them." she said with a smirk "Now get back herrre, or do I have to drrrag you overrr herrre?" She got out of bed, and Urth forced himself to look away. What had he gotten himself into? He couldn't afford to make a habit of this, Karren was the love of his life. He wasn't going to risk losing her. "I'm sorry." he said "I can't see you anymore. I gotta go." He grabbed his things and left. As he headed back to the guild, he thought about why he always pushed people away like that. He was always a nice guy, and every so often a girl found that charming. He pushed them all away and hurt their feelings, just for a promise. Was he afraid of change? Of accepting that his old life was gone? What if he never found all the other survivors, could he cope with living in a new world? He arrived at the guild with a heavy burden. Thoughts were running around his head about Karren and last night. He had spent so long looking for the survivors of his world and found only two, but wherever he went pain and misfortune followed. Was it worth all that time and misery, just to bring back the past? What made his old world any better than this one? "Thought you could lose me eh?" The catfolk's voice forced Urth out of his reverie. "Oh great, I wasn't supposed to show anyone this place. You've taken a bad day and made it worse!" "Oh come on, I followed you. Completely differrrent. I didn't even see you enterrr, had to figurrre that out on my own. Besides, they alrrready know I'm herrre. The guild leaderrr had a nice chat with me, and since I found it on my own, you'rrre off the hook." Urth relaxed when he heard that. At least one of his problems was solved. "I'm sorry," said Urth "I left so quickly I didn't catch your name." "It's Karren." Urthdigger's heart soared upon hearing that name. He had found her at last! All of the day's troubles were banished by those two syllables. "Karren Lockheart" Karren finished her introduction and Urth's mood plumetted. The Karren he knew was Karren Stormeye. He was back where he started, but felt worse for the experience. Karren noticed the change in his expression. "What's wrong? You seemed happy for a second there." "It's nothing." replied Urthdigger "I just remembered someone, that's all." "Would that have anything to do with why you werrre in such a hurrry to leave? An old girrrlfriend perrrhaps?" "Something like that. Anyway, did I tell you anything last night? Anything weird?" He knew he had talked a lot to his new friend the previous night, but he had no idea what he said. He couldn't afford to blab about the guild, or about who he was. People didn't usually treat dimensional travellers very well. "Well, you said quite a few things, mostly just complimenting my looks. You also switched to sylvan a lot, especially when you got excited, so I have no clue if you said anything odd. So why is it that you spend yourrr nights wasted on hashish? Unsatisfied? Dumped?" "She's missing, that's all you need to know." "Forrr how long?" It had been centuries he had spent searching the dimensions. "...A long time." "So for all you know she may be dead." Urthdigger said nothing. He had long ago realized she may not have survived the disaster that befell his world, but time had done nothing to diminish the pain. "So that's it. You can't keep mourrrning forrreverrr. You have to starrrt enjoying yourrrself. How would she feel knowing you're drugging yourself up because of her?" "Correction: I use hashish due to the guilt of what I do as a Hand, I drink because of my girlfriend. As for what she'd think, she'd be far less angry than she'd be if I was cheating on her."
Angry was an understatement. Both Urth and Karren were from Telcor, a village of elementalists. In addition to elemental control, they were born naturally good at certain things from their parents. The fathers passed on traits that could further be passed on by their children, but the mother's traits stopped at their children. The daugters tended to be better at their traits than sons however. Karren's father was a Stormeye, quick to anger and an unstoppable force when truly mad. Her mother was a Sharpeye, a deadshot with a blaster. Both traits made her deadly to cross. Urth on the other hand, his father was a Quickclaw, a family of thieves, spies, and assassins that preferred sneaking in the shadows to a fair fight. His mom was a Crystalpaw, skilled in developing inventions, and especially handy in making telcorian crystal, a material that gathered energy on it's own, and could be triggered to use that energy to control the elements. Neither side helped him much in a fight, while Karren would get mad quickly and could very well kill him in a fight.
"So," said Karren "Why don't you quit the guild if you hate them so much? As forrr your girrrlfrrriend, I don't think she'll be much angrrrier if you stayed with me one morrre night. Think about it." Urthdigger remained silent for a while. Something in the guild was the clue to finding the other survivors and restoring his world, along with his girlfriend. If he quit the guild, he'd never see her again... but if he stayed, more people would die. "Alright..." said Urth "I'll leave the guild. Since I'll probably never see her again, I guess there's no point in keeping my promise either." Karren clapped her hands together in praise "Grrreat. My place, sundown, don't be late." With that, she got up and walked off. Urthdigger arrived in Powint's office shortly after. Kereth was soundly asleep on the desk, but Powint was nowhere to be found. Given his current course of action, he was tempted to do something to Kereth while nobody was looking. Shave his face, put his paw in warm water, even tickle him, but refrained from doing so. Kereth was obviously drugged up, but it was tough to tell if he was deep in sleep or about to come out of it. Instead he waited in one of the chairs for a few minutes until Powint returned with a load of papers. She sat down at her desk and began working on them, as usual making no attempt whatsoever to even aknowledge Urth's presence. "I'm leaving the guild." Urth said at last. "Ok. Go." "... That's it?" "Yes, that's it. You're almost useless to the Hands, and your presence here only serves to take time and resources that could be spent on far better things. You can keep the things you were issued as a reminder of what you once were. Now go." For the first time, he promptly did as he was instructed.
Urthdigger was a little surprised that Karren hadn't asked for her money back. He found out shortly after entering Drandiss. Both her money and his were now missing. She had to have taken them while they were talking. Urth shrugged and made a bit of money from pickpocketing before hitting the town. He spent the rest of the morning in the library, reading the history and fiction of the land that was now his home. He read of legends and wars, of society and theology. He didn't read any written by the Gifted Ones though, as they were mostly just about their own exploits. In the afternoon he headed to the theater. It was an interesting play by a muridan troupe about an important battle against their oppressors in Scarrowfell. What made it interesting was not the content, but that Urth had read a book written about just this 'war' in the library. In the book, the forces of Scarrowfell fought desperately against the muridan threat until one day a group of Gifted Ones infiltrated the muridan nest and took them out. According to the play, the muridans had to deal with the oppressive rule of Scarrowfell's leaders, and eventually formed a band of rebel fighters to strike back. The war was going well, until one day a group of Gifted Ones struck a devastating sneak attack and crippled the rebellion. Urth had seen this all over his travels. Neither side of a war ever wants to admit that they're the bad guys, or that they truly lost. Feeling enriched enough for the day, Urth returned to Karren's place. The dreams of his past came later that night, as they did every night. For the next few days, he dreamt of his time in the garrison, of his journey back to his hometown, where he met Karren Stormeye. He dreamt of his battles against the Hunter, of the great flood and the mission to evacuate the woods. All nothing more than pleasant memories now. He would never see that home again.
The days since Urth's retirement went remarkably well. He had rented out a room in a castle owned by an anakim named Rualii who seemed to know him. Something about bunnies. Karren stayed at her old place, stating that she wasn't in a relationship, just using him. She still came over from time to time when she was bored however. In his spare time, Urth had found his form exceptionally good at fishing, and made a small living selling his catch, supplemented by five finger discounts where he could get them. It was a week later that he returned from a fishing trip on Welstar to find Karren waiting in his room. "Hey cutie. You've got a letterrr frrrom someone. Doesn't say who, but it's got a rrreally shiny seal." Urth picked up the letter and stared at the seal. It was really shiny, probably made out of soft gold. Urth's heart raced as he admired how the light sparkled all over the magnificent seal, and no matter how he held it, it retained it's splendor and beauty. It was breathtaking in it's simplicity, the lack of a design fully allowing one to admire the material in all of it's infinite glory. "Quit gawking and open it alrrready you silly rrraccoon!" Urth shook his head clear and broke the seal. The letter had only a simple lymeric. "Roses are red, violets are blue, corpses are dead, and now so are you." A minuscule inscription appeared below, added almost as an afterthought: "Also, I like shinies." Below the text were a couple runes that glowed with a sickly green light. As his eyes passed over them, they flashed once, then grew dim. The light that had surrounded them began winding it's way up his arm, bringing blinding pain with it. He could hear Kereth's voice telepathically enter his thoughts. "Sorry about this, but it's for your own good, you know. I've had. . . peculiar visions of late. Cyllyl has requested your return. Fidais may be dismissed, but novices may not walk away so easily. It is her blessing and power that has been granted to ensure this." "Yeah, I think something like this might be enough to drag me back there. So why should I return, you have something to deal with this?" "Not really. Well... yes. Kinda'. Anyway, Cyllyl kinda' figures that you've been a bit wishy-washy. Not playing with the home team and all that. If you walk away, she cannot be sure that our secrets will be safe with you. Severed heads from your foes will make a nice temporary cure, and Cyllyl says that the curse will be lifted once she's satisfied of your loyalty. You- You really should come back, you know. You don't have to, of course, but... ouch, man... lots and lots of ouch." Urthdigger looked down at the glow circling his arm. He didn't want to do any more killing, but this pain was excruciating. Karren stepped back, terrified of what was happening to him. She opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. Everything stopped, including the curse spreading up his arm. "What's going on now!?" shouted Urth "Ah, this is a transplanted memory." said the Avatar "As I stated before, I cannot do much here. I can't even make a physical form here, so whenever I speak to you outside of a dream, I've merely given you a memory, including your reactions based on your personality." "Sounds a bit elaborate to me." said Urth "So why are you here? Can't I have some peace and quiet?" "Yes, of course you can. Giving up on your mission is a whole different story." "It's my life, I can do what I want. Every time I find one of the other survivors, it's at the cost of the inhabitants of that world. I've helped destroy two worlds so far, dragged five innocent people into dangerous situations, broken countless laws, and from the looks of things, I'm going to need to learn something from assassinating random people in order to find the rest. It all seems like too much to hurt all these people just to restore one world." The avatar set up a puppet stand and ducked behind it. "I knew you wouldn't like this place." A hand puppet of Urthdigger popped up onto the stage and looked around. Dark clouds were lowered down into the sky. "Oh woe is me." said the Avatar in a higher pitched voice "All alone and forced to ditch my morals in this hellish world." The Avatar switched back to his normal voice and narrated some more "However due to free will, you became more depressed than expected. Eventually you ran into Karren, who convinced you to leave." The clouds rolled away and the backdrop was replaced with one of Karren's room. A Karren puppet was lying on the bed. "Screw my friends!" said the Avatar as the Urth puppet leapt onto the bed. Urthdigger blushed considerably and the stage vanished in a puff of smoke. "In all seriousness though, I was prepared to let you take your time up until you quit." said the Avatar "You'll be glad you've gone through with this. Someday the lesson you learn here will help you avoid a mistake that will cost millions of lives." "Somehow, I doubt anything I learn here will help save anyone. Anyway, you can see my future? Do I find Karren Stormeye?" "Of course I can. I'm your writer, your god, I'm all knowing when it comes to you. Granted, free will means any one of numerous possibilities could occur..." "Just answer the question, do I find her?" "...that all depends. If you continue on your current course of action, then no. If you gain Cyllyl's favor so you can depart from this world, then there's about a 70% chance you will." "...You sure drive a hard bargain, and I guess with my new predicament there's not much I can do about it either. I guess you get your way, like always. Luck's always on your side, good thing for you Kereth decided to intervene eh?" The Avatar stifled a laugh, "What's so funny? Oh no you didn't! He mentioned odd visions, that was you wasn't it? You altered a vision from Cyllyl, she's gonna be pissed!" "It's not quite what you think. The god's of this world, although more capable of doing things here than us, are still below us. It was really nothing to suggest to her that your cowardice suggested you weren't loyal. She's not going to be ticked off at all... not at me anyhow. Oh, but I did impersonate her for the vision where Kereth recieved that spell." "You bastard. Do I really have to continue on this quest? I don't like you pulling all the strings." "I can't tell you everything, but suffice to say that all the bad things I do to you are very much for your own good, and not just to build character. Ever since your dimension was destroyed... no, I can't say any more. Here, I can tell you're pissed, so here's a parting present." The Avatar vanished and a white mist surrounded the arakun. Karren screamed. Urth looked around for the cause before remembering she didn't see what happened. Time had been restored, but his arm no longer hurt. The curse had spread up to his elbow in that short time, but it didn't seem to be proceeding any time soon. "What happened to you?" asked Karren. "Nothing, don't worry about it. I'm heading back to the guild. Seems they want me back.
Urthdigger stormed into Powint's office. For once she showed emotion as an expression of suprise flashed across her face. "I see you're back. Did you forget something, or did you actually decide you like it here?" Urth was tempted to tell her to cut the crap, but stopped as he realized she might not know what had happened. "While I was away, I had a vision from Cyllyl. She told me I was to return to the guild and spread her word across the retroverse. She gave me this to carry out her work." He made a show of stretching out his left arm. Even with the glowing gone the curse was still evident. Where once there was fur, now there was none. His skin looked hard like stone, and was light green with darker green glyphs running along it. Powint looked unimpressed. "Pretty, but what does it do?" Urth hesitated momentarily. He didn't think he would have to explain, and hadn't planned this far. "It... I can disintegrate things by touching them." Powint seemed satisfied with the answer. "Fascinating. Consider the last week a vacation, you're reinstated. Is there anything else you need?" Powint's tone was still one of being annoyed, but her words seemed nicer. Urth decided it was time to ask what he came for. "Yes actually. I know all the other novices donate heads to you, I need a few. My new skills require it." Powint's mood darkened considerably "You were a decent Hand, you just lacked motivation. You can get some yourself." It's been said that the best lies contain the truth "I haven't been entirely truthful. This isn't a gift, it's a curse. If I don't use it, it's going to cover my entire body and I'm going to die a horrible painful death. Now I don't want that. I can pay it back, I just need some insurance in case I get off to a rocky start." Powint sat back in her chair and thought about it. "Fine. They'll be deducted from your dues. This will take just a moment." She departed to a back room and returned a short while later with a small bag. "50 dues worth. Don't spend it all in one place mind you. I look forward to your success Urthdigger, now get out." Urth bowed deeply and departed. He stopped over in Elena's shop next door to pick up some hashish and theriac, then left for home.
Karren looked at him inquisitively as he packed together his old supplies and began sharpening his dagger. "What arrre you doing" "I'll be heading to Crypt for the next few days, I'll see you when I get back." Karren sat down next to him "I don't think so. I'm coming with you." "Are you sure? We're talking dangerous descents into caves infested with kobolds and goblins, long treks into the wilderness-" Karren quickly hushed him "Not anotherrr word. I've always wanted to see the worrrld, and this is as good an excuse as any. Besides, I can take carrre of myself." The words came slowly, as if she was thinking them up as she went along. Urth caught on and grinned slyly. "You don't wan't to come along, you're just worried about me!" Karren blushed and turned her attention to packing a knapsack full of food "It's not like that. Don't starrrt thinking I have feelings forrr you. You'rrre just some guy I met in a barrr." Urth gave his blade a few final strokes, then stuck the dagger in his sash. "Well, I'm ready. Follow me if you wish, but I don't want to have to save ya. Help me, or stay out of my way." Urth grabbed the sack of heads off the floor and slung it over his shoulder on his way out. Karren followed him closely behind, on their way to Scarrowfell.
Scarrowfell laid just a few minutes away from the castle. It was particularly bigger than Drandiss and was far more active, mostly because the portal to Limbo in the Adventurer's Guild made it a center of activity for adventurers visiting Perdow. Urthdigger and Karren walked past the city gates and were welcomed by the sights and smells of city life. The stench of the squallid resdences mingled with the wondrous aroma of fresh food wafting out of the inn. The park was remarkably well kept for a place with no sunlight, and contrasted drastically with the bank next door. "So why come with me anyway?" said Urth "Crypt is just as dank and dreary as Perdow." Karren shrugged "If I'm going to be trrravelling, it might as well be with someone I know. I like yourrr company, you'rrre cute and fluffy, like a giant teddy bearrr I can f-" "Hey! Is that a demonic duck of some sort?" The duck quickly vanished around a corner. "Must have just been my imagination. So why me? There's plenty of other arakuns in the Hands." "They'rrre all insane. It's nothing but Cyllyl this, shinies that. You on the otherrr hand just rrramble incoherrrently when you'rrre high." His curiosity satiated for the time being, Urth stepped into the adventurer's guild. The portal to Limbo stood suspended in thin air, and Urthdigger couldn't help but be reminded of the portals to the Void he had become oh so familiar with since his dimension was destroyed. Both were more or less the same, a rip in space that went to an intermediary place as a means of travel, but while one provided transport between planets, the other provided transport between dimensions, and he'd never see it again until Cyllyl was satisfied. Urth stepped into Limbo and reached his hand back to help Karren across. As usual, Limbo proved to be an unstable place at best. The pair made their way across the path to Crypt and soon found themselves in front of the granite pool. "See you on the other side." said Urthdigger as he jumped in. The dark granite surrounded him on all sides, and soon the darkness enveloped him. When he finally came to, Karren was nowhere to be found.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 7, 2006 10:38:21 GMT -5
Hand Puppet: Kereth
Urthdigger tried to steady his aching head and get a grip on his surroundings. He could hear laughter and the smell of beer hung heavy in the air. Usually the portal dropped him off on the streets, but for some reason he had awoken in a pub or the adventurer's guild. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light he found himself to be in the latter. It was good to know he was in a safe place, but his head was killing him and Karren was nowhere to be found. He was starting for the door when an elderly-looking zombie grabbed him by the arm. "Excuse me sir. Your lady friend told me to tell 'the cute ball of fluff on the floor' that she has gone shopping. I can only assume she meant you." Urthdigger looked around the room. The adventurers were all races with little or no hair, most of them humans, minotaurs, or devils. It had to be for him. "Thanks for telling me mister..." "Underhill" said the zombie "The necromancer found my body under a hill" "Right... Thanks for the help Underhill." Urthdigger hated the undead. Not only were they usually trying to kill him, but they were also just unnatural. He considered life as something sacred, seeing it tampered with in such an odd way ticked him off. He left to the dark streets of Igneous to wait for Karren. She probably wouldn't be back for a while, and as long as she was spending money, it was only right that he make some.
Karren returned to the guild and was dissapointed to find that Urthdigger had left. After all she went through to carry him off the streets, the least he could have done was wait for her. Granted, she did whack his head against the side of the door carrying him inside, but that didn't even stop his snoring. She wasn't surprised that he left at the first opporunity however. For a Hand, Urth was rather chivalrous and didn't want her to come to harm. He saw adventuring as something he had to do, whereas she saw it as, well, an adventure. Not that it mattered, no matter how fast he went, or how well he masked his appearance and scent, there was nowhere he could hide from Karren Lockheart. She found him in a dark alley in the residential district. He did a good job of hiding himself, his fur pattern matched well with the mud on the wall, but Karren knew he was there. He was hard at work picking the lock on a large house's side door. "Hey coon." she said as she stepped up beside him "You know, some people might take offense at your liberal view on possessions." "They can care all they want" said Urth as the lock sprung open with a satisfying click "It won't help them catch me." Urthdigger pushed the door open and stepped inside. The interior was decorated in early "I'm rich and you're not." Gilded tables were lavished with silver centerpieces, crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and expensive art plastered the wall. On a table in the center of the room laid an ugly black statue. While his form was drawn to all the shinies, Urthdigger forced himself over to the statue. He had read about it, it was an item of worship for a dark cult who's name had been lost ever since the forces of Sikkar destroyed the cult. All of the statues were rumored to have been destroyed, making them valuable to museums and collectors. "For someone who's so adamant about doing the right thing, you sure do a lot of bad things." "I don't do anything wrong, it's not like I'm stealing from anyone who's poor. I just steal from those who can afford it or deserve it." "Like total strangers you meet in bars?" Urth shot Karren a sharp look before stuffing the statue in a sack. "I was stressed ok? Anyway, what I do is take money being stockpiled by the rich and put it back into circulation, and an arm with no circulation goes numb, so what I'm doing is keeping the economy from going numb, understand?" "Not at all, you lost me at the stupid parrrt. Just get done with it." Urthdigger explored the rest of the mansion, finding several other statues with similar histories. The paintings on the walls were all concerning death and destruction in one way or another, creating a very gloomy attitude. Urth took the more cheery paintings but left most of them where they hung. His job complete, Urthdigger slid down the bannister to the parlor where Karren was waiting. "Well, I've taken everything I can carry, unless you can think of something else." Karren tapped her cheek thoughtfully "Well, I can think of one thing." About an hour later Karren was casting a light healing spell on her bites and scratches. She had taken the time to change into her new outfit, an impractical suit of leather armor. Knee high leather boots combined with a leather skirt that wouldn't even slow a sword. The jerkin was more of a vest, leaving her arms completely bare and looking quite snug. Urth gave her an embarrassed smirk. "Sorry about that," he apologized "I-" "Hey, stop apologizing." replied Karren "I'm not complaining at all. Anyway, what do you think of my new outfit?" "Cute, but couldn't you have gotten something a bit more functional?" "The shopkeeperrr said it was good." "It's good for something all right," said Urth "Just not for fighting. Come on, let's go." He pushed the side door open and stepped out into the open alley. "About time you came out thief! Hands up, you're under arrest."
Urthdigger looked down the alley at his assailant. The guard was human, roughly twice his height, and wore a leather jerkin over plain clothes. The most vital part of his attire was the crossbow he had aimed at Urth's head. "Don't make me repeat myself. Drop the loot and come over here slowly. There's nowhere to run coon." Urthdigger laid the sack of loot down carefully and started walking towards the guard. "Not so fast. Hands up, palms toward me. Wouldn't want any nasty surprises." The guard knew what he was doing. Urth took his hand off the dagger and put his paws up as he was told. When he was a few feet away he was stopped again. "Wait right there. Now if you'll just turn around and put your hands behind you I'll make sure to get you a nice cell." This was the point Urth had been waiting for. He turned around, but while doing so he muttered a short spell and jumped, shooting up into the air like a rocket. The guard was too late firing the crossbow and the bolt passed harmlessly under Urth's paws and embedded itself in the far wall of the alley. Urthdigger couldn't help but blow a raspberry at the city as it shrank smaller and smaller beneath him. SMACK! Urthdigger was caught off guard by the impact of hitting the cave ceiling. As if to add injury to insult, the guard had fired a second bolt up after him. The bolt tore through Urthdigger's right wingflap, rendering it useless. Even after taking off his sash to allow full use of his remaining wingflap, it was all he could do to slow his decent and avoid becoming a smear on the cobblestones below. He hit the pavement hard and took a few seconds getting up. Once again he found himself stuck in a city with the watch on his tail, but this time there was no way out. The rest of the guards would have been alerted by then, his only option was to hide until an opportunity presented itself. Urth ducked into a nearby alley and listened for the sound of pursuit. When he heard nothing he began to relax. The guard that shot him hadn't caught where he'd gone down, and was probably still looking around the crime scene. A green light flared up in the alley. Uthdigger looked around for the cause of it before he felt it. Pain as if his entire lower arm was being torn apart at once. The curse was back, and the heads he needed to cure it were back with the loot! Urthdigger stumbled out of the alleyway and ran down the road, trying not to scream from the pain. He caught sight of the familiar mansion a few blocks later and quickened his pace. The alley was soon right in front of him, and he almost slipped on the loose stones as he entered it. His goal laid in plain sight, along with the guard he had come to loath for the past ten minutes. "I knew you'd come back. Just had to keep the cash didn't you?" The guard didn't seem to notice Urth's pain, or if he did he didn't care. He aimed his crossbow at the arakun and fired again. Urth quickly rolled out of the way and dashed for the bag. The guard pulled out a club for close combat and swung it as Urth ran towards him. A quick slide and Urth barely passed underneath the swing, having had to turn his head to avoid getting hit in the nose. He quickly rolled onto his feet and practically dove into the bag and pulled out a head. He motioned his hand over the blank eyes of the grisly trophy and chittered a quick incantation to Cyllyl. The guard brought the club around again and this time managed to smash Urthdigger on the back of the head. The deed was done however, and the curse stopped spreading. The pain was replaced with a feeling of disorientation, as he couldn't quite convince his muscles to work. As Urth laid on the ground, the guard calculated his strike, brought his club up, and swung it down hard. Karren watched the whole ordeal from inside the house. She didn't want to interfere, and strongly hoped Urth would win. She knew what fate awaited him as a gifted one, and as such was not too saddened by his demise. Instead she felt anger as the guard continued to pound Urthdigger's body flatter and flatter, despite him being dead after the first few strikes. At first she assumed the guard was merely doing his part to make the city safe, but it was soon apparent he enjoyed the job too much. Although she had wanted to only defend herself if need be, she was through caring about this creep's life. She stepped out into the alley to deal with him. "Hey there." said the guard "Just what are you doing out here by yourself?" "I was with him." she said, pointing at the smear on the floor "Helping case the joint, doing the heavy lifting, that sorrrt of thing." "Well I'm sure we can reach an agreement of some sorts, maybe back at my place over drinks? It'd save you the trouble of what he went through." Karren reached out with her right hand and clenched her fist, causing the guard to double over in pain. "Sorrrrrry, I don't date pigs, and you'rrre sorrrely mistaking who's in trouble herrre." She twisted her fist, causing the guard to howl in torment. "My name is Karren Lockheart, that rrring a bell? You'rrre a young fellow, so I'm prrrobably beforrre yourrr time, but I've killed farrr betterrr men than you." She gave her fist a final sharp twist. The guard tried to scream but all that came out was a high pitched whimper. Keeping her right hand in a fist, she brought her left hand above her right and repeated the action. The guard clutched his chest trying to stop the pain, but it was useless. Karren yanked her left fist back, causing blood to spray out of the guards chest. "Aww." said Karren "Someone's got a brrroken hearrrt, it shouldn't do that." She let loose an evil laugh. After all this time, it felt so good to cut loose. She grabbed the bag of loot and turned to face the reinforcements. "So, you boys want to play too? I'll warn ya, I play rrrough."
Urthdigger found himself once again adrift in the judgement plains. His body had perished, and now he remained in between life and death, neither alive, nor passed on. A light off in the distance beckoned him onward and he found himself drifting towards it. As he got closer, he could see it was a fabulous white temple. There were anakim floating about singing hymns, and other souls awaiting their judgement. Despite being dead, they were oddly happy about their condition. The wait felt like a blissful eternity, despite lasting a few minutes. As he made his way into the temple, Urth was shocked by the lack of people. He had expected to see a judge, or one of the anakim, or at least one of the other souls. Instead, there was just a marble altar with a white book on top of it. The book was useless, just a bible. Urthdigger knelt down at the altar and prayed to Sikkar. He prayed for a swift judgement and return to the retroverse, and added that Karren be watched over and kept safe. He barely noticed the temple fading away, leaving him in darkness. Urthdigger awoke to find himself back in the Hand guild. He checked himself over, noting that everything seemed ok, although he noticed with disdain that the curse had spread rather fast and was up to his shoulder now. His clothes and supplies were in a pile close by, just like before. The feeling of contentment from the judgement fields was still with him, and he was in no hurry to get back to Crypt. He idly put his things back on and headed over to the recreation room to relax for a bit.
Kereth was standing on one of the stools of the bar, eating something unrecognizable. There was a rumor that the more mysterious meals from the bar were what the heads were used for, a rumor Powint firmly denied. The Imam's back was to Urth, and he was hesitant about approaching. Kereth always seemed a little unstable, fanatical in his devotion to Cyllyl, yet prone to seemingly random and sporadic killings, and while he said he was doing the work of Cyllyl, it seemed all too likely that he could kill a potential follower of Cyllyl. He had never known him to kill a member of the guild, but given his record he didn't want to risk anything. Urthdigger sat down on the stool next to Kereth, completely obscuring himself behind the counter. "Hey Kereth" he said casually Kereth nodded "Howdy. If you're going to ask about the curse, I can't help you." Urthdigger rubbed the green flesh along his left arm and shook his head "It's not that. I'm just wondering about Cyllyl. You said you've seen here?" Kereth nodded, turning back to his food. "That I did." "And what does she look like?" Urthdigger didn't know why he asked that. He was curious about the goddess that controlled since a confusing guild, but of all the questions bubbling in his mind, that seemed like an odd one to reach the surface. Kereth paused upon hearing the question and pondered for a moment. "I don't really remember, I never do. She could be blond, brunette, short, tall, kreen, or human for all I can recall." Urthdigger was dissapointed. For such a simple question, he didn't get anything close to an answer. Kereth noticed and added "I remember that she was very beautiful though, and very, very wise. She also has some awesome shinies." Urthdigger smiled in spite of himself. It all seemed to fit together now. "I'd expect no less from a goddess," he said "You've told me a lot more than I asked. Thank you." He hopped down from his stool, bringing his paw up to his face and drawing it off to one side. It was an odd salute he picked up somewhere along his travels, and it's meaning was no doubt lost on Kereth. It was an extremely informal salute, easily done and subtle. It meant that while the person saluted was of higher importance than the person saluting, they had at least a small understanding. He understood now that Kereth was insane. There was no reason behind that face, no comprehending what he did. Only complete and total pure devotion to his goddess. It was unclear how much of what he did was truly Cyllyls work and what was his own misguided notions, but he was a loyal and determined subject. The others in the guild were likely the same, blind to everything but their devotion to Cyllyl. As he thought about it, he realized everyone in the guild had an obsession of some sort, an obsession that inevitably led them to Cyllyl. Not always obvious, they were nonetheless determined in everything they did to reach that goal. Whether the obsession was aided by Cyllyl, as was the case with Urthdigger, or Cyllyl herself as with Kereth, they had that one thing in common. However, as is the case with obsessions, seldom did they follow reason. They sought to increase Cylly's power, but were secretive and stealthy about what they did. Few outside the guild knew of it's location, or even of the power they wielded due to their secretive nature. At times, he wondered if he was the only reasonable one in the guild, who sought to question the way things were. As it was, Cyllyl's religion was a dying one. Few people on the side of the light wanted to be seen associating with her, and those who lived their lives in darkness favored the Nameless One. He almost felt sorry for them. Gods never seemed to do well with a lack of followers, and should their paradise be real, what would become of it should the religion die out? He pondered this on his trip back to Scarrowfell to head back to Crypt. There wasn't much he could do about it after all. He was just one arakun, and to help out the guild would likely mean to go against what he had been taught as his duty to Cyllyl.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 17, 2006 15:59:21 GMT -5
Urthdigger wasted no time in heading to Crypt. In the excitement of running from the law and the disorientation of death, he had forgotten all about Karren. He had no idea whether she was safe or not, but the longer he waited the higher the chance something would happen in that time. Urth took to the air immediately upon sighting the hills of Perdow to avoid having to deal with any bandits. He sighted a few down below pestering other adventurers during his flight. The gates of Scarrowfell drew closer, and Urth adjusted his flight for a steep dive. He hit the ground running on all fours just outside the gates and sped into town, the guard making an attempt to pat him on the head as he blazed past. His agility put to the test as he weaved his way among the crowd of people on the way to the adventurer's guild. The guild itself was packed with all sorts of races seeking to leave Perdow. Urth jumped onto a centaur's back, then onto a tortle before leaping over a thuul to reach the portal. Limbo itself was less packed once beyond the entrance. Urth took a few seconds to get his bearings, then stepped off the path and bounded for the granite pool. A deep rumbling sound echoed through the landscape as a colossal sand worm picked up his footsteps and rose from the earth. Urthdigger paused momentarily, stricken with fear. The sand worm was now fully extended, it's mouth pointed straight at the little arakun. Urthdigger finally willed his legs into motion as the worm began it's bloodthirsty descent. He dodged out of the way of the beasts gaping maw, but the shockwave from it plowing into the dirt sent him scittering across the ground. Battered and bruised, but still alive, Urth continued his run for the pool. The attack had the fortunate side effect of knocking him well outside the worm's detection range, but the noise had attracted the attention of some of the other denizens of limbo. Urth veered hard to the right to avoid getting near a floating bag of spores. He was almost to the pool, but there were enough monsters in the way to ensure he wouldn't make it. He couldn't afford to die again and start all over. Urthdigger ducked under a thraxodemon's strike and began softly chanting. The demon raised his claws for a second attack but was too slow. Urth had finished his spell and hopped toward the pool like a giant flea. He took more time to prepare than last time, this time going for a long jump that was a little higher than his foe's heads. He landed on the path just a little way from the pool. "Should have thought of that earlier..." he muttered to himself. The granite pool seemed to stretch down into infinity like an endless well. Urth was tired from the recent excursions, but there was no point in resting now, he'd just fall asleep when he went in the pool anyway. He held his breath out of habit, and jumped in.
Surprisingly, Urthdigger didn't lose conciousness as he went through. It got darker and darker as he fell down the pool, and rather than speed up as he would falling anywhere else, he slowed down and eventually came to a stop. It was pitch black by then, darker than anything he had ever seen. He waved his paw in front of his face, and was mildly confused when his infravision didn't pick it up. He didn't have long to ponder this as the area slowly became brighter. He was floating a few feet above the streets of Igneous, gradually being lowered to the ground. As his hind paws touched the ground he could feel gravity take hold once more. He made a note to think about his trip later. For now, Karren was the first priority. The alley where Urth had died was now a hub of activity. The new recruits to the city guard were busy cleaning up the remains of their predecesors and investigating what had happened. His own corpse was among the evidence collected, but it was mangled enough that nobody recognized him as he took a look. It was an odd experience to be looking at his body from the outside, the features he'd come to know so well lying in front of him as if they belonged to someone else. He tore his gaze away from his own demise and examined the rest of the crime scene. Chalk outlines detailed where the corpses had lain, none of them showing a tail. The pile of corpses waiting to be carted away had no fur to be seen. A small tuft of Karren's fur was the only evidence to be collected aside from the corpses. With no body and no known suspect, that meant Karren had to be alive somewhere. The only question now was where to find her. Urthdigger left to the pub for a drink. Information wouldn't be bad either. Inside the pub, Urthdigger went straight to the bar and fiddled with a mechanism on one of the empty stools. A remarkable device, the mechanism allowed the stool to be raised or lowered to accomodate those with height problems, and was simple enough for an ettin to use. It had yet to be adopted by most bars however, due to it's high cost, smaller races like atomies and paupua still had to stand on the bar and larger races like behemoths still towered over it while sitting on the floor, and due to a rising number of complaints where smaller races would sneak up below eye level and release the catch on a stool someone was sitting on. The complaints were the least of the problems however, as no matter how bad the victim fell they tended to break their fall on the prankster. Urth finished setting the stool to his height and nimbly climbed up to his seat. The bartender was busy cleaning a greasy mug, as they always were. "Hey barkeep" asked Urth "Get me a mug of ale, and make it snappy." The bartender grunted and filled the mug he was wiping. The mug was still filthy, and now probably made everything taste like a dirty rag, but that didn't matter since it was an improvement over the beer. Urthdigger eagerly accepted the glass and sipped it slowly, hesitant to get too much of the foul beverage in his mouth at once. "You call yourrrself a drrrinkerrr?" said the customer next to him. "Herrre, like this." The catfolk grabbed Urth's mug and tilted it back, filling his mouth and getting a lot all over his chest and up his nose. Urthdigger gagged and sputtered, spitting beer all over the bar. "Bleh!" exclaimed Urth "What are ya trying to do?" "Get you to notice me." said Karren "I've been sitting herrre this whole time." "Oh." said Urth blankly. He had forgotten she had changed her clothes, and only just now recognized her. "I'm so glad you're alive. I was really worried about you." "Of courrrse you werrre. Come on, I'll explain what happened on the way, you came here for more than just ripping off some old guy right? Let's go."
Karren explained the battle in hushed tones as she walked with Urth to the north gate of town, looking around every once in a while to see if anyone was listening. Once outside the main gates she loosened up and explained some more. "So what kind of guild are you in anyway?" asked Urth "I thought you were just a biomancer." "I am..." said Karren "but not 'just' a biomancerrr. I was an apprrrentice to a biomancerrr who studied some odd ways of using ourrr magic, ways to manipulate the body to harrrm rrratherrr than heal. She especially hated men, who she viewed as the sourrrce of everrrything wrrrong in this worrrld. Being the imprrressionable little kitten I was, I believed herrr. I became herrr loyal followerrr, learrrning all sorrrts of ways to punish men for theirrr tendencies. Togetherrr, we werrre the terrrrrror of the rrretroverrrse, fearrred by men everrrywherrre. Housewives of all sorrrts came to defeat us, but none prrrevailed." "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" said Urth in alarm "Oh, sure, tell a cute guy like you that I used to kill people like you on a whim? I like having you around, I didn't want to say something like that and make you leave. I'm only telling you now because I trust you enough to hear me out to the end," "So what happened? I notice you're no longer on a patriarchal murder spree." said Urthdigger. "I starrrted thinking about the women attacking us" replied Karren "We werrren't hurrrting them, why werrre they hurrrting us? I soon found out they werrre all widows, people who's husbands we killed. Theirrr families werrre brrroken, and most of the men werrre innocent upstanding citizens. I was shocked to say the least, so I left my masterrr and fled to Perrrdow. All that was of any interrrest therrre was the guild that doesn't exist, it was the perrrfect place to dissapearrr. I neverrr hearrrd frrrom my masterrr again, and the murrrderrrs soon stopped. I can only hope she perrrished." Urthdigger was silent for a while reflecting on the story "Ahh, so that's why you pick up random guys in bars, to spite your old master!" "No, I'm just a nympho. So, where arrre we going anyway?" A massive mansion loomed in front of them, shadowy shapes lurking behind the windows and shuffling about the grounds. "Haelis' mansion, home of all the undead you could ever want."
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Urthdigger
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Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 17, 2006 15:59:46 GMT -5
Hand Puppet: Arakun
Urthdigger ducked and weaved out of the ghoul's paralyzing touch, taking the occasionally swipe with his dagger. He hopped back as the bony hand came within inches of touching him, dashing forward as soon as his paws touched the ground to take advantage of the opening. Being a Hand involved quite a bit of field work learning how best to assassinate the various races. Not only did this apply to anatomy, learning which areas to strike to deal the most damage, but also learning the tendencies of their fighting style. Ghouls for instance were fast for undead, but still undead, and hence slow. They relied on their paralyzing touch to incapacitate foes, after which they could drain the life from their victims at their leisure, so despite their speed they only really needed one hit. Urth had been unlucky to catch this one's attention, but it soon wouldn't matter. He drove both of his daggers into the undead, aiming for two of the spots where the magic holding it together was strongest. The light from the ghoul's eyes dimmed and it fell to the ground, lifeless once more. The eyes themselves were rough gems, the absolute focal points of the necromantic enchantment, although this was pointless in defeating it as it was much easier to poke a dagger through it's body and disrupt the flow of magic than to shatter the gems. Besides, they were shiny. Urth collected the gems and cut off the head before disposing the body. Life had been good for the past while. He spent a considerable amount of time on Crypt, but also travelled to other worlds, taking on demons and undead wherever he found them, as well as the occasional moving picture when he needed the cash. He started focusing on his studies more at the guild now that his life depended on it, and had graduated to the rank of Fidai, one who has finished his training and is ready to move on to greater things. The curse was not lifted upon achieving his new status however, and had gotten worse with time. He kept a good grasp on how much time had passed since his last fix, but the time between feedings was becoming shorter each time. The afflicted section had crept along his shoulder to his neck, and was halfway down his left wingflap. He often wondered just what he was meant to do. Any other Hand could have been considered dismissed by now, no longer bound to Cyllyl. Why then was he still being forced to serve her? "You might try doing something above and beyond the call of duty. A and B the C of D wot?" The Avatar had chosen to materialize on top of Urth's head. He gracefully hopped off and sat in front of him. "Like what?" said Urthdigger in an annoyed tone." "I recall you thinking about the plight of the other Hands a few months back. If only there was something you could do to fix it..." "I assume there's a reason to bringing that up. Do you have some idea of what I should do?" "Of course, but finding out is half the fun. I'll give you a push in the right direction though: Head to Sosel, and let your emotions be your guide." With that the avatar vanished. "I'm sorrrrrry," said Karren "Did I miss something? Who was that, and what brrrought that up? It's like therrre's a whole parrrt of the converrrsation I missed." "How did you-? Nevermind, he's an old aquaintance of mine." replied Urth "Knows a lot, but he can be a real jackass sometimes." "Ah. So, you gonna go orrr what?" Urthdigger shrugged "Don't see a reason not to, I don't have anything else to do on Crypt." Urth packed up his loot and left the mansion. Something was bugging him. The Avatar said he didn't have the power to make physical manifestations, so how did Karren see him? There was also something nagging him about Sosel, a reason he shouldn't go that he just couldn't remember. He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and climbed onto Karren's back for a ride to the Sosel shaft. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her close, desiring the warmth of her body next to his. Karren merely smiled at her companion and carried him to their destination. She had been glad to have his company over the past few months. She'd grown accustomed to waking up to find him at her side, and it was beginning to be awkward being with anyone else. She was beginning to think his steady lifestyle was rubbing off on her. She'd be the last to admit it though. She didn't want to waste her time on dates, weddings, and other pointless things, when they both knew there was one reason they were together. It was just natural for her to care about the well being of her little toy, and enjoy having a guy she could count on to be there and not run after the next loose trick he set his eyes on right? They reached the shaft in about an hour. Urth had fallen asleep, so Karren poked him in the shoulder until he woke up. He was still mostly asleep, but at least he was responding. She shook around a bit to try and loosen his grip. It didn't work. "Come on sleepy head, ride's over, wake up." Urth slowly slid off of her, stopping for a moment as his hands slid over her breasts before dropping to the ground. "Sorry, didn't mean to fall asleep like that." said Urth as he stretched. Karren shrugged "No problem, you probably needed it." Urth looked down at the bottomless pit. It was always scary jumping into them. As he got close, something seemed to tug on him, pulling him closer to the edge. It wanted him to jump in, to take him into itself and devour him. In a way, it was creepier than the pods on Sosel which DID eat him. There was no point in waiting around however. Swallowing his fear, he jumped.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 23, 2006 14:07:15 GMT -5
Urthdigger sped up to unbearably fast speeds as he fell down the shaft. This was the other part of the Crypt world transport he hated. 1... 2... 3... Urth spread his arms and legs and used his wingflaps as an air break to slow his speed. Gravity was suddenly flipped as he left the transport, skidding across the floor of the Edon adventurer's guild and out the front door. He flapped to slow his speed even more every bounce until he came to a stop across the street. "Gangway!" Urthdigger dodged to one side as Karren sped past him. She did a quick turn to carry herself down the street and stopped outside a restuarant. "Woohoo!" exclaimed Karren "I love doing that! Nothing like the feel of the wind rrrushing against yourrr face." The restuarant was a small one, overlooked by most, but the smell was inviting. " This place looks nice." said Urth "Come on, let's grab a bite to eat." The smell of raw fish was stronger inside, practically overpowering at the counter where a werewolf was doing business. "Herro. Wercome to Rittre John's authentic orientar cuisine. We have ramen, sushi, chow mein, teriyaki pork..." "We'll have some sushi, thanks." He was starting to get sick of fish, but it was the only meat he could eat where he didn't know someone it could have been. At least it'd be a break to have it prepared some other way than fried. It made no sense that arakuns were carnivores. He tried some fruit a while back, with unpleasant results. The sushi arrived a little later, and Urth tried to make small talk. "So, where do you think we're meant to go?" "Hell if I know. Let's just poke around and see what we can find." They finished their meal in silence. The food wasn't half bad, although the atmosphere could have used some touching up. The place looked like a dump, and the only other person eating there was a unicorn in the far corner nursing a bowl of ramen. The unicorn looked up from his bowl suddenly with a slightly puzzled expression and began chanting the words to a spell. An odd wind swept through the restaurant, gathering loose papers and the occasional chopstick in it's grasp. The room shook violently as a bright light shone down through the ceiling carrying a young man, human and dressed in modest garments. The human was laid down gently on the floor. The light faded, the wind stopped, and the room stood still once more. The man got up and put on some armor that had come with him, pinning a sentinel badge on last. "So how'd you go this time." asked the templar. "It's that damn fallen fort." said the sentinel "It's gotten a lot tougher recently. There was some Gifted One there, I don't know how he did it, but he was giving orders to the fallen there, organizing training drills and armor manufacture. I'm going to speak to one of the wizards about this, he's really making it harder for the rest of us." The sentinel stormed out of the restuarant. The templar turned back to his meal, still finding it too hot. "Wow." said Urthdigger "That was pretty cool." Karren rolled her eyes "It was just a standarrrd rrressurrrection, sheesh. So, wherrre werrre we beforrre the distrrraction?" "We were talking about how we have no clue what to do next." replied Urth "Rrright, rrright. That thing with the forrrt sounded interrresting." "I hate the fallen and all, but doesn't that seem a bit out of our league? Sentinels are experienced Gifted Ones, and it was too tough for him!" "Shows what you know, sents die all the time. Besides, you can't get a much more obvious clue than that." Karren was right. After all, what was the worst that could happen? Death was only an inconvenience here. The two waited until the werewolf's back was turned before sneaking out the door. They passed a calender on the way out that had a note for the 11th of Phoenix. "Arakun mating season begins. Beware..."
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Urthdigger
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Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 24, 2006 18:38:05 GMT -5
It was lightly drizzling when Urthdigger and Karren left the city. Nobody in town seemed to know where the fort was. Most of the people downright ignored them. That left the two of them to wandering the forest until they found it. "See anything up there?" yelled Karren. Urth climbed back down the tree trunk. "Sorry, the trees are too thick to see anything on the ground. We'll have to search on foot." They wandered north for a while, coming across a very modest encampment with a man wearing rags tending to the fire. He started to panic upon seeing Urth. "Get away from me you monster! You coons have taken my money, tore up my gilded tunic, even knocked out my damn gold teeth! There's nothing left to take! Go away!" Urth now saw that the man's rags were once a noble tunic with gold rope around the edge, which had since been torn to shreds, and several of his teeth had been knocked out. He looked terrible. "Look, I don't want your money, I just want you to do something for me." The man's eyes went wide with terror "Oh no you don't! Get away from me you freak! Monster! Creep!" The man brandished a flaming stick from the fire and began swinging it around. Urth dodged it with ease. "Look, won't take long, I just want you to-" "NO!" "TELL ME WHERE THE DAMN FALLEN FORT IS!" The man stopped swinging the branch and was silent for a moment "That's what you wanted?" "Yes, what did you think I wanted?" "I thought... nevermind what I thought. Fort's east of here, 'bout a day's walk. Business been good there lately. At least it was 'til you coons took all my money and goods. What am I supposed to trade now? All I gots left is my dignity, which ain't worth much from a guy like me." Urth felt sorry for the guy. He searched around for some strong smelling herbs and roots, chopped them up, and put them in a bag along with some money. "Here. It's not much, but it should get you back on your feet. Hopefully the smell will make the other arakuns keep their noses out of it." The man was surprised "T-thank you sir. You won't regret this." The man got up and ran off to to Edon. Karren watched as he left. "I bet a hundrrred gold he spends it drrrinking. You're too soft forrr yourrr own good you know." "Just seemed like the right thing to do. Besides, I didn't give him too much... I think." The fort was where the trader had said it was, and they arrived shortly after nightfall. It had indeed gotten bigger, hastily built walls formed the new boundary and plumes of black smoke rose from the smithies. "It's terrrrrrible..." said Karren "At least we can stop it... I hope." said Urthdigger "I'm glad to hear you say that." said a nearby bush "We need all the help we can get."
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 31, 2006 22:43:12 GMT -5
Urthdigger's daggers flew to his hand in an instant "Who are you?" "Easy now" said the arakun, stepping from his hiding spot "No need to get hostile. Name's Trevor, but everyone calls me Turbo on account of me being the fastest in the village. I've been following you since you found that old trader, wanted to know why you wanted to come here. Since you don't seem to like them, that makes you on our side." Urth sheathed his daggers "Sides? You're making it sound like a war, but I haven't heard of one." Turbo chuckled to himself "It IS a war, but we've been fighting it so long nobody pays any attention. We've been using guerilla tactics to raid supplies and cut down on their numbers, but recently a Gifted One has taken control of the place and it hasn't been the same since. As it is we're pretty hosed, good thing you're going to help us. Err, you are going to help right?" "Well, that is why we came here. Count us in, my name's Urthdigger, but you can call me Urth." "My name's Karren, pleasurrre to meet you. "Great. Makoto will brief you on the details back at the village. This way." The village was a short ways away, and occupied the same valley as the fort. The continued expansion of the fort threatened their home, it was no small wonder they were fighting back. "So Urth..." said Turbo on the way there "Is Karren your girlfriend?" "Yes." said Urth. "No." said Karren. There was an awkward pause "I see... wanna share?" asked Turbo. "WHAT!?" exclaimed Urth. "Surrre." replied Karren. Turbo sighed "Ok, I'm confused." Karren explained the situation to him "We'rrre trrravelling parrrtnerrrs with prrriveliges. He's got no rrright to tell me what to do. He doesn't usually have a problem though." Karren was right. For the most part Urth didn't care what Karren did when they weren't together, or who she was with, not even when she left in the middle of dinner to go with the waiter back on Wysoom. Now however, he wanted to beat the snot out of the other arakun for even having the nerve to ask such a question. "Fine." he said "But only after the briefing, I want no delays. My time is very important to me." The way into the village was a small trail lying off the beaten path. All was quiet until they stepped into sight of the village. A slight tingling sensation passed through their bodies as they passed the barrier and the silence was shattered by the noise of the village. Most prominent were the various songs being played by bards, mixing together to form a nameless tune of lutes, pipes, harps, and flutes. The village was far from complacent. Children were running around laughing and playing, a few of the men were outside a smithy, one of the few stone structures, working on making various tools and weapons out of steel, and plenty of young women could be seen tending to the field. Urthdigger tore his gaze away from the farmgirls bending over to pick vegetables and tried to concentrate on his task, a hard feat given several of them were returning his attention, staring at him eagerly. "So Turbo," said Urth impatiently "Where's Makoto at anyway?" "He might not be in." explained Turbo "He was out on a raid when I left, and might not be back yet. General Max Kale, the second in command, will probably brief us instead. Either way our destination is the same, the headquarters in the center of the village." The majority of the village was made up of large trees. Tiny compared to the giants that supported Edon and Fenriss, the trees nonetheless housed multiple families in burrows that went through the tree's trunk. Multiple walkways connected the trees to accomodate the lazy and flight challenged, and Urth could see a few of the other races walking among them as they passed beneath. Thanks to careful planning and efforts from the druids, the trees continued to thrive despite the tunnels through them. They were exceptionally well done for such simple houses, and the natural wood that made up their walls did wonders to insulate against heat and noise. The simple cloth flaps serving as doors however, did not stop anything. The smell of sweat, perfume, oils, and incense hung heavy in the air and the cries and moans drowned out the music, forming a haunting melody all it's own. There were also a large number of arakuns lounging around the area, ranging from sitting around smoking tobacco, to making indecent exposure an art form. Urthdigger embarrasingly adjusted his sash and tried to ignore his form's pleading urges. Even Karren stifled a laugh. "Umm... Karren?" said Urth, finally getting the point "What day is it?" "Hmm? It's the thirrrteenth of phoenix." Phoenix. Fire. Flames. Hot. Heat. Girls in heat. Mating. Phoenix marks the start of arakun mating season. Urth sighed as the chain of thoughts led him to the conclusion. He should have seen it coming, he had been acting so differently lately, but he had attributed it to being used to Karren's company. There are many books with in depth information on arakun mating habits, most of them in x-rated stores. In the interest of keeping this book in the libraries and out of those stores, an excerpt from the biomantic textbook "A Scientific View of the Races" will be used. "Arakuns, being an intelligent race, differ greatly in behaviour between individuals, most adopting more conventional mating rituals, especially in civilized societies, and mating occurs year round. There is a period of time stretching from Phoenix to Hound however, commonly referred to as their mating season, where levels of testosterone and estrogen are more abundant in their system. This leads to increased libido, aggression, and impulsive behaviour. The degree of change largely matters on the upbringing of the arakun, with arakuns in cities showing considerably more restraint than those raised in native settlements in the forests of Sosel. Arakuns are generally avoided during this time due to an increase in crime, especially mugging and rape, even among more civilized members of the species. Mating habits are frequently irresponsible, particularly in 'wild' habitats, with around 90% of males and 50% of females having more than one mate. Size of the male plays a large role in obtaining a mate, and fights amongst them are not uncommon. After mating, gestation typically takes 5 months, and single births are most common, but twins, triplets, and quadruplets are far more common than most humanoid races. Contrary to the raccoons they resemble, the males play an active role in raising children, being a father for the children they know are theirs, and doing whatever they can to help those who might be." A large arakun knocked Urth out of his thoughts to the ground "Hey, you staring at my girl?" Of course he had been "Of course not." "Oh, so yer saying she's ugly." "No, I'm saying I've got better things to do." "Oh, being a smartass are ya?" "You're just asking for a fight aren't you?" Urth got up to his feet and put up his fists. The other arakun took a swing at him that was easily dodged. Urth gripped a dagger in his tail and ran towards his opponent as if to make a punch, bringing his tail around at the last minute to slice the arakun's arm just deep enough to nick a nerve and leave it intact. The pain caused was enough to incapacitate the arakun for a little while. "Pick a fight with me again and I'll do a lot more than nick ya. I'm VERY handy with a blade. My partner over there" Urth jerked his thumb at Karren "can put you through so much misery you'll wish you'd never been born. Come on Karren, we've wasted enough time. Let's go." Turbo had been frantically waving his hands the whole fight, trying to stop him "Now you've done it, I forgot to mention there's a much faster way to attract Max's attention." Urth felt the cold familiar feel of steel clasping shut around his hands.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Sept 15, 2006 11:07:50 GMT -5
Max slammed his paws on the desk in fury, upsetting the piles of paper that littered it. "You idiot! We are in the middle of a war!" he slammed the table again with each exclamation for emphasis "We are fighting for our lives here! We need to stay in top condition, not beat each other up. In the future, you'll keep your hormones in check, is that clear?" They were in the command post of the village. Turbo, Urth, and Karren were all seated in front of the desk Max was behind. Max Kale was a young arakun with a gentle voice, but his demeanor was anything but. His smooth brown fur was kept neatly behind a green cloak and tartan kilt. Urth's shackles had been removed after he was calmed down, but Max was keeping a watchful eye on him all the same. "Yes sir, but-" started Urth "Don't call me sir." stated Max "Right." continued Urth "Anyway, I'm new here, and the other guy started it." "I don't care if he killed your grandmother, I expect everyone here to deal with things in a professional manner. How can we fight the enemy if we're busy fighting ourselves? Common sense kid. Terrence, this the best you can find? I bet he can't even tell up from down, and the cat looks more like a whore than a warrior." Turbo hopped down from his seat to present his report "General Kale, I believe they're qualified. The subjects were seen a few miles west of here conversing with an old human. Although the human clearly didn't want to see the arakun, Urthdigger, and even attacked him, he did not retaliate and even paid the man for his time after getting the informaion he needed, leading me to believe he is of good character. Upon arriving at the fort, their conversation suggested they were planning on taking it out for moral reasons, further convincing me that they would join us. Urth fended off a number of the native creatures that attacked him using only a pair of daggers, and was skilled enough to defend himself against another arakun just now, causing great pain with a minimal amount of damage. Also, he's Gifted. As for the girl, Karren, I've yet to see her do anything, but he speaks highly of her skills." Max hmmed for a moment and searched around for a piece of paper. "So...Urthdigger is it? What kind of name is that?" he said as he wrote some stuff on the paper. "Nickname si.... General." said Urth "My name's James. James Quickclaw." "How do you spell that? You can spell it right?" said Max. Urth started to speak but was interrupted before he could get a word out "No, don't say it you moron, that'll take forever. Here, right it down." Max passed the pen and paper to Urth, who signed it "James 'Urthdigger' Quickclaw" in the only clear spot. "Congratulations." said Max "You're now a coon of the military." He snatched the paper back from Urth's dumbfounded grasp and read it out loud. "I hereby swear complete loyalty to Makoto Quicktail and all my superiors. I understand that this is a volunteer army and I will not be paid, nor will my family or loved ones be compensated should I fall in the line of duty. I am aware that failure to follow orders will result in death. Should I come across any loot, all of it will be given straight to Max Kale as payment for the opportunity to fight for a good cause. Signed, James 'Urthdigger' Quickclaw." Urth's daggers were at Max's throat in an instant "Is this some kind of joke?" Max calmly glanced down "What are you gonna do to me?" It was a rhetorical question asked in a thingyy attitude, but Urth was surprised at his own reaction. Max's gentle voice asking him that caused his heart to skip a beat and ideas to streak through his mind. It wasn't just his voice. Something about the guy was attractive, but he didn't know what, nor did he want to find out. "You think you're so smart, figure it out!" snapped Urth A crossbow was readied behind Urth's head. "Sorry Urth." said Turbo "But Max is fighting for my home, I can't let you do that. Besides, I'm getting paid quite handsomely for my loyalty. Oh, and before you get Karren to hold me up with something, let me inform you that my crossbow has a hair trigger. My death will certainly cause it to go off." "That was a test" continued Max "and you failed utterly. Whether your anger caused you to be hasty, or you wanted to prove me wrong by showing me you could write, your emotions caused you to not think and make mistakes. Emotions aren't bad, I pity those who have killed theirs, but without rational thought behind them you're no better than our ancestors. You're not the only one to fail, most do, but the ones that succeed are paid from the spoils of those that fail, and as a result are very loyal to me. Terrence is one of them, and many others stand in the way of freedom. No matter your skills, if you kill me or disobey orders, you will die. The smart choose to be ruled by their greed, the dumb are forced to be ruled by fear. That's how things work around here. Now why don't you make the first smart move of your life and put those toys down?" Urth slowly lowered his daggers and put them back in his belt. Turbo lowered his crossbow. Karren sat back in her seat. "The lady's free to join as well. She won't be paid either, but she'll be free to leave at any time." said Max. "I'll think about it." replied Karren. "Well, with that settled, consider yourself on recruitment duty James." "If I may be so bold." interrupted Turbo "We may be able to take down the fort with our current troops. Besides, I neglected to mention in my report summary that Urth occasionally would take a severed head from his bag and drain... something from it. He also glances frequently at his left arm, doing so more often the longer it's been since he drained a skull. A possible correlation may lie between the two. I suggest that he be placed on combat duty as soon as possible, in case something might happen if he runs out." "Well James, please elaborate on this condtion of yours." asked Max. Urth explained as much as was neccesary about his curse, leaving out the circumstance under which he obtained it. "So there you have it." said Urth "If I run out of victims, I'll die a horrible death. I don't want that, and I'd hate to do anything drastic just because you're letting me take it easy. Orders or no orders, I'm marching into the fort tommorrow, and it's up to you whether to join me or not." Max's fur bristled at being talked back to like that "You're lucky I'm in a good mood. Terrence, if you honestly think we can make it with our forces, I want you to contact all our allies as soon as possible." "Ok, I'll set out first thing in the morning." "Actually, I want you BACK by noon tommorrow." "But..." he looked at Karren desperately. "As soon as possible means as soon as possible, not as soon as it's convenient. Head to the biomantic college first, they should help if you're tired. Anything else can wait until you come back." Turbo glanced back and forth between Max and Karren before finally storming out of the room. Max turned his attention back to Urthdigger. "I feel kinda sorry for him ya know. Everyone calls him Turbo 'cus he's the fastest thing around. Nobody else better at running messages or supplies. Unfortunately there's rumors that he's... fast all the time." Urthdigger thought about it for a moment "Can't think of how that's a bad thing." Karren snickered. "You really are an idiot." sighed Max "As for you, I want you back here by noon tommorrow as well. Do what you gotta do, just make sure you're up and ready when I need you. You may leave the village if you must, but don't think of running away. We have plenty of rangers handy to search for you." Urth motioned for Karren to follow him and left the room as quick as he could while still retaining his dignity. First the Avatar, then the Hands, and now Max. He was getting really tired of being told what to do. After the two left, Max sighed to himself, got up, locked the door, and sat back down in his seat. He felt the call of nature as much as anyone else, but with Makoto gone, it was up to him to lead the village to victory. He had to set a sterling example for the others, at least so long as he was in public. He glanced up nervously at the door to make sure it was indeed closed, then opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. The truth was, he was scared of what was to come. He was expected to lead the village to victory over an army. He didn't want to betray their trust, and he especially didn't want to lead them to their deaths. Max took a large drink, grimaced at the burning sensation, and choked it down. Worrying could wait for another day. For now, he was alone and free to indulge in his pleasures.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Sept 20, 2006 23:39:40 GMT -5
Urthdigger walked out of the building and into the embraces of a lovely female standing outside. "There you are, my handsome hero. Another couple of minutes and I would have thought of leaving." Urth was startled by the display of affection and tried to escape her grasp. His body was not being very cooperative. He looked around for Karren, but she was busy chatting up a trio of triplets. "Hero? I can't think of anything heroic I've done lately." The arakun giggled and scratched the back of Urth's head. "You stood up to Gendo. He was such a control freak, wouldn't let me have any fun. Then you came along, and got him stuck in confinement. You have no idea how grateful I am. Want to come over to my place for coffee?" "I don't like coffee, too bitter." "I meant sex." Urth had been in this kind of situation before. He had been going around the dimensions for hundreds of years, and every so often some girl would get it in their head that they were meant to be together. He tried his best to get her to dislike him, but not hate him. "Jeeze you're fast, I don't even know your name." "It's Ayaname, now come on." Urth tried harder to wriggle out of her grasp "Sorry, I've got some urgent things to do." "I don't care, whatever it is can wait." Urthdigger finally got his hands free and pushed her away. "I'm sorry, I'd really like to take you up on your offer, but I can't." He began walking away. She didn't follow. He could hear her cry a little as he left. That was how it usually wound up. He reasoned that she'd be fine in a few days. Still, it hurt to do this to them, both because he really wanted to join her, as well as the pain of hurting her. It was more than just loyalty to his old girlfriend this time around. As a dimensional traveler, he was meant to leave as little permanent impacts as possible. Everything he brought there had to be brought back, and he couldn't alter the technological advancement of a world. There was nothing that said he couldn't have a kid, but that seemed to qualify under leaving something behind. Urth made his way to the village entrance with little trouble. He had to clear his mind, preferably somewhere away from all the distractions. Karren was looking around the village for Urthdigger. Things hadn't gone as planned with the triplets, and now she was bored. It was odd, there was so much tension in the air, so many looking for love, but they were all too busy with each other to consider her. She didn't like not having a guy around. They made things more interesting to say the least. A few people mentioned they had seen him leaving the village, so she left to see if she could find him. He hadn't gone far. He was sitting on the bank of a stream, most of his body submerged with only his head and arms above the water. She approached him, laid her clothes next to his and slipped in next to him. "Brr, it's cold." she said "What are you doing here?" "Well, I was going to float on my back and think about the futility of decisions in a circumstance where both are the wrong thing to do." "What happened to that plan?" "I forgot my fur soaks up water well and sunk like a rock." "I can see why that would be a problem." They sat there for a while, letting the cool water sweep over them. "So, how'd your little 'date' with those guys go." asked Urth out of boredom "Terrible" replied Karren "Apparently wanting to do them all at once is perverted. Fricken prudes." "Uh huh, sure. I'm sure most guys would have no trouble with that." replied Urth sarcastically. "I notice that girl no longer has a deathgrip on you. What happened there?" "I made up an excuse and ditched her." "Harsh dude." "Well... what could I do? I'm already in enough hot water as it is, and besides: She's an arakun." "What's that got to do with anything? ... oh right, kids." "Exactly." sighed Urth. He looked over at his companion. The moonlight made her look all the more beautiful, especially how it sparkled on the water dripping from her curvaseous body. "I'm glad you're here." said Urth "More than just the nightly companionship, it's nice to have someone to confide in. Someone I can trust, someone I can share my feelings with, someone I can love." He leaned over and gave her a kiss. Not one of passion, but of romance, of a friendship that's something more. They stayed there locked in the moment for several minutes that felt like a lifetime. "Don't get used to it." said Karren "I'll still be me, no matter what you do." She pulled him close to her, making her intentions obvious. Urth grinned, but was interrupted by a rustling in the leaves. "On second thought," he said "let's get a room. I get the feeling we're being watched." Urth got out of the water, shook himself dry, and put his clothes back on. Karren did the same, albeit hesitantly. "If you say so. Don't see why it's such a big deal though." As they left for the village, Urth swore he heard a clump of grass snap it's fingers and say "Aww man..."
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Sept 20, 2006 23:40:23 GMT -5
Elsewhere... They say staying in one place makes one stagnant, so we're going to take a slight vacation. It won't be far, same race, same planet, but different actors on a seperate stage. Arakuns are a sentient race, but deep down they are still animals. Your average arakun is nice, caring for life and the welfare of the forest. Just like animals however, they can represent the darkest parts of temptation and cruelty, mixed with the brand of insanity only sentience can provide. Eve Summers was a ten year-old human girl that lived in Edon. Her parents were middle-class, and she lived a content life amongst her circle of friends. She liked arakuns, one taught her nature conservation class. She found them cute and funny, and wished she knew one her age. She did know some her age, but didn't know they matured faster, so she thought thought they were older. Night was falling, and she was on her way back home. She took her usual shortcut, which was now spooky with the sun down. It was much faster than the path down the streets however, so holding her trembling hands together, she walked down the alley. She felt relieved when she spotted the arakun leaning against the wall. He was a sign the alley was safe, that she could pass without fear. She placed her complete trust in him. Vlad Mason was an arakun, about fifteen years old. He had ducked into the alley for a smoke when he saw her. The girl's face lit up with joy as she saw him. Such a face full of innocence and bliss. He was going to have fun with her. He waited until she trotted past him before reaching out and grabbing her shoulder. "Where are you going missy?" said Vlad "I'm going back home." said Eve "My parents probably have dinner waiting for me." Vlad rubbed his paw along Eve's neck. He liked the furless races. "Well why don't you just stay here a moment, I want to show you something." Eve started to back away "My dad told me not to talk to strangers, and my mom's probably worried..." Eve started to run, but didn't get far. Vlad sprinted after her and cupped a paw across her mouth, using his other paw to prepare his victim. "Too late for that now." he hissed "I'm going to show you one act of mercy I show all my victims: I will not lie to you. Now, this is going to hurt like hell..." There would be no masked hero to save Eve from her captor, indeed there would be no happy ending for her at all. Not until her defiled corpse was found strewn all over the alleyway the next morning would anyone know where she was.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Sept 21, 2006 12:37:19 GMT -5
Meanwhile... For most arakuns mating season is a happy time. Such was not to be the case for Rick Taylor. He was married to a wonderful wife, and joyfully taught the other races about protecting nature in his weekly classes, one day for kids, one day for adults, and the other five days were all to himself. He liked the kid's class more than the adult's class. They seemed more ready to learn, and didn't raise issues such as profits and expansion. Besides, they found him cute, and that was always a plus. It was the night of his anniversary, although this was far from a sad time for him. He loved his wife more than anything else, and was diligently putting the finishing touches on his present to her. The present was perfect when he bought it, an oak brooch in the shape of a pair of raccoons holding hands, with tiny sapphires and emeralds for their eyes. It was wonderful craftsmanship, and the gems were incredibly shiny, even in the dying light of the moon. It seemed almost a shame to give it away, but he reasoned that he'd be able to see it adorning her cloak every day. A few more cuts with his knife and it was even more perfect than before. All seemed right in the world. Tok. Tok. Tok. The sound of a woodcutter chopping down a tree interrupted his thoughts. He almost dropped the brooch as the tree shook again. It was the tree he was resting in! He dropped down from the tree to have a word with the nightly lumberjack. Tanis Zane was the name of the woodcutter. He came from Welstar, where he had made a moderate living logging, and came to Sosel in hopes of striking it rich. He'd never heard of anyone cutting down the trees that covered the planet, so it wouldn't be hard to corner the market on rare Soselian lumber. All he had to do was cut his way through the tree's massive trunk, which was proving harder than anticipated. He pulled back for another swing, and the axe was pulled out of his hands by a small forest native. Rick waved the axe just out of Tanis's reach, then uncoiled his tail from the branch, doing a flip before landing on the forest floor. "I'm gonna have to ask you to stop. These trees are important for the well being of all who live here on this planet. They provide food and shelter for hundreds of races that live here." "I need this wood to make a living! My family asks so much of me, all I need is a little wood to make their wishes come tree." Rick could tell from the elf's voice that he wasn't telling the whole truth. He was just a greedy man looking for a quick buck. He wouldn't have let him cut the tree even if Tanis did need it, but it would have made it easier to reason with him. "I don't care about you and your family. I care about all the animals and even sentient races you'll harm by cutting down this tree." Tanis gritted his teeth. His fortune was inches away, with just a small savage standing in his way. "Give me back my axe!" Rick didn't like where this was going. Talking him out of it was going to be all the much tougher. A guilty thought passed through his mind and he grinned in spite of himself. It wasn't like him to be mean, but he had sworn to protect the forest. It'd be so much simpler to make sure the elf never tried to cut down a tree again. He could never do that though... or could he? Wild beasts roamed the planet, and an untrained individual becoming a snack was not an uncommon occurence. He felt the axe's deadly weight in his hands. He could do it. He could get away with it, and then he could go back to his wife all the sooner. He hefted the axe up with both hands. "How about a compromise. I show you what it's like to have an axe go through your midsection, and then once you know what you're doing to these trees you can have it back." It was at that moment that Tanis realized that although Rick was smaller and weaker than him, the arakun had a weapon, whereas he did not. "Please no, look, I promise I'll never cut a tree again." "Damn straight!" said Rick. The axe was sharp and in good condition. It cut through flesh much easier than wood. He hastily got to work disposing of the body, eating part of it for a small snack and to help give the illusion of an animal attack before deciding to bury the body. The meat was surprisingly bland, he had expected it to be sweet. It wasn't until he was almost home that he realized what he had done. He had killed a creature, not out of the need for food or defense, but merely out of convenience. What he had done was monstrous, he couldn't believe such a thought had even entered his mind to begin with. He glanced over his shoulder out of paranoia. Nobody there. It didn't relieve his fears. He made a slow climb up the tree to where his simple home was perched. It was made of wood from fallen branches and smaller trees that didn't have as much of an impact on the enviroment. It was a bit small for the time being, but he trusted in Gaia to supply him with more spare wood for an expansion. His wife greeted him as he entered the door. "Hi honey, did you have a nice day.?" "...It was great Anne. Look, I got this for you." He presented the brooch to her. She gasped as she saw it. "Oh my stars, it's beautiful. Thank you so much. You're a real nice guy, you know that Rick?" "...Thanks." he replied bashfully. She placed the brooch on the endtable and grabbed Rick's hand "I'll never forget the day I first met you. There was that magical feel in the air as I saw you. I could tell from your eyes that you loved me as much as I loved you, you didn't have to say a word." Rick started to say something, but Anne quickly hushed him "Not a word. I've picked out just the right candles, it's going to be just like that day." She brought him into their room and gave Rick his present. The candles had burned low later into the night, and she got up and blew them out. Rick stayed in bed, his mind on the events of last night. "Was something wrong?" asked Anne "You didn't seem like your usual self." "...No, nothing was wrong, it was perfect. I was just... it's nothing. Just something I need to take care of tommorrow." She didn't like his tone. He was hiding something, but whatever it was he probably had a good reason. "Ok, just remember you've got class with the kids tommorrow. It'll probably do wonders for whatever's ailing ya anyway." She blew out the last candle and got back into bed, draping her arm over her husband. Everything would turn out fine tommorrow, she just knew it.
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