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Lev Lafayette wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:1259492662.6001.18.camel@squirrel" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 19:44 +0000, Nic Hughes wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">"As for the sword? I do not want the sword. Its reputation is enough
to fill me with dread. I came to speak with its keeper and to try to
win his aid."
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
The Fourth looks at Aalmon and smiles.
"You have said all the right things courier. Your teacher taught you
well." Aalmon stops playing with the rocks for a moment, which indeed
change colour as before, to look up at the Fourth.
It is at that point that Aalmon notices as glimmer in the Trollkin's
eye's, like the reflection of the moon and the stars themselves,
although they are indoors. There is a sudden realisation to the Far
Rider, the Trollkin is an Illuminate!
"Oh yes. My master taught me many secrets as well. And taught me a sense
of individual responsibility, despite what tradition says."
"Tradition says that Trollkin should not rule over Trolls. But just a
few years past, I helped lead a rebellion and worked with the Empire of
the Sun to recover the Blood of Yelmalio. This time, at last Yelm
recognised the Black Sun. It had taken him long enough."
"And then I met a being from Peloria, who taught me the path to
Illumination. From there I made my home here, at the old Blue Moon."
"The Moons wax and wane. The time of the Blue is long over, but it still
have influence through mysticism. The time of the Red Moon is almost
over. The rise of the White, the Moon of Peace, could be beginning."
"Because you do not want this power, it is most suited to you."
The Fourth talks in the ear of the Dark Troll who leaves the room. In a
few moments he returns, bearing a greatsword, wrapped in oily rags.
"This is Mekdoru. I'll let him tell his story"
Mekdoru, whose head has been looking downwards for most of the
proceedings, now rises for a speech, his voice full of passion and
nobility. He speaks of his lineage, through his mother's side of course,
until it reaches as mistress race troll called Natchkling, companion to
Talor, and bearer of this weapon.
Merkdoru speaks of how he was a a great warrior and was asked by those
of Shadow's Dance to send forces from the Blue Moon Plateau to put down
the Trollkin rebellion. Eventually he tracked down the leader of the
rebellion and accepted a challenge to meet him in single combat.
Merkdoru had no fear, for he carried an artifact, the Darksword, a
weapon unlike any other, which could cut through any armour, destroy any
shield, break any that sought to parry and slay all those it struck.
Merkdoru sought out the leader of the rebellion, a funny, pathetic
little Trollkin who wore his peasant's hat backwards and had a string of
fish around his neck. His only discernable weapon was a short stick. The
Troll approached the little kin and mocked him and told him the powers
of the Greatsword. The Trollkin looked at him calmly and said "In ten
seconds you will be begging for your life"
Merkodu said "And why would I do that? What could you, mutated stunted
little creature, possible do to reduce me to such a status. I should
slay you now and end this rebellion! How can you possibly defeat me in
combat?"
The Trollkin smiled. "I am sitting on dry solid land. You are standing
on quicksand".
And so it was that the Troll Merkodu surrended to the Trollkin and
became his servent. The Trollkin brought his fellows here and now the
Troll serves the Trollkin in all ways.
Merkodu lay the greatsword at Aalmon's feet.
"And now", The Fourth says. "Takes this lesson. Go, Far Rider, and
fulfil your destiny"
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
Aalmon sat there feeling rather pleased with himself. He could still
remember how it had been when he was filled with ridiculous optimism,
how his mind had worked when filled with the folly of hope, it was easy
enough to speak with the words of that idiot idealistic person he had
once been. He spoke the words, the trick was not too think too much
about how absurd it was to have any hope at the moment his mouth made
the sounds. He had done it often enough that it had almost become a
habit, almost easy.<br>
<br>
This time something was wrong. He looked around as Fourth spoke, here
he was surrounded by the strange creatures of the Darkness in a land
where the very soil was poison. His companion was walking food for
these monsters. He waited for Fate to spring her trick and to set off a
new round of suffering or humiliation and it did not happen. They had
been treated with nothing but kindness, there must be something wrong,
there must be a trick. He saw the glint in the eye of the trollkin and
a thought stirred from deep within him and the thought was that maybe
nothing was wrong,<br>
<br>
maybe<br>
<br>
he<br>
<br>
was <br>
<br>
wrong.<br>
<br>
Like a man breaking free of water for breath he felt he could see with
sudden clarity, his eyes unblurred. Fourth knew what he knew, he spoke
of quicksand and Aalmon had been in quicksand over his head for a very
long time. Words of prayer to his gods swirled in his mind, combining
in strange patterns with the lore of the Minderkind School - they gave
him comfort but ultimately they were a distraction. <br>
<br>
Focus on the eyes.<br>
<br>
If there was true kindness in this place of all places then kindness
did exist. Then hope did exist. Then everything he had thought,
everything for a very long time, was wrong. Because if there was any
hope then hope was everwhere and he had been to afraid to see it. He
realised that nobody had moved, nobody had even blinked. Had time
stopped? Another distraction, it was not important. Look into the one
pair of eyes that understood, that see with this clarity. Is this the
true challenge he must meet here? Or perhaps it is simpler than that,
the First Man had sent him here because he knew that by now the Far
Rider would need to be here, need to be sat in front of this
diminuative ridiculous looking creature and have his world torn apart
by a word. Then the real test was whether he could find enough trust in
his soul to trust the First Man, to trust Fourth because without that
he could not learn to trust himself and then he would remain truly lost
beyond the reach of any map.<br>
<br>
OOC: One of the challenges for Illuminates in ILH2 is "Be treated with
kindness when you know all is hate". I think Aalmon is definitely in
the mindset of "all is hate" and this feels like a dramatically
appropriate time for a bit of soul-searching by Aalmon. The sample
difficulty for this challenge is 10W4 against which Aalmon has his 10W
Seventh Soul with augments from his relationships with
Erelia&Verelia and the Minderkind School. He has quite a lot of HP
banked, I think he is going to have to use a fair bit of it!<br>
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