Reign your dreams

Malevolous speaks. A dream vision of a man who once could have been king.

Claire:

Oh, what a day!

Cassandra:

Hmm?

Claire:

Now that Jane told me about all this, I really doubt in King Galandir!

Cassandra:

Only now?

Claire:

Oh, come on! We couldn't have proven anything about him being all evil and that.

Cassandra:

Couldn't we?

Careful.

Claire:

Eh?

Cassandra:

Who was that?

Stranger:

Careful, girls. Do not trust every word you read. You have found one story. I will tell you another one:

Malevolus:

* bol flas *
* bol flas *
* bol flas *
* bol flas *
I think I know who that is.

Coroth:

Now where can the king be....

Alignment set to evil.

Coroth:

Why to you fight back when you must know that it is you king that is evil.

Arroc:

Damn you!

Coroth:

* bol flas *

Malevolus:

Kill the beasts.,

Coroth:

You fools fight back when it is your own king the betrays you!

Malevolus:

What do you mean?

Coroth:

What I mean is that it is your own king that deceives you!

Malevolus:

Get rid of the minions, I am prepared to listen to any wizard.
Thank you.

Coroth:

Now then.

Alignment set to good.

Coroth:

Your king is the one who has corrupted the ring.

Malevolus:

He has?

Coroth:

He was the one who planted the message within it.

Malevolus:

That fits.

Coroth:

and he who deceived you into believing that it was I that tried to kill him.

Arroc:

What?!

Coroth:

You may not believe me, but it is the truth.

Arroc:

You did not try to kill Galandir?
guard

Malevolus:

* bol flas *
* bol flas *

Arroc:

* bol flas *

Coroth:

I come now to cleanse the castle of him.

Malevolus:

Indeed?

Coroth:

It is time that the evil king be removed from this castle.

Arroc:

He tried to kill you by telling everyone you tried to kill him?

Malevolus:

It all makes sense now.

Coroth:

Yes, convincing everyone it was I.

Arroc:

But the note by the bracken?
and the chaos ring.

Coroth:

Which note might that have been?

Malevolus:

* bol flas *
* bol flas *
* shel *

Arroc:

It was signed by you.

Coroth:

The choas ring was the kings own evil currupting it.
I never signed such a thing!

Malevolus:

* pur *

Arroc:

Hmmmm

Malevolus:

Have ou never heard of a forgery?

Arroc:

Who to beleive....

Coroth:

Now I am labeled as an assassin for all of the kingdom to hunt me down.

Arroc:

I am so confused.

Malevolus:

Coroth is a wizard.

Coroth:

Believe who you might, I come to cleanse the castle.

Malevolus:

* bol flas *

Arroc:

Why did you abandon your post as a guard?

Coroth:

With or without you.
Do you not see that the king was evil!
That is why I left my post.

Malevolus:

* bol flas *

Coroth:

Not evil, corrupted.

Arroc:

I think.....
I trust you, Coroth.

Coroth:

Currupted by power and greed.

Arroc:

Power does do that to people.

Coroth:

the king does not have an heir to the throne...

Arroc:

I beleive you.

Malevolus:

What of the Duchess?
Would she not stand to inherit?

Coroth:

She has been missing for a long time.
This was part of the reason why the king became so insane.

Malevolus:

No one told me. Why am I not told these things?

Coroth:

The king would not have wanted that to leak out..

Malevolus:

Ah.

Arroc:

So what should we do?

Coroth:

I am going to scour the castle in search of the king.
If he is found I will bring him a swift end to his misery.

Arroc:

I suppose you must kill him?

Coroth:

Yes, that is the only option.

Arroc:

I am sorry to hear that.

Coroth:

I will take it into my own hands.

Arroc:

I suppose you are right, however.

Coroth:

You two will not have any of this on your hands.
Once the deed is done I will have to flee this town
I will make it look like an accident and make it so that one of you will cede to the throne.

Malevolus:

One of us?

Coroth:

Yes, one of you.

Arroc:

One of us.....

Coroth:

The king does not have a heir.

Malevolus:

Interesting.

Coroth:

I was considering Malevolus, his name reaches far throughout the countryside.

Arroc:

He is more popular.

Malevolus:

I met a troll who knew my name once, that was surprising.

Coroth:

Less chat, we much remove the king at once before he escapes.

Arroc:

What you have always wanted.......

Coroth:

You two! Go this way <---

 

Coroth went towards the kings chambers and it was there he killed the king.

 

Coroth:

Poor old king.....

Arroc:

move

Coroth:

The deed is done.

Malevolus:

You have succeeded?

Arroc:

heel

Coroth:

He was killed in his chambers.

Arroc:

free

Coroth:

That appears to be the end of his majesty.

Arroc:

*shudders*

Malevolus:

Indeed.

Arroc:

What a shame.

Coroth:

Argh! Another citizen!

Malevolus:

Not a pretty sight.

Arroc:

He had it coming, though.

Malevolus:

Arroc, deal with Yerrak.
Wait.

Coroth:

I must make haste, the cards will fall into place Malevolus.
Until then, good day.

Malevolus:

Farewell Coroth.

 

Coroth left them and the Elite Guard walked in soon after.

 

Elite Guard:

Where is the king?!

Arroc:

He will never live again.

Malevolus:

A tragedy.
Alas, the king has died.

Elite Guard:

What has happened?

Malevolus:

We came in here and he was there, cold.

Arroc:

We do not know.

Yerrak:

I came to the castle and was attacked by Coroth

Elite Guard:

Quite a tragedy...
Coroth?

Yerrak:

Then we found the King.......

Elite Guard:

was it he who did this foul deed?

Malevolus:

Your majesty...

Yerrak:

It must have been

Arroc:

We cannot know.

Elite Guard:

I did find one piece of parchment that you will find most interesting Malevolus.

Malevolus:

Oh? What is written there?

Elite Guard:

I suppose it was there all along in the archives. *Scratches his head*
He states that you are the relative of King galandir.

Yerrak:

! ! !

Malevolus:

I am?

Elite Guard:

Therefore......
It appears so.

Arroc:

THat means Malevolus is the heir.....

Elite Guard:

*Kneels down*

Arroc:

*bows*

Elite Guard:

You are...the new king.

Yerrak:

*bows*

Taken: Gold Crown

Given: Gold Crown

Malevolus:

Then my first act must be to declare a day of mourning for King Galandir.

Elite Guard:

Yes, sire.
I shall remove the body at once.

Malevolus:

Indeed.

Elite Guard:

A prepare him for burial.

Malevolus:

It is a sad fact that you were absent at the time of his death.
As were we all.
Too late...

Elite Guard:

Yes, it is quite disheartening.

Arroc:

Indeed.

Yerrak:

Agreed

Elite Guard:

I shall rally up the rest of the royal staff and tell them of both the sad and great news.

Yerrak:

If I had not stopped to deal with that poison beast.......

Elite Guard:

I will gather the royal mages to prepare the old kings body.

Arroc:

Do you think Malevolus is now in danger?

Yerrak:

Yes I would think so.

Elite Guard:

If the evil Coroth comes back, he could be in danger.
I am curious to know how he got in.

Arroc:

He needs all the protection possible.

Elite Guard:

The gates were closed this morning.

Malevolus:

Perhaps he had some greater magic than we know of.

Elite Guard:

There must be a tunnel under the castle.

Yerrak:

hmmmm

Elite Guard:

If we can find it we can close it immediatly.

Malevolus:

The matter must be investigated.

Elite Guard:

Yes, indeed your majesty.

Malevolus:

I will leave it in your capable hands.

Elite Guard:

I shall get to it at once!
*Bows*

Cassandra:

Wow. This really happened?

Stranger:

No. This is just a story. A story of a man named Malevolus.

Cassandra:

A dream vision, that is?

Stranger:

Yes, so to say.

[Many thanks to Jinker for clarifying that story.]

Read...

How King Galandir died and who King Malevolus was

Rumours about the short reign of Malevolous.

I am lucky to have a sister like mine, I must say. She is often being very helpful with my researches. For example the other day...

Jane:

Hey.
Matthias?

Matthias:

Yes?

Jane:

I've seen you on a picture of an older guild.
I wanted to ask you some stuff. :)

Matthias:

Sure, ask me anything.

 

The two went behind the bank to the docks of the fisher village.

 

Matthias:

Yes?

Jane:

Were you around back when Galandir got killed?

Matthias:

Yes.
I remember that fateful day.

Jane:

Could you tell me about it?

Matthias:

After all the festivities.
I remember... I believe it was after the Blue moon festival in Andris.

Jane:

Ah.

Matthias:

The king called everyone into his castle for a word.
And if I remember correctly, someone suspected a soul attacking the King and running away.
All hell broke loose.
There was talk about him being put in jail, and exiled.
My memory fails me on his name.

Jane:

*nods* I can find that.
What happened to Galandir afterwards and how did he come back?

Matthias:

I don't think he ever died.

Jane:

Oh..

 

Matthias:

He was injured by the bolt.
But not killed.

Jane:

I remember someone writing this:
"The former King of Mirith was slain by the mage Coroth. History will remember his name."
That is what I've found.

 

Matthias:

Coroth... sounds familiar.
Maybe he was killed... what is this of him coming back?
I mean, it was so many years ago..

Jane:

Oh.

Matthias:

An old wizard becomes forgetful.
But I remember being in the room.

Jane:

I just wondered how Galandir became King and who was King before him.

Matthias:

I always remember him being king.

Jane:

And I found this about him being killed.
So I was asking myself how he got back or if he did.

 

Matthias:

I suppose he didn't.
I'm not around Andris much.

Jane:

"Coroth the Assassin was a former mage guard of the court of King Galandir"
"In events shrouded in mystery and related somehow to the cleric Gidéon"

Matthias:

Yes, that sounds accurate.

Jane:

"he was corrupted and slew his former master in the early stages of the Neth Strife."

Matthias:

Ah, yes.

 

Jane:

So Galandir never really died.
*hiccup*

Matthias:

I'm not sure.. its one of Oberin's mysteries.
I suppose he did, though.

Jane:

I might ask Stefan.
If he did...
Then who is King of Mirith?

Matthias:

If it says he did, I'm sure he did.

Jane:

*nods*

Matthias:

What class are you, miss...

 

And the two strangers went for a hunt.

 

Jane:

Another question.

Matthias:

Yes?

Jane:

Does the name Malevolus tell you something?

Matthias:

Rings a bell.

Jane:

Malevolus the King of Mirith?

Matthias:

He does not reign any more.

So he once did reign. Shogun and Yuxu had been telling me about him before. Luckily I found some more informations about him and many others...

Read...

For want of a scepter, the Kingdom was lost

The rebirth of the Alliance and how the Royal Scepter was stolen from Mirith.

As the old documents accumulated chaotically on the table, so were Cassandra's thoughts jumping from one name to another, one era to the next, back and forth, without any apparent order or coherence. A drawing of a troll and a giant feasting over the corpse of a fighter brought to her memory a recent conversation with Kwesyther. It had taken place not that long before, during a long day of tailoring.


"I can't forget Tim the Trader," uttered Kwesyther, with a long sigh. Cassandra raised her eyes from the leather hides. It was clear that she ignored who Tim the Trader was. "When the scepter was taken," he continued," It was, hm, what moon exactly? I think fighting. The day when the Alliance was reborn."

"I don't know much about that day. Apart from the fact that the Alliance was reborn at some point."

"Well, we were tricked. That day, a certain Tim came to Mirith. A trader of sorts. His deals were wonderful."

"A medium protection ring for a hug?" she asked jokingly.

"A medium protection ring for a ring of lightning."

"Woah! And you say you were tricked."

"Well, the ring has served me well so far," he shrugged.

"What was its real cost?"

"The royal scepter. He led us onto a wild goose chase."

"Wonderful deal indeed."

"Some chest in the woods. Our greed did the rest." Kwesyther paused for a second, to pass a new thread through the eye of the needle. "In the end, he led us to Welif. It was an ambush," blue! How much he liked that blue thread! "Trolls and Giants pured forth. The Alliance, reborn."

"And you were all trapped."

"Yes. Most died. I escaped at the very last moment."

"What an honour, to see the rebirth of that... How did it end up?"

"The ambush was just a ruse. The real ambush was in Mirith. While we were outside, they stormed the city. Ciddia and Nafets did their best."

"They didn't take the town, did they?"

"Well, they couldn't hope to hold it, of course. But it was just enough to steal the royal scepter."

The royal scepter. There was something Cassandra never thought she would care about. In truth, apart from its historical value, she did not feel any sympathy whatsoever with royalty. That was actually a long discussion between her and her fellow wizard. "The king is ugly," she said once, trying to put an end to an argument. "Do you think I am ugly? I represent the King." Another time, in Aborek, they had had a similar discussion. "The difference is that I don't resent Vaup, and you resent Galandir!" She did not exactly resent Galandir. She just found him... weak, to say the least.

"What is that scepter for? Just a symbol?"

"Well, apart from being valuable, it is the symbol of reign over Mirith."

"Not that serious, then," she winked, "we can live without symbols."

"Hmrpf. When a new king is appointed, the scepter will decide whether it is the right one."

"You know what I mean. A symbol less is not equal to a living hostage. Do you believe the scepter has such powers?"

"The scepter is said to descend from the Goddess herself. Legend has that it will glow when the rightful prince becomes king. By virtue of the Goddess' approval."

"Ahem... You are a scientist, spare me!" Cassandra was getting irritated. Certainly the result of a long season in Mirith. "You don't believe in those old wives' tales, do you? The Goddess?"

"As long as I didn't see it glowing myself..."

Cassandra grinned. He seemed to have kept some of his old sense. Or not.

"The Goddess of Life."

"Who?"

"The statue in front of the bank. The statue, exactly. The being it represents."

"That you have never met."

"Vaup bases her legitimacy on having killed the previous commander, I suppose. The King legitimates his reign by the Goddess," Kwesyther shrugged, cutting down the discussion." In any case, the Twins have the scepter now."

"The Twins have it?

"That's what the attack was all about."

"Does that mean anything else than..."

"Judging from their letters..."

"... Mirithians won't know what to do if the King dies?"

"... they intend to imbue it with power. That as well."

"And make it a useful object."

"His legitimacy is questioned, after all."

"By whom?"

"No one, so far. But since the scepter is part of the tradition..."

"Was Galandir appointed by the scepter?" Kwesyther nodded. "Then we must find the twins before Galandir is senile!"

"May His Grace lead a long and healthy life. But yes."


The rebirth of the Alliance. Cassandra noted down some key informations on a loose paper. Then placed it under a pile of other loose notes. "Marali should give a course in general History to all the applicants to the Vanguard," she thought to herself, trying to blame some higher and nameless structure for her own ignorance.

Read...

More questions than answers. That's Black Magic!

Neth, Dethras, and some other mysterious Black Magicians from the past.

* Mora *

"Claire! What are you doing?" Cassandra was petrified.

"Oh, just joking," giggled Claire, in the way only female clerics can giggle, "I was reading about this Neth... Was he the evil twin of Seth?"

"I have no idea. All I know about him is that he was a Black Magic user. And that Cecil made an edition of his notes on the art.

* Elarum Mora Erarum *

"Claire, stop it!! You're not even a wizard."

"But it says here that this spell will give me a temporary boost of energy. And I'm tired!" Claire started pouting, and there is nothing worse than a pouting Claire. Cassandra quickly caught back her attention. "He tried to use the Curio as well, right?"

"Yeah... Speaking of Black Magicians and the Curio, what do we know about that Dethras?"

"Not much. Let me see." Cassandra took a quick look at her notes, wondering about the urgency of a better way to classify them. So many names, so many stories. Fortunately Kwesyther was diligent enough to have started making indices at this early stage of their research. "So, we know that he was mad, of course. And that he challenged the Goddess of Life. Our storyteller friend told us that there is no official document about Dethras, which doesn't exactly help us, does it? Some people say he was a follower of the God of Death, others say he believed to be the God himself. Loonies..."

"The Curio was still in one piece by that time, if I remember well."

"Yes, this happened at some point after Elara. It was actually because of Dethras and his followers that the cities thought it better to divide the Curio in three."

"Followers? Why do these people always have friends?"

"I don't know. Because absolute power is cool? Anyway, we know three names related to Dethras, even though we can't be sure about their role. Acres, Angammatar, and Arroc."

"Oh, wait, I think I've heard something about Senator Anderson mentioning these guys recently. She didn't know much either, but it seems that Dethras' minions had some Crystal Skulls. I think she also said that the Goddess was saved by the love of her surviving followers."

"Eww. No offense, Claire, but that sounds too girly. Oh, come on! Stop frowning, you know how much I respect your Goddess," said Cassandra with a smile.

"We better ask Nafets; he usually knows this stuff," mumbled the cleric. "Back to Neth. Have you ever read this? He was so mean!"

"Yes, there's that horrible bit where he's just watching the peasants die. And that spell, 'the Neth,' was pretty much about it. He wanted to see everyone killing each other. I guess he spent too much time around druids casting provocation. I like the names of the months in the Old Calendar, though: Mirtius, Jarius, Quiriat, Agrabal..."

"How can you even joke about this? This is so cruel... And then there is this other part written by someone else. I bet you like it, the hero is a wizard wearing a red robe. I wonder who he was."

"So do I. We still have so much to find out. For example, he talks about Salazer, the village leader. Which village is this?"

"Certainly not Lerilin, this all happened before the Black Plague. Anyway, it looks like they used to Curio to lure and trap Neth. And then everyone entered this weird trance and Neth died. Gone. Poof."

"The lich of Neth, yes. But the spell he wanted to created was locked inside a chest. Now... There's this part that keeps puzzling me. Someone called Gidéon opened the chest and released the spell, blablabla, mass murdering, and so forth. The book says that 'the King and Steward of Mirith killed Gidéon and managed to close the chest again.' Does this mean we are wrong about the time when Neth lived? Or did this all happen a bit more than the 'years after' mentioned by Cecil? I have never heard any other story about this catastrophe."

"Well, Cecil also says he is not sure this ever happened. But it is funny to see how the Curio was wandering from hand to hand since it fell on earth. I hope our cities know exactly where their fragments are."

Cassandra nodded, while transcribing her notes into a clean parchment. She then stood up and started walking in direction of the small room on the left, where Kwesyther had been pulling out his hair for nights in a row, trying to make a decent system to organize all the information.

"Your sister once suggested that Neth was the spirit that took Aducath's body," she added, on the way.

"Jane... She is silly sometimes. But we still have to find out who that spirit was."

Read...

Index of Persons

A list of historical persons.

When he stopped writing, the dim light was flickering already and the candle was a misshapen tower of tears of white wax. He had spent all night categorizing villains and heros, the names of kings and queens and the historical figures that appeared in the tales and legends of yore. His work was far from done, but with the darkness suffocating the small chamber, he had to suspend his task for the nonce.

• Coroth
• Eve
• Gidéon
• King Galandir (I)
• Malevolus
• Neth
• Salazer
• Sea Hag
• Stefan



• Aureil
• Clarisa
• Deven
• Dominus
• Edith
• Fool Coco
• Greil
• Grenton
• Grimwald
• King Austin
• King Ian
• Old Hag
• Pete
• Ploog
• Prince Ceril
• Princess Sophie
• Queen Lyrel
• Royal Maiden
• Sevohabwyn (I)
• Seth
• Susan Bridges
• Tholarius
• Travis



• Aborek
• Acres
• Angammatar
• Arilor
• Arroc
• Ayara
• Dethras
• Elara
• Kinsul
• Matia
• Nystal
• Ybarra
• Yerrak



• Adelphius Kang
• Aducath
• Alastor
• Alberte
• Altaira Mei
• Amalphus Vei
• Ambrose
• Anon
• Aphilche.
• Araine
• Arelintha
• Arlis
• Arny
• Avesne
• Ayara Rita
• B
• Beleth
• Birek McCalla
• Bolgrin
• Borigard
• Brock
• Calindra
• Callathan
• Casden Pernell
• Cecil
• Cesca Andon
  
• Ciddia Tigg
• Clara
• Claudia
• Clovis
• Copioses
• Craussar
• Crypt Master
• Cythreda
• Darkstar
• Denreth
• Draconiatis
• Dyana Satel
• Elefin
• Emma
• Ethereal Mage
• Evers
• Eye
• Falun
• Forest Priest
• Fortinbras
• Fortune Teller
• Frost Mage
• Furin Hauksen
• Gale
• Gellansha
• Gladiator
• Hilgar
• Ice Sorceress
• Jack the Red
• Jassen
• Jefferson
• Jeffries
• Jerdan Haus
• Jerry
• Kendra
• Kincade
• King Galandir (II)
• Kolarysan
• Lancaster
• Legion Fighter
• Libe
• Lucky Fairy
• Luth
• Lythette
• Major Palmer
• Marthonis
• Maximus Adams
• Melanis
• Mowyn Quang
• Murlas
• N'eroth
• Nadirah
• Nafets
• Nevyroh
• Nita
• Nyatha Vaup
• Palmer
• Paul II
• Phelin Satel
• Protector
• Rasha
• Rellia
• Rem
• Rengal
• Roth
• Samic
• Senator Ames Maurise
• Senator Clarissa Morgans
• Senator Elsa Anderson
• Senator Georgette Feinstein
• Senator Milbim Halbim
• Senator Nartis Muqities
• Senator Natis Fieltler
• Senator Reynold Waltham
• Senator Robertson
• Serene
• Sevohabwyn (II)
• Sonja Hauksen
• Sss'shkor
• Ssscglaw
• Ssshassor
• Ssssglissya
• Sule Tesdor
• Svek Dalnar
• Tarnus Quin
• Telchine
• Terwynn Rees
• Tim
• Tirana
• Toli Hauksen
• Tuck
• Uly
• Valaraukar
• Valencia Falvo
• Valencius
• Vanderbilt
• Vandrovic
• Varsha
• Venom Priest
• Venudious
• Waldren
• Willow Hauksen
• Winston
• Yadeth
• Zara
• Zem Stormbrow
• Zexe

Read...

Until the Black Plague

Kings Austin and Ian, the Sorcerer's Council, and the time before the end of the world.

Claire:

So what was the Sorcerer's Coucil?

Stranger:

You might have heard from the members of the Council: Ploog, Greil, Aureil and many more. The Sorcerer's Council was fighting the King-

Cassandra:

The King? Is Galandir so old? *frowns*

Stranger:

*laughs* Not Galandir was King back then. King Austin reigned over the fair Kingdom Oberin. His castle was in Oberin City. He had a son from his first wife, Prince Ian. Later he married Lyrel and as new Queen she gave him two children: Prince Ceril and Princess Sofie.

Claire:

Ooooh! A queen!

Stranger:

*nods* But Queen Lyrel was quite power-hungry, she wanted to be the sole monarch. When Sam II slayed King Austin in his sleep, Queen Lyrel dismissed the Royal Mage Seth and the Royal Cleric Clarisa. In their place she put the wizard Dominus and the Cleric Grenton. Dark times followed for Oberin Kingdom was no longer a safe place.

Cassandra:

What happened to Prince Ian?

Stranger:

Prince Ian grew up. He was old enough to become King, but whoever would support him was jailed. In the end, Seth freed the prisoners and so began the revolution. Seth would steal the Book of Dead from Dominus to gain skills and knowledge in Black Magic.
In the same moment Seth summoned Dominus to fight him, Bane came in with hordes of Ice Dracos. Bane killed everyone around and took Dominus with him. With that, there was no one who could have stopped Prince Ian. The Ian faction stormed the castle and forced the Queen to surrender. The new King banished the Queen. Ian was King of Oberin Kingdom. The last one.

Claire:

The last one? How comes?

Stranger:

Oh, I believe Seth wrote a tome about the end of Ian and Oberin Kingdom. Ploog was defeated, but his soul was called back by failure of the Necromancer. That is how Lich Ploog emerged. The Bane Cult started fighting Lich Ploog but failed again and again. In the end, Lich Ploog defeated the Bane Cult.
While Seth was killing Aureil, the founder of the Sorcerer's Council was just beside the King. The traitor, Fool Coco managed to kill King Ian with a ruse. Fool Coco stole the King's ring, which let him command Black Dragons.

Claire:

No! Seth wouldn't let him!!

Stranger:

He wouldn't. But even Seth cannot defeat an army of Black Dragons. This was the Black Plague, also known as the End of the world.

Cassandra:

Nonsense! How can this be the end? We are still here after all!

[Most informations are from...

...Ragnarok
...leo's strange site that is mostly broken
...oioi's amazing report about the Ian's Revolution
You might also like to read this quite-hard-to-find textlog]

Read...

A long period of peace

The mage Aborek and the creation of the Blood Dagger.

"The death of Dethras was followed by a long period of peace. During that time, the Curio was separated in three. Mirith, Marali, and Andris still keep their respective parts to this day. With some minor interruptions, of course."

"I have heard that Lancaster stole a part from Andris and built the Ice Dungeon with it," declaired the clairic.

"Yes, my dear," nodded the Stranger," but that is recent History. A long time before that, it was Marali who risked to lose her fragment. It all started because the splitting of the Curio angered Lerilin and Brogan's Keep."

The pleasure taken by the Stranger after throwing a new name to the conversation was obvious. He knew that none of the girls would have ever heard the words "Brogan's Keep," and their reaction was as surprised as he would expect. Nothing like teasing youngsters' curiosity to make your story worth listening to.

"Lerilin was deemed not secure to have a piece of the Curio. On the other hand, Brogan's Keep was the strongest military force at the time. Far, far superior to Marali. But it was a mere fortress, not worth calling a city."

"Was Marali strong at all, at the time?" Asked Cassandra, revealing some remaining bitterness towards Maralian current situation.

"Marali was a very strong military force before the Twins invaded it," assured the Stranger.

"Where was Brogan's Keep?" Inquired Claire.

"You will find that out in a minute. Back to our story. The fact that they were deprived from a part of the Curio really angered the leaders of Brogan's Keep. Especially a certain Black Magician called Aborek." At this point, the Stranger paused for a second to enjoy the exclamations of puzzlement uttered by the mages.

"He decided to show the rest of the world how safe Brogan's Keep was, and to do that, he would steal a part of the Curio. Deep in the catacombs of the fortress, Aborek opened a portal to Marali's vault. Him and his assistant Ayara planned on invading the Vaults, sealing it from inside, and stealing the Curio."

"Did they succeed?"

"Well, the story is more complicated than that. Aborek had other plans for the Curio. I must add that he used to be a very trusted and respected wizard; one whose power would surpass many. However, as most of the book wager, he used too much Black Magic to open the portal to the Vaults, and became a consumed."

"What happened then?"

"How it really happened, we don't really know. Our main source of information about Aborek are some sparse notes Ayara wrote here and there. We do know that suddenly his plans went from simply stealing Marali's fragment of the Curio to creating an artifact from the two strongest sources power in Oberin."

Cassandra lit a new candle. Somehow, candles tend to extinguish when people talk about mysterious forces. It would be better to have a ninth one, than to find themselves in the darkness. The outlines of the Stranger became slightly more defined with the extra light, although not enough to reveal his identity.

"He wanted to create an artifact by combining the power of the Curio and the power of the Centaurs. Ayara witnessed him going mad and speaking of reaching powers even the Curio couldn't grant him: Aborek was trying to craft the Blood Dagger."

"How was he expecting to talk the Centaurs into that?" asked Claire.

"Talk? Who mentioned talking? Anyway, he did ask for a meeting with four Centaur leaders to discuss about Brogan's Keep demanding a piece of the Curio. That meeting was scheduled to happen in a few days when the invasion of Marali's Vaults took place."

"So he stole the Curio before the meeting?"

"Yes," proceeded the Stranger, " No one before and after Aborek managed to even breach in Vaults. But Aborek made it; he invaded the Vaults, stole the Curio, and sealed it from inside. As Vaults are bound to a designated Guardian's soul, the Guardian of Marali at that time was immediately warned. Aborek didn't even try to cloak or hide his identity, he wanted them to know. Needless to say a few hours later, Marali's army was gathering and getting ready to attack the fortress..."

"Wasn't Marali weaker than Brogan's Keep?" Objected Cassandra.

"The armies of Marali, Mirith, and Andris gathered in an unite force to take the Curio's fragment back. It took them but a few days to have an army ready for what promised to be the greatest war of all."

"Uh ho..."

"So war was at stake and according to Ayara's note Aborek's mind got totally eaten by consumption. He decided to use the Blood Dagger's power to totally wipe the united army."

"That means that he managed to craft it. Did the Centaurs accept to help?"

"Do you know how the Centaurs' power work?" asked the Stranger. Both girls shook their heads in negation. "The Centaurs are guardians of an amazing, yet very puzzling power. One that only unleashes upon their death. If they sacrifice themselves, the power that emanated from their body is the most curative of all source of magic. It can heal deadly wounds and cure the most devouring of all plagues... If they are murdered however, that power turns into one of the most dark, destructive force one can imagine."

"He didn't kill the leaders, did he?" Claire sighed.

"Aborek's original plan was to use the Curio, and join it with the Centaurs' curative power to create an even more powerful artifact. In his madness he thought he could kindly ask a Centaur to sacrifice for his experiment. But seeing the army gathered at the footsteps of the fortress, he changed his mind. He would assassinate the Centaurs during the meeting, and craft the wielder of ultimate destructive magic. And so he began the ritual. With a single Holy Dagger, and the Curio's fragment he had stolen. He stabbed Ayara with the dagger, and put it together with the Curio in a golden box."

"Where were the Centaurs, by then?" asked an impatient Cassandra.

"That is of course where Ayara's notes end. But other books were able to catch up," remarked the Stranger. "It is said that the four centaurs arrived for the meeting, but seeing the combined army decided to cancel it and leave. Aborek had everything planned however, and as the centaurs were turning away they got ambushed and captured by his men. They were brought to the catacombs of the fortress, and murdered, at the very same time the united army began its attack on Brogan's Keep. To ensure the corruption of the Holy Dagger, Aborek added a magical Black Stone inside the box, with the Curio and the Holy Dagger, drenched with the blood of Araya and the four centaurs. The Blood Dagger was created."

"Did he defeat the army?"

"No. No one can try to possess such strong magic and survive. The Dagger, corrupted by the Black Stone, fed with the Centaurs soul, possessing even a bit of the Curio's energy, developed a mind of its own.
The fortress fell, and soon the only thing that was left for the united army to fight was a bunch of blood creatures. Brogan's Keep was destroyed and reduced to ashes. The army got the Curio's fragment back, but never found the dagger. Only much later a certain wizard called Elefin did. But that's another story..."

"What happened to Aborek?"

"That is unknown too, it is said that his soul is still tortured by Ayara's departed spirit, and the echoes of his screams can still be heard by travelers in the ruins of what you now call 'Aborek'..."

The Stranger leaned back and lit a pipe, filling the library with smoke. One more story had been told, and even a man like him needs a break before engaging in the next chapter.


[Once again, the source is Stefan, and his words were preserved as much as possible.]

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A Stranger talks about a young girl

The story of Elara, and how she faced the Black Plague.

"Are you, ladies, going to stay here for much longer?"

Both mages turned at once to the corner from where a voice had come. They could not tell, amongst the shadows, to whom the voice belonged. It was, nonetheless, a warm sound, that did not terrify them, despite the surprise."Knowledge must be gained," said Claire, putting on her best Bone Lordish accent. "We are looking for all the clues we can gather about the past," added Cassandra.

"I see. And what do you expect to find here, exactly?"

"Anything! Do you happen to know about History?"

"Maybe. Well... You know... There used to be a big library, much better than this one. Unfortunately, all that is lost."

Claire nodded slowly. "Yes, Brigobaen. We managed to find the few scrolls saved before the pillage. One of them is about Elara and the foundation of Mirith..."

The Stranger murmured an assent. "Elara. Such a young girl. You know that she stopped the Black Plague, right? No? Hmm. When the world was being destroyed by Black Dragons, a few humans hid in the Volcano. Elara was among them. It is known that the Goddess chose her, and gave her the power to leave the volcano and fetch a fragment of the moon that had fallen on Oberin."

"The Curio?" asked one of the girls tentatively.

"Yes," continued the Stranger, "with the power of the Goddess, and the Curio, Elara managed to send the Dragons back to sleeping under the earth. Where they still sleep..."

"And after that, she founded Mirith?" asked Cassandra.

"After that humans emerged and cities were built. Yes, she founded Mirith; her statue is still there. Her ultimate fate is told in an old scroll... Maybe you should ask Cecil about that; I've heard he is back."

"Oh, but wait a second," interrupted Claire, "I still don't understand completely what happened before the Black Plague, much less what happened to Elara!"

"Before the Plague? Before the Plague we were all fighting the Sorcerer Council."

Cassandra turned a page of her notebook and wrote "Sorcerer Council" in big red letters.



[Thanks to Stefan for chatting with us on a Saturday afternoon. Some of the Stranger's lines, in this post as in the others to come, reproduce word by word what Stefan told us. We couldn't possibly phrase it better!]

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